Archive for February 29th, 2012

Light Observation #4

DATE-TIME-LOCATION: Tuesday, February 21, 3:53am. My dorm room.

OBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: There are no lights on in my room, but it is illuminated by the glow of the street lights 11 stories below.  The light comes through at such an angle as to cast the shadows from the separations of window panes onto the ceiling in an irregular grid.  In 2 of these grids, Prince Henry, our morning glory, also casts his shadow as he hangs just below the blinds. Prince Henry’s leaves and stem, however, are casting double-shadows. As the heater that lies directly below blows, Henry quivers and sways, naturally making his shadow dance on the ceiling.

SUBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: I woke spontaneously, and rolled onto my back. I noticed the shadows from Henry on the ceiling, and then I suddenly felt as if I was being rocked. My head began to spin, and I was in that world between reality and dreams. The shadow seemed alive, pulsing perhaps, but reaching out to me. I was transfixed by the shadows, but it took me quite a few seconds to realize that all of this was the case because the source of the shadow was moving. Then I was brought firmly back to reality. I looked, saw the heater on, refocused on the shadows. The double shadow intensified the feeling of other-worldliness, but now, my eyes couldn’t be fooled and I watched the shadows dance and tried to get back to the sheerly emotional response I began with.

Light Observation #5

1. February 25th – 6:30PM – a side street in Jericho, NY

2. My car headlights

3. Saturday evening I was out running errands with a friend. The last stop on our list of places to go was Kohl’s, which is located in Jericho. We’d never ventured to that area before, so finding the store took a little while. We eventually got there though, and picked up what we needed. As we were about to leave, however, we realized that not only had the sun set completely, but it had also began to snow. Hard. As we were making our way back to Hofstra, we took a wrong turn and ended up on some side street devoid of any streetlights. The area all around us was pitch black; the only light visible was that from my headlights, illuminating the falling snow and the road in front of us.

The effect this light had was an immediate sense of foreboding. Coupled with the fear that was associated with driving in the dark/snow in an unfamiliar area, the light itself hinted at the unknown. You could only see what the headlights enabled you to see; everything else was a mystery. In addition to that, the only thing you really could see in the light was snow – falling madly, and in every direction. It created a sense of uneasiness, fear, and isolation. It contrasted greatly from my lighting observation from a couple weeks ago, where I witnessed snow being illuminated in a warm, almost romantic way. This light displayed the frantic snow, hinting at the harm it can cause.

Photo Observation #5 (Uncorked!)

 

2) Photo taken by Nic Christopher; March 12th, 2011.

3) THEME: One Light Source

4) DESCRIPTION: This photo was taken last year for my mom for mother’s day. I was experimenting with my camera and different lighting positions one day after school, and this is one of the many pictures I came up with that day. Originally, I was photographing the image in a light box with a single LED light shining and a 90 degree vertical angle. As I played around with the lighting of these corks I realized that one, direct light source was most desirable in order to capture all the three dimensionality and texture within each cork. I found that putting one incandescent lamp, hitting the object from a 90 degree horizontal angle gave a very interesting and almost tangible effect to the image.

To me, this image captures the essence of my mother. She is not an alcoholic by any means, she simply enjoys sampling wines from across the world. I chose to use corks as my subject as a way to relate to my mom with the composition; however, I also wanted to make sure I had an interesting subject to photograph. One other thing that is worth noting in this image is the way that the light caches the surfaces of the cylindrical corks. The rounded shape allows the light to blend from high intensity light to dark shadows, smoothly and gradually on each cork. The high and low contrasts help differentiate one cork from another and help show which cork is closest to the light source and so on. The grooves found within the wood catch the light wonderfully, enhancing the small imperfections within each one. The final thing that the lighting does for this photo is that with the one constant color from the one source is able to reflect off each cork and clearly define the subtle differences in color tone of each cork.

 

Light Observation 5.1 (The Last Touch of Sun)

1) 2/26/12 – 5:22 PM – Adams quad, facing east.

2) OBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: I was walking out of Lowe on saturday evening just as the sun was going down. The tops of Barnard hall and Davison Hall were lit by the sun and the rest of the buildings were in shadows along with the quad. The library was also lit up by the sun as well.

3) SUBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: I was working all day in Lowe on saturday. Finally at 5:00 I began to clean up so that I could go meet all of the people who were in tech for dinner before I needed to go to Vagina Monologues. I finally stepped out of Lowe on my way to the student center. The air was clear from all of the wind that day and the sky was mostly clear. The sun was just beginning to set and the shadows on the ground were becoming very long. I could tell that it was starting to get to be the time of day where the sun was low enough that the air began to feel colder and blue. The shadow of Lowe was being cast all the way across the quad and onto the building across the way. The shadow made it three quarters of the way up the building and made the quad feel cooler and more somber. The upper 25% of Barnard Hall was illuminated as the sun cut through the pollution of the long Island air and cast a burning yellow-orange color onto its walls. Davison hall seemed to match this phenomena along with a majority of the library.

As I walked through the “cool” air and darker shadows I looked up at the warmer “polluted” light that was being cast upon the buildings around me. Looking at these colors with their richness and intensity seemed to make me feel warmer just by imagining the sunlight hitting me as I walked through the quad. It was an amazing sensation to be in such a “cool” setting yet feel warmer, simply by responding to the light around me even though that light was simply out of reach.

 

Light Observation 5.2 (The Starburst Sunset)

1)  2/28/2012 – 6:22 – Just outside admissions building walking toward “Netherspan.”

2) OBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: I was walking back to my room and the sun had just set. The sky was blue and orange and the clouds were white and pointed outward in the sky. The blue and orange light split behind the netherspann so the upper sky was blue and the lower sky was orange.

3) SUBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: I was walking back to my room after class on tuesday to meet my roommate for dinner. I was quickly rushing from Lowe to the turnpike in order for me to cross the street and get to the netherlands as quickly as possible. I happened to glance up towards the “Netherspann” and then back down; I had to take a double take to look back up at the sky. The sun had just set and all of the typical “sunset colors” were strewn across the sky. The muted oranges, looking like watercolors were streaked across the lowest part of the sky. In the upper part of the sky there was a muted blue color that looked to be of the same watercolor look. From my vantage point, the “Netherspann” was dividing the sky; the lower part of the sky was the orange and upper was blue. The structure seemed to fall right in between the two colors to seem them together flawlessly.

What seemed to really enhance this image was the clouds. The clouds were light but covered the entirety of the sky. from where I was standing the clouds were able to catch the light from the sky in the perfect pattern that make the sky literally look like it was exploding from the lowest part upward, into the blue of the sky above me. This pattern looked like a starburst or like a metal explosion shooting white shards across the late afternoon sky. The clouds were hardly thick enough to notice; the moon was clearly seen above me but it was simply the angle that the sun was catching the clouds that made them glow white in all directions. It was a magnificent scene and one of the most beautiful sights I could ever imagine seeing (over Hempstead at least).