ive been studying the memeconomy

For my project, I have chosen to make a beautiful representation of the thing I love most in this world: memes. I will create images that are the interpretation of a meme. These images will also be conceptually deep and apply new techniques. In my presentation, I will first present the image, then a diptych of the image and the meme it represents on the next slide. The viewers will be invited to guess which "type" of meme this represents before the diptych is revealed.

Concept

My theme for this project will be unity and togetherness. I am going to try to photograph unity in a symbolic way and a literal way. For the symbolic photographs, I will try to take photos of objects that represent unity like a ring, buildings, bridges, and places that represent unity. For the literal pictures, I am going to try to take pictures of relationships, bridges joining two places, and people that are all together. To produce these images, I am going to take a lot of the building at night and use a long exposures to try to get nice lighting.

concept

My concept for this project is harshness and decay. I am going to take pictures relating to decay such as rotting fruit. I am also going to go to places representative of decay such as the cemetery.  I am going to go to harsh places such as the outside of the jail fence. I am going to try to find places with harsh lines and light also. I also am going to do a diptych of fruit rotting and a long exposure of something decaying into the ground.

For my project I'm using the concept of layers and showing how fake people are. I would like to use colors that are light and calming giving a monotone yet interesting feel. This project will be very eccentric and crazy but also contradicting the idea of fake. I want to show how people care about their look so much but how their personalities don't even reflect who they are trying to be.

Concept

For my project theme I am going to be doing held back. I will represent figurative obstacles and physical obstacles in my photos. I chose to photograph the obstacles to actually show what can hold you back wether it be a brick wall that can represent something you have to climb over or wether it be a light painting representing clouded judgement, etc. I will photograph how the obstacle holds you back or how the person over comes it.

project theme/plan

For my project, I plan on shooting photos that represent the theme of overcoming events from the past. To execute it, I am going to take five to six sets of two photos. The first photo of the set will be of a tragic event in one's life. It could be anywhere from the death of a loved one to the loss of a job. The second photo of the set will be of what they have done to move past that event. So, for example, for the photo of the lost loved one, I could photograph that person finding God.

concept

I received a crystal for my object. For my concept, I chose not seeing clearly instead of seeing "crystal clear". When I looked through my crystal, it looked like I was looking through a kaleidoscope. That was when I realized that everyone believes crystal are see through, but you cant really interpret whats on the other side. I will photograph instances where situations are unclear. I believe my concept will be very interesting to translate into a project.

Concept

My concept for the project is togetherness. I came up with this idea from a pipe cleaner. When I think of pipe cleaners, i think of many different colors and typed but all in one package, or together. I am going to capture my idea by taking pictures of things that would normally be thought of as being together such as a family. I feel that I can capture this idea creatively while making great photos.

Concept for Poetics Project

My concept for the poetics project is reflection because the object I got was a mirror. With my project, I am going to take images of things that reflect things, obviously. I think I am going to have literal images and symbolic images. The few ideas I have are water, windows, people's reflections on themselves, etc. I think a good balance of literal and symbolical will make this project stronger than if they were all literal.

flowers

My object was flowers. from sun flowers i got pure thoughts, to a playground, to kidnapping. For my project i am going to stage the physical and mental stages of a kidnapping. I am going to show to oppression and loss of self that comes from a kidnapping.

Statement

My item was a nail clipper and from that I got a lack of self-control. In my project, I want to portray the lack of discipline we hold ourselves to. I plan on doing this by exploiting what tempts us. We all have different reasons for abandoning any control we have over ourselves. I want to capture people when they have no self-control or discipline

toy soldier

My object is a plastic and blue toy soldier. Through my word map, I decided that to me the toy soldier mostly represents how the past is always there, you can't undo it. I was thinking about how when some soldiers come home from war they have nightmares about the past, and they seem to not be able to get away from it. This inspired my theme, which is the idea of having the past follow you. I plan to shoot most of my pictures in the studio and in darker atmospheres.

Poetics Concept: Clamp

My object is a clamp and my project's theme is based off of the idea of textures. My series includes visually cohesive pictures of the different types of textures, like scratchy, bruised, spotted, wrinkly, or empty. My theme in turn is of a darker sort because of the intrinsic quality of texture and harder visuals. I tried to create photos that made the viewer look for a long time and be interested or intrigued by each picture's texture. The series is cohesive and connected through the way each photo feels and looks, evoking how one can imagine each image would feel.

speculation

For my project I chose to focus on unexpected beauty. I am going to capture the beauty and excitement within darkness. And I am also going to capture the harshness and the discomfort within light. People portray light as happy and joyful and darkness as scary and evil. I intend to reverse their speculations on how darkness and light are portrayed. I intend for my audience to leave with a different thought on how they see light and dark.

concept

My concept is propaganda. Propaganda is defined as information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view. This to me is a very powerful concept and it affects our generation today. Propaganda is everywhere. Thinking for your self is what creates ideas, and anything new. This also helps w a new perspective. Being open is everything.

Blog assignment. DUE Friday September 30th. Write a 5-7 sentence statement declaring your concept for your Poetics Project.

I took this picture because my object was a little blue toy soldier and the main thing I traced that back to was the aftermath of war. I tried to convey how some soldiers have nightmares and awful thoughts about war that they feel they can't block out or get away from. I chose to take this picture because It captures how she is trying to block out her thoughts and her nightmares. This image could be stronger in a lot of ways, including turning off the lights in the room behind the door. I think it is a good start concept-wise to my project. 

jaida

for my project my object is a hammer. on my mind map, the first word I came up with was hardships. From hardships i got to words like adversity, childhood and unawareness. For the theme of my project I think im going to capture unawareness and innocence.  All in all i want the people viewing my pictures to interpret them how they would like to, and hopefully be looped into childhood.

symbolism project

This image portrays my theme of decay. I got this theme from the rust on my object, a tack. In this image decay is shown because Lauren is laying on dirt and is "dead". The leaves on her face show her decaying back into the ground. The darkness of the dirt she is laying on symbolizes the darkness of death and decaying. For this project I am going to try to convey harshness in the decaying of people and objects.

Project idea

I received a bobby pin for my project. For my theme, I was thinking of holding bad or being organized vs messy. I really think that holding back would be a better theme and more for interpretation. I want to take photos of a person being held back by an obstacle or by a figurative obstacle. I feel that this project will be strong as long as I stay on track and not stray from my theme.

Symbolism project

This photo displays the theme of unity. I got this idea of unity from my object, a metal link. The unity is shown through the linked arms and the two locks that are locked together in the background. Also, the unity is shown, in a symbolic way, through Sidney and Lauren having the same colored shirt on. For this project, I am going to try to convey unity through family, friends, and other relationships or objects that represent unity like a ring.

michelle likes pictures

My theme for my images is going to be fake. Knowing this theme is a little cliche my goal in this image is to go outside the box with this theme. This image is not anything like I want my actual series to turn out honestly, this is just the literal way of going. Hopefully my images will have a more pastel theme which is what I am trying to go for.

crystal

I received a crystal for my project. For my theme, I chose not seeing clearly instead of seeing "crystal clear". When I looked through my crystal, it looks like I was looking through a kaleidoscope. That was when I realized that everyone believes crystals are clear, but you cant really see through them. I will photograph instances where situations are not clear.

symbolism project

My theme for this project is taking pictures of things that flowers symbolize. In this photo, roses symbolize love, like this photo. Many flowers symbolize feelings and emotions will i will try to capture through both people and objects. Im going to try to incorporate many of the techniques from the light project like stop motion and long exposure.

Object Project Theme

The object that I got was a hand held mirror. So far for this project, I have thought of the theme "prevention". I feel that mirrors provide a distorted image for how people truly look and how other people view them. Fire extinguishers prevent fires from spreading and becoming out of control. Mirrors often make skinny people feel fat, pretty people think they're ugly, or not good enough for other people. I think that mirrors take away from self worth and provide a false image in people's minds, especially teenage girls.

My theme is oppression. The  brick wall shows the sadness but the light parts shows how some people are free and not judged etc. this most likely is the 1% that the whole word treats like royalty.
Sadly, this leaves some people impoverished

Project

For my project I want to represent fear in its various forms. Everyone has something they are afraid of, and I want to capture the emotions in each person when they face their fears. For instance, in this picture Michelle is afraid of heights. I am also planning on doing a self portrait of me faced with my fear, balloons, in my project.

object photo - lauren driver

My object was an eraser, and the symbolism behind an eraser is leaving behind past identities and/or interests. In this photo, Dylan is wiping away his past ideas, thoughts, and beliefs. He is in front of a brick wall because life is hard and is the cause of people leaving themselves behind. This photo is not particularly successful, but I think the idea behind it can be developed further to produce a successful image.

the enlightened one: jesse leonard

For my project, I had chosen the theme of reaching a higher consciousness of knowledge and depth. In my original brainstorming for my photos, I had thought of doing several multiple exposures. However, I could clearly not do that with a cell phone. So instead, I followed the story of Siddhartha Gautama becoming the buddha. It is said after his period of suffering, he was sitting under a tree when a warm beam of sunlight shone on his face, and he became enlightened. So I attempted to capture this moment in this image, for I could not do any sort of advance techniques with a cell phone. However, I do believe I successfully captured symmetry on either side of the figure and the tree and the splotches of sunlight on the ground create nice repetition, along with the image as a whole having a nice sense of unity. While the image is not particularly interesting, I believe it was nicely exposed and technically acceptable.

Mapping proj one photo

My object is a clamp and this picture is representative of my theme of textures and sort of the rough things about humans and the world they live in. Some of the words I came up with from my mapping of the clamp are rough off of darkness, leading to broken, texture, dry, scratchy, etc. I think I could make some very interesting photos if I created a series of darkly themed photographs that show texture and the depth of imperfect but intriguing things. This picture of ripped paper, an old dark staircase, and a wrinkly human elbow and the joints of fingers pushing them together demonstrate my theme. 

Phoebe

The theme for my project will be "Routines". Day to day, we form these routines that come to us naturally. I want to capture these routines/ things that come naturally that we do subconsciously. For my example, I captured the simple action of washing hands.

shed the light

My theme for this project is "Shedding the light". I will be searching and capturing the excitement and beauty within the darkness of the light, and the harshness and hardships of the bright daytime. I think of elevators as peaceful, even though the light inside is very dark, they send a sense of calmness. The elevator movement and music adds to the peacefulness of elevators.

Chair

My item was a pipe cleaner. I thought of pipe cleaners of being very fuzzy which leads to cozy which leads to bed/chair. Also, when people are tired in this class they sit on this chair because it feels cozy which leads to fuzzy which leads to pipe cleaner

jaida

this is my least successful image. because of the streakiness in the background. i think the french fries are a little dark and i also think that this image is a little over edited. before the editing the image had a better but distracting composition. if i had put it together better i think it could have been a more successful image. 

this is the worst image from my project. I dont like this image because it is slightly off focus and the angle is not that pleasing. I wish there was a better reflection and less stuff in the pool. I would probably try shooting a lot closer or in the pool.

worst pic

This is my worst image. It is super over exposed. It is also ugly. There are too many light sources in this picture and it results in several glares.

worst photo!!!

This is my least favorite picture from my light project because it does not fit with my theme as well as I wanted it to. When I took this picture, I went outside for a lot of hours a day and a half before the tropical storm Hermine hit Jacksonville because I wanted to take my 3x a day pictures of the rain. Unfortunately, I was not able to capture my 3x a day pictures in the rain because it didn't even rain until like super late so I just used the picture with the rain for my long exposure because it didn't fit in well with my triptych. I was very upset that hurricane Hermine didn't bring rain when I needed it to! When hurricane Hermine did hit, I no longer had the tripod rented out so I could not redo the 3x a day. I also don'y like this picture because the roof and horizon line do not line up in all three pictures. Overall, I believe that this is my weakest/worst photo in my light project.

Worst light picture

In this picture, I tried to compose a multiple exposure. I don't like this picture for many reasons. First off, I feel that this picture is bland and I could could have composed it in a more interesting manor. Secondly, I don't like how you can't see most of the lightbulb when it is falling. Thirdly, I don't like how all of the colors do not go together. Finally, I feel like the photo is slightly blurry.

press bad pic

I think this is my least successful image because its blurry and really not the best technically but I really like the way it fits in the series of images. It matches the theme of vanity, or being obsessed with looks. I could've used a model rather then myself, or gone in a less-distracting to the eye look. I think maybe even a different color shirt or hair placement could've made a difference. However, I like the light "paint" itself.

bad pic

I think this picture is bad because it doesn't go with my theme. It also is blurry and not focused on one thing. I really don't like how there are things in the bathroom that distract you from Michelle. And I don't like how its in a bathroom.

worst light picture

This picture for light painting in the light project I believe is my worst image. I don't like this image because I was trying to outline the heads of the lions but it didn't work very well. Also the light is very thick. It takes away from the focal point of the lions. Also the lions are a little blurry and the light slightly washes out the sharpness of the sky. Overall, I believe if I focused the image better and used a smaller light to outline and frame the lions the image would be much more successful. 

Least favorite from light - Maddie Hane

I think this is my weakest photo from the light project because of the cropping. I was unable to crop out the black part on the right side because then my sister's hand would have been cut off. Also, I think she should have a different expression on her face. I also would have had her take off her bracelet if I could redo this photo. I would have taken the photo from a farther standpoint if I could take it again.

worst pic

This is my least successful image in my project because since I had my camera outside i had to bring it inside between very photo so it would not get rained on. In all the photos the horizon line is off because if I corrected it the line of the roof would be off. Also I wish I cropped it to just show the door but my reflection was in the window. I was un able to clone stamp myself out of the image. I would have taken this on a different day and move the camera over so I would not have a reflection.

worst photo - lauren driver

This light painting was my least successful photo because there are many small things about it that bother me. For example, the actual light painting is all horizontal, except for one vertical line down the middle. Additionally, the molds on the walls are not even on both sides, because on the right side, there is a door. Finally, the figure painting with the light is very visible. For a deeper meaning, this figure could potentially add to the creepiness of the photo, but technically, it is not successful at all. If I were to retake this photo, I would be more careful painting with the light to avoid being so visible in the image, and I would have upped the aperture to allow less light to come through.

weakest photo

From my whole light project, this is my weakest photograph. I still like it, but compared to my other photos, it is not as strong. The coloring of this photo bothers me because it is slightly tinted yellow. I also do not like the green lettering on the lightbulb, its very distracting. To fix the yellow tint, I should have probably dropped the saturation. For the green writing, I should have clone stamped it off the lightbulb.

michelles worst pic

I believe that this my worst picture because of many reasons. I wish I had put the water in a glass cup instead of a water bottle to give it edge. I also feel like the bottle is unfocused. I wish the image came out more clean. The water itself isn't very clear that it is dyed red. I believe the image wouldve been stronger if I had taken these factors into mind.

dis pic blows

I mean, as a composition. this photo is not the complete worst. However, I find myself not being content with any image I create that is not at least a certain level of interesting. This image, in my opinion, is 0% interesting. I had another house to take a photo of, a house with much more character, however, the owners of this house were home, and out of fear, I chose not to take the photo. But, I could have stepped it up, come back to the house at another time and taken the photo, or found another interesting house, or just gone with a completely different idea altogether. But, I think in spite of this, I am pretty proud because normally, the caliber of my worst pic is much lower, so I feel as though I have improved as a photographer in general.

Worst Photo

This is my worst photo. While it is supposed to show high-speed photography, it doesn't. I could have done better by taking more pictures and catching this at the right moment. I failed to use the flash in the right instance, making the picture seem like it wasn't taken at a high speed. I also could have focused on the lighter before I took the picture so that it wouldn't seem as blurry. Overall, I had minor changes that I could have made to improve the composition if I had simply taken more photos and spent more time on this.

Light Proj Worst Photo Critique

     This is my least successful photo, my light painting because I think I could have been more creative with the light shapes itself and the lines are not centered with the subject. I really like how the subject itself turned out, but I would like the color tone overall to be more cool and for the light to be more centered and even/satisfying to look at. I think the shadow on the wall of the subject and how his face looks so peaceful, but I could fix the blanket in the right corner and the red glare on the edge of the lights too. I think I should have spent more time centering the squiggle of lights to his knees and across the size of his lap more so it would be more pleasing to look at. It might have even been cool to put more squiggles above the subject as well. Overall, I generally like the background other than the lights and if I could fix the light painting, I believe the photo completely would be more successful.

Me roasting myself

This image is poorly executed. In order for it to be more pleasing, I probably should have stepped back a little bit and tried to photoshop the background to be completely black (which I attempted to do, but failed at). I also probably could have angled the camera down a little bit and gotten some of that neck in. The one part of this image that I believe is the highlight, it the expression on the model's face. It was spot on for what I was trying to convey, but all of the other variables which I needed to help me out, failed.

Least successful photo of light project

This is my least successful photo. I believe this is my worst photo because I don't think it is to appealing. Although it fulfilled the assignment, I feel i could have taken a better photo. It loooks squished and I didn't realize I had more space to fill on the sides. Compared to some of my other photos, this does not look as good as the others do.

Light Project

My theme for the Light Project is futuristic/chaos. I am using my sister as my model for each of the images. I am putting her in sparkly things with weird hair and makeup.