C.R.I.T.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Laura Miner: Tiny Ghosts

My latest developing project involves staging ghost photography on a small scale. The goal is not necessarily to debunk images of supposedly real ghosts. I want to challenge myself with the task of creating illusions with my digital camera without the aid of layering in Photoshop. In line with other projects of mine, I want to create images that are unsettling, yet soft in their delivery. Also in line with other projects, I will continue to work on a small scale.

©Laura Miner 2013

As a child, I loved playing in my doll house (featured in the photographs in this post). I would also make my own doll apartments on shelves and dresser tops all over my grandparents' house. My grandparents were much more patient with this behavior than my parents were. Shrinking down and living in the homes I made was a fantasy of mine.

After I grew older and stopped playing in that way, photography facilitated that fantasy. I was drawn to photographing miniatures and dolls because in a photograph you edit the world around you. I could make the size of my small creations ambiguous; an easier feat making them my size rather than shrinking myself.

©Laura Miner 2013

I want to believe in ghosts, but I'm not completely willing to go all in without more proof. As a fan of ghost stories and as a photographer, I am attracted to supposed images of ghosts. What are the possibilities of recording beyond our line of sight?

With this series, I want the audience to ask themselves how it could be possible. I want them to be excited by the notion of apparitions and other worldly spirits, while also questioning the scale and reality of the room.

These initial shots from my childhood dollhouse are exploring the terrain. These images give the impression of which angles I'm attracted to, the lighting scheme and the mood. I plan to go in again with more tricks up my sleeve to create the apparitions.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

C.R.I.T. Quarterly: Issue 4 Release Party

Cover Image: © Kitty Ethridge

This Saturday, May 11th, from 6:00 till 9:00 pm, C.R.I.T. will be having their 4th book release party. Located at Refuge Cafe in Allston, MA, the members of C.R.I.T. will have their photographs on display from the day of the release till June 17th.

The Spring 2013 issue includes the works of Traverse Day Robinette, Laura Miner, Hannah Bemelmans, Michael Powers, Nichole Elkins, Dina Shaposhnikova, and Kitty Ethridge.

The introduction was beautifully written by Sarah Pollman, photo blogger and producer of the fine art photography publication 3200K.

Copies of Issue 4 will on sale at Refuge Cafe during the reception and will officially be available online at magcloud.com the same day.

Please join us for light refreshments, drinks, and always ... inspiring photography.

Refuge Cafe 155 Brighton Ave. Allston, MA 02134

Saturday May 11th 2013 6pm - 9pm

Poster Design © Doug Harry, Poster Images ©Laura Miner and Dina Shaposhnikova

Monday, May 6, 2013

Traverse Day Robinette: For Whom the Bell Tolls

February 2011 I went for a long weekend in Hancock Vermont. I had planned on shooting black and white landscapes. Somehow I forgot my film and only had 10 sheets of 4x5 instant film and a two sheets of slide and two sheets of black and white film in my film holders. Times like these one wonders why does anyone still shoot film.

Self Portrait; For Whom the Bell Tolls, 2011 © Traverse Day Robinette

I did some hiking and a bit of shooting. Mostly I froze my fingers off while trying to make images in the icy woods of Vermont. I made a few instant images at Texas Falls and they were technically off. I had intended to have the scene back lit but my cold hands took so long to set up the shot that the sun actually moved from behind the tree. It is a sad day when the sun moves faster than you. I had two choices, 1) Move my camera to another vantage point and start over or 2) Stay put and make the image shooting straight into the sun. As you have probably have guessed I was not interested in loosing another race to the sun. I must say it was hard for me to let go and make an image where I knew I had given up control.

Snowfall, 2011 © Traverse Day Robinette

Life is a funny thing and photography is no less strange. My photography professor Nick Nixon once said “Make pictures now and ask questions later”. Unfortunately at the time this was of little use, while in college everyone wanted questions answered “now”. These words have been echoing in the back of my mind since graduation. I consistently find myself photographing without reason or direction of events pertaining to daily life. Answers to these questions seem to surface years later and bring a greater focus to works already made. This is something I had never anticipated to happen.

It Tolls for Thee, 2011 © Traverse Day Robinette

I put these images aside and did not think of them for some time. They represented the scene not as I had wanted them to, but in a totally different manner. After a year or so I found myself drawn to the quiet beauty they held. I started to form a story and to think how they were like scenes from “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by Ernest Hemingway. I had brought along this novel while on my trip and I found myself reading in the window. It was snowing outside and in the book. I look at these images from Texas Falls and they represent the snow fall and what was to come. This sequence was also contrived with the purpose of representing my insecurities with what is before life and after death.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Brian Fitzgibbons: Water and Sky

Brian Fitzgibbons has historically used photography to capture his point of view surrounding identity, masculinity, sexuality, and the intimate relationship they form with regard to gay men. After taking a hiatus from fine art photography, Brian begins a discovery of a very different nature. Having dealt with the loss of several loved ones over the course of a short time, his thoughts have turned more inward to his relationship to mortality and spirituality. In these beginning images, the relationship between water and sky serve as a focal point for this exploration.

Throughout mythology and theology, mankind has returned time and again to these symbols to represent the spiritual planes, from the Grecian ideas of the river Styx and Hades, to the Judeo-Christian imagery of heaven in the clouds. While at most times very visually separated by horizon, these planes become blurred and enmeshed as atmosphere, fog, and light find their way in-between. This blurring of the lines currently serves as the primary visual language that Brian is working within to represent his current thoughts on his relationship to mortality. Still very much weighted by these losses, Brian finds himself in that proverbial fog, caught between the water and sky. The final trajectory of this work is still to be discovered and, as with loss itself, can only be made clear as time allows this fog to pass.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Eric Dietrich: U.S. Naval War College

Eric Dietrich served in the United States Marine Corps from 2001 - 2005 before taking up photography. In 2008, he attended the New England School of Photography studying photojournalism and started working for himself in 2009. In October of 2010 he began working for the U.S. Navy as a mass communication specialist and then became the staff photographer for the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.

Eric writes, "I worked at the U.S. Naval War College as a staff photographer for much of 2012 and during that time I photographed a number of guest speakers. As I sorted through them later, it occurred to me that I could put together a small collection. Some of the photos are of the style that, if they were of a politician or celebrity, might have graced the pages of a newspaper. In others I tried to capture moments that one might overlook. Altogether, I tried to display a facet of military life that people might never know existed."

NEWPORT, R.I. (Oct. 23, 2012) Adm. James Stavridis, commander of U.S. European Command and supreme allied commander, Europe, addresses students from the U.S. Naval War College (NWC) and Senior Enlisted Academy during a visit to the NWC. Above him is a photo of Stavridis with Army Gen. Nikolai Makarov, chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Eric Dietrich/Released)

NEWPORT, R.I. (May 8, 2012) U.S. Naval War College (NWC) Professor Emeritus Porter Halyburton holds up a photo of his wife and daughter during a lecture at the NWC about his time as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Halyburton was held captive for seven years in a number of prisons, including the infamous “Heartbreak Hotel” and “Hanoi Hilton.” (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Eric Dietrich/Released)

NEWPORT, R.I. (May 10, 2012) Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Manpower and Reserve Affairs) Juan Garcia III addresses sailors and Marines during an all-hands meeting at the U.S. Naval War College. Garcia spoke about the 21st Century Sailor and Marine program and the future of the Navy. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Eric Dietrich/Released)

NEWPORT, R.I. (May 23, 2012) Audience members listen to Swanee Hunt, the Eleanor Roosevelt lecturer in public policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, deliver her lecture “Inclusive Security: Vital or Vacuous?” at the U.S. Naval War College. Hunt spoke about the importance of including women in security and peace processes. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Eric Dietrich/Released)

NEWPORT, R.I. (August 29, 2012) Adm. Katsutoshi Kawano, Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force chief of staff and 1997 U.S. Naval War College (NWC) alum, speaks to international students at the NWC. Kawano visited the NWC as part of a weeklong tour of the United States as a guest of the U.S. Navy chief of naval operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Eric Dietrich/Released)

NEWPORT, R.I. (Sept. 18, 2012) Retired Air Force Master Sgt. John Almeida, 91, is recognized as the oldest service member present during the Air Force’s 65th birthday celebration at the U.S. Naval War College. Almeida is a veteran of World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Eric Dietrich/Released)

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