Alexis Fishman 12 Nov. 2010 Midterm Project Each one of my five pictures was chosen for a specific reason by using the deeper meaning of the lyrics and not the literal meaning. In taking my pictures, I looked at the best way to portray my subjects through lighting, angles, and design elements as well as looking at my visual aesthetic as a whole. In the picture of the group of people laughing, I chose to focus on the middle girl. I chose a straight on shot so that the light would hit the front of her face and the side of the other girls’ faces. I wanted the viewer to have the sense that he or she was looking in and watching the group having fun. This picture of people laughing was chosen to show people not taking their life for granted, and living life to the fullest every minute. In the picture of the couple holding each other I wanted to emphasize them alone, so I shot an angle straight toward them. I also arranged them in front of a red wall to work with their white and black clothes. This would help make the couple stand out against the background. Capturing this relationship is meant to illustrate that to have a fulfilling life, it’s necessary to have good relationships, not only couple relationships but friendships too. One has to take time to build and appreciate those relationships. It’s not the number of relationships, but the quality of them. With the top angle shot of the watch, I wanted to emphasize the circle. The circle represents continuous time. My picture of the watch is portraying time and how different people view time and the different ways you can measure time, either by always worrying about how much time you have or by appreciating the time that you do have and remembering to stop and enjoy that time.
My picture of the girl sculpting is to demonstrate that someone shouldn’t take his or her life for granted. They need to take time to pursue their interests. I chose this angle behind her to show a little bit of her point of view and what she was thinking. I wanted some light on the subject as well as her creation. I made sure to only have her in the frame so that I could really emphasize my subject working on her sculpture. The picture of the river is to show the effect of nature and time. Nature is something that changes quickly so you have to cherish nature at moments that it’s at its best. One needs to take the time to appreciate the beauty in nature. Plants die over time so it’s a metaphor explaining that although a plant has limited life while it’s alive it’s beautiful. I wanted to get a type of picture showing lots of texture. This is why I chose the river with the leaves, water and rocks. The many textures can also represent the seasons changing and the complexity of nature. I also chose lighting that hit the leaves to give it a happy feel. The small pink flower also brings a bright color into the picture. For all five of my pictures, I increased the brightness and exposure on Photoshop because I wanted to show liveliness. I also tried to emphasize all my subjects with lighting that hit them right on and backgrounds that made them pop. Many of my angles were the same, straight on, because I didn’t want to make any of my subjects look inferior with a high angle and superior with a low angle looking up. My visual aesthetic is drama through types of relationships and the process of growing up and making choices. Through my photos and aesthetic I tried to illustrate how life can be measured through quality of time rather than quantity of years.
Song: Seasons of Love Verse 1: Five hundred twenty-‐five thousand six hundred minutes Five hundred twenty-‐five thousand moments so dear Five hundred twenty-‐five thousand six hundred minutes How do you measure, measure a year? Visual Aesthetic: Drama (focused on the dramatic series of the TV show The O.C.)
My visual aesthetic was focused on drama in the sense of meaningful relationships and the process of growing up and making decisions. I looked at this drama filled TV show, The O.C., specifically. It is about friendships, relationships, and family. I wanted to show the happy parts of this show specifically when they’re living in the moment and not taking life for granted. Each character treasures their friendships and family and their different interests that they each have.