Friday, February 26, 2010

Weekly Post February 25, 2010

This week was very productive- I met with a lot of different people and received great advice on how to move forward with various aspects of my project.  I also worked on some potential book covers and spreads, and had another interview with Jay.

I had a great meeting with Mark Nielson to talk about the presentation of my work in the gallery.  I presented him with a few ideas, and he really loved the idea of having a tent as a space to house the sound and book.  He reinforced the importance of having the tent be very large scale so that people will want to enter the space.  I asked him his thoughts on having the tent outside and immediately he thought of putting the tent on State Street during opening night.  He said we could place the tent on the parking spot that is in front of the gallery.   Since the tent would only be present on opening night, he said I could also have a space in the gallery to show my book, a few images, and a set of headphones to listen to the sound piece.  I was so excited after this meeting! 

I have always loved this one photo I took of the camp meeting back in November.  I love how the silhouettes look from the outside of the tent.  Having a tent installation outside would allow me to paint a similar picture.   

On Wednesday I met with Adrianne Finelli, my “Home” studio professor, about ideas for presentation (20 min).  She brought up great ideas for my project, as she is very familiar with installation work.  Adrianne loved the idea of using an actual tent to showcase the images & sound.  I asked her thoughts on different ways to present the collaborative images (sewn on to the tent, sprawled out on a table, hanging from ceiling, etc.), but she really thought a book was the best option.  It is a more intimate way to view the sequence of events leading up to the snow storm.  

I also met with Patrick Young (30 min) to go over advanced Photoshop techniques to make the most of the disposable camera images. He was so helpful and taught me different tools to use to improve the detail on my images.  Although I am very familiar with Photoshop, he taught me specific techniques that are specific to CS4.  I asked him to show me the maximum size I can print these images without losing much detail.  After some experimenting, we were both very surprised to find out that these disposable prints can be blown up to 17x22 and not lose very much detail! 

I also went to Stephanie’s Sound & Story Class yesterday (3 hours) and got great feedback from Melissa Allison, a radio producer.  It was a really great experience.  She had some suggestions, including to cut down the piece by 1 minute, and to rerecord the intro so that I am closer to the mic. 

Last night I met with Jay (1 hour) because I wanted to be updated on what is going on with the tents being forced out.  He also told me great news-he is checking out apartments to rent.  The best part of the interview was when I asked him his advice on ways of presenting the work.  He loved the tent idea and even offered to help set it up for the show. 

I created mock layouts for my book & book covers (3 hours) and got helpful feedback from Franc on these ones in particular:  





I played around the book titles "Inside my tent looking out" because that is what Jay wrote once as his caption.  I also thought about “without a home, with a camera."  During critique it was suggested I flip it to say “with a camera, without a home.”  I like how that sounds.  As far as a favorite book cover, everyone liked the full page bleed image "inside my tent looking out", as it does not give away the other photos, yet still has a powerful presence.  

I also went to the library to research ideas for installation (2 hours). 

I also met with Megan Levad to talk about my news article.  The meeting went very well and I am looking forward to cleaning the article up and sending it out to Ann Arbor News in the upcoming weeks.

What’s Next:

More book layout designs.

I also would like to record the voice mail messages Jay has left me; I could possibly play that in the gallery/tent.

I want to go find a tent over break!  I will be searching for the perfect blue tent that will have a nice presence outside.  

Put a timeline together and keep working!



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