Campbell

And so now I am finished and my concentration has morphed once again from a general study of motion and people to one the restlessness of youth as communicated //through// motion. My final statement says it best: ** Restless: The Motion of Youth Motion is the heartbeat of life. It is what allows us to smile, yawn, crawl, grab, shuffle, and dance, all as simple indications of how we feel, what we need, and who we are. We respond and argue, laugh and worry, all through our gestures and slight movements, as it is in motion we have learned to manifest our sense of life. This is particularly true in youth. As young adults, “youths,” we are introduced and subjected to the greater world and all its elusive power. We encounter lies, disappointment and doubt, but also expectation, hope and intangible truth to create a whirlwind of all that lies ahead in a suddenly indefinite future. We watch all this approach in the form of college, opportunity, failure, and life and yet we can do nothing but wait in seemingly constant suspension. Not yet complacent or accepting of a world we cannot control, many punch, jump and throw their heads back in a struggle to fight back, while others grow quiet and contemplative as they crouch down in thought; but we all seem to share the same anxiety, the same restlessness as we continue to showcase our youth in the constant motion and energy we still have. My concentration is n exploration of this restlessness. All my subjects are peers who freely posed and interacted with each other while I clicked away with my camera, hoping to arrest fragments of their natural motion as the heartbeat of the moment. I then edited my images, some more than others, via color enhancement, cropping and digital overlay to emphasize and isolate the motion of hair in the wind or the repetition of a hand swinging o the gradual progression of a girl leaning over in thought. Greatly influenced by my own experiences with uncertainty and impatience in a time of perpetual anticipation, my pieces are meant to collectively communicate restlessness and restrained energy I believe to be characteristic of youth.
 * Concentration: Final Report. April, 2010

over 'n out! -Campbell Schnebly

Concentration: Progress Report. February 28th, 2010 So two months in, I have come across more problems than successes. But I guess that's the point of working through a concentration. My main issue has been the need to narrow my focus. As it turns out, I just really like my choice of motion for my concentration and that has made me think a bit too broadly. I've tried out two main settings: one outdoors and one indoors, or "controlled." Of the two, I think the latter was more successful because the colors were more precise and I had a lot more control of my compositions. I tried blurring, stop-motion and multiple exposures, my favorite of which was multiple exposures. I think this is where I want to take my concentration. I still want to do a study of people through motion, but I want that motion to specifically be represented in multiple exposure shots of subjects that emphasize an isolated movement or gesture such as flipping their hair, moving their hand or twirling in a circle. To unite my images in style, I have experimented with saturating the colors of whatever is in motion and desaturating the rest of the composition to put more emphasis on the thing motion. I'm also going to try taking my next set of photos in another controlled setting with a purely black background (my basement lined with black sheets). Hopefully the black background will help me make even more dramatic color effects in photoshop afterwards.



Concentration: Brainstorming. January 28th, 2010 As of now, I am doing a study of people through motion for my concentration. My original idea was to do a study of people through isolated features like hands, eyes, facial expressions, etc. but that idea grew a lot more when I thought of motion as a means of unifying the 12 photos of my concentration. Motion adds a whole heck of a lot more complexity- I realize that now after having tried to capture people in motion in settings that are outdoors or otherwise not controlled. I'll also have to find a variation of types of motion in order to make my concentration interesting while still unified. So here's what I've got so far for types of motion: -Blurred subject, still background (Long Exposure) -Isolated parts of a person as the subject, such as a hand moving while playing the guitar. -Blurred background, still subject (Long Exposure) -Frozen motion (no blur, but something that had to have obviously been in motion at the time of the shot) -Sequence of motion within the same frame (Multiple Exposure) -Sequence of motion shown in multiple frames on the same image (Digital Imaging)

So that's what I've got, and it all sounds good, but I've got to make it all happen. I think I may have chosen one of the hardest combinations of interests for my concentration- people (with which you have to coordinate schedules, etc.) and motion (which just has SO much margin for error). So given these parameters I've got to start getting people together asap to at least test out different techniques and I should also start taking advantage of the studio in Scott Hall for a more controlled setting that will reduce some of the varibility of motion shots. So here I go!

Surrealism is an artistic style that works with surprise and unexpected juxtapositions to create visual imagery without the intention of logical comprehensibility. It was originally a cultural and philosophical movement founded by Andre Breton, inspired by the DaDa French movement of the 1920's, post WWI. The four example artists use surrealism to provoke interest in their pieces with surprise and confusion, but they do so in different ways. Olaf Breuning's surrealist style is found in his use of composite images, in other words, an image within the image. He sets his stage in a recognizable context or background and then imposes a dual non sequitur scene on top, making the original less recognizable. (aka a pattern of neon stickers under some form of industrial structure) Gregory Crewdson's surrealism draws off of the unexpected juxtaposition of real and imaginary. He sets up a middle class living room that is entirely normal and nondescript except for a forest-like grass turf that coats the floor. Here, the image is striking because it is unexpected and unreal. Anne Hardy's surrealism is the most compositionally rich. She takes an existing room and transforms it into the remnants of an unknown scene using intentional clutter and repetition of lines and colors to create interesting compositions. Sarah Hobbs, my favorite of the four example surrealists, uses surrealism to deliver an exaggerated message. She takes a believable stage or set-up and then subtly adds in one element to communicate her point through hyperbole. //Perfectionist// is a perfect example of this, in which Hobbs creates a scene that is entirely believable besides the shear mass of crumpled paper, which is the subtle exaggeration that makes he piece a combination of real and unreal, or "surreal."
 * Project 7:December 11th

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 * Project 6: December 11th**
 * My still life shots tell the story of a murder from the scene left behind. The dramatic and contrasting lights convey the intensity of emotion and drama in the scene. Essentially, they set the mood. The various elements surrounding the "victim" also all communicate elements of the murder: the sheathed knife (violence), the ribbon around the victim's neck (blood), the smaller knife through the heart of the queen of hearts playing card (death), the dried up sun flower (recently lost life), the mask (the unknown murderer), etc.

There are also two distinct stages to the still life's story or "murder." The first set of images depicts the ends of the murder itself as represented by the violent and hot lights, the victim's contorted shapes and the visual emphasis on the two knives (large and small). The second stage is that of the victim's post-death rest. These images have much cooler green and blue lighting to emphasize the seeming peace of the victim after a violent death. The victim is also laying in a bed of cloth with his head resting on a pillow (aka a point shoe) as though he were only asleep. Together, these two series of images, from both the normal and manipulated images, show he tension between the violence and resulting calm of a murder. Should death be seen as scary and gory or peaceful and cool? **


 * Normal Five**


 * Crazy Five (Digitally Edited)**

//Tear Together:// For project 5, I compiled a portfolio of eight "crying eyes." I came up with the idea from talking to Mr. Steele. We were reviewing some of the series in the PH book, and I realized that I was most interested in the pieces whose subjects were people. So then I thought of what aspect or physical characteristic of the human body I wanted to isolate that would be different from person to person. I came to eyes. "The windows to the soul," eyes are one thing that seem to never be the same from person to person. To tie my series together, Mr. Steele suggested I find some attribute that could connect all my eyes together in some small way, maybe by all wearing glasses. Immediately, I thought of crying. Just as every person's eyes are different, how a person cries is also unique to who they are.
 * Project 5: November 13th, 2009**

All my eyes show the tears of crying, but differently. Some shots isolate the eyes while others encompass a greater area of the person's face and even body. Glasses, a headscarf, a Venician mask, and an antique wide-brim hat are all props I used to add secondary elements and diversify my compositions. Two other pieces are broken up by the people themselves. In one, a girl is wiping away her own tears with elongated fingers. In another, a blonde girl is covering her right eye. And finally, in another, the left side of a black girl's face is hidden in the neck and collarbone of a man.

All together, this series is a commentary of how people cry differently and what that says about them as people. That is why I've titled the piece //Tear Together. Tear literally refers to crying. However, when read with Together, the title becomes something of a paradox between separation, or "tearing," and union, or "together." //

//University:// As a high school senior, filling out college applications and reading brochures in most my free time, I've begun to see college as a product that must be advertized and sold like any other commercial good. I also wonder if I myself am the product selling myself to college.
 * Project 4: November 13th, 2009**

In either sense, the college application process is one laden with advertizement, competition and promises of a better future. My first collage, //University,// is meant to embody this commercial facet of the college process. Central to the piece is the cut-out of a head-less and therefore unidentifiable student, representing the lack of personality I think many students feel when filling out forms and taking standardized test for college admissions. However, there is also great promise and opportunity that accompanies every submission, as shown by the various cut-outs of college letters I have received. This repetition of textual lines throughout the piece reminds me of all the times Ms. B, my college counselor, has reminded me to "staying on course" and find "my direction?" as if I have a single line I am meant to walk. However, in //University,// the lines of text concentrated on the left radiate out into the rest of the piece without any one direction. Some of the lines are also cut off or mirror-images of their original text. There is a juxtaposition of seemingly straight and clean-cut paths with unexpected disorder and lack of direction.

I think the style of this collage most resembles that of Warhol, who used bold colors, stark contrast, and repetition of shape to create interesting compositions. Similarly, //University// is composed of largely pure colors, broken images and a repetition of lines. I would say that //University// is decidedly critical of the college process, as it emphasizes the lack of identity and personality I have often felt in these past few months.

//Salute:// My second collage, //Salute,// is a tribute to the ongoing war on terror. There are clippings of a crumpled dollar bill, the famous WWII war monument, various war scenes, and the attack on the Twin Towers 9/11. There are also clippings of three little girls: one in the bottom left hand corner with her and over her heart, one walking in a red dress in the upper right hand corner, and one on the left edge being cradled by a US soldier. These girls positioned throughout the piece add to a more dynamic and thematically unified composition while also presenting a symbol of innocence that puts the harsh realities of war and isolation into a different perspective. The lack of diversification of color throughout the piece is also meant to draw attention to the girl in the red dress at the upper right hand corner.

I intentionally modeled this piece after those of Rauschenberg, who is my favorite of the artists you recommended us to look at. Like Rauschenberg's featured piece, //Signs//, //Salute// uses many full images that overlap to fill the page that relate the images together without any one unifying background. //Salute// is neither glorifying nor critical of the war. It is meant to be a tribute, a salute, to the reality of war as both a violent act and an honorable means of protecting the innocent people at home.

**Project 3: October 15th, 2009** Concentrating primarily on the digital imaging and photoshop, this project was a study in the manipulation of an image. It forced us to make a scene or interesting piece out of just one image through diversification of color, contrast, opacity, distortion and scale. We could then use repetition of that image to communicate a theme and create relationships between the images.

For me, my pieces all communicate a theme of the One against the Many. This is most obviously exemplified in the “Battle Scene” image of the repeated boy’s head. Here, a crowd of many “soldiers” are pitted against the boy’s head at the opposing corner. All these images or characters, if you will, all came from the same original shape but their positions within the piece’s frame show a contrast between the One (the boy) and the Many (the soldiers).

Although it is presented in a slightly less dramatic fashion, the “Lampshade” and “Wing” pieces also communicate this theme. Through negative shape and broken repetition of lines, the lampshade piece emphasizes the individuality of the single girl in the bottom corner who, like the boy in the “Battle Scene,” is separated from a larger group. The same situation applies to the small, cyan wing that is set out from the other larger and less opaque wings.

By forcing me to only use one base image or “shape” for each piece, this project made me consider the many ways by which a singular image can be manipulated to create diversification. If I make this style my concentration, I would like to continue to play with the idea of what makes an individual stand out from a group when they are all seemingly the same to start. In many ways, this could be a commentary on the definition of identity in real life.

So framing. What’s it all about?- is essentially the question. After completing this project, I think it’s about how the individual objects and elements within an image relate to each other to form an overall comp osition. In a sense, this concept of relation and coherence is crucial to any successful composition, but it becomes particularly evident when applied to framing because it requires the photographer to use one object to draw attention to, or “frame,” another. This is where I went a bit astray. Thinking an object could be properly “framed” via emphasis, I tried using contrast in value rather than actual objects to frame my subjects. However, true framing is achieved by physically imposing objects on each other to create a frame within the frame. This approach, in turn, forces the photographer to consider an image’s “depth.” No longer limited to the second dimension, a photo becomes the assembly of layers, each intended to relate and connect to the others.
 * PROJECT 2: September, 2009**

Thankfully, I did get a few proper framing examples as well. My favorite of the film photos are the “train” one and “sitting girl” one because they seem to be the most dramatic examples of framing. In the train one, the use of framing and the out of focus background make the subject abstract and not, at first, identifiable. The sitting girl one, conversely, uses an out of focus foreground to quite literally split the girl’s face in half and reshape her as the subject.

If I were to use framing as my concentration, I think I would play around a bit more with relating a photo’s framing to its subject matter. For example, taking a picture of a ragged looking woman wearing an old white apron, set back in the corner of a dark kitchen. Taken from a low angle, this image could be outlined by the union of various objects resting on a table in the foreground, such as an old men’s pocket watch, a water pitcher’s handle, or an out of focus picture of a man in uniform. This image could then, through framing, represent the domestic life of a woman in the post-war era.

All in all, framing is about distorting an image through the manipulation of value and layers. Reinterpretation, if you will. And that’s what art is. It’s taking something real and tangible in life and reconstructing it, quite literally, to be seen through a new lens.