Final Project

Final Thoughts

One memorable experience from this semester was having to choose our own pictures to show at the art show at Clayton’s. When we have most of a years body of work to choose from, picking two is very difficult. This process helped me look critically at my work and better appreciate the decisions that professional artists have to make before they show their work. I doubt an artist ever shows all of their best work.

Another highlight of the semester was working in photoshop. While I had already learned the basics I still enjoyed using what I knew to make affective images. I am happy with how my free-choice photoshop project came out. I was trying to do something similar to the first surrealist collage and I liked having that opportunity to try again and be more successful.

Sword Fight/Falling

For this assignment we picked a storyline to make a stop motion video. Becca and I decided to use wooden manikins instead of people for our animation. They have a limited range of motion and they have to be balanced perfectly in order for them to stand so it was difficult to get them to do what they were supposed to do at times, especially when we had them falling. Our second animation with the sword fight definitely had a better storyline but was also more involved. We had more things to think about for each frame of the animation than in the first animation.

Final Project

For my final project I think I am going to choose two elements of design and create a series of work that communicates those elements. The two elements I am thinking of working with are light and perspective. Within this idea, I want to be do macro-photography, at least as much as my camera lense will allow. As I work on this, I think it could evolve into something a bit different. While I want to do macro-photography, If I can get some portraits to fit this theme I might try to add some of those. However, for the most part I am interested in taking pictures of smaller objects that I can use to communicate my elements of design.

Still-Life

The sea-glass is from an island off the coast of Maine where my father’s side of the family lives on. We have spent many summer days wandering around the island and happening upon sea glass. The mask is from my trip to Venice, Italy. Venice has amazing masks, but I got this one from a street vendor when I couldn’t find the store I had wanted to look in anymore. The charm bracelet I got after my great great aunt passed away, something from her jewelry box.

I think I was successful in capturing the still-lives in photography. I feel that each picture is simple but effective. I had a more difficult time trying to figure out how to relate the different objects in one still-life so I made different ones with different pieces. I think next time I might try and work more objects into a single still-life, provided that I can make them work together or at least not look super out of place next to each other. 

Visual Story

When I took pictures for this assignment, I decided to take pictures for two different stories since I wasn't sure which one I wanted to use. The first story was steeping loose leaf tea and the second one was baking cookies. The first thing I need to do next is choose a theme, since I received feedback for both possible stories. For the story about tea, some of the feedback included having an introductory photo of a collection of tea, putting the tea leaves straight into the hot water, and making the lighting warmer. This would give the story a feeling of comfort as well as a more definitive story line. There was also a suggestion of including pictures with tea cups or a tea set to have a better end of the story.
For the second story some of the feedback was similar, including adding warmer lighting and having all the ingredients out at the beginning to make a more definitive beginning.

Surrealism Free-choice photoshop

The purpose of my assignment was to use surrealism as an inspiration for images in photoshop. I found photos online that were looked interesting and decided to use those as a starting point. Since I wasn’t particularly pleased with how my original surrealist collage turned out, I wanted to try something similar. I liked using the photos as inspiration instead of just trying to emulate them because while I was taking pictures I had another idea that was similar but wasn’t the same as either of the pictures. I think the biggest challenge while working on this project came from the fact that I wasn’t totally sure how to go about creating the image I wanted to. I had a vague idea of how I might make it work, but it was trial and error after a point.

I think one thing I learned from this assignment is how to layer the same image multiple times when I am combining multiple images so that I am more able to manipulate the look of the photograph. Another thing I learned was to utilize the ability to make the eraser and the layers less opaque. In order to make only the right parts of the image underneath show up without looking like you made a huge hole in the layer over it, you need to use a more transparent eraser. It gives the image a more surreal quality and makes the image stronger. A third thing I learned was that even if I tend to like having the photos in color to see how the colors pop, it can sometimes be more effective if the picture is in black and white. The things I learned will impact my future learning in that I will know some of these techniques without having to experiment my way through as much of a similar project. They will also benefit me in that with this knowledge I will be more able to try new things in photoshop and maybe be encouraged to experiment with the saturation of a photo if something is a little off in the color version.

What is Fashion?

Free-Choice Project

For this project I am thinking of using photoshop with a surrealist-like approach. I wasn't particularly happy with the way my original surrealist collage turned out so I am thinking of doing something similar to that project. When I was looking around for ideas I found these two images:

http://stephaniejager.blogspot.ca/2010/04/alice-in-wonderland.html

http://le-monde-est-a-nous.tumblr.com/post/18439988955

I'm thinking of maybe doing a series of faces with different expressions that are "hidden" by hands like the picture above. Alternatively I could make one or two pictures with multiples of the same person in them similar to both the picture at the top and the echo project from photo 2.

Self-Portraits

"Eyes"

"Dress"

"Levitation"

For this picture I was trying a new technique, levitation photography. I used a tripod to make sure the photo would be the same with and without me in it as well as to make it possible to take a picture of myself without someone else. Using photoshop I was able to combine and alter the pictures to make it look like I was floating.

Surreal Collage

I wanted to use the juxtaposition that was so common in the surrealist work but make it more subtle, like some of Magritte’s paintings. Sometimes his works would look completely normal until you looked a little closer and noticed something out of place. For example his painting “The Blank Cheque” has a woman riding on a horse through the woods at first glance. However the trees in this painting create an optical illusion. For my work I took a few photographs that were related to create an image before placing them inside another, non-related image that can hopefully make you question why something is a little off in the picture.

I am reasonably happy with the results of my collage. I think I managed to make the images work together in a way in which they don’t look forced together but they still manage to convey a juxtaposition and an out of place feeling. I could have made it better if I had more images that served a purpose like this but unfortunately many of my pictures don’t work well combined with others in photoshop. If I were to do this again I think I would try to make the photo a little more out there and obvious.

Rain

Rain

When I was creating this image I wanted to capture the mood of the day. I wanted to focus on the rain drops on the window in the foreground while keeping the background. The background is blurred but you can still get the gist of the image and the colors also contribute to the mood of the photo. I liked how the focus was on the raindrops while the whole image was still visible.

Surrealism

Surrealism was a revolutionary movement that began in the 1920’s. Surrealist artists believed in Freud’s theories on dreams and the conscious and subconscious and the ability of these theories to lead to a truer reality. The artists used juxtaposition and surprise in their artwork to express this. Surrealism stemmed from Dadaism and the idea that excessive rational thought had brought about World War I.

Rene Magritte was born in 1898 in Lessines, Belgium. In 1914 he enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels and in 1927 he joined the Surrealist movement and held his first one man exhibit. His exhibit showed his skill in painting realistic objects while taking them out of context, sometimes known as Magic Realism.

Jerry Uelsmann is an American photographer born in 1934.  He didn’t care for the way that photography was being defined by realists so he would use multiple negatives and enlargers to create a final image. he used photomontage as a way to share the images from his imagination with the viewers.

One of the difference in Uelsmann and Magritte’s work is how Magritte makes one image while Uelsmann uses many images to create a collage. While both artists use juxtaposition, they also use different mediums to accomplish their goals. 

Unititled - 1969

I liked this image because you can’t quite tell if there are different images and where they separate.

The Blank Cheque- 1965

I chose this image because I like how well the optical illusion was accomplished. 

http://arthistory.about.com/od/modernarthistory/a/Surrealism-Art-History-101-Basics.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrealism

http://www.famouspainter.com/rene.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Uelsmann

http://www.paletaworld.org/artist.asp?id=2162

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/12/jerry-uelsmanns-analog-dreams/

Words Video

The purpose of this assignment was to create a word association video that would creatively communicate different words and different ways that words are used. We used short clips of different actions and happenings to show three different words. We tried to blend together the ends of the different words to make it less abrupt. We also tried to make the ending of the video less abrupt while still trying to keep the clips short. I think we managed to make the ending creative and effective.

One of the most important things I learned from this assignment was the importance of taking multiple shots of the same thing so that you can get the clip to turn out the way you want.  We also learned If you have a shot you can’t repeat very easily like when we broke the jar, you want to get it lined up and figured out the best you can before you start to try and make it perfect the first time around. Another thing that I learned was that the sound in the clips can help communicate the word. While originally we had thought about muting the clips we found that once it was put together the sound was actually very effective. In the end I think we liked how the video was simple clips but if we did it again we might play around in iMovie more.

Around the house

I am always interested in the color combination of the pinks and purples with green. I liked how in this photo you couldn't really see anything aside from the flowers and you could clearly see the purples and the pinks and the green all together. I like how the image is close up and focused on a few flowers in the middle but still keeping the others fairly clear. I also like how the sunlight turned out working with the picture.

Light Painting

Light painting taught me about how to manipulate light and experiment with the settings for f-stop and shutter speed on my camera. If I had something I wanted to try I had to have the shutter speed adjusted to allow for the right amount of time to capture the image. The ISO needed to be low enough to capture the path of the light instead of the area the the light may have otherwise lit up. I also learned that the light painting can look more interesting abstract than if you try drawing a deliberate picture.

Goals

This year in photography I would like to learn more about working with photoshop. I have learned basics in photoshop, enough that I know how to manipulate a photograph but I have seen different, interesting techniques that I want to learn how to use. In general I just want to learn more about how it is used in the world and more techniques in addition to what I already know.

I would also like to learn more about portrait photography. Since I intend to study fashion in college, I would like to be able to more easily picture how things will look in pictures as well as in person. I know that sometimes you create an outfit just to be photographed and you always want to make sure it look as good in the picture as it does on the model. Aside from that I would also like to learn how to properly capture the light and the angles that work the best on the model.