Photograph Assignment 01

Title: “papa’s hat 01” and “papa’s hat 02”
Three descriptive tags: “papa”, “hat”, “baby z”, “first take”

For this assignment each individual was to make a portrait of yourself or another person that attempts to describe aspects of the interior person as well as the exterior. I chose my five-year-old daughter in a spur of the moment shot. I feel that the photograph captures the curiosity and playfulness she radiates on a daily basis.

The shot is clearly out of focus. This would be my first fix if I had the opportunity. Not to make excuses – but it is hard to capture a moment without looking posed. She is a natural but she is also a little wiggle worm. To get her to sit still was a task in itself.

For the classroom, the self-portrait would be a great introduction assignment for the students. There is so much one can learn and so much that one can capture in a photograph. Each student could take someone else’s portrait and write a narrative based upon the image. Just a thought.

Photograph Assignment 01 File

Photograph Assignment 02

Title: “dem bones”

Three descriptive tags: “close-up”, “bones”, “grass”

For this assignment each individual was to choose a different mode (other than portrait mode) for his or her photograph. Looking at all the modes available, I choose to use the close up mode with my newly acquired tripod. In the empty lot next to my house my children and I stumbled upon some white washed weather worn dog bones in some over grown grass. Using the tripod I took several pictures of the bones choosing the one I felt had the best contrast in color and one that was in focus. With this said, I enjoyed the shot and finally had the opportunity to try a new mode on my garage sale camera.

As far as improving the shot, I probably could have zoned in – or should I say zoomed in – on bone in particular and really utilized the close-up feature of the camera. I could have also changed angles, maybe shot more directly above or even ground level. That would be pretty cool.

Educational setting – this is probably a tough one that needs some thought. The photograph could easily be used to show the decomposing process in a science classroom. Although somewhat sick sounding, students could use their camera to show the different stages of decomposition in a natural environment. Not sure how happy parents would be with their sons and daughters taking pictures of road kill – but it would be interesting.

Photograph Assignment 02 File

Photograph Assignment 03

Title: “Meter Man”
Three descriptive tags: “depth of field”, “meter”, “field”, “green”

This has been the most difficult shot and assignment thus far. I am still grasping the idea of depth of field using the textbook and internet sources I think I have accomplished my mission though not as well as I could have. With a point and shoot camera – as the one I have – the textbook explained it is difficult with point-and-shoot cameras to achieve separation between foregrounds and backgrounds. My hope was that the line of the house naturally dividing the photograph in halves would achieve this. Not sure how it went though.

I feel that this assignment definitely shed light on the subject of depth of field. Although I feel that with control of my aperture I would have valued this assignment quite a bit more – you work with what you have got. As far as what I could have done to improve the shot, the answer is countless and far too comprehensive to list – to put it bluntly – I have quite a bit to learn on this subject area. Finding a suitable target was difficult, lighting was difficult, color was difficult, understanding the concept was difficult, et cetera.

This is definitely an important lesson to be taught in any educational setting and one that requires hands-on attention. I would definitely have my students roam around the school snapping photos and exploring the depth of field captured with each photo. Maybe a depth of field photo journal in itself would be required. Different depths of field for different folks. As syntax is difficult when looking at language – depth of field is difficult when looking and photo composition. Both equally difficult and uniformly important.

Photograph Assignment 03

Photograph Assignment 04

Title: “Musician’s Friend”
Three descriptive tags: “music”, “bass”, “tattoos”, “three layers”

Since I have yet to post a Photograph with more than two layers I choose to play around a bit. I enjoyed taking two original photos and manipulating them in PhotoShop adding a third layer of color to enhance the tonality of the shot. I truly enjoyed this assignment allowing me to play around with the artistic side of photo editing. These are the projects I live for.

I really like the outcome of the photo and am not real sure what I could do to improve the shot. Maybe – If I think really hard on this one – I could have added another original photo (for example a close-up of my eye or face or lack of hair). I could have played around with the colors as well trying different combinations and such.

I have always been a fan of music and art and feel – just as the Pre-Raphaelite movement of the Victorian era did – that music art and literature work well together. I would use this photograph to spark discussion about tone and mood – how the choice of imagery and color reflect the title. I would have my students look at the language of the photograph using OPTIC (O - is for overview - write down a few notes on what the visual appears to be about. P - is for parts-zero in on the parts of the visual. Write down any elements or details that seem important. T - is for title-highlight the words of the title of the visual (if one is available). I - is for interrelationships-use the title as the theory and the parts of the visual as clues to detect and specify the interrelationships in the graphic. C - is for conclusion--draw a conclusion about the visual as a whole. What does the visual mean? Summarize the message of the visual in one or two sentences.) and use for discussion. This – of course – would be for a High School English class – the only class I know how to teach.

Photograph Assignment 04

Photograph Assignment 05

Title: “March of the Penguins”
Three descriptive tags: “shadows”, “penguins”, “lines”, “mints”

At first I was going to use this photo for the "rule of thirds" assignment - but after looking at the depth of the shadows - light - all from the natural light gleaming into the room I figured it added a good sort of contrast against the grain of the wood - lines of the tin - et cetera. Because of this, I felt that it could easily fit into the “Light and Shadow” assignment as it captures the natural light well and creates some contrasting shadows emphasizing the affect of light on the subject – in this case the penguin.

For a point and shoot camera I like the final product. The colors turned out well and I only had to slightly tweak the levels. I could have placed the penguin further up the shot to capture its shadow beyond the tin – or maybe add some artificial light to enhance the shadows of the penguin. Maybe even change the angle to capture the shadow of the tin as well.

Everything is an argument. For this reason I would return to the OPTIC (Overview-Parts-Title-Interrelationships-Conclusion) activity and try to discover what the argument is. I would then have my students look closely at the title of the photograph and then come up with some alternate titles for the shot. We could then discuss how the title of a photograph can skew an audience interpretation of meaning. Then of course I would have them bring in photographs of their own to discuss.

Photograph Assignment 05

Photograph Assignment 06

Title: “Buried Alive”
Three descriptive tags: “beach”, “boy”, “sand”, “buried”

The “Rule of Thirds” – such a great concept and a simple solution to taking a good if not great picture if one applies it well. The only issue is figuring out where the thirds are. I am sure there are cameras out there that will layout a whole grid for you. In time – and with practice – I am sure it will come more easily. I took several pictures trying to get the right coordinates (not sure if this is the best word).

I learned quite a bit about the “Rule of Thirds” through trial and error. In the end I feel the photograph turned out well. I could have tweaked the levels a bit more and – with the sand an amber sort of dirty blonde – the brightness is somewhat overwhelming. The model was a good one and the pale color of the skin was quite reflective – I am sure I could tweak this as well.

I am going to think of a math teacher here – for some reason I have math on my brain – and think WWAMTD (what would a math teacher do)? The “Rule of Thirds” would be a great way to show how math works in relationship to the composition of art. Funny how every subject dabbles and dances with art and yet we Americans are so ready to throw it to the wayside – sorry for the rant here. Anyway, students could easily divide any picture (photograph, print, illustration, et cetera) into thirds and determine what the focal point – what the center of attention is – and how this influences the audience. I bet this would work great in advertising.

Photograph Assignment 06

Photograph Assignment 07

Title: “Lightning Flashes”
Three descriptive tags: “night time”, “no flash”, “sparklers”

Seeing how it was the Fourth of July – photographs of fireworks or sparklers seemed to be a good choice. Problem was – the idea, concept, technicality of it all went smoothly in thought but proved to be a difficult monster in practice. Sparklers, sparklers, sparklers, need I say more.

First I had to figure how to make this point and shoot camera of mine work in firework mode without a flash. Then – of course – catching the subject (my daughter in this case) and the beloved sparkler in action. No flash, longer shutter speed, the nature of light, and movement all taken inconsideration I clicked the button and crossed my fingers as the processing hourglass filled. This is one of many that I took and one of the few that somewhat turned out that is until the camera’s juice ceased and the sparklers faded. I am somewhat happy with the final product here. The trail is cool, the spin neat, but – as others have suggested – the light from the window distracts. I tried to PhotoShop the window out but too much of the sparkler would just not look right – not quite at the professional level yet.

Back to the OPTIC (Overview-Parts-Title-Interrelationships-Conclusion) activity and try to discover what the argument is. I would then have my students look closely at the Interrelationships of the parts of the photograph – the sparkler trail, the light, the circle, and such and then determine how they work together on contrast each other. We could then discuss how interrelationships help one focus on meaning and argumentation. Then of course I would have them bring in photographs of their own to discuss.

Photograph Assignment 07 File

Photograph Assignment 08

Title: “Will You Still Love Me When All of This is Gone”
Three descriptive tags: “post apocalyptic”, “generation x”, “gas mask”, “shadows”

For starts – this was a blast to make. It seems I have been reading quite a bit lately and of my reading this post apocalyptic theme flashes off the pages blinding and melting and imploding the walls around me. So I thought of the horrific, the eerie, the melancholy for this assignment. I used layering and some creative filters to achieve the mood and tone of dystopian justice.

Layers – I kind of feel that I over did this one. It was very difficult to work with text – what part of the image should or could you cover, how big should you make the text. Then – of course – should you use text at all? Will it change the meaning? What should be the focal point? Difficult choices to make and ones I did not take lightly. With all that said, there is too much to mention as far as what I could fix, change, and enhance.

Could we use the OPTIC (Overview-Parts-Title-Interrelationships-Conclusion) activity once again. Since there are so many parts to this photograph – gas mask, shadows, color, text, et cetera - I would then have my students look closely at each part of the photograph individually and explain how the picture would change if one removed one or more of the individual parts. We could then discuss how the parts of a photograph can skew an audience interpretation of meaning. Then of course I would have them bring in photographs of their own to discuss.

Photograph Assignment 08 FIle

Photograph Assignment 09

Title: “Wichita Lineman”
Three descriptive tags: “Utility Pole”, “Ant’s View”, “Point-of-View”

Lying down in the dirt was interesting at best. I do not think much about ants and other little creepy crawlies in the scheme of things but now have a slight – if not skewed – sense of how the world looks to them. Luckily I only ran into one or two of them while invading their turf – no need to worry no multiple legging beasties were hurt in the process.

This was a great assignment as to how our eyes see things, empathy, and the world outside of our own bubble. It is interesting how much the angle – point-of-view – of a shot can change the meaning completely. Is it one of submission, equality, dominance, belittling, the words are endless. Getting a stable focused picture was very difficult from this viewpoint. I could have gone even lower and moved towards a steeper angle.

Point-of-View – a great lead into literature and all that it encompasses. I am trying to stick with the OPTIC (Overview-Parts-Title-Interrelationships-Conclusion) activity here as to create an overall unit. So – with this in mind – the class would focus on the interrelationship of point-of-view, artistic interpretation, and meaning. Some questions could include: What point-of-view is displayed? How does this help one interpret the photograph? How does angles change the point-of-view? Would it matter what point-of-view was used? We could then discuss how the point-of-view of a photograph can skew an audience interpretation of meaning. Then of course I would have them bring in photographs of their own to discuss.

Photograph Assignment 09 File

Photograph Assignment 10

Title: “How Many Fingers?”
Three descriptive tags: “Ambiguous Space”, “Tea”, “Fingers”, “Bunny Ears”

This was probably the most difficult assignment to date. Ambiguous by definition is ambiguous making the shot difficult. I pondered, I confused myself, I pondered some more, made some tea, and took the shot. As far as I can tell the fuzzy, close-up, fingers in the tea approach met the assignments requirements – ambiguous I think.

I relationship to what this assignment meant to me, I would have to answer once again I was forced into “I must look outside the box” approach – this of course is a wonderful thing as I am not much for the comfort of my own bubble when it comes to learning and stagnation (besides the smell) is not one of my favorites. As for change, try to focus on the edge just a bit – maybe try different lighting approaches, maybe even different angles. Who knows – maybe scrap the whole thing and turn to the clouds.

Ambiguity is always a wonderful subject in the English classroom. For this we return to the OPTIC (Overview-Parts-Title-Interrelationships-Conclusion) activity focusing in on the conclusion. How many different meanings can we find? What could or would change the meaning? Looking at your own thinking (Metacognition) how did you come up with the meaning? These are just a few questions to focus on. We could then discuss how the ambiguity of a photograph can skew an audience interpretation of meaning. Then of course I would have them bring in photographs of their own to discuss.

Photograph Assignment 10 File