Journal 9 - Pareidolia

Journal #8

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Journal #7- Perfect Exposure (updated)

Journal #6 - One Item Four Different Ways

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Being Cindy Sherman: Photo Evaluation

Journal #5 Compositional Tools

leading lines

rule of thirds

framing 

these pictures are proof that i almost got eaten by a zombie/kidnapped by a creepy cemetery care keeper. 

New Journal #4

large aperture, small depth of field

medium aperture, small depth of field

small aperture, large depth of field 

Photography With a Message

1. What did Zana describe as the reason why she gave the children cameras? Why didn't she just take pictures herself?
I think Zana gave the children cameras instead of taking pictures of them herself was because she wanted to see the world through their eyes. Building trust, friendships and independence is a very big part of this project. I think she wanted to give them a place to voice their opinion and have a creative outlet. What started as an innocent project to help children build self-esteem and make them feel like their opinion mattered, turned into children who are incredibly talented taking beautiful pictures that ended up being displayed in a gallery.

2. Why is the photographer's point of view or unique voice part of what we consider when we talk about pictures?
I don't think pictures should be all critiqued the same, especially without explanation. I think an explanation to the photograph is just as important as a well captured photo. I think that we consider their point of view or unique voice because we don't know what significance that person/place/thing has to them. What looks like a simple bed to one person, could be the place where their deceased grandmother read them bed time stories. I feel like "don't judge a book by it's cover" really applies here. We don't know what happened there, so we don't really know why photographers take pictures of what they do.

3. Reflect what Avijit first says about paintings, what does this tell us about him?
I think this tells us that he uses art as an escape from what he has to face everyday. Avijit is a very artistic person, and likes to express himself. I think that before this project was brought to his attention, he felt as though he needed to keep his feelings and thoughts bottled up from fear of judgement. I think the project has given him a chance to voice his opinion, and now he has more of a voice. We can see this towards the end of the film, where he's telling Zana why he can't go away for school.

4.How would you define "personal expression"? How are photography, painting and writing personal expression?
I would define personal expression as the deepest thoughts and secrets no one knows about put into an art form/creative outlet. I think personal expression is having what you can't say out loud put into a huge metaphor on paper. I think it's being able to say and think whatever you want, and putting it on a canvas. Taking a picture of feelings instead of expressing your own. I think that photography, painting and writing are all forms of personal expression because they are all so personal to the person taking the picture/writing the piece or painting on canvas. I think all these examples pick up on the small things that no one can see from just looking at us. They show what's really inside your head and heart.

5.How can art (personal expression) serves as means of educating others about a particular issue?
I think that personal expression can certainly serve as means of educating others. Going back to Avijit, we can obviously tell the good and bad times through his art. He uses colours and shapes to convey a happy appearance  and when he is going through stressful times in his life, it's reflected in his art. Showing how stressful times effect children and their mind set is something that people in more fortunate countries should be educated about.

PART B

Traditional Photography 
I really enjoy this picture because the colours really stood out to me. Her face is the clear focal point, and although there isn't much contrasting , the colours all blend well together and contrast amazingly against her complexion.

Traditional Photography
What drew me to this picture was how detailed it was, even for being taken with a regular film camera. You are able to make out the very textured walls of the building. There are also a very wide range of tones in here, darker at the bottom, and lighter towards the sky. I also like how how most of the colours are very neutral and have a brown base colour, and the very red fabric stands out amongst it all.

I don't really think there's a very educational message behind this photograph. I just really loved the bucket at the side, hitting the left hot spots from the rule of thirds which makes it very eye catching.
I love the bright colours the people are wearing against the subtle tone of the water and sky.








I think this picture is really powerful. The children are all smiling and happy, but the conditions don't really add up. I think this is a powerful picture because it can really put our lives into perspective. We were born into opportunity and these children are born into poverty and trauma. You can see in their clothing and their surroundings that they don't have the best conditions, but they still keep a smile on their face. This tells me that they have  been used to all the terrible living conditions and learnt to be happy. Even though this isn't informing people about their situation, I think it all teaches us a lesson about how we are so fortunate.




Does a picture need to be beautiful to be effective? Does it help?
I don't think a picture needs to be beautiful to be effective. I think a picture can be brutally honest, and that really scares people. A lot of people don't think what they hear about in the news is real, they're almost oblivious to it. I think an image that's almost scary or feels out of place will stand out. I think that making a picture beautiful will help. I think that since it's so appealing to the eye, you will look at it longer, and absorb more information on the subject.

Shutter Speed Experiment- Light Painting

For this week's experiment, I tried all the styles, but my strongest style was light painting.I found that you can make part of your face visible, so you look like a ghost! Well.. in this picture it looks like a floating decapitated head, but it's the thought that counts, right? This week's assignment was slightly difficult for me because a lot of the shots required patiences, something that I lack. Fortunately  I was able to capture some shots at the park and some light painting ones at home. After numerous shots and failed attempts at trying to draw shapes and writing my name, I discovered that if I put the light source under my face and move my head from one side to the other side of the room, it makes me look like a ghost. I decided to use this picture because I thought it was the most interesting out of all the ones I took. For this shot, I used my phone as a light source, and put my aperture at f16. I set my IOS low so that it captures the bright colours better, and my shutter speed to 15 seconds. Thinking about it now, I could have switched my shutter speed to a slower speed for words and a shorter time for shapes and initials.

Here are some more pictures that came out well from my light painting photoshoot. I also tired to make a pumpkin with orange and green light in the same picture, but it took too long to switch the colours, and my face ended up showing a lot in the pictures and I really didnt want that.



Another ghost shot!

Anchor... so hipster..

My attempt at a sun.

Last but not least, here are some waves. 

Making the Invisible Visible: Shutter Speeds Journal #3

This week we were required to do four different photographs. This was one of the first few that I took. I realized that making shapes with a flash light is way more complicated that it seems. I used a shutter speed of 15 seconds for this picture, an aperture of f/16 and set my aperture to the lowest possible setting. To create this effect, I used a strobe light effect on my phone, and moved it in circles and it makes it look like sparks are flying from the sky. 

The second shot you asked us to take was an action shot. This isn't the most dynamic action shot, but it's very high school musical-esque. I could have tried to take this from a different angle, and make it more appealing to the viewers eye, but I tried to keep it simple so that I could get the hang of it first. I used a shutter speed of 1/60 and an aperture of f/30. Thank you Lilly for being a fab model! 

For the third picture, you wanted us to try panning. This was actually really difficult because the image either came out too blurry or not blurry enough. I learnt that the speed of the moving subject will effect the amount of blurriness. I don't know if taking pictures of people's car's is illegal (I have a feeling it is!) , but this was sadly the only usable image I got from my panning shots. I put my shutter speed to 1/30

For our last picture, we did strobe light photography. This was the clearest image I got. (Thanks for modelling!) I used an aperture of f/16 and an IOS of 100. I also used a shutter speed of 5 seconds. I will make sure to note that slower motions make for better pictures and better ghost looking images!

Here are some random picture's that I thought were cool. 

This was supposed to be an octopus...

the only picture where my named turned out clear..

this effect is actually really cool

Journal #2 Pinhole Camera Pictures

This week's assignment was to take pictures with our pinhole cameras. When I first started this assignment I thought this would be pretty easy, all you need to do is hold your camera still and open the lens cover. Obviously, it's not that simple!





edited version of picture number one



Alright, for my first image I tired to take a picture of the escarpment from the rocks in the smoking area. Since I was in a relatively shady area, I followed the section in the chart that was called Closed Shade. It said around 1-3 minutes. I decided to leave it open for a minute and half because it was facing the sun. My problem was that I left it open too long, and my photo got over exposed. What I don't think I took into consideration was that since my camera was pointing upward, towards the sky, it would be brighter and would need to stay open for a smaller amount of time.



 For my second picture, I decided to take one of the lower gym stairwell. This image turned out under exposed because of the indoor light and the white walls. I left the lens open for 3 and a half minutes because I thought that since the walls were white, they would reflect light and make the over all picture lighter. In the end, the picture was under exposed and did not turn out. I needed to leave to lens open for a longer amount of time so that the light could touch the photographic paper.



edited and unedited versions of the second picture









edited and unedited version of my third picture



For my third picture, I wanted to try something different. I wanted to capture the bike tires at front of the building. I decided to leave the lens open for around 35 seconds because I was in the shade. There was no direct sunlight in my picture at all. The outcome was the an over exposed photograph. I don't really know what happened with that one, because I wasn't in contact with any sunlight. I think that since the light was reflected off the metal frame of the bike, it made my picture over exposed.





If I ever do this again, I will now know to start with a shorter period of time where the lens is open when I am outside, and a longer period for indoor photographs.

Journal #1 - Your Culture



For this weeks assignement, I wanted to caputre myself in each photograph.

saturday - zipper

The first picture is of a popular fair ride, the Zipper. Considering the fact that I live in Beamsville, everyone there doesn't have much to do.That's why when the fair comes to town, it's a huge three day event. With this photo, I really wanted to capture the bright lights at night. I thought it looked amazing! Espically while the ride was running.

sunday - trees,coulds and telephone wires

The second picture is of a rural road. Since living in the Niagara area, I have found that most of the roads are pretty old and sourrounded by acres upon aceres of gorgeous greenary. It's has really made me appreciate the smaller, less materialized things in life.




monday - just a small town girl

 

The third image is pretty self explanitory. I used to live in Brampton, and it has been a huge chage for me. At first I absolutly hated living in a small town without a mall five minutes away from my house. I got over it eventually, haha. I actually now prefer the skyline of the lake than a skyline of buildings!



wednesday - mixed martial arts

 The fourth image is also pretty strightforward. I started kickboxing a year ago and fell in love with it. I'm not a very violent person, which is a bit of a downside but all in all, I love it. I found that it really does make you have an overall sense of well being. I also just recently got my blue belt, which isn't something too big but I was really excited about it!




thursday - rubber duckie you're the one



For my last picture I decided to showcase my ever so embaressing collection of rubber ducks. Yeah.. I have more than any fifteen girl should have. Maybe more than any person should ever have, but they're all so adorable!



Getting To Know Your Style



Antonin Kratchvil, Liv Tyler in Tuscany, Italy (1995)



The picture I chose to describe is one by Antonin Kratochvil, an award winning photojournalist. This photograph is taken from one of his three books in his portfolio. The style of this photo is portrait. What really caught my eye about this picture was how honest it was, the woman in the picture is showing her real emotion and is channelling what her personality is like. From this image I can really get a sense that her personality is light and care free. As you said the first class, a portrait captures people, sometimes at their most vulnerable, when they're being themselves. This image to me, brings out her true self and allows us to experience a bit of what she's feeling or thinking.  Another reason why I really love this image is because the lighting is so unique. It was clearly taken on an older black and white film camera, which gives the finished picture an eye capturing grain. One of the reasons why I really love this image is because of how the sun shines through the fabric she's holding. It also plays on the fact her personality seems very light just like the fabric. I really enjoy the way the light reflects off of  the lens and creates a sun ray. Kratchvil chose a really fabulous location for this shoot because it also adds to the bohemian feel of the picture. This photo emphasizes the evident warm weather, which to me symbolizes happiness and warmth. I think Kratchvil was trying to capture with this photograph. The pure white spaces compared to dark help make this image have a brighter overall feel. His choice to use black and white film was very wise, as it makes for an interesting image. Another reason why I was drawn to this image was because of where the shadow falls on the subject being photographed. Usually, the presence of shadows are something that would be avoided, but since the sun has cast over her body and arm. Usually for more of a dynamic image, the photographer would place his or her model towards the sides or take the picture from an interesting angle. This image is taken only from a slightly downwards angle, but other than that and the natural surrounding, the image is pretty basically shot. Despite the straight forward angle and little to no editing, this image still really stands out to me. 

All photographs taken from Antonin Kratchvil's online gallery, found in Book Two.