Image by Daniel Fitzpatrick - Columbia College - Chicago, IL
Matt McLaughlin
Images by Matt McLaughlin – Columbia College – Chicago, IL
It’s entertaining, it clues us in on things we don’t know about, and it allows us to lose ourselves in fantasy – Its television. Ever feel like we tune in too much? Matt’s images serve as a reminder to me that we do. Lately, I have been keeping the television off, and have found that in return, life is far more interesting – and it’s for that reason, at this particular time in my life, that these photographs stood out to me. It is easy to begin to believe we have experienced or understand certain things just because we have seen them happen, or learned about them on TV. Realistically, we have not. Every moment we watch television is a moment we could have spent experiencing the world around us.
“Turn off the TV, look around,” is what Matt’s images say to me. Aside from my recent abolition of TV, it is the settings he has chosen that assert this idea. They are places and things that I could see and experience if I were to walk out my front door and go for a stroll. Others, I could encounter if I took only an hour out of my life to go somewhere else. What is important here is that these places seem to be familiar, though I am reasonably unfamiliar with them.
We see them every day, but not as often do we stop to feel the impact of a river decorated with trees, that is even beautiful in the off season – a cemetery, where those who were once just like us lie in resting – the skyline, built from the ground up by those before us with an ambition for progression – a great lake, whose stories would go back to the beginning of time if it could tell them – train tracks, which were once the most valuable resource that had been invented – and a tree, the life source of humanity.
The real question here, a question that all photographers should ask themselves is: Who is viewing these images?
How are these images going to be received by them, and why? Matt’s images appealed the way that they did because the settings were familiar to me, in addition to the fact that I have been taking notice of life in the absence of television. Would someone who is unacquainted with these places, or glued to the tube feel the same way? Are these images contextual? If they are, do I want them to be contextualized? If I don’t, what do I need to do to extend the message I intend to send to different types of viewers?
My point is that as photographers we need to persistently and open-mindedly ask ourselves questions about our own work in order to make it exactly what we intend for it to become. The more questions you ask, the more refined your body of work will become. The more refined your work becomes, the better it will be, and the more you will trust your decisions.
To see more work by Matt McLaughlin, check out his flickr.
Katie Shapiro
Image by Katie Shapiro – Los Angeles, CA – California Institute of the Arts ’07
Makeup by Erin Hennessy
Katie has presented herself, in this series of self-portraits, as a religious woman, old man, battered woman, homeless man, 1940's film star (actress), and gothic teenager. All or most of which I am assuming are roles that are not suitable as actual descriptions of her, although I suppose it is possible that in some ways they could. Seeing as I have not had the pleasure of meeting her, lets assume she becomes a theatrical representation of realistic generations, genders, personalities, and lifestyles by stepping into their familiar stereotypes. Capturing staged versions of herself as such brings up a good point.
The medium of photography itself provides the photographer with full reign over the options they may choose from in which to portray their subject matter, in terms of the state of a subject as it exists in the world, or a notional idea of the subject. So when it comes down to it, their basic options are real life, or staged life.
Aside from the obvious fact that Katie is not both a man and a woman, young and old, or past and present – it is based on her placement within a studio setting, and use of herself as a model of something and/or someone that does not necessarily describe her, that we understand these photographs as staged. Because of this, we think of these portraits as characters. Taking photographs of religious women, old men, battered women, homeless men, actresses, and gothic teenagers as they exist in the world, on the other hand, would be a more realistic or authentic representation of them.
However, by embodying rich stereotypes that we can all comprehend by visual recognition alone, she begins to create a mixture of not just imitation, but also authenticity in her portraits. For me, this authentic quality is caused by my immediate reaction to the images as a spotlight on the enormous role that stereotypes play in society. Exposing our knowledge of how we might recognize an individual by particular details we associate with their demographic tells us just how deeply rooted, and perhaps unavoidable stereotypes can be. Regardless of how aware or unaware we may be of this phenomenon, we are forced to describe the subjects of her photographs using the visual characteristics that distinguish them as a type of people, rather than individual person. Emphasizing the influence of stereotypes provides a sense of authenticity to her images by revealing the state of the idea of stereotypes as they exist in the world. This message is delivered successfully because of Katie’s choice to use one single model (whether she used herself or someone else) throughout the series rather than a different model for each character.
To see more work by Katie Shapiro, check out her website, or her blog!
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