Something that is irrational and that plays with reality.

Picture 1:

Picture 2:

Merging the 2 pictures, here’s an idea of what we came up with – A girl’s relfection not exactly reflecting what she is doing.

SCARY! HAHA

The idea of identity in my photo essay is not subjected only to a national identity but also encompasses other kinds like religious, cultural, and personal. Being displaced from a certain situation or atmosphere has various impacts on what we become eventually or who we think we are. We may often encounter frustration in the midst of the process, but are we able to resolve it in our own ways?

This level of discomfort is portrayed by the varying degrees of splattered paint on the different subjects. This literally relfects the idea that our identities are made up of different parts. But what if some of those parts can’t fit the other parts, when do we feel incomplete and can we actually feel the opposite? These are just some of the questions I sought to explore.

I decided to ask some of my friends to help me out. I chose them because just like me, I know they’ve gone through an acculturation process at least at some point in their lives. That process can be easily summed up in this graph:

I really had fun with this project, because I got to know more about an issue we all related with on some level. I also managed to get to know all of them a little bit more. Could this be a form of  documentation? You can say that. But in the end, my real aim is to make the oberver ask questions and perhaps make him/her gain interesting insights about the subject I chose to tackle.

Anyway, without further ado, here are my final photographs after editing them in photoshop.

“Discomfort”

Displaced from my heritage,
I feel I do not belong.
What is that chanting?
They mean nothing
To me.

“Impermanence”

We are not entitled to one identity
But to many.
I will constantly be displaced
But I know I will always
Find myself.

“Waited for Godot”

I am a sceptic…
Once blinded by faith.
I am now a stranger
to this house of saints.

“Absentminded”

My legs are my anchor,
But they are not enough.
My mind continues to fleet”

“Who Am I?

Displaced from myself,
It’s hard to see
A reflection that once
Belonged to me.

“Complete”

Sometimes, a friend is enough
To know who you are.
A home can be temporary
But a friendship is eternity.

Some of the poems above do not necessarily reflect the models’ thoughts. Some are my interpretations of the stories they have told me and I have infused some of my understanding to what I wrote.

Lonely

By placing the paper at a far distance and creating a dark atmosphere through levels, I managed to achieve a sense of isolation and gloom.

Unwanted

By crumpling the paper and placing it far from the camera, I attempted to depict the idea of being unwanted. The presence of a bin adds to this effect, I feel.

PERSPECTIVE (f/5.6, 1/60s, 100,17mm)
I think that I’ve met the assignement requirements because the image is able to show a decreasing degree of size, form and shape towards the background of the picture.

Close Up (f/5.6, 1/25s,800,85mm)
This is a picture of a little figurine. I decided to zoom it to focus on its body expression. I think the composition is interesting in terms of lighting.

LOW KEY f/5.6,1/5s,1600,72mm)
I managed to capture a low key image because the dark areas managed to hide many of the details, and there is a sharp contrast between the brightest and darkest tones. I used a silver string to enhance this contrast.

HIGH KEY (f/2.8, 1/13s, 1600, 60mm)
Capturing a high key image was the most challenging. Although there are shadows still seen, they are less significant than those in the original picture. Moreover, the line on the dish has also disappeared. Just for reference, the first picture below is the original and the second – the edited one.

I achieved a shallow DOF; the background is blurry while the foreground is clear. Although the flowers are not in the centre, the composition is fine because it serves the purpose of showing a contrast between the flowes and the grass. What I love most about the picture is the glow-like image the white flower shows brought about by natural light.

Deep depth of field (f5.6, 1/1250, ISO800)

I managed to meet the assignment requirement because the image shows clear details through a long distance. I thought the composition was interesting because it showcases a repitition of different objects eg. coloured windows, crane-like structures and the curvy metals.

Freezed action (f/5.6, 1/2000, ISO1600)

This is my last attempt at taking a freezed action image. I decided to further increase the shutter speed to make the water droplets much clearer, and I managed to do this. In terms of composition, it may not be so interesting because of the dull background.

Motion Blur (5.6, 1/50, ISO1600)

This was taken at Esplanade where I managed to capture extreme bikers in action. It was a fun experience because I got to know this biker.  It’s an interesting picture  because it shows him falling off from a bicycle, but I think composition could still be improved if there weren’t anyone else in the background.

A partial description of it in Wikipedia is as follows: “when an individual loses a sense of personal sameness”.

This was the next closest subject to me, which is why I was and still am enthusiastic about it. Growing up in two different cultures, I’ve experienced the idea of being displaced in cultural contexts, situations and among certain people whom I meet from day to day. I learned to question many things and the idea of identity has become one of them.

The first idea I had on how to approach this theme through a photo essay was asking subjects to pose at a place where they’d feel such a crisis. It was of course natural for me to choose my foreign friends. I also decided to ask them to wear a Frankenstein mask –

I chose Frankenstein because I thought he’d be the best character to represent that sense of marginalisation. Frankenstein wasn’t accepted by humans because it wasn’t anything like them, although it wanted to fit in. Was he human because he almost resembled one or was he a monster because he looked different and defied their rules? Just like it, immigrants or foreigners face discomfort and challenges when surrounded by a place or people they cannot identify with.

After talking about my ideas to friends and in class, I decided to diss the mask. I realised that this was not just limiting to what a picture can show (at least in my capacity), but it seemed a little boring. Our lecturer helped me break down my ideas more specifically into an identity being made up of different parts, and that when a person is displaced, he or she may feel some parts missing. It’s actually an idea of losing something – loss. So, she suggested why not show their body parts ‘missing’ or something. It was a Eureka moment somehow. I thought, bingo – there’s a photo essay!

But before hearing her suggestions, I did share with her my idea of replacing the mask with a graph called “acculturation curve” which I learned in another class I was taking, called intercultural communication. The graph shows that as time goes by, a person who has migrated to a different country will experience different emotions towards that culture. Here’s the graph –

I decided to let my subjects hold this graph instead. Nevermind if I had to pay for the mask and not use it (lol). Better to have a good idea than one that isn’t effective.

I plan to ask my models where they would fall under and then I will ask them to get into a pose that shows this. I will stick to the idea of asking them to pose at a location where they’d feel the emotion.  Here are my ideas on how to approach the aesthetic aspect of my photo essay.

Idea 1

The texture of the subjects who feel negatively and therefore in conflict with the culture would be a cracked wall. I was thinking of merging PS layers of the subject and location with that of the texture. I experimented a little and this is a rough idea of what I wanted it to be like:

Idea 2

The subject and the location would look like a painting, and the degree of how the subject feel towards the culture would be portrayed through the splatter or drip of the paint from the subject. The more the marginalised, the more imperfect the image is.

Idea 3

However, I thought that it would probably senseless to make the location or setting appear in ‘ruins’ since it is the person who is evoking the emotion. Senseless more particularly because I wanted to put more focus on the subject, so I thought of putting a painting version of them onto a realisitc portrayal of the background where they feel the crisis. Here’s just a draft –

My next step is to take the photos — which starts next week. Excited but nervous because I’ve never taken portraits for assignments so far, plus – I wanna make sure I take the shots I want. The location and poses are crucial to the photo essay too; not just the aesthetics.

(btw, my picture was taken by  Shing Kae)    :)

Brief history of photography (Part 2), by Jeff Curto

http://photohistory.jeffcurto.com/archives/281 (1.55.45m)

Do ONE of the following:

1.      Choose to answer one of the pointer questions or
2.      Choose a photographer or
3.      Come up with your own topic (within the context)

Submission: Post your reflection on your blog, label it properly

Text length : 300-500 words

DEADLINE: 31 October 2009

The Real Purpose of PhotographyAfter going through the podcast on photography’s brief history, I realized that many of the earlier photographers may have wasted some of their time on arguing or debating what photography should be about. Emerson and his followers argued that it should not simply mimic what painters do; in other words, photography should not paint a world that does not exist but rather represent reality as it is. Emerson himself went on to contradict himself and settled with photography as a practice that merely copies what you see and nothing else. While some developed the idea that photographs should make sense, some said they do not have to. I have to acknowledge, though, that debates are important especially during the early development of innovations, because they determine its place in society and therefore serve the function it is supposed to conform to. However, ultimately, we should not limit a camera’s purpose. Artists should not simply reprimand commercial photographers for taking pictures for profits; nor should professionals criticize amateurs for wasting their expensive cameras on taking mundane pictures, or for taking them for the dullest reasons. What I am trying to say it that, we should all be able to enjoy the benefits of it as a technology, an art, a science, or even a weapon just as how we found new purposes for what we now call a computer.

With that said, however, we should keep in mind the ethics in photography, or at least in how the picture is done and eventually used for. With all the available manipulating software we have these days, it is easy to deceive people in thinking that a picture represents something else or proves something else. Even without aesthetic manipulation, we can also simply put it in a certain context (ie. We attach meaning to the picture for the people and which may not be true.) and still deceive the looker. We may have different reasons for clicking that camera and reproducing the image we captured, but we should not abandon this privilege for reasons that can hurt people, relationships, a society, or even a whole generation.

In a nutshell, let us enjoy the multiple benefits of this powerful gadget but let us not use it at the expense of someone else’s dignity, and rights.

386 words

LONGING

====================================================================In this picture, I attempted to portray the handphone’s longing for its owner. Perhaps, one can interpret it as it longing to be used or longing for attention.

Lighting: To darken the room, I closed the windows and drew the curtains. I enhanced this through PS by using the lighting effects particularly the flashlight, reducing its radius and limiting it to an oval shape, and brightening its ‘ambience’. However, after finding that the brighter areas became abnormally darker, I used the level tool to adjust this.

Composition: By showing more space on the left side of the phone and placing the wire across it, I wanted to make it appear as if the phone had “moved” closer to the person. The space can also be contrasted to the space in between the object and the person.

Others: I made sure the phone light was on, so as to show that it is trying to reach out by trying to catch the person’s attention. I think I can further improve the portrayal of longing by tilting the top of the handphone more towards the person as if it is trying to reach her.

ABANDONED

=====================================================================Lighting: I used the lighting effect, particularly the flash light to focus the light on the handphone and darken its surroundings, hence, depicting a lonely atmosphere. The previous draft was darker, but thinking it was too dark, I decided to use the level tool to brighten the overall picture a little bit more to make the elements clearer.

Composition: I am not exactly sure if I had been successful in portraying the handphone here as feeling abandoned. But the idea I had was to show that by having the person enjoy a conversation on a traditional phone and leaving the handphone somewhere far from her, the handphone would therefore feel worthless.

Others: I originally wanted a close up on the phone and use a low angle, but I really wanted to show the background as well, so I couldn’t go on with the original idea. I wonder how else I can improve this.

DESPAIR

====================================================================In this picture, I wanted to create a private scene for the handphone. Usually, when people have problems, we prefer to be alone. Having a moment in front of a “mirror” could be counted as one of those moments. I tried to portray the state of despair or hopelessness through the phone’s bending posture towards the mirror, and also through lighting.

Lighting: To bring out a mood of despair, I used the lighting effects (flash light) to dampen the lighting in its surroundings and focusing the light on the subject. However, unlike the “abandoned” photograph, the ‘ambiance’ here is set to a more negative level so as to emphasise its feeling of despair while it is all alone.

Composition: I decided to distant the subject from the foreground, and move it further to the back, so as to amplify the hand phone’s solitude and therefore helplessness.

HAPPY

====================================================================In this photograph, I attempted to portray a lighter mood. In this scene, the handphone is happy to be in the other handphone’s company. To add a little humour to it, I twisted the handphone’s strap around the other handphone. This can suggest that it is also ‘in love’.

Lighting: I didn’t use much tools in PS here except the level and saturation tools to merely brighten up and enhance the colours of the overall picture. The main source of light here is coming from the sunlight just outside the window, which is beside the chair.

Composition: The space on the left side of the picture could complement the ‘gesture’ of the handphone’s strap. Through the brown handphone’s ‘gesture’, it encloses a certain space for the two of them within this wide space available, thus, expressing the desire to be close to the other handphone, and perhaps  even suggesting the desire for privacy or intimacy.

Something on the side note: I did enjoy this assignment. Not only because it was fun to see my handphone come to life, but perhaps, also because I realised how lighting, distance, and composition for instace can actually support and communicate human emotions.

The assignment, I felt, was challenging because I had to look at human emotions on a basic level. Challenging maybe because we take such things for granted. At the start, I couldn’t decide on what object to use as my subject but someone had told me it would be easier to choose something that I have attachment to. What better choice than a handphone!

The main thing that I decided to change was the perspective aspect of the composition. Our lecturer said that I should play more with it, and widen the options of possible perspectives. I didn’t really get an answer when I asked why but I think I do know now. Because I used distance to symbolise the ‘proximity’ between being a youth and being a grown-up, and therefore representing a presence of conflict, it is best to portray this in an exaggerated perspective.

To add on to its realism, I decided to include the heads since they are more representive of a person. I also changed the reflection to shadows to infuse a little bit more of realism.

On the other hand, I realised that a high-key approach somehow added to its surrealism, so I emphasised this even more though the clock – by making it appear more white. On a side note, the bodies that are acting as the clock’s hands are supposed to be the main feature of this surrealistic picture.

One important  lesson to take away from this activity: Sometimes, less is more.

The Different Parts

CLOCK: Using the eraser and the clone stamp tool, I removed the clock's hands. Its new perspective was achieved using the free transform & transform tools. To achieve a high key effect, I adjusted its level and erased the remaining colours within the white area.

STRING: Like what I did for the rest of the elements, I used the lasso tool to trace the string and separate it from the image. Perspective was also manipulated using the transform and free transform (distort, which was used for the rest too).

========================================================================================

ADULT: Lasso tool was used to remove the subject from the image. To blend it better with the clock's persepective or angle I played with the disort tool. To remove the tree background at the back of the swing, I used the clone stamp tool to replicate the pattern of the rattan all throughout. To adjust the overall lighting of the subject, I used level, burn and dodge tools. Its shadow was created by copying the subject, desaturating it till it was black and white, using the gaussian blur and finally placing it below the original subject's layer.

YOUTH: The subject was horizontally flipped. To improve its overall look and to blend it with the rest of the elements, I used saturation and level tools. I also used the dodge tool to blend it a little more with the brightness level of the rest of the elements. Its shadow was created by copying the subject, desaturating it till it was black and white, using the gaussian blur and finally placing it below the original subject's layer.

HAND: The hand was removed from the image through the lasso tool and using the cursor to drag it to the other picture, which was also used for most pasting methods for other elements. The free transform tool was used to rotate the hand. To adjust its brightness level, I used the level tool. Lastly, I decided to use the blur tool to lessen its focus since it is supposed to be the furthest element in the image.

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