Ephemeral art, eternal maintenance 

sort of relevant to my presentation!!!

meg - aquariums and marine research centers

aquariums and marine research centers

pretty cool designs for aquariums. they're very beautiful.


http://www.designboom.com/contemporary/aquariums.html

article about the Now house

this house is rebuilt into a zero energy home. It is a green design. cool stuff.

http://www.designboom.com/contemporary/thenowhouse.html

(meg) Chicago Photojournalist, Mike Anzaldi, Arrested for the Second Time

Chicago Photojournalist, Mike Anzaldi, Arrested for the Second Time

I thought that this article was interesting. It talks about Mike Anzadi being arrested for taking a photograph. And then he was arrested again because he was on file. Basically, they arrested him for the same crime twice. It was just crazy because he was on public property. Craziness.


http://www.jpgmag.com/stories/9054

(Meg) = article : Green Your Media

Green Your Media

a small article about making non-toxic art supplies, cool stuff to think about. Small step to save the enviroment

http://www.artistsnetwork.com/article/Green-Your-Media/

sarah-11/12 post

This is a link to a blog responding to another website.....

theres a link to the main website at the bottom of his post

LINK

Michelle- Article

New York Times: Genuine Wonders From the Flea Circus: Photos by Arbus
article here

Michelle- Article

New York Times: Art Review- William Eggleston "Old South Meets New, in Living Color"
article here

meg-article: when opportunity shops knock

When opportunity Shops knock.

I'm a little behind on my articles. 

I thought this one was sort of funny. It's about a famous painting found in a thrift store in Texas. 

Isn't it crazy how art's value is depicted upon fame. I'm sure that painting was a very nice painting. 

Article

Michelle- Article

New York Times: Work Stands Out Before It Blends In
article here

recent Andy Goldsworthy Article for Megan

The way he goes about his work, is really beautiful and somewhat poetic. He works with natural found things and only uses his hands to create his work. He accepts the fact that what he creates will eventually fall apart. The construction is just as important as the de-construction.

sarah-post

Sometimes I can't believe the things people come up with. This is a search engine for flickr, that i think is creative and awesome. Try it for yourself and you'll see.

click here

Michelle- Article

ARTnews: A Two-Way Street
article here
&
Fecal Face: Sheapard Fairey Interview
article here

I came across this article not realizing it was about the artist that also made the Obama campaign posters, must be some kind of sign. Anyway I was disappointed that there weren't more images of his work so here's an interview he did last year... the interview talks a lot about skateboarding, but the Images of his work are pretty cool.

I'm not that into street art, but from the messages I get from his work I agree with his politics so I like that fact that it's in the street where people can see it. I like the graphic aesthetic of his work.

Michelle- Article

LensCulture: Hand to Mouth- photography and commentary by Tessa Bunney
article here

Milk by Tessa Bunney

I felt her most successful photos were the ones without the portraits without faces (like the one above), I feel that they really captured the rural Romanian culture as a whole rather than documenting one specific person. There's something really interesting about the combination of the textile prints and tools in the photos.

p.s I'm really sorry that I've been a slacker in the article department.... I'll find a couple more this week to catch up!!

sarah--art bubble

If money is tight, art isn't at the top of people's list.

Article.

http://new-art.blogspot.com/

this art is lame. It reminds of me hipster art.

masha-article

link

(Meg) Article : Copies, fakes, or authorized reproductions

Immendorff: Copies, fakes or authorised reproductions?

This article was interesting because it made me think about if a copy is valued as an original?

Well in this article, it's not. But I guess it got me thinking about what we consider to be an art original? Made from the artist, or from the printers. Museums sometimes ruin artwork for me. I rather see art as a function, a reproduction that I can own. Contemporary art is frustrating for me. I guess I'm seeing art more for the people instead of just for a person.

masha- article(s)

ive been behind on the article posting so here are a few that should catch me up.

1 - this one is intersting because i dont usually think about this kind of thing

2 - this one is pretty exciting i guess

(Meg) Article : Pet Shop

Pet Shop 

I got this review from the NY Times Website. I thought this artwork was amusing and weird. 

"I wanted to make art that questioned our relationship with animals and the ethics and sustainability of factory farming, " Banksy said in a statement distributed by a publicist, "but it ended up as chicken nuggets singing."

I always wanted art to be this form of strict entertainment. But I guess that would just totally contradict what I learned in art school. I guess art would then lose it's value, if just simply served as a "piece of art." I liked this piece. I thought it was funny and entertaining. But it has the debate of animal rights all over it. Like a fat kid on an ice cream.  

sarah-article

here is my article for the week: link

sarah- dirty car

link

check it

Here's a review of the Daniel Eatock show we're going to see at Arcadia.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/weekend/visual_arts/20080928_British_design_star_Eatock__in_Glenside.html

(Meg) A summer of horror: torture and electric chairs at amusement parks and Hitler at Madame Tussauds

For Monday 29

A summer of horror: torture and electric chairs at amusement parks and Hitler at Madame Tussauds

(article from www.theartnewspaper.com)

I thought that this was a good article. It sort of goes with the article How far is too far. I feel like contemporary art walks a thin line of legal and illegal; Offensive and brilliant. Contemporary art is hard for me to get. But i guess that's the point. I guess sometimes you don't have to understand it.

"NEW YORK. The US government interrogation practice of waterboarding will be enacted by animated robots in an installation by artist Steve Powers opening on 21 September at the Park Avenue Armory. For $1 viewers can watch as a life-sized hooded figure pours water over the mouth and nose of a bound man, producing a grisly 15 seconds of convulsions. The installation was shown at New York’s seaside amusement park Coney Island in August, where it was situated among rides, games and freak show attractions."

This is really messed up! And of all places to have this torture technique...an amusement park. And then the article also gives examples of other art pieces throughout the world that got some pretty negative attention.
BERLIN: HITLER AT MADAME TUSSAUDS, MILAN: ELECTRIC CHAIR AT AMUSEMENT PARK, SYDNEY: BLEEDING CHRIST UP FOR RELIGIOUS AWARD....and more..

(sarah) This shit?

I think this is more like a slide show, but every picture has really informative text to go with it. Sigh. $125 million for dead animals? Come on. I call this "The Emperor has no Art". Kind of like "The emperor has no clothes." His work really sucks but hes such a big name nobody wants to stand up and say it. I can't be the only one thinking,"$125 million for this shit?"

(Meg) Article : Earth Works

For Monday 22

I thought this would be a good article since everyone is "going green".  It's pretty interesting. It is from the artnews.com website. It's about how artists are making art that influences us and our environment.  Like for example someone made pee fertilizer art. It's totally gross but interesting. eww.

Link = Earth Works June 2008

(Meg) Article: How Far Is Too Far?

I'm a little behind on my articles. This one is for Monday 8th.

ARTnews.com  Summer 2008 How Far is Too Far?

http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=2522

I think that this is a good article to read if you have mix feelings about contemporary art like I do.  It's about the classic debate of what should be accepted and unacceptable. Different people's views on art. It's very interesting. Here's a little passage. 

"But when are the artists themselves guilty of the exploitation their art is meant to expose? And, taking into account not only First Amendment rights but an artist's traditional role of challenging the status quo, is there a point beyond which art can go too far? Are there guidelines that should be observed or enforced, or are ethics, like beauty, in the eye of the beholder?"

article

link

this article is really great, this guy is unstoppable definitely an "artist" as well as an 'architect' I saw an exhibit of his at the pompidou in paris.

Sarah--wiki art

This article is a little open. I just thought it was interesting what wikipedia had to say about "art".

Article.

Michelle- Weekly Article for September 8

No. 83, Berlin, July 1990 from Pictures on the Street

Celebrating Photographic Garbage

photo-based art by Joachim Schmid

From Lens Culture Online Magazine

Comments:

I like the technique because it relates to preserving memories and the past.... even though the artist is collecting photographs he finds on the street.  

(will add more later)

Art History and the View Camera

After researching the various artists that used the view camera ilearned some very ineresting facts and coincidences that coincide with my particular interests in the view camera as a means to better capture the landscape. As we know, Ansel Adams was among the first photographers to use the view camera to capture landscapes of nature as his art. He used this camera because as we have already learned the view camera is ideal for the greatest amount of detail and depth of field- obviously this is key when capturing a large landscape. Here is an example of His work:

Many Artists continued this legacy of traveling through more rural areas and photographing life and leaving out details such as industry, work, technology, etc. A more recent artist of that like is Claire Richardson. Her work is very intimate and beautiful. Often in book form, each searies tends to have the same color scheme, so that it feels like the photos were taken all in 5 minutes. She documents people as well as places and seems to get to know her subjects well.

Here are some examples of her work:

Looking later down the line through the history of photography it was the artists like Ansel Adams, who paid great attention to detail, particularly from a large-scale perspective were the ones often using a view camera. Another interesting example, is one of my person favorite photographers, Andreas Gursky. Gursky's photographs are both systematic and chaotic in the sence that they are a bit overwhelming because so much seemed to be going on at once yet there is a very clear order to the madness of his images. When his work is compared to the work of Jackson Pollock's, who is similiar in that same way, it becomes astonishingly clear; check it out

The Jackson Pollock Reference is perhaps a bit unrelated to the view camera but this has got to be one of the most peculiar discoveries i have stumbled upon in the history of art, its remarkable how alike the work is!

Lastly I would like to talk about Thomas Ruff, another phototgrapher who used a view camera to often execute his ideas. Alhtough he is most famous for his portraits which are obviously a great with the view camera , again because of the detail, he has some night-time photography which i find not only very interesting but also ties into my personal interests as an artist because the photos seem to share something with the night-time photos i have been taikng around the city, take a look:

final:book &conclusoins

I've decided to present my final project for Junior Seminar Class as a classic accordion style (to match the bellows of the view camera) book. with a special poloroid pack case. The book reads like a film strip of landscapes, progressing to and from an old Polaroid look to a digitized look, from city to country, day to night, etc. The specific images and the specific order are all very symbolic to my photographic process. I start and end with one image, a photo taken with the view camera that symbolizes my overall attraction to images that are old. The image repeats itself throughout the strip as a re-occurring theme; a constant model for inspiration. Beyond that it is also a photo of a playground, which to me symbolizes the idea of revisiting the past, (visiting the places that you once used to play at a s a child.) Furthermore, the re-visiting of an image, weather its because it seems successful or weather i haven't quite figured it out yet I realize that i am constantly going back to images that are old and often times unintentional. Unintentional; not in the way that i accidently take a photo but perhaps that i don't realize what exactly i was, and more importantly why. 

The rest of the photos vary from digital images to regular 35mm film, old and new. There are images that re-occur in my creative process from years ago that are still just as important to me now so i felt the need to include them. Other images are new from my summer backpacking through Europe when i was making more conscious decisions of what to photograph as well as how to continue my examination of the contemporary landscape. 

As for further usage of the view camera, i would like to give it more time although it seems silly, perhaps if i lived 20 years ago everything would be different, its just so expensive and for what im doing it seems that a smaller more accessible camera is best for me. However i am interested in taking shots with the view camera with regular lith film and making some gum prints because the nature of the polaroids really made me think of the way images come out as gum prints. Im really glad that i tried using the camera because if anything it made me re-investigate everything that goes into taking a worthy picture- spending time on the perfect composition especially.

results: instant polaroids

out of 10, these are the 4 poloroids that came out. Definitely a learning experience.  

the view camera and myself

So back to the view camera project. The plan i thought up was reworked when i realized how much money it would cost as well as the importance of aesthetics. I decided on going right into instant color film because the photos being in color are very important to me. Furthermore sheet film (which would have to be developed elsewhere) for the camera for 75$ for 10 sheets. The only possibility was with Fuji FP-100c color instant film ($35.99 for 10 sheets). 

I took the camera to N. American St right below Lehigh Ave because there is this dump that has glorious mountains of trash which so elegantly tower over some over  grown weed-trees behind a rotting tall green fence with barbed wire at the top. 

I was out there for 10-20 minutes just setting up the camera before the first police car stopped by to investigate. The two cops first asked if I was shooting  a movie, then asked if they could be in it, then  remembered that it was against their duties as officers of the law to appear as officers of the law in my movie which i wasn't even making. I had a few more run-ins with other concerned/curious folks of N. American St but thats not really what this blog is supposed to be about is it?

Anyway i wasted about 5 pictures- three are white, one is black, one is blue. I finally got the hang of it  and have about 4-5 pictures that i can work with. I then decided i needed more film now that i am getting the hang of reading the light meter and setting the aperture and shutter correctly.

I go back to calumet ready to drop another $35.99 for another 10 pack of film to find out that i had bought the last pack way back when i was there and the two closest locations were Boston or Japan. With the holiday just around the corner the store was closing early, i had 3 hours to find someone that i semi-knew that would be willing to drive to Cambridge pick up the film and wait about 5-7 hours for me to get there as I had convinced a friend with a car that a road-trip to Boston is just what we need right now. Sadly it didn't happen. 

So because of this I have taken the project in a bit of a new direction. The project is a kind of log of events, images, thoughts, and contemplations all generally about the ideas of large format photography, particularly how its being treated with digital photography, the photographing of the landscape and a few things in between. 

More to come...

more....

After the north philly night time shooting i went to europe for 18 days and shot some landscapes there. There is really only one that i would like to included in this blog because of its dire relevancy to the contemporary industrial landscape and i feel the photo itself works better in a singular setting. Here it is:

This photo was taken in Antwerpen, a Flemish city of Belgium. The 6 cranes are only there now as a sort of decoration, they aren't being used for anything except a place to hang up some holiday decorations. If you look really close (in front of the 5th crane from the left) you can see my traveling partner, Jenna along with out native Antwerpen friend Tony, who took us in and showed us around. Noticing the people really gives you an idea of how colossal this sight was. The cranes were huge!!!! The cranes stood on the edge of the waterfront of the river Schelde.

I may or may not rework the photo to make it fit a bit better in the other images i am showing in this blog. The cranes don't really look isolated as much as thy look cramped. Having the view camera in Europe would have been also very inconvenient considering my backpack was huge already and we were doing a great deal of walking. However, it would have definitely made for a better photograph, as you can see from the curvature of the earth at the bottom. 

updates

So, summer is over and the school year has finally begun so I am able to use the view camera. During the summer I continued exploring the idea of a contemporary landscape with an emphasis on the representation of industry, voyeurism and a bit of surveillance. I spent some time shooting in the northeast part of Philadelphia, (primarily Kensington and Fishtown) at night. The photographing is happening at night because that is the time when the landscapes seem the most isolated. At night there are no people around and the buildings are empty- this is when they really come alive and you can truly experience the landscapes of Kensington and Fishtown. There is also something about the landscape emerging out of blackness that is really important to me because I want the image to exist as an individual moment instead of a component of an entire block, street, or even a city. In this way i suppose there is a kind of personification going on. Anyway. Here are a few photos: 

Because these locations are in a shitty area I find the photos are taken best with a small digital camera, no flash and a fast bike or a friend's car. These aren't photos I can take with the view camera, sadly because its just to great a risk with an expensive camera that i don't even own. I guess the question now, is why? Well, I think the industrial landscape has become important to philadelphia, especially put in context to the specific area i am photographing. As we know, the northern part of philly is changing, and its happening very fast. This area is becoming heavily populated with young artists and musicians, galleries and organizations, coffee houses, thrift store, etc. The question is, what stays and what goes. With all this new culture theres no telling what the neighborhoods really were about. There is also the stigma of the "unsafe neighborhood" which is much less a stigma and just a reality in some parts more than others. The point however, is not the risk (if any) that is being taken to make the image. There is some kind of subtle peacefulness that i found in the outskirts of the city, the endless landscape of nameless factories, industrial establishments and there fences, dumpsters, shitty paint-jobs and broken signs. I feel that maybe its important to pay some kind of homage to what else these newly populated areas have, or had beyond the coffee shops and galleries (which are great too).

Thoughts

Some issues that came up while i was working:
1 trying to crop around the figure in order to make it look right
2 using the right amount of saturation and change of color in order for the chroma keyer to correctly take out the color
3 putting an interesting background in to make it visually appealing.

I didn't have enough footage to put together the storyline i wanted to do. So I ended up focusing more of the visual look of the video and then just throwing a song in at the end. I tried to make the video interesting to watch and have somewhat of a "deeper meaning."

I want to take a lot more footage and continue doing things with the red paint idea. It worked out better than I thought it would. Plus now that I've already conquered the technique to make it look it should take less time so I can make it better.

Finally!

I'm going to be keep working on this because it's something i really enjoyed making this and the entire process. i want to do a lot more with this.

or not.

i guess it didnt work. so im uploading it to youtube and ill put the link up when its done.

Final Video

here's the video. i have the original on my computer.

Test

I need a test to see how the painting a person red and then green screening would work. these are the results. i ended up changing my idea of having the subject outdoors because it did not work properly. indoors in front of a white wall or sitting on chair worked best.
1. This is the first initial picture with nothing done to it.

2. This is after using the chroma keyer to remove the hand from the shot.

3. And this is with the new background picture.

I have about 2 minutes of the actual video done. I'm working on editing it together and will show a piece when it is complete.

New Video Project

I'm going to be using the same idea of green screen but i'll be do it in reverse. If that doesn't make sense, that is why I'm going to explain! Instead of shooting an object or person in front of a green screen I'm going to shoot a person in normal time with no green screen, but I'm going to be making them the green screen. I'm going to be painting people red (considering most things outside are green) and shooting them moving then editing out their body so there will be a hole were they were. I'm doing a few tests with photographs and will post them within the week to see how it works. Instead of a music video I'm going to make a short movie.

PERKS THAT COME WITH USING THE VIEW CAMERA!

LARGE FORMAT- Superior Technical quality. Truly remarkable detail and depth of field.

IMAGE CONTROL- Very adjustable and versatile with its bellows, slides, swings and tilts. Significantly more compromisable than any hand held camera.

A DIFFERENT WAY OF SEEING- Because the camera is stationary and not mobile, it lends itself to a more thoughtful and contemplative way of approaching the capturing of the image.

ALL ABOUT THE VIEW CAMERA

SO, as we already know, although the view camera was first developed in the era of the Daguerreotype, its still used today by many photographers.
Before i go into that i want to talk about the actual mechanics thatmake up the view camera, here is a pretty crappy image of it:

The reason I say this image is crappy, is because it does not point out the most important component of the view camera, which is the flexible bellows, which forms a light-tight seal between the ground glass which holds the film and the front standard which holds the lens. The bellows , shaped like the inside of an accordion, and likewise has the ability to flex in order to accommodate the movements of the standards.

The Front standard holds the lens, the shutter and the cable.
The other end holds the ground glass, which is used for for focusing and composing the image before exposure, where the holder containing the light sensitive film or paper is placed.

Lastly the camera must have some means of support, thus it is usually mounted on a tripod, as shown in the picture.

My Final

Pictures of my final for Jr. Seminar Class

These are the stuffed animal pictures

http://www.flickr.com/photos/photos_from_meg/sets/72157605044038320/

Posting for Michelle

Hi everyone, i hope classes ended well and good luck at crits.... here's my final project haha

Jack David Kasmer

Born on Friday May 2 2008 at 4:50pm

weighed 8lbs 14oz and 21 3/4" long

see you soon!
Michelle

photo session

Well, I've had a photo session last Saturday. I tried to photograph stuffed animals like they were human. I'm on the fence about the photos. I'm not much of a stuffed animal person. Eh...I'm not too excited about them. Let me know what you think. Comment away.
I have another photo shoot this Wednesday and Thursday. Hope this one goes better.

Information About Green Screen and Desaturating Video

To Make A Green Screen Video:
• When shooting your green screen footage, make sure there are as few shadows as possible.
• Also choose as bright a green color for your background without having it be necessarily neon green.
• Check to make sure the subject or object in front of your green screen isn’t wearing anything close to the color of the screen.
• Your background footage depends on what you’re trying to do in your video.

1. Open Final Cut Pro and set your scratch discs, as you would normally do.
2. Import your footage into the browser in Final Cut.
3. Double click your green screen footage in order for it to appear in the viewer and then choose which pieces of the footage you want to use using the input (i) and output (o) keys.
4. Go to Effects in the Menu bar and choose Video Filter ==> Key ==> Chroma Keyer.
5. Drag the Chroma Keyer filter off the viewer so you can look at your work as you’re working.
6. In the Chroma Keyer adjust the first bar with color until the background behind your subject/object is black.
7. Then adjust the saturation if necessary.
8. Use the Edge Thin, Softening and Enhance to decrease the amount of green seen behind and around your subject.
9. At this point drag your footage into the Timeline if you haven’t already.
10. Next take your background footage and double click in order to bring it into the viewer.
11. Select the sections you want to use again using input (i) and output (o).
12. Drag the selected footage into the Timeline and place it under your green screen footage.
13. Now all you have to do is sync the footage the way you want it and voila!

To Desaturate and Use Selected Colors:
• The footage you shoot doesn’t need to be shot in any specific way.
1. To select one color you want to have and the rest to be desaturated in After Effects choose Effects ==> Color Correction ==> Leave Color.
2. Select the color you want to keep and adjust the Tolerance and Edge Softness to decrease the other colors.
3. If necessary, as it was in my case, use another Leave Color effect to make the colors you don’t want saturated, less saturated.
4. You can then open Effects ==> Color Correction ==> Hue/Saturation in order to further adjust and fix your video.
5. Adjust the Master Hue, Master Saturation and Master Lightness to your liking.
6. To just desaturate the video choose Effects ==> Color Correction ==> Hue/Saturation.
7. Adjust the Master Saturation until you see the results you want.
ALL DONE!!

Studio Sessions

Last Saturday, I had a photo session. In this session I have been trying to create a bedroom scene where I am interacting with toys. I thought the session went really bad. I tried dressing up like a child, but I just felt awkward so I looked awkward in the photos. I was having the worst luck. The studio isn't very wide so it was difficult set up the lights. I had a hard time doing a range of darks and lights because I was using the model light. Then I realized duh the model light evens out light. What I need was more of a single hard light. SO in this session I was only able to get a limit of highlights and shadows. Now, I'm going to have to rely on photoshop to make the scene more dramatic.





On the Wednesday Session,
Because I thought I did really bad on the last photo session, I decided to destroy the stuffed animals and photograph them. Almost suggesting a violence to something someone might believe has life. That was really hard to accomplish because I didn't go a step further with the idea so the animals look like a mutated creature. Just something is really missing and I don't know what. Here's a picture from that. Poor Piggy.


So now, after talking to Karen about my final for the class. We talked about me giving the stuffed animals a nice portrait. Photograph them like they are people and seeing where that will take me. Maybe it will translate like a real breathing stuffed animal or maybe it will just be beautifully lit. That will be my next session on Friday evening.

this week and the week before.

I forgot to write a blog last week. This is what I did. I tried to collaborate my installation class project with the jr. seminar class project. I wanted to have clown images in my installation so I painted my face like a clown. Unfortunately, Utrecht disappointed me once again. I was looking for Non-toxic face paint and they had none. I’ve been there three times. They said they ordered some and they didn’t. SO I bought non-toxic finger paint instead and it makes me look like a horrible Crayola paint tribal woman. So, I abandoned the idea and did something else.




I started documenting my installation when the crit was over. I've decided to expand on the nightmare idea. Just make it more surreal like. SO here’s a picture that influenced me. That’s what I’m doing this week. I scheduled a studio session Friday and Saturday.

Michelle Posadas links

MICHELLE POSADAS

Overview of Recent Images of my work as an artist, teacher, organizer, and facilitator:
http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x313/michelleposadas/AAI%20Photos/



- As a sophmore in college I was an intern at Philagrafika and was the main coordinator for a giant public art extravaganza. I worked with hundreds of artists, students and volunteers, created a 260 foot print called Broadstreet Broadside. This mammoth accomplishment allowed Philadelphia to set the worlds record for
the longest print.
Images of Broadstreet Broadside: http://www.printcollaborative.org/pressmaterials.shtml
More information: http://www.philagrafika.org/pdf/articles/broadstreet_broadside_stops_traffic.pdf

- Here are my images of my Senior Thesis in 3D Fine Arts at Moore.
Senior Thesis: http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x313/michelleposadas/American%20Still%20Life%20-%20Senior%20Thesis%20May%202004/

- Spiral Q is a non-profit arts organization that bring communities together and using art as a vehicle for social change through parade and pageantry through the construction of giant puppets. I worked with Spiral Q Puppet Theater for 5 years as an artist, teacher, program manager and facilitator. During this time I was also in intern my Junior and Senior year in college.
Organization website: http://www.spiralq.org

- Here is an example of the work that I did with Spiral Q. Last summer, I planned and conducted a week-long residency for a "Peace Camp," with a coalition of high school students in Southern California.
Images of "Peace Camp:" http://www.flickr.com/photos/spiralq/sets/72157600684657572/
More information: http://www.spneighbors.org/2007Brochure%5B2%5D.htm

- Last fall I spent 5 months in Asia. I was invited to Taiwan as a international artist to teach and spend three months building towards a giant puppet parade in Taipei. Following my work in Taiwan, I travelled primarily in the Philippines to do research for an original performance that I did in March 2008. I received the Leeway Foundations Art & Change Grant that made this trip possible.
Organization website: http://www.dreamcommunity.org.tw/
My Blog in Taiwan: http://michelleposadas.blogspot.com/
My Blog in the Philippines and Thialand: http://theluckestbird.blogspot.com/
Leeway Foundation's Art & Change Grant Profile: http://www.leeway.org/grantees.php?s1=1&s2=29&ID=528

- Here is more information for the original performance I did this March that was inspired by my travels. I collaborated with other local Filipino artists, Lovella Calica and L. Capco Lincoln. The show was a sold-out success at the Asian Arts Initiative and presented film, poetry, performance and puppetry.
Bumalik Blog: http://bumalik.blogspot.com/

- This year I am honored to be a recipient of the Leeway Foundations Transformation Award which will significanlt support me financially this year.
Leeway Foundation's Transformation Award Profile: http://www.leeway.org/grantees.php?s1=1&s2=30&ID=567

- I edited the "color correction" and designed the website for the independent movie, Young, Jewish and Left. It was shot throughout the US and focuses on Jews who came of age after the New Left movements of the 60's and 70's.
Movie Website: http://www.youngjewishandleft.org/

website

the website i got my images from is: http://www.istockphoto.com/index.php

sarah's final

The above pictures are the 3 that I choose to edit for my final project. I got them off istock.com. It worked like this:

-Create an account on istock with a username and password
-Once the account is created, I used my credit card to buy "credits"
-Each picture comes in different file sizes, and each file size is priced differently
-I got 30 credits for about $40.00
-All of my pictures were 10 credits each, about $13, at a file size of about 1920x2560

Hi Michelle

Hope you are well, it's quiet here without you.

Please post a picture of your little guy after he is born (and watch out for Sarah... who knows what she will do.)

good luck!

Should we try to reschedule with Hyunjin?

BIOGRAPHY

Hyunjin Jo
Writer/Director/Producer

Hyunjin Jo was born in Seoul, South Korea and was raised all over the United States (as varied as Hawaii and Kansas), but primarily grew up in the western suburbs of Philadelphia. She received a BFA in photography from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where she was honored as a Lew Wasserman Scholar and received the New York Governor’s Award of Distinction for Community Involvement from Governor George Pataki.

After a successful career as a fine art and documentary still photographer shooting in North America and throughout Europe, Ms. Jo turned to the motion picture field in 1996. By being a background player, Ms. Jo gained accessed to her first motion picture film set where she met the late, famed cinematographer, John Alonzo (“Chinatown,” “Scarface”). Through Mr. Alonzo’s guidance, Ms. Jo soon became a union member of The International Photographers Guild and gained valuable production experience working as a camera assistant and film loader on movies, music videos and commercials (including many Super Bowl spots).

Using this practical production experience, in 1997, Ms. Jo wrote, directed and produced, “Basic Items”—a 35mm short film ($2500 film budget and a shooting ratio of 3:1) that soon received distribution. She then began working as a script & production consultant for many first time filmmakers as well as for such companies like Miramax. As an independent producer/line producer/UPM, she has teamed up with such Academy Award winning and nominated documentary filmmakers such as Jessica Yu, as well as regularly collaborating with industry respected actors such as Jane Lynch and Jeremy Sisto.

As a published photographer and poet who continues to thrive to bring unique film projects to the viewing public, today Ms. Jo mentors as well as provides consultations to actors, screenwriters and filmmakers and serves on many filmmaking discussion panels.

Currently, in addition to bringing her award winning feature script “More Things Change” to the screen, Ms. Jo is also attached to direct an international feature production of a political thriller while also writing her first novel.

Hyunjin Jo visit

Hi folks, I'm not sure if Hyunjin will make it in because her flight got cancelled, we'll see if she manages to get on another tonight.

In any case,
here are some links she sent for us to look at. (I'm not including her
personal company website because it isn't working right now.)

Filmography

AllExperts
click on: View Past Answers

Michelle's Notes

hi everyone!

well I've officially been grounded, my doctor does not feel that it is safe for me to travel to philly for school, sad :( i know, i miss you all!

I'm going to do my best to continue to keep up with the blog, but my final project will most likely have to be put on hold until the fall. I'm going to get a new computer since my laptop is pretty much worthless so i can work on building my tree... it's a massive file but i'm really excited to see how it's going to turn out. My mom has some kind of mini-dome tent in the basement that she said i should take a look at and see if i want to use the frame.... it might save me some money and frustration when the time comes to assemble the installation, so I'll probably make someone set it up for me here and i'll decide if i'll use it or not.

i'm bummed that i'm going to miss the rest of the demos, the photos sarah posted turned out really cool... and kind of creepy!! haha

What I did this week and today.

After and Before

I learned to retouch up pictures today from Sara's Demo. That before picture is terrible.

In the past week, I've been brainstorming for my final. I'm still having trouble figuring how what I'm passionate about doing for my Final.

I was either going to do something surreal or something to do with my random collects that I have at home.

I've been doing some research. I've looked at Cindy Sherman's work. Where she dresses up as different people. This is from her gleams and reflections series. I really like how she uses her lighting in her pictures.



I've also looked at Steven Shore's Work. He takes pictures of like towns and found objects. It's more of a snap shot. I really like his work. I was thinking of the possibility of bringing in something from the outside. Creating a scene.


Then I looked at some fashion pictures. They usually have crazy scenes in their fashion ads. SO... i thought maybe I do some crazy things and photograph it.



I guess I'll just make a elaborate scene and photograph it.

Sarah's lesson

Here is my before after:

Heres the text from the photoshop handout

Reducing facial redness:
-Choose “hue/saturation”
-In the dropdown menu choose “red”
-Desaturate the red until it looks better
-You may also want to increase the hue by 3 or 4 points, adding a bit of yellow.

Make lips pop out:
-Using the burn tool set to shadows, opacity set at 10%, burn the lips until satisfied
-Using the dodge tool, set to highlights, opacity set at 8%, sweep over highlights on lips.

Color correction in curves:
-In RGB mode, double click the right eyedropper. Set the brightness to 95, hit ok.
-In the image, click on a bright white section that still has a bit of detail in it.
-Back in curves, double click on the left eyedropper, set the brightness to 5, hit ok
-Click on something dark in the image that still has a bit of detail.

Advanced blending in curves:
-If the darks are to dark, or the lights are to light, double click on a previously existing curves layer.
-At the bottom of “layer style” make sure “blend if grey” is selected from the dropdown menu.
-Under “this layer” drag the slider until it looks better.
-Option click on the slider to break it in 2 parts; adjust to make the transition smoother.

“High Fashion” muted tone:
-Totally desaturate the image.
-Duplicate the background layer and make it the first layer by dragging it to the top of the layers pallet, set the blending mode to soft light.
-Going down to the desaturated layer, adjust the curves for more detail in the highlights.
-On the top soft light layer adjust the color balance to make it more yellow and set THAT blending mode to soft light.
-Adjust the opacity and curves of each layer until you achieve a look you like.

Changing hair color:
-Make a good selection on the hair
-Create a new layer
-Fill the selection with a solid color of your choice.
-Set the blending mode to soft light
-Reduce the opacity to make the hair look more natural.

Making skin “glow”:
-In a new layer, select “color range”
-The highlights should be automatically be selected, but if you want you can choose “highlights” or sample your own color. Hit ok.
-Using the paint bucket, fill in the selected areas with white.
-Change the opacity for a more natural look.
-Add Gaussian blur to the layer to make it blend in more. Use curves to adjust further.

Using Liquify to reduce stomach, hips, and arms:
-Duplicate the background layer
-Under filters, select liquify
-Using a large brush, select the “forward warp” tool, which looks like a little hand with a pointed finger.
-Really gently, a little bit at a time, simply use the brush to push in the fat parts. Hit ok.
-The pucker tool may also be used.
-Doing this may cause the area to look fuzzy, so select the area and add a noise filter.

To make boobs bigger:
-Duplicate the background layer
-Select liquify.
-Using a fairy large brush, select the “bloat” tool from the tool pallet on the left. It looks like a little oval with arrows pointing out.
-Put the brush over boob and click. Continue to click until boobs have reached desired size. Hit ok.

Other Liquify tips:
-The “pucker” tool can be used to reduce the size of eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.
-The “forward warp” tool can be used to change the shape of facial features.
-The best was to learn is to just play around until you get the effect you want.

How to Reduce Under eye bags, and double chin:
-Select the clone stamp tool. Set the blend mod to lighten and the opacity to about 6%
-Slowly paint over undesireable areas. When it’s become light enough, you may use the healing brush to completely get rid of them.


Websites for further information:

Lynda.com
username jim@artnerd.org
password moorepda

Flickr photoshop support group:
http://flickr.com/groups/photoshopsupport/discuss/

Photoshop tutorials can also be found on YouTube

example

here is my example from our in class lesson

tomorrow

okay, i think i'm ready for tomorrow. i'm going to demo changing hair color, liquify, and getting rid of under eye bags and wrinkles. i'm giving out a worksheet that explains everything else i've learned.

Sheppard Fairey poster

Here is the Barack Obama bus poster I was talking about... that reminded me of communist hero posters, and inspired us to take Cho that way.




It's by Sheppard Fairey,
http://obeygiant.com/post/check-it-out
and
http://obeygiant.com/


who is famous for these obey posters that used to be all over Philly (Back in the day.)

Links I've Used over the weeks

This link is about Raw digital Files : http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/u-raw-files.shtml

This link is about posing as a model. I thought it was funny. I should have showed you this site before we started posing in my demo.

http://www.bleeek.com/modeling-posing-tips.html

In this link, it talks about using umbrellas in the studio. I didn't show you how to use the umbrella but this link is nice because it shows how the reflected light works.

http://www.photoflexlightingschool.com/Equipment_Lessons/First_Studio/The_First_Studio_Portrait_Kit/index.html

I like to look at this website for studio lighting advice. It's fun to look at. http://www.studiolighting.net/

continuation with other post

so...
This week, I practiced again with a box because I forgot to get a model. This session was yesterday. And I worked on this outline. I typed up the outline in class this morning. SO here is the outline again for reference.

Studio Lighting
A simple portrait studio light
• Even light on background
• Soft single light on subject with reflected light

STEP 1
GATHER UP EQIPTMENT
• Generator (model light)
o Yellow and brown cords
• Lights and Softbox
o Light stands
o Lights
o Large metal cones
• Light Meter
o Black curly cord
• Camera
o Tripod
o USB Cord
• Computer

STEP 2
SET UP YOUR EQUIPTMENT
• Put up background (roll of paper)
• Setup the lights
o Put on cones – clock wise
• Setup Generator
o Before for you do anything make sure the power is off!!
o Look at the chart on the back of the generator
o We want an even light on background so use 200, 200, 400
o The higher the number the more the power.
• Plug in cords
o Yellow in that special socket
• Turn on Asymmetrical, Model, then POWER

STEP 4
• Set up the camera and tripod
• Set up the computer
o Turn on and use special password.hint baby dogs
• Set up a file on the desktop
o Make sure the camera is off
• Put USB cord in digital outlet in camera and plug into computer
o Turn camera on Switch, but not on that line thing
o Put camera on Manuel
o Launch CAMERA WINDOW software
• Remote Shooting
• Start Remote Shooting
• Choose Folder
• Click File on Desktop
o A window panel comes – highlight to change features of camera, press arrows
• Put camera on Manuel
• ISO 100
• RAW setting
• Use daylight (looks like sun)
o To preview: Drop File in Adobe Bridge

STEP 5
LIGHT METER
• Power
o Change ISO to 100
• Press button down while also using side buttons
o Mode – Cord
o Time - 125
• Slide buttons: arrows on side
• Plug curly cord into light meter and into brown cord on generator
• Do not Block Light and aim meter towards Camera
o Hit the side button for the Flash Test in front of subject, background
• Adjust lights Accordingly to make even background
• After you are down w/ the light meter you plug in the black cord into the lightening bolt
THEN START SHOOTING: YAY!!!


Then I did the Demo. I think that it went well. I feel like I still need to learn a lot more, but I most definately feel more comfortable in the studio than I did before.
I just need to practice a lot more. --- SO I'm going to sign up for studio time sometime this week
And I'm doing research for my FINAL.

Summary of what I've been doing

I'm a little behind on my blogs. So guess I'll just post what I have been working over the past weeks up at once.

So the week after spring break-- I've been working on learning about the science of light..here's an outline of science of light- I may have missed a few sections of the terms, it was just a lot to write down...so here's the link for reference

http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/lightandcolor/indes.html

I took these notes from the website:

http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/lightandcolor/indes.html

Electromagnetic Radiation
• Visible light, a phenomenon that is explained through a model based on rays and wavefronts
• Proposed in late 1600s by Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens
• Electromagnetic radiation also known as radiant energy
• “Mechanisms by which visible light is emitted or absorbed by substances, and how it predictably reacts under varying conditions as I travels through space and the atmosphere, form the basis of the existence of color in our universe.”

Light: Particle or a Wave?
• Both because as certain times light acts as either particle or wave
• We know this through: refraction, reflection, interference, and diffraction, to the results with polarized light and the photoelectric effect

Sources of Visible Light
• variety of sources are responsible for emission of electromagnetic radiation, categorized according to spectrum of wavelengths generated by source
• shorter visible light waves produced by energy state fluctuations of negatively charged electrons within atoms
• shortest form of electromagnetic radiation, gamma waves
o result from decay of nuclear components at the center of atom
• visible light that humans can see is from a mixture of wavelengths whose varying composition is a function of the light source

Fluorescence
• Middle of 19 century by British scientist Sir George G. Stokes observed that the mineral fluorspar exhibits fluorescence when illuminated with ultraviolet light
o He made the word fluorescence
o Fluorescing light has longer wavelengths than the excitation light
o A phenomenon that has become known as the Stokes Shift
• Fluorescence microscopy- method of studying material made to fluoresce
o Either in natural form or when treated with chemicals capable of fluorescing
o Fluorescence microscopy devised in early 20th century by August Köhler, Carl Reichert, and Heinrich Lehmann
o Good for cellular biology

Speed of Light
• In 1983, speed of light is 299,792.458 kilometers per second by the Seventeenth General Congress on Weights and Measures
• Meter is defined as distance light travels through a vacuum during a time interval of 1/299,792,458 seconds
• Speed of light is rounded to 300,000 kilometers or 186,000 miles per second

Reflection of Light
• (and other forms of electromagnetic radiation) occurs when waves encounter a surface that does not absorb the energy of the radiation and bounces waves away from the surface
• Incoming light wave is referred to as an incident wave
• The wave that is bounced away from the surface is called the reflected wave

Refraction of Light
• Light travels in a straight line with no change of direction
• If the light impacts a boundary at any other angle other than 90 degrees ( it will pass through 90 degrees), then the light will be bent or refracted (basically when a wave of energy changes in direction)
• “Early scientist realized that the ratio between the angle at which the light crosses the media interface and the angle produced after refraction is very precise characteristic of the material producing the refraction effect.”

Diffraction of Light
• The bending or spreading out of waves
• Scientist have utilized diffraction of neutrons and x-rays to elucidate the arrangement of atoms in small ionic acids
• Magnetic lenses can focus diffracted electrons in the electron microscope
o Glass lenses are very useful for focusing diffracted light to form an optical image that can easily be viewed
Polarization of Light
• 1669 Erasmus Bartholin discovered that crystals of the mineral Iceland Spar ( calcite) produce a double image when objects are viewed through the crystals in transmitted light
o unusual phenomenon – “When the calcite crystals are rotated about their axis, one of the images moves in a circle around the other, providing strong evidence that the crystals are somehow splitting the light into two different beams.”
• Human eye lacks ability to distinguish between randomly oriented and polarized light
• Plane-polarized light can only be detected through an intensity or color effect

Fundamentals of Interference
• Close relationship between diffraction and interference occurs because they are actually manifestations of the same physical process and produce ostensibly reciprocal effects
• example is light reflected from a film of oil floating on water

Optical Birefringence
• “Anisotropic crystals, such as quartz, calcite, and tourmaline, have crystallographically distinct axes and interact with light by a mechanism that is dependent upon the orientation of the crystalline lattice with respect to the incident light angle.”
• When light enters the optical axis of anisotropic crystals
o it behaves in a manner similar to the interaction with isotropic crystals
o passes through at a single velocity
• when light enters a non-equivalent axis
o it refracts into two rays each polarized with the vibration directions oriented at right angles to one another, and traveling at different velocities
o termed double refraction or birefringence is exhibited to a greater or lesser degree in all anisotropic crystals

Color Temperature
• If color temp. of light source too low for film
o Photomicrographs will have an overall yellowish or reddish cast
• Will appear WARM
• If the color temp. of light sources is too high
o Will appear Blue

One of the weeks I've been reading from a book from the library, Light, Science and Magic
I'm still working on my outline for that

After that week...I've been practicing in the studio.. I took picture of sarah.
I practiced with the lighting that I did in the demo for the class. After that I tried to learn about RAW

So here are some pictures of the studio session and other of Raw in photoshop.

progress

I used what i learned about changing hair color to turn his fur from yellow to red. I also used liquify to reshape his eyes, teeth, and wiskers. I also added a lighting filter.
yesterday i finished typing the worksheet i'm going to give out during my presentation.

portrait

Made the teeth big and messed around with the colors to try and make it a more interesting portrait. comments? suggestions?

elf part 2

i didn't spend quite as much time on this one.

Michelle's Notes

here's my notes on how to use the printer, i'll go over all of it in my demo tomorrow morning:

Large Format Printing in the Print Center

Epson Printers
• 9800/4800 Photo (“Royal”/“Jacqueline”): Glossy, Luster, Canvas
• 9800/4800 Matte (“Steve”/”Margot”): Enhanced Matte, Silk, Cotton, Somerset
• 9800 printers can print up to a maximum of 44 inches wide
• 4800 printers can print up to a maximum of 16 inches wide

Printing: 9800 Photo
• Power On
o The printer will let you know if any inks need to be changed
• If Inks need to be changed:
• Pull correct cartridge out and replace with correct color
• Select media type (Luster) and load roll
o Release top right lever
o Feed paper into printer and line edge up with markers
o Push lever down, press pause button and wait for printer to say ready
• Check image file size and dpi
• Temporarily flatten image
• From the menu bar click:
o View—proof setup
• Custom—Pro9800 7800PLPP250 (for Luster paper)
o File—print: 9800 Royal
o Page setup—paper size: manage custom page sizes
• Page sizes: add new (+ button)
• Width (44in) and Height (30in)
• Select custom size
o Click print
• Print window
o Pull down menu:
o Print Settings
• Page setup: roll paper
• Media Type: Premium Luster Photo Paper
• Color: Color
• Mode: Advanced Setting
• Uncheck high speed
• Check Finest Detail
o Printer Color Management
• Off
o Print button (it may take a few minutes for the image to start printing depending on image size.)