UT Football by Lauren Greenfield

As a fan of college football, I decided to look into Lauren Greenfield’s series “UT Football.” It is a series of images from the 2010 BCS Championship game between the University of Texas Longhorns, and the University of Alabama Crimson Tide, particularly during tailgating prior to the game. Ms. Greenfield shows a variety of ways people prep up for a game.

            This series of photographic images were taken prior to the 2010 BCS National Championship game, being held at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. It has a variety of people engaging in tailgating activities. There are UT students using a “beer bong.” There are pictures of families hanging out at their campers, wearing bright orange and white clothing, and faces painted. There are also several images featuring the “Texas Exes,” a group of alumni from the University of Texas.

            In each of the images, the aperture was likely very small, because the there is a very deep depth of field, with even the backgrounds being very sharp. The shutter speed was also a very fast one, as the image where the cheerleaders are doing their routine at the Texas Exes tailgate party, you can see their hair in motion.

            It seems that the purpose of this work is to show how different people engage in a common custom. At the Texas Exes tailgating, which Ms. Greenfield mentions is a private party, you see both men and women smoking cigars, as well as having the UT Marching Band perform. This party also featured a private concert by Lyle Lovett. This is contrasted by an image of other Longhorns fans at the Rose Bowl, but watching it on a TV since they were unable to get tickets. She even shows how limo drivers were watching the game on TV’s outside of the stadium. Other images show a family who had driven to Pasadena from Phoenix, with both father and son dressed in orange and white, with faces painted to match. To me the most memorable pictures were the ones of college students, using a beer bong and “shotgunning” cans of beer. There’s also an image where the students seem to be almost mocking the alumni by also puffing on cigars. There is one memorable image of an Alabama fan’s bus being toilet-papered by some Texas fans.

            I was able to find one additional interpretation of the work. The reviewer (who is not named) mentions the various ways people arrived at the game, from rented RV’s to million-dollar tour buses. From Ms. Greenfield’s website, it appears she was trying to capture the essence of what tailgating at a University of Texas game looks like. There are wealthy people there, with their extravagant jewelry and limousines. There are blue-collar guys, crushing beer cans on their foreheads. There are students making the most of their college experience.

            I believe this series did an excellent job of artistically expressing what tailgating at a college football game is. It is people getting together, who enjoy being around other likeminded people. Though they may express their support for their team in different ways, they are all there wanting to cheer on their favorite team.

UT Football 

Institute 

Final Project

Tessa B, Wooster

Emma B, Galion

Nathan B, Galion

Tory B, Wooster

Damien B, Galion

Traci F, Shelby

Michelle C, Galion

Brian B, Galion

Brad W, Shelby

Jill N, Mansfield

“People and Their Collections” is an attempt to show how a person’s personality can be expressed through the items they collect. I’ve attempted to show this through photographic images.

I’ve chosen to use a variety of subjects, from Shelby, Galion, Mansfield, and Wooster. The ages of the subjects range from age 5 up through age 51.

Another variable is seeing how collections change with age. From balls, to collectibles, the collections themselves varied as the people did.

Final Project Progress

Traci F., Shelby

Nathan B., Galion

Michelle C., Galion

This project involves portraits of people I know with the things they collect. At this point, the images have all been taken.
From here, I am considering printing out the images in black and white, and just pinning them to the gallery wall. I am still thinking color shots would be cool, but I am also very open to doing them in black and white.
I was originally going to print them out on a very large scale, but I am further considering printing them out in either 8x10 or 11x14.

People and their collections

I had spent some considerable time pondering what to have as an overreaching subject for this final project. As I was thinking, my son's Star Wars collection came to mind.It made me think how even our most seemingly insignificant possessions can tell us a lot about a person. It especially says something when the possessions serve no utilitarian purpose. The person has these specific item for the simple fact that it gives them a sense of pleasure.
After this series of thoughts, I came to the conclusion of doing a series of portraits of people I know, and the collection that best describes them. Each image will feature the person, along with the collection that best expresses who they are.

Ghostly Fiction

For this project, I decided to do the fiction aspect in camera, and avoid using Photoshop. I also wanted to do at least one assignment that featured my kids. The result was this collection of ghostly images of my 3 kids.

This project could also be utilized in a shutter speed assignment. By using a shutter speed range 2.5 seconds, up to 10 seconds, and by giving instructions to my kids, I was able to give the impression of an apparition-like appearance to my kids. These were taken in my new apartment, as we were unpacking and putting things away.

This was probably one of the more difficult assignments, because it involved a lot of trial and error. Some turned out great, while others showed either nothing, or solid people.

Plato's Cave

2) Susan Sontag makes the claim that while photography is "a way of certifying experience, taking photographs is also a way of refusing it- by limiting experience to a search for the photogenic, by converting experience into an image, a souvenir" (p. 9). She uses the example of travel to demonstrate this, people go on vacation, to "get away from it all," yet they feel they should be doing something. since they are not at their vocation, they take photographic images.
This definitely resonated with me. When go someplace, it seems I am using my camera, or at the very least, my cell phone, to capture images of the place or event. Whether visiting a location of natural beauty, a place of historical significance, or just being with friends and family, there is always someone using a camera to capture the memory of that moment in time. Even for this class, my camera has been with me at get-togethers with friends, as well as places where hardly a soul was around. But am I taking pictures to fulfill an assignment, capture a memory, or to fulfill the need to "do something."

3) Susan Sontag makes the statement "All photographs are memnto mori" (p. 15). When a photographic image is taken, we do so to freeze time. One reason for this is because we know our time is finite. We all have certain amount of time on earth. That is why we take photographs of our children during trick or treat, our families during holiday get-togethers, and those we vacation with. We know these people will not always be  with us, whether by death, or due to life circumstances. Photographs allow us to remember times together.
Additionally, moments are finite. Actually, finite is not a strong enough word. Moments are like a vapor, here, and then gone. Photographs have the ability to capture those ephemeral moments. There are two photographs in my personal life that remind me of this, and both very similar, taken about 18 months apart.  In both images I am actually wearing the same maroon shirt, In the first shot, I am holding my son, Nathan, when he was a few days old, and both father and son are fast asleep. In the second shot, wearing the same shirt, I am holding my days old daughter, Emma, and am in almost the same postition.
Photographs are a captured moment, which reminds us that our time is finite, and photographs help us freeze time.

Family Portraits?

     For this project, I wanted to show a slightly different take on the traditional family portrait. The images I have presented are those of an old friend and his family. I do want to give a bit of background on this family. Dan Weaver and I met at band camp our freshman year in the summer of 1989. I remember when he started talking about this girl he met during our senior year in 1993. that girl is his lovely wife, Barb, who he married in 1996. They're 5 boys are Joseph, Benjamin, Samuel, Lucas, and Nathan.

     I wanted to show that family portraits don't have to show a studio setting with properly coiffed and dressed children wearing smiles that are, more than likely, forced. I wanted to show a family that enjoyed being themselves. I wanted to demonstrate portraiture that gave better idea of who the Weavers are. Even though I took photographs that showed a more "traditional" family portrait, the ones I have posted are a better representation of this amazing family.

     This type of portraiture does have limitations. I think the biggest limitation would be that I'm not sure i could take these kind of photographs of someone I was not well-acquainted with. Conversely, being the subject of this type of portraiture would probably not work as well with someone the subject was not acquainted with. Something that this series does do is opens the door to a lot of improvisation. The picture of Barb jumping on Dan's back and of Dan and Joseph holding Lucas by his legs just happened on spur of the moment.