Man's Best Friends
For my project I wanted to keep it simple as if it was just a moment of time where everything was calm and relaxed.
I started with the base image of my daughter's dog Selene standing and resting in between zoomies in their back yard. I then added my own cat Finley just because he is my buddy and is always cleaning in the funniest ways so I thought it would be a nice light-hearted addition.
I then used elements from four different photos from The Library of Congress, the main being the tent with President Lincoln and General McClellan. I liked having the seriousness of Lincoln and the General juxtaposed with two companion animals. It speaks to the basic idealization that dogs and cats have been by our sides for such a long time, even during difficult periods.
I decided to stick with black and white versus adding a sepia tone to align with the images I used for inspiration.
-Kim
This artwork above mine, A Man's Best Friends by Kimberly Ballinger, features the original post of the backyard with a lovely dog. This dog seemed the focal point, but other elements completed the overall theme. Even though the dog isn't moving, there appears to be a heavy blur, allowing for minimal definition of the dog's features. Since the dog is outside in the backyard and the sky is often white, the image doesn't contain nearly enough details within the sky. There are obvious details within this piece that contain cracks running from the left side of the composition. The edges of this composition are distressed, also containing several scratches alongside the tent and the trees. The composition also adds the elements of smudges in the top right corner. The elements that gave the piece a little depth were the shadows within the grass and the blur within the trees.
ReplyDeleteMy original interpretation of this artwork would have to relate exactly what the name of this piece is: "Man's Best Friends." The owners, and in this case, it looks like Abe Lincoln is sitting outside with another man. They, however, are not the focal point, it seems, in this composition. Since the title holds the words friends, I had the idea that it was more than one person's best friend. Abe Lincoln could be sitting outside on a sunny day, seeing the sky blown out. He is talking to his good friend while his other friend (the dog) is outside playing in the yard. The scratches and creases within the image allow the overall feel of this image to feel like the momentum of memories. Throughout the whole composition, however, there was one thing that I couldn't really make out, and that would be the small white thing on the left side. I would have needed to read the summary of what this piece is about to be able to tell that this is a cat.
This piece contains several wet plate collodion techniques. The depth of field in this photo is a little. However, it's just enough to obtain context clues about what this artwork could be about. This piece shows a very subtle exposure within the dog's back legs. I'm sure the original image was in color; however, the overall black and white feel of the image does create the element of a wet collodion. As shown in the corner, there are also some written elements that outweigh the image itself.
Overall, after reading the statement, the theme of this photo can be convincing; however, there can be several interpretations. The smudges and the edge degradation allow the viewer to see a physical memory of someone holding this wet plate. The subtleness of texture and scratches and the blurriness within the photo (such as not being able to see the details in the men's face) create a cohesive look to the wet collodion process.