RRAW : Political Art

When it comes to Political Art and Street Art I don't see much of a difference. On one hand Political Art is more of what someone wants you to produce and with Street Art it's more free but at the end of the day it's about getting your voice heard. For example the Obama photo that I found talks about how changing the world doesn't just lie in his hands because he's the president of the United States, change only occurs when the people are willing to change for the better. Many blame everything on the Presidents because they believe that the presidents aren't doing everything that needs to be done for the country so they have built up anger towards them and create posters like the one I placed in the blog as well. 

They talk about how there's no point in having a President because if they can't get their voices heard or get the things they want then why bother. Why bother when nobody listens, when nobody is there to help, when nobody tells the truth or when nobody cares? Thinking back to it and comparing it to our lives it's basically the same thing with us. We see those people that are less fortunate then us living on the streets and begging for money but yet most of us pretend like we can't see them. Some people pretend they can't see them because they think that if they give those less fortunate then us money they'll just spend the money on things that aren't important such as cigarettes, drugs or alcohol. Other people just don't feel like giving a little because they feel as if they don't have that much to themselves already, which is how I see it being for the President as well. People expect for the president to give them everything they want but yet they can't take the time out to help someone out even just a little bit.

I think most of the Street artists use their works to get their voices and the voices of the people in their community heard through their works. It's the same as the Political artists only thing is with the Street artist they have more say in what they want their work to be based upon because it's their work so their free to do what they want to do. That's how I feel about my work because although we are given tasks to do in class which in some way limits us we are still free to do what we want which makes it a mix between Political and Street art in a way.

Core Skills : Building Images - Stencil Artist

Meek is a graffiti artist operating out of Melbourne, Australia. There was one specific stencil that Meek created that grasped my attention fully. 

The reason why I found this one more captivating then the other stencils he's done is because of the message that he is portraying to the people that see this stencil. In the stencil it shows a homeless man holding a sign as most of the less fortunate people would do to ask others for money. Although he's holding a sign and has a cup placed in front of him he doesn't want the people to give him money, in the stencil it says "Keep your coins, I want change" which to me is a way of him trying to reach out to the people saying that things are beginning to get out of hand, its time for a change. 

Another stencil that I found interesting was the one that I pasted above. The reason why I found this interesting is because of the massage that lies within the image along with the text "free you mind". In my own opinion it looks like he was trying to say that it is important to speak your mind instead of keeping things bottled up. Many people go through a lot in their lives but always hold it in and keep it to themselves which sometimes leads to self abuse or even lead to suicide. With this image I believe he was trying to reach to those who keep everything bottled up and say that it is important to free your mind before it's too late. 

I found this image alluring cause of how well the gold stands out on the stencil that Meek created. I believe that he was trying to show how he is beginning to become known for his work so he decided to create a stencil of a rapper type of guy with the gold knuckle rings, the gold chain and the gold grill to represent how successful he's becoming through his work in a way.

RRAW : Manifesto

“Manifesto”

“All life demands struggle. Those who have them become lazy, selfish, and insensitive to the real values of life. The very striving and hard work that we so constantly try to avoid is the major building block in the person we are today.” – Pope Paul VI. I believe in the importance of perseverance because without going through trials and tribulations in order to reach a goal no one would really know what it is like to fully appreciate something. Many complain about the workload or the stress that comes along with the workload but do not realize that it is the hard work that makes or breaks people. Some fall behind due to the fact that they aren’t as committed to achieving their goals as they thought they were.  

In my own opinion I feel as if it is the struggles that we go through that helps us out the most to appreciate everything and also to grow more. Growing up in the states I didn’t have everything that I wanted or things that the other kids had but I did have everything that I needed. My parents both worked full time jobs; my dad worked the night shifts as my mom worked the day shifts so that way there was always someone there to watch me while the other one had to go to work. Even though I wasn’t able to get everything that I wanted I was always grateful for the things that my parents were able to get me because as I grew older I began to realize that they gave up everything and worked hard every night to provide for my needs. I’m thankful everyday for the sacrifices that they’ve made and appreciative to God for blessing me with such great parents.

Looking back to everything now I realize that every problem that my parents or I have faced back then is exactly what makes me who I am today. I know it wasn’t easy for my parents to give up on everything that they wanted to do so that they could take care of me but they followed through anyways and became the parents’ figures that I needed in my life. I always tell people that my dream is to become an artist so that I may be able to do what I love for a living but after contemplating on the subject I realized that my real dream was to do my best in school so I can get a solid job that would allow me to take care of my parents the way they took care of me. Becoming an artist would just be a bonus to making my dream come true, the most important thing to me is to have a stable job to take care of my mom and make my dad proud as he watches over us from Heaven.

Core Skills : Lens - Elements of Photography Task

" Elements of Photography "

Texture

Invisible Line

Line

Pattern

Pattern

Core Skills : Building Images - Illustrations

The Illustrator that I found interesting on the illustration mundo website is Joshua David McKenney, he was driven to draw ever since his fingers could hold a pencil. He has a lifelong obsession with women, glamour, and fantasy.


This is one of the images that captured my eyes as I went browsing through the illustrations that he created. The reason why this image captured my eyes was because of how he basically hid the face behind the wave like patterns with the blue color to help make the image stand out.

 

This image is another one that I became interested in because of the details that he portrayed upon the illustration. although some parts of the image seems like it's faded I actually find that to be the most fascinating part of the illustration because it gives it the antique feel to it making it seem like an image from the past.

   

The last image that I noticed and found more alluring then the others is this illustration. The reason behind that would be because of how in each illustration that I've posted they seem to look like statues which gives each of them that old, antique feeling to them.

Core Skills : Lens - Research

"Mark Adams"

 

I chose to do my research on Mark Adams because ever since I started getting interested in photography I have always admired his work. Mark Adams is the first photographer I have ever looked up on the internet just to learn more about him. The first time I noticed his photos was when I was doing research on Samoan Tattoos, the book that I had where I found his photos was called "Tatau". While researching Mark Adams I found this photo on his website "http://www.markadamsphoto.com" although the photo doesn't deal with a self portrait or shallow depth of field it was the photo that capture my attention the most. I've always been captivated by the black background and heavy shadow photos but haven't actually tried doing it myself. I try to stick with what I know and what I know is how to use the different depths of field from deep to shallow. I'm not as skilled in lighting as I am in the depth of field area but I try to learn more and more about photography in every class that I attend. I might try to take photos like the one I placed at the top as an experiment just to try and follow in the footsteps of Mark Adams but adding in my own techniques to it.

Core Skills : Lens - Experiment Blog

"Self Portrait Idea"

 

 Although I wasn't able to find a certain photographer who takes the type of photos that I want to use as an idea for my self portrait project I was able to find a photo that can somewhat explain what I'm going for. My idea is to take photos and use them as a comparison of the past to the present.Since my photos are comparing the past to the present day I decided to add in photos from the past that my mom has held on all of these years to new photos that I'll take using the different skills I've learned during our course. Most of my photos from the present will be dealing with shallow depth of field to show the difference of how photos were taking back then to the way we take them now and how most people such as myself like the idea of having a shallow depth of field effect to our photos.

 

The image that I placed above is an example, it isn't a proper example seeing as to how the photos aren't in focused but it's just to get a better idea of what I'm trying to do. My idea is to have a photo from back then which I could use the photo of my dad holding me in his arms as the first photo on its own. Next to that photo would be a photo of myself sitting on a couch looking at the empty space next to me to represent the fact that someone's missing which is my dad since he passed away 3 years ago. Another photo could be of my mom and I back then by itself compared to a photo of us now to show that my mom is still here with me. I got my idea from a trend that happens on instagram that happens weekly called transformation tuesday. Usually the photos are selfies of that person from back then compared to now so I decided to take that idea and make it my project.