My favorite project this semester was our landscape or still life project where we visited the green house. I really enjoyed working on balancing the light so the colors were true to life and using color to convey a mood. I value nature and spending time outside so I wanted to capture the beauty in the world and share that with other- especially after my last project on derealization was so dark.

I returned to the green house on one of our studio days now that I was more comfortable with my camera and with editing images in Photoshop. I revisited some of the same plants but focused on ones that I was unable to capture to my satisfaction during my first visit. I focused on conveying texture and color throughout this series. I was inspired by our Altered Perceptions project to represent a different sense through a visual medium- I wanted viewers to be able to feel the grit of the bark and the softness of the flower petals in my images.

I also visited the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens to photograph the cherry blossoms and plants on a day with more light as when I visited the green house it was raining and overcast. I focused on plants I hadn’t seen before and, of course, those with interesting textures. In Photoshop, I edited the photos to all have a golden or blue hue to create a cohesive series despite the different locations and lighting.

I was inspired to focus on texture when I saw an article on Lenscratch about Wendi Schneider’s work States of Grace– images from the series including “Flamingo,” “Cicada,” and “Datura” captured the lightness and piece-y texture of feathers, the dryness and fragility of a dead cicada, and wrinkled but plump texture of the flower exquisitely.

The title of this series is a take on “The Here and Now” which is typically used to describe living in the moment and focusing on what is happening. In those who experience derealization or depersonlization the Here and Now are often unfathomable and daunting, it is more of a perception of a trance or a different reality. Those who experience these conditions often have experienced a trauma, such as a violent or sudden loss, and this is a way the brain copes- it creates distance from the pain. More information about one person’s experience with depersonalization and derealization can be found in this article in Psychology Today.

Who (1)

Who (2)

Here

 

Gone

Which

Where

I wanted to tell the story of Rosalind Franklin, one of the most ingenious, dedicated, and forgotten scientists of the 20th century. In Rosalind Franklin’s short but inspirational career she used properties of physical chemistry to study the structure of  coal, DNA, viral and plant proteins. Her expertise in the field of X-ray crystallography in which beams of X-rays are shot at a pure crystalline molecule where atoms diffract (change the path of) the rays, creating a distinct pattern which can be interpreted with additional data.

This photo was taken through a double axis 13,500 lines/inch diffraction grating, which separates the component colors of white light. This is a demonstration of the principles of ray movement and diffraction used by Rosalind Franklin- the basic formula underlying the principle is shown on the right edge. This technique allowed her to generate an incredibly high quality diffraction pattern of DNA molecules in 1952 called “51.” Rosalind was a rigorous scientist making sure to never draw conclusions from incomplete data.

 

While Rosalind Franklin’s work was recognized as exquisite by those within King’s College and funding her work, she was often assumed to be an assistant in the lab as she was one of the only women in the field. Her conclusions had to be even more iron-clad than her male counter part’s, her data even cleaner than that of her male colleagues. This is one of the many reasons that when her work was shared, without her knowledge, and two men were gaining fame from a model drawn from her data, no one in the field spoke up.

In 1953 Rosalind’s unpublished work, including 51, was shown to James Watson and Francis Crick who later used this data to support their model of the structure of DNA- the famous double helix. For decades after this publication Watson and Crick were known as the father’s of the double helix and went on to win the Nobel Prize, never once crediting Franklin. In Jame’s Watson’s personal account, The Double Helix, he belittles Franklin as a scientist too incompetent to understand her own data, going so far as to call her “Rosie.” Watson betrayed the trust the E. O. Wilson speaks so highly of in his novel Letter to a Young Scientist, seen in this photo.

Decades later, Rosalind Franklin’s contribution to unraveling the structure of DNA is spreading through the scientific community- above she is shown in my biochemistry II textbook as a pioneer of X-ray crystallography and structural analysis of biomolecules. Sadly, Franklin passed away before her contribution could be recognized by the Nobel committee and Prizes are not awarded post-humorously. It is said that when she learned of Watson and Crick’s model, she spoke only of the beauty of the science and the natural state of heredity. Her work has inspired so many young scientists, especially young women such as myself. Today, one can earn a doctorate degree from the Rosalind Franklin University in Chicago and have a stylized poster of her work on their wall.

 

Reflecting on Portraiture

For me, this project was much more difficult than the still life assignment; many of my friends and family seemed uncomfortable in front of the camera as did I when I included my body in the self-portraits. A lot of my discomfort came from my insecurities in how I look, from feeling too “posed” in front of the camera, and from feeling exposed in sharing different aspects of myself. But the more photos I took the more I embraced and worked around my difficulties. Instead of facing the camera head on, I looked to the side to feel more at ease, I focused on the parts of my body I do have control over (my hair, tattoos, etc.), and focused on allowing my friends and family to feel calm in front of the lens. Asking to photograph strangers was challenging since I’m rather shy but the two girls I asked to photograph were so happy to do so- they just went about playing skeeball as if I wasn’t there. They even gave me their email addresses to pass along the photo once I was finished editing it! This project allowed me to discover how to best represent different aspects of myself and how to convey a mood and backstory in a single image. This project pushed me out of my comfort zone and I’m thankful for the opportunity to explore.

 

 

 

Pensive

With Me

Identical

Reaction

Gift of Happiness

Stolen

 

Focused Light

After chatting with Chris and Zach I knew which colors I wanted to focus on in their portraits and I knew that I didn’t want to use either of their faces as I wanted to capture more of their personalities. Initially I was going to use their glasses and shoes, respectively, but I didn’t think there was enough intense color in either for such driven individuals. I chose to go back and use photos of graffiti I had taken previously because I think it represents their artistic side, which wasn’t something I found with the glasses and sneakers.

Chris spoke about how seeing lasers in high school sparked his love of physics and how his favorite color is red, which I think is well represented by the bright beams through the face. The complex patterns remind me of topographic maps and paired with the planet, I remember how dedicated Chris is to traveling the work- he even has a tattoo commemorating the places he’s been. The realistic planet and abstract personal form complements Chris’ interest in science and art and how he combines both in his personality.

Zach spoke of his passion for helping others which led him to pursue nursing- I’ve always associated care and healing with birds which is the main reason I feel this photo represents him. Additionally, the clean lines of the feathers and intertwining ribbons behind the bird reminded me of the patterns in the background of his still life project. On the other hand, it was easy to tell that Zach was outgoing once you got to know him and he told us he likes bright colors so I think the bursts of orange and yellow behind the bird and in the writing on the right represent this well.

These are immunofluorescent staining images- antibodies against different proteins are attached to glowing (fluorescent) proteins so we can see them in a microscope. The first photo show an embryonic mouse neural tube, a bunch of cells that will one day become the mouse brain. The second shows a section of mouse placenta. The blue colors the nucleus of the cell and then the red shows a special protein that will make those cells become a certain part of the brain. The while marks proteins found only in a certain type of cells called epithelial cells.

 

I enjoy how Minkkinen’s work plays on his relationship with nature and portions of his body. I like how in these two photos you have to look to see the body as it blends naturally with the scenery around it. These photographs convey contrasting emotion, frustration and calm apathy respectively despite not showing the entire face.

In Teju Cole’s June 13th article titled “Getting Others Right” he contrasts photographers who have judiciously captured the lives of others, in this case Native Peoples, despite being outsiders and those who have appropriated these stories. Cole praises Daniella Zalcman’s work “Signs of Your Identity” in which she conveys the experiences of First Nations Canadians who were forced to attend Canada’s Indian Residential Schools where they suffered assault and forced assimilation. Through the use of double exposures (as depicted below) and quotations from the subjects, their memories are visualized and the subject relays their own stories.  On the other hand, Jimmy Nelson’s “Before They Pass Away” features archetypes of populations he believes are on the verge of disappearing- these images  place the subjects in “a permanent anthropological past, erasing their present material and political realities.” Nelson’s work uses these people to tell his story, effectively erasing theirs. He even goes so far as to hide away aspects of their contemporary life, such as phones, televisions, and engines. This creates a dangerous sympathy with these “primitive” peoples.

Cole ends this article with the lines, “Capturing how things look fools us into thinking that we’ve captured their truth. But appearance is bare fact. Combined with intuition, scrupulous context and moral intelligence, it has a chance to become truth. Unalloyed, it is worse than nothing.” I enjoyed this article and this line most because it captures the duty all artists have to tell the story of their subjects truthfully and to use their platform to raise the voices of others, not to paraphrase their experiences to fit their personal narrative.

“Glen Ewenin, Gordon Indian Residential School (1970-1973), Muskowekwan Indian Residential School (1973-1975),” from “Signs of Your Identity” project, supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Daniella Zalcman.