Nothing in this world lasts forever. My work consists of childhood objects placed in natural preservatives, one being ice and the other salt. This is to represent the idea of them being preserved in time. The first photo consists of the objects freshly placed in the preservative and the second is after the process has started. Through my photographs, I encourage others to think back to the items of their childhood that were of significance and recall the memories that they made from them.
Adjectives.
We were asked to come up with a set of adjectives that describes our work. I went to my friends for help and asked them to describe my artwork with one adjective. The adjectives that repeated came up was curious, playful, precise, strange, calculated, elegant, busy, and gross.
after critique
We had gone through the mid term and the imput I had recieved was positive. One thing different was seeing art tutorials 1,2, and 3 and it was interesting to see the other students work as well. one suggestion was to try ro wait longer of a time to photograph my objects to better show the passsage of time. Another thing recommended to me was the idea of printing and displaying my photos in a small format. I am a bit torn between wanting to go large because of the amount of detail in them and the size of the objects.
critique
Nothing in this world lasts forever. My work consists of childhood objects suspended in ice to represent the idea of them being frozen in time. The first photo consisting of the objects newly frozen and the second is after the ice has begun to melt. Through my photographs, I encourage others to think back to the items of their childhood that were of significance and recall the memories that they made from them.
New Photos
This time Over the weekend I decided to freeze two objects in two different containers. After discussing it in class I decided to try to freeze one of the teddy bears I make and not just the dance shoes. It’s definitely a good choice and I’m glad I decided to go through with it as it does go along with the theme of my work.
Below are the images of my process.
New images
Over the weekend I created more photographs. I once considered doll parts but I was afraid of it my images taking up a macabre direction. This time I photographed a dolls dress. Like before I am finalizing out my images by having them in pairs. One with The Ice still firstly frozen and the second is when the ice starts to melt.
Because the process is so important in my work I take photos also each time of my set up and decided it was important to show documentation of how the images are composed.
square images
One creative choice I have decided to make is to make the images square as well. It is something different considering most of the time images are normally rectangular. I think this is also good idea because it also reflects the shape of the container I use to create my photos.
Artist statement-draft
Nothing in this world lasts forever. In my work, I photograph objects that have played an important role in my youth and suspend them in ice representative of being frozen in time. Through my photographs, I encourage others to think about the items from their past that were important and feel a sense of nostalgia
progress
Since I was not entirely happy with the first round of images I created. This time I decided to reshoot them. I am using live flowers instead of dried flowers. The results are far better than the first time. Unlike the dried flowers, the live ones did not bleed and caused the water to become discolored. This makes it better for me since unlike before I won’t have to try to remove any unwanted hues. Here are two sets of photographs that I picked out and edited. (I’m more satisfied with the first two)
New Projects.
I’ve been thinking back and forth between the things I’ve wanted to photograph for my senior project. It was quite hard to think of original ideas that could be successful. At first, I wanted to continue what I was working on last semester but that has changed. Inspired by certain life events, I’m now switching my direction. I have this idea constantly in my head that I want to keep and protect innocence. Preserve it. I have this idea of taking objects that are associated with the idea of what people see as innocent and thanks I will be suspending them in different materials. Each material used to suspend the items will all be materials people have used over history to preserve things such as ice, honey, fermentation, amber, resin.. etc. This is one of the photos that I have been working on recently.
Final critique.
To capture a photo is learning to paint with light. Using my camera, through my work I try to capture the essence of my subject matter and try to bring the emotions we feel to the surface. My use of dramatic lighting techniques, high contrasts, body positions, and facial expressions helps me to compose the art I seek to create.
My project consists of a series of self portraits portraying the feeling of insecurity and showing off vulnerability. Using black and white color scale only, I use high contrasts and strong dramatic lighting to try to visually recreate the emotion and show intensity.
strategy
As I continue to create I have been finding it easier to move into this new direction. As a strategy to create more work by the end of the term critique is to take the time to take more photographs. As for a sense of insecurity and trying to show it I find it easier to rely on myself as a model for my photographs. I will continue to take more photographs but to make it easier I have now acquired a remote fire button to help me to take photographs. Along with the remote fire button I have also acquired a new tripod in order to help me keep my camera as still as possible. To help in portraying the emotion that I am looking for I have been showing a more vulnerable side to myself to my images.
Finding a new path
There is not much time left in the semester and I would be lying if I said I did have a share of my own panic. Portraying anger was not the best idea as I found it quite hard to show other than portraying someone breaking something or screaming. My thoughts have changed and I now found a good direction of where to go. After the midterm critique I also would be lying if I said I didn’t feel a tiny bit insecure after it. With this I will being using my photography to do a series of self portraits portraying the feeling of insecurity. Below is just a small peak of what I am working on.
Self reflection and new direction.
After the midterm critique I admit I was a little taken back from the feedback I received. As for my project, I am changing directions entirely. Inspired by my own anger and dealing with the anger and frustration that comes from BPD. I feel definitely more connected to this work more and so far I have had the chance to take some photos. I also plan on taking more on the weekend and if I am lucky I will have usually fifty shots to narrow down. This time I feel a bit more confident in this direction and a lot more connected to this type of theme.
Midterm Critique
For my project I am working on digital paintings portraying the concept of people’s vices. The negative behaviors and habits of people which they know are unhealthy and are bad for them but continue to participate anyway despite the negative consequences. Each photo depicts some type of negative behavior, and each photo is carefully composed with everything in view being significant to the behavior depicted.
Self reflection
We only have a few more days till out midterm critique. I kept what my peers told me in mind as a way to improve my work and make it more successful. I did find myself in slight doubt for a bit of my theme but I am now confident with the advice and feedback I was given. I also find myself shifting in inspiration. Along side my research on the negative habits and behaviors of people, I have also started to do more research and interview people who I know in my life whose vices or other vices had impacted them in a negative way. I feel as if this is the best way to further my project in order to make it more cohesive and a more solid body of work.
Art Tutorials II Critique
For my project I am working on digital paintings portraying the concept of people’s vices. The negative behavior's and habits of people that they know are unhealthy and are bad for them but continue to participate anyway despite the negative consequences. Each photo depicts some type of negative behavior and each photo is carefully composed. Everything in view in the art is there for a significant reason . What inspired me to create this work was actually my own anger towards someone and urge to go to my vice at that time. As for inspiration I found myself looking back at multiple political cartoons and looking back at Alfred Stieglitz’s work when he created a whole series of photographs off of Georgia O'Keefe’s hands.
Art Tutorials II
Over the summer I have been thinking long and hard of what I would like to do for this class. Last semester I enjoyed what I created but I know I can create a better body of work. This time I’ve been thinking on the topic of mental health. I will keep to photography since that is my strong suit. Something different is that I will also be using the technique of long exposure and motion blur. Similar to also last semester I will stick to a black and white pallet instead of full color as I feel as it is the best way best for me to portray what I envision.
One thing I would also like to try to work on is trying to instead come up with a better narrative and keep a more consistent quality of photographs unlike before where some shots were significantly out of focus compared to others. I have also had the time over the summer to during the weekend to experiment and try to create work. The image in this post is only a small sample of the direction I am looking to go towards.
