Name banner

For this assignment we were tested on basic photoshopping skills and the ability to asses our environment. The assignment sounds basic enough; compose your name using letters that naturally occur in your environment, witch is harder done than said, and making it look good at least for me was another endeavor on its own.

For me this was an exercise in perspective. Scanning my environment  briefly proved to be the least effective way of finding the shots I needed, witch is why I decided to use perspective as my aid. looking at things in a new way, from a different angle, a farther distance, or in a new context this was my approach at acquiring a new photographic perspective.

For me this worked, it really helped me to understand the level of manipulation I have as a photographer over my subject, and the full extent of what my subject has to offer. Looking back on this assignment I would say that even though it seemed silly, and almost beneath me at the time, but it provided me with a newfound curiosity, and a willingness to experiment when taking photo's.

Painting with light

When we were first given the painting with light assignment I had millions of ideas for what I was going to do with this idea, and then we saw some examples after that all of my fantastical ideas were shot down because of one question, “How?”. Painting with light is a really interesting means of photography too create something totally new and original, the downside to all this is to get that perfect photo it requires a good amount of preparation, execution, and trial and error.

For my painting with light photo’s I was thinking too abstract, and complex like bill-boards eating people, and souls flying away from people’s bodies, but I had no clue how to execute any of these ideas. Until math, second period I pull out my math textbook and there it is just a simple trail of light.

When I was looking at this textbook cover I assumed that the light they used was just a bike with a flashlight on it, so I took this Idea and gave it my own spin, this is the result.

When it was dark enough to take my photo's this was not the same "model" I used, I got larger more powerful LED's, more tape, and two friends to ride these things while I take these photo's;

ISO 100 - f/22 - 71s

My first photo actually turned out quite well, and with little difficulty besides orchestrating my light beams to successfully make this pattern without crashing into each other. 

For the rest of the night I continued to take photo's in a similar way, with no real directions for my light beams. After a few runs the LED flashlights taped to the longboards began to fall off causing interruptions to otherwise steady line of light, by then it was too late for me to keep shooting.

 I really enjoyed getting the chance to experiment with this alternate style of photography, It helped me to understand the full depth of the medium that is photography and just how endless the possibilities of manipulating and capturing light can be. 

Alternative process (part 2- Cyanotype)

The cyanotype process is very similar to the rayogram, except instead of photo paper we are (pretty much) using photosensitive green paint, we also have a larger selection as to what we are printing our photo on, and how much of the photo we plan on using. 

The difference is that I cant just flash an image under a enlarger to develop the green paint, to create a brilliant blue background. I thought this would prove to only be a minor obstacle in this process, witch proved not to be the case. The (sun) exposure for a cyanotype is usually about twenty minutes, witch is not like the 15 seconds I used for my rayogram. This long exposure means that you have to make sure your "negative" does not move while its in the sun, or your image will end up being out of focus (I tested this myself below), or you may make an accidental double exposure 

What happens when I sticky tacked my negative to my cyanotype median and find it face down in the ground 20 minutes later

For my cyanotype I wanted to build on my rayogram from part one to emphasize the message Im attempting to send with my rayogram. I had a very clear idea as to how I wanted the cyanotype process to affect my rayogram and what I wanted my final image to look like (witch I never managed to achieve). I was planning on making the border of my neuron "edgier", and creating a more noticeable contrast between the blown up neuron and the background.

 My first step was to make my rayogram into an acetate negative for my cyanotype. I made two different acetates to use for my negative the only difference between the two is the color fill of the blown up neuron, I did this to achieve the contrast (witch I never actually achieved).

In total I made three cyanotypes one very blurry one with a nice contrast between the neuron and the background, and two almost identical versions of the one below. The cyanotype I made after these two had even less contrast and a not so "edgey" border so I decided just to scrap it. Ultimately I really enjoyed the cyanotype process and regret not being able to perfect the image I was trying to make, (in the interest of time) and experiment just a little more with the alternative process'. My original intention was to take my rayogram and make into a cyanotype, and then to put it on a silk screen with the caption "tree of knowledge" and probably paste this absolutely everywhere I could. (this is an idea I have had for a long time)

Alternative process (Part 1- Rayogram)

When our class was shown all the alternative printing process’ this was the one that immediately caught my attention, because it wasn’t really an alternative way to print a photo but an alternative way to compose a photo entirely. 

I really likes this idea because I felt that I could now create all of the things that my poor drawing skills could not. This is the reason I grew to love photography, it gives people with limited “artistic” skill or confidence the opportunity and tools to stop thinking of themselves as “non creative” and express themselves in a technical way (this gave me the confidence to push the limits of my art, gave me a new emotional outlet, and introduced me to a new silent form of communication)

Being the analytical person that I am, I decided to create a biological metaphor for my rayogram. I created a neuron made from small twigs and sticky tack. I made this as a reference to the “tree of knowledge” because neurons look almost like a dead tree, and they control the path of both creative and analytic thought in our brains. I wanted to convey the stereotypic barrier of creativity and intellect and prove that no one is just an intellectual or creative but both.

Some of my inspiration

The actual process for making the rayogram was actually quite simple. The first thing I did when trying to make my rayogram was make a model neuron from some pipe cleaners. 

Neuron Version 1

This was the very first version of my rayogram. It didn’t seem to be creative or intellectual (not accurate compared to a real neuron) enough for what I was going for. To make the photo nicer to look at and add a little depth, I made an acetate of neurons with different shades of grey in photoshop, and put it right under my pipe cleaners. This really helped to make my rayogram more eye catching, and ascetically pleasing, but it was still not accurate enough.

Image found online

Edited version for acetate 

Neuron Version 2

While I was trying to somehow manipulate my pipe cleaners to look ...well less like pipe cleaners I remembered why I chose to make a neuron in the first place the “tree of life”, and then it hit me! What better materiel to make my neuron out of than trees, so I went outside collected  a bunch of sticks and started sticking them to my acetate, breaking little bits off, and rearranging them until I was happy.

Here are my final results.

This is my essentially the negative I used for my rayogram 

Neuron Version 3

Studio lighting

Coming into this assignment I had a general understanding of how to manipulate light because of the mixed lighting photo's from my previous post. When I was told to properly light a studio shot, I thought it would be much easier that mixed lighting because of the complete control of the lights intensity and direction. 

I was wrong. After getting my models together I set up my camera and my tripod, then came the lights when I first made an attempt to light my subjects it was pretty bad (as seen bellow). For mr full control of the lighting actually made it harder for me to find the optimum positions of the lights

After quite a bit of experimentation I started to understand how the positioning of the lights would effect my image. I learned you can place it behind to almost kill all of the shadow's on the background of the subject, place it to the side for a half lit face, put it in front and to the side for a large almost looming shadow. You can also use multiple lights in different arrangements to mix or create new effects and effect combinations 

For my project I decided to try and let my subjects relax and act naturally to almost add a decisive moment feel to the photo's, I also always took their suggestions for different idea's to kind of help illustrate the nature of their relationship .This is how it turned out:

Mixed lighting

For this assignment I experimented by trying to manipulate natural lighting with my own artificial light or by using a reflector to re-direct the existing light. I really enjoyed using the reflector because of how versatile it was, I could diffuse any light overpowering my subject as long as it's not a ridicules amount of light. Even if the light overpowering my subject is too large or strong to diffuse, I can still use it to my advantage by re-directing the light towards the (what would be ) underexposed parts of the photo. The reflector is also very useful for adding a studio like feel in well lit area's outdoors. 

I also experimented with a more controlled form of mixed lighting indoors wherever light was leaking in from the sun( by windows, doors, and in the atrium ). Because of the excess amount of outlets in our school I was not limited to using the reflector and brought a studio light into the mix. The studio lights were less versatile and fun to use (in my opinion) than the reflector, but it gave me results, I would never be able to reproduce with a reflector, and the angle of light unlike the reflector is not dependent on already existing light.

 Peter Essick has been a freelance photojournalist for 23 years now, who has had the opportunity to travel to every continent in a search for compelling stories (that just so happen to have some compelling scenery). 

His main client National Geographic has rated him one of their top 100 photographers issuing him in over 30 different stories. 

Because Peter gets to go to so many unique places and cover such interesting and pressing stories all his photos have a particular draw that makes you take a minute to think about the photo (once your done ogling at how magical it looks). 

Pete likes to take a plethora of different kinds of photos ranging from; environmental hazards, nature, landscapes,black and white & culture. 

He has to be one of my favorite photographers ever because he tries to make you think about all the ugly things happening in the world, but also managing not to offend our eyeballs in the process witch to me makes every picture magic.