The full Potential of the House

If only we were SMALL...

For my final project my goal was to create miniature scenes of skateboarders skating items found around the house. Kind of of what fufilling a fantasy of what I would do if i was small during the harsh Michigan winters. For all my photos the two most important elements are lighting and scale. I wanted to portray a sense of realism with light and shadow, but then ground it, by showing a very small object that was large in scale.

For this photo I really tried to challenge myself by having the board be separated from the skater. This was achieved by taking a wire and hanging both the skater and the board from the wire independent of one another. I also tried to incorporate a different sense of lighting for this image by adding a small l.e.d light. It really give the photo a "night time" feel that I enjoy. I incorporated shoes into the composition to achieve the element of scale, and because shoes are a very important and essential part of skateboarding.

[mini Steeze]

[miniSTEEZE]

Blog prompt 25

bLOG{25]
Write a detailed description of your “motivations” for your final self-proposed project. Why are you interested in this subject? What do you want to convey? How do you want viewers to respond? Why are you inspired to make these images/this project? Do you want to evoke emotions in viewers? Shock viewers? Make them laugh? Make them think? Inform them? Reveal something about how you see the world? Reveal something about yourself, a person, a place, a feeling, a memory, a moment in time?

Skateboarding is a very huge part of my life and has been for quite sometime. Anytime I can implement it into a school assignment is a great privilege and i always try to take advantage of it.  I think there is a lot more to skateboarding then how it is portrayed by popular culture. Skateboarders are generally seen as punks, where I see them as incredibly athletic artists who use the urban landscape to create breath taking moments in photography and film. I want to capture and expose this beauty on a highly manipulable miniature scale.

[5] constructed Reality Finals

For my social critique prompt I really wanted to do something that would revisit the BP oil spill. It is something that continues to affect our environment and is hardly touched on in the news. I needed to capture a large body of water and some BP imagery which was quite the challenge here in Michigan.  I went to Lake Lansing which is the largest body of water in the area and photographed the lake. I also passed a BP on the way there and took several photos of both the gas station and its customers. I masked off the water and darkened the water quite a bit in order to show an dark oily water. I also lightened the sky a little bit to cast a sort of polluted mood. I then placed a BP gas sign in the center of the lake do to represent the high amount of BP oil in the water and how it would be easily accessibly.

Part 2: 

Interpretation: Students in-class definetly understood the imagery as an oil spill created by b.p.

Evaluation: During class critique it was brought up that i had darkened the water to much, and that it might have been much more affective to rather darken the highlights.  The water may be a touch extreme, but i'm not sure if highlights would produce the desired effect.

Extension: Social critique is very important, and needs to be brought to the eye more often. I think it is very interesting to take a current event(s) and make a relevant series that makes fun of or critiques it.

For my miniature prompt I really wanted to show a fantasy I have always had about skateboarding in the  sink or the bathtub.  I constructed the set set by cutting out a good picture from a skateboarding magazine and taping it to the edge of the sink. I took several shots in order to get a unique shadow cast, which I think helped add to the realism of the photo.  The light was cast from overhead, using just the tungsten light from the bathroom.  I think some distracting elements of the photo would definitely have to be the areas I've photoshopped.  The area on the sink that I drew just doesn't have that crisp edge.

Part2:

Interpretation: Students in-class saw this image as a very cool image of a small person skateboarding in the bathroom. A few people thought that it was a real person and not a magazine cut-out, which I think was a great thing.

Evaluation: I think the image really works well but there are a few areas that are photoshoped quite poorly.  For my final project I need to put in more time to create a more seamless smooth photo.

Extension: Like i've mentioned before this is the launching point for my final project where I am either going to fufill miniature fantasies or do a series based just on skateboarding.

This photo is both a sort of constructed collage and social critique. This is the critique on society and how they have become to destructed to perform easy everyday tasks, such as braking at a stop sign. For this photo I wanted to construct a second warning stop sign to alert drivers of the stop sign 15 ft in front of them.  I think I achieved the sign quite nicely but the composition still suffers a great deal. It would have been real nice to show a car passing by or even colliding with another car. I shot this in natural light in the middle of the day, and the yellow square sign was captured on the opposite side of the street and the digitally placed in front of the stop sign.

Part2: 

Interpretation:   Student's in class didn't really interpret this message anywhere nearly as well as i hoped. I guess if you live at my house or on the my street the message is a lot more obvious. I really think a more interesting angle/simle composition might of helped sell it much better. Like i said above being much more literal with cars would really help the message hit better.

Evaluation: I would definetly choose different imagery if I were to reshoot.  Like I said without prior knowledge abut the location, the message is almost missed entirely.

Extension: I think it would be very cool to do a series of imaginary or created street signs that critique popular culture.

For this photo I really wanted to try and create something that was similar to sandy skoglund's highly manipulated and repetitious photos using snacks from around the house. I wanted there to be a very loaded composition which also was high in contrast so the shapes would be recognizable.  I shot the photo from overhead with a low flash borrowing the light from the kitchen as well.  I tried to get the flash to reflect off the table in the middle of the composition to center the attention on the prey. I really think my photo is comic in the sense that the processed food in animal form has taken on a rather predatory role and is acting out it's function as if it were in a natural setting.

Part 2:

Interpretation: Student's in class didn't really have a whole lot to say, but the viewed it as a photo with good contrast. I'm not sure if the message of consumption was conveyed at all.

Evaluation: I think that after taking this photo, I would have liked to have shot it on a much larger scale. I enjoy the contrast and lighting. I think overwhelming the single worm with more goldfish would make the concept stronger.

Extension: I think it is very cool to capture food in non-traditional ways. Whether it's arranging a composition, or by physically manipulating the food.

Blog post 24

A. Pick two images from any of the “constructed reality” photographers presented in class or linked on the assignment sheet. Describe how you could recreate these two images on a “smaller scale”.


I think that anything that Sandy Skoglund creates is just about that most amazing photograph ever taken. Her ideas are so out there and she always achieves a shocking constructed reality with insane perfection. Her true fiction series feels very layered and related to pop art.  I think a very affective way to recreate this would be to make a very small mockup using a shoe box.  You could then layer images at different depth inside the shoe box to create a some realistic depth.  Her shimmering madness series would also be very interesting in attempting to create.  I think that in order to do this i would purchase a decent amount of sprinkles and glue and roll miniature figures until they were completely covered.  I would then use the remaining sprinkles to construct the stage out of more glue and of course cardboard.


Final Project Proposal:
 I have a couple of ideas for my final project. The newest most recent idea plays off of my miniature prompt for Assignment 5.  For that set I cut out a skater from a magazine and placed him on a object that looks "skateable".  I would push this further by attempting dramatic light and interesting locations.  I also thought of playing with sequenced shots steming from 9 fps photos.


My other 2 proposals i mentioned in the last blog.  The first being a set dealing with the apocalypse, inspired by my photo of the capital building down town.  The third proposal I had was dealing with popular culture, and the repetition of Mcdonalds and Starbucks which dominate our towns.

Work-In-Progress Crit

Blog Post 23

Blog Post 23


1. In what ways do you “construct” your identity? In what ways do you “perform” in your daily life?

You construct your identity through several elements. The most obvious being your visual identity through your appearance.  This can include clothing, hair, hygiene, energy, and posture.  Your identity is then also determined by your passions and interests, along with the people you enjoys those with.  Identity is constructed through several contributing elements along with the way you perceive yourself and the way you want others to perceive you.  You perform all these elements every second of every day.

2. Describe some ways in which your personal culture and social environments are “constructed”.

Personal and social environments are very constructed for me at the moment to due to a hectic and over bearing schedule.  Everyday I am confined to a schedule dominated by class and homework.  My actions for the day consist of going a university with a planned agenda and curriculum, and attending to the vast amount of work they construct for me.  Social environments such as parties are constructed or planned by another person so all of their friends and converge and partake in enjoyable activities. The skate park was also a place built where me and my friends interact socially with one another, along with other members of the community.

3. Describe some ways in which your physical environment/space is “constructed”.

Physical environments are constructed by their creators.  For example you construct your own environment by the means of decorating your room.  You design the layout, color, and objects you want to fill your room with.  The same way your room is designed, a house, neighborhood, and entire city is constructed for efficient and controlled living. I suppose I feel as if we live in a sort of constructed society.

4. In your daily life, what would you consider to be “real” and what would you consider to be “constructed/fabricated”?

The things that I consider to be real in my everyday life would have to be engaging in fun activities.  Creating art, Skateboarding, and engaging with people are the "realer" or more organic parts of my life.  Unless I am using my brain to either engage or challenge myself I feel as if I am simply existing. I feel as if Popular media is over saturated with advertisements and censors, and is the most constructed element of everyday life.

5. Describe a narrative tableaux that you might create to be captured by a photograph. A narrative tableaux can be defined as “Several human actors play out scenes from everyday life, history, myth or the fantasy of the direction artist” ( Constructed Realities: The Art of Staged Photography Edited by Michael Kohler , 34).
Something that i find very interesting is that how a majority of girls on campus all girls on campus tend to wear the exact same thing, a black NorthFace pullover and ugg boots.  I don't particularly have a problem with this I just find it odd that no one minds looking like everyone else.  It reminds me of other groups of people that tend to where the same thing such as: prisoners, soldiers, cults, teams, Manufactured items.  I would like to have a photo that parodies this fashion craze, with a large number of girls all wearing their winter get up in some type of line or formation.

6. Describe an idea for a photograph that includes a miniature stage or still life. A description of such an image is “The tableaux reconstructs events as in the narrative tableaux, but in miniaturized format, using dolls and other toy objects” (Kohler, 34).
An interesting image that I think I am going to recreate is cutting out 9 fps sequences from my skateboarding magazine and placing them on very interesting large scale items.