Documenting the Great Depression

Why the project had significant impact on society?

In my opinion, the main significance and impact on society that the Farm Security Administration-Office Of War Information Collection project was that it enabled photographers to report and document the problems of farmers during the Depression in the United States to the rest of the country. The photographers portrayed the poor conditions of tenant cotton farmers and as well as it gave awareness to the poor conditions of migrant farmers. The photographers were able to tell a story about the daily lives of people and the photographs were meant to be seen by the middle-class audience so that they may sympathize rural Americans and to also show the condition of a human spirit even in the most difficult times. This lead to the right movement towards rural rehabilitation program which has helped poor farmers buy land and until today, it continues to operate under Farmers Home Administration.

What was the role of Migrant Mother photograph in the period or great depression and what is it nowadays?

The role of the 'Migrant Mother' during the Depression was that it created an image of a struggling mother and her family. I would say that it created a picture of a survivor, someone who wouldn't give up, someone who would do anything for her family just to get by. The photographer, Dorothea Lange, describes her first encounter with the 'Migrant Mother' who was named Florence Owens Thompson.

I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction. I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was thirty-two. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. There she sat in that lean- to tent with her children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it. (From: Popular Photography, Feb. 1960).

I believe that nowadays, I think that the role of the Migrant Mother today is still the same, especially for single mothers who are working three jobs and are barely able to make rent. These are the mothers who work for 20 hours and sleep for four. I think it's much different nowadays because some women sell their bodies to make money for their families whether they like it or not because they have no other choice.

Migrant Mother

Photo Manipulation

This is an original photo which I took this past summer at my trailer in Peterborough, near Kawartha Lake. It was my last visit at the trailer for the year as it was getting too cold to stay there overnight. Photo manipulation is something that I've wanted to do for a long time but I was always afraid of messing up the quality of the picture. As you can see at the original photo that I took, some might say that it has been enhanced in some way or form, but actually it is the original picture. It might have been the time of day, the angle of the sun or where I was at that point in time, but to me, this picture was already perfect. I feel as if this picture could be a postcard. To be honest, I wasn't even sure what shutter speed, ISO or aperture setting that I was using. I will admit that this photo was taken by luck :).

I was quite hesitant to manipulate this picture. I was going to choose a regular Black and White manipulation, but I thought that would change the tone of the photo to a more 'gloomy' emotion. I thought it was appropriate to do a Focal Black and White effect to the picture. I think this effect was appropriate because to me it symbolized the end of the summer, almost as if the sun was fading. I didn't want to add another effect to it just because I don't like overdoing things. Most manipulated photos these days have the tendency to overdo itself and I think that itself takes away a lot from the photo. To explain what I mean, I edited the photo once again to show what I mean by disrupting the quality of the photo. I chose the effects Soften, Vignette and HDR-ish. It is quite obvious that the photo is much better than previous edit. However, in my humble opinion, it is still not as good as the original photo.

I think programs like Picasa is a very useful program to enhance or manipulate photos for 'newbies' like myself. It's not as complicated Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. It enables photographers to embrace photo editing without the fear of taking the quality from the photo. I think that editing landscape photography is much easier than doing let's say, portraits or photo shoots. The reason being there would be many subtle changes to colour and contrast, while doing some skin retouching or removable of blemishes or flaws, while maintaining the skin texture.

Original

Focal B/W

Soften x Vignette x HDR-ish

Can art be mechanically reproduced?

When something is reproduced for so many times is that art? What's the importance of the mechanical reproducibility of the art? What was the impact on mechanical reproducibility on the society?

In my opinion, art is still considered art, no matter how many times it is reproduced. Painters have used photography as a sense inspiration, change of view point by painting an object or subject in a number of angles. However, there is a sense of ethical issue when it comes to reproducing art. The feel of originality sometimes gets blurred because it is difficult to determine which pieces are the original and which ones are the duplicates. The importance of mechanical reproducibility of the art is that art is evolving. By this, I mean that art is embracing digital technology. Although, painting is not a dead form, graphic designing is increasing and a lot of artists are using this medium more and more because of the variety of techniques that can be done using technology. Because of this, mechanical reproducibility on the society due to the increasing technology. There are many masterpieces that have been duplicated and from what I said previously, there is an ethical issue involved. People have been made to believe that some art pieces are original and they are sold these pieces. Also, currency from many countries have been duplicated because of mechanical reproducibility.

Is photography art, or contribution to the art? Is it just a tool used by artists?

As I mentioned previously, photography is a medium of art and I also believe that it contributes to art. Graphic designers and painters use photography as inspiration and as their canvas for their artwork. Directors also use photographs to analyze what would be the best angles for their films because then they'll be able to see where everything is placed in a scene.

How and why Henry Peach Robinson created Fading Away? What was the reason?
Henry Peach Robinson's 'Fading Away' is both an albumen print (a method of producing a photographic print on a paper base from a negative) and combination print (a method using two or more photographic images in conjunction from one another to create a single image - in this case five negatives). He created 'Fading Away' from his imagination to show a human being's experience with something painful, which shows here a realistic portrayal of a grieving family.

Photography has impacted the world of art and influenced some changes in the area of accessibility to art. If mechanical reproduction created revolution, what is happening now with digitalization?

Mechanical reproduction has evolved digitalization in many ways. Photographs can be enhanced to the point where a person's facial flaws can be removed, a person's body or face can be corrected to the point of perfection or a simple landscape photograph can be altered to where adding an object that wasn't there before can be placed to create a totally different picture.

Portrait Photography: Past VS Present

There are many differences of today's photography and portraits compared to the early days. One example is the accessibility of photography. Only those who were privileged or those with class had the chance to have themselves photographed. According to A History of Photography by Lemagny and Rouille, portrait studios had clienteles ranging from industrialists, doctors, lawyers, merchants to politicians, all of whom paid around $2.50 to $4.50 to have their pictures taken. Another example would be the process of having your photograph taken. The high price of having portraits taken was all due to the process of daguerrotype. This process used sheffield plates and was the raw material for having portrait photographs taken with a click of a button. Photos can also be printed at an instant just by giving you memory card to a print studio or by printing it yourself via your coloured printer.

The Daguerrotype Process

There were many different photographers in the past because they all specialized in their own technique. The calotype method was used both by amateur photographers like Victor Regnault and Paul Jeuffrain, and by photographers who were painters like Charles Negre and William John Newton. Those who specialized in the tinted portrait were Louis and Ernest Mayer. On top of those who were privileged, portrait photography captured the attention of other social classes "composed of celebrities in the worlds of politics, the arts, the press, the clergy and the army and those of the world of the theatre and the heads of state, like Queen Victoria and President Lincoln." Anyone who can get a hold of a camera today can pretty much take a picture of anyone or anything. There is a much wider variety of subjects today due to the mobility of small cameras and DSLRs.

Daguerrotype portrait of Abraham Lincoln and Colonel James Duncan

According to Precursors of the Photographic Portrait by Gisele Freund, the evolution of the social development in Western Europe, where the middle class gained political and economic status. Because of the huge population of middle class, demand for goods like portraits, increased, which made art become more mechanized. The technical evolution made it possible for photographs to be more accessible to the middle class. Contrasting to today, photography has been made easier that no matter who picks up a camera, are able to take pictures in a flash. And because technology is increase at an exponential rate, taking photographs in the future will most likely be easier than how it is today.

Evolution of Photography

Photography and the World

For this week's post, I will reflect on the following questions:

• Why the world loved first photographs?
• Who were the first photographers?
• Anybody who inspired you? Why?

I think the world in general first loved photographs because they were able to capture moments that have already happened. People loved how a mechanism could replicate what other people saw. Although it was black and white, it was still something amazing. Of course this all changed when coloured photographs were used. As I read in previous articles, not a lot of people could afford photographs because they were expensive and took a long time to prepare. So it was an honour for your picture to be taken, let alone a portrait of oneself.

I think the cavemen were the first "photographers". They were the ones who described to their tribesmen what they saw during their hunts/explorations. However, mechanically, I believe it was Joseph Nicephore Niepce who was invented the first camera.

My friends who were into the photography business were the ones who inspired to get into photography. At first, I wanted to get into because of the money they were making, but after a while, I enjoyed taking pictures of people just for the sake of taking pictures. There's always a sense of happiness in seeing a candid moment where everyone in the picture is laughing/smiling.

Introduction

While some people like books, music and shopping to help their mind feel at ease, photography keeps my mind focused. The clicking sound and the flashing lights helps me 'mute' the noise around me.

My name is Arwin and I like taking photos of people. Group pictures, photo shoots, candid shots, weddings, you name it. I've always enjoyed capturing the moments of people that I love. I'm still learning to take landscape and still life photos. I hope that my photography class will help me further my knowledge about photography.

Picture from my condo.