Line
A place is not one dimensional, it is the embodiment of sight, sound, scent, and touch. A place means more than its physical appearance, it symbolize a past experience, an emotion, a sudden memory, a story and so much more. De Certeau claims that “places are fragmentary and inward-turning histories, pasts that others are not allowed to read”. In a sense, a place is a personal account of the human experience. As all things good and bad happens in a physical location. The elements that make up a place are unique trademarks that helps an individual to feel a certain way, and to remind him/her of an experience. A traveller, who “explore deserted places of his memories”, might be reminded of an experience five years ago based on a scent in a place completely unrelated to that experience. In this project, I would present five diagram of places that would cause an emotional reaction in me through any of the four elements that make up a physical location: sight, sound, scent, and touch.
News
In this Newspaper project, my goal is to do alter the context in which we see the world by cutting out key words and photos from a wide range of newspapers to convey a theme. The faces of all subjects are covered as photos are cultural codes which give us a preconception/bias of the news. All that is left for the readers to interpret are the ways pictures interact with each other combined with words. This would finally allow the telling of a true story. According to Nate Lowman, one of the artists who created the The Last Newspaper project, “Newspaper is the few quiet shared things…we are all in our own electronic world based on who we are…its hard to have a common sense of self and what’s going on in the world. Newspaper is the ideal place/community for people to come and have discussions.” (Lowman) But due to a wide range of newspaper outlets like CNN and Fox that tell partial stories, a newspaper with its subjects erased would tell a more strait forward message to the audience and spark discussion to all who looks at them.
Patterns
I am always facscinated by the beautiful patterns casted on the side walk, asphalt, and traffic lights during a sunny day. People focus too much on their own business that they tend to ignore the simple beauty that is unique to the city. Looking at the everchanging shadows counts as my way of "escaping". They are like abstract paintings made by the best light sourse: sun. When we don't pay attention to these special paintings, we are ignoring another narrative in our city, another perspective, and another sourse of inspiration. As I walk across Astor Place, I am enthralled by the combination of hard and soft lights made by the reflective surfaces of the buildings and their shapes, like a thin blacket of light casted on the ground. It seems like I would expose another magical world if I attempt to lift the blanket. The patterns from this project are all traced from images of shadows during a sunny day to depict the "other", often ignored, world I see.
3D Models
The 3D project is a completely different photographic and technological experience I have ever encountered thus far. I always come into class confident that I would have a working model but disappointment devours me time and time again when the smallest things in the photographic process of my object fails to work in Metashape. I had a great deal of problems scouting for a good location to shoot or even finding the right object to shoot for. The biggest lesson I learned is that the background and the base of the area to shoot for the object should not be "blank." They should have textures or pattern so that Metashape could better discern the model. The model also should not be symmetrical as this would cause problems in the production of mesh as well. The bag below is my first attempt to make a model. The mesh is unusable due to uneven lighting, a patternless floor and the reflective surface of the bag itself. After tring three different locations and objects, I found a chip bag and a texture-rich concrete floor works the best.
Artist Book
This artist book consist of dramatic images curated from artists like Gregory Credson and Jeff Wall. These are images that display drama. Each picture is a single frame that have the potential to tell a complete story based on the position of the subjects and their emotions. Some photos also contain elements that suggest cultural codes to reflect the time period they are taken in.
