Week 6 - more thoughts



"Creating artwork is often overwhelming and limitless, by creating your own internal 'rules' or 'limits' can often actually guide your process rather than hinder it."
Nicole Robinson

I like the idea of some rules/limits to the pieces - I will have to set some for my project or it could become too unwieldy to manage

Olivia's post also made me stop and rethink about the assignment. There is no need to make this about brand. I can make this story about anything I want! OMG - too broad? 

I thought of the theme I could use and began to look back through some of my photos from the past and got distracted by remembering a trip to the USA. I took over 2 000 photo's of the USA alone - most pretty terrible. 

These are some photo's I took back in 2006  - they relate to a three day stay in Washington


A Journey


Smithsonian - Flight 

  • the plane is to the fore and the smaller plane can be seen against the dark background. I took these photo's with a Lumis 10 Megapixel Panasonic DMC-FS42 'point and shoot' digital camera. 
  • I used the rule of thirds when editing this shot and put the plane mostly in the bottom third
  • when cropping I tried to crop out the strings holding the planes up
  • I didn't use a flash as it was in the Smithstonian and not allowed
  • There is repetition in the struts and wheels and wings and the pattern in the wings and body



Tour of Washington 
  • This was the Department of Commerce or something similar and I love the quote that suits the business of the building. 
  • it was spring and pretty cold but there was a weak sun out and the soft light on the sandstone gives a nice crisp shadow between the blocks of stone while picking out the carvings
  • repetition in the blocks and pattern in the lintel over the doorway
  • symmetry of the lights and the blocks and the window placement
  • it fills the frame - no white space
  • it's a doorway to somewhere - there is a story in that.....



Art in the park

  • we were in the park between the Smithstonian buildings, and came across some art work (mostly Rodin) although this one isn't 
  • Arnaldo Pomadora (1926): Sphere No 6 1963-65, bronze
  • the hard metal against the soft earth and trees
  • the natural light a weak sun and so it did not gleam but shone with a dullness
  • the light highlighted the intricate inside of the sphere
  • the fact that it is in the middle of the thirds - the other two pieces of sculpture are both Rodin and both in a third each
  • top right has the sky, top left the sky and trees; bottom right has the path and earth and bottom left has the same
  • the line of the sun across the dirt in parallel with the bricks on top of the steps


Night tour


  • I used a flash for this shot
  • love the fact that the two places where the dot is constantly being touched (nose and ears) shone brightly
  • there is some lamp light in the place but mostly the light is from my flash - creating a double shadow of the President but not of the dog......
  • flash is reflecting on his cloak on his right (our left) side and top shoulder and forehead
  • rule of thirds - the President is predominantly in the third third (right); dog in middle bottom third
  • triangle between dog and his master; the figure in the cloak forms another triangle and there is one running diagonally from right top to left bottom of the top first third; another reflected in the steps
  • repetition of the blocks of stone and the lines to the steps and down
  • a frosty night so the crystals were caught in the flash too giving it all a sparkly look!




Spring in Washington
  • same place next day
  • cherry blossoms coming out and so I framed the other building below them
  • blue water from the river/lake below and blue sky above with only the thin line of earth between
  • serenity was what I was trying to portay
  • the white dome is shining in the sun
  • zoom: 1:2.8-5.9/5.5-22 ASPH



Vietnam wall

  • the twisty bare tree shadow on the grass was interesting - reflecting the branches in the top left
  • the way you need to climb down into the wall from the left and then the long haul back out to the right was reflective of the war itself and American involvement
  • the fluffiness of the trees and the shadow and the straight lines of the wall are in opposite
  • the colours are sharp in the natural light but not too bright
  • people are repetition; trees are repetition



The White House and us

  • pop of red from my top - reflected also on the right from the stripe in the man's shirt
  • repetition in fence - spears into the sky
  • repetition in the wire fencing along the bottom of the fence
  • the  guy  on the right looks like a secret service man
  • a policemen took this shot for us the guy on the left looks middle eastern vs the left hand side definitely MAS
  • The house itself sits in top middle third - so do the heads of the other two - creating a dip for the house to be positioned behind us and turned towards each other slightly, excluding the two strangers
  • John and I are in the middle and bottom third



Arlington


  • we watched the changing of the guard here at the cemetery and there were lots of people around - the area emptied out quickly as it was late afternoon and getting cold
  • the repetition of arches and the symmetry of them appealed to me
  • the repetition of the  pillars
  • why have such an imposing open air place at a cemetry? it is probably for funerals and other ceremonial occasions and the forecourt opens out to face Washington central 
  • JFK's grave is just near here also
  • the late sun is coming from the fight and the shadow line is clearly shown 
  • where the light hits the stone it outs it into sharp relief
  • when it hits the wooden seats it creates bands of shadow and light
  • I did crop this a bit with the rule of thirds in my head, so the colonnade runs through the middle of the photo
  • I was standing on some seats so the angle is from higher than normal 



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