Danielle Aceti-Gingerich - Senior Project

Last Blog!

This week I shot my friend James representing his take on aggression against women. At first I wanted to have a very literal scene taking place on a bed, I decided it would not fit in with my entire project and the metaphors so I decided against it. He was a perfect model and was able to really convey anger and passion in a way that fit perfectly with my project. I want to do one more shoot with him before the end of this week, and another with a woman doing the exact same poses he did, and intermingle these images throughout my entire video. The last shoot I want to do is have someone covered with mud and handprints all over her body.

I have not started my video yet because since I am using Final Cut Pro I will not be able to edit the order of the images once I put them into the program. I have started to figure out the layout of each sequence, and am about to start laying out each images in Bridge. I have found some of the music and news reels that I want to use and will soon start making them relate to their individual images. 

For my gallery show I am using the upstairs hallway near the bathroom. I am going to put a large piece of cardboard against the window directly in the back of the hallway. I will print 8 large (my best) images and hang them 2 on each surrounding wall. I hang put the projector playing my slideshow on the top center of the hall, and project my images onto a white, flowing sheet. Underneath the sheet I want to have a small table with stories of women in other countries that I have found very moving. If it is not a fire hazard, I might also hang sheets or strings of beads covering the entryway so people have to push through it to enter my senior project show. 

Over the break I have to update my process book, finish my last 2 shoots, finish my video, and start printing the 8 images.  

Work 8

This week I did A LOT of organizing and editing. I did one photo shoot of a big, black, fancy dress hung from a dilapidated shed with a paper bag where the head of the person who wore it would be. This represents the absence of the woman and her lost identity. I was really satisfied with the way the pictures came out so now the only shoots I have left to do are the "aggression scene" by Steve Klein of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. I also want to shoot a woman (seemingly) naked on the floor of a bathroom writhing in pain. I want to take a much of shots so in my video I can make these images move very rapidly to show the movement. 

I also did the painstaking task of editing every single photo on photoshop (either making them black and white with good contrast or making the colors pop). Then I went through each group of images and chose the ones that I want to use. I also took digital images of every single print I had made and I have to start editing those now as well. This weekend I hope to finish shooting and start laying out the images in the sequence I want for my video. I will also choose the music, voiceovers, and news reels that I want to play in the background. I have a lot of work to do!  

Work 7

I feel like I am making good progress towards completing my project. I have almost finished all of my shoots and have completed still lives to supplement my main images. It is interesting to see how inanimate objects can evoke strong emotions, especially when composition texture and lighting are paid attention to. Now I understand how many artists bring so much depth and character to their still lives, and make objects transform into humans. 

I was very relieved to find out yesterday that I did not have to do individual prints of each picture myself in the darkroom. This would be too time consuming, and semi-pointless since I would then have to take a digital image of each print to scan to the computer. Alexis told me that I am allowed to bring my negatives to Photo Arts and have them put the images onto a CD. Thankfully, contrary to my original belief, the quality of my images would be superior to my printing them myself because it would be one step removed from the negatives rather than three. 

My goal this weekend is to do another 2 shoots and go through all of my digital and film images and begin my editing process. I will also see what I feel is missing from my body of work so far, and begin writing an introduction for my slideshow. 

Work 6

This week I did some still life shoots for my senior project. I took pictures of a hammer smashing tomatoes in my shower with the water running down the drain. I also squeezed the tomatoes in my hand over the sink so the juice almost looked like blood. For my second still life shoot I had my Uncle throw a huge watermelon against a brick wall so I was able to capture the splattering of all the pieces to represent the feeling of being ruined. I also took some photos of people, but in a more metaphoric sense than before. I shot my cousin running through an open field, her in a graveyard, her sitting alone by a pond, and my friend buried in sand on the beach. Once I do a few more shoots I will start making the 4x6 prints, take pictures of them to convert them to digital images, and start creating my slide show.