Assignment 4: Urban Fantasy - First prototype

The first version.

Did not really think of a title because the concept was still rather vague and there are quite a number of messages embedded in this work.

As previously mentioned, i tried to juxtapose "human elements" and "urban structures" to fulfil the theme of "urban fantasy".. to fulfill the surrealistic approach, i decided to depict the "dancers", which are the silhouettes of a human body in a very unreal setting. in this case, one of the dancer is stepping on a supposed water surface and the other one emerges from the sky..

The stairway in the middle aims to provide a link between the "ground" and the "sky" and at the same time suggest the depth and perspective of the space.

somehow, this piece dun seem surreal enough. it is still rather "normal" in the sense.

Assignment 4: Urban Fantasy

This marks the initial stage of the entire development process for this assignmnent.

Did a brainstorm, jus to trash out whatever tat came thru my mind in relation to the surrealistic approach towards this assignment..



As i thought further into the assignment, "urban fantasy" brings to my mind a juxtaposition of buildings and architectures and human elements, as we fundamentally live in these "urban settings".

To further emphasize the "human element", i always thought that dancers are the best representatives of the human element, as the language used by dancers, which is their dance movements, depicts the human body beautifully..

here's a sketch of my initial artwork..



next up, my first prototype. =)

Assignment 4: Surrealism - Take One

Affectionately known as "orbs", this photoshop technique creates very interesting circular shapes by twisting and warping the image.

Still in the midst of finding out the actual name of this technique..

here are my takes:


Orb 1: The Face

It seems like a face with the clouds by the sides. The middle part which is supposedly an old chinese architecture, seems like the eyes of the face.




Orb 2: The Skull

Using the same original pic as above, i merely fliped the image the other way round and the results came out rather interestingly. If u take a closer look, the clouds formed the "eyes" of the skull and depicted this menacing look.

Assignment 4: Surrealism - an interactive artform?

Was introduced to this art form, or rather an art movement recently.

In fact, it was closely linked to something which i learnt 2 semesters ago when i did a module in interactive media.

I was particularly interested in historical aspect of the art, how it originated and how it came abt.

We learnt abt artist like Marcel Duchamps and his "readymades" and also more contemporary artists like Yoko Ono, who did the infamous "Cut Piece", where she displayed herself as an art piece, and invited her audience to "interact" with her by cutting pieces off her clothing.

As i pondered further, surrealism is somewhat like an interactive art form.
Because of the fact that surrealistic art pieces go beyond the rationality of the human mind, it intriguingly invites its viewers to take a deeper look, look and relook, to decipher or appreciate its meaning (if any).

Therefore, in a large way, interactivity between the art piece and the viewer can be considered dynamic and engaging.

Having seen a few surrealistic art pieces, I would say that I am most deeply impressed by the works of Philippe Halsman. Most of his art works are made on the photographic medium.

source:http://www.kunsthausgraz.steiermark.at/

Titled "Dali Atomicus", it featured Salvador Dali and 2 of Dali's paintings.
Many had analysed the photograph and much had been attributed to the fact that when this picture was shot back then, the world had just been introduced the concept of "nature and atom."

Objects, which are made up of atoms and particles, would "float" and suspend in the air. We see this very interesting and surreal juxtaposition of real objects placed in a very unreal moment.

Interestingly, Philippe Halsman also did a series of similar shots which the subjects jumped and froze in the frame.

In my opinion, these images have captured the essence of photography, which is to capture "the moment". I believe too, that many photographers have since subscribed to this school of thought. Indeed, if we take a closer look at photographs around us, those that stand out usually have this wow factor which captures the very moment that flashed across the photographers' eyes.

Thus, i feel that developments in modern photography can be attributed to surrealism. Being students/learners in this field, it is definitely beneficial to explore and appreciate this particular artform as I believe it will enhance and trigger our brain cells into better crafting or conceptualising ideas and expressions.

Assignment 3: perspective

learning to go wide and up close is the main objective of this assignment..

here are my takes..

macro shots:



perspective shot:

taken on film. used a 50mm prime as i wish to retain the original "feel" of the scene, not wanting to distort it using a wide angle lens..realised that singapore does have a lot of interesting places to shoot.. =)

some low key shots:



note to self: the droplet could have been clearer. also, spot metering could be used to further darken the background to make it more appealing as a lowkey image.

Assignment 2A - Shutter speed and Aperture

As we progress into the course, we get to learn the 2 most important variable in photography - shutter speed and aperture.

These 2 concepts is something mandatory tat we all must learn as photography simply revolves around them.

Here are some of my takes:

Freezing motion

The Dancer
taken atop the roof of AS7.. Jus nice that the sun was setting and my friend, who is a proficient dancer, agreed to pose!

Its a pity tat we do not have a full view of the horizon.. but it was a fun shot! =)=)

Cool Dip
Inspired by the Olympics which jus ended, decided to do a "dive shot" of a strawberry into a pool of water.. At the same time, trying to capture the splash and "freeze" it there..

After a around 50 shots and a wet room, got this shot finally.. haha..