Photograph as Record of Performance

Thinking of ideas for my first project for Conceptual Strategies
titled "Photograph as Record of Performance"

It is to be based off of some of the readings we did in the book 'Conceptual Art' by Tony Godfrey where he talks about photography being a major form within the conceptual art movement because of its abilities to somewhat objectively record/document and event. We are to consider the actual truth behind and photograph and interpret that how we wish, I feel that the truth of the image is up to the photographer and I intend to play with that a bit in my project. I think letting the viewer feel that they almost know and understand what is going on in the image is important but to also tease them a little and make them question what they are looking at.

The project itself is very open to interpretation and we can use whatever methods and mediums we feel would fit with the project. We are to use photography as a device through which we can document an activity, performance, action, or phenomenon that would not exist outside this photographic record.

My first idea for this project was just me making and eating a sandwich and putting everything away afterwards... without seeing that picture you have no way of knowing or proving that I had a sandwich.
This idea is most likely not gonna be my project, but that's my start.
Any ideas or suggestions? Does this make you think of any work i could look at for inspiration?

Thanks
-S

More RAW editing

Thanks to the help of Mitch Elder, I am having better luck working with RAW images and putting them into AdobeBridge and then Photoshop. So far I am very pleased with the results thus far.
These are just a few pictures that I took today, it was far too beautiful to stay inside any more than I had to.
More from today to come!
-S

RAW files vs. JPEGs

Trying to figure out RAW files, the first one is a file shot in raw and edited in raw using photoshop CS2
and the other is a photoshop converted jpeg.

Any advice to give on editing RAW files?

-S

"In Plato's Cave" by Susan Sontag

I have started taking a class the University of Oregon called The Document, we are looking in-depth at photography and it's role in media and society today. It is a tool that has many uses and we are discussing the truthfulness and validity of these uses and reading many articles about the topic. I have decided to put a few quotes I find interesting from the readings here in hopes of getting others' opinions and sharing my thoughts.

"Photographs furnish evidence. Something we hear about, but doubt,
seems proven when we're shown a photograph of it." ("In Plato's Cave" by Susan Sontag)

The first thing that popped into my head upon reading this is the truthfulness of photography as a tool and a form of documentation. How true the image is to the actual even or scene is entirely up to the photographer. There is a certain amount of cropping, editing, changes in lighting and other alterations that can greatly effect the way the image appears when seen in its final form. For example, zooming in on a scene can cut out important things around the subject that help to bring context to the image. Take this image for example, you can read many things into this that may or may not be there. For some of you this is a picture of silly boys on Halloween, but for others, their mind can go completely else where.

"To photograph people is to violate them by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them, they can never have; it turns people into objects that can be symbolically possessed."
("In Plato's Cave" by Susan Sontag)

I put this quote in here because I find it interesting, I have never before heard of photography put in such a way. They speak about the photographer and about the camera as if they were a marksman with a gun.. I am not sure I entirely agree, I feel that as a photographer or an outsider at all you can capture a person in a way that shows them in a vulnerable place and show emotions they may not show often, but I do not feel that the camera and taking pictures objectifies the person. This thought parallels the idea of the camera taking a part of a person's soul with every image it captures. As a photographer i would like to believe that I am not stealing a person's soul or objectifying them, but I do believe that you play a certain role in that person's life by capturing their vulnerability and mortality.

How do these quotes make you feel?

What Tempts You? Brickfish

Happy Day

As of today, Ryan and I have been dating for 8 months
I can't wait to see what the future holds for us

I feel so lucky to have found someone who genuinely understands me and likes who I am
I am amazed every day at how wonderful our relationship is

"Find joy in everything you choose to do. Every job, relationship, home...
It's your responsibility to love it, or change it."
-Chuck Palahniuk

Things I love today:
baking
photography
sprinkles
scandalous tv shows