Creative Assignments

Creative Assignment 1: ReCreate
Minimum of 60-70 images shot to be used to construct images
Due Date: 9/28 Thursday

Reinvent the content/composition/theme of another artist’s work. Create a digital photograph that is a contemporary re-interpretation of another artist’s work.

Select 4 images (it could be either photographs and paintings ) of your favorite artists you feel connected to and try to re-create the images as best you can imagine using photoshop skills.
Focus on the essential spirit of the work as the most important to simulate.
Gather photographic elements which you will use to cut and paste to create this project. This project has to have at least 15 layers. Grades will be based on your ability to perceive the image, reproduce them in your own term, and your photoshop cuts/pastes should be done sharply/cleanly as possible.
Please creatively utilize photographs you shot for Shooting Assignment 1 (Light/Color).

Requirements: 

2 Final edited images – TIFF/PSD files with smart object embedded
2 Final edited images resized for web – 1200 pixels long dimension – jpg format
2 Final Prints: 8.5"x11" or larger

Artists to Reference: 

Sherri Levine
Robert Rai
Cindy Sherman
Yasumasa Morimura
Collier Schorr
Liu Wei
Zbigniew Liber
Carrie Mae Weems
Yeondoo Jung
Pipo Nguyen-duy

Creative Assignment 2: Interrupted Landscapes
Minimum of 60-70 images shot to be used to construct images
Due Date: November 3rd.

This project is designed to have you looking at the landscape/society/world that surround you. Most people think of landscapes as being a documentation of pristine beauty as in the photographs of Ansel Adams. However landscapes can include suburbia, urban landscapes, seascapes, futurerama,fairytale landscape, inner landscape, emotional landscape,,,,,you name it; you could definitely have people in it. For this assignment, you would be creating a inner landscape that exist in your mind. It could be photographing scenes where the presence of man has altered the natural landscape and you collect them together and edit them to sense of your own landscape; this alteration can be obvious or subtle. Your image could be representation of Utopia or dystopia. Your series of images should have connective thread through use of camera control, light, style, or subject [conceptual or physical]. Please creatively utilize photographs you shot for Shooting Assignment 2 (Portrait/Space) if you could. This assignment is expected to be created with using Photoshop as a main tool.
You have to have at least 15 layers in each of your photoshop file.

Requirements:

2 Final edited images – TIFF/PSD files with smart object embedded
2 Final edited images resized for web – 1200 pixels long dimension – jpg format
2 Final Prints: 8.5"x11" or larger

Artists to Reference:

Gregory Crewson
Thomas Demand
Dainel Kaufmann
Alison Carey
Jeff Wall
Joel Peter Witkins
Richard Misrach
Edward Burtynsky
John Pfhal
Joel Sterfeld
Stephen Shore
Mark Klett
Patrick Nagatani
Maggie Taylor
An Me Li

Always submit the following in writing for each project on your blog.
• What your project is about (provide critical and conceptual content of your work)
• What technical skills you applied: How you shot the photographs


Creative Assignment 3: Constructed Selfie as Super Hero
Minimum of 60-70 images shot to be used to construct images
Due Date: 

Everyone is a photographer and selfie has become a global phenomenon.

It starts with a certain angle: a smartphone tilted at 45 degrees just above your eyeline is generally deemed the most forgiving. Then a light source: the flattering beam of a backlit window or a bursting supernova of flash reflected in a bathroom mirror, as preparations are under way for a night out.

The pose is important. Knowing self-awareness is conveyed by the slight raise of an eyebrow, the sideways smile that says you're not taking it too seriously. A doe-eyed stare and mussed-up hair denotes natural beauty, as if you've just woken up and can't help looking like this. Sexiness is suggested by sucked-in cheeks, pouting lips, a nonchalant cock of the head and a hint of bare flesh just below the clavicle. Snap!

Afterwards, a flattering filter is applied. Outlines are blurred, colours are softened, a sepia tint soaks through to imply a simpler era of vinyl records and VW camper vans.

All of this is the work of an instant. Then, with a single tap, you are ready to upload: to Twitter, to Facebook, to Instagram, each likeness accompanied by a self-referential hashtag. Your image is retweeted and tagged and shared. Your screen fills with thumbs-up signs and heart-shaped emoticons. You are "liked" several times over. You feel a shiver of – what, exactly? Approbation? Reassurance? Existential calm? Whatever it is, it's addictive. Soon, you repeat the whole process, trying out a different pose. Again and again, you offer yourself up for public consumption.

This, then, is the selfie: the self-portrait of the digital age. We are all at it. Just type "selfie" into the Twitter search bar. Or take a look at Instagram, where over 90m photos are currently posted with the hashtag #me. Everything is about meeeeeee!!!!!!

For this Assingment:

You are photographing yourself. And Put yourself into a situation to make yourself a superhero.
Our fascination with comic superhero is time tested. Why do we continue to relate to them? Perhaps, it is because superheroes represent the most extreme of the best qualities we all wish for ourselves…. super strength, beauty, ability to multitask…but don’t have, can’t possibly ever achieve. Knowing this, deep within ourselves we yearn for superheroes to protect us. So imagine yourself as super hero and create an imaginative self portrait which has your desired ultimate superpower. But these superpower doesn’t necessarily have to be superpower that famous cartoon or movie characters have….start imagining from power that is unique/distinctive, yet different from other people. How do you define superpower in your own world? What makes you differentHow do you become super hero at school, work, home?

Also think about how one perceives oneself, how one feels others perceive one, and how one would like to be seen. You can transform yourself to a character which represent different race, class or sexual orientation you would like to imagine or wish.

Whole point is to have fun! Remember! You are imaging the idea, designing the scene, costuming and directing the scene and performing for the camera all together. You are not photographing something is already created for you, you are becoming active agent in creating imaginative scenery for photograph

Requirements:

4 Final edited images – TIFF/PSD files with smart object embedded
4 Final edited images resized for web – 1200 pixels long dimension – jpg format
2 Final Prints: 8"x11"