I was really excited about shooting at night because the whole view from Astoria Park towards Manhattan is just amazing. The only problem was that I was afraid my photograph would look noisy. When I took pictures some turned out well, but they were not as good as the daylight ones. When I was taking pictures, the constant flares of the lamps or bridge lights became a little distracting to the overall image! I like how the images turned out, but I wish they were a bit better.

In the final project, when I did morning I was having trouble because it was just so sunny and the flares of the sun didn’t allow to get a good picture of some perspective of Astoria Park. I would go towards the shade and constantly switch the ISO so it wouldn’t look to dark or too bright. When I was in the sun, it was hard to tell if the image was too dark from my camera screen. Those where probably the only situations I had to deal with in one period of the day.

For the location project, I decided to do Astoria Park. I really love going there whenever I want to go for a walk, and I thought it would be a great place to take photographs and show others the beauty of it and how calming it is for me. I had problems with the lighting because sometimes it would be sunny and then get dark.

I was a little confused about this project, because I thought we only had to take pictures of ourselves. When I found out that we could use objects to represent us. Then I decided mix them both. I chose dream catchers, an elephant that I got from my trip to Colombia, and my music which all symbolize me. This project was very fun, I got to shoot again outside my studio. I used natural light when taking pictures of myself.

When I was looking at the photographs, I noticed the different and creative ways photographers were able to make their images similar to a painting or as if it was use with Adobe Photoshop software. This MoMA exhibit, A World of Its Own showed me various effects that people can do in a studio by just using lighting, reflections, colors, and their subjects. I learned how over exposure and using different media can help have a positive affect by keeping the image interesting.

Two specific works that captured my interest and inspires me would be Construct NYC 17 by Barbara Kasten. I really love her work because she made it looked like an illusion. When I was looking at this piece, I was wondering what she had used to make the image so engaging. I discovered that she might have used different objects such as mirrors. I started looking over her other pieces and noticed that she uses several of different obstacles and the lighting and reflection, makes her photographs look so amazing.

Another photographer I really liked was Michele Abeles. I felt like her work of art looks so much like collage work where pieces of pattern and typography are cut out and pasted in an organized way. I really love the colors she used, it made the photograph look more lively and fun. She put the strips of paper in a well-thought out manner that makes the pieces unify.
In my own experience as a studio photographer, I’ve realized the great helps that tracing paper does so that the lighting doesn’t look harsh on my objects. When I used mirrors I was able to mimic lights to get lighting from various angles. Looking at the photographs of MoMA it inspired me to look at photography as a medium for art. I discovered the different ways to experiment in my home studio.

In the article, “When a Form Is Given Its Room to Play” by Roberta Smith talks about the exhibit concentrating more on images taken in a photo studio rather than outdoors. This allows the artist to have total control. A photo studio is like a “playground” the photographers are able to play with subject, background, lighting, and etc. The exhibition is assigned with separate themes, while they all experiment the unique ways of the medium. One postmodern work of art that Smith discusses is, Valerie Belin’s mannequin photograph. Smith states, “beautiful mannequin that, while fake, looks alive”. I agree with her statement, when I first saw it I thought a photograph of a woman, but when I looked closely you could see how her eyes look painted. I began to think it was photoshop but then realized it was a mannequin. To conclude, I really liked this exhibition it was very fascinating and influential.

Joseph Rodriguez interesting advice on creating your own story inspires me. He starts off discussing his past and how we was heading towards the wrong path several times. He began taking photographs of places in New York were danger was high and were displayed as crime areas in the newspapers. Rodriguez wanted to show more than just crime in the communities, he wanted to show the beauty and that there’s much more to those communities. Rodriguez focused more on family and capturing a hidden look that was meaningful and showed their true lives. The photographer tells us about his fascination of traveling to uncover stories and his near-death experiences. Every part of his photographs have to do with his story towards violence, life experiences, and family relationships. I really loved the part were he talked about the three wise monkeys (hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil) he told us to ignore what people say if they don’t like your work. Just continue to create your own story and do your work the way you would do it and put a little piece of you in your work. Joseph Rodriguez is all about not giving up and whenever you see yourself in the wrong path steer yourself back in the right direction and pursue your dreams.

I was really excited to work on this project because I really have a fascination towards nature and Spring, but I didn’t realize that it would be so hard since everything is basically dead! I decided to go to the Botanical Garden in Queens for the first time hoping I would see growing flowers and plants. I found some good pictures, but it turns out the light was pretty harsh in some images, so that was difficult for me. The other photographs I took at home in my living room which is filled with plants and flowers. Overall, I had a fun time getting out of the house and hopefully we get to go out more often for other projects!

Last week I had a lot of trouble trying to figure out a lighting that would give the doll two completely different emotions. This time I had to really focus on the lighting more than the object itself. My object only had one emotion, it was hard because I couldn’t give her a different body position. I really had to use shadows to my advantage to show mostly her big sad eyes rather than her smile, which is painted on her face. Overall, the lighting became easier to control and gave a huge impact on my doll.

In the midterm project, total transformation. I decided to use my Native American doll and use different objects to style it like a dreamcatcher and an owl. I had problems with the lighting and  not knowing what to do to it to make it look different from my other photographs. I really want this one to look the best and display my improvement. I honestly, did not really like how my photographs turned out. When we went on the field trip today, I realized that I haven’t tried doing the lighting up but behind the doll. So, today I’m gonna take some photographs of the doll and scenery with that lighting set to see if it can give it a different effect and feeling.

For this assignment, I decided to use my Juicy Couture perfume. I decided to use my studio rather than bringing the perfume outdoors in natural lighting. Reason being, I have more guidance on how the lighting will effect the glass perfume bottle. I kept the lighting at a more remote distance because the glare was highly enduring. It was tough for me to try and angle the camera in a way that my body nor any other nonessential figures disturbed the image. I highly enjoyed shooting an item of my choosing!!