Kristen's Photo Journal: Lee Friedlander; The Narcisist

So I was browsing some of the photo books on the third floor. I really liked looking at the photos from earlier in the 20th century. I think mainly because right here and now we don't get to be in that moment. I like the photos capture a specific moment in time that most likley will never happen again. Even when I look back at my own digital photos from a year ago the appeal is capturing the moment and the feelings that that event creates. So I really like looking at old photos where the setting looks different and the people are strange and unlike people are today. Last year I think it was at the MOMA or some museum they had an exhibit of the very earliest photography from the mid-1800s and I loved looking at the people. It was kind of morbid, but to think that they are long dead and dust in the ground it was intesting to see that moment captured forever in time.

BUT anyways the photograhper's work that I choose to pick one picture was Lee Friedlander. The book I found of his was entirley of self portraits. So basically it was a book of himself, most of the time his head, or his shadow in conjunction with the rest of the scene. As I was flipping through the book I really couldn't help but laughing. Not that the pictures were particularly funny, or that this was a particularly funny man, it was just that this guy loved himself so much that he had to put himself in 50 plus photos. I get, self photography, by definition is a portrait of the photographer. But the majority of the photos was either his shadow intruding onto the otherwise seperate landscape/narration of the photo or it was his body, or just his head sort of randomly placed in the scene. And for some reason I just found that extremly funny. So since there are so many, and most of them whether I like them or not made me smile I decided to pick two, one I think works as a self portrait and one I think does not.

This photo in particular, while I think that some of his shadow pictures really worked, I really really just dislike. First of all, I am just going to say this is werid. Plain weird. I don't like how his shadow is on the woman's back. I think it looks creepy, and not in a good way because most of the time I am all for edgy creepy shadows. But for me this just doesn't work. I really like the idea, of the mystery and "why is he behind her, what's he going to do?" But I don't like how his shadow merges with her body. It creates a werid overlap that I don't think is visually pleasing (not that all photos have to be visually pleasing) but in this particular instance it just doesn't work. Other than that I love city photograph, and I love the street and the buildings and the noise of it all. I just can't stand his shadow on her back.

This photo, which was taken in 1969 I think really works. I like how it is almost two different photos. The line of the mirror divides the frame into two different equally important pieces. On one side you have Friedlander. Who is obviosuly taking the picture that we are looking at. What is intesting is that you usually can't see the photographer at the moment he is taking the picture. So I really like this dual frame thing he has going on. I also really like how his face is mostly covered by his hand and the camera. I think this combinded with the outline of the car behind him creates a really visually pleasing shot. On the other side of the frame you have a completley differnt scene of what seems to be a parking lot and some sort of religious/patriotic thing. It creates a totally different feeling than that of the other side of the frame. First of all it is much farther away than the left side. There are no people and it acts much like a landscape. I just think that over all the constrast of the two sides makes for a very intesting photo. One that would definatley catch the audience's eye. Beyond this It is just much more visually pleasing that the first photo, which I still despise.

But beyond liking or disliking a photo, the entire book together still makes me laugh. Some of the photos are just so ridiculous you ask your self WHY in the world did he do that. So I including some of the more ridiculous ones.