Mother Nature

mixed lighting: outdoor lights and flash

For this photo the main theme was mixed lighting.  By using the natural light from outside and the camera's flash, I was able to create a combination of light.  This gives my model Grace, an extra highlight on the anterior side, along with an all over light courteous of the sun. Her naturally intrigue with this plant gave me a good idea in surrounding her with nature-the place humans call home, and the thing civilization needs to survive.

Speak Now.

Painting with light, 20s exposure

     Painting with light consists of your subject standing completely still in a dark room.  With a tiny flashlight and a long exposure, the photographer "paints" light with the flashlight towards the photo.  Once the exposure has finished, you will notice that streaks of light appear throughout the photo-this is your paint.
     With Grace as my subject I decided on using text for my paint.  I set the exposure at 20s in the dark room with my subject standing with her mouth open.  Next, I pressed the shutter and stood behind her.  I flashed the light in small letters coming from her mouth backwards, and increased in size as I wrote further away from the subject.  After writing, I stood infront of Grace and shone the light on her face to make sure it appears in the photo. 
     The words "speak" represent the term to speak outloud.  I chose this in the dark room not only because I have to in order for the light to appear, but because thinking in the dark is like speaking your mind with no one else listening.  Therefore, with the words "speak" shining brightly in a dark room, it resembles speaking your mind and having the right to speak when so many don't have the opportunity.

Blast from the past

Madonnna with the Long Neck, Parmigianino
Oil on Wood, 1535-40



Sara as the Madonna with the Long Neck
2:0 light ratio






           The Madonna with the Long neck is an oil on wood painting during the 16th century, also known as, "The Renaissance."  The renaissance occured between the 14th-17th century (1301-1801) in Italy and spanned across Europe during the Middle Ages.  During this time period, "Humanism"-which is the belief of creating a universal man who consisted of intelligence and physical excellence along with the capability to function in any given situation.  This is shown commonly as god-like figures or sculptures like Greek and Roman ancient art.  Paintings in this era commonly include nature, extreme realistic-style paintings, human anatomy (it is common to have subjects in the nude), and pillar/columned buildings.  This architecture influenced Italian art prior to European literature (ie. the leaning tower of Piza).

          This painting is represented as the virgin Mary holding baby Jesus.  Six angels are seen to be looking over Mary to see the baby.  Parmigianino created a new style of painting when he added the Prophet at the bottom right corner- just  under Mary's knee.  This inproportion was the beginning of realistic paintings with an unrealistic twist. The abnormally large size of Mary and the baby Jesus are guessed to provide the perfect inharmony to the picture which was uncommon in the 16th century.
          Lastly, I adjusted my lighting to meet the same lighting as the painting by having two studio lights: both on the left side of Sara's face.  This created the perfect shadow just on the outer-left side by her chin and her cheek bones.  The right side is extremely bright, giving the perfect luminescence of Mary's angelic face, which goes the same way for Sara.  All in all, a combination of studio lights and photoshop have created a good replication of a renaissance painting.



Studio lighting portraits

1:0 lighting ratio

1:1 close up lighting

2:1 lighting

These portraits of studio lighting were shot on 3 different days.  The first day consisted of a 1:0 ratio with the studio lights off and one light placed on the left side of the model (Sara) .  Day 2 was a 1:1 lighting ratio with 1 light on either side and close to the model.  Lastly, day 3 was a 2:1 lighting ratio by moving one light with the umbrella close to the bulb closer to the model (Grace), and one light with the umbrella further away from the bulb and the model.  By moving the position of the lights, using diffusers, adjusting the height of the light stands, and changing the distance I was able to create different portrait lighting and different effects.

Words In Nature

     Throughout nature there's many different forms of everything around us.  For this assignment I chose to use nature as astarting point for my assignment. By looking around at trees, parking lots, school corners, doorways, windows, bike racks and symbols on hallways, I was able to find patterns in shapes of letters in order to spell the name of my blog.  The reason I used nature as a starting point was because a variety of patterns can occur naturally outside, if using a proper eye to find them. After draining my resources for patterns outside, I used a variety of places around my school as an inspiration for unique patterns.  From door locks, to poster boards, to handlebars, Oakville Trafalgar has posted a good stage for photography students to decipher patterns created in modern architecture or nature settings.

Jesse.

An inspiring artist that I know is one of my good friends Jesse Belsito.  Although this photo isn't one of his own, he does have his own photos.
Overall he's just an amazing person.
His passion is to change the world, in order to make it a better place for this generation, and all the generations here to follow.  He believes there's good in everyone.  He believes that passion and love can make the world go 'round.  In addition, he has opened a new perspective in my eyes.  Jesse gave me that voice of reason whenever things were going on in my life that I needed to talk about.
In forms of photography, he has a various and bizarre taste of photos.  They're dark and powerful, one of many key aspects in strong photography.  He blogs photos that most of my friends wouldn't even give a second look.  Lastly, this boy has inspired me to view different situations entirely and to see the world from an optional perspective.  His photography's a huge influence from his personality and desires which is why Jesse Belsito is my inspirational photographer.

"The great blessing of mankind are within us and within our reach; but we shut our eyes, and like people in the dark, we fall foul upon the very thing we search for, without finding it."
Seneca
(7 B.C. - 65 A.D.)