Category: 4D Foundation – 8

ABOUT DREAM

 

About dream is a photo essay portraying the dreams occurring in different levels of sleep, light sleep, deep sleep and REM (rapid eyes movement). Dream in light sleep seems to be a mixture of reality and fiction. In the first stage, I started losing my consciousness and became more tentative of surrounding things, like air-conditioning and fans. Then I morphed into a flying insect and exited my room, which marked the complete loss of consciousness. Dreams now turned to be more vague and hard to recall in deep sleep. Foreground and background appeared to emerge. In the last stage, vivid dreams occurred and were often memorable. In the video, I was put in a familiar, but bizarre place and trying to hide from the crowds. In the middle of escaping from the place, the exposure of myself awakened me to reality.

Methods of shooting

LENS-WHACKINGDetach the lens and use big aperture to create macro and title-shift lens effect.

freelens21-1024x682

 

 

Sketches

IMG_3156Sequence Flow

IMG_3155Rough Storyboard

Caption – Anchor & Relay

IMG_2703

Charlie,wearing a crystal earrings, looks down and smiles, NTU, Singapore, 2015, shot by iPhone 6

Charlie is so excited about the dinner with this guy whom she met last night. It is the first date since she broke up with her ex-boy friend last year, which makes her so nervous that she don’t know how to begin the conversation 10mins before heading to the restaurant.

 

 

IMG_2717

Charlie sits on a bridge and her shoes are about to touch the water, NTU, Singapore, 2015, shot by iPhone 6

Charlie sits on a bridge in NTU after a dinner with her new date. But it seems it didn’t go well just now. She is getting frustrated and disappointed of herself. Not only because is the date, but also is the pressure from her family.

 

 

IMG_2721

Charlie sits on the top of staircase, NTU, Singapore, 2015, shot by iPhone 6

Finally, Charlie moves over the unsuccessful date that she expected. Now what she can do is to find a job and get back to her normal life.

Project 1b Thinking Sequentially – Text and Image

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favour fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction

Ice is also great

And would suffice.

 

In my interpretation, fire represents human desire towards natural resources. Whereas, ice expresses hatred towards human themselves, which leads human destruction even deeper and thoroughly. I used images of China air pollution, as a result of burning too much coal and other mechanical materials. Cold war images, like Cuba Missile Crisis photo, and two presidents from USA and Soviet Union depicts two different ideology, which leads hatred and revenge. Desire and hatred have same effect of terminating human race.

But hatred has more power to destroy the whole world.

In the overall composition, images are split into two to bring up the comparison between desire and hatred. In the first image, the pollution cloud and nuclear bomb merge into one cloud to show the similar effect of desire and hatred. The second image depicts an end of the world scene by imitating multiple exposure effects. The third image portrays the difference between two countries. And fourth image depicts Cuba Missile Crisis which is the most dangerous threat to human in history.

 

Images source

 

 

3025175-poster-p-pollution

http://www.fastcoexist.com/3025175/us-products-made-in-china-causes-an-extra-full-day-of-smog-a-year-in-los-angeles#2

NuclearWeapon_Big

National Archives image (208-N-43888)

BEIJING, CHINA - MARCH 27: Security personnel stand guard at Tiananmen Square blanketed in smog on March 27, 2014 in Beijing, China. An estimated 7 million people die worldwide every year due to air pollution, both indoor and outdoor, and it is now the "single largest environmental health risk", according to a report by the UN World Health Organization (WHO). The reports findings suggested a link between air pollution and heart disease, respiratory problems and cancer, listing it as the cause of about one in eight deaths worldwide. (Photo by Xiao Lu Chu/Getty Images)

Photo by Xiao Lu Chu/Getty Images

Benxi_Steel_Industries

Benxi heavy steel industries in February 2013/Photo by Andreas Habich

Cold_War_by_L2A

http://photos.sulekha.com/albums/members/bilingual/slideshow/351242.htm

jfk-nikita

https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2015/01/11/trouble-cuba-call-pope/w81Qu2D1hgVspZgraWUYEM/story.html

article-2207946-152F65E1000005DC-436_634x397

President Kennedy meets with U.S. Army officials during the Cuban Missile Crisis/Corbis

Soviet-R-12-nuclear-ballistic_missile

CIA reference photograph of Soviet medium-range ballistic missile (SS-4 in U.S. documents, R-12 in Soviet documents) in Red Square, Moscow/From Wikipedia

 

 

Final Sequence

 

01 02 03 04

 

 

 

 

Project 1a Curating Self

Task 1: Me

I believe the best way to understand a person is not only looking through his physical features, but also presenting what does and love. That’s why I’m using indirect method like ID passes, letters from friends, movie tickets and sports gear to portray my existence, personality and interests. It creates a photo staging by lying stuff on the ground.

3 images are laid in one line where “identity”, which has a different backdrop, is in the middle. It enables  viewer to observe the center image first.

 

Research

Artist reference: Chien-Chi Chang

I was inspired by some of the works from a serial called Jet Lag, done by the Magnum photographer Chien-Chi Chang. These photos were taken during his overseas assignments in the hotel. By lying all his passes and other belongings, I can easily understand what he had been busy with and what purpose his trip is. It is the clarity that inspired me to showcase my belongs in Task 1 to represent myself.

http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=MAGO31_10_VForm&ERID=24KL53ZLJS

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chien-Chi_Chang

AUSTRIA. Graz. 2014. Press passes.

AUSTRIA. Graz. 2014. Press passes.

 

TAIWAN. Taipei. 2007. Studio of Chien-Chi Chang.

TAIWAN. Taipei. 2007. Studio of Chien-Chi Chang.

 

 

Final chosen images – Task 1: Me

CommentsIdentityInterest

 

 

Task 2: Object

Photography is my favorite interest. That’s why camera plays an important role in my life. When I’m photographing, I’ll be more energetic and passionate about everything around me. I used a fast shutter speed to capture the motion. And the most essential part of camera is the lens and the rings on it. By taken a close up of my finger touching it carefully and camera’s perspective of viewing me, the images portray a intimate relationship between me and my camera.

 

 

Final chosen images

Object_01Object_02Object_03

 

 

Task 3: World

Botanic garden is a significant place for me to relax and enjoy the nature. Whenever I feel worn out, I’ll go there to refresh myself. And I also used to hang out and picnic in Botanic Garden with my girlfriend, which are signified by a pair of shadows overlapping to each other. However, some of part of Botanic Garden remains undiscovered. The blur on a child’s face on the third image symbolise the fear and curiosity of nature. Overall, there are alway two people through out the images to depict companionship, which also has been place according to the rule of third.

Research

The technique of shooting the third image was inspired by a unique method. The lens has to be detached from the camera body. You will get the blurring and focusing effect by manually adjusting the lens distance toward the sensor.

http://gizmodo.com/5679403/101-photos-taken-with-the-lens-detached

4636074577_190ffd9fa9_o freelens21-1024x682 LENS-WHACKING

 

 

Final chosen images

World_01 World_02 World_03

 

 

FINAL PRESENTATION DISPLAYED

IMG_2600IMG_2599IMG_2598IMG_2597   

Reflection

Project 1 has been a journey of re discovering myself. It allows me to ponder what makes me me and what is essential to me. By manipulating different photographic methods, like photo staging, cropping and framing, I have learnt each of them has a unique way of telling a story.

Blowin’ In The Wind

Blow In The wind

“How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man ?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand ?
Yes, how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they’re forever banned ?
The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.”