Period 4 -- Critical Analysis #11

1/30/2020

Today you will be writing about artist William Wegman, best known for his photographs of his Weimaraner dogs.

First, watch this short video interview with Wegman. You may use headphones to watch the video, or watch on your laptop/phone.

For your Critical Analysis, you will be answering the questions below in response to the video. Please answer in complete sentences and take time to think about you answer.

What kind of photographs does Wegman make? What camera/equipment is he known for using?
Consider your own experience as a photographer. What are some obstacles that might be associated with photographing animals?
What does Wegman say are some things that influence his work?
What does Wegman compare his video pieces to?
Do you like or dislike William Wegman's work? Why or why not?

Your analysis is due by midnight tonight.

Diego

1/30/2020 09:24:19 am

Critical analysis

The artist makes photographs of pets and dogs because he’s inspired by them and because he likes it, he uses a camera and a set to take the pictures of the dogs, he also uses trainers to get the dogs to listen or stay steady while he’s taking a picture of them.

Working with animals could be a difficult experience because you have to wait for the right moment for them to stop moving and to listen to you, because they move around all the time and they don’t listen like humans do.

The artist is influenced by pets and dogs, that are around him wherever he goes, the dogs can be fun to work with but they can also be pretty hard to keep them steady and not be moving like they’re used to do all the time, he also is taking influence from old sets and pictures or movies.

He’s inspired by the places he grew up in and all the places he has seen before in his life, the artist compares his pictures to old movies and old pictures.

I like the artist’s work because I like dogs and it is pretty funny to see them like that in those pictures, and also some of them remind me of some old movies like the wizard of oz and also the michael jackson video for the song “leave me alone” where the characters of the video can be seen as animals and dogs.

Kurt

1/30/2020 09:28:53 am

Wegman makes photos of dogs with a set, a polaroid camera, and a variety of objects to make the pictures unique and creative He has been known to bring human aspects into his photos and weird objects into them as well.

You have to command the animals to position themselves in the exact way you want them to be and make sure there still as not to get any blur.

He says that it is random events that influence him like something happening on a set that will give him an idea or some current news event that happened that will give him a creative outlet to act upon.

He compares his old work to like old comedy movies. He takes inspiration from comedic actors.

I don’t really like his work because I don’t really get why he’s taking random photos of dogs.

Zac Isaac

1/30/2020 09:29:04 am

He made photographs of dogs. He used a two and a quarter camera and always 8x10. Some challenges of taking photos of animals is trying to make them stay still and not move around especially when you have a low shutter speed. His influences were comedian Bob and Rey, and the writer Borges. He compared his videos to his manifesto. I like his work because of how he was able to control the dog so well for his videos.

George Welch

1/30/2020 09:36:29 am

1. What kind of photographs does Wegman make? What camera/equipment is he known for using?

Wegman takes photographs and videos of his dogs. He has been doing these projects and shoots since the 1960s and 1970s. He uses a Polaroid camera and props with his dogs.

2. Consider your own experience as a photographer. What are some obstacles that might be associated with photographing animals?

Some obstacles involved with photographing animals is that they don’t understand how humans communicate. You can’t just tell them to do something complex for a photo and expect them to do it correctly for the first few shots. It takes time to be able to get the perfect photo.

3. What does Wegman say are some things that influence his work?

Some things he says influence his work is video because when he started that was a very popular choice to show your art as an artist. He was also influenced by comedians Bob and Ray.

4. What does Wegman compare his video pieces too?

He compares his videos to a sculpture with a good structure. He also compares it to trying on a suit with your mom and seeing yourself in a 3-way mirror.

5. Do you like or dislike William Wegman's work? Why or why not?

I think his video segments are a little strange. However, I do like the pictures with his dogs. I am kinda an animal lover so I like the different ways he styled and used his dogs in his photos.

Nathan Bond

1/30/2020 09:38:47 am

Wegman made photographs of dogs. He used a 20 x 24 polaroid camera and an 8.5 x 11 and 9 x 12. It would be hard to photograph dogs because they won’t always stay still and they can’t always go into the positions that you want them to go in. Dogs simply can’t always do what you want them to do. He was influenced by a comedian Bob and ray and the writer Borges. He also compares his work to comedies. I kinda like Wegman’s works because it’s creative and interesting.

Anaya

1/30/2020 09:40:00 am

1. Wegman is most known for using a 2 ¼ camera and using 8x10 photographs so that they fit in magazines. He shot video using a Sony ½ inch open reel system. He also started using a type of Polaroid camera to make photographs of his dogs.

2. Because animals are many times very mobile and not usually responsive to directions, this might present itself as a challenge when trying to photograph them. I've had a little experience with this, trying to take a photo of my dog. When taking photographs of people, you can direct them to turn one way or another, but you can't with animals, making it more difficult. I think it’s impressive how Wegman is able to get the dogs to follow what he wants them to do.

3. Wegman says he is influenced by comedians such as Bob and Ray and Argentinian writer Borges.

4. Wegman compares his videos to TV commercials, in the sense that they are short and get to the point. He also says that looking into the camera monitor is sort of strange; he compares it to looking in a three-way mirror.

5. I definitely think that Wegmans work is interesting, and I would like to see more of it. It’s always neat to see photography or videos of animals, and I find it funny how Wegman treats the dogs almost like humans. He is very creative in the way that he dresses or poses the his dogs for his photos.

Ryan Shields

1/30/2020 09:44:50 am

The artist takes photos of dogs while using a special camera called a Polaroid camera. He also uses sets.

One obstacle of making photographs of animals is that they're always moving around. Another obstacle would be that animals don't always do what you want them too, so it could be hard to get the photo you want.

Some things that he says influence his work are things that just happen on set that can give him an idea for a photo or video. Another thing that influences his work are obviously dogs.

The artist compares his videos to old movies, especially old comedies.

I don't really like his work because I think it's kind of weird to take a lot of photos of dogs.

Garrett Greiner

1/30/2020 09:46:19 am

At first, he always used a two and a quarter camera, always shot 8x10, not wall size. When he first started shooting videos, he used a camera and a monitor. As he got into photography, she still preferred to shoot 8.5x11 or 9x12, as he didn’t want to shoot bigger than magazine size. However, when he was introduced to this 20x24 Polaroid camera, he loved it and ended up using it for the majority of his later shoots.

Wegman is best known for his pictures of dogs. He said that he would have to stand them up on a platform to get them level with the camera, and that lead him to sort of make them look human or appear to be as grand and tall as we are.

In one video, he explains that it was very hard to talk normally when there is a dog sitting in your lap, and due to its weight, it becomes harder to speak. Hard to keep a straight face when the dog is fidgeting on your lap. It is hard to keep him under control since he wants to get down. I can understand why all of these things are problems when you try to take a photo with a dog. From my experience, I know that you want to set everything up the way it is, which is typically easy to do. However, when you bring animals into the equations, we can’t communicate to them how we want them to act, and we can just move them into the right pose and have them stay still just like we can do with an object. So I can imagine that he would run into problems each time he shot. But maybe over time, he got better at posing them or maybe the dogs got used to it and were better as the years passed by.

His influencers were not photographers, but rather people from other professions. He explains that the comedian duo of Bob & Ray were some of his influencers. He further adds that he was influenced by the writer Borges and his ideas of circular time.

At the time when videos were being produced, most artists would make videos of random things. They would go in and go out but with no real reason or purpose. Unlike most other artists, he wanted everything that happened in his videos to have a reason. He wanted a nice structure: a beginning, a middle, and an end. He compared his videos to stories, and he would bring himself into this little story whenever he started filming.

I think I like Wegman’s photographs better than his videos. The videos had a story behind them, but they were still kind of boring and felt very slow. In the video where he is explaining to the dog what the dog got incorrect on what I think was a spelling test, it felt like a kid’s show where they slowly say the letters of a word. I think the photos had more meaning, and he explained that over the years of shooting, he felt like he got closer to the dogs, and I think that the photos helped more with developing the relationship. I like how all of his work is related. I thought that it was kind of cool how he stuck with the same thing over the course of his career.

dana

2/3/2020 09:21:17 am

Wegman makes photographs out of his dogs and is known for using a polaroid camera. He started out using cameras that produced photographs for magazines but once he tried the polaroid, it became his favorite.

Photographing animals is tough to do because they move a lot and might not always listen to you. Whenever I try to take a photo of my dog, I have a limited period of time because she’ll just turn away or change positions. It is even more difficult to try to get more than one animal’s attention at the same time.

Wegman explains how he was influenced not by other artists, but by people who are in other professions. He said how comedians influenced his work a lot. ‘

He compares his video pieces to old, comical films, as well as experiences that he’s perviously had.

I really like Wegman’s work because I love animals. I understand how difficult it must be to get the dogs to pay attention to him and keep still while he gets the perfect shot. I admire him greatly because that is not an easy task. Especially having two dogs on the same shot. I also really like how he's creative with the different ways that he chooses to show the dogs.

Comments are closed.

Period 4 -- Critical Analysis #11

Analyze

Archives

Categories

Home