Un-edited Photographs from College

Niall gave us each a camera on Wednesday and asked us to take a few photographs in and around the college and it's grounds. I enjoyed wandering about, constantly observing and on the look out for things I could capture. Here are a few of the images I took.

Some amazing advertising

I found this on Pinterest last night when I was researching examples of conceptual text in commercial typography. 

It took me a second to realise what they were trying to communicate. But when it came to me I was amazed, and also deeply dissapointed I never came up with it myself...haha. Nonetheless it's a very clever use of type that combines deep sleep and the awakening effect that 'Nescafe' apparently has on people.

Symptom of a potential typo-maniac? Maybe...

So I was flicking aimlessly through my Facebook news feed earlier and couldn't help but notice this picture below... It was the most annoyed I've felt in a while, it irritated me so much that I just stared at it for a good 5 minutes. The absolute nerve someone had to post this without thinking of others!

...so is it just me that thinks the 'u' in 'Shut' looks a LOT like and upside down 'n'? Surely I can't be the only one! It's grammatical errors like this that make me question peoples judgement, NOT their political standpoint...

Experimenting with my printer/scanner/copier

I looked to my side and saw a photo of my Dad and I form when I was 1 (I think). Then I started to draw lines and I began writing random sentences along them. Anything that came into my head. I then used the word that Niall gave us on a bit of scrap paper for our group exercise on Thursday and scanned it into the copier. This led to a number of different outcomes. I messed about with magnification and scale whilst scanning and copying. There was no particular logic or plan - I just made it up as I went along. Whatever I thought looked 'good' or 'right' was included in the print out. Although this process was completely random and created partly out of boredom... I enjoyed myself! I can imagine people looking at it and taking away deep, emotional messages, interpreting outlandish symbolism etcetera, etcetera. Maybe that's how some historic, famous pieces were once created... who knows! 

Anyway, I loved playing about with the printer/scanner/copier - moving paper around, moving from colour to black and white, enlarging images and magnifying certain parts of images. It has proved an enjoyable and creative outlet and I will most likely continue experimenting with the process.

Generation: 25 years of contemporary art in Scotland

I, along with 3 friends were fortunate enough to visit Auschwitz last month during our holiday in Poland. We were in Krakow for 3 days and had booked our visit to the camp for the last day, in hindsight this was a sensible idea since the visit was like nothing I have experienced. I still struggle to put into words how it made me feel and think.

Once I arrived back in Scotland I visited the National Gallery in Edinburgh with my mum and sister. We were waiting on my brother who had been visiting friends, so we thought we'd pop into the Gallery for a wee nose! We weren't in there very long, but I moved from room to room taking in as much as I could. I didn't have my notebook with me to take down details of the artists and their work so I had to rely on memory alone. The one artist that stuck out for me was Christine Borland. 'L'Homme Double' is made up of 6 clay portrait busts. Borland contacted 6 sculptors and instructed them to create these busts based on the Nazi war criminal Josef Mengel. They were all given the same information - 2 grainy photographs of the man and a selection of quotes and statements made by survivors of the Auschwitz death camp. The quotes were mostly attempts at describing Mengels physical appearance. 

The psychological aspect of the work astounds me. Borland has conveyed the uncertainty of this mans identity using actual memories from the people who witnessed him first hand. I love the individuality of each bust, how the perspective of each chosen sculptor is combined with the recollections of Auschwitz survivors.

Yesterday, I revisited the Gallery with my friend Flora and took 2 to 3 hours exploring the exhibit. David Shrigley was another artist who stuck out for me. His work that was on display was very impressive. Various selections of woodcut prints and a collection of ceramic/clay boots of all different shapes and sizes.

As we entered the gift shop I picked up one of his books and found myself laughing hysterically. I wasn't expecting a book like this from the work I had already seen from Shrigley - but I was pleasantly surprised! 

I enjoyed these visits to the gallery and have taken on many things from each artist and their work. I continue to be inspired by doing things like this and I love discovering people who's work I can take things from.

Playing about with beach photos

Spent about half an hour on fusing these 2 pictures together. Using the editing app 'Afterlight' on my iPhone I was able to layer the 2 photographs (that were taken on my camera which I synched onto my phone using iTunes) and adjust contrast, saturation, composition, exposure etc. 

Neither of the photographs of my brother and sister were posed or set up in any way. Pretty happy I was able to achieve this with my iPhone, I suppose I have little faith in it when it comes to creative activites but this proves me otherwise! I'll continue to explore the features of 'Afterlight' and other such apps, and update my blog on my findings.

Holiday!

Up at Nairn for our annual family holiday. My granny, mum, sister, brother and I are having a ball already in the very warm weather!

Took a stroll on the beach just now and feeling the benefits of having my digital camera with me. I took over 500 pictures whilst at T in the Park last weekend and so am in the habit of capturing the environment and people surrounding me. I've always loved taking photographs, even when I was younger when it would be with my mums camera. And ever since I got my own a few years back, I've discovered how creative you can get just by observing and getting yourself in the right position to capture a collection of shapes, colours and figures around you.

Here are a few from earlier that I guess fall more into the category of 'artsy' rather than just 'observational'.

Testing the app 'Cinamatic'

Two weeks ago a man had an incident whilst out on his bicycle. He suffered a fall because of a bad heart. This meant that the local ambulance team were forced to close off the road and call in the air ambulance.

I decided to capitalise on this tragic event and take a walk down the road across from my street and take some videos of the helicopter. Of course I felt a little bad for the guy getting stretchered into the helicopter and all but - I had to try this app out right? He was fine any way, plus they were in no rush whatsoever! I was waiting for the damn thing to take off for more than half an hour... Eventually he made it to Edinburgh where I'm sure he made a full recovery!

The audio on this tester video cuts out after each individual clip but in the future I'll edit the sound out, or at least make it less obvious to people watching.

The filter choice irritated me and I settled for the default, grainy, cheesy retro look. It worked okay, but as I said I'm gonna keep my eye out for opportunities regarding subjects to film.

World Peace is None of Your Business

Morrissey's new album on vinyl arrived in the post today and I'm loving it! 

Just wanted to share the lyric sheets that accompanied the record. Really like the layout and choice of typeface...

Sylvia Plath

Was out a drive with my friend Calum tonight and he played me a poem by Sylvia Plath. Calum is at Glasgow University studying History and has an in depth knowledge and love for poetry, and so this was another recommendation I was glad he gave me.

I gave poetry a shot whilst I was in 6th year at school and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it! Whilst I would prefer not to produce such personal pieces regarding my artwork - I feel when the rare time comes around when I fancy a bit writing - going down the personal route just feels right.

I may as well provide a link to my Tumblr page, there's a few pieces on there I'm a little proud of. They are in no way ground breaking or anything - but maybe something I may include or attempt to integrate with some of my work during second year!

My Tumblr Page



Anyways - back to Plath! All credit to Calum here as he is so enthusiastic about these things I just can't help but get in there myself and have a look, listen or read. The spoken word and performances of work in general are something I am not at all educated in, but at the same time something I am taking a keen interest in.

I don't know much about Sylvia Plath's life, only that of her suicide attempts and now quite plainly obvious 'daddy issues'. But this reading of her poem 'Daddy' is an emotional and very symbolical insight into her relationship with her father. Stated in the poem he died when she was 10. That said, his presence and very existence had a very serious affect on her life.

The past couple of weeks have had me thinking of all the different kinds of art. Painting, drawing, performance, printing etc. And all of the possibilities and opportunities out there to create my own work through all of the different medias available!

It's exciting!

Here's the link if you're interested :     'Daddy' by Sylvia Plath