Final Project

My idea for these final images was to revisit my high school. The lighting was really important because it allowed me to take clear reflections through windows around the school. I also tried to be aware of the framing while taking the photographs so that the focus was on me and the school. For the photographs with my reflection, I also tried to make an in camera collage. 

I'm proud to say that I went to this school despite its criticisms and its at time unappealing appearance. This project was important in revealing how my high school experiences regarding issues of race and social/economical class have formed my ideas of how I see those issues on a larger scale today.

Brainstorm

1.  What is the “opposite” of your final project? How can you rework your project to include the “opposite”?

-  In making my project a series, I’m hoping to present the opposite of my concept. I would like to take photographs of my high school, editing a set to make a comment on the appearance of the school. By editing them I want to say, “If this is what the school looked like, then…” The other set will be unedited photographs that I want to use to comment on the reality of the school. I want those to say, “although it isn’t idea, this is what it is, and that’s ok”. I’m hoping this will read as both sides of how people see the school. Or, possibly the way to include the opposite would be to make a satirical piece with only edited photographs. 

2.  Type twenty words or phrases that relate to your project.

- Political, educational, students, community, personal, pride, urban v. suburban, disappointment, reality v. ideal, diversity, identity, experience, struggle, rough, economic, social status, positive v. negative, understanding/open mindedness, learning community, Quakers.

3.  At the deepest core, describe why you like this project. Dig deep!

- For me this project represents a large part of what I consider to be my identity. My high school experience taught me more than I could have expected. It wasn’t until after I was out of high school that I realized the value of what my high school experience taught me. I still have a hard time thinking of this project because I’m scared that the photographs will not be as strong as the way I feel about the concept. But, it represents my identity and the pride I have from coming from an urban city/school. 

4.  Expand your project. If time, money, materials, etc would not affect you, how would you expand your project?

- Ideally, I would like to make this project much longer so that I could capture the atmosphere of the school and the personality of the student body. I’m also hoping to get into the school so that I can take pictures of the students. However, it is likely that that will not happen, unfortunately. I think that would help give context and give the viewer a sense of my experience. One of the reasons I have such a hard time explaining this project is because of the personal connection, which I feel is only truly understood my people that have gone through the same experience- who could truly relate to the photographs.
5.  Look at one of your images. Redesign it entirely.

- Instead of taking photographs of an empty school, I’d like to move into the direction of making it a recognizable place, including stereotypes for the edited photographs. Maybe an idea would be to take a picture and for the “ideal” set crop out everything except the stereotype. Then for the “reality” set I would show the same image un-cropped.

6.  What would your project look like 100 years ago? What would your project look like 100 years in the future?

         - I think 100 years ago this project would’ve said something different about schools/community. Perhaps 100 years ago there was more of an emphasis on education, or not, based on economic status. So, in a way I feel like 100 years ago my project could have commented on a different social aspect revolving around education. So, maybe 100 years from now this project will not be as affective because there will not be the same cultural divisions within different school districts. Maybe cultural differences would be more evident in other places, so 100 years from now education systems and cultural divisions will not be as big of an issue as it is now. 

7.  Remove something from your project. How does it change?

- One of the things I’ve thought about is whether or not I should use color or black and white. I think removing the color would not convey the “ideal”, stereotypical, or commercial idea for the edited photographs. I also think that the black and white could potentially make the building look haunted, since it’s really old. 

8.  Persuade the reader that your project works well and is the most amazing project you have ever completed.

-This project really touches on many different ideas. There is the idea of using a school to represent an identity. It also comments on the social/cultural issues that surround school districts, which in turn contributes to how people/students grow and see the world. 

9.  Persuade the reader that your project stinks. Then, persuade the reader that you will make changes so that it no longer stinks.

-  While the idea for this project might be strong, this project does not clearly communicate the concept. There needs to be context of the historical politics revolving the Lansing School District. In order to give more context, I will make the project into a comparison series. One set will be digitally edited images showing the “ideal” and the other will be unedited images showing the “reality”. I’m hoping that by doing this there will be more context and give the viewer a sense of each side of the arguments made about the school district.

10.  Think of one of your most memorable dreams. How could you add elements from this dream to your project?

- I think I could take the photographs out of focus, which would bring about a dream/surreal look to the images. This could add to the idea of having an unrealistic/ideal look to the school.

Brainstorm

Change

3D

Slow Shutter Speed- Time

Verb (Expose)

Verb (Cut)

Noun (Curiosity)

Adjective (Progressive)

Constructed Reality

King of the Jungle

Identity

Identity

Identity

Write up of the series, "King of the Jungle".
Composition: The most important piece of these photographs is the lion costume that the little boy, Tucker, is wearing. To emphasis it I mostly used the back lighting of a setting sun. It helped add contrast and reinforced the innocence of a child. I also tried to keep the background as blurred as possible so that it was clear what Tucker was in front of without making the background a focal point.
Concept: It was important to keep these images a series and not display them by themselves. They are stronger together because they show the change of a person in one identity. Starting with the first, they progress from the lion identity to Tucker's human identity. This is interesting as it is somewhat ironic. All of the images have the same person and in every photograph he is being himself. However, there is still a sense of a second identity because he does not always wear or identify himself as a lion [in costume]. For me, it is fun to see his shift in identity as a lion and personality. By the last photograph he was anxious to end the photo shoot.
Method: This series would be much different had I photographed an adult. By using a child, the concept of a second identity becomes more apparent. A child, especially Tucker, is more likely to want to please you and be more carefree than an adult. I think that children often do things to please or entertain adults. In order to get these shots I tried to make this an event and to him almost candid. Since I was trying to make this a fun opportunity for him, he was more likely to listen to me. At the same time, he was not going to do everything that I told him, which brought out more of his personality than mine.
Motivations: One of the reasons I like this series so much is because of my relationship with Tucker. He is my cousin and we are very close, which I think is why he was allowed me to dress him up and take his picture. Just as much as I wanted to show Tucker's shift in a second identity, I also wanted to try to capture our closeness.
Context: I thought to take Tucker's photograph when I saw an image from the last blog prompt. It was an image of a little girl sitting sideways and appearing to be distracted by her surrounding. After seeing this I thought it would be fun to photograph Tucker and to see how he would act when I asked him to do something out of the ordinary from his everyday life. This series could be considered one on social situations. Even if it was an adult, I think these images could be taken as a series of someone's inner person- someone/something that they cannot be when in a public setting.
Interpretation: A few people commented on these photographs and said that they reminded them of "Where the Wild Things Are". Others said that it took them back to when they were children and played dress up, or when everything was simplistic, happy, and carefree. 
Evaluation: Everyone agreed that the lighting worked well for bringing out the innocence of a child and also increased the amount of contrast. The background was not working for some people, which I can agree with. I also think it would help to blur the background more, or try to take the photograph in a different scene.
Extension: Someone commented on wanting to see more of his "true" identity, or more of his personality. It was suggested to make the series larger with the photographs I had taken of him without the costume.

Object/Collage/Illusion

Composition: Since this is a collage, the background elements are very important because they create an illusion. The framing is also important because it reinforces the illusion and collage by not giving much context. In addition, the vertical orientation was more successful at giving enough information (but not too much) opposed to the horizontal orientation.
Concept: This actually started out as an accidental image. I had taken a photograph of my computer screen before so this time was more of an experiment. I like that it turned out to be such an abstract piece.
Method: Also an accident, I like all of the various light sources, which really made each part to this collage appear so different.  In a sense everything in this photograph is constructed. Nothing in the image was just found and only one of the objects is tangible.
Context: While we were first starting to learn about constructed photography I never saw myself creating such elaborate miniature stages or large scale scenes. I think that this photograph helped me to realize that a constructed image does not have to be a narrative or have a lot of planned/hand made detail.
Interpretation: I'm not sure that people knew what to make of this image. However, people recognized it as an abstract collage and commented on the play of space/illusion.
Evaluation: The texture and the blocks of color are working well, but someone suggested to add more color to add more contrast. I did try to add more color in the other attempts to recreate an image like this, but I felt that those were more recognizable and were not as abstracted.

Projection Image

Works in Progress Critique

Seven Artists

The seven artists I would've chosen for the show would be:

1.  Keith Lewis- I thought this work stood out because of how picturesque they were. The figure looked as though she was in a painting, not a photograph.
2. Erik Sumption- Sumption's use of color captured my attention. In some of the photographs it created an abstract object. (Beach photograph with the neon light pole)
3. Mitchell- This photograph was playful/comical. I thought it was ironic to place a way of private transportation into a way of public transportation.
4. Molly Salzbrunn- I liked that this artists seemed to have a consistent theme of innocence/life.
5. Harry Sandler- I really did not like these photographs at first, but the longer I looked at them the more I liked them. It's interesting that they have such a picturesque look to them, but instead of being like paintings they appear to look more like drawings.
6. Phil Hefferman- I was drawn to these images because they reminded me of the portraiture photographs I took of the homeless in DC.
7. Jeff Lipshitz- These photographs captured my attention because of the lighting that was used and the wide range of subject matter.

I chose each artist for individual reasons, but I overall I tried to pick a variety of styles and concepts.

Second Identity

Constructed Reality

I could not see myself photographing a recreation of either of the photographers that I researched, so instead I recreated a fashion advertisement/fashion photograph. Initially I was going to make it appear commercial, but later thought it would be more fun to tint the image so that it looked more vintage and also abstracted the real space. the image was taken in front of a white wall, but I think that by tinting the photograph the wall becomes less harsh and creates more of a studio space. 

Blog Prompt 24

A. For a recreation I could see one of Jeff Koons sculptures being made on a small scale. I would use one of his balloon sculptures to recreate the idea of making something insignificant seem important. In order to do this I would use a real balloon animal and photograph it in a way that would make it appear to be larger than it really is. I would also try to take it's photograph with the background being a place of importance- or at least a place that would make the creation seem more important. (i.e. a famous art museum, building, etc.)

B. I'd like to photograph my high school for the final project. For me my high school is a symbol of an important time in my life, a time that I developed ideas of how to see the world and "live in the real world." Although it needs to be developed further, my idea would be to take photographs of my school through windows, from the view point of looking in.