Not so "Green"...

The original message being put forth is how clean a Prius is, especially compared to a Cadillac Escalade, which has a much higher carbon footprint. The audience seems to be aimed at middle aged people, who are sick of paying for expensive gas, and want something new. I think ad is leaving out younger adults and older citizens, because most college students I know cannot afford an Escalade. The desire of the ad is to put comfort into those that buy a Prius, that it does not harm the environment and is 'good' for the earth. 

Being a 'car guy' myself, I looked into the Prius and it's new technology (which isn't so new after all...). After hearing about the pro's and con's of owning a Prius, I soon found out that most of the general population just knew of the pro's. One example is the use of it's batteries, which have to be replaced every 5 years, and are not recyclable. Oh, and they cost about $6,000 to replace. But you won't see that in a Toyota ad, because the Prius is good for earth and if you buy one, you too will show that you care for the earth. I'm all for the environment, but I'm not going to toss more battery acid trash into a landfill. Statistically, a Toyota Prius does more harm to the environment over a lifetime than a Hummer H1 (which I wanted to use, but the ad in the magazine had an Escalade).

Odd Contraptions

I added some tilt and extra bling to this to add some color to the shot. I took it nonchalantly as I was talking to her, and liked how it turned out. The extra color adds some extra flare, and I asked her to wear the colorful ring to add some pizazz to the shot.

I like the colors and rings, but wanted to add some girl goodies to the shot. I felt like a rose would be fitting, even with the Halloween colored nails. I didn't want to center the rose in the middle in order to keep the focus on the hands.

This was a more technical shot for me, with the help of two girls and some flowers. I was going to put the hands together, but felt since they were girls, and 'Twilight' was on the TV, they were just caught up with the love bug. It was a quick impromptu shot, and the light was in a good spot as well.

Now this was just all sorts of awesome. To continue on with the fingers, my friend has finger lights, and I decided to leave my shutter open and let her do the work. All the lines are movement of her fingers that she spun around and around. The shutter was open for about 15 seconds. Who knew a set of lights and some fingers could be so interesting.

     I stepped into this project with open ears and many ideas. I never focus on portraits or people, so this body assignment was me stepping out of my comfort zone. I first shot some pictures of faces, but felt that wasn’t enough, it became too boring and bland, and everyone can look at a face. I then observed the body and interesting things about it, and settled on putting my focus in on hands, specifically fingers. They are quite interesting up close, especially with all the extra jewelry and such on them. I actually went to quite a few different people to see their hands, which was a little odd, but they understood. The first couple people didn’t have interesting hands to me, either a little too small, or thin. I used the hands of my sister’s best friend, partly because she was in the process of painting her nails, and partly because she didn’t care if I messed around and made her put on rings and such. I originally wanted to shoot my roommates hands, but found a woman’s hand to be more interesting with painted nails and rings.

     I felt this is a connection to personal photography because even though our fingers are everywhere, they are all unique and look quite different. Up close they are quite odd, yet interesting to look at with all the veins, wrinkles, and scars. It interested me because it was something new, and was curious about whether I could make decent photographs with these odd contraptions, especially with another person involved. I was inspired by some exotic photographs of some hands I saw online, where some were painted or wrapped in cloth, and almost seemed like a fantasy world. They were human hands disguised in a camouflaged world of whatever the artists intended it to be, whether it was a darker mood with fake blood, or a colorful image with fall colors.

Documentary - Tattoo shop

I decided to step out of my secluded world, and go to a tattoo shop on 4th Avenue. I was welcomed with smiles and laughs, as I started taking photographs. I was given the freedom to move around anywhere I wished and explored a relatively unknown world to me. I think it is an important issue to document because they are usually the 'outsiders' of society, people covered with tattoos and intimidating to some. In fact they were some of the friendliest and most welcoming people I have met. I was trying to tell the stories of the artists and clients, and trying to capture the process of each of the two tattoos I shot. The message I was trying to convey is while some people see tattoos as trashy or just generally not acceptable, it truly is an art, and I was honored to be able to see it from start to finish. I also tried to capture the atmosphere of the shop, and the connection between the client (who was usually in pain), the guests, and the artist. For the clients and artists, it wasn't just a picture, each of their tattoos had a special meaning, as well as a story. I enjoyed hearing the stories behind them, and was honored that they opened up their worlds to me.

Focus

I have shot a lot of focus pictures in the past, so this was pretty enjoyable for me. I tried to hit the "sweet spots", such a corners or standout spots on my bike. The angles with the wall were quite difficult to capture, I literally had my head against the wall for shooting the first and third pictures. For the second picture, I started out far away, and each picture I zoomed in. I like how it turned out, although it can be cleaned up with the light and background in the picture.

Lighting/Texture

I wanted to work on my night shots, as those have always been my weakness in the past. I didn't have a flash that I could move around, so I had to deal with the one on my DSLR. The first two pictures I had to mess around with the angle of my camera in order for the light to hit in the right place. For the last picture, it was a gem I found later, I just started shooting without thinking, and it turned out alright. I like the detail, as well as the marks on the seat that are visible.

Photographic Perspectives