Week 6

In order to create this first image of the series to describe Old Town I had to choose a background picture. For this first picture the object of attratcion is the town sign and by doing so I am displaying location/place in this piece. I chose this picture because it gave the essence of the town. Second City is a landmark known by many and is displayed in this image. I also like the way the shops are set up with the very unique architecture. I decided this sign was significant because I saw many throughout the town making you become aware that you are in Old Town. I decided by desaturating the background that the sign would pop and draw your attention in.

The second image in the series is to draw attention to a thing of the town. I chose a significant thing in the town the Saint Michaels Church. This church was one of a few churchs that survived the Chicago Fire. I thought by making a collage of the many images I took at the Church would allow this object, the church, to be the main focus of the piece. I decided to choose the entrance of the church as the front piece of the callage in order to label what the object was in this scene. I cropped out the street sign, the building, the entrance, the statue out of other pictures and added them into the background picture of the ramp leading to the entrance. I created a unique placement in order to draw your attention to the church; that is why I put the full picture of the church in the left hand corner, tilted in order to draw your attention to the object.

The last image of the series is people; I chose this background image because it not only had one of the Old Town Arches in it, but it shows the quaint atmosphere of the town. The people were placed where they are because I felt that the metal off the signs created a bench through the center of the photo. I put the people there because it seemed like the best location to really draw your attention in. These people are positioned in this way because everyone around the town looked to relaxed, talkative, friendly, etc. I also chose to desaturate the people because I thought it would draw even more attention to them.

Special Edition

Pilsen Art Walk

Throughout this experience I noticed many pieces of work in which I got some kind of story, an emotion, a feeling, etc. But certain ones grabbed my attention much more. I enjoyed seeing the light displays, the sculptures, videos, and collages. But these three pieces of art got my attention the most.

The first one I felt showed me an image and I was able to pull out my own thoughts was the one of the moon. This canvas painting created a sense of calmness. What I got was the moon is always present and the mixture of colors signifies the times of day and seasons. I saw purples, red, pinks,oranges like when the sun is setting; i also saw oranges, red, browns, and yellows like when its summertime. The way the paint looks like it is running down the page in unique and a great way to entice people to take a closer look. This one just was so interesting and immediaqtley drew your attention to the moon.



Also the next one that stood out to me was the water tower creation. This piece I enjoyed because my boyfriend and I take pictures outside this building every year around Christmas time. I love the architecture of this building and in this picture the color scheme excentuates the architecture. I like how they added a red and yellow into the black and white sketched looked painting. By doing so your eye immediatley is drawn into the building itself. i also like how the picture is created with written words faded into the background. This image uses many techniques to draw the observer in and I feel it was quite successful in doing so.



This next series was one that I also liked. I got my own theory on what this series looked like. The first picture is and outdoor, tree scene that the background looks like the sun is about to rise. It gives you a sense of calmness when you look at it. I like how they only drew attention to the colors of the sun whereas the rest of the picture is black and white. In the second picture of the series I like the way it makes the sun seem to be fully out and shining. This gives you a sense of daylight and day time. Finally the last one seems to be the sun setting. The colors display the night time and a sense of peacefulness. In all works the color schemes are amazing; I am a fan of black and white photos, but with color mixed in to draw attention and set a scene is amazing.

Week 5

In order to begin this assignment I first decided which picture of Old Town I wanted as my background image. I decided the one in this photo because I wanted an image that gave me space to add objects and have it look like a natural scene. I also chose this one because of the way the statue is a different color than the rest of the photo. I began to look through my other photos and see where I could crop people out and add them to this background page. Old Town was quite a busy area so I figured because the town was so busy I would make this scene full of people. The project was to have the people in the piece catch your eye first. We were shown many ways in order to accomplish the task of drawing the viewers eye to one main idea. I felt that I accomplished this in a way by blurring the background; I used the gaussian blur in order to have the background be less dominate because of the darkness of the background. One thing that should be different in this piece is how small the people were; unless you are looking at the piece right in front of you the only thing that catches your eye is the statue. But I needed to be able to catch your attention with people from far or near. I need to create a background that is less dominate and draw your eyes to one person in particular. As well as these suggestions I need to also touch up the way my people are cut out; some have mishaped edges and parts from the originial picture that need to be erased. The craft of the poeple are a bit poor. I needed people for the project and I found I took very few pictures with people in them, so the ones I used are from a distance.

Week 4

In order to create this collage of Old Town I cut out objects from pictures and pasted them to a new document. By doing this I was able to make a scene with the objects. I was able to shape them the way I wanted as well as use many other techniques to create an interesting piece of work.






This image was created with the street sign as the focal point. I created this image first by choosing which object I wanted to draw attention to in the collage. First I selected each object in the image and used a COLOR technique. I went into the adjustments tab on photoshop and chose to desaturate each object to the extent they became grayscaled.







This image was created using the design technique of BLUR. This allows me to have a focal point on the colorful flowers in the collage. I used this design using a special blur option in photoshop; it was called gaussian blur it allowed me to use a scale in order to increase or reduce the blur to each picture.





In this image the focal point is on the colorful blue Old Town signs. I chose this for REPITION mainly because these were located all over the town. This is a way of drawing attention to one object many times. i was able to do this by copying each one from one picture to the next. Each time I copied the sign I placed it in random spots and changed the positioning using the tilt options.





The option of using SCALE to draw attention to the focal point is another obvious but great way to relay a message through your work. The clock tower was enlarged to be the center of the image. I did this by using the command t to tranform the object by expanding it. As well I used the same command to make the others much smaller.

Week 3

Old Town is a small, beautiful, down to earth place to live. This pictures shows how the town gives off this friendly, old-time feel. I began with the picture in the background because it shows alot about the town itself. The clock tower on the side was located outside an Obrien's restaurant and I felt it was quite rare to see a huge clock tower in a small neighborhood like Old Town. This picture also shows the big brick buildings with shops, restaurants, hair salons, etc. I also noticed that the name Old Town fits because the wooden signs hanging from each shop reminds me of how stores where advertised back in the day. The two Old Town signs were located in various places. The blue sign were located on numerous light poles. When I first arrived those were the first things I saw. They say 'Welcome to Old Town' and it gave me a feel that this town was very relaxed and welcoming. As well as the blue signs there are the huge Old Town arches with the interesting designs. These were located in a few spots these arches have been around for quite some time and seeing them was spectacular. In most neighborhoods and towns the welcoming signs are wooden, dull, and to the point; in this case Old Town welcomed visitors with elaborate arches and what not. The people in this town gave off a sense of friendliness; everyone walking dogs, eating lunch, chatting with friends, or just taking a walk gave off vibe of happiness. The people were saying hello to one another, waving, and no one seemed to be in a huge hurry like most city neighborhoods do. This picture also shows off the colors of the town; everywhere you look you see greens, reds, and blues. The architecture shows off the large, brick buildings surrounding the town showing the reds and browns of the bricks. The many flowers and trees showed off the greens, reds, pink, and purples. The signs and sky in the picture give off the light blues. This picture of Old Town is overall giving off a sense of calmness.

Week 2

I wondered where a fun and interesting place to visit in the Chicago land area would be. I considered the Loop, Midway, and then I was given a suggestion of Old Town. I decided since I had never been to Old town, let alone ever heard of it, I would go check it out. I did some research on the town before I left in order to find out some interesting landmarks to go see. I found many cool places in this town to visit, but not enough time in the day to see every aspect.
I began my adventure with my boyfriend and father at about 10 o’clock in the morning on Sunday, August 30. We ended up in Old Town and decided to begin the adventure with finding the Old Town Arch. This arch is photographed in the picture above. I found these pieces of art quite interesting because most towns do not have these types of signs. I loved this picture because it shows the nature of the town. The green colors in the trees and plants surrounding the area give off a relaxing, vacation-like atmosphere. The signs give off an actual “old town” vibe with wooden, hand carved signs. The Arch is what caught my attention with the eccentric design throughout the entire frame. Off course the background shows the architechture of the town as well as Sears Tower in the back shadow. This town was beautiful from the flowers, plants, garden, shops, etc. The town was full of history; there is the History Museum, Saint Michaels Church, Second City, and so much more. These are the main attractions for Old Town and they just showed so much of the culture and background of the city.