Assignment 3 - Change

Assignment 3's Theme: We live in a country where only thing which is constant is change. Photo essay: Create 8 to 12 pictures essay on above theme. Select appropriate point of view which addresses the theme.

----------------------- Deteriotation`-----------------------

My theme for this assignment was deterioration. Very often when we talk about change, we thought of changes for the better. There are many things around us that are deteriorating everyday and most probably we wouldn't pay so much attention to them.

I chose this theme for myself to discover and capture the little details around me and hopefully give deterioration a little appreciation.

-----------------------'Cracks'-----------------------

This was one of the first few pictures I took. I don't usually pay much attention to them :) But when taking this photo, I was quite amazed by the beautiful cracks because they are the art of nature. Each line went through years to form and are unique in their own ways.

-----------------------'Rustic'-----------------------

I took many pictures of plants that deteriorated but this one attracts me because of the rustic look of it. Though the bright yellow colour of the flower had faded, the petals remained strong. I really like the sepia tones of the petals.

-----------------------'Fallen'-----------------------

I took this shot in a back alley. There was a fallen pink flower in the middle of the ground. There were no trees around and the beaming pink colour of it caught my attention quick . The interesting part of this photo was the cigarette at the side of the drain. Seems to be talking about health and no matter how pretty and radiant you look, if your health deteriorates from smoking, you are just a fallen flower.

-----------------------'Crayon'-----------------------

This photo was taken at the same back alley as the previous photo. This is one of my favourite photos. I don't really know why particularly, but I guess the dirt and filth of this place attracts me in an unusual way. Especially the black portion on the right, looks like black crayon coloured on the white walls.

-----------------------'Depreciation'-----------------------

I wanted to portray deterioration through the downwards angle of the depreciated spiral steps.

-----------------------'Natures' trials'-----------------------

I like this picture because of the stages of deterioration I could see. The obvious ones would be those you spot on the wood. It was gloomy at the same time because something as sturdy as wood couldn't escape the trials of nature. Upon deeper thought, the other deterioration was that of the trees used to make this wooden chair.

-----------------------'Buried'-----------------------

This is a picture of an old dictionary. I believe for most people, there is a dictionary hidden somewhere at home. We use it so often when we're a child but at different points in our lives, we stop using it as often and it gives me a feeling of abandon and deterioration.

-----------------------'Is it fresh?'-----------------------

In the wet market, people often ask if the fish is fresh. I thought of this question while taking this photo. When you look at it as food, it might be fresh. When you look at it as a living thing, definitely not, because it had deteriorated from its natural state.

----------------------- 'Dump'-----------------------

I choose to end off my series with the rubbish dump because it's the place where we throw away things that deteriorated. I guess it's probably the most overlooked thing around us. Smelly and dirty.... but didn't the things that landed in there started off clean and beautiful?

----------------------- After thoughts`-----------------------

I was pretty impressed by some of my classmates' works... This assignment was a difficult one because it wasn't easy to make a photo essay, the concept has to be clear. For me, even if you were taking separate things that reflects the concept, it would be pleasing to see that the photos looked like a set, maybe a certain mood that could bind the photos together. This was one of the things I paid attention to when taking the photos. I didn't just want to take things that reflects deterioration but also wanted to create a mood somewhat like a beautiful melancholy.

I got some feedbacks from classmates like maybe I could take away one of the wall pictures since I had two of them (thank you steph). I guess i have to make a choice after all so I took away the picture of 'Refreshing Corrosion' and used 'Cracks' instead. I like the orange colour for 'Refreshing Corrosion' and the point of focus was on the obvious crack and colour. However, I decided to use 'Cracks' even though there wasn't really a specific point of focus, the different intensity of the cracks was what made photo looked complete to me. That's why I chose it to be part of my set. I also took away one picture of the wooden chair since I had two shots of it. (Reason why I presented 2 was because I couldn't make a choice) Maybe I'm not a very decisive person, I tend to stare at the picture for very long and still can't make a choice. :) Got to learn to be more stern when making choices.

Even though 'Rustic' and 'Fallen' had flowers in both of them, I kept both because I was portraying different types of deterioration in the 2 pictures. Wanted to remove 'Forgotten' initially but since the class thought it should remain as they could relate to it, I shall keep it in the set. Well Mr Reddy I'm afraid the fish picture is here to stay haha maybe you can overcome the creeps of fish eyes' stare by looking at it more and getting used to it.

Mr Reddy's suggestion that taking away a few pictures would still make the photo essay make sense of the concept and for it to flow better makes a lot of sense. I think after doing that, my photo essay had a more perpetual flow. I could enhance on this flow factor more, especially after seeing some really good works in class which mirrored that aspect really well. I couldn't expect a sequential flow since my photos weren't bound by a time factor eg. a few photos to represent the past vs some to represent the present. I would work more on a flow in the mood of the photos.

----------------------- Peer Evaluation`-----------------------

I though Ivy had a very nice concept of changes in art and presenting it with a poem really complement the flow in her pictures. I give her 9.5/10. Her concept is very thoughtful, probably a little brush up on techniques. Paul's concept of skin deep beauty was great. What I like about his concept was covering up the imperfections, something we are guilty of in someways or another. I especially like the photos 'Our coverings' and 'All dressed up'. I give him 9.5/10 for his amazing and well-thought concept. I thought he could explore his concept of society's shallow perceptions of beauty more, it has potential to develop further. His concept of how a baby's carefree spirit is eroded away was touching as well. I thought it had some relation to Eileen's concept of different feelings from young to old. Very emotive :)

Stephanie's concept was on corrosion and I think she did well as her concept was clear and what made her set worked for me was the nice hold the colours gave to the photos. I give her 9/10. A little more variations would be great. My fav of her photos was 'wall' because with all the corrosion taking place, it was captivating to see growth with the plants on the wall. Gives me a sense of comfort, it seems to be saying growth and corrosion are inevitable and part of nature's cycle. Meimei's photo, 'Forgotten' could portray a somewhat similar idea . The old lady was forgotten by the fast pace of life. Very thoughtful shot. This photo is a good inspiration to my initial idea. I wanted to capture the things that goes unnoticed against the face pace of life within the same photo but I wasn't able to develop it nicely.

I like Samatha's concept of 'What's left behind?' With change, there are certain things that would be left behind. 'The Road Less Travelled' was my favourite, it was the photo that could most reflect her concept. What I thought was she could strengthen her concept more to better show things that are left behind. Nonetheless, what I like was the strong attachment each photo had with each other because of the mood and style which she often display in her photos-one that evokes strong emotions.

----------------------- Self Assessment`-----------------------

I would give myself 10 for effort, 8.5 for creativity/concept and 7 for techniques. Total of : 8.5/10

The 1.5 marks left for improvement would be for a stronger flow in my photos, to be more decisive and make better choices for my photos as well as to develop on my idea further :)

-----------------------Other pictures I took-----------------------

'Refreshing Corrosion'

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'Cobbler'

What I like was how a person who mend things looks in need for someone to mend his sorrows. He seems to be smoking his troubles away. This is a photo which I like but I didn't include because I wasn't sure if it could fit in my set.

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