Tierney Gearon Video

I really enjoyed watching the documentary about Tierney Gearon. I found her way of taking photos and working with her family really interesting to me. I loved how all of her photos had a really personal, private feeling to them that showed the viewer what her relationships with her family were like. While watching how Gearon talked and interacted with her family members while she took photos of them, was able to give me a different feeling about the photos, than if I just saw them on their own without any introduction. I loved being able to see the conversation leading up to the picture being taken, and then seeing the final photo after. All of her photos were very personal to her, about her life or reflected her childhood growing up. I think the photos that I liked the most, that we saw in the documentary, were of her mother. The relationship that they had was very interesting to watch since her mother would be yelling at her one minute and then be smiling and laughing with her the next. I think their complex relationship with each other was what made it possible for Gearon to capture such beautiful shots of her and her mother. I think one of my favorite moments for the documentary was when Tierney was telling the camera about the last photo we saw her take, of her mother sitting on the grass with her baby laying away from her in the sun. While Tierney was describing this image and what it meant to her, she started crying, saying how growing up she was like the baby being left unattended in the sun while her mother didn't pay attention to her. Watching her cry and talk about this made that particular image way more interesting and made me understand its meaning even more.
If I could compare Tierney Gearon to another contemporary photographer I think it would be Sally Mann. Though Mann's photos do not have the same feeling or look to them that Tierney does, she takes pictures of her children naked, playing around, just like Tierney. Once we finished this documentary, I had a hard time thinking of another contemporary photographer that shot like Tierney, but then I remembered my brother showing me Sally Mann's work and him telling me how some of her pictures of her children naked are a little intense. This is what made me relate her to Gearon because her photos of her children naked stirred up a lot of talk about them being child pornography. Sally Mann's photos are very soft and strange looking at times while Tierney Gearon are more candid and realistic, but also disturbing and strange as well.


Tierney Gearon's Work

Sally Mann's Work

Holga Contact Sheet

Slide Prints

Color Slides

Contact Sheets

Double Exposures

I have always found double exposed images to always be very interesting to look at. Even if the two images are not very interesting on their own, them overlapping each other in a double exposure always seems to make a more intriguing picture. I have always wanted to experiment with double exposures, but have been unable to find a way to do it since both my digital and film cameras do not allow me to expose twice on the already exposed film. I sort of figured out a way to do it with my digital camera while I was experimenting with painting with light, but still felt limited since I had to shoot the pictures in the dark. Once we started working with the Holga this semester, I remembered that this camera allows you to take multiple pictures on the same fram. I have shot with the Holga before back in high school and remember taking one double exposure image of my friend (seen below). For our next project, I plan on experimenting with this concept and hopefully will have some interesting shots.

One photographer, Dan Mountford, is extremely talented with double exposures and his images is what  got me really interested in this idea in the first place. I don't really understand how he creates his images, but I find them stunning and intriguing. Here are some of my favorites of his.

Robert ParkeHarrison

As of right now, I would have to say my favorite photographer is Robert ParkeHarrison.  My brother was the one who first showed me his work and immediately fell in love with it. Each photo was so interesting to look at and creative in a new way each time. The one thing I really loved about his photos was that I could not figure out how they were made. I would love to create photos like this, but did not know how to do it. All of his photos have this dream like quality to them that I find so beautiful. Also, half of the pictures look like sketches or some other medium besides photography, but then there is one part of the picture that tells the viewer that it is a photo. Each image forces me to stare at it for a long time until I see every detail. His photography has inspired me to try and come up with new interesting way to create photographs. Here are some examples of his photos.

Chris Jordan: Running the Numbers

My first impression of these images was that they were very eye opening to how much humans consume on a daily basis. I thought that the way he portrayed that message to the viewer was very successful and interesting. I liked how he was able to show that message as well as do it in an artistic, new way. One of the images that I really liked was "Barbie Dolls," shown to the right. They way that he chose to have barbie dolls as the object portrayed multiple times, made the message he was getting across more powerful. Also I loved how at first, I did not notice that barbie dolls made up a whole new image as you backed up, also making the message more powerful.

Some of his photos I liked a little less because the smaller figures in the image did not make up any larger image when you backed away. I thought those were less powerful than the other photos. These specific photos just appeared to be very textural looking to me.

Also, there was one image that I really like, but also confused me. "Cans Seurat" appeared to be the painting "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by George Seurat. But when you got closer to the image, you notice it is made up of many aluminum cans. I did not understand why he chose to have the cans make up this painting or how the message of the amount of cans used every 30 seconds was connected to this painting. Once I was able to go back and rethink Jordan's reason for using this painting, I began to think that it might be because this painting shows many people enjoying a day at the park, which can be related to our consumerist society in a way. Jordan's was trying to get the viewer to see how we live in a consumerist society, which is kind of what this painting is also saying in a way. Also I think Jordan could have chose this painting because it is made up of many dots, while this picture is made up of many small cans, acting as dots in a way. Overall I really enjoyed this museum visit and Chris Jordan's work.