For this photograph, I went with the other interpretation of homage. Context is crucial to understand this choice, and recreation of photograph. I have vivid memories of when I was looking through my mom’s bookshelf when I was younger. With her being an architect, many of these books were art related, and with her also having impeccable artistic taste, I stumbled upon a Vivian Maier book. The cover was her iconic Girl in Car photograph. Without really knowing why, I grew a love for this image, and was inspired to develop my own love for photography. In highschool I took a film photography class, and got to work more with her photographs. This photo has a strong personal connection to me, as it represents my artistic journey. On the more technical side of things, having to accurately recreate a work gives you a new appreciation for it. I discovered new details that I had never noticed before. When shooting, I had to make sure I used precision on every level. The first key was getting the aspects of the model right. I made sure the hair was parted to the left, dainty rings were placed on the correct pinky and index fingers, and took many attempts to get the model’s face looking right. I had to tell her to, “stare into someone's soul, but look happy while doing it” and was able to get a result under that direction. Lastly, the framing was the most important part, asthe photo encapsulates the girl in the center, while still including some details of the car door and interior.
Alicia’s photography is all about capturing the reality of life. She often focused on the lives of marginalized communities. The original photo portrays Laundry hanging in the wind. These hanging sheets create a natural checkerboard pattern, as the contract brings out the stark blacks and whites of the image. I chose to capture my photo using inspiration rather than trying to directly recreate it. The work here provides a clear sense of emotion to the viewer, otherwise known as “emotional architecture.” The sheets create a meditation and balance of space and perception, as well as embracing modern design ideas. Through these elements, the photograph becomes an artwork completely ahead of its time. I still wanted to keep these artistic elements as well as d’Amico’s subject matter apparent through my photograph. I eventually decided to go to the Center for Performing Arts building, which is home to a fabric room. These fabrics are used to create costumes in plays, representative of many different cultures. I take both the industrial and cultural aspects of d’Amico’s photograph, while creating my own vision. I took a ladder, reaching as high as possible to shoot a bird's eye view of the fabrics in the bin. I kept repetition and pattern from the original photo in mind when shooting, but instead of capturing a checkerboard shape, decided to focus on the various circles created by the tops of the tubes. I also kept close attention to the lighting, angle, and black and white aspects from the original. To me, homage is about taking inspiration, rather than directly copying ideas.
For the third and final photograph in my homage assignment, I chose to take inspiration from Robert Frank, a Swiss-American photographer who traveled around the United States. His photographs were originally criticized for not being technically sound. They were often grainy, faded, and blurry, they did not conform to the times. He took interest in street photography, and capturing candid subjects. His work ranged from portraits to landscape, creating fascinating works from the mundane of everyday life. Over time, his photographic style became unique, and stood out against other photographers. Nowadays, Robert Frank has a cult following, as his photographs have become appreciated and even influenced much of modern photography. Being a fan of his work, I wanted to pay homage to him by trying to create a photo reminiscent of his signature style. The selected photograph frames a dark and gloomy London street. I replicated this gloomy appearance by going to a footpath tunnel on campus and shooting the area at dusk, with the only light coming from the entrance and exit. Much of the effect of this photograph came from edits in Adobe Lightroom. I first placed a black and white filter over the original, adding a small amount of film grain to add to the 1950’s look. I tilted the framing slightly to match the photographs, and shot up the contrast. I also added an increase to both the blacks and whites to drown out and darken some of the entering light, making the photo match the mysterious aesthetic.
