Happy Tuesday!! I hope everyone is continuing to stay safe and healthy and is ready to come on this journey with me as much as I am. As promised, we will now begin to dive into the bulk of my Photography with taking a look at the different pieces and concepts I've created over time. Going forward, each week may have up to one or two posts (One highlighting a piece I created and the other, a lifestyle posting of any concept). Again these would still be posted on Tuesdays but also considering some flexibility. I am not going in a particular order and a lot of this is just what I have created or tried over time.
This Weeks Concept: Black & White Photography by your's truly ;)
So how I will format these is by asking the viewer to go back and take a closer look at the image, this actually how we did critique in class this past semester. Then I will give my artist statement, highlighting key features of the piece and then I go to state why I loved the piece so much. The first thing you most likely took note of is that this image is actually front and center on my home page. However, if you look more closely you may notice my choice in perspective and attention to detail in this image and more importantly. You also may be wondering what I even captured in this image and what you are seeing as the viewer.
So allow me to answer your questions! For this piece from my Photography course, the objective was to create a single image, edit the image using the camera raw feature in Photoshop, and turn the image into black and white in an aim to highlight key features and to try shooting at different perspectives. And so I did just this, which created a compelling image for my professor and classmates to look at. My focus for this piece was capturing the history of an object, specifically placing emphasis on its textures and form. What you see in the above image is a barbecue grill.
Since the objective was to try and take the image from a different perspective, I laid down on my back pointing my DSLR upward but tilting the camera vertically at the grill. With the right amount of focal length, exposure, ISO level, etc. I was easily able to capture this image and was very proud of the results, especially because I am still a new photographer. In the camera raw feature, I made some slight adjustments as instructed by my professor to the amount of white, shadows, and other technicalities to place more emphasis on the object at hand but to also give clarity to the sky above and the way the sunlight was hitting the grill so perfectly.
What I like most about this image is that I was able to capture a man-made object in a way where a lot of emphasis was placed and that more key features were highlighted by having this image in black & white as compared to the color image (referenced below). Additionally I loved the shadow the coil created on the main form of the grill which allowed for a nice contrast in the lighter and darker values of the image. You can let me know in the comments what you like about this image and how you would change it or what you wanted to see more of. I took this image at a local park in New Albany, about 5 minutes away from campus.
**Also I hope what I am talking about so far is making sense, I tend to get very wordy when I talk about art haha.** Please let me know if it doesn't!
I will do some of these posts with more than 1 piece, this will be the last one for this weeks concept! This next one was actually part of what was called our "Conceptual" project in my Photography course where we were able to capture anything but It was something in which held deeper meaning and a possible background or underlying story.
I decided to title this piece, A House In Ragtime, a fairly recent project I completed for the class within the last month.
Following same order, take some time to look at this piece and make note of different objects or things that captivated you most to the image, then I give my artist statement.
Although this piece didn't have to be in black & white, I felt that the image served an underlying purpose by being in this fashion. And that purpose is that this image can capture what appears to be a small mansion in its true history. I went with this because it reminded me of a post-WWII era magazine where you often have black and white images front and center that tend to capture urban areas or buildings which emphasized the historical element for this piece for me personally. The environment captured is also very unique, especially how the tree hangs over the top of the framing of the image and the balance/unity of forms in the image. I took this one in downtown Jeffersonville next to the walking bridge. This is actually the house to the right of that bridge if you are crossing in the direction to Louisville.
I like how this differs from the previous black & white piece obviously based on the subject matter but more so from the way i edited this image. It has a more sepia tone in the editing choice as compared to the previous image where it is a more vivid tone. Also the difference was in the timing of day as the first piece was shot around 1 in the afternoon and this piece was in the evening.
So if you've reached this point, it means I didn't bore you with my artistic terminology and discussion of my pieces haha. This week I am only doing this post rather than two postings because I am still trying to get the feel of blogging and what kinds of variety I want to have.
As always, I hope you all enjoyed! I have more pieces I have to post from this class and other digital art courses I've taken so far. I believe I stated previously that I am planning on new projects and photo shoots for this summer so stay tuned for those as well! Let me know in the comments if you guys want to see anything specific or other concepts you want me to write on. Remember you can keep up with me in my other platforms such as my podcast, my YouTube channel, and Instagram page! (These are all linked in the home page)
See y'all next week!!
Cut, peace out.
- Josiah
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