Photo1Q2.12: Rep Yo' Self

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Our first introduction into the lighting unit on the qualities of direction and sources of light, I felt intrigued. There was a video in which Mrs. Takemoto presented showing how a shift in direction can change the feeling of an portrait. I've always wanted to manipulate the light itself, but I realized after learning a bit about lighting, it kinda clicked. As someone who prefers street photography, I didn't necessarily have a "choice" in placing a point of light or the subject I'm framing. It's more of a run and gun thing. In other photographic categories, you can manipulate your subject more. I felt that restraint loosen after this project, and I hope to explore that further with live subjects. I was comfortable with the importance of lighting in a scene, but not the actual manipulation of it as I always use natural lighting before anything else, and any artificial source I have is quite limited.

Grateful A: Family / Natural, Front

For the first concept for grateful, I took a brief couple of images of some of my cousins in front of my grandfather's gravestone. The lighting source was natural, and the framing of the subjects was somewhat unfortunate due to the use of a 50mm lens (had to stand way back), but instead of attempting to intricately place all of the subjects, I went with the flow. Family themselves fits the gratitude category because I am truly grateful to have them in my life. My family is pretty small, and with the passing of my grandfather last year, it only got smaller. I like to honor those who've past by living my life to the fullest with the people we currently have, so it's good to be grateful for people. Bar all the physical objects and essentials, all we have are each other.

Grateful B: Bracelet / Natural, Back

This photo was taken amidst the sun's shine through my parlor window. The light was controlled by curtains in order to create the silhouette appearance without an overblown background of brightness. The object in display is a bracelet from a friend that just gave me it out of the blue after returning from her countless trips to Hale'iwa. She loves that that place, for it reminds her of a place we both visit around this time of the year; Kaua'i. I'm unsure of why I wear it everyday, but I do it anyways, and so does she. I'm grateful for that dedication and appreciate this person for being there. This object signifies that gratefulness.

Grateful C: Camera / Artificial, Side

I somewhat broke the "rules" on this photo in that the lighting is softer than it is harsh (which is the intent for this assignment). I was recommended by Mrs. Takemoto to attempt something different as my early concepts were somewhat unorthodox. This involved what is known as 2nd curtain photography, rear sync, or 2nd curtain flash. From what I understand, the first curtain exposes the camera and records information it receives, closes, and opens it again to sort of "overlay" it onto the final location of all the subjects in the photo. In my evidence folder (only viewable on DOE email), I attempted to play around with it (navigation: EXPORTS > Grateful 3 Camera EXPORTS) just to see what it can do. It creates this intriguing ghost effect that takes a bit more understand, but as far as this project goes, I used it to create an artificial light leak/streaks in all of the attempts. To do this, I set my camera's flash to 2nd curtain. I took a photo of something with light (which was my lamp) and moved my camera horizontally until it reached the actual subject, which included my camera vertically placed in front of my graphics drawing book. The end result is what you see above, with some minor contrast/exposure adjustments.

The objects in the photo represent me because that camera was quite literally where I started my photography career/portfolio. It all started with the Canon Powershot ELPH 300 HS. I purchased it on Amazon for $80, used. It was such a powerful and nifty little camera that taught me a lot about composition, and the fact that money doesn't always equate success and talent. I placed the book behind it to signify that the camera is a chapter in my life (though it may not seem apparent due to the light overlay). The camera has gone through a lot of toil, and the covering cap is actually broken, meaning that the lens is exposed at all times. In addition, much of the skin has been torn off. Despite that, were I to never have saved up for a DSLR, that camera is what I would still be using today.

Nourishment A: Culture / Artificial, Side

I went with a more basic approach to this one. The lighting source is identical to the one used in the photo before this one--Grateful C. Culture was a category I wanted to represent in this photo shoot, but besides my grandfather's はなふだ (Hanafuda) playing cards, I wasn't sure what to put (and I'd already set that aside for another category in this assignment). I went with the bandana that, when unraveled, shows the rising sun; a symbol of imperial Japan. Knowing this, I did not want to be representing that in anyway due to its' negative connotation and history, but I also thought it'd be an interesting prop. Frank Ocean, my favorite artist, wore it during his concerts back in 2012 when he was more active. Instead of representing the culture of olde, I wanted to represent the culture of today, which builds upon history. This bandana symbolizes that.

Nourishment B: Art & Apparel / Artificial Side

This photo's lighting was tilted close to the side of scene to get just a hint of shadows from the folds on the clothing, just to create that little bit of contrast. To me, nourishment also means to indulge and embrace my individuality. As such, I felt that art and apparel were ways that I can represent that. I'm not necessarily an "artist", but I do have an appreciation and a taste for particular types of photos, art, design, etc. Some of my favorite apparel and the most interesting type of art as of right now are on display in the photo. 

Nourishment C: Music / Natural Side

For the above photo, the sun was pretty blinding at least to my eyes. It was coming off of a couple of days of rain and I was probably not used to it. I positioned myself and the subjects to be on the side to overlay the shadows onto each of the CD's and my hands. The objects themselves are merely a couple of my favorite albums over the past couple of years that I could get physically (copping all of the albums I like would be insane because I listen to a large range of albums, so I stuck to many of the CD's that I can put on replay). This relates to nourishment because not a day goes by where I don't listen to something. I would argue that, besides maybe movies, music is the best thing we have to telling a story and evoking a feeling in the quickest and most effective way possible that's repeatable and replenishable. Music is heavily influential in my mood and mentality. Dark R&B that's still has a pop-vibe? Beauty Behind the Madness by The Weeknd. In need of a lay-back but incredibly meaningful album? Peak by Choker. Wanna just dance? Funk Wav Bounces Vol.1 by Calvin Harris. Wanna listen to something new and upcoming in rap? Cult Classic by Jason Voorheezy. Music is something I can never be without. It nourishes my mind, body, and soul on the daily.

Upon practicing in class with the group creepy photoshoot and personal exploration of hard-lighting through this project, I found that the hardest obstacle in achieving hard lighting is the type of light being used. It's great to use natural lighting, but I'm sure that there's a lot more ways that I could be exploring to effectively achieve hard lighting. Using a decent flash, for example, is a great way of getting a raw, gritty, and paparazzi-type vibe hard-lighting photo.

This project is the first time in Photo 1 where "meaning" and "significance" of my subject matter is introduced. I feel that the meaning of feeling grateful and nourishing were clear for the most part in my photos. My bandana photo could use some improvement because the focus feels as if it's on my eyes rather than the bandana. A different method of showing it entirely would probably be better.

In an attempt to show emotion or a dramatic mood, I feel that it's easy to emphasize textures and shadows in a photo with the right tools. I would like to explore different methods of lighting up a scene as well as how the subject could manipulate with the light moreso than how I did in my photos above.