The XMEN Clan Forums

And I need ideas! I'd have quite a number, but we can't use any digtal editing. So, illusions and/or cut 'n paste type stuff...

Anything I've come up with so far has either been boring or dumb. The only two ideas that I've even put any effort into are: 1 - me standing on the floor looking at me standing on the ceiling, and 2 - getting a shave from a "magic" razor... i.e. photos of me at various stages of a shave and then pasting in the razor.

As I said... boring or dumb... though lighting is the real annoying part in these projects. I have to get it consistant.

Should I do a remake of Rene Magritte's Golconde? Now that would be a lot of work... but it might be fun! I only have until the 19th to complete it... hrmmm. I might have to look into this idea. (I only just now came up with it and spend 90% of the time it took to make this post figuring out who painted this picture and what it is called.)

Here are a couple of thoughts off the top of my head:

1. Mount your camera in a spot looking out, such as a window, and through out a 24 hour period take a shot each hour. Then take a 1/24 of each shot, not from the same slice or how ever you decide to break it up, and past them together. This should generate a quilt like image.

2. Take a blurred image of a vehicle but make sure the front is still clear. Then take a picture of either an animal or a person that you could match up with the vehicle to make it appear that they are riding it or some how interacting with it.

3. Go down town and get up close to the sky scrappers. Take a picture looking up of several buildings. Cut and past these pictures together to form a tunnel. Choose some form of an illusion to place at the end of the tunnel or if you decide to give it no end then some where in the middle of the tunnel but maybe off to a side.

hey, I really like #1! I'd just have to find an interesting location. (i.e. a place w/ 24 hour access and a good view) It's just that I don't quite make the connection w/ fiction... but that's not going to stop me from trying it.


oops, have to get to class!

I'm not really clear on the requirements... Posting them would probably produce more useful comments.

What sorts of illusory stuff are we looking for? There are a number of interesting photographic techniques that provide neat effects, for example, "painting with light." A simple form would be take a long exposure photo of a dark wall or fence, and while the shutter is open, "write" something on the subject with a flashlight. Poof, illusion.

Unfortunately the requirements are quite vague...

The emphasis of this assignment is to construct a picture, that is, to make something to be photographed. It could be a pseudo-documentary, that is, a scene photographed to look like a documentary moment, except that the moment is staged. Think of typical moments you find yourself with your friends, and recreate those moments in photographs. It could be a sequence of events, staged for the camera. It could be a constructed environment, designed for the camera. It could be a series of pictures with a strong narrative content.

So, technically, anything set up for the camera would count.

As far as painting with light.....
These are from Oct. 26th:

That's some of the most un-messy writing/drawing with a flashlight that I've seen. GJ!

On the assignment, that's not what I got from your initial description at all! Instead, your objective seems to be to create a phony setting or story to tell with the camera. One of the more useful tools for that might be the flattening effect that you get with a telephoto lens. Such as making it look like a car is about to hit a pedestrian when shot from the side, but in actuality there are several feet (front to back from your perspective) between the two. But before you worry about how, you should worry about what scene or story you want to create. It's "Art!"

A car accident? A fight? A pastoral scene overshadowed by a giant menacing UFO? Perhaps a photographer being challenged by a property owner or police officer to give up his camera? The possibilities are enDless.

Hehe, Gambit... you made me think of something! Earlier this quarter we read an article that described photography as a preditory act... I thought it might be fun to stage another photographer in a stereotypical "preditor stalking prey" type situation. I.e. the lioness in the tall grass, or something of that sort. Or maybe a photographer right ontop of someone cowering from the camera and caption it, "going for the kill".

Otherwise work continues on Golconde... I think I have the building, now I just need a well exposed blue sky and 20-30 more self-portraits.