ADV Digital Art

Online Photographer #2 - Andrew Fyfe

2009-04-27T14:38:00.000-07:00

Andrew Fyfe is a landscape photographer. His gallery has many pictures of various landscapes, usually dealing with sunset or sunrises. His goal when doing his photographer is to capture images when the light is best, and as beautiful - sunsets.

The main equipment that he uses is Canon EOS digital SLR camera, very similar to a lot of what we've been using to class. His lens though is a wide angle lens. Andrew also uses Cokin Neutral Density Graduated filters that enhance his photos.

Online Photographer #1 - Jim Richardson

2009-04-25T14:32:00.000-07:00

Jim Richardson is a quality photographer. He has the opportunity to go to various places to take pictures, whether it be landscapes to wildlife. I've noticed in a lot of his images he does pay attention to detail which is keen to photography. Similar to me, I love to work with various styles and subjects, whether it be from still life, to landscape to people or wildlife.

His bodies of works have been on covers of National Geographic magazine. I enjoy his work a lot because they capture my attention and draw any of the viewers into the portrait.

Funes Art Competition

2009-04-20T15:37:00.001-07:00

Cooking: The Native Foods

2009-04-17T15:56:00.000-07:00

TODAY was another opportunity for students to go and see the native plants being cooked. Those who signed up were allowed to go to our professor's home. Little did I realize why she had said about carpooling. Upon my drive to the place after the exit, I couldn't help but get lost, (once again.) It's been a recurring issue and I don't know why I had assumed it would end. Yet again, I had to call another classmate who luckily had GPS. We both drove up and down the hills as we looked for the home. As I was driving I couldn't help but notice the scenery around me. It was beautiful as to we were more on a country side. You can hear nothing but the wind gusting in the air. Finally we arrived at the home parking waaaay downhill as the driveway had been full. As I walked in I noticed students had begun setting up a table for the foods that were being prepared.

I walked into the kitchen and had seen our two chefs, Flora and Monica. Accompanied by them was another classmate of theirs, Tommy. The women cooked various dishes while Tommy was on the side taking down the recipes.
As they prepared, the students, myself included helped set up on what we thought may look like a good photograph. I too ended up with a video camera for this shoot as there were very many vivid colors from the foods to the tablecloth and the sunlight and plants in the background.

Of the dishes that were created there was a baked fish with a cactus salad on top, chia lemonade, yucca blossom salad with veggies, pine nuts and some strawberries from Tierra Miguel. The foods were very appetizing as we all gathered around taking pictures. After the shoot, whoever was left got together and tasted the food. The food was amazing, and to know it was all healthy compared to our normally poor diets, it was refreshing. All in all the day was a great experience to see a country side, and much less eat great and healthy foods.

Indian Rock

2009-03-23T19:31:00.000-07:00

OFF to another field trip for class, yet this was the closest and yet I ended up being late. Unfortunate as it was, because of its location. I drove around for awhile looking for the streets on the directions given. I felt even more so lost when I drove into suburbia. Everything looked as if I was headed towards the wrong direction. I ended up texting a few classmates to make sure i was headed the right way but was hesitant at first because of my tardiness.

Eventually I got them and they told me that I was headed the right way. When I finally arrived to my destination, I noticed this giant rock to my left on the side of the hill. The rock had some graffiti on it and we learned that gangs had significantly tagged it. I eventually was able to sneak in with the rest of the class and grab bits of information as he talked about the plants and wildlife.
From other classmates I learned that some of the plants that were there had certain chemicals in them that kept them protective from other plants. The plants were not surrounded by weeds like any other typical plant. Also I cam to find out the rock was once used as a ritual site for women for fertility.

After the tour, we were able to take photographs on our own and walk around. I walked around the hill and went beside the rock and noticed its foundation and the different plants surrounding it. After, I met along with the other who were in line for a catered meal by our hosts as we looked on and then discussed among other classmates about the visit and catching up on other information from the tour.

Frames

2009-03-19T15:09:00.000-07:00

Rincon Indian Reservation

2009-03-16T20:18:00.000-07:00

I had no idea what I was going to be in store for this next trip at Rincon. I had been given the opportunity to do a video instead of taking pictures of the site of other students working in the field. As I arrived there were tools available as the purpose of this trip was to have a 'hands on' experience. It was very gratifying to see everyone working together as groups were assigned. As students from our Advance Digital class collaborated with the other class - it was nice to see the teamwork between the two as others would be alongside planning out where to plant and so forth. As everyone was being disbursed using the plot of land they had and how to execute the plants they wanted, they put them in various spots, digging and putting the plants while in the pots to measure up how big of a hole they needed. As I was filming, it was good to see a teamwork of students, taking turns digging, taking plants out of pots, photographing one another and so forth.

After I had a good amount of footage of everyone working together, I had an interview with our hostess, Kristie Orosco. She is a alumni of CSUSM and talked about how she had taken the class before. She touched on how the native culture was and their beliefs and as well as talking about the plants and about the surrounding area. Also, she went on and talked about how people get a different view compared to the assumptions that people normally have. Also. she went on and talked about how she had been very excited to have students help out as it is not a common opportunity for most.

Pechanga Indian Reservation

2009-03-09T21:18:00.000-07:00

ANOTHER first time visitor. Apparently these field trips had been a trend for me, going to new places. Although, Pechanga to me has been mostly known as a Casino, it was fun to see what was in stored. Luckily the day before, I had to go up to Temecula, the very same exit. I felt much more comfortable going over to a place I had been compared to the last couple of places I had been previously. As the meeting spot was to be the Pechanga gas station, I could hear the wind blowing through my window, I opened the door to find it was nothing short of cold. I waited among other students at the station as the wind blew. After about 20 minutes of waiting, we finally went aboard a shuttle and were on our way to the nursery.

On the first stop, it literally was the middle of nowhere. Me and a couple of students were wondering why we were stopping to later have our host, WIllie Pink ask us if we wanted to see a Great Oak Tree. At first I did not catch what he said and I saw everyone walking inside this giant shrub. As I walked in, I stood in awe seeing this awesomely huge tree. He explained to us that the tree had been there for hundreds of years. It was just amazing to see this huge tree in the middle of nowhere, completely covered by its numerous branches. It also showed how some of the branches had been under the ground because of some floodings. It was utterly amazing and started the day out good.

We then re-boarded the shuttle to our next destination. Then we went on to a pond like area where Willie talked about the surroundings we were looking at. He explained how it was created by some students. By the pond were various rocks and a small hut that was a container for acorns. After some of that explanation, we went onto a trail where we came across some huts. My mind though about how it would have been in the past with many huts as if I were in a small village. Willie explained that the huts were for camps that take place every year. He also stated that they were only up for a certain amount of time because of the material, they do not last every year without daily maintenance.

As we proceeded in a circle and took various pictures of all that surrounded us, Willie pulled out a knife and showed us how to make an arrow shaft from plants. He shared some interesting facts, that arrowheads are stone and wooden, but we do not find wooden ones as often because they do not often survive. Towards the end of the tour he showed us more about the culture, he showed us a house they were trying to build, then some sounds on a rock by hitting it in various spots. We also came across a portion that showed how they had meals together and how they prepped them.. He shared that they celebrated Thanksgiving, but instead of turkeys, they would bury hams and have them cooked that way.

During this last portion, many of us students were ready to get on board the shuttle to head back as it was cold. Lastly we stopped over at the nursery and they showed us how they planted various plants and regrew them. They had their own little greenhouse as well. Finally at the end of the trip, we got dropped off into the parking lot and were done for the day. The trip exceeded my expectation, learning some new facts about the people and imagining what their weather must have been like.

Wild Animal Park

2009-03-07T16:16:00.000-08:00

THE first thing that came to mind about this, "Really they have plants there?" I had never been to the park as I have lived in San Diego for the most of my life. I was excited to see the new things with the animals and yes of course the plants. I arrived a little late, past 10:00 hoping that everyone would go in a little later, just because thats how things normally happen. I remember getting a text message saying "hurry up" as I was waiting in line wondering if I had to pay for parking. Finally upon arrival, we still waited for an additional 15 minutes for others to arrive. Once everyone was there, we took a path towards the native plant selection. Our guide, Maren, took us on a side trip, over to the elephants, where a female was in labor, and had been in labor for several days. Surprisingly, not too many people were around, I'm guessing they thought the same as me, if it's been a couple of days, what are the odds that it will happen now. Funny enough, I found out a week and a half later, she had the baby at least a week after our visit.

As we faced the garden, Maren had given us a semi brief summary about why the garden was created. She talked about it was to help educate us about what the native plants because we are taught many different things that do not coincide with the natives. Also she had explained about how these plants were very important resources for the natives in San Diego. As we finally walked inside and along the trail, Maren had explained some plants and pointed them out and their uses. About halfway through the trail, as I and some other students had stopped taking pictures, we had noticed a man who was following us. Unsure at the time, we thought he was a student from the other class, or that he was some man trying to get more information about the plants. Little did we know that this man was another worker, Bryan. He shared about the issues that they deal with regarding the plants, such as the San Diego fires and our humidity during the summers. He also explained that the native plants were much more tolerant against the fires but because of the other non-native plants brought in for the animals they can become a larger problem.

After our lesson about some history about the plants and those in its surroundings, we were released to take pictures of what we wanted and able to go on out our own pace. This was good in the fun of just looking around without having to worry about others hurrying me around or feeling as if I needed to catch up. The experience was a fun trip. Afterwards I went on to look at the animal exhibits and take advantage of my first time at the park.

Quail Botanical Gardens

2009-03-03T16:03:00.000-08:00

THE first trip I took for my own field trip, I decided to go to Quail Botanical Gardens in Encinitas. On my way there, I wasn't quite sure if that was the place that I had previously been to with a friend. I remember my past experience there was not the most pleasant as I had no idea what I was expecting. My friend who loves his plants needed someone to go with to look at various plants that were hybrids and palms and so forth. The garden is known to have an assortment of plants from across the globe, so all in all, it made a impact on me and plants.
This time, my trip was the complete opposite. I was only there for native plants to California.

There were various plants, as I first walked in, to be greeted by a very large Torrey Pine. As I was walking around, memories from the last time I had been there crossed my mind as I was searching for the native plants. I asked a lady at a kiosk if there were natives, she said yes, but did not specifically tell me where they were located. So I journeyed around the garden coming across various plants and flowers from across the world.
I remember just walking through South America, then Asia, Africa, and so on. After about 45 minutes of walking around I found a map. Unfortunately the handouts they give you at the beginning do not have maps. I was a bit frustrated, but at the same time finally relieved to find the map so I can do what I came for, the native plants. Finally walking up the hill on this chilly morning, I walked in towards the natives. There were various plants, ferns, and so on. The various plants I saw were very different in comparison to the others that I had seen earlier in the day. I noticed that our natives looked a little boring and dry. Not to say that I don't like them, but they just were not as appealing, to be quite frank if I had seen something rare, I would not have noticed because all of our native plants look all too similar to me. The plants were fun to look at, it was different as there was no guide telling me what I was looking at, but a different experience does not necessarily mean a bad one.

Quiz #1

2009-03-02T16:26:00.001-08:00

This picture is my favorite because it shows the contrasts between the two different pictures.

Tierra Miguel Farms - Feb 23, 2008

2009-03-02T10:27:00.001-08:00

FOR my first field trip for my Adv Digital Art class I was going to the Tierra Miguel Farm. I left home anticipating what I would see and be out in the fields rather than just sitting in front of a computer screen. What too was on my mind hoping to see colorful plants due to the rain which rarely ever shows up in San Diego.

So, while driving on the freeway I just imagined what it was I would be seeing, if it was to be a typical farm like I see in movies or if it would be more like just flowers and so on. As I finally reached the 15/76 junction I reset my odometer right after exiting to calculate how much further I would have to drive before turning Right. Its usually something that I do when going to a new area and following directions - least I wanted was to miss my turn, especially on a 2 lane road without a turnout for miles and miles. The way to Tierra Miguel had windy roads, it was a fun ride until I got stuck behind some industrial truck that was driving 30mph. After about 10 minutes the truck turned out I was closer to the Farm. I finally arrived unsurely where I was, but just went with instinct and direction to make the immediate left with numerous cars parked outside.

Upon arrival, no one was in sight, so I just walked inside and there was a presentation about to begin. All the students were in their chairs as I looked for familiar faces to make sure I was at the right place. There was a woman who began to speak about the history of Tierra Miguel Farms. She gave so many important facts that made agriculture in San Diego quite interesting. I found the facts about San Diego being one of the biggest places for small farms fascinating and hard to find.

After the presentation we finally got a chance to walk the farm and take a look for ourselves and see what the farm had. They told us that they grew various types of veggies, for example the classics: beets, broccoli, carrots, strawberries and so forth.

It was interesting to just walk around and see just the plantation of veggies in their natural form. As I was looking at some of them I was wondering at first why they all looked like they were dead, most of them had lost pigments and were brown or gray like.

As we took a tour, walking through most of the crops, we noticed they had already been cropped and were able to pick some ourselves. The farm was I think 5,000 square feet, so it was fairly large. There were tons of trees and plants growing in all directions. The view throughout the farm was amazing, as it was in the middle of nowhere, there were mountains on one side, a helicopter that flew around watching over the area keeping an eye on the fields as well.

As we continue on our tour walking and seeing crops our guide let us pick and grab at plants that were around. About half of the class would grab some of the crops and eat them and give them a taste.

As the sunlight was coming to an end, and walking among the different fields of various plants the trip was coming to a close and we were on our way back home after learning so much information about the Tierra Miguel Farms, the agriculture industry and how the market works. It was really an interesting visit and would possibly go back to visit and check out what else they have to offer in the next upcoming months.

Sally Mann

2009-03-02T10:18:00.000-08:00

Sally Mann has some interesting concepts on photography which is not the central focus. Although she has been known for her more controversial photographs, such as her children nude, she takes some vivid images - particularly death. Usually when a photographer goes on a photo shoot their goal is to create the best portraits possible after numerous amounts of photographs - and usually in the end, we enjoy the ones we initially did not like. Also what I did learned from her is the example of taking pictures of various landscapes and making them have a retro look using a sepia tone or black and white and changing the lighting structures and so forth. It gives a oldies film look to it, or scenes from an older movie. I found her desire for the project about death and life to be different. She said something that caught my attention, 'that American's do not like the concept of death, leave it in the nursing homes...' This caught me off guard because its true, and the fact that she was working with death was different than what we normally see.

Edward Burtynsky

2009-03-02T10:10:00.000-08:00

Burtynsky is an interesting artist. He uses photography to capture the images of areas we never see. He photographs places and literally, 'captures' the moment things we take for granted. I enjoyed seeing some of his pieces such as places that look like landfills because of so much congestion. He does it in a way that makes such busyness into beauty. He creates things to look very beautiful because of the uniformity - at least from what I've noticed. The ordinary becomes a little un-ordinary because we look at things in a different way. Sometimes looking at his photos of regular things reminds me of the movie 'One Hour Photo' where in the end, you see plain objects but realize the beauty in it.

Breakfast?

2009-02-15T23:23:00.000-08:00

What did you eat today? Where does the food you eat come from? What food systems do you support? Why do you choose what you eat? Is there a relationship for you between food and health?

Today I got up a little later than usual. They say that "Breakfast" is the most important meal of the day - but exactly is breakfast? Is it the first meal we have in the day? Or does it have to be something we have in the earlier half of our day before noon? Well, for me perhaps, I had a late breakfast, it was almost 11 -noon due to feeling sick.

Anyway, I did not have the most healthful foods today, being ill does not give me much of an appetite. I had a can of chicken noodle soup, a banana, two oranges and a glass of water. The soup was from Campbell's, a processed food with much sodium to keep it preserved. The fruits, not exactly sure where the banana came from specifically other than the supermarket, and the oranges came from California as the stickers on them stated. The food systems I choose to support are mostly my proteins, veggies and carbohydrates. I try to keep everything on a balanced diet, I have a poor habit of not doing much on my dairy, so my calcium intake is not at its best. I tend to choose what I eat because of convenience. If it is there, then I will eat it. I'm not exactly the best at deciding where and what to get, rather than whatever is available. Much of the foods I eat affects my health. If I eat more fried, unhealthier foods, my body enjoys it, it has enjoyed the taste very much, sadly I've grown up eating such foods. Most of the time when I do eat healthy, I can tell there is a change in health, but as I said before, my diet habits are based on availability sad enough.

Mark Dion - Neukom Vivarium

2009-02-02T18:19:00.000-08:00

In the video we viewed during class about Mark Dion and an art piece he creates. It is about him returning environment like structures, such as a large tree back to the urban area. He creates a building that houses the tree to give it a 'rabbit hole' effect, essentially it is a greenhouse. This tree is a garden within itself as it lives off of a stump. The building's purpose is to recreate what nature would be able to do in its own habitat. His goal is to show 'nature through a process.' His purpose is to make structures and buildings pieces of art in ways we have never seen them. This is a advanced feature he tried to implicate on us.

Scott Calhoun - A Lake of Pure Sunshine

2009-02-02T15:14:00.000-08:00

After reading Scott Calhoun's essay, it made me think more about depth. The depth in writing style, how personable I can create my blogs about my fieldtrips and make them more interesting and yet take my readers along throughout my journey.

A good example that I enjoyed when reading Calhoun's work was how relatable he was to the reader:
"So why do I stay at the Motel 6s? First, I'm cheap, and I'd rather spend my money on a great meal than an expensive hotel..."

This to me gives me a better understanding about the person writing the blog and what he or she goes through. Later Calhoun goes on to talk about the various flowers and their habitats and so forth. An example of this is about the various Joshua Trees and how they appear, giving a good description of them in comparison to the way he saw them. He talks the subject matter in a very descriptive tone giving the reader more of a knowledge about the flowers as well.

In conclusion, I hope to follow Mr Calhoun's example give my readers an ear to this writer's voice describing how I will see my future trips and give them an idea as if they were beside me and how I truly felt as I see the sites myself.

An-My Lê - Landscape Photographer (29 Palms)

2009-01-26T17:42:00.000-08:00

In the video she talks about the style of photography she has done, which is mostly landscape. Along with that she talks about how she really enjoys the photos of military because of what they are and to capture them inaction. She talks about her life in Vietnam and how it had been affected. She paints a vivid picture as to how at the age of 7, she was going to school when the war in Vietnam had broken out. Much interest of her work in this video was of the men of military, how and what they do for training and so forth. She hired some of these men for her work - to show how times were during the war. In her photography she depicts pictures both in black and white and also in color. The black and white she said was just the emotion and how you felt when you saw the picture compared to them in color. The colored photos she had was to help show the variations, especially when it was with lines. Her interest also included some videos of the soldiers as they were returning to their families, and how people act - I think this portion was to show how much she enjoys the family values aspect.

Photography - Robert Adams

2009-01-26T17:09:00.000-08:00

Robert Adams is a photographer whose video was about his style of photography. What stood out was that he said he thought he used to take pictures of things he thought he did not like, but later in turn realized he liked those photos all the more. Most of his pictures were of plain landscapes, streets, tree stumps, the ocean.

Most of these photos gave me more of a depressed look, very similar to Munoa's video where it shows the world no longer caring about the world and letting things eventually deteriorate and die. Along with all of Adam's photos, he talked about as an artist, to create books, to share with others, and also to be open to surprise, especially as a photographer. I did notice that all of his pictures were in black and white. I think because it gives his photos a certain energy. It gave me a negative/old looks in connotation to his photographs. I think he was going for that look.

Janel Munoa - "Exhuming Andrew"

2009-01-26T16:40:00.000-08:00

A television screen appears blankly as we watch on... then on the screen, videos of destruction as a montage begin to play on the screen. Then the songs approaches, and the video plays on. Accompanied to the video was a alternative. The song's lyrics that caught my attention were, 'how in the world...' In the video Ms. Munoa was conveying about animals and the landscape that we live in. She showed various views about animals, such as buffalo, being mistreated when they were on the streets, along with a parellel to destruction. Also she was showing images of land and the destruction we create to our own. She is an American Indian who in the video shows her roots as to how she sees the land and animals as precious things we should take care of. Also towards the middle of the video she draws pictures of her people, various indigenous people who come to life. The various landscapes that she sings and dances at is, on rocks where nothing technological is present, another is in front of a herd of buffalos, and another in somewhere that resembles a church or a temple.