Value Project

- Consider our focus on the Element of Value:  How did your practice capturing black and white photographs through our various daily practice routine afford you a deeper understanding of the power of light in art?

Lighting from different angles and reflecting it on different surfaces could make the light softer, if you let it only go through a limited amount of space as seen in the third image, which made a variety of grays. Backlighting causes intense black and whites when the camera is focused on the object, while side lighting makes the object have more grays while the background and surface it is on is black or white. 

-  Recall specific moments where you found or saw something that inspired your work in this project.

When I saw the woven grass sculpture outside, and saw the light partially shining through I thought it would be good for grays and in the third picture I used this. Another time, I saw light shining through the window in the sculpture studio, while the rest of the room was relatively dark, I thought this would be good for an intense black and white photo, and I used this for both the first and second photo.

-  How much did you expand your ability to observe “value” in your work?

When I first started taking the photos they were very simple and basic with boring lighting. I found that different angles of light and the amount of light around it majorly affected the photograph.

- Consider the habit “engage and persist”:  What did you learn technically (both in shooting and editing your photographs) through your engagement in the process of experimentation, analysis, and persistence?

In photography, you can't just take one photo and be done, you have to take many, many photos from different angles or slight adjustments for each lighting. Expirimenting with many different changes to a photo in both shooting it and editing is the best way to get the desired photograph. 

- What, specifically,  did you “learn” through the process of this project?

I learned that in photography, it is good to take many photos of the same object with slight alterations, because the chances are that one of those photos that you take will turn out well.

-Consider our work with composition during this unit.  Were you able to recall the earlier experiences you had experimenting with composition and apply that to your work on this project?  Do you feel like you have a better understanding of how to manipulate and utilize the aspects of composition in your art?

In previous expirences with composition, I learned that having the right object is very important. Too distracting, and it takes away from the rest of the photo. Too simple, and the photo is boring. The object I used was simple, but the curving shape made really interesting shadows and complimented the rest of the phtotgraphs. 

-To what degree do you agree or disagree with the class feedback you received in choosing your “best” image?  What new insights about your imagery did the class discussion about your work provide for you?

I slightly disagree, before the class discussion, my favorite image was the first one because I really liked the focusing and the many blacks and whites. The class decided that the second image was the best because of the two thirds and back lighting. I agree that it shows those two composition elements while the first doesn't really, but I still feel as if the first image is a better taken image and the second has more of the elements that we studied