In this blog post, I want to share the work I created for my final project in my digital imaging class. Previous projects mostly involved the use of brush and shape tools in Photoshop so I wasn’t able to incorporate photos into them. For the final, however, I knew I wanted to do something that required taking photographs.
I ended up putting together 5 collages of everyday life around the apartment, inspired by the work of English painter David Hockney. In the 1980’s, Hockney began creating photo collages made up of polaroids. Over time the collages evolved into abstract representations of the scenes he photographed using a 35mm film camera. Hockney viewed his collages as a combination of painting and photography as he tried depicting depth and incorporating multiple perspectives into his work.
My first collage combines two different perspectives of a lamp in the living room, with the neck of the lamp serving as an element of abstraction. The second collage is of Beaumont, a roommate’s cat, drinking water from the bathroom faucet. Elements of the faucet are repeated, as are two shots of the mirror above which emphasizes strong diagonal lines. My third collage is of the window in my bedroom, with individual photos shifting focus between the shades, the window frame, and the trees outside. The frame bends and twists at unnatural angles in an effort to create depth. I return to the living room with the fourth collage, where I capture the sun-lit curtains in the morning, as well as the shadows cast by plants on the window sill. A single photo of the brick building behind the curtains gives the viewer a little peek into what lies beyond. Lastly, my fifth collage centers around the dishwasher silverware basket. The bottom and left sides of the frame capture the profile of the basket in repeating, undulating waves, while the rest of the collage is dominated by two white lines whose segments are the basket handle from various perspectives.
Creating collages is something I had never done before, and I’m happy to say I won’t stop.