#arts3372-colorconcepts

[camirettinger]

Artist Statement

At the beginning of the semester, I had an idea to have my final portfolio to have a fashion magazine feel with bright colors and funky outfit choices. Sadly, the coronavirus made it difficult for me to shoot. Luckily my friend and I have both been social distancing and she was down to shoot some photos in her cute apartment. My friend Paige helped with creating a cute color palette focusing on the colors green, pink, and blue mostly. I was inspired by her living room with very interesting features and with green painted flooring and a bookshelf full of different vases she thrifted. 

The overall theme I wanted to portray was a day in the life of quarantine with a fashion magazine look. So I composed this series to start with her waking up and trying to find something cute and dance in the living room, read magazines and go on a picnic. I saw this trend where photographers put cling wrap over the lens and dab vaseline on the edges like a vignette border. Although some came out too blurry we came up with a couple of good ones with a dreamy hazy look. After shooting for a while, I wanted the colors to have a grainy and vintage feel to them to keep the images consistent with each other. I think natural lighting is the best lighting for the style I was going for so we used the windows in the rooms to help with soft lighting. For the outdoor photos, we had used the shade from the tree to prevent harsh shadows on her face. The images I have taken for this project has helped me learn the importance of color in photography and the techniques I used I learned throughout the semester.

[art3372-501-tylerc]

              Rise and fall, death, and rebirth these truths are the critical characteristics of life. For each one of us, how we approach this unmistakable state is often reflected deeply in the pathos of our lives. If one is afraid of death, one might be meek and shy, and if one is fearless, then they might be confident and proud. Whatever type of person you are, you will be remembered by how you live your life. It is often the fate of great people to be recognized by what they built, and if fact, what is left behind is often the only thing that remains of the people that made them. The pyramids if Giza, the Easter Island heads, and of course, Stonehenge. These works are world-famous and for a good reason, but it is my opinion that significant meaning and purpose also lay lie in our modern decaying world. In our cities, dead streets paint the stories of our culture, and abandoned buildings are the monuments to more prosperous times.

          My photographs capture the texture of these echoes of life from underneath the decay of my modern city. Photographed exclusively within the City of Fort Worth, Texas, my photos document the urban decay through the lens of color because nothing is truly ever gone. From an abandoned parking lot to a decaying marketplace, the power of digital editing has allowed me to bring back the colors of these buildings and areas. That being said, not all had color, to begin with, showing that in some places such as railways, perhaps there was never life, to start with.  For many inner-city shots, the brickwork of the buildings draws on feelings of warm dirty colors and the strength or repeating patterns. Complementing the colors, both line and perspective are used to draw the viewer into the photograph, be it a broking chain link fence or a distinct pattern of hand-laid brick.  To best capture that state of every subject, natural light was purposely explicitly used on cloudy days to contrast the idea of rot with the warm feelings of life.

          I believe that the past has every lesson needed to build a brighter, healthier future.  To achieve this, examining the decay of the yesteryear is a necessity. So venture out and explore the forgotten worlds around you, and maybe you’ll discover histories and stories you never knew were possible.

 -Tyler C