Explain how this idea helps us understand the work of Irina Werning's series Back to the Future, whose photographs also form the visuals for the following music video by Feist.
Monday, April 11, 2016
Post #6: Photographic Evangels
One essential aspect of photography is its capacity to defamiliarize the ordinary, to make us re-see and re-evaluate what we would normally overlook and take for granted. As Sontag writes, "Just to show something, anything, in the photographic view is to show that it is hidden [...] the familiar, rendered by a sensitive use of the camera, will thereby become mysterious" (121).
Explain how this idea helps us understand the work of Irina Werning's series Back to the Future, whose photographs also form the visuals for the following music video by Feist.
Explain how this idea helps us understand the work of Irina Werning's series Back to the Future, whose photographs also form the visuals for the following music video by Feist.
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Growing up we hardly think of how much time actually passes by. We are more focused on growing up and being able to do more than rather enjoy most of the little moments. Back to the Future by Irina Wernings helps capture those bitter sweet moments. Multiple people go back and reenact old photographs. When looking at the pictures we look at all details; Such as the faces, hair, clothes, and the background. It is shocking to see all the time has passed and the changes each one has done while growing up. Werning help us understand that we all change, but the core root of us remains the same. We are able to once again see what we have missed out, over looked, and taken for granted. Hopefully, take a step back and notice what is write in front of us and cherish all moments.
ReplyDeletePhotographs capture moments in time with much greater detail than our minds are capable of recording. While it's easy to recognize the key people in our lives, it's much more difficult to hold onto the image of how they appeared to us years and years ago. These familiar people, such as our siblings/parents/grandparents, are so familiar to us that as time washes over them (and us) we don't perceive the changes happening to them. I think that explains the reason why most people love looking at old family photos. In this quote, the "mysterious" quality refers to our awareness of time's passage when we are visually confronted with it. There is a certain sense of wonder that we all feel when we realize that the familiar has changed right before our eyes, without us having any palpable perception of it happening. It never seems possible that time has passed by so quickly. Therein lies the mystery.
ReplyDeleteIt's so amazing how photography shows aspects of our lives that are so familiar to us in a weird different way. Most often as we age, we assume that we have so much changed from what we used to look like as babies. Werning's work shows on the contrary that we just got so familiar with the aging signs that we stop seeing the features we used to see in our younger days which are still there actually. This echos Sontag's argument that "Just to show something, anything, in the photographic view is to show that it is hidden...".
ReplyDeleteBack to the Future by Irina Wernings shows the value photographs hold in relation to the past. Everyday small changes are being made through growth, and yet those changes are so small that we do not recognize them. It isn’t until one looks back in photographs, that a change can clearly be seen. This photography series represents the Susan Sontag quote perfectly, "Just to show something, anything, in the photographic view is to show that it is hidden [...] the familiar, rendered by a sensitive use of the camera, will thereby become mysterious" (121). Each photograph represents something familiar. The baby pictures that have been seen a thousand times, and the photo of that same person today. It is only when Wernings recreates the older photographs that one marvels at the way time has changed its subject.
ReplyDeleteEvery day we are growing up and occasionally we think that our features are changing as well but it’s until we see a picture that was taken when we were little and realize that we still look the same. A photograph will always capture those amazing moments that we might often forget. As we get older, we tend to forget different features of ourselves, but Back to the Future by Irina Wernings gives us an insight of how much a single photograph can have so much value, and take us back to our past to recognize some of the changes being made and hopefully give us an emotional attachment to them again.
ReplyDeleteThis video shows up how fast life can past us. At this very moment, we are the oldest we have ever been, yet the youngest we will ever be. No matter what, time never stops. We generally think about the future and don’t really enjoy the moment. Remaking a photograph that we once took when we were little and putting them next to each other, give us this bittersweet feeling. It is crazy because when we look back in our lives, we see change. However, day by day, you don’t really realize much change. Being able to physically see the difference, by a photograph,is really amazing. When we think about all the events in the past, it is hard to remember the setting, the emotions, what we wore, or the people who were there. But having a physical pictures helps us remember and relive those moments even if it's for a little bit.
ReplyDeletePhotographs are very valuable because they capture detailed moments of our lives and show what we cannot see. Back to the future by Irina Werings shows how people have dressed in a similar way like when they were younger and took a picture in the same position. Those people have realized that they have changed as they grow older and that the pictures captured those hidden details that they were not able to see as they were growing up, but it also shows what characteristics of them have remained the same. At the end like Sontag states that the careful use of the camera becomes a mystery how the camera captured those hidden photographic views that they didn’t catch before, until they compared the photos.
ReplyDeleteThe work of Irina Werning Back to the Future takes images of people as children and young adults and the images are reenacted many years later. Werning video allows us to reminisce about our past and how as young children we were carefree. Some of Werning images capture people just being children not caring about how they look or where they are. But when the images are recaptured they remind us of how fast time can go by, although we might feel the same we have indeed grownup. It also helps us rediscover ourselves as to how we use to view life as children and in some sense it helps us reevaluated our current views of lives. We reevaluated what was once important in our lives and we appreciate the people/things we currently have.
ReplyDeleteIrina Werning's Back to the Future depicts images of a child and adult in the same clothing and same setting. Sontag's quote allows us to reflect on the manner in which the gradual transformation of something is taken for granted. Rather, what we see is the sudden change from child to adult. Sontag states that photography can make the familiar become mysterious. It can do this by depicting the change in a person, almost making someone who knows them if the two people are the same person. This can also make the person involved reevaluate the choices made that brought them from childhood to where they currently are in life.
ReplyDeleteIrina Wening’s Back to the Future, shows images that were captured in the past and are retaken identically in the present time. When these photographs are recaptured they remind us of how fast time passes through life. Time is essential in photography because the gradual transformation of something is not recognized by many people until there are two photos put side by side like in Wening’s Back to the Future work. I think it’s a beautiful thing to see the changes that have occurred throughout time through a photograph. In some photos shown in Back to the Future, there wasn’t very much change. The gradual transformation a person can see through a photo allows us to understand Sontag’s quote that many things are taken for granted throughout time. Realizing change in a photo can makes us take a step back and recognize cherish all moments through the fast pace of life. These changes can make a person reevaluate the views of how to live from now on and appreciate the special moments.
ReplyDeleteWe don't realize how much is captured in one photo especially as children. We take advantage of the moments as kids because we want to be grown but don't realize how much we are missing. Back to the Future allows us viewers to reflect on the change that we have all gone through as we grow. Taking an old photo and doing the same setting is crazy because that's when we see how much change we have went through, and we need to appreciate all of these moments.
ReplyDeleteIrina Wening's photograph capture the idea that a photograph can capture what is hidden and familiar. Pictures of everyday moments are taken throughout ones life time. Irina unqoue photos shows us how people age. We don't notice how much we have aged until we compare ourselves to a photo taken years ago. The truth is known but not always seen.
ReplyDeleteSontag's idea of familiar photographs help explain Irina Werning's series because her photographs are nothing but familiar. Majority of people see their baby pictures while growing up so they become accustomed to them, but the mystery that Werning wanted to show was what people would look like should they reenact their baby pictures. Some of the most normal photographs, like these baby pictures showed in her series, are able to have mystery to them even though most of us think we understand the photo. Werning's video and series helps us keep in mind that all photographs hold the purpose to have mystery.
ReplyDeleteIn Irina Werning’s work, Sontag’s idea of photographs being mysterious is seen with the changes in each picture. Things become a mystery to us as we recapture the past and try to remember what exactly took place in those images. It allows for us to place a pause button in our current lives and reminisce about the changes that have occurred. It allows for us to accept the reality of change and capture those moments of revolution; not only is it emotional, it’s an addition to unforgettable memories.
ReplyDeleteAs we look back at old photographs, we take a step back into the past and relive them at its current moment. We don’t realize how fast time can pass us by and as we reminisce on the moment captured in photograph, we overlook all that happened in between. The in between time is what is hidden, mysterious and unfamiliar to the familiar. In Irina Werning’s series of Back to the Future, the reenactment of photographs look similar, but at the same time unfamiliar. The reenactments are not exactly the same because one cannot simply reenact a moment without really having remembered what exactly one was feeling at that very moment. It is a mystery to the person itself even though it is the very person who is reenacting their own moment in the past.
ReplyDeleteMemory fades and photographs allow a preservation of reality that we would otherwise not have. Werning displaying the recreations of old photos allow us to realize the small moments that we overlook in everyday life or moments where our memory has faded and that we no longer remember. The details in the photo are remembered but the moment, feelings, and innocence is no longer there in many of these photographs. The hidden underlying mysteries that Sontag describes are directly related to this idea. The feelings, and the moment itself may still be lost. So much changes over time including you as a person, and often times getting back to the original state helps you remember to appreciate the moments and photography helps you recall these moments and a specific mental state that you may have originally been in.
ReplyDeleteIrina Werning’s photographs in Feist’s music video is familiar for everyone around the world to interpret. More so that the quality of the music enhances Werning’s photos with empathy and sensibility. Many individuals face their past and replicate what they once were/had. It is stunning to see all the time has passed and the progressions everyone has done while growing up. These progressions makes a person rethink the perspectives of how to live in the present and into the future, and appreciate every second of every minute of every hour of the day. Werning helps us comprehend that a person can change; however the center inside us continues to live.
ReplyDeleteIt is often, if not daily, that we keep waiting for the day. The day to get to high school, to graduate, to go to college, to get married. We never see the beauty in the day itself. We do not see the changes that occur everyday but we also look back and believe everything to be so different when in reality, it is not all that different. As we look back on old pictures, we are able to see everything we missed when we were in that moment. The picture shows us how great that day really was even though at the time we just wanted to grow up. The video shows us how we age but also reminds us of who we really are.
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ReplyDeleteIrina Werning's work defamiliarizes the human form while simultaneously forcing the viewer to reevaluate the concepts of time, aging, egotism, and innocence. A photograph of a bare-chested child is cute and innocent but that same photo recreated decades later with a woman who now has fully developed breasts becomes obscene or sexualized in the eye of one viewer, while others begin to comprehend the idea that children grow up and become artistic expressions in themselves. A smooth-skinned child growing up to have bulbous implants and tattoos over most of their visible skin displays maturity to some and disappointment to others. It allows us to see that people are more than what we first view them as, that they have lives that have been lived separate and complete without us. The individual opens up to the idea of worlds beyond their own, shattering the ego of some while nurturing it in others that require uncertainties to feel in-control or "free" in a sense. At its most basic level, it shows that time exists and is constantly acting on each of us, but just as a frog in a boiling pot does not leap to a safer environment, we do not see the effects of time in its whole until we look back to our childhoods or feel that achy joint in the morning after 30 years without it. Irina's work is beautiful, it's eye-opening, and it's a great expression of ideas that most simply do not consider without first being prompted to do so.
ReplyDeletePictures that can be reenacted to recent time are beautiful picture to see and look how much change has happen from the picture you are reenacting. Personally I always wanted a picture like that to show my future children, because it is a great memory to see how you looked in the childhood times. Werning's Back to the Future pictures are amazing from taking the same scene years later with everything the same clothes, background, but age being older. This pictures become a memory that is cherished for many years and can show to family, and friends.
ReplyDeleteA photograph can mean many things at different times in one's life. It is something we come back to remember moments surrounding that moment captured. Irina Werning's photograph's that try to recreate other peoples' personal photographs of when they were young give a sense of mystery in that it makes the audience what was in between the time frames between the new and the old. The photograph of when they were young becomes old while their photograph of them when they are older become new, yet Werning is trying to create something old. These pictures capture a moment of nostalgia that give a mysterious feeling of the time that went by.
ReplyDeletePictures can do interesting things! They show us simple every day things and transform into something unfamiliar or new to us. Back to the future by Irina Wering shows up the ability to show a familiar photo and in the attempt to restage the photo it becomes unfamiliar. It also shows us that a camera can capture a moment in time that can never be replicated. It shows the importance of a camera and in essence the importance of life its self. It shows that we should cherish every moment because no matter how hard we try we can never get this time back.
ReplyDeleteClaudia Sotelo
ReplyDeletePhotographs cause people to look more closely at what was captured in the image. It is easy to not notice things when they are in front of you because one hundred percent of your attention is not on the surroundings. There are many things that go through people’s minds and their attention is divided. Usually when you look at a photograph, you focus on it and see everything in the photo. Irina Werning’s photographs allow familiar objects to become mysterious by having a similar image next to them, highlighting any of the differences that have occurred. The original images are recreated with the person posing the same after many years. This also reinforces Sontag’s claim that familiar objects become mysterious. The objects in the pictures were once familiar; however, they are now foreign and outdated. We do not notice how much time has gone by and how things have changed. This leads to looking back to these photographs and realizing that what is in them is no longer familiar