Final Portfolio

Like all my projects, I approached this one with a very open mindset. My creative process is very “go with the flow,” with things changing along the way as I’m working on it. The idea for this project all started because whenever people would meet my cat, they would always comment on how large he is. Then, as I was working on the images, he started looking like a weird celestial being in these surroundings, so I started drawing halos and swirls of light around him. I’d like to think that there is a deeper meaning to these pieces, but really, I just like creating anything that makes me happy. And with my cat being someone who has brought me a lot of joy and comfort, it was very fun having him be the subject of many of my photographs throughout this class. 

I don’t have much experience with editing photos, so I did struggle a bit while working on this project, but in the end, I’m pleased with the results. I made use of different layer settings like the multiply layer and glow dodge layer. I also made use of some effects such as the ripple effect for my cat’s reflection in the water, and gaussian blur.

GLITCH

DOUBLE EXPOSURE

FILTERING

PAIRING

For my Double exposure glitch, I had a perfect photograph of my wolf costume against a white cloudy sky. Second, I knew I wanted to incorporate an aspect relating to wolves so I added a forest landscape as a screen layer. Lastly, I decided to give the image an extra rectangle styled glitch as an extra detail.

For the filtering glitch, I used a photograph of colorful crayons next to a bubble. To start, I desaturated every color except blue and purple. Next, I used a line filter atop the entire image along with noise filtered rectangles. Lastly, I used the wave filter scattered across the photograph.

For the last photograph, I added a photo of a realistic fox across from my friend in his fox costume. I gave the background photograph a red and blue glitch effect, along with making the main color a desaturated red. For the fox, I added a white circle behind it, made it an overlay layer, and gave it a wave glitch effect. I wanted the pairing of this picture to appear like the real fox was manifesting before my friend.

PHOTO PROMPT 2- IDENTITY

These are my two identity montages I created that represents different parts of me. The first one has somethings I enjoy such as reading, poems, photography which is featured with my favorite type: film photography. Under the burned part of the page is one of my favorite poems called "O.C.D." by Neil Hilborn. The second one is a picture of me with flowers growing from my body. I feel that every day I still am continuing to grow as a person and I want to keep improving my skill and grow more into the person I want to become. The text in the second photo is a quote from one of my favorite films of all time which is Shawshank Redemption. Film is a big part of my life so I wanted to incorporate it in my montage.

Glitch It!

For the glitch assignment I chose a colorful spot to go shoot with a friend of mine. There is lots of colorful graffiti in this area and a great spot for photos. I chose the RGB affect in photo shop to adjust the photo with blending modes. I cut and paste with the marquee tool and added an overlay glitch patter to add some interest. Here's the results! I'll post the original photo and other glitch renderings in next post.

Identity - Higher Res

Saalih Tafsir

Hey, I am Saalih, I go by Dawood. It’s no where on my birth certificate, ID, or passport, which makes sense. If it’s not on one, it’s on none. Dawood was my nickname since I was born, and it’s stuck. I am a portrait, real estate, wedding photographer and videographer. I have a little background in running my own photography business and am always looking to learn more. I like portrait photography most, but I hate posing people. I am a design and production student and I see myself working freelance and on film sets in the future. 

2. Peter Mckinnon: https://www.petermckinnon.com/

Peter Mckinnon is just a huge inspiration to me. From his creativity to his ability to snap a great photo.

     Peter Hurley: https://peterhurley.com/

Peter Hurley is one of the most popular headshot photographers. Since I am terrible and posing, I always look for his tips to help grab some pointers on capturing for people who know poses, and those who don’t. 

My main focus was on color and lighting for the majority of the images as well as some lines and shadows with the blinds.  For the middle photo I put a flashlight inside of a green plastic cup and stacked a blue cup on top of it and shot from directly above. I like the way the colors blended while blacking out the background.

Composition & Perspective

Filled Frame Photo:

Negative Space Photo:

Perspective Photo#1:

Perspective Photo#2:

Glitch

The first two glitches I used were of the RGB glitch. I wanted to mess around with the colors and warp effects. I turned my images into black and white and once I switched them to each layer of the RGB, it brought something different to the screen glitch. The last image I wanted to learn about the pixel sorting. I think it’s so interesting once I started stretching the image. What’s even cooler is that the image I used pixxel sorting on, it is a whole different image that happened to match really well! I feel like I’m learning a lot through each experiment. Glitch is one of my favorites to work with.

Identity & The Imitation

The first montage is a representation of the parts of me that nobody else sees. The photos used are contained within a picture of my tattoo, which is in itself my initials. They each represent things that I discovered much earlier on in life that I’ve incorporated into my being over these last 22 years, which I’ve still kept around as proof of my growth. It shows how i see myself in my truest form.

The second montage is how I feel everyone sees me. I’m currently an assistant manager at a gamestop and so many people assume that is all I am, which is why a picture of me is acting as the blacked out ME in that photo. The flames represent how the perceptions of others is slowly killing my energy and passions, and the picture of Tanjiro from Demon Slayer shows how I feel as if people only see me as nothing more than an animated character.

PHOTO PROMPT 2 – IDENTITY: Real or Fictitious

Fictitious : The Wolf

When ideating for the fictitious photo prompt, I knew I wanted to touch upon my wolf persona and love for wolves. Ever since third grade, I’ve had a fascination with wolves. This fascination led me to create a wolf character that represents a big part of who I am, eventually leading to me acquiring a costume of said character later in life. Within this prompt is a mixture of this costume and real photos of me with wolves taken at the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center. While the character is a fictional take on myself, they also have helped me to find a lot about myself too. After having the character for 10 years, and loving wolves even longer than that, it’s no surprise they’ve influenced me as greatly as they have. I’ve become more comfortable with myself, met so many friends, and have become a lot more outgoing. 

Real : ME

For this prompt, I decided to truly embrace all the aspects that I feel make me... me. The main photo is a photo taken of me in the moment of laughing, with my friend August in his wolf costume next to me. I put a Trans flag behind this photo, given me and August are both Trans Men. August has been a huge inspiration and support during my journey of discovering I was Trans, so I knew I had to include this photo. Around the photo are little tidbits of me, my interests, and identity. The left top photo is a photograph of me and my dearest friend, Blaze, in our animal costumes. Blaze has been a huge influence in my life since meeting him in 2019, and has helped me to grow more comfortable as a man. In the middle is the Regency Tower; the hotel next to this tower has been the home of a convention I’ve been attending since 2017. This convention has brought me together with so many friends, and has brought me equally as much joy as well. Top right is a simple photo of me eating pizza, I thought this was a true genuine depiction of me at the time. Bottom left is a photograph of an extinct marsupial named the Thylacine. I’ve been infatuated with this creature since elementary school, I’ve done great studies about it and even have a tattoo of one of my arm. Middle is a photo from a Gorillaz concert, more specifically from Demon Dayz 2018. I discovered Gorillaz in 2018 and fell immediately in love with the band. Their music and content carried me through an extremely tough time in my life, and I adore them everyday for keeping me alive. The final photo is a photograph from when I was a kid. I love that I’m wearing a masculine outfit, it makes me smile to know signs of me being Trans have always been there early on. 

I feel I’ve grown to be unapologetically myself in these recent years. I know just a few years back I’d be too scared to share a lot of what I included in these montages, but I’m a much happier and confident person now. I’m happy to share these parts of me, and hope to help inspire others to always be themselves and love whatever they want to.

Blog Prompt - Passage

My interpretation of passage was the passage of time. In order to show this, I decided to take a slow-mo video of my friend’s cat, Cotton, drinking a bit of milk off the counter. By slowing the video, you can notice details that you wouldn’t normally.

Blog Prompt - Visualizing Identity

The first picture I took is of a view I often see in my day to day life. As an artist that works mostly with digital media, I’m often found staring at a screen. I think this picture is very representative of me, as being an artist is very ingrained into my personality. I see my tablet and pen as an extension of myself.

This photo of me holding my stylus up at the buildings across from me symbolizes how I view the world. I am often looking at ways to improve my art, and I take a  lot of inspiration from my surroundings. 

Hi! I’m Jamie (Stephanie) C.

Hello everyone! My name is Jamie, I’m a senior, and I am an ATEC Animation major at UTD. I’ve always liked taking pictures, especially of my pets and nature! I’m hoping this class will teach me some neat skills that will spruce up the images I take in the future. Fun fact about me: I love crocheting and making plushies! Maybe this class can hekp with making the pictures I take of my projects be even more eyecatching! :)

For this assignment, I decided to convey the idea of “Passage” by capturing footage from daytime to nighttime. I wanted to present how the district changes as it passes from early afternoon to nightlife. I wanted to show off how Deep Ellum’s day time scene contrasts with its night time scene.

I feel my footage differs from my still images mostly in what they can display. I feel the footage I captured for this assignment enabled the viewer to experience and feel as if they were there in Deep Ellum. When it comes to my still images, I often feel they are more of a presentation rather than experience for the viewer to witness. However, I do always aim to show off life within my pieces, whether still or moving.

Passage

My idea for showing the passage of time in video art is to show Deep Ellum from Afternoon to Night. I want to show how the bar district passes from day time to the nighttime hustle. I will do this by not only showing the sky change from light to dark, but display how the traffic and people change too. I simply want to show off the change in tone shift when the city enters it’s night time phase.