Aloha, Bliss
the proposal
“Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you” – Nathaniel Hawthorne
"During my first Co-op in the Spring 2013 in Maui, Hawaii, I will have my very first official photography/art project, Aloha, Bliss, the idea of which is to recreate the life of Hawaii in my interpretation in different artistic media such as photography and watercolor. Aloha, Bliss will be a series of photographs and paintings about little things that can somehow define the environment in Hawaii: people, the beaches, palm trees, colors and the sea. Aloha, Bliss might go beyond those topics to explore more in detail what makes Maui Island distinguished from other paradises of Hawaii.
I am a second year architecture major in DAAP. With Photography and Art being my passions, I want to pursue further these two aspects, which can influence greatly my studies of architecture in college. Through this project, I wish to push my existed limit in creativity to strive for something more different from what I have been doing. This project will be a reflection of my experience in Hawaii, as well as a reflection of my artistic journey. If successful, the work will play a vital role in my future portfolio. Personally, this will also be my personal development, which will help me learn more about myself in many different ways. More importantly, I now have the opportunity to do the things I love, one of which is photography, at such an amazing place. My mentor, artist Tom Sewell, will be the main inspiration for my work. As eccentric an artist he is, he has wonderful work and thus inspires young people like me, who is still trying to figure out what I want to do with my future career and life.
Most of my time in Maui, I will be assisting Tom with his studio work, where I will have the chance to learn about media like film photography and movies. The theme of my project does not restrict the photos to be about specific things, and thus I will bring my camera all the times with me to take snapshots of every day’s things and events. It is the spontaneous aspect of the project that will make it special. I will not plan to have a photoshoot, but instead, I will let my surroundings decide when, where and how I will take my photographs. This is also the idea I want to convey to the audience: Happiness, or bliss, does not come when you look for it; instead, it will come to you naturally when you least expect, just like what Nathaniel Hawthorne says.
On average, every day, I will spend roughly 2 hours taking photographs, then 2 hours editing photos in Photoshop and Photoshop Lightroom, the two professional photo editing software. This will be the time for me to learn and master these two softwares. During the weekend, I will spend more time on these two main steps: about 3 hours photographing and 4 hours putting everything together in software. Sometimes, it will take much longer to edit photographs because I will need to go through the process of filtering and deciding which photographs I should use for the final project. Along the way, I will draw out sketches and ideas of what I want to do with other media. Therefore, roughly 1 hour per week will be spent on other aspects of this project. The hours will increase once I finalize what I want to do with them. I will also keep a blog to update my experience in Hawaii on Tumblr: http://hawaianh.tumblr.com. My photos will be on a separate website, potentially http://www.wix.com. "
Please click the file below to see the complete proposal of my project. And check out my photography, the result of my project, from the tab above!
"During my first Co-op in the Spring 2013 in Maui, Hawaii, I will have my very first official photography/art project, Aloha, Bliss, the idea of which is to recreate the life of Hawaii in my interpretation in different artistic media such as photography and watercolor. Aloha, Bliss will be a series of photographs and paintings about little things that can somehow define the environment in Hawaii: people, the beaches, palm trees, colors and the sea. Aloha, Bliss might go beyond those topics to explore more in detail what makes Maui Island distinguished from other paradises of Hawaii.
I am a second year architecture major in DAAP. With Photography and Art being my passions, I want to pursue further these two aspects, which can influence greatly my studies of architecture in college. Through this project, I wish to push my existed limit in creativity to strive for something more different from what I have been doing. This project will be a reflection of my experience in Hawaii, as well as a reflection of my artistic journey. If successful, the work will play a vital role in my future portfolio. Personally, this will also be my personal development, which will help me learn more about myself in many different ways. More importantly, I now have the opportunity to do the things I love, one of which is photography, at such an amazing place. My mentor, artist Tom Sewell, will be the main inspiration for my work. As eccentric an artist he is, he has wonderful work and thus inspires young people like me, who is still trying to figure out what I want to do with my future career and life.
Most of my time in Maui, I will be assisting Tom with his studio work, where I will have the chance to learn about media like film photography and movies. The theme of my project does not restrict the photos to be about specific things, and thus I will bring my camera all the times with me to take snapshots of every day’s things and events. It is the spontaneous aspect of the project that will make it special. I will not plan to have a photoshoot, but instead, I will let my surroundings decide when, where and how I will take my photographs. This is also the idea I want to convey to the audience: Happiness, or bliss, does not come when you look for it; instead, it will come to you naturally when you least expect, just like what Nathaniel Hawthorne says.
On average, every day, I will spend roughly 2 hours taking photographs, then 2 hours editing photos in Photoshop and Photoshop Lightroom, the two professional photo editing software. This will be the time for me to learn and master these two softwares. During the weekend, I will spend more time on these two main steps: about 3 hours photographing and 4 hours putting everything together in software. Sometimes, it will take much longer to edit photographs because I will need to go through the process of filtering and deciding which photographs I should use for the final project. Along the way, I will draw out sketches and ideas of what I want to do with other media. Therefore, roughly 1 hour per week will be spent on other aspects of this project. The hours will increase once I finalize what I want to do with them. I will also keep a blog to update my experience in Hawaii on Tumblr: http://hawaianh.tumblr.com. My photos will be on a separate website, potentially http://www.wix.com. "
Please click the file below to see the complete proposal of my project. And check out my photography, the result of my project, from the tab above!
anh_alohabliss_1_14_2013.docx | |
File Size: | 191 kb |
File Type: | docx |