Thursday, June 12, 2014

Assignment I am Most Proud of

The assignment I am most proud of is my free choice image. I really like the composition of this photo as well as the vibrant colors.  The red and green are complementary which is an effective color scheme to catch a viewer's eye. I also like the simplicity of this image. The peeling red fire hydrant among a messy patch of grass with the ocean in the distance captures the essence of summer in Maine. While having total freedom in terms of subject matter can be a great thing, it can also be somewhat daunting. It can be hard to choose what subject will make a good photo. My first subjects were flowers and other plants, as I think that a lot of people gravitate towards these things because they have so much natural beauty. This assignment helped me realize that it isn't always the subject matter that has to be interesting in itself, but the way in which you photograph that subject to compose a unique image. Photographing a fire hydrant wouldn't have been my first thought, but the bright red among the green grass captured my attention as I passed by. When I got eye level to it and captured the photo from a different perspective, I realized how interesting I could make the scene. I also touched up the contrast a bit in photoshop to make this image more appealing before printing it. While the colors were bright to begin, I think this small improvement made a big difference, and I am proud of the fact that I had the incentive to do this small touch up on my own to enhance my photograph.

Memorable Experience

The most memorable experience from this semester was creating the Who am I video. I really enjoyed crafting a film which showcased photographs that I've taken in a creative way.  While creating the Who am I film helped to develop my skills working with the iMovie program, I learned about video making in general. Rather than putting together a slideshow of various pictures, I needed to incorporate creative techniques such as interesting transitions, audio affects, and short video to captivate an audience. I did not actually have to take any new photographs in the process of putting the film together, but I had to evaluate my previous photographs and decide which ones I wanted to show in order to communicate a message. While looking at photos I further explored what makes an image captivating to an audience; instead of showing a straight-on shot of the duomo in Florence, I decided to show the spectacular panorama view from above. This helped to communicate the beauty of travel and discovery more so than just pictures of various buildings would. Photos that are well composed make a viewer want to watch the video more than blurry or simple snap shots would. In order to create a strong film I had to decide which compositions were the best. I scrapped the traditional shots and used the photos which utilized techniques such as the rule of thirds, different perspective, and repeating patterns.  By assessing my previous work in such a way, I am more informed to take effective photographs in the future which utilize these creative techniques.

Monday, June 9, 2014

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Culture Clash

Purpose:
To create a Clash of Cultures by creating your own Photo montage, combining images from Beijing, China and Yarmouth, Maine, USA;
To further develop your Photoshop knowledge and skills;
To create a “surreal” landscape by montaging a variety of photographs;
To know, use, and understand the Four Collage Techniques to in your Photo Montage: Juxtaposition/fragmentation, Point of View, Scale Change, Overlapping

This project was very beneficial to my understanding of photoshop techniques. I have previous experience with photoshop, but this project helped to refresh my memory with the program and also introduce me to some new skills. I was able to incorporate interesting images representing both American and Chinese culture to demonstrate these skills. I also had to think about composition; the placement of objects on the page was very important in order to create a visually appealing project. It was difficult to incorporate all fifteen pictures while still making a coherent scene. I had to push myself to think creatively in order to avoid a collage and design a surreal landscape. Instead of pasting in random images I laid a background, and then built off of the background, layering in different aspects of each culture.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Free-choice Maddie

Originally I had my eye on a jar of colorful bottle caps. I wanted to capture the vibrant colors and interesting composition of the circular objects within the old jar. As I tried to shoot the jar from different angles, I caught this flower in the background. When I took a look back at my photos after a couple of shots, I noticed the flower and decided to try and capture this as the main object while still incorporating the jar. I really like the way the jar can be seen in the foreground while the flower is the focal point. This photo has some very rich colors. The bright red of one of the bottle caps in the jar compliments the red in the flower which gives the photo a certain harmony.

Monday, May 19, 2014

Inspiring Digital Artist

Purpose: 
To become familiar with 5 accomplished digital artists;
To see what is possible in the world of digital art.

Culture Clash

Juxtaposition: Two things being placed close to each other with contrasting effect
Fragmentation: Breaking an image into smaller pieces
Point of View: Point at which you an image is shot
Scale Change: Difference in how something has changed
Overlapping: Placing one image partially on top of another image

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Hobbies, Maddie

An unfamiliar feeling arises in the pit of her stomach. A peculiar medley of fear and excitement.  In a spontaneous moment, she decided to escape the monotonous routine of her hometown life to a place of magnificent freedom.  As she throws clothing into a giant duffel, dreams of Everest, the French Riveria, the Amazon, entertain her imagination. She glances to her left and the tickets spilling out of an American passport provoke the giant smile stretching across her ambitious face.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Food, Maddie


An alluring aroma
wafts daintily 
through a warm kitchen
A familiar scent
draws 
a familiar youngster
and tiny toes
creep to 
a counter top
that's a little
too tall
he sneaks a bite
but only
one

Monday, March 31, 2014

Creative Portraits


A straw hat, carefully woven, doesn't do much to protect her blond hair from the falling specks of ice that drift from the dreary Maine skies that day.  This isn't a hat for freezing weather, this is a hat ready to battle the nasty western heat, the scorching summer afternoons. Her heart yearns for the wild west, for the horse back riding, for the cow boy boots.  She looks solemnly out the window, thoroughly disappointed by the newest accumulation of snow. Maybe one day, she thinks, she'll be able to proudly sport such a hat - if this New England winter ever ends.

Selfie

I liked this photo because I think Emma and I made some unique decisions in capturing this shot. We sat behind a railing which sits on the ramp running along the outside of the YPAC. Emma held the camera on the other side of the railing in order to capture it in the photo along with our faces. We thought including the railing was a strong compositional choice, as it acts as a frame for our faces. The tilted camera was another component that makes this photo more interesting. The direction of my hand mimics the tilt of the camera. Instead of a straight on shot, it looks a little bit more candid and genuine.  I especially liked how it seemed to capture an unposed moment. Our facial expressions evoke a playful feel in the photo which is another factor that draws me to this image.  We also played with eye contact here; Emma is looking directly at the camera, but I am looking away from the camera and at Emma. I think the variation in facial expression and eye contact make the photo more unique as well as visually interesting.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Portrait Techniques


I think a simple, but nice way to make a portrait more interesting is framing the subject. By framing one element of the picture with another, you can draw the viewers eye to a desired point. Having a person stand in a doorway, look through a window or even use another prop to frame their face would be a good way to draw more attention to a certain focal point in the photo. Another way to make a portrait more interesting is to experiment with facial expressions. Serious facial expressions can make great portraits depending on the mood the photographer wants to convey, but it can be nice to spice things up a bit. If I wanted to evoke a more playful mood, I could ask the subject to laugh or smile at the camera. If I wanted to portray a more somber mood I could ask the subject to look at the lens in a serious way, or maybe look off camera. Altering the perspective at which you take a photo can also make a huge difference in the quality of a portrait. Sometimes it works really well to shoot a person at eye-level as one would normally see the subject in real life. Shooting from another perspective can provoke an elevated interest of the portrait in a viewer. This can also convey a fuller story by giving the viewer a broader look at the subject and their surroundings. Playing with eye contact is something else I would like to experiment with in my work. The eye contact in a portrait can really effect the mood and/or message of a photo. While direct eye contact with the camera can be a powerful way to invoke a sense of connection between a viewer and a subject, sometimes having the subject focus on an outside object can be powerful as well. Having the subject look off camera can make a viewer more interested in the photo as it can cause intrigue in what the subject is looking at. I personally think that not having eye contact between the lens and the subject can make a photo look more candid which I find interesting. I think this is something I'd really like to play with to discover in which scenarios which technique creates the most powerful photo.


Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Famous Portraits

Dorothy Horan, best known as Dovima, with elefants (1955)
This portrait was done by Richard Avedon.  The subject matter of this photo was intriguing to me. The woman is placed in an interesting way with the elephants. She is not standing stiffly; rather she is graceful as to mimic the curves of the elephants. Her eyes are also focused on the elephant instead of the lens of the camera. This draws the viewers eyes around the portrait to the elephant she is looking at. The black and whites in this photo are also very vibrant which drew me to it.


Sir Cecil Beaton (1978)
Andrew Newman shot this portrait.  What drew me was the personality that seems to radiate from the portrait. The way the subject is positioned and is gesturing shows a certain energy the person possesses.  The background and other props also help to emphasize a certain story. Newman uses background and props to spice up the background, but also bring the subject to life for the viewer. 

 Emmylou Harris, Franklin, Tennessee, 2001

This portrait was done by Annie Leibovitz. The composition of this photo was interesting to me, as the subject is placed slightly to the right of portrait demonstrating her use of the rule of thirds.  This photo tells a story as the previous portraits do.  The woman is holding a prop which looks like it is something very special to her.  The background emphasizes the story behind this woman as it looks like an open road maybe symbolizing freedom. Rather than having the subject look directly at the lens, she is closing her eyes as in deep thought. I want to know more about this story after looking at the photo. 

Monday, March 24, 2014

Intro to History of Photography


Previous to these presentations, I really did not have a lot of knowledge regarding the history of photography.  Not only did my partner and I have a chance to work hands on with designing a poster, we learned interesting information about photographers and developments in the photography world.  While other art forms such as drawing, painting and sculpting have been around basically since humans existed, photography developed only with important advancements in technology. By some it was not regarded as a legitimate art form.  I learned that Alfred Stieglitz was instrumental in making it an appreciated form of art. A photographer that especially intrigued me while constructing was Sally Mann.  I learned a lot about her work and the controversy surrounding it.  The large black and white landscape portraits and the family photos are captivating.  Another photographer that interested me was Jerry Uelsmann; he was noted as the forerunner of the photomontage process. His photo montage techniques yielded incredibly interesting images. Learning about the history of photography and different photographers has helped me develop a greater appreciation of the field.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Shadow Photography


Descent
with only a 
shadow 
to catch its fall
Tension 
keeping the distance
Light 
dancing
to create
a delicate composition
of geometric shapes
reflecting its own intricate pattern





Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Energy, Passion, Fresh





Purpose:

  • To strengthen your creative problem-solving skills so that you are looking at things in a different way;
  • To find letters of the alphabet in everyday objects to create a word;
  • To become familiar with basic photoshop tools.



As a result of doing this project, I learned many things beneficial to my development in photography. Finding the letters necessary to create the words "energy" "passion" and "fresh," forced me to look at objects in a new and creative way. The accuracy of each letter depended on how I composed the image to portray that letter. Something that may not resemble a certain letter at first glance, could be arranged in the lens in a creative way to do so. I had to shoot photos from interesting angles and crop some parts of the photo to accurately depict each word. Alongside looking at everyday objects in new and creative ways, I had to develop my problem solving skills while creating this project. At times we struggled to find certain letters and needed to produce them in creative ways. This skill pertains not only to photography, but other areas of learning as well. Developing greater problem solving skills is something I really enjoyed about this project and art classes in general. I was also able to bring back some of my knowledge of photoshop. By making each photo black and white, we had to think about the way this might affect the color and depth of the photo. Desaturating a photo can sometimes cause it to look flat; adjusting the contrast can help bring about more vibrant whites and blacks and many shades of gray in between. I needed to adjust the brightness and darkness and the contrast in order to make each image more visually appealing.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Unusual Perspectives

       Wooden snowshoes lay flat against the hardwood table.  A mess of wiry leather sprawls across the masses of wood. The crisp breeze of a winter day suddenly sweeps across my face as I imagine the peril they may have seen in earlier years; what storms they may have carried desperate feet through.  I can hear the crunch of freshly fallen snow, the kind that children make glorious snow forts from.  Of course they're only for decoration, but the adventures they could once have endured seize my imagination as I capture just a glimpse of their character.

Monday, February 10, 2014

Composition

This photo depicts a different perspective.  Rather than shooting from above, as one would normally see the markers, I shot from an angle that brings the viewer at eye level with the subject.  I chose to arrange the markers vertically, so the eye is lead from the first green marker to the red marker and finally to the black marker.  This arrangement would not have the same effect had I just taken the photo from above.  By shooting from an unusual angle, I made an ordinary subject more interesting to an audience.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Shapes


I chose to photograph this image because I found the combination of colors and shapes interesting.  I thought this fit with the assignment as each bean has a unique form to it; no two are exactly the same. The variation in color also makes this image appealing to the eye.  I wanted to focus on a few beans in the foreground and slightly defocus the mass of beans in the background. This way the viewer can focus on a few shapes in the foreground and see the small variations that make each object slightly different.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

I haven’t done much photographing in the past, so I’m very open to trying new things and photographing a variety of subjects.  I enjoy photographing landscapes as the natural beauty of nature often makes for a good picture.  I also think it’s interesting to take something a little less grand than nature and try to capture something in a photograph that might not be particularly exciting in person. I enjoy photographing scenery or objects more than people thus far, but I with the right skills portraits can be very interesting as well.

I’m very interested in learning about photography and how to create interesting pictures, so I think that just the idea of developing a new skill motivates me to do my best and work hard to improve my abilities.  Having a quality finished product that I am proud of will also motivate me to be successful. In order to help me be successful, the teacher can obviously educate me on the skills of a subject, but also be accessible to me when I need help or even just small pointers to help improve my work.  I think giving students enough of a time frame to complete assignments is also a big factor in making sure we are successful.