Final Project Statement

8th grade girl 1: Oh that's Laura Lee's hers stuff is so beautiful, she gets perfect light

8th grade girl 2: I like hers, her project really means something, it has a point

8th grade girl 1 (passing my work): This is so stupid

8th grade girl 2: Her work is retarded 

Emma: You think so(f*%$ you)

8th grade girl 1: Ohhh hahaha(I am so screwed  for saying that)

8th grade girl 2: I have to go ( I have to go)

That was my judgement, my work to some girls is stupid and retarded. I sat in the lab, angry, really angry. Who did she think she was? How dare she? It wasn't stupid?, wait. That is when I realized it. My project is so stupid and makes no sense. And I like it that way. I pushed myself in a new way. I let go. How easy it would have been to do what I always did, landscaped, pictures of trees, ect. Something in me this time said no more. i first thought about doing famous pictures. Slade's response, been done. Then I thought about building Lego's doing funny things, "Slade: been done" Then for some reason the idea of taking famous paintings from history and building them out of Lego's came to me. That developed into recreating the entire picture. 

The paintings I chose to do where all paintings that I had studied and found beauty in. I took the most visually appeasing background that I could. Then I built the main subject out of Lego's. I learned and shot the Lego's in a mini studio that Slade and I created. Then came the really hard part, Photoshopping everything. I selected the studio shot image and copied the image onto the background with it. Then came making sure it looked natural, or sometimes unnatural. Then just a color correction and BAM we have a Lego Masterpiece.

What do I want from you, my viewer. I want nothing but to make you laugh. Don't for a second take these seriously, they and I don't want you to. They are stupid. They make no sense. They hold very little artistic value.  But they are funny, and different. And I don't think you will see another version of them or something like them ever again. I beg of you to find how stupid they really are, and laugh at it. Just enjoy the pointlessness. So often in life we are forced to see the hidden meaning, please ignore that instinct. Two 8th grade girl couldn't. Maybe you can.

Cannot Find Napoleon on horse, hopefully you know what it looks like

Final: Starry Night

The Starry Night: Painting by Vincent van Gogh

I built the Lego model

The shot above is a wide shot of Redstone at night

The bottom shot is of a parking lot at dusk

I think that out of all of them, this one it my weekest

Final: The Last Supper

The Painting is The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci

I built and studio shot Lego's

The background is a school at night

This is my favorite of all of mine. I think that this one is my cleanest image. I also am happy with this image because Slade wasn't there to help me with this, so I did this image entirely by myself.

Final: Washington Crossing the Delaware River

The painting is Washington Crossing the Delaware River by Emanuel Leutze

I built the Legos and shot them

The background is a gravel pit

I think this is the funniest of them all. I love how Washington is looking at the viewer, it makes me laugh every time I see it

Final: The Birth of Venus

This painting is The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli

I built the Lego's. I shot Venus with the shell separately, then shot the angels

I like this image I think that the Lego's look very plain though

Final: The Scream

This painting is The Scream by Edvard Munch

I shot the lego man

The background is complicated, I overlaped many different images with this. 

I like it, I like the complicatedness of the image, I wish I would have feathered the Screamer more when copying it

Final: The Creation Of Adam

The painting is The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo 

I shot both Legos together

The backgrounds were very difficult, they are two images combined 

I like this image, if I could change something, I would find a better background for Adam

Final Project

What Makes A Great Image

For me, there are many little elements that go into this, but one large one. I think the main part is originality. You need to have something different. I will use an example. How many fire hydrant have you seen. I can imagine a lot. I know I have seen many. But I remember one, it was a hydrant, but it was shot from the inside going out. It was completely unreal. I don't remember any other fire hydrants because they looked the same. But the originality of this one was unmistakable. It made a great image.
Then you have the technical aspects. Such as making sure you expose is just right, or making sure the focus is how you like it. Take the image. I believe that obsessing over a image usually doesn't work. Take the image, trust your ins tics. If it feel wrong take it again, but if not, leave it be.
Then you edit the image. I think that to make a great edit of an a image, you need patients. You need to also bring originality back into the picture. Put your own spin on what your doing. People make great images out of pushing the ordinary aspect out of the editing, and making it original.
A great image, comes along very seldom. I feel like it is almost fate sometimes. I think my best image I ever took, was completely fate. I was just walking home, and I happened to have my camera. I took the image that was literally just under my feet. It was great and different. I love that about photography. That sometimes the best image, is the random image, and by far the most original image.

Explaining Robert ParkeHaririson

Alright so I found this guy about a month ago. I was talking to a friends roommate, who happened to a photographer for Skier Magazine. I asked the questions that one asks, what type of photography do you enjoy doing, who did you study with, yadada. Anywho, so while doing so she told me she studied with the guy. She showed me some of the prints that he had given her, and thus began my search for him.
I found that he and his wife work together on projects. He sets up the shots, and is in most of the shots, but she takes the pictures. The first thing that attracted me about the dude, was the originality of the prints, I had really never seen anything like this. His sets for his prints, as he said, sometimes take months. His images are mostly outside taken in his backyard. Then comes the printing, He prints a silver outlined print. Then he waits for it to be ready to be coated, like we would with sepia. But this is the best part. He coats them with beeswax. When that is dry, he outlines the print with black charkle.
I love this work. Its original, its kind of intense. I think it is beautiful. I love finding a new photographer, who does or is doing something completely different. I strive to do that. To make the viewer say wow, that different. And I really enjoyed how ParkeHarrison did and are doing this.