Ways of Seeing - John Berger

            

              The first part of the series Ways of Seeing by John Berger attempts to question some of the beliefs that surround traditional European painting. It doesn’t talk about the paintings themselves but about how we, especially in today’s world, see them. Berger claims that we see them as nobody else did before. The process of seeing is not as natural as we normally believe. It is actually influenced by many things such as what is around us, past experiences, etc. Traditionally the convention of perspective was used to look at these paintings. In other words, the eye (our perspective) was the center of the visible world. This limited us as the human eye can only be at one place per time. However, the invention of the camera opened up our ways of seeing and brought irrevocably changes. It gave us a fresh perception of the world. The camera transformed what we see, how we see and even paintings.

            Paintings are like the human eye – they can only be in one place at a time. However, this changed with the moment in which cameras started reproducing them. Then, paintings became available to be seeing by many people in different places at the same time. The reproduction of paintings not only made them lost their uniqueness, but also it changed their meanings. When we look at them in its original pieces we can contemplate them in its most pure experience in silence and with its stillness. Thus, a painting’s meaning can be transformed by the music that is present with it, by texts that come along with them and by the camera’s movements. For instance, close ups can take subjects of the painting out of its context giving them broader meanings. Nevertheless, this reproduction is not in its all bad. It also made paintings more accessible. Consequently these transformations brought by the reproduction of paintings have both good and bad sides, it will depend on the purpose of the person who is using the reproduction of the paintings.

Snap Judgements - The Genius of Photography

1.     How many photographs are taken in a year?

According to the documentary 80 billion photographs are taken in a year.

2.     How does Gregory Crewdson work?

Gregory Crewdson

Gregory Crewdson’s work is very unusual compared to most of others photographers’ work. He works with big productions, cinematic lighting, props and with a crew, which is mostly composed by people who have worked with film. It sounds and looks like a movie although it’s not - all this to get one single perfect shot. Gregory Crewdson doesn’t work with the camera – doesn’t take the actual picture himself – he actually just directs it. As Crewdson said in the documentary, he is “truly interested in images and the camera is just a necessary instrument”. Gregory reproduces just a few copies of each picture and each of them is worth 

thousands of dollars.

3.     Which prints command the highest price and what are they called?

The prints that command the highest price are usually the ones, which were made by the photographer himself closest to the time the picture was actually taken. They are called vintage photos.

4.     How many photographs Andreas Gursky produces and what scale (size) are they?

Bahrain I - Andreas Gursky 2005

Andreas Gursky shoots many pictures but he doesn’t bring all of them to the market (actually just a few are used). He keeps them in his archive. In two years and a half he produced just two works, one in Monaco and another one in Bahrain. Andreas Gursky’s pictures are nowadays very big; some of them even have the size of a wall.

5.     What is different on Seydou Keita’s pictures of Africa from what we usually see?

Seydou Keita

Seydou Keita was a studio photographer of national renown who used to take pictures of middle to upper class people in Africa. He had many desirable props for his clients to pose with them like if they were their own. For example, cars, bicycles, etc. Thus, the main difference from his pictures to what we normally see is that he doesn’t portray Africa as ‘just’ a poor place with people starving and in the most chaotic situations. Seydou Keita as an insider goes away from this stereotyped view and he shows the wealthy side of Africa enhancing the beauty of its culture and its people.

è The photographer I liked the most was Seydou Keita. Here there are five photos made by him:

The Lift - Marc Isaacs

           

              The Lift is a short movie in which the film director, Marc Isaacs, installs himself in the elevator of an English tower. He films its residents everyday in the lift and as the days go by he develops some sort of relationship with them allowing him to get to know some bits of their private lives.

            Some inhabitants seemed to be, at least in the beginning, very disturbed by the camera - some even dismissed the lift to avoid it. Mark would meet often the same people in the lift as they became familiar to each other also people became more friendly. He started calling the residents by their name and some would even bring sometimes food to him. Then, Mark also started asking them some more personal questions, for instance, “what’s on your mind?” and “have you ever been in love before?”. I think this was the most interesting part of the movie for two reasons: Firstly, it made people reflect and to not take their lives so superficially and secondly, the sincerity of them. For me it is astonishing and curious how people tend to be more honest and open about their weaknesses and some delicate topics to strangers. I guess this happens because most of the time with strangers we don’t feel the necessity to fulfill some expectations nor we are afraid of their judgments whilst to the people we love and are close to us we normally feel obliged to appear to be what this people think or hope we are.

            I truly enjoyed the film. It is fascinating how each person has his/her own particularities. Every person is a single identity. I think this movie transmits this idea very well.