COMD 2330 Digital Photography Fall 2015

This photo was taken by myself. The reason I love this photo so much is because the purple has that small pop of yellow internally that goes with the yellow of the first flower. Also, the well defined folds of the flowers and how the shadows give the petals a gradient goes perfectly with the dark background.

Maylee Acevedo
Digital Photography
COMD 2330
Fall 2015

Since this was my first time walking into the Patrick Faigenbaum at the Aperture Gallery, I wanted to pay attention to details. Along my journey I realized that it’s a heavily industrial area with many different galleries, art, photographical, and sculptures. I am sure if I continued down the road I would have encountered a lot more interesting places I would go back to visit. If you aren’t introduced to places like this then no one will ever know places like this excited. This semester has introduced me to many different elements of art and I’m looking forward to learning more.

The build of the Aperture Gallery is very big and modern like, nice brick walls with a large table with different events available if interested. You then enter an elevator, to the 4 floor, as you step out you are greeted by a young lady with a smile “If you have any question please ask; enjoy the exhibit”. The gallery was pretty quiet not many people around other than the workers and ironically a classmate. The physical space was very bright nice tall dividers painted white, with remarkable photographs Faigenbaum has taken of Kolkata. To the right of the elevator an introduction to Faigenbaum time in Kolkata and the history of the countries up comings were displayed to understand the feeling of these photos.

I notice many different styles in Patrick’s photos when it comes to the city of Kolkata he photographed in black and white to emphasize the age of the city not in years yet to show how things haven’t changed in the new millennium. This is the feeling I received in his art. He’s photographs also captures hard working individual from morning through into the night, capturing eye level viewpoints, close ups, bird-eye view, and many more of the important techniques in grasping the viewers’ attention by telling its story.
The photograph I choose and don’t get me wrong I had a hard time picking which one I enjoyed the most. This photo was taken at an eye-level it had strong diagonal lines from the clothes line to the shed covering the cow. The rules of third captured and important part of the images and it’s the only wet area visibly seen surrounding the working ladies.

This is a medium framing shot we have enough of the scene to tell its story. When I look hard at the image the colorful clothing the women are dressed in stands out, because of the breaking pattern from the beige tone in the background also the dryness of everything surrounding the well. This image shows the struggle everyone has just to provide water for their homes, it also shows the lack of rain they receive because of the emotional dryness it shows just by looking at the brightness the water brings to the center of image. This image shows sadness to the viewer’s eye yet the daily living of these women who may not know it any other way. I for one will look at this picture and be grateful for what I have.

I enjoyed the Aperture gallery and grateful I had the chance to see something new and exciting having an understanding of the story images can tell and the emotions you can feel just by using one of our most important senses and that’s sight without it would could not see the amazing moments captured.

Tristen Gonzalez

Digital Photography

Thursday 8pm

11/5/15

Exhibit Review

As you first enter the Patrick Faigenbaum: Kolkata/Calcutta exhibit you really don’t know what expect until you are greeted with a huge plaque explaining the type of photos that you will be seeing in this exhibit. For such a small exhibit I was impressed by how much open space there is. Each photo had enough space between them allowing you to focus and immerse yourself in the photo without getting distracted by the others. The kind of photos you see in this exhibit are based on the daily life of the Kolkata/Calcutta citizens. The photographer Patrick Faigenbaum “sought to avoid the image of India the eternal, the picturesque, while taking care not to promote the equally stereotypical idea of modernization”(Jean-Francois Chevrior). In other words his goal while taking these photos was to show that this part of India had its own visual appeal even without the modernization of Great Britain.

The subject matter of the exhibit was based on daily life and in somewhat poverty. The kind of people you see in these photos are ordinary citizens who are just trying to make a living or are just captured in the moment. You see a man who shines shoes, ladies who sell corn, butchers, sitarist players, chess players, and children. However we do not see any sort of luxurious objects or fancy scenery in these photos. Most of the photos are focused on the people that live in this colony rather than the background surrounding them.

The photo I liked most from this exhibit was the photo of the “Itinerant corn sellers in Baguihati, northeast Kolkata”. The reason I chose this photo was because I liked the way the black and white brings out so much emotion to the two ladies who are selling the corn. You can sense that they have a look of eagerness to sell their product. The buildings in the background create leading lines that lead to many other itinerant sellers. Which to me makes the photo seem more dramatic because the corn sellers have to compete with all those other sellers and implies that they have a long road ahead of them.

Overall this exhibit is about demonstrating the daily life of the Kolkata people. To me the photos do have an emotional impact because the expressions on the people faces show exhaustion but at the same time they are captured with a calm mood to them. In these photos, Faigenbaum is trying to convey to the viewer that the colony of Kolkata/Calcutta can be visually engaging too.

The Aperture Gallery presents Patrick Faigenbaum’s project for Kolkata/Calcutta. He is a French photographer, and an award winner in 2013. Upon entering the gallery on the 4th floor using the elevator, a desk will be on your left. The gallery offers a variation of books about photography, and on its white walls in black frames thirty-five photographs are presented to anyone who visit the gallery. There is enough space between each photograph to not get distract by the one that follows. Most walls have from one to four photographs that complement one another, or are similar in some ways. After going over them I noticed they have an Indian theme, then I learn that Faigenbaum focused on the former capital of the British Indian Empire. The photos are of historical sides of the city, and what seems to be the daily routine of those that live there. They also are self portraits, music theme, educational, religious, and food.

The subject matter of the exhibit, as said before, is the former capital of the British Indian Empire and its historical locations of in the city. We see Indian civilians doing what they do for living, or in a daily basis. In addiction we see Kolkata’s vivid features. We do not see any modernism in the photographs. Most photos were more of a countryside. I noticed the vehicles in the streets, and a couple of photos are black and white which suggests past days, old fashion.

One of the photographs that I liked was of this one boy and subject of the photograph. I like the techniques Faigenbaum used on this photo; a medium shot, shallow depth of field, with a slight use of leading lines and use of rule of thirds. This image is also balanced in contrast. Cars in the background suggests movement. I like how despite the boy’s hands being in front of his face, you can see his eyes in focus and sharp; unlike his hands that are slight blurred out.

All in all the exhibit was about the local culture of Kolkata. The subject are its people and their life. An artist which Faigenbaum was inspired by, as said in the website. As well as the historical places of the city that once was the capital of the British Indian Empire. I think there is an emotional impact when observing these photographs, especially the ones in black and white. However, they all have an impact depending on how we look at them. It communicates unity, culture, religion, art, as well as life in Kolkata, India.

Salvador Garcia Sanchez

Professor Michals

Digital Photography

November 05, 2015

Exhibit Review

     I went to see Patrick Faigenbaum: Kolkata/Calcutta Aperture Gallery. It was an interesting gallery located on the 4th floor of 547 W 27st NYC. The gallery was a decent sized place with pictures all over the walls and it had its own book store. The building was kinda old because you would hear the floors creek and see the windows were very old fashion and not modern. The walls were painted painted white and the lights were din. Most photos where huge and there was a lot of walk space. There was about thirty photographs and the entrance was free so there is no need to pay to view the gallery

When I was walking around the gallery, I saw that most of the images had to do with people who lived in a poverty life style. Most of the photographs showed the obstacles the people faced and how they were still happy with how they were. Most people were skin colored and each image had like a narrative behind the photograph. We don’t see modern technology in the photos and we don’t see people fully dressed which shows how people are facing troubles. Although they lived in poverty, they were still smiling and they were accustomed to their life style.

One of the photographs that caught my attention the most was “In front of a bust of Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). The picture was taken in Kestopur, Northwest Kolkata in July 2014. The photo is an eye level level shot and is also a medium shot where the photograph is taken a little distanced. The photograph uses frame with in a frame where you can see the trees in the back frame and the entrance also creates a frame for the children sitting down. The photograph also uses the rule of thirds. The photograph caught my attention because although the kids live in a poverty life style, they have a smile on their face. The photograph has like a narrative behind it.

I found the exhibit very interesting because of the narrative behind the photographs and the impact it has on you. The photograph communicates that although they live in poverty, they are still happy with their lives with the smile they have on their faces. You can see that they go through daily struggles but they manage to overcome them and find peace within their lives. You can’t always judge a book by its cover also because you don’t know what the people are going through.

-Jesenia E. Oquendo

Walking up the white stairs to enter the exhibit, “In and Out of the Studio: Photographic Portraits from West Africa,” the light shines upon a summary located in front of the hall. The dull, yellow wall behind the text catches the eye of the viewer against the bare white cube that the viewer has to walk into. The person who curated this exhibit definitely used a lot of white space. The photographs are very miniscule compared to the size of the room. The mood that I get off the exhibit is dull and quite boring. In order to get a good feel of the exhibit, you have to walk up close to the wall and closely look at the photographs. Along the walls, the photographs are split into different divisions such as group portraits in rural communities and expand all the way to self-portraits.

Going as far as portraits from West Africa within the 1870’s up until the 1970’s, a century of portraits are chronicled within the exhibit. Along with portraits, photo postcards and even negatives are displayed on the walls. When looking at the faces of the individuals, I tend to notice that none of the people appear to be smiling. Everyone tends to be still and in an upright position, within eye level. The picture definitely gives off that balanced/symmetrical look. Many of the men are dressed in their best suits as well. I’m not too sure if it was purposely placed that way in the exhibit but the photographs start off with portrait photography of the upper class and the further in I walked in the exhibit, it seems like a more lower class society were being portrayed in the images.

Alex Agbaglo Acolatse’s art piece entitled Group portrait, took the photograph that was most appealing to my eye within the exhibit. The original photograph was very interesting to look at but what caught my eye more was the glass negative. Within the photo, he is photographing upper class men outdoors in front of a backdrop giving that figure to ground feel. The photo is definitely lightened up in the top part of the image and then the lower it gets, the more you see the contrast getting to the foreground. There definitely is a consistent strong, horizontal line, especially in the background where the large painting behind the men is standing at and the vertical lines on the left hand side of the image where the man appears to be holding a cane.

As a whole, the exhibit gives off a very dull feeling to me and maybe it is because of the amount of open space that it holds. White space is always good and maybe it would be easier to keep your attention on one photograph but because the photos are so minuscule, there is no variety in size so everything is so balanced and the same. The exhibit communicates the practice of adapting new technology and following the tradition of portraiture.