Lens of a Nearsighted Eye

Friday, March 16, 2012

Inspiration Thursday #15: Stephen Tourlentes

Stephen Tourlentes is a great photographer. He was a guest lecturer for my class the other day, and he really knows his stuff. Look at these photos, absorb them a bit, and then I'll explain.

Absorb. Then read on.

So the long exposures seen here are photos of prisons. I think it's such an interesting play with the mind. In one respect, you want to be drawn into the light. You're surrounded by darkness, you want to go to the light. But once you know the context you kind of step back. He is an amazing artist, see the rest of his prisons at his website.

Sorry this Inspiration Thursday is so short, I'm kind of still recuperating from recent events.

City Living

Needless to say, this is what I've been dealing with this last four days.

Inspiration Thursday will be late (as most of you have are already aware.)

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Inspiration Thursday #14: John Divola

This week's Inspiration is John Divola, a photographer who spoke at my school today and I really enjoyed his work! His work involves a lot about creating a photograph, making a scene. Divola indulges in finding his subjects by chance -- politely breaking into abandoned houses, taking pictures of houses in the desert, and documenting their change.

He just overall seemed like such a down-to-earth kind of guy. When a student asked some presumptuous question about if he is interested in his mark-making performance as a part of his photography, Divola just went, "Um, nope. They only exist as photographs. I'm not interested in performance or installation."

There are two series (though I'll share a few from each) that I really enjoyed: 1) Dogs Chasing My Car (which is EXACTLY how it sounds) and 2) The Green of This Notebook, which illustrates lines from Satre. Check out his website here, for more images.

Zuma

Dogs Chasing My Car

Paraphrasing from what he said about these photos: "We'd drive in through the desert and there would just be these dogs sitting out there. And as soon as they saw us they'd start running. They were friendly, they'd lick your hands. But us driving by was like the highlight of their day."