Experimental Camera: Perspective Mosaic

Description

This experimental camera creates mosaic images of its subjects in two ways in order to encourage reflection on how we create our self identities. When initializing the camera it shows an abstraction of the subject in gray scale averages of sections of the camera feed, representing my own hazy and undefined beginnings of the self. However, when photographer is ready to capture an image of their subject, it takes an image of the subject, then creates a grid of copy images, and shades each copy based on its position in relation to original image capture so that the original image is recreated through a mosaic of smaller versions of itself.

Design Process

When I was first beginning the ideation process, I was reminded of a series of contact prints I made in college of some lego scultpures I made and this seemed like a good opportunity to revist that serise. But as I began to think more about how I would be manipulating the image of the subject and what I want to say through the camera, I wanted something that was a broader in scope than a personal exploration. I love the idea using nesting loops to create a pixel array and I decided to explore this technique more. I also wanted explore the idea that nothing and no one is ever just one dimensional and visually represent how different perspectives all influence the self indentity.

I started my sketch using the linked pixelator tutorial from Xin Xin, but after diving into pixel arrays and video captures more I realized this was not the direction I needed to go. Instead I ended up using a pixel array setup based on Kathrine Moriwaki's pixel array tutorial and discovered the Coding Train Brightness Mirror which allowed me to get my video feed pixelated and then scale it up and modify the scaled up pixel color approxiations. Going off another Coding Train tutorial that showed me how to capture an image snapshot from a video feed, I figure out how to have the image tiled across the canvas and modify each iteration dynamically based on the underlying video feed pixels. Finally I created a button to allow users to save their mosaic images and fine tuned the button placement to the bottom center of the sketch.

Reflection

This experimental camera is inspired in part from the exploration of self-identity in the classic anime series Neon Genesis: Evangelion. Over the course of the show, the main character continually struggles with defining his identity through his interactions with and the expectaionts of others. This camera seeks to reillustrate that dilemma by visually showing how the "whole" is comprised of many different perspectives. To paraphrase a couple lines from the show, "There is not only the Whitt Sellers that exists in my mind, there is also the Whitt Sellers that exists in my partners mind, each of my friends and family's minds, acquaintances' minds, and strangers' minds. All of these versions of the self are valid and true versions of myself, but there is still only one me."

I have found I have a tendency to over complicate my problems and thus spend a lot of time trying to figure out a drawnout solution. Originally I was thinking I needed to create graphics layers to overlay the mosaic and the video feed over each other, and also use a pixel array within a pixel array to modify the color of the smaller mosaic copies. As the development of the sketch progressed, I realized I didn't need to use a new graphics layer to display two video feeds or even need to update pixels since I was overriding the video feed data with either rectangles and images, I just needed to update the color values of those object dynamically. I also discovered that instead of nesting a pixel array of the mosaic images in the pixel array of the video feed, I just needed to the tint() funciton and pass in the color values of the video feed pixels to update the color of the mosaic copies.

Example Images