Task #5

For the final task I decided to take some photos of food that was at a wedding I recently photographed. They had some interesting finger food platters, all of which I couldn't eat (I'm a vegan) but it was pretty neat getting up close to the food, trying to distinguish certain types of food. It was all very vibrant coloured, very enticing and it probably tasted pretty darn good as well. I've never really photographed food before, it's not my forte but I thought it would be a good idea to try it out, see how it worked. It was an interesting experience, but it's not something I'd like to pursue. All it really did was make me hungry and want to eat a delicious plate of veggies or something yummy.

Task #4

The digital age is starting to take over and black and white film is seemingly going out of style. It's all about colours in so many different ways whether they're faded or overwhelmingly vibrant. People are starting to forget about the crisp, contrasting shades of gray, white and black that film creates and even black and white digital creates that same effect, sometimes more so than film. But digital will never compare to film but that's just my opinion (as well as some other fellow art students such as myself).
Black and white photography is a beautiful form of art and often times overcomes the power of colours because of it's ability to create such stark contrasts. Colour can become a bit oppressive unless it's serving the image a deeper purpose, as in colour either adds to the image or it takes away from it. Black and white is easier to read and fall into while colour can sometimes be overwhelming and bring your eye all over the image, becoming annoyed. That's what colour does for me sometimes, it annoys me and I just want to the simple quietness of black and white.
For the images above, I went for a creepy Alfred Hitchcock horror vibe, playing with lights and complete darkness. I wanted viewers to see this image and think of a movie or film still that dates back to the times of black and white films, without the colour factor like in Wizard of Oz, the beginning of coloured movies. I'd honestly rather work in black and white, but I suppose I wouldn't say that if I were blind to all things colour and could only see in black and white. If roles were reversed I suppose I would rather see colour over black and white all the time. It's a tough call really, colour works sometimes when black and white doesn't. Black and white works when colour is too overwhelming and in your face.
When it comes down to it, I suppose that colour and black and white tend to balance each other out, to a certain extent. They both work in so many ways and really it's up to the person using colour or black and white to express a certain moment or concept of which the person is trying to express. It's rather confusing to me, this whole black and white versus colour ordeal.

Task #3

I was really excited to do this project because instantly my head was filled with so many ideas and I was so inspired by the trippy-ness from 'Enter the Void' and decided to try numerous things. I ended up choosing this image of a guy in his kitchen, whipping his hair around and adding the tri-colour effect. I took three images of Rob standing in different spots in his kitchen and then layering the images together in photoshop using the red, blue and green channels to add the crazy colours. I then messed around with the saturation and colour balance to take this image a step further and make it more extreme. The purple cupboards and the saturation of that purple create such a bizarre effect, almost like the cupboards themselves are growing some sort of abstract molding. I think this image I've created is rather surreal and I definitely have the potential to take it further and explore more. Maybe even take it outdoors during the day and night and see what kind of things I can create. Stepping away from people might help as well to create a more surreal affect projecting from the mind. Tricolour is really interesting to me and has recently been playing a big part in my work. I think that this image is a better direction for me in regards to just simple tricolour portraits. The colours represent more of a tri-colour effect and creates a better understanding of what tricolour looks like when the movements are subtle.

Chapter 3 Chromophobia Response

1.a) Batchelor says that, "Colour is disorder and liberty; it is a drug, but a drug that can intoxicate, poison or cure. Colour is all of these things, and more besides, but very rarely is colour just neutral."
After this statement, Batchelor goes on to explain the fact that chromophobia and chromophilia are both opposites but also very similar at the same time. He says they are quite alike in shape and how the positive value of colour is striking in chromophobia in a way of femininity, oriental, cosmetic, infantile, vulgar, narcotic, etc. He says that it is not 'blocked, stopped or turned around. Because of these things, chromophilia comes into play showing the exact opposite of what chromophobia stands for which is chromophilia increasing the power of colour while chromophobia dulls it down a bit, plays it safe. Batchelor states that, "Chromophobia might not really have its opposite in chromophilia; chromophobia might be seen as simply chromophilaes weak form. That is to say, chromophobia recognizes the otherness of colour but seeks to play it down, while chromophilia recognizes the otherness of colour and plays it up. Chromophobia is perhaps only chromophilia without the colour."
1.b+c) I believe that Western culture experiences both chromophobia and chromophilia around the same time they come into contact with colour. I think that people want to play it up with colour and go all out full force but then they become afraid of colour and stick to the safer more neutral side of the colour spectrum. Only some people have the bravery to stand out with colour so they're on the chromophilia side of things while others are chromophobes and just stick to beige.
2.) A real world example of what my interpretation of colour laying beneath the surface would be of a lake in the Canadian Rockies of a lake where frozen gas bubbles are stuck beneath the frozen surface.There are so many shades of blue in the image below and the colours signify ice, cold, freezing, chilly, snow.

Another real world example of what colour is like on the surface is crayon painting where crayons are literally melted onto the surface of a canvas. The example below shows the crayons dripping down the canvas; the colours are all of the rainbow and are literally on the surface, they are in-depth or deep below, the colour just sits above and doesn't delve deeper into anything much like the ice and bubbles in the above image. It's a difficult question to answer because I take it as literal as possible.

3.) A fall into colour example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOCgXlRkmKk&feature=youtu.be
This example comes from a movie called Party Monster which is all about the rave scene and how it began. Lots of drugs and dancing involved and a ton of colour. The story begins with a boy who is plain, simple and boring who then meets another fellow who is vibrant, outrageous and bursting with colour. The simple boy begins his fall into colour by involving himself in the life of raving and partying and becomes a spectacle of colourful ridiculousness. As he sinks deeper and deeper into the world of vibrant glitter parties, he also sinks into drugs and becomes surrounded by the trippy craziness that drugs create. In other words, the drugs magnify colours and make everything that much intense and therefore he becomes consumed by the world of spectacular colour.
4.a)When Baudelaire states that colour has the power to be autonomous he is saying that colour has its own government or that it acts independently and freely. It flows freely and is everywhere and sometimes unavoidable.
4.b)The image below is an example of colour as being autonomous, it is flowing freely, lapsing on top of other colours and existing in a way that appears complicated but simple.
5.) David Sylvian's Artificial Colouring featuring a bunch of packaged candy bags which also contain artificial coloured candies and treats is a good example of colour producing a sort of terror because not only do we ingest the artificial colour inside of the bags but the bags themselves are made up colours, they are not of natural creations. That's scary to me, ingesting colour that is made of chemicals, it fills me with a certain nervousness and fear.

6.) The concept or theory that struck a chord with me is on page 60 of Chromophobia where Batchelor states that, "we have come at colour from many different directions; we have seen it seep into the world and flood over it; we have seen it rubbed out and covered over; we have seen it kill and be killed and give life and deny death. But whichever way we have come at it, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that colour is a very peculiar other, and that it is almost never less than other. We usually expect or demand of otherness that it be marked in some way, the better to distinguish it from our fine and cherished selves. As often as not, that has come to mean a physical mark of some kind, in order that a spatial separation can be made, at least in the imagination. The other is over there: geographically or physiognomically distinct. But the other that is colour is everywhere: around and in and of us, a part of everything we see every day in our every waking moment," stands out the most to me. I do believe that most people live and breathe colour; it affects everyone differently but similarly, whether it affects the mood or the way a person views their surroundings. I embrace what he says because it makes the most sense to me out of what I've read of the book so far. I love colour, I see everything in such a vibrant and positive way that when he states that colour is everywhere and is in our every waking moment, I believe it to be true and understand what he saying completely.

Task #1

In this photographic image created by Rebecca Colangelo, it appears to be a self-portrait with splashes of random, almost neutral colours in big pixelated squares. There are deep shades of reddish brown, skin tones, two different shades of blue and a blotch of light pink. There are squares that are blocking out her face and all you can see of her is parts of her hair and her partial upper body. The background of the image is off-white and obviously by the above description, the image is in colour. There’s no real strong vibrancy of colour to the image, it’s rather toned down in brightness. She’s wearing a plaid shirt with a black sweater over top of the plaid as well. You can see a small glimpse of glasses on her face on the right side of the photo and on the other side nothing is shown of the face. This little piece of glasses is the only real glimpse of her face that is noticeable. Everything else is completely covered by the pixel squares.
For the connotative input on this image, and as a fellow photographer myself, I would assume that she’s avoiding the view of the camera upon herself because she might be one of those photographers who just doesn’t thoroughly enjoy being photographed. I also feel the same. So blocking her face out with the blocky squares of dark, neutral colours implies the idea of hiding herself. The colours could represent the certain parts of her face based on the placement of the pixelated squares. The brownish red squares represent parts of the hair, the skin toned boxes show parts of the skin on her face, the blue might represent either her eyes or her reflection on her glasses, the random light green square could be the colour of her eye or another reflection on her glasses. The repetitive pattern of squares correlate with the plaid shirt, which goes deeper into the idea that she is hiding behind a disguise. The stiff posture could be alluding to the discomfort of being in front of the camera lens and also adding to the idea that the pixels represent a form of wall, a covering of sorts so she cannot be seen.
It’s a very interesting image and definitely provides a captivation quality into the ways of which the photographer and viewer tie in together. Being in front of the camera is no easy feat and by blocking her face out, this comes across clearly.