IC w5 Manon de Boer

When I went to watch and listen to the interview with Manon de Boer, I had never heard of her. A picture with camera was the first thing my gaze went to and the reason for clicking on her name.

Then the thicker printed text said: "She examines how time and space are experienced". The first sentence is: "With her films, De Boer questions the medium of film.

She researches the question:

What is editing in film?"

Manon de Boer is researching the medium she uses; what makes the medium the medium. That research is mainly about editing and the combination of sound / music and image. How is it possible that you always see a montage in the image but do not hear the montage in sound? What does sound do in and with a room? If you place 2 pieces that are listed separately from each other behind each other then you make a combination. This works on the spectator's memory.

I find it fascinating that people ask themselves these kinds of questions; what actually happens with the medium. That is also what Jan Dibbets*, about who I wrote earlier, deals with in his case it is the dialogue between the camera and the photographer. These visual investigations into the medium are in a way an answer to the questions that the writers we study this module also ask.

Joel Snyder and Neil Walsh Allen ask in Photography, vision and representation (p1)

Is there anything peculiarly "photographic" about photography -something which sets it apart from all other ways of making pictures?

I think research into technology itself, with technology itself, is what fascinates me so much. In a sense, that is what I also do and have done in the past. At the moment I make 3d objects based on the contrasts in the photo to combine them with the original photo. What I am experimenting with are questions like:

1. To what extent does the original image remain recognizable?

2. Can I turn clouds into a landscape?

3. What are the colors in the image?

4. How can I prevent or emphasize clear transitions?

5. Can I get the results to look like an elevation map from an atlas?

6. What made a cloud a cloud in 3D?

7. Can I make clouds myself so that we can walk through augmented reality?

8. How does a cloud sound (not a 3d question)

These questions come to mind when I am working and I intend to write them down to see if I can investigate them at a later point in time. Often I just try out something that has occurred to me and in the process these questions arise. Walking the dog and cycling to work are also productive in mentally processing what I am doing. They are ways to come up with other ideas or to see what I am actually doing. But yes that is not really strange; Plato already knew that you could learn better by keeping moving.

Infrared portraits

A few years ago I also did a similar research on a technique. In this case, because I woke up in the middle of the night with the thought that if infrared photography captures reflected heat, it means that everyone gets the same skin color. It turns out to be a bit more nuanced because the direction of the light also plays a role, but the fact was very surprising. for although I was accused of being discriminatory, it was precisely because the skin color no longer played a role that other outward differences became much more pronounced; think of the shape of the nose, the mouth, eyes and the depth of the eyes. In almost all cases, distraction from information such as the patterns on clothing disappeared.

the difference between a normal photo on the left and infrared at the right

When I started working on infrared photography, I didn't really know much about it and the same now applies to this 3d project. In the process I am inspired, I continue to wonder and wonder "what happens if I try it this way ..."? This open-mindedness and practical, but conscious way of trying out, learning the technique is probably not the fastest. Nevertheless, I prefer this to first learning the technique before making a picture because it allows coincidences, happy accedents and side paths that offer inspiration.

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Sources

• SNYDER, Joel and Neil Walsh ALLEN. 1975. Photography, Vision and Prepresentation. Critical Inquiry. [p1]

• BOER, Manon. 2015. Dutch masters in the 21st century. Available at: https://hollandsemeesters.info/posts/show/8992 [accessed at 29 February 2020] and Interview Available at: https://youtu.be/My3Ra5pw4iE [accessed at 29 February 2020]

• *Dibbets, Jan. [accessed at 29 February 2020] https://maassen3.wixsite.com/blog/post/ic-w5-jan-dibbets