Emulation Project

For my emulation project I decided to focus on the artist Cindy Sherman, who is known to take self portraits in different settings, dressed as different people. I was inspired by some old photographs I found of my grandmother when she was around my age. There are a lot of similarities in our appearances and I wanted to try to emulate Cindy Sherman by taking photographs of myself in the exact same position as my grandmother in that photograph. I am going to style my hair and clothing like she did in those photos, and try to make my photos look as similar as possible to hers. I will take the photos digitally but alter them to be black and white in photoshop so that they look more similar to the original photos. Here are some examples of Cindy Sherman's work:

iPhone Photography

Words>Images

This is a list of words that sound interesting and inspiring for my project.

Homonyms and Homophones

Aloud/Allowed

Awed/Odd

Blue/Blew

Buy/Bye

Close/Clothes

Currant/Current

Days/Daze

Feat/Feet

Whole/Hole

Mourning/Morning

Rose/rose/rows

Synonyms and Antonyms

Deep/Shallow

Pale/Dark

Ponder/Neglect

Lush/Sparse

Aloof/Friendly

Image as Word Interpretation

Evoke: to call up or produce (memories, feelings, etc.) 

Ephemeral: lasting a very short time; short-lived; transitory

Sparse: thinly scattered or distributed 

Words and Images

Here are some literal examples of photography that uses words. I think that in these cases, the words help make the message of the photograph stronger, just as the photo helps make the message of the 

words stronger.

Poem Project-

Two Trees By William Butler Yeats

ELOVED, gaze in thine own heart,

The holy tree is growing there;

From joy the holy branches start,

And all the trembling flowers they bear.

The changing colours of its fruit

Have dowered the stars with merry light;

The surety of its hidden root

Has planted quiet in the night;

The shaking of its leafy head

Has given the waves their melody,

And made my lips and music wed,

Murmuring a wizard song for thee.

There the Loves a circle go,

The flaming circle of our days,

Gyring, spiring to and fro

In those great ignorant leafy ways;

Remembering all that shaken hair

And how the wingèd sandals dart,

Thine eyes grow full of tender care:

Beloved, gaze in thine own heart.

 

Gaze no more in the bitter glass

The demons, with their subtle guile,

Lift up before us when they

Or only gaze a little while;

For there a fatal image grows

That the stormy night receives,

Roots half hidden under snows,

Broken boughs and blackened leaves.

For all things turn to barrenness

In the dim glass the demons hold,

The glass of outer weariness,

Made when God slept in times of old.

There, through the broken branches, go

The ravens of unresting thought;

Flying, crying, to and fro,

Cruel claw and hungry throat,

Or else they stand and sniff the wind,

And shake their ragged wings; alas!

Thy tender eyes grow all unkind:

Gaze no more in the bitter glass.

This is a poem I studied it in English this year, and spent a lot of time trying to interpret. I chose it because I love the imagery Yeats uses, and it evoked a lot of ideas for photos I could take to represent the poem in ways that aren't just literal.

Independent Project Ideas

For my independent project I wanted to focus on photography that was abstract but incorporated nature into the photos. I love to work with dramatic lighting and different abstract textures, and I think that nature could be a great way to find both of those things and express its unique beauty. These are some examples of work that inspired me.

                                                          Barry Masoni, "Untitled 2"

John Canning "Abstract Tree"

Joe Lee, Singapore Botanical Gardens

Dalibor Talajic, "Olive Tree"

                                    

                                                                      Ken Piros "Spider Web"

  

Byron Jorjorian, "Untitled"

                                                              Daniel Sroka "Old Tree"

                                              Daniel Sroka "Untitled Desert Plants #184"

                                                                Daniel Sroka "Dance"

Cubism

Cubism is a perspective that abandons a single viewpoint and instead uses simple geometric shapes, interlocking planes, and collage.

This piece depicting a guitar is interesting mostly because of the fact that  the end of the guitar is pointing towards the viewer, unlike the rest of the guitar.

The piece above  by Diego Kuffer, uses smaller images to make a whole, and captures the movement of the people really well.

      The different shades of green in the grass, as well as the depth created by the lighting on it, help make this piece interesting. This is a work by Joshua Naylor.

This is another piece by Joshua Naylor. I like how the different shades of yellow on the floor add depth.