Alfred Eisenstaedt- V-J Day in Times Square'

One of the most famous photos of the twentieth century is Alfred Eisenstaedt's image titled "V-J Day in Times Square". "Made almost 70 years ago, it remains one of the most famous photographs—perhaps the most famous photograph—of the 20th century: a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square on V-J Day in August 1945."(Cosgrove, 2014). It was made during the New York parade after the surrender of Japan. It was published a week later and became a symbol of victory and therefore a pop culture icon in American society. In this post I will try to describe what makes this photo so famous.

Alfred Eisenstaedt- V-J Day in Times Square', 1945

Alfred Eisenstaedt took his photo in New York's main square, Time Square. This is a photo taken during the day. It shows a sailor kissing a nurse. They are in the center of the photo and people are walking around them observing what they are doing. The identity of these people is unknown and they were probably complete strangers to each other, although there are a lot of people who claim to have established their identity. "Lois Gibson, a forensic artist with the Houston Police Department, is claiming that she has conclusively determined that the sailor in the photograph is Glenn McDuffie, 80, a North Carolina native who played semiprofessional baseball and worked in construction and for the Postal Service." ( Chan,2007). Everyone around is looking at this, and most of them are smiling to themselves. Today, such behavior is unacceptable, and as evidenced its ban by the American government. "An historic photograph of an American sailor kissing a woman in Times Square on VJ Day narrowly escaped a ban by the US government’s veterans affairs department for breaching its sexual harassment policy." (Driver, 2024). At the time, however, it was completely normal, and such behavior was only considered a sign of great joy. It is an expression of their satisfaction, happiness and relief caused by the end of the war, which was very demanding for many and took the lives of millions of people. The woman seems helpless and surprised by this situation, but she does not try to fight or resist. The sailor looks aggressive, and his behavior is not completely accepted by the woman, but she knows that she can't do anything.

This photo is a symbol of American victory, joy and relief caused by the end of the war. Despite the obvious failure to maintain boundaries and promote a toxic model of masculinity, this photo has become iconic. Probably because it was made in a completely different era where it wasn't perceived that way. Taking this into account, the photo is an attempt to capture the transience of the moment and the great joy of the entire society.

References

Chan, S. (2007). When a Kiss Isn’t Just a Kiss. [online] City Room. Available at: https://archive.nytimes.com/cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/that-times-square-smooch-right-to-the-kisser/ [Accessed 12 Apr. 2024].

Cosgrove, B. (2014). V-J Day, 1945: A Nation Lets Loose. [online] Time.com. Available at: https://time.com/3517476/v-j-day-1945-a-nation-lets-loose/ [Accessed 12 Apr. 2024].

Diver, T. (2024). Famous ‘non-consensual’ VJ Day kiss spared US government ban. [online] The Telegraph. Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2024/03/06/vj-day-kiss-picture-us-ban-non-consensual/ [Accessed 12 Apr. 2024].

Serafino , J. (2017). 9 Memorable Facts About Alfred Eisenstaedt’s ‘V-J Day in Times Square’. [online] Mental Floss. Available at: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/502171/9-things-you-might-not-know-about-alfred-eisenstaedt [Accessed 12 Apr. 2024].

Diane Arbus- "Identical twins"

Diane Arbus is post-war photographer born in 1923. She was known as a controversial and eccentric artist, mostly because of her choice of the models."... Diane Arubs who was most single-minded in pursuit of highly distinctive subject matter: freaks, deviant loners, swingers, transvestites and, later, residents of mental institutions."(Dyer, 2011). She killed herself at the age of 48. In this post i will look closer on her photography of twin girls called "Identical Twins".

Diane Arbus – Identical Twins, Roselle, New Jersey, 1966

Many terms have been used to defines this famous image by Diane Arbus, including artistic, weird, eerie, or haunting. However, the photographer described it as "differentness in identicalness." Unlike most people, who “go through life dreading they’ll have a traumatic experience,” the “freaks” that interested Diane Arbus “were born with their trauma. They’ve already passed their test in life. (Clifford, n.d.). There are a lot of perspectives on this famous picture and what it means. Art and its form are always determined by the viewer. It is never the other way around, and the same stands for this image, in all it's uniqueness and magnificence. 

The photo maintains almost perfect symmetry. Two almost identical girls, dressed the same, with the same hairstyle stand against the wall. The photo has been cropped so that they are in the center and fill almost the entire photo. The girls look quite innocent, yet they cause anxiety and make the viewer feel uncomfortable.

Arbus managed to achieve this thanks to the details that she paid great attention to. This is due to their facial expressions. One girl is slightly smiling and has her eyes open, while the other has a slight grimace on her face and is squinting. These small differences, unnoticeable at first glance, are captured subconsciously and processed by our brain. This creates a feeling of dissonance in viewers of this photo.

This photo, like all other photographs taken by Arbus, shows difference and normalizes it. It may be a land of “freaks”, but within those pictures, even 70 years later, most New Yorkers will see a piece of themselves.(Revesz, 2016).
Although many people accused her of using her models, in my opinion, she tried to show that despite the differences, everyone is equal and the same. That no one is perfect and everyone has flaws, smaller or bigger. 

References

Clifford, B. (n.d.). Diane Arbus | MoMA. [online] The Museum of Modern Art. Available at: https://www.moma.org/artists/208 [Accessed 5 Apr. 2024].

Dyer, G. (2011). An Emergency in Slow Motion: The Inner Life of Diane Arbus, by William Todd Schultz – review. The Observer. [online] 22 Oct. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/oct/23/arbus-emergency-slow-motion-schultz [Accessed 5 Apr. 2024].

Revesz, R. (2016). The ‘freaks’ of old New York: Diane Arbus exhibition opens at the Met. [online] The Independent. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/the-freaks-of-old-new-york-diane-arbus-exhibition-opens-at-the-met-a7133566.html [Accessed 5 Apr. 2024].

Reflection

 

This term was extremely demanding and exhausting for me. Due to the large amount of written work that I have trouble with and I don't like, I fell behind on all my projects. Because I didn't know how to deal with it, procrastination crept into my life.
I have to avoid this at all costs next semester because next time I might not be able to cope with the load of material. This is a valuable lesson for me for the future, from which I hope I will draw conclusions and not make the same mistakes again. However, I cannot be satisfied with my work this semester because I did not do it properly. I did all the projects at the last minute, which increased stress.

Object Lesson

One of the tasks that develop creativity is Object Lesson. It involves selecting an object and developing the idea. Since I received clay from my lecturer, I decided to make something creative with it.

It is used to make sculptures that I associate mainly with ancient Greece and Rome.
Creators such as Myron are famous to this day for their excellent craftsmanship and the ability to reproduce the body in the smallest details.

Discobolus

Another achievement of the ancient Greeks is theater and the creation of the first plays. I decided to combine these two issues and make a theater mask with the clay I got.

Unfortunately, unlike Myron, I don't have much talent, so my sculpture looks very bad. Despite my best efforts, I don't have the skills and the results of my work are poor.

However, this exercise was not about execution, but about creative thinking and creating something unique. I wanted to combine two great achievements of ancient culture to pay tribute to their achievements.

The Final Book

After an extremely demanding assignment, I finished my book. Even though it's not the best novel in the world, I'm proud of myself because I put a lot of work into it.

Mines of Mars

I will now add it to the website so that everyone can find it there.

Website Gallery: Photographic Project

 In today's post I will describe how I added photos to the gallery on the website.

First, I went to the main menu and added a new blank page.

Then I included it as a subpage of my portfolio.

Later, in the main menu, I found the add gallery option and selected the one that met my requirements.

Since my photos are black and white, I decided to leave the background black so as not to contrast too much with them.

I then added buttons to connect the portfolio page to the project and vice versa. Later I changed their color and adapted it to the scheme I had previously used.

Then I changed the photos in the gallery from examples to photos I took for my project.  And I wrote the titles of the photos.

Finally, I checked the website was working properly and there were any problems with the mobile view. Everything was fine so I left it.

Website Gallery: Book

 Today i will add book to my webpage. 

First I had to go to the main menu and add a new page. Later I included it as a portfolio subpage. Then i changed the name of this page to Mines of Mars.

Then I added a button connecting the project page to the portfolio page and vice versa. Later I customized its font and appearance.

Finally, I took care of the appearance of the subpage with my project. First I changed the background. I used a free photo I found on the Internet for this purpose. Then I added a text field in which I placed a short description of the book.

Finally, I linked the photos on the website to my book, so that anyone who clicks on the image will be directed to the book.

Finally, I checked the website preview and mobile view and everything worked fine.

I also changed the date next to the trademark to 2024.

Canva: Chapbook Creation Process

After finishing the last chapter of my book, I went to canva.com to add the cover, table of contents, title page and back cover. For this I had to register and enter Book Cover in the search engine.

Then I selected the cover I was interested in and clicked on it. Later I started adapting it to my needs by clicking on customise this template.

Then I inserted a previously prepared cover and AI-generated photos. I also included the text of a book I wrote.

Then I clicked the shere button and selected the more option.

Then I chose the Simplebooklet flip option.

At the end I had to select all the pages and Create a Flipbook.

Chapbook: Chapter Two and Three

After writing the last two chapters, I decided to share them on the blog. Below I have included a fragment of one of my favorite films which partly inspired me.

The Martian 4K HDR | First Contact

Below is a link to the last two chapters. I'll probably keep changing them and working on them.

Chapter 3&4

Chapbook: First and Second Chapter

Artist’s concept depicts astronauts and human habitats on Mars

I created the first and second paragraphs of my book, which is part of my final assignment this term.

My book will be about an independent mining colony on Mars and the story of a boy who decided to move in search of a better life. It is a sci-fi novel set in a future taken over by large corporations. 

I am completing these on Googledrive, link below.

Chapter 1&2

People at Work: Second Shoot

Since the first session was not very successful, I had to repeat it. For this purpose, I went to the center of Leicester again and asked people in nearby places if they would help me. The vast majority refused, but there were people who agreed to let me photograph them. I think it turned out much better. Below I present the results of my work.

I took all the photos posted above in high-quality jpeg format.

Since these are portraits, I focused on individuals. Below is an example.

 F.2.8, ISO 200,  exp compensation 0,  FL 50mm, Shutter speed 1/80

This is one of the photos that I will include in my project. Perhaps I should have lightened them up a bit, but I think it turned out quite well.