Assignment 6: Conceptual Portraiture

The topic this time was to come up with a concept and take a series of 6-10 pictures of what we know as conceptual photography. I found the idea of conceptual photography very wide because you can take very common scenes and call it conceptual photography if there is a deeper meaning underlying the actual images.

The theme given was " Everday living". I wanted to do something representative of the world. Perhaps like the depletion of resources by our daily consumption. I thought of representing consumption in various ways, like perhaps a lot of shopping or just piling a lot of waste in a room around my subject. But after a while, I decided to really make my subject 'eat' all these daily objects which represents the amount of resources we are using up.



This first picture is based on the feasting on power. Man have been troubled over the depleting fuels on the planet. Yet we continue to feast on energy, represented by the batteries in the picture. The subject, throughout this series is supposed to look relatively happy consuming these 'items', just like how Man is happily consuming all the resources.



This 2nd picture shows how man likes to take up a lot of time. Time is yet another resource that is often neglected. The more time we take to solve an issue, the more the time has been wasted in the process. I wanted to use the analog clock to show how we have been wastefully taking up too much time.



In this picture, I try to position the communication tool in such a position that it is a main course, a part of our life that we cannot run away from. Like it or not, communication technology have become a deep part of our lives and we cannot live without it. Thus, instead of positioning the mobile phone as a snack or a little titbit, I prefer to position it as something which looks like a main course, something that we have to 'consume' everyday.



Portable technology is also very important in our society. In all the cafes around Singapore , it is very common to spot at least a few laptops around and people doing work on them. I wanted to portray the laptop as a portable snack, and the key point to this is to show mobility. Thus, the portrayal of the laptop as a sandwich.



In this one, I waned to show how cultures or different ways of eating might not affect what is consumed. Be it in America, Singapore or even China, the consumption of the iPod is very significant. The little music player had globalised these countries under its reign. Even in Asian countries who uses chopsticks, the iPod can be 'consumed'.



In the current world, light is everywhere. It is taken for granted that in the mall, in the school or anywhere you are, you assume that when night falls there will be light to light up your way. This is why I decided to put the lightbulb as a snack, something small to be eaten anywhere ,any time.



The last one is where the CDs represents stored information. They are like light titbits that we consume everyday, be it via Internet, reading or looking through databases for information. We consumer information everyday to such an extent that it is becoming an addictive snack, similar to a donut which was what I was trying to portray in the picture.

Blog Exercise 4: Biennale 2008 Review

General Impression

I felt that going to the Biennale was a very fresh and interesting experience for me. Personally, I have never been to an art exhibition at such a huge scale before. The artworks were all unique, some a little more gory or scarier, while others are just so interesting and made you wonder why you have not thought looking at things from this perspective at all. I find that overall, the Biennale changed my perception of what art actually is. In fact, I will never look at any objects the same way again because of the Biennale.

Successful work



There were many great pieces of work but I had to select one which I thought was the most successful of the lot. I liked this piece of work
titled " Teratoma II: Digmaan ng mga Mundo ( Terotoma II: War of the Worlds). The main idea was how aliens arrives on Earth, letting our imagination to be straddled between the past in future while being caught in the concerns of the present.

The use of the High Court building's structure like a back drop to the aliens is ingenious. I never thought that it would turn out looking like that if you added a few aliens onto the building. The colours and blob-like structure did make me feel like it is out of this world.

The use of space as distance was very good because wherever I am in the building, I could still not reach out to these aliens, unless I manage to get up to the rooftop. This way, the distance can create the same impression that man and these creatures from the future will always have a distance between them, be it far or near.


Unsuccessful work

Maggots by Pham Ngoc Duong

I liked the actual artwork that was at the Biennale but I think that this is one of the artwork that did not convey its message as well as the rest.

The key message that the artist was trying to convey was that of decomposition, rotting of the system as represented by the presence of maggots. Maggots are creatures that feed on rotting organisms. This artwork is supposed to tap into our subconscious of disgust but most of the people who were there found the maggots adorable to play with.

And the position of the maggots along the City Hall's corridor to the restaurant only occurred to me after I read up on the location. Most people who don't find the maggots disgusting, but in fact found it quite adorable and endearing. I think the crafting and the comfortable setting of the location has caused the message of 'disgust' to not get through at all.


Nonchalant visitors of the Biennale. Who don't seem disturbed by the maggots at all.

Perhaps if the location was a bit older, like the South Bridge development, the setting would be better to portray the message of disgust.

Blog Exercise 5: Ethics

What are the ways readers can judge the credibility of an image even in this era of digital manipulation?

Readers should be aware that things might not be what it is even in photographs. There are many photograph manipulation softwares and a lot of other factors have to be taken into consideration before ou assume something.

One way from which the credibility can be determined could be from the source of the picture. If the picture is taken from a random photographer which might have manipulated the photograph for his own benefit, then the photograph should not be trusted. But if the photograph is from a reputable news photographer or a photojournalist, it is highly possible that the photograph is real. If there is a watermark or and icon of the news station from which the photograph is taken from, it will increase the credibility of the photograph.

The other way could be cross referring the information on the photograph with that of other sources. If the photograph is the only source of information, it might not be 100% correct and thus this information should not be taken as the truth even if the source is credible.

Basically, in this age of digital manipulation, photographs should all be taken 'with a pinch of salt'. No truth should be taken with only the picture as the only source or evidence.

Imagine yourself as a reader representative for a newspaper. What would you tell a reader who complained to you about a picture of a car wreck that was particularly upsetting?

I would politely write a letter of explanation on the photojournalist's ethical role in bringing forth what exactly has happen. Of course, through processes like cropping and choosing another angle to take the pictures, the picture of the car wreck might not convey the loss and seriousness of the accident as well. Should we water down the news just because the viewers do not want to see it?

I would tell the reader how important it was for us to take a good picture of the wreck to convey the gruesomeness of the accident. If the photograph cause the reader to be upset, it is just intended because accidents like this are supposed to make the readers upset over the wreck. I would then quote the example of what if all the car wrecks or accidents that involve blood were all self censored to not show any disturbing images, no one will ever know how serious traffic accidents are until they witness one for themselves. Wouldn't that be too late?

Photographs in the news have to portray what it would feel like to be there at the event himself. If the readers do not want to look at such images, they would then have to ignore such pictures because for the sake of the general public and to be an ethical photojournalist, the raw truth have to be reflected in the photographs.

Assignment 5: Depicting Moods

I liked this assignment the best out of all the previous ones. I could take any photograph that I think would fit nicely to the theme and everything was up to me to decide. I love this form of creative freedom.

I went out on a photography trip to look for inspiration. There were several guidelines given for this assignment though, such as no human or animals or toys should be used in the photograph to express emotions.

Thinking that a lot of people would either go to very dark and solemn places to get sad or depressing photograph, I went off to one of my favourite haunts at Clarke Quay to get some photographs that shouts 'ME'.

There was a purple flower that was found along the Singapore River. I decided to take it because it sends out this overall aura of peacefulness. The flower's long slim petals fades into the background as I had a shallow depth of field. The dark background from the shade of the tree covering the area was good as it created a dark backgound contrasting with the soft peaceful colour of the flower. It silently shouts... serenity.



Then, I went to have lunch. I got inspired halfway through lunch to take a picture of my steaming bowl of ramen. But it looked kind of messy with the noodles inside, so I finished my lunch and took a picture of the empty bowl. I thought such an empty bowl shows the satisfaction everyone will understand after a meal. Thus I named it Simple Satisfaction of Life.



I wanted mess and it was very difficult to find good messes that do not consist of cluttered things made up by Man. Thus I found these wires poking out of a crack in the ground. I used this to represent the mess that hides beneath the simple plain surface of the ground. The world might not be as simple as it is. Especially now where the world is getting more and more 'connected', this wires might just reveal the electronic chaos that lies beneath.



Then there was this donut shop which sells donuts that are about only 5cm wide. I bought a box of it and went to look for a place with better lighting indoors to take a photograph. I wanted to take the pictures of these donuts because they are such simple food, dough fried and dipped in various coatings to give different flavours. So simple and yet when you bite into one, it is sheer happiness.



After this whole project, I found that emotions need not be something that must be expressed by human expressions. How the object is placed, what kind of lighting is used, the angle of the camera affects the mood that it conveys. The composition of the photograph, what is the nature of the object being photographed plays an important role int the emotions that surface in the viewer of the picture.

Assignment 4: Urban Fantasy ( Review)

I presented my works and received a better response for the 'Moses separating the Red Seas' picture.

However, there were several improvements that need to be made.

Some of the suggestions were:

• The sea was not obvious to the viewer at all
• Perhaps a horizon to show it would be better
• Why is there no human in the picture

I decided to edit the pictures based on the first 2 points. As for the 3rd point, I did not make any changes because I wanted to stick to my initial idea of 'Urban Fantasy' which is to not have any humans in the pictures at all.

First, I decided to add an 'Urban' horizon, which is of a metallic surface picture I took from the airport.



Then, to let the viewer relate it to the idea of the sea, I used the Liquify tool to add waves to the metal.



After which, I was also given ideas that the colour themes of the whole picture was too shallow. There should be more differentiation in colours when it comes to the 'sea' and the 'sky'... while letting the car remain as the main object of focus. Therefore, I decided to add some 'cool' colours to the 'sea'.



To add to the dramatic effect, I created a lightning bolt out of Photoshop tools. This kind of completed the picture and gave it a better overall feel. I felt that through this assignment I have learned how to turn normal pictures into totally different and amazing work of abstraction.



Amazing.

Blog Exercise 3: Analyzing a Picture

We were given a choice to choose a genre out of this 3 categories and write a commentary on it.

The 3 categories are:

• Photojournalism
• Social Documentary
• Commercial Photography

I chose to do the commentary on photojournalism.



Caption: Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto waves from the sun roof of her armored car just seconds before being being assassinated in a gun and suicide bomb attack December 27, 2007. She was departing a campaign rally in the army garrison city next to Islamabad.

This photograph was taken by John Moore who came in first as Photojournalist of the Year in the National Press Photographer Association's Best of Photojournalism 2008 contest.

The photograph is blurred and the colour are pretty dull and lighting is quite poor. But it is good in the sense that it conveyed how messy and dangerous it was to be in that situation. Although the subject of the photograph should be the Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, she was totally not in sharp focus and is infact totally blur. However, it is interesting to note that the motion blur caused by all the action leads the attention to the center of the picture, which brings the focus back on the Former Prime Minister, even if she is in fact not in focus.

The picture was taken from a lower perspective as the subject is a leader and she was on higher grounds. All the motion blur in the picture also conveyed a lot of action, a lot of pushing and shoving that must have happened at the scene.

In photojournalism, the main purpose for the photograph is to tell the story that the photographer wants to tell. The perpective and the action captured on this picture clearly shows the action and chaos and conveyed how terrible it must be to be in that situation. Blurs are often used in photojournalism to show chaos. Another example would be this other photograph by the same photographer of the suicide bombing after the former prime minister was assasinated.



This picture, as compared to the above one, is blur too. With the bight colours from the explosion and the total blur covering the people, it captured the desperation to escape and the chaotic running for safety.



This is another action shot of a fight by Jahi Chikwendiu from The Washington Post to show a fight on the streets. Similar to the previous two pictures, it used motion blur to show action, to let the picture come alive.

However, not all shots in photojournalism must be blur to be effective. Shots in sharp focus are very good when the picture wants to convey how solemn or how still the subject is.



This picture by Stephen M. Katz for The Virginian-Pilot has to be clear to show the soldier silently standing-by for his peers who are patrolling on the streets of Iraq. If this shot is off focus, it would not convey any effective message, but that the photographer is bad at taking photographs.

From this exercise, it made me realise that photographs must not always be clear to capture good moments. Blurring and shaky shots in photojournalism might be more effective than clear focused ones in telling the story to the viewer of the picture. Still and focused shots are still essential to capture solemnness and silence.

Assignment 4: Urban Fantasy

The starting of this assignment was the hardest. Because I had several very different ideas of what could be an urban fantasy.

First, I thought of doing something along the lines of "Mechanization of Nature". I wanted to show that even the sprouting of road side plants could be mechanized, could it be the urban life's fantasy that they aim to achieve? For that idea, I experimented with a few photographs.






The first flower was taken at the Changi Airport and the second picture was a crack on the ledge near my house. I combined them with Photoshop to create an illusional surreal picture of a mechanised flower breaking through a stone wall. It conveys the idea of how mechanised the world is turning into and perhaps in the future, even a simple wild flower blooming could be mechanised.




My second idea was to recreate a phenomenal scene that has occurred in the past, but this time, using ONLY urban structures. I went to take pictures of various inanimate objects at the Changi Airport and around my housing estate.









I extracted the 'railings' and flipped it to create a converging effect. Then I filled up the center to give it a narrowing perspective. Then, I blurred and smudged the tips of the railing to give the opening waves a softer feeling.

Then, I added a road. Because the original road is not as long, I extended and stretched it and then later transforming it to form a road going into the distance. After which, I added a red car to represent Moses. I chose red because it captures the viewer's attention and stands out, like how Moses, in the scene of the separating the Red Seas, is the main subject of the picture.

Then, I edited the car license plate, for 2 reasons. Firstly to not to let the viewers know which car I took a picture of ( it is afterall ethical to protect the rights of the subject ) and to let the viewers have a better idea of what I was trying to recreate with this twisted arrangement of urban structures. Thus, I added the text 'M05E5', a new license plate number for the car.

After which, I added motion blur to the car and added the background, which was the cloudy sky to emphasize on the idea of 'phenomenon'. I colorized the sky to purple to give it the last mystic touch and my first draft of urban fantasy was born!



I planned to bring both these pictures to class to get their opinions and only develop one for my final work.