Lumiere Manifesto Critique

I think the Lumiere Manifesto has an outlook on film that is similar to painters that paint oil paintings, or musicians who write classical pieces. The Manifesto says to me that it is trying to resurrect the style that the Lumiere brothers developed, much like painting in a way that Renaissance painters did, or writing music like that of Mozart or Beethoven. I feel like it is being done in an admiring sort of way, like making Lumiere’s is a way to pay homage to the first men to screen a film. I agree with this portion of the Manifesto, I feel like the idea of keeping the past alive through mimicking and admiration is a very positive way to find new things within the art, if it hadn’t been for Lumiere films many mundane tasks in society would be overlooked and disregarded.

I start to disagree with the Manifesto when it states that films should not have any editing, zoom, effects, audio or camera movement. The writer’s find these things to be distractions, however I find that depending on what it is the artist is trying to create these things can be necessary; for example a documentary that covers a person’s life will need transitions, one single shot of that would be a rather long and boring movie. The publisher’s of this website view Lumiere’s as films that are in a certain hierarchy above all others, due to the fact that they do not have any modifications to them. While it is great that they believe this, I think that movies as we view them today evolved out of what the Lumiere’s made, and although they are important for film history they shouldn’t be viewed as gods among films, and all movies with any type of modification shouldn’t be considered “insipid entertainment” or “propaganda”, movies with sound cause people to think too, and can invoke curiosity within viewers, even with it’s movement of the camera and audio. The writer’s of this Manifesto sound to me like they feel as if the Lumiere is a genre under attack by all others, which is not the truth. Lumiere’s can provide truth and meaning, as can all other films if they are made with the intention of presenting the truth, as we’ve seen a Lumiere can be manipulated, as any other kind of movie can.

Overall I guess I disagree with the Manifesto. Albeit I view Lumiere’s as an important style of movie in the history of the film industry, I don’t believe it ranks higher than any other kind of film. This probably comes from the fact that I like writing for film; and I cannot stand to think of all movies as a single shot with no more than a minute of action, with no audio or effects. I wouldn’t be able to survive if that was the case.

Lumiere – Around the Track

Photo Manipulation

Nature and Man’s Convergence – Washington DC

My photography shows man’s contributions to the city of Washington DC and how they meld with the natural beauty of the city.

Critique Photo Essay

Of the photo essays that were in the All Roads Festival I chose Changes During 20 Years in the Old Miao Village – Basha, taken by Kuang Huimin. In this essay Huimin shows how the changing of time affects the people living in Basha, and what they’re doing to adapt as well as keep their traditional roots. In each photo Huimin shows a part of the Basha culture, and as he progresses towards the end of the photo essay he begins to show how new technologies are changing the people in the remote Chinese mountain town. All the photos were taken in black and white, which accentuates the fact that the people in the village are very traditional. One of Huimin’s most notable photographic techniques is his usage of the rule of thirds. Take for example his photos Escalating Modern Influences, Going to the Mountain and Bamboo Flute Playing. In these three pictures Huimin places each important figure off towards one side, having them more in focus than the rest of the frame, while not necessarily blurring everything else. By doing this Huimin creates a central figure for each photograph, the boy in the traditional clothes in one, the woman with the wood in the other, and the old man with the bamboo flute in the last one.

Huimin’s photography is very emotional, he draws upon the expressions in the image to elicit a feeling out of the viewer. I think no other photo in his essay does this as well as Going to the Mountain. The expression on the woman’s face is that of struggle, but determination as well. When I viewed this photo I realized how hard that life is for people in this small community, but how hard they work to make sure it is as comfortable as possible. The picture with the bulldozer shows that the people of the town do not allow others to come into the community and change it, that they have a need to do it themselves. Every photo taken of the village not only shows that they are a very deeply rooted cultural group, but that they also don’t like modern influences taking apart what they know that easily. This photo essay spans 20 years and there’s only one picture of a computer, in 2009. From this you can tell that the people resisted change for a very long time, and it is sad to think that as time goes on they will continue to change to fit modern norms, and once they begin to change then they will change easier and lose sight of their culture.

I think Huimin’s essay was the most telling of the three that won in the competition. Not only did it tell a story but it also conveyed immense amounts of emotion in so few photos. From seeing it I felt like I was watching a slide-by-slide representation of the death of tradition and the globalization of the world, something that I know will happen but am saddened by. To see such a vibrant culture, and a beautiful little mountain village, and to know that it will someday be apartment buildings and Starbucks is something that I find to be very depressing, as someone who loves to travel and get in touch with other peoples cultures.

Photographer Bio – Peter Lik

Peter Lik

Peter Lik was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1959 to Czech immigrant parents. Lik began taking photos at the age of 8, and has done so ever since. He got his big break when he decided to come to America in 1984 and create a photojournal of pictures featuring different features of all 50 states, called Spirit of America. While on this journey he was introduced to the medium panoram camera, his go to camera today. Lik’s book was a hit, and from there his fame only grew as his pictures became more sought after.  He continues to take photos and work in photography to this day, hosting 13 galleries internationally and having a show on the Weather Channel where he discusses photography.

Lik is a landscape photographer who uses two main styles when he takes photos. He typically uses either the horizontal panoramic view or a vertical panoramic. He tends to photograph nature, although he has taken pictures of city landscapes as well, particularly structures like bridges and skyscrapers. He is known for his photographs of America and his homeland Australia, however his elevated fame and immense fortune has given him the opportunity to photograph most everywhere in the world, ranging from Africa to China to the Alaskan wilderness.

Tranquil Bay:

In this piece Lik uses his expertise in vertical panoramas to create a feeling of relaxation and presence in an exotic, Caribbean atmosphere. Lik used a high angle to make the boat seem miniature in a much larger bay, causing the tranquil feeling that gives the picture it’s name. He also makes the shot narrow, as many vertical panoramas are, so that the boat is not lost in the vastness that would exist if the picture had been wider. Lik also kept a shallow depth of field in his picture, the boat is nearest and is strikingly clear, even it’s shadow on the seafloor is well focused. The islands in the background are not quite as clear; in fact having them blurred shows the distance between the boat and the end of the bay.

Secret Place:

This picture is one of Lik’s better-known horizontal panoramas. The rock shelves create breaks in the photo that cause the person’s eye to trace the flow of the water down them, as the water does. This shot is difficult to tell if it is a low angle or a straight on shot, because the height of the rock face is ambiguous due to the lack of a background object to judge distance with, however I suspect it is straight on because there is little tilt in the pitch of the camera. Movement is what I find to be the most important part of this picture. The water was crashing down on the rocks below and Lik took this picture so that the water is neither focused nor blurred too heavily, it is like a mist. Having the water look misty makes it seem as if the water is rushing down as you stare at the picture.  The movement created a contrast in color between the water and the rocks, the water being whitish blue in hue makes it stand out against the brownish red background of the rocks.

Beyond Paradise:

This is my absolute favorite Lik photo. He uses a wide shot to show the vastness of the ocean, and to create a calming feeling when seeing the dock extending towards the horizon. His point of view is what makes this photograph so striking, by not going too far down the dock it makes it seem like it extends much further than it actually does. The location puts the ocean in perspective, because if he had been further down the dock the ocean would be smaller and smaller in the shot as the umbrella at the end of the dock would come closer and dominate the shot. The reason I love this picture is the simple elegance that it conveys. There isn’t a ridiculous amount of clutter, and by going with something so simple it causes me to feel more positive emotions than something like Secret Place. When I look at this photo I see myself under that umbrella with a drink and my feet up completely at peace.

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