Photographic Criticism: Richard Avedon a case study
1. Read the section "Defining Criticism". After reading, what are your thought about criticisms role in art?
2. Read the section "Kinds of Criticism". Explain the difference between Exploratory and argumentative criticism. 3. Read "Describing Photographs: Defining Description". When writing or talking about a photograph what are the three things that should be included? 4. Read "Describing Form". What are some formal design elements that can be described? 5. Read "Comparing and Contrasting" Look up one off the other photographers mentioned. Post and image and describe the comparison you see in the photos to the ones in the gallery above. |
1. It’s more than an act of judgement, it helps to describe, interpret, evaluate, and theorize photographs.
2. Exploratory criticism describes the photo and it’s meaning, trying to give the reader a full and complete understanding of the image. Argumentative criticism discusses the positives and negatives of the image as a whole. 3. When writing or talking about a photograph, a description (or observation), interpretation, and judgement must be included. 4. form is the shape of content, and some of the formal elements are: dot, line, shape, light and value, color, texture, mass, space, and volume. Some other formal elements that are identified for photographs include black and white tonal range; subject contrast; film contrast; negative contrast; paper contrast; film formal; and point of view. |
5. The photograph shown, taken by Edward Curtis is of a native american. It is similar to Richard Avedon's work because they are both portraits, displaying someone in their own clothes and shows a story of their life through their outfit. Edward Curtis's photo shows and depicts what an average native american looks like while Richard Avedon's photo shows what this boy's everyday life is like in an american home/farm/desert. Each are simple yet tell a story.
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How to give Constructive Critique
1. What are the two main ideas of "What is a critique"?
2. What is the minimum length a critique requires? 3. What are the three elements that go into a constructive critique? What are a few questions that resonate with you and why? 4. When delivering a critique “sandwich” what are the 4 elements? 5. What are things to consider in the difference between an online critique and a face to face critique? |
Formal Photo Critique
[President Lincoln, United States Headquarters, Army of the Potomac, near Antietam]
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1. Describe the Photograph:
The photograph is of Abraham Lincoln and two other men flanking his sides, standing in front of some sort of camp. One man seems to be dressed as a general while the other looks to be dressed normally. There seem to be other men at the camp behind them, but our not as well dressed as the front three. They appear to me in some kind of forest due to the many trees around them. There is some trash in the background and there are a few things hanging in the trees. The photo was taken during the civil war. 2. Reflect/ Interpret the Photograph: The two men are saluting Abraham Lincoln after the battle. They are looking to him to act after this "win" for the Union. They have done there part and now it is time for Lincoln to do his and release the emancipation proclamation. 3. Formal art elements are used in the Photograph: The photo uses a few different formal elements. We can see it uses shallow depth of field which you can tell from the blurred background behind the tent. The photo also uses symmetry, a line cuts down the middle where Abraham Lincoln stands and creates symmetry. Lastly, it uses leading lines. The tent cable leads us directly towards Abraham Lincoln(the focal point) and the two men's stares point towards him as well, directing the attention to him. |