Assignment of Which I am Most Proud

Throughout the whole semester, I have loved every single project that we've done. There is, however, one project that I really enjoyed. I think that the free-choice(though it turned into nature) photography project was the most fun. I found that I really love to photograph flowers. It's a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. What started out as "just another project" turned into a great experience. I figured out how to use my camera in a way that let me take detailed pictures from up close. This was great for showing the intricate designs on some of the flowers. One of my favorite pictures from this assignment is the one I took of dew drops on a leaf. I managed to capture the image in a way that showed tiny reflections in each drop of water, and I think that it looks really cool! This project had a large impact on my learning in that I discovered what my favorite subject to photograph is, as well as the fact that I learned more about how my camera works. This will allow me to take even better photos in the future. I loved this project, and I hope that it shows through my images.

Most Memorable Experience

For me, the most memorable experience that I had this semester is going into the dark room. I thought it was really interesting to see how film would be developed. I also really like getting to develop our own photographs. Mine didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, but I had lots of fun making it. This experience has impacted my learning in a large way. Before it, I had no idea how dark rooms were used, or really, what they were. Now I know exactly what to do, and I even learned some really cool techniques to give the photos special styles. For example, turning the lights on briefly will give the objects in the photo a dark outline. I thought that was really cool. Working in the dark room was really fun, and I can't wait to do it again and try new methods!

Who am I

This is my "Who Am I" video project

This is a short, three minute video that shows who I am as a person.

Culture Clash

• To create a Clash of Cultures by creating your own Photo montage, combining images from Beijing, China and Yarmouth, Maine, USA;

• To further develop your Photoshop knowledge and skills;
• To create a “surreal” landscape by montaging a variety of photographs;
• To know, use, and understand the Four Collage Techniques to in your Photo Montage: Juxtaposition/fragmentation, Point of View, Scale Change, Overlapping

One thing I learned from this project was being able to make copies of certain layers. It was extremely helpful to know when I was trying to make a bunch of flowers and I only had one flower. One of the challenges that I faced in this project was getting the brightness levels to look the same. I made my project look like it was during the night, and I had to change the brightness of all the photos. Unfortunately, some pictures were brighter than others to start with, so I couldn’t just use one level for everything, I had to keep changing it. It wasn’t too hard to do, it was just annoying.

Free-Choice, Carolyn

Skeleton Flower

Once a pretty life form,

now a desolate skeleton.

The veins grew dark,

and the petal turned faint,

yet in its own way,

isn't it beautiful too?

Drop of Sun

Drops of sun

fall from the sky,

tattooing the ground.

I watch

as the beads reflect light

and glitter on the leaves.

 Bumble Bee

Tiny wings

flitting, fluttering, flying

from one petal to another

Without a care in the world,

this minuscule insect,

plays an enormous role

in our fragile world.

Culture Clash

Juxtaposition/fragmentation: The fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect. The process or state of breaking or being broken into small or separate parts.

Point of View: The position from which something or someone is observed, or a particular attitude or way of considering a matter.

Scale Change: It is when one changes the scale of something in relation to another object.

Overlapping: To extend over so as to cover partly.

Inspiring Digital Artist- David Revoy

The purpose of this project was to become familiar with five accomplished digital artists, and to see what is possible in the world of art. My partner and I studied David Revoy. It was really interesting to learn about him! Below is the finished product.

Annie Leibovitz

This is a link to my Famous Photographers project about Annie Leibovitz.

Hobbies, Carolyn

Reflections

The irritating yet captivating snapping of the shutter

The hypnotizing flash of white light

The mysterious spiral of the lens.

The camera beckons me towards it,

My fingers reach out to grasp its smooth sides.

It fits perfectly in my hands,

And I can't help,

But to begin the endless addiction of photography.

Artist Tools

The paints swirl against each other in the pallet.

The brush swipes gently across them,

Collecting small beads of color.

As the paints begin to dry out

A few drops of water splash onto their surfaces,

Saving them from an untimely fate.

Numbers

The keys, to anyone else, are a jumble of numbers and letters.

But not to me.

To me they are more than that.

They are a language.

A language that every speaks.

One and two become "Hello, how are you?"

Four and five become "Nice to see you, I'm doing fine."

Unfortunately, only a select few can understand these hidden messages.

To others,

The keys are simply numbers.

Food, Carolyn

The gooey dough rises slowly,
Heaving with each gust of hot oven air.
The edges turn crispy and flakey,
Like leaves on autumn trees.
I watch with anticipation,
The savory treat,
Soon to be lost forever from this world.

Creative Portraits

The circumstance in which I created this photograph was kind of odd. Andrea and I were out in the hall and she happened to have both the hat and glasses with her at that time, and when she put them on, of course it looked funny, but then when she made the serious face directly at the camera, I knew that it was a great portrait. It has both a funny and serious aspect in it, and it creates an almost ironic image.

Before I took this picture, I was trying to figure out who and what I should photograph, then suddenly I saw my brothers portrait from his art class and I thought, man, that would make a great photo! I decided to have my brother next to the painting making the same face. I thought it made the image more interesting and cool. I also thought it was funny to see how my brother had painted himself a year or two earlier next to himself later. The comparison was very cool!

Selfie

This is the selfie that I took with Andrea. It's hard to see, but there is snow in the background, which was supposed to be funny, because we were wearing sunglasses. It ironic that we chose the glasses, which are for warm sunny weather, even though it's still wintery out. I like this picture because of its humor!

Portrait Techniques

One of the portrait techniques that I really like is "moving your subject out of their comfort zone". I really like the effect that it has on the image. It captures a moment in time where you can tell that there is no going back now, and I find that really cool.

 I also really like "shoot candidly". It makes great pictures, because you see the people how they really are, not some fake person that they want to be. I think that candid photos are great, and they show true emotions.

Another technique that I like is "introduce a prop". I always love props. You can only do so many different things in a photo, but props create so many more options. They add something to the image that you can't get on your own.

The last technique that I like is "take unfocused shots". I think that these photos are really cool. You're never quite sure who the model is or what they are doing. I like how the photo becomes so mysterious and unnerving.

Famous Portraits

Dovima with the Elephants (1955)

I chose this photograph by Richard Avedon because I really like the way he incorporated such a fancy dress with animals. I think that his style is mainly putting things together that don't normally harmonize with each other. The way that he had elephants in this photo along with an outfit that would normally be something one would wear to a fancy event shows this.

New York NY (1967)

I chose this photograph by Arnold Newman because it has such bright and happy colors, yet the man has a rather blank expression on his face. I thought that having two opposite emotions was really interesting. I think that Newman's style is usually sad or bored facial expressions with backgrounds that have some sort of movement or emotion. I like the way that they complement each other.

Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow (no date)

I chose this portrait of Johnny Depp by Annie Leibovitz because of two reasons. One, I like how it is obviously posed and not real, and two, I like Johnny Depp! I like how Leibovitz has Depp just standing their, almost like he doesn't care. I think it's really cool! I think that Leibovitz's style is just be as crazy as you can be. Her portraits are definitely not average, and I think that's what makes them so interesting. Most people expect a normal portrait, plain and boring, but Leibovitz's portraits have the model in bizarre scenarios and costumes. I really like her style!

Intro to History of Photography

One thing that I learned about photography from completing this project is that photography can be used in all sorts of ways. Some of the photographers used it as art, while others used it for advertisements. I also learned about the original ideas and concepts of the camera. I had no idea that Greek philosophers were thinking of things like the Camera Obscura. I found that information really cool!  Another thing I learned was that photography is a relatively young form of art. It wasn’t invented that long ago (compared to other things) and it’s still being improved. People are coming up with new camera ideas and designs all the time! Cameras have been around for my whole life, so I never really thought about their history. I just assumed they had been here for a while, but in reality, they haven’t! Overall, I thought this project was very enlightening.

Shadows

Darkness falls across the green foliage.
A tiny leaf blots out the massive sun,
As though it's just a marble.
In this war between leaves,
Size is forgotten.
David fights Goliath,
And will soon overtake this realm of light.

Hot. Cool. Yours.

Purpose:

•To strengthen your creative problem-solving skills so that you are looking at things in a different way.

•To find letters of the alphabet in everyday objects to create a word.

•To become familiar with basic photoshop tools.

One thing that I learned from doing this project is that you are able to find anything if you look hard enough. For this project we had to find objects that looked like letters and spell words with them. At first it was very challenging, because I didn't think there would be any letters, but as I looked harder, I found letters everywhere! Once I had found a few, I figured out how objects could be viewed differently to look like words. It was so cool! Another thing I learned was that photography takes patience. After I got a few letters I thought that the rest of them would just appear, but then I got stuck! I couldn't find any new letters to spell with! But I kept looking, and lo and behold, I saw more letters! I wasn't originally expecting the project to last so long, but because we spent so much time on it, the pictures turned out great! The last thing that I learned from this project is that it's important to take a lot of pictures of the same object. I found that sometimes when I would take a picture, it would turn out all blurry! Luckily I had been taking more than one picture of each thing. I managed to get good pictures of every letter! I'm glad I learned these three things because they are definitely going to help me when I do other projects, and even when I'm just taking pictures for fun!

Unusual Perspectives

The intricately carved metal,
Swirls around my temples in a smooth motion.
Resting gently around my face,
I feel the subtle beauty.

Before taking this photograph, I was sitting at my counter absentmindedly staring at these glasses. Then I realized that it would make a fabulous picture! Because I was in my kitchen, I could hear and smell dinner being prepared by my mom (you can't actually see her in the picture). Obviously I saw and felt the camera, but I also saw the glasses and what a great photo they would make! I really like the way that this picture turned out!

Composition- Rule of Thirds

This photo uses the compositional strategy "Rule of Thirds". As you can see, the glass is not all the way into the picture, and is not in the center either. It's off the page a bit, and I think that that makes the image really interesting. I also really like the shininess of the glass and how it reflects onto the table, so perhaps in a way, this photo also shows "Reflection"? It's mainly just the thirds though. Overall, I really like how this picture turned out. I think it's really cool!

Shapes, Organic and Geometric

I think that these two images show shapes more than any of my other photographs. I took these pictures because I saw the squares and triangles and thought they looked really interesting! The way that I took the photo of the waffles was just zooming in very close and angling my camera. I suppose it would be showing the rule Unusual Perspective. I took the picture of the flower by also zooming in. I really like both of these pictures because of the shapes and angles.

Motivation

I enjoy photographing a wide variety of things, but I really love photographing nature. There are so many patterns, shapes, and colors to capture! I especially love it when the sun comes through leaves in just the right way and makes a beautiful picture. I also like to photograph flowers and sunsets. I'm not all about nature though, I do like to take pictures of people too. When I do photograph people, I try to make the picture meaningful and thoughtful, not just a friend making a face at the camera. 

Something that motivates me to be successful is just being able to take my camera and essentially run amok taking pictures of everything. It helps me really look at my surroundings and it allows me to find a potentially great spot for photographing. Another thing that motivates me is to understand the camera I am using. I almost always use the same one, but once in a while I'll be using a different camera, and if I don't know how to use it, it throws me off and I probably won't take very good pictures. When I now how to properly use my camera, it makes me feel more in control, and that makes me focus on taking a perfect picture. Something that my teacher could do to help me be successful is not being really strict about following certain rules of photography. Sometimes I just see a thing or place that is perfect for a photo, but doesn't necessarily follow a rule of composition. However, sometimes it's good to learn about the rules, so I probably wouldn't mind learning and using the rules in some of the photographs that I will be taking.