While I really do feel that I love photography because it is my favorite artistic medium to use for self expression, I still do enjoy using it for documentation of the milieu of my everyday life ( which this still may be considered another form of self expression). I stumbled upon these guys at a time of night that was too late ( or early) for most people, and in in such a drunken state of existence that I found oddly enjoyable. To me these images really brought back so many found memories shared with a group of friends that I don't see enough, but know that the friendships that I have with these individuals are irreplaceable, as well as perdurable .

Answers

Reason for choosing each image:
I would have to say what initially attracted me to the images created by these artists, is there  stylistic abilities as photographers; often times portraying certain scenes with very cinematic qualities.


Write what similarities you find in the two images, and what differences you can see:
Like stated above, I think they both encapsulate this very cinematic feeling, even though conceptually they differ quite a bit.In Prager's body of images, the photographs have such bold and dramatic colors, that are much different than Spano's pictures, obviously because his are all shot in black and white.Yet, despite these two big differences, both images still incorporate these drastic angles and very dramatic subject matter, as well as lighting. I think despite some big conceptual and aesthetic differences ( color compared to black and white), they both still achieve a very similar feel, even though though they are nearly 7o years apart in terms of when they were shot.

Micheal Spano- New york , 1940. http://www.laurencemillergallery.com/artist_spano.html

 

Despair. 2010-http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2010/newphotography/alex-prager/despair/ 

Alex Prager

Image is nothing- Malerie Marder

The words that are spoken through this image are incredibly immense and beautiful. Marder's image is capable of telling us so much, yet, so little at the same time ( if this makes sense). The sense of ambiguity and her ability to create an image that leaves so much visual information up to the viewer to explore is an aspect to her work that I feel I'm trying to explore, too. I've been completely enamored by this image for far too long now. It really is stunning. http://image-nothing.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/malerie_marder5.jpg

The Ohio Project (6)
1999
Fujiflex print
http://www.tonkonow.com/lee_projects_5.html

capturing the purest form of human emotion is something that is very hard to achieve( whether it be candidly done or not), however, in Nikki Lee's work I feel she has very adequately done so. While this is something that I'm trying to explore ( stylistically, much different) , I feel like her ability to do this is something I need to strive to get to. 

A Rural Boy In School Uniform, Fengxiang, Shaanxi Province From the series The Chinese Gelatin Silver Print 2000- LIu Zhang. 

 

One aspect that I believe I can find some sort of correlation between my work and Liu Zhang's work, is the quality of the unfamiliar( while this may be a bit far fetched because obviously she is from another country), but this element is something that i've been fascinated with in photography, and her work embodies this feeling.

I find the process of photography to be extremely cathartic and in this photograph I see nothing less. The way the figure seems completely unaware of the camera recording his presence and the sense of relaxation and almost ecstasy because of the way the light is falling on one, select part of his body, yet, the photograph still seems to be lost in this sense of disillusion; creating this feeling of ambiguity.

 

While this photo is more of a landscape photograph and usually something that I couldn't be interested in, I still found a visual draw mainly because of the fact that it is a landscape at night ( one we would traditionally see during the day).this is another test shot that I found oddly attractive.  

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machine and man v.s man and machine

Silencer, 2002. Urethane rubber, nylon. 36x 24 x 18 in. (91.4 x 61 x 45.7 cm). Colection of Dean Valentine and Amy Adelson http://www.whitney.org/www/2006biennial/artists.php?artist=Greely_Hannah
Hannah Greely's piece once again dwells on ways of redefining the normal, resembling all three other artist's concepts to an extent. 

http://www.whitney.org/www/2006biennial/artists.php?artist=Gibbons_Joe
 All three of these artist's work share the common concept of presenting their own realites in ways that defy normality;re-contextualizing an image in a way that completely transforms it. This is an idea that I have always been fascinated with and regularly try to incorporate into my own work .

http://www.whitney.org/www/2006biennial/artists.php?artist=Strassheim_Angela
Untitled (Father and Son), from the Left Behind series, 2004. Digital chromogenic color print, 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm). Collection of the artist; courtesy Marvelli Gallery, New York

 Strassheim's photograph is an image I believe that I feel a level of interconnection with, yet , at the same time there is this bifurcation, visually that occurs. This visual division allows for me to feel connected with the image, like stated before, but also almost adds this trite side of information, too. All of this makes for an image that visually attracts me, but also creates this slight bit of resentment because of the vapidity that is conveyed in certain parts of her image. This in the end creates a wonderfully balanced photograph that is very inspiring.