karen-ars281-fall2023

[karen-ars281-fall2023]

Like the Choices We Once Made

This whole semester, I avoided photographing people as much as possible since I preferred landscape photography and did not like having my own photo taken (meaning that I wouldn't want to impose on others for photos as well). I also tried captivating the colors of my subjects in my pictures out of love for the vibrance it brought along. However, for this project, I decided that I would purposefully go out of my way to do the opposite of my usual.

My idea behind this project was the struggle between two extremes when pushed into a situation where one has no choice but to select one. To depict what would happen, ambiguously, if the previously described situation happens but there was outside influence. Would a person fall into darkness? Or would they aim towards the good they believe in?

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Influence

The photographer that influenced me whom I chose for this assignment would be the same photographer I mentioned in the beginning of the semester, Kai Hornung. The beautifully and aesthetically pleasing landscape photography of Hornung's served as the inspiration behind the idea I went with in this assignment. Since the views were all so fascinating within Hornung's photos, I began to think of how many of the naturally beautiful sites in this world are being destroyed with the hands of humans---our hands. In other words, Hornung's photos made me think of the opposite of natural beauty of this land. This would be the urbanized areas that are touched by humans and therefore transformed, whether for good or bad.

[karen-ars281-fall2023]

Light & Shadow

"Adversity"

The photo essay I am going with for this project will be a narrative essay. The theme I want to express will be coping with emotional anguish. It would be fun to make it clear whether it would be a good ending or a bad ending, but I want to try to make it so that it will be up to the audience to determine which it is. As such, I want to capture images that make it as ambiguous as can be on that aspect. To fully bring out that ambiguity, I am thinking for most of the project to be "absent" of a subject except their shadow. This means that the subject will be in the photo but their features will be unclear due to a backlight. Also, the lighting will be daytime lighting excluding the last 2-3 that might be shot during golden hour. Especially the last one, I want very bright lighting that as a result casts a darker shadow on the subject when viewed from the back---silhouette photography. This idea is inspired by the photography of Nicholas Bouvier and Sara Latif. The way they have the subject but place more of an emphasis on the shadows and other aspects instead is mesmerizing. Considering how I don't really like going out and taking pictures with an actual person in it, this will be a challenge for sure that diverges from my usual range of actions.

6-8 photos

Alternating between outdoors and indoors, with a little more than half indoors

1 prop

A model

Natural lighting either from the window or directly above in the sky depending on whether indoor or outdoor

Tripod

Camera

Nicolas Bouvier: https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2016/02/nicolas-bouvier-silhouettes/

Sara Latif: https://www.lomography.com/magazine/349690-light-and-shadow-photography-by-sara-latif ///////// https://www.instagram.com/saralatif/?hl=en

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"Golden Hour"

f/16, 1/3 sec, ISO 400

f/4, 1/10 sec, ISO 400

f/16, 1/2 sec, ISO 400

f/4, 1/6 sec, ISO 400

f/11, 0.6 sec, ISO 400

f/4.5, 1/4 sec, ISO 400

f/4.5, 1/3 sec, ISO 400

f/9, 2 sec, ISO 200

f/7.1, 1/4 sec, ISO 400

[karen-ars281-fall2023]

After Dark

Motion Blur (Assignment 4a)

No Motion Blur (Assignment 4b)

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Assignment 3b

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Assignment 3a

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shutter speed: 1/1000, iso: 1250

shutter speed: 1/1000, iso: 640

shutter speed: 1/125, iso: 1000

shutter speed: 1/125, iso: 500

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shutter speed (sec) = 1/125, ISO = 800

shutter speed (sec) = 1/8, ISO = 80

shutter speed (sec) = 1/864, ISO = 1250

(taken with a phone, aperture sadly only at f1.6 ( °´^` ))

[karen-ars281-fall2023]

Kai Hornung

As an avid lover of landscape and scenery, whether on a 2D or 3D platform, Hornung's photos struck me as something that sits on the line between those two. His works are supposed to be and are of real places but the raw end result reminds me of the backgrounds or sceneries in anime art that I love to see. In other words, they seem to be not of this world. The "intimacy" and "abstractness" found in his photographs resonate with my love for anime backgrounds/sceneries to an incredible extent.