APD2 Assignment 2 - Conceptual Image

Still Life 

f/4, ISO 800, 1/15 sec

I wanted to further animate the toy solders and give them a sense of personality. I chose to match the toy army soldiers with the green cutting board because the colour of the cutting board matched the army men, which helped to convey a sense of camouflage, which is very important aspect for actual military officers.  This idea of camouflage helped me to portray a mundane expression as if the toy solders actually belonged on this cutting board, when in fact they would normally be found in a child’s toy box or in a bucket sitting on a shelf. I also paired the soldiers with the location because the grid and geometric lines helped me to reinforce the idea of structure, intense planning and discipline associated with the military. With the diagonal line, it reminds the viewer that it is a cutting board and potentially at any moment, the blade could strike and attack the soldiers.

Narrative Image

f/11, ISO 200, 1/50 sec

I am trying to tell the story of a depressed mother making an after school snack for her child. The mother has become antisocial and has resulted in a strained relationship with her husband and child. She has been quite unhappy for sometime now and had become jealous of the close relationship between her daughter and husband. After this moment, will she continue to stay unhappy? Is she simply adding more salt to the already salty, processed macaroni? Or has she mistakenly or purposefully adding rat poison to the food to end the misery?

I chose a friend’s kitchen with a large window on the side and shot in the late afternoon to light the subject and general environment. I used a tungsten light source on the side to mix with the daylight and flash to obtain more cinematic-like lighting. I wanted the subject’s pose to show that she had just reached for an ingredient and is putting it away in the cupboard. I also used the daylight and my flash to light the cupboard and the ingredient in her hand to clue the viewer into the idea that she could be adding poison to the plate.  I also added a child’s drawing to provide context of the family situation.

ALP1 Assignment 1 - Environmental Portrait

Environmental Portraits of Montreal Artist, Daniel Colby

Ambient - f/5.6, 1/60s, ISO 1600

Reflector - f/4, 1/40s, ISO 1600

Flash - f/4, 1/15s, ISO 1600
Ambient light meter reading: f/2.8, 1/15s, ISO 1600
Lighting Pattern: Split

These images could be seen in art magazines, especially in artist feature and interview sections. One example of this type of publication would be in Canadian Art Magazine. 

http://www.canadianart.ca

Canadian Art Magazine has a "Faces" section that features artists and/or gallery owners with photographs of the subject in their environment. 

Challenges with the shoot

- The ambient light in parts of the studio was quite dim, despite one large window (the artist was only available in the late afternoon), therefore I had to shoot with a higher ISO and larger aperture then I would have like. 
- Taking time to make the artist feel more comfortable. I wanted to chat with the artist more before the actual shoot to make the artist feel more at ease but I also knew I only had limited time to shoot with adequate ambient natural light. Next time, I would try to organize meetings earlier in the day to allow for more time. 

APD2 Assignment 1 - Figure/Ground

f/11, 1/8s, ISO 800

To create a sense of movement and a more dynamic image, I chose a slow shutter speed (1/8s) to pan and follow the subject. I experimented with different shutter speeds, and I chose a shutter speed with the intent to match the shutter speed with the duration of subject’s movement as I moved the camera to follow the action. The subject is situated approximately at the left one-third hit point, leaving the remaining two-thirds of the blurred space to depict a story of rapid movement. The bright yellow shirt and relative sharpness of the subject in relation to the background make the subject the focal point of the image. 

f/2.8, 1/80s, ISO 800

I chose a large aperture opening (f/2.8) to get a shallow depth of field, separating the subject and making her stand out from the foreground of the bookshelf. I chose a fast shutter speed (1/80s) to freeze her motion and capture the moment. I chose to place sharpness on the subject to make her a focal point, additionally; her dark clothing against the bright white background provides contrast and a balance of light and dark areas of the photograph. I used the position of one of the books to frame the main subject and the bookshelves from the lower vantage point I used, act as leading lines to guide the eye toward the subject.  

f/6.3, 2s, ISO 400

I chose a long exposure (2s) to gain a sense of movement and to capture the trailing lights of the car. I also used a moderately large aperture for a landscape shot (f/6.3) to make the image flat but also limit the shutter speed to reduce the amount of noise. The bright spots of the streetlights, red trailing lights and reflections on the street are focal points that make the photo more dynamic and allow the eye to move around the image. As well, I wanted to capture the mix of colours of light on the street, which provide some contrast and a balance of light and dark with of the lighter yellow tones with the darker bluish toned lights.