Amy Stein Lecture

I attended the Amy Stein Lecture and felt a mixture of feelings towards the artwork she had to present. First, I have to admit was a little baffled at the way she decided to be a photographer and I feel as though her artwork would be more defined if she had been active in the arts in her developing ages. In general, I found her imagery and compositions to be wonky in a sense, also that they rely heavily on an explanation for the concept to be understood. This sort of "documentary" photography is hard to stand alone and conceptually without the stories behind the photographs, I haven't decided whether or not this is a good thing, but it certainly makes photography more complicated when you have to listen to a story for each photograph. Her domesticated series was the most interesting to me because I enjoyed the compositions and sort of estranged characterizations between humans and animals. I could relate to her astonishment of wild animals in small towns because I traveled from the Washington D.C. area to Vermont a lot as a child, and the small town experience in Vermont is quite similar to her experiences.
Stein's Stranded series wasn't my particular favorite, although I respect her dedication to the project and all the hard work she put into it, I feel as though the experience is more to talk about than the photographs themselves.