Culinary 1-Salad Week
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homework #5 Walker Evans
I think Evan Clandestine approach to photography was very clever yet sneaky. He had not only an eye for art in photography, he also had an eye to be a spy. He got up close and personal pictures of people that were fully unaware that they were getting their pictures taken. I will also say that he was brave to take such risk and very skilled to not get caught. He was creative to have thought a picture that was off guard would become a success.He also teamed with Helen Levitt who is known for taking daily routine pictures and making perfect art. Other than his skill in taking great pictures in the subway, he also has a lot of great pictures of people that did not have such a great life. He shed light on the lifestyles of families that did not have an easy life. I think one of the most common expression of todays’s riders that are similar to the riders’ expression during depression is that everyone sat or stood on the subway phased out and minding their own business. They looked unbothered and some looked tired or seem like they had a lot to carry on for the day. Not much has changed, everyone has the same attitude today on the subway. On their way to and from their journey or on their way home, everyone is just ready to get off to the next stop. People use either a newspaper, book,gadgets and tablets, or music to keep them occupied as they wait. I am sure if Walker Evan attempts his same approach today there will be no difference in the way the riders’ look.
homework #6
Breakfast Trini-Style ( fried bakes, sautéd sausages, porridge, fruit)
Breakfast is my favorite meal!! I am always excited to prepare and consume it. Some say it is the most important meal of the day and I could not disagree because it is my most important meal of the day. I was raised in Trinidad and we were taught as children that the word “break” in breakfast meant to break the fast after sleeping at night. Hence the reason we were forced to drink a hot beverage. Perhaps it was a crime to have a cold drink.I remember hearing ” At this time you are drinking that cold drink, go put something hot on your stomach”. There is no one that I know, that was raised in the Caribbean and can not relate to my story. However, as I am currently residing in the U.S I learnt that breakfast is anything you can grab and go to eat on the way. Not only is it convenient for when in a rush, but it also fuels you enough to be energized and not too lazy to work. I personally hate it. I like having a full breakfast with all the nutrients that the body needs, which are proteins, carbohydrates,fat, vitamins and minerals, water and fiber. Unfortunately, I understand on a busy schedule this can be more of a disadvantage. Although I think your breakfast has to complement your lifestyle, on the other hand I do think the American version of breakfast is too sugary. Lucky charms? Cinnamon toast?, I eat those as a snack, I do not believe that can sustain anyone for a period of time. I can go on and on about this topic but I just have to end with the fact that I dont think there should be a guideline on how one should eat and what should a person eat for breakfast. As long as it provides the essentials needed to complete your daily task and at the same time maintains your health, feel free to be adventurous with your choices.
homework #8
After reading the biography of Robert Capa it confused me a little on whether to believe if it was staged or not because there was a lot of allegations based on that very famous picture taken during the Spanish Civil War. It confused my judgement because I have watched other pictures taken by Robert Capa and they seem authentic to me. However, after looking at both pictures in the article I questioned the authenticity of the picture. It looked staged because the picture beside Capa’s looked like someone that was in a war because of the grime and dirt on his clothing. The man had no control of his body judging from the the way it is thrown. Even his face looked like he was in pain or surprised by the hit. Then I looked at Caps’s photo and the man’s clothing looked at little too clean as if he had a change of clothes at war, and his body did not seem like it had received an unexpected hit. Because of my inability to decide whether Capa’s picture was fake or not right away, I do think authenticity matters because it helps to avoid all the accusations and alleged rumors. If one uses an original to duplicate or as inspiration to create something new I think it is okay, but if you are claiming something to be your own and especially to the public, I think they deserve to know the truth.
homework #7
Food Photography today is very common and easy to some of us that are highly skilled, down to some that what we may call a novice. I think from a professional aspect of driving sales, is the only thing that separates photography for marketing from photography for art. They both may involve editing to perfect the end result depending on the intent. Apart from that they both need each to be as successful or outstanding. The form of art will naturally drive sales or awareness, therefore I do not see much of their differences. As far as I see it, it is an art to be able to properly market anything, period. Just like the young girls that invented New Fork city, I doubt that they had a lot of marketing skills or even studied art as a major. It took very little knowledge and experience. All they used was an idea, and because of their love for food or taking pictures of food, made it easy to express through pictures.To conclude, I do not prefer photography for marketing over photography for art because to me they both represent an expression of how one feels and how we envision food.
Homework #7 Art v. Capitalization
In the past few years, Instagram has surpassed Facebook, myspace, and twitter in user popularity. That being said, its only natural for us Americans to find ways to capitalize on it. With a substantial amount of followers on Instagram, a user can be quite influential in starting trends or simply promoting things. People with followers reaching the thousands have used their influence to promote beauty and dietary products, clothes, services, and most of all, food. Posting a good photo is all a user really needs to do to advertise a restaurant to thousands of people.
I’ve generally relied on Yelp for restaurant reviews and recommendations but more and more i find myself looking at foodie blogs to find interesting places to dine around NYC. Somehow on Instagram the lighting is always just right, the plates are always neatly set up and the photos are always perfect. That is what you call a photo taken for advertisement.
A picture of food taken for art can really be anything. It can be a photo meant to look appetizing but it can be focusing on shapes, abstraction, textures and so on. Our egg project was clearly an art project. We took pictures of eggs not to make anyone want to eat an egg, rather to have that egg represent something more than just food.
Homework #7 Food Photography for Art vs Food Photography for Marketing
Food photography for art is more manipulative than food photography for marketing. What i mean by this is that when the photography is for art it can be made to be whatever the photographer wants it to be while photography for marketing is more of a “by the book” type of photography. Art photography can be made to look ugly, messy, and beautiful all in the same shot. Food photography for marketing is more of the pretty flawless picture that we’re all mostly used to. We can all be food art photographers all you need is a phone with a decent camera, a social network like Instagram, Facebook, or twitter, a few bucks for lunch and voila! A lot of people take their food photography seriously and even make a living of it. Martin Parr was a realistic photographer when it came down to his food photography. A lot of people now a days are getting paid to make restaurants look good and to paint the pretty picture to bring it clientele. Absolutely nothing wrong with either. However because we’re used to everything being photographed without flaws and made to be seen as edible we tend to forget that nothing and no one is perfect. For example when we see a commercial for McDonald’s and see a cheeseburger that looks pretty darn good and when it comes down to it the item looks nothing like the picture of commercial. McDonald’s and other commercialized franchises do the exact same thing. Martin Parr shows the good, the bad, and the imperfect which more people should appreciate. I mean why wouldn’t you? Because it isn’t beautiful? There is beauty in everything. I do not prefer one or the other but a less manipulated and raw/uncensored approach would be more appreciated. Yes, i like my food to look nice and be presented lovely but if it looks perfect on a picture and not perfect on my plate you are selling me dreams! Be about it!
Homework #7
Instagram is the best social media for any kind of advertising. For example, food photography and food photographers are so popular in these days. After reading the Wall Street Journal article, it’s very easy to understand that Instagram is a media portal that people want to make a business in there. However, I am an Instagrammer for almost 4 years. It’s @newyorkerdem I have worked for many companies but the biggest one was, I had an opportunity to work with NYC government for advertising of NYC. Some of my friends who take food photos, they became so much popular, I will give some accounts that you can look their food photos, it is like an art @carissa_burton , @acupofkeen , @rach.esq , @ezgipolat @zynp . These photographers are so talented and they are the best on their job. They usually charge per post like regular Instagrammers. It starts around $150 to goes up to $500 and once they post their images, new people start to follow company’s account and visit the store. Therefore, they do kind of marketing. I hope this would not finish. Otherwise, all these beautiful accounts will disappear.
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Homework#7 Instagram is art?
After reading the Wall Street Journal article it was clear to me that Instagram and technology went on to a whole new level and that level is art. It was interesting to me to see how people from Instagram can make a business off of taking pictures of food as well take there picture just like professional. From art back in the day to photography that’s taken every single day by normal people who aren’t artist show a little of art in each picture. However art isn’t the same type of art it use to be since technology grew and creativity isn’t used that much since your hi tech editing app on your phone can do all the work for you. It is also amazing to see that Instagram picture that are taken of food are considering to be marketable where they become reviews for restaurants where owner of restaurants would pay the instagrammer to come and try there food for free just for a review and there picture being taken because of the amount of follower and attraction that this person has on there Instagram. However I prefer more of the old school art instead of the art that is consider amazing now. After seeing the gallery of art of photo taken by Martin Parr I’ve seen which one would be consider art to me and it would be Martin Parr since the picture that are taken by Parr were photograph that had more of a meaning to them where the effort was being shown instead of just taking a normal photograph of food and filtering it Matt Pars had a different idea of creativity. I would prefer art anyday before marketing since it is a sense of pride and dedication and also effort that was being made when these photo are taken instead of marketing the meaning to it isn’t for the art it is for the money.
Homework #7
Instagram has become one of the easiest ways to get thoughts out. Using it to publicize a restaurant, person or a particular place is just as simple. We eat with our eyes and that’s something we all know. Knowing that a “regular” person liked this meal so much they had to post it and share their thoughts means a lot to some people. When you look at an ad from McDonalds on their Big Mac sandwich, it looks good, but you know when you go there it’s all smushed and looks nothing like how it’s advertised. It’s a lot more comforting to go off a person that is taking pictures of an experience, opposed to someone that it is their job to make it look good or artistic.
