Category Archives: My Work

2D II ZINE – Process

2D II,  ZINE PROCESS

Assigned Location: Bukit Batok

After my initial research of the area of Bukit Batok, I narrowed it down to the neighbourhood’s nature parks. And within those nature parks, I picked the topic of lamp-posts to investigate and display in my final zine. 

The process has been a very educational one; I’ve learned so many things from using InDesign to developing an actual product and figuring out what would look best visually to convey my message. 


Learning InDesign – –

One of the biggest areas in my process documentation was learning InDesign itself as a software. I have had no prior knowledge or use of the application and it was a really useful experience to understand what terms like ‘bleed’ and ‘slug’ were. I was taught to format a product with the end result in mind, and having to think about the printing helped in the process of construction my zine.

Specifications for the A5 zine document.

Crafting the Zine – –

I started the process of creating a zine with the idea of ‘lamp posts of Bukit Batok’. I knew that I wanted to do illustration in my zine, rather than use photographs, so I just used my photos as reference and created illustrations based on them. At first, I found it extremely hard to figure out what colours to use. Admittedly, I hadn’t planned out the actual narrative/storyline to my zine, I only knew that I wanted to characterise and bring the lamp posts that I saw so often to life. However, the more I worked on the zine, the more I started to figure out what I wanted to do.

In the end, I would create a narrative with dawnnoon, and twilight and attribute these times in the day to different ‘guardians’ – that is, the lamp posts. I ended up with 15 total versions of my zine, from start to finish as I tried to figure out what I wanted to show visually. Below is the progression of my zine from start to finish in screenshots.

The first draft of the cover page of my zine.
The second draft of my cover.

I knew that the illustration above was one that I wanted to keep – it had good composition and it showed that I wanted to talk about lamp posts in Bukit Batok’s environment. However, I was frustrated with the colours as well as the font – consulting with Shirley showed me that the fonts you use are very important to the tone that you want to convey. And at this point, the font was too serious. I didn’t want a goofy, silly font that was child-like, but I still wanted to show that I was telling a story rather than an information pamphlet.

Changed the colours on the previous illustration.

The first thing I did to try and fix the problem was change the colours of the illustration so that they were more cohesive and aesthetically pleasing. I liked this illustration much better than the one before and this is the final one I would use for my zine’s cover page. Then I went on to experiment and play around with different fonts that would help convey my message better (and not be so serious!) Below is the final cover page, where I made the font more light-hearted and ‘story-like’ (if you will) and fit it into the page so that it would look cohesive as an entire layout. I am quite pleased with this cover and prefer it enormously over my two earlier versions.

Final zine cover layout.
The Rest of the Zine – –

After jumping over the tough hurdle of the zine cover, I moved onto the rest of the zine. Like I mentioned before, I want to convey a story that takes us from dawn to noon to twilight and associate different lamp posts with these timings (e.g. the dawn lamp post would be shy and quiet, like the dawn as an entity itself). Dawn was relatively easy to do; it was harder later on to craft the noon spread and the twilight spread.

The first spread.
The second spread.

Above is the final end look of the second spread in my zine. It was hard at first to figure out what I wanted to do with this page, because I wanted to use this illustration:

But the illustration itself would obviously not cover the entire spread. I needed to think about what I wanted to do with the spread, so then I tried to balance out one area with empty space and the other with more complicated designs and patterns. Heavy on one side, and light on the other. Below is my process of trying to figure out the composition for the spread. 

After I was satisfied with the composition, I tried to follow the rule of thirds with placement of the texts and kept them from being right in the centre or the middle of the spread. This was to provide more visual interest. I like the contrast between the empty right side and the heavier left side.

The final spread.

Above is the final spread – the ‘twilight’ guardian. So as I reached the end of the zine, I tried to progress it throughout the timings of a single day; dawn to dusk. For this spread, I had some troubles with choosing colour. Initially, I was going to use this image:

But obviously, the style of the above illustration doesn’t match the other two spreads or the cover page. So I went back to the reference photo used:

And created a new illustration that would keep the consistency across the zine. The final illustration for the twilight spread has a common colour scheme of warm browns and oranges and tries to communicate a sense of dusk/twilight. 

I had fixed up the odd green/blue/yellow colour scheme and replaced it with one that would match better with the rest of the zine. But I then had issues with adjusting the colours of the text. 

 

As you can see above, the word ‘twilight’ is different – one is yellow, the other is blue. I was struggling between which one would give more visual interest. In the end, I decided on blue because it would match the blue of the previous noon spread and also makes the word stand out.


Learning Points + Takeaways – –

This entire project has taught me many things, from softwares to composition and thinking about end products. One of the biggest things that I had to think about was both colour and composition. Using different elements of design like the rule of thirds and so on really helped me create a zine that would be more interesting to look at. For example, in the beginning I would split up the composition of the spreads down the middle because of the left and right pages, but then after consultations, I realised that I could bring images across the middle divide to create the rule of thirds and so on. Thinking about consistency across a product is also an interesting aspect of this project. Usually when I create artwork or paint, I only have to think about a single frame on a page. In a zine, not only do I have to think about individual spreads, but also about how they transition from each other and the consistency across the entire document. I enjoyed this project very much and it represents learning milestones in my design career.

 

 

 

2D – Que Sera Sera PROCESS

After all the initial research that went into my jobs, I started the visualisation of my final pieces. Like I said before, I went through many revisions of different jobs (e.g I thought about criminals but I ended up scratching that idea) but there are a lot of thumbnail sketches of possible compositions that I came up with.

Some of the different thumbnails I did are here  below:

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I focused a lot on the fisherman job, because it was the one I was most excited about, but I also did preliminary sketches of possible ways I wanted other jobs to look too. Especially for herpetology, I sketched out snakes in many different ways to make the A and the G look very prominent. I also worked on the composition for the astronaut; I wanted the G to be the planet and the A to be a rocket (since A is easier to manipulate into a rocket than G is). Consulting with Shirley reinforced my idea: she like the contrast of colour, shape, while all still under the umbrella of the same space-theme.

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For two of the jobs, I started out doing traditional mediums of pencil and watercolour first (and some marker) to see what they would look like. I did this for the architect and for the herpetologist because I thought that both of these jobs were especially close to the use of traditional mediums.

Herpetology – because like my research showed,  there’s a sepia/vintage like vibe to it. I imagine coffee stains and other debris as a herpetologist works on the diagrams of the animals he studies. So I tried to emulate that with my own watercolour painting.

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I will later digitalise this so that it can make for a clean print.

Architect – you often imagine an architect drawing and sketching out buildings. Though I know that perspective is a very inaccurate tool in drawing and architects don’t use it, I decided to include perspective to give it more of an ‘artistic flair’. But I felt that the pencil drawing still remained a little plain and messy, so I eventually will change the medium to digital and use the colours of white and blue like blueprints.

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As for the other two, I started out digitally and continued to just work on them digitally. A process screenshot for the astronaut can be seen below:

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2D – Que Sera Sera RESEARCH

The prompt for this project was to portray our names (whether our full name, real name, nick name, initials, what have you) in relation to a future job ambition.

I wanted to use my initials ‘A.G.’ so I explored that, with the jobs that I had in mind. Initially, I wanted to be a zoologist, a criminal, a fisherman, and an astronomer, but eventually as I started sketching out and planning the way my deliverables would look, I ended up with these 4 jobs as the finals:

  1. Fisherman
  2. Astronaut
  3. Herpetologist
  4. Architect

For all of these jobs, I will use only AG and try and explore different ways that I can incorporate it into the job-type to see if it can be expanded to be used as an actual font.


RESEARCH

First of all, I started out researching the type of visual aids that are related to the jobs that I picked.

Fishermen are often associated with nets and fish (obviously!) and so I thought it would be best to look at photos of nets and see what kind of ideas I could come up with.

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Bozo fisherman using a net on the River Niger, Mopti, Mali
Bozo fisherman using a net on the River Niger, Mopti, Mali

Often with these photos of fishermen, there isn’t much in the background except the sky and the water. I thought this contrast in detail (the cluttered texturing of the net vs the clear and vast sky) could be an important part of my composition. Symbols of the boats would also help.

Astronauts are obviously associated with space, planets, asteroids, and rockets. Since planets and asteroids come in different shapes, I thought maybe I could use these to create the letters “A, G”. I came across cute clipart/cartoon pictures of astronauts on the internet and liked the way they looked.

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For this one, I especially like the colours of yellow and red for the planet and the rocket. They work well together to stand out against the dark background.

Herpetologists are experts in the study of reptiles and snakes. I actually initially wanted to do something with snakes because I am a big fan of some artists on instagram that do insane art with snakes. (e.g  @christinamrozikart).

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I think snakes are a fun, organic way to make letters, and I was into the idea of making a cursive font in the midst of all the other blockish fonts I was visualising. Herpetologist’s diagrams are also often pictured on sepia-type backgrounds – a kind of vintage scientist vibe that I wanted to capture.

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Architects work with blueprints. I like the look of a strictly white and blue colourscheme, with all the little lines and details in places that outline a building. I looked at a few blueprints (like the ones below) to give me some reference for my own piece.

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4D II Project 1 – Alter Ego

VIDEO

 


STORY LINE

The storyline of this film follows through the interview of a girl some people could describe as pathetic. Coming to a therapist to discuss her problem with mediocrity, the girl – who remains unnamed – talks about why she’s come in the first place. Outlining roughly the thoughts that go through her mind about her place in the world, we come to realise that she is someone who is characterised by a sort of ‘empty’ ambition. Immortality, fame, all the rest is what she wants. She wants to be the best, to be legendary.

However, she looks at everyone as someone or having something to be envious about. Making comparisons to piano players and painters, we don’t see any focus to her speech except wanting to be great. But she herself doesn’t know why she’s so envious of everyone. As a person, her character is one that is slightly paradoxical. Great ambition but without great aim, she wanders aimlessly in a mental wasteland of her wants – without any plan of action. Concluding with the very thing that plagues her, she ends with the futile realisation that no therapist can help her problem with mediocrity.


CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT/RESEARCH

Starting with the character of Antonio Salieri from Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus, my research took me into not just visual composition, but the composition of time. The film is directed by Miloš Forman.

The film/play is directed as a ‘flashback’. That is, Antonio Salieri is the narrator, telling his own story from first person as the play/film cuts to scenes that relate to what he is saying. I wanted to do the same for my project, so I made the overlying narrative one that is a dialogue between me and a therapist – the character I’m playing has a problem with mediocrity (which is Salieri’s main gripe with life).

I had to look at stills of the film to see what kind of visual composition would work for me (see below) and I decided on the typical ‘interview–interviewee’ scene. But this would be overlaid with cutaways to different scenes (randomly chosen) to show the confusion that exists in the character’s mind. As a result, the film itself has thoughts and sequences that are slightly convoluted.

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My cutaway scenes have a focus on nature (and the world around you) to show contrast with the character’s insistent focus on herself and her own mind.

The above idea (about the odd structured randomness of my project) came from my professor after consulting with her about my idea. The cutaway sequences were initially going to follow what I was saying – illustrating the script (which can be seen below under storyboarding). However, her idea was to make it more interesting by being slightly confusing as well; the script and the filming are simultaneous and parallel in their characteristics. In that way, the film itself can also become a supporting entity for the character that I am acting out.

Challenges included trying to write a script that accurately incorporated Salieri’s traits, as well as organising the cutaway scenes to nonsensically ‘make sense’, if you will.

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STORYBOARD

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RESEARCH AND EXPLORATION

TASK 1 – List 5 characters from literature/fiction which whom you have a special affinity.

Ashitaka (Princess Mononoke)

Salieri (Amadeus)

Howl (Howl’s Moving Castle)

Azula (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Aomame (1Q84)

TASK 2 – List 5 public figures.

Hayao Miyazaki

Alexander the Great

Jesus Christ

Wes Anderson

Haruki Murakami

TASK 3 – List 5 people you know or have known.

Ashley

Crystal

Theresa

Yuta

James

TASK 4 – Take two from each list and write a brief description of what qualities each person represents and what dilemma seems to typify them. Explain why I have an affinity to these characters. 

Ashitaka

His dilemma is the fatal curse he’s been inflicted with, yet he represents the will to keep on living (a difficult trait to persevere with). Ashitaka’s purity in his desire to celebrate the life that exists on the earth is something raw and beautiful.

Salieri

Salieri’s dilemma is the uprising of the young and talented Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (rivalry and threat) and he represents the very raw, very human anger, jealousy, and insincerity when it comes to matters of the self. Selfishness is what connects me to him.

Hayao Miyazaki

Miyazaki’s dilemma exists in the meaning to his works and the meaning to his life – which, ironically, he’s resigned to letting it flow as it may. I have an affinity to this great director because of his acceptance of the incidences of living.

Alexander the Great

His raw, powerful and roaring ambition of the ancient world. To be great and to be known, I want to experience the same successes, to achieve the same potency in history. Alexander’s hunger is what connects me to him.

TASK 5 – I have chosen Salieri. First person. 

In class, we were made to do an exercise where we wrote  a letter from the point of view (POV) of our character. In hindsight, we could also easily use this as a form of expository narrative for our video. The script for my letter is below:

God, 

I often wonder at the incidences of Your hand. Though the passing  of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is in the past, I am plagued. Was I not your instrument? Did you not come to me as a child, with my promise to devote my life, my music my work to you?  

To be stuck, rotting and rolling in this living corpse of flesh is agony, to listen to the timelessness of a man I disposed of; God, You truly have dealt Your best hand. I accept my fate. I will expire when your sentence has been complete. Yet, I pray You remember this – I will still exist as another god. Mediocrity is a passing bloodline, no matter how tragic. 

– Antonio Salieri

The letter, in effect, needed to be understood in the context of Amadeus. But as this project is entitled “Alter Ego”, I will not be acting as Salieri, but have some of his traits be part of my character. Analysing the traits of Antonio Salieri gave me these characteristics:

  • Selfish
  • Competitive
  • Self-centered
  • Manipulative/plotting
  • Pathetic (often self-pitying)

 

Foundation 2D: EGO (Pt 2, Final outcome)

As I started going into the production phase of this project, that was when I began to more seriously consider the colours I was choosing.

For each of the 4 rows of 3, I wanted to have its own individuality. That is, according to colour. I will explain each row below and how the colours correspond to the scenes and the outcomes.


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transformation: all three

TRANSFORMATION

Transformation visually tells the story of me (as an alternate persona) – as a ninja. The individual frames look like this:

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This frame is me as a ninja, killing and (basically doing what a ninja does in this period) but I’m killing with blood lust – hence the two aggressively contrasting colours of red and black. The silhouette is black to make it stand out but the hot red hues are there to suggest  violence in the frame. As a result, the red is then associated with the figure. img_3796

This scene is where I (the ninja) is kicked out of the community for my violence, outcasted and thrown away (I am pictured begging). The colours chosen are meant to suggest the feeling of sobriety and of being somber – the downfall of a character. Again, black is used to give the impression of a definite action – a solid, unmovable shape (there are no hues of black or different shades/tones). The blue is gradated to imitate the dusk/twilight of a day, which signals the ‘end’ to things. It gradually fades into deeper and more intense hues of blue from the top as the weight of the sky appears to ‘descend’ and bog down the silhouette, drawing attention to the figures and their actions. img_3797

This is where I come back, full of revenge, and kill the people who ostracised and cast me out. The story is mainly one of simply violence and anger, and the pale use of negative space with cooler colours contrast with red to show the paradox of killing in cold blood. Calculative, relentless, yet not guilty nor shameful. I wanted to again, highlight violence and harm so I deliberately made the red the dominant hue in this composition to bring attention to the idea of blood and gore.


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RMS TITANIC

This set of frames is to picture me travelling back in time (to 1912) to the RMS Titanic and its sinking. Yet, again as an alternate figure/character, and this time I am the captain of the Titanic itself. It follows my actions as I essentially ‘save’ the ship from its infamous sinking (an easily cliche, heroic daydream). These are the individual frames:

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The first frame is me as the RMS Titanic’s captain – an extremely heavy responsibility to bear (considering I’m from the present and I know that the ship will eventually sink). I like to imagine that it’s my responsibility to keep the ship from sinking. And so, I chose sombre colours as well, but keeping it more pastel and paler – not so saturated, to have the notion of dread and fear; the ‘colour draining from one’s face’. It complements the expression on my face; everything is simply a cloud of dreariness and deep thought about the disaster that is to come. img_3799

The RMS Titanic was painted in black and white to have the effect/feeling of being in the past. When I was searching up photos of what the Titanic looked like, she was only pictured in black and white images (understandably, as it was 1912) and I wanted to retain the same sentiment. So, I painted her in black and white, faded and somewhat cloudy to give off the impression of a memory (which is what she is, to us now). It’s nice to complement this effect with me travelling back in the past as the captain of the ship. img_3800

Eventually, however, I end up steering the ship away from the iceberg that caused its demise – instead, sailing away to clearer, lighter waters (the blue is gradated to symbolise travelling away from darkness into something akin to hope, I suppose). The white complements the blue pleasantly and balances out saturation with negative space – and also altogether highlights the black outline of the ship sailing in the ocean.


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ARIANNE THE GREAT

This story is one of me travelling back in time to Macedonia, BC, in the time of Alexander the Great. I’ve always liked the idea of being in power, of having authority and dominion over a nation, and I just wanted to paint out what would happen if I so decided to overthrow Alexander the Great. The idea for this row would be to use each frame as another section of gradation for the intense colour of red. As you go on, the red becomes deeper and more intense – climaxing at the point of my own victory. The individual frames are below:

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I am first pictured in pale colours (to contrast and oppose the violent mutineer I become later). Pale browns, yellows, and pinkish reds are supposed to express this peaceful servant girl in the time, ‘harmless’ and not a threat to the oh-so-great leader. img_3813

Alexander is pictured with his horse Bucephalus, mighty and strong. The reds and browns are intensified – contrast between colours is emphasised to show the scene of action and intent. There is a growing plume of red and orange and yellow to signify his power growing, and his flowing red cape helps to accompany this idea. His hair is painted golden to suggest wealth and power, the ‘golden boy’ of his age. img_3814

However, the reds all intensify and come to the breaching point in this scene, becoming darker and more saturated compared to the pale blue cape that lies across the fallen Alexander. I am holding the bloody sword stabbed into him, and behind me the plume that was suggested with Alexander parts its way for my silhouette shape. The black and the red and the yellow has purple in the centre to also tell the intention of royalty and victory.


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OVERCOME THE WORLD

This scene is more abstract than factual (such as the ones above). It is an imagery of me overcoming the cloudy, heavy burdens that result from growing up in the world. From relationships to family, to money and other stress, I am first fascinated by the complicated world to becoming weighed down and pained by the burden. However, by the end, I am at peace with myself, coexisting with my responsibilities and my pains and overcoming my world. The common thread of colour in these frames is how 1) the clouds remain dark and intense – unchanging and 2) how I gradually end up having colour in my skin (from no hope to hope and life). The individual frames are below:

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This first frame is me, pale (yet with some colour) as I gaze in wonder at the complicated nature of the world – the cosmos is ever expanding and the universe is in front of me. However, I am pale and stand out in white because I am still pure and untouched, yet also without personality and almost ‘fragile’ in a sense. img_3817

I am becoming tainted with the blue pains of my burden, dripping down my body as my body is shrouded in shadow and black, bearing the giant globe that is growing up. I am still pale, but this time it is to show how tainted and stained I can be, and also to show that I remain fragile and breakable, like porcelain without blood or life in my skin. img_3818

The final frame shows how I have colour in my face, in my hands, and my lips – to show the life coming back into me as I realise that I can coexist with the dark, still stormy cloud of burdens. But this time, my relationship with my pain is peaceful – the negative space shows that I am not so cluttered and confused – my rest is clear as day and without distress or weakness.

4D – Project 2

A teacher of mine (she taught literature) once told me that all literature is either about food, sex, or death. Thinking about it, I think it makes perfect sense about us as humans.

My first project focused on the nature of time and what it does to a moment as it transitions to a memory, questioning what is left behind after loss.

I want to explore further, and rather look into the nature of humans as we are, in relation to time. I kept thinking though, about how I wanted to show this in a series of photos, and then I remembered what my teacher had said above.

And as I was looking through possible images and ideas online, I came across this account called Two Red Bowls on flickr.

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Despite being an account that obviously appreciates food photography in all its beauty, it was the images of the empty bowls and plates (after everything had been consumed) that got me thinking about human nature.

I think food and consumption is a very good representation of our hunger for things: for money, for a lover, or for anything in between. We eat and eat, chew continuously, some of us with less awareness of our limits than others. But in the end, we are left with some pieces. A grain of rice here, a smudge of sauce there. What we do with the leftovers (after we experience the moment) relates to what my first project was about. The leftovers are either washed away (forgotten and cleaned) or left to rot and mold. I think this accurately symbolises the notions of bitterness and grudges, of a memory turning foul because of the refusal to let it go. I want to express this with my project.

Foundation 4D Project 1: Exhibition Display/Layout Rationale

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This was my final layout for the arrangement of my photographs for Project 1.

After much thought, I really wanted to show the separation of moment from memory (as aforementioned in previous posts). I think this layout really shows that idea. It goes from the raw, original photo of the moment with him to the figurative image of the firework, which is a symbol for my interpretation of the flashes of memories that are left after someone is gone.

The far right shows two photos that drift noticeably out from the mass. The last sequence of momentary photos are these two:

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I especially wanted to sequence the last two photos to show that the intensity of the experience/moment fades when the person looks away, or in other more metaphoric terms, “leaves”. The presence fades, but the sad part about this is that it’s inevitable for moments to fade; it’s part of time’s erosion. The last drifting photo is a firework and I think in the end, at least time gives us the presence of the memory, no matter how fleeting.

Foundation 4D Project 1: Artist Statement

Photography works with time in the sense that it captures one moment. A second where the only thing in the eyes of the photographer is what lies within the lens.

Memories are like these fleeting moments, whereby the experience lasts for a certain length of time, but the remembrance of what happened does not

Through this project, I wanted to explore: “what comes next after loss?” Someone very important to me has gone overseas and I no longer feel their physical presence; all I have are the ephemeral memories of my time with him, in place of the person himself.

The combination of my photos of him next to fireworks expresses the explicit separation of moment from memory.

There is a peculiar sadness in the desire for seconds to slow down, for minutes to freeze. One is then led to wonder what would happen, if all we have is time.

Foundation 4D: Project 1 Recap/Review/Thoughts

We had a “what-we-have-so-far” progress presentation in Foundation 4D class on Thursday. The double exposure technique that I was working on with my photos was displayed.

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These are the few of the experimentations I have done with my photographs. I liked the effect of combining black and white photos to bring out the colour of the overlaid photo.

As my project began to take form, I wanted to involve time as an element, and look into what is left behind as time moves on. In the end, these moments become memories; the time you had with someone becomes as fleeting as the fireworks that I used in the double-exposure photos. I really liked the effect, as I think it represents the transition of the moment into a firework in your memory.

However, after my presentation and discussion with the teacher about how to present these photos, it would appear that the effect of double exposure photography is slightly overused. I then tried to look at how the photos would appear side by side (photo + firework picture).

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I discussed this with Josiah and he helped me realise that by placing the raw photos themselves next to the images of the fireworks, it allowed the viewer to draw their own connections rather than obviously placing them together. I really liked this notion, and so I decided to go with the teacher’s suggestion (as well as Josiah’s guidance) to keep the photos separate. I think that maybe, in this way, it shows how the moment and the memory are two separate things as well.

Foundation 4D – Project 1 Experimentation

Building off inspiration from photographers such as Samantha Ann Francis and others that I’ve mentioned in my previous posts, I tried taking and layering my own photographs to experiment with not only their methodology, but to see what would express my theme of grief and loss more.

Though continuing on from this idea of being obsessed with grief and loss, I was led to think about “What is left behind when someone is gone?” What, I wonder, stays after the presence leaves? This formulated my ideas/story into a much more interesting exploration of a question that I am still left figuring out.

The photos below have a base of a grainy black and white appearance because I like the effect of black and white – it puts emphasis on the form of the photograph’s subject.

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Photograph_02

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At first, I wanted to layer and experiment with flowers. The reason being that their symbolism is something that I have been fascinated with for a long time. They’re beautiful and alive, but short-lived and are constantly going through seasons of change. As with their natural growth and change, I thought it was fitting for the concept of coping with grief and loss – as these two things are, after all, changes that must be accepted, just as how flowers live this way. Aesthetically however, I preferred the colour schemes of Photograph_01 over _02 and tried to make more images with these kind of red/pink warm colours as opposed to yellow and green.

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This one I played around with the dust/scratch effect on photographs to make it look older. I wanted to suggest the notion of the past being the past, and as time ages, change will come about as well.