Summary of Project

          In this project I have learned the importance of taking more pictures than you need. Being over-prepared was very helpful in this situation. This project has really challenged me to think outside of the box. It would be easy to just assemble the collage the way that the actual location looked, but to skew different aspects of the image and looking at detail was the challenging part.

          Some troubles I faced were being able to capture my location with trains in it because it was very rare that a train would stop on the tracks. I was lucky enough to drive by when one had stopped, which greatly benefitted my ability to complete this project. My original idea was to use the back to back continuous long line of train cars into my collage by tiling my images in one long row. However, after coming up with the idea of using the X shaped box, I decided to revolve my project around the sign itself. I put all my images with the rail road crossing sign in the center of the X to indicate the crossing and the middle of my image.

           Extending out from the middle of the X is both views of the train looking East and West of the sign. On top I included the location at sunset to show a varying time range and on the bottom I showed closer details of the railroad, the rocks, and other

details from the bottom of my image.

          Overall, I really enjoyed this project and being able to be creative with my

photographs. I thought the whole concept of creating time and space through the use of two-dimensional images was really an intriguing idea and I would probably continue projects like this on my own free time.

Final Collage

Work in process

I had so many images printed out that it covered my entire floor with pictures. After thinking about my options I chose to create my collage on a cardboard X to emulate the idea of a railroad crossing sign. I felt like this would bring an entirely new element of creating space.

Ways of Seeing

This whole video focused on the idea that a piece of artworks location can greatly affect how it is viewed. Its original location is obviously the most legitimate place and solidities its meaning. However, since the invention of the camera, replications are abundantly common. A reproduction of an image can allow for millions of views anywhere, in different contexts. By placing it in a different location, it loses some of its meaning. If you show an image in the

Classroom, it may seem the same but you can not see the texture of the painting, the proper lighting, or as Berger states, “the silence and stillness of a painting”.

          Now with replications it is mysterious the cause of the market value. The image is so readily available to us, you would think that the original would go down in value. However, the opposite is true. Because we are so use to seeing images on screens and so forth, viewing an original gives a sense of awe because of the closeness to something that a famous artist created.

          Different contexts of a painting doesn't just have to be its location. If you put an image with two very different songs, you will have completely different emotions involved. The use of images in videos also alters the meaning of the work. Just like those images are skewed in meaning, we can also intentionally skew our images in our collages to achieve the emotions we want for our project.

Reflection of Errol Morris Video

          According to Errol, all photography is staged. Using the example of an elephant outside the image, she shows that the image can not show what it crops out. You can not see the absence of something. What makes an honest photograph? He says that they are neither true nor false.  It is a two dimensional image torn out of reality.  To understand the image, we must do further research it. This can be achieved by simply asking the photographer.

          A second point he made was about iconic images. He states that, “they become iconic because they have a certain power over us. We see so much power in them.”. Certain images have meaning because they're iconic, but you should be curious as to what you are actually looking at.  Going beyond the cropped out image and finding out what else is going on is something that we can not do using photography.

          That is why I enjoy it so much. This can be seen as a bad thing, but I think that being about to crop out the unnecessary and focus on one tiny aspect creates a new world and a sense of wonder in the viewer. Maybe it isn't telling the complete truth, but that’s what grabs the attention of people. That mysterious feel makes people think and also them to put their own implications and meaning to each image.

          In relation to our project, I feel this video relates to the  time and space. We attempt to help the viewer with the questions they may have, by adding multiple pictures with little detail and creating an image with approximately 75x more information that you would get from just one simple image.

Refined ideas

After thinking about my location ideas, I refined it down to two different ones, Jaybowl and the train crossing. I started by creating images in photoshop to help me get an idea of how to lay thing out. Then we used prints and organized them by hand