WeaverLWk+11

4/11/12 Reflection on my VSP re: Malcolm and Ramage5 (write at least 500wrds)

"There is nothing in Jacques-Henri Lartigue's photography to betray that he was only ten years old when he took some of his most distinguished pictures" malcolm.

I find this statement interesting because for some people, this could be an issue, and take away from the photography. It also comes back to the quote earlier in malcolm's essay where veiwers come to see art, claiming "they could do that." Can anyone create art? Can a ten year old do it? Some people would say yes, of course, but others may not think that. It clearly does not matter when the pictures were taken, who took them, and at what time, as long as the photos are effective, and have a message for the audience. So what if a ten year old took stunning photographs, does that make them any less stunning?

In order to make sure this outside knowledge of the photographer and the background (such as age in this case), it is important to do what Ramage would call 'defamiliarize' yourself, and see the photo out of your own close personal perception, and see it as an outsider in order to get a clearer message. This way we are less focused on the outside information, and more focused on the image and what it represents, free of any previous connotations or connections.

In a way we are defamiliarizing ourselves from the original product in this VSP in order to create a sequence of photographs to interpret the original product (song, poem, etc.). We need to free ourselves of any personal perceptions and see it as an outsider, in order to truly be able to interpret in a new and different way for this project. By doing this, we can then see the original in a new way, find new thoughts, a new path to follow in order to gain a brand new perspective on an old work. This is why defamiliarizing ourselves is so important, particularly for this project.

Our finished project could be a whole new 'genre', as Ramage would say, and will be a totally new piece of work for someone else to interpret. Many of us are using a totally different medium as well in our interpretations, ex. going from a written poem to a visual photograph, therefore the end result will be completely different because text and photographs are so totally different from each other, and they evoke very different feelings in the viewer.

I want the pictures to hit home to the audience, to feel personal and honest. I think I am going to try using some of my own photos, because all of the ones I have found look so posed and fake it just seems like a joke in a way. I will see how it works out, maybe it will be too much of a harsh contrast with the other photos. We will see.