Introduction to Photography: Week 17

25.7.2014 (Week 17)

Casey Chong Jing Ping (0318756)

Introduction to Photography

Final 5 and Rationale

Lecture

This week, we wanted to pass up our hardcopy portfolios and Final 5 project in a file and CD to Mr.Vinod, but it seems that I have missed out on a few crucial things that was included in the criteria due to my ignorance and clumsiness. I got very frustrated and upset as I was really anticipating to finally pass my work up, but I could not because of my own fault. But after awhile, I was fine and my mind cleared up. I could think again and when I went back home, I did the remaining work to be done during the Hari Raya holidays. 

Exercise : Final 5 and Rationale

Final 5 :

1.

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5.

Rationale :

Casey Chong (born 11 May 1996, Malaysia) is a student studying Foundation in Design in The Design School at Taylor’s Lakeside Campus. I took the elective Introduction to Photography at first because I thought that it would be interesting to learn a new subject such as photography. I did not regret joining this class and I really enjoyed photography after choosing this subject. Although I am still in the learning process and have a long way to go before becoming as good as all the professional photographers out there, I enjoy taking photographs a lot as this is where I can openly express myself through photographs. Furthermore, these photographs capture memories forever. From candid pictures to well-planned photo-shoots, every photograph is special and holds a meaning behind it. I tend to take a long time to take one photograph because I want everything to be timed perfectly right, so that the moment could be captured perfectly. Most of my photographs are either bright and fun, which shows my happy and carefree side, or dark and moody, and those photographs usually tend to hold a meaningful and deep message behind it.

About the photographs:

The theme I have chosen for this series is dark and moody, because I want to bring out a deep message to the audience. The theme I have chosen is called “Textural Abandonment”. It was originally named “Abandoned” to portray abandoned cars and buildings, but throughout the few weeks and the continuous photographs, I realized that my strong point was of taking textural photographs. So I changed my theme to a more textural type, while still taking photographs of the abandoned buildings and bringing out dark emotions in the audience.

To bring out a sense of abandonment and moodiness, I kept all my photographs underexposed. In order to do that, I adjusted my camera’s exposure to allow less light to be able to filter through the lens. All the photographs were taken during the afternoon around 4pm to 5pm, and the sun was bright and hot during that time of the day. Due to the bright environment, I set my ISO low to 200, as I want my photographs to be a bit underexposed to bring out the feel of sadness and abandonment into my photographs, and I also do not want my photographs to be grainy. Next, I put my Aperture as f-5.6, which is quite low, but still not that low as my camera can actually go lower until f-4.5, as I did not want to underexpose my photographs too much, but at the same time, I did not want the background of the photographs to be blur. As the ISO and Aperture are more or less fixed, the Shutter Speed remains to be changed. The shutter speeds I used are the faster shutter speeds such as 1/1000, 1/1250, and 1/1600 as it was during the hot, sunny afternoon that I took these photographs, because they make clearer photographs and also underexpose the photographs.

In these photographs, I want the viewers to feel the sadness of being abandoned through the textures of the objects in the photographs, which are usually ugly, sad things such as peeling walls, cracked floors, and moldy wood. I also want the audience to see the beauty in the texture of these abandoned things, to see that some are actually still usable, but we throw them away just to replace them with something newer. This represents the society nowadays where everyone is chasing the trend and forgetting the old things that are actually still usable. Moreover, this also applies to people, as we have to work extra hard in order to catch up with others, and those who are not good enough get left behind and forgotten. Abandoned, just like the objects in my series. We overlook all these simple things in life, but have you ever stopped your busy life to look at the simple life from the past? To admire the beauty of the forgotten things that you’ve left behind? Well, stop what you are doing, and open your eyes.

Screenshot of the Rationale: