Final Portfolio

Final Emulation

Instead of the stop-motion, I chose to do a final emulation project. I decided that a week was not enough time to make a thoughtful and quality stop animation, although it seemed more interesting then doing another emulation.

For my emulation, I took a look at Maja Topcagic's collection of redhead portraits. Among these redheads that she photographs is Asima Sefic. I took a strong liking to her because of her bright blue eyes and lighter red hair. This project became personal to me because I have bright blue eyes, and I've always wanted to be a natural redhead, which I am not.

My favorite photos of her include the following:

I was inspired by the focus on the intensity of the eyes, and in some of the photos where the lips were highlighted too. I decided I would do self portraits, which is unusual for me. I wanted to reflect the image of self-beauty onto myself, and especially wanted to focus on the fact that I have blue eyes too,

I also like these photos because they highlight, rather than hide the imperfections on these women's faces. Many redheads are born with lots of freckles and imperfections on their face. Regardless, these women are still stunning.

Here are my emulations:

I really liked the use of red lipstick for drama, so I put some on. I also used those really bright lights that are used for photo shoots and displays (I'm not sure what they're called). I put extreme emphasis on the eyes when editing. In the second photo, I feel like I put too much, but I enjoyed experimenting with it. I really enjoy these photos of myself, because I know they aren't perfect. They show flaws (sloppy lipstick and mascara, freckles, a scar on my forehead), and overall vulnerability. It says "hey, this is me. I took photos of myself for the world to see, because I am comfortable with myself."

Project 10 Pre-work

Our project 10 is suppose to be a video that represents our personal dystopia and utopia. The utopia video should be bright, and include a lot of plants, people, or animals doing positive things. The dystopia should have a darker theme, and feature typically more man-made things.

Utopia. Copyright © 2012 Jeff Lynch Photography

Dystopia. Mika Suutari

Project 10

Since I am sick a lot of the time, and spend a lot of time in my house alone, I decided to do this project on my own home.

Utopia:
All of my Utopia is just plain film of my animals, or friends. There isn't a lot of things in my house that makes me happy besides my cat. Everything in my house becomes repetitive to me, so I just tried to capture the non-repetitive behavior of my cat.

Dystopia:
I have a lot of annoying things in my house. I also have a pretty nerve-wracking basement/under the house area.

Project 9

My magazine was a kind of "feel good" magazine. I've never really read magazines, but I know there are some liberal magazines that talk about body issues and things that are going around in politics. I tried to replicate that with a magazine that covers "beach bods", bi-sexuality, and the transgender/cross dressing movement. In the end, I had a hard time making it looks "magaziney". I am proud of the first 6 JPG versions of this magazine, but then I am very disappointed with the cheap look of the last three JPGs. They look like a twelve year old made them, but I just couldn't figure out a background that would match the overall color theme of the whole magazine. The rest don't really have backgrounds, instead they're just full pictures, so I had trouble trying to put multiple pictures in one large page, and still look professional.

Our goal was to put all our editing techniques and show them in an emulation of a magazine.

Commercial Portraits

I took these photos on senior skip day (see I wasn't just slacking off). These photos didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted them to. My friends were nervous about being judged for fake modeling...so their facial expressions and poses aren't as natural and happy as I wanted them to be. I have been waiting for a day since so that I could either take them or my boyfriend back to redo them. Alas, it hasn't been sunny on a good day for any of us and a trip to Sauvies is a lot harder than I thought it would be.

Project 8 Fine Arts

Fine Arts portraits.

For the Fine Arts section of the portraits, I wanted to focus on the face and facial expression. I have been taking interest in gender identity lately, because I want to be able to further understand trans people. I don't quite understand the meaning behind my pictures, it's suppose to be confusing, and I hope others can find their own meaning. Also, shoutout to my boyfriend for being so flexible and putting himself in a vulnerable place. It's hard for men to wear feminine things or act feminine, so he felt pretty uncomfortable. He refuses displays of affection while he's dressed up, for the fear of me falling for girls instead of men. (An inside look beyond the photo). On a side note, he looks better in makeup than I do.

Commercial VS Fine Art Portraits Pre-work

Commercial:

Photographer: Micah Kvid. This photo was fairly adventurous looking, and in order to go exploring on a mountain, you need gear. This photo was good at selling adventure, rather than the products.

Timothy Bailey. This is a very vibrant and cute photo. I like the smooth texture of everything but the apple and the lips. It popped out well, and if there's a message here, then it's clear (it seems like it's selling candy)

Fine art:

Anna Shakina (Ukraine). I like this fine arts portrait because it is very simple but easy to read the mood. It is dark in order to completely focus on the facial expression. It was also a self portrait, which is hard to do when you are looking for raw emotion. 

Paluksht Mark (Israel). (This was considered "offensive" on the website and had a filter to approve unblurring the whole photo,  ???) I really loved this picture because a lot of textures are used in it. The texture of whatever she is laying on, the texture of the smoke, yet the picture is fairly simple. It is just a woman smoking a cigarette naked, but there is a lot to analyze in the eye.


Compare and contrast:
Fine art has a lot of emotion in it, while commercial art sells a point, rather than an emotion. In these pictures, the fine art was mostly sad, and negative, showing strong emotions, while the commercial portraits were happy and adventurous, which everyone enjoys feeling, in order to sell a product.

Surrealism Final

"Rites of Passage". All of the photos in this image are from the Zojoji temple in Tokyo Japan. In the previous days, at a Shinto shrine called Meiji, we saw many dressed up boys and girls going through their respective age rites of passage. It includes a short ceremony in the temple, followed by lots and lots of pictures with the parents. As much as I love Japanese culture, I tend to critize it for it's xenophobic nature. A lot of people are forced into working jobs they hate, and mustering a lot of their emotions in order to follow the traditions of work. I felt as if even the rite of passage, even if it is holy and beautiful, may be the beginning to many Japanese people submitting their ways to tradition, although many would have it otherwise. The picture is suppose to represent wanting inclusion, but also posessing a lot of hesitation. I mostly just cut out pictures of my images, and pasted them. I put drop shadows (and matched the background's color), put a black and white tint on top, textures, and painted an overlaying rainbow splotch patch, and then faded it out with hard light.

Project 7 Pre-work

Project 7 - Surrealism

Surrealism was created in the 20th century, and was a movement in art and literature. It was used to create pictures that the unconscious mind could create, and is usually irrational and strange. Also defined by the word "juxtaposition", which means two things brought or placed closely together that have contrasting effects.

Jim Kazanjian's "untitled (vessel)"

Jim Kazanjian's "untitled (object)"

Famous Salvador Dali's "The Persistence of Memory"

Salvador Dali's "The Elephants"

Cristopher McKenney's surrealism photo (name not found)

Cristopher McKenney's surrealism photo (name not found)

Cristopher McKenney's surrealism photo (name not found)

Arno Rafael Minkkinen's "Foster Pond"

Arno Rafael Minkkinen's "Dead Horse Point"

Arno Rafael Minkkinen's "Mouth of The River, Fosters Pond"

Tommy Ingberg's "Again"

Tommy Ingberg's "Passage"

Tommy Ingberg's "Dreamer"

Project 6 Finals

In project 6, we emulated wet plate daguerreotypes, cyanotypes, and gum bichromates. We also emulated a Van Dyke print as an extra project. In this project, we just emulate the old type of processing, rather than actually doing it. After completing the editing, we would layer textures on top to give an older type of feeling.

Wet plate

Wet plate

Cyanotype

Gum Bichromate

Last tutorial followed...van dyke

Tilt Shift, followed tutorial for fun. Photo is not mine, link here