Photo Montage Project

For my photo montage assignment, I plan to create a still life similar in style to the photograph posted below by David Hockney. I have not decided whether or not to incorperate people into my scene, or whether to create a still life with only objects. I intend to photograph my still life under lighting conditions that create a minimal amount of shadows, because I feel that in my still life I would like to have light relatively balanced throughout the entire photograph and focus my efforts to playing with the shapes of the vases, cups, dishes bowls, or any other objects I decide to photograph.

David hill photograph

David Hill assignment

This photograph is one of my favorite David Hill photographs for the simple reason that it still has qualities that appear realisitic to me. This is not to dismiss his other work as appearing unattractive in my eyes, it is just that some of his photographs look as if they belong in a science fiction or animated movie of sorts and that simply is not my style. The photograph above may not truly represent what the actual photograph looked like when it was taken, however the techniques he uses on photoshop and the source of light seems to enhance the overall feel to the photograph, rather than making it seem to be ficticious in my eyes. For instance the clouds in the sky appear as if they are moving quickly behind the runner as if to forshadow that in an instant, when the gun is shot off, the runner will take off from her starting block. I also think that it is effective the way she is positioned in relation to the light source because there is enough light to reveal and exaggerate every inch of her body to create an effect that evokes anticipation in the eyes of any viewer.

Scott Schuman 3 "style out of fear"

I feel that in some regard everyone succumbs to a perticular style out of fear. Often the clothes one wears can tell others a lot about the individual, perhaps it can reveal the persons interests, personality and even their morals. Regardless of what perticular style a person decides to become apart of there is a certain sense of security attached to it because the person knows that they are not alone when they decide to dress a specific way because perhaps their piers do it too. The perticular style a person chooses to succumb to resembles their comfort zone and often when a person is wearing clothes they want to wear one can get the best picture of who that person really is. 

When we are forced to dress out of our comfort zone it often masks the individual we truly are and allows to exaggerate who we are, accentuating features that we believe the person(s) we are trying to impress will like. Hence why many people go to job interviews with a suit and tie on, you dress out of our comfort zone in order to impress the person who could be potentially hiring you. If you were to simply wear what your most comfortable in, which in my case is jeans and a T-shirt, the overall impression that you could give to the man running the interview would be one of indifference and could potentially cost you the job. 

Style today has gotten to the point in which it has become its own language. There are things you do and don't do and only those educated in the language will succeed in using a good style sense to their advantage.  

Scott Schuman 2

The style in which Scott Schuman takes his photographs is appealing to me because from what I could gather from his interview, he does not simply stage the people he sees that appear as his models, he simply takes shots of them in their natural enviroment. In my opinion, there is something to be said about this technique, I feel that too often people are attempting to construct the perfect scene, but in my opinion the best photographs are the ones you simply stumble across an oppertunity to photograph something beautiful. Although I do realize that Schuman comes to different cities with a mission to find his subjects, he does not simply make someone dress the way they do he hunts for a subject to fit his criteria and that is a respectful quality in my opinion. 

Scott Schuman

My three favorite photographs from Scott Schuman's blog would a have to be the following seen below. The first one of Mr. Barbera spoke out to me for the simple reason that Schuman has found a way to make the color brown look dignified, but he has also created beauty with the color brow. In my experience, taking pictures of anything with the color brown makes the overall photograph look dull, however in this picture I feel that Schuman effectively manages not to do so. It is just a pleasing photograph to look at, the subject Mr. Barbera is in clear focus and has the perfect amount of lighting which is quite admirable because it is clear that the photograph was shot on a cloudy day. 

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The second photograph is by far one of my new favorite photographs. The overall dress of the subject not only puzzles me, but keeps me looking at the picture. The bungee chords around his neck, his belt his scarf and his hat are all items in which people would otherwise not give a second glance to, however when they are all combined together it creates an out fit that is supprisingly pleasing to look at. This photograph also makes me question what it would be like to have a discussion with this man. 

The third photograph entices me because not only is the green coat the subject is wearing a beautiful green but the entire outfit seems to match the building behind him. If you look carefully one will notice the buildings behind him are brown and green, and although they may not be a matching shade to his jacket, the effect that these colors have on the photograph provides the viewer with a beautiful picture. 

Photo Book

Reflection after the project: 

After my completion of this project, without knowing it I had introduced myself to a new aspect of the game of hockey. I noticed that it is possible to look at such a rough sport in an artistic way. These pictures, which capture specific moments in time during a game really capture the finesse and beauty behind being a hockey player. I am pleased that I took an opportunity to view this sport that is so familiar to me in a new light.