In just the first sentence of this section I am instantly brought back to high school, where my video production teacher will ALWAYS sit through the entire credits to show courtesy to the people who created the film.  I enjoyed looking at and reading the different techniques that you can do in Photoshop, and how it relates to darkroom techniques.  It will be nice to become more familiar with the many options with Photoshop.  

In adding text to photographs, the viewer’s emotions and thoughts are instantly altered.  In Carrie Mae Weems, From Here I Saw What Happened and And I Cried, if the text was not added to the photographs, I might not have thought about a deeper meaning other than it being an interesting combination with an image and its mirror.  With the text, the viewer reads “and I cried” and will most likely be brought to a place of sadness.  Not only adding text directly on the photograph, but also titling a photograph can alter one’s reaction or thoughts. 

I am really into photographers writing on their prints.  On one hand I like creating my own interpretation, but on the other I love knowing exactly what I’m looking at and how the photographer wants the viewer to feel.  What is amazing to me is that when I turned to page 358, I instantly knew what magazine I was looking at without reading its title.  I really like that “LIFE was designed to be experienced visually”.  The magazine has a balance with photographic image and text. 

The concept of reproduction of someones photograph is not something that I think highly of.  I don’t understand the reasoning behind using someones work as your own.  On page 192, I love the image of the cabbage leaf.  The way it was lit looks as if it is a piece of fabric draping over something.  Also right next to that image is one of cauliflower with stitching over it.  For my portfolio exchange I experimented for the first time with stitching a photograph.  I will most likely do more, even though it is time consuming.  Even though I have the right to take pictures of anyone without their permission, I still get nervous of confrontations if they disagree with my actions.  Knowing your rights as a photographer is extremely important. 

This reading reminds me of our body shot project in 290.  I wish we had more time to experiment as a class instead of having to figure it out for ourselves.  I found the lighting effects really fun to accomplish when creating a specific feeling.  I liked the section about the different effects that will be given when shooting in various places, such as in direct sunlight, in shadow, in a house, and in overcast weather.  The Color of Light was an interesting section to read and photographs to compare.  You really do see a change in color as the path of light changes.  The section on metering and bracketing was a good review. 

For one of the projects this quarter I was hoping to experiment with light and shadow, but sadly there was no sun.  In my art history class we learned about Malevich’s Black Square, and about the void.  This idea is fascinating to me.  I liked the comparison of the Black Square to “the curtain that appears at the beginning of a theatrical production”; the idea of infinite possibilities.  I am highly intrigued by a child’s reaction to/with the world as they grow up.  The section titled Reflection, Shadow, and the Self talks about children and shadows.  Young children do not know the reason for shadows and their connection to light cast down.  “A mature understanding of the physical world is achieved only when the child develops a geometrical understanding of the relation between a shadow, and object, and a light source.” (pg.127)

I loved reading the section about series.  For my summer independent study I will be making a series for my final presentation.  For me, I will be creating a series, but would like each photograph to be able to stand on its own.  On page 328, I enjoyed looking at the Valie Export, body configurations.  The images could easily be busy, but the geometric shapes that the figures are in draw our eye to them instead of the rest of the picture.  I love the work that Annette Messager does, especially in My Vows.  I find the arrangement of the photographs very compelling.  Reading the stop motion section inspires me to try my own stop motion study.