My idea was to recreate images in a collage that I have photographed before with other photos. I have a photo of a cactus with blue stones around it so for my first collage I recreated it with my blue stones picture and my cactus but I made the cactus black and white.

Some of the things I learned from the presentations were to go see art, take advantage of studio space,experiment with outside work, and find my style.  Some places they mentioned to go see art were The Blanton, Harry Ransom Center, The Contemporary Austin, and Rothko chapel. They also mentioned that we should watch interviews of artists on youtube. The Contemporary Austin is free every Tuesday so that is the best time to go and when it comes to interning with an artist or organization the earlier is better.  Rachel Broussard’ senior thesis is on sound and I think its a very creative idea. Sound can be art but I had never thought about that until she mentioned it.  Christin Smith works with the fire department and takes portraits for them and her work is amazing.  It really showed what firefighters are like and captured not just a smiling face but all the emotion that goes along with the job.  Caelan Navarrete’s senior proposal was on gender and I loved some of her past work for the way it showed how she felt. There was a head with this black around it and it made me think of blood because it looked almost decapitated. I think all of their projects are very inspiring. I personally think the mom gallery was a brilliant idea. It’s a great way to get your art seen and take advantage of the opportunities out there I’m very interested in the idea of using art to form a response to another work of art.

http://www.themomgallery.com

My biggest influence would have to be one that I was actually shown this year. Barbara Kruger was a huge inspiration to me. I had seen some of her work before but never realized it was her. I am into social issues and so some of her work spoke to me.  I love the thought of showing how you feel on the inside, trying to fit a standard, or being something you’re not just because you feel like you have to.

I believe this project really helped me grow in my photography skills and my post production skills.  I really enjoyed going out and taking mediocre pictures and turning them into something amazing.  It was a great experience and great practice for the future. My post production got better as the project went along my colors are now more vibrant and I’m not afraid to take risks with my photography.

For the last 3 years I have started photographing musicians. I am very interested in the music industry. This is what I plan on doing in my future. I have always credited myself at the bottom of all my photos and I make them horrible quality when I put them online so people can’t download, enlarge, and print them.

For this short series of pictures we had to link them together in some way.  I decided to give all of my images a feeling of movement.  Gestalt principles such as law of proximity, law of similarity, law of common fate, and the law of closure.  Flusser talks about levels of coding in photos.  Black and white photos have less coding than color but that doesn’t mean their coding isn’t complicated.  Color photography is coded more because you have to find the meaning behind the color and as Flusser says color in a picture isn’t really color its a theory turned into a color based on a code that says that theory is that color.  I believe my pictures aren’t too coded they don’t have hidden meaning they just have color, but once you figure out one set of coding you discover more.

The Gestalt principle that I see influence my work the most is the Law of Closure.  I recently took pictures of giant ice cubes on fire and the fire around the cubes made squares as well.  I never thought about things like proximity, similarity, closure, symmetry, and common fate when I took pictures but now that I think about them it makes my pictures better.

I think these rules are going to help me become a better photographer in the future.  Things like past experience really influence an artists work without them knowing. I see it in my past work now that I’m looking for it.

I see plants as I see people. Some are tough on the outside but soft on the inside, others are beautiful but deadly, people are the same way. Some plants have thorns and others have flowers, some smell good but others smell bad. No matter what the plant, it can be beautiful in its own way and so can people, different types of plants and different shapes and sizes.

One picture is of a cactus that grows in the shape of a flower it is beautiful but still rigid. The cactus evolved to have a thicker skin for survival purposes the same way people do if someone is hurt too much, they put up a wall to make sure they aren’t hurt again. Another picture is of a pink flowering plant. It looks very pretty but there are several that are wilted. The pink plant has no protection against the sun, the heat or the weather like the cactus does but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t flourish in the same way. One of the cacti I photographed is prickly and it always makes me think of people with beards. Beards are prickly too just like the little thorns growing on the cactus.

One of the differences between plants and people is that plants can’t hide when they are hurt or in need but people can. You see all the cuts and bruises that they have acquired but you can’t on people. You can only see what is on the outside and people don’t always show their scars on the outside. Aloe Vera plants are good for you but you can’t tell just by looking at it, so before you judge someone by looking at them find out what is on the inside if it is good or bad.

1. What are the main points of each article?
Article 1- The main points of this article are, artists are innovators, empathetic, craftspeople, unique, intuitive, ambiguous, out of the box thinkers, and most importantly passionate about their work.
Article 2- The main points of this article are don’t let passion take control of you, learn to be organized, and find partners to help you achieve your goals.
2. What can artists learn from their “entrepreneurial cousins”?
Artist can learn some time management and organizational skills from their “entrepreneurial cousins”. They can also learn to take one one step at a time and don’t let limits stop you.
3. Do you agree that artists are entrepreneurs? why?
I do agree to a certain extent. Not all artists have what it takes to be an entrepreneur. I believe that if they knew business as much as they know their art that they could all be entrepreneurs. With enough organization and determination anything is possible.
4. Which of the 12 characteristics of artists do you agree with?
I agree with all of them but I think I most identify with numbers 2, 4, 9, and 11. I identify with these numbers the most because I can actually see where I’m like that.
5. What others would you add to the list?
I would add that artists are interpreters everything an artist creates is up to the audience to interpret. They lead you in the direction that you need to go but they don’t give you the answer either.
6. Do you have grit, or is this something you need to work on?
List a couple of things you could do to increase your level of grit.
I got a grit score of 3.88 out of 5. The test told me “You are grittier than at least 70% of the US population.” However I do not believe that to be true. I think there are plenty of people out there with more grit than me. No matter how much grit this test told me I have there are still plenty of things I need to work on. For example getting distracted from tasks easily, procrastinating, and even just simply following through sometimes.