A Network for Student Photographers
Independent Project
I know this is a little late, but it relates to the actual final project much more.
Originally, I had planned to do what was going to be titled "The Pajama Series: A Drowsy Reflection on Shanghai" and it would be a compare/contrast piece on the many dichotomies in Shanghai, especially in relation to the differences between local Shanghainese life and expatriate life. I was going to have only one model, wearing one pair of pajamas travel through Shanghai experimenting life as a local would, and as a expatriate would, highlighting the similarities in the situations and settings by having a similar composition in both. In all these photos I would have also placed emphasis on the bright royal purple of the pajamas and the crazy polka dots in the bottoms by highlighting the color on these, further creating harmony between the images and having them all seem uniform in that way.
As I actually started work on the project, however, it eventually developed into the idea now, in part because I actually believe this will end up with much more visually stunning images, and also in light of the many constraints (sue was only available for photographs that one day, it was difficult to find many places in which there is a similar composition as many expatriate stores have much more space than the cramped quarters in local shops, the pajamas got really dirty and stained through our travels, etc).
Anyhow, the final project came to this: I would still be traveling around Shanghai with someone in bright colored clothes, but there'd be more than one model (it extended to include Melissa and Jiyoung in addition to Sue, wearing a green dress and a blue tanktop and shorts respectively). This vibrancy in their clothes is meant to represent their affluence (in a sense) and show how they are out of place in the many local setting I placed them in (buying jewelry off the streets, buying pirated dvd's, exercising on the very odd stretching things that Shanghainese people use and that I still do not understand, etc). Also, as I saw in the National Geographic album as I had searched for photographers earlier, I would have primarily that one color throughout. And I would use a lomograph effect in order for it to seem more plausible that the photo had that one hue (for all lomograph cameras there is an accessory that allows a colorized flash).
This photography series that I mentioned are the "Life in Colors," of these, the one that had caught my eye at first was:
A photo by Steve McCurry that was composed almost entirely in shades of blue, yet captured the life or sense of the people who lived in Nepal.
Also, I was influenced by this image by Guang Niu:
Which captures the life of the people who live in Shanghai, with a special emphasis on colors again - but with two colors this time - a mustard yellow and a ketchup-y red.
But the photo which was closest to the style I used in my photographs was by "lomokev" on Flickr who made this photo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lomokev/1324220262/
Which obviously captures a moment in time in that one place, tells a story, places an emphasis on the red of the man's tuxedo and detracts from the dull colors in the background, and is a lomograph image.
While trying to follow through with the project I obviously encountered many difficulties - like say, what other than the sky and the ocean are naturally blue, but don't have too much blue (for jiyoung's photos I have so many that either contain to many other colors or too much blue throughout so that there's no longer and emphasis on her) but overall, I believe my photo project turned out really well and stays true to my theme and style. I hope everyone likes it.
Originally, I had planned to do what was going to be titled "The Pajama Series: A Drowsy Reflection on Shanghai" and it would be a compare/contrast piece on the many dichotomies in Shanghai, especially in relation to the differences between local Shanghainese life and expatriate life. I was going to have only one model, wearing one pair of pajamas travel through Shanghai experimenting life as a local would, and as a expatriate would, highlighting the similarities in the situations and settings by having a similar composition in both. In all these photos I would have also placed emphasis on the bright royal purple of the pajamas and the crazy polka dots in the bottoms by highlighting the color on these, further creating harmony between the images and having them all seem uniform in that way.
As I actually started work on the project, however, it eventually developed into the idea now, in part because I actually believe this will end up with much more visually stunning images, and also in light of the many constraints (sue was only available for photographs that one day, it was difficult to find many places in which there is a similar composition as many expatriate stores have much more space than the cramped quarters in local shops, the pajamas got really dirty and stained through our travels, etc).
Anyhow, the final project came to this: I would still be traveling around Shanghai with someone in bright colored clothes, but there'd be more than one model (it extended to include Melissa and Jiyoung in addition to Sue, wearing a green dress and a blue tanktop and shorts respectively). This vibrancy in their clothes is meant to represent their affluence (in a sense) and show how they are out of place in the many local setting I placed them in (buying jewelry off the streets, buying pirated dvd's, exercising on the very odd stretching things that Shanghainese people use and that I still do not understand, etc). Also, as I saw in the National Geographic album as I had searched for photographers earlier, I would have primarily that one color throughout. And I would use a lomograph effect in order for it to seem more plausible that the photo had that one hue (for all lomograph cameras there is an accessory that allows a colorized flash).
This photography series that I mentioned are the "Life in Colors," of these, the one that had caught my eye at first was:
A photo by Steve McCurry that was composed almost entirely in shades of blue, yet captured the life or sense of the people who lived in Nepal.
Also, I was influenced by this image by Guang Niu:
Which captures the life of the people who live in Shanghai, with a special emphasis on colors again - but with two colors this time - a mustard yellow and a ketchup-y red.
But the photo which was closest to the style I used in my photographs was by "lomokev" on Flickr who made this photo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lomokev/1324220262/
Which obviously captures a moment in time in that one place, tells a story, places an emphasis on the red of the man's tuxedo and detracts from the dull colors in the background, and is a lomograph image.
While trying to follow through with the project I obviously encountered many difficulties - like say, what other than the sky and the ocean are naturally blue, but don't have too much blue (for jiyoung's photos I have so many that either contain to many other colors or too much blue throughout so that there's no longer and emphasis on her) but overall, I believe my photo project turned out really well and stays true to my theme and style. I hope everyone likes it.
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