nattanhm

[nattanhm]

So for my final project, i decided to build my pieces across 2 different platforms. Taking Sarah’s advice, I weaved in another platform through tumblr, deciding to do my portrait montage there. I chose a grid-like theme as it reflects the similarity to instagram’s layout, which i originally intended to use for all 3 themes. Furthermore, the grid allows a sense of orderliness, through the 4 columns, while still maintaining a bit of chaos through the random organisation of the portrait and landscape photos. 

The digital  composition photos on 3in1photos on instagram was challenging as lining up the photos manually on Instagram relied mainly on trial and error, making sure the photos lined up properly.

I had a lot of fun with the green montage account. I didn’t want to make the whole account overwhelmingly green by focusing only on nature (although most of the green in my account are of plants). I looked around for pops of green around us and found some surprising shots, like the broom and dustpan, and the green jellyfish. I chose green because of the contrast - nature vs technology (cyber and digital art). And I am quite happy with the way it turned out because, like I said, I managed to get other greens in that weren’t of plants and it still reflected the physical green objects in our real world vs technology (cyber space) 

[nattanhm]

I was scrolling through Facebook and came across this piece that was created through reddit - how different users put their own input into the system to create one massive art piece for april fools day. This piece is a version of a collage of different users’ inputs and shows how seemingly unrelated or contrasting things can come together to create one cohesive and impressive piece of art. It was cool!! 

Article source: http://sudoscript.com/reddit-place/

[nattanhm]

After lecture reflection with Sarah

Sarah gave a great suggestion of trying to not only use Instagram, but tying in other social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, making use of their layout and structure. Facebook images does have the grid layout image, similar to instagram. But they could also have themed Facebook pages - such as “areas of interest” pages, where there is a common topic since people join the groups due to common interests in the topics. Twitter may be a bit more tricky but I thought of using tumblr (similar genre of micro blogging) since tumblr has the similar visual community as Instagram. 

[nattanhm]

While reading Lev Manovich’s Language of New Media (2001), I came across the paragraph on montages. He wrote that in the computer culture, "montage is no longer the dominant aesthetic” and that digital compositing has taken over. He defines digital compositing as combining different spaces into one seamless  virtual space, aiming to blend the different spaces into one single gestalt. Montage, on the other hand, as aiming to create visual, stylistic, semantic and emotional dissonance between different elements. 

Reading this, the idea of Instagram popped into my head almost immediately. How instagram has themes where people edit their photos or take photos in order to create a commonality between all their photos, similar to a montage. On the other hand, they also are able to put 3 different photographs next to each other, which together, form a single image, like digital compositing. In the individual photos, they can even add audio to accompany the image. Instagram is all about aesthetics because it is such a visual space. 

Instagram is right up the alley of photography as well. Many influencers or fashionistas share their images on instagram, resulting in “instagram models” and rise of social media models and influencers. 

I think that it also plays into the idea of permanence due to social media being internet-related. People are always warned that once something goes onto the internet, there’s not turning back - it is there permanently.

I was thinking to combine the idea of montage and digital compositing with instagram and fashion photography, paying homage to the phenomenon of social media and the rise of social (fashion) influencers on Instagram. 

[nattanhm]

Brainstorming for Homage

I haven’t been able to think of an artist or object that I would particularly like to pay homage to. But class on Tuesday opened me up to the idea of paying homage to a concept or idea! 

I decided to combine things that strike interest in me, like street art. It’s just so interesting how it’s vandalism in Singapore but considered art in places like America or Europe. I personally really enjoy street art. It gives a sense of edginess to the place but also a feeling of cosiness simultaneously. 

When I think of street in photography, I immediately think of fashion street photography. I totally enjoy that street photography. It feels different then normal studio shoots which can be harsh and considered too high fashion sometimes? Commercial. Street photography on the other hand is more informal and relaxed. That’s what I like about it. 

[nattanhm]

Assignment Task 2 Inspiration

Expanding on my idea for assignment 1, the thing I like about photography is how it catches something temporal and makes it permanent, something that lasts forever. I always have this when shooting during golden hours, which is chasing the light. As light changes, the shot can change dramatically, emphasising how we have to work fast to capture that moment before it escapes from us.

Eric Kim is a street photographer who has a blog and YouTube channel, where he shares his tips and lessons with everyone on the internet. His blog has definitely been a huge help for me - either in composition or planning for shooting on the streets. I really look up to him because he could monetise and create a book but he chooses to share his priceless knowledge with beginners like me, who benefit so much from it. His photographs are raw and genuine. They capture and reflect the true emotions of those in his shots, and I really admire this aspect of his photography. 

Shadows is also something that I went to experiment with. It continues to play on the idea of something intangible (like a shadow) becoming something real and physical (or seemingly physical), like shadows to create tattoo-like shapes. 

I still haven’t decided on the medium for my assignment because I want to be able to showcase my inspirations alongside my pieces of work, or that is what I hope to achieve....

[nattanhm]

Screenshot of http://www.boredpanda.com/creative-hard-shadow-photography/

[nattanhm]

Light falls onto a sensitised piece of material, causes a reaction and leaves its traces in the form of a visual memory. This process is initiated through mechanical devices – with or without electronic aids – and carried out through chemical or digital (electronic) processes.

Wolf Kettler (in Photography and Realism)

from http://www.wolfkettler.co.uk/photography-and-realism/

[nattanhm]

Laughing Ladies by Eric Kim

[nattanhm]

What we do now echoes in eternity

Marcus Aurelius

[nattanhm]

Assignment 1 reflection

Now that I have completed my photo book, I realised that it is very different from my initial idea. However, I still managed to show the important connections between the tangible digital world and our real physical world. 

Social media and the internet play a huge part in my photography journey and growing knowledge about this art form. I find photographers that I truly admire and style that I enjoy. I decided to show how the digital world connects to my interests in photography by physically drawing lines between these websites and the people that I look up to. 

The next section then shows side by side comparisons between photos by these photographers and my photos. Even though I may not realise it, looking at these photos and how these models pose and how the shot is composed definitely influence the way I shoot my photos as well and this is seen clearly in these side by sides. 

Comparing George Muncey’s black and white photo and my photo on the next page, I love how in actual fact, my photo is coloured but looks black and white due to the black and white photo exhibition on the white walls. It’s like how George’s photos are of the landscape and mine is of a “landscape” of landscape. 

Moving on, I decided to showcase the editing or the tweaking and shaping of the digital world before we bring it into the real world. I mainly use lightroom to edit my photos and I decided to include the histograms and tone curves to show how people don’t see these hidden changes when they look at a photo. They don’t see the difference in curvature of the tone curves or the better separated and balanced histograms - all they see is the final photo which has enhancements, which is much like a lot of the things that we see on the internet. 

Next, I added a photo which I personally really like. I decided to use the untouched, raw image to showcase composition and contrast in the photo itself instead of relying on editing. It shows how more meaningful photos can be captured by analysing the tension in the shot. 

Finally, to show how the digital world can shape our emotions, I decided to edit the same photo two different ways - one with enhanced colour and one in black and white. I also included the histograms to show the, otherwise, hidden changes in the photos. In my opinion, black and white always gives a more solemn and serious feeling compared to coloured photos. Especially with high saturation, colourful photos seem more lively and positive. 

I also decided to end my photo book with a photo that I took. I chose this photo especially because she is looking over her shoulder, as if we are behind her because we are at the end of the photo book. I wanted to use this photo also because to showcase how I still shaped people’s emotions when they were at the end of the photo book. And that the selection of placement of photos is also important to shape people's perception. I wanted them to feel as if they were really behind and at the end, and need to go back to the front of her if they want to see more - as if the rest of the book were through the black window that she was in front of. 

While I was preparing the mock up in Microsoft word, I considered just doing a digital version of the photo book because it's much more convenient since all my data and information is in my computer. However, one aspect of digital that I want to showcase through my project is how it brings the untouchable or intangible into the physical world. And thus having a physical photo book, where one can touch the photos and flip the pages would really translate this idea.

however, something I could do differently about the photos is to perhaps print matte finish photos instead so that they would not stick

[nattanhm]

Assignment 1 Inspiration

In my opinion, everything that we see is a perception and everything digital is a projection into our real world. 

In a metaphorical sense, we shape digital things exactly the way we want them to be seen - we pose, edit and frame our projections to influence people’s perceptions. 

Taken as a literal sense, everything digital is an intangible object brought into the physical world - like how light comes together to form a picture through an LED screen. Our screens are physical forms of our digital world, the way we bring those intangible ‘1′ and ‘0′s into our physical world.

I decided to combine these two interpretations of digital into my assignment and use my interest in photography to help convey my thoughts. 

Photography is my form of bringing digital into our physical world. Using light (an intangible substance) and translating it into data (in digital cameras) that are developed and printed to form physical projections of light that we have captured. To further drive the pulling of the digital into the physical world, the photos would be showcased in a sketchbook/photo book style, something that can be touched and physically flipped through. 

 The photo book would also showcase the process of influencing people’s perceptions. This is done through the process of editing which enhances and hides flaws to change how the photo is perceived which change the viewer’s emotions when looking at the photo. Even the angles that we choose when composing the image changes the mood and feel that the image would exude, changing perceptions of the viewer.

I also decided to add in my inspirations for photography. The internet has been an extremely resourceful bank of information to fuel my interest and knowledge of photography. All of my photo inspirations were found online from tumblr or YouTube, which supports the influence of the digital world on our worlds. 

[nattanhm]

Assignment 1 Progress

Initially, I envisioned my project to be a showcase or something like a portfolio of the photographs that I have taken and comparing them with photographers whose styles I really admire and enjoy looking at. I wanted to show how the different inspirations have shaped my shooting style and choice of composition. However, upon reading the response that prof put up for the class to read, I challenged myself to think further and push myself to think of photography in another way and really question why I like it so much. I think it has helped me understand how photography relates to the world now, especially with a lot of our lives being online (digital). 

To me, digital has a strong association with projections. Something that we create and want to show to the world through technology. We can shape it in anyway that we want by using intangible things like electricity and light. In the same way, we shape how people perceive us. We choose the photos we want to post online, we choose the clothes that we feel best represent our personalities, etc. Photography is another kind of projection. How we choose to frame, compose and shoot our subjects all affects the feel of the photo and that is what I really enjoy about it. 

Now, my assignment piece isn’t so much of a comparison between myself and photographers, but an exhibition on the different emotions and feel a photo gives viewers, just by tweaking lighting or tint of the photo. 

[nattanhm]

Monologue from a LaserDisc player

Small, compact, light, convenient. Those are some of the words that drive technology today, and the total opposite of me. I was used for large discs, similar to vinyls, that were able to store 140min worthy of movies on each one. But now, people don’t even use discs anymore, let alone such a large one. It was very cool though, i was able to play these movies that needed so much storage and families were able to sit together and enjoy such movies. Our world now is all about fast and convenient, small and portable - forgetting the existence of their more bulky and slow predecessors. I think some people don’t even know I exist. I’m still proud of my functions and what I can do, just perhaps that no one uses me anymore...

[nattanhm]

Glitch self-portrait

[nattanhm]

Soylent Community

Reading the Soylent discussion forum on discourse reflects the sharing of information through the online platform. Most of the topics posted were actually questions other users had or feedback about customer service, recipes and even shipping couriers. 

I think having an online community is very appropriate for Soylent as it has grown through the internet - through the use of Kickstarter and the distribution of its brand name and products all over the world. 

As soylent is a small online-based company, it would be difficult to find experts who are well-informed enough to give accurate advise and information about soylent. Especially because only a small percentage of the world uses soylent, it is hard to find reviews about the different recipes. Thus, by having the community online, on one platform, Soylent users are able to easily exchange information and get answers from each other. Isn’t it better to get first-hand, unbiased opinions and reviews from fellow users? The sense of trust and reliance is essential to helping the community grow and get the answers they need. 

I think this is exceptionally important for such a controversial product. A diet that totally replaces solid food? People want to get enough information (about taste, benefits, convenience, effects, implications etc) about the product before they try it. And thus I think that the online Soylent community is a great place for people to get information. Even if users are not interested in trying it, at least they are still able to get information to learn more about it. And perhaps, introduce it to friends who may benefit from it - like one poster who has a medical condition and wants to know if Soylent is the medication that she has been needing. 

[nattanhm]

Karel Maes – René Magritte, 1920