Final Project-- Human : Nature

Introduction

This project focuses on the theme ‘Human: Nature’. This theme can be interpreted in many ways. For instance, it can address the universal concerns faced by the world. The duality in the theme can be freely interpreted either as ‘Human Nature’ or ‘Human & Nature’. The ‘colon’ represents a relationship and a balanced ratio between Human and Nature.

This project takes the form of a photo essay comprising of six to ten photos in the context of conceptual photography. A photo essay is a set or series of photographs that are intended to tell either, a concept, an idea, a story or evoke a series of emotions in the viewer. This essay can be sequential in nature, intended to be viewed in a particular order, or they may consist of non-order photographs, which may be viewed all at once or in an order chosen by the viewer.

Based on these requirements, I have decided to start my project by forming a personal interpretation on the theme, ‘Human: Nature’. I have interpreted the theme in three ways—how human affects nature, how nature affects human and human nature (as in the character and personality of mankind). Based on these three interpretations, I started brainstorming for ideas and inspiration based on the lecture notes, 2902 gallery field trip, library books and the images on the Internet.


Brainstorming

After visiting the 2902 gallery, I also dropped by the Osage gallery, where I came across a book by Jane Lee illustrating the different traditional ethnic Chinese costumes and people placed in an illogical manner forming various art pieces to show the concept of wisdom. These pictures guide me along the notion of ‘human nature’ and encouraged me to think deeper on the portrayal of traditional costumes and customs to illustrate ‘human nature’. Besides this, with reference to photographer, Yeondoo Jung’s work on ‘Bewitched’, which shows a series of photographs of different people with their ambition closely related to their posture in the photos, inspired me to combine these concepts together to form a photo essay. After thinking deeper, I came up with my first idea. The images (shown on the next page), which may not reflect the exact intended angles, are acquired from the Internet as reference. These images portrayed my idea on respect. They may be viewed in the order—from left to right.

In this series of photos, I am illustrating the concept of respect—how humans will treat others based on traditional customs and beliefs, which shapes their character and personality. It is also part of human nature that man expects different forms of respect based on their own cultural norms and customs. Ideally, these photos should be showing three individuals and a monk displaying the same posture from left to right, showing the different forms of respect. These photos also show that man respects their fellow counterparts as much as the way they respect god, who built Mother Nature for us.

As I do not have the resources to execute the above idea, I pondered for another idea. I was browsing through the library shelves on conceptual photography and chanced upon Cindy Sherman work on ‘Working Girl, Decade Series 2005’. In her work, she is using conceptual photography to portray women in different scenarios. The following series of images on the next page attracted me and I was inspired to do a photo essay on the process of a woman putting on make-up and dressing up for her job.

 

These photos show that it is part of human nature for mankind to look good and pleasing to others. Although a woman model is the sole subject in these photos, they illustrate the desire of humans to look beautiful in front of others.

As the above idea shows only one aspect of human nature and I could not add value to that idea, I moved on in search for another idea. While flipping through some library books on conceptual photography, I saw many of them focusing on food and they look extremely appetizing. After looking through all the photos on food, I decided that I should focus my project on a certain type of food and illustrate how human affects nature. Initially, I narrowed down my selection of food to fruits. My aim is to show how a small variety of fruits can be processed into different food and beverage for human consumption. The six photos, which are taken from the Internet as reference, are shown on the next page and they must be viewed form left to right.

 

Idea Development

After considering the above ideas and concepts seriously, I decided to focus my project on fruits and show how human affects nature by processing fruits (food from nature) into more delectable food for human consumption. I felt that by focusing on three fruits may be quite a handful and the above idea on fruits being processed into food for human consumption has a weak focus (too many fruits involved) and a weak theme (no commonality).

On further thoughts, the idea of strawberries struck me as an ideal subject. Firstly, strawberries are red and attractive. Hence, they look good in photos. Secondly, strawberries can be processed into many types of food. After pondering over some of food produced from strawberries, I decided to focus on theme—delectable strawberry desserts. The following photos were gathered from the Internet for reference. These photos can be viewed in any manner.

After refering to some photographers' works and the images on the Internet, I have noticed that most of them used high key photos to bring out the mood of delectable and appetizing food. Hence, I have taken some photos on my own.

During my consultation with my tutor, Ms Chiang on the photos, she suggested that I explore another execution style such as an exotic full course meal made of strawberries. After thinking through this idea and discussing it critically with my course mates, I have decided to undertake this approach. I began to search for a full course meal with strawberries as their ingredients in every dish. I tried to look for food made of strawberries that either no one had heard of, thought of or eaten before. I managed to come up with a full strawberry course meal, comprising of six dishes, starting with strawberry salad, strawberry soup, strawberry fried rice, strawberry soda drink, strawberry biscuit dessert, strawberries as fruits. The final photos of my artwork are as follows:

These six photos show how humans use strawberries to make a full course delectable meal specially to appeal to mankind for consumption.

Failed Attempts

I have faced difficulties searching for a suitable and potential subject for this project. After sieving through all the ideas and concepts, I have finally managed to narrow down to a full course meal featuring my subject—the strawberries.

Another problem surfaced when most strawberries’ food products are common and recognizable by everyone. My challenge was to hunt for exotic strawberry food that was unheard of, but look appetizing to humans. Luckily, with the aid of the Internet, I found many unusual recipes on strawberry food.

In terms of photography technicalities, I tend to produce blur photos due to the shake of the camera when I am capturing the scene. To overcome this problem, I used the aid of a tripod to take my photos.

Besides that, my photography skills are far from polished, which results in my weak presentation of the series of high key photos (on the first attempt of strawberry full course meal) that does not seem to create an appetizing mood for potential consumers. With the help of the photo editing software, Photoshop, I managed to edit my photos to enhance their appearance. Hopefully, they look more appetizing and appealing after the photo edit process.

I also faced problems with printing my photos. When I was all ready to print at the CNM teaching lab, the Espon printer refused to work. It started flashing red light signals and no matter what Jennifer and I did, it still refused to work. Jennifer called up the Espon help desk for aid. After following all the instructions from the helpdesk officer, it still refused to work. The officer deduced that it could be a hardware problem and will arrange with Jennifer to send their technician to the CNM lab to diagnose the problem. After the call, Jennifer and I was wondering if there was anything stuck in the printer as suggested by the helpdesk officer. We turned the printer upside down to make sure that there was indeed nothing inside the printer. Then, Jennifer took out the ink cartridges and placed them back again and what happened next was amazing. The printer managed to work again! I can finally start printing my work.

After printing my art work, I realised that certain photos do not look white enough for instance the photo on the strawberry biscuit desert and the strawberry as fruits. I re-edited my photo using Photoshop by painting the background white with a white brush. After the enhancement, I printed those two photos again.

Reflection

Upon reflection, I think if I were given more time, I may have pursued a full course strawberry meal based on the context of different ethnicity. For instance, I may focus solely on Chinese wedding dinner ten course meal made of strawberry

On the other hand, it would be even more interesting to show the highlights of different ethnic culture’s cuisines made from strawberry. For example, we could have strawberry curry (Malay food), strawberry roti prata (Indian food), strawberry chicken rice (Chinese food), etc.

Another idea of going global would be having popular international cuisines integrating strawberry into their menu. For instance, we could have strawberry sushi, strawberry soba or strawberry ramen in Japan. These examples may be more out of the ordinary and may attract more attention than the current one.

The above mentioned examples will also add more excitement due to the infusion of strawberry and also add more colour into my series of photographs, such as the cultural aspects of each country or ethnic group.

Besides this, I have also learnt that it is crucial to manage my time properly and finish my work on schedule, such as at least two weeks before the dateline so that I have enough time to photo edit and print my artwork. Since unanticipated situations may always crop up, having enough time to solve the problem is vital in meeting the dateline.

References

Google Images (2009). Retrieved on November 3, 2009 from: http://images.google.com.sg/images?rlz=1T4SUNA_enSG297SG298&hl=en&source=hp&q=strawberry&gbv=2&aq=f

Cindy.S.(2005). Working Girl Decade Series 2005. Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis

Assignment 5: Emotions Capture

For this assignment, I am required to choose a non-human subject, and portray it with a minimum of 3 different emotional expressions. I have decided to focus on 3 emotional expressions such as happy, gloomy and peace. I have chosen my non-human subject--the sky. Based on these 3 expressions, my photos are as shown below.


1. Happy

The bright blue sky with fluffy white clouds displays a bright and cheerful scene depicting happiness. The first photo is the original one and the second photo has been edited with Photoshop.

This Photo: 1/1000, f10, ISO 200

  
2. Gloomy

The dark clouds in the sky seem to show that it is feeling sad. Hence, the following photo was taken when it is about to cry (rain). The first photo is the original and the second photo has been edited with Photoshop.

This Photo: 1/13, f22, ISO 200

3. Peace

The sunset seems to imply a moment of serenity and calmness in our life when the day ends. Thus, I have taken the following photo of the sunset as a moment of peace. The first photo is the original and the second photo has been edited with Photoshop.

This Photo: 1/50, f36, ISO 400

After Tutorial

After consulting my tutor Jing, she commented that the first two photos do depict 'happy' and 'gloomy'. However, my classmate felt that the first photo showing the emotion of happiness is not vibrant and attractive enough. I will try to work on it again at a later time. With regards to the last photo showing the emotion 'peace', Jing mentioned that the last photo does not match the style of the previous two photos. Since my first two photos do not have a horizon, the last photo shouldn't have a horizon as well in order to be consistent. I have decided to re-work on it again.


3. Hope

The last photo was originally named as peace. However, the idea of the sun setting seems to give people stress instead of peace, when they have not finished their work. Since the picture of a sunset could also be interpreted as a sunrise, I have decided to name it hope instead. When a new day arrives, hope appears as well. I have taken another photo without a horizon, while the sun was setting. the first photo is the original and the second photo was edited with Photoshop.

This Photo: 1/100, f 36, ISO 400

I am also considering the following piece below. I think this looks more natural, but not as vibrant as the one above. Thus, I have also done another similar set of photo to display hope. The first photo is the original and the second one has been edited with Photoshop. They are as follows:

This Photo: 1/60, f 36, ISO 400

 

Final Artwork

After consulting my tutor, Ms Chiang, I have re-worked on a few of the photos, especially on hope and happiness. I have photo edited the following photos with Photoshop and they are as follows:


1.Happy

The blue sky with white fluffy clouds and a sunny background depicts happiness and a sense of joy among humans.

This Photo: 1/1000, f 10, ISO 200

2. Gloomy

The dark clouds signify rain and it seems as though the sky is crying. Hence, it helps to portray a gloomy mood.

This Photo: 1/13, f 22, ISO 200

 

3. Hope

The sunrise in the photo brings a brand new day, which signifies hope for humans.

This Photo: 1/100, f 36, ISO 400

 

Class Excerise C

My task is to write a short reflection on “What is surrealism and its relationship to photography?” after watching and listening to the podcast on ‘brief history of photography (Part 2)’ by Jeff Curto.

Surrealism is born out of the Bauhaus design theory of form follows function. It is another form of art picked up after the Dada movement, which flourished in Europe between World War I and World War II. Surrealism began with the ‘Surrealism Manifesto’ that was drawn up by Andre Breton and published in ‘La Révolution Surréaliste’ in 1924. Surrealism used many of the techniques of Dada but it emphasized the positive rather than the negative. Surrealism aims to combine the conscious and the unconscious, the world of dreams and fantasy along with reality so that the line between these ideas was completely blurred. Many artists during this period believed that the unconscious was where the true centre of art lay, and that artists could tap into this genius by blending and softening the lines between what one's eyes see and the dream world (A Lifetime of Color, 2007).

Jeff Curto also agrees that surrealism is art born completely out of the concepts of the subconscious mind. He further described it as a visual embodiment of a wet dream featuring a baby falling out of a crib. According to him, surrealism makes no logical sense nor does it forms reality. However, he believes that the bits and pieces of pictures and information do have a message to convey.

Besides this, most surrealistic art portrays alternate realities; some created by accident, some using the unconventional realities of blind feeling and impulse. Some of the art of this time is quite cruel and violent as well as very beautiful. The surrealistic artists, like the Dada artists before them, wanted to shock their viewers with the unexpected and make people think in new ways (A Lifetime of Color, 2007).

Surrealistic artists from Japan believes that surrealism was not merely a method of expressing an unreal world that can only exist in the imagination; it was a way of capturing the powerful truth that exists in reality and was therefore linked to reality. Since photography is used to capture the moments in reality, surely, it can be said to be the medium with the greatest potential to achieve the philosophy of surrealism (Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, 2008).

In addition, surrealistic artists use a lot of photos to illustrate the ideas behind the photographic subjects or images. The surrealists choose their subjects carefully to illustrate what he is doing in a dream world. Hence, a surrealist is adept at making a dream world out of a real world by using numerous photographs taken from different scenes and angles.


References

A Lifetime of Color (2007). Retrieved on October 6, 2009 from http://www.alifetimeofcolor.com/study/g_surrealism.html

Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (2008). Retrieved on October 6, 2009 from http://www.syabi.com/press/surrealism_eng.pdf

Assignment 4: False Reality

This assignment requires me to use a minimum of 4 photographs with the following techniques—photogram, photo montage and image manipulation to produce a photo with the theme, false reality.

For this assignment, I have used a total of 4 photographs. They are as follows:

Idea and Concept

While doing the surrealism class exercise, I was thinking of tree deforestation. To illustrate this idea of people cutting down too many trees, I was initially thinking of doing a photo montage of an open wound of a tree bleeding. However, this does not meet the requirement since it would require less than 4 photos. Dwelling deeper along this train of thought, I decided to illustrate a picture of a tree being burnt to death due to the yearly clearing of the land (deforestation) for farming in Indonesia. The idea is trees are precious and they are dying due to deforestation. My message is “Save the trees! They have a life too!”

Hence, with the aid of the above 4 photographs, my artwork is as shown below.

I am thinking of using either the above picture or the picture below as my art piece. I have made some changes based on the blending modes used. The second picture is as follows:

After Tutorial

During tutorial, my tutor Jing commented that my art piece is too logical and I have to re-work on this piece base on the theme surrealism. I was thinking about it over the weekend and was struck with the idea of a laptop representing a sea of information, is vomiting books out of its screen. To make it more surrealistic, I decided to place the laptop in a bird cage and a pile of books thrown out of the cage onto the grass.


Idea and Concept

Based on the idea mentioned above, my message is: The world of information is currently limitless and available to all. In the past, computers are meant solely for scientists to do research. Thus, the laptop is locked in a bird cage. However, now, computers are available to all. Hence, the sea of information in the laptop is vomiting books that are thrown out of the bird cage. The pile of books strewn on the grass signifies that information is limitless and available to everyone on earth. 

I have taken and used a total of 9 photos as shown below:

Re-worked  Art Piece

The picture below is my final art piece, a photo montage and manipulation of all the 9 photos taken above. 

Final Artwork

After consulting my tutor, Ms Chiang, I have re-worked on this assignment because it is still too logical and it is not surrealistic enough. With Ms Chiang's advice, I have came up with the following artwork. I have used four photos to form this art piece. They are as follows:

With these four photos, I came up with my final artwork, Censorship. This artwork portrays the prevailing censorship of online information among countries around the globe.

Class Excerise B

This is a class exercise done as a group of 4. We have composed a surrealistic picture with the following definition.

Definition of Surrealism

A photo that brings out the thoughts of a subconscious mind in an irrational manner.


Our Artwork on Surrealism

This artwork is our inital idea.

This is our final artwork

Idea and Concept

While brainstorming in our group, we came across this idea of an apple seeking revenge due to the unnatural actions of man kind. We pursued this idea further and decided to use the following concept for our artwork. Genetic modification of food or plants and use of pesticides for the cultivation of food has altered them so much so that it might come back to haunt us. We eat apples because it is presumed to be healthy but now with genetic modification and use of pesticides, it may harm our health.

Comments on Masterwork (Surrealism)

Done By: George Grie, June 2009

Title: Ghost ship series: The ninth wave

The above masterpiece by George Grie illustrates an old sailor’s expression of “The Ninth Wave”. It means a single wave larger than all the others. This wave is often referred to as a destroyer or killer wave. In reality, although waves sometimes form larger ones when they meet, there is no fixed interval when a large one can be predicted.

The concept of “ghost ship” may have started because the most remote and isolated places on earth is the sea and in ancient days, your survival on the sea depends on one’s ship. Thus, this dangerous transport arose some very intense superstitions.

One the contrary, “The Seventh Wave” is the wave that sailor’s wait for, when they have no wind. Based on the above context provided by the artist, I believe the masterpiece is conveying that one should not sit down and wait for things to happen. One has to find one’s own determination and collaborate in teams in order to succeed and ensure safety in life. This shows that we are interdependently connected to others on earth.

Assignment 3

The purpose of this assignment is to understand and apply basic on-camera techniques such as focal length and sensor latitude. I am supposed to produce a photo from each of the sub-categories below:

1. Focal length
1.1. Perspective
1.2. Close up
1.3. Zoom shot

2. Sensor Latitude
2.1. High key
2.2. Low key

1.1 Perspective

The following photo below is taken along the Subordinate Court area. This photo is taken because it shows a wide space along the corridor of the building.

This Photo: f5.6, 1/60, ISO800

1.2 Close Up

The photo below is taken from the Singapore Zoo. The white tiger was resting. Its expression tempt me to take a close up photo of it.

This Photo: f4.5, 1/100, ISO 800

1.3 Zoom Shot

This shot is taken from the Esplanade roof-top. The clay pot is the main focus of this photo. The clay pot adds colour and uniqueness to the roof-top garden.

This Photo: f25, 1/6, ISO 400

2.1 High Key

This high key photo is taken against the sky. The building is Singapore’s First Fire Station. It’s a building with a historical heritage and a beautiful architectural style.

This Photo: f9.0, 1/60, ISO800

2.2 Low Key

This low key photo is taken late in the night. The lily is the fruits of labour of my green-fingered neighbour. There was a bunch of lilies blossoming from a pot. They are so beautiful that I decided to take a picture of one of them as my low key attempt.

This Photo: f4.0, 1/60, ISO 400

After Tutorial

During tutorial, my classmates and my tutor, Jing mentioned that in general, the angle I took for my photos did not make the subject appealing enough. Hence, I have decided to re-take all my photos for this assignment.

1.1 Perspective

The angle of the previous photo and the subject are not appealing enough. Hence, I had re-work on this assignment and am currently considering between the following 2 photos. However, I do feel that the second photo is much better than the first.

This Photo: 1/30, f5.0, ISO250

  

This Photo: 1/30, f18, ISO 200

1.2 Close Up

The previous photo on the tiger is irrelevant for this category. Hence, I am replacing the photo with another subject, a human eye as shown below. I am considering between the first and second photo below. However, I do feel that the second photo is better than the first one.

This Photo: 1/8, f5.0, ISO 800

This Photo: 1/200, f2.5, ISO 800

1.3 Zoom Shot

The comments during tutorial are that the previous photo of the pot in the garden is alright in terms of technicalities. However, the lines in the foreground of the photo distrubs the composition of the photo. I have decided to re-work on it and I am currently considering between the 3 photos below. I am still wondering which is better for this category.

This Photo: 1/5, f3.5, ISO 400

 

This Photo: 0"3/ f4.5, ISO 400

This Photo: 1/6, f18, ISO 400

2.1 High Key

My tutor, Jing feed backed to me that the previous high key photo is over exposed. Thus, I will replace it with the following subjects. I am wondering which photos are a better fit to be classified as a high key photo.

This Photo: 1", f5.6, ISO 800

This Photo: 1/25, f5.6, ISO 400

This Photo: 1/25, f5.6, ISO 400

This Photo: 1/60, f2.8, ISO 400

2.2 Low Key

The photo (the flower) taken previously had certain parts, which were over exposed. Thus, I have decided to use another subject instead. The photos are shown below. I am still wondering which angle of the 2 photos taken would have a better composition.

This Photo: 1"/ f4.5, ISO 800

This Photo: 1", f4.5, ISO 800

Final Artwork

After consulting my tutor Ms Chiang, I have re-taken some photos and selected the relevant ones for this assignment. These final photos, which are produced below, has been edited with Photoshop.

1. Perspective

This Photo: 1/30, f 18, ISO 200

 

2. Close Up

This Photo: 1/200, f 2.5, ISO 800

 

3. Zoom Shot

This Photo: 1/40, f 13, ISO 400

 

4. High Key

This Photo: 0"3, f 5.6, ISO 800

 

5. Low Key

This Photo: 1/50, f 5.6, ISO 800