Blog Prompts Week 2 (#5-10)

#5 Give your thoughts on one or both of the following quotes.
“Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face, the beauty of the earth and skies that man has inherited, and the wealth and confusion man has created. It is a major force in explaining man to man.” ~Edward Steichen

Photography is a very effective way to record human feelings, or something which are important to people. It built a bridge between the photographer and the viewer. It helped the photographer to tell what hi was going to say via the images.

#6 In your opinion, when is it beneficial, ethical, or appropriate to digitally alter photographic portraits? When do you think it is inappropriate or ethically wrong?
I guess most of the time it is appropriate to digitally alter the portraits, no matter to make it looks better, more beautiful, funnier, or anything else. But there is a very important premise -- the people in the portrait should know all about these. If the people in the portrait doesn't know about the changes of his portrait, everything but make the portrait looks better seemed to be inappropriate.

#7 Pay close attention to the types and number of photographic portraits you see in one day. Where did you see them? How do you think that the content of the portrait changes based on the context in which you see the image (news, facebook, magazine, advertisement, television, youtube, etc)? In other words, what is the difference between the portraits you see on facebook vs. those on the news? What is the difference between the “viewpoint” of the photographer in each situation? What is the difference between their “intents”?
The portraits in magazines or newspapers are useful tools which helped us know better about the articles and the news, they were not considered as the focus when I was reading the magazine. But, they are still very essential and they are vital needs in magazines or newspaper. For the photos in FB, they are always the focus when I was searching the website. I was trying to get informations from the photos which I considered as the focuses and then let the word descriptions as the tools. Same as me, I guess the photographers of the photos in FB wanted to show everything in his photo. But the photographers of the photos in newspapers were only concentrating on parts of the scene which could help the articles.


#8 “My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph.” ~Richard Avedon.

Photographers love to put their own feelings, emotions, or affections into the frame. So the portraits were shoot in different angles, light situations, or backgrounds to show how the photographer think about the people in the portrait. If a man is sitting there waiting to be shot by a camera, totally different portraits of him will be created by different photographers.

#9 “You don't take a photograph, you make it.” ~Ansel Adams
(Actually I'm confused about this one…) I guess Ansel Adams was saying that a photographer can be the god of his compositions, his is the controller of everything. As the camera was in his hand, everything will be shot in the frame were under his domination.



#10 “All photographs are there to remind us of what we forget. In this - as in other ways - they are the opposite of paintings. Paintings record what the painter remembers. Because each one of us forgets different things, a photo more than a painting may change its meaning according to who is looking at it.” ~John Berger


I am definitely agree with this. Paintings always shows what the artist want and they are more subjective. Unlike paintings, the photograph are more objective and actual. Although as I said before the photographer is the controller of his frame, but everything is there already, they are what/who they are.