project #8 experimental camera

Images taken with experimental camera.

A description for your experimental camera. What is the purpose and usage of your camera? What subject is it meant to capture? And what kinds of meaning emerge through seeing your subject through your experimental camera?

This camera is an art piece, but hopefully it will provide some enjoyment and perhaps even make you think. Thisproject has made me think about just how much our devices see of us, just how much information and understanding they are gathering. I wanted to make a camera that represented an artistic imagining of how a computer would see it’s human counterpart. Ghostly shifting snapshots of an alien creature that shifts randomly and fluidly compared to its straightforward identity of 1s and 0s. Here you will see yourself, but through an entity's eyes that is not your own, and maybe that will remind us that when we travel the digital realm, we do not go unseen.

Describe your design process. Include all three of your design sketches and explain how you’ve ended up choosing one.

This was not the design I had originally chosen, but I simply could not get that one to work and so I shifted. I am learning to be flexible in my design process. In the beginning of this class I would doggedly stick to an idea, even if it took me hours and hours to bring it to fruition. It is better to let the experience lead you, you will still end up in a good place most of the time.

Your overall reflection on the assignment:What have you learned throughout the process of designing an unconventional camera? How is the process of “seeing” shaped by the choices you make in code?

I learned to respect my limitations and to focus on learning the required skills instead of doing the very specific and unrelated thing I originally imagined. This has made life a lot easier for me, and is even helping me better understand the topics of the week. This assignment has made me grateful for the next one because I am realizing the lack of consent I have designed into this art piece and would very much like to remedy that.

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