Assignment 6 Written Statement

For my final project, I took portraits of people and then asked what they wanted that they did not have, or wanted to do that they could not do. One person said he wanted a car, he wanted money, and he wanted to have kids. Another person said he wanted a motorcycle, he wanted to be in love, and he wanted to be a teacher. I said I wanted to play guitar, I wanted to get married, and I wanted to be pretty without makeup.  After I took the portraits, I had each person write down these desires, and scanned them into the computer, then added them on top of the persons mouth.  I feel like sometimes people don't say what they really want, either because they aren't asked, they are embarrassed, etc. so I decided to put it on their mouth like it was something they wouldn't say.  Then I took pictures of each person "acting out" their desire.  I wanted the photograph to be more about the desire than the person, so I tried different ways of doing that (like blurring them in the background and having the object of desire in focus). I also chose to make them black and white, mostly because the original photographs that gave me the idea were in black and white, but also because I wanted it to be something "historical".  Like each person could look back years from now and see what they used to want, if they still want it, if they already have it, etc.  I found the photographs of myself the hardest to take, obviously because I couldn't do as much with depth of field and see exactly what was in the camera's vision.  I think these photographs as well as the original photographs I saw, are personal. They give insight into someone that you wouldn't see just by looking at them. I think it's important to look at the inside of someone rather than what's on the outside.

Assignment 4 Artist Statement

Part 1: In all 4 images, I was really trying to show the "kid" in my 24 year old friend. For my first image, I just had him do different things on the playground and knew I was going to Photoshop parts of the images together, so I made sure everything he was doing would be in the shot and from the same perspective. I didn't think about exactly what I wanted until we got to the playground, then used the objects that were on the playground to construct final images in my mind. In the second image, I saw this tube and thought it would be fun to make him look like he was extremely long so you could see his head coming out of one end, and his feet coming out the other. I took 2 images from the same perspective, one with his head coming out the left end, and the other with his feet coming out the right end, then I put them together in Photoshop. In the third image, I took photographs of him on the farther swing as he was in the air, and took more photographs of him on the closer swing while he was closer to the ground so it looked like he was swinging with himself. Then I put 2 separate images together.  In the fourth image, I took 2 separate photographs, one of him on the left side with a sad face, and one of him on the right side with a happy/taunting face. I wanted him to look like he was playing tic tac toe with himself and that he had lost/won against himself. For each of these images, I was thinking about other images that I've seen where someone either used the same model, or used different models in the same situation, and put separate images together to make it look like one complete image that was taken in one sitting. I wanted the images to talk about the inner child in everyone, no matter their actual age.

Part 2: Others thought my images were playful and fun.  They enjoyed my concept and thought for the most part I carried the ideas out pretty well. Some made the comment that the colors in the third image were brighter than the others and that I should choose whether I want the images to be bright or dull. I wanted the images to seem more like old photos of someone when he was a child, so I think I should change the colors on the third image to make them duller and less saturated to match the colors in the other images.  I think these images work well together as a series, but if I was to make an extension of the series, I might try going to different playgrounds or "play places" that children would go, and use different models in different situations. I do like having the same model in one situation though, to make it seem more playful.

Prompt #24

For my final project, I want to base it off of some African photography that I've seen. In my African art history class, we viewed photographs from Seydou Keita and Malick Sidibe. Both of these photographers took portraits of people in Africa with objects and/or clothing that portrayed them as something they were not, or did not have. For instance, someone who could not afford or did not own a car posed next to someone else's car.  I really like the idea of making something that's fake look real, without using Photoshop or another editing program.  My goal in this assignment is to ask people what they can't do/have that they want to do/have and find a way to explain this in the images. I saw an exhibit in Paris where a person had Polaroids of people who were holding up signs that said what they wanted in life. Most of the signs were written in different languages, so the photographer wrote what they said on the bottom white part of the Polaroid. I may try to use text like this somehow in my photographs to give a better sense of what the viewer is looking at. My other idea would be to make a book online of the different images and explain in the beginning what my idea is, then for each "caption", write what it is that they wanted. I just want to show that everyone in the world has something in mind that for whatever reason they don't have or do, that they desire to have or do, and that these include a huge variety of things. Sometimes you look at a person and instantly judge them.  For instance, if you saw a football player, you might make certain judgements about what type of person they are, and what is important in their life.  But maybe that football player wants to learn how to tap dance more than anything, even if they never end up doing it. I want to show the desires that aren't always seen, as well as desires that are seen.

Final Project #5

Stop Motion Video

Transition Video

Prompt 23

Pick any three works by any of the photographers/artists listed on the assignment sheet. Describe how you would recreate/remake/reinterpret a work of theirs "in your own way". How would you use their work as inspiration for your own projects? For this prompt you should describe three different corresponding recreations that derive from three different works.
In general, the spatial art on gluekit.com is awesome. I really like the way that they incorporate different shapes and bright colors to make patterns and words. I also really like the ideas for the black and white photographs. The installations are very interesting and I like the use of perspective, photography, and physical objects. If I were going to recreate any of these, I would probably try to recreate ends with disaster. I think the idea is clever, so I would use something other than matches that gives the same sort of idea, and have it say "ends with..." something other than disaster. I also really liked most of Jonas Lund's work.  I especially liked the Shakespeare project (Jonas Lund). If I was to recreate this I would probably choose a song and find a place that went along with or reminded me of the song, then somehow incorporate the lyrics in that space as video. Finally, I really liked the Ipsum Planet photographs (Ipsum Planet).  I was especially interested in the photographs where the women have yarn for brains. I think it would be really cool to do that with different parts of the body, using different materials as the insides of whatever body part was being photographed, like using meat for muscles.

Prompt 22

Describe 4 possible projects (that interest you) that integrate color photography and other media. I have always really liked stop motion videos, I think they are very creative and add something different to an otherwise normal video. I remember seeing one where someone had taken pictures in a classroom and he had different people come in and sit in the seats, and at certain points had them hold up colored paper to make different patterns and shapes. I thought it was really interesting and was always curious to try stop motion.  I have taken a few 3d art classes and think that using photography with a lot of things is very interesting. For one project about cloning, I incorporated a photograph of a model and used photoshop to give it a sheep's head and have Hitler in the background, trying to comment on how "Hollywood" wants everyone to be the same, everyone to be a certain way that's "right" in their eyes. I think that drawing, writing, and painting on images is interesting.  It makes me wonder why the artist included whatever it is they included on the photograph. Sometimes photographs can stand on their own, but other times, it helps to add something to it to express a feeling, or make a stronger statement, etc. I think that advertising is a great use of photography, whether it be in a magazine, on a billboard, etc. I definitely think that it is one of the most successful fields that incorporates creativity, photography, and editing of that photography.

Assignment 5 in progress