Blog Prompt #23

1.            What is the concept driving your thesis project at this point in the semester? Has your concept changed since the beginning of the semester? If so, describe the changes?

The concept driving my thesis project is the idea that just as we as humans have multiple components that make up our personalities, there are multiple sides to other forms of nature. Though you can view something in more than one way, it will still hold similarities to the other elements that make up its whole. (I tried to make this as contrite as possible, if I need to extend this, please let me know)

My concept has changed a bit in the sense that I am steering a bit away from saying that I am creating order from disorder. I am still doing this, but I am doing it in order to prove my point about there being many sides to one thing. I am trying to relate the aspect of the colorful and ever changing human to the things in nature and in life that only seem stagnant and always the same.

2.            How has your process of experimentation and image creation throughout the semester expanded, redirected, altered, or tightened your concept?

My process of image creation has essentially stayed the same: creating four images from one image. However my process of capturing the images has changed: instead of taking an image and then zooming into it to explore and find an image to work with, I am now shooting with the intent of not cropping and keeping the image from the start. I have found that working with subject matter that I find outside (trees, clouds, decaying sidewalks, bark, etc.) is more interesting to shoot because I can find line and form by looking through the lens and formulating my idea while I am shooting the image. Now that I can somewhat know what the image may look like, I feel this process is more beneficial than the former.

3.            How has your process of experimentation and image creation throughout the semester affected the visual aspects of your work?

Describe how the visual aspects of your project align with the content and concept of your project. Are there ways in which they seem contrary to your concept? How might you tackle this misalignment?

My process of experimentation has mainly been through the way that I capture the initial image and the type of subject matter with which I choose to work. I have decided that more natural imagery looks more appealing, as there are more intricacies that can arise from the type of line and form that I have come across. From this, the images as a whole have become more visually uniform. From working with more natural imagery I have found the images to be more intricate and aesthetically pleasing than the synthetic imagery that I was originally using.

The visual aspects of my project align with my concept quite well, I believe. From looking at each of the four images you can see similarities between them all and you can also see a difference between each of them as well. This reflects the idea of our multiple aspects to our single self and the fact that images and similarities can mirror between them, but at the same time, there are distinct differences between them. Nonetheless, they all come from the same one thing, so they are all essentially the same in that sense. I am not sure if there is anything that may seem contrary…I could be wrong, so if I am, please tell me! I would love to know so that I can be aware of it…

Blog Prompt #22

In response to the making of Jim Fiscus' "The Unfortunate Moment of Misunderstanding"...
To be honest, I had to replay the beginning two minutes of this video in order to re-grasp his concept. His concept did not interest me so much as the process did (that is, the combination of photography with 3D imagery (with CG). I am not really sure what CG is, but it sounds awesome. Someone telling me that I could think of pretty much any idea / photographic process, and be able to make it possible, is phenomenal. It is amazing where technology has gone, and where it is going. Someone in the video also said that CG may change technology forever, and I would probably have to agree. I do not know where this technology will take us, but I am certain it will create a type of imagery that has not yet been fathomed---which is really awesome in my book!

Photo Presentation #4

Thomas Ruff
Thomas Ruff was born in 1958 in Zell am Harmersbach, Germany and currently lives and works in Dusseldorf, Germany. His work is very varied, as he has done series of photographs of buildings, nudes, etc. He also has done a series called "Cassini" which are based on photographic images of Saturn by NASA. The Cassini series is my favorite of his, though it is unclear whether he used NASA's actual images, or whether he recreated images based on these images. He also did a series called Zycles, which are 3D renderings of mathematical curves that were based on engravings that he found in a book on electromagnetism. I am assuming he actually made these, but I am unsure about the Cassini ones.

Nick Knight

Currently residing in London, he is the founder and director of SHOWstudio.com, which is a website that displays live fashion shows and is also a good resource for all those who pertain to the fashion world (there is a blog, resources, agent link, etc.) It is essentially a fashion broadcasting website. In 1982 he published his first book of fashion photographs, Skinheads. Throughout his career he has challenged the ideas of the fashion world and the stereotypical views of what is beautiful. 

http://nickknight.com/main.html

Peter Hujar

 Born in October 1934 in Trenton, NJ, Peter Hujar is known for his black and white photography. He eventually moved to Manhattan to launch his career. His most famous photograph is Candy Darling on her Deathbed. It was used late on by the musical group Antony and the Johnsons on their album cover for "I am a Bird Now". Hujar died of AIDS in 1987.

Blog Prompts #20-21

#20 Describe some common aesthetic/formal qualities, content, and conceptual threads in “snapshot” photography.

When I think of "snapshot" photography, I think of photos of family and friends (at concerts, in front of famous landscapes, at graduations/birthday parties, etc.); I also think of photos of signs of places, landscapes, and family pets. I suppose I see the contact of snapshots as pieces of memories and certain parts of a person's life. The general concept of snapshot photography is relative to this, as we take snapshots in order to record memories of important times in our lives. I do not think of any really formal qualities for snapshot photography, as I see it as being very informal. Maybe common aesthetic and formal qualities could be keeping every subject in the frame, using the flash when necessary, and capturing certain poses (smiling).

#21 Brainstorms! (In an effort to expand, improve, push your thesis projects further, pick 5 of the following to discuss.)

d. Type twenty words or phrases that relate to your project.

Abstract, composite/tiled (put-together), colorful, four images from one image, order from disorder, chaotic, orderly chaos?, detailled attention to frame and image, natural images, synthetic images, lighting, contrast in the image, four corners each used once as the center of the image, fun problem-solving type imagery, different from the norm, experimental, shows that there are different sides to everything, directions of subject and shape of subject is important, line is important, creating 3D-like sculptural images, painterly-like images.

e. At the deepest core, describe why you like this project. Dig deep!

I like this project because I believe it reflects something of my personality and also the style of art that I find most pleasing. I have different sides to myself, as many other people do. Four images are created from one image by changing which image is the central point of the larger image. This shows how different things can be created from one thing, and though they are all from the same thing, they are a bit different. I believe this reflects my personality because there are some different sides to me, but I am still the same person, I am still from the same essence. Another thing is that I love symmetrical imagery and art that has a center focal point. I always end up with imagery that is not purposefully symmetrical, and I think this plays into what I like a lot about art. Also I like painterly-like photographs, and this shows certain design elements of that type of imagery (very colorful, abstract, design-like imagery).

f. Expand your project. If time, money, materials, etc would not affect you, how would you expand your project?

For my images, I want to take my four images and display them 2 by 2 on a large matte board. So I will have four images to one matte board. I would like to have GIANT matte board and four large pictures and print an endless amount of them. I would like to make these incredibly large and put them in a big empty room where they can be displayed from ceiling to floor on all the walls. This way people can look into them and find little intricate patterns and really be able to explore the inner parts of the photographs.

g. Contract your project. What would it boil down to if squeezed and contracted to its simplest form?

In simplest form, the idea (I think this is what you are asking) of my project is creating order through the reflection and repetition of chaotic, disordered images. This is being done to show the different aspects of the same thing. 

l. Remove something from your project. How does it change?

If I just decide to do one photo instead of four, it takes away the idea of showing the different aspects of the same image. I would just be showing one option of the image instead of four. It would still be order from disorder, but it would not show the different sides of the same thing!

Synthetic or Natural?