Wednesday, February 20, 2013

NY Times Art & Design

Going With the Flow

I was interested in this article for the interesting fact it was discussing waterways and comparing how another country dealt with their issues. I enjoyed thinking of how much "Water management here depends on hard science and meticulous study." The first picture is of the Dutch's idea to try and solve a flooding issue for the residents and their properties. The second photo is New York's failure to have a flood control system in place before disaster struck. I read the whole article and took into account what the author meant because I actually greatly disagreed with how the Dutch was taking away their farmland in order to "improve" flooding control. If the location of the land is that threatening, then the populous shouldn't be allowed to live there-and I believe that for everywhere (New York, New Jersey shores,etc.). Although, I can see each vantage point, it's just this wouldn't have to be an issue if there was not people living in hazardous locations.

Night/Long Exposure

Monday, February 18, 2013

Conscientious

Margret Durow

There wasn't much to this article at all except leading to this talented photographers website. The first photograph in this sequence is what attracted me to this article. I loved the women's defined silhouette and sort of a beautiful, mysterious look to it. So, her "article" was "written" within her photographs for me. My reaction was this great connection and a sense of similarity to what I would like to take pictures of and/or have experienced as a young adult. Therefore, this particular slideshow of Margaret Durow's photos was my favorite and most inspiring since I can relate to the story of youth being told through them.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Lenscratch

Rebecca Reeve

The title of the website/article were both intriguing, however, I had to read further into the article and look at the rest of the pictures before I was captured. There were many photos that thoroughly caught my attention and some that appalled me throughout this website. Although, this nature and curtain photograph was my top pick, simply because of the calmness and simplicity it brings about. I didn't read the article until after seeing this photo. The article was about a project by Rebecca Reeve. She describes her inspiration for her photographs from a common ritual in Europe where family members, of loved ones who've passed, would cover mirrors and paintings of landscapes so their spirit would not have trouble leaving this world. The covering of landscapes made this artist realize what would we do without those "escapes." She uses the Everglades as an example of "beautiful vistas." Thus, this is where she shoots her photographs for this project--great idea I think. This especially intrigued me to read and look further into her article.

Although knowing that the curtains serve as several functions, I connect closest with her perspective of how they re-attach us to the "wilderness experience" by, as she says, reversing how we urbanized societies are shutting out "light." Reeve's says it best when explaining the ritual of why the deceased person's soul may wish to stay in this world, "The ritual seemed, by extension, to be a confirmation of the deeply moving experience that one often feels in the natural environment..."

Perfectly capturing the simplistic, white curtain surrounded by the knock out gracefulness of nature herself, Reeve's inspires me to want to capture such meaningful photographs.