Intro & Chapter 1

One of the sentences in the introduction sets the president for the rest of the book: "It challenges the traditional stereotype of photography". That is contemporary photography, challenging everything we thought we knew about photography, giving the audience something new. I also like the that the introduction recognizes the fact that the photographs do not necessarily fit into one chapter (one type of concept or idea). Photographs are always a combination of different ideas and categories. Often they are more obviously one type of theme, but there are always different ideas interwoven in every photo. This is true of all types of photography, but especially contemporary. I especially liked the story of Stephen Shore. The age at which he started I feel points out that contemporary photography and its art is beyond traditional photographer and camera, and is instead about concepts.

Discovering how photography began to be used for displaying ideas and themes, versus just being used to document, was very interesting to read about. From the highly theatrical and idea oriented works of Melanie Manchot to the more comedic works of Tatsumi Orimoto, there is unity in all of these different photographers in that they all push the boundaries and ideas of photography. My personal favorite is Gillian Wearing's, "Signs that say what you want them to say and not signs that say what someone else wants you to say." I already love signs and using written words in a photograph, and this concept takes it to the next level. The idea of letting a person have a voice, and say whatever they want-through a photo, is incredible. The interaction that brings with the subjects is great. This whole chapter is a great first chapter to contemporary photography.

Media Blog 2

One of the reasons American culture has skewed views on certain topics is because we often trust media as a reflection or window into who we are. The media shows us a specific take on life and to think that what we see in the movies, music, and even online is what real life is has really shaped and affected our cultures view. One of the concepts that the media has portrayed in a light that is very skewed is fundamentalist Christians. fundamentalist Christians stress certain core beliefs, such as the inerrancy of the Bible, the literal nature of the Biblical accounts, the Virgin Birth of Christ, the bodily resurrection of Christ, and the substitutionary atonement of Christ on the cross. However most people in America do not perceive fundamentalists in this way primarily because of the media and how it portrays them.
The article “War of the Words” by Molly Marcot is an example of the medias portrayal of fundamental Christians. The article talks about how 200 community members stood against a rally that fundamentalist Christians had protesting homosexuality. The students standing against the Christians were chanting "Black, white, gay, straight, we're together fighting hate!"
Meanwhile, the Christians were standing on Northwester High School in Hyattsville with signs that said: "Fags Doom Nations" and "Mourn for Your Sins." The Christians that were rallying were the Westboro Baptist Church, a very radical, fanatic church. They are seen to be fundamentalists by the media, as shown in this article, however many of their beliefs are not biblical. The older sister of a student at Northwester, Julia Ruth, said, “It's very disheartening to see a church group trying to spread hate. Why would these people want to come here? There are so many loving people here." The media sees fundamentalist Christians as those who hate those who don’t believe the same way they do.
However, from a Christian view, a fundamentalist Christian is something different. Dale A. Robbins in “What people Ask About the Church” explains that the world may view believing the virgin birth and believing the bible is the inspired word of God is not in fact radical as the world sees it, but instead is very basic to the Christian faith. Robbins says that “From the Christian perspective, fundamentalist has traditionally referred to any follower of Christ who believes that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and who believes in its literal interpretation and fundamental teachings.” Essentially, fundamentalists are Christians who are uncompromising and who take their beliefs to the max. Robbins recognizes that in current society “fundamentalist” has come to be used for extremists and radicals. The media portrays them as fanatics, but according to Robbins a fundamentalist is simply any follower of Christ who holds to what the Bible says one hundred percent.
The idea of fundamentalism seen in chapter 4 of “Quoting God” is interesting in light of how the media portrays specifically Christian fundamentalists. The author of the chapter, Corey Flintoff says that it is difficult to “introduce modern standards of journalism in areas where repressive regimes or religions have held sway.” Flintoff makes it obvious that he thinks the view of fundamentalism is something that should be loosened, and that is what he tried to do while dealing with the Mongian fundamentalists. Obviously, through this chapter and through the media, fundamentalists are portrayed as something different than what they are viewed as by Christians.

Chapters 4 & 5

My idea and perception of still life was broadened immensely by chapter 4. I was surprised by how most of the artists discussed in this chapter did not set up their still life, but rather found most or all of the elements already set up, and simply captured it. Orozco's idea of using art as a vehicle for ideas in relation to photography and still life intrigues me. Through photography we are telling the viewer that we took the photo of everyday items for a specific reason. Photography forces the viewer to look at what we want them to look at, and through that gives average or mundane things a very purposeful quality. While the "visual pun" idea of Richard Wentworth's work was interesting, photographing signs and debris of urban streets seems very cliche to me. However, I really enjoyed Tracy Baran's photo "Dewy". The almost heavenly feel of this ordinary scene is radical to me. In general, I loved seeing all of the different artists ways of making me look at ordinary life in a little bit different way.

One of my favorite aspects of intimate photography is the fact that it is raw and real. Mistakes and imperfections are left in, and that makes it real life. Real life is not perfect, and it seems that intimate photography captures that in such an intriguing way. However, this type of photography is very graphic and explicit, and honestly it was something to get used to in reading through the chapter. I can't say that I liked it, but I appreciated it. The work of Juergen Teller and Corinne Day I find very interesting. The idea of "pulling the curtain back" on the fashion industry is great. Also the life in Ryan Mcginley's "Gloria" is interesting as well as his story in bringing a new step to this genre of photography.