Final Assignment

The theme for my final assignment is : The Pimple.

As funny as it may sound, I believe that everyone has experienced the nasty feeling of being plagued by a pimple outbreak.

Hence, the concept behind this piece of work aims to portray how people react to their pimple.

When you were young, you were nonchalant about your physical appearance. After eating ice cream and spreading it all over your mouth, all you could do is to run to your mom and say "Mommy...what's that red thing on my face?" Having a red spot did not mean much to you. You laugh when you are happy, cry when you are sad. Your packet of candies was far more important and precious to you than that red thingy...







































When you grow older, beauty was your life. You start to develop many pimples during your puberty. You get irritated by that thing on your face...How are you going to face your friends!? Or that cute guy/girl in your class?






































Having been on this world for 50 years, you have seen and experienced many things in life. From your marriage, family to your career. But who can forget that pimple. Does the importance attached physical appearance still persist? Or the occasional breakouts remind you of the times when you were insecure of your physical appearance. Maybe the worries seemed so futile now.






































The comments given by the class were

• The pimple needed to be more obvious
• The second picture seemed too similar to the last two when they were supposed to portray another emotion
• Try placing the pimples at different location on the face
• The face on the fifth picture is too big as compared to the rest

The pictures after reshooting:

What I can say is that: Shooting children is hard!!! First you need to play with them to gain their trust. Next you will have to be constant alert to find the best time to capture a shot. The lighting was bad as it was in an indoor hall. My friend had to distract the little boy with her palmtop in order for me to take a picture of him doing something instead of looking at my camera with a big smile...






































The comments given during the session critique session were

• The colour of the photographys could be futher desaturated to make the pimple more obvious
• The palmtop was not obvious not enough hence he looked that he was staring out of the frame
  

Ethics

What are the ways readers can judge the credibility of an image even in this age of digital manipulation?

Personally I think it is almost an impossible task to judge if an image has been processed before presentation. I guess this is the reason why cosmetics are selling well in the market. It is a promise from the company to deliver to the purchasers a perfect complexion although most of the time we know that it is impossible. But why do we still buy into it? I personally believe that finding the right product for yourself is a matter of trial and error rather than the promise delivered by the company.

Probably critical thinking can be a way to mitigate the effect generated by photo manipulation. Even in the area of journalism, we know that news are not facts and they can be bias in their portrayal of events. Hence, it is best to gather a variety of sources and compare them before deciding if an image is real.

We also need to resort to fate and be convinced that there is no external youthfulness that lasts a lifetime. How on earth can a bottle of product which cost a mere 10 over or 20 over bucks gives you a perfect complexion just like the celebrity who endorses it. In an article I read a few years back, a celebrity admitted that she was not as slim in reality as the image of her in the slimming advertisement.

Imagine yourself as a reader representative for a newspaper. What would you tell a reader who complained to you about a picture of a car wreck that was particularly upsetting?

To answer this question, I guess as a ethical newspaper publishing company, it should not use pictures of extreme gore and violence in its publications.

However, in the case of a complain, I would firstly apologise and then inform the person who filed the complain that the picture is an accurate portrayal of the accident that occurred. It was used because we wanted to be as objective as possible. If the wreck was upsetting in the first place, the picture will inevitably capture the mood.

Assignment 5 'Human Expressions'

The aim of this assignment is to portray human emotions without photographing humans or animals. I would say this is my favorite exercise despite having to crack my brain thinking of what I can photograph to portray the given emotions. However, I realised that the surroundings are full of inspirations. Colour too is important in helping to accurately depict emotions.




















The purpose of this photo is to depict progressive and advancing. The use of a building under construction is to communicate the unfinished work that needs to be done, hence more progression is needed. The patterns of the clouds are use to show the upward direction the building is heading towards.

Comment given was that to retake the picture from the bottom of the building to create an illusion of convergence and grandeur.














The purpose of this picture is to depict joyfulness. It was taken at the playground. Vibrant colours were used to further enhance the joyful mood. A slow shutter speed was used to capture the motion of the red object in the foreground to depict action and liveliness of the playground.














I think that the idea behind this image is obvious- loneliness. The single bed signifies that there is only room for one. Its owner does not have a partner. Sepia is used to create a mood of nostalgia whereby the owner of the bed continues to think about her deceased husband by displaying his photo in her room.














If I were to name this picture, it will be 'Peace at the 38th Parallel'. This picture was taken near the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. After the long history of wars and chaos between the USSR and the American troops, peace was finally established when the line at the 38th parallel was drawn to divide Korea into the North and South hemispheres. The sunset in the background against the bluish sky signifies peace and serenity in contrast to the military guardhouse in the foreground. It aims to spread the message that even in times of disagreement and dispute, the same sunset could still be shared between people with differences. It is the object which bind us together, reminding that we are still united because we are similar in one race- the human race.

Surrealism

Image by Ray Man


I personally feel that this is a very powerful image of a woman.This image seems to communicate the concept of post feminism whereby feminine sexuality is no longer a burden to females but a form of control over males. The model in the image is comfortable and confident of her body. Her hair seems to resemble a crown of fire. Her identity is not known due to the manipulation done to the photo. We are not sure what creature she was supposed to represent but she seems to embody a feminine figure yet full of authority, power and a stronghold over her male counterpart.

I found another surrealistic photo on the internet


















http://gk-photo.blogspot.com/2008/03/photo-friday-surreal_12.html


I feel that this image exhibits the same kind of feminine authority similar to the same picture. It seems to embody the idea of 'Mother Nature' since it consist of a female body made up of a mixture of elements, both man made and natural.