Artist Statement

Artist Statement

My work places emphasis on light, color, and detail. Light is the captivating force that drives my photography, and I’m fascinated by natural elements, including skies, greenery, and seascapes. I use an open aperture that allows the camera to capture more light so that I can take vibrant, dynamic photographs and place direct focus on certain details. Focusing on particular portions of my photographs makes my compositions more complex and allows me to clearly communicate the messages that my work expresses.

I love the spontaneity that the camera provides, and I love to use Photoshop to embrace and manipulate the spontaneity that the camera gives me. My work in Photoshop is graphic with a deliberate aesthetic focus, and I use simple but evocative natural imagery to create imaginative Photoshopped compositions that encourage a connection to nature through self-discovery. My work combines multiple images in a simplistic and colorful way to create playful and surreal alternate worlds in which my viewer must search to discover what lies underneath the surface.

Artist as Activist

     My intentions with this project were to explore the idea of body image through the lens of the belly button. I took photos of 16 different belly buttons and juxtaposed them to illustrate the universal yet diverse nature of belly buttons. Many people are insecure or concerned about the appearance of their belly buttons, and I wanted to use this project to show that all belly buttons are different and all are equally strange when it comes down to it. Belly buttons are also a somewhat intimate body part, and I wanted to push my subjects and viewers to reexamine their relationships with their bodies. I also used belly buttons because they are anonymous and I wanted to show that all people have belly buttons and that the appearance of one's belly button is insignificant and not something to be worried about. My intentions translated pretty directly to my final work, and I would not say that they varied greatly throughout the project as I began with a very specific image of what my final piece would look like. 

     As strange and uncomfortable as this project was to pursue at times, I feel that I am an activist because I think that my work opens a conversation about body image and the appearance of different body parts and how others' perception affects one's view of his or her body. This work is also indicative of me as a practicing artist because I was able to use Photoshop to collage my photographs and arrange them in a way that I found aesthetically pleasing and because I experimented to sketch the concept that I wanted to work with and then directly pursued my idea and refined it throughout the process. 

Final Blog Reflection

     Looking back over the course of the year, the project that I found myself most engaged in was the "Unexplored Territories" project in which I created a map of California using digital photos and Photoshop editing skills. I found myself getting lost in the editing process, and the general process felt very natural and authentic for me because I was able to utilize Photoshop to draw on and manipulate my own digital photographs. I also found my process to be most fluid in this project. I began with a vision of a map of California, and I took this idea and translated it to a rough sketch in my journal. This sketch served as an outline for the rest of the project, and I incorporated the patterns and textures that I envisioned in my journal when I began to work digitally on my final composition. I loved being able to use a variety of textures and photographs from different locations to create a graphic work with a very aesthetic focus. 

     I feel that I have pushed myself out of my comfort zone more than I am accustomed to this year. I challenged myself to stretch and explore during the Hero's Journey project in which I switched my focus from Photoshop to a series of digital photographs. I am not as comfortable with taking lots of digital photos and arranging them in a series, as I usually rely on Photoshop to combine and layer multiple images. During this project, I learned to rely on the strength of individual photographs to carry the series and I enhanced my photography skills by experimenting with various apertures and shutter speeds. I was still able to incorporate photoshop editing later in the project after I had taken my photos, but I was not as reliant on Photoshop as I often am which was an interesting challenge for me. During this project, I also did not begin with a sketch as I have in the past, but instead took a camera with me outdoors and began to shoot in the hopes of developing a vision as I went along. I played with various objects and subjects and eventually settled upon a specific style that I embraced for the remainder of my photographs. Though I am typically more comfortable with the processes of observation and crafting, I enjoyed challenging myself to embrace and refine my exploration skills during this project and I will take these skills with me in my future artistic endeavors. 

     I most enjoyed the "Unexplored Territories" and "Artists as Activists" projects, because I found that I had plenty of freedom to discover where I wanted to take the given prompts but not so much that I was completely overwhelmed. I think that the Self Study was also a successful project. However, I felt that the "Process Project" was not as successful for me. I had embraced many different processes throughout a variety of different projects over the last trhee years, and I was a bit lost when I was told to use my personal practice to develop a project of my choosing. Had I zeroed in on a set of specific studio habits earlier in my career, I would have been able to take better advantage of this project, but because I was still exploring and finding my artistic voice, this project became slightly frustrating and I was not satisfied with the final work that I produced for this project. I think that Ms. Seal does a great job of working with us to develop direction in various projects and as always willing to answer questions or discuss potential ideas with us. I would advise developing a clearer timeline for certain projects because I found moving deadlines to be slightly confusing at times, though I would say this was a very minor issue in the grand scheme of the class and rarely caused issues for me. 

Artists as Activists Proposal

     For the Artists As Activists project, I'm planning to take digital photos of as many belly buttons as I can. I'm involved with the Body Positive program at school and I'm interested in exploring the societal dynamics surrounding body image through the lens of the navel. I chose to focus on the belly button because it is a body part that is simultaneously intimate yet impersonal, and belly buttons are distinctive and diverse in appearance. For my final composition, I plan to make a big collage juxtaposing all of the different belly button photos. I want to show that there is no need to feel insecure about a body part as silly as a belly button, because everyone has a unique belly button and the appearance of one's belly button does not determine anything else about that individual. I will be taking photos with the studio lights upstairs in New House in order to achieve consistent lighting and coloring throughout my photos. My beginning goal is to get photos of 16 different belly buttons so I can arrange the photos into a large square, but I would eventually like to get as many photos as I can.

Plan for "Voice" Project

Process Project Discussion

• surreal landscape
• notebook invites the viewer in
• vibrant colors and organic lines
• tree branches create interesting texture, break up photos in symmetrical and aesthetically appealing way (balanced)
• one side is more simple than the other, the more complex side is more intriguing
• contrast/tension between simple and complex
• tree branches on other half of notebook may have made for a more cohesive composition

Hero's Journey

     Generally, I begin my process as an artist by sketching or researching ideas that I may be interested in pursuing. However, I usually spend more time shooting and experimenting with Photoshop and editing in order to refine my conceptual intentions. With this project, I began by shooting objects that traditionally allude to fairytales and storybooks. I took photos of a necklace, books, a candle stick, and several more objects on a white and on a black backdrop. The photos of the necklace and the book on black backdrops were most intriguing to me, and I decided to incorporate both of these objects into my project.

     I then went out and shot these objects in nature. I took many photos of nature alone and human hands and feet interacting with nature as well to diversify the series. When I came back to edit these photos, I decided that I wanted to display them in a book because I wanted my viewer to get a sense of fairytale. Though I typically associate my voice and style as an artist with use of photoshop and lightroom editing, I chose to focus more on the quality of my individual photos for this project in order to broaden my horizons and step outside of my comfort zone. I haven't produced a series of photos for a project in a long time, so I decided to go back to the basics of photography and take an extensive series of 30 photographs. Though I felt my voice emerged in a different sense in this project, I felt that the connection with nature as well as the macro photography style made these photos distinctly my own, which was intriguing to me. 

     I had many different ideas about how to use my photos to portray the hero's journey, but I eventually decided to arrange my photos to create a plot for my storybook. I tried to emulate the cyclical nature of the hero's journey throughout the book. The series begins with photos of a book and a person reading a book, indicating the discovery that comes before the hero sets out on his / her journey. Next, I portrayed the journey with photos of pathways and human connection to nature to portray self-exploration and adventure. Along the way, nature aids in the quest of self-discovery. As the series progresses, the hero uncovers pieces of a necklace, which represent the realizations made and knowledge gained along the way. In the end, the charms come together to form a full necklace, and for the last photo of the series, the necklace and the book are placed together, indicating the completion of the journey and the return to a certain starting place, making the adventure itself cyclical. 

     In hindsight, I would not use different mediums or materials, as I think that I was able to push myself out of my comfort zone by not using photoshop and instead relying upon the quality of my photos. Also, I think that challenging myself to take so many photos helped me to explore and grow as a photographer. Though I would have liked to order the book earlier so that it would be here for critique, I would not have changed my approach to working.