Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Assignment 6

Composition: In this image I wanted there to be emphasis on the two subjects so I put them in the center of the frame and made them darker than the background.
Concept: This image is about the love between man and dog. I wanted to show them interacting and having fun together to show that they have love for one another.
Method: I knew that for one of the images for this project that I wanted to show the relationship of a dog and his owner and my friend was playing with his dog so in order to capture this image I took pictures of the two of them playing together.
Motivation: My goal for this image was to show love between a dog and his owner and have the image look candid so that I could capture the actual emotion.
Context: This image describes that even though dogs are animals they can still have emotion and love their owner.

Composition: In this image I wanted to have emphasis on the poster so I lightened the greens in the image to make the poster lighter (which was its original color) and then used curves to up the contrast in order to make the writing on the poster stand out against the really light background.
Concept: I wanted to have an image that was about love without using the relationship between two people to show it.
Method: In order to come up with the idea for this image I brainstormed and made the poster then had my roommate hold it in different positions to see where I liked it best.
Motivation: My motivation for this image was to show my project idea without using people interacting.
Context: In this image I wanted to influence people to love spread love to others.

Composition: In this image I wanted to show the interaction between the two subjects so I included their arms in the frame.
Concept: This image is about the love between best friends.
Method: I didn't really have much of a method behind this photo, I was hanging out with them and they were talking like that to each other for a second and I took a shot of it, it just worked out perfect.
Motivation: My motivation for this image was to show the relationship between friends and I wanted it to appear that they weren't aware of the camera.
Context: This image is about the love between friends and how comfortable they are with each other. Some people think that it's strange when people of the same sex are affectionate (hold hands, kiss, ect.) and love each other, but I wanted to show that there can be love between people that is just friendly and that touching each other, as they are in the photo, is just a way of showing their friendship.

Composition: In this image I wanted the hand to be the most dominate part of the photo so I made the background really dark and put a lot of light on the hand to create heavy contrast. I also wanted the word love to stand out so I made it red while the rest of the image is black and white.
Concept: In this image I wanted to show the theme of the series without using human interaction.
Method: For this image I brainstormed and made a couple sketches. I then looked up "love" and "I love you" in different languages.
Motivation: My motivation for this image was to show love in many different languages.
Context: This image shows that although there are many different ways to say love, the emotion is always the same no matter how you say it.

Composition: In this image I wanted to make the heart stand out against the black piano keys so I made the contrast really intense and dodged the heart to make it really light.
Concept: For this image I wanted to portray love with using only inanimate objects.
Method: In order to come up with this image I cut out a heart and placed it in different settings around my house and picked a spot that looked interesting.
Motivations: My motivation for this image was to symbolize love.
Context: This image shows that you can take something ordinary like a piano and a cut out of a heart and turn it into an interesting piece of artwork.

Composition: In this image I wanted to include their body language to show their closeness.
Concept: The concept of this image was to show the relationship between a father and son.
Method: For this image my dad kind of did most of the work for me. I told him I needed to show the relationship between him and my brother and he did different poses for me and they worked out really well.
Motivation: My motivation for this image was to show a father and son interacting and having fun together to show their love for each other.
Context: This image shows that no matter how old someone gets, kids will still rely on their parents to take care of them to some extent. In this image the fact that my brother is looking at my dad is showing that he still looks up to him even now that he's 26.

Composition: In this image I wanted to have emphasis on the subjects so I made them really dark against the white background.
Concept: The concept of this image is the love between a matured, married relationship.
Method: In order to capture this image I had my parents stand in front of me and told them to "love each other," and then my mom started telling a story about their wedding and there was a moment where they both laughed while looking at each other.
Motivation: My motivation of this image was to show the comfort and love between a couple that has been together for a really long time.
Context: This image shows that once married for so long (20+ years) a couple starts to work together as a unit, while still being their own person. The fact that you can't see a line where one of them starts and the other ends helps portray this idea.

Composition: In this image I wanted the two people to be the main subjects so-it was hard in this setting- I tried to put as much light as possible on the two of us to help make us stand out.
Concept: The concept of this image is to show a younger couple and the love between them.
Method: In order to come up with this image I brainstormed different ways to show a physical relationship.
Motivation: My motivation for this image was to show how a lot of times younger couples' relationships tend to be more physical.
Context: This image shows the relationship between two younger kids and their affection for each other. I wanted to show as much emotion as I could without showing a lot of their face.

Composition: In this image I wanted a lot of contrast so I used curves and did a lot of burning and dodging.
Concept: In this image I wanted to show the relationship between siblings.
Method: For this set of images I did a lot of pictures like the one below this, which is what I was planning on using, but then when we were leaving he picked her up to say goodbye to her and gave her a kiss and I quick pulled out my camera and captured it.
Motivation: My motivation for this image was to show love between a brother and sister.
Context: This image shows that you can depict emotion without seeing someone's face.

Composition: In this image I wanted to show the three of them interacting so I included all of them in the frame.
Concept: This image is about the love between siblings.
Method: For this image I tried to think of siblings that I could use and I think that little kids always make cute pictures so I asked my friend if I could take images of his little sisters and I took pictures of them hanging out together.
Motivation: My motivation for this image was to show siblings love for each other and how comfortable they are together.
Context: The way that Nathan is hovering over the girls give a feeling of his protectiveness over them but their faces expresses the fact that they enjoy each other's company.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Assignment 5 Writeup Part 2

Image 1: flowers
-Others interpreted this image as a constructed reality of the subject painting the flowers.
-If I were to reshoot this image I would use a tripod to eliminate blur.
-If I were to use this image as a jumping off point I would do a series of people painting different things in odd places.
Image 2: film recreation
-Others interpreted this image as hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil.
-If I were to reshoot this image I would try to use different subjects instead of just myself so that it would resemble the film still more.
-If I were to use this as a jumping off point I would do a series I would do other film stills from the movie Dazed and Confused.
Image 3: illusion
-Others interpreted this image as a constructed illusion.
-If I were to reshoot this image I would try other positions with the subject. I would also try adding more people.
-I could do a series of different illusions using other things. Such as the sun, do images where it looks like people are playing with the sun.
Image 4: collage
-Others interpreted this image as an in camera collage.
-If i were to reshoot this image I would play with lighting more and add other things to the image.
-If I were to use this image as a jumping off point I would do a series of images of different collages that reminded me of different events in my life. This one is full of items I've collected at different concerts I've gone to.

Assignment 4 Writeup Part 2

Image 1: milk and cookies
-Others interpreted this image as an advertisement.
-If I were to reshoot this image I would play more with lighting and try different positions with the cookies and milk.  I would also add text to the image to give it more of an advertisement feel.
-If I were to use this image as a jumping off point I would use different objects and play with their reflections using mirrors, water, and other shiny surfaces such as the counter top in the image I have now.
Image 2: fashion
-Others interpreted this image as a fashion shot.
-If I were to change this image I would make the bottom right corner be covered by the sheet.
-If I were to use this image as a jumping off point I would do more fashion images in different outfits and in different settings.
Image 3: snapshot
-Others interpreted this image as a snap shot.
-If I were to reshoot this image I would use a tripod to eliminate blur.
-An idea for a jumping off point would be to take different images of my friends interacting.
Image 4: film still
-Others interpreted this image as a film still from The Little Rascals.
-If I were to change this image I would maybe add the movie title.
-A series of images I could do would be different characters from The Little Rascals

Part 2 Writeup Assignment 3

Image 1: door
-Others interpreted this image as being picturesque in an unpicturesque urban landscape.  The door gives a rural, more organic feel; where as the brick wall looks urban and boring.
-I don't think I would change this image, I like it the way it looks.  If I were to do anything I think I would maybe increase the contrast.
-For this image I could do a project about doors and what they mystery of what is behind them.
Image 2: Construction Site
-Others interpreted this image as something picturesque in an unpicturesque environment, however it was supposed to symbolize the cultural phenomenon of putting up new structures and destroying nature.
-If I were to reshoot this image I would use a tripod and try to make the image as a whole more in focus.
-An expansion of this picture could be having a lot of images of different structures and having an intense sunburst behind it.
Image 3: book shelf
-Others interpreted this image as cubism which is what it was supposed to be about.
-If I were to reshoot this image I would use a tripod and try to make the image sharper.
-If I were to use this image as a jumping off point I would do a series of different angles of the library.
Image 4: shadow
-Others interpreted this image as a change in time.
-I don't think if I were to reshoot I would change much about this image.  I might play with the lighting a little bit and see what kind of interesting shadows I could create.
-A jumping off point for this image would be to do a series with different ghostly figures in different environments.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Final Project-brainstorm

Bese Saka "sack of cola nuts"
Peace


for these images my idea was to create different symbols using different objects and somehow incorporate different images that implies what they mean.



Another idea that I had was to do a series of images that portray the word "love." I would the different kinds of love using relationships between people. For example the mature, eternal love between a couple that has been married for many years; young love between a young couple; love between siblings, family, friends, mother/father to child etc.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Assignment 5


Composition: In this image I wanted the focus to be on Andrew and the flowers so I decided to make them darker than the white background.
Concept: For this photo I wanted to make it look like he was painting the flowers on the wall.
Method: In order to create this image I made the flowers out of paper and taped them to the wall. I brainstormed to come up with it.
Motivation: My motivation for this image was to create a scene where the viewer can tell what is happening with only seeing one picture.
Context: My image is about imagination. I tried to make it look like the flowers were painted with only one stroke of the brush.



Composition: In this image I wanted to recreate a film still from Dazed and Confused but I didn't have anyone to model for me so I used myself and laid them all next to each other.
Concept: The concept for this image goes with the saying hear no evil speak no evil see no evil so I have 3 different images of someone covering their ears mouth and eyes.
Method: In order to come up with ideas for this image I watched Dazed and Confused and found a scene that I wanted to recreate.
Motivation: My motivation for this image was to recreate a film still.
Context: This image has to deal with being a good person, if you try to avoid evil then it will avoid you.


Composition: In this image I wanted to include a lot of the surrounding scenery because I wanted it to be obvious that he was sitting on a wall.
Concept: The concept of this image is illusion. I wanted to make it look like he was sitting down but the illusion is that he is on the wall.
Method: I found images on line of different forced perspective images and got the idea of creating an illusion by the placement of subjects.
Motivation: My motivation for this image was to create an illusion so that people have to take a second glance to realize that he's not really sitting on the ground.
Context: This image shows that sometimes you have to look twice to see what is really there.


Composition: For this image I wanted to include all of the objects in the image while making it look like an in camera college.
Concept: The concept of this image kind of goes a lot with live music. I included ticket stubs, glow sticks, and the butterfly headband that I wear to a lot of concerts that I go to.
Method: In order to come up with this image I looked through all of my old stuff that I've gotten from previous concerts.
Motivation: My motivation for this image was to create an in camera college that was interesting and shows my interest in live music.
Context: This image shows the culture behind the music that I am into.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

#24


A. If I were to remake this photo I would tie a cell phone to a dolls head and take an image of just her face.


A. If I were to remake this image I would make people out of cardboard and paint faces on them with no emotion.

B. An idea that I have for a final project is to expand on my image from assignment 2 of my hands and show different parts of the body in interesting positions.

Monday, November 15, 2010

#23

1. I construct my identity by trying to express myself with what I wear.  I wear a lot of jewelry and my dreads are all an expression of my artistic personality. In my daily life I perform by creating art and doing homework.

2. My social environment has a lot to do with music and concerts. My group of friends favorite thing to do together is go to a concert or music festival.

3. My physical environment is constructed in many different ways. A lot of times I'm on MSU campus, my bedroom and apartment are decorated with my artwork and posters of my favorite bands, movies and works from other artists.

4. In my life I consider when I'm with my friends and going to concerts to be real because it's when I am the most happy and doing what I want to do.  I consider my life at school to be fabricated because I'm really only going to school for my parents.

5. An example of a narrative would be to take images of students on campus to show how they go about their every day life.

6. An idea for a still life is to do a series about self destruction and show images of people that have chosen a dangerous path in their life.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Assignment 4

Composition: For this image it was important for me to include the entire glass of milk and the Oreos. I wanted also to include the reflection in the granite and the shadow behind the glass.
Concept: I was trying to create a picture that you could use for an advertisement.
Method: My method to shooting this photograph was setting up a scene that could be an image of an advertisement. In order to think of this method I brainstormed and looked at things around my house that could be advertised.
Motivation: My motivation in this image was to show the Oreos and milk in the shot and make it the main focus.
Context: In this image I wanted to portray an advertisement that included an interesting aspect, which is why I included the reflection.



Composition: In this image it was really important to include the upper half of my body to show the dress and body language.
Concept: This image is supposed to depict fashion photography. In fashion photography, I've noticed, models always seem to have crazy hair styles and almost awkward body positions.
Method: For this image I set up a little studio in my house with a sheet backdrop. The thing that inspired me for this method was my old prom dress, I thought it would work well for a fashion photograph.
Motivation: My motivation for this photo was to create an image that has the same funky, awkward feel that fashion photographs portray.
Context: This image shows that "high fashion" can sometimes look awkward and uncomfortable.


Composition: I wanted to include both of the figures in this image and have the image be a little bit blurry while still having enough in focus to make out what the picture is of.
Concept: In this image I wanted to show a snapshot so I told them to move around a little bit to cause some blur in the photo.
Method: Originally for this image I wanted to use them for photo booth so I had my friends pose and just keep making different faces, however after I took them I noticed that since they were a little blurry they worked well for a snap shot photograph.
Motivation: My motivation for this shot was to include from their chest up because originally I wanted it to be a photo booth image.
Context: I wanted this image to be fun and lighthearted. I wanted to show friends having fun together.

Composition: In this image it was important to capture my face and the hair sticking up on top of my head.
Concept: In this image I was trying to recreate a film still of Alfalfa from The Little Rascals.
Method: When I came up with the idea for this image I was actually playing with my dreads in the mirror and noticed that I could make one of them stand straight up, and I immediately thought of The Little Rascals and decided to do a film still of Alfalfa.
Motivation: My motivation for this image was to create a picture that reminded people of Alfalfa.
Context: For some reason when I think of Alfalfa I have this image of him with his cheeks puffed out and his ears sticking out so I wanted to capture that image with the infamous Alfalfa hair.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Assignment 4(0)



I chose to do a recreation of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter. I was inspired by my friends Alice in Wonderland tapestry so I made a hat and bow tie and had my friend pose like him. I decided to direct a lot of light on the subject in my image to make it more dramatic since it's in black and white.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

#22

A. One way to create a series of images is to do a lot of different images that all relate to each other somehow. Another way to make a series is to use different scenes but set up one object that's the same in all the images.

B. One idea that I have for a final project is to expand on my image with the hula hoop in our first assignment. I would take a lot of different images of different poses with my hoop and use different shutter speeds to show my actually using the hoop.

Assignment 2 (Part 2)

Hands:
Interpretation: Others liked my image of the hands because they thought it showed how our hands are very expressive.
Evaluation: I think that the angle is working very well. If I were to change anything I would lighten the lower left corner to try to bring in more detail in that area.
Extension: If I were to do an extension of this project I would do different body parts and how we express ourselves in other ways that just words and facial expressions.

Fairy:
Interpretation: People thought that the background for this image was too busy.
Evaluation: I like the framing in this composition. If I were to make any improvements I would play with the lighting and try to make the subject brighter and the background darker.
Extension: If I were to extend on this image I would do a series of photos that portray a fantasy world.

Guitar:
Interpretation: Others liked angle of the picture and the emotion that's depicted in his face.
Evaluation: I think that the contrast is working well in this image. If I were to change anything I would get rid of the black frame in the upper left corner.
Extension: If I were to do an extension on this photo I would do a series about music.

Trav:
Interpretation: Other people liked the facial expression in this image but they thought that the background was too busy.
Evaluation: If I were to reshoot this image I would position the subject so that he was on the right side with movement behind him rather than the cabinets and counter behind him on the right hand side.
Extension: If I were to extend on this photo I would do a series of snapshots at college parties.

Assignment 1 (Part 2)

Chaos:
Interpretation: When others looked at this image they liked the extreme contrast and the angle of the image.
Evaluation: I think that the contrast and the frame are working very well in this photo. If I were to improve this image I would maybe try different angles with lighting.
Extension: If I were to extend on this image I would do a series of photos showing the frustrations of technology.

Back lit:
Interpretation: When others critiqued my image they liked the shape that the figure made in the back lighting.
Evaluation: I think that the lighting is working very well in this image, it makes an interesting shape. If I were to improve anything I would include the entire hula hoop.
Extension: If I were to do an extension on this project I would do a series of photos of people with props that represent their favorite hobbies.

Secret:
Interpretation: Other people liked the angle of the photograph and how it looked like you were really close to them trying to hear the secret.
Evaluation: I liked the angle of this image as well. I think the background works well with this image, the closed door adds to the theme of secrets.
Extension: If I were to do an extension of this image I would do a series with photos that depict different words.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Assignment 3

Composition: In this image I wanted to capture the white door next to the brick wall and I increased the contrast to make it more dramatic.
Concept: In this image I tried to convey a sense of a picturesque and unpicturesque urban landscape. I wanted to capture the organic, rural-looking door against the brick wall, which looks more urban.
Method: In order to capture this image I drove around downtown East Lansing to find interesting spaces in an urban environment.
Motivations: My motivation for this image was to find a pretty image in a more dirty, urban downtown area.
Context: This image relates to the concept of finding beauty even in the most unexpected places.

Composition: In this image I wanted to put emphasis on the light in the background but still show the building that was under construction.
Concept: I wanted to describe the cultural phenomenon of monopolization and expansion in our society.
Method: In this image I walked around outside of a building that's under construction really early in the morning to capture the really harsh morning light above the building.
Motivations: In this image I wanted to capture a building that is built in an environment with a lot of natural surroundings.
Context: In this image I wanted to show that we are building so many structures that are blocking the view of natural beauty.

Composition: In this photograph I wanted to capture the rectangular shapes of the books.
Concept: I was inspired by cubism. I looked up cubist images and there were a lot of paintings of squares and geometric objects so I wanted to capture books on shelves to have a lot of geometric shapes.
Method: I brainstormed to come up with an idea for this image and then I went to the library and took pictures of books at many different angles.
Motivations: My motivation for this photo was to capture an image with a lot of rectangular shapes.
Context: I wanted to capture an image that was inspired by cubism but still showed a place. I wanted the geometric shapes of the books and to show that I was in a library so I included the door in the background.

Composition: In this image I wanted to have a figure in it but still make it foggy and hard to see. I also wanted to show the space with the window on the right.
Concept: In this image i wanted to show a change in time so I set a really slow shutter speed and stepped out of the frame after half the time it was open.
Method: For this image I used charcoal and put a piece of poster board on the wall and smeared it around the edges, then when I removed the poster there was a square of charcoal on the wall.
Context: I wanted to convey a change in time so I used the square of charcoal to make it look like a picture used to be there and I used the slow shutter speed to show the ghostly figure in front of it.

Monday, November 1, 2010

#20

A. In a news related photograph the photographer is usually trying to show an event so they commonly include a lot of information in them. A lot of times they are candid to show what is happening.

B. A common aspect in a snapshot is that the subject is usually in the middle of doing something and they sometimes tend to be a little blurry.

C. In advertising the photographs are usually sharp images where the scene was created in order to promote the product.

D. Movie stills capture the characters and what they are doing in the scene. They are usually in focus too.

E. In senior portraits the subject is the main focus so usually they are in front of a non-distracting backdrop. They also have soft skin and a lot of times show the upper half of the body, rather than a full body shot.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

#19

1. I don't think that there's anything that should not be photographed.  There can be a concept behind every photograph and I don't think that any image is ever wrong.

2. Something that cannot be photographed is sound. You could capture an implication of sound but to photograph the actual sound that is being made is not possible.

3. Something that I don't want to photograph is sports because I don't have much of an interest in them.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Luis Gispert

http://www.luisgispert.com/#a=0&at=0&mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=0&p=5

Luis Gispert is an American photographer and sculptor.  His work focuses on hip hop and youth culture.  A lot of his work has to do with space and landscape.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

#16 #17 & #18

"I think photographs should be provocative and not tell you what you already know.  It takes no great power or magic to reproduce somebody's face in a photograph.  The magic is in seeing people in new ways." 
16. I agree with this quote.  I think that it is boring to see an image of something that you have seen before and know well, it's more of a challenge to try to capture something that you have never seen before.  It's more magical to see what's underneath rather than what's on the surface of an image.

"Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer-- and often the supreme disappointment."
17. I agree with this quote.  I think that landscape is a difficult image to capture and make interesting and that a lot of times people look at a pretty landscape and try to capture the image but end up disappointed.  I think that this is because when you look at a landscape you are seeing a wider view than what the camera sees and it is hard to find a frame in the landscape that looks interesting.

"Photography can only represent the present.  Once photographed the subject becomes apart of the past."
18. I agree and disagree with this quote.  I think that it's true on account that once you take the image that is an event that happened in the past.  However, I think that you can take an image that represents apart of the  past, present, or future.  It may not have happened in that time but you can create a scene that implies that it was.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Assignment 3(0)




The memory that I decided to recreate was a memory of middle school. I remember sitting in one of the seats by the door and always being distracted by the people walking out in the hall way so I decided to take an image of one of my classes and take a photo of someone walking out the door to recreate the distraction that I experienced when I was younger.