Assignment 06

Our last assignment is on Conceptual Portraiture. I was really looking forward to this assignment so much because we get to express our creativity through abstract concepts on the theme, "Looking into the Ordinary". I've always like the idea of how different interpretations can come from a single picture.

For this assignment, i have decided to do on the "7 Deadly Sins". I vividly remembered watching e show "Se7en" acted by Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman and was intrigued by it. The plot was about how a serial killer performed his murders which were inspired by the seven deadly sins. Ever since the show i got very fascinated with the theme.

To that i decided to do a totally different approach on this theme since we are expected to do conceptual photography. My thought process goes along innocence vs sinned so i decided to show this using colours. I planned for the person to be wearing white to represent the state of innocence and purity. For the "sins" i have decided to use coloured cloth wrapped and twined strategically around the model to "taint" the clean state of a person.














~WRATH~
Whenever one gets angry, it can sometimes be overwhelming. When anger consumes you, you get out of control.











~SLOTH~
A feeling of laziness and unwillingness, a sense of dependence to one's surrounding. An unmotivated effort to get by with life.














~LUST~
As one succumbs to the seduction of lust and desire, one gets obsessed and gets hooked to the sexual compulsions. And when it gets too intense, eventually the obsession is fatal.














~GLUTTONY~
Over-consumption and over-indulgence will eventually cause one to gag and choke due to the loss of self control over food and wasting excessively.














~AVARICE~
In the search of wealth, it seems to be never enough. One has more than enough and yet always inthe state of wanting more.











~PRIDE~
Always in the state to flaunt one's power, beauty or strength, one gets hazy in the mind and is filled with pretention.











~ENVY~
Blinded by jealousy, one would resent another and hopes to get whateve one is lacking.

Assignment 05

This assignment required us to take pictures to depict different adjectives. However we are constrained by not using human expressions. It seems very challenging as the words are closely related to expressions. Here's my take on this assignment.












"Organised Mess"
(Mess)

: this shot was taken during the Biennale. it was an intriguing installation. what attracted me to this work was that despite the mess it is in it was actually arranged neatly in blocks. it is indeed a good paradox. :












"A Long Way Ahead"
(Gloomy)

: this was taken on a rainy day along a road towards Seletar Airport. it was a long way in and it seems depressing, what more with such a weather. so i decided to capture this moment and put it as my gloomy shot. :












"Aftermath"
(Chaos)

: took this at the Old Changi Hospital. i decided to capture this to show a kind of aftermath of a war. this setting seems to show the debris of a chaotic event. :












"Orphaned"
(Abandoned)

: my niece left her tricycle after she was playing at the void deck. and i happened to have my camera with me so i decided to depict this as abandoned. :

Assignment (Reading Images)

For this week, we were taught about reading images and the different aspects of photography. Issues about aesthetic intention were covered and we were exposed to different genres in photography and also the formal elements like angle of view, framing/composition and texture to name a few. Also we were taught about using flash in photography.

The blog assignment for this week required us to select an image from a publication and analyse it in terms of how it will be perceived and apply what we learnt for the analysis.

I have decided to look into the works of Ami Vitale who can be considered a social documentor. Her photographs were taken as she went through the experience of that particular culture/context. She decided to capture shots to tell her stories, believing that there's more to a photograph than just seeing the surface itself.

This picture was taken in Kashmir after two wars were being fought. This place was once a popular tourist attraction but has then turned into a danger zone after the wars were fought, with another one expected to approach. What i like about this photograph is that despite the violence that the place has went through (and another round to come), the photograph shows a sense of peace and hope for the war to be over. The photograph was taken in a mosque with two men praying. on the surface, one might see that it is just a religious ritual being carried out, but beneath it, as we know the context that this photograph was taken, there is a stronger sense of association and sentiments for the attainment of peace. the light that is shining through the window seems to represent a sense of hope given to the men. This picture is very compelling as the focus seem to be on the two men in the desperation for peace for the country and at the same time within themselves. The contrast between the dark and lighted parts of the room accentuates the feel of the photo.

Her other wonderful works can be found at this website:
http://www.amivitale.com/

Assignment 04 (Blog Assignment)

The Butcher Bunny


Mark Ryden's works never fail to intrigue me. His interpretation of Surrealism takes a turn from the usually-dark Surrealist pieces. I like how he uses cartoon-like illustrations and at the same time injects a certain kind of warped aura into his works.

What I like about this painting is that it might seem like one which portrays a certain kind of innocent child-like painting. But at a closer look you can see that there are surprising elements being brought in. Like how the "cute" bunny is cutting up the meat with a saw. Also the midget actually representing Abe Lincoln.

The commendable part of his works are that there are underlying meanings. He makes use of odd elements to get his audiences out of their comfort zone like the slabs of meat and softcore gore and yet at the same time uses cultural elements like Abe Lincoln to set a familiarity, but bringing it into a different situation.

I truly find his works very inspiring! For more of his works you can view them at this website.
http://www.markryden.com.

Assignment 02

Assignment 2A

For this assignment we went through the exposure triangle, covering the aspects of shallow and deep depth of field and motion blur and freeze action. Here's what i have captured for this assignment.










"Tweet"
(Shallow Depth)









"When I Grow Up"
(Deep Depth)










"Childhood"
(Motion Blur)










"Quake"
(Freeze Action)




Assignment 2B

For this assignment, we are supposed to capture moments of our department in action. We are given the task to take photographs of an ongoing tutorial. Here's a few of those photographs. This tutorial class was Mrs Mary Lee's.

Assignment 04

Frankly speaking I was very excited about this assignment because the theme is very interesting. Looking at the past works of Surrealism I feel a sense of mystery and awe as every artist portrays a different kind of concept within this theme.

However as I was planning for this assignment, I was overwhelmed over what kind of surrealism to refer to as a guide. There are too many styles to go by and I was kind of lost as to which to work on. After looking through and seriously considering i have decided to look at the styles used in Pop Surrealism (since i've always been a fan of Pop Art).

My initial idea was to do on the subject of the Singapore landscape as a circus. The idea was to make the Esplanade as the shoes of an enormous clown, the Flyer as a unicycle, the Merlion as a fire breather and the Esplanade outdoor performance area as a trampoline. So I went there and took pictures. Little did I know that I underestimated the power of superimposing on Photoshop and I had difficulty in doing a wide landscape picture that consists of all these landmarks.

Another problem occurred. My friend listened to my idea and commented whether it was ok for me to actually do that on the national landmarks. I was pondering over it and I wondered if it was any form of disrespect in any way. Maybe I was just thinking too much. But to play on the safe side I decided to do on another topic.

So back to the drawing board. I was having trouble to come up with something with regards to the theme, ie Urban Phenomena/ Urban Fantasy. Then it occurred to me when I was studying for my mid term test, that it would be good if I could just like extract all the information from the textbook and would not need to wreck my brains out. Ah! Inspiration. So there it was. My take on this assignment is to portray my fantasy of acquiring information easily. I decided to also take on other aspects of knowledge which are relevant such as creativity and imagination.

1. Information at your fingertips. (Literally.)

2. Creative juices. So I was thinking along the lines of a mouth sipping the “juice”. In this aspect creativity is represented by visual art and performing arts.

3. Unlock your imagination. So I used a keyhole to show imagination being “unlocked” and gushing through the keyhole.

Will be uploading the pics soon! Cause it's already late and I've used TONS of photographs for this assignment.

My first attempt:













I have always like how Pop Art uses a lot of colours. However in Pop Surrealism it seems to use more dynamic and contrasting colours. I want to do something different because it seems that Surrealism seems dark and a bit boring in terms of colour composition.

Waiting for critiques during tutorial!

***Updates!!

Critiques: That the composition seems a bit weird, a bit lopsided. And that it is done towards a different direction. Taking into account other comments i have decided to change the whole layout of the picture. Here's a re-work on my surrealism assignment.

i have decided to do a symmetrical layout instead. i have also changed the size and colour of my "brain". the mouth that is sucking the creative juices was also changed to make it more apparent and amplify the effect. other than that the rest of the elements were kept the same.









Here are the main pictures that make up the photomontage.

Assignment 03

Prior to this assignment, we have learnt about focal length and sensor latitude. We were expected to take shots to capture the concept of perspective, zoom shot and close-up for the focal length and high key and low key under sensor latitude.

Here are my choice shots for this assignment.










"The Sky's the Limit"
(Perspective Shot)

: i like this shot because it shows the gradual change in size of the building as our eyes ascend, which i feel encapsulates the feel of perspective. at the same time it also shows that the sky is limitless, showing another kind of perspective to the shot. :










"Nightlife"
(Zoom shot)

: i was lucky to get this perfect (at least to me) shot of the lights of city landscape. i didn't expect to get this effect initially but i think this technique has a really cool touch to it. :














"Looking Down"
(Close Up)

: my mom was shelling some prawns to cook so i was thought it would be a shot to take a close up of prawns. had a bit of difficulty with the lights but managed to get a decent shot out of it. :
















"Heaven"
(High Key)

: took this picture while roaming around Haji Lane. saw this candle holder and i thought that the melting effect of candles is nice. :











"Mystique"
(Low Key)

: took this while waiting for my friend getting his hair cut. the hair salon had this nice crystal chandelier so decided to take it. little did i expect that i got a nice low key picture out of it. :











"Sunrise"
(Symbolic of the Sun)

: this egg was supposed to be a victim of my tummy but decided to take it before eating it. sunday morning and the sun was good. and what a good was to symbolise it as the sun. :

Assignment 01

This is our first assignment for this module. Our task is to go around campus and capture images of the different elements that we have learnt during lecture; line, shape, texture, form and colour.


LINES








Spikes
Location : Near AS7


SHAPE

Gears
Location : Bazaar@NUSForum


FORM








Cubes
Location : NUSForum


TEXTURE

Bark
Location : Near AS7


COLOUR








Tees
Location : Bazaar@NUSForum

Comments on Photography

WORLD PRESS PHOTOS

>Fang Qianhua, China, Nangfang Dushi Daily/Southern Metropolis Daily.

I actually like this photograph because it is simple and yet there is an element of quirkiness to it. The asymmetrical shape of the leaf is what makes it interesting. At first when i saw the thumbnail, i thought it was the profile of a cockatoo. The hole on the leaf was perceived to be its eye. Although it is just a simple subject, i feel that the photographer has turned it into a very interesting photo.

>Ivaylo Velev, Bulgaria, Bul X Vision Photography Agency.

This photo is very well composed. The photographer has captured the essence of the sport itself - a sense of adrenalin rush and peril. This would be a very difficult photograph to capture because the skier is going on a very fast speed as the avalanche is catching up with him. The lines made by the avalanche makes the photograph interesting as well. A well taken photograph.

Digital Camera Photographer of the Year 2007 winners

Artery
Patrick Campbell USA

This is a very interesting photo as there is an interplay between shapes and lines. The buildings at the sides give a feeling of rigidity and yet the lighted roads give a fluidity to the photo. A good contrast is captured in this photo.


White Tiger
Sergey Bidun USA

When i saw this picture the first thing that i wondered was whether the photographer is still alive. This picture is really well composed with the harmony of colours and the flow of the picture well captured. The intensity in the tiger's face makes this photograph memorable.