Amanda Baker

West

2011-01-10T10:55:00.015-05:00

Happy New Year Everyone!

2010 was a wonderful and challenging year for me, full of opportunity. Below are images from my first solo show at the University of Dayton. Some of the work is now displayed in The Color of Energy Gallery and Color 2 Gallery in the Oregon Arts District. Thanks for your support! I hope to update more in the new year!

Artist’s Statement

West is a series that has been very challenging for me. It is much different from any of my previous work. Typically, my photographs are narrative, figurative, and based upon the examination of the lives of those around me, including myself. I utilize digital media as a tool to explain how I feel after experiencing and processing a situation. At times, however, the digital realm overwhelms me. I do not enjoy experiencing new things through a lens or on an LCD screen. I regret lugging large cameras on vacations, and sometimes even feel guilty for not wanting to get it out of its case.

In this series, I chose to reverse everything I am comfortable working with, from the subject matter to the type of camera. I have never enjoyed photographing landscapes digitally. I feel as though the image, while aesthetically pleasing, never seems to transmit all of what I experience in these unfamiliar places. In West, I wanted to use film and a toy camera in order to work blindly, relying on the unexpected to explore new surroundings and landscapes. The unreliability of the toy camera forces me to spend time with a place and attempt to fully perceive it, resulting in images that not only capture what I see but relay how I interpret these foreign places.

New Work!

2010-09-19T22:14:00.006-04:00

As promised(for like a year now), these images are from the series I have been working on the past few months. For a long time, I've focused on refining the concept behind this new work, and it has taken me a while to actually begin making the images. These are just the beginning, of hopefully a large series.

These photographs examine the delicate balance between a person's emotions about their own life. The fabric represents the everyday: the things, people, places, and tasks that face us on a daily level. In one sense, we are complacent and satisfied with our comfortable routine, and the things we let define us. At any given time, however, we find ourselves struggling with what it is that we do, and how it makes us feel. The duality between the contentment and the struggle is something I think many people feel often, and throughout their entire lives.

The same person appears in both sides of the photograph to represent the sometimes, Jekyll and Hyde lives we lead. Because their identities are concealed and lost within the fabric, their personal environments become yet another way to define them.

In two of the images, I used a mannequin in place of a human model. I wanted the opportunity to experiment with an inanimate object that I could project these emotions onto, and somehow show that she could "feel" them too. Her surroundings are generic to expose her placeless and voiceless existence, yet her ability to be given human characteristics.

Still working on these. Feel free to give me feedback. Also, if you're up for modeling, let me know!

Thanks

Outtakes

2010-05-29T21:00:00.004-04:00

I realize it has been about 6 months since I've posted anything on here, but believe it or not, I have been photographing! Not all of it has been my own personal work, of course, but I have been keeping quite busy. I have in fact started a new series of personal work that I am excited about. Those photos will take some time to show up on here since I would like them to be as "finished" as possible before I get feedback. I have continued photographing for The Color of Energy Gallery, various dance companies and the Ohio Farm Bureau.

These two photos I'm posting are what I think the magazine will consider "outtakes" from my most recent shoots, but they are my favorites. Examining the in-between, breather moments of an individual has always been of interest to me and a major foundation of my work. In these couple of shots, I could physically see these busy farmers exhale, and relax for one split second, which from what I gather, is rare for them. More to come soon...ish.

Little Moos

2009-12-14T22:38:00.006-05:00

Well once again my personal photo work has fallen to the wayside. Working retail full time for the holiday season has been keeping me more than busy. I did, however, land a freelance job with the Ohio Farm Bureau photographing for their magazine, "Our Ohio". My first assignment was to go to a farm in Amelia,Ohio where they raise miniature cattle and photograph for an upcoming story. I had no idea what to expect, but it ended up being a lot of fun, despite the bad weather. The animals were as friendly as their names (Frank, Abe, Scarlet, etc.)as well as the hobby farming couple. Here are a few shots from the farm. Enjoy.

Lost & Found

2009-11-11T13:24:00.001-05:00

Still Searching

2009-10-12T20:41:00.002-04:00

Since I graduated, I have been doing a lot of photographing, but only a small amount of that has been my own conceptual work. My goal for the fall and winter is to change that. I'm struggling to streamline my ideas and find new ways for my photographs to speak. Everything seems harder when you're on your own, in all aspects of life, and my work is feeling those effects. I'm beginning to scrape the surface of where I want my work to go with these last two entries. However, I find it incredibly hard to work with myself as a model since a lot of my work is rooted in the observation of those around me. Until I can organize my concept enough to not waste someone else's time, I will have to work with myself. Bear with me, hopefully there's more to come.

I start to feel Mortality surround me

2009-10-10T00:43:00.006-04:00

View from my Pillow

2009-10-08T12:17:00.002-04:00

Oregon Arts District Book

2009-09-24T00:28:00.003-04:00

I was charged with creating this book at the beginning of the summer. I have finally finished it, and would like to share it with all of you. Thanks to those who stuck with me through the process! Let me know what you think.

Pieces of The ...

In Photographs

By Amanda Baker

Book Preview

Not From Here

2009-09-13T16:21:00.004-04:00

Has-Beens

2009-09-05T17:56:00.013-04:00

I have done a lot of traveling in the past year to places that may not be the hottest spots for a vacation. These two towns by no means are many people's destinations. Nevertheless, I've ended up there. In both Forks, Washington and Salem, Massachusettes, there is a strange kind of simplicity that I find very inviting. Both towns prosper largely due to tourism and not much else. Over the years it seems they have lost their significance as important places. While Salem still holds a much larger population than Forks, both seem to exist for people who are merely passing through. I personally feel that they have much more to offer than this. In any case, these are two of my favorite places in the US. They are both beautiful and strange, and indeed beautifully strange.

Taking Flight

2009-08-15T14:31:00.004-04:00

A Common Thread--Dancers & Paint

2009-07-17T15:33:00.005-04:00

No matter where my photography takes me, it always seems to circle back to the beginning of my creative development. Growing up, I was a dancer. I spent 16 years of my life dedicated to the craft, half of which were spent in a company in Columbus. This summer I have had multiple opportunities to photograph the collaboration between local dancers and painters. These images are some of my favorite to come out of the summer thus far. Photographing dance allows me to, once again, enjoy the anticipation of movement and fleeting moments of synchronicity, only this time from a different perspective.

The End of an Era

2009-07-06T14:38:00.005-04:00

Summer Projects

2009-06-02T18:01:00.004-04:00

For the summer, I will be living and working in Dayton as part of Summer Space, a program for emerging artists in the Oregon Arts District. As part of this program, I will be sponsored to make my own, new body of work that I will be posting periodically on this site, as well as photographing events around Dayton and the Oregon Arts Disrtict. I have also been sponsored to make a coffee table for the District that will eventually be sold in galleries. For now, I have been asked to keep a blog for the program, so please feel free to keep up with the goings on of Summer Space, as well as see my documentary photographs of these events by going, here. Above are some photos of the Excelsior building, where our studio space is held.

The Olympic Peninsula in Color

2009-04-28T15:24:00.006-04:00

The colors I got on this film were really interesting...I still don't feel like any photograph can do this place justice.

The Olympic Peninsula

2009-04-28T15:09:00.004-04:00

For spring break a few weeks ago my friend Hillary and I went to Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. We spent half of our time out on the coast, exploring different areas of Olympic National Park, and the other half in Seattle. I toted a Holga around, and actually ended up dropping it in the ocean. Miraculously, it still works! This is what came out. More color images to come!

Studio Work

2009-04-27T11:51:00.004-04:00

Studio photography class, at its beginning was very hard for me. I didn't understand how to use the equipment, and felt very limited and creatively stiffled in the confines of a room. My work usually revolves around natural light, and natural environments, so having to control my light source in a creative and aesthetically pleasing way became a challenge. However, once I got used to the lighting set up, I was able to bring common themes addressed in my larger bodies of work into my studio photographs.
The images coming from my self-lead project (at the top) deal with portraiture in a non-traditional way. I asked my models what body part they feel is their best feature, something that defines the way they look. I started out down this path, wanting to use specific parts of the body defined by a person in order to define their identity in a photo. However, what I found was, when these models got in front of the camera, they became awkward, and insecure, even when showcasing their "best feature." Realizing this, I continued photographing the models in ways that show their discomfort when confronted with a camera, especially when attention is called to a physical part of their bodies.

FRAYED

2009-04-25T13:07:00.004-04:00

The University of Dayton and Link Gallery in The Oregon Arts District have collaborated to bring you FRAYED, a senior visual arts student exhibition. The show opened Friday, April 3rd in league with First Friday events downtown, and tonight will be the closing reception from 6-8pm. It should be a lot of fun, with free food, wine, and great student work! We all have appreciated the infinite amount of support from faculty and students over the last four years, and hope to see you there for one last celebration!

Senior Thesis Presentations

2009-04-25T13:01:00.002-04:00

As part of the Stander Symposium this year at UD, the senior photography majors presented their thesis work in ArtStreet. The presentations were given to an audience, explaining the evolution of our work, and how we came to be where we are today. The presentations went very well, and was a good ending to our education here at UD. We are all proud of each other and can't wait to see where life takes us!

Senior Thesis--Current Work

2009-04-18T14:30:00.003-04:00

In my recent work, people who are familiar to me take on the role of anonymous characters in a narrative. These characters are often faced with feelings of isolation, alienation, longing, and entrapment. I approach my photographic work in a cinematic fashion, so that these themes become a recurrent and visible thread throughout time. Referencing the linear nature of film allows me to narrate and elongate a short period of time in a person’s life. Rather than staging characters to be found in narrative places, I hope to demonstrate that the extraordinary themes and theatrics of cinema can be found in what has become to many, banal activities in mundane lives.

Advanced Work

2009-04-18T14:06:00.005-04:00

These images come from my first large body of work in which I created two, large-scale panoramas. These panoramas consisted of 20 or more images faceted together digitally, and came to be over 12 feet long. Each panorama was meant to explore a specific genre or sentiment of classic cinema by way of characters, color, and framing. This work was an important progression in my work, because it enabled me to explore the linear nature of a story in a physical form.

Self-Lead Staged Series

2009-04-15T14:08:00.005-04:00

This series began as another exploration of film stills. However, it evolved into something much different. The work in this series is based off of a need to explore a private side of one's self, a side of desperation and hopelessness that can overwhelm us at times, a side that is very rarely revealed outside of our personal, domestic spaces. This work begins to address issues and questions of identity, cinematic theatrics, and the mundane that are all incorporated into my most recent work. This series acted as a huge stepping stone towards my current photographs.

Historical Re-Enactment

2009-03-25T00:57:00.005-04:00

Historical Re-Enactments of paintings have been a long standing practice in photography. Before the range of the medium was known, many photographers recreated fine arts masterpieces, not being able to break with the traditions of painting and drawing. We were asked to take this concept and make it modern. I chose Gustave Caillebotte's "On a Bridge in Europe." I love the light, and loneliness in the painting. I wanted to keep the same kind of setting and mood, just modernized.This photo shoot was very interesting. We almost died in a few different ways to get the final shot.

Film Stills

2009-03-25T00:14:00.006-04:00

In our staged photography class, we were asked to do a project in which we explored film stills. We were asked to create still frames that looked as though they could have been a frozen image from a film. Location, light, character, camera angle, and expression were all very important elements in this assignment.

Digital Manipulation

2009-03-25T00:01:00.003-04:00

My digital photography class placed focus on using photoshop to illustrate a concept. These came out of a self-lead project dealing with reflections vs. perceptions of oneself, and the trials that sometimes come with realizing our own identities.

Color

2009-03-24T22:14:00.005-04:00

These images are a selection of work from a color photography class I took my junior year. I began using color in a very literal sense, but later moved towards seeing color as a means to illustrate a mood, feeling, or even a story. This is also one of the first times I began to explore combining images.