Artist Statement
I make art because I love the feeling of being able to create something beautiful and interesting. That feeling is so inspiring to me. One of my favorite artists, Nikki McClure said, about her art: “Everything is connected. It is all one piece of paper, yet now it holds a story.” I can relate to this because whenever I finish an art piece I can step back and look at it and everything I created and how it is all connected with meaning. During Spring of 2020, I made a collage about feminism, and I included many different pictures, words, and other elements to it. Once it was done, everything seemed connected and like it all tied together into one story. Another reason why I make art is because of all the inspiration around me. I find inspiration for art constantly, no matter what I’m doing. This spring I also started a collage journal so that I could capture each of these moments in a beautiful and unique way on each page of a journal, and then I could always have the journal for more inspiration. Art helps me express myself when words are not powerful enough because there are endless possibilities with what I can create.
Reduced Light Photography
Reflection
For my reduced light photography project, I took some photos of the full moon through the trees, with the moon as the light source, and the trees adding depth in the foreground. I took some sunset photos in the desert, with the sky as the light source and a desert tower silhouette in the foreground for depth. I also took some sunset photos in the mountains, with the sky as the light source and the mountains and tree silhouettes in the foreground for depth. I tried multiple times to take night sky photos, but no none of them turned out because of light pollution. I am happy with how these photos turned out but I want to keep trying to take some good night sky photos.
Basic Composition Rules Photography
Project Reflection
During this project I learned that most of the time, you don't have to focus really hard on taking a picture of a specific rule of photography, because at least one of these rules will be able to be applied to most of the pictures you take casually/spontaneously. I also learned that my phone camera can take better quality pictures than I thought. These basic photography skills are important to learn because once you learn them, and keep them in mind when taking pictures, your pictures will turn out to be more aesthetically pleasing to look at, and will look more professional. I think it's fine to break these rules when taking photographs, as long as you make sure to compose your photograph in some type of aesthetic way, it doesn't have to follow these rules exactly. Especially if you are taking a picture of something quickly and don't have time to compose it perfectly.