Photography 

FAux Space

​The University of Toledo Department of Art  student photographs were on display in the lobby gallery and on the dome of the Ritter Planetarium. Students were challenged to create photos that evoke a sense of space in the extraterrestrial sense. They used a diverse range of materials to create their images — food, toys, pots, glitter, fire, lasers, smoke and oils. All images were made with a digital single-lens reflex camera; they are not computer-generated or taken from space. 

Black and White

Analog photography is photography that uses a progressively changing recording medium, which may be chemical process based (i.e. film.)  Analog photography has come to mean anything that is "not digital." In a film camera that uses the gelatin-silver process, light falling upon photographic emulsions containing silver halides is recorded as a latent image. The latent image is subjected to photographic processing, which makes it visible and insensitive to light. Black and white photos can also be produced digitally.

Digital - Color 

Digital printing refers to methods of printing from a digital-based image directly to a variety of media. Usually, it refers to professional printing where small-run jobs from desktop publishing and other digital sources are printed using large-format and/or high-volume laser or inkjet printers. Students print all of their digital prints in-house in the Department of Art Print Center. The Art Print Center offers a wide-range of sizes and substrates that can be used and they have printed on vinyl records, canvas, wood and other unusual materials.

Advanced Photography

Casey Oberneder
For years I have suffered from depression, yet my mother has always dismissed my suffering. The feeling of loneliness consumes me and I often feel isolated. Even in groups of friends and family who would regularly make me happy, I no longer feel the joy I once felt from being with them. My photographs express that feeling of isolation. The locations are places where I repeatedly debate whether I should continue living. Late nights are often spent staying up, walking around aimlessly, trying to find anything that will fill that void. The photographs portray what I see when I stay up late at night debating life. The surreal use of color reflects the way my mother views depression - as something that doesn’t exist. I choose to take narrative photographs because I need to tell a story, my story, the story that my mother would never listen to. 

Alexandria Mitchell
Beauty is formed within us, in our creation of individual meaning, in our attempts to enhance our brief encounters with one another. These photographs are a continuation of an important narrative. My mom used to shoot with film and still has most of the family photographs. They’re in a blue box, hidden behind a shoe rack inside her closet. The photos are moments of everyday life. The lighting isn’t always the best, sometimes the subjects aren’t in focus, but they all tell part of a story. A story that I never want to forget. One that shows that our lives weren’t always like this. One that doesn’t make apathy seem so effortless. One where I am loved. One that captures the way I felt before, which is what I want to give you but can’t. These photos are the next best thing I have to offer.  They are the objects that represent the subjective experience we call beauty.

Danielle Johnston
Images have become so pervasive we rarely question their validity. Representations of women reflect imposed beauty standards, supposedly achievable through consumer culture (including makeup), and pressure women to meet unrealistic expectations. Female success and self-worth are consistently connected to physical appearance, rather than character, and the problem is exacerbated when high-profile individuals reinforce such beliefs. The President of the United States should serve as a role model, but instead of demonstrating respectful behavior toward women, our current leader embraces these unrealistic beauty ideals and uses them to undermine influential women. Impeachy, a satirical makeup brand, utilizes Donald Trump’s degrading statements concerning strong women. The project highlights his misogynistic attitudes, specifically in regard to physical appearance, and reveals the way Trump uses language against powerful women to undermine their authority.

Morgan Coutcher
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I use beauty products on a daily basis to create an appearance that is changeable and ultimately disposable. At the end of each day, I remove my makeup with wipes, leaving behind a distorted view of my face on the cloth. The material that was once beautifully displayed on my skin becomes unrecognizable.

I explore these ideas through a variety of media. I scan the wipes and display them as large-scale prints, bringing attention to the strangeness of makeup as a material. The photograph is a close-up view of the exhausted makeup as well as the oils, sweat, and fallen eyelashes, mixing the synthetic with the human remains. The cloths are meant to be discarded, which parallels the idea of our appearance as disposable. In addition to the photographs, I quilted the used wipes with my hair, resembling a grid. This suggests the repetition and routine that many women go through each morning. The wipes displayed through multiple media challenges our relationship with makeup.

Lucas Sigurdson
Music and Energy
 
My life as an artist began with the guitar in 7th grade. For as long as I could remember, I wanted to take after my grandfather, a hot-shot musician; my favorite childhood memories took place on the church festival stages with him. From those days on, there was never a more exhilarating experience for me than standing on the stage, and these prints allow me to experience that exhilaration all over again. Going down the unfamiliar process of destroying the photograph, I uncovered and released this energy that is still flowing inside of me. I first discovered my voice in this world through the strings of the guitar, and now I’m making my way back to them in a whole new way.

SPE Conferences

UT photography students and faculty travel to regional and national Society for Photographic Education conferences. Students have also been selected for exhibitions at the conferences, participated in portfolio critiques and special photographic projects, such as The Big Shot in Louisville, Kentucky.