Hello everyone! This is my second blog post for the Constructing Creative Communication project. I’ve already written one blog post for this project but that one was about my learning in the Carr section of this project which was about drawing and designing. This part of the project is about photography. In the last blog post about this project I talked about Emily Carr and drawing. But in this blog post I’m talking about Fred Herzog and photography.
Who or what is a Fred Herzog?
Fred Herzog (which is pronounced Hertzog) is a photographer who was born in Germany in 1930 and he immigrated to Vancouver, BC in 1953. He used a lot of colour in his photos and since most people were used to mostly black and white photos everyone was a little weirded out by his photos but, he eventually became celebrated for his pioneering street photography. If you want to read some more about Fred Herzog click here: Fred Herzog.
Our driving question for this project was: “Why is it important to use technology to further improve our ability to communicate and to think creatively?” and I believe I answered it by using the skills I learned. In this part of the project the skill we learned were: composing composition, adjusting angles, manufacturing mood, creating collages and moulding movement.
Skill 1 – Composing Composition
In this skill we learned about how to compose photos to bring them to life. We did this by learning to adjust focus and exposure, consider composition: the rule of thirds and background and foregrounds, editing in the camera app and using markup. The first thing we did was photograph something familiar, I chose my water bottle. The next thing we did was take a photo walk I really enjoyed walking around and finding cool things in nature to photograph. Then we edited those photos in the camera/photos app. Here’s a few of my favourite photos:
The last thing we did for this skill was creating a personified picture. With the photos we took of our familiar object we used markup to draw on them and make them into little characters. I feel like this skill really connected me to the adult world because we got to take pictures of actual things in nature.
Skill 2 – Adjusting Angles
In this skill we learned about how to adjust the angles to make our compositions stand out. We did this by using the photo both and timer, playing with lighting, experimenting with basic camera angles and using preset filters in the camera/photos app. The first step in this skill was shooting self portraits. They got a little bit silly because we got too use Photo Booth which has different types of camera angles such as; mirror, stretch, twirl and more. The next step for this skill was making a portrait. This entailed taking pictures of our partner using the basic camera angles. Here are the pictures I took of my partner (her blog will be linked at the end):
The last thing we did in class for this skill was creating a silhouette portrait which was a portrait of my partner and I in black and white. For homework we were asked to create a portrait for the past. If you have TikTok then you might know about then trend were you recreate a photo from when you were little vs you right now and thats what I did:
I think this skill connected me to the adult world because I got to see how much I’ve grown up.
Skill 3 – Manufacturing Mood
In this skill we learned how to manufacture mood in our photographs to pull in an audience. To do this we built the skill of using advanced camera angles, using panorama, using scale and contrast and applying a filter with a third-party app. The first step of this skill was snapping a landscape we used the rule of thirds, backgrounds and foreground, basic camera angles and advances camera angles. The second thing we did was taking a panorama. The panorama camera angle is vey cool and useful. You can take a stretched picture vertical or horizontally. Here’s an example of one I took:
The last thing we did in class was capture people, places and things. In this step we learned about three different editing apps; Snapseed, Pixelmator Photo and SuperimposeX. They are all very useful apps and I really liked using them. For homework were tasked with creating a story using a randomly generated emotion. I got Mysterious here it is:
I think this skill connected me to the adult world because we got to use phot editing apps and I think that will be a really useful skill to have in the future.
Skill 4 – Creating Collages
In this skill we learned how to use our photographs to tell a story that reflects us. To do this we uses basic Keynote with photos (insert, rearrange…), advanced Keynote with photos (instant alpha, layers…) and created storyboards for our images. The first step of this skill was pictorializing our names. To do this we went around the school and found things that looked like letters in our names (instead of Sydney I chose to do Syd). Then we made a personalized collage which was a picture of our heads (I chose my silhouette from a previous assignment) and then we added things that interested us. Everyone did a different version of this assignment so you should go check their blogs out, here’s the link to the PLP website with links to everyone’s blog: learner portfolios. That last thing we did for this skill was creating a page on our blogs called all about me here’s the link if you want to check it out: all about me. I think this skill connected me to the adult world because it helped me explore what I liked and what interested me which will help me later in life.
Skill 5 – Molding Movement
In this skill we learned how to bring photographs to life using movement in a variety of ways. To do this we tried burst mode, took and edited Live Photos, changed the appearance of a photo over time using Keynote and added motion to a photo. The first step of this skill was creating a moment in motion. To do this we got into groups of three and went outside to take photos using live mode and taking burst photos to try and capture a moment in action, I was in a group with Jupiter and Ruby their blogs will be link at the end. here’s the one I took: 
The next step for this skill was morphing a photo using Keynote. To do this we used keynote and transitioned from one photo to the next. An example of the photos we used could be colour to black and white then back to colour, or it could be someone growing up. The third thing we did was practise creating our very own GIF. To do this we extracted different things from a photo then animated and drew around it. The last thing we did for this skill and all of Herzog was creating a reaction GIF, we did the same things as the last step of this skill but this time we were asked to display a reaction to something. I chose to do surprised (you’ll see why if you watch it) I posted on my about me page so you might have already seen it but here’s the link again if you need it: all about me. I think this skill connected me to the adult world because GIF’s are a very big thing in media and having the skills to make one is really cool.
This project was super fun. I think my favourite part of this project was editing my photos. I believe my best photo is my in motion photo I think it really encompasses all the things I’ve learned throughout this project. I hope to do more photography in the future.
These are all of the blogs I previously mentioned:
Thanks for reading -Sydney🙃