When we dove headfirst into National History Day, we weren't sure what to do or what the final outcome would be. No plans, no nothing. But we both wanted to do someone off the suggested list, someone nobody had heard of but had influenced our world in a large way. So, with our teacher Mr. Knoedler's suggestion to search up photographers, second to Ansel Adams was Diane Arbus. And with a quick skim of her photographs, we knew that we would be able to research her without losing interest.
We first visited the Philadelphia Library. We still remember skimming through a book of Diane’s pictures; freaking out at the nudist ones. After reading more books and examining photos, the alarm at the strange pictures morphed into admiration. We continued our research with databases and then web pages or articles. Of course, her photographs were the most interesting to study, since it was a direct artist interpretation of her own mind. Three live interviews were also conducted, one with a past-photographer, Clarissa Nobre, and two college professors who had written articles about Arbus, John Pultz and Philip Charrier. These last two interviews really helped us wrap up our ideas of Arbus and get us focused and excited to put all of our information together.
Deciding on a project was easy: we couldn't act out photographs in a performance, explain her pictures in an essay, and an exhibit would be basic. Naturally, we went with a website: we could feature her art and explain about her life, while still making it look efficient and neat, using different tabs to do so. We added photo galleries so that the audience could take a look at them in-depth. Quotes were used in many different pages to explain Diane's work, with help from one or two videos. We added an 'extra' tab that included surveys for the audience and a timeline of Diane's life, so website users could connect with us and learn more.
Diane Arbus's work fits into this year's theme of 'Taking a Stand in History'; since she cared so much about her subjects, people who didn't really fit in with the world around them. Most photos sparked reactions in the audience similar to ours: at first- disgust, embarrassment, fear, confusion. Nobody really expected somebody to take pictures of people who society worked so hard to ignore. Nudists, dwarfs, transgenders- those that didn't seem 'normal' - were all part of Diane's hard work, companions to ordinary Americans. She photographed even though she was female, bringing back portraiture, letting everyone – normal or abnormal - be known. Without her bravery and determination to take pictures of those who were buried in history, we wouldn't be taking a stand in history: instead, we would be taking a step back.
Word Count: 499
We first visited the Philadelphia Library. We still remember skimming through a book of Diane’s pictures; freaking out at the nudist ones. After reading more books and examining photos, the alarm at the strange pictures morphed into admiration. We continued our research with databases and then web pages or articles. Of course, her photographs were the most interesting to study, since it was a direct artist interpretation of her own mind. Three live interviews were also conducted, one with a past-photographer, Clarissa Nobre, and two college professors who had written articles about Arbus, John Pultz and Philip Charrier. These last two interviews really helped us wrap up our ideas of Arbus and get us focused and excited to put all of our information together.
Deciding on a project was easy: we couldn't act out photographs in a performance, explain her pictures in an essay, and an exhibit would be basic. Naturally, we went with a website: we could feature her art and explain about her life, while still making it look efficient and neat, using different tabs to do so. We added photo galleries so that the audience could take a look at them in-depth. Quotes were used in many different pages to explain Diane's work, with help from one or two videos. We added an 'extra' tab that included surveys for the audience and a timeline of Diane's life, so website users could connect with us and learn more.
Diane Arbus's work fits into this year's theme of 'Taking a Stand in History'; since she cared so much about her subjects, people who didn't really fit in with the world around them. Most photos sparked reactions in the audience similar to ours: at first- disgust, embarrassment, fear, confusion. Nobody really expected somebody to take pictures of people who society worked so hard to ignore. Nudists, dwarfs, transgenders- those that didn't seem 'normal' - were all part of Diane's hard work, companions to ordinary Americans. She photographed even though she was female, bringing back portraiture, letting everyone – normal or abnormal - be known. Without her bravery and determination to take pictures of those who were buried in history, we wouldn't be taking a stand in history: instead, we would be taking a step back.
Word Count: 499