Week 03- Pixels of the Real

Introduction:

In our class we saw how modes and means of representation continuously change throughout time. In every moment in history, there seems to be a co-relation between the dominant visual language and the perception of what is “the Real”. For instance, the world-view conveyed in religious icon paintings in Medieval times is very different that the one that emerges from a Renaissance canvas or, later on, from a photographic image. This begs the question that we will explore next:

How could we interpret our contemporary ways of creating images?

The questions below will be at the center of the discussion next class. While you don’t have to answer them here, you are encouraged to consider:

  • What are the general characteristics of contemporary technical images?
  • How are they different from (and similar to) painting and analog (film) photography?
  • What is the notion of “real” that emerges from our ways of representation?

Assignment

Choose one of the following:

a- Create a self-portrait through the objects that surround you.

b- Create a depiction of your daily routine through objects that you encounter as you go through your day

In either cases, focus not on objects appearance, but rather, try to convey you relation to them (what they mean to you/ their place in your everyday, etc).

Use at least 5 images that you will manipulate in any ways you find suitable for your goal. Stills or video, collages or sequences and any sort of visual manipulation is valid, as soon as it helps you convey your idea.

Tools

For those not too familiar with Photoshop, please challenge yourself to incorporate new tools. Here are some tutorials you can easily get a hand of:

Make perfect selections

Mask out part of an image

Introducing adjustment layers

Changing the color of an object

16 comments

  1. Hi everyone,
    Here’s my work:
    http://newhive.com/iris91/kaleidoscope

    For this experiment I tried to incorporated my thoughts about university/college student life in this picture. I used most usually things that I use everyday and try to make fancy through the kaleidoscope-like patterns. This is because I really try to enjoy my everyday life and try to be happy and active everyday. Meanwhile I’d like to think and look differently in regular items and figure out something else that I didn’t notice before. Also, I’d like to think a lot, even unrealistically. Therefore, I think kaleidoscope is a good way to represent my ideas. The scale of the items indicates the importance of them, and the repeated times somehow indicates how many times I probably going to use it everyday.

    Obviously, I’m not skilled enough to make it really beautiful, so I’ll look up more tutorials to see how to improve.

  5. My project: http://newhive.com/jey/pause

    I chose to create a self portrait through my surrounding objects. The most prevalent part of my room, a physical space that encapsulates myself, is my desk due to my computer, and my bed. These two objects are the ones I interact with the most, which can also be a commentary of both my personal interests and my hobbies. I chose to incorporate various aspects of my computer/technology through the video recording of my keyboard, the cat gif, memory card, and the video game animation. The keyboard matches the image’s theme of calming blues (as implied by the ocean gif, which represents my general calm nature, as well as the peace I feel in my room). The cat gif signifies my personal, and the internet’s, fascination with cats through forms like gifs and videos. This also commentates on the idea of conversation through technology, in which people typically send images and gifs instead of messages. The memory card acts as both an insertion, as if I were capturing my moments throughout the day and will finally reflect upon each moment at the end of the day. It is also binded to my hobby and art of photography. I added the explosion to both add warm colours to the image, and to symbolize one of my interests and hobbies, playing video games. Other elements of my room in the image include the lamp (symbolizing the dimness of my room), salt crystal lamp (general calmness in environment), and my bed for the feeling of comfort, familiarity, and being able to refresh and revitalize at home after a day out.

  8. https://newhive.com/soshi/visa210week3

    I selected the objects that not only are important to me but also help me in forming my own self identity. I was considering doing a collage at first, however, I decided against it and went for a straightfoward layout with minor photo modifications (lighting, contrast etc.). I find that this way portrays my personality the best because I tend to think logically and have a preference for organization so a seuqential layout works best for a self portrait.

  12. Hi classmates, here is my piece: https://newhive.com/mshengxi/life

    I chose several photos from my life and laid them together, there are scenes from my daily routine but also things that not happen frequently. I make the whole picture opaque and not easy to be recognized since I want to provide room for viewers to figure out what’s going on in the picture, and the meaning of the picture is also revealed through the degradation of the whole, imagination can be released from this vagueness–that’s what I think to be a really interesting aspect of artwork.

    Thank you:)

Leave a Reply