Hidden Identities

For this assignment, the technique I used is referred to as "painting with light". When I first heard of this expression, I didn't know what that definition entailed, for I had never seen an example of the technque, nor had I ever tried it. However, when I discovered what the technique was and how to accomplish it, I was thrilled to try it out. I needed some sort of a light source that, if executed properly, would work the same way as a paint brush would in a painting. I used the flash of a cellphone to successfully "paint with light". For the first photo, as you can see, I "painted" the addition of the pitchfork and horns onto my subject to symbolize a devil. I achieved the red hue of the pitchfork by covering the flash with my finger so the light had to travel through my finger in order to be captured by the camera, which then successfully transformed from white light to red, which added an ideal component to a devil. I then released my finger off the light source to "paint" the horns, so the full light could be captured by the camera. I also did this because, by letting the full light source be shown, it becomes a larger "stroke", which casted a slight shadow or blur on the person's face so that the person wasn't the subject of the photo, but the actual devil figure was. For the second photograph, I "painted on" wings and a halo to my model to represent an angel. As I did for the horns in the devil photograph, I allowed the full light source to be flashed onto the camera, in order to achieve the bright and powerful look I wanted for this photograph. My inspiration and motive for these photographs was "hidden identities"; in other words, what kind of person someone really is. I am fascinated by human emotions, passions, actions and histories, which is what derived my inspiration for these photographs. If only in real life you could turn out the lights and have it be this obvious to the human eye whether someone truly is a bad person (devil), or a good person (angel).  For my photographs, I used a Canon Rebel T2i with an 18-55 mm lens, a shutter speed of 15 seconds, and an aperture of f22.

Just some harmless Renaissance mocking... Did you find it shocking?

Lavinia Fontana (August 24, 1552 – August 11, 1614) was an Italian painter, with a long 40 year career, which was especially legendary for a women in the Renaissance era. This oil on canvas painting of hers, called "Portrait of a Noblewoman", was created in 1580 and is now featured in the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC. What I found interesting about this painting was the complexity, elaborate detail, and drama in her dress contrasted with her simple, boring expression. I found it quite amusing that this portrait was supposed to showcase the women's status, class, and power, yet she seemed lost and frankly quite bored and absent-minded in this painting. I decided to pursue this contrast even further and have a little fun with it. I explored the humour and irony in differentiating the person's dull and boring facial expression in the original photo to the strange, vibrant, funny, "out-there" facial expression of the photo-shopped version on the right. My purpose in doing this was to initiate the surprise factor amongst the people viewing this, as well as give them a little laugh. I shot my photo with a Canon Rebel T2i with an 18-55 mm lens, on a shutter speed of 1/60 of a second, and an aperture of f8. I used the various tools available on Adobe photoshop to crop in my photo to the original, and make it appear as real and authentic as possible.

My Name Created by a Dozen Different Objects

For this assignment in grade 11 photography, our task was to take photographs with a digital SLR camera and re-create our names in a banner using letters that wouldn't normally be perceived as that letter. We had to use our imaginations for each image we shot in order to grasp this assignment and execute it successfully and creatively. 

I believe the purpose of this assignment was not just to take pictures and throw them together in order to create our names. I believe that the goal of this assignment was to exercise our minds and use our brains and eyes more actively and precisely than we would on a normal-day basis. Normally we wouldn't look at our school's outside bleachers and see the letter "T", or observe a wheelchair sign in a parking lot and spot the letter "G". Nor would we go to unlock a closet door and grab the handle and say, "hey look, the letter 'i'!" I believe that perception is everything; the way you look at something is always different than the way a someone else looks at that same thing. When you challenge yourself in this way, afterwards you tend to observe the world differently, and appreciate everything in a new light. 

I shot these photos with a Canon Rebel T2i with an 18-55 mm lens at an aperture of f16 and a shutter speed of 1/100 seconds. I found this assignment very challenging, but at the same time I also found it rewarding and exciting. I now grasp a better understanding of my camera and its capabilities, as well as how to use lighting and camera functions more effectively when taking my photos.  Thank you for taking the time to read my blog!

Fortune Cookie Assignment Inspiration

For our first assignment, we were given a fortune cookie and assigned to take a variety of pictures relating to the fortune inside. For my first blog post, I chose a picture that clearly related to fortunes and fortune cookies. However, what drew me to this picture was the beautiful quote in the fortune cookie as well as the pretty watercolour painting it is sitting upon.

Respect everyone's opinion. While you're looking at the sky on the top of a hill, someone else may be looking at that same sky from the bottom of a well... perspective is everything.