celest3al

[celest3al]

Anna Grevenitis - Photographer Research Post

Anna Grevenitis is a photographer who works in series in order to tell her stories. She is widely known for her series, Regard, which won first place at the Documentary Family Awards in 2020. Regard focuses on Grevenitis and her daughter, who was diagnosed at a very early age with down-syndrome. The story of this piece doesn’t just explore one period in time, but explores the life that the two of them have been living. Grevenitis even stares into the camera in all of her shots. This gives an impression of her guarding her and her child from any ridicule that may come from people. They still live good lives even with this life-changing condition.

It makes me think of how there are a lot of videos or things online which get called “inspiration porn.” This getting its name from having beneficial things presented to those less fortunate in order to appeal to audiences and show how nice of a person that creator is. Grevenitis in this work isn’t trying to get that appreciation, and while her gaze may be one of guard. It could also be interpreted as a way of saying, “I don’t need your appreciation. I already feel satisfied with my life.”

[celest3al]

Duane Michals - Photographer Research Post

Duane Michals is a director photographer who uses photos in a different way than is common. What makes his photos interesting is how he uses series of photos in order to tell a story. Almost mimicking film, or even storyboards, is how Michals echibits his works.

While he is known for his sequenced photos, he also does a lot of work when it comes to merging photos together. Now, while this may be easier in the current day, Michals had to develop photos by hand. Meaning blurring something or changing the way an image look had to be done by hand.

One more thing I found interesting about his work is his use of text surrounding the photos in order to communicate his message or narrative.

Duane Michals has been heavily recognized for his work. With him having solo exhibitions at: The Museum of Modern Art, The Morgan Library and Museum in New York, the Odakyu Museum in Tokyo, and the International Center of Photography in New York.

I found his work really inspirational to my own photographic work. As it gave me inspiration to not only continue pursuing this sequencing of photos, but also made me consider taking photos in black and white. His works are absolutely amazing, and I’m so glad I was introduced to him.

[celest3al]

Vincent Cianni - Photographer Research Post

Vincent Cianni is a photographer who has a bachelor’s in fine arts at New York College at New Paltz. His most popular work being We Skate Hardcore which focused on the skating community of people. His work is primarily documentarian work focusing on communities like skaters mentioned before and even the representation of the LGBTQ+ in the military. This project regarding the LGBTQ+ community discusses the discrimination of this community in the military. With many interviews and statements being connected to the photos to tell these people’s stories.

His presentation discussed his projects, and brought us into his life and why he decided to make the projects he did. His whole work ethic is based around making something in which he has some sort of connection to. That way there is much more of an emotional connection to each of the photos instead of getting “the best” ones. It was interesting to learn about his perspective on photography, and how he created a organization for those who had an interest in Photography, but not the money to support it.

[celest3al]

Theme Project 2: Grieving Comes in Many Forms

[celest3al]

Theme Project 2 Proposal

I really wanted to explore the story I made in the previous project further. Mainly, by exploring this idea of grief, and discussing the idea of those five stages of grief. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and then ending with acceptance. Originally I had the idea of trying to tell this story by using the same method of storytelling present in my previous project. However, after presenting my project, getting feedback, and even learning about Duane Michals inspired me to take this story in a new direction.

The way I want to approach this is by adding more of that animated element into this story. Where photos are taken in a pattern to the point where an animation can be created from them. That’s even a plan that I have for this project, where I will have the photos laid out in one presentation and Zine. Then forming them into an animation in order to show the full story told in the way it was meant to be told. I even thought of the idea of playing with the Zine format so that you can actually “play it” like an animation flip book.

Another idea that I had with this concept, is how to depict parts of the story. Where each stage of grief is represented by a change in the background. Even having a smooth transition between each scene adds an interesting idea to this. For example, if the two characters walk off to the right side of the photo, then in the next scene, they come from the left side.  

Another thing that I wasn’t fully certain about with this project, which I guess I can ask now is if the project can be in black and white. The reason why I want to have this story told in black and white is because I want to imply that not only as an allusion to the male character being dead. As well as a metaphor to the grief the female character is going through. Then the ending brings them back to the swing-set before the tragedy occurred, where the female finally begins to accept, with the world slowly coming back into color.

[celest3al]

This isn’t the full collection of photos. If you are interested in seeing all of them, let me know, and I can give you a PDF version or something!

[celest3al]

Theme Project 1 Proposal

My idea for this first theme project is a directorial photography project. I don’t have a title established yet for this project. However, the subject I do have established.

THE STORY:

The story centers around two characters: one male and one female. With the main story taking the perspective of the male character. They have been friends for a very long time, and we see this exhibited in the photos. Things like them hanging out, to even the male being dressed up in make up by the female. One day, the two of them are hanging out, when a notification comes up on the male characters phone. “Get the things needed, it’s almost time…” The male lets their friend know what they have to do, and says goodbye to her. We see him at a store, grabbing these so-called “supplies”. He purchases his goods, and starts to head to his car. However, something suddenly causes these plans of his to not go the way he wanted.

This being that he is hit by a car. He quickly tries to turn and see the car, but it’s too late. He is launched many feet away from the car that has suddenly come to a stop. His final view looks at the car which is hard to get the details of with the bright headlights. Some may recognize it from earlier and theorize who it may be, and this theory is confirmed when the driver side door opens. We see the female character, coming out in a panic. Worried about their dear friend and if they are okay. We see the horrifying look on her face as our vision begins to get blurry. The female picks our head up, and above us is a light pole. The vision gets even more blurry and the light becomes brighter and brighter.

HOW I PLAN TO DO THIS:

When it comes to how I am going to tell this story in photographic form, I plan on having all the photos taken from an eye-level angle. So it gives off this feeling of the viewer in the male character's point of view. One of the shots that may have some challenge behind it is a shot involving a mirror. Where the main character is looking at himself with this make-up on. How I plan to do this shot is having one shot taken from the view of the character, and having another shot taken from the mirror, so I can mimic the effect of a mirror by using photoshop.

When it comes to the actors, I plan to have myself and one of my friends act as the characters in this story. I have already asked about their involvement in this project and even asked about her interest in dressing me in make-up.

The final shots of the story are going to be illustrated similar to an animation. Where when the main character realizes he is about to be hit. A slow frame rate animation is formed with the pictures. Showing him being hit, Female character coming out, and the final consolation of the character all take up those last photographs and brings the story to an end.

WHAT I WANT TO LEARN:

This will be one of the first times that I start to do storytelling in any form. I have had stories in the back of my mind. However, fully putting them out there hasn’t been something I’ve done before. So I think taking this project as a means to learn more about storytelling is something that I want to gain from this project.

WHAT I WANT AUDIENCE TO LEARN:

I feel like one of the main things I want people to learn from this story is to appreciate moments of time that you spend with friends, family, and others more. Sure, this story does end in a very sad way, but I think the male character has this feeling of satisfaction behind those final moments. Even if he wasn’t hit, his time was about to end soon anyway. Some may think that what the female character did was an act of betrayal of trust or that friendship, but how would that be if neither of them knew this would happen?

[celest3al]

Elements of Art and Life Slideshow

[celest3al]

Elements and Principles of Design

Throughout my research of elements and principles of art and design, I was able to find 7 elements and 8 principles. I know it is mentioned to find 8 elements of art and design, but I wasn’t able to find a large amount of resources that featured an eighth element. Here are my elements and principles of design.

Elements

Line - An element of art defined by a point moving in space. Line may be two-or three-dimensional, descriptive, implied,, or abstract

Shape - An element that is two-dimensional, flat, or limited to height and width

Form - An element that is three-dimensional and encloses volume; includes height, width, and depth. Form may also be free flowing

Value - The lightness or darkness of tones or colors.

Space - An element by which positive and negative areas are defined or a sense of depth achieved in a work of art

Color - An element made of three properties: hue, value, and intensity

Hue: name of color

Value: hue’s lightness and darkness

Intensity: quality of brightness and purity

Texture - An element that refers to the way things feel, or look as if they might feel if touched

Principles

Rhythm - A principle that indicates movement, created by the careful placement of repeated elements in a work to cause a visual tempo or beat.

Balance - A way of combining elements to add a feeling of equilibrium or stability to a work of art.

Contrast - A way of combining elements to stress the differences between those elements.

Proportion - A principle that refers to the relationship of certain elements to the whole and to each other

Harmony - A way of combining similar elements in an artwork to accent their similarities.

Variety - A principle concerned with diversity or contrast.

Movement - A principle used to create the look and feeling of action and to guide the viewer’s eye throughout the work of art.

Pattern - The uniform repetition of an element or combination of elements

Source

Anthony, Posted byRachel. “Lesson Plan: Heriberto Castillo Orta's ‘Tree of Life: Skull Candelabra.’” Tyler Museum of Art Education Blog, 20 May 2022, https://tylermuseum.art/2022/05/20/lesson-plan-heriberto-castillo-ortas-tree-of-life-skull-candelabra/.

Jordan, Courtney. “15 Elements and Principles of Art That Take an Artist from Beginner to Master.” Artists Network, 5 Dec. 2022, https://www.artistsnetwork.com/art-techniques/composition/15-elements-and-principles-of-art/.

[celest3al]

Daido Moriyama Book and Artist Review

One artist that caught my attention was Daidō Moriyama, and his book “The world through my Eyes.” Moriyama is famous for his black and white photography. He is a documentarian photographer who took photos of everyday things he saw when exploring the many cities of Tokyo. In his book, the way that he has it formatted shows no captions or titles to any of his photos. The reason, explained in a interview by Moriyama, is because he wants these photos to be interpretive to the viewer. Where the photo provides all of the context needed in order to understand what was happening at the point in time the photo was taken. This point was very important to Moriyama, who even formed a group of people to publish a photography magazine to highlight photos in this format called Provoke. While Provoke did not live for very long, this book still highlights those beliefs and leaves a unique impression on the viewer.

[celest3al]

Photos that share what a typical weekend around my house is.

[celest3al]

Hello!

My name is Dominic. I am a third year at Fresno State, majoring in 2D animation. Some hobbies that I have are listening to music, playing video games, reading (not often), and slowly learning how to speak Japanese. In case you’re curious, my favorite music genre is Japanese rock with my favorite band being back number. I’m very shy, but feel free to chat with me if you want. I’m the person with the space mask in case you were curious.