Uncategorized

Self-defined Project

Skyler

Title: Finals are coming

weeks before finals

 

a week before finals

 

5 days before finals

 

4 days before finals

 

 

3 days before finals

 

2 days before finals

 

1 day left

 

5 hours left 

 

This assignment is more of storytelling with foods.  I feel the foods we eat can represents our mood at that moment.  Some people will only eat a lot when they are happy, others will eat them out of  frustration, when you are relaxed and carefree, you might want some afternoon tea and a little cake,  when you are under pressure and really busy, you might not have the time nor the mood to eat anything.  This series not only tells the moods as finals are coming, but it also underline another problem, perhaps a psychological one.  Procrastination has always been a problem for me since high school,  a lot of my friends also share this issue, this problem become serious during finals.  Quality of living also decreases as we approaches finals, just like the decrease in hours of sleep, we might get less amount and less nutritious foods as well, especially when there is only 1 day left, people might eat unhealthy food and not getting any sleep at all, with this example, I have instant noodle and a sweet potato, where I made the instant noodle blueish and potato black and white to represent the mood.  The title “Finals are coming” is inspired from the recently popular TV show Game of Thrones, in which winter was like a monster approaching the northerners , to many students, finals are like the winter.

The assignment was inspired mainly from a documentary/TV series “A bite of China” as it was my first time seeing a documentary about all kinds of food.  The documentary is about history of eating and cooking, I guess the travelling part of the documentary was even more interesting to me, maybe that’s for another future project.

 

 

Altered Perception

Skyler

Cotard’s syndrome:  This rare mental illness makes people think that they are dead and only their spirit is alive.

 

 

 

 

 

Alien hand syndrome:  Some people believe their hand does not belong to them, losing control.

 

 

 

 

 

Duane Michals Short Assignment

Skyler

After I watched “The Man who Invented Himself”, the strongest impression the documentary gave me was how much energy Duane Michals has, considering how old he was, I got really inspired as I feel I wont have half of his energy by the time I am at his age.   I think it is also why he has a lot of great works.  Him being gay seemed to have shaped his whole life, while being rejected by the norm and the church, he is more interested in nature, philosophy and expressing himself, as he said in the documentary that he was attracted to nature and Buddhism, both the mother nature and Buddhism would not reject him.   Reflections are very interesting because they symbolize different sides of mankind, no individual is purely good or purely evil.  Toward the later half of the documentary, the focus was more on death and desires, the message I got is that as his various desires still remain within him, but his time is running out and he started to reflect on his past memories, which inspired me, because it makes me feel our life is too short, we should live to its fullest.

Portrait Assignment

Skyler

 

Color Portrait :

 Richard

 

 Elizabeth

 

Portrait:

 

 

Strangers:

 

 

 

 

  Vaidik & Ria

 

 

 

people I know:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Self Portrait:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reflection:

I have learned that a lot of times its better to not disrupt the people you are trying to take a picture of because its very easy to lose the natural information of the subject, like original facial expressions and actions,  maybe ask permission after the shots, if they dont want to be in the camera, you can always delete the pictures. You dont have to include people’s face sometimes, if you do, its better to focus on their eyes.  Composition is also very important in portrait, personally I feel face alone is not very interesting  since there is not a lot information besides their facial features, thus, I prefer more content than just a face, well, unless there is information on the face that is able to tell a story, for example, a scar or a tattoo.  For self-portrait, proper equipment is very important, otherwise, a delayed capture is difficult to control, you would need the perfect timing and good framing for it to work.  A remote controller solves the timing problem, but framing is still difficult.  Newer cameras with built-in wifi would be great, since it can connects to your phone, therefor, you can have a remote viewfinder and remote shutter control.

Still life

Skyler

 lowest ISO

f/2.8  1/800 s     ISO 50

 

highest ISO

f/22 1/4000 s   ISO 25600

 slow shutter speed

f22

0.80 s  ISO 50

high shutter speed

f2.8  1/160 s  ISO 50

 

incorrect white bal

 incorrect white bal

correct white bal

f/2.8  1/200 s   iso 100

 

 Straight angle

f/2.8 1/25s   ISO 50

 different angle

shallow depth of field f/2.8

deep depth of field f /22

 

 correct exposure

f2.8  1/250 s ISO 500

 

 

 under exposure

f2.8 1/800 s  ISO 500

 

 

 over exposure

f2.8  1/20 s  ISO 500

 

Series:  Human interference in nature

 

scared cactus

 overgrown machine

 

 Big Machine is watching you

 

imprisoned

Lost

 Dead or Alive