The genius of Photography : Snap Judgements
Questions:
1. How many photographs are taken in a year?
It is estimated that around 880 billion photographs have been taken in the year 2013 and over the last 176 years over 3.5 trillion photographs have been taken throughout the world.
2. How does Gregory Crewdson work?
Photographer Gregory Crewdson, who features in this documentary describes himself to have a "disconnected "relationship with photography as although he has great interest in taking photographs he prefers to not use a camera himself to take the photographs. At the beginning of this documentary we see Gregory Crewdson as he and his production team attempt to get a specific photograph . They use cinematic lighting and actors to act out the scenes. At the end he creates 6 final images which would sell for around $60,000 .
3. Which prints command the highest price and what are they called?
In the photography industry it is the original prints that command the highest price as they are of the most value. These original prints are said to be vintage because they have been taken by the photographer themselves and may be their signature work.
4. How does Ben Lewis see Jeff Wall's photography?
In this documentary, photography critic Ben Lewis comments how Jeff Wall's photographs seem to bee concerned with racial stereotyping, and he deems Wall to have brought photography back to how it used to be in its glory days.
5.
How many photographs has Andreas Gursky produced and what scale (size) are they?
Photographer Andreas Gursky has produced two photographs himself, Rhein 1 and Rhein II, which sold for over $3 million dollars, sized 5x7 inches.
6. How does Seydou Keita's pictures of Africa differ from those taken by the media?
Photographer Seydou Keita
was from Mali, Africa. He was born in 1921 in Bamako, Mali, and died on the 21st of November in 2001 in Paris, France. He was a self-taught portrait photographer. He is mostly known for his portraits of people and families that he took between 1940 and in the 1960s, which are acknowledged to be a record of Malian society as well as works of art.
He was relatively unknown until his photographs turned up in a New York Exhibition without his knowledge. Keita's pictures of Africa differed from those taken by the media as while the media took vivid photographs of those suffering from illness, starvation and disease, Keita took portrait photographs of people in more "normal" circumstances, such as lying down or eating or sleeping . Keita's work was blown up to 80 times its original size at the Gagozeean Gallery in New York City, and his work attracted the attention of professional dealer of Jean- Marc Pathras. Following Keita's death in 2001, there was a battle over the right to his negatives between Pathras and Gursky.
Chosen Photographer: Paolo Ventura 5 Photographs
Italian photographer Paolo Ventura was born in the year 1968 in Milan, Italy. He studied arts at the Accademia di Bella Arti di Brera (The Academy of Fine Arts) in Milan form 1989-91. He currently lives and works in New York City.
Paolo Ventura envisioned specific scenes that he wished to take photographs of, and he seems to have a particular interest for war scenes. However, these war scenes no longer existed so he took the initiative and decided that he would create such scenes himself. He set to work creating minature buildings, trees, and other objects to build up his scenes, also hand crafting small doll-like figures complete with outfits to act out the scenes which he would photograph .
This was quite an unusual and previously unheard of idea, as most photographers prefered to use live models but Ventura found the figurines easier to work with, and this has contributed to making his work unique. In 2006 he released the series War Souvenir as a monograph, followed by the acclaimed photobook Winter Stories in 2009. Ventura has enjoyed much success with his works,which includes:
La Zuavo Scomparso, Behind the Walls, Civil War, The Automaton, Winter Stories, War Souvenir, and his newest series
The Infinite City.Ventura has had many solo and group exhibitions across the U.S and Europe, and much of his wok is on display in museums such as the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Unicredit Bank Collection in Milan to name a few. Ventura's work is both ingenius and distinctive, and I like his work due to its uniqueness, especially the use of "dolls" to act out the scenes and it is clear to me that Ventura is quite a visual genius.
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| 1. Bodies of Soldiers in a trench- Civil War |
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| 2. Man on stairs- Lo Zuavo Scomparso |
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| 3. Puppet on chair- The Automaton |
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| 4. The British Soldier and his spotted horse- Winter Stories |
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| 5. Army men and their wives- War Souvenir |
Jim Maginn's exhibition provides a powerful insight into the lives of Irish musicians as they play the music that they devote their lives to. Jim Maginn is a skilled portrait photographer and his aim is to capture photographs of people exactly as they appear. In the 1970s he began to explore the world around him through photography, and he was keen to interlink his passion for photography with his other great passion for Irish traditional music. Maginn's portraits features people singing, playing their instruments, laughing and relaxing in the company of fellow musicians. He has taken photographs of musicians such as Archie McKeegan, Tommy Keenan, Peter Welsh, Paddy Harpur, Josie McDermott, and musical group The McGoldricks to name but a few.