Monday, October 29, 2012
Sunday, October 14, 2012
THIS WEEK'S MAS110 MONDAY OCT 15 LAB IS POSTPONED
Hi all,
Sorry, I'm still not recovered and would only deliver a less than best tutorial for you tomorrow, which I don't want to do, not to mention risk your health, which I don't want to do either. I hope all went well for your photo essays and I look forward to seeing you again, instead, the following Monday, Oct 22, same time, same place for the first of our computer game design workshops. By then you'll have enjoyed the first lecture introducing the topic, so should hopefully already have some ideas about how to approach the next project. It's a good one.
See you then.
sincere regards,
Bronwin
Friday, October 12, 2012
Photo Essay: Anthony Teasdale and Holly Warren
The Everyday
Aesthetic: metal and rusted metal
Anthony Teasdale (41795997) and
Holly Warren (42820944)
Metals, and more specifically rusted metals, exemplify the everyday aesthetic highlighted by media academics such as Yuriko Saito (2007), Thomas Leddy (2012) and Susan Murray (2008).
Murray (2008) delves into the modern photographic movement
that seeks to illuminate the inherent beauty in the mundane details of daily
life, and notes that one popular subject for photo sharers is decay and alienation
in the urban and industrial landscape.
Cockatoo Island provided a plethora of rusted objects, and
from a huge array of photographs, the chosen twenty-four aimed to both carry
the theme and to demonstrate the broad possibilities of the theme, with each
frame depicting a different rusted metal article. Indeed, our exercise in photo
selection mirrored the compilation and comparison process that Murray (2008, p
140) observes is captivating photo sharers in themed photo groups.
There were some ordering considerations that came into play.
Pictures featuring a circular subject, for example bolts, were separated from
one another, to increase the sense of diversity of rusted metals.
The trend taken to while editing the pictures was one that
sought to accentuate warmth. After experimentation, it became clear that
enhancing the inherent warm colours of rust emphasised the already striking
visuals of the subject. This was achieved primarily through adjusting the
saturation level, and in some instances, by modifying the temperature of
pictures. The contrast, definition and sharpness were also altered in an effort
to emphasise the visual disparity between the object itself and its oxidation.
The video intends to deliver notions of simplicity and melancholy.
The pictures of things once significant for human use, now rusted and idle
convey the notion of dereliction and alienation. Despite their corrosion, or
indeed because of their corrosion, these ordinary objects have an allure that
the everyday aesthetic celebrates. The style of the slideshow was designed to
harmonise with the theme of alienated but beautiful objects, using minimal
visual effects and opting for a moderated panning across the photos. The choice
of chilled ambient music infused with a lugubrious air by Italian instrumental
artists Blukaos accords with the
tone of the slideshow.
The fifth photo from the end of the slideshow can be taken
to embody the everyday aesthetic. This approach to photography, because it pays
attention to seemingly ordinary things in the day-to-day world, can appreciate
the beauty in a large rusted box with a small hole in it. Peering through that
small hole, three tiny holes on the other side of the box can be seen, the
sun’s rays illuminating them. If one thinks to peer through the hole in a
corroded old box, it can be seen as the visually striking thing that it truly
is. As Murray (2008) notes, the everyday aesthetic is one where individuals
possessing any degree of photographic experience and skill, are encouraged to
find the beauty in the everyday.
Bibliography
Murray, S (2008) Digital Images, Photo-Sharing and Our Shifting
Notions of Everyday Aesthetics, Journal of Visual Culture, Vol. 7 No.
2, pp 147-163.
Mandoki, K 2007, Everyday Aesthetics: Prosaics, the
Play of Culture and Social Identities, Ashgate Publishing Company, Aldershot
United Kingdom.
Leddy, T 2012, The Extraordinary in the Ordinary: The Aesthetics of
Everyday Life, Broadview Press, Ontario.
Saito, Y 2007, Everyday Aesthetics, Oxford University
Press, Oxford.
Photo Essay: Kristen Nolan & Vanessa Portelli
MAS 110- 'Everyday Aesthetics' Photo Essay: Kristen Nolan & Vanessa Portelli
Sub-theme: Painted bricks
Rationale
The use and distribution of digital
photography via online media platforms has altered the way individuals perceive
‘everyday’ objects. According to Murray (2008), images of the small and mundane
are increasingly being portrayed in a fleeting manner due to their ability to make
reference to more ordinary moments in life. Our photo essay responds to the
notion of ‘everyday’ aesthetics as bricks are often known for their practical
qualities and are not typically considered beautiful. Therefore we intended to emphasise
the beautiful aspects of painted bricks that often go unnoticed.
Many of the bricks
captured display urban beauty through aged, flaking paint. When capturing these
images, various close angled shots were used to display depth of field and to
emphasis textural elements. The
utilisation of Iphoto allowed us to employ various effects to our images. This
enabled us to enhance a ‘mundane’ object by drawing upon its beautiful qualities.
Selecting music is important as it
ties together the piece whilst reflecting the overall theme and mood. We decided
that music containing a strong, syncopated and accented beat would match our
selected theme most accurately. Therefore, we selected a ‘Reggae’ piece called
Dance Cleopatra by ZamalSka (2009) which allowed us to edit our images in
conjunction with the music. This creates interest which reinforces the idea of
transforming the mundane.
Similarly coloured bricks were placed
together when deciding on the progression of images, therefore establishing unity. Firstly, milder hues were used followed by bold blues and reds
to relay the rhythmic consistency and pronounced beats featured towards
the end of the music. Lastly, the image at 00:28:20
reiterates our theme and sub-theme by portraying an outcast painted brick
amongst a cluster of regular bricks.
Transitional effects were implemented
and timed in conjunction with the music to create interest. The mosaic transition
at 00:22:24 is relevant as it features rectangular shapes similar to that of
bricks. The use of Ken Burns emphasises striking elements and highlights beauty
that is often over looked.
Reference list:
Murray, S. (2008) ‘Digital Images,
Photo-Sharing, and Our Shifting Notions of Everyday Aesthetics’, Journal of Visual Culture, vol. 7, no.
147, pp. 131-148.
Music:
“Dance Cleopatra” courtesy of
ZamalSka, 2009: Available at http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/488291/dance-cleopatra, published under a Creative Commons
Attribution, ShareAlike 3.0 Unreported Licence, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/, accessed 8.10.12.
PHOTO ESSAY - BICYCLE WHEELS (Monica & Athanasia)
Monica Fraga (42845912)
Athanasia Bakopoulos (42113865)
THEME: WHEELS
SUB-THEME: BICYCLE WHEELS
Rationale
Through
advancements of technology, social media sites such as Flickr are currently
representing a shift and change in the way people relate to the everyday image.
These images have “become less about special or rarefied moments … and more
about … ones discovery of the small and mundane” (Murray 2008: 151), which
represents this new movement of everyday aesthetics.
With
the theme of bicycle wheels we were able to depict and illustrate our
understanding on focusing on the everyday objects that we habitually take for
granted through our creating of a photo essay consisting of 24 images.
Bicycle wheels represent movement, time and continuance, which we
wanted to demonstrate through our photo essay. By altering and editing photos from saturated and warm tones to black and white tones we were able to
demonstrate a change from day to night that depict the movement of these
bicycle wheels. More so, we captured these very mundane objects at different
angles to further illustrate this movement. By capturing images closer and
further away from the wheels, our understanding of everyday aesthetics was
shaped as we see the objects portrayed in different and creative ways, thus adding
beauty to the ordinary.
BrunoXe's '90s break' has added a unique element to the photo essay. The instrumental and long
tones of the music further support the wheels portrayal of time and continuance.
These aspects
of photo editing, stylization and music all support the notion of everyday
aesthetics of framing the small and mundane objects within our environment and
our lives.
Music:
'90s break' courtesy of BrunoXe:
Available at http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/379203/90s-break, published
under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/, Accessed: 08/10/12
Journal:
Murray, S, 2008, 'Digital Image, Photo
Sharing, and Our Shifting Notions of Everyday Aesthetics', Journal of Visual
Culture, vol:7, iss: 2, pp. 147-163.
Take a seat... Emma Grimley and Karina Marlow
Theme: Chairs
Sub-Theme: Outdoor Chairs
"Take
a seat..." If you do, for just a moment, you will discover beauty in
the minute details of one of life's most commonplace pieces of
furniture; the outdoor chair. In our photo essay the diverse textures,
shapes and colours of outdoor chairs are used to create interest and to
highlight the beauty in the everyday. By reflecting the evolution of
leisure photography we have emphasised the modern style of "rather
fleeting, display and collection of one's discovery and framing of the
small and mundane" (Murray, 2008, 147).
Over-exposure and stark
contrasts were used to reveal smaller details and texture. Occasionally
sharpness was increased to achieve the same effect. Close-up shots draw
the eye to the unique features of certain chairs such as hessian fabric
or the wood grain of a bench whereas wider angle shots were used to
place the chair in its urban setting and emphasise the peace of mind and
quiet contemplation associated with the act of sitting down in a
familiar place.
Blue hues and less exposure were applied to
earlier photographs in the sequence to create cool tones which gradually
become warmer as the sequence unfolds. To achieve this, saturation and
brighter colours were increased which compliments the building of the
musical score.
The acoustic, folk sound and simple lyrics of
Brynn's "Giraffe" gives the essay a childish sense of adventure and
invites the viewer to take a moment to appreciate the delicate textures
and structural elements of the chairs that we had chosen. The strong
musical beats give emphasis and interest to the timing of our photo
sequence, also complimenting the playful element of discovery involved
in the film.
We hope that next time you take a seat, you also take the time to appreciate the beauty that so obviously is contained within.
MAS110 Photo Essay: John Mathews (42886767) & Jonathan Saad (42861012)
MAS110 PHOTO ESSAY SKYSCRAPERS:
John Mathews & Jonathan Saad
Our theme, Skyscrapers, is aimed to shed a
new light on the ‘everyday atheistic’ on societies common and un-recognized
beauties. It hopes to portray how society should concentrate on these marvelous
mega-structures not as common aspects to society but rather an achievement in
not only architecture but engineering as well.
Researching the artistic developments and representation of structures I stumbled across a quote by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe “I call architecture frozen music.” The methods in which the buildings are designed whether being old or modern are all have a sense of fluency and patterns to them that seem to create a composition, just like a song. This is what’s is attempted through the editing and framing of the photos as each one represents the shape or the patterned structure designed for the skyscraper. The texture is amplified through black and white edits as well as being highly contrasted against the sky as well as the different shading of the buildings windows and structural elements.
Researching the artistic developments and representation of structures I stumbled across a quote by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe “I call architecture frozen music.” The methods in which the buildings are designed whether being old or modern are all have a sense of fluency and patterns to them that seem to create a composition, just like a song. This is what’s is attempted through the editing and framing of the photos as each one represents the shape or the patterned structure designed for the skyscraper. The texture is amplified through black and white edits as well as being highly contrasted against the sky as well as the different shading of the buildings windows and structural elements.
The soundtrack for the video was composed
using apples royalty free software GarageBand. Apple remix jam pack was used;
the jam pack is an additional 2000 loops for the software. It took time
searching through hundreds of drum, synthesizer and techno loops before
ultimately choosing the appropriate sounds that would suit the theme. The track
was intended to be very surreal which appeals to the black and white nature;
also timing was key in getting it down to 30 seconds. Later upon layer of
instruments were made (5 instrument loops were used), speaker adjustments were
also made so that one of the techno loops would come out of the left speaker
only. Certain sounds were more dominant in the volume control, while others
remained much quieter in the background.
Music composed by John Mathews on GarageBand Loops
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (2012) “I call architecture frozen music.” Viewed the 20 September 2012, Accessed via: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/johannwolf109108.html
Photo Essay- Taps- Matt Bradley Keith Allen
With a main theme of “Taps” and a sub-theme of “Water” we were able to capture the everyday aesthetic through the use of new media such as the iPhone and iPhoto & iMovie production software. The music was recorded and arranged by us allowing more creative control of the work, meaning that we could present a more personal final product. The process of communication was achieved by showing water taps (an everyday item) through the “Everyday Image”, discovering the “small and mundane”. Water taps surround society, and being residents of Sydney meant we each didn’t have to walk very far outside our own homes to find an endless supply of snapshot aesthetics. The practice of taking the photos quickly became a pleasing leisure activity, one that could easily be continued on a daily basis, tap hunting eventually seemed to be an excited “exploration of the urban eye” rather than the visual content of an assessment. The photos were uploaded to iPhoto and minimal editing techniques were added including colour grading and contrast enhancement. Starting with over 150 photos we were able to swiftly find the 24 most suitable shots, all these selected photos attain both warm shades and boosted colour tones and once they all appeared within the same warm-sunburnt colour scheme they were added to the iMovie project. The iMovie production techniques that have been used are simple cross dissolves between image frames; all photos have ken burns that were edited to show a pleasing display of the shots, and each individual frame has a unique clip duration to sync with the soundtrack. The end credits were added through the title browser templates and made it a challenge to fit all slide frames in without turning a disaster.
Photo Essay - Urbanature - Raymond Gajitos (42857104) and Upashna Solanki (42882737)
Theme: Trees
Sub-theme: City Trees
Rationale:
The primary reasoning behind how we’ve produced the video is the idea
that trees have become displaced from nature, resulting in their relocation to
heavily urban areas, such as cities. While in nature, trees would have
demonstrated a sense of being a spectacular and wondrous sight for all to
behold. In some areas of the city, it is also evident that trees do indeed maintain
a significant presence, particularly in areas such as Darling Harbour.
Our video seeks to present this idea as having changed, with the presence of trees diminishing in a way that they are relegated to the background, and form part of the ‘everyday aesthetic’ (Murray 2008, p. 151). To emphasise this, we also incorporated shots taken throughout the city that portray trees as essentially being ‘swallowed up’ by the city.
This is evident in our video through the transition from shots of vibrant, leafy trees with buildings slightly visible in the background to a sequence of black and white shots that present the notion that nature has become lost, integrated amongst the plain office buildings and features of the city. In one particular shot in our video, a small tree is seen alongside a pedestrian walking sign, likening the tree to that sign and serving to show how trees become little more than minor features of the cityscape. While the trees maintained a dominant presence of the early, coloured photos, we sought to slowly reduce their presence until our final shot, showing several trees that are barely distinguishable against the background.
Our selection of accompanying music further serves to emphasise this change, beginning with a relaxing tune that fades out, replaced by a darker tune that also fades out in the end, as too does the final image.
Our video seeks to present this idea as having changed, with the presence of trees diminishing in a way that they are relegated to the background, and form part of the ‘everyday aesthetic’ (Murray 2008, p. 151). To emphasise this, we also incorporated shots taken throughout the city that portray trees as essentially being ‘swallowed up’ by the city.
This is evident in our video through the transition from shots of vibrant, leafy trees with buildings slightly visible in the background to a sequence of black and white shots that present the notion that nature has become lost, integrated amongst the plain office buildings and features of the city. In one particular shot in our video, a small tree is seen alongside a pedestrian walking sign, likening the tree to that sign and serving to show how trees become little more than minor features of the cityscape. While the trees maintained a dominant presence of the early, coloured photos, we sought to slowly reduce their presence until our final shot, showing several trees that are barely distinguishable against the background.
Our selection of accompanying music further serves to emphasise this change, beginning with a relaxing tune that fades out, replaced by a darker tune that also fades out in the end, as too does the final image.
Bibliography
Music: “Already There (Instrumental Version)” courtesy of Josh Woodward: available at http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/764954/already-there-instrumental-version, published under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/, accessed 9/10/12
Murray, S (2008) "Digital Images, Photo-sharing, and Our Shifting Notions of Everyday Aesthetics" in Journal of Visual Culture, vol. 7(2), pp. 147-163
Photo Essay - Tristan Black (42736102) and Kevin Quach (42879868)
Photo Essay
Tristan Black (42736102) and
Kevin Quach (42879868)
Theme: Bottles
Sub-theme: Textures
Rationale
The most popular images on
Flickr are often those of the mundane (Murray, 2008). Bottles are a commonplace,
everyday object that we wouldn’t ordinarily think to photograph. We were
particularly intrigued by the variety of textures worked into the design of the
glass and plastic of various bottles, as well as the array shapes and colours. This
subtheme has assisted in our engagement with the everyday image; “the types of
images that we can create or engage with on a regular basis that evoke or
reference the more ordinary or frequent moments of our lives.” (Murray, 2008,
p.151). By exploring the textures in bottles and engaging with the fine detail
of the ordinary, we were able to create aesthetic beauty in the mundane.
We took photos of unexciting bottles that weren’t
necessarily pristine to enhance the idea of the mundane. For
example, dust is visible on the image of the Coca-Cola bottle, and scratches in
the plastic are visible in the shot of the base of a plastic bottle lit from
behind.
Popular images “either hint at or blatantly refer to
their creator’s work and home life” (Murray, 2008 p. 155). For this reason, we took
photos in the setting of our homes or familiar spaces. An example of this is
the image where leaves are the bottle's texture. This image (which is
actually of a vinegar bottle) has the backdrop of a view of blue sky and
greenery out of a window, hinting at the composer’s view out of a window in
their personal dwelling.
We experimented with different lighting states. The photos of plastic bottles, especially those of the
base of the Mount Franklin bottle and the side of the Schweppes bottle, were
taken at different stages of the sun’s descent in the sky. The different
natural lighting states, assisted by the sky's hues brought out these
finer details in the textures of bottles beautifully. We were also able to
create darkness and definition in the patterns of plastic bottles through
photography in dark places with a limited scope of artificial light. This was a
technique that helped us to bring out the details in the everyday image.
Different angles were also used to highlight texture. For
example, if you are ever confused as to what the photo is, it is probably
the case that we have photographed straight down the neck of a bottle.
‘Transparent Grooves’ was composed to represent the twists,
grooves, and other patterns in glass and plastic of bottles through multiple
layers of acoustic piano and the blues scale. Upper octaves were accentuated
to represent the high ringing of glass.
Sources
Murray, S (2008) Digital
Images, Photo-Sharing and Our Shifting Notions of Everyday Aesthetics, Journal of Visual Culture, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp 147-163.
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