supei's Digi-ImagingXperience

As said, that I would be doing another retake for assignment 1 and display the changes made to assignment 5 and final project; and to display my retakes for several other pieces along the way... so here you go, my final pieces according to assignment sequence (excluding cnm action shots):

After the actual shoots, I decided to change the way I portray my concepts and concentrate specifically on objectifying the male bodies the very same way the patriarchal society objectifies the female bodies, and how daily objects are very much masculine. Decided to keep my background empty instead of having scenarios such as the kitchen, to keep my focus on the body and the daily objects.

P.S: Special thanks for my dearest friend, who prefers to be anonymous, for helping me with my project!

So here are the photos and description:

The following series named - an eye for an eye, aim to objectify the men's body, the same way the patriarchal society objectifies and supresses women. The Obscura marks the first of the series, portraying how daily objects such as the television is mascular. Additionally, of course, the television program itself is mascular. Subsequent portraitures also focus on how daily objects can be very masculine and are representative of what is being stereotyped as male (not female). However, when playing with stereotypes, one inevitably reinforces the patriarchal dominant ideologies. Thus, the series ends with a piece named De-construction, in which the very tool used to capture all these images are in itself masculine.

Emphasizing on how the TV and the program are masculine, on how media is very selective that they only portray certain things and not others in a way that supported the patriarchal norms, as such, the image of the program is exaggerated to be the male model himself, suggesting also some kind of narcissism.

The Phallus

Emphasizing on stereotypes of men, and thus the phallus being the first in the row after the broader social context of the media. Using daily object - the phone to represent the phallus...

The Mechanics
Emphasizing on the stereotype of men that they are good with mechanics, with watch representing mechanization

The Brawn
Emphasizing on the stereotype of men that they are physically strong, with fork and knife representing physical strength, playing with associated representation of eating and cutting meat/beef with the utensils

The Solution
Emphasizing on the stereotype of men that they are rational, with the key being the solution to things and hence logic and solutions

De-Construction
By playing with stereotypes, I am also emphasizing on what is typical of females, especially in association with females being emotional (opposite of rationality), bad at mechanics, physically weak etc. Thus, also inevitably reproducing patriarchal norms. To de-construct what I am doing, hence the title of the last piece and capture the tool I use to capture the images into the image itself as part of de-construction.

Class Critique:
- The first photo with the TV seems to be brighter than other objects i the subsequent, perhaps need to adjust the brightness and contrast
- Some of the objects has some tinge of colors/saturation, adjust the rest to match
- Cover the face for the Brawn photo, as the rest the face is also covered
- Also, the knife don't look like a knife, use steak knife with the teeth that could be seen clearly
- The Brawn photo seem to more heavy on the right

Hence, with the critique changes are made to specifically The Obscura and The Brawn. Look out the final pieces in the last blog entry!

What are the ways readers can judge the credibility of an image even in this era of digital manipulation?

- Examine the image by oneself, to check if it has been manipulated
- Google to around to see if there are other versions around, so as to check on hints or possibly of imposition
- Google on the photographer/creator to check on his/her reputation
- Even in the case of photojournalism, images used by credible newspaper/news site, never believe images fully, viewer discretion is always needed

Imagine yourself as a reader representative for a newspaper. What would you tell a reader who complained to you about a picture of a car wreck that was particularly upsetting?

- Apologize that the image made him/her feel that way
- Not intentional to make readers feel disturbed
- Would inform reader from deontological ethics viewpoint
- That it is the duty of the reporter/ newspaper/ editor to report and show the readers what had happened
- Photo choose on a basis that would portray the story the best
- And from utilitarian and ethical altruism viewpoint that it would at the same time serve as a good reminder to others/majority to drive carefully

General comments on Biennale 2008:
- Works are stunning and impressive
- Strongly evoked the feeling of awe especially McCall Anthony's Between You And I ('solid' light piece)
- Impressed by how the works are being presented, the installation, the design of the interior / space to help contribute to the feeling of awe, impressiveness
- Really made me wonder how they were built because of the huge installation especially the architecture, Containart Pavilion, that house the exhibitions
- Amazed by things I never seen of
- An eye opener
- Breathtaking exhibits, with personal favorite piece being Op De Beek, Hans' Location (winter piece)

Successful piece:
McCall Anthony's Between You And I
Anthony's work is a critique of the space of cinema and arguably, conventional cinema/film where it is a passive activity, involving the audiences as only mere onlookers. Thus, he attempts to create film as active by providing opportunities for the audience to interact with film through using 'solid light' film. That is, "a film projection of a line of light given physicality by the haze between the projector and the screen" (Biennale, 2008). His installation is purely a "visceral encounter" where he aims to manipulate the physical experience in terms of audiences' sense of space, bodily experience to evoke emotions.

I was indeed extremely awe by his work even just by stepping into the walkway of the installation. Because it was so dark in the front and I could only feel the light behind move away from me as in proceed into the darkness. I was alone so I was extremely scared, and the moment I got to the end and look into the architectural space, I shocked and amazed by what I saw:

It was still extremely dark and the only sources of light are the two from the ceiling. It was freaking scary to step inside especially when you are alone. The sense of place is lost because of the darkness, you will feel as if the space is infinite. I was indeed sublimed by it. Standing under the light made me feel that the only thing that exists and feels real and is the space around the light and the only interaction one can have is with the light. Yet on the contrary, at the same time I can feel an infinite space outside but the existence is empty and not real if you know what I mean. Haha. And most importantly, because logically you know there is a finite space and not infinite, so the brains and the bodily experience is a complete mismatch. Truly a visceral ride I would say. It gave me goose pimples... And thus, I would say that it is extremely successful in evoking the feelings it want to onto the audiences.












Not-so-successful piece:
Alfredo Juan & Maria Isabel, Aquilizan's Flight
The Aquilizan's work is supposedly a portrayal of "community, reintegration, compassion & collective goals" (Biennale, 2008). Through the installation of thousands of slippers on bamboo poles, walking through the installation is supposedly akin to going through a school of fish because of the shapes of the slippers.

School of fish? More like a forest of bamboos I would say. It was mainly because of the supposed fish being way too high way to feel you are going through a school of fishes. And I would say that the number of bamboos and slippers are extremely impressive BUT when one enter the central promontory site the eye catching focus was on the huge container architecture instead of the 'Flight'. And most importantly, more than half of the bamboos were blocked by the architecture. It was only when I was reading at the description did I realized that there are much more at the back. It's really a pity. And arguably, the sense of "community, reintegration, compassion & collective goals" is only true if one reads the background of the installation, for the slippers are from the prisoners and the installation is put up by the yellow ribbon, if otherwise, one would not comprehend the feeling of "community, reintegration, compassion & collective goals" at all. Thus, it seems to me that the installation is not as successful in terms of it not considering the space and environment around it i.e. presence of the container building.








Comments on presentation methods:
Despite the disappointing installation of the 'Flight', the presentation of the installations were stunning on the whole. The installations inside the 'Containart Pavilion' is well thought out as each installation is given their private close up space, and within in each space for installation the space is in itself carefully planned. For instance the piece on 'Manas (Utopian City)', the wooden artwork is circular in shape and impressively, the whole architectural space was circular too and in 'layers' in the sense that at the very first door one have to walk through a circular walkway to see the first set of artwork, and the main artwork is at the core. In order words it's like a labyrinth, just much simplier. Likewise as mentioned earlier, 'Between You And I' also made great use of archaeology to aid in its display. Additionally, the use of space in terms of height by the piece really enlarged the size of space, already in itself subliming the audiences. Lastly, my favorite piece, 'Location', was created with a long tunnel, as if entering into another world and indeed, I entered into a snowy palace and experience the sight of snow. A pity though, that it did not feel like snow...

So excited about the final project because I get to do montage again. Realised that I actually like to manipulate photos to bring out my ideas and concepts than doing straight photography. Guess straight photography is so much harder. It requires great knowledge on where to take what kind of photos that is intended, and one can really just station there for ages for the right weather, right opportunity and timing. Not quite an expert that I could convey my concepts and ideas just by mere straight photography. Shall train and practice more though. But for final project I guess I should still do what I like best and that best represent me and my style.

Theme: Look into the ordinary
Concept: Feminism
Ideas:

- Daily objects such as TV, TV program, knives being masculine
- Superimpose the objects onto male/female bodies, putting emphasis on the objects and the body parts
- Objectify the body parts like what commercials does, also critiquing on how media is objectifying people and reinforcing patriarchal norms

- Specific idea (1): superimpose TV onto full naked male body
- Specific idea (2): female in kitchen preparing food, holding the knife that is symbolic of male phallus etc.
- Specific idea (3): a pair of female legs amongst a 'forest' of male legs, with the female wearing red high heels and the male with typical black leather shoes

So here are the photoshoped version to bring in the mood:


Lonely, Solitude

- Wanted to use the footprints to signify a person walking the path alone, and thus evoke the feeling of lonely and solitude
- Used photoshop to remove the colors - black and white it, then adjusted the curves and added on a spherical black and grey gradient to give it more tones

Class Critique:
- looks nice, as if it is on cement
- feels more like progression than loneliness because of the footsteps progressing towards the viewer



Calm, Tranquil

- Chose the photo where the waves are retreating back into the sea to portray the calmness and tranquility
- Removed all the people at the background except those people under the tree, which is away from focus and thus not violate the rules for the assignment
- Enhanced the colors to make things more intense and warmer with emphasis on depth

Class Critique:
- Need to be more orange to show more warmth


Progression, Advancing

- Wanted to keep the focus on the phone booth, something that the world has forgotten about it with the invention of mobile phone
- So I remove the colors of the phonebook, signifying it degrading and forgotten
- Wanted to add like black horizontal lines to make as if it is disappearing, but didn't know how to make it look that so I just keep it like for for class

Class Critique:
- Potential photo, probably need to remove the tree
- The phonebooth doesn't look like it is black, looks out of focus

Retakes:
After the feedbacks I decided to change the concept for the lonely into progression because it does seem to fit into advancing and progression more. Then I decided to retake photos for the negative mood. So I went around to find loneliness, chaos, mess, disorder etc. And here are what I have as retakes for abandoned and mess. Look out for the edited version in blog post: final portfolio.

Weather has been very bad these few days esp over the weekend. So had to dig photos from my previous retakes for symbolic of the to see which one I can use to at least show something during the class on Monday. Managed to narrow down to 3 of them:

Idea (1): Myth of Fairy Tales
- Always had this idea that fairy tales are gothic and shouldn't be for children.
- E.g. In Snow white there is a Witch that gives Poison Apple (concept of evil-ness, death, murder), and Prince Charming Kissing Snow White (concept of romance, love, sex)
- Thought there is nothing innocent about fairy tales.
- Fairy tales is a concept that is very surrealistic in nature.
- Thus photomontage of fairy tale character i.e. red riding hood, in a urban setting (skyscrapers at the back) with dense forest/trees in the foreground. Photo manipulation of shadow that looks like a wolf. Mannequins planted like scarecrow amongst the trees to represent consumerism, capitalism...

Idea (2): The Capitalist Society
- People are like hamsters working and running on the wheel to produce energy etc.: thus photo of water wheel/flyer to represent the wheel.
- Superimposed with escalators, mannequins etc. to represent consumerism/capitalism.
- Consumers are trapped in the society: add in bird cage
- But trapped or not is a idea/matter of perception, relativism: add in concept of optial illusion, superimpose escalators in upside down manner...

After some thoughts, thought that idea 2 is more workable then 1. Can't get ideas how to present/act as red riding hood etc...

Chair by David Hockney

I thought that this style of montage is very interesting. Although the actual object is being distorted, yet one can see very clearly what the object is. It's compelling to me because I didn't know that montage could be done this way and it somehow evoke a kind of disturbed feeling. Maybe because I have the urge to rearrange the photos because it's distorted. Haha. But it provides a feeling of: there is more than meets the eye, because of the layering. One may start wondering just how many layers is involved here? But to link this to surrealism I guess color distortion is needed to strengthen the disturbed feeling and more elements to be manipulated, lets say give the pigeon at the corner of the montage 2 heads etc.












Tryptichon:
Destruction of a Hero and Construction of the Man
by Alessandro Bavari

Summarizing the story of the artwork:
This is actually a 3 part series staged photography, photomontage and manipulation work. It attempts to portray the fragility of men on one hand, and a men who can "hold a mountain on one finger" with the will to attain power, to survive and restort to the use of violence. "The symbolic statements rely entirely on body images with the concept that men's body may mirror even more than the face" that is thought to be an essential part of human biography.

http://www.alessandrobavari.com








Alessandro Bavari, 2001:

When I realized TRYPTICHON, deconstruction of a Hero and reconstruction of the Man, I painted once more a human body without face, being its absence (subrogated by the fragments of the head of a statue) not a synonymous of anonymity but the magnification of an anti-individualistic ideal, aimed to representing the man in his whole universality. In TRYPTICHON the absolute protagonist is a vital body, impetuous and vibrant, that just like a sculpture is dismembered and reassembled, becoming the allegory of the history of mankind. This body will get to temper its own exuberance transforming into a sublime and transcendental object, but at the same time fragile and unstable, in which the balance of body and soul is kept by a thin rope tied to a twig, and the balance of mind and knowledge is counter balanced by a head held in the palm of a hand, with the awareness that this will be an equilibrium forever unstable and swinging, on the edge of the infinite abyss of the eternity.



My thoughts:

I have always love morbid stuffs. Haha. So When I came across Bavari's artwork I was filled with awe. I wondered how he actually photoshoped the images to give that dramatic curves and color effects, and is impressed with the content of his work that is disturbing and morbid. To me surrealism is like his artwork. It involves the objectification of living things esp. human body parts and present them not in horrific way but in a beautiful yet very disturbing manner. Surrealism to me, is the opening up an window for imagination and presenting realistic issues in a dreamy and unrealistic way. Yet this unrealistic way provides a clear critique of reality. So yeps, I am more into veristic surrealism.

CNM NM4212 Seminar Class



Class Critique:
- Underexposed, be careful of classroom lighting
- Better if more context is added i.e. capturing the students too
- Try adjusting the curves of the image to add in depth and improve on the lighting





















Class Critique:
- Good group photo
- Informative, with lecturer in the background, shows group discussion
















Class Critique:
- Nice 3/4 profile of girl

























Class Critique:
- Informative photo (shows the context and actions)
























Newly Added:
- Found that it's a nice portrait of the girl and there is present of context etc.
- Girl looks pretty expressive too.
- Need to edit/adjust the white balance (blue-ish looking)


















Selection based on:
1) In focus
2) Context of what the class is about must be captured
3) Practical use (not to be artistic, given that the photos are to be used for brochures/publications)

Challenges/Thoughts/Lessons learnt:
1) Lighting! During the time when the shots are taken, hadn't learn about white balance. If taken into consideration, perhaps less editing is needed.
2) Finding the right moment. A need to be opportunist with FAST reaction.
3) Taking clear/in focus photos is a great challenge in classroom setting. Exceptionally high number of blur shots! Guess because of the lighting in class, the hands must be extra steady, with fast shutter speed (need adjust ISO to make sure photo is not underexposed too). Once a shot is blur, the moment may passed. Need to practice more to reduce the chances of getting blur shots.

Metering

Spot Metering

1/1250, F7.1, ISO400, 70mm

Multi-metering

1/320, F5.6, ISO320, 200mm

Center Metering

1/200, F5.6, ISO400, 300mm


Zoom

1', F18, ISO100, 35mm


1', F5.6, ISO400, 75mm


Sensor Latitude

High Key

1/60, F5.6, ISO100, 18mm

Class Critique:
- Not considered high key
- Should loose details i.e. clouds in the sky, due to (on purpose) overexposure
- Yet still be able to see the context of the photo

Low Key

1/8, F5.6, ISO400, 70mm

Class Critique:
- Not considered low key
- Not dark enough

*Note to self: high key and low key is not just about the histogram leaning on either side! It involves under/over exposing the photo.

Perspective

1/60, F3.5, ISO200, 18mm


1/60, F7.1, ISO400, 18mm


1/3200, F5.6, ISO400, 18mm

Class Critique:
- Very nice composition
- But in terms of technical aspect, there is a need to cut of more of the sky and move closer to the building to further elongate the building


Close Up

1/20, F5.6, ISO400, 300mm

Class Critique:
- 'Correct' close up photo
- Close up enough

Symbolic of the Sun

1/800, F5.6, ISO100, 140mm

Selection based on:
1) Fulfilling the technical aspect
2) Composition
3) Different angles to look at things (perspective)

Challenges/Thoughts/Lessons learnt:
1) Collecting a variety of photos. Based on previous assignment experiences, I tried to take things from different angles and attempt to have a wide variety of things. But it is super tedious having to travel around on a good (HOT) weather. Almost died!! But well it's pretty worth it. Managed to collect pretty good range of photos.
2) Zoom shots. Didn't managed to get them right till revisiting the techniques at a later stage. But after getting it, it is fun because it is using the camera to manipulate the image and lights instead of the usual photoshop-ing.
3) Concept development. This challenge is mostly referring to symbolic of the sun photo. Had been thinking of it since the assignment was released. Realised that concept is one thing and being to find and capture the image is another, in the case of straight photography.
4) High and low key shots. Had a misconception that it is all about the histogram and black/grey/white scale. Need to try out on over and underexposing things in a nice way....

Tips on high/low key photography:

http://www.photographyicon.com/highlowkey/index.html

http://books.google.com.sg/books?id=Z91nBDaZO_kC&pg=PA45&lpg=PA45&dq=elements+of+high+key+photography&source=web&ots=SQOrQ9vEDs&sig=_yv5HljQ20WhhLwgqcFW4FoJKVg&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result