Category — Visual Art

Photography is an activity that I never necessarily tried to engage in at every conceivable chance, but I love to take dozens upon dozens of pictures when a camera is given to me, hoping that a few would turn out well. I was excited to go to the International Center of Photography because this would be my first visit to ICP and I was curious to see what other photographers were exhibiting. As I took my time walking through the galleries and observing the photographs on the first floor, I did find a few of them interesting while others I found to be bewildering. The basement of the ICP housed old, black-and-white photographs and a few colored ones from the time that JFK was president. I enjoyed viewing those as well.

The picture above, named Walking Wawa Parking Lot, taken in Philadelphia in 2008, was one of the photographs that I found to be exceptionally interesting. It was hung on the side, next to the entrance to the room with the projector, and could have been easily missed. At first glance, I saw a man walking on fog or clouds above what looked to be buildings, it seemed, with mountain tops on the right and clouds above. It seemed surreal to me, and it didn’t fit with the theme of the other pictures, and I took a closer look. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the whole image was the result of the reflection off of wet concrete. The ridges at the top of the painting were not the result of debris in the air or the camera lens being dirty, but rather, it was the particles of the concrete emerging from the water. At the bottom of the painting, where the subject’s feet are, you can see the cut-off of the actual person’s feet, with more detail visible on the sneakers because while the image was distorted due to small ripples in the liquid, the actual image remained intact.  The objects at the right of the photo, what I had mistaken for a mountainous ridge of some sort, was actually the reflection of the Wawa store, a car, and other parts of the parking lot. I found this picture to be interesting because unlike the other photographs that had “covert” meanings or symbolic messages, this one caused me to imagine something entirely other and surreal for a whole three to four seconds before seeing the reality. Additionally, the circumstances of the photograph was something that I found to be original because while most of the pictures I’ve seen of reflections tended to be reflections in the mirror, this one was a reflection from wet concrete, a perfect symbol of the city in which it is located and displayed.

Overall, I enjoyed this experience and look forward to numerous ones like it and to visiting ICP on different occasions in the future.

Since I’ve always been interested in photography, I was excited to go to ICP. I liked it, but it was a lot smaller than I anticipated. The two exhibitions we saw, Zoe Strauss and Lewis Hine, were pretty cool. I liked them being shown together because they’re opposites; Strauss photographs present day Philly whereas Hine photographed early 1900’s New York. Descending the staircase from the Strauss exhibit to the Hine one is like going back in time. One piece that caught my eye in the Strauss exhibit was “Man Shot in Leg on Gurney.” It shows a man, clearly just shot in the leg, sitting on a gurney, about to be transported to the hospital. What is remarkable is the man’s demeanor and body language. He’s totally cool about it, smoking his cigarette as if nothing happened, as if it’s just another day. This makes me wonder about everyday life in Philadelphia: is this a common occurrence? It also reminds me of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and R.Kelly’s Trapped in the Closet. In the latter, a man is shot in the arm, but reduces his injury to “just needing a bathroom.” He comes out a few minutes later with a band-aid on and carries on as usual. In short, I liked seeing Strauss and Hine together. It’s really inventive for the museum to juxtapose them in the way they did. I would definitely go back.

Choosing a favorite exhibition between Lewis Hine, Zoe Strauss, and the JFK was a very hard choice for me, but there was only one that really made me wonder.

The Lewis Hine exhibition definitely made me think about the past. As I was looking at the photographs, I was very intrigued in the subjects. One, I kept trying to interpret what they were thinking at the moment the photograph was taken. From the serious children looking at the camera to the hard workers not even noticing the camera, I was very tenacious to go back to that time just to ask, “What are you thinking about?”

Now, to choose between my favorite photo is different. I honestly didn’t have a favorite photo in this exhibition because in my opinion, I felt like they conveyed similar aesthetics and themes (not that’s a bad thing, I just couldn’t really identify something favorable). However, I can say the photos that portrayed child labor really stood out for because of it’s honesty and intensity.

Overall, I would love to go to the ICP again when these exhibitions are over just to see the different stories that are added.

My post is about the snapshot photo we were supposed to take on October 11. I frequently take the ferry since it’s the only way I know of to get to Manhattan from Staten Island. On the ferry, I often see tourists, more than anywhere else. When I think of the ferry, I think of photos. So it seemed to be the best place to take a photo since everyone else thinks so. I chose this photo (which I put below) because it was supposed to be about NY and the most “NY” place I know of is NYC. I decided to combine the two… and that’s how this photo came about. The reason I love this photo is probably the sky. The way it looks like a  ” storm is brewing”. To me the best photographs are the ones that incorporate nature or even architectural components. I personally dislike pictures of people or faces (I don’t mean to offend anyone). So, having all those components in this photograph just made it so much better, the sky, the water, the boats and most importantly, NYC.

Taken from a ferry perspective

Right when I entered the ICP, I began to look around, moving from photograph to photograph trying to locate the “perfect” one. The one that captured my attention and was the most unusual of all the others. I’m not sure if I even found this photograph or if one even exists because the word “perfect” is different from one person to another. As I walked around looking at the photographs, I noticed that some of them didn’t seem like the type I would have expected to find in the ICP. They seemed plain almost, like one that you could find anywhere. I was surprised at that because I had thought all the photographs there would be a “masterpiece”, ones that you could never imagine taking yourself. I doubt that everyone thought the same photograph was plain, to some they probably had the opposite effect. They made them think, almost mesmerizing the viewer. Still, other photographs really caught my eye. One that almost immediately comes to mind is the Chandelier, Springfield, PA. This photograph seemed so unusual to me. It was a normal photograph of the sky, but in the middle a chandelier was emerging. I began to wonder how the photographer could have taken such a picture or even why he took it? Even now, this photograph is still in my mind and I am still unsure as to the purpose of it. It might actually have been the goal of the photographer to make us ponder this photograph or to let us decide what it’s purpose is. I’m not sure if all of you felt the same way about this photograph and I highly doubt it. I added it below, ENJOY!