Lyuba Enchev Text Analysis

In the realm of art, the portrait is one of the most intimate and relatable subject matters to the average human. In the past, the main purpose of the portrait was to capture the essence of the person that commissioned the work. The beauty of art is the fact that every artist views the world in a different light, which is reflected and understood when many works of the same subject are compared. No matter how hard one attempts to emulate someone else’s work, their own personal touch will innately shine through the piece. Many artists’ styles are so distinct that the viewer will instantly recognize their work, which is the same idea that great musical artists’ work can be identified within the first few seconds of a song. In order to develop a style that is exclusive to one person, they must first master the basic and essential aspects of the visual arts such as composition and the creation of still life pieces. Getting a solid understanding of the world and the skill of close observation is a step that mustn’t be skipped in the development of a personal style or look. Amedeo Modigliani’s portraits can be identified almost immediately, because of the distinctive features he incorporated into his subjects. His diligence in art school and his general desire to become a better artist were crucial aspects of him eventually finding and solidifying his iconic style.

He touches on selfies and photographs as tools to improve oneself and self-knowledge and the ability and power of relationships that move and are compared to others that as well share self-representations in the public eye. He brings up a relatable point when it comes to social media. He uses the word “filter” in a sense of hiding of specific aspects of out self-expressions, removing or filtering out features and how some may manipulate and alter out things with the use of different technologies.

Yet now, nearly two centuries later, we find ourselves at a challenging crossroads. We live in the era of the selfie. Our lives are not directly experienced as much as they are Snapchatted, Instagrammed, and Tweeted, constituting a sort of composite selfie. We embrace a twenty-first century of technology, yet one might wonder what there is to be said of a society that is so devoted to taking its own picture.

Van Dijck (2008) suggests that, “Communication and identity formation are not novel uses but have always been intrinsic functions of photography” (p.59). In the contemporary culture, especially among the younger generations, individuals are constantly posting images on social media sites to share their experiences online. This is particularly evident in the social media platform, Snapchat in which a study done in 2014 found that Snapchat users had sent over 700 million photos and videos per day (Lunden & Tsotsis, 2014). Snapchat is a mobile application which allows users to send snapshots or videos to friends with a brief message in the form of drawing or text. The company suggests that each snap ‘reflect an individual in the moment without the need to curate an everlasting persona’ (“Ads Snapchat,” 2015) This can be explained by the unique function of Snapchat as images will disappear after the set time expires. Therefore, the use of digital photography in Snapchat best represents how digital photography becomes a tool for communication, enabling users to connect and getting in touch. On the contrary, there are other social media networks that not only offer as a site for sharing experiences but also enable individuals to construct an ‘ideal’

The structure of the essay was a bit muddled in my opinion as it seemed to begin so clear in stating what the essay was intended to discuss, but as you read on, it began to drift away from the arguments of the relationship between traditional closed spaces and the digital open spaces, and examine the aura of an image and the idea of a copy and video relating to digital images in the way that each digital image is its own original because the image changes as it travels through the data process. Although the two points made by the author open your mind to think about the digitalization of art, it causes the reader to lose focus on the true statement behind the

These visual imageries give an impression of the speaker’s appearance. The imagery portrays confident and proud women when she describes the women. She also exploits visual imagery so that people can picture her image as somebody who can embrace herself well in spite of her race and color.

Before there were cameras, camera phones, if you wanted a portrait of yourself or a family member you would have to find someone who could paint, and you had to stand for hours posing for a ‘painting’ of yourself. If you wanted to capture the beauty of the landscape you’d either have to paint it yourself or pay someone to paint it for you. Today we’ve come very far since then and today pictures are used for so much more than just portraits and landscapes. One of the major uses for photography is Art. The art of capturing and documenting a moment.

According to Barrett’s Principles of Interpretation, every artwork has its own “aboutness”, and they demand interpretation. I do consider selfies as a form of arts, but since they are just a quick snap away from the smartphone, that alters my understanding that both are very dissimilar to one another. Whereas a self-portrait requires the artist, their tremendous effort, and time. Plus, qualities like

This piece describes the current manifestations of photography are. This piece calls photography's expanded space, the screen. Photography's expanded space is the screen for a few reasons. One of which is that a great deal of the media of choice consumed in vast quantities around the world come photography. Cinema is a direct descendant photography, as it is a series of still photographs moving at a speed just fast enough for our eyes to believe they are continuous and therefore moving. The expanded field includes television, gaming, and the Internet. The author articulates the struggle for photography to remain fixed yet to continuously transform and influence other forms.

The technological advancement at the beginning of the XIX century posed a great threat to traditional forms of art and philosophy, which were becoming outdated in the new economic, social, and political environment. Particularly, the invention of photography had reduced traditional painting as an obsolete culture of the past. Artists no longer held the monopoly over the creation of the visual testimony of their time. Until industrialisation, artists were invested with the social responsibility of recording and transmitting their contemporary culture to future generations. Photography was now the preferred medium for documentation, having resolved — or so

Pictures are worth a thousand words, they speak to both the heart and minds of individuals, in ways nothing else can. The genre of photography, is a recently developed one finding its origin in the post industrial age. This genre has become ubiquitous in our modern age, with these ease of access to photos and cameras. We see photos everywhere, from ads to newspapers to instagram, they are everywhere. Whether to express emotion, show a product, or a beautiful view, there is something special about the art of photography. Uber, in this photograph, beautifully synthesizes the aspects so that we are drawn to it.

“Emotion or mood motivates the reading, and the appearances, thus read, become expressive” (Berger). We give meaning to what we look at. Everyone understands the meaning of a photograph differently because everyone’s point of view is different. They have different circumstances in life that change the meaning of what they are viewing. “The one who looks may explain afterwards; but, prior to any explanation, there is the expectation of what appearances themselves may be about to reveal” (Berger). How something appears and it’s meaning can be different based on who is observing it. It is important to look at the cultural background and societal changes that inspire the photograph. Photographs speak to a deeper meaning that just a word. A photograph can tell a

Our society seeks satisfaction in the form of instant gratification rather than long term happiness and sadly, these techniques are materialistic and produce results that are very short lived; viewing my work in photography will help people overcome this obstacle. As something becomes of worth to a person, he begins relying on that thing as his

This means that the majority of the pressures in the processes of mediation shaping self-representation are both universal and crucially in need of analytical consideration. Thumim (2012, p.143) pointed out: “Now if self-representation is a necessary part of online socializing on a commercial platform such as Facebook, then it becomes clear that the idea that such a self-representation might be less mediated than any other, does not hold at all.” People will just do it without thinking about the reasons to take a selfie. According to William (p57), one of the definitions of culture is ‘documentary’ which means that people record all their thoughts and behavior in various way. Why do people take selfies then? For the most common reason, people take ‘selfies’ to document the special moment in a certain place or a situation.; many people also like to share it via their own social network to show other people what they look like at their best and enjoy to get attentions from their acquaintances. ‘Selfie 1’ was taken at the top of Dubai’s Princess Tower which is the tallest building in the world. This type of selfie is understandable and acceptable as a commemorative photograph because not everyone could do it, and that moment is memorable in their entire lives. ‘Selfie 2’ was taken by a woman who was pregnant and she took the photo every week to see changes of her belly. I think this is a wonderful moment that should