Artist Statement
Initially, my drive as an artist was solely to pass art classes, and as a result, I produced mediocre pieces that did not have a true meaning or inspiration behind them. However, when I began to become passionate about photography, I saw my photography skills increase and my artwork become more meaningful and inspirational. Personally, I believe that art is a prime conduit to convey an important message or raise awareness about a certain topic. Additionally, I have found that using people in my photographs allows others to grasp my message easier and produce a more relatable photo. Therefore, after I became inspired by photography, I utilized people in my artwork to produce a photograph that had a message relevant to today's society. My focus for photography revolves around using people to educate the public and spread the word/importance of a certain topic.
Name Project - LOVER
In this project, everyday objects were utilized to spell out a descriptor of myself, a "LOVER". The "L" is the side view of a door handle, the "O" is a combination lock, the "V" is the intersection of two paths, the "E" is the three rows on a fence, and the "R" is the top of a clothes hanger. Being one of our first projects, it is a given that there would be some errors, such as my out of focus "L". However, This project taught me to think creatively and how to properly use the camera.
Light Painting - Love GSCs
In this project, long exposure is used to capture light in a photograph. The photo itself is a heart around a box of Girl Scout Thin Mints. In order to produce this effect, we had to get into dark rooms, have a stable camera(tripod), have very specific camera settings, and a light source to "draw" the effect. This technique is very difficult to do properly due to all the variables that need to be taken into account. Although my light painting effect worked, my picture is still rather blurry. However, in doing this project, I learned how to adjust to my situations and how to manage camera settings.
Forced Perspective - Pain in the Butt
In this project, we utilized forced perspective to distort the view of the image to make it seem like Haley is being kicked by Diana. This was done by backing Haley a decent ways away and making sure Diana was close enough to look large enough to knock over Haley with her foot. Like the light painting, careful consideration of camera settings had to be taken into account for this project and, even though my picture is a little dark, I think I accomplished using my own settings.
Ghost Photo - Privacy
In this project, long shutter speeds were used to give our photos a ghost-like effect. For this picture, I used a tripod to keep my camera still, and had a long enough shutter speed to allow Haley to exit the view of the camera before the picture took(all while keep the door open). Due to the fact that shutter speed was changed, we also have to change ISO and aperture to compensate for the incredibly long shutter speed. Out of all of the "setting" based projects, this has been my favorite as it produced a cool effect as well as being very satisfying to pull off correctly.
Altered Photo - Blue Hair, Don't Care
In this project, we worked on changing our photos with Photoshop. In my picture, I took this picture of Sidney and selectively colored her shoes and hat pink and her hair a blue/turquoise color. Not only was this one of our easiest projects, partly due to it being an existing picture. but it also taught me that when you utilize Photoshop correctly, you can produce really unique visual effects. I believe that a general knowledge of all potential resources that can make your art better should be known and having the ability to produce photos like this in Photoshop is a prime example of this.
Abstract Color Series - Black as Day
In this project, we utilized abstract photography to create cohesive monochromatic series. As my chosen color was black, I utilized fabrics and technology to create my pieces. This project was rather difficult for me because I do prefer taking "concrete"/meaningful pictures so being creative enough to find uniqueness in everyday objects was a challenge. However, this challenge helped me grow as a photographer in that it helped me realize where I wanted to focus on in photography and increased my creativity even more. Although, I prefer more real photos, I would not mind to revisit this project and see how I can improve it.
Small and Large Depth of Field - Clown Tennis Shoes
This slideshow depicts two somewhat opposite perspectives: small and large depth of field. In the up-close picture of the shoe, a small depth of field is depicted due to the shoe being in focus and the background being out of focus. The more zoomed out picture is large depth of field due to everything in the picture being in focus. This was also a rather easy project due to the camera auto focusing for me and it was just a picture of a shoe at lost and found. However, I do think it depicts the substantial difference between the two aspects and even though the small depth of field picture looks better, I think large depth of field has potential to be just as detailed.
Research Series - Comfortable Beauty
In this project series, I was inspired by the fashion photographer Steven Meisel and the techniques he frequently uses in his portfolios. To make it more like Meisel's art, I utilized black and white, human and natural objects, and the background to emphasize the "model". However, unlike Meisel's artwork, I wanted to depict the models in comfort clothes rather than being synched up in a corset because I believe that more often than not, people wear clothes because they look good instead of how they feel. So, in my series, I depicted the girls in natural settings and utilized their "comfort clothes" to differentiate between Meisel and my artwork. Not only did I enjoy this project, but I also got to work with people who helped me work through my photographic issues.
Portrait Project - Aequalitas
In this final black and white portrait project, I based all of my photos around gender equality and equal treatment in general. By far my favorite project, I was able to utilize a message that had meaning to me and that I know had meaning to others. Four of my photos are based on the phrase, "anything you can do, I can do" but I utilized this in the context of genders("A woman can do anything a man can", "A man can do anything a woman can). My third photo is based on the minimization of the wage gap. Because this series meant a lot to me, I was very meticulous about each photograph and wanted each one to effectively represent gender equality in a positive light. Although some are clearly better than others, I really believe this was my most successful project. Also, This is the project that inspired me to continue on in photography and really made me want to concentrate on conveying messages through my photographs. Eventually, I would like to revisit this portfolio and touch it up because it really changed my view about art in general.