Journal #8

This image is of different textures. I chose my theme to be clothing and fashion, so I took pictures of a knitted sweater, a soft one and also a fuzzy sweater.

Journal #7

Journal #6

Southern Belle From The Cindy Sherman Project



This is my picture I chose to edit from the Cindy Sherman Project. It is me as a Southern Belle. The image on the right is the original picture that Lily took of me and as you can see her finger is in front of the lens. The image on the left is the edited form of the same picture. I cropped out her finger and adjusted the colours.



Journal #5 Compositional Tools

Rule of Thirds: I thought this was a great example for rule of thirds because when you divide it into three, vertically and horizontally the horizon is at the top third and the remaining two thirds is the land. The focal point of this singular tree meets at the point where a vertical and a horizontal line intersect.

 

 Lead in lines: I couldn't decide which photo I liked more for lead in lines so I decided to put both of them. I thought they both had great colour and contrast. I have the curved line of the fence that draws your eyes to follow the landscape and then I have the straight line in between the rows of trees that draws your attention towards the middle of the picture and follows it through to the end.

 

Framing: I think this image is unique. It caught my attention because I thought it would work perfectly for framing, it is very natural.

 

Born Into Brothels

1) Why did the filmmaker give the children cameras?
The filmmaker gave the children cameras so they could see the world in their eyes.
2) What role did art play in Avijit's life?
Art was a big part of Avijit's life because it expresses what is on his mind by putting his thoughts into colour.
3) How does the project benefit from meeting regularly and discussing their pictures?
The project benefits from meeting regularly and discussing their pictures because if they get together they have a place to express their thoughts and develop their own opinions. Also its a close minded community so they wont get judged.
4) Do you think photography helped the children deal with their situation?
I think photography helped the children deal with their situation because they never had anything good in their life before, it was the same thing every single day; but now that they have a camera they have so much more to look forward to. Each day they can go out and take a picture of a different thing and remember a memory that went a long with it. Also some of them found a talent or something they enjoy doing so that they could go to school for photography or art. I think photography made the children's lives happier.

Part A
1) What did Zana describe as the reason for giving the cameras to the children in the beginning of the documentary, i.e: why didn't she just take the photographs herself?
I think that Zana described the reason for giving the cameras to the children and not taking them herself because she wanted to let the children have an opportunity to see the world in their eyes and let them have their own opinion and perspective on things.
2) Why is the photographer's point of view or unique voice part of what we consider when we talk about pictures? Can't we simply judge all the pictures by the same criteria of good and bad regardless of who took them?
I think that all pictures are unique in their own way no matter who took them. Every picture has it's own style. They are all different but also the same because all pictures have a memory for no matter who took them but they are all different because they each have a different meaning of memory. In my opinion I think that we can judge all the pictures by the same criteria of good or bad regardless of who took them. Some people have a talent for taking pictures and some don't but regardless every ones pictures are good to them because they mean something.
3) Reflect on what Avijit first says about painting: "I like to draw because I want to express what's on my mind...I want to put my thoughts into colours." What does this tell us about him?
Avijit seems like a very unique and creative child. Avijit has a great personality because he wants people to see how he feels inside and what he can do. He enjoys expressing how he feels and what is on his mind. He wants to make his life seem better then just being in the Brothels so he uses art like painting and drawing as an escape from the bad memories of the Brothels.
4) Throughout this lesson, the term 'personal expresson' is used to refer to art, sports, writing, and other activities. How would you define personal expression? How are photography, painting and writing forms of personal expression?
I would say that personal expression has many forms to it, it just depends on what way you like to express yourself. Everyone has a personal expression of some sort. A personal expression to me is just expressing yourself in a unique way due to what you enjoy doing. If you like to paint or draw you would express yourself in that way and paint/draw what is on your mind. Even photography is a form of personal expression because you could take pictures of something that means something to you or something that you love/like doing.
5) How can art (personal expression) serve as a means of educating others about a particular issue?
Art or a personal expression can serve as a means of educating others about a particular issue because anyone can write, take pictures, paint or even draw whatever they would like and express themselves but then it is also a way to share it with others. If you share something that means something to you it is also educating other people about yourself or what you enjoy. You could also write, draw, take pictures of or paint about an issue going on in your life or the world and by doing that you can educate others about it too.

Part B: Critique
 

i)

I think this picture is beautiful because it has a good contrast and it is very colourful. I also this this picture is unique because of the horse. The horse shows kind of what their culture is like with how it is dressed in head wear and has a necklace on it, I think it is very different. This picture caught my attention because of that.

 

I like this picture because it shows to me that even though being in the Brothels is depressing and horrifying there is still a beautiful and upside to it because of the bright sky and the unique trees; also this photo is very clear and has a unique texture to it.

ii) 

This picture seems unique and different to me. I find it sort of upsetting because there is this poor innocent boy living in this pitiful, brutal community. I find it very unfair because he did nothing to deserve this, he is only living like this because it is within his family. I think this photo should educate everyone and show people how bad life is and that they are very lucky for what they have. Seeing this really made me feel thankful for what I have because the life that these little children are living is not fair to them.
 

I think this picture conveys a very strong message because to me is shows that they really have nothing. These young children and even their parents are living in poverty in a harmful community. All of these people have a box for a house and a couple old raggy blankets and maybe one pillow if they are lucky. They don't have a nice cosy home with a warm bed to come home to, unfortunately they have nothing to come home to. The message I think this picture is portraying is saying that you should be thankful for everything you have. I think living like this is a big issue world wide because there are places like this all over the world.

 

iii)

 

I don't think a picture needs to be beautiful to be effective. I think that any picture can be effective in their own way because all pictures are different and they all have their own meaning so they are effective in different ways to different people. Any picture could be effective if the picture hits your heart and makes you feel good inside or it could make you feel bad but still be effective. It doesn't matter if the picture is beautiful or not.

Journal #4 Aperture

For this image I used a medium aperture of f5.6. I focused my camera on the candle and the flower behind it sort of blurred.

For this image I used a large aperture of f2.7.The Tim Horton's cup is in focus and the background is blurred.
 

For this image I used a small aperture of f8. I tried to capture the close up trees/leaves but also the far away ones that were further down the hill.

Shutter Speed Experiment

I found that an action shot was hard to capture. I was trying to catch my dog in action and this is the best one I got. My dog was about to jump up and catch a ball. For an action shot you need a fast shutter speed; I used 1/1000.



I attempted to try and get a good action shot that I loved but I couldn't get a really good one. I found that it was hard to do because it was hard to catch the right moment; I rather caught my dog before or after but never in action. I thought that the one where my dog is off to the side jumping was a really good action shot but it would have been better if I had gotten her in the middle of the photo. I also found that the image with her tongue sticking out was good too but it would have been a better shot ff her whole body was in the photo.

Journal #3 Shutter Speeds

This photo is an example of Light Painting. For this to work properly you need a long exposure time, which would be 8-15 seconds for it to turn out well. Also I sent the camera on a steady tripod so the photo would not turn out blury. When the shutter opens you move your light sorce around into any form or shape you would like, in this case I formed a heart. Light Painting can be anything, you can make it because you can form anything and chose any different light sorce that could be colourful.

This photo is an example of panning. Panning is an interesting way to make something out because usually the background is blurry. I tried several times to get a good panning image but this is the best one I could get. For panning you need to use a slower shutter speed but not as slow as light painting. Panning used a shutter speed of about 30-60 seconds. To get a good image you need to aim your camera on your target, follow your target with the camera and then take your photo when your target comes into your focus. Panning seems a little bit difficult to me because I found that it was hard to get a good image where your target stands out and the background is blurry. As you can see in this photo Lily does stand out but the background is not that blurry. I found panning a fun way of capturing an image.

This is an example of an action shot. An action shot requires a very fast shutter speed; for mine I used 1/1000. I found that action shots were hard to get because it's hard to snap the right moment. It took me so many tires to get one that I actually liked.

 This image is taken with a strobe light. When using a strobe light your shutter speed should be fast, meaning 1/1000. I believe i used 1/1000 for this image. I found taking pictures with a strobe light very interesting because the camera only captures the motion where the strobe light has hit. A boy was moving his hands, head and body around creating different motions which was causing the camera to capture everywhere is hands have been. I thought that my photo I took of his hands turned out well because I zoomed in so only his hands could have been.  

Journal #2 Pinhole Photos



 This is the very first try of Lily and My's pinhole camera picture. As you can see we went and took a picture of the grave yard. This picture was slightly over exposed before we edited it. You can tell that it was slightly over exposed because half of the photo got cut off because we let a little more light in then we were supposed to. We used the direct sunlight (hazy) on the chart because it was a sunny day but we were slightly in the shade, therefore we held the lens open for 30 seconds.. There was also cross contamination because some of the chemicals touched. In order for this photo to come out the way it was supposed to we should have left the lens open for less than 30 seconds. If we were to retake this photo I think that 15-30 seconds would have been the appropriate time to close the lens, then are picture would have turned out perfectly. Also I think we should have been more careful and aware for when we were developing our photo because of the cross contamination issue.

 The second photo that was took was of the hallway in the school, which didn't turn out as well as we hoped it would because this photo was very under-exposed. You can easily tell that it is under-exposed because most of the picture is plain black except for the areas that direct light was coming in. The only areas where light was let in the camera was the lights on the ceiling and also the light coming in from the doors (that was where the sunlight was coming in). We kept the lens open for 30 seconds, but apparently that wasn't enough time. I understand where we went wrong because we used the direct sunlight(hazy) which was 30 seconds but we shouldn't have used that. We thought it would be direct sunlight. Due to our misunderstanding our picture did not turn out. If we had a chance to retake this photo we would keep the lens open for 7-8 minutes due to the bright interior light because our camera was pointed directly at the bright florescent lights.

Journal Entry #1 "My Culture"

I chose these pictures because I think they best represent me and my life. Three of the pictures I chose are of my dogs, they are a huge part of me because they have been around for as long as I can remember. I have two dogs at both of my houses and I love them all. I love long walks on the beach especially when there is a sunset. I also love to shop, its one of my favourite past times. These pictures are pieces of my life that are all very important to me.

Getting To Know Your Style

The genre of this photo is part of what would be staged photography or also known as fine art. I like this photo because the photographer set it up specifically to take this image. He has used different shades of pins to portray this image. I thought this image was very unique.

  Name:

Rudolf Vlcek @d o l f i #photography #art

    Website:

http://gplus.to/dolfi