Amalia


 * Concentration--3

Concentration--2 After having taken four sets of photos, I think I have boiled down my concentration to it's core and discovered what I am truly trying to convey through my concentration series. At first, the concept was generally about shadow and silhouette--how they can enhance and image and help portray emotions/characteristics. Then, after experimenting with different filters on photoshop, levels of contrast, and solid colors, I came up with a concept that I think can make my photos powerful. When a person is watered down, in a vulnerable or life changing moment, true character shines through. All changing variables in a persons life are forgotten and true character is exposed, whether it be positive or negative. Through using basic shape (with the cutout filter with only 2 or 3 levels) and by adding in solid, powerful colors onto a picture conveying character through shadow, a person's true core persona is strongly shown. The colors help enforce the idea of this person and the filter helps convey that the simplicity of the photo can be a metaphor for the simplicity of the emotion, this emotion that is only shown in an instant but is very powerful. So far, I have four sets of photos that are the beginning to my concentration. The characteristics conveyed are: innocence, two-faced, hesitant, and curiosity.

Concentration--1** When I began to think about my concentration, I came up with the idea of concentrating on expressing emotions through shadow and silhouette. As I have began to actually set out and take my pictures, I have realized a few ways which work and don’t work in my efforts to convey what I want during this concentration—a variety of emotions through simple shadows or silhouettes. I have discovered that the more simple a picture I take, the more interesting it becomes, having too much in one picture can distract from the message I am trying to get across to my viewers. For example, in the picture I took of Margot with her face only half lit, I was able to achieve the look of a “two-faced” person through simply placing lights on only one side of her body. This created interesting lines and made you think about what I was capturing in her in that moment. When I have tried to take pictures of a subject in an interesting environment, I have had issues with keeping it simple and continuing to convey an obvious message. When I progressed and took pictures of Cameron on the monkey bars, conveying innocence, I messed around with the cutout filter I had used on a different picture and decided to color certain portions of the picture (leaving the rest black and white). The colors emphasize the emotions I am trying to convey through my pictures and help my pictures have an impact on the viewer. I plan on continuing to explore my concentration of expressing emotions through shadow/silhouette, using the cutout filter and solid colors that emphasize the emotion. I also plan on expanding my pictures from just being shots of close-up faces to my subjects being in environments that work with my message.

Project 7 Surrealism is a postmodernist idea that allows the unexpected to be expected. Many artists use surrealism to portray some sort of philosophy or ideal that they feel is very important or pertinent in their lives. For this project, four artists were brought the my attention that all use surrealism through photography to create their art. Each photographer uses this concept in a unique way, however, the works of these artists are all united by the imagery present in each photograph.

Olaf Bruning Sarah Hobbs Gregory Crewdson Anne Hardy

Think about how a still life could be the leftover remnants of an event. What can the objects say about what has happened? How can mood and lighting affect the impression of a story?
 * Project 6**

 My first piece, echo, was created using scanned items that reminded me of my first experience at a music festival. I scanned items that either were with me during this experience or I thought could represent my experience there. I think by combining all these elements, the poster from th project (the echo logo in the background) is given a whole different level meaning. The poster was originally just advertisement for an opportunity, but with this piece I have transformed that opportunity into an experience. I added my personal view of the festival and expressed my experience through the piece by connecting my stories to items and combining them in a way that the viewers could understand my feelings during the festival and how I felt about my weekend in that mud-filled land plot.
 * Project 5**

My second piece, no air, was created from pictures taken of screens. The song "No Air" by Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown has always been a sort of personal theme song for me. Two years ago, I spent a summer at a camp that I have been going to for ten years now. During those four weeks "No Air" was always running through my head--whether I was hearing it for the first time, humming the chorus while cleaning dishes or belting out the ear piercing "Ooooooooooooooooooooo!" with all my friends. Ever since those four weeks of constant repetition of this song, I have found myself continuing to belt the song whenever I get the chance. I have a sort of connection with this song that I have with only a few others. This connection is what I tried to portray in my piece. The cutouts of Jordin Sparks singing the song emit the energy that I feel when I listen to this song and the cutout of a facebook thread I have with my camp friends portrays who I have the connection with and where the song fits into my life. By combining cutouts of Jordin Sparks, iTunes and Facebook, I attempted to create a powerful portrayal of how I feel when I listen to the song and what it means to me.

Rauschenberg, Warhol, and Koons all have there individual styles in portraying there feelings about certain issues, topics or events in there lives. They each have different ways of combining elements of art to create a piece that they see fit for expressing what they wish to express. Through this project, I have discovered my techniques and how I best work with media to express what I wish to express.

I decided on photographing these objects because I think that shoes give an interesting perspective on people and who has lived in each individual shoe. When a person looks at a shoe, they can tell alot about a person--where they have been, what they do, what they are interested in, what they enjoy. I think that photographing shoes gives you alot of opportunity at representing a person through a photograph. When I began taking these series, I wasn't sure if I was going to stick to one age group of shoes or if I should have a collection of shoes from different people. However, after I took the first few photographs, I realized that these photographs represent age. They represent my growing into the shoes I wear now.
 * Project 4**

The series of photographs range from my youth, when I splashed through creeks and puddles in my water shoes and took long walks with my parents and dogs in my little walking shoes, to my early teenage years, when I explored my hidden interest in soccer and searched for myself while forced to wear a uniform at catholic school, to my highschool life, when I graduated from uniform shoes to having the opportunity to wear whichever kind of shoes I liked. The photographs tell the story of my growing through different stages to become who I am now. That is why I have named my series //In My Life.//


 * Project 3**

When deciding which shapes to use for these three collages, I looked for shapes with the potential to create interesting shapes when combined with each other. The tree's leaves and branches create interesting white space between the shapes and the trunks give the piece a variety of shape. The blue shape was actually taken from a porcelain bowl that I photographed. When I saw this shape on the bowl, I recognized it's interesting pattern and shapes. I also noticed that part of the shape I chose was out of focus, which would create interesting variety in hardness of focus. The leaf was taken from a photograph taken of a stone wall in France. This leaf was chosen because I liked the softness in the edges of the leaf. The edges looked so smooth, clean and simple. I also chose this leaf because of the spots in the leaf. These give the leaf interesting variety in color, giving the viewers another aspect to think about in the picture.

By using only one shape in each piece, I was able to explore the many ways in which an artist and present a certain shape to an audience. I was able to use the shape in different sizes, hues and positions. With all of this variety in a shape, each copy of the basic shape interacted with the others in order to transform a basic shape into an interesting composition.


 * [[image:treescollagesite2.jpg width="304" height="230"]]

Project 2** When I was assigned this project, I was completely unaware of how the concept of framing could be applied to photography. I knew that artist frames every picture he/she takes, but I wasn’t aware of the size of the impact framing can have on a photograph. I started this project by looking through some pictures I had taken this summer on a trip to France. I started to recognize--I had subconsciously used framing to make my photographs memorable, without even being aware of what the concept of framing was. I then put my pictures in photoshop and began to work with them to enhance the framing that was already in the photograph. The photo of the sun shining through the tree (top left) was my personal favorite because with the trees framing the sky, sun and clouds included, the picture takes on a new level of power as natural beauty frames another form of natural beauty.

As I took a final look at my photos, i realized that all my photos use framing in its own unique way. The top left picture (as mentioned earlier) uses all natural subjects, as the greenery frames the light blue and pale white of the sky, the photograph uses framing with colors and perspective. The top right photography uses framing in a deliberate sense--using the metal railing to frame the subjects face and focusing to put an emphasis on this framing. The bottom left photograph uses a window to frame the outdoors. The contrast between the top left and bottom left photos is powerful because instead of using all natural subjects, the bottom left picture uses a manmade subject to frame natural. This gives the viewer a sense of separation from nature instead of being completely emerged in it. The bottom right photo uses a completely different view on framing to make the photo unique. The photo was made in monotone to emphasize the natural contrast in the subjects eye. The subjects face has little contrast until the viewer looks at the area around the eye. As the subjects skin natural frames the eye in a beautiful way already, the contrast seen in the eye emphasizes this framing and brings the photo to a whole new level.

The media I worked with in each photograph determined the way in which I approached framing. Whether it be through focusing, the media of the subject or the angle of the camera each photograph presents its own unique look at framing.