the alt-types, and the hipsters.
A discussion on 'album art' and 'tactile art' and 'photoshop doodling'.
A laugh but semi-relevant to the previous post.
A discussion forum for the students at the school of Architecture and Design of VUW.
A discussion forum for the students at the school of Architecture and Design of VUW.
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ReplyDeleteI think this discussion is relevant to a post photoshop world. Collages and such mash ups such as MIA's album have been around as a form of album cover at least since the first wave punk movement and I'm sure well before then. It took effort to make these album covers, a careful choice of images from acquired collections. Now one simply has to google for an image to collage.
ReplyDeletePhotoshop I think has devalued the effect of images. I find myself often upon discovering a beautiful image immediately wondering if its been photoshoped. I seem to forget almost instantaneously that I found it beautiful to begin with. Why is it that it matters to me that the image is photoshopped?
I remember last year second trimester in communication I was told I had an amazing wire frame model. This was at the crit and I found it appalling that my model was being called amazing, as I had no model there. It was an image of my model that my tutor applauded my use of solder for. When in fact it was held together by UHU, and just barely. It bothered me that a poorly photshopped image of a model would be called a model, and praised for it's craft. What a bunch of bullshit. Rant Rant Rant RAWR!!!
the treachery of images.
ReplyDeletei'm still very much in a photoshop world.
ReplyDeletephotoshop has saved my ass so many times. like the time you describe when we had to make those wireframe models. didn't make one. made it out of thread. photoshopped it so it could have maybe passed as a wireframe model (still looked pretty average actually). or that time (same project) when we had to make 8 iterations of a model. didn't make 8 models. made one model. ripped it apart 8 times and photoshopped it into different poses.
or that time (same project) when we had to do orthographic drawings of said model. drew it in sketchup, photoshopped it so it looked hand done. got big props for those drawings in the crit, and i totally took them.
why did i do this? because my tutor had really high standards in terms of craft which i knew i couldn't meet. and, at the end of the day, it was a communication paper to be submitted digitally anyway, and my digital submission was pretty crisp, so i got a good grade.
or even design this semester. anyone see me bring any models to class? nope. why? because they sucked. it was hard to achieve the lighting effects even with a projector. but, with the aid of photoshop, they were awesome, 'poetic' and held all this meaning which i wanted to have in real life but just couldn't achieve.
i'm not gonna lie. my craft is terrible. my drawing has a long way to go before it is capable of communicating what i want. so, with the aid of image manipulation tools i can get visuals to the point of being alright.
i'll admit i've used photoshop heavily in all my design and communication papers thus far, it's like a lifeline for me and i think to a degree it shapes my presentation aesthetic towards a certain look but that's probably just because of my fairly limited knowledge of how to use it.
it's an issue of representation, rather than design, subject to fads and trends and taste but i guess we do whatever we can to get our point across (or mask our inadequacies).
My issue is not with photoshop, as like you it has saved my ass many a times. As a means of communication it is wonderful and as a student I can't imagine not having this tool available. As a tool of communication I have no issue with photoshop.
ReplyDeleteWhat I was trying to say that bothered me was the fact that my tutor refered to my model( the object which I had built and failed in the real world) as well crafted, but what he was looking at was a lie of image. I think what bothers me and I'm not sure if it really is an issue, but what bothers me is when photoshop and reality start becoming a blur and it's hard to tell whats real and what's not. I think perhaps this is a personal issue, but I hate looking at image and being unable to shake this suspicion that its been photoshopped, why does it matter anyways to me, I don't know.
yeah... ceci n'est pas une wireframe model
ReplyDeleteI get what you mean, I just don't think you should feel bad about it. Even non-photoshopped images lie.
Cropping alone is something which is inevitable while taking photos, but it can greatly alter the effect of the image.
The nature of photographs also mean you're automatically 'cropping' out sound, temperature, smell etc. So you might see something in a photograph, think 'wow', see it in real life, think 'err..'. Same goes for your wireframe model, even if you hadn't photoshopped it, the photo probably would have looked better than the model itself.
Very interesting points. So can one truly ever understand unbuilt architecture?
ReplyDeleteNot in my opinion..
ReplyDeleteYou can get close to having a good idea, which is the best we can hope for i suppose.
Yea we can rationalize based on our own experiences what images of architecture might be like, but as you stated many things have been cropped out.
ReplyDeleteSo as an architecture student how do you feel about the fact that most of our influence and precedents of the built world outside of Wellington come from images, and these images are what we in turn use to study architecture? Images that as we have discussed as being cropped could potentially not actually provide the same inspiring awe that they had in issue of (insert hip architectural journal, is there one?).
I think there is a danger in working solely with these "lies" as an architecture student, as one day one of these lies might be built.
could we argue that there most certainly is poor craft within photoshop?
ReplyDeleteI am so guilty of it, but also the opposite. I would not have got any of my good marks without photoshop. I think the beauty lies within the mix of media. as Jae once said .... Sketechup, print, draw on top, trace, scan, photograph, scan, photoshop, print, draw trace, photoshop COMPLETE. its the entire process,
Eric you are very correct about this, and its good to see these models built, as there are things photoshop carnt achieve, but to be honest it comes down to time. Becaue if i had time to make these models I surely would, but unlike me I suck at time management.
Although there is nothing more spectacular then finiding a medium inwhich you can be fully confident within, to me that is photoshop. Its time for me to master more physical modeling tools.