Artist Statement

In my art, I want to expose a piece of life that we see on a daily basis, but don’t normally think about. I want to inspire people to open their eyes further when they go through life and notice every little thing that makes their personal experience unique. Too often, people are trapped in their own conscience and fail to recognize the beauty that surrounds them—whether it be the people that they share space with, or the structures that they inhabit.

In my artwork, I don’t try to create situations or construct reality, I simply capture what is right in front of me. And once I have captured my image, it is up to the viewer to interpret it. One of the greatest aspects about art is that it is not clearly defined, it is up for interpretation. 

Through my work, I hope to both inspire and humble by audience. I am not a photographer, filmmaker, painter, or sculptor. I am not even an artist. I am simply someone who takes the time to pause, appreciate the beauty that surrounds us, and share it with those who care to appreciate it with me. 

Production Journal

Originally, my goal for my photo journal was to capture the diversity of D.C. through a place where everyone convenes—the metro. I even came up with a list of 7 different groups of people whom I intended to capture. However, I soon realized no person fits perfectly into one of these categories. Everyone is unique.

After this realization, I decided to capture simply the uniqueness of individuals and their place in time. Everyday we ride the metro, but we usually do not acknowledge the others that ride alone with us ,and the situations that we encounter together. In this photo journal, I hope to provide glimpses into the unique lives of the various individuals who ride the metro and show, through people, my experience of one trip on the D.C. metro.

I did this by capturing images of people when they weren’t aware that they were being photographed from a variety of different angles. The first day I went, I used an iPhone camera and took many different pictures. The iPhone has a surprisingly good camera and it is easy to pretend to be texting or playing a game when taking a photo. However, many of the pictures were out of focus and off center since I had to hide the fact that I was taking pictures.

The next time I went, I took a nice digital camera and asked to take pictures of people by saying “I am a photography student at American University.” This was painfully awkward and only about 25% of the people I asked allowed me to photograph them. Once I did take their picture, the photo often looked to forced and unrealistic. These photos did not have the cool unique angles that my other photos did. I came to appreciate my off center and sometimes out of focus iPhone pictures because they had more energy, were more realistic, and evoked more emotion. Thus, I used only these in my photo journal.

After choosing which photos to use, I converted them to black and white and played with the lighting to create a lot of contrast. After experimenting with putting them in various different orders, I decided that chronological order made the most sense and told the best story.

I learned a lot from this project. First of all, I learned that people are extremely difficult subjects. Taking pictures of strangers without them knowing is very difficult to do. Asking strangers to photograph them is even harder. Though when taking the photos I regretted not deciding to simply photograph buildings or scenery, I am now very happy with my final project. Each individual photo is of a different person and tells a different story.

I also learned that every individual is very unique, and that grouping them into categories to show their diversity only takes away from the true diversity. Over the course of my journey, I encountered hundreds of different types of people, not just seven. I now have not only a greater appreciation for photographers, but also the individuality of every person who accompanied me on my journey.  

The metro personified–Individual Photo Descriptions

This is the first photo that I took and the first person that I saw on my ride in the metro. I took the photo so that the metal bar from the chair would divide the photo into thirds to be visually interesting and provide context for image. Though the bar is in the foreground, the image is still focused on the man who is the main focus of the picture.
This man’s mustache, outfit, and general demeanor, make him look like he is out of a different time. If it weren’t for the modern ads in the background, this picture could easily have been taken in the 40’s.
All four people in this scene are very spread out, and each individual is in their own world. This shows how when the metro is empty, people will sit as far away from each other as possible to limit socializing and human contact. Despite the fact that these people are travelling together, they are stuck in their own worlds and they don’t acknowledge each other’s presence; they don’t even realize that they are being photographed.
The photo was taken in black and white to put a greater emphasis on the people in the picture, rather than their surroundings. Also, black and white allows for a greater contrast between light and dark and makes the entire scene of inside a metro train more visually intriguing.

This next image was taken in the same car after a few stops and after more people got on. I took the photo while standing up to get an interesting perspective. The metro seat provides a diagonal line that divides the picture and plays in contrast to the vertical symmetry of the photo. The top of the mans head is cut off to show what someone would see if they simply took a quick glance at the man like most people do in the metro.
The man who is the focus of the picture appears to be in a peaceful daze, listening to music, resting his head on the window, and enjoying the fact that he is done with work and on his way home. The window shows a very clear reflection of what is inside; this is not only very visually intriguing, but makes it appear that the man is resting his head on nothing and adds to the surreal, dream-like nature of the photo.
This photo attempts to show a lot while showing very little. You can tell that the metro is crowded because you can see he shoulder of the person next to him, the shoe of the person behind him, and because of the fact that I am standing. You can see that the man is in a very peaceful daze though you can hardly see his face or body and his head is cut off. This picture should also bring up questions about the man that cannot be answered and are left up to the viewers’ imagination such as: What is he listening to? Where is he going? What is he thinking about? Etc.

This photo seeks to show movement and energy which plays in contrast to the previous pictures. The man is young and seems like he has a set destination and that he wants to get there as quickly as possible. Like the people in the previous photographs, he is trapped in his own world—he is wearing headphones and does not appear to make any acknowledgement of others on the metro car.
His stride, the look on his face, his suit, and the fact that he is wearing a backpack on just one arm make him appear to have a lot of confidence. The picture was captured perfectly when one foot is behind the other and is slightly out of focus to show his swift movement.
The man is placed on the right third of the photo so that some attention could also be paid to the background, where we see a woman carrying groceries who is also mid stride as well as many others sitting. In the bottom left corner of the photo is the corner of a chair, which shows that the photo was captured while sitting. The shiny metal of the chair combined with the metal bars throughout provide interesting lines that divide the image.

This photo was taken when a young girl and her nanny sat in front of me. While everyone else on the cart was trapped in their own world, this girl was very observant and was the only one that recognized the fact that I was taking pictures. She told her nanny that someone was photographing her or filming her, and her nanny ignored her and thought she was making things up. The girl was right.
This makes the picture all the more intriguing—her large bright eyes are very observant and see everything; however, because she is young, nothing she says is taken seriously and thus the bar is covering her mouth.
By putting the photo in black and white and increasing contrast, the little girl’s eyes pop and the shine of the bar in front of her pops. The background is black which puts the entire focus of the picture on the girl.

After the young girl saw me photograph her, I decided it was time to leave that metro car. I transferred to the yellow line at the Chinatown metro stop. At rush hour, this metro car was very crowded.
This is a photo I took of the very crowded and active metro car that I got on. The picture is out of focus to capture the movement and chaos. By having the picture out of focus, the viewer should not just see what the scene looked like, but feel the frenzied energy and tension that is created when so many people try to cram into such a small place.
The image is centered on one woman, though many other things are going on in the photo—someone’s hair is blowing around in the bottom left, someone else is holding tightly onto the rail, and many other people are moving out of the car.
Despite the chaos, the scene is set because through the window you can see the “Gallery Pl-Chinatown” sign. The black and white provides a stark contrast between light and dark; the bottom of the photo is mostly black while the top is mostly bright and white. This makes the photo more visually captivating and adds to the chaotic nature of the photo.

This photo was taken while the metro was moving and after the chaos of getting on and off had settled. It is taken close up to capture the deep emotion of this older woman. Though you can only see about half of her face, that is all you need to see.
By looking into just the one eye that you can see, one can tell that this woman has been through a lot in life and is very strong and wise. The arm in the bottom of the photo gives context and shows that the metro is very crowded and that we are all standing. However, the background is all black to put the focus of the image on the woman.

This final photo of my essay was taken when I was leaving the metro. The picture is out of focus to capture the movement.
The focus of the picture is a middle aged professional man who appears to be coming back from work. Despite his professional attire, his suit is wrinkled and bent in the back ,which shows that he has had a long day and no longer cares about his appearance, but rather only about returning home.
The lighting in this picture is very captivating and unique. At the top, the lights almost appear to go through the man’s head. In the rest of the picture. Judging my the mans facial expression, it is clear that he is ready to return home and end his journey on the metro, he seems tired and ready to return home.

The Metro Personified – An examination of one ride on the D.C. metro and the people and faces that accompany the journey.

Taken with iPhone 4S iSight 8 megapixel camera

Lumiere Critique – Constructing Beauty

For my Lumiere film, we were originally planning on filming people walking in the quad or by Katzen because people always seem to be interesting. However, by the time we checked out a camera, the passing period was over and no people were outside. We wondered around looking for something to film and saw construction workers planting some of the very first bloomed cherry blossoms. We then started to film just the trees but then realized that it would be an interesting contrast to film both the beautiful trees and the industrial construction workers.

I was very happy with the final product of my Lumiere film. Since you couldn’t see one of the construction workers and the other one was only partially in the screen, it created a unique tension and left a lot of what was happening up to the viewer. The flower swaying in the wind in the upper left hand corner is very beautiful and plays in stark contrast to the piece of broken plywood underneath it. It is amazing that with no sound, I am able to be intrigued by small things like when one construction worker tosses a roll of measuring tape to the other or when the wind picks up and the blossoms start to sway more rapidly.  

Photo Journal Proposal – Faces of the Metro

<a href="” title=”Photo Journal Proposal – Faces of the Metro”>Photo Journal Proposal – Faces of the Metro

Faces of the Metro

A Comprehensive Photo Journal

 Concept/Theme:

D.C. is an amazingly diverse city. People come from all over to study, work, and visit. It is also very economically diverse and home to some of the poorest neighborhoods as well as some of the richest neighborhoods in the U.S. Despite D.C.’s diversity, however, it is very segregated—the rich white upper class stay in the affluent NW section of D.C. while the poorer black working-class population stays primarily in southeast D.C. Besides rich and poor, there are also many more communities in D.C.—students, tourists, the homeless, protestor/activists, and Families.

Content/Intent:

For my final project, I will create a photo journal in which I capture all the diverse people of D.C. in one common area—the metro. For the photo journal, I have listed 7 different groups of people that I will aim to capture: Politician/rich businessman, homeless person, College Student, Poor Working Class, Tourist, Family with kids, and Protestor/Activist. To unite these groups of people I will capture them all sitting on the metro in a similar position.

Production Plan:

I will begin shooting as soon as my proposal is accepted. I should be done shooting by April 20. I plan on doing my shooting during on Friday afternoon, when people are coming back from work. To make the photo journal more compelling, I will incorporate numerous different angles and perspectives. For all of the photos, however, the subjects will be in similar positions sitting down inside the metro train. All pictures will be taken in the same metro car, on the same day, at around the same time period. I will take the Red Line toward Metro Center which should be pretty crowded with a diverse group of people in the late afternoon.

Inspiration:

For this project, I was inspired by a photo journal that I critiqued shown at the National Gallery of Art. The photo journal, by Henry Callahan featured close ups of various women on the streets of Chicago. I am inspired by Callahan’s work because he captures the real emotion and expressions of the women because they do not know that they are being photographed. My photo journal will differ from Callahan’s because mine will focus more on diversity and unity than facial expression. However, I do expect my photo journal to evoke a strong emotional reaction.

Expected Outcome:

I will attempt to reach a wide audience with my photo journal as I am photographing a wide group of people. My photos are, however, meant for an audience that is emotionally mature and can understand and appreciate the significance of my images. I want my audience to react by realizing that despite socio-economic differences, we are far more similar to each other than we may want to think. The metro is not only a mode of transportation, but also a uniting force that brings many different types of people who are normally divided together in extremely close quarters. 

College Romance Script

College Romance Script:

 

Open with scene of party

 

Transition to a scene of a hallway. Enter boy and girl, drunk, stumbling, holding hands, searching for the boy’s room

 

Girl: Where’s your room? (laughing, happily drunk)

 

Boy: I don’t know. (also laughing, happily drunk)

 

Girl: Is it over here?

 

Boy: There it is!

 

Girl: Come on unlock the door.

 

Boy attempts to unlock door struggles with key. Finally succeeds, the door was already open. The enter the room, lights out

 

Boy: O it’s already open!

 

Girl: Of course it is! (Girl pushes boy onto bed)

 

Boy: Damn! My zipper’s stuck!

 

Girl: I can help with that.

 

Scene ends with girl on top of boy.

 

Open focused on Girl’s eyes. Girl wakes up, startled and unaware of her surroundings. She gathers he stuff quickly and exists the room as quickly as possible.

 

Girl: O God. I have to go before he wakes up.

 

Transition to scene of Girl and Friend walking on quad. Girl looks tired and possibly hung-over.

 

Girl: Ow! (clutching head)

 

Friend: (looking concerned) Are you ok?

 

Girl: No I had the worst night last night.

 

Friend: What’d you do?

 

Girl: I went to a party and I’m not going to lie the party was pretty fun. But I blacked out and this morning I woke up in some completely random guy’s bed.

 

Friend: Wow.

 

Girl: Ya…basically just saw him this morning, rolled over and bolted out of the door. I don’t even know what he said to me.

 

Transition to scene of Boy. Boy enters dorm lounge to talk to his friend (Bro). He looks smug and accomplished. Friend outside of shot.

 

Bro: Hey what’s up man? How was your night?

 

Boy: Amazing. That was a great night!

 

Bro: Was it? Did you get with a girl?

 

Boy: Ya! There was this hot girl at the party and then I brought her back to the room and…

 

Bro: Nice nice! So what are you going to do now? Are you going to text her?

 

Boy: I don’t know. Should I text her?

 

Bro: Text her!

 

Boy:  I will text her.

 

Flash back to scene of Girl and her Friend chatting. Girl receives message, looking at phone.

 

Girl: O no.

 

Friend: What happened?

 

Girl: The guy from last night just texted me.

 

Friend: (laughs)

 

Girl: O no what am I going to do?

 

Transition to scene in library. Girl, searching through books. Flash to Boy walking in library, sees girl, waves. Flash back to girl who looks appalled and leaves.

 

Transition to scene outside of gym. Boy existing gym. Girl entering gym. When Girl spots boy she takes off up the stairs.

 

Transition to scene with Boy sitting on couch. Phone rings.

 

Boy: (reading phone) Grandma. (Answers phone) Hey Grandma!

 

Grandma: (through phone) Hey Sweetie how are ya?

 

Boy: I’m great Grandma.

 

Grandma: How’s your first year of college?

 

Boy: College is so fun. It’s amazing I love it.

 

Grandma: Well what have you been doing? You hanging out with the girls? You taking them out on those dates?

 

 Boy: Yay a I’ve had some time with some girls. I met one girl.

 

Grandma: Well you better treat her right. You better not treat her wrong or she’ll treat you the same way. I’m sorry darling I have to go. The stove is burning! But please call your Grandma more often.

 

Boy: Alright Grandma I’m going to go eat. Bye!

 

Next scene, shot of boy waiting by elevator. Door opens, Girl inside.

 

Boy: O hey! (Happy to see her)

 

Girl: Hey, how are you? (Eyes darting around, uncomfortable)

 

Boy: I’m good. How are you?

 

Girl: I’m good.

 

Boy: Did you get home ok?

 

Girl: Ya. Sorry, I just kind of left this morning.

 

Boy: Ya I think I was asleep when you left.

 

Girl: Ya I just kind of let myself out

 

Boy: Well where are you going?

 

Girl: Just going to grab some lunch in TDR

 

Boy: I’m going to TDR too! You want to grab lunch together?

 

Girl: Sure….

 

Transition to scene of boy and girl eating lunch, boy holding a banana.

 

Girl: (searching for conversation) So there’s a lot of Easter services this weekend.

 

Boy: O I’m not going to those. I’m Jewish.

 

Girl: Really? I’m Jewish.

 

Boy: No way?

 

Girl: Wait where are you from?

 

Boy: I’m from just outside of Philly, but basically Philly.

 

Girl: No way?

 

Boy: Where are you from?

 

Girl: Same place! Hanxton!

 

Boy: What?

 

Shot of boy, falling in love. Shot of girl falling in love. End movie with scene of the two holding hands and walking away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

College Romance

Constructing Beauty

http://vimeo.com/38820748

Photo Collage