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.

Class Exercise 5 - Appropriation

caption: There would have been MINE —-diamonds from Africa

this week's class was on appropriation. we were supposed to come up with a "mash-up" that's provocative about the topic that we got: jacuzzi...

it was so difficult to be provocative, i must say.. haha...

what can we think of when we see the word jacuzzi? i think of a rich man indulging himself in it, enjoying every moment of it. when we think of rich, we think of money, jewelery, gold, etc... we wanted to express the income gap between the rich and poor, therefore initially we wanted a picture of a rich man in the jacuzzi, bathing in diamonds, while poor kids from Africa looked at him through the window.
however jing reminded us that this would be too conventional. therefore she suggested us to put the african kid in the diamond jacuzzi instead. this would portray the irony more, and it is actually more through provoking.

lastly, we also wanted to place a pile of diamonds with the company DeBeer at the side of the jacuzzi. we wanted to show the inner voice of the african. the irony that he was the one who extracted these diamonds, but yet he cannot own them.

Assignment 4

A4 requires us to submit one high-key and one low-key photo.
it's really hard to differentiate high-key vs over exposure initially. but after a few tries... to me, high-key is more artistic than over exposure..



high key
taken with Canon EOS 500D, f/4, 1/25s, ISO-800, at 27mm focal length

i actually quite like this picture. it's what i normally eat in the mornings. haha but something funny about it is that it is cereal in a campbell soup bowl -__-''' my friends noticed that too.

critique: the bowl is a bit too low for it to be in the focus. and the cereal in the bowl is also out of focus. i should move the bowl up a bit and focus on the cereal instead of the bowl.



Low key
taken with Canon EOS 500D, f/5.6, 1/40s, ISO-1600, at 55mm focal length

i have to say taking low key pictures are so much harder than high key. in low key, we still have to consider the angle of light, and the angle of the camera, plus the amount of light that comes in. etc etc. difficult~ i think this picture is not good enough. there were a few pictures that i really liked that were shown in class.

critique: looks like a product advertisement. but OK.

FINAL

Low-Key



High-Key

Assignment 3

For A3 we were supposed to take pictures of the following themes: close up, perspective, zoom, smile (without face).


Close Up
taken with Canon EOS 500D, f/5.6, 1/80s, ISO-800, at 55mm focal length

This is actually a lamp in my room. I liked the colour of the lights that come out from it.

critique: nice colours. and it's not obvious that it's a lamp (that should be good right?)



Perspective 1
taken with Canon EOS 500D, f/3.5, 1/5s, ISO-1600, at 18mm focal length

I wasn't really sure of how to take perspective pictures. i attempted to place the cups in a row and try to take pictures of them, but mostly turned out failed. :(

critique: camera should be nearer to first cup, and at an angle that is about 90 degrees to them. this picture shows too much of the cups behind.



Smile 1
taken with Canon EOS 500D, f/13, 1/40s, ISO-800, at 25mm focal length

hmm this is a box of 1000 hand made stars by my boyfriend. haha...i thought it's pretty heartwarming.

critique: only the person who received the gift really knows what it means, so not much of "smile" from the other people.



Smile 2
taken with Canon EOS 500D, f/4, 1/80s, ISO-800, at 18mm focal length

I think the colours of the photo make the picture quite happy. i like bright colours as they can really set a light and happy mood to my photos.

critique: nice colours too. but maybe not to the extent of "smile".



Zoom 1
taken with Canon EOS 500D, f/3.5, 0.6s, ISO-800, at 18mm focal length

this picture was taken at marina barrage, at sinyee's birthday surprise.
ohwell i thought it looked quite cool when i took this picture. shows the dizzying effects of the casino. haha!


Zoom 2
taken with Canon EOS 500D, f/6.3, 1/3s, ISO-800

i quite like this picture. and it's the first of many that i took. i realised this was the most satisfactory one. but nevertheless i find it a little too boring in terms of colours... hmm

critique: they said it would be better if the centre and numbers of the clock were more in focus.. hmm

zoom 3
taken with Canon EOS 500D, f/9, 1/40s, ISO-800, at 39mm focal length

i like this picture cos of the colours. bright colours make me really happy! :)

For submission eventually the following were chosen:

Close Up
taken with Canon EOS 500D, f/5.6, 1/80s, ISO-800, at 55mm focal length


Zoom Shot



Perspective



Metaphor of a SMILE--candy shop. who will not smile at the thought of a candy tree?? We are all kids in our hearts.

Assignment 2

Shallow DOF foreground 1
taken with Canon EOS 500D, f/5, ISO-100, 1/60 at 41mm focal length

Actually i like this picture. It's pretty ZEN. the colours look very peaceful to me.
The critiques said this picture was ok. just that the stone could be a big bigger as the green behind might be distracting.


Shallow DOF background 1
taken with Canon EOS 500D, f/4.5, ISO-1600, 1/30 at 30mm focal length

This picture is taken at a friend's party with an Alice in Wonderland theme. i thought it would be quite funny to put the tag and the food itself together. And i was right. people thought it was quite funny... haha. but then again, the composition might not be interesting enough, although the idea was there.


Panning 1
taken with Canon EOS 500D, f/11, ISO-100, 1/30s at 18mm focal length

Panning took me a LONG time.... I had to walk so many stretches of road to get a nice picture! When I was about to give up and keep my camera, i chanced upon this mirror... and tada. i caught the car in action!!

response in class was that it's quite interesting to have the panning done in a reflection.
however i felt that the colours were not vibrant enough...


Motion Blur 1
taken with Canon EOS 500D, f/7.1, ISO-100, 1/4 at 24mm focal length

I always thought motion blur can be captured by flowing water most easily. I tried with the tap water at home, but the effects were not good. So i went downstairs to explore. and got a picture like this, and a lot more pictures with water.

Critique: shutter speed could be slower to make the water more "smooth". composition can also be more interesting.


Motion Blur 2
taken with Canon EOS 500D, f/3.5, ISO-800, 1/13s at 18mm focal length

well this was taken at the playground. nothing much. but i have to say the composition of the photo is too boring. :S the response in class critique session agreed with me too...



Motion Freeze 1
taken with Canon EOS 500D, f/4.5, 1/500s, ISO-1600, at 29mm focal length

i thought water can show motion freeze well too... the pool was a good choice to take water shots. this is actually water that's gushing down into the small pool underneath.

critique: composition was a little un-interesting.


Motion Freeze 2
taken with Canon EOS 500D, f/3.5, 1/250s, ISO-1600, at 18mm focal length

I really like this picture a lot! it's really a pity that the stream of water was not in focus. this is actually the first pictures of many that i took. i tried about 20 times after this picture to focus on the water but failed. this was done by holding some water in one hand and letting it flow down back inth to the pool. it's really hard to splash water with one hand and press the shutter with the other! :(

critique: not bad composition, but pity water wasn't in focus


Deep DOF
taken with Canon EOS 500D, f/16, 1/13s, ISO-800, at 18mm focal length

I think this looks like a condo advertisement. haha. i find it hard to take pictures with deep depth of field. to me, if not taken well, the picture will just look very cluttered and "random".

critique: looks like a condo advert. and maybe composition can be better.

After the critique session, the following pictures were chosen:

Shallow DOF (foreground)


Shallow DOF (Background)


Freeze Action



Deep DOF

Motion Blur


Panning

Assignment 1

After much consideration, i have decided to change the photos to the follows:

Colour


Shape



Texture


Lines


Form