Author: George

Identity Unit Triptych George

Explanation: as you can see, I have only selected photos from my first set. This is because I believe that the second set is less intense and interesting than the first, meaning my identity as the theme is less interesting than the social issue as the theme. “rock isn’t just drugs and booze”. The photos I have chosen are very similar, in fact they were taking in one go. So, I will only give it one title, and the title will be: The Smash. This series of photos were experimentations conducted by me, I had the idea to do a motion capture photo and did many attempt before I got this one, I did turned on the “10 photos” function, that function is very fast, so I had to swing my guitar very fast to get it captured by the photo, one time I almost actually smashed my guitar. For the photos in the first unit, I just took photos of the same location with different effects and edits. For the earlier photos in this set, I just took the same photos and edited some of them. So I think the series is a good addition to the photo collection.

My idea for the format of presentation is the very simple. I don’t want my photo to be in separate canvas, because I meant for them to be viewed together in the first place. (like in a book where you flip the pages and it creates an illusion of movement) If my work was to be displayed, than it’s going to be tightly packed in chronological order. These photo weren’t particularly inspired by any artist, the idea was my own. But if I had to link this to one of the artists, it would be Steve McCurry, some of Steve McCurry’s photos were planned, and taken with the character staring directly at the photo. But other photos are spontaneous photo taken at any place, – maybe they were planned, but it didn’t feel like it – these other photos are usually someone or a few people in motion, without showing signs of noticing the camera, these seemingly natural reactions and moments are what best represents my intent. What I did was develop the concept even further.

Final Critique:

Composition: My composition is not the best, due to the limited resources and time, I wasn’t able to find any background object that can strengthen the photo’s meaning, my background was picked from my room. And there are random objects lying on the side without any context for the photo. There was no detail anywhere in the photo, and I bet everything on my motion to be so captivating that people don’t recognize the bland background. If I could go back and change something, I would have put something on the bed, something like a cigarette, prop drugs, or some alcohol bottle.

Eyes: My eye were focused on “target” of the guitar smash, it would have been weird if I stared at the camera and smashed my guitar. This goes back to Steve McCurry’s capturing moments in time where the character “didn’t notice” the camera, If anyone ever posed for a photo, they would know that pretending to smile is pretty difficult, but pretending to be angry or violent is very easy. Maybe it’s because of natural evolution and the need for intimidation. But because of that, my decision to pose as violent was very easy to achieve. It’s convincing and it also makes me look cool.

Distractions: There are no distractions in this photo, I edited so that I am the main subject. I am also the biggest object in the room. Only if a viewer decides to look carefully will they actually find the random out-of-context objects in the background. The only possible distraction could be the highly contrasted air ventilation system high up on the walls. But that’s not important, because it’s not significant and has no meaning, people won’t linger on the vent even for a second. They might first see the vent, and immediately move on to the main subject – which is me -because viewers won’t care about the vent.

Story: Since my photos are captured motion, it’s very easy to tell the story of it, in the viewpoint of a viewer. It’s just a man swinging his guitar due to stress and anger, as show by my face and actions. The problem with trying to tell a story with this is: people won’t figure out the broader context of why I am actually smashing my guitar, if they were guessing, it could be any reason: grades, arguments or even breakup. So this again, is to blame the fact that I didn’t put any context driven hints in the background.

Set 1:

Contact Sheet Set 1 Identity Unit George

Blue Photos:

The Blue Photos are chosen above others mainly because they symbolize my vision very well. Other small factors include: not a good color scheme; my face looks too stupid in the photo. In someway, they are the best at representing the results of substance addiction. I represent it using light mostly, but I also use context. (what I am doing or holding in the photo) Personally I think context is the best way to represent a topic, because it’s the most noticeable and straightforward type of symbolism. But in the photos I also like facial expressions, in my opinion that’s the second best indicator of topics and those are the main reason why I chose these photos.

Green Photos:

You can see in this selection that there are a lot of photos, almost as much as the blue section. This is because there are photos that are taken as motion, in these photos, there is progression in the movement of the person and guitar. These photos I virtually condense into one photo. Of course these individually are also nice photos, but for the sake of the unit, these should be together as one. I only removed two photos from the last selection. The first photo (the one with the light blue tone), I removed because it didn’t show it’s face. In all of the other photos there is an acceptable facial expression that represent my vision fairly. But that one just didn’t do any for me. And I did this photo thinking that the body language could solve the no-face issue, but upon further thought: it is really a portrait without it  showing a face? The second photo (the smoking guitar picture) was removed because of the background. That photo was average looking by itself, and on top of that, the background is so dark and the face and guitar are sooo highlighted that it feels out of place, it feels unreal and I don’t like it.

Red Photos:

This “photo” is my favorite “photo”, it’s my way of trying things differently. This photo is my first time doing a sort of “motion” photo-taking, this took many tries to time it perfectly and it turned out to be pretty good. As you can see, in the photo I am doing the motion of smashing my guitar, and obviously if you saw the end then you know I didn’t smash my guitar actually. But smashing a guitar is an almost “traditional” practice of expression frustration onstage for rockstars, and I linked this with that even if it’s not actually smashed. In the photo, smashing is the character’s way of express his own frustration with wanting to get rid of the addiction but failing many times due to temptation and habit/smashing the guitar could be a result of being drunk. Anyways, I chose this photo solely because of the style of it, there is literally no other explanation, and I chose this over the other one is because of these photo’s colorful tone, the brightness of the room was also necessary to completely capture the motion and eliminate serious blurs.

This photo is the best representative of my vision, the dark mood, combined with blank facial expression, combined with motionless and “profound” posture, combined with my edits to make the light centered and focused on the person. I think it’s my best photo for this set actually, the character – unlike in the second eliminated photo – actually blends in well with the background. There’s not much more to say, it’s just a good photo.

I have a confession to make: I edited a LOT of my photos. This is one of my edits that I played around with, this was inspired by the movie schindler’s list, where there was a little girl wearing red cloths in a black-and-white movie. I loved the intentional highlight in that movie and I applied it to here. I think this photo is really cool. And the reason I focused on the lighter above everything else is because the lighter is the light source of the entire room, and I think it would be the best thing to highlight. But also, I think the light is also like the source of the evils, without the lighter, he wouldn’t be able to smoke. And I think this representation is very interesting, the character is also well placed in the photo and my edits made the photo much more smooth as well.

Favorites Critique

Least Favorite: my least favorite photo is the second photo I eliminated from the green selection. That photo is both hated by me personally, and just very bad factually. I hate it because it makes my face look stupid. But that’s not the point, the point is, the photo is not very well-edited, if you look carefully, you can see that the color of my left hand is very strange, and that’s because for some reason, the photo is posterized. Posterizing the photo was not even my intention begin with, it make the hand so bright and CG-like, it’s just like bad animation in an old star wars movie, and somehow, the other hand isn’t even effected by the posterization???? Also, the background on the very left, is so unmatched with the main subject, the main subject is red and the background is blueish??? It does not make any sense.

Most Favorite: My most favorite photo in terms of technicality is a hard choice between the first and second red photo. With the second photo coming out on top, I can’t argue with all the good qualities in the second photo just because the style of the first one is different. I already summed up every thing great about the second photo in it’s critique so there’s no more to say.

Set 2: 

This is the artist that inspired my second set, as you can see, our styles will both be standard portrait shots, using expression and clothing to express everything that’s needed to be expressed.

Vision: The vision of the second set is revolved around my identity as an adamant rock fan, and guitar player. The substance abuse issue was covered in my first set, and now I will focus completely on my identity. In this set I will focus on the potential of rock and “guitar music”. I will focus on the different genres of rock, to dispel the myth that rock can only be hardcore or punky. So the vision would be “rock is freedom, it’s anything it wants to be.”

Set 2 Contact Sheet George

Blue Photos:

There wasn’t much choice in the closet for me, but I pretty much covered most of the rock genres (grunge, classical, punk, blues, street perform, and progressive) I also edited many photos for their respective genre effect. For example, I made blues black and white because it’s more predominantly before all of the other genres. Anyways, I chose these for blue because they have good edits and good lighting. Other factor include having a good posture, pose, or facial expression. Since my set 2 photos are limited entire to 2D portraiting, I could only use expression, posing, and clothing to distinct my photos. Elements of a good pose is: having a symbolic meaning; doesn’t interfere with lighting; spacious and proportionate.

Green:

Most of what chosen here are photos that were edited, the edited photos were made to highlight the character to the fullest, so obviously they would be predominantly chosen. But the other chosen ones are photos with poses that are very reflexive of their genre. I am well aware that some photos from one genre is better than any photos from any other genres, so I also made sure to not pick photos mainly from one genre. (except for blues ?)

Red Photos:

This photo is chosen because of the excellent editing and posing. The posing is good because it’s something that rock musicians actually do (when head banging to the beat of a song, they do this to keep the earphone from falling off their ear), and the nature of it is spacious. The editing is good because it place complete focus on the character and his guitar. The edits also made the character look more toned than he actually is, so I appreciate that very much.

I chose this photo because it’s edited very differently, usually with my other photos I like to darken the environment to make the character standout more. But in this photo, I instead made it look brighter and more contrasted. This is because the person is more close to the camera and fills more space in the frame, this makes more lighting acceptable. Also, the dark background effects are for dark and gloomy “rock vibes”. This photo’s genre however, is classical, so it’s doesn’t need the dark and gloomy effect, instead, lighter actually fit the genre well in this photo.

What I like about this photo is the extremely contrasted red colored guitar, the brightness add flavor to the dark attire. The pose is also very blues-music-like, as usually blues musicians are more polite then normal rock musicians, and blue musician have a high possibility of working in a bar or cafe also, making them more obsequious than normal too. The reflected light on the guitar could almost act as a replacement for catchlight effect in more high quality camera portraits. The attire is also appropriate for employment statuses.

Least Favorite: my least favorite red photo is the third one. Although the bright-crimson guitar is very shiny and beautiful, it distracts the viewers from the other parts of the photo. Based on my observations, due to the brightness of the guitar, I am unable to see the parts of the photo surrounding the guitar. Also, compared to the other photos, the background in this photo is very plentiful, meaning it’s kind of distracting. And as far as discrepancies go, that’s it.

Most Favorite: my most favorite photo is the first red photo. Unlike the last photo, this photo’s background is completely dark, due to my uncanny editing skills, the pose is amazing as I have already said on top. The thing about this photo is that, it might not have as noticeable a guitar color, because of the edits and all that. But at least it can be seen, and once it’s noticed, then it’s appreciated.

Introduction to portraiture:

A portrait is a planned photo with people in it, whether it be the photographer themself or someone else. So basically a photo with people, and not just any people, the photo must focus on a very small amount of people. And it must be planned to show a specific feeling and tell a general story about themselves or the state they are in. It must also include small details that can allow the viewers to deduct the portrait’s story, such as details of the face and embroideries on the cloth. For example the decorations on Winston Churchill’s clothes tell us that he is rich and formal. But, a portrait shouldn’t be a whimsical decision to record your day or hold a camera to yourself randomly without planning anything – namely “selfies” – these kinds of photos can tell misleading stories and people tend to try and look better on purpose in these photos, when you see a selfie photo, you wouldn’t actually see a part of the artist’s daily life, instead you see something that’s forced out from them. So their messages are all messed up and incoherent. However, if you intentionally try to convey a message in a photo, you will need to make preparations. A good portrait consists of an intended background, a person, and whatever objects they promote. And of course the person would need to match the background and the object. You can also zoom in on someone’s face, but personally I believe that kind of portrait relies to much on the person to show facial expressions, and it eliminates any other possibility of expression. A portrait is one photograph, a sequence of photos would be called “portraits“. Symbolism in portrait photography I believe can be two things: 1, what the portrait symbolize, or what it’s trying to tell you through their use of various techniques. And 2, the embroideries’, objects’, backgrounds’ and/or facial expressions’ meanings, each of the mentioned subject can each have a different symbolism. For example, the cane on Winston Churchill’s hands symbolize old age and responsibility, whilst the embroideries symbolize wealth and formality. Each item has many symbols depending on the viewer, so it’s the artist’s job to make sure the symbol are very obvious, and people won’t be divided and confused by different thoughts.

To prove my point further, look at this photo. Is this a portrait? No, but if were going by the standard that objects without people can be portraits, then this will definitely be a portrait.

Mind-Map:

Image inspirations:

One photo that really inspired me was the Winston Churchill photo. The photo doesn’t exactly tell a story, but the photo tells us about the person’s stature and wealth with the use of ornate accessories, with my project, I won’t be able to use those because my character is most likely in poverty. So I will expand on this idea of decorations a step further, maybe I will get a T-shirt that says inappropriate words on it because that shows the excessive freedom given to the alcoholics and smokers. Maybe I’ll dress the character up in a 90s gang member style clothing. Another thing about Winston Churchill is that he smiled, in his government position nobody expects him to smile, since his responsibility is so great. But this smile shows a lot of things, it shows relatability and amiability. For my portrait, I’ll have to think of something that’s depressing and vicissitudinous.

Mood Board:

Mood Board George

Mood Board V2

Finding a Focus: Vision

The title of this series of work will be “Sex, Drugs, Rock n’ Roll”, which will be revolved around my identity as an adamant rock fan, and guitar player. The issue will be revolved around drug and alcohol abuse. I believe that the spirit of rock is freedom of speech and expression, not sex, drugs, and drinks. Many rockstar try to show themselves as trendy or philandering, whilst all they actually do is kill themselves at a young age and get looked down upon. These activities were associate with rock n’ roll in the past, not anymore, the only reason any rockstars still uphold this image is because it would disappoint their hardcore fans if they didn’t, and I believe that it’s not worth the risk to kill yourself over. The age of rock as the zeitgeist crazy genre is over, leave the drugs and crime to the rappers. My vision will be “rock isn’t just drugs and booze”.

Statement of Intent:

My focus will be about both a social issue and my rock n’ roll identity, the social issue is alcoholism and drug abuse. The issue of alcoholism and the rock n’ roll identity are easily connectable, since lots of rock stars are alcoholics, and death of often caused by alcohol in rock communities. One of my favorite singers, Bon Scott, died of alcohol poisoning after a night of partying. Sex and drugs has been associated with rock even since it began, many rock stars either killed themselves or damaged their physical body to the point where they can’t even speak well. So, in my sets, I will first shows people the outcome and ramifications of doing drugs and drinking excessive alcohol – depression. My first set will completely focus on depression, I’m going to reverse the technique of catchlight and instead make the eye completely empty, showing that the vibrant energy are gone and only depression remain. I will also make one of my set about rock’s progress as a genre, and other aspects of rock that are not drugs and alcohol related. The goal of these is to show that rock isn’t a crazy genre, and to dispel all stereotypes about what rock is and how rock should be.

Chosen Photographers: Muhammed Muheisen, Steve McCurry

Muhammed Muheisen: I would believe that this photographer was aiming for spreading awareness about the Afghan situation to the rest of the world, by showing the tough living conditions of the impoverished children. They’re also trying to garner empathy, by showing the dirty faces and expressions of the kids.

This artist likes to use the technique centered iris & facial expression, when he put all of the children smack dab in the middle of the frame. The artist also doesn’t like to have an environmental touch, maybe because they want to focus entire on the children’s state.

The reason I picked this artist is because the first set of my photos will be similar to this very much, in my first set, I will be focusing on depression. Depression however, doesn’t need a background, and can only be shown through facial expression, body position, and clothing. Which is what Muhammed Muheisen has shown. Muhammed Muheisen’s photo inspire me because of his good use of mood background and ornaments. (which in this case is dirt) Also, Muhammed Muheisen is the only artist that is none abstract and is trying to explain a social issue, a topic that correlates with my own. And since I’m doing depression, his similar topic photos can inspire me with my own work.

Muhammed Muheisen Critique:

Favorite photo: bottom left, very determine eyes, character is very developed and outfit fits well with the background. Gives off the feeling of poverty. With this photo, the artist achieved their goal.

Least Favorite photo: Top right, flamboyance outfit doesn’t fit the background, facial expression doesn’t give off any particular feeling, it just feels nothing. This photo is still a good one, but out of all of it it’s not. And also, do I see a light smile on the side of her face? If the situation is within context, smiles aren’t the best way to show poverty and suffering.

This photo is drawn in Afghanistan in 2014, situation is children living in the slums. The artist is trying to tackle the problem of poverty in the slum, by showing us children in ragged clothes, muddy faces and sad expressions. There isn’t much detail on what identity and jobs of the characters, all we know is that they are in poverty and they are living miserable lives. Which is fine because these photo isn’t trying to tell a story, but an issue. The lighting in this photo is a very important factor, without the correct lighting, the photo wouldn’t make sense. But the light in this photo does make sense, as it highlights the subject. The context of the photo is also very important, the photographer could be using their skills to appeal to western society, since the US military is withdrawing from Afghanistan.

 

Steve McCurry: I did some research on his message, he was trying to tell us about the impact of war on our lives, very similar to Muhammed Muheisen’s works. Here is a quote from the photographer himself: “most of my images are grounded in people. I look for the unguarded moment, the essential soul peeking out, experience etched on a person’s face.” He usually takes photos of people and land that are constantly effected by war. Such as unstable places in the Middle East, and recently even Ukraine.

Style: Steve McCurry’s style is similar to Muhammed Muheisen’s, only Steve’s has more diversity. I noticed that Steve’s people don’t have any emotion or expression, so he likes to use the clothing, background, and conditions to show his message more so than expression. He also likes centered Iris, dominant eye, and catchlight. Which means he also likes to do many things with eyes, they all say that eyes are the window to the soul.

I chose this artist because of the way he communicates his message, it’s very convincing. I also had the luck to discover one of his greatest projects, he took a photo of a young lady in 1984, then took another one of the same lady in 2002. The same person had changed so much, aged so much, became so winkled and dehydrated in 18 years. This effectively demonstrates the impact of war on people. I was thinking, maybe I could do some sort of series-phototaking, where I show someone who was bright and happy beforehand, and was completely ruined by alcohol and drug abuse. Something that inspired me further, was his characters’ robust cultural accessories and makeups, this inspired me to try some abstract phototaking in terms of the character. For example, I could portray some ridiculous facial features, to enhance my message.

Least Favorite:

This don’t like this photo because this has nothing to do with war and lives effected, in fact I don’t even know what this is. This has no message attached to it, no meaning and no purpose. The people in the photo seemed happy, which deviates from his usual style of emptiness, they actions are unexplainable, their intentions are ambiguous, everything about this is just not comprehendible by the human mind. This photo can even be identified as abstract. The only good thing about this photo is the unusual color contrast, red and green fit well together, but what’s the point of having a really aesthetic photo and having literally no understanding whatsoever. This photo is a prime example of what I should avoid doing in my sets. I get the fact that the green person is supposed to be special, but unfortunately we don’t get to see him in detail since he’s so far from camera.

Most Favorite:

This photo is my favorite because it’s a vanilla Steve McCurry photo that shows his usual messages and has his usual style. But this photo has many more gadgets that symbolize many things. The character is a miner who – judging by his smoking – is very depressed and impoverished. (unless he wouldn’t want this job) The background is blurred, but it sets a dark mood which gives us some sense of seriousness. It seems that the social issue is about either pay gap, war, or both. When I looked at the photo again, the things that caught my eye first was the smoking and the face. The face is obvious: because it’s in the center of the photo. And the smoking’s color is white compared to the black background so it was more eye-catching. Both of these are important the dirty face is what proves that he is a miner, which tells us more about the person themselves. And the smoke is what makes us more certain about the artist’s message. I myself don’t particularly feel drawn or empathy to the man in the photo, but that’s only because I never experienced something like poverty or depression. A middle-aged middle-low-class man is most likely feel connected to this photo. They would likely feel empathy to the person because they understand the struggles of this person.

Sketch Plan:

It turned out way smaller than this, I underestimated the smallness of my basement

George’s Triptych

Title: Darkness – the medium in which I am trying to promote, over color and saturation

The reason I chose the red photos of the third set over the first and second set’s, is because I feel very strongly about my third set and I my first and second sets are two unfocused, their visions are too broad and they their photos don’t have any connection too each other. For an individual showdown, my first set’s window photo would have won, but together they distract us from each other. However, the dark photos are so similar to each other, and the entire set is just in one medium. For set 1 and 2 there is color and shape difference, for set three there is only darkness. The reason I chose the red photos from the third set is just because they are the best out of them all. But you might have notice I kicked out one of the red photos, the one with the playground, and that’s because it’s too clear and doesn’t fit with the others as much the others.

Final Evaluation:

For my final photos, there are many inspirations and revelations. Many of which I just had ideas pop into my brain, and more of which I randomly experimented with my camera and settled with a good result of. But of all, the most concise ones are the ones I could actually see examples of – artists. I would say that Uta Barth is my greatest inspiration, now my photos are from set 3, whose patron artist is O Winston Link, but I chose Uta Barth as my greatest inspiration, why is that? It’s because O Winston Links photo although holds some value, they are not value that I could capitalize on, I already knew to take photos at night, and already knew how to drop the exposure. All I got from him were the idea of landscape and machinations. But from Uta Barth, I got my entire knowledge on how to take abstract photos, even for my third set, I still clang to the way of Uta Barth. My tendency to take dark-ambiguous photos are all from Uta Barth, although her own photos are rather bad. As for experimentations, I sometimes just play around with the settings on my phone and point at various locations, but more so, I like to randomly add effects on affinity photo that I don’t even know about, sometimes it turns out well, like some of my set 3 blue photos, but sometimes it’s just mediocre. I also liked to stick my photo into tubes and bins, covering the filth with darkness. I personally, would say that the third set was a combination of the first set and second. In the first set, I developed the unclear = abstract sentiment, and in the second set, I discovered the black and white strategy. My third set is just exactly the combination of that. My first two sets are flawed: 1. ambiguousness means no detail, means no concentrated texture and pattern. 2. too much detail is too un-abstract. My third set is a combination in the result of me trying to take from the mistakes, it certainly does better than either other sets though. To conclude, I believe I did very well in my project, the final triptych shows all that I learned during this unit, and the completeness of my journey. Including how to make things abstract whilst keeping their unique elements. I think my ideas in the project are diverse and interesting, and that I backed up my visions to the fullest using effects, techniques, and edits. However, some of my photos are just taken to fill the spot of 60 photos, sometimes I take photos that I thought were different enough from each other – which when I look back, is actually very similar. Consecutively, many of my photos are not taken at the opportune moment or place, there were many places I wished I took photos at. And when in school, I wished it was night.

What is my message? – my message will be “colors are mere distractions, true beauty lies in darkness”, which means I will take dark mood photos. Because in my last two sets I realized that color is actually a major distraction in terms of if it resonates with other surrounding colors or not.

How will you show this message with your photography? – I will take photos not necessarily in black and white – though I might – but more importantly I will take photos in dark environments and lessen the exposure effect to the lowest point possible. I’ll also be sure to have light subjects in my photos so that it won’t be just a plain photo of the black color.

Think about what the audience should feel when they see your final presentation. – when they see it, they have to feel depressed or feel like they just watch the new batman or something, perhaps inspired to take some dark mood photos themselves when they have the chance.

What techniques, styles, subjects will you include? – I will the exposure effect to make the photo darker than it is. Ideally, the photos I want to take should be very shape-tone related, since all of the elaborate details and textures and repetitions will be camouflaged by the darkness or the shadows, I want to make a broad outlines and little to no detail. My photos will also be taken from a long distance, with the exception of taking a photo of a dark object with bright background.

O Winston Link’s 8 photos:

•Make a list of at least 5 characteristics (typical things) that define your chosen photographs

• All of the photos are taken at night and thus have the dark mood (tone)
• All photo includes either trains, cars and houses – reflect on artist’s personal interests
• They are all photos of landscapes, no close up photos. And usually they have layers of backgrounds.
• Very bright contrast – choice of color, because if their isn’t a contrast then the structure (shapes) wouldn’t show at all
•  Very interesting placement and display of smoke/steam, very good addition to dark environment. Also the smoke is also a bit like a pattern/repetition of it’s own.

•Describe the work of the artist referencing these characteristics (you can add more if you wish)

The artist is a practitioner of night photography, and likes to take photos of the then-modern technologies. He likes to take photos from a far distance, or else the elements of the dark night will be left unnoticed. His works also have an abundance of converging lines shown as railroads. O Winston Link is not really an abstract photographer, but his style of dark mood and night photography is what caught my eye.

•Explain why you have chosen this photographer including how the photographer relates to your vision

I was struggling with what to choose for my third set, and since we had limited time I had to choose an easy theme. So I chose darkness as my theme, and out sought out artists that embrace darkness as their style, but only found one – O Winston Link. His photos though are not dark enough to be called abstract though.

•If you can – Find a quotation by your photographer and Explain why you chose the particular quotation and how it helps you understand the photographer’s work. – The locomotives are black. The coal is black. The tracks are black. The night is black. So what am I going to do with color?

It turns out the artist’s style is entirely based on his personal interests and biases. But the thing is, he’s right, and he basically just stated the exact same thing that I stated, which was: sometimes color is just a distraction. If you go to a supermarket, and observe your surroundings, you won’t find anything beautiful. That’s because it’s too colorful, and the colors don’t even match. But if you hold up your phone’s camera, and switch on the black and white effect, you’ll see patterns and beauty that are completely disguised by the ugly colors.

One Photo Analysis: 

Why did you choose this image in particular?

I choose this image because this is the most dark mood photo there is, just from the overall “darkness”. I feel that this one has the least light sources in the photo. Also, this photo is also the only one that can even come close to being abstract.

•What do you find surprising or unusual about this photograph?

There’s nothing to be surprised about, but the unusual thing about this is that the camera placed within the train tracks while the train is moving, so that’s kind of weird and dangerous. Another thing is: the trains are close enough for us to see the machinery under it.

•Look carefully and choose ONE of the Formal Elements that you think is important in the photograph (E.g. Focus, Light, Line, Repetition, Shape, Texture, Value/Tone).

The most important element is shape

•Describe why you think it is important

In dark photos, the the details are less prominent than the overall structure and big shapes, sure if it was day then it would be texture or repetition, but it’s night and it’s dark. I’ll also make sure to make my photos focus on shapes as well.

•In what ways are your chosen artist’s photographs abstract?

It’s not very abstract, the only abstract thing is the smoke in the sky, and that is abstract because when the two separate streams of smoke came together, the direction and pattern of the smoke is very unpredictable. Adding the lighting to the smoke, it’s almost like clouds that have distinct and ethereal shapes.

•How will you adapt this style to your own photography? How does the image/artist inspire YOU?

I didn’t find this artist for motivation, I found him for the sake of finding him. I already have a very clear idea of what I need to do before I found this person. But, one thing that I thought was a great idea was to have very bright or very bright subject compared to very dark background, and also, his focus subject always seems to be trains, and in one of his photos, he included details of the mechanics under the train. So, I thought I could also take photos of great mechanical patterns and make that abstract somehow.

Revised vision: When I looked at O Link Winston’s photos, I found out how hard it is to take dark photos abstract. So, in order for my photos to be abstract, I have to make them so dark, that it’s almost just unrecognizable. To achieve that, I can use affinity photos to edit my un-abstract works on top of the exposure effects that I added. The only problem is that it won’t look as good as if it wasn’t abstract. So, I have concluded that I will take photos of large, clearly defined structures at night when I could.

Second Revision: I didn’t have the chance to take photos of large structures, and I found out that I couldn’t get a nice image that way, but, I have and is going to take a lot of photos outside, I found that it’s easy to find inspiration outside, and easier to make quality progress. So, I will abandon my idea of taking photos of large, clearly defined structures at night, and instead change to taking dark photos of streets and nature.

Photo Categorization:

All photos (80):

Blue Photos (20):

Set 3 contact sheet

The reasoning for my selection: first, I made sure to eliminate all of the photos that I took when I was low on inspiration, those photos were all terrible because their colors are all dull, and their lines are unpleasant. Second, I got rid of almost all photos that had color, there was one colored photo that I kept but that’s it. (because in that photo the colors don’t mess each other up) Third, I picked a lot of photos that were partly dark and partly white, for photos that were all dark, I found that they were not as good as I imagined them to be, I envisioned them to be gloomy and cool, but instead they were bland and completely unrecognizable to the point where some of them are just completely black. So in the end, the photos that remained were the photos that I took outside ISB or outdoors in ISB, where I had some focused areas.

Green Photos (8):

Set 3 Green photos Contact Sheet

My message, which is “colors are mere distractions, true beauty lies in darkness”, is represented very well with my eight green photos. First of all my vision is very broad, and it’s very easy to be able to satiate the demands of the message. The hard part is how to match the vision whilst being abstract at the same time. I tried to make the photos dark enough to be abstract, but getting such a photo is not an easy task. I took many photos that I think meets both requirements, some photos did better than others. And the green photos that I picked were more or less the best of those photos. You might have noticed that in all of these photos there is a lot of contrast, and that might mean that the best way of showing my vision lies with contrast.

Red Photos:

1: This photo is of Christmas lights hanging from a small tree, taken from a very close distance and deliberate angle. Why did I choose this? Well, it’s my favorite photo taken close range. Because the lights themselves don’t radiate anything, but they stick out like a sore thumb on the tree. Which means people can almost just ignore the tree and only focus on the lights. Also, if you look more closely, the pattern of the lights took the shape of the human face. The sides were intentional as well, I didn’t want to have an entire photo of just lights and darkness, so I added some diversity to make it look more appealing. My camera settings were the usual low exposure, black and white setting. I think this photo is a very good example of both fitting my vision, and being abstract. Therefore, this photo deserves to be a red photo. As for what I want other people to think, I think this should tell people to try some dark mood photo themselves sometime, because it really is more easy to take than normal photos.

2: The second photo is of a pond near the entrance to Yosemite C, taken from an average distance and a sideview angle. I chose this because this was the photo that didn’t need any strong contrast to convey it’s message. I have already established that contrast is the best and easiest way to take a good dark mood photo, but this photo is the one photo that broke common sense. If it didn’t need contrast, then that means one thing: it’s the best message conveyer for my vision. Without contrast, it’s completely dark, (not the background lights) if something can be completely dark and still rock, then they tell people that you don’t need light for a photo to be good. Also, being completely dark means that the photo is very abstract, adding to the fact that my shadow and the image in the water is very misleading, leaving people confused and focused.

3: The third photo is of a children’s playground, taken from a long distance. I chose this photo because compared to the other photos, this was the most abstract and had the most contrast. I especially liked the three light bulbs shining at three different locations, that’s pretty cool. There’s a lot of lines, shapes, and patterns in the photo, which I liked. But in exchange, this photo became less abstract, I only chose this photo because it was the most abstract photo, which meant a lot of my photos were only half abstract. That’s not to say this photo is bad at conveying messages though, I had people telling me that this photo was the best out of the three. And the reason for that is that they recognized the shapes of the common playground, and the playground was not supposed to be dark and appalling, whilst the other photos, they didn’t even recognize what it is.

I though I should take another photo to make up for the mistake that “3” made, in this photo, I will make it abstract, and at the same time learn from the mistakes of “3” to combine it into a better photo:

4: The fourth photo is of a park, taken from a long distance. This photo not only has contrast and abstractness, but it also has leading lines, shapes, textures, and repetitions. This is truly the pinnacle of my works, if there’s a picture to sum up my experience of this unit, it’s this one. It did make up for 3’s lack of abstraction and for 2’s lack of contrast. When people see this, they probably won’t feel anything at first. But I hope, from the bottom of my heart that, when they look longer, they’ll realize.

What is my message? – My message will be, “and if you observe very hard, the beauty will come to you at last” (Led Zeppelin reference)

How will you show this message with your photography? – I will shift my lense or move my body to take a photo very up-close, and perhaps reveal some pattern or beauty that way. But this time, I won’t just wait for the inspiration to come to me, I will create some inspiration myself, by setting up object in a certain way that will look symmetrical or pleasing. For example, I could cut open an apple and take close-up photos of the texture inside.

Think about what the audience should feel when they see your final presentation. – The audience should first feel confused about what the photo is actually representing. But after that, they should start to get what’s inside the photo and start to appreciate the beauty within. Although I wanted for the viewers to first feel confused, I want their first impression to be a good one, I want them to think “I don’t really know what this is, but damn is this frickin cool!”

What techniques, styles, subjects will you include? – first, my subject will be ordinary objects either taken close-up and untouched, or organize it in a certain way. Ideally, I would like to have some repetition or texture in my objects as well. My style will be very focused, and the sense of space should feel tight, the backgrounds must also be vague, as i’m trying to only let the viewers focus on the object. My vision is actually pretty hard after careful consideration, so I might stray from Patzsch’s artworks.

Albert Renger-Patzsch’s 8 photos

•Make a list of at least 5 characteristics (typical things) that define your chosen photographs (Tip: think about the Formal Elements. Also, what do you see that’s similar in three or more of these pictures?)

1. Three of the photos are spectacular but patterned infrastructures, and they show many geometric shapes and repetitions within the walls.
2. Many of the photos are zoomed-in photos with flowers or plants, these usually show pattern/repetition and focus.
3. All of these photos are thing that you can encounter in ordinary life, and Albert Renger-Patzsch captures it beautifully.
4. All of the photos are black and white, and that lets us focus on the details instead of random colors.
5. All of the photos have a subject of focus, and I think that’s the point of Albert Renger-Patzsch’s photos, to let us only be captivated by the subjects.

•Describe the work of the artist referencing these characteristics (you can add more if you wish) – The style of Albert Renger-Patzsch is either close photos or patterned structural photos, and the color is always black and white, his work always has bland backgrounds, and many of them have repetition.

•Explain why you have chosen this photographer including how the photographer relates to your vision – this artist’s work fits well with my vision, especially with the last photo, I would not have noticed the any flower’s inner detail if not for the focus. The reason I chose this artist is because it’s very inspiring and cool, although it might be hard to get 20 locations.

•If you can – Find a quotation “let us leave art to the artists, and let us try to use the medium of photography to create photographs that can endure because of their photographic qualities”, I think by this, it means that photography shouldn’t be created as art, and the photos should only capture things that photographic and not randomly artistic. I strongly agree with this statement, as I intend to make my photos very photographic and I probably won’t tamper with the photo afterwards to make it look more abstract.

One Photo Analysis:

Why did you choose this image in particular? – I chose this photo because it is the most achievable, not because it’s the most beautiful or more special. This photo was achieved using ordinary item and lighting, this type of art style is easily found in the walls of ISB and my dwellings. The other photos are beautiful and very abstract, but it is hard to set them up or find them, till now I only have one idea of what to do.

What do you find surprising or unusual about this photograph? – It’s not as if this photo doesn’t have any good things about them, the repetition of the shadows are very abstract and pretty, combined with the shapes of the shadows, especially the crown shaped shadow on the top left.

Look carefully and choose ONE of the Formal Elements that you think is important in the photograph – repetition

Describe why you think it is important – I think it’s important because without it, the photo be as dull as any photo. When the repetition element is taken out of the photo, I can assure that the photo won’t be recognizable. Also, the focus of the photo isn’t the glasses, but the shadows, and the predominant feature in the shadows is the element of repetition.

In what ways are your chosen artist’s photographs abstract? – the abstract aspects and abstract-formal elements of the photos are more important than the glass. The elements – repetition, tone, and shape – are more important than the shape of the glass itself, because it represents the essence of this photo better than if the photo was just glass.

What do you like about the style? – I like three things about this photo’s style, the first one is the ordinariness of the photo, which I talked about previously. But the second thing I like is the color, which is black and white, because sometimes too much color and distract people. The third thing is the fact that the background basically has nothing in it, and that allows you to focus on the main subject best.

How will you adapt this style to your own photography? – I will adapt all of the style to my photos, I will turn my settings to black and white, I will find ordinary objects to take photos of, but most importantly, I will place the object at place that doesn’t have distracting background. – This photo inspired me to incorporate shadows to my photos, and maybe even have the shadows as my main subject for some photos.

Revising my Vision:

It turns out that my original statement was kind of contradictory to my later evaluations. So, I hereby declare that I will change my vision. I am particularly inspired by Albert Renger-Patzsch, and will try to take pictures that are ordinary but beautiful. And my vision statement will be: “no need to observe very hard, the beauty won’t come to you. But you can create beauty physically to make up for your lack of imagination, although it is best if you observe it first”.

All Photos (69):

Blue Photos (24):

George Blue Photos Contact Sheet 2

Here’s my selection process: first, I scratch off any photos that doesn’t fit my vision. By this I mean photos that are unclear, and photos that I don’t recognize the subject of. Second, I look at color, even in black and white there is color involved, usually I pick photos that has a high one-part focus. (those with high contrast between light and dark) Then I look at the background of the photos, I mention in my “developing my vision” that I will take photos with plain or unfocused backgrounds, and some photos I didn’t, so I eliminated them as well. I also picked a lot of flower photos, because their texture is great overall and they fit my vision perfectly. If you can see any photos that doesn’t fit my criteria, it’s just because that photo is special somehow, or I felt like keeping it.

Green Photos (11):

The reason they fit my vision better than the others is because: 1. they are all high-resolution – more so than the others – and they all have amazing-detailed delicacies. 2. They are usually the small things in life that people don’t notice. Like the urinal for example, who would have thought that if it’s put in a certain lighting, that it would look so shiny and fascinating. The muffins too, who would have thought that a consumable would have so much detail when observed close-up. And 3, for all of these images, I didn’t do so much fancy edits like I did with my first set – which is my artist’s ideal for photography – but still kept lots of elements of abstraction so I didn’t miss the purpose of the unit.

Red Photos:

Urinal Stand: this photo was taken and chosen because this was a great example of being able to find beauty anywhere, this photo was an accident where I went to the bathroom to try to take photos of water-pattern related things, and when that didn’t work, I just randomly pointed my camera at any certain object, when I found the urinal. What I like about this photo is that it’s shapes very proportionate, and the reflections of the lights are almost patterned. I only noticed after, but the urinal has a strong connection to Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain sculpture, Duchamp’s work is a very controversial art that was rejected by several professionals who deemed it inappropriate. My photo will definitely incur curiosity as well, but when the male student takes a release next time, they would think of my photo and think to themselves, how did I not see this earlier? Clearly, all

Flower: the flower photo is a given, I had to include a flower photo because it’s the best type of “Albert Renger-Patzsch” photo there is, in my opinion, Albert Renger-Patzsch’s best photo is the one with the close up flower core. He literally gave me free ideas to work of on, and flower are the best candidate for his kind of photo because it’s innards are so patterned and symmetrical. But the reason I chose this over the others is because the others is the others have over-focused backgrounds, and overall does not look as embellished as this. When a normal person look at this photo, they would think, “oh it’s just a flower”. But that’s only because a human has seen much of the flower in their entire life. The thing is, flowers are designed to attract attention by looks and smell – in order to propagate – and I would think twice before I shrug it off as “just a flower”, because flowers never gets old, and although it’s a common subject, it’s still a delicacy that always can catch the eye of passerbies.

Camera: this photo was the product of pure, lengthly thinking, I busted my brain think about what to take, and this was the result. Although this photo has elements from my first set – and this photo would have been my favorite had it been in the first set. But, this photos isn’t made by fantastical edits and effects, all I did was point my camera, at a camera, and take the photo. And it turned out very well, I believe this counts in my current set because a normal pedestrian wouldn’t think of looking inside a camera and finding out about this. It also kind of fits the requirement for my vision, since the intended focus is the details within the camera, so think of the reflections as a background if you’d like. When a person looks into this photo, they wouldn’t know that it’s a camera, and that’s exactly the effect I want this to have on others. Also, this photo was the most abstract photo of them all. In this set, I almost strayed from the topic of abstract, so this photo is me back on tract.

Identify areas for improvement for your next shoot and give a rough overview of what you intend to do for the next shoot – (see next slide): next time, I will change it up a lot, with both of my sets, I kind of focused and empathized on the contrast between light and dark, in many of my photos there are clear usage of tone. But with the next set I will focus entirely and ONLY on darkness, I will search the darkest places in Yosemite and ISB and I will take photos of them, with an occasional hint of light. (Dark mood photo is what their called btw)

All photos (63):

Blue Photos (27):

George Blue Photos Contact Sheet

My method of selection is just me going with my first impression, and the selected ones I believe are better than the others. But, there are patterns as to how I choose things: usually what catches my eye is a clear contrast between light and dark; converging lines; or photos with very beautiful and repetitive lights. These photos are usually the best, because as humans, we like to recognize symmetry and order as beautiful, and many of my photo have a certain symmetrical touch to them. Another pattern is that out of the many photos that I took, I chose a majority of the blue-toned photos, although this is just a personal preference.

Green Photos (10):

The reason that these photos are most effective at showing my vision is because all of these photos first, look amazing, and second, are ambiguous enough for people to either focus on only the center, or look at the whole image with wonder. There is a pattern though, it turns out that many of the photos I chose are blue-tones or black and white. It seems that my mind does not like any random scattered colors in the details of the photos. Also, these photos have a huge focus on light, in fact, light plays a big role in either being the subject of focus, or a comparison against the ground.

Red Photos:

1                                                                                2                                                                               3

Window: The first photo was my favorite photo out of all photos. First, the brightness of the light is very balanced, not too bright as to cover the window’s structure, and not too dark as to not stand out at all. Second, the color of the entire photo gives off a very sinister vibe, unlike many others, who don’t give a vibe at all. Also, the room is not too dark, it allows us to observe the contents of the room. This photo doesn’t really say much, but it’s beauty speaks for itself. This photos was taken whilst I was messing around with my tape, it’s still a mystery as to how I did it.

Hall: The second was chosen because it best represents my vision, the second one is the manifestation of the word ambiguity. A person would not know what was meant by this photo, and they wouldn’t be able to tell the contents of the photo, but a person would focus their attention on the light at the end. The light is like a beacon of hope, a door that leads to heaven. And that’s the purpose of this photo, to make them feel a like they need to reach the end of the hallway towards the light. I had the idea of this photo in mind during my artist’s reflections. I always had the idea of having light at the end of a photo surrounded by darkness, because I think that it’s a very cool concept. For this photo, I turned the exposure to the lowest, and added a cool color contract effect on top, making it dark and blueish.

Streets: The third photo was my third photo and only location outside of school, the reason I chose this over the second photo – which is the last photo within the ten green photos – is because that photo showed too much detail and doesn’t really fit my vision. This photo also has it’s own good qualities. First and foremost it aligns with my vision. And second, the converging lines gives a sense of depth in the photo, and due to the blurs, the end of the converging line is covered in ambiguity, which means the tone of the photo is good as well. I also like the contrast between the bright sky and the dimmed grounds. I added the cool color effect to dim the environment for this one as well.

Identify areas for improvement for your next shoot and give a rough overview of what you intend to do for the next shoot: for the next set I should focus on more close-up encounters, instead of landscapes, I was thinking of doing something that involves clarity and focus, so basically the very opposite of what I did for set 1. It’s gonna be hard to find ideas for this next set, but i’m sure i’ll manage somehow. I also need to find a way to make them abstract somehow.

Uta Barth’s 8 Photos

•Make a list of at least 5 characteristics (typical things) that define your chosen photographs

1. In all of the photos the formal element focus is strongly empathized, as they are all out of focus
2. Many of the photos had light in the background that are discombobulated
3. Many of the photos – if you look pass the blurs – have converging lines.
4. In many of the photos the background involves a house or a street, and the photos with these backgrounds usually look better than the ones without
5. In some photos, shapes are involved as well, although it is hard to tell the difference of it, we can make out the general shape, which then allows us to make a guess as to what things are in the photo.

•Describe the work of the artist referencing these characteristics

The style of the artist is obviously out-of-focus-ness and distinct shapes shapes, the works are good, but they are not perfect, as it would be better if it was took at night, and focused on the night lights.

•Explain why you have chosen this photographer including how the photographer relates to your vision

This author relates perfectly to my current vision, as my vision is to capture colorful lights behind blurs, to represent beauty in ambiguity.

•If you can – Find a quotation

“My work never directly addresses the literal subject matter of the photograph, but attempts to ask questions about vision itself”, I chose this quote because it best represents what Uta Barth thinks, she wants the viewers to question and think about the photos. But unfortunately, that is not my goal, my goal is to amaze the viewer the moment they noticed my artwork. Because there is no beauty in over-analyzing a piece of art, true beauty is only beautiful when thought beautiful in the first glance.

The One Photo Analysis:

•Why did you choose this image in particular? – I chose this photo because it is the best photo out of all the other ones.

•What do you find surprising or unusual about this photograph? – Unlike the other photos, this photo has the most recognizable shapes and colors, a portion of the photo has converging lines also, what caught my eye is the lighting of the photo, it had a different tone of color compared to the other photos.

•Look carefully and choose ONE of the Formal Elements that you think is important in the photograph – Focus obviously, the whole point of this photo was to be abstract and out-of-focus.

•Describe why you think it is important – If it wasn’t for the out-of-focus element, this photo would not have been the same. The whole career of Uta Barth was supported by the fact that her photographs were different, if we take away this element, then this photo would just be any other photo taken by any other photographer.

•In what ways are your chosen artist’s photographs abstract? – They don’t show a direct subject for there is no subject of focus, and they have no meaning.

What do you like about the style? – I just like the out-of-focus style, I also noted that she likes to take photos of the outside, and that’s pretty good as well, because many photography rules can only be achieved best outdoors. For example: converging lines and focus.

•How will you adapt this style to your own photography? How does the image/artist inspire YOU? – I will obviously try to find something that can cover the camera and not disable the camera’s ability to capture specific objects, I will also try to incorporate horizon lines or converging lines to make my photos look even better. – the image doesn’t really inspire me that much, I pretty much already had a clear idea of what I should do even before seeing this photo.

Revising My Vision:

After seeing Uta Barth’s viewpoint in photography, I cannot help but disagree completely with her. And now I further believe that my vision is completely perfect, and need no revision. Her idea of using out-of-focus images to make people question vision is only half of what I want to show with my vision.

My vision is to show beauty in ambiguity. I will take photos in the style, but not the ideal of Uta Barth. I am particularly inspired by field #20 and will try to take pictures that emulate and surpasses her style by adding additional elements.

What is my message? – My message will be “there is beauty in ambiguity”.

How will you show this message with your photography? How I will achieve this, is by taking pictures out of focus, but have it’s subject roughly recognizable, I will have my pictures filled with color and lights, an example of a theme could be the night lights in Beijing

Think about what the audience should feel when they see your final presentation.

My audience should first appreciate the beauty of my work obviously, but as they observe more of it, they should start to understand that beauty isn’t only in preciseness

What techniques, styles, subjects will you include? – First, my subjects will be landscapes, objects, people, or architecture. My style will vary, I could use light; I could use focus; or I could use mass repetition. And as for techniques, I could cover the camera with a veil, change the light settings on the photo apps to make everything either darker or brighter, or I could use photo editing on my computer after.