The Sky Changed - A Midterm Photoshop Assignment

As I wrote in my previous blog post, I’m in school for a Graphic Design Certificate, and this semesters midterm in Photoshop consisted of colorizing a black and white photo. Please read and check out the final image below.

“Sara Culler: The Sky Changed” 

I had been pondering a new photo series when suddenly it struck me that one of the locations I had in mind for the project would be perfect for this midterm assignment. So I packed my backpack and drove to the location I had in mind. 

Well there I realized how perfect my Ricoh GR was for this task. When shooting in black and white mode, it automatically produces one black and white JPG, and one color version in RAW. I used the raw file as my color palette, save some freehand adjustments, and an imported color palette for the copper roof.

When I got back home and sat down to analyze the image I instantly felt the need to flip the sky and make it the same color as the window facing west. Then I took one of the sky colors and placed it in the same window. Same with the skylights. There I chose to juxtapose the color of the skylight in the shade to a rebellious lighter shade of the original sky, and the skylight in the sunlight, a darker shade of the original sky. All to underline the dissonance felt within, and that on a very personal level. How such a seemingly perfect sky can be so unattainable, and so malplaced…

The walls had its own intricate work. Every block of wall, and every tone shift was done separately. As we all know, the light here in New Mexico, and in Santa Fe especially, reflects off every surface differently. So I chose to do them separately in order to make them more living. On the patchier work, see the example in the front bottom column, where I chose to smudge the edges of the shifts so that they blended together better. All shadows were also amplified with color. 

The only thing not colored is the rough. I attempted to give it a lighter shade of the window colored sky, but it made the total image feel flatter. I added the few colored elements in there to have the gray zone pop, and draw you in further. Leaving the rough uncolored was a much better solution, and I like the additional abstract sense it takes on. 

Well - I hope you enjoy my subtlety abstract work here. It was a really fun assignment, and I’ve actually enjoyed every second of it. 

Footsteps On A gravel Path

It’s almost as if it never happened. 
Weeks of wind blew, and eroded away the sensation of mutual belonging. 
Like a kiss, still sensible on ones lips after the saliva has dried.
The sensation of imprint eventually gives up, and fades away. 
The internal circuit.
The electric wave.
No longer echoing. 
Insides go hollow first. 
Leaving a hardened outside shell. 
Remnants to be found by future frontiers. 
As I slowly continue forward while being held back. 
Footsteps on a gravel path, 
crack, crack, 
crack, crack. 

Stop-less rumination in the night

An afternoon writing exercise turned blog post. It’s good to practice this one. No stops allowed. Little to no word repetition. It’s fun, if you're in the right mood. Originally I was going to ask a guy from Houston, who does mostly night photography, if I could use one of the photos off his Instagram to illustrate this blog post. But once sitting with it, I didn’t feel like going through the extra trouble, and my mood was “a little pissy”… Instead, you’ll have to be guided by my own picture. It’s not from Houston, it’s from Santa Fe. It doesn’t have shiny leaf palm trees, or polished asphalt, but it has multicolored windows radiating at night. As good as it gets...

***************************************************************************************************************

My father died in a hospital strategically placed together with the same buildings that make out the toxic city in which you photograph houses that have differently colored neon light radiating windows shining out into the dark onto the heat and humidity polished streets blending with the green hew of streetlights fusing fading to the sound of a long outdrawn audible vibration held by a special type of cicada species living in the south that fills my nocturnal heart with waves of repeated chorus over and over and over into the night.