carlitos' way

2006-10-20T20:14:00.000-07:00

Narrative Workshop Assignment

Scenarios

#1

Characters (left to right):
Paco Stanley, Juan Pablo, Velasco, and Vladimiro

Setting:
Back alley of a church

Precipitating event:
Their dear mother abandons them.

Rising action:
The 4 characters struggle for survival. They face dogs, pigeons, rats and other urban fauna, adverse weather conditions and just too many mean people.

Climax:
All of a sudden, they develop incredible strength. They have special powers (as one can tell by their freakish glowing eyes)

Denouement:
They survive, thrive. They reproduce and their descendants rule the Brooklyn cat world.

#2
I promise this one's better

Characters:
The Matriarch
Paco Stanley
Juan Pablo
Dennis/ D-Rex
The Saint

Setting:
Saturday 7:30am Luz's night table.
Luz is watching tv in the living room.

Precipitating event:
The Matriarch's weekly futile attempt to contact the living actually captures the attention of Paco Stanley and Juan Pablo. They hear her mysterious plan and see that it will benefit them.

Climax:
The Saint becomes frightened at the comotion taking place at his feet. He flees.
Dennis, on the other hand, becomes aware of the threat and transforms into D-rex and flyes away to warn Luz and the others.

#3 Developed scenario

She sits on the couch in her living room. It is close to 10 pm and she watches television while he’s already in bed. She begins to talk about their youth, about the months when he courted her. He, a banker at the time, and she, a teacher, had met at a regional festival. He was very independent, and she, the only daughter of 5 children of a protective family.

They lived in Cajamarca, a small city in the northern Peruvian Andes. It was the end of the dry season and the occasional rains had turned the barren hills a vibrant green. Cajamarca was a city where everyone knew each other and news traveled fast. Luz and Miguel saw each other often and discreetly. However, it did not take long before the news reached Luz’s four possessive brothers. Her family, especially her brothers, did not approve of Miguel because they already had someone in mind for Luz, the son of a family friend. They forbade her from seeing him and encouraged her to take a teaching position in a remote town situated east of the city.

Luz distanced herself from Miguel. The more she pushed him away, the more he insisted that they marry and leave Cajamarca. The situation grew worse as her departure date approached. Miguel was threatened by Luz’s brothers and was not allowed near her. They would not see each other until months later.

A year later, as the mountains once again turned green, Miguel heard Luz was once again teaching in the same town. He decided to go see her. He had been promoted at the bank and had a chance to relocate to the capital. However, he would
not leave without saying goodbye to Luz.

Miguel left at 5am and arrived at 3pm, riding 10 hours on horseback. Luz was in the middle of teaching a math class. There were 20 children of different ages in the classroom. She did not know what to say or do. She had not heard from Miguel in almost a year and thought he had left Cajamarca. He waited for her outside the one room school house and hoped she would be happy to see him. When she awkwardly said hello, he leaned over, kissed her on the cheek and handed her a small box. She opened the box and found a pair of pearl earrings. She put them on and smiled. He felt relieved.

66 years later she sits on her couch in Elmwood Park, New Jersey. He sleeps after talking to his daughter who lives in Washington, DC. The other 3 children live closer, along with grandchildren and great grandchildren. She wears a wedding band with his name engraved. She wears a watch he gave her 30 years ago.
They constantly bicker back and forth. They laugh together and at each other all the time. He’s become moodier. She has started to forget things. She’s still wearing those pearl earrings.

2006-10-13T21:24:00.000-07:00

My Battles with Photoshop...

led me to this:

and, of course, la virgen:

For the collage assignment I moved a few figures around, replaced original photographs in frames with new ones and my favorite, added D-Rex and the stray cats from the backyard to the feet of San Martin. I wish i actually remembered everything I did apart from what was required of the assignment, but this was my first time on Photoshop and I realized the only way to learn this was to click on random buttons and wait to see what happened.

My attempts at creating a psychedelic plastic covered virgin Mary were futile. I liked the result, though.

2006-10-07T06:12:00.000-07:00

Urgency in Amazonia, extinct dodos and the line between life and death

The works shown at the Ecotopia exhibit at the ICP were filled with
images depicting life and death. Many works displayed the struggle
between both, many the transition, and others either one or the other.
In my portrayal of my grandmother, I attempted to portray an
individual full of life in a stage of life that most people associate
with closer to an end. People in my family interpret her increasing
spirituality with depression or disassociation with her present
surroundings, I in turn, propose a different image of her. I try to
portray her as a being who is very present to her surroundings and a
person who has reevaluated her life and has made a choice about what
is important to her at this time in her life.

The powerful photographs i encountered at the International Center of
Photography were those that in my view demonstrated loss. My favorite
image was that of a young boy standing on an oil pipe in the
Ecuadorean Amazon. This image demonstrated a clear screen center
position of the boy. In this image, the punctum was the brick
structure half way built in the upper right corner of the frame.
This "modern" structure showed a sign of development, which in this
community came at a huge cost. The brick structure disturbed me, it
acted as an opposing force to the vibrant green life surrounding this
young man. The brick structure symbolized the ways in which
transnational companies manipulate small communities in order to
obtain the resources found in their homeland. This theme seemed to be
present throughout the exhibit. A sense of a certain type of
development and improvement of human life at a huge cost.

Another group of photographs that caught my interest was that of the
dodos. This creature has fascinated me for years. The fact that it
only existed in the islands of Mauritius seemed extraordinary. The
photographer's creation with these images was very inspiring and
different than the other photographs in the exhibit. The use of
stuffed dodos to depict their everyday lives was very well executed.
My favorite photograph in this section of the exhibit was one in which
3 dodos are placed in a perfect triangle. The dodo in the center
stands out because of a chiaroscuro lighting scheme. This image is
also a great example for what Zettl refers to as the attraction of
mass. The amount of light on the dodo in the center of the image,
along with its larger size, attract the audience's attention towards
this particular bird.

In conclusion I thought this exhibit was excellent. It was very
engaging and provoked reactions I did not expect to experience.
Having read Barthes' work, I could not help but think of what the
images would have meant to me if they had no "story" or context to go
along with them. I do not know what my interpretation of each one
would have been. If i would have been on track or completely off it
in relevance to what was actually going on in each one. I questioned
if it was actually necessary for me to know every detail about every
image. Did i need to create my own story about the image or did I
have to rely on the photographer to guide me through his work? This
type of problematic makes me question and reconsider the way I
interpret, read and experience photography. The question remains.
How much am I to rely on the photographer's words rather than on his
or her image alone?

2006-09-30T04:40:00.000-07:00

MI MAMAMA

This project has given me the opportunity to experience my grandmother in a completely different way. This was the first time I ever took "serious" photographs and I was terrified. I had a difficult time balancing my desire to be creative and produce meaningful shots and following the guidelines set by Zettl. I discovered that there is a middle ground and following these rules actually gives room for a new form of creativity, a framework in which to create.

On a personal note, I've been doing a lot of thinking about my grandparents, my grandmother in particular, and the passing of time. I remember one day, a few months ago, visiting her after not seeing her for a while and realizing that she "all of a sudden" got old. She wouldn't recite the hundreds of poems and songs she shared with me since I was a child. At least not as frequently as before. She devoted herself more to religion and has begun to become more of an espectator in family matters, where she was most outspoken. I've been anxious and concerned about spending time with her, I want to absorb as much as I can from her, I want to give her as much as I can of me. I want her legacy to live forever in me. Taking these photographs of her have allowed me to capture her smiles, her thoughts, her conversations and the things that are important to her, and now to me.

2006-09-30T04:30:00.000-07:00

In this image, our attention is drawn towards the middle of the frame. Even though there is a large distraction in the foreground, the pull is coming from the center. This is my grandmother in the middle of a conversation with her daughter-in-law (my mom).

2006-09-30T04:21:00.000-07:00

This attention of this photograph is drawn to the lower right corner, also referred to as magnetism of the frame The lower right corner exerts a strong pull on the audience. The light colors in the rest of the image also contribute to this shift of attention.

2006-09-30T04:09:00.000-07:00

Both these images are framed horizontally. I wanted to capture my grandmother's hands and up to her elbow and left forearm, guiding the attention towards the middle of the frame and focusing on the width.

The second image is that of an old photograph. I wanted to capture the figure's arm and halo so that attention is paid to the entire width of the image.

2006-09-30T03:54:00.000-07:00

This is a photograph of one of my grandmother's pearl earrings and a rosary behing it. In this case, the earring and rosary are the figures and the night table acts as the ground. If this was a long shot, the night table would have been the figure and the floor act as ground.

2006-09-30T03:47:00.000-07:00

This image is an example of flat lighting. The light is not coming from any particular direction and is even throughout. I took this picture because lately i've noticed an image of the sacred heart of Jesus (on the right) in every family member's house and in other South American families' homes. It is usually hanging from front doors. I am fascinated by the graphic image and how day to day it has become.

2006-09-30T03:33:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite photographs. It is also an example of chiaroscuro lighting. I especially like the lighting on the orchid and the staircase.

2006-09-30T03:02:00.000-07:00

The drastic difference in lighting in these two photographs give each a complete different feeling. The low light and tilted horizon of the darker picture give it a sense of tension and suspense. The other, however, doesn't create the same effect. It is more plain.

2006-09-30T02:49:00.000-07:00

This is another religious figure on my grandmother's night table. The darker image reminded me of a night time procession. The close up of the image doesn't allow one to realize the actual size of the figure. The clarity of the brighter image allows us to see the details that let us know the figure is quite small.

2006-09-30T02:36:00.000-07:00

This is a statue of San Martin de Porres. He's an afro-peruvian saint. My grandmother has been praying to this saint since i can remember. She makes sure all her sons, daughters, and grandchildren have one in their bedroom. This San Martin sits on her night table next to a picture of her and my grandfather, a sacred heard of Jesus and other figures. This image creates a mood of darkness and isolation. The image of San Martin with chiaroscuro lighting in contrast with the picture behind it create an eerie mood.

2006-09-30T02:29:00.000-07:00

I took a few pictures of my grandmother as she watched tv. I especially liked the orchid behind her. The window in the background tells us it is dark outside, creating an example of time orientation because of the darkness of the window in contrast to the abundant light indoors.

2006-09-30T01:56:00.000-07:00

This image is of a very old blanquet. I thought it had ceased to exist, but there it was, on their bed. It gave me a flashback to my childhood in Peru and I had to take a picture of it. This was taken while my grandfather was sleeping. The lighting of the room and the texture of the fabric provided a perfect example of tactile orientation.

2006-09-30T01:44:00.000-07:00

This is another picture of the plastic wrapped virgin Mary. The cast shadow above the virgin gives us the notion of space between the suspended plant and the statue below.

2006-09-30T01:13:00.000-07:00

This is a photo demonstrating falloff. This is the first picture in which she actually posed and was very aware of the camera. It was the first chance I got to manipulate lighting.

2006-09-30T00:47:00.000-07:00

This photograph is of the virgin mary by my grandmother's front door. It always catches my attention first because i've been asking my grandmother to remove the plastic covering and she keeps saying she will and doesn't. I think it would look a lot better without it, but she gives excuses about the virgin needing protection from the weather and raccoons The cast shadow from the plant above gives the statue a nice effect. This shot is also an example of a tilted horizon. I wanted to capture the virgin's face and some of the plant and light from above.

2006-09-30T00:19:00.000-07:00

In this second project for Foundations of Media Design, I chose to do the second exercise. Doing a "faceless portrait" of my grandmother, Adelina Alvarez de Rojas, was challenging, interesting, emotional, and a lot of fun. I tried my best to capture examples of Herbert Zettl's lighting characteristics and compositional elements. The following photographs will attempt to demonstrate examples of these while allowing you to get a glimpse of my grandmother as I see her.

I took this as i was coming down the stairs. My grandmother was sitting on the couch helping my aunt do some sowing. She had paused and left the work aside to change the channel on the television. This was taken right after she placed the remote down. The remote shows an example of an attached shadow. She loves novelas.

2006-09-16T04:04:00.000-07:00

In this image, outdoor illumination creates fast falloff in different areas of the image.

2006-09-16T04:00:00.000-07:00

In this image, all light comes from specific sources. All light is very selective and has very little spillover in comparison to daylight.

2006-09-16T03:56:00.000-07:00

Silhouette lightning focuses on contour rather than texture or volume. The man in front receives no light, creating a contrast with the brighter street behind him.

2006-09-16T03:53:00.000-07:00

This image is an example of slow falloff. There is no dramatic brightness contrast between the illuminated and non illuminated sides.

2006-09-16T03:46:00.000-07:00

This image is an example of solarization. In solarization, shadows are manipulated through certain computer programs. These shadoes can be placed anywhere and can go against the light source.

2006-09-16T00:30:00.000-07:00

Tactile Orientation
The falloff in this image is carefully used to stimulate one's sense of touch, rather than only stimulating us visually. The crevasses and ridges are emphasized by lighting that hits the rocks from the side, rather than directly from the front.