Friday, August 13, 2010

Hide and Seek



The original photo shows a barren field in New South Wales that was used to graze cattle before a major drought hit the area. This field use to feed roughly 250 cattle. This is half of the two-page spread. The other half showed the young girl’s brother and father. All of their faces express feelings of despair, anguish, and heartache. This tragedy has harshly impacted their family. The father now has to travel over 400 miles to raise livestock.

The remixed image I created shows the girl playing hide and seek. Instead of the girl covering her face to hide her pain, the remixed image shows her “counting” while her brother hides behind the tree. The landscape is no longer dust. The children now enjoy playing in a grass and flowers, with a beautiful horizon in the distance.

Betsy Preval


National Geographic Magazine, 2010, p. 21

Mr. Bear Goes Home


I am really interested in the idea of displacement. The idea that anyone, human or animal, should be taken away from their natural environment is not right. In the original image (top), this bear cub looks lost and confused as he wanders around what looks like a crate. He is trying to lick something, which makes me think he's hungry. So, I gave him some fresh plants to play or hide in. He deserves to be in his natural environment.

Think about what you are eating

I think about this image of the cow in one of my old cookbooks all broken down into the different meats and it is very easy to forget that this was once a living thing. We often times don't think about what we are eating and where it came from. Luckily for us humans we are at the top of the food chain, but I am very sensitive to the fact that not all living things are that fortunate.

I don't like to eat meat because it does bothers me and I don't like seeing these images.

So for my alterations I put this poor cow back together and allowed him space to be comfortable and free.

Kristine Biegel

Valuable Resources



When I first saw this advertisement in a National Geographic, I was appalled thinking about all of the natural resources used to make this ad. I see this as a perfect example of the overall ignorance when it comes to our current environmental state. So I decided that, instead of having to look at this ad and seeing all of the water wasted, I would turn it back into drinking water.

Zoƫ Wyner

Farmers HelpPoint, National Geographic, August 2007, p.12

DREAM



The original picture shows a completely dry land, which used to be a pasture that once fed 250 cattle. We can also see the land owner’s daughter turning away and covering her face from that disconcerting, disheartening and desolate scenario. A long drought turned this ranch to dust, and with nothing left to support his family, the owner of this land now grazes livestock 400 miles away.

In the remix I tried to imagine the way the land used to look before the drought and represent that through a dream the little girl perhaps could have had. In the dream the girl instead of turning away from the pastures, she is running towards them. She is not worried or sad anymore. She is ready to play with the soil, the animals and trees. She is thankful she can freely run among the meadows and have again the opportunity to enjoy and be part of that beautiful green land.

Yeni Vega.


Picture by Amy Toensing

National Geographic 2010 p. 21

Civilizing the wild

I found this beautiful image of Yosemite National Park and after I looked at it for a while and appreciated the beauty of the image, I found myself thinking of the mountains like skyscrapers and the river like a road. I hated that that imagery came to my mind even though it is just a product of urban life. I decided to find some images of hotels and expensive cars and turn this quiet and tranquil place into a commercial space where the wealthy have come in and destroyed it in order to make it what they think is better. While creating this, I couldn't help but think about how when you see a beautiful flower, you may want to pick it and take it home. If you do, not only will it quickly die, but you will be the only one who gets to enjoy it.
Resources for Images

vietnamhotelz

http://www.vietnamhotelz.com/hotel.php?lo=2


Multi Service Contractors Inc.

Blacktop

http://gomultiservice.com/Blacktop.html


auto spectator

2010 lotus elise

http://www.autospectator.com/cars/topics/lotus-elise


The Leela Palace Kempinski, Chennai

skyscraper city

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=925138


Yosemite National Park

Like Me Daily

5 National Parks to Visit Before You Die

July 2, 2010

http://daily.likeme.net/2010/07/02/5-national-parks-to-visit-before-you-die/


-Laura Sweeney

Natural Beauty



The original image I chose shows a woman standing in a very opulent home. She is surrounded by what appear to be expensive furnishings, and one can assume that she is the proud owner of this house. I saw the original image as being reflective of our society's beliefs about wealth and success. An obvious mark of one's material wealth is the home they create and the objects they surround themselves with in that space. We value this sort of materialism and strive to be able to acquire things that are expensive and deemed beautiful, and this over-consumption and materialism have negative consequences for the environment. In my transformation, I replaced part of her home with a lush, natural setting. The suggestion is that we should move away from surrounding ourselves with an abundance of objects in our expansive homes, and instead surround ourselves with the beauty of the natural world.

original image: Francesco Lagnese, Town & Country, August 2010, p 97

Jennifer Shaby