visual seeing

Friedolin and I had a most excellent time working with last week's in-class picture story. We pasted the two stories on separate poster boards and made up titles, such as "The Battle of the Grounds" and "Dancing Lessons with Carly". Friedolin inspired some caption-making to help bridge some of the visual gaps noticed during the reading. It's always refreshing when no captions are needed, for when the pictures can stand alone emitting enough information to engage the viewer's mind and understanding to his or her own interpretation. Friedolin and I shared the latter story with several volunteers in the library and received dynamic readings from each person: we realized which narrative aspects were lost on people (and why), and also which ones conveyed our direct intentions (and why). What emerged from these discussions were sound ideas for creating new picture stories; fewer images, different angles, and consistent color schemes with each subject.
The posters we made will be up soon.
For the remainder of the class, Friedolin and I went on a meditative walk to the Laundronet (including later stops to cool graffiti sites). We each focused on a different visual element to keep eye on for our photographs. Friedolin chose "light and texture", which I think is a thoughtful way to see and to photograph; by breaking down and coupling the two we may receive more information about a subject with these two central details. I chose to focus on shapes. We discovered and created beautiful pictures...

Our last class is quickly approaching, and while most of the students have not been able to make each class, I encourage everyone to make it out for the last one. We will be doing an alternative processing activity (making cyanotype fabric prints), and we will choose our 3 favorite images to "blow up" and put in a group show...so everyone's input is much needed to make an awesome and cohesive class exhibit!

// posted by ZenScream2 @ 10:29 AM