Outside Art Experience

I missed last week's lecture with Sarah Zwerling, but to make up for it, I will being doing something art related this weekend in New York City. One of my good friends from high school's mother is a hair stylist in NYC. She owns a regular salon, but also has worked on a few fashion shoots. She is actually working on one this weekend with an upcoming photographer and my friend said I could go with them (The photographer is Scandinavian. I would put his name, but I can't pronounce it, let alone spell it. I don't even think American keyboards have the right letters for his name haha).

Needless to say, this is an amazing opportunity and I am extremely excited about it. My friend hasn't told me much about the concept yet (I think he wants to be a bit of a surprise...), but I know its on location in Brooklyn and Soho rather than in a studio. It's low budget and by no means a shoot for Gucci or Louis Vuitton, but watching the behind-the-scenes production of my specific field of interest is so exciting. Who knows, maybe I'll even get to give some input!

I know today's our last day, but I'll post my reaction after the shoot anyway.

Routine Project

I had a lot of fun with this project. Getting weird looks from people when I asked them to kiss a square of paper for me was the best. I really had no idea where I was going with this project when it was first presented to us in class, but I just went with it and it took the form of a color study. These are all from Halloween night (hence the blue and black). I would like to compile all of the prints I have (over 100) into a huge print out when I get the money. As for continuing this concept or working like this again, I doubt that I will. It was fun while it lasted, but I grow bored easily. Working long term isn't an interest of mine at all. Not to mention I'd run out of places to stash random collections!

Melinda Steffy

The main point of Melinda's lecture was marketing yourself successfully (through technology of course). She promoted Etsy.com which specializes in hand-made goods and crafts. She told us how to be successful on websites like that (good photographic imagery is the key, as well as reposting regularly so you pop up in searches). She did note that the site isn't geared toward fine art sales though and pieces like that don't sell well on Etsy. She also told us about in-person sales and selling your items in other stores, elaborating on the pros and cons of each. Selling in-person builds a bond with your customer base that keeps them coming back for more and it also plays upon their impulse buying. They will buy just because they may never catch you again.

I've explored Etsy some before and they have really unique products, but I can tell that it wouldn't be useful to my market, unless vendors hired me to shoot their products...

Oh yeah, the Details

Final Tank Man Image and Reaction

I actually really enjoyed this project. It was fun to play with images and effects next to each other and figuring out which effects looked good next to each other. Running out of ideas was an issue, but I think it worked out okay. I definitely stuck with the serious nature of the image rather than making it playful. The only thing I don't like is how each image doens't flow into the connecting pieces.

Lipstick and Scanners Don't Mix

So after many ruined pieces due to scanner issues, I finally figured out how not to ruin them! Here's a small sample of what I've gotten so far. Half-way edited.

Photoshop Morphs

tubra

swine flew. ha ha ha.

raspbanana

These need some cleaning up, and I still plan on doing one or two more.