Class Exercise 6 - Appropriation and its legal implication

NM3223 Appropriation vs Copyright Exercise

1. Is the strategy of appropriation conflicting with the copyright legislation in your school?

Yes they are conflicting because NUS emphasizes on plagiarism and citing of courses. Academic honesty is expected of students in NUS. Materials that we use can only be used for academic research, learning and teaching purpose. Moreover, NUS is also conscious of its image, appropriation may lead to court issues that damage the NUS image.


2. How do you find the process of applying the strategy of appropriation in your work?

It gives you convenience and saves a lot of trouble. Instead of coming out the work ourselves, we can just search for photos, and original works online and use it for your own work.

However, there are some moral conflicts involved in which appropriators does not give credit to original authors. As potential artistes and photographers, we understand that we wouldn’t want to see our works being appropriated without any credit. If that happens, it appears as though our creative hard work’s value is diminished, to the point that anyone can do anything to it.


3. Will you consider using the strategy of appropriation (if applicable) in your future work (beyond NUS)

Yes, our group has come to a common agreement of considering the usage of appropriation in our future work to a certain extent. Some of the usage will be for Parody or satirical purpose in order to express our opinions on different issues.

However, appropriation is rather limited for commercial purpose if we are working for a company & the works are for sale.

Class Exercise 7 - Exhibition Marathon

This week, we went to an Exhibition Marathon. Learning in a different environment is really fun and inspiring. We can learn a lot more by looking at other people's work, rather than just talking about our own pictures. Looked at a lot of good photos in the few hours that we had at the exhibitions. It was an interesting and fun experience all in all.

In the exhibition, choose one or couple of work that inspired you. Explain why.

I like the work “Home Visits” by Alecia Neo. I like it because it’s very personal and she has managed to bring such a personal space into a place like the art gallery. Normally we will not link our homes, beds, and sofas to art, but Alecia has done so and has captured the essence and enchanting characters that live in the area. She has also portrayed the home not just as a space, but as a place that people spend most of their lifetime in.

Observe how photographers convey their concept/idea through their chosen media and subject matter. Choose one series of work that you think the photographer has effectively convey his/her concept in his/her work.

I think the work Captive Landscapes by Daniel Kukla has effectively captured the idea that the photographer wanted. It is very thought provoking. The lines between nature and manmade landscapes have been blurred in recent years with the opening of zoos and enclosures that we place animals in. The appearance of manmade objects such as doors and gates in “natural” places has successfully brought out the artist’s idea of landscapes being held captive by humans. And artificial “natural” landscapes that we create to control the natural world and their animals.

Observe how photographers present their work (i.e. choice of framing, hanging etc.). Choose one or a few series of work that you think the photographers(S) has effectively present his/her/their work.

Landscapes and Figures by Massimo Vitali, in my opinion, was very well done. The large pieces of colour images have effectively brought out the vast feel of the beach in Europe. It is effective because the size can accurately show the details of the actions of the people in the area. It also combined the spatial wideness of the landscape and the delicate and minute actions of every person at that moment. It is very fascinating to see such an interesting piece of work.

Final Project

In this real world, we are never rulers of our own selves. Our minds and our bodies, they are all controlled by the outside world, by every other person.
We are so occupied with how we want others to look at us, that we often lose track of our own inner minds and hearts.

We want to be fashionable.
We want to look good.
We want to be thin, pretty, hunky, handsome.

We do things that are unnatural to our bodies to make ourselves “look good” in other people’s eyes.
The following few pictures conveys humans’ maniac and obsession, all in the pursuit of “FASHION” and “BEAUTY”.


The above image portrays the clothing dilemma that most of us face everyday. we want to look good, therefore we have to plan our outfit well everyday. This is a headache, especially for someone who has TOO MANY clothes, like me.



The above picture is talking about the diets that one undertakes to become thinner. He refuses to eat anything because he wants to lose weight and look good.



This shows the cutting of fat, which symbolizes liposuction, a procedure that many people undergo to make themselves thin.


Thread and needles. To symbolize plastic surgery that people undergo to beautify themselves.



Plasters. We often try to squeeze ourselves into shoes that don't fit, therefore bringing only injuries to ourselves. this applies to real life too. we try to fit ourselves into other people's eyes, and we do what we are expected to do. Eventually, bringing hurt to ourselves.


Iron. We want washboard/ironing board abs. Can we achieve this by ironing our bodies? NO.

Assignment 6

MOMENT

The image that I've taken for this assignment is actually at a wedding of my uncle in Malaysia. It was a very touching moment indeed, as the couple have finally gotten married after 10 years of courtship. Although the bride was long regarded as a family as they have been together for so long, this gesture signifies the official entrance of her into our family.

Assignment 5

For the Appropriation assignment, my idea was to create a picture that depicts the possible consequences of global warming in a special way. i did away with the usual natural disasters, and instead I made it into a picture where the world would be so warm until we had to live inside a "glass globe" that is cooled down by air conditioning.

Many pictures were put together in this piece of work. for example, the different buildings were pictures on their own, the globe, the glass bowl. the back ground, and the sky. and the sun, and the 3 air conditioning units.

Using Photoshop to piece all these pictures together was very interesting as I explored different parts of the software such as the different layering methods.

Class Exercise 4 - Experiment with Lights

This week we played with different lightings. sadly we missed out on the chance to try out the reflectors. hope we can try that again next time!!

we used the flash from my phone as the lighting this time round... actually we felt that it was not bright enough! it could be brighter to make the lightings in our pictures not obvious.

front light


top light


side light




COLOUR CAST

For this week's critique session we were supposed to choose the best picture for each category from our group.. there they are:

best zoom

this is done by yingqi. we liked it because of the interesting zoom effects it has on the flower. i never thought of doing it on a flower before too... the composition is also not bad in this picture.


best close up

this is my picture. we liked it because of the colours in the pictures. it is very vibrant. and also it was not obvious that its a lamp.


best smile

This is done by yingqi again. we all thought it represents "smile" nicely as most girls can go crazy over dessert. we all like desserts too, and the picture made us smile when we looked at it. it's attractive. and also, the composition is good.


best perspective

this picture is done by yeechuan. we thought the reflection of the building in the glass panel was cool, as it completed the building. perspective wise we thought it could have been better, but we really liked this picture. the composition here is not bad too.