Dorothea Lange (Documentary Photographer & Photo Journalist)

                                                                  Dorothea Lange
          Image Availabe at (http://www.famousnewjerseyyans.com/images/dorothea_lange.jpg

                                                                     (accessed 9th April 2012)

Dorothea Lange was born in New Jersey in 1895 and lived to be 70 years old.  When she was 7 she contracted Polio which left her with a limp.  On top of that her father left their family home when she was 12 never to return.

(Abbey (2009) provided information about D Lange).

She married twice and had two children from her first husband.

She went to Columbia University and when she graduated she moved to San Francisco and opened up a Portrait studio.

(Masters of Photography (2012) provided information about D Lang).

It was something which she felt endeared her to the people she later photographed particularly when she was asked to document the exploitation of Sharecroppers and farmworkers during depression period in the 1930’s.

During my research and going through her black and white photography portraits I found that they really got under my skin.  I could  feel that the subjects photographed really blended in with their surroundings. You can almost see into their souls, reflecting their faith to battle for a better tomorrow whatever it took.

Dorothea has been such of inspiration for me to use more of my SLR Camera and like in her days develop my photographs in the darkroom.  She was an amazing portrait photographer and captured so much more than just an image of a person, rather their whole identity.

This collection of photographs were to be at the forefront of her Portfolio.  She believed in the hands off approach where she did not meddle and did not arrange what she photographed.   

"I had to get my camera to register things that were more important than how poor they were--their pride, their strength, their spirit." Lange
According to Sandler (2002,p.86) Lange stated

                                           Ditched, Stalled, and Stranded San Joaquin Valley, California 193
            Available at: http://masters-of-photography.com/L/lange/lange_ditched_stalled_stranded.html

(Accessed 8^th April 2012)

                                                             
                                                     Migrant Mother;Nipomo, California 1936
                      Image Available at:http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/lange/dor001.jpg
                                                                         (Accessed 8^th April 2012)

                   Plantation Overseer and His Field Hands, near Clarksdale. Mississippi 1936
        Available at http://masters-of-photography.com/L/lange/lange_plantation_overseer.html
                                                                      (Accessed 8^th April 2012)

Jobless on Edge of Pea Field, Imperial Valley, California, 1937

Available at http://www.museumsyndicate.com/item.php?item=5517
(Accessed 8^th April 2012)

                   

Migratory Cotton Picker 1940

Available at: http://lumieregallery.net/wp/190/dorothea-lange-and-her-impact/

(Accessed at April 8^th 2012)

References

Books

Sandler, M W (2002) Photography: An illustrated History.  Ney York, New York:  Oxford University Press

Websites

Masters of Photography (2012) Available at:

http://masters-of-photography.com/L/lange/lange_articles2.html (Accessed 8th April 2012)

Abbey,S (2008) Dorothea Lange. Available at :

 http://www.myhero.com/go/hero.asp?hero=d_lange (Accessed 8^th April 2012)

http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/lange/index.html

Identity

Identity  (Who are you? And Why are you…you?)

Identity came into use as a social science term only in the 1950’s at which time it was not assigned to particular racial, cultural or sexual differences but to the self as an existential category (Gleason 1983, 910). 

Nelson and Schiff (1996) suggested “the term was often used to designate a problem – an “identity crisis” – stemming from the individual’s alienation in the face of an increasingly anonymous society.”

With the emergence of the todays social networks there is literally no getting away from the instantaneous changes that happen within our social circles and beyond,  that constantly add to our ever changing identities. 

From the moment we are born our identities are shaped and defined by our families (local factors) and the outside world (global factors). 

Were you born that way?

Image Accessed at: http://www.celebitchy.com/124510/meet_the_mcgee_sextuplet_family_they_need_donations/

(Date Accessed:12^th April 2012)

 

Were you brought up like that?

Image Accessed at:  http://www.politico.com/click/stories/1011/dads_letters_make_bush_cry.html

  Or did you find your own path?

Image Accessed at:  http://www.inquisitr.com/145198/china-says-dalai-lama-cant-pick-his-own-successor/

(Date Accessed:  12^th April 2012)

One thing is for sure…

…They Are Watching YOU…

Image Accessed at: http://www.inspiringinterns.com/blog/category/cv-interviewtips/

(Date Accessed:  12^th April 2012)

.....And it is HIS FAULT!!!

Image Available at:  http://navfund.com/blog/arrogant-companies/mark-zuckerberg

(Date Accessed:  25^th April 2012)

References

Gleason,P. (1983) Identifying Identity: A Semantic History. Journal of American History,69.

Nelson,  R, S and Schiff,  R. (1996) Critical terms for Art History.  2^nd edn.  London.  The University of Chicago Press.

Semiotics

The study of Signs
There are two major schools of thought in the field of Semiotics, Saussare and Pierce.

                        <----- Signifier        Signified ----->

Saussere Believed that there was no inherent  or necessary relationship between the Signifier (i.e. The object in question) and the Signified (the actual meaning that is carried).  He argued that it was all a matter of chance linguistic pot luck.

Pierce had a slightly more advanced theory and he grouped signs into three main categorys.
                                                   
                                                          Pierces Method
                    Icon      Index      Symbol

Pierce categorised the signs as either icons, Indexes or Symbols.

Icons resemble objects they represent i.e. pictures and maps etc, Indexes by their causal links i.e speeding kills and finally symbols which may have no resemblance or causal link to what they represent but leave their definition open to the users interpretation.

                                         (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEgxTKUP_WI,2007).

                             

Semiotics play a significant part in Human behaviour whether it be from keeping us safe on the roads or in a more subconscious sense by telling us when to love or fear. 

Advertisers use Semiotics to control when we should spend our money and what we should spend it on.  Be it from a catchy jingle that we just cannot forget or a brand that becomes a pseudonym for the product itself.  They have developed enough knowledge of human behaviour to confidently manipulate the behaviour of the masses to spend their money by preying on their irrational fears and basic human instincts. 

The samples of advertisements that can be seen below send messages about the products they represent. In the case of the girls trying to achieve the" London Look" this could be fine. 

Contrary where the SISLEY girls are snorting the dress (Fig.4) they could be seen to be promoting not only an addiction to shopping but something far more sinister. As future Advertising Industry workers we have to think about how influential advertising can be and how it affects consumerism in society. 

                                                   Image accessed at:

  http://rimmellondonlook.blogspot.co.uk/

                                                   (Date accessed 8th April 2012)

                                          Imag.1

                                                 Imag. 2

                                                 Images 1, 2. accessed at: http://rimmellondonlook.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/exclusive-interview-with-rimmel-london.html

                                                 (Dated Accessed 8 April 2012)

                      

                                       Image accessed at:

                                       http://www.adsora.com/clothing-footwear/sisley-fashion

                                       (dated accessed 8th April 2012)

The following clip taken from the programme “Century of the Self” charts how Edward Bernays (the nephew of Sigmund Freud) used Semiotics to generate mass consumerism on a grand scale for items that we did not necessarily need but somehow felt that we wanted.(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhxfArTAcfM , 2011).

References

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEgxTKUP_WI  (2007)  (Accessed: 14 March 2012).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5FZRa7h99A  (2009)  (Accessed : 10 March 2012)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhxfArTAcfM  (2011) (Accessed:  14 March 2012)

Modernism and Post Modernism

Can we ever describe ourselves as modernists?  Up to date with all the trends, the coolest kids on the block or is there always something new just around the corner.  With retrospect we can look back and see that perhaps we should have used more expandable collective terms to describe the Artistic movements of the times.  What we have ended up with is Modernism, Postmodernism and it has now been suggested that we have entered a new era of Post-postmodernism.

Definitions

The Tate Gallery defined Modernism as “In the field of art the broad movement in Western art, architecture and design which self-consciously rejected the past as a model for the art of the present. Hence the term modernist or modern art.” 

Tate defines Postmodernism as “specifically a reaction against modernsm It may be said to begin with Pop Art and to embrace much of what followed including Conceptional Art, Neo-Expressionism, Feminist Art and the Young British Artists of the 1990s”

Tate Gallery (http://www.tate.org.uk/collections/glossary/definition.jsp?entryId=174, No Date)

They go on to say.

“it collapses the distinction between high culture and mass or popular culture; that it tends to efface the boundary between art and everyday life; and that it refuses to recognise the authority of any single style or definition of what art should be”. 

Tate Gallery (http://www.tate.org.uk/collections/glossary/definition.jsp?entryId=230, No Date)

I say. "The terms modernism and postmodernism are umbrella terms which themselves house many different and diverse movements and disciplines."

                             Examples of Modernist Art

One of the earlier Modernists was Marcel Duchamp who broke the boundaries with his Nude Descending a Staircase 2.  Instantly perceived by many as  controversial it later gained acceptance and is regarded as one of his finest works.

Woman Descending a Staircase 2. Marcel Duchamp.

                                          

“Provoking negative reactions from even the Parisian avant-garde, the painting was rejected by the Salon des Indépendants for both its title and the artist's mechanistic, dehumanizing rendering of the female nude”

(Rosenthal, N. 2004)

                       An Example of Postmodernist Art

A contemporary example of postmodernism is the popular street artist Banksy whos unconventional murals decorate buildings and walls all over London and beyond.

To begin with he was an enigma completely unknown and his work deemed as meer graffiti.  His concept of Street Art has now been widely embraced by society and whilst remaining an enigma his work has reached a worldwide audience.

Banksy Woman Smoking

                                                    

                                                  BanksyStained Glass Window.2011

Postmodernism has been described in this short clip from the popular satirical animation the Simpsons with Moe the bartender explaining all.Moe Explains Postmodernism

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0DwRAVJZ4A, 2012)

                                           

                                 Further examples of Modernism

                                                         

                                     Gustav Klimt (Symbolist)

                                           Water Serpents II (1907)

                                      Van Gogh (Post Impressionism)

                                           The Stary Night (1889)

                                       Henri Matisse (Fauvist)

                                                 Le bonheur de vivre (1905-06)
                                                        

 

                                     Further Examples of Postmodernism

                                    Roy Lichtenstein (Pop Art)

                                          Whaam (1963)

                                                         

                                                      

                         Jose Gomez Fresquet (Feminist Art)

                                                                      

                                           Lipstick (Circa 1970)

                                         

                                     Tracy Emin (Conceptual Art)

 

 

 

                                          The Unmade Bed (1999)

                                              

                             

References            

http://www.tate.org.uk/collections/glossary/definition.jsp?entryId=174 (No Date) (Accessed 7^th March 2012)

http://www.tate.org.uk/collections/glossary/definition.jsp?entryId=230 (No Date) (Accessed 7^th March 2012)

Rosenthal, Nan. "Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/duch/hd_duch.htm (Accessed March 2012)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0DwRAVJZ4A (2012) (Accessed: 5^th March 2012)