Me - 2011

Part 1:

Composition: A dyptic of two pictures that present a subject lit with natural lighting from the back that comes through a curtain.In one of the pictures the subject is looking outside and beyond and in the other he is looking through a hand mirror to the audience.

Concept: Identity and how we portray ourselves

Method: Natural lighting on the background and carefully frame the camera to be able to reflect the face of the subject..

Motivations: I was just looking for a cool way to portray myself in a selfportrait that didn't looked like one or had like a cool effect.

Context: Identity.

Part 2

Interpretation: People were interested on the picture and they thought it was a cool idea.

Evaluation: I think that the picture was too dark when printed, which led the medium tones to be almost darkened and removed. Still, the dramatic effect of the lighting made a strong dramatic impression on the picture.

Extension: self portraits are really really fun and I can see myself playing with this idea in the future. Maybe even making it part of my style.

Los Chicos del A (The guys from Class A) - 2011

Part 1:
Composition: A polyptic displaying 36 pictures of 9 different characters in a single fashion, with dramatic lighting and all of them using the same single white shirt, tie and different elements portrayed by the same subject.

Concept: Nicknames and how we push people into these roles

Method: One single lamp used directed at the subject with a black background and the contrast of the shirt against the background make him stand out and focus all of the attention on the performance.

Motivations: Transgression. I think that I was pushed into a role that I was not sure that I wanted to portray and slowly, I've been trying to pull myself out of it. Years of feeling inadequate have made me come to realize that I was only role playing socially speaking and that we still do role play. But now that I am aware of that, I wish to make others be aware of this situation so they can get a hold of their script on this screenplay.

Context: Yearbook photos, theater and stage play.

Part 2
Interpretation: People were interested, thrilled yet somewhat they withdrawn to make any sort of comments. I think they did understand it and that's why they made more comments on the digitally enhanced series rather than this.

Evaluation: I think that some of the pictures can see the background sheet. I am not sure if I want to remove as this sort of element makes me remember of a theater or a stage which is, again, part of the concept.

Extension: self portraits seem to be fun and engaging because they have made me realize of so many things by thinking them out and performing them. I want to keep on doing them, but I guess that I should be more aware of posing and actually try to over express a little bit for the camera to make it obvious and easily readable.

The three identities of the gamer - 2011

Part 1:
Composition: A four piece picture that is based on Gee's theory of gaming. A single subject is placed naked on the background, then placed on first plane expressing emotions and a pixel version of that subject is placed in the middle. Finally, the fourth piece is the subject with a pixelated face playing out a videogame.

Concept: Videogames and theories on them.

Method: natural lighting and photoshop. All the pictures were taken with a natural lighting setting and in the most natural environment possible.

Motivations: Videogames are a huge part of my life and I wanted to convey something that spoke out personally and completely from the stand of videogame theory. I find amazing how this scholar described the process of playing as a three dimensional experience composed by the real self, the gamer self and the actual persona that you are imposed to play.

Context: Videogames and technology.

Part 2
Interpretation: People were intrigued and interpreted the way it was intended. People thought it was fun and cool.

Evaluation: The audience was interested on the piece, and even though they did not knew about the theory, they did understood the different roles portrayed here.

Extension: I like portraying myself in different roles and doing these personal roles that I play with every time I play seemed like fun. I might follow it for a final presentation.

I am (NOT) a Model - 2011

Part 1:
Composition: A dyptic of a subject reenacting poses from original male models with the subject wearing a mask made out of face cutouts from the original picture.

Concept: Take fun on Advertising photography

Method: Two lamps placed one on the back and one on the front, with a background halfway falling to give this appearance of "cheap" or "tacky" looking and the subject in this awkward and uncomfortable poses that are familiar on advertising photography

Motivations: Transgression. I am personally sick of these media images of how to look and how to be in order to achieve success. I wanted to do something that would counter attack them.

Context: Advertisement and the cult to "beautiful" boys.

Part 2
Interpretation: People were amazed, surprised and uncomfortable by the pictures..

Evaluation: People were interested by the pieces, however, due the small size they were overpowered by the other two pieces.

Extension: Again, I am done with social constructs by now. I can see myself playing with this fashion idea, yet my self-esteem and the audience will appreciate the fact of me going out of my comfort zone and not have more self portraits.

Fashion Forward - 2011

Part 1:
Composition: Two pictures that compose this idea of "fashion" in which the model is placed in awkward poses, ephimeral and somewhat funny.

Concept: Take fun on Fashion photography

Method: I used two lamps and my background wall. Most of the poses were imitation of "Haute Couture" fashion forward runways.

Motivations: Transgression. Me being a graphic designer and a communicator, I know of the little tricks and cheats that we do in order to make somebody look better. We deceive people into believing that the social construct that we present to them is actually real, when is just that: a construction.

Context: Fashion and the cult behind it.

Part 2
Interpretation: People were interested but not really that intrigued by the pictures, maybe because the other two prints run over them and were far more impressive.

Evaluation: The audience was interested and thrilled, yet they were not as drawn as to the other pieces.

Extension: I am done with social constructs by now. I can see myself playing with this fashion idea, yet my self-esteem and the audience will appreciate the fact of me going out of my comfort zone and not have more self portraits.

Blog Prompt 23

1. In what ways do you “construct” your identity? In what ways do you “perform” in your daily life?
I think that we construct and deconstruct our identities every day. Everyday we learn something different about us and in this learning we understand what we are and what we are not: sometimes due the reflections of others and sometimes due our own inner reflection.

2. Describe some ways in which your personal culture and social environments are “constructed”.
I got to say that comming from a different country has made me understand where most of my traditions, customs and socio-cultural environment comes from and where do I go with it. I really have understand the differences between this country and my own and with that I have also understood how things work socially speaking.

Even when you are trying to avoid all of the prejudices that exist, there's this social image that we have created about the social environment of each country and it's impossible to not come here and realize of this. Luckily my experience has destroyed that prejudice and now I realize of the full range of things that are happening socially speaking.

3. Describe some ways in which your physical environment/space is “constructed”.
I often believe that your room or your apartment is an actual representation of your mind. I remember also watching a video about creative people's desk: some of them liked the fact that it was messy but functional and others said that they preferred their desk to be neat and overly clean. Also this remembers me of the snapshot of two famous manga-ka (japanese comic artists) desk space: one of them was overly messy and the other one was overly clean which lead me to believe that as long as you feel comfortable, what you see is only a representation of your life.


4. In your daily life, what would you consider to be “real” and what would you consider to be “constructed/fabricated”?

When did this class got so Nietzchean/Kafka-esque or plain just Hesse-ian? And that's just what I answer, as I particularly wonder what is real and what is not. Right now, I have come to believe that the constructions are as real, that there's no real me but nothing than just a meta-construction that we've been having over the years. So, why to worry or bother about honesty if we are nothing but a construction? (Note to self: There are moments and events where honesty seems like a rule even between two constructed human beings)


5. Describe a narrative tableaux that you might create to be captured by a photograph. A narrative tableaux can be defined as “Several human actors play out scenes from everyday life, history, myth or the fantasy of the direction artist” ( Constructed Realities: The Art of Staged Photography Edited by Michael Kohler , 34).

I have been thinking on this story/game about a boy (me) going inside the Tanzpalanz (The Magic Theatre from "The steepen wolf" novel) and fights off his inner demons, all of them representations of his (or my) love life, making a point across how sometimes we go around saving others without even caring about our own needs. I have been thinking on turning that idea into an Art Game for my serious game design class as I believe it has potential.


6. Describe an idea for a photograph that includes a miniature stage or still life. A description of such an image is “The tableaux reconstructs events as in the narrative tableaux, but in miniaturized format, using dolls and other toy objects” (Kohler, 34).

I really really want to try out and do origami sets. I think they are cute, powerful and I want to try making a whole set with one color and one or two elements from another color. I really want to try that out, BUT my origami skills are zero to non-existant. So I need to think that carefully.

Blog Prompt 22

I really liked the video because that's the way I would like to work. If I ever find a job as compelling as what the video shows, I'm sold.

I find amazing how they used all the concepts of photography to create this virtual world and bring it to life. I find it amazing how they used all of the concepts to recreate a world inside the camera and inside the computer.

Do photographers should feel threatened by cgi?

I don't think so. There's something called "the uncanny valley", this theory represents why we as humans reject computer animated humanoid figures or robots that are too similar to human facial features and this is due the fact that our brain cannot comprehend them as "artificial", thus our brain only identifies as "humans", but humans who are not acting correctly, thus "sick humans" is the cognitive response to it. The first and most important cognitive stimuli is the survival instinct that ls imprinted on all of us humans, because of this instinct, we "avoid" (or sometimes fight) things that are going to harm us or make us sick. This is the main reason why we reject these images.

In photography there's something that even digitally enhanced pictures cannot cheat and it's a honesty beyond words. This need of honesty and capturing that nature is what originally drove photographers and keep them pushing the boundaries artiscally and technically and that's why I think photography will not be replaced by computer generated imagery. It may on the other hand, enhanced just like in the video shown.

Blog Prompt 21

A. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of “news”-related photographs.
Usually they are snapshots: Usually are in the moment kind of happening, somewhat enhanced by the use of camera tricks like over exposure or shutter speed. I think this is by far the most honest category in which media uses photographs, as modifying these would take away the function they serve as news dealers.

B. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of “snapshots”, including family photographs, cell-phone shots, photos posted to facebook
The lighting is somewhat dim and usually comes from natural sources such as windows. It can also come from unnatural sources such as lamps. There is a sense of vouyeristic pleasure on them and I once red on the internet that these pictures makes you intimate with the owner in a very odd way, as they allow you into their intimacy just a little bit.

C. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of advertisement photographs, including fashion photography, product photography, etc
Everything is artificial, and apparently, the more artifical the better. Which is probably why me and half the world doesn't like those pictures: usually the subject is well lit, with unnatural sources of lighting, make up and fancy clothes (or the lack of them) play a huge role on the picture, even sometimes more than the subject itself who also, happens to be standarized on what the "ideals" on beauty are. Also the usage of Photoshop or other photo enhancement software is expected and even encouraged.

D. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of film/movie and television stills.
What I find interesting on them is that visually the only thing they have in common is that they appear to be telling something, just in one frame they tell a story due the context, body language or lightining. Apparently, they are highly contextual as just one picture may develop a whole story and sometimes fans and readers alike make up their own stories just by looking at them.

E. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of yearbook photos, senior pictures, and team/club/sports group shots.
I am not completely familiar with yearbooks, however I think there's a lot of standarization: usage of the same lighting and background, the same pose, almost like 3/4, the pose is somewhat unnatural and usually the photo contains either a face pic from the chest up or a photo in a medium close up, covering from heads to the middle of the legs.

F. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of stock images. http://www.corbisimages.com/ http://www.gettyimages.com/
They are general and powerful. Every single idea of context is removed and are left somewhat ambigous as all the pictures have to be easily relatable to everyone. The other thing is that they have to be easy to read and easy to be understand in less than 30 seconds. When the subject is a human there are some poses that are usual on those pictures and sometimes made fun.

G. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of fashion photography.
The interesting thing on fashion is glamour: it has to be visually appealing in every way and photographers use all of the tricks they can get their hands on: good looking models, great lighting, great outfits, great make up artists, great photoshop artists... the point is to glamour you, to hipnotize you into this picture.

H. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of paparazzi shots or celebrity photographs.
Flash and the subject being "unaware" of the pescence of the photographers. There is an element of voyeurism in these pictures as the audience enjoys what is seeing and the subject being unaware of these intervention. However, most of the time these pictures are "acted out" and "paparazzis" are called on to do their job, sometimes, they even get to know the celebrities really good because of this.

Blog Prompt 19 - 20

#19. Can you think of anything that:

1) should not be photographed? Why?
The only limitation here is the mind of the photographer. I think even the most gruesome scenarios can be photographed, and the most surreal scenarios can be created in photography and with the adition of Photoshop or other editing software, it's just easy.

2) cannot be photographed? Why?
Again, only the limitation of the one holding the camera will determine what you can or cannot photograph. I think that outside limitations can be avoided with creativity.

3) you do not want to photograph? Why?
In the past I have stated that "I do not believe in the power of self portraits, nor in the power of my own self portraits because I find myself dull, boring and utterly unwanted". Those were the days of my teenage. The only actual difference from that day to today is that I am not photographing myself only, but myself portraying somebody else. I really like this idea and I would like to keep pursuing the self portrait idea.

#20 Describe at least one photograph that you could take for each of the following “place” prompts.

* An image of a fantasy/fictitious environment concocted from your imagination.

I have been thinking on doing this sort of place called "the Tanzpalanz" (The Magic Theater) inspired by the novel "The Steppenwolf" by Herman Hesse. I really liked the idea of a Theater where your mind dissolves into it's own imagery and it's own little world. I would imagine this place to resemble a theater with the courtains and the spotlight, but still be some sort of imaginary place, visually like a collage where photos, drawings and sketches collide to create a different world and where rules often don't apply.

Blog Prompts 16 -18

“I believe in the imagination. What I cannot see is infinitely more important than what I can see.” Duane Michals


Agreed completely. As a creative person it's not what it's phisically present what matters to me, but what is outside of me, what is unreachable and what I can push forward in order to grasp. That is what it's always important. However, this also poses to be a problem when it's almost unreachable. The best way to deal with this is to understand how far can I push it and how far can I go in order to get that idea or if I can switch it to something far more attainable.

“Photography, as we all know, is not real at all. It is an illusion of reality with which we create our own private world.” Arnold Newman


There are two photographies: one is the one that we as artist do and print or expose, the other is the one that is in the mind of the audience. When we see them, we understand not only the world of the author and what he wants to portray but ourselves as well as we look at it and how it relates to us in different ways, amazing or making us feel dread. Whatever the case, this is a work of communication between audience and author.

“Photography can only represent the present. Once photographed, the subject becomes part of the past.” Berenice Abbott


This is even philosophical as to ask, what is really the present and what is really the past? Thinking about it, there's really no time, but only interpretation. The minute you press the shutter it's gonna be past, and the minute after the shutter is completly closed is gonna be present, but once the photo is fully developed, again is back in the past. Can it really preserve a memory? Yes it does.

Recreation 04 - POPULAR MEDIA

THE FAME - MONSTER

When thinking about Popular Media, the first idea that comes into my mind are singers and artists. The spotlight. The stage. How they seem to be surrounded by this light and how they glamour us into this frenzy creatures. I am genuinely inspired and intrigued by Lady Gaga. I believe her randomness is part of what makes her success just as much as my randomness and quirkiness makes my own success.

For this piece I decided to "disintegrate" the image into the iconic pieces, becuase that's what we remember about them and what makes them popular icons. For me, being an artist is trading off your "realness" for something much more easily readable, like downgrading pictures from a high quality with all those little tiny details, into easy to be read pixels. I wanted to recreate the iconic look with cheap easy materials on my dispositions, such as my own clothing, in a way also meaning that I have the elements to become "Gaga".

Recreation 04 - Semi Contemporary Photographer

Semi-Contemporary Photographer


Andy Warhol

• Andy Warhol was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on August 6, 1928


• Born of immigrant working class parents


• Warhol showed early artistic talent and studied commercial art at the School of Fine Arts at Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (now Carnegie Mellon University).


• In 1949, he moved to New York City and began a career in magazine illustration and advertising. During the 1950s, he gained fame for his whimsical ink drawings of shoe advertisements. These were done in a loose, blotted-ink style

• His first one-man art-gallery exhibition as a fine artist[12][13] was on July 9, 1962, in the Ferus Gallery of Los Angeles. The exhibition marked the West Coast debut of pop art.


• The exhibit included the works Marilyn Diptych, 100 Soup Cans, 100 Coke Bottles and 100 Dollar Bills.


• It was during the 1960s that Warhol began to make paintings of iconic American products such as Campbell's Soup Cans and Coca-Cola bottles, as well as paintings of celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Troy Donahue, Muhammad Ali and Elizabeth Taylor. He founded "The Factory," his studio during these years, and gathered around himself a wide range of artists, writers, musicians, and underground celebrities. He began producing prints using the silkscreen method [15] His work became popular and controversial.


• To him, part of defining a niche was defining his subject matter. Cartoons were already being used by Lichtenstein, typography by Jasper Johns, and so on; Warhol wanted a distinguishing subject. His friends suggested he should paint the things he loved the most. It was the gallerist Muriel Latow who came up with the ideas for both the soup cans and Warhol's dollar paintings.


• He loved celebrities, so he painted them as well.


• The unifying element in Warhol's work is his deadpan Keatonesque style – artistically and personally affectless.


• Warhol worked across a wide range of media – painting, photography, drawing, and sculpture. In addition, he was a highly prolific filmmaker. Between 1963 and 1968, he made more than 60 films, plus some 500 short black-and-white "screen test" portraits of Factory visitors

Recreation 04 - Historical Photographer

Historical Photographer:

Nickolas Muray

• Muray attended a graphic arts school in Budapest, where he studied lithography, photoengraving, and photography.


• took a three-year course in color photoengraving in Berlin,


• In 1913, with the threat of war in Europe, Muray sailed to New York City, and was able to find work as a color printer in Brooklyn.


• 1920, Muray had opened a portrait studio at his home in Greenwich Village


• In 1921 he received a commission from Harper's Bazaar to do a portrait of the Broadway actress Florence Reed; soon after he was having photographs published each month in Harper's Bazaar.


• Between 1920 and 1940, Nickolas Muray made over 10,000 portraits.


• His 1938's portrait of Frida Kahlo, made while Kahlo sojourned in New York, attending her exhibit at the Julien Levy Gallery, became the best known and loved portrait made by Muray

• From here on, Muray and Kahlo developed an intense affair by 10 years, which ended once Kahlo decided that she was staying with Rivera and not with Muray, who married his fourth wife.


• After the market crash, Murray turned away from celebrity and theatrical portraiture, and become a pioneering commercial photographer, famous for his creation of many of the conventions of color advertising


• He was considered the master of the three-color carbro process.(Using Carbon and phosphorus to print pictures in a dark room)

Arcana No. 6 - 2011

Part 1:
Composition: Two pictures that compose one single idea of a "human" in a pasive stance waiting, and a human in a active stance, also waiting. Both of them are in the bed and are misterious, eery and surreal.

Concept: Based on "The Lovers" by Magrite.

Method: I wanted to create an eery love scene with both subjects being unable for the reader to relate, thus I took away all of the facial features. I wanted to convey a powerful scene, in which body language had an impact and to fool the audience.

Motivations: play, as in "fun" and as in "theatrical representation".

Context: I am thrilled, excited and lured by Magritte's "The Lovers" and everything surreal. I consider myself, as an artist, a surrealist

Part 2
Interpretation: People were surprised and taken back by it. It was difficult to read, yet it was striking and had an impact. The Active Lover had glasses which made people able to relate to him, however the Pasive Lover was much more surprising and striking for the audience.

Evaluation: Get better lighting. Try other poses. It's hard with no remote control on my hands and it's difficult to pose... however I really like how the pictures turned in.

Extension: I want to keep on "performing" for the camera, and try pictures that are striking, revealing, powerful and somewhat distinct than what we are often accustomed to see.

Nuevo Dia (New Day) - 2011

Part 1:
Composition: A man is looking on the left third of the picture through a window that enlightens everything around him. Sheets spread all over the floor can be seen as he walks over them with his bare foot.

Concept: Masks. Comfort.

Method: As I was looking for places on my home, I found that the window had a soft tone that I really loved and I liked how the light came in and illuminated everything on the floor. So I decided to portray that and take the "intimate" approach, as the scene looked really comforting. Then I added the idea of a shirt and a window, to represent how we portray ourselves to society and how society really watches us.

Motivations: Experimentation.

Context: Personally I am always interested on how we are in front of others and how we really are. I think we are unaware of the inner workings of our feelings, mind and everything behind that supports us, just as our feet, yet we suit ourselves to others.

Part 2
Interpretation: Not everybody got the concept, and it was a cool picture, though nobody really noticed it. I think it's due the fact I had too many strong pictures next to each other and the size wasn't really that big.

Evaluation: I think I am missing some details on the textures. I think a better camera or a wider aperture would have come in handy.

Extension: I would definitively pursue this idea of "masking" between what we are and what we present to others to what we are.

De la Luz (From Light) - 2011

Part 1:
Composition: A high contrast picture of a man walking towards the light. The aperture and the speed of the photography make the picture eery and misterious, shadows are seen, but the aperture makes the light fill in details of the stair that makes everything so heavenly like.

Concept: Mistery.

Method: Again, when presented with "places" I wanted to create places just by using little resources.

Motivations: Experimentation and play.

Context: When finding places on my house, everyday places, I thought of "Stairway to Heaven" and "Stairway to Hell" kinda concept for me to play with it. This is the Starway to Heaven.

Part 2
Interpretation: The same in "De la Oscuridad", the camera placing and the light made them not recognize if the figure is comming or going, though this "heavenly" aura was not completely perceived.

Evaluation: I think that in order to create the "heavenly" aura that I want to portray maybe I need a bigger aperture and less time.

Extension: I am not sure if I want to follow this whole place idea, however I like the idea of finding everyday places and turn them into dream like places just by using camera angles and lighting.

De la Oscuridad (From Darkness) - 2011

Part 1:
Composition: A high contrast picture of a man walking towards the light. The aperture and the speed of the photography make the picture eery and misterious as only shadows and silhouettes can be seen.

Concept: Mistery.

Method: When presented with "places" I wanted to create places just by using little resources. I found out that light and camera angle can create a powerful picture with no need to create or look for "fancy" places.

Motivations: Experimentation and play.

Context: When finding places on my house, everyday places, I thought of "Stairway to Heaven" and "Stairway to Hell" kinda concept for me to play with it.

Part 2
Interpretation: Everyone was surprised by the context. The camera placing and the light made them not recognize if the figure is comming or going. So I think I did a good job on portraying something "misterious".

Evaluation: I'd wish I had a powerful camera to capture all of the little details. But I think that I did ok overall.

Extension: I am not sure if I want to follow this whole place idea, however I like the idea of finding everyday places and turn them into dream like places just by using camera angles and lighting.