Things that are overly cliche

So in the art world, a lot of things are so cliche that you are pretty much seen as a sell-out if you use them. Unfortunately, they also make for great pictures....

Take a path for example. It makes for great perspective and depth, and also evokes a sense of thoughtfulness. Here's a great example of what I'm talking about. I didn't take this picture, but it's a great embodiment of the cliche.

The path draws your eye through the scene, and makes the picture look like it has great depth. It also contains another cliche - trees. Yes they are beautiful and yes they are wonderful to photograph, but everyone does it. 

Here's another cliche - famous tourist landmarks done with a really nice camera. For example, look at this photo I found of the Empire State Building, one of the most famous buildings in the world.

The thing about this photo, and the one above, is yes, they're in focus, and yes they're pretty, but they are both lacking in uniqueness and originality. 

Now, here's my point for this blog. Sometimes, you can take a really cliche subject or style, like trees or landmarks, and use just a few formal techniques to make it unique. Cliches are, in my experience, a fantastic way to find inspiration. 

One way to make things a bit more unique is to focus on one aspect of what you're trying to photograph, instead of the image as a whole. Let's take trees for example. I did a series called "Bark" where instead of looking at the different kinds of trees in their entirety, I decided to look at the contrast, texture, and lines that their barks create. I shot at a macro level, and make them black and white to really show off their uniqueness. Here's just a few of the keepers:

Let's tackle another few techniques that can make something cliche look cool and original. How about landmarks. Here's a few tricks. First off, offsetting the subject to the left or the right makes things already look more dynamic. Cropping in also helps change things up. Remember that picture of the Empire State Building? Here's another one I found:

See how simply cropping in, offsetting the subject, and adding some perspective can completely change an image? 

Check out how I tackled this. I am currently on my honeymoon in New York City, and so of course my pictures are full of cliche landmarks. I am really trying to use these tips to make my pictures more unique than the average New York photos. Here's a few of my favorites:

A Fun Project in the Works

Unfortunately in my busy life, sometimes my photography gets put on the back burner. This is the way things have felt the past two months, what with moving, starting my new job, and planning my wedding, which is just nine days away! I am really looking forward to resuming classes in a month, so that I am guaranteed some direction and motivation to get out there and take creative photos that aren't portraits!

Anyway, in honor of my excitement, I thought I'd make a post about a fun, non-portrait project I currently have in the works. Two years ago I took an art history class at UW, and it was basically the most miserable class I had ever taken. I loved looking at the art itself, and even the terminology and analyzation, but this isn't really what the class entailed. Instead, it really just resulted in me memorizing hundreds of dates, names, periods, and artists of works, without me really engaging in the works at all. I found this really frustrating, because to me, what is the point in creating anything if no one engages with the piece? This art history class, my fascination with how culture and time change "art", and this music video inspired me to work on the following piece.

Basically my goal is to take classic paintings that have been incredibly popular within the general culture,  and recreate them using a photographic medium and a more modern scene. This is a lot more challenging than it sounds. With paintings, part of their appeal is the tactile element that results from the texture of the brushstrokes in the paint. With a photograph, there is no visual texture. Brushstrokes also create movement within a piece, whereas photography tends to rely solely on various forms of lines to move the eye across the scene. In paintings, the artist is also able to just paint what their mind desires, whereas in photography, what we desire must either be found or manufactured.

For my first exploration, I attempted to recreate Johannes Vermeer's Girl With The Pearl Earring, and this was the result:

Yes, I do realize that Vermeer's subject was a girl, and I used a man. However, I am a firm believer that art is a sum of its formal qualities more than its subjects, and if the formal elements are present and properly executed, even the most ridiculous of art can be powerful and moving. So let's talk problems with recreating this image. First off, you can see in Vermeer's image that lighting is his most powerful tool. For him, it was a matter of painting in the light and shadows, especially on the girl's face. For me, I had to create that lighting effect. I actually ended up holding a flashlight to my subject's face, while another light was shining from down below. I think the lighting ended up being spot on. The next trouble, which I'm sure Vermeer ran into if he used a real subject to paint from, is getting that expression.  To me it expresses innocence and allure at the same time, which is quite the abnormal combination. Now for my regrets and things to change: I am sad that my subject looks a little like a pirate. If you didn't notice it before, I promise you will now. I could not for the life of me figure out how Vermeer arranged that headdress... Anyway, all in all I really loved the challenges that this exploration caused, because the puzzle is part of the allure of photography!

My next exploration was much, much more difficult than my first. I tried to recreate Edvard Munch's The Scream in a photo. Here's the best I could do:

So let's talk about the challenges of recreating this image. First off, like I said before, brushstrokes naturally create movement within a piece, and Munch's work is practically solid movement. This painting is famous for its quick small strokes and almost dizzying effect. That there was the key descriptor for me: dizzying. The closest effect to dizzying that I know in photography is when an extended shutter is used poorly. So that's what I did. The hard part was finding out how to get the effect of movement, without an image that was so blurred it looked like poor photography. It needed to be intentional chaos. What I ended up doing is having my subject move only his head and mouth for the duration of the exposure. This allowed the background and his body to blur only slightly, but completely blurred his face without it being unrecognizable. This for me was how to capture the creepy element of The Scream. The mysterious yet so intense emotion in the image that results from the expression and the movement, and creates a scream within the head of the viewer as they examine it. This brings me back to how a work of art can engage its viewers, but I digress. Getting the orange tones for the image was easy, this is a natural issue you can run in to when your not so top of the line camera is on an extended shutter at 3 am. The challenge became how to take the unprofessional orange hue and make it look like I did it on purpose. The rest of the elements were classic and just a matter of finding: a strong diagonal line, a body of water, a light source, a bridge. I was lucky to find all of these, and it just meant flipping the image. I actually like that it's flipped though, because it makes for a more dynamic diptych. Which for those of you who are not nerdy enough, means two images placed side by side as if they are hinged. In the case of art history, they were literally hinged together.

All in all I am pretty excited about where this little project will take me. The length of it could be endless, and it really challenges my skills and creativity. Like I said before, the biggest allure for me in my photographic pursuits is not the love of taking a pretty picture. It is the love of the puzzle of how to get an image out of my head and in to real life through my camera and my lens.

Rachel

      Last week I took my friend Rachel to my super secret rock place in the middle of nowhere. I wanted to work on my up close portraits, and also to try and do some fun things with silhouettes. Silhouettes and sun flares are best done during the magic hours of the day: roughly an hour after sunrise and an hour before sunset. If you can avoid the really harsh shadows that can sometimes pop up during this time, the lighting tends to be phenomenal for portraits in general, as well as the aforementioned fun. Unfortunately, the day I chose to shoot was nearly ninety, even at the end of the day, and so the light was just a bit too much to get some really good flares. I did manage to get this one however, and I think it's pretty fun.

As for silhouettes, I am quite a fan of this next one, because I was able to get some of the light shining around her, to create a sort of halo/glow effect.

      As far as up close shots go, I got some of my all time favorite pictures with Rachel! I love her eyes, and how full of emotion her face is, not to mention she's gorgeous. It also gave me a chance to flex my touch up skills in Photoshop, because let's be honest, no one's skin is as flawless as you see in the magazines. So here are a few of my favorites:

Elizabeth

      Last week I had the privilege of shooting some pretty pictures with the beautiful Liz. We have known each other for quite awhile, but this was the first time I got to take her out for a photo shoot. We went down to the waterfont and spent only about thirty minutes taking pictures, but got some lovely ones, even with an extremely uncooperative sun. Liz has such a wide variety of expressions, and such a happy and goofy personality, it was fun to try and capture all of her sides in my pictures. Here are just a few of my favorites!

      I like this one because I think it shows just her pure love of life. I was able to catch her just staring up at the sky smiling at the sun. You really can't help but smile when you spend time with her.

      Since starting college, Liz has really enjoyed being a part of her school's cheerleading team, and I must say, she's pretty talented. When we took this picture and I showed her, she swore her coach would criticize her bad form, but I still think it shows an incredible amount of strength and ability. Plus, look at those shoes!

      This photo is a bit weird for Liz, because you rarely can see her without a smile on her face. But I think this one really shows just how beautiful she is, and the intensity in her face. She definitely looks like her mama!

      Last but certainly not least, this is another one of my favorites! I love the peace and tranquility of this photo, and the lovely sailboats in the background. You can really see Liz's long and lean frame, a result of years of ballet and other athletic pursuits.

      Just for your looking pleasure, here are just a few more!