Thursday, January 24, 2013

Last Day Reflections

Q & A:
What did you learn about photography that you did not know before?

What did you learn about yourself this semester?

What do you wish we had done that we did not?

What was your struggle?

What did you conquer?

give me the "how's", the "why's", and the "what for's"...



What did I learn about photography? This semester of photography I learned quite a bit, about myself, about others, and about the commitments I make to school and my other classes. I think I was more excited about this class in particular, more so than any drawing or painting or art class I'd had before. I had never seriously thought about being a photographer until this year, and was just getting into the sense of digital cameras. This class really helped me understand the importance of photography though. The history of the camera, whether pin-hole, daguerreotype, digital, or film, is something to be marveled at. We created devices such as these to capture moments of time as they were, in the real world, as our eyes could see them... Photography is a form of art that I did not believe I had the patience or ideas for, but I learned anyone can take a photo. What a true talent is in photography is getting those photos to mean something, to discover a hidden message in the art, and be able to get others to understand and admire that message. All of us in this class had talent in different kinds of photography, different styles, different projects. I think one of my most successful was Macro photography. I've always had a knack for looking at the little things in life and wanting to make them bigger, they are their own world, and we can all see them. I also enjoyed the self portraits, it has been really fascinating, trying to put my emotions, and stress, my own life out into the real world, and let others look at it without feeling like they're prying into my life. Because those self portraits are the pictures , that I don't necessarily understand how to put into words. That aside there were several projects I had a problem connecting with, especially taking portraits of others. I don't really like forcing myself to connect with people, for my own reasons it stresses me out, I feel as if others might reject the idea, or even like asking for their cooperation would be selfish... But that's a different story. Another thing I still have some struggles with at the end of the semester is remembering how to change the aperture  what button on my SLR changes shutter speed, and all of those settings that I want to mess with that are really automatic settings...
What did I learn about me? At the beginning of this semester I was really worried about how I would do during this class. My dad and I had already done some photography recently, he had been teaching me how his SLR works, and how to change the lighting and shutter speed for night time. We'd gone out together once or twice to shoot the stars, or take light stream photos of the highway right next to our neighborhood. I wasn't very into it then, and couldn't remember a lot of his instructions. I wish that I had been a little bit more curious about photography then, and gone exploring then about what I could and couldn't do. Maybe I would have been a little more confident of what I was doing in this class then. As the semester continued I realized that I did enjoy photography and could put meaning into my photos. I however was uncertain of how I should get other people into it, or even me. I'm a drawer not a photographer, and I draw my own characters, but I wasn't sure how to pull those characters out into my photography for this class. I mostly stuck to plants and inanimate objects. Using the nature around me to influence my photos. Looking to the little-big world I find in Macro. I wish however that I could have been more influenced by people as well, that I could have done more to get others interested in it. During my semester I also went through quite a bit of personal life. I hadn't been doing well in my other classes and dad wanted me to see a therapist. I had kinda given up on all of the difficult stuff early in the year, looking to only finish the easy things. Dad took me to see a doctor, and I was diagnosed with clinical depression. I think that some of that really inspired my self portraits, I wanted other people to look at me and see the stress that influenced me. Stress I haven't been able to show others, because I've been hiding myself. I don't enjoy being hidden, but at the same time I find it difficult to except others because I don't know how I should open up, I'm afraid to make mistakes. I'm afraid to be silly or original even though it's what I am and it is who I want to be. I hope though that someone could understand that, could find that in my art, or find something new. Something they hadn't thought about before. A new perspective.
What do I wish we had done? Hmn~ that's a good question... I think one thing I would have really enjoyed would be night time photography, or skyscapes... If we had learned how to set up our cameras for time-lapse I would have tried to do more day to night photography, learning how to get a panorama of time lapse... or even just a picture of the stars as they move in the sky, as earth rotates slowly beneath them. That would have been beautiful.
What was my struggle? I think the biggest thing I struggled with was actually balancing the time I took to take photos and my other classes. School, on top of emotions, on top of therapy, on top of medication. It makes for an uneven top, like trying to juggle a bowling ball an egg and a pineapple. The bowling ball is heavy, it makes me aching and tired, the egg is delicate fragile, easy to snap, the pineapple is spiky, and reopens aches and pains. Maybe that's a little over complicated, but I'll stick with it anyways. I feel kind of sad though at this end of the semester. I tried so hard at the beginning to do everything right, and right at the end I'm getting a pretty low grade. I should have done better, but how was I supposed to do better than I already had? What meaning was there left to put in light? I gave up during our Light and shadow project because I was failing geometry and chemistry and history. Dad and I spoke about it, and he told me to try my best, and I did but it meant giving up this project to work harder in more important, more final core classes- then one elective. Unfortunately this means I will most likely fail photo, even though I tried so hard to accomplish myself.
What did I conquer? I feel like I accomplished some great things in this class. I remained committed to finishing this class, even if I didn't pass it. It was a lot of fun, but in the end I had to make a decision to pass my other classes and give up my A in this class. I wish it was otherwise, but there isn't much I can do about that now. Maybe I'll try to take it again next year, and pass it all the way. Take it a little more seriously. I feel like I need to take a lot more things seriously, my grades, my health, my life, but right now my job is to be a student, and I need to commit myself to doing better. It will be hard, but I can do it. Even if I have to ask for help sometimes. 

Thank you, Mr. Hohman for your instructions though. I think you're one of the people who makes talents such as photography so important to us students. Because you aren't afraid of our opinions, and you do your job. Whether that means you have to act silly, or be angry occasionally, you are always dead serious about the importance of our work. You teach us the benefit of hard work, that if we reach out for help sometimes we can make better choices. The job you do, is inspiring, I wish that all teachers were so inspiring. But we don't always get what we want, and even when we don't, we learn.  

















Friday, January 11, 2013

Thursday, November 15, 2012

More Ideas for portraits...

So new Ideas- Here's my original list:
1. There's a great clearing at the local park, I could take several down there, although it may not be the safest- the ground is really slippery there.
2. I'll probably take them right after school while it's still light out, since it's a woody area it will already be gloomy enough to have the darker affect I like.
3. I like the alter-ego idea that my teacher had, but I'm not sure which ego I'd use, I have several...4. I'd like to take a picture of my self drawing or painting, when I'm not using photography those are my favorite mediums.6. I think I'll try a long distance one in the park with my tripod, I haven't used it very much yet, and I'd like to use the whole landscape :)7. There's another park with some really great benches not too far from my house, I think I'll walk down there while it's still cold out, I kinda wish it would snow for thanksgiving.

Here's some more ideas of mine:
8. I'll take a picture of myself, and then make it into a clay model, then I'll take a picture of myself above it.
9. Ghosts, I love to play with the timing, so I'll expose the shutter for 2 minutes- in the dark so the photo isn't too exposed. I'll move around halfway through the photo so I'm with myself.
10. I'll take four pictures of myself, making faces meaning different emotions.
11. Distance, close up then faraway
12. I love texture... So acrylic maybe? I can paint my face with different colors to see what texture comes out.
13. I have some leftover halloween makeup, I can paint half of my face so it looks like a different person.
14. Back drops and lighting, I can make a white and a black canvas, and I have some candles.
15. Clothing, I have a lot of different clothes, so different people except in the same place-and all me.

That's all for now, so I guess I have some work to do over break!

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Ideas for self portrait

Here is what I am doing today:1. Read through the Self-Portrait post below. (10+ minutes)2. Peruse the list of "Fave Photogs" in the column on the left of the home blog. What you are looking for are photographers and/or photographs that have something that catches your artistic eye; something that inspires you. It could be how it is lit, composed, the atmosphere or feeling of the image. This will be a place for you to start your brainstorm of a list of ideas to take into your week off for Thanksgiving.3. Begin your BRAINSTORM FOR SELF-PORTRAIT ideas. Where will you take the photos? What time of day? What do you want to "say" about yourself with your photos? Who are you, and how will that be portrayed in the photographs? What props might you use to express yourself? I want you to have a LIST of 30+ ideas of "how, where, when, and why" for the photographs you will make of yourself over Thanksgiving break. 4. In an email to me - DURING THE CLASS PERIOD - I want you to list the following:a. TEN photo ideas you will make next week.b. Three photographers you looked at from the list, and what images you liked of them (attach the images or a link to them in the email.c. WHY you liked their photographs.

Ideas???- I have a few:
1. There's a great clearing at the local park, I could take several down there, although it may not be the safest- the ground is really slippery there.
2. I'll probably take them right after school while it's still light out, since it's a woody area it will already be gloomy enough to have the darker affect I like.
3. I like the alter-ego idea that my teacher had, but I'm not sure which ego I'd use, I have several...
4. I'd like to take a picture of my self drawing or painting, when I'm not using photography those are my favorite mediums.
6. I think I'll try a long distance one in the park with my tripod, I haven't used it very much yet, and I'd like to use the whole landscape :)
7. There's another park with some really great benches not too far from my house, I think I'll walk down there while it's still cold out, I kinda wish it would snow for thanksgiving.
8.
9.
10.

It looks like I have some more thoughts to put into this ^_^

Here's the galleries I looked at as well:
http://www.vanjakaras.com/gallery10.html
http://borealcollective.com/projects/gundlock/
http://www.yolamonakhov.com/index.php?page=projects&project=For%20Beasts%20and%20Birds&projID=98#2

I really loved the photographers use of the land around them, and the colors they incorporated into their pictures. You can see they travel a lot and find new interesting places to see, to photograph, it's very inspiring.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Portraits

We started photographing and editing portraits for class this time around- I've been having a lot of fun with this so I hope you enjoy the pictures. Feel free to comment and critique!
I'll be updating it soon!
Crossprocessed

Black and white, I wanted the eyes to stand out.

Cross Processed

Black and White

Cyanotype 

Black and White