Alternative Process

I had a lot of fun experimenting with this unit. I really enjoyed seeing my pictures displayed in these different mediums. My favourite process was the gel medium because I though the final product looked really neat and that it added character to the photo.

Summative

For this summative I decided to represent the good and the bad side of me through you using light and colour. The dark side of me is represented through the picture in black in white where most of my subjects face is covered in shadow. The reason I did this is because my bad side is a side I don't want people to see so the having the face hidden is my way of not showing that side of me. The good side of me is represented with the photo thats in colour where you can see the entire face. The reason for this is because this is the side of me that I want as many people as possible to see so I put my subject right in everyones vision.

Renaissance

The Renaissance era is the time period just after the Middle Ages where lots of things were being newly discovered. The printing press had just been invented, a new system of astronomy, and the discovery and exploration of new continents. All of this new found knowledge was accompanied by a mix of philosophy, literature and of course art. The origins of Renaissance art are from Italy in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. Artists in that time were trying to mimic and bring back the style in which artists in the late Medieval time created their pieces with. Renaissance art became popular with the work done by artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Giotto di Bondone, Masolino, Raphael, Michelangelo and many more.

The painting I chose as my base layer for this project was Lady with the Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo is one of the most famous artists from the Renaissance era. Many Historians and scholars reference da Vinci as the "Renaissance Man" because of his influential pieces from that time. da Vinci is credited with some of the most popular pieces of art from that time such as the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper.

I chose to use this painting for this project for a few reasons. When I was looking for paintings to use I would always look at how the shadows were used so that I knew if would be able to replicate that same lighting. When I saw this painting I could clearly see how the light source came from the right and cast a shadow on the left side of the subjects face. I knew I could replicate this easily. Another reason I chose this painting is because of how the subject is holding a Ermine. This intrigued me because i came up with the idea of not only photoshopping one person into this photo but using the face of the Ermine to photoshop a second person in. I really enjoyed trying to find the best way to seamlessly integrate a human face onto a Weasel. The process involved a lot of stretching and rearranging of the components of a face. All though the final product isn't exactly what I imagined I am fairly satisfied with my efforts of creating a new hybrid species.

Breaking the Rules

This project was very difficult for me. I found it very hard to purposefully break the compositional rules of photography. When I went to take my photos I found myself subconsciously putting my photo into the rule of thirds. It took a lot of will power to place my subject in the center of my photos. In the end I am happy with what I was able to produce for this project even though it caused so much frustration. I find it interesting capturing these photos in a completely different way.

Mixed Lighting

To create a photo with mixed lighting I used natural light coming through a window to give the right amount of light I wanted on my subject, then I used a studio light to highlight elements of my subjects face. I enjoyed playing with mixed lighting because it made me think about what kind of lights to use and how to apply them to add content to my photos.

Photo Mentor

I decided to do choose Irving Penn as my photo mentor because he focuses his photography style with portraiture. The reason I chose this specific photo to copy and shoot a series off of is because I really liked how he used shadow to highlight the subjects eyes. I decided to use that idea of using shadow to accent elements of my subjects face in my own photo. Instead if highlighting his eyes I decided to highlight the jaw line of my subject. I tried to ensure that there was always a deep shadow under his jaw to allow his jawline to really pop. I used a studio light at a high angle to create that dark shadow under his jaw. I tried to use a different angle in each photo to create a new look on the same lighting to keep cohesion between each photo yet still have a fresh look with each photo.