Response To Darren's Work

This response is being posted on behalf of Ryan due to technical difficulties

In looking at Darren's images the first thing that caught my eye was the contrast of the black borders to the actual images. With images being behind glass I could see myself easily in the image from the mirror effect. Every image was horizontal in a vertical frame which I also found very interesting. With the size of each image I had to lean in to view the detail of the photograph which made my reflection even more apparent, asking the question of where I belong in this subject matter? I don't know what types of frames Darren is thinking of using for this work but glass with no type of frame dedge is something I really liked. In that, most frames that I see around images these days really deter from the image, even if a simple black frame was used with this work the image would become a frame within a frame. The subject matter in these images frame themselves and adding another frame I think would take away from the work. By not having a frame and using the glass also allows myself to easily go from one caption to another.

            The captions flowed really well together I don't remember from class if Darren arranged these images in any particular order. There were only a couple of miss spellings from what I saw but that can be fixed up quick. I was more interested in the use of text and what font was used. Through the use of white text and the black and white imagery the overall group of photographs had an editorial feel, also by having them laid out in a single row made them look like the were getting ready to go to print in the morning newspaper. Although, I became in thralled with Darren's use of the blind field not only in the images but in the use of the text.

            The last photograph in the row the text read something about a monument being out of the actual frame of the photograph. This was the first photograph that I viewed during the critique and left myself in a little bit of wonderment. This wonderment though left me wanting to go to the next image very quickly. I'm not sure if this was a good thing or bad thing because I don't remember the image that well except for there was a tent in it. I believe this to be one of the difficulties of using text with photographs. People always seem to gravitate towards one or the other, so they both have to work on a give and take system. The other image that I remember the most was some where in the middle of the row and the people on both sides of the photograph where almost out of the frame. A man was walking out of frame with a cell phone to his ear and he was an older gentleman. I thought this one spoke to more of what of is going in that moment and what is happing outside of the frame itself, like we are missing what is really going on or that we should be hearing what is going on.

            With regards to the future of Darren's project I want to see more use of the blind field not only in the use of imagery but also with text. I looked for several resources to help Darren to further his project and the only one that applies that I have is a book called “Porn Studies” by Linda Williams. This book is actually written by her graduate students and in this book there is an essay on Andy Warhol's movie “Blow Job”. It is all about the use of the blind field. I have this book also if anybody would want to barrow it or I can scan the article as well.