Just a little note to end. I feel that i've gained a lot from this module, my knowledge about how to work the camera has definitely increased and now i'm better able to achieve what i want to achieve in my shots. A big shoutout to Ms. Chiang and my classmates who have helped me along the way, especially during the group assignments and through printing out the photos. I truly appreciate your help and patience! Cyall around in school ;D
Ok so for our final assignment the theme is Human:nature. The concept i created was that of indifference. A sort of ignorance of things and events that happen around us. I wanted to show that when we listen to our mp3 players we tend to shut the rest of the world out. We only focus on the music that is playing through our earphones. We might be blond to notice that anything of value or worth might be taking place under our noses but we might just be too oblivious and self-absorbed with our own little world that we create for ourselves.
What if someone on the street is shouting for help? Does our conscience say that we should stop and lend a helping and, or carry on with our pleasurable journey of listening to our music. If we choose the latter, we choose to let ourselves drift aimlessly in life, not caring about other people's needs.
Below are some shots i've taken to portray a sort of ignorance of what is happening in the surroundings of a character, that is me. Life is moving and i am fixed on a single spot, oblivious to people walking past me.
A prose that i wrote for my photo essay is:
Watching the world pass by,
It ignores my existence,
But I like my music for it is my refuge and escape.
It makes me who i am, why should i care about the world?
Therefore i disconnect from it & lose a part of my consciousness,
I continue on my journey & let the world take care of its own business.
Watching the world pass by,
It ignores my existence,
But I like my music for it is my refuge and escape.
It makes me who i am, why should i care about the world?
Therefore i disconnect from it & lose a part of my consciousness,
I continue on my journey & let the world take care of its own business.
What if someone on the street is shouting for help? Does our conscience say that we should stop and lend a helping and, or carry on with our pleasurable journey of listening to our music. If we choose the latter, we choose to let ourselves drift aimlessly in life, not caring about other people's needs.
Below are some shots i've taken to portray a sort of ignorance of what is happening in the surroundings of a character, that is me. Life is moving and i am fixed on a single spot, oblivious to people walking past me.
A prose that i wrote for my photo essay is:
Watching the world pass by,
It ignores my existence,
But I like my music for it is my refuge and escape.
It makes me who i am, why should i care about the world?
Therefore i disconnect from it & lose a part of my consciousness,
I continue on my journey & let the world take care of its own business.
Watching the world pass by,
It ignores my existence,
But I like my music for it is my refuge and escape.
It makes me who i am, why should i care about the world?
Therefore i disconnect from it & lose a part of my consciousness,
I continue on my journey & let the world take care of its own business.
Reflection on podcast on the brief history or photography (part2 ) by Jeff Curto
In the podcast, i felt certain points that were brought up to be pretty interesting. For example the notion of deciphering photos. I wondered what that meant. What does it mean to decipher photos? Then Jeff talked a little about perception and i thought about it. I guess people perceive photos differently, just like how we would all have different opinions about certain issues. We all interpret photos differently as well and i never really thought about that when i look at photographs, i don't consciously ask myself what i feel about a photo.
Normally i would just look at it, and feel the emotions that are invoked. It's something that happens at a more subconscious level.
He also talked about how our world is increasingly image-oriented. We use pictures and photos to show alot of things and use them to send out different imgaes. Which i agree with. Advertisements that work are always those with visual elements and which strike the viewers to leave a lasting impression. I feel that visuals are very powerful for the mere reason that they invoke emotions within us.
Pointer Question:
On the topic of conceptual photography, i wiki-ed the definition and this came up.
"Conceptual photography is a photography genre in which the artists makes a photograph of a concept or idea. Usually the conception of the idea precedes the realization of the photography. This kind of photography often involves use of computer editing, to achieve the desired effects."
It's pretty interesting because in his podcast, Jeff mentioned that photography is about manipulation and here we have a definition that states that this genre of photography requires (maybe not always) some form of manipulation. To me, this is where the line blurs between photography and art. Photography then becomes not just about capturing moments in time, but rather the emotions captures are further enhanced and there is an agenda behind the photo, a certain message that is constructed and presented to the viewer. In conceptual photography, i feel that the camera acts as a tool, a sort of paintbrush that paints a picture, and the artist touches up the picture to suit the desired effect he wants to bring out.
In the age of the digital revolution, it is becoming easier to manipulate photographs and thus i would think that more and more people would become interested in this form of photography. I count myself as one of them.
Photographer: Moholy-Nagy
Again, i wiki-ed my chosen option, just to find out more about this photographer at a glance. Honestly i chose him because i found his name unique. Anyway here's what is said about him.
"László Moholy-Nagy (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈlaːsloː ˈmoholiˌnɒɟ]), July 20, 1895 – November 24, 1946) was a Hungarian painter and photographer as well as professor in the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by constructivism and a strong advocate of the integration of technology and industry into the arts."
It seems that his work ties in with the concept of conceptual photograpphy as well. As the definition implies, he is a supporter of constructivism and here are some of his works that i googled.
Doing further research, i stumbled upon some comments on conceptual photography on this site which i found interesting and noteworthy.
Subjectivity Versus Objectivity
The article states that
"Whether a photo is intended to be “subjectively” or “objectively” interpreted varies considerably by the conceptual photographer.
Some conceptual photographers like to claim that their photo has one and only one objective meaning, and through their photograph, they strive to make it mean precisely the same thing to all people, regardless of background. While one can play at Jungian archetypes all day, and come up with some pretty powerful photographs while you're at it, will a photo really mean exactly the same thing to very different people? This is the goal of some conceptual photographers.
Other conceptual photographers take the other extreme: they attempt to make their photos ultimately subjective to interpret, entirely up to the viewer to decide what it means to themselves. To many, this makes more sense, as one can never possibly hope that their image will be interpreted the same by such vastly different people with such vastly different experiences—so why try?"
I felt that this snippet sums up alot about conceptual photography and pushes me to think about whether i would want to be subjective or objective about taking photographs. Do i want to allow my viewers to have the freedom to interpret my photos or do i want them to only see one message or feel one kind of emotion?
Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/photography/articles/39542.aspx#ixzz0VTbgcM7X
Overall, i find doing a little research on photography (like its history or famous photographers) is useful and it pays to have the head knowledge about what i'm doing, especially since photography is a new subject to me.
Instead of aimlessly shooting photographs, i've learnt to appreciate the composition of a picture and to imagine what i would want the viewers to take back from my photographs.
In the podcast, i felt certain points that were brought up to be pretty interesting. For example the notion of deciphering photos. I wondered what that meant. What does it mean to decipher photos? Then Jeff talked a little about perception and i thought about it. I guess people perceive photos differently, just like how we would all have different opinions about certain issues. We all interpret photos differently as well and i never really thought about that when i look at photographs, i don't consciously ask myself what i feel about a photo.
Normally i would just look at it, and feel the emotions that are invoked. It's something that happens at a more subconscious level.
He also talked about how our world is increasingly image-oriented. We use pictures and photos to show alot of things and use them to send out different imgaes. Which i agree with. Advertisements that work are always those with visual elements and which strike the viewers to leave a lasting impression. I feel that visuals are very powerful for the mere reason that they invoke emotions within us.
Pointer Question:
On the topic of conceptual photography, i wiki-ed the definition and this came up.
"Conceptual photography is a photography genre in which the artists makes a photograph of a concept or idea. Usually the conception of the idea precedes the realization of the photography. This kind of photography often involves use of computer editing, to achieve the desired effects."
It's pretty interesting because in his podcast, Jeff mentioned that photography is about manipulation and here we have a definition that states that this genre of photography requires (maybe not always) some form of manipulation. To me, this is where the line blurs between photography and art. Photography then becomes not just about capturing moments in time, but rather the emotions captures are further enhanced and there is an agenda behind the photo, a certain message that is constructed and presented to the viewer. In conceptual photography, i feel that the camera acts as a tool, a sort of paintbrush that paints a picture, and the artist touches up the picture to suit the desired effect he wants to bring out.
In the age of the digital revolution, it is becoming easier to manipulate photographs and thus i would think that more and more people would become interested in this form of photography. I count myself as one of them.
Photographer: Moholy-Nagy
Again, i wiki-ed my chosen option, just to find out more about this photographer at a glance. Honestly i chose him because i found his name unique. Anyway here's what is said about him.
"László Moholy-Nagy (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈlaːsloː ˈmoholiˌnɒɟ]), July 20, 1895 – November 24, 1946) was a Hungarian painter and photographer as well as professor in the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by constructivism and a strong advocate of the integration of technology and industry into the arts."
It seems that his work ties in with the concept of conceptual photograpphy as well. As the definition implies, he is a supporter of constructivism and here are some of his works that i googled.
Doing further research, i stumbled upon some comments on conceptual photography on this site which i found interesting and noteworthy.
Subjectivity Versus Objectivity
The article states that
"Whether a photo is intended to be “subjectively” or “objectively” interpreted varies considerably by the conceptual photographer.
Some conceptual photographers like to claim that their photo has one and only one objective meaning, and through their photograph, they strive to make it mean precisely the same thing to all people, regardless of background. While one can play at Jungian archetypes all day, and come up with some pretty powerful photographs while you're at it, will a photo really mean exactly the same thing to very different people? This is the goal of some conceptual photographers.
Other conceptual photographers take the other extreme: they attempt to make their photos ultimately subjective to interpret, entirely up to the viewer to decide what it means to themselves. To many, this makes more sense, as one can never possibly hope that their image will be interpreted the same by such vastly different people with such vastly different experiences—so why try?"
I felt that this snippet sums up alot about conceptual photography and pushes me to think about whether i would want to be subjective or objective about taking photographs. Do i want to allow my viewers to have the freedom to interpret my photos or do i want them to only see one message or feel one kind of emotion?
Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/photography/articles/39542.aspx#ixzz0VTbgcM7X
Overall, i find doing a little research on photography (like its history or famous photographers) is useful and it pays to have the head knowledge about what i'm doing, especially since photography is a new subject to me.
Instead of aimlessly shooting photographs, i've learnt to appreciate the composition of a picture and to imagine what i would want the viewers to take back from my photographs.
Emotions Capture
For this assignment we were requried to take a photograph of a place that portrays a certain kind of emotion. It was challenging because there had to be no human elements in the photo. That means we weren't allowed to use manequins or props that had human properties, and of course we weren't allowed to have any people in the shot.
So i took a shot of this place which i felt gave a sense of tranquility. The white colour portrays a serene calmness about the place and the unity is represented by 3 pipes which stand in unison together.
This was the shot i took:
For this assignment we were requried to take a photograph of a place that portrays a certain kind of emotion. It was challenging because there had to be no human elements in the photo. That means we weren't allowed to use manequins or props that had human properties, and of course we weren't allowed to have any people in the shot.
So i took a shot of this place which i felt gave a sense of tranquility. The white colour portrays a serene calmness about the place and the unity is represented by 3 pipes which stand in unison together.
This was the shot i took:
The title for this assignment: Surealism. From the examples shown during lecture, i was really intrigued with the kinds of pictures photographers could create with some photo manipulation.
The concept i wanted to bring across was that we all have different lenses we use to look at life. We have our different opinions and perpectives on things and issues in life, which are shaped by our collection of memories. Therefore i decided to use a pair of sunglasses, and superimpose a memory of where it has been before to portray the effect that the sunglasses also has a memory of its own.
Shots i used:
Ray Bans,
Myself as a memory,
Final product:
The concept i wanted to bring across was that we all have different lenses we use to look at life. We have our different opinions and perpectives on things and issues in life, which are shaped by our collection of memories. Therefore i decided to use a pair of sunglasses, and superimpose a memory of where it has been before to portray the effect that the sunglasses also has a memory of its own.
Shots i used:
Ray Bans,
Myself as a memory,
Final product:
This was a class exercise based on the concept of Surrealism. In my group i had Sam, Eunice, Pearlyn and Mel.
Idea & Concept
We were asked what our definition of surrealism was and we came up with the following,
Definition of Surrealism: An illusion of reality.
Very simply put we felt something surreal had to be something fantastical and which doesn't seem to match with reality. We also discussed further and provided another definition:
Surrealism is the result of looking at the ordinary through the lens of the extraordinary
But anyway we kind of agreed on the fact that some sort of illusion is created when we say that something is surreal.
Our plan
We brainstormed for a little while and decided to play with the idea of having a laptop screen to subsitute a certain body part in a photograph. For example, the screen would display the body part that it was supposed to replace. We also wanted to show a hand holding a cup of coffee passing through this screen, so that it seemed surreal.
We did a little trial and error before getting the shots together. We took shots of Pearlyn and Sam's hands across Eunice. Eunice then edited it on photoshop and that was how we managed to get the final result.
Here are some of the shots we used to build the final picture:
Some hands:
And all this led up to...
Final result:
Idea & Concept
We were asked what our definition of surrealism was and we came up with the following,
Definition of Surrealism: An illusion of reality.
Very simply put we felt something surreal had to be something fantastical and which doesn't seem to match with reality. We also discussed further and provided another definition:
Surrealism is the result of looking at the ordinary through the lens of the extraordinary
But anyway we kind of agreed on the fact that some sort of illusion is created when we say that something is surreal.
Our plan
We brainstormed for a little while and decided to play with the idea of having a laptop screen to subsitute a certain body part in a photograph. For example, the screen would display the body part that it was supposed to replace. We also wanted to show a hand holding a cup of coffee passing through this screen, so that it seemed surreal.
We did a little trial and error before getting the shots together. We took shots of Pearlyn and Sam's hands across Eunice. Eunice then edited it on photoshop and that was how we managed to get the final result.
Here are some of the shots we used to build the final picture:
Some hands:
And all this led up to...
Final result:
Assignment 3, hmmm.... This time we learn even more techniques to acheive a different set of requirements.
We were tasked to fulfill the following criteria:
1. Close-up
2. Perspective
3. Zoom shot
4. High Key
5. Low Key
So here they are:
Close-up:
Perspective:
I actually took this facing upwards on the outside of a flight of stairs. So basically what you're seeing is all the window ledges that stick out of the windows.
Zoom shot:
High Key:
Low Key:
I found the low key shot very challenging to take and still i'm not very satisfied with it. The high key shot was easier but unfortunately i think i over-exposed it a little and it appears a little too bright. I found taking the zoom shot pretty interesting because of the effect that it brought out.
We were tasked to fulfill the following criteria:
1. Close-up
2. Perspective
3. Zoom shot
4. High Key
5. Low Key
So here they are:
Close-up:
Perspective:
I actually took this facing upwards on the outside of a flight of stairs. So basically what you're seeing is all the window ledges that stick out of the windows.
Zoom shot:
High Key:
Low Key:
I found the low key shot very challenging to take and still i'm not very satisfied with it. The high key shot was easier but unfortunately i think i over-exposed it a little and it appears a little too bright. I found taking the zoom shot pretty interesting because of the effect that it brought out.
For the second assignment, i found that the requirements were actually pretty interesting. Maybe it was because i was and still am new to photography and learning how to operate the DSLR confidently to achieve the desired effects on the photos was challenging but no doubt rewarding. The requirements are to achieve the following effects on with our cameras.
1. Motion Blur
2. Freeze Action
3. Shallow Depth of Field
4. Deep Depth of Field
These were the 1st batch of photographs i took for this assignment. There is definitely room for improvement and i'm still in the process of retaking some shots. but here they are anyway.
Motion Blur
Freeze Action
I used panning for this shot, and after a while i realised that panning is actually a type of motion blur. So i've definitely gotta retake this.
Shallow Depth of Field
Deep Depth of Field
Here are my retakes, once again i hope they are an improvement to the previous batch.
Shallow Depth of Field:
Deep Depth of Field:
Motion Blur:
I'd title this "Ghostbuster Truck" haha.
Freeze Action:
1. Motion Blur
2. Freeze Action
3. Shallow Depth of Field
4. Deep Depth of Field
These were the 1st batch of photographs i took for this assignment. There is definitely room for improvement and i'm still in the process of retaking some shots. but here they are anyway.
Motion Blur
Freeze Action
I used panning for this shot, and after a while i realised that panning is actually a type of motion blur. So i've definitely gotta retake this.
Shallow Depth of Field
Deep Depth of Field
Here are my retakes, once again i hope they are an improvement to the previous batch.
Shallow Depth of Field:
Deep Depth of Field:
Motion Blur:
I'd title this "Ghostbuster Truck" haha.
Freeze Action:
For assignment 1 we were introduced to the concept of pictures as objects and that different objects represented different traits like pattern, shape, form, texture, lines etc.
These shots were my first attempt at shooting one object that corresponded to each of those traits.
Form:
Pattern:
Shape:
Texture:
Lines:
These are my retakes, and i hope they are an improvement:
Lines:
Texture:
Shape:
Pattern (decided to use this for pattern instead):
Form:
These shots were my first attempt at shooting one object that corresponded to each of those traits.
Form:
Pattern:
Shape:
Texture:
Lines:
These are my retakes, and i hope they are an improvement:
Lines:
Texture:
Shape:
Pattern (decided to use this for pattern instead):
Form:
The picture i picked out:
2003, Jerry Lampen, 1st prize, General News
I think that this picture is very well taken in the sense that it captures fully the emotion on the face of the woman in the centre who appears to be grieving. The focus is enhanced as the surrounding women are not in clear focus. They are slightly blurred in comparison with the woman in the centre. More light is also shed on the central portion of the photograph, and there is a lot of black space in the surrounding parts of the picture. I think that the photographer, Jerry, got exactly what he wanted to capture. A gloomy representation of the suffering that these women are going through together. It feels cold and hardened, and a lack of warmth and humanity.
2003, Jerry Lampen, 1st prize, General News
I think that this picture is very well taken in the sense that it captures fully the emotion on the face of the woman in the centre who appears to be grieving. The focus is enhanced as the surrounding women are not in clear focus. They are slightly blurred in comparison with the woman in the centre. More light is also shed on the central portion of the photograph, and there is a lot of black space in the surrounding parts of the picture. I think that the photographer, Jerry, got exactly what he wanted to capture. A gloomy representation of the suffering that these women are going through together. It feels cold and hardened, and a lack of warmth and humanity.
Welcome to my photo blog, an essential tool in helping me archive my journey towards learning more about photos and appreciating the effort needed to take a good picture.
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