Project 01: Sources

Claude Monet's Water Lillies (1908).

Claude Monet (1840 -1926) was an extremely influential French impressionist painter. He is known for his landscapes and unique depictions of nature.

Monet painted this with influence from his actual garden that he had put together. I chose this painting, because of its beauty and because it gives off a sense of peacefulness. Whenever I feel stressed or just need some time to think, I like to go out for a walk on the scenic path behind my house. Along this path, there are many flowers, trees, bushes, and so on. This painting made me think of my walks on that path and how just the beauty and simplicity of nature brings peace and comfort to me.



Trey Ratcliff's Rush Hour in Seoul (2006).

Trey Ratcliff is a photographer that is well-known for his travel photography blog and is the first photographer to have an HDR (high dynamic range) photo hung in the Smithsonian. His background in computer science influences his particular style of photography.

As in the title, this photo is of Seoul, South Korea during rush hour. The traffic in South Korea is comparable to any major city in the United States (i.e. New York City). I chose this photograph, because this is a place that I spent much of my life in. Also, the use of HDR imaging makes the photo really interesting to look at. This photograph is much like my mental picture of looking outside down at the streets from the balcony of my apartment. It may not be the exact street that I looked out to, but it is very similar.


Mario Testino (2010)

Mario Testino is a Peruvian fashion photographer. He has worked with many celebrities and the British Royal Family. Also, he has been key photographer for many luxury brands, such as, Burberry, Gucci, and Valentino.

I first saw this photo in V magazine and even without reading the caption, I knew it was representative of New York and was a Mario Testino photograph. Lady Gaga is wearing a very avant garde Statue of Liberty costume and is being pushed in a shopping cart by Marc Jacobs. This photoshoot included many other inspiring New Yorkers, but I enjoyed this particular photo. This photo does not remind me of a place in New York that is significant to me, but of how fashion can also represent a place.

The Hush Sound - We Intertwined
The Hush Sound's We Intertwined (2006).

The Hush Sound is an indie band from Illinois. The band members are Bob Morris (vocals, guitar), Mike Leblanc (vocals, bass), Greta Salpeter (vocals, piano), Darren Wilson (vocals, drums), and at the time this song, Chris Faller was also a member.

This song is about a person whose dreams with his ex-lover are happier than his actual life. As the song ends, the singer also realizes that these dreams are representative of the memories with his ex-lover and he will always have his memories. I chose this song, because it made me think of how we dream of all sorts of places and spaces. They may be happy, scary, sad, confusing, and so on, but these places that are in our dreams are our own creative though processes and images.