Photo Essay - Christopher Ly and Alec Dejanovic

Through The Looking Fence

 

Fences are generally overlooked. We are so accustomed to having a fence that we generally do not stop and admire the weathered look, the textures and the patterns of the fence that creates. This is why we have chosen fences for our topic.

We decided to photograph fences in order to explore the patterns created by fences while looking through them and the texture of the fence itself. My partner and I photographed many fences through different angles that you would not normally look through in order to capture the unique patterns created by the fence and the background. We also looked at the shadows the fence created as well as the fence itself. All of these elements created unique outcomes and we chose the best photos for our photo essay.


The process of choosing which photo to use was a difficult task. We took into account the colour balance, whether there are interesting textures, if there are patterns created and what the shadows looked like. After choosing the best pictures we compiled them into the photo essay and added in the music. We tried to time the transition between each photo to fit in time with the beat of the song.My partner and I are quite pleased with the final outcome. We believe that we have captured the beauty in an everyday mundane object and projected amazing patterns and textures created by the fences through the photos that we have used in the essay.



Christopher Ly (43052711) and Alec Dejanovic (43049605)

Train Travel

Prajin Shee 42662818 and Brian Woods 41697863

As a theme to represent the everyday and ordinary we selected travel, as it is an action that everyone performs one way or another to get about their day. While travel is very ordinary it is a vague subject with many forms and interpretations, to remedy this we focused our efforts on trains, or more specifically travel aboard trains. This is the major form of transportation of many in Sydney (Prajin and I included), thus we felt it represented a very ignored and neglected aspect of our everyday lives. The method and organisation of our photos could appear as a daily diary of the everyday (Murray 2008) travel. We begin with the "Mind the Gap" painted on the asphalt, an important to message for train travellers, but is mostly ignored or disregarded. It then follows a sequence of boarding, an exploration of the interior, and disembarking. The theme was less 'strict' than the groups and collections that Murray (2008) observed on Flickr. The gathered photos were later made into a story pattern to fit a video format, as it is a more relatable mode of sharing a theme like travel, which does have a beginning, middle, and end. The interior of the train was of particular interest as it was actually quite attractive to the eye when actually observed, instead of regarding it merely as another surrounding, blurred from our attention from either fatigue or other interests. We felt that too many transitions removed the photos from the timeline created by their familiar journey and caused a jarring effect when viewed. The transitions broke up the natural flow of the images, thus becoming less relatable to the audience. The music was selected for its rhythmic beat and easy to place pace, it easily fit the pacing of the images; the rythem also resembled the sound of a moving train. Travel is a journey, and journeys are often the the main theme of film and video, e.g. Lord of the Rings, and we felt this made the images flow together and really bring out the extraordinary from the ordinary.

Bibliography:
Murray, Susan, (2008) "Digital Images, Photo-Sharing and Our Shifting Notions of Everyday Aesthetics." Journal of visual culture 2008 7: 147-163

Patterns: A Juxtaposition- Alexandra Starling and Anthea Ledwidge

MAS110 ASSIGNMENT 2

PHOTO ESSAY

Patterns: A Juxtaposition between Natural and Man Made

By Alexandra Starling 41973143

and Anthea Ledwidge 43051782

Music: Hiddeminside (23/11/2011) Another World: Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Available at http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/873885/another-world, accessed on (2/10/12)

The creative force driving the concept of “Patterns: A Juxtaposition between Natural and Man Made”, was Susan Murray's article "Digital Images, Photo-Sharing and Our Shifting Notions of Everyday aesthetics.” My partner and I sought to encapsulate the notion of the 'Everyday Aesthetic' through hidden beauty, often overlooked due to the fast paced lifestyles in which we live. Pattern is all around us, and though pattern can be described as a deliberate repetition of a reoccurring design, we believe accidental patterns can be found almost anywhere a person looks, and often the pattern has been made not to be aesthetically pleasing, but to be functional. 

We sought to prove the unique beauty of man-made patterns, and to juxtapose them with similar images which have been sourced from nature. As Murray claims, it is possible to “locate beauty in the mundane”, (p155) and thus we utilized the macro capabilities of the camera in order to take close up photos of patterns which are normally overlooked. Our photo-shoots took place in several locations, originally in and around my home, where upon a single glance, many patterns could be noticed. It was only when we took the time to look around that we noticed the vast range of repeated designs on various mundane household objects such as wallpaper, candle holders, bubble wrap and tiled floors. 

Once a series of almost 80 photographs of various patterns in the home had been taken, we then sought to find pattern in society and buildings, such as in brick work, windows and doors. Our photographic focus then shifted to various animals, and our photo-shoot moved to Taronga Zoo. Once we had a huge compilation of photographs, we then matched photos of nature with their similar counterparts which are man-made, to create a perfect juxtaposition of images showing hidden beauty in things often overlooked, thanks to the framing and close camera angles. Our images are rich in colour and contrast, and our clever utilization of the editing software of iPhoto and iMovie allowed us to boost sharpness and definition in order to make our patterns stand out even more to the eye.

My partner and I believe that through our images, we have proven Murray's concept that photography has become less about the “special or rarefied moments of domestic living” and has become more about “ones discovery and framing of the small and mundane.” (p147)

Bibliography:
Murray, Susan, (2008) "Digital Images, Photo-Sharing and Our Shifting Notions of Everyday Aesthetics." Journal of visual culture 2008 7: 147-163

Media Photo Essay MAS110 by Olivia Burke and Mitchell Jarvis

Photo Essay Rationale- Olivia Burke and Mitchell Jarvis

In order to explore the everyday aesthetic we decided on the theme “Litter” to evoke a sense of ephemera and dedicate our photography to capture this everyday, mundane and unnoticed part of society. The decision for bottles as a sub theme came from our observations of the most littered object we found around our suburbs. This subtheme was also in favour due to its diversity in colour, size, shape, texture and everyday quality, allowing our photo-shoot to show the effects the “authentic wear and tear have on them” (Murray, 155). We shot our photos in a variety of everyday locations, including beaches, parks, alleyways, public bathrooms and bus stops to highlight this notion of everyday as well as everywhere aesthetic. In taking out this photo shoot we came to discover the ignorance and neglect for litter and bottles in our local community, many of which were scattered all over the beach. Our vision for the essay is to highlight the beauty in this very mundane and socially “ugly” aspect of society by a judicious use of the iPhoto editing tools and iMovie presentation. The choice of photographs came from choosing those with bright colour, textural appeal and strong focus in order to “locate beauty in the mundane” (Murray, 155). In producing the photo essay we wanted the focus to be on the photos so to balance this we chose minimal transitions and rather just edited lighting and colour saturation to brighten and highlight our photos to be striking and picturesque of not only the bottles but also their habitats and our beautiful Central Coast surroundings. We are very happy with the end product of this photo essay and feel we have successfully acknowledged and explored the notion of the everyday aesthetic in an evocative and creative piece. 

Drinks Over the Ages - MAS110 Photo Essay by Afiqah Abdul Mohid (43005829) and Erik Suaning (42854210)

To begin, this Photo Essay uses the theme of "drinks" to emphasize the everyday aspects discussed in the Murray reading. Our approach consists of a compilation of the drinks that are symbolized for separate stages of life, beginning with milk as a baby, progressing through to alcohol for teenage and adult life and concluding with an iconic glass of water with medication to emphasize the conclusion of both life and the photo compilation. This approach was chosen after speculation on what would best represent the "Everyday" sense discussed in the reading as well as what could be manipulated in a somewhat artistic approach. This approach also uses an electronic song that has a beginning tempo that increases as the movie progresses to the teenage, and hence alcoholic, years that we thought would encapsulate the fluctuations of both life and, hence, the sub-theme. To conclude during the credits, we used a black background and solomn piano music to encapsulate the conclusion of both life (ie death) and the ending of the movie.

All photos are simply of different types and brands of drinks, as we did not want to focus on anything that would be considered too "unique". All brands and drinks used of course consist of everyday life and attempt to mirror the "amateur photography" discussed in Murray's text. No special events or unique artistic approaches were used, we simply wanted to focus on life as represented through the drinks that best represent the numerous aspects found within that focus. With the technology readily available to us in the 21st century, we were easily able to take high definition photos, upload them to a photo editor, add particular effects and enhancements, and finally upload the finished products to the internet, all using photos that, on their own and out of a particular context, would seem quite boring. The interesting part of this assignment is that every photo in the movie would seem quite uninteresting, until it is enhanced and dropped into a controlled context that brings out the very artistic nature of the un-artistic.


Bibliography:

Murray, Susan. 2008. "Digital Images, Photo-Sharing, and Our Shifting Notions of Everyday Aesthetics." Journal of Visual Culture (7): 147-163.

Street Life Through a Fishbowl - MAS110PhotoEssayKeithMartineAshaGopal

“Street life through a fishbowl”

 

“Street life through a fish bowl” surfaces the more secretive, colder and 'less pretty' side to Sydney, which is often overlooked by the everyday suburban man. With the many photos shot in and amongst the side streets of Sydney city, many alternative and confronting human ways were exposed. “Street life through a fishbowl” aims to bring out the other side of human experience abandoned by general society using various photography techniques, predominantly the fish eye.

 The essay consists of many ideas and reflections prevalent to the theme of “Street Life”. One of the many ideas recognized through the photos encompass unrecognized rundown businesses not aimed to the everyday man. The way in which the businesses “Men’s Tailoring” and “Adult Shop" are located one on top of the other respectively, the irony of men's only tailoring and the adult shop show to provide suspicion and openly visible sexual tension irony. The 'Ken Burns' effect further accentuates the ideas of street life presented in the essay.

 Similarly, the essay also reflects parts of society who show to be familiar with the ‘streets’. This is evident through the photos taken of the homeless people's belongings and hideaway. The stains captured within the pictures of urine together with the flies and sanitary belongings really set the street scene, differentiating it from the general suburban and city lifestyle. Moreover the shots of dark hideaways and the accentuation of unkempt buildings and entrances taken from different angles attempt to portray the mysterious atmosphere present in these side streets.

 Further highlighting street life is the powerful music set to back the images. 'Cellule' by Silence is a track which allows the viewer to experience the harshness and dryness of confronting oneself with abandoned streets. Ultimately, "Street life through a fishbowl" aims to surface the ‘other side’ to the luxurious Sydney city.

By Keith Martine & Asha Gopal

MAS110 Photo Essay - Cafe

YING FANG (42416310)   ECHO WANG (42977851)

MAS110 Photo Essay - Cafe

 

In this photo essay, we have chosen Café as the theme to represent the topic of everyday aesthetics. Café is quite common to see in our daily life, maybe they are located in a beautiful Avenue or just the corner of a street that you usually walked by. Having a cup of coffee or just seating there and spending time with friends is such an enjoyable feeling. We think Café is a form to represent everyday aesthetics because it is common to see, however it rarely obtains people’s attention as an object. If we pay more attention to the details of the surroundings, we may find the fascinating interior design and special decorations of a Cafe can really be a pleasurable scenery. In the process of collecting photos, we have taken a large amount of photos in Sydney different areas such as Surry Hills, Circulate Quay and Coogee Beach, and there are a few interesting photos in this video were captured in China when I travelled before. According to Murray’s(2008) concept of everyday aesthetics, we tried to discover the aesthetics of Café from its very simple and detailed aspects. For example, the artistic painting on the wall, the lovely handwriting menu on the board and the vintage style furniture setting in the shop. All of these little details bring us a sense of beauty. In the end, the best 18 photos were selected to form this video. In addition, we have chosen ‘Summertine’ as the soundtrack because this music is in a relaxing Jazz style and the soft and sexy voice of the singer is perfectly matched to the atmosphere in the Café. We hope this video represents the aesthetics of everyday life through representing these Café in an aesthetic way, and also hope it gives you a pleasant and relaxing feeling. 

Reference:

Murray, S 2008, Digital Images, Photo-Sharing, and Our Shifting Notions of Everyday Aesthetics. Journal of Visual Culture, 7, 147-163.

Metropolis - MAS110 - Everyday Aesthetics - Public Transportation - Lab 10

By Frank Altamirano (43049141) & Dylan Owen-Taylor (42510546)

We approached this task by first choosing our theme, public transport while delving into city life and travel. We thought this to be a suitable theme as many people commute to and from the city for work via public transport and this routine has become a part of peoples everyday lives. As with most things the more of it you see the more uninteresting it becomes, so our aim was to show public transport from a different perspective and bring modernisation and renewal to the mundaneness of everyday city travel. We chose not to alter our photos much as value can be generated due to their simplicity (Murray 2008). Choosing the right music was important as it sets the mood of the theme and helps to convey and clarify emotional significance (Frith 1984). The strong steady beat of the song reflects the constant drive of life – in particular the repetitive task of travelling to and from work on a daily basis. Photos were taken and chosen based on their interesting nature and perspectives which in combination with the music helped achieve the mood we wanted as well as suiting our theme. We edited the timing of our pictures to fit in with the music. In addition our choice of titles, transitions, and the effects used on the photos were all influenced by the music along with our idea of modernisation and renewal. Overall we wanted our photo essay to reflect an aspect of everyday life and show it in a fresh new light. Combining the simplicity of the photos with the music we feel that this has been achieved. 

References:

Murray, S 2008, ‘Digital Images, Photo-Sharing, and Our Shifting Notions of Everyday Aesthetics’, Journal of Visual Culture, vol. 7, no.2, pp. 147-163.

Frith, S. 1984, ‘Mood Music: An Inquiry into Narrative Film Music’, Screen, Vol 25, no.3, pp. 78–87.

Train on Sydney Harbour Bridge 2008, viewed 11 October 2012, <http://www.transport-impacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/train-on-sydney-harbour-bridge.jpg>.

Windows: Multi-Paned Windows

By Mikaela Tatchell and Scott Baker

The theme that we chose for our photo essay is ‘windows’ and the sub theme is ‘windows with multiple panes of glass’. Our theme of ‘windows’ fits in with the notion of ‘Digital Images, Photo-Sharing, and Our Shifting Notions of Everyday Aesthetics’ being explored as windows are such an ordinary, mundane, everyday object. Windows are found on virtually every building and as such are almost unavoidable to come across in everyday routine which typically involves commuting by a vehicle with windows, performing activities in your house (which has windows), and walking past buildings with windows. Windows certainly count as one of the many “...small objects in life that often go unnoticed.” (Murray 2008 p.155) Murray’s (2008) statement demonstrates that the theme of windows qualifies for being part of the ‘everyday aesthetic’.
The sub theme of ‘multi-paned windows’, highlights the notion being explored as it indicates almost a fascination with a particular type of windows which, as a photographic theme, is already a niche in itself. Murray (2008) mentions the term ‘artistic impulses’ - a term which can be used to describe the creative process which was used in finding ideal windows to take photos of.
The audio track that has been chosen to provide the soundtrack for the photo essay has an ‘urban’ sound to it which makes it suitable for the photos which were taken in the city. It creates a sense of walking through areas of the city of Sydney when viewing the photo essay. The transitions used between photos help to enhance this feeling by making the images ‘come alive’ through the use of movement which is synchronised with the beat of the music.

Note: The video was 30 seconds long in iMovie but when uploaded to Youtube it becomes 31 seconds.

References:

Murray, S. (2008) Digital Images, Photo-Sharing, and Our Shifting Notions of Everyday Aesthetics. Journal of Visual Culture (7): pp.147-163.

Alex Mills & Kathryn Cannon Photo Essay - "Spring"

Spring

by Alex Mills (43054900) & Kathryn Cannon (43053602)

The theme that we decided upon was the season of spring. We thought that with the current time of year it wouldn't be too difficult to capture the everyday aesthetic and beauty of spring. We wanted to take photographs of spring time which made use of everyday aesthetics. Given that our photographs are very natural and full of light we also wanted to achieve photo-realism and to make them as professional and as real as possible, by enhancing what was already there, rather than editing to unrealistic colours and proportions.

We used exotic camera angles and affective lighting at particular times of the day to help capture a sense of realism for our photographs. By browsing through seasonal photos in Flickr we were able to get a sense of how photos should be taken of natural settings and of spring itself. We were able to establish attributes of spring we wanted in our photos - namely sunlight, grass, trees, flowers and bright urban settings.

Spring time was also a very convenient theme given that there were so many varieties of ideas to choose between we decided to narrow the ideas down to suit the flow of the theme and music the best way possible, for example we chose most of our photos with lens flare to get the viewer's attention. It was easy to decide what our best photos were because the aesthetics and elements such as lens flare were also was very appealing to us. We believe that our photographs send out a clear spring time vibe to viewers that is full of nature, warmth and bright tones. The music we have chosen and attributed was specifically chosen to reflect and enhance the mood of spring in our video using an acoustic melody.

Our images also display and represent everyday aesthetics because of the variety of locations and backgrounds that might otherwise have been ignored or looked past. Many of our photos are in the middle of the city of Sydney, in areas where people might hurry past and never really stop and appreciate. Our other photos are of places we frequently visit but don't particularly stop and notice. In stopping and taking these photos, these locations are turned to spectacle which catches the eye, and causes the viewer to rethink areas they would never normally consider as being beautiful and encapsulating the feel of spring. This is the central idea of why we think our photos and theme of spring encapsulates Murray's (2008) concept of everyday aesthetics, as these photos enable viewers to focus on the little details and simple aspects of the everyday.

References:

MURRAY, S. 2008. Digital Images, Photo-Sharing, and Our Shifting Notions of Everyday Aesthetics. Journal of Visual Culture, 7, 147-163.