Tuesday

Tuesday went very well with creating the idea for our project. I came in with a whole mess of "pattern samples" to try and I spent most of teh time getting the samples to be in the right shape for my lamp. I also decided to look at different methods of work to determine the right style I wanted. In the end, I think I will either do a ceiling light or a wall light, but I don't know...

How taking a picture matters

Most of when our group was taking pictures, it was from a point of view of straight on shot, or at eye level. It wasn't until we got tired of the same old shot that we decided to experiment with different altitudes. We found out that extreme highs and lows have made EXTEND seem more evident in its meaning and it explained the concept much better. Also, our placement of distance between letters made it more clear as well as placing the letters along extensions like ramps and sidewalks. Overall, I think we showed the meaning through our work.

Group Reflection

Looking back on the entire assignment, it was remarkable how good the end result turned out. To date, this was the most labor intensive project for me personally (including the 250 drawings project), but I learned how interesting a word can be when placed in its own environment. Towards the beginning, I really did not understand why we were doing a word that we would not end up doing in the final process, but once I picked up on how it taught us versatility, it became clearer, especially with the color experiments and refinements. Then, when it was time to work in different groups, it got a whole lot more complex. We finished the letters in a week to start picture taking over the weekend and spent a little more time later finishing up any loose ends that needed to be attended to. As far as the locations, I think it worked really well where we placed the letters and conveyed the meaning without any explanation. In the end, we finished up the book and were ready to turn in the last of the project.

Reading Response Refection

As far as all the readings went for the project, I think the “Photo Ops” article was the most interesting to read and pertained to our group word. The power point did very well to describe letters and vocabulary that I did not even know existed, like serifs and barbs, but they did not work as well to provide ideas that we could use when taking our group pictures. We already had in mind what we were going to do and we used those techniques to help convey the meaning of our word more fluidly. As for the photography essay, it was a lot of words for a visual topic. More photos would have helped convey the author’s point and meaning. As for the content itself, it was very interesting how the author presented his/her viewpoints of how photography has changed the way people look at the world. I also like how the author brought in examples from the American and Spanish civil wars to show they have affected warfare and documentation. Overall, it was a good essay, but it did not initially suggest what a photography essay should be. As for the rest of the readings overall, some were more helpful than others, but they all did their part to bring helpful ideas to the project.

EXTEND

Well it took a very, and I mean very long time to get the word oversized and dimensionalized, but we finally did it and are now ready to take pictures. I gotta say that it is pretty cool having an oversized word, but I'm not looking forward to finishing the color experiment and the accordian book and the process book and the pictures for the words and the......etc. Sometimes I think these projects don't have an ending.

E X T E N D

As far as the group word goes, the sample letters have been made and location scouting has already commenced. Staircases, hallways, and ramps have been used so far and Monday will be scouting more and potentially outside this time. It is a little concerning that we have such a short time to complete this project, but that is what "end of semesters" are all about!

Color Refinements

Well, color has been added this week to our words and it has proved to be more of a challenge than I ever suspected. Day by day the compositions become more apparent in their meaning with the added color, but it is still not there yet. There's promise, though, and this next week will be further exploration.

spuorpt

Once again, it was time to critique the class's work of the color experiment and I went in thinking it was just going to be another heart wrenching critique, but thankfully it was a lot better than before. I don't know if my work improved or I'm getting used to people not liking my work but thankfully I could leave thinkiing I was on the right track!

Troppus

Well now that refining the drawings have been finished, it was time for us to look at them together as a huge class and see what we did well and what we did not do well. I guess I did not do many well because not very many people "starred" them. I gotta say that it is kinda depressing to go from a critique that they did not find my ice cream scoop poster appealing to now another thing that does not stand out. Oh well... I guess I just need to step up my game.

Support

Well, Support is getting underway and I have finished my work on the 20 finished sketches. The first cut/paste models were very difficult at first to find good ones, but I think I found some that can be used with refinement.