Blog Questions #1-#4

Blog Prompts #1-#4

1.     Think of various ways in which your “view” or visual perception of the world is altered, distorted, manipulated, reframed, blurred, disrupted, obstructed, etc. List some

2.     2. What objects “change” the way you “see” things in the world?

Perception and “view” of the world is a huge topic to attempt to tackle.  Ones view of the world can be physically impaired by a blindfold.  Substances like alcohol or drugs could also impair it.  The mind itself and personality affects the way we see the world.  I think that our vision of the world is often altered by technology.  When watching TV you may connect with certain far away places and may even go as far to say you know what it is like there, but do you really?   Viewing people and environments from television programs, movies, and magazines holds the viewer to the mercy of the eye behind the camera.  The viewer only sees what someone else chose to put before him or her.  Is this really seeing?

3.     What experiences change the way you “see” things in the world?

4.     4. What is the relationship between the ways you visually “see” the world and the way you “experience” the world?

I think the experiences we have everyday affect how we see the world.  Every day experience shapes who we are as individuals.  I think the individual’s perspective has a huge impact on not necessarily what we see, but how we interpret it.   In the end, the interpretation is what the viewer walks away with.  A person can’t explain what they “just saw” without first analyzing it on their own and forming their own opinions.   These individual opinions become that person’s own personalized version of what they see and experience. 

HDR

 

HDR was initially a struggle for me but once I got through the initial learning curve, I see it as a method I’d love to explore more in the future.   I chose to shoot my image near the abandoned buildings on Grand River Avenue and Abbot.  This area is filled with textures that have always intrigued me and I figured the high contrast would work well with an HDR image.  I wanted to use the rule of thirds to create a bit of negative space to the right portion of the image in using the sky.  Grand River Ave. formed a nice line of perspective into what I would describe as the most intriguing part of the photograph and its anchor.  I boosted the contrast way up to utilize HDR’s capability of capturing fine detail.  I wanted the decrepit and dirty buildings to show their wear and high contrast in the midtones and shadows helped me to accomplish this.  I also de-saturated the image in the second case.  I think this is nice because it makes the image more “lifeless” much like the buildings themselves.   I think something that is working in my image is the prominence of many textures.  I also love the footprints disappearing into the street.  The snow also adds to the bleak and cold look I was going for.   I think my main complaint is that my exposures are a bit too hot and I wish I had a lower exposure to really punch up the blacks.  Overall I am sure to revisit this technique that is new to me and I would love to do a series portraying a gritty urban atmosphere.

 

Projection

I really enjoyed the projector assignment as it allowed me to follow up on the theme I had been going for in my HDR assignment. In the Comm. Arts studios there are some very old and rusted stepladders and utility lifts that are rusted out. I have always used them to get interesting perspectives in studio shooting but I felt it would be fun to integrate them specifically into my work. I chose to project an image of some similar looks and feel onto a white screen. I then placed the stairs in front of the projector and had my buddy Koz interact with the shadows. I then played with composition until I got the look I wanted. My favorite of the two is definitely the one in which you can see both the shadow and the actual stairs. The two form intersecting lines that provide interesting visuals. I also played with the piping in the grid of the ceiling and I think the reflection of the pipes in the top is really a nice addition that makes the image. My goal here was to integrate shadow into the projected image and I am pretty happy with my results. I think that the weaker image is the one with simply just the shadow. I wish it had more depth do it and that’s why I think the other image is much more successful. It has several components that give more of a 3D space to the projected image as it is cast not just on the white wall but on the stairs and Koz. I think the aspect of giving dimension to the projector which we always see as 2D could be an interesting concept for later work.

Pin Hole Camera

Scanograph

        
          Overall I did these scans to provide an altered representation of myself.  I utilized the motion of the scanner to create a very fluid and distorted representation of my face.   In each scan I stopped for a moment in order to create one area of focus.  In the first image I wanted to emphasize a movement of line from bottom to top and back to the bottom.   I moved my chin up along the scanner in this manner to do so.  In the second image I moved completely horizontally with the scanner to create a straight line.   I then continued to move along at the same pace as the scanner to create and extended image of myself.   My goal was to create a distorted image of myself but still leave enough evidence for someone to recognize my image. In my first attempts at scanning, I moved continuously without a break. This created several horizontal lines and gave a very undefined image.  While it was an image of my face, it was impossible for anyone unaware of my process to realize it.  This is why I chose to pause and have the scanner record a focused image for just a brief moment. 

          Some things I dislike about my scans are the resolution.  I was confined to my home scanner for this project, which does not offer as high of resolution that I would have preferred. It also digitizes and artifacts the image quite a bit.  For some applications this could be a positive impact, but I feel that in this case it hurts more than it helps.  If I were to do it again I would try a higher resolution camera and I would experiment with moving slower.  I feel this would make it difficult though to create the fluid lines that I have in these scans. 

          I think some things that work well with the image is the high contrast to isolate the scan of myself.  It forces the viewer to look further into the line I created by dragging my face along with the scanner.  I think I could push this project further by isolating different images of my face along with more intricate planned paths to create line.  Also combining several into a long composite image could be a very interesting concept. 

Fisher Price "My First Blog"

Well here you have it, my very first blog.  Moving up in the technology world whoo!