Abstract Project Reflection

How did you find opportunities to explore abstraction through your work in this project? Which image is your strongest? How does that image exemplify abstraction?

During this project, I was able to explore abstraction through using deliberate photographic techniques and enhancing my photos using photoshop and lightroom. I used geometric shapes found in everyday objects to create abstract compositions. I also found light to be a valuable tool in creating abstract images, as the shadows and lines created by direct light sources made my photos more complex and dynamic. Cropping was also a valuable tool in my quest for abstraction, as I could focus on particular textures and colors to make the objects in my image stand out. The image that I have posted above was my strongest, and it exemplifies abstraction because I used cropping and light to create a composition that is unique and interesting. It is difficult to identify what the subject truly is and what is going on, leaving room for interpretation. 

How did you push yourself to gain a better understanding of the digital camera and photoshop? What are your favorite photoshop tools? In what ways did you come to better control the various tools you employed? 

I used the zoom feature in particular on my camera to find textures and lines that made interesting abstract compositions. The zoom lenses were very useful and helped me to find and create images that I otherwise may not have seen without such a close view. I really enjoyed playing with cropping and color / hue during the course of the project. Many of my photos had a warm, yellowish tone, and with photoshop, I made the images more interesting   when I switched the tint from a yellow to a blue. I used the editing tools to find hues of blue and green that enhanced the detail of my photos without being distracting. I learned through experimentation to use color in subtle ways that do not detract from the overall image quality and instead enhance my composition. 

FAB Work Reflection

What intrigues you about the artwork? What do you think the intentions of the artist were with the piece? what formal, technical elements of the work might you want to use in your own creative practice? 

I found this artwork to be very intriguing because although it seems one-dimensional at first glance, there are layers and layers of texture and color that make the piece more intriguing as you continue to look at it. I think that the artist was trying to demonstrate complex textures and use strategic colors and directional movement to make an emotional piece that may tell a story personal to the artist. To me, the painting is reminiscent to the heart monitors used in hospitals or to sound waves. Either way, I find the piece to be exciting and complex. I might use this method of layering color and texture in my creative practice to make layered and complex compositions. 

Abstract Evaluation

My peers appreciated the harsh line and asymmetry of this composition and the reverse effect that the light coming through the window and coming through the curtain had on the table surface. The use of light is interesting and the unexpected cropping was intriguing.

Photo Encapsulating Current Project

Off-Camera Flash

I plan to use both natural and artificial light to create complex shadows inside and outside of nature to convey something along the lines of passage of time. I plan to finalize my conceptual intentions during the upcoming weeks, but as of right now, I am drawn to shadows with unexpected light and attention to detail.

Map of My Mind - Reflection and Final Project

Conceptual Intentions

Although I initially struggled to create a piece that communicated my voice as an artist and as a person, I believe that I was eventually able to do so through incorporating photos of places that are important to me along with drawings that I have made and textures that I find interesting and communicative. I found this whole process to be very meaningful, as it allowed me to explore my inner consciousness in a physical project and forced me to find a way to effectively communicate my intentions using photoshop. I hadn't previously spent much time imagining what a physical representation of my mind would look like and it took lots of thinking to create a piece that told my audience the story that I wanted them to see. After hearing the comments that my classmates made regarding my final piece, I realized that I had communicated more about myself than I had even intended simply through the methods I used and the placements of certain objects, which made the critique both interesting and valuable for me.

Stretch and Explore 

Originally, I had placed several photos of nature bordering the entire piece but I struggled with creating a background that felt appropriate and I felt limited by my border. To solve this problem, I eventually removed the photos from the shorter sides of the image and incorporated a background that was very simple. In order to make this background meaningful and evocative of my mind, I made it symmetrical by mirroring the sky over the center line of the photo and place a circle of sky in the very center. The circle ended up being indicative of a camera lens, which was very appropriate for my mind and my imagination. Adding several drawings that I made around the border of the image also allowed me to evoke some final elements of myself and my mind. Despite changing my approach and adding and eliminating several images and drawings, I feel that I successfully represented my mind using photoshop and art that I had previously created. After having spent a few weeks getting to know Photoshop, I have come to appreciate some of its capabilities and the creative license that it allows. If I had been this comfortable with photoshop before starting this project, ideally I would have spent less time experimenting and more time effectively communicating my mind and the ways in which I think.

a room of one's own reflection

Conceptual Intentions

How did you address the idea of A Room of One’s Own (place and use of light) with this work? How did you explore your authentic voice as a visual artist? What made this project meaningful for you? If you did not find the practice and process meaningful, why not?

I addressed the idea of a room of ones own using strategic placement of light to emphasize certain aspects of my photographs and through using light to convey feelings and emotions. I explored my own voice as a visual artist through experimenting with different techniques and settling on uses of light that created dark, complex, or interesting moods with simple objects. This project was meaningful to me because it allowed me to learn about taking different types of photos and allowed me to find a general aesthetic that I enjoyed to take photos of. I explored different techniques and settled upon methods that produced photographs that I found both interesting and personal. 

Stretch and Explore

In what ways did your intentions change over the course of your project?  What opportunities or occurrences led to these changes?

My intentions changed throughout this project as I learned about the different applications and true purposes of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. The new knowledge of these factors really influenced how I thought about taking photos and the introduction to long exposure photography was particularly interesting to me. I could influence what I saw in person and manipulate my camera to make it appear differently in photographs, a process which I found to be very fulfilling. 

Given what you know now about your work and your materials choices, how might you have changed your concept or approach to working?

Given what I know now and what I have learned over the course of this project, I would have changed my approach to digital photography. I would have liked to have taken more time to explore with my photographic techniques in interesting locations and experimented a bit more with the same subject in order to discover the most effective techniques for use in different situations. However, I would not change my approach to film photography with this project and I feel satisfied with my selected film photographs.