Digital Exercise

Blog Post # 24

A. Pick two images from any of the “constructed reality” photographers presented in class or linked on the assignment sheet. Describe how you could recreate these two images on a “smaller scale”.

B. Describe your plans for your self-proposed final project (if the plan is the same as before, paste it here again and give a bit more detail). During the final critique for Assignment #5, you will discuss/present these ideas to the class.

A.

These photos are taken by Valerie Belin

I love this picture. The color palette is gorgeous along with the calm expression on her face. If I were to recreate this image I would also replicate the red lip stick with an overlay of floral. I may play with a different color palette and bold jewelry and earrings.

I would like to play with the idea of lines presented in this image. I like the three piles and the slightly awkward tension created by the stacking of the machinery. I would like to try something like this maybe with makeup or nail polish. I may play with color in my recreation of this image

B. I would like to play with texture for my self proposed project. Similar to the overlay of floral on the face I may like to create a face out of flowers. with different items recreating and making up the face. I'm not sure how the whole thing will work out at this point, but I want texturized items to create something new and innovative

Recreation Photo

My brother yarning became a perfect opportunity to create an image similar to those of Christian Thompson. I tried to mimic Thompson's plain background with a person wearing a natural wreath of some sort on his head. I also tried to make it a bit more comical, similar to thompson's work by catching my brother during a yawn. 

Historical Photographer

Henry Peach Robinson

• oil painting at Royal academy of art
• Worked at a studio in Leamington Spa, selling portraits. 
• Created another studio in Kent
• limitations in photography lead Robinson to combine painting and photography, which gained fame in his work
• Most famous work was "Fading Away"
• Fading away was a photo of a girl dying of tusrburculousis at age five and the families sadness, controversial to many
• 1862 Robinson was elected to serve on the Council of the Photographic Society
•  particularly known for his combination printing, he also produced a number of pictorial photographs of woodland and other scenes.

Contemporary Artist

Christian Thompson

• Born 1978, Gawler, South Australia.
• Father in Military, lived in various places around South Austrailia
• Lives / works in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
• Bachelor of Fine Art at the University of Southern Queensland 
• Honors in Fine Art at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
• He has presented his work in solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally

Blog Prompt #23

1. In what ways do you “construct” your identity? In what ways do you “perform” in your daily life?

      In many ways we are born with traits that form our identity. Our appearances, talents, and health are determined by our genetics which for many form their identity. However, the choices we make in life also "construct" who we are. Examples of this would include who we surround ourselves with, what schools we attend, and where we choose to live. 

2. Describe some ways in which your personal culture and social environments are “constructed”.

      Our culture and social environments are constructed by choosing the people you surround yourself with as well as the places you decide to live.

3. Describe some ways in which your physical environment/space is “constructed”.

     As previously stated, your physical environment is constructed by choosing the place in which you live. Although your environment is also created by how you decorate your space. Much can be said about the person by looking at the place they live in. For example, my house is decorated very eclectically. My dad has traveled a lot and brings back a lot of interesting items. How we have decorated our house reveals that my dad and family values interesting items over having a cohesively decorated home.

4. In your daily life, what would you consider to be “real” and what would you consider to be “constructed/fabricated”?

       I think what is constructed/fabricated is real. Though we have created a life for ourselves it 

       is very much real. Life is what we make of it and it is real.

5. Describe a narrative tableaux that you might create to be captured by a photograph. A narrative tableaux can be defined as “Several human actors play out scenes from everyday life, history, myth or the fantasy of the direction artist” ( Constructed Realities: The Art of Staged Photography Edited by Michael Kohler , 34).

      A narrative to be created that would be interesting is people hanging out in the kitchen. I would use this because in our family we spend most of our time in that room. I'm not sure if it is the food that makes us gather or the counter where we can do homework, but it seems to be the place where everyone spends the most time.  Photos taken of our family hanging out in a casual setting in our house would be a cool photo to be documented. One day when were all a lot older it will bring back some good memories of a casual day in the Yee home.

6. Describe an idea for a photograph that includes a miniature stage or still life. A description of such an image is “The tableaux reconstructs events as in the narrative tableaux, but in miniaturized format, using dolls and other toy objects” (Kohler, 34).

      If I were to do this I may take a more symbolic approach and use still objects such as chairs or other objects to represent people. Many artists use objects to represent a bigger picture. I'm not sure exactly what I would do, but I like the use of symbolism in photos.

Assignment 4

I really liked the lighting in this image. The orange glow in the corner created a dynamic effect on the green wall. I also didn't see the potential in this image until after I cropped it.                                                    

 

This is a picture of a knitting machine found in one of the Apparel classrooms at Michigan State. I liked how the center of the image is focused while the rest of the image is blurred. I didn't edit this image at all, the colors were already how I wanted them to be. 

I liked the lines in this image. The wall has  subtle lines running down it. The corner also provides movement down the wall. The contrasting colors of the wall and the dress created a nice color palette. I was especially proud of this time because I made the dress. 

 

Once again, my obsession with shoes comes into play with this image. I placed the shoes on a mirror to create a reflection. I was happy with how the lighting turned out. 

If I were to take these images to the next level I would change the third image with the portrait shot of my dress. I would play with the lighting and maybe make it in black and white. I would also like to find a more interesting location to take fashionable images. 

The other change I would have made would be more careful printing. Most of my issues with this assignment was carelessness in printing. I chopped off the images unevenly and noticed flaws once they were printed. Next time Ill be much more prepared.