Junior Conceptual: A Junior Design Student Conceptual Project by Nicole Hu (2016)

My poem was focused on the art of meditation through yoga, and the feeling of openness and vast space. ''I make myself into a U
And then a T and an A''. The letters resemble shaped in yoga that you can make using your body. The idea for this piece came from balance. When I think of yoga, and the poses that are done when doing yoga, I think of balance. Meditation too is all about balance; maintaining a proper balance both physically and mentally. On instagram, I came across an artist who uses rocks to form intricately balanced sculptures. I was inspired by this to stack rocks to signify the balance in meditation and yoga. The first time I took a yoga class, I took it with my best friend. I was reminded of this experience when composing this piece as there are two stacks of rocks propped on the ledge of a fountain. Inside the fountain, the water is still and clear, further demonstrating balance and serenity of meditation.

I had a really difficult time with photography and learning to shoot in manual. During this shoot however, I finally figured out how to properly adjust the shutter speed and exposure so that my photos would not turn out too dark or too bright. Another hardship I had was difficulty finding the right angle to shoot. Because there were too many colorful flowers and bright reflections from the sun in the background that seemed to distract from the focal point of the image. I ended up editing the photo in photoshop, making the background less saturated and tinting the entire background so that it is all a deep green tone. I also took out all the bright light reflections from moisture in the plants that distracted from the light on the rocks. The blue in the water was increased as well, in order to give the image a cooler tone that brings out the feeling of relaxation. .