Texture, Line and Pattern

Some of the most basic elements of art captured in photography. I used these pictures as quick, edited examples in a class project that was meant to capture those three elements. One could very well argue that these photos contain more than one element. This was case, as critical thinking is an essential to higher learning. What the kids created is absolutely fantastic.

Pattern

Pattern

Lines

Texture

Macro Photography with Androids

I recently taught a short unit on macro (or micro) photography, asking students to get up close and personal to their subject and capture an amazing shot. What has been interesting is the fact that each student has a different type of camera. Some using their phones, others simple point-and-shoot cameras, and others with more advanced DSLR cameras. Regardless the type, each student was able to capture a close-up shot that included some shallow depth of field.

Now, most of the time when I'm on walking field trips with students, I never get the chance to take photos myself. I usually spend my time assisting students, reviewing photos, and giving praise. This time, however, I was able to catch a few shots with my Motorola Atrix phone. I never realized this phone could take such good pictures!

Amazingly enough, phone cameras these days are capable of capturing shallow depth of field.  Mark, an awesome photographer at Adorama TV, best describes in his video on depth of field, how you can capture shallow depth of field, even if you don't have a super fancy camera.

1. Aperture
1. It's hard to change the aperture setting on a standard point-and-shoot, let alone a phone camera.
2. Focal Length
1. Zooming is definitely possible on a phone.  I would suggest not zooming in too much, as the image will decrease due to pixelation.
3. Distance from Subject
1. You can always move closer to your subject and focus your shot without even having to adjust aperture and focal length.

Stuck in some muck...

I really enjoy listening to music while I attempt to complete this work sample. It's hard though! I have a very hard time double-tasking. I love music so much, so anything I hear that's new to my ears I instantly perk up and forget that I was working on school stuff. Here's a poem that popped up on Slacker Radio, and I'm not sure if it was part of a song, or just a random insert of poetry in my radio station. Either way I really enjoyed it. Where is this from?! (I'm way out of the loop)

Butter/Lost by M. Doughty

Against hands, a smooth
is smoothed around
and skin
rushes up to it,
cooing sweat like a whistle
defecting a steampipe.

Oiled, the machine chuffs
and the brain is dry, and the nerves
scurry off with messages to no one
in charge, while this equals this:
two arms locked into each other
are without a mind to differentiate
between limbs and hips, therefore,
I have come here to get lost.

DMF Final Project - The Book !

CLICK HERE FOR .PDF

What a fun project!

The Mishapventures of Picard and Jesus

Here you will see a very short stop-animation
video my roomates and I put together.
We hope to make some more videos that include
more realistic animation. It was a blast to make.

El Homage

Table of Contents Exercise

Made in InDesign. This marks the first time using this program, and I must say, I do like it! Having experience with other Adobe products made the process a bit easier. I do like the snapping features this program has, especially when in reference to other objects on the stage. Very neat!

Movie (?) Poster

I don't quite think this is a movie poster, but it's for that assignment. Simple shapes, and lines. I believe highly influenced by the Stenberg Brothers. It's missing something though....so, this is rough draft #1.

More Collage

This was a very fun creation. It took a while to figure out what images to use, and though I could continue working on this, I figure I'll just put it down for now and post it up. I found most of the images on the web, with a minor exception in respect to the crows. I found an image and used Live Outline in AI, which created a nice, smooth vector-based image. I don't quite like the cup there, but I figured what the hell, I'll leave it.

Picture the "Other"

How does one approach a man donned with a gas mask?




Cary Verfully.






At least he smiled for the camera.

First Collage

Birth Machine - H.R. Giger

phallic metal arrows gun bullets grey children

A week ago my roomate Dan suggested I look at some artwork by H.R. Giger that I could evaluate for DMF. Now, I have seen all four of Ridley Scott's fantastic sci-fi thrillers, but I was not aware that H.R. Giger designed the characters. I really like his surreal sci-fi/cyberpunk style, and I'm surprised I've never seen his artwork before. This piece, titled "Birth Machine", specifically called my attention. What looks like mutated children wait patiently in a cold, metal chamber, ready to be fired off (takes this to a whole new level), armed with what I can only assume are Philips screwdrivers. Or flatheads. (Update: after proper examination I realized those things are rifles. How's that for double meaning...or is it triple?)

I'm thinking that in a world based on ideas in Giger's head, this is how children are born. Perhaps these little soldiers are the saviors of humanity.

As Lennon once sang:

"When I hold you in my arms
and I feel my finger on your trigger
I know no one can do me no harm
because happiness is a warm gun"

Alphabet Soup - Post-Haste-Edit

Alphabet Soup - Pre-Edit

Scratch Art #3

The future of Drive-Thru!