Week 6 Assignment: Photography Exploration

This week I teamed up with MJ to share our blog information. A few times I have felt like I have posted something or made something and nobody has read or seen it. So I am looking forward to sharing my work with another classmate on a regular basis. I also am curious to see what MJ's take on our assignment are since she is taking this course from a different perspective.

Last week I took a picture of hand painted signage on a door on the second floor of Macy Hall (below). I am always intrigued by hand drawn or hand painted signage and follow many typography artists on social media. My background in graphic design fostered this love of letters and numbers. These days, seeing hand painted signage is few and far between. This door stands out to me in the halls of Macy as it is one of the few doors with this detail.

There were two important themes to this picture. One was the hand drawn letters. The other was the question of what was behind the door? My initial idea was to create a video of the door to "studio b" opening, unveiling a big reveal. The other was to explore this idea of hand drawn letters, perhaps involved with photography. 

I began by looking at photographs of rooms for inspiration and imagined them as the inside of "studio b". I was inspired by a particular photo of a room which looked like it was full of color, creativity, and whimsy, but had also been neglected. I ended up creating a narrative based on this photograph and incorporating hand drawn type on top of other found photographs to help tell the story.

I painted on top of the photos with acrylic paint and used a drawing pen for detail. The story is loose, but the photographs capture objects from around the room that were left behind that give insight into this person's life. 

The following are the images:

An example of an artist using photography is Andy Goldsworthy.

Goldsworthy is a British sculptor, photographer, and environmental artist who lives and works in Scotland.His artwork made in nature may sometimes last only minutes and relies heavily on photography to capture it for others to see. His work is well known, but I think it is important to appreciate his photography skills within his process. Sometimes the piece relies heavily on composition and the photograph is just as thought out as the piece itself.

The following are a few examples of Goldsworthy's work:

When thinking about relating photography to children, I am reminded of old photographs of my childhood. I love looking back on these photos, reminiscing on memories and noticing how different everyone looks.

By giving children the chance to practice photography, they are getting the chance to show their own perspective and share a glimpse from their own world. I feel this can be empowering for children and is a good opportunity to explain composition.

Lastly, manipulating photos artistically can be fun for students but I also think photography is important because it can help a student to notice and appreciate natural beauty.