Photographic Essay...

I had a few versions of the same image, just trying to play around with text, and even deciding whether I should have text.

This following one was an example of not having any captions, however it doesn't explain itself, my intentions and the concept of this photographic essay, so I decided to place some opaque text onto the image.

This was the product of my opaque text, however despite the image now having an explanation, I thought that the extra caption made the image too busy. So I had my next idea.

I changed the font around this time, and placed the image inside a border. The outcome was generally more desirable, but I thought the font didn't suit the image as a whole. And eventually, I changed the font back for my final product.As a whole, I'm quite pleased with how the images of all eight eyes turned out - kind of revealing, but yet hidden behind the vignetted edges. The edges almost gives the image as a whole a secretive view, and the eye is the centre of it where little bits of personality is revealed. The other thing I felt about the images were that some of the kind of gave me a predatory feel, which was quite interesting.

Zodiac fun facts Part II

and so it continues...

7. Horse:
Dominant colour is green
Fixed element is fire
Equivalent star sign is Gemini
Those born in the year of the horse are skillful, perceptive although they sometimes talk too much. They are very independent people and rarely listens to advice.

8. Ram:
Dominant colour is light blue
Fixed element is fire
Equivalent star sign is Cancer
Those born in the year of the ram are elegant, gentle, compassionate and wise, though at times they may be shy, pessimistic and puzzled about life.

9. Monkey:
Dominant colour is white/violet
Fixed element is metal
Equivalent star sign is Leo
Those born in the year of the monkey are clever, skillful, flexible and have a good memory. They are remarkably inventive and original and can solve the most difficult of problems, however has a short attention span.

10. Rooster:
Dominant colour is white/yellow
Fixed element is metal
Equivalent star sign is Virgo
People born in the year of the rooster are deep thinkers, capable and talented. Rooster people are often a bit eccentric, and thus have rather difficult relationship with others. They frequently are loners and though they give the outward impression of being adventurous, they are generally timid.

11. Dog:
Dominant colour is navy blue
Fixed element is metal
Equivalent star sign is Libra
Those born in the year of the dog have a deep sense of loyalty, are honest and inspire other people's confidence and trust because the know how to keep secrets. However, they can also be quite selfish, stubborn and eccentric. They can also be quite cold emotionally.

12. Pig:
Dominant colour is dark green
Fixed element is water
Equivalent star sign is Leo
Those born in the year of the pig are chivalrous and gallant. Whatever they do, they do with all their strength; they have tremendous fortitude and great honesty. However, they don't make many friends, but when they do, they make them for life as they are extremely loyal.

All information found on here

Zodiac Fun Facts

The Chinese Zodiac consists of 12 different animals - much like the Western one (ie. the Astrological Signs). However since this photo essay only allows for 8-10 photos, I chose 8 of the zodiacs because it was most convenient for me to find people who were of those 8 zodiacs.

All the ones highlighted in White are the zodiacs that I'll be using in my photo essay.

1. Rat:
Dominant colours are red/black/white
Fixed element is water
Equivalent star sign is Sagittarius
Those born in the year of the rat are generally associated with wealth, charm, and order, yet also known for their aggression and love for gossip.

2. Ox:
Dominant colours are yellow/blue
Fixed element is water
Equivalent star sign is Capricorn
Those born in the year of the ox are generally patient, soft-spoken, and reliable, yet they're also known for their stubbornness and can be short-tempered.

3. Tiger:
Dominant colour is green
Fixed element is wood
Equivalent star sign is Aquarius
Those born in the year of the tiger are courageous, competitive and sensitive, however they can be rather rash in their decision making.

4. Rabbit:
Dominant colour is green/peach
Fixed element is wood
Equivalent star sign is Pisces
People born in the year of the rabbit are articulate, talented and ambitious despite being fond of gossip, they're generally kind people who seldom lose their anger.

5. Dragon:
Dominant colour is gold
Fixed element is wood
Equivalent star sign is Aries
Those born in the year of the dragon are perfectionists, idealists, aggressive, determined but they can also be quite short tempered and stubborn.

6. Snake:
Dominant colour is red
Fixed element is fire
Equivalent star sign is Taurus
Those born in the year of the snake are deep, say little, and possess great wisdom. They can sometimes be vain, selfish and a bit stingy except for those who are close to them. However they have tremendous sympathy for others and help those less fortunate.

That's it for now... will continue with the other 6 zodiac signs a little later when I'm free.

Eyes...

So... due to many complications, I had a back up plan just in case my golf theme couldn't be carried out in my photo essay.

Eyes... a friend mentioned doing eyes of my family members and designate a colour to them. However, as I was researching for eyes and the different photos. I came across these ideas of having eyes, however, each eye is not only represented by the colour, but each colour referred to an astrological sign.

Zodiac Eyes by Magica-28

Another image that was similar was this one that I found. Instead of having the same image but with different colours. This artist used different images, and along with the different colours they also used a different design for the eye make up and it gave the image a different feel overall.

Eyes of the Zodiac by xiam-anartform

So, why do eyes? What's so special about eyes?
As many people may have heard the saying that "the eyes don't lie". I personally admit I'm not sure how that works, because I'm pretty sure some people are so good at lying that even their eyes could lie. But that doesn't matter. I still honestly believe that the one feature that really allows people to see into another person is the eyes. The eyes generally convey a great deal of emotion even if it may not show on the person's face, but the eyes may give them away. Hence I chose to do eyes... and not any other parts of a human body.

Lost in my mind

Been having trouble concentrating on one specific thing when everything seems to have a time limit that's running up. Almost as though the brain is currently cluttered with an overload of this to think about, and thus all thoughts have become jumbled as one. I have yet to find time to go out and take those macro shots for my photo essay, which I'm panicking about since I have yet to really start. But uni and life is getting in the way of a simple task of even finding an hour when the sun is still up to go out to the driving range and do my photo shoot. So I've decided that I'm going to get up at 8am tomorrow, bright and early, and go down and do that photo shoot... Hopefully I have just enough time to capture all my photos before I need to head out to yet another group meeting for another subject's assignment.

When has time gone by so fast? Or was it always going at this speed but my mind had not been able to catch up to the pace at which time goes? I don't know, but all I know is I'm falling too far behind and sleep is no longer a top priority for the next week and a few days.

Feeling blue.

Today was an extremely long day, left the house at 9:40am and got home at 10:40pm. Was getting kind of grumpy and feeling kind of blue. After realising that I have much to do before week 12 is all over, I started to have a mild panic attack which did not actually help. After the panic passed by, I just felt blue.

Out of curiosity, I typed in the saying 'feeling blue' into google just to say what comes up. And a list of depression counseling groups. Under google image, many of the images depicts either a sad gloomy scenery or a person looking sad - or in other words 'depressed'.

Lastly for this blue day, I looked up some images on deviantART that really emphasises my overall mood:

Feeling blue by lowapproach

I really love the dark tones and shades used in this photo, and the reflection of the blue in the sky which seems to resonate all throughout the photo is beautiful.

Feeling blue by dEivIDmx

The large amounts of space and openness of this photo along with the dried leafless trees really gives this whole image a very vast loneliness kind of feel. Especially that one tree closest in perspective to us, it seems lonely and distant from the rest of the other trees - almost as if it were alone.

Anyways, that's it for today.

Different Holga Images

Have yet to decide what technique of imaging I might use for my photo essay. But I do know that I want my photographs to be squared. Possibly a Holga imaging technique could be adapted. As the vignetted edges may give my macro shots of golf balls an even more accentuated feel to it.

I also might choose to use colorization in my photographs. Perhaps a black & white photo with only partial things emphasized in green for example. Or I can choose to use a green huge like the following photograph.



On the other hand. The multicolour Holga shots will be considered as the vibrant colours are attractive and somewhat bold due to it's outstanding hues.

Macro Golf...

Some macro shots of the golf ball that I've looked up in google that I might take pointers from for my photo essay.

From here

The golf ball right next to the hole...
From here

Golf ball on tee... focus on the golf ball and tee.
From here

Golf Story board...

The Day in the Life of a Golf Ball.

Despite my lack of technique in drawing, I still attempted at a story board of my images, which will hopefully make my life easier when it's time for me to take the photos.

Backtrack

I always keep forgetting about this. But I guess here it is - works by the artist I chose to write a biography-like report on: Diane Arbus.

Identical Twins, Roselle, New Jersey


Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, NY

Jewish Giant at Home With His Parents in The Bronx, NY

What makes Diane Arbus one of the most influential photographer of the 20th Century? I guess Diane Arbus' ability to capture the strangeness in what is supposedly a ordinary and normal, and on the same note, capture the humanity of life in something that is so exotic and bizarre would be part of the answer. Through her images, she challenged us to the question of "What is normal" - there is no longer a standard blue print of how families and homes should be like.

It was just too bad, and a loss to the photography world that Arbus' creations ended there, as it was seen as some of the most revolutionary images of her time. However, her time ended just too soon - nearly as soon as it 'really' started.

The End of Holidays

Feeling a little unwilling at the moment, don't think anyone would want to go back to school/work after a nice break. I did however manage to design, despite being preoccupied with cousins and parties.

After some hours of tweaking... I guess I'm quite happy with how my machine montage turned out... though the fingers are a tad odd due to the angle of everything, but due to the lack of time, I'll have to make do for now.


Also another plus was I abandoned my initial idea for my political poster, thanks to the inspiration from my cousins since they're both sick. Out of sheer boredom, I took out their medicine for them and started taking photos of it since they were still eating lunch. I did feel bad about playing with their medicine, I'm pretty sure they didn't get any more sick because of me. However, I was quite happy with the outcome of the photos and decided to use it in a postcard.

Machine

I was brainstorming on all the possibilities on how to create a robotic looking hand. Some of the options I came up with was to draw my own, use an image from movies such as Terminator and a few other not quite feasible ideas. But as I was researching on line about this, I came across some machine like humans where people had used photoshop to 'add' metal bits from machines into the body's ligaments and the likes, and used wires as well.

Here are the images I eventually chose to use in my machine hand. Here

And these are the wires I found for my hand. Here

Dreamy days

As I was walking home one day from the gym, out of boredom I looked up into the sunny blue skies above me. It was an exceptionally beautiful day indeed, the weather was not too warm not too cold, a nice breeze would sweep by every once in a while. Even the clouds were quite amazing as they floated slowly and dreamily in the sky. Perhaps it was because I just finished exercising, but I suddenly felt very calm and very content.

I immediately took out my phone and took pictures of this sight... which eventually inspired me for my political design.

Shades of Blue...

Image taken from here

What does BLUE mean? What does it symbolise?

As many who know me well enough would know, blue is my favourite colour, as it is with 50% the general population. So what makes blue such a significantly loved colour? I looked up the meaning of blue and its symbolism in life, and this is some of the significant things I found most useful for my machine montage.

http://www.livingartsoriginals.com/infobluesymbolism.htm

Blue symbolism & Personality:

"In systems which correlate favorite colors with color symbolism, people who wear light blue are said to be analytical and have a practical approach to life. People who wear dark blue are intelligent and self-reliant and take on a great deal of responsibility. In any case, people are comfortable with blue and return to blue again and again."

Blue Symbolism & Multiple Meanings

"Blue symbolism associates blue with freedom, strength and new beginnings. Blue skies are emblematic of optimism and better opportunities. Blue is the color of loyalty and faith. Blue is power. Blue is also the color of protection. Blue symbolism is nearly universal in meaning."

Blue Symbolism & Language

"Something that happens rarely is said to happen "once in a blue moon." Blue symbolism runs the gamut of emotionally-packed meanings. Something that is the best of its kind is "blue ribbon." A person born of royalty or in the upper class is a "blue blood." However, when someone is depressed, they have the "blues.""

Blue Symbolism & Relaxation

"Blue symbolism emphasizes the cooling and relaxing qualities of blue, reminding us of the peace and calmness of night. Midnight night blue has a sedative effect that promotes meditation and intuition. Clear blue is uplifting, but too much dark blue can be depressing. Navy blue can also be associated with restrictive environments."

Image taken from here

First Entry

Okay... So what do most people say in the first entry anyways?

I guess I've been putting off creating myself a blog for a little over a week now, despite this being an assessment for Electronic Imaging & Design. I don't have anything against blogging as I used to blog as well a few years back, but then I eventually forgot about it and all in all just stopped blogging. Anyways, the reason for putting this off may possibly be because I'm still trying to sort out the clutter that is currently in my head for the first assignment, which is a Photomontage of myself as a machine.

I guess it turns out that I don't know myself very well, or at all. I don't have much passion for anything - this prompts a saying in Chinese, which I'll save everyone the trouble of having to translate by not actually saying it aloud or typing it down in this case. One thing I'm sure is that I'm a bit of a contradiction. And in this process of trying to define myself, it seems my friends and family are having just as much trouble trying to define me. Perhaps I'm a bit of a mystery that needs to be solved - that, or I'm just plain, simple and utterly boring.

I'd stick to the fact that I'm a mystery that needs to be solved rather than accept the fact that I may well just be boring. This of course prompts my first idea for this photomontage of mine, the Rubik's Cube.


Which was something I decided on impulse to learn to solve just last year, after giving up once I solved 2 sides over a decade ago. Another reason I finally brought my lazy self to start this blog was reading the brief of my first assignment for another subject, Web3d Technologies. Long story short, it has something to do with the Rubik's Snake. Yes, it seems that it's a sign that the Rubik's Cube is staying in my montage - though I'm still yet to decide the more intricate details of what to do with it.

But at least it's a start, and hopefully I have an epiphany soon enough as my boring uninspired mind isn't helping me any more....