October 31, 2008 Homework: Photoshop Paintings

The five images or paintings I'm going to create are based off Chip Forelli's nightmare of black and white landscapes. I will create these dreamlike landscapes that don't make much sense, but done in the same beautiful fashion as Forelli. The first four will include seascapes with bizarre trees and water. They will be consistent in size and format. Then the last painting will be a surreal abstract with a human fetus in it.

October 31, 2008 Homework: Book Cut Out Revised Idea

My revised version of the cut out book, is going to be the same idea, but going further into the depths of the past and the present. I've chosen seven of my previous images to use and base my new versions off of. My new images will be of the present that relate to each of the images previously, such as the photo of the bottles I will take a photo with a bar in the background. Instead of using me as a prop for the present, I will use a different person, but I do not know who it will be yet. These photos will be done in the same manner as being ultra wide angles, and have a lot of activity. There will five to seven images. The images above are the seven I will use.

October 24, 2008 Homework: Book Cut Out

Into the Looking Glass

When looking for a magnifying glass at an antique store I came upon some old brass binoculars and I thought it would be great to convey a story through looking through them within a space. My idea was to do a self portrait with me looking through these binoculars in a basement full of antique contraptions and things under Beale Street. I wanted to portray the vision of seeing the past through a moment in time, which is me. The fidgety look of me is an effect that I could not help because of my process in which I performed with the help of Khalifa, but in a way it is sequential to the idea of a moment in time. I represent an infinitesimal thread in the fabric of time, and the background represents the past, the forgotten, and the abandoned; it also is the antithesis to the wild life that perpetually plays above. The masks cut outs will be in the binoculars.

October 17, 2008 Homework: Masking Images

I haven't really come up with a sound or coherent idea but more of a simplistic way of looking at things in a unique way. I used several different pictures that relate by bricks and stones. I will have a rectangular mask of each image in an area where the viewer's eye is brought to, such as the focal point. Sadly, this not the main theme I wanted to do, because I haven't had the time or people; I really wanted to use a friend as part of a still life and have in their hands a magnifying glass holding up to their side, which would be masked out revealing a hint of the next image. But I couldn't find the right kind of magnifying glass to do this project, so I had to resort to this, which isn't bad for a rough draft.

October 8, 2008 Homework: Commercial Work Part II

For part two of this assignment National Geographic wants me to dwell deeper into the meaning of the artificial environments in which animals of today live in and the natural environments that they use to live in or their diminishing lands they are living in. I will basically take five pictures of animals within the Memphis Zoo that do not look healthy or comfortable within their simulated landscapes, and I will gather five images from the internet of those particular animals in their natural homes and combine them. The background of the image will be the animals within their prisons, and the foreground will be the lettering which will be masked with the images of the free animals. The lettering will read "I've Spent My Entire Life Trapped In A Cage" which is from the song "Give It All" by Rise Against.

The other five photos will be dealing with looking into other worlds within our world. I will use five of my macro shots of rare rocks and petrified wood that simulate landscapes, and then will combine them with landscape images and aerial views of land and sea. The background of each image will be the macro shots and the foreground will be the lettering in which will be masked with the images of landscapes. The lettering will read "A Different Perspective".

October 3, 2008 Homework: Commercial Work

I have thought about this for a prolonged time and I think that I would like to do what National Geographic would not do, a negative connotation of animal life within a prison, basically a typical zoo, in which I will do the Memphis Zoo, because it is definitely not the zenith of zoos within America, and it is not National Geographic's purpose. I want to compose my images to the pseudo-world of the animals and the world of entertainment for people and how they interact. I also want to convey a strong sense of direction and angles and shapes. I also want to convey especially how children interact with the animals.

This is possibly the coolest commercialized photo I have ever seen. The image of the car has not been manipulated digitally, but the car has been drawn on with sharpies by the Prestige Lamborghini dealership. This was done for a show in California, and this is an advertisement for it. It took about two weeks to complete the drawing. The art itself is pop art and very detail and connected to each other; it is well laid out throughout the car. It even appears on the windows.

october 3, 2008 Homework: Pop media Imagery

This image is hysterical, in that it is commercializing teens to wash or repair their cars before their parents see it, which is something to think about. How many people think about how their car looks for their parents? I don't! 

october 3, 2008 Homework: Pop media Imagery

This commercial image is comical in that it is real and that it is at a bus stop, where men that have worked all day in their small cubicle come to wait in another small cubicle for a bus that is also another cubicle, just on wheels. They are reminded of their wives and order flowers off the internet or over the phone, how ridiculous.

october 3, 2008 Homework: Pop media Imagery

This image is serious in that its negative connotation of America and that it has become a Capitalist country just with Democrats and Republicans in empty suits. The image reveals the rights that we had once and now have lost to our government that is reluctant to help the economic situation. This is a profound statement of how our country is and how it is going to end up.

october 3, 2008 Homework: Pop media Imagery

This image is a very disturbing thought upon our country and culture. This is an advertisement that I happened upon when looking for US propaganda. This horrifying image is a commercial comic of an Antisemitic and  Anti-American culture that is ruled by Neo-Nazism and the KKK, which are two different organizations, but one is organized and one is ran by rednecks. This image is about liberating America from Jews, blacks, and gays, with the death of innocent people.

October 3, 2008 Homework: Pop media Imagery

This image dumbfounded me when I first saw it. I can only think that this product is a joke, but it also says "Professional" on its covering which is very disturbing. It looks like it is an actual product, which is sad.

September 26, 2008 Homework: My Personal Hell

This one took me the longest to decide what would be my personal "hell", because there are so many things that make up my personal "hell", but I think being engulfed by math and anything that's math related would be hell for me. It is not the materials that disturb me, it is the thought using them and applying them to math, because I really hate, no, I megaloathe math, yes, I made up a word.

September 26, 2008 Homework: My Personal Heaven

For a while I had to contemplate on what I consider my personal "heaven", and think that finding the inner light within this wretched world would suffice and be my own heaven on Earth. The image that I created is a self portrait with my hand revealing the light within me, which was done by using a lens flare. The background is a rusty metal that I turned B&W, and then I overlayed it over the original photo and used a mask layer and created a spherical gradient to make it fade in the middle.

September 19, 2008 Homework: Correct and Improve Imagery

Our assignment was to photograph twenty horrible images purposely, and edit and correct them by means of color, contrast, shadows, etc in Photoshop. Here's two examples of mine.

September 12, 2008 Homework: 3 Organizations

Hypothetically, if I could work for any kind of non-profit organization it would be National Geographic because they invoke inspiration to see and care for the world. They are one of the biggest educational institutions that solemn mission is to promote cultural, environmental, and, historical conservation.

Then if I could work for any kind of profit organization it would probably be Pixar Animation Studios, the subsidiary of Walt Disney Motion Pictures. They are one of the most proclaimed CGI animation studios in the world, and they create photo realistic movies that have become a profound part of the history of film.

I really wouldn't mind working for a small profit company such as Memphis Photo Supply, because they are locally owned and they actually care about their customers. Their soul purpose is to help photographers, and I wouldn't mind being part of that organization.

September 12, 2008 Homework: Making Filter Recipes 3

Third Filter Recipe: First step is to use the Mosaic Tiles filter under Texture, with the Tile size at 12; the Grout Width at 3, and the Lighten Grout at 9. Second step is to use the Wace filter under Distort, with the minimum and maximum Wavelength at 263 and 264; the Amplitude at 177 and 245; and the Scale with a 55% on the Horizontal and a 100% on the Vertical. Third and final step is to use the Lighting Effects under the Render filter, with the Spotlight's Intensity at 41; the Gloss at 0; the Material at 13; the Exposure at 0; and the Ambience at 8. 

September 12, 2008 Homework: Making Filter Recipes 2

Second filter Recipe: first is to use the spherize filter under Distort, with the Amount at -100 and the Mode at vertical only. Second step is to use the Plastic Wrap filter under the Artistic, with the settings at 7 under the Highlight Strength; 8 under Detail; and 6 under Smoothness. Third and final step is to use the Texturizer under the Texture filter, with the Scaling at 200%; the Relief at 4; and the Light at the top.

September 12, 2008 Homework: Making Filter Recipes

1. First step is to use the watercolor filter under Artistic, with the settings at 5 with Brush Detail; 1 with shadow intensity; 1 with Texture. Second step is to use the glass filter under Distortion, with the settings at 5 with Distortion; 3 with Smoothness; Texture set at Blocks and scaling at 200%. Third and final step is use the Lighting Effects Filter under Render, with the settings at Omni with Light Type; the Intensity at 74; Gloss settings at -74; Material settings at 33; Exposure at 0; and the Ambience at 8.

September 12, 2008 Homework:

What is the Gold Ratio?

The golden ratio is 1.61803366 in mathematics. It was created by Greek philosephors and mathematicians, and it was often used in Greek architecture such as the Parthenan and Erechteum.

september 5, 2008 Homework: Manipulated Imagery in pop culture

I love how this person composed and created this image even though its a bad quality photo. It speaks for itself.

September 5, 2008 Homework: Manipulated Imagery in pop culture

This image is a play on Burger King and V for Vendetta, which is kind of funny in that the character for Burger King and V both masquerade in costumes and do crazy shit.

September 5, 2008 Homework: Manipulated Imagery in pop culture

This image is completely made up, but funny in that he most likely put his big brown nose in some crack. The image is well composed in that it looks real.

September 1, 2008

Has anyone seen Koyaaniskqatsi?

It is a phenomenal film! The photography and movement and flow of the film is breath taking. But it is for those who have a long attention span because there is no synopsis to the film and there's no characters; there's just music. This film is a documentary of human life and its impression on the world. People that love photography or cinimatography should see this film for its composition and lighting and flow.