Sunday, May 26, 2013

Sensitivity and ISO Draft Discussion


 This photo of a building on Liberty Avenue has an aperture of 5.6 and a speed of 100 ISO.


 This photo of Presque Isle Waterway has an aperture of 8.0 and a speed of 125 ISO.

 

 This photo of lake ducks has an aperture of 40.0 and a speed of 1600 ISO.

 

 This photo of Presque Isle turtles has an aperture of 8.0 and a speed of 160 ISO.


 This photo of the Panhandle Quarry has an aperture of 5.6 and a speed of 3200 ISO.

 

This photo of a fiddler in the Tiger Maple String Band has an aperture of 5.6 and a speed of 3200 ISO.

Please let me know your comments and feedback below or on the discussion board.
Thanks!

-Brandt

Exposure Photographs and their Histograms


This photo of my living room has an aperture of 5.0 and a speed of 250 ISO.

This photo of my bedroom has an aperture of 3.5 and a speed of 2000 ISO.

This photo of the Morgan Post Office has an aperture of 5.6 and a speed of 250 ISO.

Sensitivity and ISO Discussion

 

This photo of a building on Liberty Avenue has an aperture of 5.6 and a speed of 100 ISO.

 This photo of Presque Isle Waterway has an aperture of 8.0 and a speed of 125 ISO.

 

 This photo of lake ducks has an aperture of 40.0 and a speed of 1600 ISO.

 

 This photo of Presque Isle turtles has an aperture of 8.0 and a speed of 160 ISO.

 

 This photo of the Panhandle Quarry has an aperture of 5.6 and a speed of 3200 ISO.


This photo of the fiddler of the Tiger Maple String Band has an aperture of 5.6 and a speed of 3200 ISO.

Please let me know your comments and feedback below or on the discussion board.
Thanks!

-Brandt

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Exposure Discussion

 This photo of the South Fayette Township Library has an aperture of 4.0 and a speed of 500 ISO.

This photo of my living room has an aperture of 5.0 and a speed of 250 ISO.

This photo of my bedroom has an aperture of 3.5 and a speed of 2000 ISO.

 This photo of my den has an aperture of 4.0 and a speed of 4000 ISO.

This photo of my parlor has an aperture of 3.5 and a speed of 1250 ISO.

This photo of the Morgan Post Office has an aperture of 5.6 and a speed of 250 ISO.

Please let me know your comments and feedback below or on the discussion board.
Thanks!

-Brandt

Monday, May 20, 2013

Carnegie Museum Visit

Trophy of the Hunt depicts a wooden door with metal hinges and a knocker. Nailed to one of the hinges is the foot of a recently slaughtered rabbit.  Harnett replicated this image in the fashion of “trompe-l’oeil,” or depictions of recently deceased animals the artist hunted.6  Harnett’s attention to detail in nature was remarkable: certain areas in the wood are chipped or discolored, the hinges are rusted all over, and the texture of his signature seems almost as if he carved it onto the door itself. This is similar to my vision of photography because of its unique usage of shadows and detail, allowing the painting to realistically emulate contemporary photographs.  In today's world, I would hang an in depth picture of wildlife in my room in place of commissioning a "trompe-l’oeil" mode image painting.


    Gate of Adobe Church at Carnegie Museum by Georgia O’Keeffe: whenever O’Keeffe visited New Mexico in 1929, she found the Ranchos de Taos church and was immediately inspired by its beauty. “I had to paint it—the back of it several times, the front once. I often painted fragments of things because it seemed to make my statement as well or better than the whole could” she expressed, “I had to create an equivalent for what I felt I was looking at—not copy it."3  Essentially she conveys the popular message that one has to be somewhere to fully and truly experience it, and not just view videos and photographs, or in this case, paintings of it.  What is fascinating about the church is its simplistic desert color scheme of browns and yellows.  Psychologically, brown is meant to be soothing, reliable, earthly, and sophisticated, so it seems a fitting palette for a home or place of worship.1  In fact, the exterior of my home in McDonald has this palette, and in some respects this was the inspiration for the color scheme, which warmly welcomes visitors to our home.

    Although the subject matter of Harbor Mole is difficult to identify at first, slowly the scene unscrambles itself with just the mention of the title: a harbor on the coast of Germany.4  The lighthouse, which normally stands tall to assist the lost sailors, suffers from the intense power of a storm, represented by rapid tides and vigorous gusts.  Anyone who has found his or herself caught in such a storm knows how helpless he or she feels against it, the rain blinding his or her vision and the wind manipulating his or her sense of direction.  Feininger replicates these forces through the sharp geometry of the clouds, sea, and even the dock the lighthouse rests upon, almost as if an earthquake is occurring.  While modern art receives criticism due to its basic geometric layouts, the use of triangles, trapezoids, and other such shapes in this painting actually invokes the distorted emotion of the viewer. This shaped Modernism imagery enhanced by the growth of cities, primarily by the introduction of skyscrapers, influences my photography of buildings and nature’s monuments in a geometric Cubism manner.


The house, presumably the home of the Girl Under Apple Tree, is set into the background of the painting obscured by shrubbery.  Upon further research, it seems that Munch never felt the emotions of being home, thus lacking the sensations of security and solace in his life.2  As a result, he reflects this tragedy with the incomplete vision of the house, which even the girl is facing away from. Though subtle, this painting conveys the message that one must always keep his or her home close to the heart. The painting has a notably vibrant color scheme and an excellent use of contrast, using shadows and imagery placement. I try to use image placement and shadowing when looking for special effects produced by my photography. Digital photography is essential in the aforementioned effort by allowing numerous reproductions to satisfy this criteria.



    The only truly vertical lines within Steamboat on the Ohio are the ones that compose the smokestacks of both the steamboat and the background factory, fittingly enough, both man-made structures.5  As a result, they stand out the most and display the precise development of the Industrial Revolution. They also serve as a great contrast to the man with the rowboat and even the nude people that swim to their location. The factory bears resemblance to the one seen on the cover of the Pink Floyd album Animals, so it certainly evokes the same emotions that the album does, perhaps even replaying it mentally in one’s head while viewing the painting.  I use the combination of subtle colors with bright imagery while staging my photography  of nature and/or events in which there is  a subdued background with action occurring in the foreground.  An example of this being at a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game, with the city as the backdrop while the players are in motion.


    Even the structure of the Carnegie Museum itself inspires a photographer.  Steel rails, the pride of Pittsburgh, enforce its powerful frame, while using glass panes as walls and ceilings allows the beauty of the outside area to serve as an exhibit itself.  The central difference is that this serves as a contemporary exhibit, as opposed to an interpretation of an artist from centuries past. There is a different result with every visit, and the panels can give the photographs taken of them a wonderful “framed” look.



1 “Color Psychology - Brown.” About.com. Web. 18 May 2013. <http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/a/color_brown.htm>.
2 “Edvard Munch: Girl Under Apple Tree.” Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 2007. Web. 18 May 2013. <http://www.cmoa.org/searchcollections/details.aspx?item=1011868>.
3 “Georgia O'Keeffe: Gate of Adobe Church.” Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 2007. Web. 18 May 2013. <http://www.cmoa.org/searchcollections/details.aspx?item=1016935>.
4 “Lyonel Feininger: Harbor Mole.” Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 2007. Web. 18 May 2013. <http://www.cmoa.org/searchcollections/details.aspx?item=1024480>.
5 “Thomas Pollock Anshutz: Steamboat on the Ohio.” Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 2007. Web. 18 May 2013. <http://www.cmoa.org/searchcollections/details.aspx?item=1010547>.
6 “William Michael Harnett: Trophy of the Hunt.” Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 2007. Web. 18 May 2013. <http://www.cmoa.org/searchcollections/details.aspx?item=1007259>.

Koyaanisqatsi Impression

    Koyaanisqatsi is a 1982 environmental film directed and produced by Godfrey Reggio and the first of his trilogy.  It does not necessarily have a cast, excluding the hundreds of civilians that commute throughout the backgrounds.  Furthermore, there is essentially no dialogue, apart from an ominous accelerando hum of the minimalist composition by Phillip Glass.  The title of this movie is a Hopi Native American term indicating a “life out of balance.”1  By comparing and contrasting time lapse footage of nature and technology, and civilizations both urban and rural, the director conveys the self-deterioration of humankind that eventually (or supposedly) will lead to its downfall.  The Earth can only find salvation should its inhabitants acquire the aforementioned balance.
    However, while praised by critics for decades, I personally did not enjoy the film, or at least acquire the experience it wished to convey.  As is the case with many environmental movies, there is a surprising amount of driving and resource consumption done which seems counterintuitive to their message. It is unsurprising whenever one of these movies, intentionally or not, runs into a cliché, as there are only so many methods and directions to convey the “green” idea that is the very reason for their existence.  In such an event, there are numerous methods to parody or overcome these clichés, but I feel as if Koyaanisqatsi did not succeed in such a challenge.  Of course, released in the 1980’s this movie predates many of those that did exploit these tropes, so at this point it is a matter of viewing it at an artistic point.  While many would disagree, I feel it does not succeed in this field either. On the other, I do believe that the imagery presented in the movie does express an existential message, just not the one that was intended by the director.
    One of the first series of shots is of canyons throughout the world.  Some of them have their own unique structures untouched by civilization, whereas others have series of roads carved into to them.  While these landscape routes appear majestic, they also prove dangerous whenever the weather worsens, since rockslides, landslides, and earthquakes ruin these roads, possibly taking the lives of those who traverse them.

http://dbsprints.com/PointPark/FirstAssignment/Angel-Canyoncopy.jpg

    Afterwards is footage of bodies of water from rivers to oceans.  Initially the waters are calming and shining, but gradually become more vicious and rapid.  To me this conveys the message that something gentle can even turn to hostile when agitated, which even people can relate to.

http://dbsprints.com/PointPark/FirstAssignment/Oceancopy.jpg

    A dam, known as a renewable energy source, then explodes, and the smog slowly disappears to reveal a power plant with a series of electric power lines, hardly renewable at all.  Now technology seems to thrive more than nature.  While a few prefer to relax on the beach, many tourists heading to the nearby power plant for entertainment.

http://dbsprints.com/PointPark/FirstAssignment/Power-Linescopy.jpg

    Next is a scene that depicts several airplanes turning around in the water.  This concept, along with the accompanying music, seems rather absurd to me, but I realized that it would make far more sense if they were swans or geese instead.

http://dbsprints.com/PointPark/FirstAssignment/Daytoncopy.jpg

    After several sequences of explosions and accidents, the movie cuts to a town in shambles and disrepair.  I think this exhibits while the environment can grow again, cities and other establishments must be renovated or replaced. 

http://dbsprints.com/PointPark/FirstAssignment/Constructioncopy.jpg

    The buildings would continuously become taller and whenever this was no longer an option, delve further underground as seen with the footage of crowded subways. Every square inch of property can be utilized somehow in the eyes of a businessperson.

http://dbsprints.com/PointPark/FirstAssignment/Tall-Buildingscopy.jpg

    The next several minutes depicts the continuous cycle of people going about their daily routines, from assembly lines, to office jobs, to traffic on highways.

http://dbsprints.com/PointPark/FirstAssignment/Traffic-Under-Rainbowcopy.jpg 

    Since American civilization has developed a 24/7 work schedule, this never comes to a halt no matter how many times the sun and moon rise and set.

http://dbsprints.com/PointPark/FirstAssignment/Gulf-Building-Mooncopy.jpg

    Advertisements prevalent in this film like Oscar Meyer and Kentucky Fried Chicken, are examples of subliminal imagery to the public.  Even stranger was seeing the assembly line for Twinkies, which are infamously now “extinct” due to the closing of Hostess.  Inside the mall customers play video games such as Ms. Pac-Man, as well as the lesser known Defender, Turbo, and Q*Bert. This is a prime example of how nature is never considerably outdated, yet fashions and brand name industries come and go.

http://dbsprints.com/PointPark/FirstAssignment/New-Zealand-Ads-Copy.jpg 

    Eventually, the span of shopping, working, and commercials becomes so rapid that after a simulated overheat, the film silences with vacant, still imagery. Then there are scenes of people taking either food or cigarette breaks, in my opinion indicating that the stress has overwhelmed them.  The film ends with the shuttle from earlier finally lifting off, exploding, and ultimately falling back towards the ground where it began. It seems to me that is this is supposed to indicate that one day humanity will fall right back to where it first started: alone, hungry, and afraid of nature.

http://dbsprints.com/PointPark/FirstAssignment/Burning-Building-Highmarkcopy.jpg

    Even though I disagree with the belief that Koyaanisqatsi is a masterpiece, I do agree that there are meanings that a viewer can interpret on their own.  The movie is more a compilation of footage rather than a scripted and structured film, so it is a subjective manner upon the significance and idea of these clips.  The order and parallel with the music simply serves as a prompt to let the imagination draw its own conclusion.  It is common to enjoy only certain parts of a movie or from a completely different viewpoint than the columnists assign.


1  Koyaanisqatsi- Life out of Balance, 12 May 2012,  <http://www.koyaanisqatsi.org/films/koyaanisqatsi.php>.