Week 10 games

Rebuild
http://www.kongregate.com/games/sarahnorthway/rebuild

Hands of War 2
http://www.kongregate.com/games/Djugan/hands-of-war-2-expanded-edition

The Dreamhold
http://eblong.com/zarf/zweb/dreamhold/

Castaway 2
http://www.kongregate.com/games/likwidgames/castaway-2

London Road
http://varytale.com/books/book/fox-london-road/info/

Choice of the Dragon
http://www.choiceofgames.com/dragon/

Photo Essay 42248515

This photo essay is focus on the Houses, they located in the place that people everyday walked by. Unlike Australia, in my country - China, because of the population density, most of the people are live in the apartment. Therefore, it is difficult to found houses, or even town houses in China. Therefore, we are rarely to found a house, or a yard that designed by the owner. The houses in Australia shows the owner's aesthetic, and every houses have their own style to make the streets become more diverse. Those houses shows another scenery that rarely founded in my country and becomes special in my concept. The aim of the project is to show up the houses that we everyday walked by but may not even noticed.

This project is made by
Kangchi Xu (42248515)

Photo Essay - Tangled

Video

Rationale

The idea behind our photo essay is to showcase the multifaceted nature of strings and lines that permeates through our mundane everyday life. It started of with cold, linear type of wires and slowly goes entangled into the more organic forms such as spaghetti and ropes. In portraying this, we took pictures from various kind of strands and string-like objects we can find around us as college students: Wires, spaghetti, cables, fence wires, headset, ropes, and even to jeans thread. The aim of this is to capture how these “mundane” objects has helped us to facilitate sustenance, entertainment, and a conducive working environment in our everyday life.  

The soundtrack used for this short photo presentation is a royalty free canned music sample by Apple titled “Stepping Out”. The music itself is a mixture of techno and pop with a very catchy rhythm, and we've remixed it to give it a more dynamic ending. As for the editing part, we tried our very best to synchronize the entrance of every single photo to the beat in order to smoothen the transition between pictures.

This group project is made by: 
Samuel Ip (43005624) and James Rotanson (42945062)


Posted by Samuel Ip

Photo Essay Yohana Christanti 43019048 and Mandy Chung 42723450

The everyday aesthetics’ that we come across to in our daily life and practically seen by our own two eyes most of the time; whether it is in the street or inside the building; it has enable us to look at the world and its surrounding environment within it; in a bigger picture. As a result we sometimes forget the little tinniest things; whether it is an object or a living being that has taken, its changed overtime.  Since it has been unappreciated, criticised and unfortunately forgotten over time.

As Susan Murray stated in the concept of ‘everyday aesthetics’ through “The types of images we can create or engage with on a regular basis that evoke or reference the more ordinary or frequent moments of our lives”. As we walk in the street, without realizing sometimes things around us are alterin

g or taking its form. So, it is clear to say that everyday objects around us are virtually decaying overtime. We can use various ways to get these everyday objects to be noticed or appreciated once again by taking a nice pictures by using the camera with different view, lighting and different angles of camera. in doing so, we can also emphasized that most of us are practically still; ‘amateur photographers’.

To conclude, the photo essay expresses Murray’s concept of amateur photography and everyday aesthetics through the theme of street objects - decaying overtime, which is usually forgotten by most people and yet if we all pay a little attention to, it is surprisingly has its own unique features and characters which can be displayed and appreciated as part of our everyday life surrounding us.

Photo Essay- A Story in Shoes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JMKdpVBB7oM
Shirley Huang-42871085
Max Chen-42446473

For our Photo Essay assignment our aim was to represent the ‘everyday aesthetic’. Murray defines everyday aesthetics as "the types of images that we can create or engage with on a regular basis that evoke or reference the more ordinary or frequent moments of our lives”. From this definition, we chose the theme of everyday clothing and specifically about shoes. Footwear is something that we can all relate to and it is a daily essential item we all take for granted throughout our lives. We understand that shoes are rarely the center of focus for clothing, it is usually just an addition or seen as just an accessory.
We believed that the photography of our shoes represented very mundane, every day foot wear that were applicable to many different occasions, hence justifying the reference to the ordinary and frequent moments of out lives.
The music we chose was upbeat / happy, this selection along with the photos edited in bright colours, aims to showcase and highlight the variety of shoes for any occasion.

Mark Mostert Photo Essay 43049389- New York State of Sight

This video, ex-amplifies images taken from one day in New York City. It shows how the camera is able to capture everyday objects, but represent them in a extraordinary manner, leading to the idea of a "New York State of Sight". The images may be detailed, but the aim of the video is to demonstrate that even within complexity of a City as grande as New York, a camera is still able to capture everyday objects, the eye might miss ++

MAS110 Photo Essay - Number 15 Letterboxes

Video Rationale
Murray talks about the everyday aesthetic when it comes to amateur photography, especially when it appears on sites such as Flickr. She talks about how amateur photography has “become less about the special or rarefied moments of domestic living and more about an immediate, rather fleeting, display and collection of one’s discovery and framing of the small and mundane”. What, however, is the ‘everyday aesthetic’ that Murray talks about continually? She defines the everyday aesthetic through "the types of images that we can create or engage with on a regular basis that evoke or reference the more ordinary or frequent moments of our lives”. By using this definition of the everyday aesthetic, we believe that we have chosen a theme and a sub theme that flaunts an everyday aesthetic. The theme we have chosen is letterboxes, with a sub theme of the number 15. Murray thinks of the everyday aesthetic as something frequent that has reference to everyday life, everyone that owns or rents a house, flat or anything of that nature has a letter box. We all come into contact with letterboxes whether it be to identify a house or to check if we have mail. The letterbox is nothing without the number that is attached to it. That is why the sub theme is very important in showing the use of letterboxes in everyday life. The way that we identify if the letterbox is the correct one that we want, is by looking at the number. For the purpose of this photo essay we focused on one number, the number 15, in order to emphasize the differences between the letterboxes despite their similar numbering.

Cassandra Teo - 42654211
Lachlan Skulander - 42876478

Pathways & Textures

Murray (2008) states ‘photography has become less about the special or rarefied moments of domestic/family living’.  This quotation corresponds to our theme of Pathways, which is interlocked with our sub-theme of Textures. We believe that people walk everyday, but routinely ignore the significance of what they are stepping on. Murray’s (2008) concept of amateur photography and everyday aesthetics is represented in our theme of pathways as we exhibit a collection of the small and mundane. The visual compilation symbolically represents the everyday life pertaining routines, ‘taken-for-granted’ experiences, beliefs and practices. This is achieved by compelling the audience through a journey of everyday pathways and textures. It also presents the emphasis upon the immediacy of current experiences and activities by sharing the venture.

The process of capturing our photography involved traveling, while conceptualizing the various ways of presenting the photos. The use of different viewpoint, camera angles and lighting highlights the distinct texture of the paths. Wide-angle shot was our main choice of technique, as we wanted to create a winding ambience and ultimately create one complete path. We wished to portray the meaning of “pathways” (as the “path and journey in our lives”), hence the use of effects, predominantly ‘Ken Burns’ that illustrates a sense of motion. Photos were edited to appear antique conveying the feeling of wistful yet elegant nostalgia. We have chosen “Woods of Chaos” (by musikpirat, 2011) to establish a melancholic and dramatic atmosphere. We also aligned the music with the movement of images with the flow of music to create different levels of dynamics.

To conclude the photo essay titled “Pathways” express Murray’s concept amateur photography and everyday aesthetics. The forgotten and yet beautiful textured paths displaying everyday routines and experiences that are unappreciated.

Reference:

Murray, S., 2008 ‘Digital Images, Photo Sharing, and Our Shifting Notions of Everyday Aesthetics’, Journal of Visual Culture. SAGE (Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore). Vol 7(2): 147-263.

Music:

musikpirat, 2011, ‘Woods of Chaos’. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (3.0)

Available at: http://ccmixter.org/files/musikpirat/32693

Photos: Espineda A., and Lee, C., 2012. 

MAS110 Photo Essay - City of Lights

Photo Essay Rationale

For our photo essay we chose to explore the main theme of the ‘everyday aesthetic’ of streetlights. Seeing as they are abundant in our everyday lives, we felt it would be interesting to explore as streetlights themselves go largely unnoticed. In our series of images, we were able to successfully capture S. Murray’s notion of the mundane nature of objects that an everyday amateur photographer can achieve. The photographs of the different lights are shown in a variety of settings and demonstrate their everyday aspect is present no matter the context. It is through our sub theme of ‘isolation’ that we are also able to draw upon the ‘everyday aesthetic’. In each photo a rather isolated feeling is portrayed, and the use of oversaturated and black and white filters helps to highlight this aspect. For such an everyday object, they go unnoticed and we can’t escape that isolated feeling. In this regard, I feel that our photographs of streetlights are able to successfully embody the notion of the mundane and the everyday aesthetic.

Albert Latham (42887410) and Rodney Alberts (43006280)

MAS110 Photo Essay - Roadside Objects

'Roadside objects’ is the main theme of our video. In respect to everyday aesthetics, we believe that these objects are largely ignored and if one pays consideration to them, it makes the person  feel embarrass when others see them looking at such objects. We certainly felt a little awkward stopping on the side of the road to take a picture of 'garbage'.

Our sub-theme was 'abandonment' and how it relates to loneliness, coldness and sadness. We decided to use the iPhoto program and its tool of controlling the temperature of a picture. In our case, we decided to make every photo 'cold' using a blue tinged overlay over all them; hopefully creating a sense of melancholy and discard. Finally, we opted for Beethoven's 'moonlight sonata' to accompany our clip in its ability to evoke feelings of gloominess, unrequited romance, and a sense of being unseen.

In iMovie we used the 'fade to black' transition mostly in that we wanted to convey a ‘blink’, in that all we do is pass roadside objects with a blink of an eye, not noticing what can be reused. It’s suppose to convey our inability to notice the mundane everyday aesthetics. The main point to our clip is to personify inanimate 'roadside objects' in a sense that in an urban city our pre-loved objects become garbage; that anything can become broken, unwanted and we easily abandon what once was a precious thing.

By Tj Catubig (40830667) & Kevin Gonzales (42987318)

MAS110 photo essay

MAS110

Rationale for Photo Essay

Hannah Watt - 42467357

Monique Howard - 42878888

In creating this photo essay, our goal was to capture the simplicity of the ‘everyday aesthetic’. As mentioned by Susan Murray “the everyday image has to do with a move towards transience and the development of a communal aesthetic that does not respect traditional amateur/professional hierarchies” – this is what we tried to achieve in relation to the somewhat unseen characteristic of lines within objects.

Lines purvey in all facets of the everyday life, conveying that all things are connected through similar shapes and forms, furthermore illustrating the purpose of this photo essay.

Linear forms may be found in each aspect of the world around us, to see these lines we must blur the major & focus on the minor. Eliminating built, human & natural forms, forces the audience to seek out unusual and often hidden geometric patterns. The images selected for the proposed photo essay explore both literal & figurative linear geometry. Each photo aims to draw out the lines displayed within an object or creation of art, displaying the notion that, just as cells make up the human form, lines too make up tangible objects. Take the pages of a book, many pieces of paper stacked tall to create a novel…place the book on its side and see the lines of its pages, impossibly thin structures which come together to form a solid figure. This selection of photos aims to expose lines through colour, texture & depth…a certain stylized snapshot of the lines constructed amongst the objects in which I have photographed, which make up the everyday aesthetic. 

Concrete Jungle - Photo Essay

Within an urban environment, the existence of concrete typifies the mundane and the ubiquitous, the everyday and the ordinary. It forms the basis of our infrastructure, our roads, footpaths and buildings. Taking this as our foundation, we explored transforming concrete through capturing it splayed with light and shadows, its intricate angles and lines, its texture and form, to create the ‘everyday aesthetic’. Playing with perspective and close-up shots, we aimed to create striking, iconic and powerful images. This was enhanced through our editing in iPhoto, which used high contrast and saturation to enrich and deepen the colours, adding tones of golden yellow and steely blue, or transforming the image through an impactful black and white adjustment. The use of colour, or lack thereof, demonstrates the transition from warm, earthy tones of classic forms of concrete, to the cooler, harsher contemporary and ultramodern urban landscapes. Constructing the video, we chose upbeat, modern techno music with a strong pulsing vibe, reflecting both the urban, modern ‘concrete jungle’ and the bold, dramatic theme of our images. The complete effect aims to transform the mundane, dull and largely ignored feature of concrete in our everyday lives, constructing the everyday aesthetic through capturing and enhancing the simple and overlooked beauty and dramatic appeal of an urban concrete environment.

Sophie Rosenthall (43052045) and Laura Webster (42852137)