Critical Mass - Contact Sheets

Project 3 - Critical Mass

In this project, I focused on analyzing the different shapes and textures that surround me in my everyday life. It was interesting to see how shapes compliment each other naturally and how they contrast as well. I am very excited to see this actually put together because I believe there is a lot of power in the collection of images. I feel like I learned a lot while shooting this project, and trained my eye to see compositions and elements where I might not have looked before.

Project 2 - Singular Image

For this assignment, I experienced some technical difficulties early on, which included my hard drive crashing and losing the first 100 and something shots I took. However, despite the frustrating loss, I believe I actually gained a lot from going out for two other shoots and rethinking my project process.
I was very set on doing an HDR image of somewhere in Eugene that means a lot to me at first. After shooting at a few locations, I decided that the river/Autzen footbridge was somewhere that I have frequented over the past 3 years, and it has delivered me to and brought me back from many exciting football games. I actually live right near the river now, which is really nice because it's one of my favorite places to hang out.
After getting menial results with my HDR setup, I explored the possibility of doing a panoramic image. I used my fisheye lens for most of my shots in this project, which allowed me to capture as much as I could in the frame. I really enjoyed how the footbridge looked through the viewfinder, so I started thinking about the extremes of what I could do with the shot. Seeing as how I couldn't fit the whole bridge in a single shot even with the fisheye, I starting taking photos to set up a photomerge panoramic image. As soon as I starting working in Photoshop with the images, I knew that I had found my source images.
I really think that this panoramic captures the feeling of crossing over the river and the length of the bridge. I was impressed with Photoshop's ability to merge the photographs, even though it took a while to find the most successful merging option. After some retouching of the curves and color balance, along with some helpful clone stamping, I was done!

Work Day Thoughts

So far, I have made some decent progress in my design project, studying addiction and how it affects a person's behavior. I was having some trouble coming up with an idea that related to design in this area, instead of just performing an experiment and analyzing/reporting the data I got back.
In light of the great book tutorials that have been demonstrated in class by some of our talented peers, I have decided to design a booklet that will allow for people in treatment to map out their day-to-day activities and how they relate to their recovery. One specific point I will be attempting to unveil is how specifically exercise and physical activity affects their recovery, since it has been proven that this is one of the most effective ways of returning a person with an addictive personality back to a more normal physical and mental state of being. Exercise has also been shown to help the chemistry of the brain become more balanced; most addicts have very unbalanced brain chemistry.
I have been attending meetings myself along with some friends to gain a more personal insight to the routine of an addict, and have selected a few people whom which I will give a booklet to. Obviously, it is up to the other people to use the book and see if it actually helps them at all. I am hoping that I can finish designing something that will not seem too daunting and overbearing, and just ask them to map out and record perhaps three days as a starting point. If someone feels that it has actually benefited them to have the short version of the planner, I can make a more extended version for them. I have a feeling if I gave them a month long day planner and asked about very specific details, I would wind up with almost no usable results, but as long as it remains relatively simple and I can convince them that I am just trying to help and leave that up to them to decide, it will be a success. At least one person I have spoke with is somewhat looking forward to my booklet... :)
Other than that, I will post pictures of my booklet making process when I finalize my design!

Michael

Pizza DIY!

I don't know why blogspot wants to tell me bad request so often and refuse my posts, but I really don't enjoy it.

I decided to make a homemade pizza for my DIY project. It was both fun, and delicious!



ingredients! (pizza dough, tomato sauce, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, salami, cheese)



Dough ready to go!



Sauce it up




Rest of the toppings...




Et voila! Little heavy on the crust, but still a good first attempt.

Radiant

Main Entry: ¹ra·di·ant

Pronunciation: \ˈrā-dē-ənt\

Function: adjective

Date: 15th century

1 a : radiating rays or reflecting beams of light b : vividly bright and shining : glowing
2 : marked by or expressive of love, confidence, or happiness
3 a : emitted or transmitted by radiation b : emitting or relating to radiant heat

My first image is a part of a series in which I shot my friend Nick and his newly created pieces of art, his silk-screened t-shirts. His work inspired me to find a way to shoot them, as opposed to just lying them on a table and taking shots straight on. I also knew that for this project I wanted to explore the different facets of lighting, both studio and ambient, to see how I can manipulate the feeling of the shot. I also acquired some new flashes recently, so I was eager to test them out! This first shot I really like because of the way the lighting brings out the definition of the t-shirt, but also how it relates back to my word. Radiant is a word that can describe the quality of light as well as a quality in someone. I certainly consider my friend Nick to be quite radiant.

The second image is towards the end in my series of photographing my friend Nick. The color coordination in this shot is subtle, yet really makes the blue in his t-shirt pop out. I love the shooting environment on his porch, and I think that the two rocking chairs make for a great composition. Once again, this shot uses both natural and unnatural lighting to make an average image just a little more interesting. Radiance is something that I have considered quite deeply during this project, and I am excited to see the range in which the definitions can be applied both physically and emotionally.

The last image is a part of a series where I wanted to capture an evening by campus. The physical definition of radiant includes “radiating rays or reflecting beams of light”. Thus, I believe that the long exposure street shot combined with a subtle portrait of myself captures the essence of radiance, both physically and beyond. Once again this is a combination of natural lighting and studio to create a very strange feeling in the composition. It took me a while to get the right shot, but it felt great when I finally got the results I was looking for.

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