When I decided to go to Rome, I thought I would be eating long dinners, drinking wine every night, and casually seeing works by Michelangelo, Caravaggio, and Raphael. Who knew I would also be trying my hand at modeling? Tessa (from this post) is working on doing more commercial photography to build her portfolio, and so asked me to be in her images. Her selection rose more out of a thing of convenience than anything else since it was midterm week after all, but I think the images turned out rather nice! The photos were taken at the Cipro metro stop (a 5 minute walk from the residence), and we happened to stumble upon a dance crew that was nice enough to take time out of their rehearsal to be in our photo-shoot!
For more of Tessa’s work, click here. Visit, she’s great!
After this experience and the work I have been doing in my digital imaging class, I realize so much more now how much thought and effort photographers put into each image! It’s not as simple as a click of a button! For instance, I am so used to being behind the camera that this reversal felt very awkward for me. Tessa, being the amazing photographer that she is, was energetic, vivacious, and dynamic as she coached me into each pose. Furthermore, take a look at this photo by Chien-Chi Chang.
It’s pretty cool. But, only a true critic would recognize all the details, and my digital imaging class has pushed me to those limits. Furthermore, being a Chinese-American myself, the work of other Asian photographers holds much personal interest. As I scanned the list of names under “Magnum Photos,” which publish Chang’s images, his was the only oriental one. Because of the competitive academic climate in China, many Chinese people do not have the opportunity to explore the arts, and so, Chang’s breakthrough in the world of photographer as an Asian man inspires and eliminates stereotypes about the “typical” East Asian person. In the above photograph, Chang displays dexterity in the use of scale, as the pedestrian suspension bridge appears monumental in relation to the two small children featured in the frame. He plays with depth of field as the lines made by the edges of the bridge lead towards a single, disappearing point. Furthermore, the white gate in the background appears in stark contrast to the dark muted tones of the foreground; yet, the foreground is in focus, while the giant, white block of space in the background is fuzzy. In this decisive moment, Chang takes a provocative image of a little girl crying and running; however, not, it seems, from the boy with the scary mask for he in front of her. As a child, her instinct would be to run away from what is scaring her and towards safety, but in this photograph, it is obviously not the boy with the mask who is responsible for her distress. This observation suggests a disturbing reality.
This fall break, I am off to Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona, and Nice!