I couldn't resist taking a photo of these doughnuts to use in my Challenge, and of which I intend to bring out the vibrancy of their colour which the photograph took away.
 
Now my exams are finished I have been able to get back to doing some work on my Arts Challenge. I've started with editing some of the photos I have, as I have now gained quite a collection of photos to work with. Like I've already said I'm not designating a time in life to each photo before I have edited them, I usually do have a time in mind, however this can change while I am editing due to the lighting effects used can give me new ideas. Even once edited, the photos do not have a set time of life to be suitable for, I know where I want them to go, however when I come to put them all together this may change if I see that they are suited elsewhere. 

Once I have a range of completed photos I will start putting them into an order that is not set, but does give me an outline to how far along I am.

The first picture was done by altering the saturation, brightness and contrast of the original photo to make the colours brighter and be more different than you usually see during sunset. Then using Photoshop CS3 I blur the bottom and the bottom right of the photo and sharpened the top and the top left to make the effect that the good things had passed and troubling times were just approaching. I am planning on using this for the Teenager stage to show how this is the time when we often find we have the most troubles and is the most confusing part of life, and also we are leaving the calm and innocence of childhood where we worry about nothing, into a more mature age where we are more independent.

The second picture was done by lowering the saturation so that the photo was almost black and white. Then using Photoshop CS3 I made the saturation of the chairs very high. This emphasises how the chairs are empty and represents loneliness, a time of being on your own in new settings. I am planning on using this for the Lower School part of the Teenage age as it is a time where you move from Primary to Secondary, often on your own or only with a few of your friends and you have to learn new rules in a completely new setting and know few people so have to make friends.

The third picture was done using Photoshop CS3 changing the hues of the different bottles/liquids/tops and then making the saturation higher. I've tried to achieve the effect of how everything is different and perceptions are changed under alcohol. I am planning on using this for the Adult part of life as in many people especially in the 21st century, alcohol is a large part of their lives.


Time taken = 2 hours 30 minutes


Total time taken = 4 hour 15 minutes
I did also take a couple of more photos as the opportunity to use photos with snow in, with our current weather, was too much to pass by.

Hiatus

10/30/2009

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While I have thoroughly enjoyed working on this project over the past few weeks, and I do not wish to disrupt my timetable, during November and the start of December I have my GCSE mocks and I have to revise for these and so I will be taking a short hiatus until mid-December when I should be able to renew the project.

Unfortunately, this may happen more than once during the duration of the project due to GCSE exams in January which I will have to concentrate on.
 
While out celebrating a friend's birthday today at the cinemas I found myself sitting alone at one of the tables. Looking around, the colours of the objects around me stood out, and the emptiness of the cinema also reminded me of those lonely times in life, when there is no one around. 

The pictures also represent how much cinemas are becoming such a large part in young people's lives.

I feel that with the right effects these pictures can be altered to portray a variety of feelings:
  • Loneliness in life - when we are single, or have lost those that are dear to us.
  • Alienation by friends, especially during teenage years.
  • How people can sometimes feel as if everyone is against them.
  • Isolation
  • The need for lots of people, friends and acquaintances.

Time taken = 5 minutes

Total time taken = 1 hour 45 minutes.
 
Today again I took more photos which will be edited to include in my final album. 

While working on my school assignments I looked out the window to see a spectacular sunset where the sky was a variety of differen colours and hues, with the clouds making many varied shapes. The sky suggested change, inner turmoil and those disruptive times when you have too much to do with too little time and you don't truly know how you feel. 

While I do not want to edit these photos extensively as I may lose these thoughts from the photos, I'd like to brighten the colours more, make them stand out and draw these feelings out more.

Time taken = 10 minutes

Total time taken = 1 hour 40 minutes
 
Today I took some photos while I was out and about which I am planning to use for my Challenge.

Some of the photos were taken at school, one of the pond/swamp and a couple of the football team during a practice. The photos of the tomatoes and the bottles I took at home this evening from in my conservatory.

While none of the photos look particularly interesting at the moment, once edited I hope they will look a lot more like what they should do.


Time taken = 30 minutes

Total time taken = 1 hour 30 minutes.
 
To start off my Arts Challenge I have chosen a picture of a flower I took a couple of days ago. At first I thought this could be the cover photo for the project, a flower symbolising a lot of things about life, however now I think I may use it towards the later part of the album, due to the state of the life the flower itself was in when I took the photo. 

While the effects are not yet finalised I have edited the same photo a couple of times with different lighting effects and blurs to achieve a few different images from which I will pick the one I think works best. 

I never just edit the photo the one way, but rather do it a few times to see what can be achieved and then work on the photos from there. In this way, often, one photo could be used to generate a number of different pictures from different eras/ages/life stages. 



Time taken = 1 hour.

Total Time taken = 1 hour.

 
This blog will be used as a diary for both my Arts Challenge and Arts Leadership and you can search by topics to see entries on just either of those. Periodically this blog may also be used to describe any Arts events and reviews, as well as my research into Arts Pathways. 
Enjoy!  
I plan to spend approximately 45minutes - 1 hour for 13 weeks on this project. This time each week will be spent on taking photographs, choosing the best one and editing them. However photographs may be taken and edited out of order or not edited on the same week as they are photographed. 

I have not taken into account when I may be unable to work on the Project and so I will cross those bridges when I come to them.

As I plan to start this project week commencing 5th October 2009, I should be finished week commencing 28th December 2009. However this is unlikely as I have GCSE mocks for the whole month of November as well as Christmas in late December and so it is likely that more than 5 weeks will have to be added into the length of the project (not accommodating for the 6 GCSE exams I have in January) so the Challenge may not actually finish until late March/early April.