College Catastrophe

Marian Madonna Cunningham. Photographer. BA in Photography and Digital Imaging 2015.

[marianmadonna]

Digital Portfolio, Architecture, 2015.

[marianmadonna]

Alternative Final, Senior Year, 2015. Animals and their environments.

These are the black and white digital files before I turn them into digital negative for Silver Gelatin printing. The images, except for the highlands inside the red deer, are not mine. Past the break are the credits.

Stock sources

Austrian owl: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Australian-Barn-Owl-291518895

Land/forest: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Scarlet-Macaw-186158894

 Bear1: http://linay-stock.deviantart.com/art/Bear-10-304484610

Moutains1: http://evelivesey.deviantart.com/art/Moody-Mountains-433768201

 Shark: http://cypherstock.deviantart.com/art/Aqua-02-35555685

Reef2: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Fish-404848868

 Snake: http://00alice00-stock.deviantart.com/art/Snake-01-40405278

Stream: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Moorland-Stream-489871926

 Elephant: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Elephant-3-187180172

Grassland: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Wetlands-01-208622477

 Seaturtle: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Sea-Turtle-01-95689706

Coral: http://www.deviantart.com/art/sea-floor-2-359499836

 Dragonfly1: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Golden-Dragonfly-134248561

Reeds: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Misty-Morning-165779191

 RedDeer: http://www.deviantart.com/art/For-Natasha-421135973

Mountains/moor: me

Use for clouds: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Green-Field-276415310

[marianmadonna]

Lighting II, Selective lighting and color. All of the flowers were completely white and I adding the color with light and color gels.

[marianmadonna]

Alternative Processes, pre-negative B&W digital images; Spring 2014.

The idea of this project was so overlay and compare and contrast humans and nature.

[marianmadonna]

10/12 images that are part of my senior show. Images subjects in order

Saliva

Sperm

Hair

Earwax

Blood

Skin

Discharge

Feces

Mucus

Urine

The Art of Being Human

Marian Cunningham

Inspired by my love of art and science, this project explores the pieces of every day human body elements on a microscopic and artistic level.  I use samples of things like skin and blood and enlarge them to show the colors, textures and light that are the art in our human element.

Using a process called focal plane merging, I shot a series of up to thirty images of one subject, adjusting the plane of focus by the millimeter. I then layered these images in Photoshop allowing the multiple layers of the subject to be in focus simultaneously. The objective for each sample varies from 10X to 40X depending on how big or small the subject may be. While also enlarging these samples, I adjusted the iris or the microscope to modify the light on the subject, which in turn can give more or less texture to the sample and allows for more or less color to shine through.

It is important to examine each piece from up close and far away. From far away each piece may look similar to the next, but upon closer inspection each sample looks more detailed and separate. It is not only human emotion and personality that has its finer parts and individual characteristics, the body too holds unique and specific details while working together as a whole to make us who we are.

[marianmadonna]

Took a photo of billiewheeler taking a photo with her nice camera. I can’t remember what kind of camera she had but it was heavy and really cool. She is such a beautiful majestic woodland fairy.

[artandamanda]

photo by marianmadonna, edit by artandamanda

[artandamanda]

gender roles

photos by marianmadonna, edit by artandamanda.

[artandamanda]

marianmadonna and I are doing a collaborative photography project on the sexualization and gender expectations of children through toys (ie barbie and gi joe and whatever) and our college won’t allow us to “officially” do the project for credit bc of their “conservative values” (it features nsfw content in an abstract manor) and it’s funny to me bc Mapplethorpe exists

[marianmadonna]

I'm so excited to do this project! To add on a little more, we are also thinking of submitting the final pieces to MoMA, VCU and maybe even VTech. The worst they could say is no, right?

[marianmadonna]

Introspection and Deconstruction

              The inspiration for this series is based off of personal reflection and how I relate my current stage of life to nature, more specifically, a flower. The flower I chose is a Henbit Deadnettle. The Henbit Deadnettle is one of the first flowers to grow and bloom in early spring and is also a flower that does not have any designated symbolism, so I decided to give it my own by using each piece from the flower and its surrounding to represent my personal introspection. I used a razor blade and tweezers to gently deconstruct the flower and photograph each piece under a microscope at 40X objection.The images can be matched to the numbers below. 

  1. Anther- representing outgoing information because it is the part of the flower that disperses the pollen. This information can be interpreted as anything from me expressing personal opinion to things I know and have learned either in school or from personal experience. 

2. Leaves- representing growth in direction. No flower has just one leaf, and no human has just a single interest. Leaves grow in multiple directions just like my interests grow in different directions 

3. Seed- representing my personal goals/dreams. Not all seeds that fall begin to grow, and not all goals are achieved; but much like a lucky seed that gets to grow, once in a while goals grow into action and dreams are achieved.

4. Pollen- representing memories and thought. All of a flowers genetic makeup lies within a single piece of pollen, much like the all the unique memories and thoughts of a person lie within the brain.

5. Bee- representing all of those who have helped me grow in life. Without the bee flowers would not be able to develop the seed they need to grow, much like without my parents, friends and teachers I would not be able to grow into the young woman I am today.

6. Stem- representing strength to stand tall and be rigid enough to hold film but flexible enough to withstand the wind without breaking. I find it important that I have the strength to stand by my own morals and ideals but also being able to view life and ideas though others eyes and knowing when to go with the flow or admit my faults.

7. Roots- representing being grounded and being able to grow and experience new things without forgetting where you started. While it is always important to grow and experience new things, I don’t ever want to forget my past however good or bad it was.

8. Petal- representing beauty and grace. While a petals beauty is usually only appreciate on the outside, all beauty truly starts on the inside. Being beautiful ultimately starts within ones self and can be seen on the outside not only in presentation but in action as well.

9. Stigma- representing incoming information because it is the part of the flower that is sticky and receives the pollen. This can be interpreted as me taking in information from around me, whether it is learning in class or from personal life experience.

[marianmadonna]

Begining of my Light Paint Flowers final project for Advanced Lighting class.

[marianmadonna]

Crabtree Falls, Black and White HDR

[marianmadonna]

Crabtree Falls, Black and White HDR

[marianmadonna]

[marianmadonna]

Crabtree Falls, Black and White HDR

[marianmadonna]

Couture Pajama

So this is my midterm project for my Advanced Lighting class. The idea is fashion using a ring light in a studio setting. But what is fashion? Who gets to decide what is "in" or "out" what looks good and what doesn't? In college, for the better majority, clothing styles do not hold precedence or importance. Sure maybe taking the extra effort to put on nicer clothes may show a bit more professionalism, but for some people such as myself it does not. I work best when I am comfortable and regardless of my outfit I am not only smart, but I am determined, witty and am capable of being professional in pajamas or a business suit, just like the people I photographed for this project. So just think about that the next time you call someone lazy or are judgmental towards someone based on their outfit alone.

Models from top to bottom

Me marianmadonna or venusdebacon

Alex narcolepticdaydream

Amanda artandamanda

[marianmadonna]

Linger

  Ever since I was a small child I’ve been dealing with depression. Depression for me is a daily fight of whether I am feeling strong enough to suppress the feelings it gives me or not and regardless of my environment this feeling of depression tends to linger within me.

Because this depression is something that is a daily struggle, I wanted to show myself doing daily things with this shadow that follows me and appears in polaroid-like snap shots of myself as a physical and visual representation of the nearly uncontrollable thoughts and feelings a try to sort out within myself every day.

This project has evolved and has taught me a lot about myself as well as my feelings towards this illness and how others perceive it. I had originally wanted the shadows to be soft and nearly unseen so the viewer would have to search for the meaning, but I realized that that was one of the problems that many others such as myself deal with. Mental illness is to often put on the back burner and hidden as if the problem is nonexistent. By making the shadows bold and intrusive I want to invite the viewer to think about those around them and how even the people closest to them may be struggling with something that is not always physically evident.