The Infamous Place

I thought that title would sound intriguing, though I now think it's a bit of dad humor pun-age going on. I'm referring not to an actual place, but the "place" option in photoshop. I have struggled so much with it. I noticed double clicking locks it where it is, but I still haven't figured out how to isolate the image I'm placing and edit only that. Though I lock other layers below it... well, I'm figuring it out slowly.

The name of the game is Trial and Error, and currently Error is winning. I prefer to learn that way almost, because when something goes horribly wrong, there's that dramatic drop to the pit of my stomach like when Elizabeth fell off the fortress/cliff in Pirates of the Caribbean (1) and there's that DUN sound in the orchestra. I have these "DUN... ELIZABETH!!" (Commodore Norrington) moments all the time during my photoshop experiences. It makes it so much more lively! I recently reclaimed the creative suite I was waiting to license, so this is the beginning of a new era, a time to grow and learn.

I apologize for my off-beat attempts at humor, I do in fact have critical things to say. The letter project was a simple concept, but it was the small perspective adjustment I needed to start thinking about photography, image and text in whole different way - a conscious way. Before, the thought of font and image was just a minor subconscious acknowledgment. But I realize that all the time I've spent in the past trying to find the perfect fonts for my comics or illustrations, that is me deliberately trying to match the aesthetic and connotation of the font with the image or concept. Serif vs. Sans Serif... literary versus contemporary art zine? Working on The Catalyst the last few months (the design end of it), my layout director and I took days deliberating over which fonts belonged where. It's important, and we had a lot of feedback from old pros from the publishing industry. They all seemed to say the same thing - contemporary is sans serif, classic/academic/literary is serif. But we were trying to go for both, so we elected to use sans serif in the titles and continuity aspects, while using a subtle, clean serif font for the bulk text. A perfect example of the way text conveys meaning is on page 72 of The Catalyst, the Mermarlin story. The sans serif almost comic sans is used to represent online chatting (like AIM chat from back in the day) and the serif takes us back into the present narrative where the kid is actually in his room hiding from his mother. Because it is set in the midst of the "literary" text we have, the playful video game font is then transformed into an artistic representation of the computer game world rather than setting a tone.

InDesign is another way to accomplish text and image, though it's more cut out for posters, books, printed matter, newspapers etc. (At least that is my perception of it). This is what we used for the magazine, but I had never worked with photoshop for text. I had a lot of fun manipulating the text after putting it in, as an image almost. Instead of increasing the font size within the text box, click the group selection tool and depending on how you click on it, you can drag, manipulate or turn the box of text. The only thing that was bothering me was I couldn't figure out how to make the fonts more condensed or farther apart. I had seen it done on InDesign, but couldn't figure it out on photoshop. I was messing around with the effects to try and replicate bubbling, ebbing waves like a tidepool. I also used the font I used because it reminded me of The Little Mermaid capital lettering wavering underwater. I wanted that magical Neverland kind of feel, because it was a make believe magical kind of day. It's 18 seconds in: 

Here's my first draft of my photo project, but it's not done. It was more of a visual representation of the waves and whimsical environment I was trying to create within the poem, as a reflection of that. It does not necessarily go along with contemporary or clean layout design. It's more of an artistic formation of the words, meant to be read into and studied. It's less about making it clear. It's supposed to be a little bit of a challenge, because I want it to maintain a sense of mystery. I still haven't figured out exactly where I want to go with it. I would like to make a series of photos that go along with the poem (which I would add in sections) while also incorporating another poem about the fat little birds in another related photo. I used three images: 

Then, I used the paintbrush tool to add some blue to contrast/compliment the orange and gold. I also brought out the whites to try and sow the foam better. There's something really beautiful about found objects arranged. I did a whole series on it in NY recently, going through the garbage and putting found objects in environments out of context. For example, I hung an umbrella from a white ceiling upside-down with a light inside it. It functioned as a light instead of as an umbrella. The transparency in the fabric showed a different function besides blocking rain. The shells could be anything, but I saw them as butterflies or fairies to add to the whole Neverland imaginary world people sometimes allow themselves to indulge in. I found them near the butterfly preserve too. This whole scene was a charade, a moment of clarity which was underneath a lot of pretending. I hope I can convey that a little better in my second draft. Less text, and spread out over a photo series. That's the goal! Feedback would be much appreciated. Don't worry about sandwiching that criticism, I survived art camp, I can handle it. 

(I took out the poem, but here's the image. The text was over it like seaweed.)

I've gone to the beach several times to get the shots for the poem, but I keep finding more and more textures I want to overlay. I liked the bubbles, but I need to get my actual camera fixed so I can get higher resolution. Here are a few from my iphone:

The letter project was more interesting to me when there were people involved. Jaime's picture of the H on the back of the man was my favorite. People are attracted to people, and to show the interaction between person and letter can provide a lot more material for things like memes. The letter picture I took of Jahangir at the AS Bike shop: 

Now, excuse the horrible meme, but the point is that the letter became part of the joke. This meme is like an onion. It has layers. Inappropriate layers. But in the context of Isla Vista, it's funny. Especially for me personally, because I know some people in AS, so it's a funny joke because the people I know are pretty straight edge. The irony is killer. I also used the "associated student" as the subject rather than the "associated students bike shop" to add to it. 

For the Tagzedo project, I struggled a little bit with how I wanted to convey the moon effect. I'm still not pleased with it, because I don't like centered things, but I didn't really know how to fix it. This photo is in response to the last line of the poem "Something There" in previous image. I used the rock from above for the moon, and tried to make the letter circle ones look like album covers, and the other one just looks like some air and space museum book cover. I showed the crack intentionally. I think I like the first one out of the three the best. Still messing around with other textures. I used this font because it was similar to the one I used for the other poem, but it works well because it doesn't look too bubbly or pop art, yet still fills pretty nicely. I really like the way "LOST" appears the largest in the center. I messed around with the settings on Tagzedo to move the lettering closer together, inverting it, orienting it. I kept remixing until I found the combination I liked. It was also on the setting where the "I" and "THE" were taken out, so I went and deselected that setting. I got it to look pretty moon-rocky. I've come a long way since this project fortunately!

(Images Removed)

I was also trying to figure out how to work masks and clipping masks. Here is my unsuccessful attempt at that. Hopefully that will be sorted before I turn in the project.