Extra credit assignment 2- My trip to the California Museum of Photography

Extra credit assignment 2- My trip to the California Museum of Photography

I really enjoyed my visit to the California Museum of Photography in Riverside, California, and it is also free to students, which was really wonderful.  The museum has a very interesting exhibit on the history of the camera, as well as exhibits on different artists.  There were two particular artists whose works I really liked.  One of them was Katy Grannan.  Here is a picture of her work that I took at the Photography Museum.

Untitled, photograph, 2011, Katy Grannan










 I really like the way that her photographs speak to you when looking at them.  She managed to capture the perfect moment, so full of emotion.  My favorite one of the pictures is the one of the woman with the dark hair.  Katy Grannan took this photo in a perfect moment of vulnerability.  This is a picture of a feeling that everyone has felt at some point in their life.  When I looked at it, I had a reminiscing feeling of my own life struggles.  This photograph moved me in the way that art is supposed to; it represented a part of the human condition.

            The other exhibit that I really liked was the work by artist Roberto Fumagalli, called “Blockaded.”  It is an exhibit on oppressive societies such as Iran and North Korea.  I was naturally interested in this because my mother is half Korean.  My grandmother was born in Pyongyang, North Korea, and left as a child while they still could.  When I saw this picture, I was immediately filled with different emotions.

Untitled, photograph, 2011, Roberto Fumagalli

My first thought was curiosity about how he managed to take these photographs.  Getting into North Korea is not easy.  That really shows dedication to his work.  When looking at this picture of this man, I feel a sense of longing in his expression.  It is like he is looking back, wishing for something else.  I imagine that is how being trapped in a country must feel.  No one living in a country like America can even begin to understand what this person feels, but I think that this picture offers a glimpse into the everyday life of a North Korean citizen.  Roberto wanted to show us that people living in these countries are not evil, and are not that different than us.  They are simply trapped under oppression that they cannot escape. 

            The California Museum of Photography is a great museum, and I would recommend it to anyone living nearby.  It was a fun trip to see the history of cameras, as well as the works of Katy Grannan, Robert Fumagalli, and other photographers.