Foo Dog: A Junior Design Student Conceptual Project by Fiona Householder (2017)

The requirements for this project was to take a photo of two objects that represented concept statement, mine being the feeling of scorn through the experience of compromise.

I interpreted scorn through compromise as an exercise of restraint, and nobility. If one feels bitter towards another for crossing their boundaries, but still chooses to come to an agreement, they are putting stability above their personal comfort. I chose to represent this with a Foo Dog, because Foo Dogs are not literal interpretations of lions. They are designed to look fierce which is why I used one to represent scorn. However, they are also depicted as extremely noble protectors of their territory. The balance between civility, and territorial fervor was ideal for my concept statement. I placed the Food Dog in a mannequin hand, because hands are important in relationships. Holding or shaking another's hand is indicative of a relationship. That is how I represented compromise. I placed them on a wooden porch outside, because the wooden surface is man made, but the needles are natural, and coexistence is indicative of compromise. I chose to shoot in in a darker setting, because the shadows seemed like a good representation of persistently lurking bitter feelings.

In Photoshop, I added a vignette, which means to darken the edge of the photo slightly, as a framing device. I also adjusted the light a bit. Afterwards, I selected the Foo Dog using the pen tool, and after feathering, I increased the contrast (only within the boundaries of the selection), while increasing the exposure of everything else, to create contrasting elements. This was the filter I chose, because it exaggerated the shadow on the right of the Foo Dog, which fit the theme.