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.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
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.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Assignment 3 Statements
Statement 1: In my first image, I was using the Urban Picturesque prompt. The original image was taken in downtown Lansing, and I was immediately drawn to the stairs on the outside of the building. After reading the prompt, I decided that I needed to do something to the image to make it seem "beautiful", so I got the building in the frame so that there was sky on top to play with. Once I started editing, I just tried different things. I desaturated the colors a bit to make it look more like an old painting. I copied the building and tried using the duplicates in different areas of the image, and what I came up with as a final image I felt seemed geometric and urban, but also picturesque and soft.
In my second image, I was going off of the multiple selves prompt. I love fall, all the colors of the trees are so wonderful, and thinking about the colors of the leaves changing made me think of myself changing. People change through life as leaves do through the seasons, but I noticed these 2 trees together, and that one was still completely green as the other changed. It made me think about how some things in my life are still the same, but others are constantly being altered. I took some images that were vertical, but decided I liked the wideness of this horizontal image just because it was aesthetically pleasing, and because of the way the sun was shining through the branches.
In my third image, I was trying to recreate an image I had already taken. We had an assignment with a large format camera, and I took a picture of this building that turned out really well. So I wanted to see if I went back to the building, I could get the image to turn out similar to the one from the large format camera. Originally when I took the image I was just trying to find something that had a lot of detail since the large format images can be so clear, so I went out at took pictures of a lot of buildings. I really liked the windows on this one, because of the symmetry, but I also liked the lamp posts and colors of the street to make the image less symmetrical.
In my fourth image, I was trying to make a statement about the things that happen in the Capitol building. I had taken an image of a man wearing a suit walking down the street, and then took a photograph of the capital, and duplicated the man without his head or hands in front of the building. I feel like most people that go into the Capitol are "just suits". They go in and are concerned with one side of an argument, they fight for it, someone wins, and they leave. Whether someone actually has strong feelings about an issue seems irrelevant, it's more about whichever side the person is on winning. I took both pictures from the same angle and in the same general area in hopes to get the same lighting.
Statement 2: In my first image, people seemed to like the way that I put the images together. Someone said they liked the shape the negative space made. There weren't many comments, but I would say that this image worked the best to express the prompt I was using. I feel that the composition and colors work well for what I was trying to convey. I don't think I would change anything. I could try using different buildings or even just different objects to make different abstract images like this one for a series.
In my second image, I don't think anyone understood why I chose the prompt that I did for this image. However, I think more people may have commented about the theme if we had had a little more time during the critique. Someone said that they thought the colors were very nice because it obviously reminded them of fall. I think the colors work nicely, and the theme is going in the right direction. I may have been able to carry it out a little better though, and make the concept a bit more obvious. For pictures like this in the future, I would probably try to find pairs of things that were different, to elaborate on my concept of changing/staying the same or having one self that is different from your other selves.
In my third image, without being able to see the original image, I don't think anyone would understand what I was trying to do. If we could do the critique again, I would bring in the original image. I think the lighting is working well in this image, but I could work on the composition and try to brighten the colors a bit. It all seems pretty dull. For a series, I would either try to recreate other images I had taken with a large format camera, or find other interesting buildings to photograph in cities.
In the fourth image, people seemed to like the image, but no one commented on what they thought it was about. They thought that the concept of putting men walking up to the building was interesting, but that the image needed to be bigger so it was more obvious. The comment was also made that the building should be lightened up so that the black suits were more visible. I think if I was going to make a series out of this, I would choose people who had different professions and use them in the same way (take their picture and duplicate their clothing, then put it in front of their place of employment) to make a statement about people's jobs and how the jobs influence their lives.
In my second image, I was going off of the multiple selves prompt. I love fall, all the colors of the trees are so wonderful, and thinking about the colors of the leaves changing made me think of myself changing. People change through life as leaves do through the seasons, but I noticed these 2 trees together, and that one was still completely green as the other changed. It made me think about how some things in my life are still the same, but others are constantly being altered. I took some images that were vertical, but decided I liked the wideness of this horizontal image just because it was aesthetically pleasing, and because of the way the sun was shining through the branches.
In my third image, I was trying to recreate an image I had already taken. We had an assignment with a large format camera, and I took a picture of this building that turned out really well. So I wanted to see if I went back to the building, I could get the image to turn out similar to the one from the large format camera. Originally when I took the image I was just trying to find something that had a lot of detail since the large format images can be so clear, so I went out at took pictures of a lot of buildings. I really liked the windows on this one, because of the symmetry, but I also liked the lamp posts and colors of the street to make the image less symmetrical.
In my fourth image, I was trying to make a statement about the things that happen in the Capitol building. I had taken an image of a man wearing a suit walking down the street, and then took a photograph of the capital, and duplicated the man without his head or hands in front of the building. I feel like most people that go into the Capitol are "just suits". They go in and are concerned with one side of an argument, they fight for it, someone wins, and they leave. Whether someone actually has strong feelings about an issue seems irrelevant, it's more about whichever side the person is on winning. I took both pictures from the same angle and in the same general area in hopes to get the same lighting.
Statement 2: In my first image, people seemed to like the way that I put the images together. Someone said they liked the shape the negative space made. There weren't many comments, but I would say that this image worked the best to express the prompt I was using. I feel that the composition and colors work well for what I was trying to convey. I don't think I would change anything. I could try using different buildings or even just different objects to make different abstract images like this one for a series.
In my second image, I don't think anyone understood why I chose the prompt that I did for this image. However, I think more people may have commented about the theme if we had had a little more time during the critique. Someone said that they thought the colors were very nice because it obviously reminded them of fall. I think the colors work nicely, and the theme is going in the right direction. I may have been able to carry it out a little better though, and make the concept a bit more obvious. For pictures like this in the future, I would probably try to find pairs of things that were different, to elaborate on my concept of changing/staying the same or having one self that is different from your other selves.
In my third image, without being able to see the original image, I don't think anyone would understand what I was trying to do. If we could do the critique again, I would bring in the original image. I think the lighting is working well in this image, but I could work on the composition and try to brighten the colors a bit. It all seems pretty dull. For a series, I would either try to recreate other images I had taken with a large format camera, or find other interesting buildings to photograph in cities.
In the fourth image, people seemed to like the image, but no one commented on what they thought it was about. They thought that the concept of putting men walking up to the building was interesting, but that the image needed to be bigger so it was more obvious. The comment was also made that the building should be lightened up so that the black suits were more visible. I think if I was going to make a series out of this, I would choose people who had different professions and use them in the same way (take their picture and duplicate their clothing, then put it in front of their place of employment) to make a statement about people's jobs and how the jobs influence their lives.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Prompt 21
1. In what ways do you “construct” your identity? In what ways do you “perform” in your daily life?
-You can construct your identity by finding out what is important in your life, like what makes your life meaningful; what it is you like to do, who you like to be with, places that are important to you, etc. Then figure out what order they go in, if they have any order, and this will begin to construct your identity. Even figuring out what isn't important to you helps to construct it. In your daily life, you perform for other people, for yourself, and for no one. It could be pretending to be nice to someone even if you don't like them, telling yourself you think you're beautiful even if you don't believe it, or doing something just because you know it's the right thing to do, even if no one else knows about it.
2. Describe some ways in which your personal culture and social environments are “constructed”.
-Personal culture and social environments are constructed by deciding who to be with, where to be, what you do, etc. A personal culture and social environment could be influenced by who you are in class with, who you decide to hang out with outside of class and work, what your friends and family believe in, where you decide to go on weekends, if you decide to drink or do drugs, what you spend your free time doing, etc.
3. Describe some ways in which your physical environment/space is “constructed”.
-For instance, in your room/house/apt., you decide where to put things, therefore you are constructing your space. Also in areas where you don't choose to put things, you can picture different things about your surroundings. By using your imagination, you can construct a space without physically changing it.
4. In your daily life, what would you consider to be “real” and what would you consider to be “constructed/fabricated”?-In some ways, everything is real, but in other ways everything is constructed. You would think that the people you interact with are real, because they physically are, however they might be constructing a front to make you not see who they really are, or how they are really feeling. The physical things around you are real, but as I said before, they may have been constructed the way they are (as well as everything being made some how). Your beliefs are real to you, because it's what you believe, however you are the one that decided to believe certain things, so you construct them in your mind.
Prompt 20
“We therefore consume images fleetingly and randomly. It takes very special pictures to grasp and hold our attention. We need to be seduced by images that outdo reality through excessiveness—as in advertising and movies” (Constructed Realities: The Art of Staged Photography Edited by Michael Kohler).
-I agree with this statement. In today's society, it's extremely hard to keep people's attention. It's hard to focus for longer than about 2 minutes on one thing, studies have shown. In my Intercultural Communications class, my teacher was saying that she tries to incorporate lots of different ways for people to learn because of student's attention spans (things like watching videos on youtube that go along with class, readings, pictures, lecture slides, etc.) So things that aren't extraordinary are hard to pay attention to, let alone actually remembering and feeling.
“But the term ‘Infotainment’ also implies this: with the gradual fictionalization of even the news, the old categorical oppositions of ‘documenting’ and ‘staging’, appearance and reality gradually dissolve. They are being replaced by a variety of hybrid forms for which it will be impossible, in fact pointless, to attempt to distinguish between fact and fiction. Even the accusation that ‘Infotainment’ is guilty of continuous ‘lying’ is therefore unjustified, for it is neither ‘true’ nor ‘false’. Like advertising, movies and all other genres that adhere to the laws of fiction, it works at a level beyond these oppositions—the level of ‘hyper-reality’, where reality is ‘simulated’.” (Constructed Realities: The Art of Staged Photography Edited by Michael Kohler).
-I think that as long as people are aware that something isn't real, "infotainment" is a good thing. It can help turn something boring or unappealing into something exciting and new. I do however believe that there are too many photographs that people believe are real when they really aren't. So many times people look at photographs and think of them to be fact, or some sort of evidence of something. But if a photograph isn't real, it's just evidence of someone being good at editing. Editing and faking things is fine for entertainment or advertising, but I think only if they make it known that it's not reality.
-I agree with this statement. In today's society, it's extremely hard to keep people's attention. It's hard to focus for longer than about 2 minutes on one thing, studies have shown. In my Intercultural Communications class, my teacher was saying that she tries to incorporate lots of different ways for people to learn because of student's attention spans (things like watching videos on youtube that go along with class, readings, pictures, lecture slides, etc.) So things that aren't extraordinary are hard to pay attention to, let alone actually remembering and feeling.
“But the term ‘Infotainment’ also implies this: with the gradual fictionalization of even the news, the old categorical oppositions of ‘documenting’ and ‘staging’, appearance and reality gradually dissolve. They are being replaced by a variety of hybrid forms for which it will be impossible, in fact pointless, to attempt to distinguish between fact and fiction. Even the accusation that ‘Infotainment’ is guilty of continuous ‘lying’ is therefore unjustified, for it is neither ‘true’ nor ‘false’. Like advertising, movies and all other genres that adhere to the laws of fiction, it works at a level beyond these oppositions—the level of ‘hyper-reality’, where reality is ‘simulated’.” (Constructed Realities: The Art of Staged Photography Edited by Michael Kohler).
-I think that as long as people are aware that something isn't real, "infotainment" is a good thing. It can help turn something boring or unappealing into something exciting and new. I do however believe that there are too many photographs that people believe are real when they really aren't. So many times people look at photographs and think of them to be fact, or some sort of evidence of something. But if a photograph isn't real, it's just evidence of someone being good at editing. Editing and faking things is fine for entertainment or advertising, but I think only if they make it known that it's not reality.
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