GEM Research Project Synopsis

The City by Lori Nix

Upon arrival to the museum, I initially skipped the room with the old cameras because I was more interested to see the actual art. Naturally, I ventured through 700 Nimes Road and the National Parks Exhibit, and though the images were beautiful and intricate, none truly evoked a raw emotion that made me want to learn more and explore. However, when I went into the old camera room, I ran into  Laundromat at Night(2008) and was both disturbed and intrigued. As an artist, I've always been somewhat attracted to destruction and chaos due to my innate need to try and fix things, so I was immediately drawn to this image. I thought...What happened here? What does it look like now? and so many more unanswered questions.

After just minimal research, I discovered that the image is not of a real scene, but of a carefully designed and created diorama. The artist, Lori Nix began her work as a photojournalist, but soon realized she was much better at creating than capturing. She grew up in Kansas, where natural disasters were a commonplace, and she was inspired by many disaster films such as Planet of the Apes, Towering Inferno, and Earthquake. After her first series called, Accidentally Kansas, she moved to Brooklyn where she was in awe of the intricate and enormous architecture.

So began her creation of The City. She wanted to capture what it would look like if New York City were suddenly destroyed and void of human life. She created every one of the dioramas in this series in her living room in Brooklyn with her partner, Kathleen. The duo worked well together because Lori typically came up with the idea, the color scheme, and what would be inside the diorama, as well as make the items out of foam. Kathleen was a trained glass artist and would create intricate glass detail, gild items with gold, and make the diorama look aged with dirt after everything was in place. Each one would take about 7 months to make and 2 to 3 weeks to shoot. Though her images often look surreal and edited, Lori refrained from using digital editing softwares and said that she would instead place the camera in one spot and never move it all throughout production. She would play with the lighting and the placement of objects to achieve all of her fantasy-like affects. 

In her biology, she says she the purpose in much of her work should "should elicit some form of emotion in the viewer, be it awe, anger, or humor." She plays with the idea of destruction and the apocalypse, but aims to add a touch of humor in each of her compositions, as well as the recapturing of the earth by nature through the vast amounts of flora and fauna in each scene. Another intention of hers is to make each diorama as detailed and real as she can, however; she says that once people realize it is fake, they feel more comfortable with the idea of destruction and have often opened up to her about their own stories of depression and more. 

I am grateful I had the opportunity to explore such an amazing museum and home and was extremely enamored with the work of Lori Nix. I look forward to upcoming series such as Unnatural History, which is coming soon. 

Works Cited: 

http://www.lorinix.net/ :Bibiolgraphy and Q&A sections

http://search.proquest.com/docview/1471987775/fulltextPDF/BB9F0E4E1A9045B1PQ/1?accountid=13567

Nix, Lori, and Barbara Pollack. The City. 1st ed. Seattle, WA: Decode, 2013. Print.

Bailer, Juli Cho. Fresh: Contemporary Takes on Nature & Allegory. Vol. 1. N.p.: Museum of Glass: International Center for Contemporary Art, 2006. Print. Context.

http://muse.jhu.edu/article/504158/pdf

Summer Playlist

One of the most amazing feelings in when you can listen to a song and it'll take you back to a specific moment or time in your life. This summer, I spent about a month in Mexico and my friends introduced me to so much new music that I absolutely fell in love with. I had this playlist on replay for about a month after I left and have recently rekindled my love for it. In the middle of this snowy week, songs that remind me of a warm and sunny time are always needed. If you either speak Spanish or are into music regardless of the lyrics feel free to give it a listen! 

Favorites: Poli Love- Zoé, Nada-Zoé, Brillas- León Larregui, Palmar-Caloncho, Labios Rotos-Zoé, Dime Ven-Motel

https://play.spotify.com/user/12165935605/playlist/1XfExJjGTc9cIpeCEWGLvo

Week 15 // Chairs

As part of the sculpture class at Sage, one of their tasks was to make functional chairs. I was asked by a couple friends in the class to take pictures of the final product for their website, so I thought I would put them on my website as well. For Hannah's chair, I chose to make the background in black and white because it doesn't look too faked or unnatural and it draws just a little more emphasis on the chair itself.

"Look at Me!"

Joey's idea for the final project inspired me to look through my old images for gems that I had originally discarded. So, I ended up finding many odd images which I gained new appreciation for, but this one was my favorite. As part of an old portrait project, I did my sister's makeup (which she hated) and told her to pose for me. I had originally chosen more traditional shots where she was looking at the camera, but this one struck me as more interesting and delicate when I looked again.

Week 14 // Join the Trebellion Live

"I'm in a blue haze"

This week you guessed it...more on Trebellious! My favorite acapella group had their winter performance and it was absolutely breathtaking. They asked me to take pictures while they did their thang on the stage and it was actually quite difficult. For this project I used a 70-200mm zoom lens for the first time and it was very helpful for getting good action shots without getting on stage with them! The lighting was pretty difficult to manage because it was very low light with pieces of brightness creating random highlight, but it was nothing a little post-production touch ups couldn't fix. 

Its been a pleasure this semester, Trebellious! Excited to see whats coming up!

Week 13 // Milagros

The snow has arrived and it looks like its here to stay! I had the chance to be able to take pictures in the snow for the first time for the lovely Milagros Luna. I had soo much fun shooting with her; she is truly a ball of joy despite our freezing noses! For this shoot I tried a new software called NoiseNinja for the first time as well because I have been finding my pictures to have an excessive amount of noise and wanted to try and fix it post-production. It seemed to work relatively well and would recommend it! Excited for the next 5 months of winter wonderland!

roots

Dia de Acción de Gracias

Since my arrival on campus, I have felt my Spanish speaking slowly deteriorating because of my transition from speaking it everyday at home, to only every few days on the phone with my parents. Though it was very last minute, I am so grateful to have been able to come home and rekindle my language skills while spending a lot of time with my family. I have regained a new appreciation for my Mexican descent with our beautiful dinner complete with posole as well as the traditional turkey. Can't wait to come back again in a month and spend some more time in the California sun.

Week 12 // Join the Trebellion

Once again this outstanding group of people never cease to take my breath away. I spent some time in the underground doing promotional shots for the vocalists' big performance coming up. Instead of talking about the technicalities this week though, I want to express my appreciation for these people. 

This shooting environment was one of the most vivid and the most fun to be in since I've started taking pictures. Being surrounded by so many people who are so passionate and so caring really made this shoot as amazing as it was. Each and every one of them work to lift and inspire each other, and I've never really seen anything like it. At the end of the session, there was one moment where someone just started singing and spontaneously began an underground rehearsal and it was absolutely breathtaking. I feel so lucky to have been able to work with such amazing and inspiring people and I thank each and every one of them. 

Hopefully more on Trebellious soon!

Week 11 // Holocaust Memorial

"Those who have perished have been silenced forever. Those who witnessed and survived the horrors carry with them the burden of memory. 

Through their voices, we seek to comprehend the acts of inhumanity that can stem from the seeds of prejudice."

"To remember their suffering is to recognize the danger and evil that are possible whenever one group persecutes another. As you walk this Freedom Trail pause here to reflect on the consequences of a world in which there is no freedom -- a world in which basic human rights are not protected. And know that wherever prejudice, discrimination and victimization are tolerated, evil like the Holocaust can happen again." 

A beautiful excerpt from the Holocaust Memorial in Boston, where the stories of several survivors are displayed on the inside of glass chambers engraved with the millions of serial numbers tattooed on the Jewish people. A truly remarkable structure with a tragic message as a reminder to all of us that if we do not remember our past, we are bound to repeat it. 

How to Be a Human Being

How to Be a Human Being

I've been particularly obsessed with Glass Animal's new album recently, and haven't stopped playing it on repeat for about three weeks now. With its messages on the negative influences of materialism and superficial life goals along with unique beats and flowing melodies, this album is an amazing work of art. Favorite song: Other Side of Paradise. Anyone who isn't familiar with this album or any of Glass Animals previous work should really give it a listen!

Week 10 // Empire State of Mind

"Where is Central Park?"

Shot from the top of the Empire State Building when we went to the City for a team trip! Thanks to our lovely alumni, we were able to get VIP access to the 66th floor on this beautifully cloudy day. This was my first time seeing this view during the day, so besides the gusting wind and rain, this was an amazing experience! This was shot on my phone in order to avoid getting my camera wet and breaking it.

Week 9 // Trebellious Headshots

A wonderful group of talented vocalists! Trebellious invited me back to take their headshots for the website and I was thrilled. I used a tripod to create a steady frame and a 50mm lens with a large aperture of field to focus on the portrait and blur the background. 

More on Trebellious coming soon!

Week 8 // Former Model

"Let's go to the most red tree we can find" -Bruno

To a Californian like me, and a Brazilian like Bruno, trees that are any color other than green are quite close to a otherworldly. So naturally we want to capture our first autumn experience and share it with our friends and family back home. This was taken at around 4 on an over cast day, so in order to capture the red tones more richly I set my camera on Cloudy mode. I used a very low aperture to create that short depth of field, and blur the red leaves in the back. For this image, I played around a lot in Photoshop. After I color corrected the image to make the reds brighter and more contrasty, I selected his eyes and brightened them. I created a more exaggerated catchlight by using the dodge tool on the existing one. 

Week 7 // Trebellious Workshop

"Green like American Money" 

This week I was invited to take pictures for a Trebellious acapella teaching workshop. While this shoot was very challenging,  I had a lot of fun submerging myself in the environment and trying to become invisible among all of the amazing vocalists. 

The lighting in the room was extremely difficult to manage because there was only a few, white fluorescent lights and the rest of the room was poorly lit. Since there was such low light, any of the Aperture Preference, Shutter Preference, and Manual settings were unable to meter well enough to sharply capture the movement of the room while still having proper brightness, and I always try to stay away from using flash. My fix ended up being to set my camera on Sport Shooting mode. Though many of the images were brighter than desired and very contrasty, I told myself to focus on capturing the space and playing with angles and to fix the light in Photoshop. 

The changes I made in Photoshop ended up making all the difference and turned a mediocre shot, into a photograph. I first used all of the basic tools such as Contrast, Levels, and Curves to improve the image quality. However, the tool that made the biggest difference was the Hue/Saturation adjustment toward the red end of the spectrum to reverse the effects of the fluorescent lights. I then selected the entirety of the piano, everything on it, and Rachel. I took the inverse of the selection and used Field Blur under Blur Gallery to create the blurry background and allow the viewer to really focus on Rachel. 

More on Trebellious coming soon!

Week 6 // Meliora Weekend Aftermath

While I missed Meliora Weekend for a game in Chicago, the setup seemed absolutely extraordinary. Massive tents on all quads and open spaces available; only the best for the alumni. I happened to capture the tent halfway taken down, and was attracted to how broken it looked due partially to the lighting, the leaves on the ground, and the cables and wires everywhere. I didn't have to do much metering or too much editing because the lighting was overcast, so the camera captured everything fairly well. Hopefully I can experience this famous weekend next fall!

Week 5 // Sans Humans

"People use desks to study?"

Unlike most people, my desk space is strictly for clothes I'm not wearing, papers I'm no longer using, and makeup. I was attracted to this shot and this angle because I gravitate towards converging lines in vertical shots. Another thing was the lighting in the shot because it is so soft, yet so angled that it creates sideways shadows and highlights. Being from San Diego, I'm so used to having it guaranteed that if the sun is out, it must be warm outside, so this 50 degree sunny day is a bit of a shock to me. In Photoshop, I had to use several tools, but mostly curves to tone down the highlight that the wall next to the window created. 

Week 4 // GEM

"The garden is absolutely amazing" -Dad

This weekend my dad surprised me all the way from California! We went to the George Eastman Museum where I took this GEM of an image. I was immediately attracted to the harsh quality of light and the shadows the windows created on the floor. I used a fast shutter to be able to make the image slightly darker. Also, in Photoshop, I darkened the image, bumped up to contrast, and played with Levels to make the frame of the windows darker.

Week 3 // Michael Kors

"I'm a fashionista...its like my job" -Emily

Shot inside of Emily's very colorful single dorm. The orange-tinted lights in the room made it harder to bring out any blue tones that were in her clothes, luckily most of her wardrobe is pink! In Photoshop, I used some Hue and Saturation editing, as well as increasing the brightness to bring more light to her face.

Week 2 // Lines in Douglass

"I only waited 30 minutes for this omelet" -Jorie

Shooting in the dining hall was interesting because of the quality of light. I had to switch my settings to Tungsten Light so that the picture would not be overcome with orange tones. Again, I used Aperture preference settings so create a shorter depth and place the focus on Jorie instead of the background. In Photoshop, I used Levels to decrease some of the shadows on the right side of her face.

What is Photography to Me?

Both texts highlight amazing points that I have not quite thought about so in depth within my three years of studying photography. I think it is amazing how versatile, flexible, and complex the meaning of photography is and how essential it is to everything. The first reading made me realize how nothing in any job field and area of life would really work the way it does without photography. The second text opened my eyes to how the media highlights everything negative that happens in the world instead of the small, positive things. If we spent more time focusing on the small things, our perspective on the world would be alot different than when we only talk about the catastrophe's that now seem like a daily occurrence.

To me, photography is a way of seeing the world in a completely different way. It is about creating extraordinary images out of the ordinary. I believe that there is a beautiful image wherever you look, wherever you are, and whenever you are there. It is mostly about creating the right way to look at the world. Since I have started taking pictures, I have transformed the way I view my surroundings. I notice angles in architecture, textures in plants, and colors within everyday objects that I would have just glanced over before. Photography is a method to slow the world down and really focus on the details that make life so beautiful.

Week 1 // Senate Campaign

Kamel, Leif, and Devin asked me to take their pictures for their flyers to run for Senate. I waited till the afternoon for better lighting through the trees, and headed down to the foliage by the Genesee for the background. Despite my lack of a portrait lens, I set my camera to aperture preference and used a 3.5 opening to create short depth and a slightly blurred background.