People Eating

Rachel Cauthen

• As a photographer who works mainly with portraiture, I knew my final project for Photo III would focus on people in Ireland. It was more difficult, however, to choose a more specific theme. When I accidentally snapped a photo of a stranger mid-bite, I loved the outcome and the decision was instant: I would take pictures of people while they were eating.

• This was challenging for me on several levels. My goal has always been to capture the most flattering moment and the facial expressions made while eating are decidedly unflattering. There was also a distinct feeling of intrusion as I was photographing; while eating is often done in public, watching someone eat can be considered rude. Photography in and of itself is an act of observation rather than participation. I had to push this separation from environment even further to feel comfortable with what I was doing. I listened to music and shot from a long distance with a zoom lens when possible. Still, I could never shake the feeling that what I was doing was somehow wrong and I knew if the scenario were flipped I would be humiliated and most likely angry.

• Once I moved passed my hesitations, I really enjoyed the final products. The consumption of food is a basic need and the act of eating is so very primal. Much like sleeping or having sex, eating is something every human does and yet it still feels quite private. Another comparison is that eating never looks as smooth or comprised as when it is portrayed in films. Eating is an intensely raw moment in our lives, driven by the instinct to survive. I am almost certain that if I were to take on a project of people mid-sleep or mid-sex, a lot of the facial expressions captured here would be repeated.

• In most of the pieces, the subject was unaware of my presence at the time of the shutter. They are completely uninhibited by the knowledge of a camera and are therefore stripped of any façade they may have portrayed otherwise. Together, the photographs carry a sense of universality. These people are any- and everyone. They were not chosen because they stand out in their actions but because they depict the most common of behaviors shared by all. It is humbling to know that the subject of this collection reaches further than the basic definition in order to include myself.

• The final collection is something that I am quite proud of, both as a completed set and as a growth in my photography. This was my first venture into something that could be categorized as “humor photography” and a far-cry from my usual portraiture. It is life, uncensored. I am sure this will serve as a stepping stone into more adventurous photography endeavors. It will also make me more conscious of what I’m doing before I shove a pile of food into my mouth.

Photo. III Final Project

Patricia Erb

Artist’s StatementOne of the things I will remember most fondly about Ireland and which I find most enchanting is the behavior of many children. They seem intelligent without arrogance, independent without aloofness, and friendly without fawning or self-consciousness. The juxtaposition of children playing and highlights of color against the cool tones of the scenery to me conveys a simplicity and authenticity of being because children are so often portrayed in exaggerated activity with garishly bright colors. I see some aspects of this more subdued approach in my own childhood and would love to recapture it. As a result, I almost unconsciously set about showing this in some early shots before developing a sort of theme as the day went on.

These children do not need bright, warm colors to be seen as content and do not need ridiculous, theatrical behavior to express themselves. They are free to be their own people and do not appear to be interested in playing the part of older, sexualized, contrived versions of themselves as I have often seen in the United States. In some cases, these children looked straight at me as I took their pictures, but never was there a look of reproach or awkwardness because they were completely confident in themselves and in their own experiences of the day. This impression may be my own idealized readings of one day on one beach and not common to all Irish children, but I think that there is still a kernel of this behavioral truth somewhere.

The portraits in this series were all taken on the same inspired day on the beach at Ardmore. The weather was very particular-intervals of cloud and sun but often with a cool color temperature to match the ocean. In some images, I enhanced this coolness to keep things consistent and to exaggerate the effect as a feature of the series. That many of these children’s faces are obscured or turned away from the viewer was not my particular intention when taking these pictures, but I am pleased at the universality it gives them from a viewer’s perspective. They become less a particular child and more an ideal or symbol of that experience of childhood. The ethereal and atmospheric music of the Icelandic band Sigur Rós and the song “Svefn G Englar” in particular was certainly an inspiration and guiding post for what I sought to capture in this final project-a quiet, thoughtful, comfortable, child-like enjoyment of a day at the beach.

Jessica Locklar

The Skies of Ireland

When we first landed in Ireland I could not believe how massive and low the clouds were. I was enchanted by something that I could have seen at home, yet it seemed totally different. I saw mountains, ocean, and incredible scenery, and yet I was always pulled upwards to the sky.

         The last time my grandfather was hospitalized before the heart surgery he didn’t make it through, he was taken to the top floor of the hospital. He was sitting in the bed, looking out the window, me seated next to him with his hand in mine. Clouds rolled by the window and as they moved he said to me, “There is a silver lining in every dark cloud, Jessie. If I hadn’t come here I wouldn’t have realized how beautiful the sky is.” These words stuck with me as I walked through the country of Ireland; I appreciated the beautiful scenery and the skies unfolding around me, I appreciated all of the hard work my grandparents had done to pay for me to go here, I appreciated my life and my family and missed them and wished they could see this with me.

         These photographs are for my grandparents. Perhaps they are with me, stirring the clouds, wrapping their arms around me every time I feel the sting of tears coming when I talk about the hospital. They are here with me and they have seen the beauty I have seen, and finally, when I look in the sky, we are together again, only this time we are in Ireland.

Artist Statement

Photography IIIFinal Project

Karen Dressler

Artist’s StatementI became interested in photographing compositions that included lines that carried the viewer though the picture. I like how the lines that I find not only carry you through

the composition, but also divide up space in a three dimensional way as opposed to just finding lines innate

within a subject matter in a two dimensional plane. I also like to use line in a way that makes the viewer aware

that they are outside of the picture, almost like they are being pushed out of the composition. I like to make the images I saw here in Ireland monumental, even though the images may be as simple as a fence or power lines, while others are more meaningful and historic images

like the inside of a church or jail. My experiences and the things I have seen here have made me very aware of my surroundings and just how small I am in this world. That’s the idea I wanted to convey in these photographs, and I feel like the use of flowing lines to divide up the space has helped me convey these emotions in the scenery I

have discovered in Ireland.