Jeffery Chacon

English

Blog#1

 The invention of the camera has really changed our perspective we get from images and and some may get different meanings from an image based on their past experiences or common knowledge. For example, Ai Weiwei’s picture of someone showing his middle finger at the white house. I feel like we are all entitled to our freedom of speech and in this picture that person is not harming or discriminating anyone so I feel like that the controversy that exists regarding that picture is irrelevant. For all we know it is a United States veteran showing his middle finger at the white house because he feels like his or her voice is not being listened to. Another reason why I am not offended because of this picture because In a way I relate a lot to this picture because of the Trump. I am not in agreement with most of his absurd ideas and racist comments he shares on national Television. Although I am aware that this picture was taken long before Trump was in office but this picture might have been directed at whoever was in office at the time of the picture maybe the American sticking out his middle finger was also not in agreement with the administration at the time because of the ways the president might have handled certain situations at the time. This shows how the invention of the camera has changed our lives and created a totally different language that creates a lot of controversy on social media and also shows how an image can mean many different things for different people.

Images often convey different meanings, the significance of an image is usually based on the spectator’s point of view, individual way of thinking or past experiences. Each person has their own unique way of seeing things. Therefore, two people observing the same work of art can have a completely different idea of the meaning that it holds behind it, this is called perspective.

Images are a way of transmitting a message without saying any words, they  also allow us to see historical paintings that we are unable to see personally, and as stated in the book in Episode 1 of  Ways of Seeing, images show us how things were in the past and how people once looked.

This image’s theme is perspective. It shows how the painter is drawing the egg as the way he sees it, which can differ from what others see. As stated before, people see things differently depending on certain factors, and what can be very clear to one might not be to others. This fits with the ideas described in Episode 1 of ways of seeing because John Beger states that “…our perception or appreciation of an image depends also upon our own way of seeing”. Based on this we can also say that although this image is about perspective, it can mean something different for someone else.

          In this image, I can see that there is an old lady sits on a wheelchair  and stays alone in a room. Besides, there are some flowers and a music player on the desk. In the picture, the old lady is smiling and raising her arm so that she can use light to make her shadow look like she is dancing. As we can see from the photo, she is really enjoying this moment. She knows that she is old. She can’t even stand up by herself. But in her mind, she believes that she can still be young again. Here, I can strongly feel that she really wants to change her situation and go back to her young age times so that she can dance again. Therefore, she uses her humor and optimistic attitude to against her life’s struggle. She likes flowers and music, desires to dance. On the other hand, she is also very creative like a child, because I never see a senior who likes to play with his or her shadow. The message from this image, I believe, is to keep optimistic in difficult situation. Don’t be afraid of being under the shadow, you know the light creates shadow. Don’t ever think your world is dark, you should know that your light is created by yourself. If you have a dream, you will never feel old because your heart is young.

This image is a photo of a sculpture I visited at the metropolitan museum. The message being conveyed is significant to slavery. Tools used for yard work and fields all linked together with chains. The sculpture was displayed in an area with very little light and the tools were rusted and old to show the time period, but also the hard labor these people were induced to. Through the photo alone you wouldn’t be able to see the texture or like I said the rusted look that would be able to be seen at the actual exhibit. The lack of detail not being shown in the image can ultimately change the overall message to the viewer. You don’t get the full effect that you would if you were right in front of the sculpture. Now that I’m looking back at the image it doesn’t have the same effect that it did a year ago. I feel like that would happen with a lot of artwork or sculptures over time it starts to lose value and less feeling or emotion that you once had when looking at images. The idea of being able to see things in a way that you weren’t taught and learned like Berger said leaves more room to have your own opinion and view towards the meaning of art. This allows room for more thought and change rather than seeing things the way everyone else perceive it.

In “ways of seeing” by John Berger, Berger said that we cannot perceive the same when we are watching a picture by a camera than when we go to a museum or church to see it. We cannot compare the feeling of what the painter want to transmit us by their work than what we can see through a video camera.

Even when a camera is a good invention that allow us to know places without traveling, it is not the same to know them in person. The feeling and reactions are different. For example when  I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) I could realize that most of the exhibitions were in the same mood, and this allowed me to saw the paintings in a different perspective than when I google it at my phone.

Another clear example of this are the social media, when we visit a profile of a person we see what she/he want to show to us, this mean that we cannot know for real the person that is using it. It can be fake or it can be only appearances. That is why i choose this tool to explain why social network are also a brief view of the reality of the person.

In this picture I can see a beautiful model, that travel a lot, always happy, with a lot of friends, she always seem to  like what she is doing.

In another hand, I dont know her, this is just my perspective about what can I see in her profile.Maybe people will think the opposite of me,  but that is how it works, one picture can bring different points of view.

Blog Post #1

A couple of months ago, I found a page related to children around the world while I was scrolling through my Facebook account. I saw a picture of an African kid who was starving to death. He was so skinny that his bones were clearly visible. He was sticking out his hand hoping to receive some food. His condition was so miserable that I couldn’t stop tears from coming down my cheeks. I felt so sad with the cruel reality. It left me with a thought that there are so many people around the world who waste food knowingly. On the other hand, there are thousands of kids in other parts of the world who are starving to death. I have many pages in my Facebook that post about food. I think that is why I immediately thought the child needed food. He also had no clothes or shoes. I am not sure if he even has any shelter. But because of all the food posts on my Facebook, my immediate thoughts were regarding his hunger.

In high school we went to the MET a lot. We were learning about world religions. The Burning of Sodom was one of the paintings we were going to see. I looked at it online on google images so I can get an idea of the painting and what we were going to be looking at. When I saw it, I didn’t see a lot of details on the picture or knew any information about it. I didn’t see no fire I assumed the painting was dark because it was old and the colors were washed out. The only thing that caught my attention was a man and his three daughters fleeing from someone or something. I didn’t know the reason why Sodom was burning. Then I saw the painting in person I notice how big it was and the details were more clear. The sky so dark and grey, the angel in the sky throwing fire, and one of the angel leading Lot and his two daughters away from everything that was happening in Sodom. That’s when I learn about Sodom and why the Angel was burning it. It’s better to understand a painting when you’re looking at it up close than just seeing a picture online. You can learn so much.