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30th Street Station

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Florentin Juillet

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……….This series was inspired by a feeling of nostalgia. One photo sowed the seeds of my approach: a photograph of the French Alps, taken from a summit by the German photographer Michael Schnabel, in the middle of the night. To create a landscape with an extreme absence of light, he exposed the film for a prolonged exposure time for about an hour. The result was a dark, extremely cold photo displaying all of the range of grays that could possibly come to mind. The stillness of the mountains made the photos really sharp, except for the clouds that left lighter marks in the sky. At first, I could not say exactly what moved me most about the photo. Was it the cold aesthetics? The method used to take the shot?

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Apartment Tower

I soon found out what feeling it was: nostalgia. These photographs reminded me of the cold air of the Alps, the silence of the upper slopes when I used to go skiing with my family, reminded me of how it felt to be back home in France. This feeling was reinforced by the aesthetics of the picture – it reminded me of a dream, something surrealistic.

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Reflections

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These images were created during a special period for me; as I am about to leave the place where I have been living for a year, a feeling of nostalgia slowly emerges. Influenced by this feeling created by the night shot of the Alps, I tried to capture views of Philadelphia in the same way: night photos with really long exposure times of places I know by heart, with the goal to see them differently, and anticipate the way I might dream about those places in the years to come.

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Street Lights

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One of the main purposes of photography is to create memory, to find again an exact view we had back in time. By creating these kinds of pictures, slightly different from what my eyes are used to seeing, compelled me to create a variation of what I would have normally remembered. Is that cheating, lying? No: memory is exactly the truth anyway, it is always distorted by subjectivity and the mindset we had at the time, for the place remembered. I just wanted to shape my memories as I would like to remember them.

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Self-Portrait 2012

About The Author: Florentin Juillet is a junior enrolled in the College at the University of Pennsylvania as a foreign exchange student.

Lorena

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Lorena Nicol

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Illocality.

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Erotica intrudes on the illimitable grotesque. The erotic experience is paradoxical, at once infinitely expansive but also divisive. The notion of privacy establishes borders within the erotic moment, as the subject is isolated by subjective perceptual experience that is pervasive. Genuine passion manifests as all-consuming, and thus illimitable.

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Lorena

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True carnal understanding arises internally and from the expression of grotesque (unre?ned) impulses. The erotic moment does not have an isolated locus, but engages the entire self. This includes what is visible to the intruder and what isbeyond the intruder’s experience. The erotic moment acts previous to super-egorestraints that might modulate its primordial traits.

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Lorena

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To this end I propose an image of self-examination – the activity of analysis, the primary purpose of Philo as a space. My composition will showcase an intrusion on a moment of seeking internal understanding. The viewer should understand herself as having interrupted the subject’s concentrated effort to understand the erotic moment by engaging with it. Within the piece, the principle symbolic element will be the juxtaposition between the insistently polite/sterile setting of the Philomathean meeting hall and the blatant engagement with grotesque/unclean subject matter (in this case, literally mud).

Copyright 2012

To Be Continued……….

Photo: Santiago Peredo

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Santiago Peredo

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……….For this series of pictures I decided to explore the world of public transportation and its importance in our daily lives. In today’s world, public transportation plays a vital role in society; people need to move from one place to another as fast and efficiently as possible. Without an efficient and well-planned system, the functioning of an entire city could be jeopardized.

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Photo: Santiago Peredo

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From a simple taxicab to an entire subway system, these pieces of machinery have to withstand wear without taking a day off. Some have to withstand 16 hours of service per day, regardless of the weather conditions without breaking.

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Photo: Santiago Peredo

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Some might be able to take you to the specific location that you need to go, while others can carry thousands of people at the same time.
Some have been in service only for a couple of months, while others might have traveled thousands of miles. The only common thing is that they are there to help make our lives easier by providing a needed service at an affordable cost.

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Photo: Santiago Peredo

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Photo: Santiago Peredo

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In these series, I tried to capture motion by using a slow shutter speed in a few of the pictures. By doing so, I was able to show these vehicles as they are intended to be seen, which is in a constant state of movement.

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Photo: Santiago Peredo

About The Author:Santiago Peredo is enrolled in the MBA program: Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania.

Photo: Chen Fu 2012

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Chen Fu

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……….Many times I look back to those days and events which have shaped my life most, I see farewells. Born and raised in a very small city in China, I was educated to study hard to struggle my way out of it. So my life was always saying goodbye to those people around me, saying goodbye to my parents, to the girl I love, to my cousin, and to go further and further against the way home.

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Photo: Chen Fu 2012

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The first time was 200 miles from hometown when I was 15. Then 680 miles towards Shanghai, the city never sleeps. Then after 4 years, it was 5000 miles to Romania – where I was even dreaming of becoming a vampire, and finally now here in America, 12000 miles away from home. I heard America is the land of freedom and dreams since I was a little kid. Over the years, I have learned to never look back to those seeing me off when I was walking into the security zones at airports, because I knew anyway I had to leave. All these years I have gotten used to calling home only once a week or month, because I know living with the most important people to me was just not my life. When Google Map told me to kayak across the Pacific Ocean to get back home, I somehow learned that farewells to those I love – had already become a part of my life.

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Photo: Chen Fu

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So recently I decided to walk to University City Station (Penn stop) and take the train to the airport, as many times as I have done with my girlfriend. Those buildings and scenes along the road were always reminders to me – that my time with her was getting shorter and shorter: empty archways; green bicycle lanes; Septa signs, and rusted tracks. What are in those people’s minds? Are they seeing someone off like I did? They are smiling just like I was, but was that also as untrue as mine? I cannot stop wondering.

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Photo: Chen Fu

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What I discovered a bit surprising was that I didn’t see hugs, cries, kisses and tears. Maybe it was just not necessary because they were actually traveling together, or they could be like me, getting used to farewells. I suddenly found that sunshine in the airport was actually quite nice, and I was again standing outside of security. It’s just this time I was all alone.

About The Author: Chen Fu is enrolled in the Master of Architecture program at the University of Pennsylvania. May 2012

Andrew

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Andrew Jakubowski

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………The image that I envision is a mishmash of roughly applied body paint and color-driven sensations; it also includes a body position that excites but does not reveal. This image is based on a personal belief that the erotic is a state of mind resulting from the desire but inability to know reality. For me, the act of body painting is an extension of juvenile tendencies, a return to the very stage of life during which human curiosity (and ignorance) is at its peak. It denotes playfulness, innocence, and imagination – all of which contribute to my erotic, sensual, and sexual feelings.

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Andrew

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Within the context of Philo, this image is a seemingly striking juxtaposition against the wealth of knowledge present in the halls and possessed by the members. However, I contest that such knowledge is the result of innate inquisitiveness:  intellect itself is a product of refined interests. Therefore, the image gets at the root of what Philo is as an organization. It is a reminder that we are all motivated by childish curiosities and aroused by the unknown. Both the book and the body serve as means for satisfying our personal desires.

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Andrew

To Be Continued………

Long Legged Nude

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Tony Wood
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I grew up with the conventions of rebelling. I remember seeing the first Playboys when I was 6. I had 4 older brothers. The ideal bodies, with their standardized and unlikely proportions bore me now. I have great fun creating impossible bodies that defy gravity and biology. I’ve always had a fascination with distortion. Hendrix, Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, the distorted realities of William Burroughs, Joel Peter Witkins and Terry Gilliam have all been important Art for me. Minor White said there were 2 kinds of photographers, “those who like reality the way it is and those who are dissatisfied with the world as it is”.
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Untitled

The definition of photography has undergone a huge redefinition. With the digitalization of the world we are seeing once separate visual mediums merging and over-lapping in unexpected ways. I took a photography class with Jerry Uelsmann in the 80′s – where he described how he merged multiple images with a 6 enlarger darkroom. Before Photoshop it was rare to find photographers working this way. The digital application has opened up the possibility of controlling everything that makes up an image, much like a synthesizer can effect every component of sound. The photographer decides the color pallet, not Kodak. Images, colors, textures, tones can all be layered, collaged and merged in new ways that were impossible a couple decades ago.
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Untitled

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Untitled

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Two Faced Nude

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Editor’s Note: To learn more about photographer Tony Wood, log on: www.AnthonyWoodPhotography.com. Copyright 2012

Summer Palace Reflection

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Karl Gerchow

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……….My trip recently to China provided an opportunity to explore two cities – Shanghai and Beijing – largely through the lens of my camera. I specifically wanted to observe and capture images and scenes that normally escape my notice on trips such as this. I’m am avid traveler – and was one even before business school – however taking a camera with me everywhere on a trip, crouching down, leaning, or contorting my body to get the right shot was a new way to experience a city for me.

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Wuzhen

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I soon settled on a concept where a reflection, projection, or echo was an integral part of the image, if not the image in its entirety. Throughout the trip, I was left in awe of the speed of China’s progress and economic activity that we have all heard so much about. However, through this trip it became clear to me that this development has come at significant cost: traditional buildings are being torn down without an appreciation for historic value, pollution is rampant, and the country-side is little more than patches of green paddies between sprawling mega-cities.

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My first image, “Gardens of Nurtured Harmony” is an inverted reflection through a pond of the Emperor’s Summer Palace (the title of this photo being its literal name in Mandarin) in the outskirts of Beijing. It reflects the China of old, rich in culture and historical significance. Much like the Forbidden City, this palace was off-limits to all but the Emperor and his immediate family, leaving outsiders like the shadow in the bottom right of this picture left to wonder what lay beyond.

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My second image, taken in Wuzhen – a small water town in the outskirts of Shanghai – again captures the China of old, but this time a manufactured one. In an effort to show foreigners what these water towns looked like prior to being displaced by sprawling apartment complexes, the Chinese government restored a village to what it would have looked liked several hundred years ago. I have done my part, editing for age.

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French Quarter Lamp

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The third image is the shadow of a European-styled lamp taken in the French Concession in Shanghai on the tail end of a sunny day. Shanghai was one of the few places in China (Hong Kong aside of course), that saw colonial powers bring trade and cultural influence to its doorstep. The street names in the concession, once in French, have all been reverted to Mandarin, but shadows of the neighborhood’s past remain.

Development Blur

“Development Blur” was taken on a high-speed rail while traveling at 190 mph through the Chinese “country-side”. The train stands as an example of China’s achievements, but also provides insight into the level of over-development China has seen in the last decade. Sadly, in a 5 hour train ride from Beijing to Shanghai, this industrial landscape was 80% of the view.

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Lost of Translation

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My fifth image, titled Lost of Translation, was taken through a revolving door leading out of a bank in Shanghai. English or any other language other than Mandarin for that matter, is rarely spoken in China, and so communicating with others can be particularly difficult or frustrating. This warning sign shows how difficult it can be to understand even images across cultures. I had no idea what was being conveyed here. More importantly, in this shot I show what Shanghai is to China – the future, modern and new, but relegated to look like every other modern first-world city I’ve been to. This could very well have been taken in Paris, Cape Town, Tokyo, New York, or Buenos Aires.

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They say everything comes at a price, and in the case of China’s rapid rise to industrialization, that price has been paid dearly by the environment. Perhaps it is because I am from Costa Rica, a country that inches along the development scale but which defends its environment vehemently, that I found the ecological impact of this rapid development so troublesome.

About The Author: Karl Gerchow is enrolled in the MBA program: Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania.

A Life Left Behind

Posted on April 20, 2012

Jennie

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Jennie Shapira

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MISPLACEMENT

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……….For me, eroticism tickles the uncomfortable; it’s the delicate play of contrasting themes, acting perversely to make the viewer experience the combative feelings of ease and unease. It’s the product of a dichotomy between overt sexuality and something that both pushes you back and draws you in. What defines erotic as erotic is precisely this interaction. The concept of seeing only enough to force you to fill in the rest plays strongly with my views of eroticism, allowing a not-fully nude image to sometimes be more sexually driven than one where everything is purely raw.

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Jennie

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As a deeper conversation with the viewer, the creation of a scene which beckons for an accompanying narrative causes the interaction to deepen. In the end, it doesn’t matter if the story is the same as the stories imagined by all the others, nor the story imagined by the subject at the time of creation, as long as it is one that spawns a desire to know the character and know how the depicted situation managed to occur.

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Jennie

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In order to embody these themes and appropriately have them relate to the ‘philo’ environment located at UPenn’s College Hall, I imagined one half of the dynamic play to involve the concept of purity and intellectual soundness. The Philomathean Halls are gilded with knowledge, so a fair counter would be one that’s slightly disturbing and somewhat scandalous, which would eject itself from the ‘ivy-bubble’ as much as possible. To show eroticism, I plan to pose myself in an uncomfortable, tied-up fashion, as if just left in this building, for non-specific torture to ensue. Such would invoke much internal conversation, a discomfort with the image, and a great contrast with the neat, orderly, olden feel of the library.

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Jennie

To Be Continued………..

Desert Beauty

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Madeleine Shiff

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……….Why is a distorted lone tree in the desert beautiful? Why are the simplest things often the most beautiful? With this assignment I chose to explore the complexities and contradictions of the Arizona landscape. I became particularly interested in the juxtaposition of twisted, grotesque trees, and the majestic Catalina mountains. The exploration of the concept of ‘what is a photograph’ is particularly interesting to me. As Susan Sontag states in On Photography, “ although there is a sense in which the camera does indeed capture reality, not just interpret it, photographs are as much an interpretation of the world as painting and drawings are”. What do we really see when we view a photograph? To me, a photograph is compelling when it does not just depict reality. A photograph is compelling because its composition evokes a deep visceral reaction in the viewer.

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Catalina Mountains

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The Arizona landscape is harsh and savage. Few plants or animals can survive in this landscape. From far away the spikes of a cactus appear vicious and hostile, yet up close the spikes appear delicate and beautiful. This photograph lends itself to the idea that objects in a photograph can appear completely different than they do in reality. Furthermore, objects can appear ‘ugly’ in reality yet beautiful in a photograph because of its composition.

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Cactus

Sontag also examines the tension between beauty and ‘ugliness’. I believe that remarkable photographic opportunities lie within this tension between beauty and ugliness. This is a concept that I examined with my photographs in Arizona. A bare tree without leaves can appear lonely in the desert landscape; however, it can also appear proud and dignified in its bareness. Photographs do not merely capture reality; they capture the desires and motivations of the photographer as well. Through this series of pictures, I sought to capture both traditional objects of beauty such as the Catalina Mountains, as well as unorthodox objects of beauty such as an old, lifeless tree.

About The Author: Madeleine Shiff is enrolled in the College of the University of Pennsylvania, Class of 2013.