For my photographic essay I decided to follow the theme of the roles of Birds living in our society in both a reality setting and a hyper-realistic fashion. The idea of the photo essay is for each image to become progressively more surreal initially beginning with a pure photographic shot without any digital manipulation and concluding with a manipulated image in a bizarre setting but still remaining true to the original theme.
All photographs were taken with the NIKON D90 DSLR camera which I borrowed from my former lecturer Peter Burton. This camera was perfect for the job it was needed and provided myself with over 500 photographs which could’ve been potentially used in some way, shape or form which eventually became the final 8 images in the photographic essay.
The first image of my photographic essay is a pure, non-edited shot entitled “Perched” which had an incredible depth of field and was perfect for starting the visual essay. My favourite image from this essay was entitled “Of what Vibrant, Of what surreal” in which it is a manipulated image with a surreal saturation of colours, particularly blue, with a seagull mid-flight edited into the image with incredible focus. The colours are fantastic and so incredibly vibrant yet it doesn’t abuse the tools used for digital manipulation.
The photographic essay form is done in a simple interactive flash format which I felt it appropriate as it allowed the user to freely navigate between the 8 images at a leisurely pace and immerse themselves in a particularly enthralling image if need be. The text coinciding with the image resided in the navigation of the flash file itself as I refused to desecrate any of the images at all with text as I felt it impacted on the emotional and artistic impact intended with the images and served the theme better with taglines to the image in the navigation bar.
The music of the photographic essay is royalty free and a simply loop of a trio of piano, violin and viola which suited the photographic essay as it didn’t detract from the theme whist engaging the viewer audibly.
Title: Trio for Piano Violin and Viola
Genre: Classical
Length: 1:09
Instrumentation: Piano, Violin, Viola
Tempo: 104
An unfinished trio in 2 main parts. Dark, Relaxed, Somber 2008
http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/index.html?genre=Classical
http://music.incompetech.com/royalty-free/Trio%20for%20Piano%20Violin%20and%20Viola.mp3
=csnyder is an artist on deviantart and is an online “friend” of mine on the aforementioned website. He is a talented and skilled multimedia artist whose digital manipulation of imagery inspired me greatly as I follow his work and I feel incredibly honoured that he follows my work more consistently than any other of the 146 people who watch my account on deviantArt.
Artwork such as his Days Gone By piece and Better Days inspire me to model my design skills to a similar means as his surreal yet subtle style perfectly suits my attitude towards digital manipulation.
I greatly admire subtly used in artwork, I believe something that looks non-realistic is quite ugly and honestly disgusts me aesthetically. It is probably why I was not particularly fond of some of the tutorials for my Electronic Imaging and Design class because they were not subtle enough in their effects and look incredible obvious that they were simple filters or adjustments eg: using the hue/saturation adjustment to reduce the brightness of the image to simulate night when the shadows/highlights or a simple layer style would’ve been a more appropriate method of manipulation.
I have chosen a theme for my Photo essay which would be Birds and their role in our society both in a realistic and hyper-realistic sense.
The plan for the photographic essay is for it to become progressively more surreal, with the initial image a pure photograph without any manipulation whatsoever whilst the proceeding images becoming more and more surreal making use of the Digital Darkroom to invoke the appropriate emotional resonance desired within the image.
I believe this theme would be most appropriate as it focusing on the species of birds for the most part with some relation to human beings for slight emphasis.
My final piece for my folio work, my machine self portrait, is now completed and ready for submission. I chose an assortment of objects that related to art that reflected the true me in both the process of artistic endeavor and how I live my life.
Click image for full view
This is a conceptual machine representation of myself and who i am as a person. Our assignment required us to construct a machine like entity that showcases qualities about ourselves universally associated with the images presented.
This is really a symbol for who i am as an artist, the coffee mug is like a flower pot as its the foundation of all of my artistic endeavors and if I am without my daily caffeine fix I am truly not the same person.
Stemming from this pot is a notepad, one which I sketch or write ideas on and truly is the core of my pre-production. Notice how it is submerged n the coffee, this is because I tend to spill coffee on my scrap paper and its a likable trait I wished to share with this portrait.
The protractor and drafting tools represent the rulers and other such tools I use whenever I try a character design. The resemble to skeletal structure of my work as the connect the notepad to the pencil and paintbrush which I use as the symbolic extensions of my actual art tools.
The projector is the heart of the image, my love for film and animation is represented by this projector as it is the final goal I strive for when my work is complete. The light beaming from the lens represents how I continue to look forward and better my techniques; honestly there is never a day where I don’t try to improve my skills in any or all facets being an artist whether it is extensively learning design principles in a field I am unfamiliar with or I am simply studying the movements of a small bird flying.
The cigarette is the final piece, attached to the projector reflecting a form of an exhaust fume, as its symbiotic relationship is linked to the initial part of the image; the coffee mug. Cigarettes are my escape, they provide a moment of solace every time my life is stressed. Without my Cigarettes of Coffee I would never be able to do what I do.
This image, though very abstract and surreal in imagery, truly represents the real me. At least as an artist.
Wacom Tablet arrived
Wacom Bamboo 6x9 tablet is something I ordered last Wednesday and Friday it came!! :D
I love it, having a blast and looking forward to end of semester when I have some free time to maximize my tablet use.
