"Mockery"
Medium: Digital Collage Size: 91.5 x 61.0 cm Date: September 2015 Finding who I was and who I am through personal experience was the key concept I explored. My past has had a major influence on my persona today and prior to this piece I didn't quite realize that. Utilizing Adobe Photoshop CS6, I was able to manipulate photos in order to create a form of identity for myself through this piece inspired by Jacob Riis and his photograph "Street Arabs in The Area of Mulberg Street". |
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Planning
At first, I had trouble brainstorming possible ideas for my photo collage. I really wanted to portray myself in a way that was unusual for me, show a side of me that the majority of the people around me didn't know about. It was troublesome coming up with an idea on how to do this, so I began to fool around with my phone and began photographing random objects around me. Then I would insert the images into Photoshop and mess around with them in order to become familiar with the tools. Before I knew it, I came across an image of my room, and I suddenly began to get an idea of how I could utilize the image for my project and began to create sketches. I knew I wanted to include myself within the piece, however I wanted to have a gloomy feeling, so I sketched out the position I could pose within my piece. I then noticed the shadows lurking within some of my photos and I suddenly realized that utilizing a shadow to represent my past was perfect. As I continued to create sketches and slowly develop my actual collage, I noticed that I had seen a similar "gloomy" feeling in a photograph by Jacob Riis before and decided he was a perfect inspiration for my piece. |
Artistic Inspiration
My artistic inspiration for my digital collage was Jacob Riis. Riis was a social documentary photographer whose photographs were not usually uplifting or cheerful but quite rather the opposite. He usually photographed slums and other people in improper living conditions. For example, his photograph "Street Arabs in the Area of Mulberry Street" depicts three small children in poor living conditions creating a sad or depressing image that captures their sorrows and troubles. I then thought about how I could incorporate my own past troubles into my photo collage in order for the viewer to be able to receive my message in a similar fashion. I decided one way I could do it was to darken my image since Jacob's image had an extra emphasis due to its black and white coloration, however I didn't want to remove color from my image, therefore I decided to rather just darken it. Another aspect that portrayed emotion was the children's position. I decided to imitate their pose by placing my chin down just as they did in the photograph.
Image:Riis, Jacob. Street Arabs in The Area of Mulberry Street. Digital image. Https://tjbogar.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/289500_usadv-0105-04-jpg1.jpeg. N.p., n.d. Web.
Background On Artist:Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.
My artistic inspiration for my digital collage was Jacob Riis. Riis was a social documentary photographer whose photographs were not usually uplifting or cheerful but quite rather the opposite. He usually photographed slums and other people in improper living conditions. For example, his photograph "Street Arabs in the Area of Mulberry Street" depicts three small children in poor living conditions creating a sad or depressing image that captures their sorrows and troubles. I then thought about how I could incorporate my own past troubles into my photo collage in order for the viewer to be able to receive my message in a similar fashion. I decided one way I could do it was to darken my image since Jacob's image had an extra emphasis due to its black and white coloration, however I didn't want to remove color from my image, therefore I decided to rather just darken it. Another aspect that portrayed emotion was the children's position. I decided to imitate their pose by placing my chin down just as they did in the photograph.
Image:Riis, Jacob. Street Arabs in The Area of Mulberry Street. Digital image. Https://tjbogar.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/289500_usadv-0105-04-jpg1.jpeg. N.p., n.d. Web.
Background On Artist:Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.
Process
I began my piece by starting off with the image of my room. This was the background of my piece. I then had someone take a picture of me in a curled up position, sitting on the floor. Once I had this image, I used Photoshop in order to edit the photo so that no background appeared and it was just me in the curled up position. This was challenging since the edges around me weren't perfectly clean therefore I had to feather them out, but eventually I got the desired look. After just having myself curled up, I edited myself into the picture of my room such that I was sitting on the floor in the same position. When I finished adjusting my positioning and look, I then needed an image of a shadow. Therefore I had a picture taken of me pointing and laughing and using Photoshop I edited it such that it was just me as a black figure, however the figure didn't seem right and was very award. Therefore I decided to take a picture of an actual shadow. I setup a flashlight to shine on me such that a shadow was cast behind me. I then had a picture of the shadow taken. Once more, using Photoshop, I edited the shadow into the picture of my room and set it up to point at me. Next, I copied and pasted my shadow's arm onto the floor of the photograph such that they were pointing at me. Finally to finish off my piece, I utilized filters in order to produce a gloomier feeling by dimming down colors except for the red from my shirt in order to have me stand out.
I began my piece by starting off with the image of my room. This was the background of my piece. I then had someone take a picture of me in a curled up position, sitting on the floor. Once I had this image, I used Photoshop in order to edit the photo so that no background appeared and it was just me in the curled up position. This was challenging since the edges around me weren't perfectly clean therefore I had to feather them out, but eventually I got the desired look. After just having myself curled up, I edited myself into the picture of my room such that I was sitting on the floor in the same position. When I finished adjusting my positioning and look, I then needed an image of a shadow. Therefore I had a picture taken of me pointing and laughing and using Photoshop I edited it such that it was just me as a black figure, however the figure didn't seem right and was very award. Therefore I decided to take a picture of an actual shadow. I setup a flashlight to shine on me such that a shadow was cast behind me. I then had a picture of the shadow taken. Once more, using Photoshop, I edited the shadow into the picture of my room and set it up to point at me. Next, I copied and pasted my shadow's arm onto the floor of the photograph such that they were pointing at me. Finally to finish off my piece, I utilized filters in order to produce a gloomier feeling by dimming down colors except for the red from my shirt in order to have me stand out.