ARE COMPUTERS MAKING OUR LIVES WORSE/ DISCOURSE DEBATE

I find this a very interesting subject in which i am contempt with my opinion because i feel i agree and also argue against.

FOR COMPUTERS

I think computers are very important because they give us an advantage and help us do certain things a little quicker. As for the whole nation they help keep us safe because they can do things for us that we might not be able to see using the human eye or brain, such as tracking peoples every move and CCTV for catching criminals. i feel this is important for the development of the world, with computers we can shop at home, monitor things without having to move around a great deal and we also get the opportunity to communicated with one another all over the world without any great difficulty. I feel these are all the positives that computers have for us and this helps us move forward and not backwards in our quest for developing a better world and environment for us.

AGAINST COMPUTERS

I might seem safe but behind every computer the is someone watching and monitoring every computers owners actions. This makes me think twice and be a bit wary about computers when it comes to sharing your private life on there. We are nowadays very depended on computers to teach us things that should come natural, such as traditional learning, in some cases exercise, and babysitting. Computers are capable of doing anything nowadays and this makes us the human race very lazy as we now do not have to leave the comfort of out homes to get out and do things and we would normally do if we did not have computers we are now being tracked out every movement through passports and oyster card which now all have chips and this enables the government to monitor our every movement. The privacy is non-existent to be honest. So these are the negatives that come with computers.

FINAL THOUGHT/VERDICT

All in all i think when it comes down to it i think computers come with both negatives and positives it all depends on how we use them as a nation. Are we using them for purposeful issues or are we using them for marketing purposes only, for every computer used all over the world there is some else making money for it but i think if we use computers for positive reasons then all is good.

Fashion Photography

Above is Tocarra an Americas next top Model contestant who actually won the show as a big girl and represented plus size models in a positive way. this is one of the shots from the show which she took and i can see a lot of discomfort , the fear factor of having a huge tarantula crawling on your hand and she managed to stay calm and pull of the look they were going for, i love this image it says a lot about the bravery that fashion models have to show in order to produce their best work.

Fashion Photography is a genre of photography devoted to displaying clothing and other items of fashion and it is most often conducted for Fashion magazines and advertisements.

I personally enjoy it because it is very bold and creative, nowadays fashion photography goes beyond just showing off the garment, there is more to it, there are now teams of designers, make up artists, and stylists working very hard to make the image very interesting. the poses and body postures used nowadays are very uncomfortable and eccentric, but the final image is always stunning. there are a number of photographers whose work i enjoy in Fashion and i will be looking at their work and stating what stands out from their work and what it is that makes me tick about their work.

Rankin

This is one of my favourite fashion photographers Rankin. The British photographer is very unique and like to try things that have never been done before, Rankin likes to push the boundaries and be creative with every picture he produces. In the programme 7 photographs which changed Fashion he basically recreates a number of existing famous fashion photographs which are well respected in the fashion world, also these images have been  taken by very famous photographers of the past. 

On the left is the original image shot by Blumenfield for the Vogue front cover. It is a classic image in which Rankin has recreated and put his own little twist to it adding more bolder make up and also shifting things and including certain aspect which other people wouldn't dare to change about the original image and Rankin's has crossed this border ad actually made his recreation a better version. i lover Rankin's version it is more up to date and i feel like i can relate to it more, and actually get excited by it. it has a lot more going on it is not boring and it is way sexier than the original shot.

Modernism/ Post-Modernism

My understanding of Modernism is that it is about understanding cultural existence of things such as, ethnic backgrounds, communities, originality,tradition and religion. I think you can change things around to benefit the community, cultural existence and tradition of the original subject. This is Modernism because the focus is on developing the subject. The words creation, depth and purpose come to mind when talking about Modernism, because they just about summarise why a certain thing is the way it is.

Post Modernism is more about focusing on the aesthetic side of things, it it about the finished product and in some cases profit. Developing something so that it benefits business and appearance. There is no worries on how this product or subject would benefit the community or country or the people.It is all about the desire of something and taking a chance with something not really knowing what the after effects will be.

Luke Swank is a modernist photographer and i have chosen to look at one of his photographs, i specifically like this photograph when it comes to this subject because it is a classic example of what modernism in terms of photography is, or how its portrayed. This is a standard picture the photographer has not focused on the lighting,cropping or composition as much because he is trying to tell a story about the subject and the people who go there and the community surrounding it, i think that he has achieved this and still kept the image it simply and sophisticated.

Man Ray

Man Ray is another unique photographer, i think would be listed on the category of post-modernist photographers. his style is so unique that its all about the aesthetics of the image. he uses various techniques from making photographs in the darkroom just by sprinkling and scattering interesting objects on photographic paper and then just switching the light on very briefly to allow these objects to imprint themselves on the paper and then just developing it out, no camera involved. The image above is an example of post modernism in relation to photography.

Bibliography/References

http://landscapist.squarespace.com/journal/2007/3/29/urban-ku-47-why-im-a-postmodernist-sort-of.html

http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/6aa/6aa109.htm

http://esteflex.blogspot.com/2009/04/on-postmodernism.html

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bbc.co.uk/photography/genius/gallery/images/ray.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bbc.co.uk/photography/genius/gallery/ray.shtml&usg=__iQCpl-jhvRtK5lpHPabkCWJ10r4=&h=333&w=500&sz=47&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=3xlAOlWz3yUUtM:&tbnh=87&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3DMan%2BRay%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

FEMINISM

Hilary Clinton,Mike Hackabee,John Mc Caine and Barack Obama, from this alone you can tell who the stress is getting the better off.


Feminism is the belief that women should have political,sexual and intellectual rights equal to those of men. We come from times where man used to rule every thing. in today's society we have seen this idea of alpha male slightly evaporate as women have now a voice and can do things for themselves. the independence of today's women has changed how we view women today.

In the olden days there where no women at office, parliament, sport and other significant human roles. in this day and age there seem to be more more women getting involved in everything that men can do women believe they can also do. i think this is a fair situation although i do think the male and the female species are both built differently and there are certain things that women can not do in which man can easily do, these things are commonly situations which demand dominance, physical strength, control of emotions and so forth. i believe men can deal with these situations better, they can deal with pressure better than women can as women can always easily get emotional hence the reason why i think there are a lot of male presidents than they are women.

i have chosen Hilary Clinton as my stud for this subject because i feel she is today's feminist. she believes that a women can be in office and run the government of America. this is all well and fair enough but Hilary's campaign came to a blow or halt because she did not work hard enough to get the majority vote, she did not put in as much work as the other candidates did. she automatically assumed that she would get the votes simply on the fact that because she is the wife of the popular former president bill Clinton then everyone was going to vote for her, but this was not the case and that is why President Barack Obama won the election in my point of view because he put in the hard work and did not try to take the easy way.

Commercial Photography.

This is a shot that i took while on holiday last year, hugely influenced by the people above, footballer David Beckham and actor Djimon Hounsou.

This is another field of photography which i find interesting depending on what is being commercialised. I find underwear adverts very interesting in the way their shot and done. There is a lot you can do for this kind of commercials because you can have single shots ,group shots, and even shots with both male and female models in them.

The thing i love about these kind of shots is there are no limits they can be done in all sorts of locations, such as the sea, studio, or anyplace desired. They are normally well planned photography because by looking at the image you are always able to tell that a lot of research and careful planning went into them and also careful consideration as to which model to use , this where i think they are clever and know how to get their customers attention.

Above are two of my favourite adverts of male underwear ever because they are both individually aesthetic. The models used are also a huge part of why i like them. they are two different ads but to me i see a possibility of making one image with these type of models. i like the black model because his skin tone is very dark and that's what makes it work for me. i like the contrast of a white guy and a very dark black guy. so i had an idea that why cant there be an advert of both a very dark black guy and a pale but not too pale white model both in one shot. this was an idea which was always playing on my mind for about two years, as i had seen adverts of people like Freddie Ljunberg, Orlando Bloom and many more famous models.

One day on my hotel Balcony while on holiday my two friends set by the wall enjoying the sun and on the background of this was a distracting tree but this was the shot i had always visualised for a couple of years and i now had the opportunity to take it. It was natural and i had to obviously direct certain body stance but other than that it is one of those images you can never take again because the original is always the one that means a lot.

i think this image can be used to commercialise male underwear, maybe holiday destinations as my models look as thought they are enjoying the hot sun i also think that it can be used as a model agency symbol or a front cover for a women's magazine to idolise male bodies.

By Condry Calvin Mlilo

SEMIOTICS

Semiotics is the way we communicate to one another. It is the interaction between us with Text and cultural interaction. It is external reality the ability of being aware of things being communicated to us. when signs are used the are often related to knowledge. We communicate to each other with intent, negotiate and exchange meanings this is in relation to sign communication. A sign has a physical form and is organised into codes such as words,gestures and architecture.

Semiotics has been used for many years even before the time of film and television. There has always been signs from ancient times, paintings and drawings have always used semiotics. In today's society a lot of adverts use a lot of obvious signs/semiotics. On this post i am going to try and and discuss some of my favourite adverts that have used semiotics to communicated and wheel me in and other customers in.

The advert above is one of my favourite of all times because of the way they have used signs that have nothing to do with the product their selling but yet have successfully been able to get a lot of customers tuned in and wanting to know more about this product. Sex plays a very being part in this advert, women shaking their ass is a symbol that this company is targeting a male demographic. I also think maybe young women are also a target market here because this advert sort of makes you want to dance to it and i can see a lot of young career women getting up and shaking their ass. This use of signs here i think is a perfect example of semiotics. i think the car is about being fun and music and there is a summer feeling about the car being sold so this automatically widens their target audience and gets a lot of admirers for their product.

this was a well planned advert and if you didn't know what it was about you would think it was something else being sold to you but at the end of the advert you get informed and it all sort of makes sense and you kind of like the product even more.

By Condry Calvin Mlilo

CAUGHT SLIPPIN' ( PORTRAITURE/ PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY.)

Raven, Asad, Asad-2, Basil and Rui "2oo8"

For this blog post i have decided to take a gamble and put on show a very interesting series of portraits that i have taken in the past year. its almost an ongoing project. I call this " Caught Slipping". Slipping is a term used in urban culture which means caught off guard. i have taken a series of images of friends and family members which i caught of guard. These are moments you can not remake they are moments which when captured make great photographs, and i also have flipped the script in the sense that the Sleeping stands for Sleeping in the photographs. so my subject or sitters are actually caught of guard dosing off.

Raven is a close friend of mine. i took this shot on an Easy jet flight to Portugal. we were on our way to lads week holiday. It was five of us and we looking forward to a week of sun,booze and sexy females. The night before we waited at the air pot for hours because we had a six O'clock flight and we didn't want to be late as we were from London and flying from Luton. i think the wait had finally kicked in during the flight and quite a few of us dosed off and i was able to capture Raven , Asad and Rui. i like Raven's shot because there is a lot going on the sleeping technique used is fascinating and they way he opens his mouth as he snores is quite comical and adds to the picture.

I think it also became a fascination of how people all have different ways of sleeping as to the techniques used, Asad leans forward and also in both shots he uses his hand for support on the weight of his head compared to Raven and Rui who both let their head back on the head rest and both actually open their mouths as they snore. I suddenly became intrigued by this and through out the holiday i got shots of my friends tired and sleepy. The final shot is my cousin Basil and this was actually on his birthday 22nd night. the whole family had gone out for dinner and had a lot of fun, there was music and drink at a famous South African restaurant by the West end. The night had finally taken a toll on him and i found it quite overwhelming and somehow sweet in a sense that the fellow had a very long day opening presents and eating and dancing away celebrating a big day in his life. i think this image puts an icing on the cake on the series because of the story behind it. This story of Basil's 2'nd birthday is very sweet i find, maybe this is because we are related and it means more to me than it would to a normal observer to the image.

These are my portraits of friends and Family, i hope you enjoy this particular blog because its almost my own personal project. The is also a documentary feel to it so reading the post will actually help with the understanding of the images and hopefully this will make it more enjoyable.

By Condry . Calvin . Mlilo