Title : Sanibel Siesta
Size : (TBD) Medium : photography Completion : July 2022 Exhibition: Every year I was fortunate enough to be able to go to Florida with my grandparents and siblings. I wanted to express the feelings I had and the beauty of it despite how "tourist trappy" most parts of it can be. As such I wanted to convey what is one of the things Florida is known for, their beaches. So using Massimo Vitali as an inspiration, I didn’t want to focus on the people as I wanted the beauty of the land rather than the people there. |
Experimentation: I was unsure on how I would do an experimentation with photographs other than just taking photos, because this would be my first time doing one for a project. However I decided that after looking at other students' work i would at least make a list that I would like to have been in the photographs since I would be away for a while, and may forget what I want.
Despite not knwoing what I wanted to do I had an idea that was scrapped while I was on the trip itself. That was to have a timelapse almost. Having multple shots of my feet at different times photoshopped together to for a cohesive photo. But the idea was scraped as I didn't want to have a photo primarily focused on me and I wasn't sure I had a working form of photoshop at my disposal.
Process : To start once we arrived on our first stop of the trip, That being Davenport, Fl, I went on a walk around the area taking photos of the lakes around the area with my phone. However these photos felt closer to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan than florida to me so I ultimately decided I would not use them. Plus I didn't think they turned out as well as later ones since I had no idea what I was doing at first because I was worried I wasn't going to have any photos.
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Our next stop would be Sanibel Island, Fl. As we were at a condo on the beach I wanted to get photos there as they are what I think of when I think of Florida and my trips. Both fortunately and unfortunately I was only ever able to get photos during sunset. I had borrowed my sister's phone as it had a better camera thus allowing for better photos. However this creates a small problem as she would need to send them to my phone so I can upload them to my Google drive to put on my website as I was unsure of an easier method. This led to the photos being slightly lower then I would have liked.
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Finally St.Pete Beach, Fl. This was arguably my most memorable place to visit. As such I really wanted to have my final photo come from here. As such I tried to have more photos that come from here. Many photos still happened at sunset, however I managed to get photos from earlier in the day. The "final photo" of the sun peeking through the clouds during the day is a very close second place to what I ultimately decided. I love the lighting the clouds create and the sun rays peeking through only lighting the water. But compared to "Sanibel siesta" (the final one I chose), It doesn't feel like it came from Florida. To me, it feels as if it came from a classical painting.
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Critique / Reflection : I am quite happy with how the final product came out. I have never really taken photos like this, most of my previous photos were rough and grainy despite a decent phone camera. Because of this, the fact that I was able to take such great shots surprised me. The photos turned out perfectly which I was not expecting. However, not all of them were mine techichaliy. when I was messing with my setting I found out that it had a "best shot" feature. All this really did was guiding where the best looking shot out of the where the camera was pointing. While this was the case for some of them the majority was not. However all of them were made and ultimately decided by me.
Compare / Contrast :
compare: Both focus on beaches. One of the main focuses are of the landscapes, Both look very professional (to an untrained eye) and could likely be stood side by side. Both shots are taken from a distance compared to where the main focus of the shot is.
contrast: Vitali's photos focus more on the people interacting with the environment rather than the landscape itself. Most of his shots were taken during the early to mid day as opposed to dusk. His scenery is likely also different as it's likely taken in Italy/Europe as opposed to Florida thus giving both photos different structures to them, most of his have large walls of rock as opposed to the mostly flat beaches that stretch out for miles.
below: (Massimo Vitali: Polignano-a-Mare)
compare: Both focus on beaches. One of the main focuses are of the landscapes, Both look very professional (to an untrained eye) and could likely be stood side by side. Both shots are taken from a distance compared to where the main focus of the shot is.
contrast: Vitali's photos focus more on the people interacting with the environment rather than the landscape itself. Most of his shots were taken during the early to mid day as opposed to dusk. His scenery is likely also different as it's likely taken in Italy/Europe as opposed to Florida thus giving both photos different structures to them, most of his have large walls of rock as opposed to the mostly flat beaches that stretch out for miles.
below: (Massimo Vitali: Polignano-a-Mare)
ACT
1: The cause and effect of the inspiration on my own work is the wider shots of beaches however that is the noticeable effect.
2: The overall approach is to show matter-of-fact situations but also from "a deep curiosity that I possess for people, for what they do and what they think." -Massimo Vitali. Thus when he takes photos they are of people and how they interact with the people and area around them.
3:The generalization is that Vitali likes to see how people act at the beach as for the most part these are what he most often photographs.
4: The central idea is to show how people interact with their environment and each which is why people are almost always at the forefront.
5: The inference I saw was that Vitali likes to see how people interact with the world around them and does that through his photography.
1: The cause and effect of the inspiration on my own work is the wider shots of beaches however that is the noticeable effect.
2: The overall approach is to show matter-of-fact situations but also from "a deep curiosity that I possess for people, for what they do and what they think." -Massimo Vitali. Thus when he takes photos they are of people and how they interact with the people and area around them.
3:The generalization is that Vitali likes to see how people act at the beach as for the most part these are what he most often photographs.
4: The central idea is to show how people interact with their environment and each which is why people are almost always at the forefront.
5: The inference I saw was that Vitali likes to see how people interact with the world around them and does that through his photography.
https://expertphotography.com/famous-landscape-photographer
https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/massimo-vitali-the-italian-photographer-transforming-beach-scenes-into-landscapes-130217
http://www.artnet.com/artists/massimo-vitali/
https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/massimo-vitali-the-italian-photographer-transforming-beach-scenes-into-landscapes-130217
http://www.artnet.com/artists/massimo-vitali/