Objectives:
1. Learn about the importance of the very common object - “photography” in which creativity plays a vital role.
2. Case studies on three different kinds of creative photography varied from plain people to professional photographers, and find some relations with both creative thinking process and ideas from the text books we have discussed.
3. Explore meanings and insights behind the case studies, and learn a lesson with a comprehensively understanding on how to break out of our creative shell to embrace all the possibilities that are available in daily life.
4. Intrigue people to think creatively on how to they apply this creativity or what they learned into their creative life.
Course content:
1. Importance of photography for creativity
2. Case studies on 3 different creative series of galleries
3. Discussion and Implications from the case studies
A. Importance of photography for creativity
Definition:
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film.[1]
Photography is undoubtedly one of the most important inventions in history. It has truly transformed how people conceive of the world. Now we can "see" all sorts of things that are actually many miles -- and years -- away from us. Photography lets us capture moments in time and preserve them for years to come. As one will say, photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving.
As in today’s modern society, photography has been defined as one of the members in creative industries, which has great influence on our societies harmonious and economy. Essentially put, the creative industries have been seen to become increasingly important to economic well-being, proponents suggesting that "human creativity is the ultimate economic resource,"[2] and that “the industries of the twenty-first century will depend increasingly on the generation of knowledge through creativity and innovation."[3]
Creativity is one of the essential elements to great nature photography. A good photo remains one of the most powerful expressions for creativity. Because of the flexibility on angles and perspectives, people could gain a unique way to see a different world by using creativities on taking photos, which help you to see the world better and to adopt a new point of view on it. This new point of view can thus become a real source of innovation and creativity.
B. Case Studies on creative photography
From a professional perspective
a) “Cinemagraphs” by Jamie Beck & Kevin Burg
Cinemagraphs was created by visual graphic artist Kevin Burg and photographer Jamie Beck. A Cinemagraph is an image that contains within itself a living moment that allows a glimpse of time to be experienced and preserved endlessly. Marrying original content photography with the desire to communicate more to the viewer birthed the cinemagraph process. Starting in-camera, the artists take a traditional photograph and combine a living moment into the image through the isolated animation of multiple frames. In other words, Cinemagraphs are still images that capture motion within a still frame. As supermodel Coco Rocha said, "it's more than a photo but not quite a video".
Jamie and Kevin named the process "Cinemagraphs" for their cinematic quality while maintaining at its soul the principles of traditional photography (Relation, scratch for ideas from current ideas –“Creativity is more about taking the facts, fictions, and feelings we store away and finding new ways to connect them.”(Tharp)). Their common goal is to find life’s subtleties and use those elements to enhance and make an image come alive. To quote the words from Burg:
“We take the storytelling element of photography and give a little bit more information, which can bring the viewer closer to the subject, or illuminate a particular concept in a new way.”
2. Case studies on 3 different creative series of galleries
3. Discussion and Implications from the case studies
A. Importance of photography for creativity
Definition:
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film.[1]
Photography is undoubtedly one of the most important inventions in history. It has truly transformed how people conceive of the world. Now we can "see" all sorts of things that are actually many miles -- and years -- away from us. Photography lets us capture moments in time and preserve them for years to come. As one will say, photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving.
As in today’s modern society, photography has been defined as one of the members in creative industries, which has great influence on our societies harmonious and economy. Essentially put, the creative industries have been seen to become increasingly important to economic well-being, proponents suggesting that "human creativity is the ultimate economic resource,"[2] and that “the industries of the twenty-first century will depend increasingly on the generation of knowledge through creativity and innovation."[3]
Creativity is one of the essential elements to great nature photography. A good photo remains one of the most powerful expressions for creativity. Because of the flexibility on angles and perspectives, people could gain a unique way to see a different world by using creativities on taking photos, which help you to see the world better and to adopt a new point of view on it. This new point of view can thus become a real source of innovation and creativity.
B. Case Studies on creative photography
From a professional perspective
a) “Cinemagraphs” by Jamie Beck & Kevin Burg
Cinemagraphs was created by visual graphic artist Kevin Burg and photographer Jamie Beck. A Cinemagraph is an image that contains within itself a living moment that allows a glimpse of time to be experienced and preserved endlessly. Marrying original content photography with the desire to communicate more to the viewer birthed the cinemagraph process. Starting in-camera, the artists take a traditional photograph and combine a living moment into the image through the isolated animation of multiple frames. In other words, Cinemagraphs are still images that capture motion within a still frame. As supermodel Coco Rocha said, "it's more than a photo but not quite a video".
Jamie and Kevin named the process "Cinemagraphs" for their cinematic quality while maintaining at its soul the principles of traditional photography (Relation, scratch for ideas from current ideas –“Creativity is more about taking the facts, fictions, and feelings we store away and finding new ways to connect them.”(Tharp)). Their common goal is to find life’s subtleties and use those elements to enhance and make an image come alive. To quote the words from Burg:
“We take the storytelling element of photography and give a little bit more information, which can bring the viewer closer to the subject, or illuminate a particular concept in a new way.”
 |
| http://cinemagraphs.com/ |
Creative process:
“There's movement in everything and by capturing that plus the great things about a still photograph you get to experience what a video has to offer without the time commitment a video requires.” - Burg
Jamie Beck’s first few animated images were sequenced still shots looped in rapid succession which is a fairly common way of making an animated image. Then she began utilizing more fluid motion isolated in certain parts of an image to capture a moment of time, but also to un-freeze a still photograph by showing that moment's temporal movement (Ideation).
Even though the concept of animated GIFs is as old as the Internet, the ones that commonly appear on the web are often mediocre and even tacky. However, Jamie Beck’s, have an amazing atmosphere instead which has elevated the art of animated GIFs to a more creative and touching step (Wisdom).
Launched virally through social media platforms Twitter and Tumblr, both the style of imagery and terminology has become a class of its own (Wisdom). The creative duo are looking forward to exploring future display technologies for gallery settings as well as pushing this new art form and communication process as the best way to capture a moment in time or create a true living portrait in our digital age while embracing our need to communicate visually and share instantly (Further Ideation, Fruition).
Discussion:
How their creative process relate to the principle of creativity we’ve talked about in class? (Ideation, Relation, Wisdom, Fruition) How about Tharp’s ideas?
From plain people’s perspective
b) “Mila’s Dream” by Adele Enersen
When babies take naps, busy mums generally sigh with relief and either fall on the sofa exhausted or use the time to clean up the mess left behind by the baby when it was awake. But what happens if you’re a creative mum who is on the maternity leave? (Showing the video “Mila’s Dream”from YouTube.)
If you’re like Adele Enersen from Finland, who is a copywriter of an advertising agency as well as a housewife, you might grab your sleeping baby, some clothes and your camera and let your imagination fly. While her daughter is soundly asleep, she create a completely different world form whatever she can find around her!
Creative Process:
When Mila was born she slept almost 18 hours a day. Most of the pictures that Adele took of her were sleep pictures. Once, Mila fell asleep on the floor in a funny posture, and Adele’s musician husband Lasse Enersen placed a conductor’s baton in her hand which made her look like a little fencer. The couple found it very amusing and next day Adele decided to take the idea further, so while Mila was sleeping Adele took some pillows and blankets and created a little forest on the floor, put Mila in the middle and took a photo. Their friends and family responded to it with glee, so Adele decided to continue making more.
All of the images in Adele Enersen’s dream photography are created around clothing and fabric items like clothes, towels, umbrellas and toys; they include typical dream cliches as well as some abstract visions. In the photos, Mila may be fishing, playing with pets, hanging on a clothes line, riding a horse or an elephant, playing in blossom as a butterfly, flying as a pink superman, or playing some musical instruments. From creating ideas to implementation and editing, each of the photos is finished within a few minutes.
As she described in her blog:
“This blog is my maternity leave hobby. While my baby is taking her nap, I create scene around her and take quick snap photos.
I use only few minutes per picture, including creating idea, implementation and editing, 'cause I don't want to disturb her sleeping and most of my time is for my family. My camera is small and inexpensive Canon IXUS 750.”
Yes, only a small amount of leisure time and an inexpensive normal camera could produce nothing but so talented and amazing creative works! While some people waste their time on wandering their meaningless minds, or investigating how can they shoot great photos from only the professional cameras, this Finland mom instead picked up every trivial thing she could find around herself and created this cute and eyeball-catching photography. So what are you waiting? Just do it!
Discussion:
Talk about what you have learned from this creative mother, you can either make comparison with Jamie and Kevin’s Cinemagraph or relate it to our previous class discussions, or propose your own idea.
c) “Today’s Levitation” by Natumi Hayashi
This is gallery of photographs by and all featuring Natsumi Hayashi, a Tokyo teenager who takes hundreds of pictures of herself jumping until she captures just the right one where, instead of jumping, it looks like she's levitating. Natumi Hayashi‘s blog featured all kinds of normal photos of herself, her pet cat, friends and Tokyo sights, but on September 16, 2010 she posted a photo entitled “Today’s Levitation” and Hayashi has become an Internet sensation that.
All of the images in Adele Enersen’s dream photography are created around clothing and fabric items like clothes, towels, umbrellas and toys; they include typical dream cliches as well as some abstract visions. In the photos, Mila may be fishing, playing with pets, hanging on a clothes line, riding a horse or an elephant, playing in blossom as a butterfly, flying as a pink superman, or playing some musical instruments. From creating ideas to implementation and editing, each of the photos is finished within a few minutes.
As she described in her blog:
“This blog is my maternity leave hobby. While my baby is taking her nap, I create scene around her and take quick snap photos.
I use only few minutes per picture, including creating idea, implementation and editing, 'cause I don't want to disturb her sleeping and most of my time is for my family. My camera is small and inexpensive Canon IXUS 750.”
Yes, only a small amount of leisure time and an inexpensive normal camera could produce nothing but so talented and amazing creative works! While some people waste their time on wandering their meaningless minds, or investigating how can they shoot great photos from only the professional cameras, this Finland mom instead picked up every trivial thing she could find around herself and created this cute and eyeball-catching photography. So what are you waiting? Just do it!
Discussion:
Talk about what you have learned from this creative mother, you can either make comparison with Jamie and Kevin’s Cinemagraph or relate it to our previous class discussions, or propose your own idea.
c) “Today’s Levitation” by Natumi Hayashi
This is gallery of photographs by and all featuring Natsumi Hayashi, a Tokyo teenager who takes hundreds of pictures of herself jumping until she captures just the right one where, instead of jumping, it looks like she's levitating. Natumi Hayashi‘s blog featured all kinds of normal photos of herself, her pet cat, friends and Tokyo sights, but on September 16, 2010 she posted a photo entitled “Today’s Levitation” and Hayashi has become an Internet sensation that.
As Hayashi said in one of the interviews, it was an English idiom that inspired her to take the first photo of herself levitating - ‘to have one’s feet firmly planted on the ground’. But since she doesn’t consider herself a practical person she chose not to have her feet firmly on the ground in her self-portrait photos, to show how she really is.
“In being free of gravity in the pictures, I am also not bound to societal conventions. I feel as though I am not tied to many things and able to be my true self.”
What makes Hayashi’s photos so popular is her natural expression and pose which has you wondering if she’s actually floating. But the Japanese teen swears she’s no magician, so how does she do it? “The only way to get a right timing for a shot is jumping a lot,” this quote from Hayashi herself dispels our hopeful illusions that she's the first human being who can actually fly. As soon as she finds the perfect spot for her shot, Natsumi sets the self-timer on her Canon EOS 5D Mark II, or asks a friend to press the shutter, and just starts jumping, and continues to do so until she achieves that perfect, natural-looking “levitation.” "Sometimes I need to jump over 100 times to get a right shot."
Learn How to take "Today's Levitation"
(Posted by Hayashi on her blog http://yowayowacamera.com/pineapple1/)
² Equipments and shutter speed
Camera body: Canon EOS 5D Mk2
Lenses: Canon EF50mm F1.2L USM, EF24-70mm F2.8L USM, PENTAX 67 lenses (with adaptors)
Tripods: Gitzo's rapid-pole 3 steps with ball heads (from 1980s)
Shutter speed: 1/500 sec. or faster (1/320 sec. can be used in a darker condition)
² With a self-timer
EOS 5D Mk2 has a 10sec. timer as its longest timer set up. This means that I can get away as far as 10 second distance from the camera after I press the shutter release button.
First, I get a composition and a focus manually.
Then I press the shutter release, run to the right position for a levitation as checking the camera's blinking red LED counts down 10 seconds and jump by my intuition.
In this manner, I need to jump over and over to get the right shot.
² Ask someone to press the shutter release button
When I take my levitation farther away from the camera than 10 second distance, I ask someone (mostly my friend) to press the shutter release button. First, I ask my friend to be a stand-in in a proper position to get a composition and a focus.
Then I go to the position to levitate, and my friend come to the camera (we switch our position) to press a shutter release button in time with my jumps.
C. Discussion and Implications
a) What can you see from these 3 photographs? Are they creative to you? Which one is the most impressive for you, why?
b) How can we learn from their creativities? If you are an expertise of some industry vs. if you are just normal people in daily life?
c) How will you put their creativity into your daily creative life? Habits like photo shooting, painting, dancing, etc. (Further: How to break out of our creative shell to embrace all the possibilities that are available in daily life.)
d) Other implications?
Reference:
[1] Spencer, D A (1973). The Focal Dictionary of Photographic Technologies. Focal Press. p. 454. ISBN 240 50747 9.
[2] Florida, Richard (2002), The Rise of the Creative Class. And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure and Everyday Life, Basic Books
[3] Landry, Charles; Bianchini, Franco (1995), The Creative City, Demos
[2] Florida, Richard (2002), The Rise of the Creative Class. And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure and Everyday Life, Basic Books
[3] Landry, Charles; Bianchini, Franco (1995), The Creative City, Demos
