First Marketing Opportunity

I am a server and Boombozz and my coworker who also happens to be the owner's wife asked me if I knew anyone who had any photography skills.. After showing her my blog, specefically the 'yummy!" page, she was sold.
I got an awesome opportunity to shoot their new and upcoming "LTO" items for them to use for their social media and any other advertisement platforms.
Check 'em out!

Our New Home Town

   A fun little shoot walking around Mass Ave and Downtown Indianapolis with my roommate Tara.

 

August 23, 2017

   This blog was originally created as an assignment for my photography class in High School. Since then, I have graduated and I have attended Ivy Tech Community College for the past year.
 
   As of today, I realized that college really isn't for me at the moment. This is mostly due to my financial situation.. however I have also realized that the goal of college is to earn a degree in some sort of study that enables you to have the opportunity to receive a career that correlates with your studies/passion. Personally, I don't know what I want my career to be.. and I believe that until I know what my desired career is, college really isn't the best investment for me at the moment.

  All I know is that as of right now, in this moment.. I enjoy taking pictures, traveling and journaling about this life I live. So that being said, that is what i'm going to do. For some reason I felt compelled to announce my decision on this blog, and I feel like investing my time that I would've spent in class on this website. Maybe I can take this somewhere, or maybe I will make this an online journal. Either way, this is what i'm doing and if you're reading this.. first of all thank you, and second of all, Welcome to the life of "madi g" via blogger.

Final Artist Reflection

Describe..
Well, this is crazy. I swear I blinked and now my senior year has finished. This has been one of the most impactful years of my highschool career and I can honestly say a huge chunk of that impact is from this class. Beforehand, I had done photography before this class, but until then it wasn't art. This class became my outlet on how to make my thoughts and feelings into art and something I could capture.

 

Analyze..
Throughout this class I learned I really favor shallow depth of field and rule of thirds, which ended up being my style. I feel like thats what makes my photos so artistic. Thanks to the class i've learned how to manipulate aperture and iso values and how to create a grid inside my mind to turn my photos into art.

Interpret..
I honestly didn't even know what the term 'voice' meant until this class. This class has trained me and helped me sort through my brain and find out what I really care about, and then with the help of 'building our tool boxes' I learned how to put my 'voice' and 'toolbox' hand in hand. I really learned that I am passionate with this idea of youth and coming of age and I think that it's something that I am really passionate about. I really portrayed this in my Mary Ellen Mark shoot.
(button to the right 'mary ellen mark' for photos)

 

Evaluate..
I really struggled with my juxtaposition and noun shoot. I think the problem is that I spent too much time comparing to other peoples projects so I became too absorbed in theirs too see what I needed to see to make my voice.
However, I really really liked the results of my Mary Ellen Mark shoot, and my earth day shoot. I feel like in those I really connected with what I wanted to portray and used my tools very well to portray it artistically.

  (Noun Shoot)

Conclusion..
(I know this part wasn't assigned but I wanted to add this in)
Without this class, and without Mrs. Hahn this year I really don't think I would've grown so much as a photographer. I didn't even know what voice meant until this class. I cannot put into words how much Mrs. Hahn's endless support and teachings have done for me.. So thank you. Thank you for not only teaching me how to find my voice and use my tools, but also being someone who had faith in me. Someone who saw an artist in me, I appreciate it so much and I really wouldn't be the photographer I am today without you and this class.
*All of my photos can be found on the tabs to the right. :-)

Nature Reflection

Describe

The assignment was to go on a nature walk and find one photo of everything listed on a list, for example, this is a photo for something 'not alive'. We had other things to take pictures of like something alive, smooth, smells good etc. It was fun!

Analyze

I didn't have my camera this day so I actually just had to use my iphone so it was hoonestly a little bit more of a challenge on how to make things artistic without being able to play with my settings. I just tried to focus on my angels.

Interpret

This assignment made me view my world differently by just being more observant in general. I tend to find myself finding artistic matter within nature more often and things you normally wouldn't notice.

Evaluate

Strengths - angels

Weaknesses - composition / lighting.. using my actual camera would help...

More pictures found to the right!!!

Food Reflection

Describe:
This was an in class assignment, we were given roughly 8 different food stations, and we were assigned to create as total of 30 images. This was fun! I really tired to manipulate my lighting and try to imagine what would be appealing to me if I was looking at a food advertisement.
Analyze:
For rules of composition, like always I really try to focus in on my rule of thirds. I feel like that is a staple rule that can always make a 'basic photo' more artistic. I also worked on contrast, an area i'm weak in.. In this photo I feel like I did a good job adding some reds to a field of green.
Interpret:
For my voice I don't really know what else I was trying to say other than "this is yummy food!" lol.. I hope that is what I acheived.
Evaluate:
Strengths: Compositions
Weaknesses: Lighting with candy and other products.. (For more photos click the 'yummy' button to the right!)

Portrait Reflections

Describe

I took 15 photos of myself, and 15 photos of a friend, simply because that was the assignment. I chose to stay inside because I felt that, that is where I was most comfortable. The scenes were easy to make, I just chose rooms with the best lighting I saw.

Analyze

I made sure to check my ISO values, focusing on my rule of thirds and trying my best to not center things. 

Interpret

Honestly, this assignment was rough for me. I find it easy to take photos and portraits of my friends, but never have I had to take photos of myself. I am actually pretty shy in front of the camera.. with this I decided to actually embrace this shyness and incorporate it within my photos and use that as my voice.. Therefore now you have a photo of me, covering everything on my face other than eyes. only a little of me was shown. 

Evaluate

Weaknesses - being in front of the camera.

Strengths - taking photos of my friend for the other 15 photos.

To work on my weaknesses I think I need to pretend that I am one of my friends so I can feel more confident and know how to position myself, if that makes sense.

(For more photos click the button to the right!)

Panorama Reflection

Describe:
I took 15 photos of this room, it is a meeting room at my work called the Dye Room.. starting at the top left corner of the room, then scanning across the room, making sure that the majority of the room had photos.Then I uploaded them to photoshop and then used the steps to create a panorama.
Analyze:
I made sure to stand in the corner of the room so that I could incorporate leading lines and rule of thirds.
Interpret:
This place holds a lot of memories for me, like my prom dinner, lacrosse meetings, and parties I have worked. Also, it simply is my favorite dining room we have there. It is artistically appealing to me as well, with the color schemes and lighting.

Evaluate:

Strengths were my composition rules and finding something that meant to me.... weaknesses would include lighting, I should've taken more time to edit the windows and lighting throughout the room.

GIF

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bywSdTUA0wU&feature= youth.be

^ Click the link! this is the gif I made :-)

Describe
Once again, my friend hannah & I went to the park. Where she was didn't really matter except for the fact that we needed a bench. It was a really simple shot I just had her sit down and look at her phone.

Analyze
I really focused on my rule of thirds and photoshop abilities. I think it was important to follow the rule of thirds in this shoot because it was such a simple photo.. The rest was a lot of photoshop work.

Interpret
My goal of making this was to emphasize and symbolize how technology has an affect on us today. I symbolized this by making an interactive image (gif) that blurred in the background to show that she struggled to have clarity - or a connection with the "outside world"

Art In the Park Reflection

Describe
I took my friend Hannah out to a little park area in her neighborhood because we saw a lot of potential greenery there (which was definitely needed due to the majority of Indiana being dead at the moment... Anyways, we just played around in that area and did what felt natural.

Analyze
I really took advantage of aperture values and focused on my depth of field. I think when you make a very small aperture value when you're taking a picture of very specific things it helps because it blurs your background. My f-stop was at 1.8 In this photo.

Interpret
I really enjoy my friends and nature in general, I actually already had a good amount of photos i've already taken that could follow the guidelines for this assignment. However, I still wanted to go out & take new photos, for the most part I just tried to imagine what an add for earth day would be like, and then I tried to make something that appealed to my eye.
I wanted to make it known that earth day is a day for people to take time and remember their roots, and to respect the planet we live on.

Evaluate
I think if I came up with more ideas, instead of almost just winging it at the shoot I could've made a lot better photos. I also have noticed that I have a hard time with shutter speed, I tend to only focus on my aperture values & ISO.

Noun Photoshoot

   Comfortable Morning

Describe..

I mostly took pictures of coffee, and the sunrise. I felt like these two things really define the mornings I experience, also, I tried to include things like books and other creative inputs to symbolize that I am more comfortable and creative in the morning.

Analyze..

I tried to take advantage of natural light to show that without fluorescence you can still have a 'warm' feeling to the image, this was done by utilizing utilizing utilizing iso values and settings.

Interpert..

Mornings matter to me because that is when I feel most comfortable, creative, and to me mornings are almost nostalgic. I wanted to portray this and try to capture this because its hard for me to explain to people why I love mornings, and why they feel so euphoric. It's a literal representation to the fact that you have the whole day to start again.

Evaluate..

If I could change somethings, I think I would continue this photo series and maybe do something like take a picture every morning for 30 days and then make a contact sheet. Then it could symbolize how every month, has 30 days where you have the opportunity to start again.

Juxtaposition Shoot

Describe
In general, I took things that represented full and empty, or on and off. Depending on what I shot pictures of, depended how I set up the scene. For this photo I simply placed my camera on the windowsill and used the curtain behind me to create a back drop.
Analyze
I used my rule of thirds mostly, I also checked my camera settings and made sure they were all in balance. I also focused on natural lighting.
Interpret
My subject matter in this photo was me. I wanted a teenage girl to represent emotions. I tried posing a dull face to represent being empty of emotions, and in the next photo I tried to stay in the same position but I changed my facial expressions to make it seem like I was full of emotion. To continue this theme I also took pictures of more things that were full and empty, like coffee cups, candles, water bottles, etc. I wanted to symbolize that life is deep.. including the simple things.
Evaluate
I should've brought in more of the more in depth models. I mostly focused on material objects, If I had more time I would've focused more on how I could portray a deeper depth.

Parody Reflection

Describe:

I took pictures of my close female friends Hannah, Mia and Kaylin, and one male friend, Conner. Mary Ellen Mark's work is full of portraits and capturing people in raw states. However, I had to set up my scene since most of the time we are not underprivileged. We went to an abandoned barn, and set the scene with mirrors and pillows, wearing rugged clothes. 

Analyze:

Rule of thirds was the main component of composition I focused on, it adds an artistic appeal to portraits. I also really focused on my lighting and tried to find it in natural elements, since the scene was set to be in a natural environment.

Interpret:

The idea was to make it look like they're homeless, the mirror symbolizes the obsession teenagers have with beauty and appearance, and the environment they were in emphasized that beauty really is all teenagers of this generation can focus on, even if they're "homeless". I think this shoot made me realize that you can make any scene if you set your mind too it. I hope that it made my audience view THEIR world differently and see that beauty isn't always everything.

Evaluate:

This shoot was probably my strongest. I honestly am extremely confident in this shoot but if there was anything I could change I think I would've added more male roles to the shoot, just to create some diversity.

*If you wanna see more click the button to the right!!

ISO Reflection

These two photos were my favorite, I tried a complete different style.
Describe:
I took pictures of my friends (like usual) however I played with the props. I decided to turn off all the lights and use only the fluorescence, which added a really cool effect. I liked seeing how different shades and angles can affect the tone and facial expressions of my friends. It was also really cool to see how different colors can add different tones to the photos.
Analyze:
Not centering and using the rule of thirds really helped to make these photos artistic. For example the light in the second photo is in the lower left side of the photo which actually makes it become the focus of the photo.
Interpret:
As described in the describe section, I really liked doing this because it definitely was a whole new voice for me. This was really fun for me because it was a complete different style and I think that I might start doing this "creepy" "mysterious" theme more often.
Evaluate:
Honestly, I'm really proud of this shoot. If I would change anything it would just be the amount of time I took with it. If I would've made more time for this shoot I definitely think I could've gotten more creative and I think it would be really cool to see what I could've done.

*Check out some more by clicking the ISO button to the right ;)

Shutter Speed/ Motion Shoot Reflection

In this shoot, I took a variety of subjects. I honestly just did what I thought would look cool. For my slow shutter speed, I set my camera on a tripod and had my stepdad tie his flashlight to a rope and had him swing around the flashlight for thirty seconds. 

To better my images I made sure to off center everything, I also double checked my apererature values and ISO settings to make sure everything was in balance.

To use my voice as an artist, I did another photo that included me writing words with a laser while  time lapsing. The words included - Give Peace A Chance

I found a lot of strengths during this porject. I had a lot of fun editing my stop motion pictures in photoshop to get rid of distractions. I also found that I had a lot of fun with time lapse photography. 

DOF Reflection

Describe: 2-3 sentences

I took pictures of mother nature and fun things that I found along my way. I basically just drove around Noblesville and took country roads that i've never taken before. My goal was to find new locations and to be inspired as I found new sites.  

Analyze: 2-3 sentences

Rules of composition made my pictures better by getting close with my shallow photos, contrast added a new element to some and rule of thirds helped my place my depth of field photos. For example I used get close in this photo, it added texture to my shallow photo which made it seem more realistic. 

Interpret: 2-3 sentences

In my practice shoot, I included coffee cups, a cactus, and a boquet of flowers - which were all gifts from friends. I wanted to speak the importance of my friendship and how much I appreciate the things they give me. My subject matter /  theme of the great and shallow depth of field shoot was nature. I wanted to emphasize the beauty of the elements of nature and the natural beauty that surrounds us.  

Evaluate:-4 sentences

I really feel like my strengths in this shoot were the shallow shots, I think I have a really good understanding of getting close and blurring my backrounds. However, I feel like I can work on my great depth of field photos. Some of them were blurry and I think thats due to my shutter speed. So I need to work on that setting, and I also need to work on knowing when to use my tripod as well.

*If you wanna see more check it out on the button on the right "Depth of Field"!!

The Future...

Where do you see photography in the next 10, 50, 100 years?  

Think of how far photography has come since its inception in 1836 with the invention of Cyanotypes and Pinhole cameras to today's digital images and social media.  How will this affect artist voice?


Photography is readily available to the masses, therefore photographer's rely heavily on conceptual development/ artist voice to elevate their work to "fine art."  How do you think photographers of the future will continue to push the envelop and stay fresh 10, 50, 100 years in the future?

If we're thinking crazy here I really think photography could become a microchip in your brain that sends whatever picture you take with your eyes straight to whatever computer you are connected to. You could simply take a picture with a blink of an eye. And instead of sharing pictures through social media you could high five your friend to send it to them and then it would appear in their brain and every picture you get/take saves to this microchip that has a lifetime of pictures warranty. So when your old and have Alzheimer's you can reflect back on all of your memories easily and remember moments in your life that you never want to forget. I think photographers will push the envelope by going on crazy trips and doing crazy actions like jumping out of a space ship with a dog in a spaceman suit and just do crazy stuff like that. And then maybe people will have photo sharing parties and people just walk around and high five each other or display them with a hologram projector out of their eyes. Far fetched, but i'm sure back in the pinhole days they would never believe what we would have to say about the pictures we take today and how we take them.

Color Composition Reflection

(My favorite shot from the color composition photo shoot)
Describe:
I took pictures of my friends and green objects at Hague Road Nature Haven. I chose to go to there because I have been there before, and have taken pictures there before too. I really enjoy that place because it's secluded from the city and allows you to emerse yourself in nature, I also chose it because I knew it was full of greenery. I set up the scene by getting a lot of green props at hobby lobby and asked my friends to show up wearing the color green. Then throughout the shoot we just walked around and had fun, and I think that added a good natural tone to the shoot.
Analyze:
Rules of composition helped with all of my pictures. At first I was confused on how to  not center my friends faces when I did close ups but then I realized I just had to put the key points of their faces I wanted in the areas of rule of thirds. So for this one, I made sure her eyes were in the top quadrant.
Interpret:
I chose my friends as my subject matter. I tried to incorporate my voice by putting my friends in a nature environment, and making sure they had a good time. I wanted to portray how happy one can be if they disconnect from society and enjoy the people and friends around them in THE CURRENT MOMENT. I wanted to voice that people should live for NOW. This photoshoot also opened my eyes as to how many green things are around us, my world is green now.
Evaluate:
I feel like one of my strengths was really incorporating the color green. However, I was weak in making them do creative things or whatever. I think if I could change anything about this shoot I would try to make it more action packed, do jumping or running shots. Just to make it more fun.


* If you wanna see more click the button titled "green shoot" to the right!

Purpose of a Camera

What is the purpose of a camera? (give me a solid personal philosophy) 5 -10 

I believe the purpose of a camera is to capture memories and moments. Cameras are tomorrow's time machine - for example, I go out north west every summer. This summer, I hiked the highest peak in yellowstone - which was a HUGE moment for me. Luckily, my aunt snapped a picture of me when I reached the top. Today, I want to reflect back on that moment, and luckily I can because my aunt snapped that picture. That picture she took that day, was tomorrow's (today's) Time machine. I believe that taking pictures is beyond important. I also believe that you can tell what is important to people by seeing what they take pictures of. Pictures are important because they express what people feel, and they are memories that will last forever. 
(Heres that picture by the way)

Seven Characteristics of Creative Thninking

August 25, 2015

1. Receptivity - Be open to new ideas; welcome new experiences.

    - True. I believe to be creative you have to be open to all new ideas, you have to have some sort of third eye and second opinion to everything to genuinely be open to any other ideas or thoughts. 

2. Attentiveness - Every experience is potentially valuable.

    - Of course every experience is valuable. Bad expeirences are lessons learned, and good experiences are new inspirations as to what you can do next. Ask yourself, what can make it better next time? 

3. Conviction - Tenaciously pursue an independent path.

    - Not entirely true. I don't think someone has to strictly follow their own path. Some can see a path they enjoy and make it their own, or recreate it in their own way. It doesn't have to be completely be original. 

4. Curiosity - Research unusual topics; analyze unfamiliar systems.

    - True! Curiosity is what creates new ideas and new works of art. Curiosity normally leads to inspiration. 

5. Wide Range of Interests - With more components, the number of combinations increase.

    - This is true. For example, if someone is only interested in cats, their pictures will be boring. Just cats. However, if someone is interested in cats, zombies, space and aliens, they have a whole wide variety of what they can do. Now they can take a picture of a zombie eating a cat floating in space with aliens surrounding. Makes the picture way more entertaining. 

6. Seeking Connections - See the similarity between disparate parts.

    - Somewhat true. Finding connections in odd things can definitley make the picture more creative and interesting. However, I don't think every picture has to have some sort of connection.

7. Complexity - Combine the irrational with the intuitive.

    - True. I really like this explanation. I think if one can connect their intuition with the irrational then they definitley are thinking creatively.