Short Listing

During my time in China I took a monstrousness amount of photographs. With subject matter and theme varying wildly from family snapshots to fast pace panning photographs. All in all, I took 2608 photographs. Since I was shooting RAW file format to preserve as much shadows and highlights, I frequently had to transfer my shots onto a portable hard drive.

Here's a screenshot of a thumbnail of a selection of shots that took.

This is only a very small portion out of the 2600+ photos taken.

As you can see on my personal blog, I have uploaded a selection of photos in numerous posts from China.

http://s2-jonathanlim.blogspot.com/

Couple of photos are shown below.

Jonathan Lim.

My next post will outline which photographs I have chosen with a small explanation on why each one was chosen and why the order of the photos are like that.

My interpretation of Cycles.

Like said in previous posts, my interpretation of 'Cycles' will be based upon the Chinese workforce routine that I observed during my stay in China.

During my stay in China (term 3 holidays) I witnessed a culture that was so totally different to the culture we see here in Australia. Especially in means of transport. The use of motorcycles and bicycles in China is great, it's used in abundance in comparison to Australia. It's somewhat scary at times, especially when crossing roads. When the walking sign is green, it doesn't mean you have to walk. Cause there would be motorcycles zooming past and even at times cars would selfishly try to go through packs of people walking by. Here are some images which perfectly depict what I'm talking about.

Of course from here, I made the link between transportation and work/commercial elements. Because I thought to myself, people are using this transport to get to places. Most of the time these places involve the exchange of money, whether it be working in a factory, go shopping, watch a movie or even paying to enter a tourist attraction. They all link back to the idea of money spending. 

Therefore, I thought of a concept that would depict the daily routine of a worker in China. This concept is foundational on the theme of transport. I have taken many photographs that connotates movement and transportation, which are found on my HD.

So all in all my concept will show the cycle of the Chinese workforce through the main theme of movement/transportation.

Jonathan Lim.

Presenting - Outline

Here's a photo that I really like (I found most photos that inspire on flickr.com)

Okay - I realized that the organisation of this blog quite uh messsyyyyyy.

But yes. Recently I decided in discussion with my teacher - Mr Lane - how I am going to present artworks to my peers. I have decided to print out A3 sized coloured prints on paper through the use of the school colour laser printer.

Therefore, all works that I'm going to print off have to been in a suitable colour space, resolution and size to allow maximum crispness in the resulting piece being printed.

• All images have to be sharpened properly
• Image resolution and pixel size must equal to A3 size of 297mm x 420mm
• DPI (Dots per Inch) should be at 150 as a minimum, increase if permitted
• Make sure the colour space is RGB (the standard colour range for laser printers.. i think)
  
  

So yeah - I have to give Mr Lane the images a few days before hand as it will take some time to print them off.

Future posts will talk more about my concept of cycle in this unit and look at some of the artworks that I have shortlisted for this unit.

Jonathan Lim.

more

giru.

I have chosen to display a 4~7 photographs from my trip in China. 

I have already uploaded a # of photographs on my online flickr account, which is linked below.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/glimjo/

--

.

The China story in recent years has been all about its booming economy. But the latest chapter in the superpower saga is focused on the darker side of its rise: low wages, poor working conditions and the inability of workers on the factory floor to protect their rights.The scrutiny follows a series of incidents, from strikes and demonstrations to a spate of suicides among workers at a plant run by Taiwanese-based Foxconn Technology Group, in Longhua, near Shenzhen, where about 300,000 are employed to make components for big selling products, including iPhones and iPods.

--

Giru.

Seasonscape - Inspiration Works

This is a very strong example of theme 'cycles' in a very literal contextualization.

This a good digital art work making use of the season of cycles.

Good use of colours.

Composition - symmetry

The artist name is Alexuiss.

Working

CHINA

- Talk about the Chinese workforce.

The cycle concept coming out of the daily routine of someone part of the workforce.

e.g. Transportation (Panning and long exposure sh0ts)

Busyness in the streets - through blur

Conceptual meanings (Fence shot, signifying restriction)

Things that occur during work

Deeper meaning of cycle rather than just the literal meaning.

Talk about the revolution of the Chinese economy affecting world product prices. ++ somewhat relate to Chinese employee conditions.

Photographs that don't only offer stunning aesthetic features, but deep conceptual messages of the subject matter.

Inspirational Artist:

Brack Collins

3~8 photographs side by side. Montage.

1980x1080 } Mac screen resolution.

Possibly add instrument music to accompany the photographs.

Sentimental Scenery - Oriental Snow

Sentimental Scenery - Sentimental Scene

--

Using many shots from my trip in China. Shots can be seen in my online photo album on flickr. (link provided below.)

--

Talk about artists that inspire / make the foundation of my artworks. Explain how these artists' style/concepts translate into my artworks. 

Alex Lim

Alex Lim

By Jonathan Lim.

A warm photograph of my brother. Inspired by many bicycle photos. This is  homage to my brother.

Alex Lim I

During a walk in the park, I took a some of photos of my brother and sister riding bikes/scooters using my Nikon d3000.

My favourite photo was this one.

EXIF Data:
- Nikon d3000
- 1/125
- f/3.5
- ISO 200

The lighting is quite bad, that it was I had to spruce it up in Adobe Lightroom. In addition to this, I shot this in RAW. Therefore, making it very flexible in editing.

1. Changed the temperature of the photograph; made it warmer.
2. Increased the brightness and contrast
3. Increased the recovery and fill lights
4. Increased the clarity slightly and increased the vibrancy a lot.
5. Added a 'S' curve, which added slightly more contrast.
6. Added a warming tint, on low opacity
7. I changed the saturations of certain colours in the photograph to make it feel more natural. - orange, yellow, green & blue
8. Composed the photograph, by cropping and rotating it.


From here I moved the image to Adobe Photoshop CS3.

1. I applied image onto a new layer, blurred it heavily, then set the layer overlay and decreased the opacity. This gave a heavenly feel
2. I added a Levels adjustment layer to make image brighter
3. I dodged the face of my brother
4. Sharpened it.

Bike Photographs - Inspiration

Declan McGarvey III

This photo means a lot to me. It's a photograph for my best friend, Declan McGarvey. It's entitled Declan McGarvey... because it's a picture of Declan.

The eyes are very striking and vivid, even though it's in black and white !

"The eyes strike into my soul" - Tynan Reeves.

This was the response I intended to get. I want to show the pureness of Declan's personality. He is a good mate. It is a black and white piece, again, to take away the unneeded layer of complexity. This brings out concentration to the his eyes and other facial features.
This work was inspired by photographers all over the web, they inspire me. Especially those who post their photographs on flickr.
I enjoyed this type of photography; taking portraits of people. It makes me want to invest in buying my own zoom lens, for my Nikon body.

I used the rules of thirds to compose my artwork, I placed the eyes level with the top third of the canvas. This again, to add better focus and aesthetic.
The blur in the background - bokeh - came out very well, I'm pleased. It really isolated the subject.

I feel that this photo is a good because it brings out Declan's pureness, as a person and as a friend.