Transcripts
1. Introduction: [MUSIC] Finding creative inspiration for your photography can be
really hard sometimes. Maybe you're out of ideas
to shoot or don't know where to start. Hello everyone. My name is Leafy.
I'm a photographer in visual artists
based in Los Angeles. Currently I'm in Iceland for an artist residency to work on my photography project and to enjoy this
beautiful landscape. For the past five years, I've been working as a
freelance photographer while working on my
fine art practice. I have worked with
clients such as Adobe Lightroom, Samsung, Paramount Pictures, and
exhibited with Photoville, New York, SaveArtSpace and
other international galleries. In this class, I want
to show you some of the nontraditional ways to
find inspiration from a word, a quote, and landscape. This class focus on the process
of concept development. From sketching, planning, a shoot, to editing. The core of concept
development is visually express your
message through metaphors. One thing I hope you take
away from the class is to pay attention around you
and connect the dots, the creativity is everywhere. From there you'll
be able to apply to scale to your own creative area. It takes some practice
to learn about what you're trying to say
with your photos. Use other photographers work as inspirations and
learn from them. This class is for beginner
to intermediate level, but I encourage all
levels to participate. There's something new
to be learned and apply to any creative field. I hope you are inspired
through these exercises. Let's get started. [MUSIC]
2. Class Orientation: Hello, welcome to the
class orientation. This class focus on the process
of concept development. The core of concept
development is visually express your
message through metaphors. Meanwhile, connecting
other artists' work as you are creative reference. We will walk through
from pre-production to post-production and
cover sketching, shooting, and editing. Paying attention to your daily
life and your surroundings is essential to draw
inspiration for your concept. Remember to prioritize your
message and developing your idea instead of your
ability to draw or sketch well. Our assignment for our
class project is to create one concept photo
from either a word, a quote or a landscape. Or you can create all three. Once you're done,
share them with us on the class project page. Good luck and see you
in the first lesson.
3. Finding Inspiration from A WORD: In this lesson, we
will be covering how to develop
concepts from a WORD. If you don't know
where to start, I recommend the
random word website. You can pick a verb,
or noun, or adjective. It's completely up to you. I like the word contrary. Let's look up the definition and we can expand the
concept from there. Contrary means the
opposite in nature, direction, or meaning, or inclined to do
what is expected. This remind me of the scenes
in The Fall by Tarsem Singh. In the scene, the
four guys are facing one direction and one guy is
facing another direction. This created a beautiful
dynamic frame. The contrary in the scene is the burning tree and the
five people in stillness. This contrast inspired me to create a story of separation, two people departing
from each other and walking in different
directions on a hill. I want to add some
birds in the sky to bring a little bit of
sorrow to the goodbye. Another inspiration is from artist Marina Abramovic
and Ulay's early work. They created a contrary
power dynamic by shooting the bow and arrow and tying their hair together
for 16 hours, facing the opposite direction. To extend the concept of
the opposite strength, I have the idea of showing
the tension in-between two people by stretching an elastic band towards
different directions. These are little fun
concept practices. You can do as many as you want. Now I'm going to pick the word
"connection" and walk you through concept development to photoshoot and editing process. The definition of connection, is a relationship
in which a person, thing, or idea is linked or associated with
something else. We are all connected
with thousands of people, things, memories. It's like Shiota Chiharu's
web installation. She uses millions of
strings to connect objects that are
associated with memories. Inspire by Chiharu's work, I wanted to use strings
as a metaphor for the task connection I have with other artists
in the residency. Here is our process. I think the editing is
completely up to you. It all depends on what tone and few of the story that
you want to present. For this photo, the
most important thing for me is the subtle
and humane feeling. To achieve that, I
mainly focus on lowering the contrast and grading
the fresh green color tone. I hope you had fun creating
concepts from a word. Next lesson, let's find
inspiration from a QUOTE.
4. Finding Inspiration from A QUOTE: In our previous lesson, we learned how to find
inspiration from a word. In this lesson, we're
going to practice how to develop a
concept from a quote. The quote can be what
you have learned from experience or something
you have read somewhere. During the summer of this year, I was dealing with
a lot of change. I felt very lost and scared
about all the uncertainty. When I was talking to
my therapist, she said, a door closes, another
door will open. Trust the change. The quote means when the
phase of your life ends, it creates space for new
opportunities to arise. When the door opens,
I see the light. It's a metaphor for
strength and hope. I imagine the photo having
one hand in the frame to open that door but
that's just for me. It could be other things
behind a door for you. Sunset and sunrise
are the best light. The wind was really
strong at that time. We struggled a lot. Thanks to my friend,
everything worked out. First, I've set up
the black curtains as doors and left a gap in-between
to let the light in. Then put my hand in-between curtains to make it look
like I'm opening the door. The sunset was perfect and
the birds were flying by. Looking at all the photos, I love this frame that captured both light and two
birds flying by. I don't need too much editing. It's beautiful the way it is. I'm only slightly adjusting
the level and the colors. In the next lesson, we're going to search
inspirations from landscape.
5. Finding Inspiration from LANDSCAPE: In the previous lesson, we covered how to develop
concepts from a quote. In this lesson, we're going to find inspirations
from landscape. One of my huge inspirations on the landscape is photographer
Cody Cobb's work. I love the minimal and
simple color palette he captures in his work. This inspired me to look for the minimal shapes and a sense of surrealism in the landscape. A road trip is always a great
way to spark inspiration, drive into nature, look around
and feel that connection. My residency was surrounded
by these mountains. I went out to take photos of the soft light and the smooth
forms after the first snow. I wasn't sure how I would edit
these photos at that time, but I was looking for
minimal colors and shapes. Let's go through the photos. I really like these
ones that have similar and continuous forms. They reminded me of traditional Chinese
landscape paintings. The spread of the ink
portraying the mountains, partially obscured and
partially visible. I want to recreate this abstract expression
in my photograph by combining multiple mountains that have similar
shapes together. It takes some time to explore and see what works and what not. Be patient. I use the soft round brush to
paint away the background. That created a nice haze
around the mountain. To create a depth of field, I lower the capacity of
the mountain further away. This is the most abstract
lesson out of all three. It takes some practice
to learn about what you're trying to say
with your photos. Use other photographers' work as inspirations and
learn from them. I hope you are inspired
through these exercises. In the next lesson, I have some parting words.
6. Ending: [MUSIC] I'm so glad you have
made it to the end. I hope you are inspired
through these exercises. We covered everything from developing concepts from a word, a quote, and landscape. One thing I hope you take
away from the class is to pay attention around you
and connect the dots. The creativity is everywhere. Remember the core of
concept development is visually express your
message through metaphors. It takes some practice
to learn about what you're trying to say
with your photos. Use other photographers' work as inspirations and
learn from them. I can't wait to see
what you'll create. Share your project
on the class page. You can find out
more of my work on my website and the social media. Thank you so much for watching. [MUSIC]
