Introduction to Photography: Week 11

13.6.2014 (Week 11)

Casey Chong Jing Ping (0318756)

Introduction to Photography

Presentation: Final Project and Introduction to Studio Photography

Lecture

For today's lecture, Mr.Vinod started the class by having us in a group circle and telling us about what we are going to be doing for the next class. He said that even though the final project is the main and most important thing for the class right now, there will still be some other small ungraded class work that we will be doing during our classes. For the next class, we will be learning how to use the photography studio's lighting to take photographs. Apart from taking some photographs for our final project, we also need to go back home and do some research on photography studio works during the 1930's to the 1950's and find one photograph that we think we are able to reenact and take a photograph of. That is because after the mid-semester break, during our next class, we will be doing some studio photography and we will be using the photography studio's facilities that are provided to take the photographs that we found and researched about in the internet. After telling us about that, Mr.Vinod proceeded to tell us about the final project. We did not really do much research about the various themes that we wanted to use for our final project, mostly due to the sudden pile of other homework from other classes that flooded our entire week, so Mr.Vinod told us to do more research on the project, especially the themes that we want to use, so that we will understand what to do more clearly and we will be able to meet the criteria much better. After that, we went around in the group circle one by one and told Mr.Vinod and our classmates briefly on what we wrote on our blogs for the previous week explain what themes we had chosen and why we had chosen those themes. Mr.Vinod will tell us what theme he thinks will be the best choice for us and give us some advice on our themes. When it came to my turn, I told Mr.Vinod about  my three chosen themes. The theme chosen for me is the theme 'Abandoned', which is about the abandoned buildings and cars. The reason why the other two themes were not chosen was that the first theme, 'Trapped' was quite similar to a theme chosen by our previous batch senior, and the second theme, 'Broken', which features broken pavements and broken glass, was not suitable because Mr.Vinod said that it is difficult to take good photographs of them because they are flat surfaces and it is very limiting to just take photographs of pavements and glass. Also, Mr.Vinod said that the 'Abandoned' theme is quite interesting and he wants to see me experimenting on that theme. After everyone has discussed about their themes, Mr.Vinod ended the class and we were free to go for lunch. 

Exercise

Studio Photography Assignment:

Here is the list of photographs that I found from Google Images. From these photographs, I found one that I wanted to use for the final take.

The list of photographs:

This is the final photograph I want to use:

 The original photograph is too revealing, so I sensors it a little:

Final Project:

This is the front part of a car. As you can see, it is damaged very badly, but I see a certain beauty in the broken glass' lines and also the patterns and lines of the rust on the metal of the car.

This is a long-closed shouldn't. It has several tiny pieces of unwanted paper sticking out of the side of the gate. The lines are so defined and simple, the texture of the gate such as the dust and rust on it adds a simple beauty to it.

This is another front part of a car, but a different car this time. I want to focus more on the wheels and the roundness and the fact that even when the car is all damaged and beat up, the wheel still looks perfectly useful and seems as if it can still allow the car to go places.

This is the gate again, except it only focuses the lines and tonality of the gate. Even when it is the same gate and was once the same colour all over, now it has at least three different tones. It shows that over time, things change.

This is a photograph of the floor with an empty cigarette packet that's crushed and unwanted. I like the texture of the worn out ground and it just gives the feel if an old place.

This is the broken glass on the car, see how the cracks come from one place and spread out over the entire glass. For me, it symbolizes that one wrong thing, one lie, can lead to another and slowly, a chain of bad events will follow after that one wrong-doing.

I also took a test during class. And here are the results of the test:

This is the previous test results that I had when I took the same test during week 2.

This is the results that I had during his week's class.

Screenshots of the Hardcopies:

Multiple Intelligence Tests

Final Project

Reflection:

Observations:

This week, I have observed from class that we all have different tastes. Some of us are deep, some of us are normal, some like to experiment with different themes and have fun. For this final project, I decided to be deep, and I chose to experiment on things that are neglected, rejected, old, unused, and unwanted. Some of my classmates chose simple things like lines, patterns, textures and buildings, while some want to take pictures of things in their everyday life, such as their pets and shoes. Some of my classmates want to break the boundaries and choose to take photographs of Melaka town or small villages that not many people would choose to go to. I also have a few of my classmates who are like me and like to explore darker and more sad places like an old abandoned playground for instance. Moreover, I have also observed that everyone in class has ideas. Nobody came to class without any idea what they want to do for their final project, we all came to class with more than one theme that we want to explore, and that is a very good thing. Although I have observed that we are quite lazy people when we choose to be, maybe because we have been quite busy this week, and that made us neglect to do research for photography class, I have also observed that we do think and we do not just randomly choose a theme without analyzing what we can do about the theme first. We all have reasons why we choose a certain theme, and if you look closely, each theme that we chose might even reflect who we are and what we are thinking inside. I have also observed that we are slowly learning and expressing ourselves through photography. We might not be the best yet, but we have potential, and we are slowly getting there. We are no longer who we used to be before this class, people who do not know what photography actually is and don't know how to apply if properly. As each class commences, we learn something, we absorb knowledge given by Mr.Vinod and through the research we do. Each class, we take home a lesson learnt or two, and we are always growing both physically, and most of all, mentally.

Experience:

This week, I have experienced that when I was telling Mr.Vinod my theme ideas, I realized which them I could use the most and before Mr.Vinod even suggested anything, I already know what theme I want to choose personally. And it turned out that it was also the theme that Mr.Vinod chose for me too. I discovered my potential, and what I could and could not do. I also realized that I could actually merge some of the other themes into my main theme and create a feeling of abandonedness and sadness into it. Because I have discovered that all my themes actually connect through the feeling of being abandoned, broken, and sad. For example, I can merge the abandoned cars and buildings together with the broken pavements and glass, as you can usually find broken glass from car windows and cracked pavements and roads near old buildings. During Saturday afternoon, I was planning to go to church earlier to take photographs for the final project as the old buildings and cars are right beside the church, but my plan failed because we arrived at church only 5 minutes early, and that was too late to take photographs for the project. So I decided to do it after church. That day, church service ended suprisingly early, I guess God is helping me to be able to complete the project in time before it gets dark. Complications came when I wanted to take the photographs because after church, everybody goes outside to talk and mingle around with others. So it will be obvious when I am lugging my camera around trying to take phototgraphs of abandoned things. But I had a breakthrough that day. The week before, I did not dare to take photographs of the place at all out of fear of being judged, but this week, I threw away that fear and with the help and support of my friend Constance, I managed to be brave and build up my courage to go and take a few photographs of the place. I found out later that it did not take long and I got quite a few good photographs.

Findings:
I found out this week that I am still indecisive because out of all the photographs I took, I still do not know which ones to chooseto post on my blog. Thankfully, I asked some of my friends like Mae-Chel, Katrina, Cigie, Cherry, and Jannie and they helped me to choose. Also, I found out that I am not that good at consistency, at least I do not think that I see any good consistency in my photographs yet. So I have yet to practice more on that topic. Also, I found out that I have to do more research on my theme to be better at taking good photographs related to that theme and also to help with the consistency. On the other hand, I have realized that I am slowly learning more and more and I am actually applying these things that I have learnt in my everyday life too. For example, whenever I take photographs of anything, even the simplest of things, I will apply the Rule of Thirds. The photographs that I have posted on Instagram apply the Rule of Thirds and I even post some photographs using black-and-white when I usually love to post colourful photographs. Furthermore, I have also discovered that I am slowly becoming more and more brave and have more courage to go out there and take photographs randomly, either for class assignments or just because I want to. I also found out that I enjoy photography and appreciate photography more now. I have a joy when I take a great photograph and I will most likely edit the photograph and post it on Instagram. I do not like to delete photographs, especially the ones that I really like. I am also not too dependant on colours anymore. Before this class, I always look for photographs with vibrant colours and seldom like to see or take photographs of dull things, but nowadays my Instagram feed is filled mostly with black-and-white or dull photographs. I also found out that deep inside, I am quite a sentimental person, even though at the outside I am usually happy, fun, and weird, or a least I try to be. In addition, I have also discovered that everyone is different in their own unique way as I listen and discover about the various themes that they wanted to use for their final project, and each of the themes that they all chose are different from each other's. I found out about what they wanted to express to the world through photography, and from that I found out about who they are deep inside, which is that they are all very different people. Last but not least, I realized that I find out more and more about photography that I never knew about before as I attend each class, and as each class commences, I learn more about photography and I get better than the previous weeks.