Armando Merino's Art 240 Blog

      Color in photography has to be one of my favorite aspects when taking photos. The purpose of color in photography is to create a visually pleasing subject, illustrate a mood, and provide attention to the color overall. Color relies a lot upon light, allowing color to pop up more when light reflects on a subject, allowing it to stand out. Using color sparks creativity because color is something everyone sees and enjoys; using color gives pleasing vibes to things that aren't meant for it.     Color is a unique feature in photography; an example can be in dark sort of areas, color and light are heavily relied on. That's why I enjoy color in photography because I want to use any color light in dark areas to improve the subject's uniqueness; like in the photo above. Color photography does more than representing a subject; it also creates an impact or gives a feeling to a photo.     The photo above I took at home during Christmas, and I feel that it re...

  "The moment an emotion or fact is transformed into a photograph, it is no longer a fact but an opinion. There is no such thing as inaccuracy in a photograph. All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth."- Richard Avedon.     When I think of photography, I see it as a person capturing a moment in time that represents art and gives meaning. What Avedon states in his quote seems more of the opposite of what I first said, to a certain extent. Avedon states that there's inaccuracy in a photograph, meaning that a picture doesn't truly represent the subject it shows. Looking deeper into it, Richard Avedon is a portraiture photographer. As he takes photos of his subjects, the photograph is accurate because it captures a moment in which we can convey how we see it.      " The moment an emotion or fact is transformed into a photograph, it is no longer a fact but an opinion."  This line, what I believe, means that any photo that has meaning is, late...

      What I think of what a surrealistic photograph is I think of something that is imaginative or something that doesn't seem real. What's interesting about surrealism is that it tends to separate what's real and imagination, giving it a sense of dreaming.     The photo above illustrates very well what surrealism really is. What makes it surrealistic is up to others to interpret and let their imagination see what is happening. It is surrealistic because it looks like meteors falling down or maybe shows some sort of being approaching, like aliens of some sort from movies and tv shows. In reality, the photo is fireworks, affected by light exposure when the color flames disperse and create that sort of line when falling. It fulfills the purpose because we see something other than what we expect, making it unique and special.     This is what I believe surrealism does because it is the idea to illustrate imagination within something that's real. I also f...

  "I strongly believe in documentary photography, in taking pictures of real life. When I looked at the pictures from our photographers (he means other Magnum Photographers, A.R), there were some that were wonderful or clever compositions, but they emphasized the artistry in photography rather than telling the story. We didn’t put those pictures in this book. I don’t think they belong in this book because they do not serve its purpose, which is to bear witness. In a moment like this you must be very humble. When something like this happens, nothing you do can adequately respond to the monstrosity of the event." - Magnum Photographer Thomas Hoepker     The criticism of documentary photography is that people tend to believe that nothing is being solved by taking a picture of some tragic moment. Given the tragic event of 9/11, at that moment, there wasn't much to do but just watch. It is a catastrophic event that can't be changed at that moment. Thomas Hoepker explains t...

     Plato's Cave,  the first chapter, gives an overview of what photography truly is, being both art and its meaning to people.  Plato's Cave chapter lists many reasons why photography is so unique, with many purposes for its use, whether it is nostalgic or entertainment. As Susan Sontag says, "to collect photographs is to collect the world."      Sontag talks about its many purposes in photography, going from art to the use of gathering information in a photo. Some of its known purposes are to create nostalgia, people taking pictures of moments that truly have meaning and can last forever to them (Pg 11, paragraph 2). Other uses consist of entertainment, whether it is pornography or, in a sense, a piece of artwork. These are just some significant purposes that photography has. However, photography  also provides a negative aspect of how photography or a camera is used. Sontag explains how a camera can kill (hyperbole) since photographing p...