Incredible Progress

So this week I've worked a significant amount on my project! I've been super super busy so I haven't really had time to update my blog. But here I go! So, last week, I got  the lighting equipment I needed for my photo shoots, and carried it all home. Then I cleared out my brother's old room and found a black dubet cover, sliced it open and taped it to my wall. I know, it sounds completely unprofessional and sloppy, but it looks a lot better than I can describe it here. Anyway, thinking my Nikon d90 would work would sync with the lighting equipment, I had prepared to shoot last Friday but unfortunately, the camera did not have an outlet for the chord needed to connect the camera to the octagon diffuser. So, I call Ms. Sheehy up and ask her what to do, so I met her later and picked up her Nikon D200 (my camera but on steroids) which had the outlet necessary. So on Monday, I decided to shoot Tina and Sam G. First, I painted Tina red with blue accents under her eyes and on her lips. I wasn't sure how long the painting was going to take, but it was actually incredibly time consuming and one person takes up to an hour to paint. But the painting went fine, although I felt bad that they had to sit there completely still and as the paint was drying, it started to get really tight on the skin and would start cracking if the person moved to suddenly. But I worked as efficiently and as quickly as possible and painted them, shot them, and let them shower all in the time frame of 2 1/2 hours. On Tuesday, Claire N. and Morgan came over. It all went swimmingly, and after they left and showered, I started editing all the photos, which is incredibly time consuming because I want the lines and the paint to look absolutely perfect and symmetrical. On Wednesday, Claire C. came over and that also did great as well. The photos are getting progressively getting better, although I spent about 4 hours editing the photo of Claire and I'm still not finished with it. I have work today so I can't shoot, but tomorrow I am finishing the project and shooting Brandon, Terrance, and Dylan. This will be interesting since the painting is so time consuming, but they wanted to come over together so it is what it is. Then this week I'll be editing like crazy and hopefully finish the all the photos. Then I need to get them printed and potentially framed so display them for my presentation which is on Thursday. It's so crazy that I'm doing all of this the week before my presentation, but this week was the only oppurtune time to shoot, because of APs, learning how to use lighting, and the base idea of formulating the project all together. On Sunday I need to do my presentation and finish it and then on Wednesday I'll finalize everything and run through my presentation and what I will include. I want to include also that the series I'm working on took so long to happen because I was scrambling for interships but I never really got one because I guess no one really wanted to have an intern. But no hard feelings though, I love this project and I am in love with the idea and I found it really interesting to research Josef alber's work and bouncing his fundamental ideas of colors into my project.

Possible Resourses

http://www.derivan.com.au/pages/face-and-body-paint.html

http://www.mehron.com/Prisma_BlendSet_Palette_Pro_p/806.htm

http://www.mehron.com/Paradise_Makeup_AQ_p/808.htm

http://www.mehron.com/ShoppingCart.asp?

FOR PAINT

Models

Okay,
So  I have all my female models in place, which will be
Morgan Court
Claire Nehlsen
Claire Conway
Tina Gagliardi

For the guys,
Samuel Golfarb
Brandon Williams
Tino Delzotto
Terrance Balkaran (?)

Will make consecutive decision for colors use upon shooting. Difficult to choose colors beforehand because of not being actually interacting and studying the person. 

State of Progression

So I've been studying Josef Alber's work and I'm really starting to shape my WISE project and planning. I've decided that I want around 16 images altogether for the whole series, but it will actually only be 8 photos because each photo will be paired with its complimentary photo. So, if the color scheme for one photo is a red background with a blue subject, the other complimentary photo will be reverse. This will show the relationship that colors have with each other, and what colors contrast and compliment  each other visually through using photography as a medium. I now need to decide what colors to use for my visual experiment, and I'll decide this with the help of Josef Alber's Interaction of Colors. Then I need to purchase body paint and background of the colors I need to use. I also need to scout models. I will do the planning this week, buy the paint and colors this weekend, and also find willing models and which ones will be best for my series.

Josef Albers Background

•  In 1963 he published Interaction of Color which presented his theory that colors were governed by an internal and deceptive logic.
• Most famous of all are the hundreds of paintings and prints that make up the series Homage to the Square. In this rigorous series, begun in 1949, Albers explored chromatic interactions with flat colored squares arranged concentrically.
• Painting usually on Masonite, he used a palette knife with oil colors and often recorded colors used on the back of his works.
• Albers's work represents a transition between traditional European art and the new American art. It incorporated European influences from the constructivists and the Bauhaus movement, and its intensity and smallness of scale were typically European.
• Here are some examples from Interaction of Color



Photographic Color Theory

I have finally come to the realization that I won't waste anymore of my time and energy on looking for internships and focus on an independent project. I've thought about several conceptual ideas that I could do as my project, but the main two that I thought were the strongest was a "copy the masters" idea and a color theory idea. For my "copy the masters", I wanted to visually interpret master paintings using photography as my media, but I know that this idea has been done before and I wanted to do something more original. So my second idea concerns color theory, which I have been studying in Drawing and Painting. I want to base my photographs on Josef Albers's idea of color theory and the relationship between certain colors, but instead using simple blocks of color, I want to incorporate people to make my project unique and individualize it to my aesthetic. I talked to Ms. Sheehy, my mentor, about this idea and she thought it was a very strong, conceptual idea but a big challenge is lighting because colors are so dependant on lighting. Here is a list of things I have to focus on:

• Study Josef Albers and color theory
• Learn how to use appropriate lighting
• Decide ideas for each photo and which colors to use
• Find models
• Conceptualize each photograph
• Decide on what color relationships to use
• Practice make up/ buy body paint
• Find a place to shoot
• Construct sets and decide on which props to use
• Find appropriate lighting/where to borrow lighting equipment
• Shoot the photographs in studio (potentially in basement)
• Edit/Photoshop each individual photograph
• Make sure the color relationships are completely accurate (warm,cold tones)
• Find place where I can print my photographs
• Decide on how I want them framed/matted
• Ask local restaurants/galleries if they would exhibit my color theory series
• Plan WISE presentation

This is a basic to-do list of what I need to focus on, and I'm sure there are a lot of other things to, but this is my main goals.

Frustration

So, unfortunately I STILL haven't found someone to intern with. I can't believe how difficult it is to get an internship for a photographer. I sent out my cover letter/resume/sampels of my work to 10 different photographers/studios and NONE of them replied back! I'm going to call the Katonah art center today and see if they are looking for interns. I think it's time to seriously consider/conceptualize a project that I can work on and do if no one else replies back with a "Yes! We'd love for you to intern!". Welcome to the real world, I guess.

Game Time

Ms. Sheehy gave me a resource magazine yesterday and I'm going to go on the photographers' websites mentioned in the magazines and start sending me resume/cover letter to them with images of mine and see if I can get any response at all. Hopefully someone will be interested in an intern! Wish me luck

These are two of the photographs from the Anglefly Preserves with Marina that Inspired my film idea.



Epiphany

So, I am a little frustrated because I haven't found anyone to internship with! None of the people I've contacted  have replied to me and Rachel Brenner mentioned that she knew a photographer and she contacted him but he declined the offer. So I guess I'll just keep sending out my cover letter and resume and portfolio. But, last week during break, I did a photo shoot with Marina Castiglione at Anglefly Preserves and I had an artistic epiphany; while I was photographing her, I realized  that I was focusing a lot on the angle of the shots and trying to capture a cinematographic/ film feel to create a strong narrative. That inspired me to think of pursuing to make an actual small film for WISE, but the only problem is that I have absolutely no knowledge on how to create or edit movies. The only advantage I have is being a photographer, thus I have a strong perspective. But I would have to learn how to use the movie editing software and how to weave it all together, along with incorporating music and sound. If I really am not able to find an internship, this would definitely be a project I would pursue. I have several perspectives and ideas concerning a movie, but even before that I need to learn how to work the program, which I luckily already have because I have a Macbook Pro! I'm going to ask my boyfriend to help me because he was a film major in college, so I'm sure he has a lot of valuable input, and he is now studying music and audio engineering so he would be a great help. BUT! This is only an alternative if I honestly cannot find ANYONE how would take me under their wing. I'll definitely keep looking!

The continuing quest for internships.

So, I have not heard back from Teen Vogue yet, but I am calling them today and emailing to see if they received my information that I sent in last week. I met with my mentor, Ms. Sheehy, yesterday and she suggested we would look on Craigslist for internships, and surprisingly there were a couple of very promising options! When she initially mentioned Craigslist, I was a little hesistant because of all the negative connotation I've heard about it. But as we sat down and started looking, many great possibilites popped up. I will send my resume and cover letters tonight to all the studios in the city and hope for the best that I'll get one of them! One of the possibilites for internships was studio looking for an intern a photo studio in Union Square, NYC. It looked very promising because it mentioned how the intern will be assisting with lighting and equipment, organization and preproduction of photo shoots, and they want the itnern to work two days a week, for 6 hours each time which is perfect! I really hope I can get this one and I will send my information to them pronto.

Update on interships

So I haven't heard anything from Teen Vogue yet, so dad suggested I should call them tomorrow or email them to see if they received my cover letter and my resume. Mrs. Sheehy also mentioned that she knows someone who might take me under their wing, so I will meet with her tomorrow and contact him with her. I really hope I can get an internship soon so I get working and start learning! Also, I feel like school is so monotonous and unnecessary, so an internship would definitely add some spice to the old routine. I will definitely write another journal entry when I have a definite answer about an internship! 

The beginning of WISE

Having known about WISE ever since Sophomore year and being the junior coordinator last year, I was excited to start my own WISE project after watching and rating many presentations! I had difficulty choosing between either doing a photography related project or an internship, so I tried to weight the pros and cons. With a project, I could devote much time and effort and have enough time to complete it. With an internship, I would gain actual working experience and what it's like to be a photographer. Then I realized that I do independent projects on my free time anyway, and an internship would be super beneficial for the working experience, but also making connections in the photography and making my name known. Thus, my final decision was to go with the internship. 
So, I asked Mrs. Sheehy if she knew any photographers that would possibly let in an intern, but initially she got all noes. Then last Friday I received an email from her saying that Teen Vogue Magazine was looking for a photo intern! How perfect! It made me really excited that there was even a possible place to intern. They required a resume and a cover letter, which I both wrote yesterday, edited this morning and emailed it to Teen Vogue! I'm not even sure how I would react if I actually got the internship, but I know both photography and New York are ridicuously competitive, so I'm not getting my hopes up. But, if I somehow landed it, I would absolutely ecstatic. They want an intern for Mondays and Wednesdays, though they didn't really specify how old you have to be or if you had to be there the full day on Mondays and Wednesdays.
If I don't get  my dream internship, I'll just keep looking for other photographers and studios who could potentially take me under their wing, although I feel like they really are not interested in that. But, you never know!
-Lisa.