Graduation! Results:

Well I have finally graduated!

My final score was a 2:1 (Second class upper division)

I now finally have a BA.

For information on how to get a copy of my dissertation click here.

For Any further work please go to my Other Blog. 

MEDI 117: Somthing Similar...

Afterlife: Making Rotten Food Beautiful: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/05/afterlife-rotting-food/?pid=3802

I had to post this article because it just reminded me so much of my own project on mold. It is fascinating to see another photographer get the same kind of results and to find out the type of mold I was photographing.

MEDI 259: (The Image M+T) 'Urban Decay'

For this workshop after a lot of planning I decided to go with the theme of 'urban decay'. I had previously done a project on mold so I was interested to develop the images further than what they already were and make them something different. I had lots of different ideas on where to take this but decided to use the three images of mold and different pictures of the city scape and meld them together very simply. This was influenced by the style of Doug Keyes as I particularly like his 'Collective Memory' series.

I am not overly pleased with the last picture however I do really the other two. I think there are things to expand on with urban decay but I may also explore other options.

Stage One Overall Results

Here are the results for BA (Hons) Media Arts Stage One. The modules that give a percentage mark have their percentage and the pass/fail modules have either a pass or fail: 

MEDI 114:  69%

MEDI 116:  61%

MEDI 117:  64%

MEDI 118:  58%

MEDI 119:  55%

MEDI 126:  60%

MEDI 127:  PASS

All of these modules are a pass grade. :)

MEDI 117 ( Final Images)

MEDI 117 (Critical Evaluation)

MEDI 117: Critical Evaluation.

Spores of Reality.

This project has been tough from the outset. The pressure and challenge has been very stressful yet rewarding; since although I had no idea where to go with this project at first and have had a lot of personal life conflicts that made the work more difficult, I have produced a piece that I am satisfied with.

The main thing I would have done differently is to have become more comfortable with macro work before using it but I do not think I would have gotten shots as good as this and as close if I had not made that leap of faith.  I chose to use macro since spores of mould are so small it would capture more detail as I wanted it to look bigger than real life so as to detach and abstract the images slightly to emphasise its alien qualities. This I feel in the long run did pay off even though my lack of prior experience may have hindered me slightly.

I opted to go with the images raw and unchanged. No camera effects and no Photoshop since I feel that would have negatively detracted from the nature of the mould and therefore hinder my argument that mould in its natural state is both beautiful and alien, both mirroring the bigger world around it in its intricacy yet at the same time seeming to be of an otherworldly nature. This is a decision I am glad I stuck to as I feel it’s very important that it’s known that is how the mould genuinely looked.

I have had several problems with the research side of things having such a broad brief can sometimes spoil me for choice and so I feel that even though I did do extensive research that may have not been necessary for the final project it has been an important learning curve and building block for the final piece. I have seemed to have stuck to an alien in a normal world theme throughout.

The actuality of how hard it was to professionally display and exhibit work never actually hit me until I had my images printed and mounted and it came to hanging them.  I not only had problems with how mathematical it is to get the distance and height just right but also had to overcome my irrational fear of heights to be able to hang them effectively and correctly. I do believe one of my pictures may be slightly off level and sloping but I’m not sure as to whether it is just an issue within my mind or whether it’s genuine as the spirit level does seem to be saying its fine.  I decided to arrange the images in a horizontal line and have them fairly low on the wall so that closer examination of them may take place. I’d like the viewer to be at first puzzled and then be able to deeply puzzle at all the bizarre wonders of the mould.

I picked the three shots displayed because they were the best quality and most interesting in my opinion, they also have cohesion and they flow nicely together tied with the green in all of them.  I have picked the pictures around key features within them such as a mould flower in the picture to the right of the arrangement, the strange orange shape in the middle and the dew droplets in the picture on the left.  The white and green mould is a common feature throughout and serves to give them a relational point so that they go well as a series.  I also picked the pictures for their abstract qualities, even in the one where you can see a part of the mould free potato it still looks alien.

It took me a while to find an order to the pictures I was happy with and I finally settled on the order it is now because my two favourite images are on the outside and tied together with the middle which I think makes them quite a strong set all in all. I was a bit sheepish about being hung in the lobby but am very pleased that I get to be able to set the tone for such a brilliant exhibition.

The feedback I have received about the images so far has all been very positive both from friends and course mates. The images have exactly the desired effect with most people thinking they are very beautiful and not at first quite realising its just mould.  One person told me that when he realised they were mould he felt a little sick but he still considered them pretty. I would hope they do illicit confusion in most people and am very pleased with all the feedback.  I will be further documenting the reactions and feedback in this blog for the sake of interest as I feel it is useful to better understand the further evolution of my work and in such ties it back to the main theme.  It may also be worth note that I intended to further photograph the mould as it evolved more but had to part with my specimen as the health and safety implications meant it needed to be disposed of.  I do however intend to work with mould in the future as I do truly find it fascinating.

I chose the name Spores of Reality for my piece because of the mould spores and the fact that I wanted the viewers’ perceptions of reality to be challenged.  Also interestingly the images reminded me to some extent of the first level of Spore the game. The images may also bear some relations to other artists that have worked with mould or decomposition such as Polona Tratnik and their work on Microorganisms and the many videos on YouTube of things rotting and moulding. I have once again done more extensive research in other blog posts into these areas of interest.

In short I think maybe I could have produced slightly better images having had more knowledge of macro and more time and knowledge to cultivate mould. But overall I am very happy with the project. The fact they are 12 by 12 and mounted makes them look very professional.


Note: I have decided to update this post with the picture I took of the images displayed on the wall in the actual exibition: -

MEDI 117 ( More Mould!)

MEDI 117 (Mouldy Methods)

I came up with the idea of growing mould. This was a perfect way to show the evolution of death into life.

As someone commented on it, mould is “growing into death.” This was exactly what I set out to capture.

I started with a few rough shots to get a feel for the images themselves and opted to go with macro as its better with things this small and really captured the full detail of the mould. I used a wide range of the cameras on board settings to caputre different light and looks and also played with the flash. I toyed with the idea of photo maipulation to accent or erase certain parts or qualities but in the end I decided to go with the most natural. I then decided that I wanted the images to look far more alien and abstract so I began the processes of cropping them, selecting the best images that would make the best final shots. I then selected, from the wide range of Images, the three I liked best and that were the sharpest and clearest to be the final Images.

MEDI 117 ( Rotting Reasearch)

I have been doing some reasearch on other artists with relation to my work and found some intresting things.

Mircro Cosmos - Polona Tratnik

Rotting Apple

There a tone of time laps videos of things rotting and moulding but the apple is one of the nice ones. I really like all of these images and videos and feel that they relate to my work.

I also was slightly reminded of the first level of the game Spore when looking at my images.

The way there is so much microscopic detail and the ritch palet of colours I feel make me feel reminicent of the game when I look at the mould.

Perhaps this is just me.

MEDI 117 (Mould!)

For my project I decided to grow mould. I wanted to show how pretty it is and to explore its alien qualitys. I have taken a lot of rough draft photos using a wide range of settings to acive the best effect. I decided to opt for macro as I feel that it captures the detail better.

MEDI 117 (More Ideas)

So I have been thinking long and hard about things inbetween the chaos of my life at the moment. I had an idea of doing a video games through the ages piece but that would be taking others art as my own and I'm not happy with that idea. Anouther idea I had was to use the best images I have to represent each season. The idea I have settled on however is to do a photography piece on mold. I wish to capture the hidden beauty in the natural decomposition of some potatoes. The subjects I have picked are already moldy but I aim to take pictures of them molding more.

MEDI 117 (Alien Babies)

I have been thinking a bit more about the whole alien babies idea and would love to do something that involved a model alien / human hybrid in a sort of a test tube construct.

I have no idea if this is allowed but I would like to have the baby in a tube in the center of some pictures. Perhaps 4 or so but definatly of an even number.

MEDI 117 (Musings)

 I have been musing on what I can do with regards to this project. The breif says that:

• "Evolution could be interpreted in terms of:  adaptation, change, agency, intervention, memory, catalyst, flux, and metamorphosis." 

This has me thinking of a lot things.
My inital idea would have been copyrighted which would have been somthing to do with changing peoples faces into Na'vi faces as there are a lot of tutorials on the web and I really liked the film.

Carring on with the photoshoping theme I then had the idea that I could morph people into their zodiac animals. Not sure weather I would pick the Chinese or Western zodiac. Since the former is completly animal based it may look better.

I have also gone back to thinking about alien and human hybrids and thought of emulating something in a style like Giger

His odd styles and hybrids appeal to me.  I liked the alien films a lot but it is not that that most apeals.

However I have two split ideas.

One would be the gestaiton of a human baby but have it mixed with some kind of alien and seeing how the hybrid fetus/foetus develops from embryo to birth.

I'm not sure how I would achive this but perhaps through some kind of flash animation or photoshop manipulation.

I would have to use some sort of modle like this one for the base of the human baby. What kind of alien I would use I'm not really sure of. How I would combine them or even what media format to use.

I do like this Idea a lot and it has a good possibility.

The other idea would be to combine man with mecanical objects. Things like cyber space and how it affects man, cyborgs, prosthetics, things of this nature. Exploring the relationship man and machine have and can have in the future. This appeals to my Si-Fi loving nature. Also there can be a lot of elements of steampunk with this and I like the idea of that. I wouldn't really know how to combine these but again Giger is a huge inspiration.