Multimodal Polyphony
Written by Anders Fagerjord, “Multimodal Polyphony” talks about how media has given us the opportunity to combine forms of writing and images all in one place, the internet.
This article examines National Geographic Magazine‘s cover of “The Way West“; a story covered in September, 2000 that was both an online article and a film. The film, is not a standard motion film, but a film of images that come with a story that has been recorded over the images. In this film, Fagerjord talks about how the techniques in this film are writing, images, speech, music and sound effects. All of these together engage the audience with extreme ease
The extreme ease that comes with partaking in such a media, comes with the fact that you dont have to read anything while listening. It’s simply that the audience has to be watching the pictures and listening at the script that is playing with the images. Static writing is chosen for this type of media for this exact reason
Zen of Listening
You throw a stone into a pond and you’re going to get a ripple effect.
ripple effect
This concept was used by scientists to help people understand how radio waves and signals work. I personally, love this example because it gives everyone a clear image of how exactly something like radio signals operate. Douglas tells us that the stone hits the water is the same as the radio signal; the ripples are the effect and those represent the radio waves; once the waves (both literally and figuratively, hit the shore that’s the end point or in other words, your radio receiver. Applying this concept with the different concepts of AM and FM radios, helps people try and understand (especially at the time of 1920s through the 1950s and 70s) how word can travel without anything in between visibly connecting the message to the receiver.
The example of the radio and it’s complexities, especially when it was first brought about, is an example of zen listening because it connects people with something that’s not physically there. Listening to the radio is an opportunity for people to connect with themselves or maybe to someone else simply through what is being played on the receiver.
In response to this article, I think it’s interesting how some of the topics that we have discussed prior to this are still applying hear when talking about the radio. The radio was once such a big deal and a way for people to still feel connected. Today, the radio is even beginning to go instinct. At least since I’ve been in college, I have noticed that certain applications such as Spotify have changed the way we listen to music or other things that enhance our feelings.
Slideshow
The Wedding Dress
After a couple gets engaged, usually the first thing on a lot of women’s minds is the dress. Dimitra’s Designs was kind enough to let me come in a take some photos to give you a sense of what the process may look like.
click here to see my slideshow!
Before and After Shots:
First look at the dress
I chose to edit this photo because I felt that it needed to be more representative of how a bride might feel the first time she is in a dress. I felt that it looked a little dull and this by no means is a dull moment. The lighting in the salon is not great for pictures – makes it easier to have strong rules for taking photos in dresses while shopping – so enhancing the colors and making it more realistic was my first goal.
The editing features applied to this photo from Photoshop include contrast, brightening of colors, and enhancing the colors.
Back of the dress
The detail in this gown, designed by Justin Alexander, is beautiful. The lace detail is throughout the entire dress and decided that a close up of the bodice and a closer picture of the back of the dress were important enough to enhance as well. Picking out a dress is a lot like planning the rest of your wedding: details, details, details. Sometimes that may mean your dress has less detail because your overall wedding theme is very simple, and then it can be the exact opposite.
detail in the bodice
The editing features applied in these two photos were very similar. I used the sharpening tool to enhance the intricacy of the lace throughout the gown and to show the eyelash affect that boarders the sweetheart neckline. enhancing the color and the lighting were both crucial in these pictures to get across the true feel when looking at the dress. For the bodice picture, I did feel the need to crop it in order to really focus on the detail.
The veil
Similarly to the images above, I chose to capture and edit the veil because I feel that it is not (to some people) something that is usually captured as often. In my opinion, the veil completes this look that this bride had going and I wanted the detail, but also the simplicity of the veil to be shown as well.
The editing features applied to this image was contrast. There was a semi-black background behind it, so I really wanted the veil to pop.
portrait
This image was just for the sake of getting a picture of her while all made up in a potential bridal look.
The editing features used on this image consisted of brightening of the skin, enhancing colors and contrasting the colors. I also used a brightening tool to brighten up her eyes and the healing/blemish tool to smooth out her skin – though not much needed to happen.
dimitra
dimitra, a set on Flickr.
The Meaning of Composition
Today our reading assignment is on a chapter from Reading Images, written by Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen. “The Meaning of Composition” talks about the importance of not only the representational and interactive elements of an image but of the composition of the whole image.
Composition, as I take it is the glue that keeps the other two elements together. Kress and Leeuwen explain it by saying that composition relate the two elements through interrelated systems:
1. Information values: “the placement of elements endows them with the specific informational values attached to various zones of the image: left and right, top and bottom, centre and margin”
2. Salience: “the elements are made to attract the viewer’s attention to different degrees, as realized by such factors as placement in the foreground or background, relative size, contrasts in tonal value, differences in sharpness, etc.”
3. Framing: “The presence or absence of framing devices disconnects or connects elements of the images, signifying that they belong or do not belong together in some sense.”
These three elements work together so we can have a full understand of the image in whatever context that it may be presented in.
I see a magazine spread as an example of this concept. All of the images and the text work together to create a meaning for the viewer that the viewer can then take and make their own meaning out of.
Just looking at this “Travel & Leisure” page, you see all three elements taking place within this spread. The placement (information) of these images tell the reader which ones are the most important. For example, the one of the restaurant in the top left corner is the largest and placed right at the top of where the article begins. The different sizes (salience) of the photos bring the reader to view the images at different times and in different ways while reading through the article or looking at the rest of the pictures. Lastly, the framing or the images. These images are essentially framing each other, signifying that they all belong together in some aspect.
Dictionary.com defines composition as “the act of combining parts or elements to form a whole; or the resulting state or product.” It’s important to recognize that Kress and van Leeuwen address the importants of this and display it throughout their writing and images used to explain this.
Viewers Make Meaning
Continuing with Sturken and Cartwright, they talk about the viewer and the importance of the placement of the photograph (or any media) in relation to what the viewer is doing. Now I would have said that instead of the viewer, the audience would be a better subject when studying the placement of media, but frankly I was using the wrong terminology and Cartwright and Sturken clear this up immediately.
A viewer is an individual who looks. 
An audience is a collective of lookers.
There are a few different aspects as to why it’s more important to look at the viewer rather than the audience. They talk about how the viewer reacts; whether or not it’s a personal photo or not, whether or not it’s being viewed in a public or private setting, and the context of the photo altogether. The idea is to move past the concept of interpellation and more into what specifically calls our to an individual viewer rather than trying to mold the viewers views in an audience.
Contrasting this exact point, interpellation can very well be used in order to make the individual viewer feel that the photograph (if in fact it holds a public purpose) is meant for him/her. Advertisements, as described by Cartwirght and Sturken, is a way that this can happen because advertisement companies strategically make the ad feel like it’s for you, even though there are millions of “you’s” seeing the same advertisement.
This Dove ad, may be a little different from what they are referring too, but I feel as if it applies to this situation. When Dove kicked off this campaign in 2004, I didn’t feel as if it were meant for me at all; I was eleven, and certainly didn’t think of myself as a woman by any means. Although, I did feel that it spoke to me indirectly. I was informed, although not originally mean for my eleven year-old mind, that I should and deserve to treat my skin right. Though not meant for someone my age, but the company was able to even make an eleven year-old think about it in terms of me. This is the meaning that is preferred by the producers but actually created by the viewers.
“Images, Power and Politics”
Maritsa Sturken and Lisa Cartwright propose in chapter one Images, Power, and Politics, pictures hold a lot of power to their audiences.
This is what I took out of this article and I think it’s because this holds very true to me. I get a lot, and I mean A LOT out of pictures and I feel that without them, our world and our connections would be lacking today.
While I feel more that images are a key source in memory, that memory can also be not so good, especially in regards to history. My first encounter with these kinds of photographs that Sturken and Cartwright are talking about, was with 9/11.
people looking and reacting to the attacks on 9/11
These photos are exactly what these writers are talking about with the power of a photograph, especially with history. This aspect of looking is almost something that we feel bad for doing, but we can’t help but do it. When it comes to events like 9/11 or like the murder scene mentioned in the reading, it’s interesting how the act of looking is always something with violence. Very rarely do we see anymore photographs of people looking at something extremely exciting that’s happy.
We have a history of this, as they state in the article, that we have a “fascination with violence…using images to expose the devastating aspects of violence.”
Another example of this, is one Sturken and Cartwright talk about: the murder of Emmett Till. This terrible story and the images that went along with it, only caused more people to look. The photo represents that troubles that African Americans were still going through and for what, in Emmett’s case, SUPPOSEDLY flirting with a white female. But, we as a hurt and shocked community, being the United States, couldn’t stop looking.
This idea of looking is correlates with representation and how what we put out there as photographs are a representation of the community and even what the community may or should be feeling.
For me, I am guilty of looking, like most of us; which means you could also say that I am guilty of assimilating with society because photographers and journalists put out these photographs that make us look. Whether it was the news or the magazines, I could not stop looking at what had been captured on this dreadful day, and when I first was old enough to hear this story, nothing I did kept me from further investing and looking at the tragic story. This is what kind of power photographs have over us.
Photographs, much like a lot of the digital media has become very political in regards to, a photograph always has something to do with some greater debate going on. This, for me, takes away from my original meaning of a photograph. It’s sad to think that this also is probably only going to increase.
Framed and Mounted
Written by David Rowe, Framed and Mounted: Sport Through the Photographic Eye talks about the importance of capturing those victorious moments that many fans and family adore.
gold medal match for treanor and walsh
Tommie Smith and John Carlos 1968 victory in Mexico
These photos have extreme impact, whether you were there and experienced, or are just seeing for the first time, the ability to capture these moments is truly amazing. The photographer’s job? Well that’s simple, to show the audience exactly what they want to see – the athlete. Rowe states that “the most important object in sports photography is sport’s prime instrument, the human body.” Like I said, this is what all of their fans and family, recruits, etc. want to see: their epic victory or moment captured forever.
This idea of capturing the victory, or maybe loss, is that it is frozen in time. The photographers take hundreds of shots during games in order to get that one shot that that they can edit and eventually be the cover of the newspaper or magazines. Similar to what I discussed last week, it’s still crucial for sports photographers to organize and choose the best photos that illustrate what happened in a particular event. It’s very important that the photograph be representative of not only the game, but of the article that describes the game for people who weren’t there. This can also be hard for some audiences because photographers and the journalists, may have a different view of the game than someone reading the article and viewing the picture. It just means, like a lot of other things, that the reader must find the journalist that portrays the best article and the best image for the game/article.
One thing that Rowe talks about is gender issues in sports photography. He explains that there is this issue of women athletes as being inactive or passive in sports photographs. I understand why he might say this, but couldn’t actually imagine one particular photograph that supports his example. So I came up with a few pictures. Venus Williams and Derek Jeter, both known for their respective sports and their victories, portrayed in here in one very inactive photo and one considered active.
Venus Williams
Derek Jeter
Obviously, we see a difference here. Jeter is clearly more active than Venus is and therefore Rowe’s point is seen as true. BUT what if I post this instead:
Jeter’s batting stance
This picture, in my opinion, is just as inactive as Venus’. Nothing is happening other than Jeter getting ready for the pitch. So, why is there still so much of a slant when it comes to women athletes? Couldn’t tell you because I’m sure a lot of male athletes would say that their women counterpart is just as good, maybe if not better. Society, still hasn’t parted from the whole concept that apparently men are better than women.
All in all, the sports photograph is not only important to the audience, but it’s important for the athlete who is featured in the photo. It’s purpose is to freeze the moment, whether good or bad, in time forever. Then we can experience that moment and all of the emotions of it over, and over again.
While we're Young 