For the old is new challenge I decided to create a piece about childhood and me metaphorically driving away with it alongside Chuck E. Chuck E. Cheese is an important place to me in regards to how much time I spent throughout the years of my childhood there. I remember having a great time and this picture is literal gold, but I'm older now so I rely on good memories. The concept also plays on the concept of taking a trip down memory lane and is an ironic portrayal of my childhood. I wanted the photo to look worn out and smudged in certaina areas and like the ink didn't transfer hence the layering on the imagery. The only element appropriated from the Library Of Congress is the background image, everything else in the photo is either provided by myself or created with the use of adobe brush tools.
The work I am seeing is a young girl sitting in what looks like a car with a mouse mascot. The mouse mascot seems to be the recognizable Chuck E. Cheese. The two characters seem to be driving away on a dirt path. The young girl is driving, her face portrays a look of determination. With the edits and the photo itself, it gives off a very nostalgic feeling, especially with Chuck E. being a very old version of the mascot.
ReplyDeleteAs said previously this photo seems to give off a feeling of nostalgia. It is easily relatable to many viewers with Chuck E. Cheese being a pretty pivotal part of many childhoods. By using such a recognizable staple it is easy for the image interpretation to relate back to childhood. To add to this, the idea of driving away could be a way of depicting growth and leaving childhood, however with Chuck E. there along for the ride it could allude to not wanting to let go of childhood or allowing yourself to have an “inner child.” I see this as a way to fondly look back on your childhood with happy memories and not let who you were as a child fully leave who you are as an adult.
I think the wet plate technique really helps develop the concept of nostalgia almost in a dramatic way. I believe overall the wet plate collodion technique is very well done and believable, it is a good, square-like size and includes a short depth of field. I think realistically if this was made with a wet plate it would have been a pretty blurry photo because of the inferred movement that was taking place in the original photograph. One other minor issue I noticed was the edge of the hair on the young girl looks quite harsh, possibly using the refined hair button or some feathering would make that look a little more realistic. I think with wet plate editing you can either make it look really dramatic or you can be more subtle, I think the decision to be more subtle was the right choice for this particular picture. There's already so much to interpret that by having the edits be subtle it does not take away from the content of the photograph.
Overall I think this photograph is a beautiful depiction of nostalgia and the bittersweetness of growing up. I believe a lot of people will be able to relate and connect with this photo because of your use of an iconic, recognizable character. The wet plate collodion edits are subtle yet effective and noticeable. I feel there are only slight tweaks that would lead this to be even better than it already is. I think you did a great job!
In this image is a little girl sitting next to Chuck E. Cheese in his car. In the background is a curvy road. From assumptions I would guess that the little girl is around 4 years old. The central focus is the little girl and Chuck E. Cheese. The front of the car and the background are blurred out and there are scratches mainly across the top right side. Also noticeable is the edge destruction of the image to show how worn the photo is. The photo is also in black and white to give it a vintage appearance even though Chuck E. Cheese is a much more recent character.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your short concept summary I can see how this piece has fallen together. I think using a childhood photo of yourself is conceptually impactful. I like how you visualized the phrase “A trip down memory lane,” in your piece and you implemented that by manipulating this image of you and Chuck E. Cheese “driving.” I remember being a little girl sitting in that same car with Chuck E. Cheese thinking about how one day I would be big enough to drive so it seems meaningful to also be able to reflect back on that time of your life where everything seemed so much more amazing than it was. I think the picture of you is adorable, especially the little bows in your hair and how you are winking at the camera.
As far as your application and technique I think you did an excellent job masking the photo of you and Chuck E. Cheese and layering it over this image from the Library of Congress. I think the brushes you used applied a nice and subtle effect on the edges of the image to show that it was distressed and worn. You also over exposed the top of the sky which was smart because of how bright it is outside. I do wish that you had maybe blurred your head a little bit to show movement since it is a child and a child could not sit like that the whole time a wet plate takes to capture. The scratches were the perfect touch to fill up some of that space on the right side and compositionally works well with the rest of the piece. The little specks of dust are also nice details in your piece that complete this wet plate look. I personally think you did a great job on this project and you seem to have understood the requirements for this project.
Overall I think you did a great job not making the edits look digitalized, and you pieced the images together in a natural looking way. You have a good eye for detail and you applied textures to this piece very nicely. Like I said previously, the only thing I would have liked to see you play with is a little bit of motion blur to make it appear that there is movement in the photo.