Thursday, March 24, 2011

Cultural Identity Photoshoot

For this assignment we were asked to shoot a photograph that portrayed a certain cultural identity, whether it be ethnicity, food, social groups, ect. For my photo I wanted to portray how young girls look up to barbie as a idol or a role model. I also wanted to show that since they do look up to her, they try to immitate her look, such as the blonde hair, blue eyes, and perfect body. In order to portay my idea I put a long blonde wig on my model who originally has  short black hair. I wanted to show that she  was trying to be like barbie, however she knows that she looks nothing like her.The elements of design that I used were contrast, emphasis, and balance. Overall I feel that the piece sucessfully portayed my idea because you can see that the emotion on my models face is one of sorrow, and the dark lighting above also helped the emotion. The photo is also sucessful because since the focus is on the barbie as well as the bright lighting surrounding it, it gives off the feeling of importance and admiration.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Still Life

For this assignment we were supposed to shoot a still life, using a 4x5 camera. The assignment in itself proved to be really difficult. Not only did we have to carefully and thoughtfully place our props but we also had to use a camera that was more complex then we were used to and make sure that that items places were not next to something around the same color. Even though the project was difficult it was a great learning experience for me overall. As you can see by this photo, this isn't the actual photo that I printed. The reason for this was that before I took the photograph the negative had been exposed without my knowledge. The concept I wanted to portray was an homage to my grandma. The way I tried to show that was by using items that belonged to her. She likes to knit and crochet in her spare time and that's what I used. I felt that I did portray that concept rather well. The elements of photography that I used were lines, contrast, and texture.

Outside Portrait

For this assignment we were asked to take a portrait outside using a scrim to soften the lighting. Unfortunately by the time I was able to shoot, the scrim was broken. Another problem I had encountered, was that I didn't have any concepts that I wanted to execute for the photograph. After pondering for a while I just decided to shoot my friend Karl (as seen in the picture above). I wanted him to portray his "inner woodsman".  The elements of design that are seen in this photo are texture, balance, contrast, and lines. Problems I had were ones that i previously stated, as well as when I was printing the photograph his chest and arms were really faded. I tried to burn the photo however it didn't seem the fix the problem. The major thing that I would do different, is have an actual concept before shooting.

Cultural Identity Resources

1) http://www.vam.ac.uk/images/image/41281-popup.html
2) http://www.pbs.org/ktca/americanphotography/features/cultural_essay.html
3) http://www.flickr.com/photos/elorahhh/4729180505/