#nterone

My digital media project is called Graffiti, Drugs and the Youth Today. It focuses on the issue of the dramatic changes of youths in this day and age and their expression through art. The photographs I’ve taken are from a warehouse located in Marrickville, NSW where a group of youths reside. The youths express their angst and emotions through graffiti (a controversial form of artwork) and drugs without the interruptions of authority and very little order. It’s true what they say; a picture is worth a thousand words.

My prior skills in photography were limited before this production although through experimentation I was able to produce a selection of photographs that I felt clearly expressed my project. In the production I was the photographer and editor. I used my friend’s Nikon d90 and Slik Pro 400DX tripod for capturing the images and then uploaded them onto a computer running Adobe Lightroom. Adobe Lightroom is an image management database that assists in the viewing, editing, and managing of digital photographs. Once uploaded to Lightroom, I was able to manipulate the photographs’ exposure and add filters to change each photograph to my desire. The photographs were then uploaded to my Flickr account and later on embedded into my Tumblr Blog. The production process ran very smoothly as the people featured in the photographs were not posing but acting naturally which I later discovered is labelled candid photography. The reason I chose candid photography over posed photography is because candid photographs are an outstanding way to capture the true emotion and portray the unaffected impression of a given instant. A posed photograph usually has the person putting on a façade while candid photography eliminates that. As these photographs weren’t posed, I had to take many photos in which I only choose 14 to illustrate my project. The process of choosing which images were worthwhile was a very tedious but vital part to this project. In the future if I was to do this project differently I would get a second opinion on the choices of photographs, as the choice to decide from was extensive. The experimentation of different camera angles and the ability to focus on specific detail allowed me to really have some fun with this project. At first I wasn’t really sure how to take a properly focused photograph as I was used to a point and shoot method of photography but with an SLR you are required to manually focus and determine shutter speed etc. After a quick tutorial from my friend I picked up the process and was able to produce a number of quality photographs. A tripod is a very useful tool in photography as it’s used to stabilize and hoist a camera, which eliminates unwanted blur and distortion.

I learnt that when undertaking a digital media production you must realistically plan your schedule. My proposal was to film a video on the charity Dreams2Live4 although this project wasn’t able to happen as to follow the participants of the charity would take plenty of time that I didn’t have. Although I am extremely happy with the end result of this new digital media project, I would like to undertake my initial proposal further on in my university degree. I learnt how photographs were correctly taken on equipment such as SLR’s and edited on industry-suited programs like Adobe Lightroom. I learnt how to upload to an online photo management and sharing website such as Flickr. As digital media productions are being created, edited and produced at all times, it’s interesting to see how I decided to direct my digital story. This digital story could be shared virally and people from all over the globe could view and comment their ideas on the story. My Flickr album would be seen by many people on a global spectrum if I shared it on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. I believe my digital media production would take off virally with the pop culture of the youth today as it explores the emotions behind graffiti and drugs which has always been an explored mystery by the youth of today. I incorporate the innovation of the youths as they made makeshift clothes hangers and use their creative minds to produce works of art on the walls of their home. I can only imagine what other innovative ideas and progressions to the warehouse will be.

"Snapfish is a web-based photo sharing and photo printing service that is owned by Hewlett-Packard. Members can upload files for free, and are given unlimited photo storage." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapfish

It's ability to both store your photos online and then being able to start a "project" with your photos, which includes printing them on photo books, cards, calendars, mugs etc. Snapfish allows users to organise their photo's into albums which makes it a lot easier to find certain images if organised into separate albums.

http://www2.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=5717009024/a=7379926024_7379926024/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Below is a video demonstrating how to upload photos into a photobook:

I have had minimal experience with digital video production and editing although I can operate the basics of iMovie and Windows Movie Maker through experimentation and the fact that both programs are free to use with your Mac/PC.

The development of digital media technology allows the average joe with his smartphone to record and edit their own production without the restraints of a multi million dollar producer telling him what to do. The ability to upload the end product to be viewed globally via Vimeo or Youtube shows the advancement of digital media technology.

The show Tosh.0 which airs on the Comedy Channel is an American television series hosted by comedian Daniel Tosh, who provides commentary on online video clips, society, celebrities, and other parts of popular culture and stereotypes. He uses funny videos from youtube and vimeo and adds commentary on top. The amount of videos on youtube means that Tosh.0 should never run out of funny material to commentate on as there is a database of millions of videos to use.

Here is a clip taken from the Tosh.0 show:

I have had minimal experience with digital video production and editing although I can operate the basics of iMovie and Windows Movie Maker through experimentation and the fact that both programs are free to use with your Mac/PC.

The development of digital media technology allows the average joe with his smartphone to record and edit their own production without the restraints of a multi million dollar producer telling him what to do. The ability to upload the end product to be viewed globally via Vimeo or Youtube shows the advancement of digital media technology.

The show Tosh.0 which airs on the Comedy Channel is an American television series hosted by comedian Daniel Tosh, who provides commentary on online video clips, society, celebrities, and other parts of popular culture and stereotypes. He uses funny videos from youtube and vimeo and adds commentary on top. The amount of videos on youtube means that Tosh.0 should never run out of funny material to commentate on as there is a database of millions of videos to use.

Here is a clip taken from the Tosh.0 show:

I believe all music should be freely downloadable and shareable globally with the ability to buy it if you feel the artist deserves it. Artists making music to make money instead of making music for the passion of it should not be considered artists but fraudsters.

I, myself, am not a producer or editor of any audio standard although a lot of my friends now are. With the current software that is available now, music production is limitless. One day when I have the time (and the patience) I would love to learn how to utilise these powerful production tools.

I can see the ethical and legal problems surrounding the illegal downloading of music, but in all honesty, it's impossible to stop it happening so why not embrace it as an artist. I believe the freely downloadable and shareable content will be heard by more people and therefore your name as an artist will be played more. Artists can make a LOT of money from live gigs which is where I believe they should put there focus in terms of making a career out of it.

https://soundcloud.com/gramatik/grizmatik-dlimf

ORIGINAL:

EDITED:

I sourced this image from my iPhoto from when myself and two friends travelled Europe together. As I don't have Photoshop or any other expensive image editing software I decided to try out the Mac default image editor called Preview. I was able to use the elliptical selection tool to select our faces then used a text box tool to add in the text. I then used a square draw tool and line tool to cross out the photo bomber. Finally I boosted the saturation to give that tanned glow effect.

Throughout school at Newington College, we were taught the basics of Photoshop and other digital image production and editing programs. The school computers had the whole adobe suite (which costs a staggering US $2,599) which allowed us students to try out different industry suited programs. I then used these skills that I had learnt at school at my job after school in which I set up and maintained a website for a swim wear company. Some tasks for the website included photoshop skills to change image sizes and to remove unwanted pixels etc.

I think if digital images are to be manipulated or edited by the news and information providers they should state clearly that they have done so. If not it's extremely misleading to the audiences of these information providers and can shape views based on fiction. With the power of these digital image production and editing programs, it can change the whole meaning behind an original photograph.

Is there a difference between an image and an illustration?

Image -  a physical likeness or representation of a person, animal, or thing, photographed, painted,sculptured, or otherwise made visible.                                      - http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/image

Illustration - something that illustrates, as a picture in a book or magazine.                                  -  http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/illustration?s=t