Final Art Blog Post

one. looking back over the course of the year, and your blog posts, which project or projects were the most engaging for you? Where did you fully own your process as an artist? where did you get lost in the material or the making of work?  
Despite not quite being my best piece of work, the house of my mind project was probably the most engaging. The house of my mind project allowed me to reflect on myself in order to express myself through this project. It was in this project that I "fully owned" my process as an artist, employing many different conceptual, formal, and technical intentions. This project allowed me to immerse myself in my work, often getting "lost" in the process.

two. you have had a year of tremendous artistic growth. where do you see that you have grown the most? think about the studio habits as you answer and explain--observe, stretch and explore, craft, express, understanding the art world, reflect. which of these areas do you feel the most comfortable with? how do you see that comfort showing up in your creative practice?

I feel that I can see my tremendous growth when I look back and see my previous work. Through the year, my work continually improves, my newest project exceeding my last. I have also been further acquainted with proper studio habits and tools, which demonstrates my heightened comfortability with the class. I feel mot comfortable when I look at the art world and look at other art, it gives me a fresh perspective on how others express their intentions through their art. I feel that I can now look at a piece of art and truly understand what it means. An image no longer looks like an image, but an emotion; I can understand what other artist are trying to convey, how they are trying to convey it, and gain a full comprehension of the image, thanks to art.

three. think about the things we've studied this year--fibonacci, light as a character, abstraction, the darkroom, portraits, photoshop techniques, the off-camera flash and studio lights. discuss a few of these themes that are the most engaging for you. what have you learned about them? how do you have a better understanding of them?

The most engaging techniques that we used throughout the year were the use of rule of thirds and light as a character. Despite how shallow rule of thirds can be as a technical intention, I really like using it because symmetry is engaging for me, just as it creating a story through my work. Rule of thirds allows me to create a contrast in my depth of fields, making the art more interesting and engaging to the viewer. Light as a character also struck me as one of the more interesting tunics that we learned because it, too, allows one to tell a story, it draws the viewers eyes, allows for directional movement, and makes the image more interesting.

four. course evaluation. which assignments were the most successful? which assignments were the most frustrating? What are one or two things that Ms. Seal does really well? What is one important peice of advice that you would offer her so that she could make this class better?

I feel that the house of my mind was the most engaging and in depth project, whereas my light as a character was likely my most successful and interesting project. Ms. Seal is really good with engaging with the students and giving them critique as to how they can do better. Besides being at school on time :), she could also work on perhaps creating a more interactive learning experience. Thank you so much for a great year! :D

Final Blog Post

one. your conceptual intention. what is it for this project? how is your conceptual intention expressed in this series or project?
My conceptual intentional was light as a character. For one half of my project I decided to play with lighting, not necessarily while taking the photos, but while editing them. I chose a few colors to enhance while dimming others. The other half, I decided to play around with placing light in a concentrated area of the photo, illuminating the rest of the image. I feel that my usage of light was strong and that I do understand how to use it.

two. your formal intention. what is it for this project? how is your formal intention expressed in this series or project?
My formal intention was the usage of rule of thirds to separate and/or distance one part of an image from the rest.

three. your technical intention. what is it for this project? how is your technical intention expressed in this series or project?
My technical intention was using depth of field. Similarly to my intention with rule of thirds, using depth of field to distance the min focus of the image from the background. I primarily used a shallow depth of field so as to create more separation from the focus to the rest of the image.

four. what did you take away from the critique? what comments resonated with you?
five. were you able to use the freedom this assignment afforded you to your advantage? if the structure was helpful, how so? if it wasn't helpful, what would have made it more so?
Although I have not yet participated in the class critique, I look forward to receiving more advise about my images.

 Please also upload your series or image to your blog along with these reflections questions.

Final Project In-Process Reflection

For this final project, I am attempting to utilize rule of thirds, light as a character, and depth of field. I feel that these two photos exemplify the path that I am going to take and the reality that I am going to challenge. By making certain qualities and colors in an image stand out more than the others, I am trying to create a more expressive, more interesting compilation of images. I am not going to veer towards focusing on the composition of the photo, and the object that it is of, but I am going to take an object and try to make the audience question reality. Although many of the images in the end may very well not be abstract, I am going to try to have the same effect on my audience as abstract images does on its audience.

My Abstract Work

I feel like this image is my strongest of this abstract project. I played with colors, using black and white, and feel like my intentions were founded on a strong understanding of abstract (or at least in this instance). This image intrigues me because of the contrast between black on white, along with the changing geometric shapes. I found abstract moments wherever and whenever, actually taking this picture no more than three hours ago, in my room. This only goes to show that no matter where or when you look around, abstractness will always be present, you just have to look closer.

I gained a better understanding of the digital camera and photoshop with experience. I admit, while I may not have been so strong at using them in the beginning, I definitely improved (but am still horrendous with photoshop). My favorite photoshop tool was the filters, playing with color and how it affected the composition and mood of the image. Overall, I feel like this project was one of my stronger ones, and gained a much stronger understanding of the concept of "abstract".

Inspirational FAB Artwork

I thought that Jenna's piece at FAB was really relevant to current times, as police shootings have been increasing, and I think that her intent was to draw attention to this, and I feel that I want to incorporate a sense of relativity to current times, too. This piece outlines the corruptness of the law and how race doesn't matter. #BlackLivesMatter

Abstract Project

This image is one of my favorite abstract images because of its shallow depth of field and its very concentrated focus, focusing on a small strip of the image, and ultimately adding more detail (in my opinion, at least). I feel that the almost tangible texture makes the image all that much more interesting, and the imperfection of the weaving, with a few broken strands that are visible, creates a sense of uniqueness.

Photo That Embodies My Project

New Photo

I chose to post this photo as I believe that it could be the start of a new series. I like playing with a shallow depth of field and having contrast within nature

House of My Mind

This "House of My Mind," I feel, strongly represents who I am. I feel like this work expresses who I am, while remembering where I came from. The background, is a red to blue fade, met halfway with a small strip of white, indicating my life spent in America; however, the center of the image portrays a maple leaf, as I was born in Canada. The rest of the image tends to, somewhat indirectly, express my love for sports. In the center are silhouettes of a golfer and a basketball player, which are the two main sports that I play. The background shows three grey lines dividing the image, which resemble the seams on a basketball, while the middle depicts white hexagons which I intended to resemble the grooves on a golf ball. The interesting thing about the center is that it can be viewed many ways, given the standpoint of the viewer. It can be seen as a chain-link fence, a honeycomb, or seen to represent a love for geometry, etc. I feel like this not only offers insight as to who I am and what I represent, but gives insight into who the viewer is. With the opacity turned down, the background is laid on a piece of newspaper, specifically the sports section; this is just another representation of my interest in sports. Unifying the two silhouettes in the center, is not a ball, but rather a sand dollar, which expresses my love for nature. I feel like my intentions throughout this project were very straightforward, and weren't altered throughout the course of making this piece. I knew what I wanted to represent me and put it on this image. I am glad having done this image because not only did it give me more insight on how to use photoshop, but it gave me more insight as to who I am as a person; resulting in a piece that I am very satisfied with.

A Room of One's Own

This project highlighted A Room of One's Own through the isolation and thoughtfulness incorporated with the pictures taken. The majority of them tended to use isolation (as in my earlier project) to set the viewer in their own world, distanced from all else besides what is in front of their own eyes. This project was meaningful to me because not only do the results show mindfulness and a sense of tranquility, but the process invoked the same feelings. I felt much more mindful and isolated (but not in a negative sense). The results in this project also used light as a character to emphasize certain aspects of the picture, drawing the viewers' eye between the contrast of light in the developed images. Using two images from previous projects, I decided to alter my focus on my usage of light to place emphasis on detail and thoughtfulness. I decided to not only use light as a character, but also as a concept, to draw the viewer in and create a deeper sense of thought. Should I redo this project, I would have altered my concepts to not focus so much on a broader depth of field, but focus in more on a shallower depth of field, placing the majority of my focus on smaller and finer details, perhaps invoking more thought and ultimately being more powerful.