The final cut!

Wow. I am finally done my video. The process was very long but I really did enjoy learning how to work with video. I must say that I am quite happy with the final results. Bye for now.
Thank you Micheal for all your help during the term.

Donna

Video Madness

Wow! I have spent at least 6 hours a day for the past four days and have barely made a dint in the construction of my video. There is so much to learn, especially with moving to the fifth level computers and the newer version of premier. I do have to say that I'm finding the work alot of fun, but I just can't believe that the hours go by so fast...

Looking forward to tommorow and hoping I can make a large dint in the project.

Video assignment

Last night I had a hard time falling asleep as my mind was constantly thinking about the story board for the upcoming video project. Over the years I have collected tons and tons of video and still images and have never had the time to spend learning how to edit. I am looking forward to this assignment as it will help me in the future with creative video projects.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qjli6GYJi7I
The above is a youtube video that is similar to the idea I'm working with from my own trip to Paris to study art history in 2001.

Today

Today I'm sitting in the computer lab working hard to finish up my webpage. The process for me has been intense, with alot of time spent trying to figure out how to put it all together. Hopefully I will have it all together before Tuesday's class, at least this is my goal. I can hardly wait to get the site posted and to have it available to the general public for viewing soon.



Goodbye and have a great day!!!

Web page design

I spent the entire first part of my day selecting images to place into my web design. I'm finding the process a fun one. I have researched other photographer web sites to get an ideas as to how to approach mine. In the end I have decided that I would like to keep the site very simple, so all the focus will be on the photographic images.





My favorite web site was for Creatively Speaking Photography.

http://www.creativelyspeakingphotography.com/

Collage Project Results

The first collage you see was created with images from my first visit to a special place in Saskatchewan. This special place was where my Great Grandparents lived, a farm near Star City, Saskatchewan, this was the place where large family gatherings were held annually. My father died when I was quite young, so this was a place until I never knew existed until August 12Th, 2006. The second image was produced from a collection of evening images I captured while on a family vacation with my family this past reading week.

I found the collage project to be quite fun and it made me aware of the various ways one can approach collage. I don't think there is any right or wrong way to create a collage. It is up to the eye of the creator to play with images visually while deciding where to lay the various visual pieces that will make up the collage.

My next challenge is to design a web page for my business. I'm excited about the process and looking forward to seeing the final result. However the process is a very, very, large learning curve for me as I seem to find it hard to keep up with the pace in which the class seems to learn this new information. I think this is because I did not grow up with computers and have spent little if no time working with them. The only experience I've had on a computer is with photoshop, but that's o.k. because as a result I am being pushed outside my comfort zone. Learning is good...

Bye for now!

Daniele Sepe - Ederlezi

Almost done

This is the final stage of my assignment, I had alot of fun creating the collages. Tommorow is crit, yeh! It will be fun to see the variety of work everyone has created with this project.

Sample of grid collage.

Reading week

Reading week we decided as a family to escape Lethbridge and travel to Disneyland in Anaheim California with our five children. The holiday was great although we did experience a few "National Lampoon Vacation" moments we will always remember.

While on holiday I had the collage project in the back of my mind, and found myself in search of creative inspiration to photograph. My inspiration came one evening while we were in the "Disneyland California Adventure Park" at night. I became inspired by the colorful glow of the various lights radiating off the rides, signs, and various shops within the park. One spot in particular was a man made lake that was surrounded by several rides which created a reflected collage of color, melding and dancing together on the waters surface.

Camera in hand I set out to capture these magical lights, all the while wishing I had brought my tripod along, as it is hard to hand hold a camera and not have blurred images later.

Home, back to the routine of school, the business and motherhood. Tuesday's class inspired me to create a "grid style" collage with a few of the image I captured in the evening light while on holiday. I thought the project would come together quickly, but was surprised at how time consuming the project turned out to be in reality. Maybe it is because I chose to create the image on a larger scale, silly me...

Self portrait

I approached the topic of self portrait from three different places that I feel expresses my true self and where I am today. The first image I was inspired to create had to include all five of my children as they are a huge extension of my self. Everything was clear in my mind from the very beginning as to how I would take the photograph and later artistically enhance it. I knew that I wanted to be the main focus in the image and to do this I chose to present myself in a simplified color style with a gaze directly at the viewer. With the children, I chose to have their gaze
away from the viewer, and presented them in a grainy black and white finish, to create less emphasis on them. In the end I was quite happy with how the image turned out but felt that I needed another image to show how my internal self feels at this particular time.



While on a day trip to the mountains, I was inspired to document various groups of poplar trees, I loved their long skinny trunks and the vertical pattern they created by being lumped together so closely. Inside I was feeling a strong desire to paint the trees on a vary large canvas to recreate the vertical pull I was feeling. But reality set in ,and at this point in my life I have too many other commitments to my family, school, and my two creative businesses, no time. With this piece I wanted to recreate the emptiness I was feeling inside after having to suppress these creative urges. To achieve this feeling I decided to make myself void of color, my gaze was off in the distance not wanting to interact with the viewer. The three canvases are also void of color as they wait as I do until a place in time when I will be ready to fill them. You will notice that the trees, paint brushes and camera lens are full of color, this is because they are always there waiting for me to just get to it and paint. The day I pick up the brush is the day I will be filled with color as well as the three canvases, I will be alive once more in my creative soul.



The third image was created to show an artistic rendering of me today. I was surprised at how fast this image came to completion. During the creative process I played around with having the image in color, but in the end I decided to keep it simple and present the image in black and white. Overall I think these three images really depict me as the person I am today, at this moment in time. A mother, a creative person longing to be more involved in the creative process and me, just me.

creative process

Collage

Just finished viewing several different approaches towards collage by various artist's. At this point in time I'm leaning towards this artist's approach as I want my collage to have personal meaning and significance.

Fun Image

Last night I worked on my creative process and feel happy to be almost finished. As I was searching images on the internet this morning I found this one, which mimics how I am going to feel after the crit on Thursday.

photoshop path exercise

Paths is a great tool to use when wanting to select a specific area in an image, especially after a great demo by my prof. With this image I also learned to work with layers and opacity, to create the interesting red patterned overlay on the image. This effect really creates the mood in the final image. The only negative I have at this point is that photoshop is an addicting program, with endless possibilities for an image, created by the great variety of tools and because of this a person loses track of time.
Help!!!

A great photography website

This evening I spent several hours going through photographs created by masters of fine art photography, from the old (Walker Evans) to the new (Andrew Eccles). While searching through these great photographers images, I found Andrew Eccles website and really liked the format that was used to create his site, so I thought I would leave the link. http://www.andreweccles.com/

Photo by:

Andrew Eccles

Interesting self portrait video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bt55oePiI4


This is an interesting video on self portrait. The variety of creative approaches the artist has used to alter her image is inspiring. It has me thinking of my own self portrait and how I would like to approach it.

Photoshop

Today's class was action packed with new photoshop information for me to process. Photoshop is a great software program with so many ways of altering an image. The limited self taught information I had with the program at the start of class has been greatly expanded, Thank-you Micheal.....The new tools will be invaluable to me and my business in the future.

"Maranda"

January, 2007

Photo by: Artist's Touch

www.corbijn.co.uk/images/photo_blackim_u2.jpg

I'm inspired by Corbijn's work.

Research

http://www.betterphoto.com
http://www.ephotozine.com/photocomp/index.cfm?Compid=18allery.asp
http://www.npg.org.uk/live/index.asp

These sites have some great images that I find inspiring...

Inspiration

• The image above is the photograph I was referring to in my previous blog by photographer Diane Arbus, entitled "Family Albums", which has inspired me to incorporate my own children into my self portrait.
• My approach will be different as I would like to add a modern digital twist to the finished piece.
• I really enjoyed reading the chapters on color and using color from the Fundamentals for New media book. It has really helped me understand color and how it has evolved in this age of New Media. This understanding of color is a very important base.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061207/FEATURES/612070341/1010

The Process

"The Boys"
Photograph by:
Donna Bilyk

• Thursday class was exciting and at the same time a little scary as I can feel a huge learning curve coming on. My brain was in overload mode at the end of the day which caused a major headache, but that's o.k.


• My new assignment is a self portrait. I have a million ideas passing through my mind when I think of a self portrait.


• Research is the best part of this project, as I scan the work of master photographers of the past and present. One photographer that stands out for me is Diane Arbus and her photograph titled "Family Albums". This image of what looks like a mother and daughter has caused me to think about my own children and how I might try to incorporate them into my image.


• The world of photography is amazing especially now in the age of digital.


• Here is a link I came across today http://www.masters-of-fine-art-photography.com/

All About Me!

My Bio:

• I was born and raised in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.



• In 1989 I was married and moved to Calgary, Alberta with my husband where he began a career in banking and as a result I have moved every two years.



• I am the mother of five beautiful children ranging in age from the youngest 7 to the oldest who is almost 17.



• I will be turning 42 this year.



• Outside of school I take care of my children and operate my own business as a professional picture framer and professional photographer.



• Life is good.

Aspirations:

• I have chosen New Media 2020 to aid me with my business so I will have the ability to create a web page to showcase my work.



• As for goals I have many. My priority at this point in my life is complete my BFA.



• After this I want to focus on the business for a while and eventually work as a full time artist creating fine art in a variety of mediums.



• Finally as retirement comes nearer I would like to open a bed and breakfast with a tea room and small art gallery with beautiful flower gardens. As a creative person I am drawn to all types of creativity from gardening to interior design, painting, photography, sewing and the list goes on and one day stained glass.



• At the end of this course I would like to feel comfortable with the programs I will be introduced to so I will have the ability to continue using the information for years to come to better my business.

Technical Skills:

• I currently work with Photoshop CS for my digital photographic needs and have taught myself how to use the program up to this point and realize that there is alot more I could and need to know.



• I have no experience with any of the other programs.



• I have access to both digital still and a mini dvd camcorder.

My Favorites:

• To be honest I am not a reader. I read only to educate myself when needed and of course I read to my children. I am a very visual and right brained individual and find that I learn best my doing. Hopefully in my next life I will be more left brained so I'm a little more balanced. Ha, ha...



• My favorite books, that is a good one. The first book I ever really read from front cover to back cover would have to be the Celestine Prophecy it held me until the end. I also enjoyed Angela's Ashes and The Artist's Way.



• Films: I have always loved Gone With The Wind, Mr Holland's Opus, and our family film tradition at Christmas, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation.



• I enjoy magazines as they are visual. My top three are Style At Home, Canadian Gardener and The Artist's Magazine.