Movie Monday - The Photo League Answers

1.) What was The Photo League's credo?
The Photo League's credo was that social change could be achieved through documentary photography and emotional connection with the subject.

2.) What organization did The Photo League separate from?
The Photo league was separated from the Film and Photo League which broke up into the Photo League and Frontier Films.

3.) What was the workshop?
The workshop was a class taught by Sid Grossman as a part of the Photo League. These classes were crucial to the Photo League because the classes were affordable and offered to any photographer who had a working camera.

4.) Who taught "the workshop"?
Sid Grossman did.

5.)If you were to devote one year of your life to one project, what project is worth your time and energy?
If I were to devote one year of my life to one project I would like to document poverty in Africa.

6.)What was The Harlem Document?
A portrait of black urban America and the people, culture, and lifestyles of Harlem.

7.) Who started The Harlem Document?
Aaron Siskind started the Harlem Document from March 8, 2014 and carried it out until July 20, 2014.

8.) A photographer discusses a photograph where "the children looked like they came out of a __________ painting. Who was the painter?
Caravaggio.

9.) Why did the photograph mentioned in #8 look like it was by the painter?
The photograph looked like it was painted by Caravaggio because the boy in the photograph was illuminated by the sunshine and looked special. Many of Caravaggio's works are dark but have the main focus of the painting very well lit.

10.) Who was Lewis Hine? (name two significant contributions)
Lewis Hine was an American sociologist and photography. Hine used his camera as a tool for social reform. His photographs were instrumental in changing the child labor laws in the United States

11.) Who was Weegee?
Known as Weegee, Arthur Fellig was a photographer and photojournalist that was known for his stark black and white street photography.

12.) How did The League change when The Nazis took power?
When the Nazis took power, the Photo League received many talented refugee photographers who had escaped from Europe.

13.) How did The League change during WWII?
Photo league members used their cameras to support the war effort in America. Many female members of the League took over operations of the organization at home while many of the Photo League's men photographers were sent overseas with armed forces.

14.) How did Siskind change after WWII?
Aaron Siskind brought the concept of abstract expressionism to photography, a far cry from the sociological realism from the Harlem document. Siskind was criticized for his conversion to abstractness.

15.) What was the Saturday Evening post?
The Saturday Evening Post was a bimonthly American magazine that published weekly. Many of the photographs used in these magazine articles were taken by members of the Photo League.

16.) Who was Barbara Morgan? What did she photograph?
barbara Morgan was an American photographer best known for her depictions of modern dancers. She was a co-founder of the photography magazine, Aperture.

17.) What eventually undermined the Photo League?
Angela Calomiris an FBI informer testified that the Photo league journalists were supporters of Communism and the League as a whole was accused of being anti- American.

18.) What was the "Growing Menace" mentioned in the film?
The growing menace was the suspicion mounting on the League by the nation who questioned their ideas about society.

19.) Who agreed to serve as President when The League was under investigation?
Eugene Smith agreed to serve as President when the League was under investigation.

20.) What happened to the league?
The league disbanded in 1951

Poster Assignment

Period 4 Semester Final

1. My favorite photo is the first one in the slideshow. First off, I like the contrast of the bright missile against the dark sky. I also like the trails of smoke at different distances from the camera.Second, I like the overall darkness of the picture. It adds a sense of mystery to the scene, especially when it contrasts with the brightness of the missile.Third, I also like the  reflection of the light from the missle on the water.

2.The best photo is photo 6. First off, the photographer managed to capture the forward motion of the car perfectly, by blurring the background and bringing the car into very sharp focus.Second, the exposure on this picture is good, not too bright or too dark. Finally the contrast between the grey sky and brown sand is very explicit and well thought out.

3. My best work this semester is Inspired by a Master- Laszlo Moholy-Nagy . The first reason that this is the best work i have done because it has lots of photos in it. Another reason that I think this is my best work this semester is because we chose such a hard photographer and it was a fun challenge to try and copy his style, but we got it done. The third reason that this work was my best was because we had to work in a group to complete it, which is usually a good experience. Working in a group is fun and produces better results than working alone.

4. My 3 rule of composition are depth, reflections, and subject off-center.

5.

photo of Yuvraj

 This photo that I took represents 2 of my 3 rules of composition. The first rule that it obviously represents is having the subject off center. The second rule this represents is depth.


6. Your first rule of composition is to get closer.(to the subject)

7.Benefits of working in a group

• You can share the work.
• You can discuss ideas with others.
• You can get ideas from others.
• You can make friends.
• You can have fun.

8. Difficulties of working in a group

• Some people won't work.
• Some people won't discuss ideas.
• Some people will try to do everything and not leave work for others.
• Some people will become your enemies.
• Some people wont have fun.

9. My favorite work by someone else is this photo by Jacob Walter Period 4.

10. The photographer we studied was Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. Nagy contributed many things to the field of photography. Originally being a painter and an ardent supported of the Bauhaus style, Nagy eventually picked up photography and started taking pictures. Many of his pictures tend to have great depth and display mostly  geometric shaped structures such as rectangular buildings. Nagy's most important contribution to the photographing community was the opening of a school in Chicago called the institute of design. Although at first it does not seem like a design school could help photographers, it can help them. Knowing the elements of design can help one take better pictures that have a sense of structure and order in them.

11. Her most famous photograph is "Migrant Mother". The photo was taken in Nipomo, California. It was taken around  February or March of 1936. She was hired under the Farm Security Administration.

12. The founder of Life was Henry Luce. The first issue was published January 4, 1883.

13. He founded the venture Magnum Photos in 1947.

14. He took it  September 5, 1936 in Spain.

Album Cover

Masters of Photography Project Reflection

1. How do you think your project represents your work as a student?

I took the time and effort to first view many of Lazlo Moholy- Nagy's photos and then take pictures like them and edit them.

2. How has your understanding of photography changed during this school year?

I realize that photography is a lot more than just taking pictures. It is about capturing a story and history with one photograph instead of many words.

3. What are some of the benefits of working in a group?

You can share the work of finding good photos by the photographer. This was especially important as our photographer had not taken many interesting pictures.

4. What are some of the disadvantages of working in a group?

Some people will do less work than others.

5. Now that you have had more time to reflect, is there anything that you would have done differently with your recent project?

I would have started earlier and spent more time reviewing my pictures and editing them before publishing.

6. Is there anything else that you want to include? 

This was a fun project.

Inspired by a Master- Laszlo Moholy-Nagy

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy was a photographer who was active during the early 1900s to 1940s. He was located in Hungary. He was a strong advocate for the integration of technology and arts, which is why he took up photography, a combination of both. He is unique because he was both a painter and a photographer.

I chose this photographer because his photography style seemed very similar to my own. He liked to take photos of people from above, and liked framing subjects. His photos demonstrate lots of depth, one of my composition rules. His photos inspired mine by giving some structure and sense of correctness to my photos with his style. Over the course of this project, my pictures seemed to detract more from his original style, but I believe this is a good thing because I was taking the best parts of his style and incorporating them with my own.

Photo #1

Final:

Original: 

First I cropped the photo so it was somewhat tilted. Then I edited it to lower exposure and make the picture black and white

Inspired by this photo

Photo#2

Final:

Original: 

I edited by increasing the exposure and making it black and white.

Inspired by this photo

Photo#3

Final: 

Original: 

I cropped off extra parts from the bottom of the original picture and then make the picture black and white and increased exposure.

Inspired by this picture

Photo #4

Final:

Original

Edit for black and white

Photo #5

Final: 

Originial:

Edit for black and white

Second Portrait