For our final photo project, each student was given 2 different names of 2 different tarrot cards. Our job was to represent these cards through photography. Once everyone made their 2 cards, we exchanged and each left with a full deck of tarrot cards. Here are my 2:

 

 

 

 

The Ace of Coins is a card that represents wealth and a new fortune. The tower is an ill omen.

 Amber-Alice

 Chelsea-Pocahontas

 Sheryl-Jasmine

 Carrie-Cinderella

 Kaela-Belle

 Kari-Mulan

 Jordyn-Meg

 Lexi-Ariel

Holden-Prince Charming

 

When we think of Disney, we think of happy-go-lucky,beautiful characters with happy ever after stories. What I wanted to show in this series was the side that viewers never get to see from these characters, and that is their dark side. Disney movies are not meant to be dark and scary, but the idea that they could be intrigued me to shoot this project.  When I think about the story lines Walt Disney created, there is a way to interpret them in the opposite fashion. There are two sides to every story, and I wanted to explore the question of, "What if Disney is truly interpreted in two different ways?" Personally, I have only interpreted the Disney characters above as I thought they should be... pretty, perfect, and fairy tale like. But, what if these goody good characters became their enemies from the stories? For example, Meg is known as the one who saves Hercules, but in my picture, she has become the one who holds the blue flames of Hercules' enemy, Hades. Likewise, Belle is holding a black rose signifying death, compared to the red rose in the story that keeps the beast alive. Also, most Disney movies are based and named after girls such as "Pocahontas, Alice in Wonderland, Mulan..etc." but there is one man in almost every Disney movie that people remember and that is Prince Charming. In most cases, Prince Charming is deemed as the perfect man with charm and strength, but lacks the identity Disney girls have. Therefore, the epitomy of Prince Charming is shown, but in a rather mysterious and less approachable way than normal. The black back drop on the characters releases the idea that maybe these characters don't have the bright and colorful story we all thougth they had. What if they have been their enemies all along? 

Peter Lik
Autumn Mist
Deer Valley, Utah

Peter Lik is a famous landscape photographer known for his exotic and vibrant use of colors along with panoramic landscape scenes. Born in Australia, Lik took a brave step and moved to the United States in 1984. Here he was introduced to the medium format panoramic camera. Completely self taught, Lik took off from there and began traveling the world to find the perfect landscapes. Some of his work includes pictures from all 50 states, shacks, forests, mountains, and rivers. I picked Peter Lik to write about because I have been to his gallery in Las Vegas, NV and fell in love with his work. Also, I watch his show on the weather channel from time to time. This particular shot is fascinating because of the yellow and orange that jump off the picture. Lik was in Utah searching for the perfect shot. He had an idea in his head of what he wanted but the weather was too pretty. So, he waited for days until a storm came over and finally got this shot in Deer Valley.

This shot is so mysterious due to the fog that hangs above the trees and seeps down in the background. The orange and yellow leaves are vibrant and cold at the same time and give the picture life from the gray/dead looking trunks of the trees. I don't believe this picture would have been as successful as it is if it was not a panoramic view. The panoramic view allows us to be involved in the scene and make us feel like we are there. What makes this picture so unique is that we could all go to this same spot, but probably not even come close to getting the same result. Lik captures such a unique angle and his style of boosting the natural colors is beyond anything I have ever seen before.

GIF Video. Shoes tying themselves forever.

Light painting. Here is my attempt to take one picture of someone who moves from one spot to the other in one exposure time.

Working with foil. I wrapped a camera up in foil and took a picture as if the camera was shooting me.

Morimura Yasumasa

Self-Portrait/After Audrey Hepburn 1

1996

Gelatin Silver Print

 

This photograph is by a Japanese artist named Morimura Yasumasa. Instead of creating his own styles and or subjects, he takes previously done art and puts his face into them. Examples are the Mona Lisa and Olympia. This photograph above is part of a series of photgraphs Yasumasa put together as self-portraits of himself, dressed up as legandary silver screen goddesses. This is obviously a depiction of Audrey Hepburn. Yasumasa explored these women in an unusual way. Everyone knows that these women are loved by others and are famous in their own way. What Yasumasa did was to see if these women could be just as sexy and flirtatious if they were men, and Japanese. By becoming these women, he became them, but also attempted to make them more exotic.

I find this series very interesting. One because of the idea behind it, but two, how much he looks like  these actresses. I had to look twice at some of these because I thought they were the real actors. His ability to dress just like these famous women, and the flirtatious attitude he gives off is spot on. I do believe he makes these women just as flirtatious and sexual as they were before because of his posture and his attention to detail. Audrey Hepburn's hair is spot on along with her makeup. Despite Japanese men usually being pretty skinny, Morimura is very feminine looking and can portray a great seductive look. It is his ability to dress the part, but also be the part in looks, and attitude that Morimura is very successful in his goal to explore famous women and portray them in a new yet similar way as before.