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There is a “rule” for how to read and appreciate this edition of Saus. The hole idea of this edition is based on the first article from Roland Barthes that tell us about the way we see and appreciate photography, it teaches us what we already know and do unconsciously, the two steps of looking at a photograph, the “studium” and “punctum”.
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Roland Barthes Roland GÊrard was a French literary theorist, philosopher, linguist, critic, and semiotician. Barthes’ ideas explored a diverse range of fields and he influenced the development of schools of theory includingstructuralism, semiotics, social theory, anthropology and post-structuralism.Roland Barthes was born on 12 November 1915 in the town of Cherbourg in Normandy. When Barthes was eleven, his family moved to Paris, though his attachment to his provincial roots would remain strong throughout his life. Barthes showed great promise as a student and spent the period from 1935 to 1939 at the Sorbonne, where he earned a license in classical letters. He was plagued by ill health throughout this period, suffering from tuberculosis, which often had to be treated in the isolation of sanatoria. His repeated physical breakdowns disrupted his academic career, affecting his studies and his ability to take qualifying examinations. It also kept him out of military service during World War II and, while being
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kept out of the major French universities meant that he had to travel a great deal for teaching positions, Barthes later professed an intentional avoidance of major degree-awarding universities, and also throughout his career. Barthes spent the early 1960s exploring the fields of semiology and structuralism, chairing various faculty positions around France, and continuing to produce more full-length studies.
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Roland Barthe’s book, Camera Lucida give us some of his ideas on what makes a photograph stand out. Barthes calls Studium “a kind of education that allows discovery of the operator”. It shows the intention of the photographer but we experience this intention in reverse as spectators; the photographer thinks of the idea (or intention) then present it photographically, the spectator then has to act in the opposite way, they see the photograph then have to interpretate it to see the ideas and intentions behind it. Culture is an important connotation within studium, as Barthes puts it “it is culturally that I participate in the figures, the faces, the gestures, the settings, the actions,”Barthes says that culture “is a contact arrived at between creators and consumers.” I think this cultural middle ground is extremely important in the way ideas are put across from photographer to spectator, two people from completely different cultures and got them to analyse the same photograph, chances are you will get two very different interpretations. Barthes cites journalistic photographs as good examples of studium, saying ‘I glance through them, I don’t recall them, no detail ever interrupts my reading; I am interested in them (as I am interested in the world) I do not love them.’ To summarise studium adds interest, but in the order of liking, not loving. I think it is punctum that is of real interest to photographers. Punctum is the second element to an image,, is an object or image that jumps out at the viewer within a photograph“that accident which pricks, bruises me.” Punctum can exist alongside studium, but disturbs it, creating an ‘element which rises from the scene’ and unitentially fills the whole image. Punctum is the rare detail that attracts you to an
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image, Barthes says ‘its mere presense changes my reading, that I am looking at a new photograph, marked in my eyes with a higher value.’ Clearly this second element is much more powerful and compelling to the spectator, changing the ‘like’ of studium to the love of an image. As a photographer an understanding of punctum could potentially allow me to make stronger images, although I feel that punctum needs that accidental quality about it to be most effective because it is so personal and could be different for everyone. Basically it could be anything, something that reminds you of your childhood, a sense of deja vu, an object of sentimental value, punctum is very personal and often different for everyone. Whereas studium is ultimately coded, the punctum is not which I feel relates to how the interest in studium is often in the deconstruction of the image, whereas for punctum it is that point of impact, which in itself may have meaning but wasn’t originally hidden within the images meaning. Punctum retains an ‘aberrant’ quality.
Roland Barthes’s discussion of death and photography in Camera Lucida has achieved canonical status, so I turned to his analysis in order to shed light on my experience of this particular image that was so weighted with death. I soon discovered that an image of Powell appears in Camera Lucida. It is not the same image that grabbed my attention, but a similar photograph taken at the same time. In this photograph, Powell is looking at the camera, the manacles that bind his hands are visible, but still the modernity of expression persists. Barthes was taken by the way that a photograph suggests both the “that-hasbeen” and the “this-will-die” aspects of a photographic subject. His most famous discussion of this dual gesture involved a photograph of his mother, which does not appear in the book. But a shot of Powell is used to illustrate a very similar point. It is captioned, “He is dead, and he is going to die …” The photograph simultaneously witnesses to three related realities. Powell was, he is no more, and in the moment captured by this photograph, he is on his way to death.
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Regarding the Powell photograph, Barthes writes, “The photograph is handsome, as is the boy: that is the studium. But the punctum is: he is going to die. I read at the same time: this will be and this has been; I observe with horror an anterior future of which death is the stake. By giving me the absolute past of the pose, the photograph tells me death in the future.” In my own experience, the studium was already the awareness of Powell’s impending death. The punctum was the modernity of Powell’s subjectivity. Still eager to account for the photograph’s effect, I turned from Barthes to historical sources that might shed light on the photographs.
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Theron Humphrey, you may not have
heard this name, but it’s possible you’ve seen his dog, Maddie, somewhere on a bookstore shelf. Humphrey’s book, Maddie on Things, features the coonhound poised in precarious positions all over the United States. Humphrey, a former commercial photographer, set off on the road in August 2011 to meet strangers and reconnect with his storytelling roots. A selection of photos from Maddie on Things is featured in the October 2013 issue of National Geographic. We asked Humphrey a few questions about everyday life and his Instagram feed, which has garnered over 330,000 followers and many avid fans.
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This Wild Idea Commissions Ray-Ban Maddie 19
SAUS: How has Instagram helped you share your work? Do you feel that the interactions on Instagram are valuable? THERON: What Instagram brought into my life was people, real folks. Folks with stories and passion and children and wives and vision. I’ve gotten to meet wonderful image makers all across the country pointing their cameras at what they love. Instagram will come and go but those friendships that were cultivated because of the platform are real and have lasting value.
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SAUS: Are the Instagrams you post straight from your phone or are they taken with your SLR? If iPhone pics, are you editing them in-phone as well? THERON: For two years my Instagram feed was iPhone only and that made a lot of sense. But Instagram has changed and evolved over the years. My take is that Instagram is a platform, not a camera. And cameras are just tools. Folks should use the tool they love. I did have a book published this year that is entirely iPhone 4 images, sort of wild to think about. I figure if I knew it would become a book, my photo instinct would be to use a fancy camera right? But I suppose that’s what made the project more whimsical. I was out there just snapping away on an iPhone 4. I do still edit on my phone. That feels important. To edit at the right scale. To connect to an image in your palm. Images have a different vibe on the phone than on a computer screen. My go-to editing app is VSCO. It’s some of the best mobile editing software I’ve come across. I love the app because it has non-destructive edits, plus the filters they offer can scale to be subtle, versus an Instagram Toaster filter that overruns an image.
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SAUS: Are you working on any projects that you’re not posting on Instagram? THERON: For sure! These days I’m shooting my second 50-state, yearlong documentary. It’s called Why We Rescue. I think of it as a salt-of-the-earth, honest, and straight shooting look into the lives of rad folks who have welcomed animals into their homes. I love creating and sharing work on the Web. Instagram is rad, ya know? Sharing a single image does have value. But on the Web you get to build a custom Website and curate a beautiful experience with multiple images and audio. That’s what’s awesome about creating custom Websites for long-term photo projects: The Website itself becomes a part of the work.
SAUS: Last question: Why does Maddie always look sleepy? THERON: Ha! Maddie has two personalities. She’s either super pumped about life and running around like a puppy or the laziest dog ever, who looks like Eeyore. I was drawn to her sleepy/sad dog face when I first met her, so that’s the story I like to share. I figured the world already has a lot of the “happy dog running on the beach” images, so I figured I’d tell a different story.
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Katerina Plotnicova
, a russian photographer created these mind-blowing photos using real live animals. While this seems very dangerous, the photos were taken with two professional animal trainers on-hand at all times. Just have a look at these stunningly beautiful photos.
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Oleg Oprisco
is a brilliantly talented photographer from Lviv, Ukraine, who creates stunning surreal images of elegant women in fairy-tale or dream-like settings. There’s one significant difference, however, that sets him apart from other artists who create similar work – Oprisco shoots using old-school film photography.
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The fact that he shoots with film means that everything you see in these photos had to be created that way – it couldn’t be done digitally. “I’ve found it ideal to do everything myself. I come up with a concept, create the clothing, choose the location and direct the hair and makeup,” Oprisco explained in an interview with Bored Panda. “Before shooting, I plan the overall color scheme. According to the chosen palette, I select clothes, props, location, etc, making sure that all of it plays within a single color range.” He uses Kiev 6C and Kiev 88 cameras with medium-format film and a variety of lenses. It’s clear that Oprisco is deeply passionate about his work. “Each of my photos is a scene from real life. That is the perfect source of inspiration for me as there is so much beauty to it.” Oprisco offered some inspiring advice for aspiring young photographers mixed in with some tough love as well. “Drop your job and shoot … if you feel that’s what you want,” he said. “Freedom, happiness, money… all will come after you let go and just shoot.”
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Ryan Schude, Los Angeles photographer, has been creating new photographic worlds by combining a mixture of humor, chaos, constructed environments, and ironic fun. Ryan is a photographer who does it all, producing commercial, stock, editorial, and fine art imagery and he’s a man of few words.
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Phoot Camp, 2012. Olivebridge, New York. Ryan Schude and Lauren Randolph
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Phoot Camp, 2010. Calabasas, California. Ryan Schude and Lauren Randolph
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* you can check them on instagram
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@moneal Michael O’Neal Photographer Convese campaing
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@pauloctavious Paul Octavious Photographer & Designer Matty On the Moon
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@withhearts Cory Staudacher Photographer
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@hirozzzz Hiroaki Fukuda Photographer
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@pketron Pei Ketron Photographer
@jayzombie Jessica Zollman Photographer & Designer
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