Last assignment for #UnaFotoXdíaX28días: "A message for Venezuela."
Today is the last day of #UnaFotoXdíaX28días. The last assignment is "A message for Venezuela." My photo is simple. On a background that offers nothing but emptiness, I chose to place children holding hands and flowers. My message is a request: it's my way to ask for peace and understanding in my country. I won't delve deeper into this, as lately, my feelings about what is going on in Venezuela are too stirred up to talk about it.
Instead, I prefer to talk about photography. A few posts ago, I talked about participating in the photo challenge #UnaFotoXdíaX28días with my school in Venezuela, Roberto Mata Taller de Fotografía. For a photographer, this is a perfect challenge as it keeps participants making images everyday (one of my most important pieces of advice for those going into photography). Also, it spurs creativity and awakens the sense of urgency that spices up a photographer's life. For me, it fueled my need to pursue a story.
It was twenty eight photos for twenty eight days of February. I made photos for the challenge in four different American cities. Some days I hated the fact that I had to poke my brain, grab my camera and figure something out. But most of the time, I was elated; I fulfilled a daily deadline with something of my own creation.
I am pleased with most of the photos and moved to tears by a couple. Also, a very interesting "indoor" series unfolded in my imagination due to the lack of time to go out and shoot. I'm blaming the quality and lack of brightness of the outdoor light that happens on Winter gray days.
This series was done with the help of my wired gadgets (laptop, desktop and smartphone). Some of the images were arrangements of my own photos or those found on the Internet. Some I collaged on the "virtual desktop" of my computers. This last option allowed me to work around "Appropriation", a style that has produced some million-dollar images like the re-photographed Malboro Man by photographer Richard Prince.
Not that I had those million dollar signs in my head. I utterly enjoyed developing a new body of work that I plan to keep exploring from now on.
This is the original photo I shot for the last assignment, with my own photo taken in Trujillo State, back in 2005.
These are some of the photos I made by using imagery found in Internet:
