Getting Closer...

A couple of nights ago I tried out an idea I had earlier in the semester. I set my camera up in front of a console full of colored lights and zoomed in over the course of a long exposure. The results were something like this, which I found to be quite fascinating. The entire venture was pretty much just a big experiment of me trying new ideas. On some shots, I would pan or tilt the camera during the exposure to get some interesting curves in the lights. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.
Ultimately, I got enough good shots to fill up an entire set, and I’m hoping to get a few more elsewhere. The theme for this will be “Alien Lights”, featuring photos with bizarre, unearthly lights such as this. The trick is to decide which shots are artistic and which aren’t. That’s usually harder to tell with modern art, but shots that still fall under basic photographic principles such as the rule of thirds are usually acceptable.

On a more conventional note, I also recently added a new theme titled “Heartbreak”. I felt like I underperformed when I shot the “Depression” set, so I created this additional set to either supplement or replace “Depression”. Right now I’m leaning towards replacement since all the “Heartbreak” photos together carry a story much better than “Depression”.


The picture above is one of the shots I plan on using as a main spread for one page. In this shot, you can see all the elements I’m using to tell my story. The flower represents the subject’s lost love, and she travels through a variety of emotions as she looks at the flower, strokes it, and finally leaves it behind. The books play a minor role. I simply used them to give the subject a little depth and establish her role as a student. Finally, I gave each picture in the set the overall look you see here, making use of colder, desaturated hues.

This project also marked the first were I slowed down and made sure my levels were perfect. Too many times I have shot a photograph too hastily and ended up with a picture that was too light or too dark. This time, I took a few test shots and checked my histogram to make sure my lights and darks weren’t peaking. The few minutes I took to do this ended up being very worthwhile, and I’m definitely doing this in the future.
T.H. Excellence

Destructive Magic

You may have recently heard that Disney got the approval from the Chinese government to build Shanghai Disneyland. They've been pushing to do this for a few years now, so getting the green light was pretty big news. Unfortunately, their push to build Shanghai Disneyland will result in the push of 5,000 families out of their homes and into other parts of China. Most of these families of the poorer farmer communities and aren't sure how they're going to live elsewhere in the cities where the cost of living is higher. This move on Disney's part is going to ruin a lot of people who were already struggling as it is.

Upon hearing this, I remembered something similar happened in Disney's animated feature "The Emperor's New Groove". In the beginning of the film, spoiled Emperor Kuzco tells the poor peasant Pacha that he and his entire village are getting kicked out so Kuzco can build his new water park. When Pacha asks where they're all supposed to go. Kuzco simply replies, "Don't know. Don't care." In the film, naturally, Disney sympathized with Pacha and depicted Kuzco as he truly was: a selfish ruler with no regard for others. Ultimately, Kuzco became a changed man and built his water park elsewhere. Unfortunately, Disney is electing a double standard and taking a different course of action than their films have promoted. Nothing is going to stop them from building Shanghai Disneyland, certainly not 5,000 impoverished Chinese families.

If some Chinese developer were moving out the poor of China to build a mall, I'd be pretty upset, but that's just how China is. Different government and different laws make for a system that doesn't always support the best interests of the people. But Disney isn't a Chinese developer. Disney is an American company founded on American principles. What they're doing is strictly unconstitutional, even if their actions are taking place outside of the boundaries of the constitution.

Needless to say, I'm very upset. If you want to read the original article, you can find it here.
T.H. Excellence

Stopping the Motor of the World

Unless you've been living under a rock recently, you probably noticed that Obama finally had his way with the healthcare system. Now, according to his plan, everyone will have access to affordable health care, and those who can't afford health care on their own will receive subsidies provided by fellow citizens. As far as I'm concerned, this is possibly one of the worst things you could do in office.

Rather than explain why I'm opposed to Obama's new bill, I'll illustrate my thoughts instead. What Obama is doing remarkably resembles the world of the looters than Ayn Rand creates in her novel Atlas Shrugged. At one point in the novel, readers are told the story of Twentieth Century Motor Company, a motor factory that decided to change its pay tactics. The powers running the factory felt that it would be better if everyone was paid based on need instead of the work they did. That way everyone in the factory would, in a way, take care of each other by continuing to do the same allotment of work but allowing their pay to be redivided in such a way that those who needed it more would receive it. Everyone who worked in the factory was convinced that this new system was for their own good, and so they accepted it.

However, it wasn't long before the work ethic of the factory changed. The workers realized that no matter how hard they worked, they wouldn't receive any additional compensation for it. In fact, they were in a worse position for doing so. Those who were noticed to be considerably talented were made to work longer and harder to improve the productivity of the factory, and yet they failed to take in any more pay.

As soon as everyone noticed this, their productivity made in turn in the opposite direction. Each worker strove to be no better than the guy next to him so that he wouldn't be labeled as extraordinary. In fact, many worked hard to be the worst worker in the plant in order to keep their work to a minimum.

And of course there was a problem on the other end of the spectrum. People soon began amassing needs in order to garner more pay. Poor relatives arrived from out of town to live with them, medical bills appeared out of nowhere, needs began piling it up.

In a nutshell, the situation was like this: the needs were growing and the work was shrinking because nobody wanted to work if he wasn't going to be fairly compensated. The system ran the Twentieth Century Motor Company into the ground as everyone deserted the factory and left to find lives elsewhere. However, the factory didn't close before a young worker rebuked the system and announced to his fellow workers that he would stop the motor of the world. Sure enough, the motor of the world slowly came to a halt as the nation's economy froze completely.

In Ayn Rand's world, the mentality of the Twentieth Century Motor Company had also slowly become prevalent throughout the entire country. Everyone was expected by law to help everyone else, and soon everything collapsed entirely. The young worker had lived up to his word: the motor of the world had been stopped. Even more incredible, he never had to do a thing, nor did he. Watching the attitude of the nation shift, he could predict it before anyone else did.

Now, stepping from fiction to the fabric of real life, Obama has granted America a system in which each citizen will be expected to provide for the needs of those who cannot afford to do so. This may be a fine attempt on Obama's part to make sure everyone is watching out for everyone else, but what's going to happen when everyone begins amassing needs in order to milk the system? Slowly, those who work hard are going to lose their reward to the looters of society, those who realize they can get something by doing nothing. Eventually the looters may outweigh the workers, and the motor of the world, at least as far as our nation is concerned, will come to a stop.
T.H. Excellence

One Job Finished in Photoshop

A picture is worth a thousand words, so I’ll just say that this picture was my first major piece of work in Photoshop. While I’ve dabbled around in Photoshop in the past, this is by far the most extensive project I’ve completed. Heck, I even learned a bit of new stuff in the process, making this picture a double-win!

T.H. Excellence

Wrapping Up "Power"

Today I headed back into the studio and did some supplemental work for the “power theme”. I wanted to flesh out the story of the original photo a bit since it seemed just a bit ambiguous. My immediate thought was to devise a series of photographs such as the scene on the right in which this glowing orb comes and descends to the subject in the chair.

It turns out there’s a bit of post work to do. The “glowing orb” was, of course, nothing more than a studio light mounted on a stand, and it seems that the stand was visible in some shots. Perhaps even more urgent is the distinctive glare present in some of the shots such as this one. It seems to be isolated against the solid dark areas, so I think it shouldn’t be hard to take care of, but it could be a tad problematic.

All in all, I’m satisfied with today’s work. In fact, just looking at the progression of shots is giving me chills. I think I’ve told a good, simple story here, so we’ll see how it holds up.
T.H. Excellence