Hey everyone,

So, I'm not sure if anyone still follows this thingy or not, but basically, I've moved all of my working progress to my actual website and Behance. I probably won't be putting anything else up here. BUT: all of you should follow me on my behance page:

http://www.behance.net/shawngriffin

and check out my professional webpage:

http://shawnpgriffin.com/

Since I'm all professional and stuff... at least that's what they tell me.

It's been crazy that I've been maintaining this blog off and on since a little before my freshman year of college, but it has been nice to have to look back on how far I've come and how much potential I have for improvement.

Studio Meat Shoot

Well well well, my first true attempt at a pro studio shot. In keeping with the tradition of somehow getting raw meat involved in all my projects, my group decided to do an editorial photo of a woman eating meat, giving it that sort of vignette lighting that I have always aspired to learn how to do but never mastered it. I was pretty pleased with how it turned out and think that I learned a ton from doing this shoot. Hopefully, there will be more of these and better in the near future, just hopefully with less raw meat...

Immersive Advertising

In comparison to the meat project (see below) this was the project I actually wanted to do. I got into appropriation scans after that first scanning collage project and thought I could take it to the next level, combing it with street photography (which I have never really taken before). I basically combined a model from a magazine ad and placed it into a street photo, adjusting the colors and values to make it look more immersed. I attempted to show the ridiculousness of the advertising icons we attempt to model our lives after and how, when placed in a real life setting, these people would look like fools. Basically, I really enjoyed this project, especially since I was able to leave my comfort zone without needing to handle raw meat.

WARNING: THIS IS KINDA GROSS (aka Delicacy to Disaster )

So, it has been forever since I did my last update, probably because I have been spending all my time photographing fish. I started this project as a side item while I was waiting to get a translator to begin what I really want my thesis to be about. Unfortunately, it stuck for the whole semester. It started off as a survey of the Hong Kong wet market. After being told that everyone and their mom has done a project on the wet market, I decided to actually buy the meat and make still lifes out of them, comparing the super fresh, unsanitary, raw meat to the over-processed, plastic meat you buy at the western grocery store that is probably 80% corn. This resulted in my apartment smelling like a fish stall every weekend for the past 3 months. I am just super happy that I never have to touch this project again and can start photographing what I really want to work on.

Scanned collages

For this assignment, we had to utilize the scanners to create collages with both imagery and by laying objects directly on the scanner bed. The prof said he wanted me to start doing more cohesive concepts for these exercises, so I chose to mirror religious iconography in the media with all of these. Basically, I really love how these turned out and kinda want to do more.

Graduate Photo Work

Holy crap, this thing still exists! Well, for those of you who haven't been following, I was accepted to SCAD Hong Kong's MFA Photography program and have been here for 2 months. I started posting my graduate work on facebook, then realized there is no copywrite protection there. SO, I'm gonna start posting them here again. Here is the first photo project for my Digital Craft class (basically Digital Photography the sequel). For this project, we just had to take multiple photos without moving the camera and stitch them all together into one (basically the same project as the one of me dancing with myself) but hey, exercises is exercises.

The Camera is Racist

Well, this is the photo series I did last semester that everyone has been wanting me to put up on the facey bookys. I don't feel comfortable giving facebook royalty free rights to my images and google has their image policy laid out more in my favor.

ANYWAY, This series was for a photographing light course. Our only stipulation was that the subject had to do with light and everything had to be ambiently lit, so no studio lights. I was wanting to show how metering for different skin tones in turn changes the surrounding area's tone. I took two separate photos at proper meterings, then stitched them together to form one photo. No photo shop was used outside of basic color correction and the stitching of the photos together. There is a large artist statement about racial perception, but I think it would be quite lengthy to put on here, so just ask if you want to read it and I can email a copy to you.

Also also, a big thanks to all of my models, in order (David Ogunjobi, Margaret Loehnig, Dipesh Niraula, Jenny True, Samah Hassan, Patrick Gross, Hazar Khidir, Reina Koyano, Alexus Wong, Mikey Sistek, Hannah Pey, Jun Kwon, Hiroki Shibuya, Rocio Hopson, Marc Polaski, Alexis Morris, Yazan... (I know it's not Smith, but you never gave me your real last name), Hannah Pey (again, but bald this time), Nifemi Adio, Albert McCorrmick, Jenn Fank, and Duong Dinh)

If any of the models want to use the photo you are in (like printing it out, putting it on Facebook) feel free to, but I would appreciate it if you would credit me when putting it on any social media websites.