Final project-the process and after thoughts

Before the project, I had a very general idea of what I wanted to do and had a semi-clear image of what I wanted my final project to look like. I knew for sure I wanted to incorporate actually photos and use Photoshop to manipulate these photos in some way for the final project. As I wrote about in blog 10, my main idea or theme for this project was to create something that showed "beauty in the unexpected." I really like the idea of finding something that is beautiful even in a situation or circumstance where nothing else seems even close to that. I also knew in the beginning that I wanted my final piece to be a series of three images all from different perspectives. my plan was to have the last image encompass all of the photos and demonstrate the main idea that I mentioned earlier.
In starting the project, I began to look for photos that went along with my theme. I first looked for inspiration in my surroundings. I knew I wanted to incorporate an abandoned house in my project because it is a symbol that has a great story behind it. Abandoned houses at one time were inhabited by people and brings to mind the idea of if walls could talk what would they say. There are numerous abandoned house around campus that I thought about using, however, once I came across the image that I ended up using in the project, I knew nothing could really  top it. The two abandoned houses seems to have such character and look so despaired. I was immediately drawn to this image. I then began to look for images of flowers that I could use as my demonstration of beauty. While I was searching for images online, I came across a bright red tulip. When I clicked on it, there was the image, however, there was also a short story that went along with it. The photographer who captured the image of this flower actually found it next to an abandoned house in his town on Mother's Day. I think reading this  was like a sign that I was meant to use it in my project since it conveyed the idea that I was originally trying to evoke through my final piece. I decided to make the final image of my series first and work backwards. I pasted the picture of the two neighboring abandoned houses next to each other in Photoshop. I then edited the image of the flower to make it seem as f it were growing right next to one of the open and broken windows of the house on the left. When I finished this image, I looked at it and it perfectly conveyed what I was trying to evoke.  I want the audience to see this photo and the two abandoned house that look forlorn and then to see the flower in the middle as if it is a sign of hope. The next image I created was the flower zoomed in so that all the audience can see is the majority of the flower and some of the wooden background. The last image I made (the first image of the series) is a shot of the flower from the perspective of being extremely zoomed in. I made this with the intention that all the audience sees at first is the bright red color of the flower and may not even really know it is a flower at first glance because of how up-close it is.  The final project therefore is a series of those three images. The first is that of the flower up close, almost uncomfortably up close. In the second image, the audience will be able to tell it is a flower, but it still does not look out of place and fairly ordinary except for the wooden background. I think the last image will then have somewhat of element of surprise as the flower is evident however it is juxtaposed next to two abandoned houses. the flower represents unexpected beauty.
After creating my project and looking back, it did take great deal of work to reach the end product. Coming up with the idea was slightly difficult but I am glad it turned out the way it did. I am glad I decided to incorporate a series of images into this project. I think it conveys the message I was trying to demonstrate as the last image of the flower next to the two sad looking houses truly is unexpected. I hope the audience enjoyed the succession of images and how it was not a project that was very predictable. there were some twists and turns in creating this project, yet I think the final message that it conveys is exactly what I was aiming for.

Final Project

Blog 10 Final brain storming and idea

For this final project, I was trying to decide exactly what to do. I knew from the beginning that I really wanted to incorporate photos and Photoshop into this final because I enjoyed working with the combination of those elements the most throughout the quarter.While I was walking to class one day, I walked past a row of various parking meters that lined a parking lot. The area where I was walking had barley any greenery and was instead dominated by dirty cracked pavement and litter. Then I noticed that there was tiny yellow flower growing out of the pavement near one of the parking meters. Most people would think nothing of this, but this gave me an idea for my final project that I have since built upon. From this I came up with the idea that I want the theme of my final project to be "finding beauty in the unexpected." I have always found the idea of this interesting and how something beautiful can come out of something where it is normally not expected to be.
With this idea in mind, I began brainstorming how I could make a project that would exhibit this theme and fulfill the requirements of this project.After watching the 2 videos in class about the two artists and their process of creating their works of art, I began to have more of an idea of what I wanted to do. I really enjoyed the work of the artist whose work consisted of a series of images that were up close and then the next image of would be of the image from the previous picture but just from a further distance and a different perspective.  I began to observe my surrounding to try and gather some inspiration. I then began to notice how may abandoned houses are on and around the campus area. Then I thought about my original encounter with the small flower.  I put all of these ideas together and came up with a rough outline for my final project. In my final pieces, I want it to be a succession of a few images. The first image will be of a bright and vibrant flower up close in a seemingly serene environment. The next image will of the same flower, yet next to a brick or wooden backdrop seeming slightly out of place. The final image will be of an abandoned house which from first glance looks forsaken and forgotten, bu then in the corner of the image will be that flower, the unexpected beauty of the in an otherwise dreary looking photo. I want to make the flower stand out in the final image and I may do so by fading the color of the abandoned house in some way. I really want the different perspectives of this projects to be evident and for there to be some element of surprise to the viewer once they see the final image.

Final possible pics

Blog 9 - Carver

The article by Carver had some interesting aspect and underlying meanings to it.  In the beginning of the short story, the narrator seems to be almost jealous of the blind man for the close relationship he has with the narrator’s wife and his ability to perceive the world in a unique way. It seemed that the narrator was almost more blind than the blind man as he was quick to judge and shallow.  I found it interesting that by the end of the story, the narrator had a new found appreciation for the blind man’s perception of the world simply by helping him to understand what a cathedral looks like.  I found it interesting that by drawing a picture with the blind man, the narrator began to see the world from a different perspective.  His eyes are “opened” figuratively rather than literally.

The one thing I did not like was the references to drugs and alcohol in the story.  The three characters seemed to partake in a great deal of drinking and even marijuana use.  I think the story could have had the same  significance without including these elements.

Last Micro Project

To Crumple.....

 

To Fire....

The two action words that I was assigned were “crumple” and “fire.” When I first heard what my words were, I knew that they each presented a great amount of opportunities and some limitations. The limitations of “crumple” included that the object that could be manipulated for this verb had to be one that could be balled up to resemble this verb. The object to be manipulated had to be something flexible and not too stiff or non-malleable. This word provided a great deal of opportunities. I was able to personalize the object that I used for the image I created- i.e. choosing the color of the paper and it could be easily documented in photographs. The second word I decided to use was “fire.” I was very excited to be assigned this word as it presented a great deal of opportunities and of course some limitations. The major limitation that this word presented was that we could not be arrested in making this project so that limited the amount of things that I could apply fire too haha. This word presented a great deal of opportunities as  virtually any object can be set fire to and when something is set on fire, I think it takes on a unique appearance as it is burning. Setting something on fire completely changes the way an object originally looks which I find to be very intriguing. The object I picked for crumple was a purple piece of construction paper which seems simple but I really liked the way the images of it turned out. I was originally going to crumple up foil, yet I liked the appearance and detail the camera picked up of the crumpled paper. For the fire verb, I decided to use an actual fire pit with logs to demonstrate the meaning of this verb.  With this, I was easily able to contain the roaring flames of the fire, yet also able to pick up the intricate details of what fire looks like. For the crumple verb, I decided to physically crumple of a piece of paper and record it in a series of steps. I chose to begin with a piece of paper in its original form and take a series of images after of the paper being slowly crumpled into a tiny ball. The final image shows the piece of construction paper crumpled. I think the contrast between the final image and the first image truly demonstrates the meaning of crumple. For the action word, “fire” I really enjoyed photographing this verb. I happened to be camping this particular weekend and I decided the ideal away to document this word was to photograph it in a natural environment. I photographed various angles and stages of the campfire and the progression of how it burned the wood. I chose what I thought were the best images that represented the word, “fire” which to me is an intriguing word that could be interpreted to mean danger, power, and/or even a sort of beauty. For this project, I wanted to capture the beauty of fire with its vibrant colors and powerful ability to turn an object into ashes. In this case, fire eventually turned large logs of wood into tiny ashes.

Overall, I enjoyed making this project and being able to turn and action word into an image/series of images.

Micro-Project 5 Altered Identity

The superpower that I chose for this project is the ability to breathe underwater. I chose this power because it would be very useful in my life. I have been swimming competitively since I was 8 years old (13 years). If I were able to breathe underwater, I would be able to do very well in all of my swimming events. I remember one of the worst feelings in a race was not being able to breathe as easily as I normally could especially towards the end of a race. Having enough oxygen is essential for your muscles to work properly and to perform optimally. I did have trouble sometimes holding my breath for extended periods of time. My coaches used to make us do "under-overs" at the end of certain practices. What this is means is that you would have to dive off the starting block and swim under water for 25 yards until you reached the other end of the pool. Once you got to the other end, you were allowed to come to the surface to take a breath. Then, you had to push off the wall and swim 25 yards back to where you started while swimming above water (by swimming freestyle). These were meant to help us get used to holding our breath as breathing a lot is a race slows you down. I used to despise doing these under overs. Therefor, this super power of being able to breathe under water would be extremely useful.
In order to come up with this concept, I brainstormed for a while to think about what unique power would be would be both useful and somewhat out of the ordinary. I thought about things that I would find specifically useful in my daily life or with activities that I do. Since I have such a strong background in swimming and I am still involved with it now by coaching, I naturally turned to this sport to incorporate into my project. In thinking about swimming, I started to think about what would have been the most useful in this sport. I remember I used to have some trouble towards the end of races with being able to breathe as fully as I normally could. Therefore, I though it would be ideal to have the super power of being able to breathe underwater. I guess this would technically be cheating in an event, yet the idea of being able to do this is really cool to think about.  I remember one of my friends used to bring her underwater to camera to practice occasionally. She would take numerous pictures and post them on Facebook. I went back and looked through them and found an image of me that would work great for the idea that I was going for. I also wanted to add a little something extra to the image to emphasize how "amazing" it would be if I was able to breathe underwater. I thought there would be no one better than Michael Phelps to have in my image. The image I found of him works great as it shows him with a gold medal. I also found this background and it really emphasized the intricate details of being underwater in a pool. I knew that putting all of these images together as well as bubbles to really show that I could breathe underwater would make a great image for this project.
I really liked creating this project. I would have to say it is probably one of my favorite assignments in the class so far. I liked the fact that I really had to think outside the box and how personal I could make it. I am really glad I have an actual image of myself under water. It really conveys the feeling of being underwater. I also really liked the Michael Phelps image and how it looks as if he is looking right at me in "amazement." I wanted the image to convey how Michel Phelps, one of the best swimmers ever, would be impressed at how fast I am able to swim with my ability to breathe underwater. I think the images really tie in well with the background. The only thing I probably would have changed is the slight blue/green hue on the image of me. I tried various color adjustments and to fix the image up a bit more. However, I could never get it just right. Yet, I guess it does go along with the feeling of being underwater.
Overall, I really enjoyed this project and the process that went into thinking up the idea and ultimately creating it.

Micro 5 images