Final notes for this blog.
Initially I thought using a blog for this project would be great. I was immediately proved wrong upon discovering that both workbooks and blogs would be mandatory. Some projects suit blogging as a research log better, and some suit workbooks better. I feel that having to do both, hurt both. I felt I was copying material from one into the other and eventually I just stopped using this as my workbook allowed me to work better for this specific project.
I was able to draw and I was able to write notes on the Dart. I chose a small notebook for this exact reason.
Blogging for projects still works. But it should be considered an option or alternative rather than a mandatory feature of work. People work differently. Especially for art based workflows. There was a great opportunity to give everyone some extra leeway without sacrificing a structured grading system for research, and that opportunity was squandered.
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Format change
I’ve decided to start shooting this project in a different aesthetic.
For a start, I’ve changed from 120 film to 35mm. I’ve had trouble with grain in 120 so instead of fighting against it, I’m embracing it by switching to 800 ISO Kodak Portra 35mm.
I think this will help create a stronger atmosphere of the real world. I was too rigid when working with 120 and this will help me loosen up and make images that look less posed, less formal and more like a world in which these poems take place.
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“Morning Song”
This shot came about just by chance. Sun shined through the window, reflected off a mirror and hit the opposite side of the room. Took this at 7am after I got home from shooting “Sheep in Fog”.
Didn’t expect much from this shot. I thought it looked alright but it’s not as relevant to the poem as much as it just is a loose interpretation of one line.
“The window square whitens and swallows its dull stars”.
Whitens: Shines light on
Dull stars: Not sharp as opposed the probable meaning of dull light.
Not a keeper whatsoever.
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“Sheep in Fog”
Went to shoot this late at night, hoping to get a night shot but there was no available light and the exposure would have been too long and the area isn’t the safest at night.
Shot it at 6am the next morning instead. Light was amazing. Photo isn’t.
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“Tulips” shoot.
Plath places a heavy emphasis on specific tree and flower types in her poetry. I want at all costs to avoid being a flower photographer. That’s fine for Flickr, not for me.
Both shots have strong points. I like the contrast of the top image and the composition of the bottom image. Ann also quite liked the bottom image.
Both still remain so uninteresting to me. Disposable hotel room art.
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Second attempt at “Daddy” shoot.
I still really don’t like this. I like the composition, I like the content, I just don’t like the quality. The colours are horrible.
Blurry. High noise. Shot using large aperture so fine detail is missing.
Ann: “This looks just like that Alec Soth image”. This would normally be a compliment and it was exactly what I was going for but in this case, it’s disappointing.
Pros: Easiest shot to reshoot.
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Project Proposal
Title of Project: Ariel
Statment of Intent:
This project is a photographic adaptation of Ariel, a book of poems by Sylvia Plath.
Keywords:
Adaptation, Constructed Image, Narrative, Portraits, Landscape, Tableau
Project Outcomes:
I want to create a book of photographs that can be read in accompaniment to the original book of poems, or as a standalone piece. The finished book should have at least one photograph for each poem in the book. Although the book itself varies in content from edition to edition, the total number of poems contained through all editions is 56 so that is the maximum amount of source material available.
My process is to take as many elements of written imagery as possible from one poem and make a photograph containing visual representations of them and to do this for each poem in the book. This is a longer term goal than just this semester. This is something I wish to continue throughout the summer and on to the end of fourth year. For this semester, I wish to have a series of 10 images which can be read as an adaptation of the poetry of Sylvia Plath.
Visual Influences:
Gregory Crewdson: The scale can never be replicated on a college level but the determination and attention to detail can. Crewdson composes the shots with sketches and in stories before shoots begin. In addition, Crewdson has been an influence by creating a single image narrative through multiple elements and areas of the photograph working to tell a story.
Jeff Wall: The artist draws inspiration from and creates works on historical artists and literary works. The aim of this project is to do so in a similar fashion except more explicitly. For instance, Wall’s photograph “Odradek” draws from Franz Kafka’s short story “The Cares of a Family Man”. Another example of this practice is his image “A Sudden Gust of Wind (After Hokusai)” which is based on a similarly named piece by the aforementioned painter, Katsushika Hokusai. It’s this attention to referencing which instils me with an ambition to follow in a similar vein of work.
Stephen Shore: This is an influence that stems specifically from a visual standpoint. I want a similar clarity to that which can be seen in his images. I know he uses a much larger format camera than I’m looking to use in this project but I think in the right conditions, a common aesthetic can be applied in several shots.
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This image is based on a poem called The Rival. It’s supposed to reference an image by Weegee entitled Back to Front yet I feel that this photo fails on several standpoints. The tones don’t look right, it’s out of focus, it’s too bright and the shot reads as three young people as opposed to the intended two young and one old. Needs to be reshot. Can be reshot. So disappointed with this shot.
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I took the poem Daddy as my primary example for this.
“With your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygoo,
And your neat mustache, and your Aryan eye, bright blue.”
I moved a large portrait of myself and my brother into the background to make sure the subject reads as a father. Underexposed and needs to be reshot also. Poor scans with a high amount of noise as a result. Can be reshot easily. I love the image but there are too many flaws for my own personal satisfaction in terms of actual process quality.
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This is the photo for the poem Cut which describes a knife accidentally cutting the top of a thumb. I wanted to keep the colour palette in line so I had the subject wear a similar colour to the red onion which was being chopped. I wanted to have the colour of blood in the image without actually resulting to depicting it. This image centres just a split second before the poem starts. Poor scan/high noise, needs a more elaborate set up but pose and colours are on point as to what I was going for.
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