Teaching Points - Topic 3 - Memory = Vintage

This topic was about the use of various smartphone apps to post-process photographs to enhance their sense of memory to create an air of vintage. Not all the pictures in this collection actually do this but I picked the photographs I thought were the most interesting.

We start with two photographs by Morgana, shot out in the natural world. 

The angle of view in both of these frames the foliage very nicely. The second shot has a beautiful warm tonality that brings out the feeling of a sunset. This is the kind of subtle yet beautiful manipulation that epitomizes this style.

The next shot by Lauren places us on top of a mountain overlooking a wide vista. 

The value of this shot is that it really places us in this location and makes us want to just sit down and relax and celebrate the view.

The next shot by Keriann does a similar thing in a very different way.

This photo puts us in a comfortable chair, bathed in beautiful light, looking through the drapes. We don't really see what is the outside which makes us go into more of a daydream state of mind.

The next set of five photographs all use lamps in one way or another. They are by Colleen, Lauren, Morgana, Minami, and Keriann.

An old wedding photo on the wall in the background accents a small a corner of a room with a great streak of light coming in the bottom corner.

Another collection of old photos on the wall backs up these two matching chairs that make us wonder, “Where is the couple that should be sitting here? Where is the couple whose history is on the wall behind us? “The reduced tonality also pushes the photo into the past.

A great room is presented in this photo, the string of lights on the wall illuminating the space with minimal tonality, all of which creates a great feel. And then we find a person sleeping in the bed! Is this a dream?

It is almost as if the lamp becomes the subject of the photograph. The diffuse light coming in from behind alters the appearance of the objects in the background and the room itself, putting the viewer into that pensive state of mind.

This shot is a little bit more fractured, with the lamp being cut in the bottom left corner and the angle of view making us look up. The mystery comes almost more from our angle of view than the feel of the room, but the reduced tonality and the subtle lighting all work together very nicely.

The next photograph is also by Keriann and is even more abstracted than the previous. 

This one almost becomes a little painting, but there is still an illusion of space which puts us into a location that just raises questions. This in-between world could easily be dismissed as being about nothing but this kind of photograph can be really intriguing. It makes us really want to figure out where we are and what is going on.

The next two photos are by Lauren and are shot in some strange basement space.

The tonality is reduced in both, yet in different directions (one more red, one more yellow). We are left to ponder where this place is, what this stuff is, and perhaps the most intriguing point, what in the world are we doing here?

Now back to the real world.

This interior shot by Ian puts us into what looks like a very comfortable restaurant. 

The fact that we can look out the window puts us into a particular state of mind. The shot is not taken from a seated position, however. The place looks so clean it must serve healthy food.

The next two photos are also by Ian and the similarity in visual structure made me want to put them side-by-side.

The left-hand photo is some sort of lobby while the right-hand picture is out on the street. There's a person walking through the frame in the outdoor picture. I wish there was somebody walking through the frame on the right as well. [This kind of comparison and continuity is the kind of thing you should be looking for when you put together your final portfolio.]

Minami has us looking down at the curb in the next photo.

The discarded teddy bear is sort of a sad shot. This could’ve been enhanced with some additional post-processing, something to make it look more faded and a bit grimy.

The next photo of a Nifty Fifty restaurant by Dymond has the feel of nostalgia, which is actually the theme of the restaurant. 

I was puzzled by the sign at first, "Open 6 AM". Then I saw underneath that it says "Eat Breakfast in Town". For me, 6 AM is just before I go to sleep, not when I have just woken up! But still a good time for a meal.

Kevin presents another shot of a restaurant.

This one looks almost accidental, which is what adds a sense of excitement. We find ourselves trying to look inside for more clues, but nothing substantial is discovered, so we have to look for more clues.

Another night time photograph with an odd sense of perspective is this one by Colleen.

The group of people in the corner make me want to just hang out with them.

This photograph of the bike by Dymond is pushed back in time using the vignette tool. 

This could have used a bit more desaturation but still, bicycle pictures never seem to get old.

The next segue by Keriann takes us from the railing behind the bike to this simple streak across the frame.

This photo surpasses the level of abstraction in the previous photograph of the corner of the room. It is a real talent to be able to express a whole world with such a small amount of content. This is a good example of the phrase, "economy of means" that means “to say as much as possible with the least number of words”.

The next photo by Keriann is also a semi-abstract shot of a more geometrical form.

 If the viewer only sits and looks at the visual structure, then the photograph is limited. If the photograph however takes you to another place, then it transcends the structure and moves into the Emotional discipline.

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The next set of photographs seems to be about taking a break. It has been mentioned the taking pictures of food is one of the new smartphone clichés but some of these photos start to move beyond that and become interesting photos. I will let you make the final decision for yourself.

The first photo by Ian is shot on airplane. 

The framing is balanced and the reflection of the sunglasses works well. We start to ponder what is in that glass and how long is this flight going to continue?

The next photo, again by Ian uses a more vertical vantage point and another pair of glasses. This is nicely set up and is a visual pleasure.

Lauren takes us back to the use of phone apps for post-processing. The desaturation makes this photograph interesting.

It is shot from the vantage point of the person drinking the coffee and puts us into their brain. "Hmmm, what do I have to do today?" Now we are not just looking at what she is looking at, we are thinking about what they're thinking. This steps into the Conceptual discipline.

The next shot in a darkened room by Keriann has us peering over our drink, again not so much looking as thinking. This is very effective.

Finally, Morgana takes us to an extreme overhead view exploring how we use beverages laced with drugs to enhance our online experience. (Just teasing, but caffeine is a very addictive stimulant…) This is a nice shot even though it has a cuddly creature within the frame. See, it is possible to transcend cliché-land.

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And finally we get to the portrait/ self-portrait section. The previous photo by Morgana starts us off, actually, because while the previous set photographs takes us into the mindset of the photographer the last one actually includes the person.

Dymond gives us a shot that is heavily processed and looks like it could be from the 1950s. This a photo that would've been shot to celebrate some special event. 

This next double-exposure by Morgana is very interesting. It is not clear whether it is two photographs overlaid or some kind of reflection, but the effect is great. 

The best part is probably the eyes peering just over our shoulders from the upper right-hand corner. The very red lips provide an additional accent. This is a good example of a photographer using compound images to create an emotional ambience. [If you want to stop over at the Tyler Photo Area, another group of my students has an exhibition up called ‘Multiplicity’, that is about this way of working, although no one was doing double-exposures exactly.]

In the next photo by Kevin we feel like we are being dragged along inside some kind of chase scene from an action movie. It is the combination of the angle of view and the reflection in the glasses.

The next close up by Keriann uses just enough lens distortion to exaggerate the eyes without making them look too weird. The persistent gaze directly back into our eyes is enough to stop us in our tracks.

Lauren returns with a photo from a very sharp angle of view that features very sharp lighting and makes us all remember how much we dislike waking up.

And the collection finishes with this long shot of a figure sitting on a rock in the stream by Coleen. 

This one takes a totally different approach by stepping back to include the environment that contains the subject. At first I thought maybe she was crying because she has her hands up to her eyes. But then I realized that she may be taking a photograph of us looking at her. There's not quite enough resolution to see for sure, so the mystery remains.

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The photographs that use various apps to post-process the photographs come closest to fulfilling the topic, not that this is always the most important thing to do.  The photographs that put us into someone else's space are particularly compelling. Those that put us into someone else's state of mind are the most successful.

Thank you for all the good work this time around – – –

SMARTPHONE FINAL PORTFOLIO

The last task for the semester is to put together a Portfolio of your 24 best shots. These should be organized into groups the way photos are organized into chapters for a book. There should be at least 8 new photos in this collection, complimenting what has already been shot. The final post of this Portfolio is due on the last day of classes for the semester, before Study Days and Final Exam week. You should be continuously posting the new work to show your classmates how you are organizing your work.

ORGANIZATION/ Chapters with Titles

Go through your collection of photographs shot throughout this semester and organize them into groups that have similar content, form and meaning. Think of each group as a chapter in a book and give each chapter a title.

 e.g. within a collection of 24 prints you could have 4 chapters of 6 photos each, or 6 chapters with 4 shots each. [Personally, I would make a portfolio of 25 photos, including 5 chapters of 5 photos.] Not all chapters have to have the same number of photos, however.

POPULATION/ Photo Hunting

You will find that some of the good chapters are going to be a bit short. The challenge here is to shoot more photos to fill them out. About 1/3 of the photos in the portfolio (a minimum of 8) should be new photos, shot specifically to populate the portfolio. This is an example of Directed Shooting that was discussed earlier.

You may also find that there are a collections of photographs that defy categorization but that you really like. You can make an extra chapter called ‘Extras’ for these photos if you like.

PUBLICATION/ Posting and Commenting

Post you final chapters of photos on the blog site. Start each chapter with its title, not unlike how you have had numbers on your photos all semester. You should continue to post between now and the due date, matching new photos with older ones to indicate your sense of organization. You are also encouraged to comment on each other ’s work to help people decide what work is the most communicative. As always, consider the formal qualities of the photos (the look), the content or meaning behind the photos (the idea), and the impact of the photos (the feel).

The deadline for having these photos organized and posted is the last Monday of classes for the semester, before written exam week begins, December 07.

COMMENTARY & SELF-EVALUATION

On Tuesday you should do a last commentary and vote on your POW’s for the year (POY’s?).

By Thursday at 5 PM you should write up a Final Self-Evaluation for all the work you have done this semester and upload it to OWLbox.  This document should include your best photo of the semester. [You should also go online and fill out the Student Feedback Form so you can evaluate this class.]

DOCUMENTATION/ Archive for Future Use

I also suggest that you burn all of these photos to a DVD or some other permanent recording medium. This portfolio can be used on a professional level to apply to a photo program, submit work for an exhibition or apply for a grant. But maybe most importantly, you will have a permanent record of what you have discovered and created this semester. Someday in the future you will be very glad you have this.

You can also make a set of prints on good photo paper and put them into a binder. [note: there are sites that will take you photos and assemble them into a real book: Blurb, AdoramaPix, Lulu, ShutterFly. Some can also sell copies of your book for you.]

Teaching Points - Topic 2 - Color = Passion

I think I am not getting my message across well enough. I sent you serval messages and blog posts listing the kind of things you should not be shooting. These were effectively a list of Color Photo Clichés. But the blog is primarily populated with just these sorts of photos. If necessary, please re-read the paper on Photo Clichés now. Color Photo Clichés are discussed more specifically in the blog post titled Tips for Topic 2.

Photo Examples

I gave you a list of Color Art-Photographers to look at as examples of what is possible with color photography. Please look at these people again and see who is making work that resonates with your own personality. They are at the bottom of the blog post entitled Topic 2 - Color = Passion. Then figure out what it is about their work that excites you, and work from that premise. Ultimately, the photographs have to be about you, not just about the appearance of things.

Gathering vs Hunting

Another thing to consider is that it is not enough to walk around snapping shots of whatever looks cool at the moment. Now is the time to move from Photo Gatherer to Photo Hunter. You have to determine what subject is worthy of your attention and then focus of shooting pictures that investigate that subject. If you do not make this shift you end up recreating the scenario from the movie ‘Fifty First Dates’ (that was just on the other night, again) where every photo is like your first, just an immediate reaction to your surrounding right now, with no forethought. Please reread the paper on Intuitive vs. Directed Shooting for more info.

Research

To make this shift requires some visual research, but more importantly it requires emotional research. Then all the photographs have to work together, which is part of conceptual research. By the end of the class you will be responsible for building a portfolio of photos that fit within specific categories of your invention. Think of the semester as a book of photos. What will be the titles of the chapters in the book? What topics interest you enough to ‘write’ a chapter with your camera? Those will be the titles of the ‘chapters’ in your Final Portfolio. The glue that makes the photos stick together is the conceptual component of shooting. There will have to be a visual connection between the photos, that is the physical discipline. The each group has to elicit a particular emotional response for your viewers. This is the Emotional Discipline. If you have not read the paper on the Three Disciplines, please do so now. 

note: If you still like shooting in B&W you can include a reasonable number of shots in that medium in your posts. I do however want you to try new and different things. That is what the Topics are designed to do. 

Here is the list of what was posted that was less than desirable:

No more pictures of clouds and sunsets, please. I think maybe we have to add "pictures of the shadows of trees created by sunsets" to the cliché list next to sunsets.

The pictures at night are OK but not on Temple University campus. You have to get out of your own comfort zone to get interesting photographs. Don't shoot pictures on TU campus. They are too generic and too easy. You have to go somewhere out of your normal flow to stimulate your creative juices.

Get out of the car to take your photographs. Photographs shot from the car show a lack of effort. Pictures shots in the rearview mirror are on the photo cliché list. Its the same thing -  you have to step out of your comfort zone to get good shots.

Don’t shoot objects just because they have color. This is the first knee-jerk response to this topic, but it is not enough. We are trying to use color to create evocative spaces, places that your viewer can enter and inhabit. These places should have enough feel that your viewer can share your emotional response to that place.

Avoid tabletop set ups in your apartment. These also become photos of objects that are too identifiable and lack interest. Or they become too personal and undecipherable. Get out into the real world and do some photo hunting with topics of your own design fixed in your mind before you go out.

One key point that I seem to not be able to get across clearly enough is that snapshots are not acceptable in this class. Don't let people pose for your camera. These turn into snapshots really quickly. These are the opposite of art. But let me clarify my definition of a SnapShot: Snap shots are used to trigger someone's memory of a person or a place or event. If you were not part of that experience then the snapshot has no meaning to you. The meaning is in the people who were in the shot, not in the photograph itself. If there is no meaning in the photograph then there is no communication. Art is all about communicating meaningful experiences with the viewer. [But I do not mean sharing like social media sharing, most of which is irrelevant and overly personalized information.]

Don't take pictures at football games. These are snapshots. We had some last critique and they are back again this critique.

Don't take pictures of other people's artwork, including architecture. Use your own creativity to make the shot. This includes signage with clever phrases and worst of all, pictures of graffiti. Those typically come of as documentation.

Avoid pictures of lights, especially in clubs or restaurants. Pictures of musicians are on the cliché list because those will almost always look like commercial photos. That is because the people designing album covers are trying to make their shots look like art. But the motivation for shooting them is not to convey emotion, it is to sell an album. Pictures of concerts fall on the documentary side.

I mentioned that pictures of lights are photo clichés and pictures of signs are a photo clichés. Now we are getting pictures of lighted signs.

There are quite a few photographs of landscapes with no particular focus. They look nice in general but had to tell what it is you're trying to show in that place. There needs to be not just one but two or three key points of interest within the picture where the viewer’s eye can rest. The geometry of the shot has to create a hierarchy that directs the viewer from one to the next. Re-read the paper Movement through Multiplicity that explains planting clues in your photos to present multiple points of interest.

If you are shooting interior spaces it is all a matter of the lighting that creates emotional ambience that will turn an interesting space into a compelling experience. Take more shots during the magic hour, just before and just after the sunsets. The color of the light changes the appearance of everything and creates ‘feel’.

There is still a shortage of good self-portraits. Did you look at the SmartPhone Self-Portrait Examples webpage I built for you? There is a link under Shooting Aesthetics on the Smartphone Photo page on my site as well as another link at the bottom of the Research Pages where there is the work of over 100 photo artists.

Viewing on a P–Angle

Please do not turn the camera on an angle. This is known as a P-Angle, p being for pretentious. Here’s the story: You know when you go to a family picnic and your Uncle says, “Okay everybody, get together for a group picture”, and then just before he snaps the shot he tilts the camera on an angle. This is because he knows, even subconsciously, that he is about to take that generic family snapshot that is inherently a boring photograph. Tilting the camera makes it look like you’re trying to make an artsy photograph of something that is not all that interesting. [note: ignore anyone who uses the term ‘artsy’, for they know nothing about art.] Avoid shooting like this. Accidental shots sometimes do work sometimes however, but they have to come off as loose rather than deliberate.

Desaturation is a more desirable technique than over-saturation. Over-saturation just makes things look fake. That is not the way to make interesting color photographs.

Consider the word artifact. This is evidence left behind after someone has been somewhere. This can create evidence that people have to work through to figure things out. And sometimes the answer is not evident, and the viewer is just left with a mystery. That is fine.

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Here is commentary on all the photographs that in my opinion work the best:

First we have a couple of nature/ organic shots. The fist photo by Coleen sets up a nice environment. 

The problem here is that it lacks a key element to grab our attention. Whenever shooting from low like this, when there is an extreme foreground, it is important to get the objects that are in the frontmost plane in focus. In this case the extreme foreground is out of focus and that sets up a psychological response that expects the rest of the photo to be out of focus. Then we loose our viewer’s attention.

The next photo by Lauren is a close up view that partially abstracts the content in a good way. 

The weak point is the highlight blowout in the upper left corner, but it is not that bad. The desaturation of the photo also helps push it towards a more surrealistic view that works with the abstraction. One cannot help but wonder what happened to the rest of that pumpkin!

The next two photographs by Minami and Morgana are outdoors and what we might call suburban spaces or backyards. 

It is the color feel in both of these that pushes them towards the surreal, once again. In Morgana’s Hockey Net shot the ambient color is very warm because the sun is setting. This is what you get when you shoot during “Magic hour”. The angle of view also helps. Both of these also have clues that point to the sports that we may played we were kids, so a bit of nostalgia is employed.

The next two vertical urban landscapes are by Dymond.

These both have similar central focal points that are just enough off-center to be okay. But they also lack a other key points of focus to lock in the viewer’s gaze. These photographs and all others that I say lack focus need to have some little extra payoff that will reward the viewer if they search hard enough. Once they find that little prize they will look harder at the next photograph and so on and become more engaged with your work in general. There is a Japanese word ‘omake’ that is best described as referring to the little prize the bottom of the Cracker Jack box. You have to eat that whole box of candy to get to the prize. The analogy is that you can hide little bits of secret information in your photographs and then if you can get a person to continue looking at your photograph long enough, they will find these gems. This is a goal you should all adopt. There has to be an emotional reward in each photograph. If not, the viewer will never come look at any more of your work thereafter.

The next couple of shots by Ian and Minami are a little more urban. 

In the first we learn that Ian is going to Manhattan. The architecture is fascinating to someone who is not familiar with that scene, but in this case there’s so many things that have the same visual weight that I do not know what exactly he wants us to look at specifically. This is another example of a photograph that lacks key focal points. And in an urban setting like this there probably should be one key point and two secondary key points so the viewer can bounce from one to the next to the next.

The next shot by Minami takes a very different approach. 

It totally obscures the subject of the photograph. And we all know that the thing we want most is whatever we can not have. This is a nice technique that I have not seen done in quite this way before. It would be interesting to see several more photographs that use the same approach, And then we would see how this subject varies from one shot to the next, All of which would help us learn about Minami’s point of view. (I did not realize this was shot from inside a car until I read her Self-Evaluation. I thought it was out of her apartment widow. So she has transcended the reality of the situation and created something better.)

The next photograph by Keriann is the segue that brings us from exterior to interior.

The curtain obscures our view through the window. This is shot just after sundown so color temperature is very warm and evokes a soft mood. This shot is more sensual that the one that was picked as POW. It’s would be better if it was not a sunset photo but it is still fine.

The next five photographs bring us to interior spaces. It is said that rooms absorb the vibrations of the individuals that inhabit them. These photographs work to capture that essence.

The Orange hallway photograph by Kevin leads us to nowhere, which is good because it creates that sense of mystery we’ve been looking for.

The blank walls creates a sense of emptiness that also an enhances the mystery. This photo would be better if it was not so oversaturated, however. And it would be better if the light was not so completely blown out, But that might be impossible to shoot if the hallway was dark. This is exactly the situation where one wants to use HDR. [HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and is a process that shoots three photographs in rapid succession of a scene that has a very wide tonal range (or luminance range). One shot is taken for the highlights, another shot is taken for the midtones, and a third shot is taken for the shadows. Then all three are combined to give you a photograph that could never be taken with one exposure because it’s beyond the capacity of a typical camera sensor. [warning -  HDR has become a fad where the midtones are tuned up too high rendering very dramatic but very fake photos. Avoid this. You can see many examples in an image search.]

Another empty room is presented by Morganna.

Again we have a crazy wall coloring enhanced by the extreme lighting of a single fixture. The same problem with blowout happens with this light. The cause is the same, a single light in a dark room, and the fix is that same HDR process. Nonetheless the photograph has mystery due to its lack of explanation. I feel like I am in somebody’s house for a wedding and I’m using the guest bathroom. That is always a bit uncomfortable, huh?

The next photo by Keriann and kind of takes it one step further and kind of nails it. 

There’s a great extreme low angle of view that just manages to distort the space. There is half a painting of something I cannot make out. The inside of light fixture is also very hot but in this context that overexposure is expected because you are looking at a light source. Maybe it is just the fact that lampshade is from a very particular time. That sets the mood and adds a twist of nostalgia to the mix.

In the next shot by Colleen that painting is replaced by a window looking out at the real world, but it gives us a somewhat unworldly view like in a painting by Magritte. 

Add to that a trail of smoke rising up through the interior space, and a couple other nondescript elements in the bottom foreground, and the scene is set. It is almost like a stage set for a play by Harold Pinter.

The last interior space is by Keriann again. 

This one has great light and the space disappears into the distance and the top left corner and is very intriguing. This one falls a little short because it does not have that one extra element that captures the viewers attention. Maybe just the empty space is enough!

The next three photos are by Kevin where are he takes us back outside.

Here we are still looking at the floor, well, its the ground now. There is an interesting visual arrangement between the hose and the nozzle. There is a nice glow of light reflecting off the wet ground and a little bit of red in the top left corner balances the composition. These three points of interest, the top red corner, the green nozzle and the curved hose with wet ground on the right keep the viewer's eye moving back and forth. This is the exactly the kind of movement through multiplicity that was described in a handout of the same name (also linked on the Smartphone Photo home page).

The next is a nightime shot with some crazy orange color. 

Be curious thing about this photograph is that the white car in the bottom right corner that would usually be considered annoying turns out to be that ‘kind of cool awkwardness’ that is hard to describe. The orange fence sets the mood. It would have been a better photograph however if it had not been shot on Temple University campus of the building that is being torn down.

The third photo in the set is also shot at night with strange lighting that makes the purple wall glow makes the brave little yellow weed growing out of the curb visually interesting. 

Yes, there is only one key focus point, but maybe it is the loneliness of this little plant that is the whole point. The fact that the wall ends on the far right hand edge is important. It gives the viewers I have place to escape and breaks the continuity of the wall. If the wall went all the way across it would be a much more boring shot because there would be nowhere else to go. Remember to always look at the corners of the frame.

Carrying on with the purple theme is this chandelier photo by Colleen. 

It sort of fits into the ‘pictures of light’ cliché group but the color is so absurd it becomes cool. The contrast between the blue violet chandelier and the red violet wall on the left is particularly interesting. The fragmentation and angle of view enhance the design.

The next photo of equally absurd color is by Morgana.

Once again it is the contrast between the extreme blue on the face counterbalancing the red light on the wall over this person’s shoulder. You almost think that this is impossible but yet you still believe it. Then there is the other window on the other side of his face that bounces you back to his eye. These three key points keep the movement going in this shot.

From that face will move to the last set of four self-portraits. The first is a vertical horizontal shot by Morgana.

The closeness and angle of view provide a certain degree of intimacy that is enhanced by the subdued color. This is a sensitive photograph.

The next Photo by Keriann is a face obscured buy some sort of red curtain. The color of the face sets a mood. And it is beautiful to watch a personal sleeping, (especially if it is someone you care for.) [I hope I am not getting too personal but that is where this photo takes me. It is good if you can talk to somebody’s sensitive side.]

The next red faced photo is also by Keriann. 

The closeness and angle of view combine with an overly red hue to make a curious portrait. There’s just enough distortion in the face due to the closeness of the lens that the person’s features are exaggerated. The little bit of natural blue color at the bottom proves to you that this is not a manipulated photograph, but rather the color is real, and adds mystery.

 The final photo of the set is once again by Morgana and takes us in a whole different direction.

 The composition is compelling with its wide field of grass and a figure coming in from the top right corner. The pattern of the sunlight on the grass plays off of the pattern in the shirt. And the fact that she is holding onto a bunch of flowers adds intimacy and starts to tell a story. Wonderful.

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Thanks for all of your good work on this Topic. The next set will take you into uncharted territory. Good luck and happy shooting - - -