I wish I had the chance to see how the film images turned out but despite that, I feel like I was able to create tipsy // hallucinogenic images and I think the colors also help give my idea an exciting // playful feel and puts the viewer in a weird environment

Final

I wasn't able to pick up my film due to not having the money to pick them up, so, I am completing this final with my digital camera, I'm just working on finding more models and editing thus far ; also the pink diamond above is the one I've been using to create my images

I'm waiting to get my film photos developed, hopefully have those by this weekend and will post them over the weekend ; from there I will decide which medium I prefer the best ; here are just two of my favorite ones so far

WEEk 1 *music*

WEEK 1

FINAL PROPOSAL

Design 4 Media FALL 2011 ; Outline


When given this project the first thought that came to mind was the idea of making my own kaleidoscope lens. I had come across a variety of images that have had this kaleidoscope effect on them and had been wondering how one could produce those kind of images without the help of photo shop. Since I love creating and working with my hands, I feel like this would be the perfect series to explore with in class.

I want this series to be of 5 or more different models to play with the idea of dressing up ; I want it to be fashion inspired and that's whether it is with costume (wigs, face paint, costume props) or going out for the night to dance and party. I want to use a lot of color, purple, pink, teal, yellow etc. I want my models to wear a lot of make-up or jewels ; I want it to be an exciting piece and maybe even have a new years feel to it ; Because of the kaleidoscope effect you will have a skewed perception like one is a little tipsy which would go perfectly for the theme.




Week 1 ; Nov. 14th - 18th
gathering music and image inspiration through ; mood trying to convey, color, theme, idea, what I'm hoping to achieve. As well as gathering prisms and different colored diamonds to create my own kaleidoscope lens


Week 2 ; Nov.  21 - 25th
Have kaleidoscope lens or lenses made ; already out shooting with models with several different cameras ; 35 mm film cameras and digital ; explore with different types of color film to see which works best for what i'm trying to explore upon ; post what I have and where I need to improve or do differently


Week 3 ; Nov. 28th - Dec 2
Still experimenting but hopefully have already decided what camera works best between film examples and digital ; setting up more photo shoots ; explaining where I'm at and where I'm headed ; editing


Week 4 ; Dec. 5th - 9th
Post a preview of final images ; editing ;



Week 5 ; FINAL WEEK ; Dec. 12th - 15th 
Post all final images on blog

04

I struggled a lot with this assignment ; this would be my epic failure

I found it hard to meet with my models a second time but I tried to work with
what I had already taken, I think I needed more obvious clues that could relate
to the song or that the colors were more similar in the photos. I also think this
could have used a third or fourth panel...

03

I'm unsure if my pictures and the song go together or even tell a story ; I think I lost myself in this project a little bit. The pictures I did take helped me create an actual character, someone bold, tough, and elusive & secondary character meant to be "Tom Waits" longing for this girl ; Anyways, here is what I have:

02

"Black Market Baby " Tom Waits Lyrics

She lives in a house
That's way back off the road   

There's a man with a lantern
And he carries her soul
 

A coal stove and a bed
A skillet and a hound
She drove a camel through a needle
In this sinking board walk town
She's my black market baby
She's my black market baby
She's a diamond that
Wants to stay coal
Wants to stay coal

I swang out wide with her
On hells iron gate
Anything that you wanted
You could have
My eyes say their prayers to her
Sailors ring her bell
Like a moth mistakes a light bulb
For the moon and goes to hell

She's my black market baby
She's my black market baby
She's a diamond that
Wants to stay coal
Wants to stay coal

There's no prayer like desire
There's amnesia in her kiss
She's a swan and a pistol
And she will follow you like this
In Moberly, Missouri at the
Iroquois Hotel
She checked in with the President
And she ran up quite a bill

She's my black market baby
She's my black market baby
She's a diamond that
Wants to stay coal
Wants to stay coal

She's whiskey in a teacup
She gives blondes a lousy name
She's a bonzai Aphrodite
And a ticket back to Spain
She's a hard way to go
And there ain't no way to stop
Every time you play the red
The black is coming up

She's my black market baby
She's my black market baby
She's a diamond that
Wants to stay coal
She wants to stay coal
My baby wants to stay coal
Coal
Coal
My baby wants to stay coal 

;; I highlighted the important parts of the song I wanted to try and convey with

the photos I'm to take, I have a few location spots in mind as well that would

help with the feel/mood of this song and the character.

01

Inspiration photos ; I haven't been able to go out and shoot due to conflicting schedules but this Friday I'm supposed to get together with my model, I should be able to post the photos by Monday.

TELLING A STORY ; 00

When given this project, I really was unsure of what I should do, but the first thing that came to mind was creating a character and setting a mood; The connective thread that would link all these images together would be through the colors. I wanted to tell the story of someone who has an elusive and alluring quality to them. Someone you may want to know more about. I wanted to create a character like Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffanys but with a little more edge like Laura from the noir movie Laura. Then I thought about music and how music creates a mood and by creating the character that Tom Waits is singing about in Black Market Baby would be perfect.

I think the lyrics are creative and they themselves create a story. The song is really descriptive which helps to capture and create this character through photography. I loved the line "She's a diamond that wants to stay coal" and makes me think this lady is one to always been seen around wearing red lipstick and a fur coat.

DESIGN 4 MEDIA ; FINAL

I originally wanted to incorporate a fourth panel which would have been a photo of her capture, a sailor. The poem would also be assumed to have been written by him, but because I wasn't able to add that element to this series, I think even without it the three images still hold on their own. I think the images allow the piece to have a little more mystery and when looking upon it, it could be assumed that the viewer is the capture or that perhaps these images and chicken scratch thoughts are just close knit treasures hidden in the capture's journal ; just blown up, making it more real, and making the viewer perhaps a little uneasy. That what they are seeing, they weren't meant to see. That it was a secret. 

I suppose I could also say, I'm displaying it in such a way that may be close to what a freak show at a circus would be like, uplifting the curtain to show the viewer something that they are curious about and can't believe is real, it's in your face and it's blunt and you can't look away.


The poem it self is quite simple, basically saying how could this creature who appears to be helpless and so beautiful be something that is the opposite; Unknown and very scary. I wanted there to be a magical yet restless quality about this series as well as wanting to develop and create a story. I wanted to make the impossible, possible. dream a little, exaggerate even more with this concept of mermaids.



As I had stated before, I wanted the mermaid to appear as though she is luring the viewer closer which goes along with the history of their seductiveness. Even though the tables have turned and she is the one captured and in an unknown environment she still holds that mysterious and scary quality.


I printed all three images (8.5 x 11) on transparency paper to go along with the whole concept that she is from the sea, the transparency has that see through, watery appearance. Also, to go back on how her capture could see through her tricks in attempt to capture her. I also didn't want to show images of her as a whole, because she isn't. She is "chopped up" and in an environment not of her understanding, she is skewed, along with her tail that seems to be disappearing, or that she is getting weaker.

I ultimately wanted these to be framed and hung on the wall.

DESIGN 4 MEDIA ; 04

I decided to use a poem that my friend Lindsey Yi and I wrote to tie my images together, it would be my fourth panel but I think I may just use three images ; her legs that I've collaged to make a fin. the image above, and the poem. I wanted it to be from the view of her capture.

DESIGN FOR MEDIA ; 03

I did a few experiments using transparency paper, a lot of the printers ate up the paper so only two turned out. I think I'd like to use this process for my final and continue building upon the transparency so it's still a collage aesthetic.

+ I don't like the placement of the transparency over this image, so it needs to be fixed.
but the image below the transparency I feel works great because it's an image of sea creatures making a human face/body which would relate to my project because the siren is out of her element, so it feels like she is dreaming of her home and what she knows as home.

I also want to try images less busy, maybe just of water or even text underneath.

DESIGN FOR MEDIA ; 02

This is another photo from the series, I still have yet to incorporate collage but it

would be rather simple to collage a fin over her legs since she has already the basic

shape. I want to see how colors would look on top of this with magazine textures

etc

+ I also wanted to mention that I do like the tilted horizon line in this photo, I think it gives off the wayward ocean, as if this picture were to have been taken on a ship. Also, could portray the uneasiness the siren gives to viewer.

DESIGN FOR MEDIA ; 01

The photo shoot this morning went really well! still editing photos, but here is a preview of one. I did a few not in the bathtub, but the ones that were in the bathtub turned out to be my favorites. Going to collage a few of the others and see how that turns out.

DESIGN FOR MEDIA ; 01

I'm not able to do my photo shoot until Friday morning but I was wanting to shoot in both color film and digital ; for examples of what I am aiming for here are two photographs of mine ;

+ This photo is shot in natural light which is the kind of light I'm looking for.

 + The theme

 

So, the main ideas I am headed towards, again are: siren, fashion, natural light.

I will update again on Friday with a sample of my photos.

DESIGN FOR MEDIA ; 00

Thinking more about this project is leading me towards a more fashion aspect.

How could I create images without letting the viewers know straight away it's a siren? (by using collage or being put in a bathtub?) what ways or props could I use to insinuate that they are ethereal, otherworldly, not human? 

With that in mind, I still want to explore with the idea of collage and... if it doesn't turn out at least create a picture that is able to stand alone, perhaps where I use the body and it's shapes to create a tail, putting the models two legs together, perhaps have them wear patterned leggings // pants to create a texture that their bottom half is a tail. 

I'm not sure who made this dress, I wasn't able to find the designer but I would really like to use this color palette in some way, either it be with clothes or props: white, teal, blue, grey

and the second one is from Rosemount Sydney Fashion Week, 
which is an application of make-up I'd like to try.

  

and I still want to use natural light,

maybe explore with flash a little bit like with Viktor Vauthier's photos:

DESIGN FOR MEDIA ; 00

//INSPIRATION\\

LURE : 

1.

a. Something that tempts or attracts with the promise of pleasure or reward.

b. An attraction or appeal.

2. A decoy used in catching animals, especially an artificial bait used in catching fish.

3. A bunch of feathers attached to a long cord, used in falconry to recall the hawk.

tr.v. lured, lur·ing, lures

1. To attract by wiles or temptation; entice.

2. To recall (a falcon) with a lure.

What first came to mind for this project after viewing Hiroshi Hayakawa's work was to do a photo and collage series around something that is of magical interest. Hiroshi's photo emulsions were unique, dark, and mysterious which really lured the viewer in. I want to do something that will incite that same reaction.

And so, to "lure" I thought of bait to catch fish, the ocean, mermaids... I grew up by the beach and with a lot of my art work I tend to create works related to mermaids // or Sirens who in Greek Mythology were dangerous and seductive.

I want to create images that are the opposite of Hiroshi's work in the sense that they will appear to be lighter, more colorful, and magical but will have the dark undertones that go back to the root and the history of what Sirens did to lost sailors.

Even though sirens are found on the coasts of rocky beaches, I wanted to modernize my idea and turn it around; to put the sirens out of their element and to assume that they were the ones caught, tempted, and lured. My shots would be similar to Mathilda's as they would be in the bathtub but I would collage on top of my photo a fish tail etc.

Mathilda Eberhard's work for inspiration

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mathildaeberhard/5392380229/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mathildaeberhard/5392376761/in/photostream

As well as this video by Canada. I love the colors used, natural light.

http://vimeo.com/15959610

PEARLS WORLD

 

This is my first animation and I know it's still in the works, some scenes go by too quickly and others I think too slow, but these are the bare bones.

When I was younger my dad handed me a camera as a gift which led me toward a path that I'm still following, to capture everything ~ beautiful, ordinary, and everyday. I wanted to point out the fact that Pearl was handed something of magical value and she in turn was able to use it to take a picture of a magical creature.

MAGIC VS. MAGIC.

I also grew up by the beach, my mother and I were regular beach bums. She used to tell me stories of mermaids that lived in the deep blue water, I always anticipated for the moment when I'd really catch a glimpse of one.

KONICHIWA

 

Laurita Lo:

as my kindred spirit Bridgett once said, I can be quiet and pensive like a bunny, but I also know how to let loose like a wood nymph and party like the best of them! ((This is a place to house/share my interests, my artwork, & inspirations))