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.