May 1, 2012
April 24, 2012
April 23, 2012
April 17, 2012
April 16, 2012
April 14, 2012
April 4, 2012
Large Format is hard. It’s a long and arduous process and most of the time the image does not come out the way I expect it to. I am getting frustrated with being in the studio, especially since street life is my forté. I spoke to my professor about this frustration and we discussed using a Crown Speed Graphic. I was excited to try it because I had just seen the Weegee exhibit at ICP. Weegee mastered the Crown Speed Graphic and used it to take many of his famous photos. Since the Photo Department at NYU provides me with an AAM card which gets me into most museums for free, I go to ICP quite often. The size of the negative allowed Weegee to step back and really capture a full scene. Of course there are disadvantages to using the Crown Speed Graphic, since it is large, it requires time to set up the meter and focus and often times I only get one chance to capture a scene. However, coming from the studio it is a refreshingly quick process. Above is the first photo I took with the camera. Since the image takes a while to set up, I needed to talk to the guy (not something I’m used to, since I usually ‘shoot and run’). I ended up getting his email address and I sent it to him. It is part of the project where I attempt to capture the character of people by what shirts they wear (or don’t wear).
March 12, 2012
For The Jewish Emerging Artist Fellowship, my proposed project was to photograph the diversity that exists within Rabbinical figures. I was planning on using the grant money from EJAF to help fund the Large Format photographs, which are expensive. As for the project, I was close to photographing one female Rabbi, but I got sick. Planning shoots far in advance proved to be very difficult. One of my friends (pictured above) was visiting me during his spring break and I decided to run a photo shoot with him to practice my skills with the camera, which are not where I think they need to be. However, I think this photo came out great. I love the way the t-shirt works with the face he is making and his personality. The Large Format teacher even suggested that I switch the project to photographing college students and their t-shirts. The only problem with that is, for EJAF I would need to relate the project to Judaism somehow. Jews and their ironic t-shirts anyone?
February 11, 2012
I don’t consider myself a technical photographer. However, I have always been fascinated by the evolution of cameras. I often find myself trying to learn more about the origins of photography. I sense something magical when I look at photos from the 1800s, not just the subjects but the way they feel, especially daguerreotypes. They seem to be a blend between paintings and modern photography. This semester I am taking two courses which satiate these desires. The first is called ‘The Ascetic History of Photography’, which is in essence a study of all the first methods in photography from before the 1900s. The second is a large format photography course. The camera alone is beautiful. In order to focus the image, I need to put a hood over my head. Above is the first photo I’ve taken with the camera, I’m not sure how I feel about it. The images and the landscapes become so grand. I’m excited moving forward because I feel that my style will compliment the technique. The only downside I found so far is that the camera is large and takes a while to set up, so I will not be able to get the snapshots I do with my 35mm. Also, developing the negatives is an incredibly delicate process.
December 30, 2011
I would have liked my grandfathers.
Recently I came upon a number of photographs which I always wished my family had, but never knew about. I found thousands of photographs, most of which were taken in the 50s and 60. However, I found some from the 30s and 20s when my grandparents were toddlers.
I spent two entire days sorting out photos from both sides of the family. I sorted them into groups based on the quality of the photograph. There must have been a couple thousand photographs in total. I narrowed down the pile to around 150 photographs. From there I began laying out the photos on my dining room table. I thought about how I would present these photos. I felt that an album would be intimate, but knowing my family, the album would be looked at once and then forgotten. I feel that hanging a photo on a wall causes the viewer to have a relationship with the photograph. It becomes a permanent part of the viewers universe.
On the dining room table I began laying them out as I would imagine they would appear on a wall. Subconscious patterns began to take shape. Soon I was able to make those patterns visual. In one of the most obvious patterns, I placed two photographs of my grandfathers together.
Above on the right my maternal grandfather, Seymour Fader poses in front of Trocadéro in Paris after the end of World War II in 1945. Throughout his army service he was stationed in France, Germany and Italy. My paternal grandfather on the left, Erwin Krule served for the United States Air Force around the time of the Korean War.
Until recently, I had only seen photos of my grandfathers when they were much older. Aside from a few memories of my maternal grandfather, I never really knew either of them (Erwin died long before I was born, Seymour died when I was 7).
By having this large collection of photographs I understood a lot about familial dynamics. It was amazing to see five generations of Krule/Faders. I learned that while families appear different, often they are similar in the significant aspects. Including the relationship one has with their parents.
When looking at these photographs I also thought a lot about what the subjects were thinking when the photograph was being taken. Did they know their grand, great grand or even great-great grandson would eventually be seing this? Why did they decide to take that photograph in the first place? Either way, I am happy they did.
December 28, 2011
December 17, 2011
My father recently sent me a photograph of himself when he was my age in the 70s. When I first saw the photograph I immediately had questions about who he was at the time the photograph was taken. My father appears to have changed dramatically since those times. I asked him to send me as many photos as he could find from those days so I could learn more about him. While I was sifting through the photos, I thought about how the photos I have of me now (Facebook, Yearbooks etc.) would shape the image of who I was for people who didn’t know me at that time. I wanted to have photos like these ones so eventually my children could have this same experience. I thought about recreating the photographs, but I felt that wouldn’t properly express my idea. Instead, I created photos that compliment the image and tell the viewer who we were, by showing how we were different (or not so different). Here is one of the images from the series.
