Single Image
Final Image
Project Reflection
The intention of my Single Image Project is stemmed from the conclusions I have reached while reading The Experience of Place by Tony Hiss and Principles of Art History by Heinrich Wölfflin. While reading The Experience of Place, I’ve come to notice how our perception of space is drastically shaped by the intentional and unintentional designs and movements within the space, a psychological effect otherwise referred by the Situationists as psychogeography. Since the project is about the representation of space and time, I wanted to explore how psychogeographic factors such as color theory, lighting, and the movement of people might have contributed to the characterization and the perceived time of my transitional space. While reading Principles of Art History, I learned how different methods of framing are utilized to work with or against the human desire to seek for perfect viability as well as the how classical art was intended to capture a moment in history in a lively manner. With these concepts in mind, the intent of my project not only includes the exploration of the psychogeographical factors presented by the three spaces (the transitional and the two connected spaces), but also explores how the space fit within a historical timeline.
My initial approach to documenting the space was rather intuitive. I took many pictures at many transitional spaces in my site at different time of the day. While taking these initial images, not a lot of planing was involved. After I’ve completed the initial stage of documentation. I placed these images on my computer screen and examined the psychogeographical factors of my site. At this stage, some of the factors I found interesting were the differing spatialization and sense of movement of the three spaces. In terms of spatialization, I noticed how outside of the exit, the space seems to expand infinitely, whereas inside the exit the space is limited and have a certain cold sentiment to it. The space outside of the exit is at a ground level, whereas the space before the exit is underground. In terms of movement, I noticed how people outside of the exit tend to move in a paste that is different from that of the people inside the station. Furthermore, the directions of which people travel are also different. Finally, inside the exit, people seem to have a better sense of purpose and direction in mind, whereas the people outside are much more relaxed and unassertive in terms of where they want to go. Having noticed these shifts in movement and physicality of the two connected spaces, I began to consider how the manipulation of angle, framing, and shutter speed can help capture these shifts. Additionally, I’ve also come to notice how it is better to take these pictures at night rather than during the day for the contrast in brightnesses of the two connect spaces tend to become more drastic. Taking these factors into consideration, I went back to the site and began my second set of photo-shoot. While taking the second set of photographs, I made sure that each and every one of the images articulated either some kind of shift in spatialization in terms of scale or sentiment or a shift in people’s movement in terms of speed and direction.
While reviewing these photographs, one factor I thought about was how the framing of them suggest about the two spaces. The ones that I am particularly satisfied with are the ones with the outer connected space undisputed by the architectural designs of the subway station as well as those that do a great job conveying the contrast between the infinitely expanding ground level versus the enclosed descending subway station. Another factor I have taken into consideration is the contrasting moods of the two connected spaces. In terms of sentiment, the ones I found to be most successful are those that articulate either the liveliness of the city street or the solitude of the park versus the cold and clean design of the subway system. The last factor I’ve taken into consideration while reviewing these photographs is whether they suggest both a time in space and an aspect of living in a historical timeline. For this particular component, I thought the ones that captured the outfits, belongings, and actions of the people the most to be most successful.
At the end, I arrived at my final image, which I found successful due to the following reasons: it shows a contrast between the height of the first space at an underground level versus the height of the second space at a ground level, it shows a shift in the scale of the two spaces, it shows a shift in movement in terms of both speed and direction, it implies where the space stands in a historical timeline for having a clear view of the subjects that were moving slower in the space. On the other hand, I also think the image wasn’t as successful as it can be due to the following reasons: The outer connected space is blocked by the horizontal blue beams, which disrupts continuity, the image does not really give characteristics to the outer connected space. Although I can see in many ways how this image can be improved, I am generally happy with the result as well as what I’ve learned from this project.
Multiple Images
Final Image
Project Reflection
The inspiration of my Multiple Images Project came from chapters 3 and 4 of the book Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud. For this project I mainly focused on how the techniques of framing, transitions, and closure introduced by the novel can be utilized to suggest the movement of the train and as well as the movement of the subway riders.
The process of my project began with the sketching of three types of transitions, Action-to-Action, Moment-to-Moment, and Subject-to-Subject. By attempting to convey a sense of time using three different transitional methods, I learned how each of them are better at communicating certain aspects and represent time in a very different way. The Moment-to-Moment transition, for example, is perfect for showing the transition of a space through time in a static environment. The Subject-to-Subject transition, on the other hand, is more suitable for a more narrative heavy story. In comparison to the Moment-to-Moment transition, the Subject-to-Subject transition is more capable of depicting events in a longer period of time, whereas the Moment-to-Moment transition tend to provide the viewers or readers a more vivid and concrete imagery as to what happened in between the frames. Through the process of sketching, I found the Moment-to-Moment transition to be the most suitable for depicting the movement of the train overtime. Once I have the most suitable transitional method in mind, I went to the site and took multiple images from a fixed angel. I repeated the process for approximately 15 times to make sure that I have enough options to choose from.
After reading chapter 4 of the book, I learned that the scale of a frame has a direct influence on the perceived length of the panel’s duration. Out of the 25 consecutive photographs I’ve taken for this particular period of time. I picked 7 that I felt can best represent the change overtime in this space. While framing and positioning the photographs, I made the scale of the 3 middle images where the train has stopped bigger and made the beginning and ending images smaller because the train was not present. Additionally, I’ve also made the images that are related symmetrical and identical in scale. The images depicting the movements of the train, for example, are the 2nd and 2nd last in the panels and have the same size and length. After receiving some useful input from the in-class critique, I realized how the positioning of these panels can be arranged in a way that one side suggests the movement of the people, whereas the other side depicts the movement of the train. Additionally, I also learned how the technique of bleeding into a page suggest about the direction of movement. With these reasons in mind, I’ve constructed a second draft that both separates the movement of the train and the people using the left and right side of the page and incorporates the technique of bleeding to suggest the directional movement of the train.
After I’ve completed the second draft, I referred back to the reading to see if I can find more inspirations. As a result, I noticed how the scale of my panels do not really reflect the actual duration of these events, because the duration of which a platform is not occupied by a train is always much longer than the duration of which it is. Furthermore, during in-class critique, I was inspired by how one particular student used the same photograph to break the frame, therefore suggesting a longer duration of the panel. I thought the idea was very interesting, and began to manipulate images in a way that uses the same technique to suggest the shift of movements in a static space. Lastly, I scaled the photos of which the train isn’t present to the biggest to match with McCloud’s theory about the correlation between the scale and the perceived duration of a panel and arrived at the final product.
The following factors are why I find the project successful: The scale of the panels are correlational to the duration of the sequence of events, the photographs are positioned in a way that both breaks the frame and helps suggest the shift in movement in a static space, the transitions from white background to the full opacity of the first and last images suggest where the train is, therefore helping viewers understand how the train moves from the left to right. The following factors are why I find the project unsuccessful: In comparison to the second draft, the final draft does a poor job differentiating the movement of the people and the movement of the train, directionally, the second draft also does a better job conveying directional movement using the shifting of panels from left to right.