Domi Z Photography

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Exhibition & Portfolio - WITT 2013

Some different ideas I'm working on at the moment for our end of year exhibition

Final pieces in the exhibition as they hang on the wall...
printed on Fine Art Archival paper thanks to Derek Hughes (Derek's Darkroom - www.derek.co.nz)

11th November 2013

It's been a long time since I've posted... had my head in the clouds with the WITT course exhibition. Back in September I said that the whole process had taken on a different direction. here are some results...

24th September 2013

the mirror seems to have gone around in a roundabout way, this is a small cut out from the larger photo

Portraits of WITT Art students

Vegetables

trying to come up with a theme for my end of year exhibition and the first thing that I am contemplating doing is something along the lines of bionic vegetables... looking online for ideas... I am interested in the whole GMO food debate and doing a little research on this, including watching a movie called 'Future of Food' which is quite insightful and I would encourage everyone to watch this, especially the sceptics who believe that GMO is the solution to our 'world wide food shortage' and that GMO will end world hunger - this is definately not the case and it is going to ruin our crops, kill diversity and possibly ruin the land that GMO foods are grown on

http://webneel.com/webneel/blog/10-modular-approach-photographs-fruits-and-veggies-advertising-photography

http://www.minds.com/

https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=vegetable+photography&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=MskSUvK6OeXxiAey8IDIDg&ved=0CDUQsAQ&biw=1608&bih=989

research into other artists:

http://www.yukkingtan.com/projects/the-limit-of-visibility

www.aiweiwei.com

Trees - reflections/hole in the floor

while working on my logo I used the paint bucket tool trying to get a big white space, like the effect that I was getting and tried it on a low tolerance level. wanted to see what it would look like online

part of the concept for my end of year exhibition but have added red for effect for a poster for vis comm

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Digital Media - Creatures

For the second project for Digital media we have to create 2 creatures out of photographs which are then to be displayed on A3 on a panel - eek! Only our own photographs can be used and it has to look good - out of this world but good.

Trying to find inspiration on the inter-web and have come across Miro Svolik's work who uses people to create the shapes which is a great concept http://www.lenscratch.com/2013/05/miro-svolik.html

I'm struggling with the whole idea of brainstorming and concept sketching. I have gotten a couple of ideas in my head and feel that now I can't shake them.

1. Woodland creature

2. Tank baby

So initially I was wanting to make a woodland creature, because I like trees and I care about the environment I wanted something that represented nature.

my initial sketch was very busy, it had John Key, in front of Mt Taranaki with the tanks at backbeach where he was crawling around from, I was looking at doing something political to do with all the bills he's been passing.

[insert image]

The tank baby was initially going to be an angry (JK) baby made out of the tank and scrap metal playing with his scrap metal toys in the junk yard.

Having discussed the project with Philippa today I am wanting to change the images slightly and overlap them where the tank baby is going to be running through the forest with the woodland man in his hand and then the other creature/ image is going to be the woodland man about to squash the tank baby. not very nice but I do feel that there is a very big battle going on between nature and man made.

ref: http://photo.net/learn/digital-photography-workflow/advanced-photoshop-tutorials/intro-to-compositing/

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/maskcomposite/Masking_and_Compositing_Tips_and_Techniques.htm

self portrait with bark

thoughts/ inspiration/ ideas (struggling at the moment to put it all togethor)

tank chef

tank baby - work in progress, still need to add the arms, fix the legs, make it look like a baby! it's a little harder than it seems, especially to get it to look like it's a 3d object rather than just a cutout placed on another photo. thoughts/ advice welcome!

3rd July - getting notes and thoughts together from Tank baby... photo below is of me at the Molten Metals scrapyard as I head in to take my photographs ...

this one below's just for fun... i think he's pretty cute

I am working on my notes - really... :)

okay so today is the 24th June, I think the woodland creature is just about finished... here are some pictures of the changes it has been through. it almost seems the longer I have to complete a project the more ideas and changes it will go through.

original sketch

rough mindmap based on 'body parts' found

trying to map out how it will fit in

trial in a forest setting - a little flat and boring

still looking for 'hands', pretty happy with the location

This is the final image, I might still make a couple of minor adjustments but will be doing a print test first to see how it's looking. can't wait to see him in A3 print!

30th june 2013

so he looked good in A3 but I had stuffed up the image resolution for the background which minimized the image where the pixels looked a bit stretched. Unfortunately I had not saved the final changes to the creature and had to redo the background. as the background came from a different camera which has lower resolution I wasn't thinking that it will affect the overall quality of the image. I ended up redoing the background but couldn't quite get the same composition due to the placement of the arms of the creature. lesson learnt.

creature below was just a spur of the moment creation, thought I'd try a different background for him to hang out in, I like it but can't really decide what the 'client' or my tutor would be more interested in so going with the original darker version above.

3rd July 2013 - trying to piece my notes together - below is a screenshot of me backtracking to put the mindmap for the Woodland Creature togethor.

The final creatures which were handed in, 'Tank Baby' also featured at an Eco Artists exhibition at Korver Molloy Gallery in New Plymouth

http://www.korvermolloy.com/eco-artists-exhibition.html

'Tank Baby'

'Woodland Creature'

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Pinhole Camera

16th April 2013

My first official Pinhole camera that I can call my own: I've had this trunk for a few years now and finally found a constructive use for it.

The idea of my pinhole camera was to get sharpness so that I could take Pinhole photographs of landscapes, in specific terms I was after a pihnhole camera that could take photos of the surf, alas it did not work as the pinhole / focal length ratio mean that the shutter has to be left open for 1.5 mins in direct sunlight just to get a good exposure. This is obviously too long to capture a wave, but also gives me an excuse to experiment further.

The canvas

tools - Pinhole made using sewing needle, sanded and attached to cardboard using PVC tape.

light proofing using PVC & electrical tape (comes down to budget - they work well though)

Also made a hood (not shown in photo) for the inside of the lid so that no light leaks would come through the opening cracks

Have measured the inside of the box and put edges using multiple layers of tape in order to be able to place the paper in the centre of the case in relation to the pinhole.

Trunk has also been spray painted inside to avoid any light bouncing around - note sure if this is necessary, it's more of a precaution and the majority of tutorials you will watch/ read regarding pinholes will advise to paint the inside black - in this instance, Black matt spray paint was used.

My Pinhole camera!

self portrait in the evening with bright sunlight on the cliffs - approx 2 minute exposure. First tests done at 4-8 seconds did not work so based on conversations with Chris (Chris Hill Tutor at WITT) time was increased for bright midday sun to 1.5 minutes. I decided to increase it as felt that perhaps the strength of the sun might vary depending on time of day, overall I like the tonal range and I love the detail in the cliffs.

Seascape 1. photo taken at around 5.30 in the evening (after daylight savings so half hour till sundown), decided to take the exposure to 10 minutes but then when the sun peaked out from behind the clouds I decided to stop the exposure time at 4 minutes.