Lee Friedlander

I took a trip to the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. after finding out that the National Gallery of Art DID NOT have anything on exhibit having to do with photography.  I was disappointed at first but once I made the 4 block walk, I was stunned by what I had walked into.  The first floor was holding an exhibit on portraits taken by Ryan McGinley, Katy Grannan, and Martin Schoeller, and a few other photographers.  At first I was caught by surprise at the works by McGinley and Schoeller, but realized I had to stay focused and search for other works to write on.  After walking through most of the gallery, I ran into a series of works entitled "The American Monument" by Lee Friedlander.  At first I didn't really understand what I was looking at.  It just seemed like he had just taken photos of random street scenes.  I wasn't impressed but as soon as I read what the series was about, I was able to understand what his motive was.  His intentions were to capture different monuments of American history through out the country.  Some were pretty obvious.  Just a straight shot and nothing really amazing about in my opinion.  But then there were some images that seemed more like a "hide and seek" game.  It turned into a set of photos of the city taken in the 1970's with the monument immersed in the image as if you weren't meant to actually pay any attention to it.  The series, for me, completely turned itself over.  The images began to capture more than just the monuments, but also the era that they were taken in.  Your eye began to take in the old cars and clothing styles that were once considered a high point in that time, but are now a thing of the past.  Regardless of distractions, Friedlander was able to stay on track and continue the goal that he was trying to reach with the monuments.  I've said before that I a fan of black and white photography, but even more so of black and white photography from the past... way back.  I am not sure if everyone would actually enjoy this series, but I can guarantee that they would enjoy the rest of the gallery and what it has to offer.  One big plus about the gallery was the Presidential portrait gallery.  If you want a surreal experience back in time, then this gallery will do it.

Favorite 19th century photo

This past weekend I took a trip to the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. My interest was to see an exhibit they had based on portraits taken by Martin Schoeller and other photographers. Martin Schoeller is famous for up close photos of famous individuals such as Jack Nicolson, Angelina Jolie, and Barack Obama to mention a few. After viewing the images I made my way to the presedential portriats. On the way there I noticed the Lincoln section that had photographs of Lincoln and his funeral. The quality was great for its time and even better when enlarged. Of the photographs available to see, there was one image that really stuck in my mind, which was the funeral procession and the lines of people waiting to walk by his casket to pay they're final respects. For no reason what so ever I always thought that this sort of thing first started when J.F.K. was laid to rest. I guess it's because of the fact that the news of Kennedy's death reached so many people at the same time that it gave everyone the chance to attend the final viewing. As opposed to a time that when Lincoln was shot, news spread around slower and left many little time to prepare for such a tragedy. Aside from that, I am sure that the photographer might have had a little more than enough time to capture this image. I am only saying this because of the fact that waiting lines for this sort of occasion don't move as fast as one would think, letting the exposure capture what the photographer saw. I personally love black and white photography. I prefer it over color on many levels. Don't get me wrong, I agree that color photography would be more sutable for other projects, but the human eye can easily get distracted and lose focus of what you want the viewer to see. Lincolns funeral and as well as others, are better shot with black and white, in my opinion, just because it brings out the feeling of what is going and what people are feeling inside. I could look at this image all day and be amazed by it and finally call it a beautiful photo. My eye would look around and always find something new. The buildings, the clothing, the dirt roads. It's all so old yet new to me because I can't imagine living in that world without what surrounds me today.