Collection title: Montage

Imagine this…

This is a montage of life. At the moment of birth, we are assigned a number: a name, a gender, a family, and a role. There we stand at the bottom, trying to overcome the stairs that lay upon us. We climb like everyone else. There are people: strangers, friends, family. They have their pace and they can be behind us, aside, or ahead of us. Ahead of us, there are turns and twists.  We continue up, expecting more of them. One after another, until we get to a milestone where a canvas is placed, blank, waiting for paint to spatter on its surface. It is a documentation of your journey. You may color the whole canvas with the vivid blue you see along the way, or you may portray the ones that accompany you throughout the climb. It is your art–every brush is yours; you are represented by every brush. Then, after the piece is done, you may linger a while for the scenery or begin the next journey.

Ideation process:

The title of my project is Montage, which is a terminology used in the film industry. According to Google, it is the technique of selecting, editing, and piecing together separate sections of film to form a continuous whole. I was interested in this technique and wondered if I could combine it with my photographs.

In order to develop my ideas for this project, I experimented with elements such as focus, lighting, color, as well as composition to play with the style and established mood. And, because 798 has various architecture and places that are suitable for taking photos, I ended up taking around 300 photographs with a bunch of different styles (horror, abstract, exploring negative space, and color balance).  After experimenting, I have brought together the best parts of my project to create my final series of images: the idea of a montage. This concept naturally came to me when our group laid our foot near the famous 798 architecture. The ancient and ruined appearance of this place makes me think of movies, which somehow leads to the famous technique used in films–montage.

To create my final series of images I took tons of images in this area, considering the following techniques:

  • color, which includes color balance and complementary color
  • The use of lines (ex: the stair bars)
  • shapes, patterns, and textures (ex: the bricks)
  • sharpness
  • composition (consider the positioning)
  • etc

Afterward, I also utilize photoshop to improve my work even further. Specifically, I altered the color and lighting of the three images to give them a movie-like mood and bring out the vivid blue even more. Also, I rotated some of the images as my hands where getting tired during the photo-taking process and the camera frame was a bit tilted. Overall, I think the project turned out good. It is visual appealing and perfectly conveys the message and story I intended to tell. Aside from that, one thing that I want to change if I have more time is the first image. I’m not satisfied with the sharpness of it. I want it to be sharper so it can show more detail and the texture of the “13”.

At last, the artists that have inspired or relate to my work is Henri Cartier-Bresson. As I have discussed in a former post, his is known to be a humanist photographer influenced by surrealism. His work captures human and little details and subjects from real life.: “Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera.” This idea relate to my Montage collection with the intention of exploring and documenting moments of human life. His work is all about “the decisive moment,” while my project aim to present these instance in life: a start, a small choice, a turning point, a process,  or a end.