Jeff Wall

I found the Liquid Intelligence section and Frames of Reference section to be quite interesting and surprisingly comprehensible. I have never developed photo pictures, although I have been told of how hard it is because of all the details that have to be perfect: the temperature of the room, the lighting, the temperature of the chemicals, including water, etc. Like Wall states, if anything is out of their range or correct value, the photos could be ruined. I have developed black and white photos, which can be extremely frustrating or extremely rewarding. Mostly for me it was rewarding because I did all the work and I developed this picture exactly how I wanted. I'm sure they didn't turn out perfect, but to create of a photograph from the negative to the paper is no small feat, and Jeff Walls take on water and the still was very enlightening. Even when I developed pictures the thought never occured to me how controlled the chemicals had to be incomparison to what they photographed, and in comparison to their "flowy" nature. To be honest, the high school seniors were probably pretty careless with the chemicals and they often times would spill over the edges, or wouldn't be agitated properly; however, most people were pretty careful and took their developing seriously, no matter how many times it took to get the photograph right.

I really like the photographs mentioned in the second piece by the husband and wife who took years to compile these "typologies." I could be wrong, but I think one that we saw in class was of water towers, which relates to Walls piece. Photography really does have a liquid intelligence that pops up everywhere. Although the subject matter of that piece is quite dry, (or it looks dry) they present these objects in a way that displays their architectural beauty, and of course it was developed in these liquids that allowed them to display it. The developer literally allows the picture to come reveal itself.