Photography – Karyn Easton

May 09

by Karyn in Books, Conclusion, Experimentation, Final Major Project, Final Outcomes, My Work, Photography, Unit 3 Blogs 0 comments tags: Books, Conclusion, Experimentation, Final Major Project, Final Outcomes, my work, Photography, Unit 3 Blogs

Book Photography

Product Photography for the Balance of Power Book – My book is now fully augmented and the whole of its contents can be viewed in the augmented reality video that I made to accompany the ‘Balance of Power Mobile. A full digital copy of the book can be found here. The next step in my process was to create an image that would represent my book – something that I could use for social media posts and head up any literature that I might like to send out. It might even form the cover of a brochure about the project as a whole. Contact Sheets from Experimental Shoots Refining the Concepts There are many references to nature in my ‘Balance of Power’ Final 5 Minute Video. Therefore, in the first instance I decided to shoot my books outdoors. One of my chosen concepts to explore was having my books with foliage or vines wrapped around it. Below are some of the concepts that I decided to refine further. The original ‘Balance of Power’ Book was a large scale book (30 x 30cm), but sadly when I came to scale the book down, the title wasn’t as prominent. […]

Mar 28

by Karyn in Collaborations, Exhibitions, Experimentation, Materials, Photography, Unit 3 Blogs, Videos 0 comments tags: Collaborations, Exhibitions, Experimentation, Materials, Photography, Unit 3 Blogs, Videos

Mattering Life Day #5

Presentations & Evening Event – This morning the whole room was a hive of activity. We were each given a slot to present our work. Charlotte ‘played a blinder’ because she volunteered for us to go first in order to get it over and done with. I absolutely agreed with her sentiment, because it meant that we could sit back and relax and enjoy the presentations from everyone else. Both Kismat and Hyejo worked phenomenally hard to finish the zine and the Powerpoint presentation respectively. I was really feeling the pressure too because I had a short film to produce. I think as a team we all worked amazingly well together! PowerPoint Presentation PDF The following PowerPoint presentation was put together by Hyejo who worked really hard on Friday morning to compile everything ready for our presentation. Beyond Earth PowerPoint Presentation Film Below is the film that I created for the group. The video is a mix of my photographs of Charlotte’s dendritic paintings and my AI filtered time-lapses of Sarah, Leah and Hyejo’s growing chemical gardens. Zine Kismat who is studying for an MA in graphic design worked really hard to […]

Mar 28

by Karyn in Collaborations, Experimentation, Lectures, Materials, Photography, Unit 3 Blogs 0 comments tags: Collaborations, Experimentation, Lectures, Materials, Photography, Unit 3 Blogs

Mattering Life – Day #4

Professor Kosuke Fujishima & More Lab Time – This morning we had a talk by Professor Kosuke Fujishima from the Fujishima Lab at the Earth Life Sciences Institute in the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Experiments from The Grow Lab The plan for today was to to get as much material as possible together in order to assemble a presentation that would align with our chosen topic of ‘Beyond Earth’ and the chemical gardens. Shem the lab technician had suggested that displacing the chemical garden solution and replacing it with epoxy resin might be a great way of preserving the structures. As lab space had been particularly tight in the last ‘Grow Lab Session’ only 3 members of each group were allowed to work in there at any given time. We managed to organise this really well between us. I was interested in recording what was being created and Kismat wanted to remain behind to work on the group’s zine. We decided to create a short film, a variety of chemical gardens and a zine for our presentation scheduled for tomorrow morning. Below is a selection of images and closeups that I took of my chemical garden and […]

Mar 04

by Karyn in 3d, Experimentation, Final Major Project, Photography, Unit 3 Blogs, Videos 0 comments tags: 3d, Experimentation, Final Major Project, Photography, Unit 3 Blogs, Videos

Visual Exploration #2

Video Exploration of the Mobile – In my first visual exploration of the ‘Balance of Power’ mobile I shot a number of stills using a wide aperture. This was to allow for only a narrow band of focus on each of the images. The goal was to add an air of mystery to the mobile and hopefully leave the viewer wanting to know more? In part #2 of this ongoing visual exploration I shot some videos using my DSLR camera. My aim again was to add an air of mystery to the finished video clips. Below are the experimental results from this endeavour. The Balance of Power – Unity in Bits Mobile This is a complex piece that has many hidden layers to it. Below are some of the key points: The mobile comprises 11 lines of individually hand drawn elements that represent the ones and zeros of binary code. The binary code represented in the mobile spells the words ‘Unity in Bits’. It is a visual metaphor representing how our society is ultimately fractured by computers and their code. For example the harms of social media and the taking of artist work without permission. At least 10 […]

Mar 04

by Karyn in 3d, Experimentation, Final Major Project, Photography, Unit 3 Blogs, Videos 0 comments tags: 3d, Experimentation, Final Major Project, Photography, Unit 3 Blogs, Videos

Visual Exploration #1

Photographic Exploration of the Mobile – Now that my ‘Balance of Power’ mobile is fully installed I can start to experiment photographically. Over the weekend I took a number of stills and I also shot some videos. Editing the videos will take a while longer. In the meantime I thought I’d share some of the stills. I decided to shoot my stills using very specific camera settings. The mobile hides many things, therefore it was important to me to try and capture an air of mystery about it. For this reason I deliberately chose to use a very shallow ‘depth of field’. Indeed I was actually working with an f-stop of 1.8 (A very large aperture). What this means essentially, is that only a very narrow band of my image will actually be in focus. These narrow bands of focus can be seen in the images below. I certainly had enough light streaming in through the windows to enable me to shoot at f-16 (the minimum aperture for my 50mm lens), however, I genuinely feel that the selective blurring adds something a little more mysterious to the images below. I feel that the images are much more atmospheric. I also […]

Feb 04

by Karyn in 3d, Augmented Reality, Collaborations, Experimentation, Photography, Problem Solving, Risk Taking, Unit 3 Blogs 0 comments tags: 3d, Augmented Reality, Collaborations, Experimentation, Photography, Problem Solving, Risk Taking, Unit 3 Blogs

Keep it Moving

Small Steps – Big Changes. I had to write yesterday off almost completely as I had so many non MA activities to complete. These duties ranged from setting up a new phone for a family member, to composing and posting an important letter. However, today was much more productive. I managed to test my concept and augment a number of my mobile elements. Early indicators suggest that ‘all things going well’ – I should be able to realise my vision. My greatest fear was that the mobile wouldn’t augment very well. I also worried that the elements were too close together, and as such would interfere with one another when augmenting. It appears that as long as the user/viewer is careful then each item should augment separately. Up to this point it has been a bit of a risk. Today the concept however was tested and seems to work. Athena the robot continues to 3d print but this activity is also not without risk. Jamie (my collaboration partner’s) 3d printer isn’t always consistent and parts often become loose from the 3d printer bed. This ultimately leads to print failures which is slowing down the project. On a more positive […]

Hanging Around

Choosing a Suitable Stringing Method – Choosing suitable materials and a hanging method for my mobile has to be one of the most challenging aspects so far. I’m way beyond my comfort zone with this! Noah one of my fellow students shared a link by the creative force that once was, namely David Bowie. Im going to put what he said here so that when I struggle I’ve got a point of reference to start things moving again. Today, having produced enough mobile elements to explore hanging and stringing I started running into multiple problems. Some of these included: 1). What kind of stringing method would I like to use 2). How do I arrange the elements neatly enough so that the viewer understands them as binary. 3). What materials should I use to actually string and hang the mobile? 4). Will a smaller prototype actually translate into a much larger one? The problems above were to name only a few. I spent the evening trying to source suitable hanging materials. I managed to source a very good older pdf on the subject of mobile making which helped a lot! How to Make Mobiles How to […]

Nov 19

Epic Making Session

Yaacov Agam Inspired Work – Over many months now I have been wrestling with a myriad of ideas. In my Study Statement I was keen to develop a new form of hybrid human, digital and AI art. I also wanted to include an element of mystery and discovery whereby elements of the work were hidden. During my search for inspiration I came across two artists that particularly resonated with me, namely: Alexander Calder and Yaacov Agam. I particularly liked the idea of movement and mobile art seen in Calder’s work. Indeed I was so taken with his work that I went to visit the Tate Modern to see some of his pieces there. However, Yaacov Agam’s work really did inspire me. In his Artist’s statement he says: “My aim is to show the visible in a perpetual state of becoming”. I think this is a beautiful way in which he describes his work. However, I personally would liken it to, showing the visible in a perpetual state of change. Given the nature of the subject matter that I’m exploring, his work for me very much aligns with this notion of change as well as ‘becoming’. Below is a short […]

Love Letters From AI

Hidden Art – When I first began my MA, I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do. Ultimately I knew it would be something to do with the hidden or the unseen. Initially I began looking at invisible phenomena such as sound waves and the passage of time. However, nothing captured my interest quite as much as augmented reality. It was this whole concept of a hidden unseen world (only accessible to those ‘in the know’), that intrigued me. While conducting research for my Research Paper I discovered that there is a distinct negative bias towards AI generated art. I looked at a number of strategies to help mitigate this bias. Finally, after a number of image polls, used to inform my project, I created a fictitious robot called Athena. Her name was inspired by the old Athena posters from the past. My research was suggesting that humanoid robots with a sad ‘backstory’ could help to reduce bias and win over an audience when presenting AI art. At this point I began to develop a narrative for my robot. During a visit to Barcelona, I was completely amazed by the sheer weight of graffiti adorning the city walls. I […]

Oct 27

MACBA Metamorphosis

Barcelona’s Hidden Artists – While visiting Barcelona, I became fascinated with the vast swathes of graffiti covered walls. It felt as if collectively everyone had given up on cleaning the walls. Indeed, it felt as if the walls themselves had become works of art. In stark contrast I also noted the pristine internal walls of the MACBA (One of Barcelona’s contemporary art museums). I was so ‘taken with’ the beautiful light inside of the MACBA that I decided to photograph it. I also photographed many graffiti laden walls across Barcelona. There really was a such a stark contrast between the pristine and the messy that I began to wonder what the MACBA would look like if it was plastered in graffiti? The internal walls of the MACBA were so beautifully clean that I felt an irresistible urge to ‘plaster’ them. The vibrant colours and designs found externally on the Streets of Barcelona seemed a logical choice. Unfortunately, my dream of taking spray paints to the MACBA walls was pretty much out of the question. However, I did have access to Photoshop, Ai and augmented reality. As a direct result of my thinking I managed to self publish 3 small art […]