Assignment 4 - Photo Montage

The Day After - Hope

I will be missing tomorrow's tutorial, so I'm putting my montage earlier than usual to open it for critique (and to prove that I did my work heh).

This week's assignment was to create a photomontage in Hockney's "Joiner" style with a minimum length of 16inches. The theme is "The Day After".

Creative Concept

I spent a whole load of time trying to figure out an interpretation for "The Day After". It seems to go along the lines of something happening, and the consequences that occur after that. Action-reaction.

An interesting idea that popped up was "casual sex". The night before, the day after. (get it?)
The issues that usually arise from the act; unwanted pregnancies, abortions, HIV and other sexually-transmitted diseases.

I could have taken a classic bed scene shot, but it doesn't really describe/explain the "after" component very well.

Then, I began to think mass destruction, carnage, war, rampant fighting and unrest. With it comes death and gloom. Very powerful image, but me being me, I reject its negative feel.

I kept pushing myself to think of something positive, something more heartening.

I thought of what matters most at the end of the day. I thought of hope, love, and happiness.

After any upset, be it natural disasters or war, no matter the extent of destruction, eventually things will always become "normal" once again. Life goes on.

I expanded on this idea of hope and try to think of a graphical representation of it. I thought nature will be a very good representative of how life goes on despite challenges that face us. The waves will continue crashing against the shores, the plants and trees will continue to grow, and the sun will always rise and set again tomorrow. Thus, the picture was born.

The collaging proved to be a great challenge for me. Although I took photos of various objects within the scene at different angles and distances, I still had difficulty making them fit as prettily as Hockney's. I thought the final product look somewhat decent, but something seems to be lacking, can't quite point a finger upon it.

Any comments/suggestions?

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Classroom Critique
Due to my absence, I can't comment on my classmates' works until they blog their entries.

So far, a few eye-catching pieces include Desmond's The Day After:Micro & Macro Process.
It seems to me that he used MANY photos to complete this collage. It's very impressive in terms of size, but other than that, the picture is still rather static. There isn't a centre of focus and the viewer's eye may tend to stray around about the picture.

He can perhaps try focusing an object in the picture, zooming in and blowing it up, and then the background details.

Puay Lin's airport departure board really catches my eye when I was hopping from one blog to another. She may not have used as many pictures as Desmond, but somehow the "feel" is there. I read the comments fellow classmates left for her, and I do agree that the picture angle can be widened further. Instead of zooming all the way in to the board, can include the walls around it and people walking past to recreate the actual scene feel more realistically. A good attempt. :)

Gerald's montage is interesting, in that he actually flipped his original image up to create mirror images for his concept. As usual, his idea is unconventional, but not lacking in creativity.

I actually thought the use of mirror images help the viewer to take a closer look, trying to guess the reason behind this move. It's a nice, subtle touch which does not overkill, yet raises questions. Good job!

Shena's "Where will you be, the day after" is another montage that poses questions for the viewer who sees it. Looking at the track, I can really imagine myself asking the questions pertaining to directions in life, the complexity in our choices, many deep thoughts.

Technically, I'm personally very impressed by her successful attempt in imitating the "Joiner" style. Her collage gives me a 3D-as-if-I'm-in-the-picture-too feel; this is a very important element, not just because it's required in our assignment, but because being able to put the viewers right into this picture can then truly slam the "life" questions in their faces and make them think.

Marvellous piece of work.

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Assessment
Desmond -7.8/10 (for effort)

Puay Lin - 7.5/10

Gerald - 8.5/10

Shena - 10/10

In comparison to Shena's work, I think my montage is worth 7.5/10.

Cheers!