Lost
For my fact or fiction/portrait/landscape hybrid project, I decided to start on a new project that I’ve been thinking about doing for awhile that I’m going to turn into my final project for class as well. It’s called Lost and is supposed to connect my feelings of being confused about what path to take in the future/listing through life at the moment and to tie those themes in with the idea of being lost in the woods. By using a lot of negative space and lighting certain areas in the middle of the woods, I’m hoping to create a feeling of unease at what could be lurking out in the darkness.
Inspired Images
Environmental Pollution
Visual Pollution
Water Pollution
Soil Pollution
Air Pollution
Final project proposal
For my final project in creative projects, I want to expand upon my work using ambiguous figurative portraits/ figure studies and creative lighting. I am still deciding if I will use a monochromatic look, or perhaps explore using emotive color to bring out particular areas on the figure or in the environment. I really relate to this project and so can put a lot of personal feeling and expertise on the work since it strikes a chord very close to my heart.
I will use the techniques that I am familiar with including long exposures, shooting in dark environments, and using available lighting as well as painting with a flashlight and possibly using a strobe or hand held flash. I also want to use techniques that I am not a familiar with- such as photo shopping things more intensely in post, using gels on top of my light source to adjust temperature, and possibly using more than one figure.
I have considered making a narrative out of all the images as opposed to stand-alone pictures. I want to tell the story of one person in particular in order for the viewer to grasp onto something relatable and tell the story of a soul wandering a post apocalyptic environment devoid of life. I feel that this would be more effective since I will be having 15+ pictures as part of the project.
Appropriation
For my project dealing with appropriation, I chose to take famous photographs and repeat them over and over again creating patterns seen through slight imperfections.For my project dealing with appropriation, I chose to take famous photographs and repeat them over and over again creating patterns seen through slight imperfections.For my project dealing with appropriation, I chose to take famous photographs and repeat them over and over again creating patterns seen through slight imperfections.For my project dealing with appropriation, I chose to take famous photographs and repeat them over and over again creating patterns seen through slight imperfections.For my project dealing with appropriation, I chose to take famous photographs and repeat them over and over again creating patterns seen through slight imperfections.
Update
Ambiguity
I wanted to portray the idea of a lack of connection between two people. At first it was supposed to be the idea that a comment wasn’t taken the way that it was meant. My thoughts then went to the idea of the feeling of absence in a relationship — when you are with someone but they aren’t necessarily there with you. This was a challenging project because not on have I been in a situation similar to this, but I also used color as my focus for the pictures where I usually use black and white. I think that it is effective and will certainly practice with color more.
Art is Error
There is a lot that can be said about the book Art and Fear. It is a wonderful book that intelligently and sometimes bluntly tells the reader why they shouldn’t hate them selves for not creating art that doesn’t look as good as another artist. My favorite chapter is Chapter 3 Fears About Yourself, where the authors talk about the problems faced with most artists when it comes to comparing yourself to others, fears about not being born with innate talent and many other concerns. This is my favorite chapter because I have personally faced many of these fears in my past and with my work and it is extremely reassuring to know that I was not the only one with these concerns.
One thing that stands out to me in it that need to be mentioned is the comparison between the potters that were put into two groups: quality and quantity. The quantity group was putting out piles of pots. When they would make a mistake, they would learn from it and the following pots wouldn’t have that error. The quality group produced almost no pots because they spent so much time theorizing on what a perfect pot would be that they didn’t actually have time to make it. The quantity pots were by no means perfect but they got better and better the more that were made. Art is created through error. This is what the authors get to with art making in general and can easily be applied to photography. When you spend so much time fussing and concerning yourself with questions like “will my picture look good” or “what subject should I photograph to make a real piece of art”, you miss out on the practice that is needed to become a better photographer. By just simply taking tons of pictures, you will begin to see errors appear whether it is a technical thing like over exposing or framing incorrectly, or something about the subject matter like it not being compelling enough or the picture’s message getting lost because of a poor composition.
The book acts almost like a mentor, speaking directly to the reader as if they are in a private one-on-one conversation. The reader is comforted with the wisdom and advice given by the book and told not to worry other people and to just worry about themselves. With topics like talent in art making, the authors tell the reader to not concern themselves if they aren’t as “good” as someone else. It reminds me of what someone once told me “never compare your behind the scenes to someone’s highlight reel”- meaning- we usually only see the highlights of another’s work and we never see their behind the scenes such as the errors and mistakes made, the stress induced, or the curse words shouted. Everyone struggles with things, some people just hide it really well and appear to be perfect.
Hip Shooting and Reflections
When shooting from the hip, you discover new angles and subjects that you could have easily passed up consciously. I often find really interesting pictures without having to put very much thought into what I was shooting. I simply approximate what the lens will be framing and then press the shutter. It’s a one of a kind photograph that gets created and is a very interesting concept I think. Upon reviewing what I shot, I can instantly tell that I wouldn’t have thought of almost any of the framing that was captured. I wouldn’t have focused a particular place that the camera picked up and I think that is a very powerful realization when you think about art making. very few medium can create something real without the artist actually looking at what they were creating.
Exercises like this can help photographers challenge how they look for something to photograph. It opens our photographic eye to a whole new realization of what constitutes a good photograph or subject.
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