Composite Portrait (Rough)

The perfect combination of man.....James Franco and Garrett Hedlund (Tron, 2010).

Sparkling Eyes-Garrett Hedlund

Flowing Hair-Garrett Hedlund

Lovely Face-James Franco

Feisty 'stache-Garrett Hedlund

Man Beard-Garrett Hedlund

Ferocious Bear- A Poor Soul

Before and After Edits

I messed around with the exposure, levels, and hue/saturation.  My main edit was increasing the level of red to bring out skin tone.

This image is tiny so it's a bit pixelated, sorry!  I adjusted the brightness and contrast, curves, levels and shadows and highlights.  Shadows and highlights were the most important edits made because it brought out definition in our overexposed faces.

This image had a blurry board in the foreground so I started by cutting that out.  After editing levels to pull out the green in the plants and red in the skin I increased the exposure slightly.  The last change I made was rotating the image so that the dock is no longer tilted (this required slight cropping).

Technology Log

6:37   Looked at clock, rolled over
6:58   Checked texts and missed calls, responded to texts
7:23   Looked at clock, got up
7:24   Checked phone
7:25   Checked computer
7:46   Looked at clock
7:48   Responded to text
8:03   Looked at clock
8:15   Turned off alarm
8:16-8:30   Practiced/prepared presentation using computer
8:30-8:32   Surfed the web
8:55   Checked phone
9:03   Checked facebook/email
9:18   Checked phone
9:54-10:07   Presentation using laptop
10:58   Checked phone, responded to text
11:05   Checked phone
11:09   Sent text
11:12   Checked phone/sent texts
11:17   Text
11:19   Text
11:25   Text
11:29   Text
11:31   Text
11:35   Text
11:36-11:43   Surfed the web
11:47   Text
11:52   Text
11:59   Text
12:03   Checked phone
12:13   Checked phone
12:27   Text
12:29   Text
12:35   Text
12:40-12:45   Computer browsing
12:46   Text
12:50   Text
12:51   Set my alarm
12:54   Sent text
1:41-1:48   Internet browsing
1:50-2:04   Phone call
2:24   Checked time on phone
2:27   Checked time on phone
2:31   Sent text
2:38   Checked phone
2:42   Checked email
3:13-3:33   Slideshow in class
3:34   Checked phone
3:36   Sent email
3:40-3:46   Professor showing work on blackboard
3:48   Checked phone
4:06   Text
4:17   Checked phone
4:31   Checked phone, text
4:34   Text
4:47   Text
4:51   Text
5:47   Text
5:48   Text
5:50   Text
5:54   Text
5:56 Checked phone
5:59   Text
6:48   Text
6:50   Text
6:52   Text
6:53   Text
6:57   Text
6:59   Text
7:01   Checked phone
7:04   Text
7:12   Text
7:16-7:21   Computer
7:28-7:34   Phone call
7:36   Checked phone
7:41   Checked time on phone
7:43  Bought tea (register)
7:53   Text
8:05-10:21   Movie for a class
8:08   Text
8:28   Text
8:53   Text
8:54   Text
8:56   Text
9:06   Text
9:07   Text
9:08   Text
9:12   Text
9:14   Text
9:30   Text
9:31   Text
9:37   Checked phone
9:41   Checked phone
9:52   Text
9:53   Text
9:54   Text
10:09   Text
10:12   Text
10:14   Text
10:17   Checked phone
10:19   Checked phone
10:39-10:59   Surfing the web
10:57   Text
10:59   Text
11:02   Set alarm on phone
11:05-11:21   Internet
11:43   Text
11:44   Text
11:45   Text
11:50   Text
12:01   Turned off computer

*I didn't think to include listening to my ipod until bed, but it was likely a total of around 2 hours.

Experimental Scan Collage

Experimental Scans

Layered Fabrics

Fish (made of scarf, ring, pin and headband)

Hands (everyone who was in the room)

Music Scene (various music-related objects from the room down the hall)
  

                    Enchanted (bandaids and wrappers)                               Mixed Hair

Flashy (layered books)

Junk (layered jewelry and scarf)

Portrait (profile with braid and shirt layered)

Crisp (jumbled up jewelry)

       

                                       

                 Leah (hair and fabric layered)                             Noms (various food waste)

Dog GIF

Warren Neidich

Conversation Map (I worked on my film today.  Are you dating someone now?), 2002

Warren Neidich is an American writer and multiple media artist experimenting in music, illustration and photography.  Throughout the 1990's his worked focused heavily on neuroaesthetics, the application of neuroscience as a lens in understanding aesthetic experiences.  He has since heavily examined the co-evolution of art, the brain and the mind due to the key role they play in understanding the ontology behind neuroaesthetics.  Neidich's interest in neuroscience began in the classroom; he studied neurobiology at California Institute of Technology after having graduated from Washington University with degrees in psychology and photography.

Conversation Maps, the first two pieces included in this blog post, were created from simple day-to-day conversations.  However, these conversations took place in sign language and the participants had lights attached to their fingers and arms.  Their movements were recorded on long exposures and then underwent  processes of digital manipulation.

Conversation Map (I am in love with him, Kevin Spacey), 2002

Neidich's Conversation Maps are seemingly colorful, abstract pieces until the viewer become knowledgeable of the context and method of creation.  He is successful in manipulating the mind's reaction to an aesthetic experience through the process of informing the viewer what they are, in fact, viewing.  Upon finding out that this image traces a conversation as simple as "I worked on my film today.  Are you dating someone now?", the viewer likely feels a sense of familiarity and can more greatly identify with the piece.

Neidich stresses the influence of optical phenomena on how artworks are perceived.  He attempts to distort reality in order to make it more representative of the subtext of an experience.  I feel that these pieces accurately embody the tone of interactions between deaf and hearing individuals as well as the tone of interactions between two deaf individuals.  A hearing person with little exposure to sign may look at these pieces and feel confused, uncomfortable, or apathetic due to their inability to relate to the piece.  From personal experience, these are the same reactions that a hearing person may have to an individual who is deaf.  However, once the process and title are revealed, a hearing individual can then understand and relate to the piece, just as they could understand and relate with a deaf individual through writing.  On the other hand (pun intended), a deaf person, or someone familiar with sign language, may be struck with a sense of familiarity as soon as they view the piece.  The strokes of color are recognizable as hand motions if the viewer thinks, or occasionally thinks, according to that perspective.

I find Neidich's approach to art intriguing and his goal of revealing the subtext of an experience very meaningful.  While these individual pieces sparked my interest, upon viewing other works of his on his website, I was not nearly as enticed.  I would say this proves his point of the influence of context upon perception of art, seeing as I have experience with and interest in American Sign Language and not so much in a bookshelf meant to hold "all the books Sarah Palin supposedly wanted censored from her local Library in Wasilla, Alaska."

Book Exchange, 2010