Art Blog 2018

1/3/18 - Rinko Kawauchi




Rinko Kawauchi is a Japanese photographer and became interested in photography when she was staying at college, for several years she worked in advertising before beginning a career as a fine art photographer and ever since she has made her way up and has won many prizes due to he outstanding work. In 2001 she released 3 photography book Utatane, Hanabi and Kanako and since then has had major exhibitions in Paris, London. She explains that her photos are supposed to give you the feeling of looking in on the moment that is about to happen. "I want imagination in the photographs I take it's like a prologue, you wonder what's going on and feel something is going to happen." Kawauchi's photographs capture ordinary moments with a profound almost hallucinatory perspective. Kawauchi currently live’s and works in Tokyo, Japan, and her work is held in the collections of the San Francisco Museum of modern art. I have chosen this particular artist as the object itself is very dominant with the background being blurred making the object stand out in a tremendous way, the eye, in particular, it shows not only the eye but the little strands of her hair the camera has focused on these which creates an overall unique effect.



6/3/18
On the way back from a 4 hour trip on a fishing charter, we were asked to collect the cray pots as it was their final trip. throughout the many crayfish we collected we also found a carpet shark, In this photograph, the main focus is the shark, however, it has captured the glove of the fisherman, the blurred background is very eye-catching as you can see the cray pot.  I thought this was a perfect opportunity to get my camera out, by just using the landscape mode and natural light

In this photo I have just focused on the phone nothing else, creating a spectacular blurred  background using the Landscape mode and the lighting from in the room, Summer was not shy of the camera making it easy for me to work with, she often loves phones and taking pictures of herself at this time she was trying to figure out how to unlock the phone, however getting super frustrated at the same time. This photograph is very interesting as the focus is on the phone and her hand, the effect of the background really stands out and attracts the viewer. However, after a few good photos, she got bored and was no longer interested in taking photos











Whereas with this photo I have concentrated on getting just the end of the blossoming flowers, this creates a very unfocused picture making the photo pop out at you and make you feel like your in the 'moment' by just using natural light and portrait mode, It had been halfway through spring last year, and it was that time of the year where all the flowers start to bloom, we had gone for a visit to my grandparents house and they have the most beautiful flowers around there house and was a perfect moment to take a few photos. I love how the unfocused background creates a more amazing overall effect



7/4/18
I have recently started making a pinhole camera for my art history assessment as my main focus involves using the cameras and learning new skills throughout the process.

Equipment

Shoe Box
Black paint
Tin foil
Black tape

Craft knife
Glue stick

1. Firstly I started painting the inside and the outside of the shoe box black to stop as much light as possible getting in. (make sure the shoe box has a lid for easy access)

2. Use the black tape to cover any place where the light can get it as this can affect the end results.

3. Use the craft knife to cut a small but decent square into the box.

4. Tear some tinfoil into squares the same size and glue 3-5 sheets together to make it thicker.

5.  Then simply place the glued pieces to the inside of the box where you cut the hole.




8/5/18 - Barbie transformation- at first I just want to try to do something different but so it also connects back to my work in some way.

Equipment

Barbie doll (with a bigger face would be easier to work with)
Nail polish or other strong chemicals
scissors
White paint
clear spray paint

1. firstly you want to cut the hair to your preferred length
2. next you want to remove all of the detail on the barbie dolls face with some very strong chemicals, this gives us a clean base to start with
3. now you want to remove the head as we don't want to get all the extra paint etc on the body of the barbie




25/6/18

So far I have been taking a variety of photographs of some old school cameras I received from my grandfather a few weeks ago, in these photographs, I have tried to make it look like you are 'In the Moment,' just like the photographs taken by Rinko Kawauchi. I really love how the pictures I have taken almost looked 3D as the background is almost completely blurry making the cameras pop out, having a more dramatic look to the final result



The middle camera is one of mine but the other two are more modern looking cameras I like this one because of the New and Old look it has mixing the both of them together to capture an outstanding photograph

The same as the photo below but just from another angle capturing that other camera that wasn't shown much as in this one, However to me the combination between new and old works perfectly in these photographs


After taking a variety of photographs I knew that eventually, Mrs. Clemence would ask to Edit them on the computer. Although I hated using the computers I pushed myself to try new things, after just editing one I started to get the hang of it and enjoy breaking the pictures down and making it look more eye-catching. At first, I didn't like the idea of ruining these good images, but after using all the tools on the computer I started to like how the photographs were starting to look a lot better than before.


22/8/18

So recently I have been working on editing all my photos so I can then put them on my L2 portfolio at the end of term 3. Editing photo's on the computer is for sure not my thing but I had no choice as that was what I was asked to do by Mr.s Clemence, I started taking a series of photos that have a very similar layout to the rest.


After taking these photographs I started to load them on to the MacBooks ready to edit however this was a slow start as I didn't like using the computers, first I had to download them to the computer and then move them to a folder that wouldn't get lost.





Then I moved these pictures to photoshop and the began editing them, this was a difficult task as I had to learn how to use all the different tools in order to create photographs like the one below. most of the first photos looked like the one above but as I started playing with the tools I started to develop new skills and produce pictures like the one next to the text.

However, with these photographs, I love how the different color compositions work incredibly well to create these pictures and help enhance the quality of these photographs. However after all of the complaining about the computers and the task that had to be done I am amazed at the outcome and love how my portfolio is coming along.




6/9/18

Over the past 2 weeks, I have been working on the computers to enhance the quality and color in photographs, to try and capture the viewer's attention. With these following photographs, I have tried to zoom in on the most eye capturing part, after doing it four times I printed them and put them in a line, and I actually really liked how it looks the color is so dramatic and gets your attention straight away

This is the first one as you can see there is a range of different colors that work incredibly well to capture your eye, In my opinion, I believe that the closer camera with the yellow is the most eye-catching.





This is the last one, you can see that there is a dramatic change in quality in this one and more in-depth with the color compositions, I have tried to do this to as many photographs as possible but still, find it hard to remember all the instructions.





After editing and cropping these photograph I was asked to come up with a plan for the week that I would go by, which on my first day I finished the photographs above and the second day accessing my board meaning layout, placing and sizing, however on the third day I started researching about Rothko and famous painter, in the hope to find some ideas for my work and the last day doing my favourite thing my blog. Below is my finished panel 1 board

25/9/18
In the past couple of weeks, I have been working on the macs, I then researched Mark Rothko, an American painter, his paintings are simple but effective, I have tried to use the photographs I have already edited and used the idea of Rothko's paintings to create my own images, in Rothko's paintings the edges of them are rough and jagged. So Mrs. Clemence came up with the idea to rip the photograph I had printed and tried the different colors

11/10/18

Next, I started working on how to improve those pictures and make them look more out there, I have done this by using photoshop and using a variety of tools to help me out along the way including brightness, contrast, and exposure, I have done this by taking more photographs of the cameras but using cellophane to slightly cover the lens and give a more dramatic look after taking these pictures it was time to edit them again on photoshop this required only turning up the brightness and using other tools and adjustments to make the final look more dramatic and interesting, in most of the photographs they are blurry some, however, some don't even look like cameras but Mrs. Clemence think it looks good and I should keep working on it

However next is the layout of Panel two and making sure that this covers your overall theme, this is probably one of the crucial parts about the folio's making sure everything fits and is in place with the other photographs, the colors on panel 2 are more vibrant than panel one however panel 1 is simple but effective and works with the theme.


17/10/18

Next I have started to put different ripped up photographs together as I feel they work together in a very effective way and makes the viewer feel more interested in what they are looking at, some of these photographs I have used very similar pictures but tried to make them look like one, or look like something else is in that place. Here are some examples






Most of these are very simple but effective and show an insight into future development in photography, I feel that I have learned so much this year with the ability to work productively on the macs and develop more skills in things such as Photoshop and photomosh a glitching website that allows you to change layout of the Photos and creates and more interesting look to the final finish. However the one in the top right is a bit of a collage of all the photographs around it, I started to rip small pieces of each photo and placed it on the picture. I think that the ripped piece in the middle looks like it belongs to it.

8/11/18

Throughout the year I have worked incredibly hard to make my final portfolio as perfect as I could, along the way I came up against many challenges such as getting used to using the macs, this was a challenge in itself as I never liked using the computers or the many downfalls. Mrs. Clemence had many amazing ideas to take the images to a new level and creating spectacular Photographs. But I am glad to say that I have finished my board for the year and I am proud of my achievements