Aftermath - Assignment 2

Ok for the second assignments breakdown I'll take it step by step.

1. Commodification of Faith
Feed back was given that the composition was nice, and the overall look was there, but the thing is the picture was lacking in terms of colour depth. It was too silver and white, so I guess to the rest it looked washed out.

Honestly speaking though, perhaps I was trying too hard to go into the whole zen thing. Although I do like these kind of photos, and the fact that this one was deliberately kept with "cold colours" it seems that a spot of some warmness would help attract people to look at it.

Overall Grade: B+, 76/100

2. Gold Coins
Same feedback was given, composition and all were fine, just lacking in colour. This one was basically as this and the first photo were shot in the same style. Except that this one didn't have a deep meaning behind it. So I would rate this photo worse than the first. Although once again I did like the singular isolation look...maybe if I tried to improve the table contrast...

Overall Grade: B, 70/100

As for classmates, I liked Mei Mei's Alfa Romeo shot, very classy indeed. Somehow stands out in comparison to its surroundings, also the angle of the shot was very nice too.

My grade: 87/100

I liked GuanMings shot with the arches, very nice looking with the light rays pouring through, a sense of isolation yet warmth.

My grade: 80/100

Assignment 2 - Exposure

Assignment two was basically something to help us get used to the camera, as explained in my earlier posts, I actually liked simple zen-like compositions, where there's not too much going on (and of course a white background always makes things even nicer.)

After playing around with a few shots I came up with these two.

Commodification of Faith
(ISO 200, 5600K, Shutter 1/80, Aperture F5.6)

This work is basically a set of keys, representing of course our material needs and desires today. Sometimes it comes to a point where even faith (represented by the cross) is commodified and no longer taken to be what it is. This photo represents a sad reality, where materialism is ever increasing.

I took this picture also because of the play between the extreme black of the casing and the silver of the keys, my goal was also to create an illusion of depth on a small object which is why I chose the angle of the shot. At the same time, the whiteness of the table helps with the illusion too.

Gold Coins
(ISO 320, 5000K, Shutter 1/60, Aperture F5.6)

There was no specific meaning behind this. The photo was basically playing with the exposure and aperture to create a sense of depth. This was also and outdoor shot so its all natural lightning. Whats more interesting was that the shot was controlled such that some coins seemed dull and some shiny, this was to firstly create some form of contrast. Also truth be told, all the coins were dull which is why I tried to take the shot so that some looked shiny.

If I really had to relate this to something, it would be the gold coins from Chaucers Pardoners Tale.

Here were some other alternatives to the assignment.

Black Party
(ISO 320, "Cloudy", Shutter 1/6, Aperture F6.3)

This one I thought was interesting because of the extreme colours, but the photo lacked depth in the end. Also conveyed a very strong sense of sadness (to me).

Dusty Mirror
(ISO 320, 5000K, Shutter 1/1.6, Aperture F5)

I honestly loved this one a great deal, it sort of speaks of a duality its also rich in colour and has plenty of texture. The reason why I did not use it in the end was the composition and the lack of depth. But apparently many people like it...oh and I had to use a tripod for this one.


The rest of the photos I took were not really that fantastic, these were the main candidates.

Aftermath - Assignment 1

After showing the work piece to the class I had the following comments:

It looked like a Chinese painting.
I sold it well.

Other than that well, perhaps it was because I was the last to go up so comments were probably reserved. Either that or my presentation of it stoned the entire class.

Personally speaking, I have a strong liking for zen-like pictures especially the Film strip treble cleft and the desert rose paintings, something about the contrast of strong colour on a white background that just draws me to the picture and makes me look.

I would say that my picture has a certain vibrancy to it, though not as contrasting as the two that I mentioned above, I adjusted the brightness and contrast a little to get the background clean, but the colours on the flowers were just natural, which is something I didnt really expect with the decomposition.

As for the meaning, it is more of a private memory here because it involves my family and some of the things that have been happening over the last few weeks. So I am sorry that I can't quite share it...

As for the alternative interpretation it represents sort of a life cycle. with the orange petal (actually from another flower - I think.) being something that represents new life.

Overall I would give my pic a B+ I guess something around 80/100

I would rate Pauls work as 90/100
I would rate Mikes rose as 88/100

Slow Decay

After a lot of toiling and waiting for nature to slowly take its course on my scanner, I finally managed to get the effect I wanted (with of course just some teensy lighting adjustments so the background would look white) In all honesty the colours are natural. Although I think at this very moment the flowers in my scanner are turning into a less appealing shade.

I had actually wanted to use a black background with a slight blue tint, as I thought it gave the flowers a very mystical glow... but then again the main idea I wanted to portray was a sort of life reflection and the transient nature of living itself. I doubt mystical faeries had anything to do with how I was brought up.

[note after several hours of trying to upload the photo I give up. will try again when blogger decides to cooperate]

would be interesting to meet one though.

Another idea that I wanted to persue was to use playing cards as a scan, mainly because I have access to many special looking cards, but then again, that would ruin the magic off some of the tricks I perform. Not only that, the whole thing looked too square. I prompty deleted it without thinking. Which is why I can't put it up now. And yes. If you want to see a trick or two, don't hesitate to approach me. I promise you, Im not that good.