Project 1: Levitation / floating photography ENTRY 6 + More inspiration

Now that I am done photographing my models, it's time for me to edit my photos. Though post production would not do that much difference to how the flying aspect will look like, I still googled up some inspirational photographers anyway, in hope that I will continue to do more levitational photographies even after the deadline of this portfolio is due because this is very interesting.

This is one of the websites I can't help but to scroll through a few times twice.

The Art Of Levitation: 6 Photographers Who Feature Gravity-Defying Subjects

Hayashi Natsumi

Hayashi Natsumi is well known for her obsession for levitational photography. She dreams to be capable of levitation when she was younger, and bits by bits she fell into this routine of photographing self portraits (and sometimes photos of others) levitating in a normal everyday surrounding.

She advices that when taking levitational photographies, the subject has to look as though they're frozen mid time. Meaning that their facial expression has to be very well controlled.

This is her official website: http://yowayowacamera.com/pineapple1/

Something that bothered me slightly about the image above is that the subject's right foot has a motion blur. Hayashi could have used a higher shutter speed, nevertheless, the composition and the prop of the image looks great so it drew the viewer's attention away from the blur.

This last image is also another great one by Hayashi. The balance in this image is unequally exaggerated, making the viewer pay more attention to the lady to the right. Also, because no one seem to see the lady to the right at all, it makes her look like a spirit who lives her life everyday in a very crowded world, yet not  single person can see her wandering and levitating.

Her photograph inspired me because of how realistic she made levitation on a regular basis look like. With her great use of different settings and composition, the magic of her photographs were captured brilliantly and surrealistically.

Li Wei

Li Wei was born in a rural house in the province of China, Hubei. He later on settled in Beijing in 1989.  He studied at the East Art Academy in Beijing and later on combined a series where he mocks gravity through various mediums (performances, photography, video, installation) in 1997. He currently lives in Beijing.

View his official website here: http://www.liweiart.com/english/works_photo.htm

Li Wei's photographs inspired me because of it's subtle sense of humor. Something about the subject he photographs and the costume and position they were levitating in gives off a slight humor and sarcastic mockery to gravity. By looking at his photographs, I can tell the photographer has a great sense of visual humor, making his images more intriguing and fascinating than just a levitation photograph.

Somewhere Lovely (Kylie Woon)

Kylie was born in Singapore and raised in the United States and China. She is a conceptual photographer. She is not strictly a levitational photographer, but she's great at conceptual post editing. She's currently in Singapore and pursuing a degree in Digital Imaging and Photography at Nanyang Technological University.

This is her website: http://kyliewoon.4ormat.com/

I love the last image by Somewhere Lovely in particular because it gives off this feeling as if though I am watching the entire black and white horror film, but all in just one image. It's very very fascinating to see how the photographer incorporates post production techniques like over laying another image of the subject on top of the other. The vignette on the left side of the image really draws attention towards the subject.

Kylie's photographs inspired me because of how conceptual and creative her photos are. Almost all of her photos reminded me of dreams. She is capably of portraying each different photos very well because of the model's costume, prop, lighting, and digital editing.