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Author Archives: mbehshid
I used a film camera and unfortunately, I can’t show my progress because my film is being processed now. My family and I went to Antelope Valley and I captured a lot of photos there. Since I can’t show the photos I took, here are some photos that my mom took. (=
Michelle’s Final Project Proposal
For this final project, I originally wanted to make a collection of photos extending the project I did called Invisible and using different materials to represent the Coronavirus. Since spending time with family, I realized I missed out on a lot of memories. I actually left my home and family to go to boarding school when I was 15 and I sacrificed a lot of family time. Now for this project, I decided I want to capture and highlight my family and the memories I am making with them during this time. I feel like I am getting to know them all over again. I really have been trying to take in every moment at home. I have already shot five rolls of film: one b&w and the rest color. I have been constantly taking photos and the camera has been basically glued to me. The rolls have been sent to the place by house and I will hopefully get my printed photos and film rolls back by Thursday. All of the printed photos are going to be on 4 by 6 in paper. I chose the printed photos to be on fuji matte paper because that is what the place recommended and researching online I found that I personally like fuji matte better than kodak matte.
I first thought it would be nice if I made my own type of scrap book/photo album, but since I have changed the direction of my project, I decided to make a blurb book. Throughout each memory that I have made with my family during this time, I consistently journaled and wrote down the songs that were playing in the background of the car rides or in the house. I really want to include this in the blurb book because I feel like it completes the whole moment. Some photos I definitely want to edit and play with color, overlapping, and collaging. I also want to integrate family photographs in the book.
This project is really important to me because it is helping me create a new bond with my family. It relates to some of my past work because almost all of my family living with me have been some way included in my work and they were my subjects.
Materials:
Camera
Kodak Portra and B&W film
- Processed at Richard’s Photo Lab and will hopefully receive everything (prints, digital photos, and film Thursday)
Tripod (used in some of the photo)
ISO 400
Timeline:
April 30th or May 1st: receive photos
May 2nd: choose photos for blurb book
May 3rd: edit some photos and insert everything in blurb book
May 4th: Finalize blurb book and purchase
May 6th: Share Blurb book
Photos:
Izima Kaoru
http://www.vonlintel.com/Izima-Kaoru.html
I love that I can look at Kaoru’s photograph for a long time and each time I look at it I find a new detail that I missed before. His photograph forces the audience to look around the entire image. It is very unique and I think I want to experiment with editing.
Melanie Willhide
http://www.vonlintel.com/Melanie-Willhide.html
http://www.vonlintel.com/Melanie-Willhide.html
I love Willhide’s pigment work. The two images that interested me the most were the ones in the water. I am interested in playing with different bright colors.
http://stephendaitergallery.com/artists/sabine-weiss/
Sabine Weiss
Pont Mirabeau, Paris 1953 Gelatin silver photograph
I am also drawn to taking candid photos. Sabine Weiss photos are all in the spur of the moment, capturing the time and place without the subject knowing. I think that I also want to document this weird time.
My photo
I love this photo. I am interested in taking photos of my family in the moment. I think this photo really captures that.
Photo Books:
Dawoud Bey on Photographing People and Communities
https://aperture.org/shop/dawoud-bey-workshop-series
I do like how this photo book is in black and white, but I think I will use color. I like how Bey captures wonderful portraits that “speak to something more universal”. If I decide to create a photo book, I will definitely add the back story to each photo. I might journal afterI take the photo.
John Chiara: California
https://aperture.org/shop/john-chiara-california-3687
I have always found beauty in California and it is my home. I like how Chiara captures “thrilling landscape and architectural images”. I might include some landscape, sunset images, or even things that remind me of home.
Articles:
“Why We Do It: Photographers and Photo Editors on the Passion That Drives Their Work”
Olivier Laurent
https://time.com/4839246/photographers-passion/
I really enjoyed this article because it includes direct quotes from photographers describing why they do photography. I think one of my favorites that I read was by Kathy Ryan, Director of Photography for the New York Times said that photographers “are the witnesses and artists who can distill mayhem and beauty that surrounds us”. I found their inspiration and reasons so captivating.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/23/world/coronavirus-great-empty.html
“The Great Empty”
Michael Kimmelman
March 23, 2020
I was in shock not only reading this article, but looking at all of the images. The photographers captured the emptiness of different countries. I found the beauty of the emptiness in each place interesting.
The Getty Museum and Villa have been an important part of my childhood. My family started to visit both the Museum and Villa almost every year since I was nine. The Getty inspired me to start drawing and painting. The work I chose to replicate included a couple paintings and drawings. I particularly love the portrait of the Postman and it is by one of my favorite artists, Van Gogh. I chose the sculpture to be the last image because it was the most fun to recreate.
Michelle’s Mom
Strong and Confident
It was pouring outside, my mom brought out the boxes and albums of photos. I honestly do not remember the last time I looked at family photos. My mom grew up in Iran and the photos depicted a different time. The albums had photos of the first time my grandparents met, to when my mom was about 5. There were a good amount of people that I didn’t know, so I was curious about who they were. My mom told me about the people I didn’t recognize and even some funny stories about them.
We got to the last page of the only photo album left and the last photo was of a woman in her twenties standing next to a man. This woman looks strong and proud. She wears her outfit confidently. It is of my grandmother. She is energetic, outgoing, and the quality I admire most is that she follows her heart. She makes every decision confidently. Another photo caught my eye, it was of my grandmother holding my mother.
She is loving and pours her heart in everything she does. My mom has inherited all of those great qualities. She is one of the toughest women I know. I have always admired her. It made me think about the things that get passed down not necessarily objects, but memories, characteristics, and life lessons.
Invisible
While the number of COVID-19 cases increase each day, the precautions to avoid it become more heavily recommended. It is scary to think that anyone can get this from getting take-out to even standing in a place where it has been in the air. Every time someone brings something from the outside in, a heavy wash has to be applied to all of the objects and even the person to make sure the virus has not stuck on to anything. Currently, most people in my community have remained inside unless it is going out to buy essentials. My friends here have not left their homes in weeks. My mom went grocery shopping and when she came back she had to shower and wash everything that she had bought. Then, I wondered what would happen if we could see the virus?
My photos have mostly brother and a couple with me doing some normal daily activities and they even include objects that we touch on a normal basis. The paint represents the virus and everywhere we go and touch the virus sticks. The normal things that we would not think in the slightest can be taken away or evidently prohibited, like a high-five or scratching your face shows how easily the virus can spread. I wanted to depict an illusion of the reality that we are facing.
Michelle Behshid- Pictures That Matter Now
Hope everyone is doing well! I look back at the past couple of weeks and so much has changed from skating at the local rink to not being able to leave my home in California. The photos I chose are mostly from the beginning of spring break and one from Bowdoin. In a matter of two weeks the local rink where I grew playing closed and it has been fascinating and compelling to see the different approaches the community has done to prevent the rink from being teared down. It is very uplifting to see everyone come together (virtually) when we aren’t actually together. The rest of the photos I took were inside my home and in my backyard. The weather has been nice so I have spent a lot of time outside appreciating nature and playing basketball with my brother. I have also been digging through old photo albums. This project I wanted to depict a sense of optimism.