Reflection -
My influencers for this year are three photographers; I want to try out their style of art and how they execute it. The reason I chose these photographers were due to the abstract concepts they create; for example, with Sepuya, I’m intrigued with his style and artwork of overlapping pictures with one another - it’s very eye boggling. While its contrasted with SMITH and his simplicity of portraiture; finally, Sassen with her portraiture, but with more complexities than SMITH. But overall, what they have in common is the portraiture and the fine art of it all, so that’s what my art will be focused on this year, more fine art portraiture!
My influencers for this year are three photographers; I want to try out their style of art and how they execute it. The reason I chose these photographers were due to the abstract concepts they create; for example, with Sepuya, I’m intrigued with his style and artwork of overlapping pictures with one another - it’s very eye boggling. While its contrasted with SMITH and his simplicity of portraiture; finally, Sassen with her portraiture, but with more complexities than SMITH. But overall, what they have in common is the portraiture and the fine art of it all, so that’s what my art will be focused on this year, more fine art portraiture!
Awkward Indoor Photo
Reflection -
What I see in this image regarding the elements of design consist of the space being used to its full extent; the shadow casted on the ground occupies some space, along w the bottles of paint being thrown in the air, taking up some space. The person in this photograph is Esteban and what he's doing is jumping while throwing the bottles of paint in the air in order to get that awkward pose and face, along with the movement. The image creates no emotions at all, nor did it mean to impact any. Regarding the principles of design, the contrast varies; the black and whites, and the shades of black blend well and are clear throughout the subject and background. The cropping supports the image because as stated before, the subject and props take up the empty/ negative space that there would've been if they weren't in effect. The depth of field is also consistent throughout the image and it focuses perfectly since its focused on the subject and the paint, not creating any distractions with the background. The image doesn't use the rule of thirds. There isn't a message I was trying to interpret besides that I'm trying to show the awkwardness within the subject and the movement. I strongly believe the image was successful.
What I see in this image regarding the elements of design consist of the space being used to its full extent; the shadow casted on the ground occupies some space, along w the bottles of paint being thrown in the air, taking up some space. The person in this photograph is Esteban and what he's doing is jumping while throwing the bottles of paint in the air in order to get that awkward pose and face, along with the movement. The image creates no emotions at all, nor did it mean to impact any. Regarding the principles of design, the contrast varies; the black and whites, and the shades of black blend well and are clear throughout the subject and background. The cropping supports the image because as stated before, the subject and props take up the empty/ negative space that there would've been if they weren't in effect. The depth of field is also consistent throughout the image and it focuses perfectly since its focused on the subject and the paint, not creating any distractions with the background. The image doesn't use the rule of thirds. There isn't a message I was trying to interpret besides that I'm trying to show the awkwardness within the subject and the movement. I strongly believe the image was successful.
Outdoor/ Experimental Photo
Reflection -
In this image, I see a warm toned picture with strands of baby’s breath. The way I got to capturing this image was the thought of spring, even though it was winter when I took this picture! I thought if I were to mess with the vibrance of the image, along with the white balance, I would get a warm toned color to represent spring and the warmth of love. The baby’s breath was meant to add more onto the feeling of spring and love with the way the model grabs onto herself/ hair. Also, I positioned her back towards the sunlight to get the natural sunlight to be seen fighting against/ upon the models hair to show more of a realistic feel of spring and warmth, and I strongly agree and believe it depicts what I was going for; romantic. The contrast is also what’s making it work, it’s not too dark/ underexposed nor too bright/ over exposed. The aperture/ shallow depth of field really makes the image work as well since it mainly focuses on the subject rather than the objects behind her.
In this image, I see a warm toned picture with strands of baby’s breath. The way I got to capturing this image was the thought of spring, even though it was winter when I took this picture! I thought if I were to mess with the vibrance of the image, along with the white balance, I would get a warm toned color to represent spring and the warmth of love. The baby’s breath was meant to add more onto the feeling of spring and love with the way the model grabs onto herself/ hair. Also, I positioned her back towards the sunlight to get the natural sunlight to be seen fighting against/ upon the models hair to show more of a realistic feel of spring and warmth, and I strongly agree and believe it depicts what I was going for; romantic. The contrast is also what’s making it work, it’s not too dark/ underexposed nor too bright/ over exposed. The aperture/ shallow depth of field really makes the image work as well since it mainly focuses on the subject rather than the objects behind her.
Monochromatic
Reflection -
I believe the Monochromatic shot I am presenting came out pretty successful. I’ve never focused on this style of photography, I rather stick with portraiture and lifestyle photography. My process into making this shot was the choice/ decision of color; I’m really into more “sacred” colors or colors that aren’t actually colors - or said to be; for example, the colors white and black. I tend to focus on the aesthetic of color, so I stuck with the color white. White to me signifies purity and cleanse, so that’s what I went for; although that’s not the message I was trying to portray with this image. What I did to make this picture/ what I included was the tulle I bought from Joanne’s crafts; a white, laced fabric that I put over a table to give a soft texture under the objects. I stuck with a white background instead of putting another white fabric as the back ground due to how messy it would’ve looked with different shades of white. Besides that, I chose to use a white shoe, the reason being is to show a bit of me in the image - I love vans! Another object was the pumpkin and the flower, these two stuck with the idea of purity because these were gods creations, nature, which is pure. I also used the white stacked photography books with black lettering to add more of a punch/ contrast to the all white picture; I also used a Christmas tree decoration to create another layer into the image, a more of a foreground. And finally, I used a fish jet over the books, not sure why, but I liked the concept of holes. Overall, I believe it’s successful due to the layering of objects, the color, and the positioning of them all.
I believe the Monochromatic shot I am presenting came out pretty successful. I’ve never focused on this style of photography, I rather stick with portraiture and lifestyle photography. My process into making this shot was the choice/ decision of color; I’m really into more “sacred” colors or colors that aren’t actually colors - or said to be; for example, the colors white and black. I tend to focus on the aesthetic of color, so I stuck with the color white. White to me signifies purity and cleanse, so that’s what I went for; although that’s not the message I was trying to portray with this image. What I did to make this picture/ what I included was the tulle I bought from Joanne’s crafts; a white, laced fabric that I put over a table to give a soft texture under the objects. I stuck with a white background instead of putting another white fabric as the back ground due to how messy it would’ve looked with different shades of white. Besides that, I chose to use a white shoe, the reason being is to show a bit of me in the image - I love vans! Another object was the pumpkin and the flower, these two stuck with the idea of purity because these were gods creations, nature, which is pure. I also used the white stacked photography books with black lettering to add more of a punch/ contrast to the all white picture; I also used a Christmas tree decoration to create another layer into the image, a more of a foreground. And finally, I used a fish jet over the books, not sure why, but I liked the concept of holes. Overall, I believe it’s successful due to the layering of objects, the color, and the positioning of them all.
Challenging Truths (Absent)
Series: Pop up - (3/6)
Reflection -
For this series, I wanted to experiment and do something in not used to. I wanted to make Gifs, but gifs that consisted of pop ups, like pop ups on a computer. The concept I tried to grasp throughout the gifs were sadness/ depression/ melancholy, which explains/ correlates with each pop up. The reason I wanted to do this was to experiment more with digital mixed media craftsmanship in order to better/ improve my skill as not only a photographer but as a digital mixed media artist. The reason I switched up the roles of each pop up were to keep the audience in awe of the differentiation of pop ups and how they cycled throughout them all; For example, they all have different pop ups but they all correlate with the image. For example, the one in purple vibrancy shows an image with her eye almost closing, this showed me how out of it she was that day, which only made the image stronger with the message that the pop up itself had - I tried and I’m tired. The reason I stuck with a much more sad theme was to test my ability in becoming less stage like in creating much more stages pictures than more of a candid natural shot. With experimenting with this idea, I was able to practice the differentiating colors between them all; one I changed the contrast, the other the vibrance and saturation was changed; and the other stayed the same. With experimenting with this sort of theme, I was able to further invigorate the principles of design, along with the elements; I believe it was a successful.
For this series, I wanted to experiment and do something in not used to. I wanted to make Gifs, but gifs that consisted of pop ups, like pop ups on a computer. The concept I tried to grasp throughout the gifs were sadness/ depression/ melancholy, which explains/ correlates with each pop up. The reason I wanted to do this was to experiment more with digital mixed media craftsmanship in order to better/ improve my skill as not only a photographer but as a digital mixed media artist. The reason I switched up the roles of each pop up were to keep the audience in awe of the differentiation of pop ups and how they cycled throughout them all; For example, they all have different pop ups but they all correlate with the image. For example, the one in purple vibrancy shows an image with her eye almost closing, this showed me how out of it she was that day, which only made the image stronger with the message that the pop up itself had - I tried and I’m tired. The reason I stuck with a much more sad theme was to test my ability in becoming less stage like in creating much more stages pictures than more of a candid natural shot. With experimenting with this idea, I was able to practice the differentiating colors between them all; one I changed the contrast, the other the vibrance and saturation was changed; and the other stayed the same. With experimenting with this sort of theme, I was able to further invigorate the principles of design, along with the elements; I believe it was a successful.
MOPA - Dream
Reflection -
What I wanted to do or portray in this picture was Agony. I used a piece I have created and I photoshopped clouds and bird wings onto him; in the original picture he was just jumping at the back of the school field, so it was very simplistic. The reason I added the wings was me trying to show him escaping the world, the wings helped him do that; the clouds represent his state of mind, the place he wants to be in from the such horrors of the world and society. I used photoshop/ digital mixed media because the original picture was weak on its own, so the emphasis of wings and clouds, I believe, make the meaning I was trying to give off well. I also added different lighting to the wings; the top of the wings are brighter than the bottom, this was to show where the light was hitting the wings from. I did that to make it more realistic and less pale, I wanted the extra detail. The color is consistent throughout the picture as well; I have a lot of grey and, black, white, and with the pinch of red at the center to catch your attention. So I have a range of values within the image as well. There isn't much of the use of a shallow depth of field, so I guess one can say it's flat, but again, the lighting and shadows on the wings kind of outweigh the flatness of the image overall. I believe this picture is successful in showing Agony because even the hand placement shows him wanting to escape, in my opinion; I get those vibes. If I could do something to make it stronger is maybe added blur to the background to create an artificial depth of field.
What I wanted to do or portray in this picture was Agony. I used a piece I have created and I photoshopped clouds and bird wings onto him; in the original picture he was just jumping at the back of the school field, so it was very simplistic. The reason I added the wings was me trying to show him escaping the world, the wings helped him do that; the clouds represent his state of mind, the place he wants to be in from the such horrors of the world and society. I used photoshop/ digital mixed media because the original picture was weak on its own, so the emphasis of wings and clouds, I believe, make the meaning I was trying to give off well. I also added different lighting to the wings; the top of the wings are brighter than the bottom, this was to show where the light was hitting the wings from. I did that to make it more realistic and less pale, I wanted the extra detail. The color is consistent throughout the picture as well; I have a lot of grey and, black, white, and with the pinch of red at the center to catch your attention. So I have a range of values within the image as well. There isn't much of the use of a shallow depth of field, so I guess one can say it's flat, but again, the lighting and shadows on the wings kind of outweigh the flatness of the image overall. I believe this picture is successful in showing Agony because even the hand placement shows him wanting to escape, in my opinion; I get those vibes. If I could do something to make it stronger is maybe added blur to the background to create an artificial depth of field.
Recreation of Chrissie White
Reflection -
My group consisted of photographers that do a lot of mixed media and fine art. So, we chose Chrissie White who did that herself, she also did still lives which really caught our eyes. We chose these three pictures to recreate because they were all so different from each other. We executed the rose one by getting the clear plastic wrap, pink roses, black velvet backdrop, and a water spray bottle to create and add texture to the roses. We used strobe lighting to get the studio look which she had and we moved the roses around to get a similar look as well. That was the closest we got to recreating her piece. The second piece, the fish, was executed by one of us making the backdrop with paper and paint, using one's key chain, and buying a fish. We had two still lives of the same fish from her to recreate from but the one we chose was the closest one that we could get to. I believe we also executed this, and we also used strobe to get also the same studio lighting feel. Lastly, we chose the last still live of the burning barbie to take things up a notch; We wen't to the beach, bought pink construction paper, lighter fluid, a lighter, and two barbies in order to recreate this still live. We had two trials but the picture we are presenting is the one that appeared the most as hers. We drenched her in lighter fluid because she wasn't catching on fire, but she progressively did and we burned her at the stake and finally executed the piece. This is the only piece we didn’t use studio & strobe lighting. But overall, the pieces were well executed.
My group consisted of photographers that do a lot of mixed media and fine art. So, we chose Chrissie White who did that herself, she also did still lives which really caught our eyes. We chose these three pictures to recreate because they were all so different from each other. We executed the rose one by getting the clear plastic wrap, pink roses, black velvet backdrop, and a water spray bottle to create and add texture to the roses. We used strobe lighting to get the studio look which she had and we moved the roses around to get a similar look as well. That was the closest we got to recreating her piece. The second piece, the fish, was executed by one of us making the backdrop with paper and paint, using one's key chain, and buying a fish. We had two still lives of the same fish from her to recreate from but the one we chose was the closest one that we could get to. I believe we also executed this, and we also used strobe to get also the same studio lighting feel. Lastly, we chose the last still live of the burning barbie to take things up a notch; We wen't to the beach, bought pink construction paper, lighter fluid, a lighter, and two barbies in order to recreate this still live. We had two trials but the picture we are presenting is the one that appeared the most as hers. We drenched her in lighter fluid because she wasn't catching on fire, but she progressively did and we burned her at the stake and finally executed the piece. This is the only piece we didn’t use studio & strobe lighting. But overall, the pieces were well executed.
Landscape Shot
Reflection -
I chose this landscape because I enjoy what's in the image; I like the trees standing to the left, while keeping the rest of the image just the landscape itself; it's kind of like I followed the rule of thirds. I took this on the way to Julian Mountain to get a nice landscape shot. The image consists of a range of value and different layers - foreground, middle ground, and background. The foreground being the grass thats in focus at the very bottom of the image, the mountains being the middle ground because it appears behind the grass thats at the bottom of the image, and finally the sky being the background. The image doesn't have a shallow depth of field because I don't have a subject in the image to focus on, rather I wanted everything to be in focus in order to grasp every detail in the image. I used a high aperture in order to keep everything from having a shallow depth of field. I believe this image is very successful as a landscape shot; It was taken in landscape form as well, only adding strength to the image. It also has the contrast of colors, from dark contrast at the bottom of the image - the grass, mountains, trees - to a lighter contrast at the top of the image - the sky.
I chose this landscape because I enjoy what's in the image; I like the trees standing to the left, while keeping the rest of the image just the landscape itself; it's kind of like I followed the rule of thirds. I took this on the way to Julian Mountain to get a nice landscape shot. The image consists of a range of value and different layers - foreground, middle ground, and background. The foreground being the grass thats in focus at the very bottom of the image, the mountains being the middle ground because it appears behind the grass thats at the bottom of the image, and finally the sky being the background. The image doesn't have a shallow depth of field because I don't have a subject in the image to focus on, rather I wanted everything to be in focus in order to grasp every detail in the image. I used a high aperture in order to keep everything from having a shallow depth of field. I believe this image is very successful as a landscape shot; It was taken in landscape form as well, only adding strength to the image. It also has the contrast of colors, from dark contrast at the bottom of the image - the grass, mountains, trees - to a lighter contrast at the top of the image - the sky.
Strobe Outdoors
Reflection -
For this assignment, I used the portable strobe. I had two different models and I used a black velvet backdrop as the background. I went to a beach with my friend named Chris and placed the velvet over a fence in order for it to hang behind my model. I went for a serious, model vibe which I believe went well. The colors are very simple, just browns blacks and skin tone color so there isn't really a distraction. There isn't really a shallow depth of field since the backdrop is just black and everything about him appears to be in focus. If I could do something different, I would have more emotion, something more creative rather than a serious portrait.
For this assignment, I used the portable strobe. I had two different models and I used a black velvet backdrop as the background. I went to a beach with my friend named Chris and placed the velvet over a fence in order for it to hang behind my model. I went for a serious, model vibe which I believe went well. The colors are very simple, just browns blacks and skin tone color so there isn't really a distraction. There isn't really a shallow depth of field since the backdrop is just black and everything about him appears to be in focus. If I could do something different, I would have more emotion, something more creative rather than a serious portrait.