Parson's Challenge

The object I chose to focus my designs on was a Japanese maple tree in my front yard, which I overlooked in my daily travels.

I wanted to first interpret the tree in a photograph. The idea I wanted to convey through my first perspective was something soft, light, and friendly. I took several photos at different times of day and at different angles to play with composition and lighting. During my interpretation, I found that the strongest composition was the one in which the lamp was in the foreground. The shape of the tree stands out against lightest areas in the snow and sky. Both the tree and the lamp create an asymmetrical balance in the image. I captured the sunlight shining right at the top of the lamp to draw your eye away from the center of the composition. This photograph captures the interesting shape of the tree, while creating a dynamic relationship between the lamp in the foreground and the tree in the middle ground.

For my next interpretation, I climbed up into the tree to get a completely different perspective. I perched myself on the branches one cold afternoon and thought about how I felt. I had a friend take several photos below me from different angles. After examining each, I decided to create a design that is edgy and ominous. For the design, I combined drawing and digital imaging. I used pen to simplify a photograph into an outlined drawing. The outlines were then scanned into PhotoShop and adjusted to appear clean, smooth, and solid. I added color digitally and wanted to keep a monochromatic color scheme against a red background. Filters were used to create the background, and to add a subtle “static” texture to the entire image. I used grey tones against a red and white background to create an interesting composition and convey an edgy, ominous, and static feeling visually.

For my final interpretation, I used collage as my medium. I picked a day when I was in a silly mood and decided to focus my third perspective on something whimsical, fun, and “trippy.” I combined photograph, drawing, and pattern to create the composition. I used a paisley pattern for the sky to convey a psychedelic, “trippy” feeling. I played with different versions of the patterns and chose the strongest and most balanced combination in terms of color. Technical pens were used to create the house in the background and the clouds. I used the drawings to add contrast against the rest of the environment. The last piece added to the composition was the photograph of the tree, which is the focus. The final piece was scanned into PhotoShop to adjust the colors in order to enhance the different hues and unify the overall color. In this interpretation, I successfully used collage to create a balanced composition in terms of the relationship of warm and cool color, and the interaction between the tree and the environment.