The Reinke Grant For Visual Storytelling Portfolio /  by Jasmine Cummins

The photos here are excerpts from two bigger projects I did last year. Click to get a closer look at the photos. I hope you enjoy!

Big Bone, KY

Big Bone is in Northern Kentucky about an hour outside of Cincinnati. The name comes from the Mammoth fossils discovered there. For a month, I visited Big Bone and took photographs of the beautiful scenery and small details I noticed — the crosses on the side of the rode, the red roofed barn, stars in the night sky — that are staples in Small Town America visuals.

Keeping the Place Running

There are many different challenges facing the maintenance department at Northern Kentucky University. Retirement plans are in a transitional period, switching from pensions to 401(k)s. Parking prices are astronomical. Staff pay double what students do. And at $10 per hour, workers are calling for a standard of living raise. But despite it all, the staff say that they stay because of their loyalty to the students they serve.

“You could go down the road to a middle
school and get paid three dollars more
on the hour than you do here [at NKU].”
– Josh Perkins, Labor Crew

London: Week 3 /  by Jasmine Cummins

Here are my best five images from this week. Click to get a closer look!

 

These are some class activities we did this week. Click and hover for a description.

 

For this week, I only made one image for my mini series.

 

London: Week 2 /  by Jasmine Cummins

This weeks photo’s are from our visit to Highgate Cemetery, Lacock, and Bath! I really enjoyed spending most of the week outside of London. Everything felt much more calm.

Just like last week, to get a closer look at the photos, click to enlarge!

 

Here are a few photos from class his week. Click and hover over each image to read more info about our adventures!

 

Some more images I created during the week to continue the small series about feeling alone on this trip.

 

London: Week 1 /  by Jasmine Cummins

This week has been an absolutely blast, but exhausting. Here are some photos I’ve taken wondering around this week. Click to see the full frame :)

 

For more information on what we class activities we did this week click and hover over the image!

 

I have decided to start a new project about how lonely I feel here in London. I don’t want anyone to worry; I am okay. I’m not feeling this way because I am having a hard time making friends or not going out enough. I’m spending plenty of time with others and having a great time! But I’m not with my people. That’s where the trouble lies. This the first photo I have made in relation to this topic:

 

Definitions /  by Jasmine Cummins

Analogous Colors — colors next to each other on the color wheel (i.e. blue and green)

Complimentary Colors — colors opposite each other on the color wheel (i.e. purple and yellow)

Asymmetry — sides of a composition do not reflect each other

Symmetry — mirroring; when an image is perfectly balanced

Background — what is furthest away

Middle-ground — typically the focal point of an image

Foreground — what is directly in front; typically commands the most attention

Camera Angle — the way/direction a camera held when photographing an object

Cool Colors — green, blue, purple

Warm Colors — red, orange, yellow

Depth of Field — how much of the image is in focus

Diagonal lines (and their impact) — often give a feeling of being unsettled, like it’s not grounded. adds a dynamic quality

Filling the Frame — leaving little to no negative space

Focal Point — where a viewer’s eye tends to go first

Framing Element — an object in a photograph that is meant to help give emphasis to another part of the image

Horizon Line (and where to place it) — typically placed at the bottom 1/3 of the image

Juxtaposition — how to objects next to each other communicate and give each other context

Leading Lines — help guide the viewer’s eyes around a composition

Line — help define edges of shapes and forms

Negative Space — “resting” area in a composition

Positive Space — “active” space in a composition; typically gets the most attention

Pattern — the repetition of a design

Texture — the way a surface feels or looks like it will feel

“Rule” of Thirds — placing objects in a image along 3x3 grid lines and points of intersection ; meant to make an image more dynamic

Scale — the size of objects in a image

Value — the lights and darks in an images

Value Contrast — the ratio between lights, darks, and middle tones

A Little Bit About Me /  by Jasmine Cummins

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Hello!

My name is Jasmine Watson. The picture here is about a year old, but not much has changed. I don’t spend a lot of time in front of the camera since I am mostly behind it! A few things to know about me are:

  • I am a BFA Photo major. Projected graduation is in Spring 2020!

  • I work mainly digital, now. However, I started learning photography on a 35mm film camera about 5 years ago.

  • I got a dog a few months ago and he is the light of my life.

  • One of my favorite past times is sleeping.

I look forward to meeting you guys in London!!

Being Social without Socializing /  by Jasmine Cummins

It’s a real phenomenon for me as an artist to come across a person that does not actively use Instagram. In more ways than one, social media is how artists gets there name out there to be “discovered.” It’s a great and easy tool to be social within a community without have to leave the comfort of your home. But that’s not really socializing, is it? You don’t get to hear a voice, see facial expressions, and there is always the chance of your message being misinterpreted. It’s a lot more difficult to have strong connections in any other way but in person. Not that it’s impossible, just harder.

I think in a big way, Instagram is making us lazy. Maybe not in artwork, but definitely in building connections. It’s easy to not go out to art festivals, galleries, or museums. Why would you go out if you had access to it all right from your phone? But the matter of the fact is that people want to get to know others in ways that aren’t digital. They want a human connection, not one with a screen. In large, that is why if you want a job, you’ll have to be interviewed first. People want to know what your response is going to be — especially when you haven’t had time to groom your answers. Instagram might make it easier to get exposure, but I think it is going to make it harder for people to get jobs.

I don’t know that there is life after Instagram. This isn’t to say that Instagram will always be around. I’m sure a new platform will rise and others will fall. That’s just how business works. But after a certain point, it become more or less all the same. It is already engrained in our society that this is how we are social. As far as sharing artwork goes in the long term, I think it’s just going to be an ebbe and flow between people wanting to see a website or see it in person.

But I do have some advice for younger artists, that are diving into this ever changing world.

  1. Don’t be focused on the numbers.

    Being an artist is not a numbers game. It does not matter what your follower count is or how many likes a post gets. Every post would get a different response depending on what page it is posted to. Don’t give number too much credit.

  2. Create work that is true to you and that you care about.

    If you make work just to be on trend or just to have something to post on time, your viewers will be able to tell. It shows when you make work that you are invested in. That is the best way to set yourself apart from the crowd.

  3. Don’t call everyone a hater.

    There is a difference between hate and criticism. If someone tells you that a photograph is a out of focus or that a pot you made is really lumpy, they’re pointing out ways that you could improve. Granted, there are good and bad ways to give criticism, but it isn’t all hate. If someone goes to the lengths of commenting on your post, that is a sign of caring.

  4. Be vocal.

How is anyone supposed to notice you if you don’t say anything? Or worse, you don’t have anything to say. I’ve gotten to work with the most amazing group of people before just for asking questions. I got to interact with one of my favorite painters just because I tagged her in a post. Let people know when you have something to say. Most are willing to listen.

5. Be thankful for the opportunities that you get, but give opportunities too.

It can be awesome when you get your first legit gig, but don’t forget about the other people around you who are just as deserving. For weddings, I’m always going to ask if I can have a second photographer even though that means my pay gets cut in half. I stay name dropping when employers ask if I know any awesome people. Make sure to give as much as you get.

Being a Pro at Procrastinating /  by Jasmine Cummins

I hate procrastinating, but I am so good at doing it. The way I waste time is by doing things that don’t need to be done. For me to be content, I have to be doing something with my time that is productive. I prioritize my work, but I usually start with the smallest and most insignificant task. For example, last Wednesday I had told myself that I would get caught up on my journalism class. Instead, in the time I had set aside to study, I cleaned my hard drive.

The first step in being productive is identifying what is hindering the work for getting done. I don’t have one thing that is a constant distraction. I am incredibly self-disciplined, so if I feel that something is distracting me, I leave the area or remove the object. The work I am doing also determines what kind of distractions I need to be mindful of. Like if I am writing, I need to be in complete silence to focus on what I want to say. However, if I’m editing photos, it won’t bother me to have someone talking to me.

The way that I pull myself out of a creative rut is to spend time with the people in my life that bring me comfort and joy (and also, dogs). Being with friends and family is a large part of how I stay inspired. I, also, never seem to have a shortage of ideas for work. My artist’s block usually stems from a dip in self-motivation. Eventually after not creating work for so long, I just have to force myself to make work whether I want to do it or not.

Another thing that really helps me is keeping an agenda. Lists help me organize my thoughts and tasks that need to be accomplished. You can find an agenda pretty much any where that sells office supplies. Here is a link to some cheap, but effective ones at Walmart.

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Burning House /  by Jasmine Cummins

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Jasmine Watson, 20, Northern Kentucky, Print Technician, jasmineflowerphoto.com

Things I would grab in case of a house fire:

  • Key to my car

  • Glasses

  • “Love You” note from my partner

  • Photo of my mom from the early 90s

  • Uncle Johnny’s Rambo tee-shirt

  • Photo of my mom, dad, and me

  • Harley Davidson riding boots

Intrapersonal Interview /  by Jasmine Cummins

Question 1: What drew you towards art?

Even when I was little, art was my favorite subject. I never thought I was good at it, but I loved doing it. I have these small snip-its of memory from elementary school art class. The teacher had this huge cart, that she would take from classroom to classroom. Hearing it come down the hallway was always a source of excitement. I also remember making a little clay monster and the class placing their projects along the AC unit to help them dry.

What truly drove me towards art, though, is the pushback I got from my mom. At some point, art was like a forbidden love. After I still had an interest in art after middle school, my mom started to get concerned. She didn’t want me to be an artist. She wanted — and still does want— me to be an engineer. I’m not really sure she even knows what that means; she just knows they make a lot of money.

Question 2: Have you had any other pushbacks on the road the becoming an artist?

Oh, yeah! During my sophomore year of high school, I applied for GSA (Governor’s School of the Arts). It was this amazing opportunity to get to connect with artists my age around the state of Kentucky. Attending GSA also would have given me a full-tuition scholarship to nearly any college in Kentucky. When I didn’t get accepted, I was ready to give up on art — never pick up another drawing pencil or paint brush again. Even though it hurt tremendously at the time to get rejected, looking back, the art I submitted was complete trash. Here’s an example of work I did:

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Honestly, I am thankful for the learning experience GSA taught me even though I did not attend.

Question 3: What made you get back in the saddle after you weren’t accepted into GSA?

I was, more or less, forced into creating art again. I had the choice of taking an art elective or an Arts and Humanities lecture class my senior year of high school. I needed one or the other to graduate. So, I opted not to take the course I had been avoiding my entire high school career and go with the senior art class my school offered. I’m really grateful that I was forced into because that’s the year my art really started to take off and become worthwhile. This is some work I made that year:

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I obviously had no idea how togo about documenting my work in a professional manner, but it’s all just a learning curve.

Question 4: How has your art progressed?

The biggest difference I can see is my art has meaning now. It isn’t just about making images that are nice to look at anymore. I’m creating work that I truly care about because it involves the issues that I face daily. Now, my art actually has something to say.

Question 5: How has college affected your artwork?

Technically. College was the perfect place for me to hone my skills and sharpen my technical craft. I feel like the professors at NKU have taught me things that I wouldn’t had been able to acknowledge without them. I never would have know that I was underexposing nearly all of my photo work or that sometimes I need to be rushed in order to finish a painting in less than a month. All of my instructors have given me a swift kick in the ass that I didn’t know I needed. I have also largely been encouraged to explore the topics that I want to make work about — by peers and professors.

Question 6: How do you balance being a full-time college student with being an artist?

Granted that me being a student is centered around the art I am making, it isn’t that difficult. However, making work outside of the classroom is a reoccurring struggle. It has been quite a while since I have made any personal work. When I make my work, I put my all into it — whether it has been assigned to me or not. I do my best not to feel like I have to create an overflow of production. I don’t want to emotionally drain myself.

Question 7: If you haven’t made work outside of the classroom for a bit, what drives you to create art?

I care too much about feelings and the human experience to ever stop creating. I think that it’s super important to for people to share their reality. I am always interested in what others have to say. So the way I figure it, someone out there is probably interested in what I have to say too. There is always going to be emotional turmoil to explore. And if by some miracle there isn’t, then, there’s still things to care about.

Question 8: What is your art about?

In a word: relationships. The work I make focuses on the interactions between people, how we affect the places we live, and how we care for ourselves.

Question 9: How do you start making work?

First, I think about what is causing me the most pain. For a good while, that was my dad. There was a lot that I thought I had coped with that I hadn’t. That’s why Unlearning is my biggest project yet. Exploring those emotions within myself, led to me wanting to share that mental discomfort. I know daddy issues can be the punch line of a lot of jokes —hell, I make a lot of them — but sometimes it’s important to take seriously and figure out the root of it.

After I figure out what I want to make work about, I start coming up with concepts for how to get my message across. This is going to sound super pretentious, but there isn’t any one thing that I love to photograph. I’d rather photograph ideas than things. Once I have that mapped out, I start making the work.

Question 10: Do you think your art is making an impact?

At the very least, I know it has an impact on myself. My art has made me share some of my life experiences in ways that are not comfortable, but necessary. Something I think about a lot actually is that Unlearning has made someone cry before. I think that’s the biggest and most genuine compliment I have ever received as an artist. So, I know that project has meaning beyond myself.

Trending /  by Jasmine Cummins

One way specifically that social media / internet culture has affected my work is that I want my work to be very clean. And by that, I’m not referring to content. What I mean is technically clean. The smallest imperfections in my work drives me crazy. If a piece I make is not up to my formal expectations, I will not show it. This has been a positive impact for me. It is never a bad idea to hold yourself to a high standard.

With the over production of digital images, artists have to make their work stand out somehow. One way to do this is making sure that your work is as technically as sound as possible. This newly found focus on craft is in part due to recently created tools. It really wasn’t that long ago that eight hour exposures were needed to create an image.

My least favorite trend in photography, has roots in early photography when colored photos didn’t exist. In the 19th century, the only way to have a colored image was to have it hand painted. It was a much more involved process. Antique colored images are beautiful; don’t get me wrong. But today’s interpretation of that practice is trite and uninspired. Here is an example of selective color I did in high school:

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This trend does not add any visual value to the image. Sure. It puts emphasis on the most important aspect of the image. But because that one part of the image sticks out so much, the viewer’s eye get stuck there and cannot naturally flow throughout the image. No artist does themselves a favor by using selective color. This trend – thankfully – has recently begun to fade away into the background and die off.

Following trends is almost always damning, but trends are not inherently bad. It is important to find the balance between following and deriving inspiration. Taking inspiration from what your contemporaries are doing is a good idea, but being a blind follower means you are not staying true to yourself. Leaving yourself for what’s popular is the quickest way to get left behind.