His works seem to emit a strong sense of loneliness. They're rather creepy, with a lot of a "lingering spirits" vibe. They all feel staged, which really makes it more creepy - there's a sort of sense of unnatural stillness in all of them. I admire his use of contrast and lighting and color - the sharpness really emphasizes the stationary feeling.
Teun Hocks
The ideas that he transforms into surrealist photos make me laugh. For example, crying a waterfall seems really funny to me, and playing with a train with tracks leading underneath you is really cool. I'm not sure if that makes me a jerk. I really like the man warming his hands by a painted fire too. The idea of painting color onto a black and white photograph is really interesting to me. It's not the first time I've seen it done, but it is the first time I've seen it utilized to create the picture so vividly rather than simply enhance it. I also like that he uses himself as the subject in his photos - it's rings with something I heard once in a previous class: that the only reliable actor is yourself.
Jeff Wall
He seems a little bit full of himself to me. So much blabbing about his genius ideas and blah blah blah blah blah... the pictures are ok. Very day-in-the-life style. I usually like day-in-the-life stuff more than this - I guess I just feel like a lot of them are sitting in the zone in-between ordinary and weird and as a result are just kind of odd. Plus, some of them creep me out, but not in the good way that Crewsdon's did, like the dead soldiers talking. I do like the sudden burst of wind and the water in the grave, but that's not enough to make up for my overall non-impression of Wall.
Cindy Sherman
I like her movie-verse style of photography. The femme fatale subjects are interesting in a kind of "I can sense your dedication" way. I like the black and white photographs also, and the sharp emphasis on color when it is used. Contrast and this style of coloring (or lack thereof) really set the mood for a sort of smoky, older, classy movie-verse. Nice tribute to the female characters.
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