Ashantti Cordova
Digital Media Portfolio
Learning to Look & Emulate
Section 1: How the photograph was made—Method/Equipment Used
You can discuss anything you know about the photographic techniques, camera, or film that is pertinent to the work.
Photograph Title: Casual
Photographer: William Wegman
Digital, Film, or Other: Film
Date Taken: 2018
Additional Information: A part of his book publication Being Human
Section 2: Visual Elements within the photograph—What You See
As objectively as you can, address the elements that seem important for the photograph. Note: This exercise works best when comments and responses relate to something seen within the work. It is not necessary to discuss every visual element only the ones that apply (3 minimum).
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VALUE Is there a range of tones from light to dark? Squint your eyes. Where is the darkest value? The lightest?
In the background you could see a slight value in the color red. The darker red surrounds the middle and the lighter red is right in the middle surrounding the dog.
2. SPACE Do overlapping objects create a sense of space? Is the space shallow, deep, or both?
The space in the image feels very shallow because there are no other overlapping objects, there is no sense of space.
3. SHAPE Do you see geometric or organic shapes? Are there positive shapes, such as objects, or negative shapes that represent voids?
The photograph feels like a mixture of both geometric and organic shapes; The geometric shapes are created by the simple background which looks like a box, and the organic shapes are created by the dog and its clothes. The background is a big negative shape that creates a void that surrounds the model.
4. LINE Are there thick, thin, curvy, jagged, or straight lines?
The lines are thin and curvy because of the clothes.
5. COLOR What colors do you see, if any?
The main color in this piece is red. You could see similar shades of red on the wall and the dog’s clothes. Other colors that can be seen are brown, white and black.
6. TEXTURE Do you see visual textures within the photograph? Is there an actual texture on the surface of the photograph?
You could see the soft knitted texture of the sweater along with the small hairs + snout the dog has.
Section 3: Sign of the photograph—How Things Are Arranged
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FOCUS What parts of the image are clearly in focus? Are some parts out of focus? Note: The range between the nearest and farthest things that appear in focus define the photograph's depth of field. (Think about the aperture and Depth of Field Project from last year).
The dog is the only one in focus on the pic since the background is nothing but a solid red.
2. LIGHT AND SHADOW: Does the light seem to be natural or artificial? Harsh or soft? What direction is the light coming from? Describe the shadows. Are they subtle or do they create strong contrasts? Did the photographer use a lighting pattern (think about the egg)?
The light in the image looks like it’s artificial, since the background isn’t natural. The light itself is soft and it’s coming from the front of the dog, since there are no major shadows on the clothes. Also, the small bit of value is coming from the lighting, making the outside darker while the middle is lighter.
3. ANGLE From what vantage point was the photograph taken? Imagine the photograph taken from a higher or lower angle of view. How does the angle affect the photograph? (Think about toy photography from last year).
The camera is in front of the model.
Section 4: What the photograph communicates—Feelings/Mood
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Based on what you have seen, what do you think the work is about? What does it mean or communicate? How do you know? What words would you use to describe it?
I think the work is about a dog having the characteristics of a human. I know this because of the book title the photograph is on, which is called, Being Human. To us, the dog has on casual wear, which is a part of a human’s daily life. The model in the picture (the dog) looks like they’re even posing for the camera. The photograph makes the dog look humanized, even without a human face, or showing hands.
Section 5: Emulate Style
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Based on what you answered in the above sections, what are 4 items from the above sections that you would like to emulate in your own Photography? Why? (EX I would like to emulate Carrie Mae Weems use of value, line, Lighting, and Focus. The reason I would like to emulate each of these elements is ....)
I would like to emulate Wegman’s use of color, texture, space and angle. The reason why I would like to emulate these is because it would give me an image similar to Wegman’s. I wanted to use one similar color for the photograph and I also want there to be a lot of texture.
Four style elements that I incorporated into my own photography include Color, Texture, Line and Angle. I incorporated Color by making the picture mostly have blue colors, I also edited the picture to make it stand out more (Saturation, Vibration, Temp). This is closely similar to Wegman's choice of red in Casual. I incorporated Texture by combining the softness of the background/item at the front, with the solidness of the model. Instead of using a solid background and a textured model like Wegman did, I did the reverse. Line was incorporated with straight and curvy lines. Casual has mostly curvy lines from the clothes and straight lines from the borders. Then I incorporated Angle by adjusting it in adobe Lightroom so that the position of the "model" makes it look like they're being playful while also watching you carefully. Wegman's model looks like they are posing specifically for the camera, whereas I made my model hide from the camera and peek out at them. Obstacles I faced in completing the project included figuring out what I could take a picture of. I overcame these obstacles by deciding to use one of my smaller toys and try to express color in the picture and emotion, unlike my first attempt which only had color (which was still dull). Examining a famous photographer pushed and evolved my own photography by showing me that I can choose to take a picture of anything I want. I thought that I only had to take pictures of people or anything meant to be take serious, but I don't enjoy doing that at all. I think my photography has grown over the past few years because I started being more creative with my photography rather than sticking to textbook rules. It has also changed a bit ever since I started editing my photography, I feel like it helps generate the emotion I want to convey. For this picture, I wanted to show expression in something that is obviously nonhuman.
