Film: Political Issue

"Light washed jeans"

ARTIST STATEMENT

Another ski joke. The social issue in this is against our president because some people like him and some don't. I bought this sticker when I went to Utah over April break and have been dying to use it. The joke here is that idiots ski in jeans and I think you can figure out the rest. I personally don't follow politics that closely so I have no opinion on Donald Trump, but this sticker worked very well for this project. This image took a lot of positioning and a lot of patience on the subject's part. My patience was really tested during the printing process. I did a test strip and decided that I should expose the paper for 4 seconds. The skis, poles and car displayed a beautiful range of value, but the entire top half where the shirt was was completely black. I went to Ms. Medsker and told her that I thought my paper had been exposed because it had a big black spot on it. She told me that the border would have been black too if that was the case so I was told to turn the light way down and expose it for 2 seconds. Print after print there was a problem. The boarder was black, I cut off the ski on the right, the shirt was still too dark, always something except the skis, poles, and car were always perfect. I was afraid that the more I messed with the light and exposure the more I would change the good parts. My solution? Burning and dodging. I ended up exposing the image for 2 seconds but I would move my hands over the pants and shirt, blocking the light. This worked beautifully as you can see in the image above. I like the formal balance of this image and I've heard that a lot of people like the car in the background. It blocks the real season from being seen and throwing off the image, and adds just enough interest to keep this from being a boring photograph. If I could change one thing about this print, it would be that light spot and the bottom. It bothers me so much and all i have to do it move my hand more when burning and dodging. If I had more time, that's what I would do.