For my main idea, I will be taking inspiration from collections of images such as Andy Warhol and the Heinz Advert and combining them with the aqueous style commonly used by artists such as Mark Mawson. I will be doing this across multiple different flavours and showcasing them with different colours of paint. To keep brand recognition, They will all be unified by the logo on the front, so it will be a simple straight forward shot. I will be doing a test to see if I am able to combine 4 images of different cans and if I can, I will try and do as many as I can. This is known as a jitter lapse and is shown in this video.
For my idea, I will be using a collection of various flavours of Monster cans. I am using this for 2 reasons; there are a wide variety of flavours and colours I can use to show the flexibility of the brand and the idea that there is something for everyone, and because I am able to use a recyclable product to promote sustainability. I also have a lot of Monster cans available to me because my friends enjoy to drink them a lot, so I am able to use the cans that they have.
Research into other Artists
Another artist that really stood out to me for his work in aqueous photography was Kim Keever. Based in Miami, this Florida artist uses his knowledge of science and engineering to create masterpieces. He was an ex-NASA employee with an extensive background in engineering who quit his job to pursue a passion in photography. Using fluid-flow dynamics, he creates visual masterpieces by creating landscapes with use of plaster objects, merging his knowledge of engineering with his eye for art (Kim Keever, 2025).
His work is very detailed. He has extremely high quality cameras that capture the movement of the clouds and freeze it, creating incredible works that he sells prints of. He uses a variety of colours of paint in combination with a huge tank to create these visuals. I hope to emulate these clouds by using his techniques in my photography.
Kim Keever uses paint and ink in his photography. Because of this, I chose to continue using acrylic paint. This is because you can easily make it thinner with water without sacrificing any of the colour. I did this because of an issue caused by other liquids, such as milk. When I used food dye to colour the milk, it was not as vibrant as I wanted because the white of the milk was making the colour much lighter. Contrastingly, with acrylic paint I just add water and it does not alter the colour at all. This is the technique I will be using for my final piece.
Planning The Final Shoots
To do these shoots successfully, I am going to need to effectively use my time, space and budget. To start with, I bought some red, blue and yellow paint so I can mix together a wide variety of colours. I then decided to get some white and black paint to expand that library of colour. To finish I decided to grab a lime green because I found that colour incredibly hard to create.
For the setup, I will be using the same style that I used in Creative: Test Shooting. This will allow me to efficiently, safely and cleanly create all of these images. I will be using further precautions to protect the area I am working with, such as using tarps on the worktops and surrounding flooring to protect them.
original
cropped and straightened
burned and spot healed
saturated the green
This created a good final image. There were small issues with it, but most of those could easily be fixed in the final images. I also decided to default to using a 2064×2064 resolution for all of the images because the 4K video quality allows for me to shoot that high. Because I now had my final shoot concept, methods and editing ready, I just needed to grab the subjects.
Acquiring a High Quality Video Camera
To capture the images faster and make my life easier, I decided to use a higher quality camera. To do this, I went to the Central Media department in college and asked what kind of video cameras they had. This is where I found the Panasonic S5. This camera has full frame 4K recording capabilities at 60fps, exactly what I am looking for. I asked if I could borrow it and set up to do my shoots across 1 week, returning the camera after it was over. The email chain is below.
Acquiring the Cans: Sustainability
Because the Monster can is easily recyclable, my project is very sustainable. I used cans that I took from friends when they were done with them. After they were used for the shoots, I took them and recycled them in the appropriate way to make sure they would be taken care of properly. After I had acquired the cans, I had everything I needed to take the images.
The Shoot Week
The shoot week went very well. Because I practiced everything, it flowed very well and I was able to get pictures of all 25 different cans. I kept everything clean by using tarpaulin everywhere in the area and I made sure everything stayed washed before every use to prevent colours from seeping into other images. Washing the tank after every use was also essential to avoid unwanted spots from popping up.
Editing the Shoot
To edit the shoot, I first had to grab the screenshots from the videos. I did this by searching through the video for the correct frame and using the “Export Frame” tool.
This allowed me to export any frame directly from the video at the same quality as the video. I then would export the pictures into a separate folder and edit them from there. This left me with these final images
