Project 3

Proposal:
This series presents a persons dream for their future. Each stage in the process of actualizing this dream is split into an abstraction of the persons thoughts, coupled with a vision from the perspective of the minds eye. The first two photos show the possible goals a person might strive for, the second displays the choice of a particular dream and the effort required to reach it. The final photo represents the achievement of that dream.

Evaluation:

The first two photos are heavily dominated by the diagonal road heading to the right and over the rise, this road, and it counter part in the abstract, represent the easy and most frequently choose option. Similar to the process of solving a puzzle the mind often jumps back to the obvious, but incorrect, method of solving it.

The second set of photos shows a choice that may not have been easily seen in the first photo, its on the left, a choice that is harder and less curtain, as shown by the fact that its stairs, rather than a nice road, and  by the obstacles the trees and their shadows represent. The sense of progress and purpose it emphasized in the layering of the abstract view, both in terms of color but in intensity; The lower band shows where the viewers thoughts were to begin with, thoughts that a now fading, the middle band shows thoughts that have become clearer with progress. Lastly the top band shows the destination, how his thoughts will be when it all makes sense.

The final pair of photos show the embodiment of the goal, within reach and clear of obstacles. Both the imagined and the abstract share a similar shape, linking his thoughts more strongly with this goal. The lower area of the imagined photo is smooth, to show that nothing is blocking the viewer from the goal, but the back ground is still busy and full of more twists and turns. This hints that even in success we should not stay still an settle for what we have achieved. The abstract also hints at potential by the repetition of the tree symbolization, because the viewer, having now achieved the goal, is able to leverage it for far more value that it could be on its own.

Project 2

Proposal:
Life; In the early years of our lives, the future seems a distant place,the worries of today something we can leave for time.Snow symbolizes this innocence and, as each image rises higher it represents the growth of a young child. This period is magical; no limits exist in a persons ability to imagine where they might end up. Following this time a plateau is reached and we live out our middle ages. Finally when all the snow has melted, in old age, we look around us on what we did and did not do, who we are and who we wished to be. Then far to suddenly life is over and the story ends.

Evaluation:
Initial imaginings of cool stop motion animations or vivid photos of frozen time ment I spent most of my time on this project realizing what I could not do, rather than doing what I could. In the end photos of the aftermath of hurricane Katrina gave me a sense of time within a simple photograph. From here I photographed churches, attempting to capture objects which had endured time. Funnily enough churches, unlike in the movies, are not open during the weekdays. At this point I went back over the photographs I had taken to look for any common strands, finding the photos I took as a climbed a path overlooking wellington during the snowstorm. The surreal nature of these shots caused me to think of the use of the path as a metaphor for our lives. The last two images rounded out the series, providing contrast and a more concrete link to later stages of life. The 'old age' photo was interesting as I wanted it to not only be higher than all the previous photos but also to feature a large amount of water separating the viewer from the other side, to represent the gap that exists between generations. The 4/3 split also felt natural, the early years are often the most fast passed, while
middle and old age, and death, are the longest and therefore sit alone on a slide.

Contact Sheets for Light project.

Thoughts on Proposal.

I have been trying to more strongly tie the proposal/photos that I have back to the subject of light.

My first thought was to present the B&W photos from my previous post from the view of a child vs that of an adult, IE:

Child 

Vs

Adult

Representing the constant wonder and delight of a child in the bright hight contrast photo vs the wide and more realist view of an adult.

Secondly I tried to blend the 'childs' view with some of the abstract longer exposure photos, the result did not turn out to well. 

Examples of long exposure photos:

Precendent

Michael Kenna

I very much enjoyed this photographers gallery, the style of these photos tie into the look I was trying for, although I hope to give my photos a more sinister slant.

The B&W effect is quite nice, I may completely convert my photos this way instead of just reducing the saturation. I am hoping it will help bump up the overall contrast.

Here are some of his photographs I liked the style of:

Noir recoloring...

On seconds thoughts I might have over darkened them... Here is one a little bit brighter, bringing out detail, but still dark enough to fit with the rest of the set.

Here are some B&W conversions done w.r.t. Michael Kenna's style.

Noir continued.

Had a nice overcast day so used this to get take some shots which I edited so to get a night-time effect (darkened and lowered saturation). Here is the best of this set.