do it!

Homework #7 (3) Go back to your blog and think about what you wouldl ike to spend more time with. Choose carefully. - Do it!

scanography

Homework #7 (1) Produce a number of 12 scans with 3 interesting materials or material groups. Let your creativity be your guide. Publish your scans on the blog one image after the next. Add a paragraph of description reflecting the specific outcome and your choices.  2) Create a blog post in which you reflect on the medium of scanning as such: think of our discussion in class, record your experiences, describe what scanning can do for an artist, how it can serve as a bridge between photography, traditional printing techniques, and digital printing. As you compare scanning to traditional printing techniques; visit the printing studio, think of a photography etc. to make additional comparisons.

This was the first time I worked with a scanner in an artful way and must say that it was a truly insightful experience. I knew from the research I did that scanners made it possible to make art in a way I had never thought of before, yet something about physically working with the scanner opened my mind to a new way of thinking. It is remarkable that scanners work like cameras with slow shutter speeds, I am amazed at what they are capable of capturing and they ways they can be manipulated.

Below are three series of scanography that I experimented with.

Water Bottle

Leafs

iphone with flashlight

I picked these 3 series because they most exemplified the manipulation that can be done using a scanner, and they were the most aesthetically enticing. The leaf series shows how if you move an object on the scanner while it is scanning the form will be captured differently then if it is left alone. The water bottle series explores the same manipulation with the addition of water which has a very reflective quality. Lastly the iphone series experiments with light and how the scanner reacts to light while scanning. I had many more images in each series but chose to post the most intriguing images.

BevShots

Came across this on a blog!!!

"Ever wondered what Vodka looks like under a microscope? Or Pina Colada (see above)? Or Whiskey? Thankyou, then, BevShots, which are literally ‘photographs of alcohol under a microscope … taken after they have been crystallized on a slide and shot under a polarized light microscope. As the light refracts through the beverage crystals, the resulting photos have naturally magnificent colors and composition’. Indeed they do. Awe-and-some. Read on to see which photo corresponds with which drink."

Pina Colada:

 Dry Martini:

 Coca Cola:

 Whiskey:

 German Pilsner:

 Champagne:

 Vodka Tonic:

So cool!!!

Telling a story through images

Homework #6 (3) We began in class to create an interesting narrative by using your photograph as a starting point and adding 9 images from the web. As you tell your story, don’t use additional captions or titles; have the images speak for themselves. Arrange your images and upload them to a pinterest board or on your blog in the order you seem fit. If you haven't already, finish this assignment. Add a few sentences about this experience and what you were trying to achieve or were this assignment got you on your blog.

This project of telling a story through images was very challenging for me. I had not anticipated to struggle with it yet I genuinely had a hard time. I think that it was the combination of not being sure what my story was and the limited amount of pictures on the web, it was so hard to find images that fit and made sense the way I had imagined in my head. There was a huge gap between how I thought the pictures should look and what was readily available to me. It ended up taking me all of the class work time and additional time at home. Should I ever do I project like this again I will put more thought into creating a story with less particular details. Also much like with other art projects the creative results stem from the experimenting with materials, my story ended up changing because of my searching on the web and my coming across images that worked in a different way.

Photography

Homework 6 ( 4) Think about photography for a little bit and about its materiality and the process of taking a picture. Make 3 connections to children. (I skipped the photographic lesson plan as I don't want to ask too much from you).

“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.” 

― Ansel Adams

“What i like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” 

― Dorothea Lange

The process of taking a picture is quite simple, while the outcome of taking a picture is extraordinary.

This is perfect for children because a camera allows a child to create artwork with a click of a button, Yes, skill and technique are important in photography at a higher level. For children skill is not important nor is technique, what is important is that they can explore and capture the world in a single click.

Through photography children can be taught much about art. By looking at photos they have taken and from taking pictures much can be learned about composition, color and even perspective.

Photography is a great tool for children because unlike other media they may use at a young age cameras allow them to capture an image, or an experience without the anxieties of being accurate.

Stewart Nelson

Homework #6 (6) Research 1 artist (2 if you signed up for 3 credits) who works with scanners/scanography creatively and make it an entry on your blog. 

Stewart Nelson's scanography is captivating, although I do not love flowers in art, I love his work.

In his bio he says:

"As a longtime Florida resident, I've explored my award-winning vision of photography since 1979. My images combine traditional photography using 35mm cameras, cheap plastic 120 and 110 film cameras, digital cameras and scanners (scanography) with computer imaging in the digital era of fine art.

The use of a scanner for digital image capture is commonly referred to as scanography. The scanner becomes a digital camera from which I create my art using found objects such as leaves, fruit, paper, old portraits and other objects. These scanned elements are then composed and manipulated in Photoshop to create the final image.

My sense of color, texture and light pushes my photography and scanography beyond realism through the manipulation of these elements, changing their relationship and creating an altered reality more evocative of dreams or fading memories. These distinct moments gain importance through this visual exploration to create the final image, an image far removed from the original moment of capture."

I so desperately want to be able to make works in this style so I am including his explanation of how he creates his art.

"I use an Epson Perfection 4990 Photo scanner. Some images are composed directly on the glass of the scanner. For other images I just scan objects with the intention of extracting them from one file and adding the object to a different scan. Materials that I have scanned include paper, bark, flowers, leafs, crushed cans, some liquids, very old photos and more. I always process the files in Photoshop to manipulate colors (I have a background in painting which influences my color decisions) and create the final composition and also add warmth since the scanner always produces the same cold unflattering light with every scan. I often do multiple scans of the same object and combine them in different ways in Photoshop."

Light Painting

Homework #6 (5) Research 1 artist (2 if you signed up for 3 credits) who works with photography creatively and put up a blog post.

I was looking through the blog LostatEminor.com in their photography section and came across a "light painting" something I have seen before possibly in commercials or print ads, yet know nothing about. I began to google light paintings trying to understand what they are and how they are made. 

The definition of Light Painting on wikipedia is:
"Light painting is a photographic technique in which exposures are made by moving a hand-held light source or by moving the camera."

It turns out that this technique has been experimented with since Étienne-Jules Marey and Georges Demeny in 1889.

As I continued to research I found out that even Pablo Picasso did light paintings. This I found so shocking because I have been to so many museums even the Picasso Museum in Barcelona and I have never seen his light paintings.

I began to research modern day artists that experiment with light painting, and came across works by Taylor Pemberton, there is not much information about him but I found his bio on his website...

"My name is Taylor Pemberton—I'm a designer, thinker, & entrepreneur from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Since 2005, I've had the opportunity to work with a variety of creative individuals, ranging from renowned start-ups, to Fortune 500 corporations. I am currently interested in prospective projects."

His works although experimental are incredible, he has a graffiti aesthetic which really appeals to me because I have always loved and been fascinated by graffiti, I hope he continues to work with this technique.

Another Light Painter I found was Marius Grondahl, his bio was in another language so I was not able to read it. On LostatEminor he wrote about a series of Light Paintings he made...

"Inspired by other lightpainters, I went down to an old factory with my 50-LED flashlight waiting for the sunset. This is the result. My personal favorite is the F(art) Light. Want to do the same? All you need to do is bring your camera, lights of any kind, and set the camera to long exposure. Oh, and of course, the most important thing to bring with you on the photoshoot is your imagination. LED there be light!"

His work is very different when compared to Pemberton's, he has more of an illustrative style which translates very well into Light Painting.

I hope one day to experiment with this technique!