THE INDUSTRY
WEEK 1:
TUESDAY 30th SEPTEMBER 2021
We were asked to bring 3 inspiring ideas to the lesson that didn't relate to photographers/photography. The three inspirations I chose were: The 1980's and its fashion and music, Andy Warhol and the quote 'You can't blend in when you were born to stand out' from the film Wonder.
I chose the 1980's fashion and music as I really admire the different styles and the variety of music that was produced. The clothing that was worn that I like and wear are Dr. Martens and partly why I wear them is because I like the different pieces of clothing that suit being worn with them. I like the music as its happy, energetic and the album covers created are colourful and interesting and a majority of them include the band/singer which helps to identify them. I also chose Andy Warhol as I'm inspired by the way that he was the first person to produce work in the way he did and due to him creating that style of work, he has inspired others to generate their versions. I really like the themes and the choice of subjects used as they are iconic like the Campbells coup and the coca cola bottles as well as celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Debby harry and Prince. He also photographed unusual situations like car crashes so he didn't just have one main focus - the same as me. Finally, I chose the quote as I can relate to it. I always feel like the odd one out but I embrace that by being me and acting and dressing in ways I feel comfortable. I like being different as I get seen but it can be hard sometimes when it comes to friendship and confidence but I don't let it stop me.
From these inspirations we were then asked to create two photoshoot ideas and mine were inspired but the quote and the 1980's. I came up with a few ideas for the first one which were to photograph objects in places where they shouldn't be and to take photos where you would have to look twice as something would look odd in the photo such as a tree looking like a person. The other shoot I came up with was inspired by the New Romantic movement and the make up that men wore. Men like Adam Ant, Boy George and Steve strange in the band Visage are all inspirations as they have a range of looks so I have some to play around with. With this shoot I'd photograph a model either applying the makeup or just some headshots with the model posing in different ways.
Then we were asked to choose the best one out of the two and explain why so I chose the New Romantic shoot as the best one as I wanted to go out of my comfort zone and experiment with different topics within photography and in this case - portraiture. As the brief is called 'The Bad idea' we were told to use the discarded idea and shoot that with a maximum of 5 final photos.
PHOTOSHOOT PLAN:
The concept of the shoot will be objects that stand out as they don't belong in the areas they will be in, for example, an iron in a fridge or hoovering grass. I find this idea humorous so creating a series of 5 photos will help exaggerate this mood.
I will be performing this photoshoot at home where I will be using household items and natural surroundings rather than a backdrop as I don't want the photos to feel too staged. I will experiment with natural and artificial lighting to see which would better suit the photos.
I think that the idea of being different and standing out would be portrayed in this and would be a better shoot than the other idea I had for this as I'm not quite sure how I would get photos where you would have to look twice in the time frame we have which is a week from today.
UPDATE:
PHOTOGRAPHER RESEARCH:
Mauricio Alejo
To help create some ideas, I did a bit of research and came across a photographer called Mauricio Alejo who photographs objects in a similar concept as to my idea. He is based in New York but was born in Mexico City in 1969. He 'takes familiar objects that have their place in our surroundings and brings them to a new narrative which doesn’t obey their functionality.' The difference between his idea and my idea is that he photographs objects in positions and weird places and I plan to photograph objects in places they shouldn't be and to create a sense of confusion and humour. I plan my images to be sticky so that more people would spend longer looking at them and trying to figure out what they mean - similar to Alejo. With some of his photos, I can make out the scenario but with others, I find it a bit harder as they don't quite make sense. Some of his images I can relate to as I have done and seen what he has photographed in the photos such as in his photo Green Jelly (2014) I can make out what is happening in the photo. There is some green jelly in a bowl in a kitchen. I know its in a kitchen as there is an oven in the left side of the image which has some gas hobs onto. However, in his image Two Steps (2005), I don't quite understand what is going on. There is a staircase with a large, neat pile books blocking the exit/entry to the stairs. I don't know whether the purpose of the books is a meaning such as to prevent something from happening or a purpose to create something.
IMAGES I CAN RELATE TO:
The image named 'Tower' I can relate to as I have done this in the past for photoshoots as well as fun. I'm not too sure what the meaning is in this photo but the bubbles look like a type of flower and the way that everything is white shows purity and cleanliness, further shown by the bubbles. 'Big Fish' is a strange name for some books but I have done this with books so the photo stood out to me as again, I could relate to it. The way that the books have been placed on a table, to me, shows normality as if it was normal to do that to books. The plain table exaggerates the idea of normality as everyone has a table and books. 'Tape' is a common problem with people as everyone has trouble when pulling the tape off the dispenser and it tangles up if you use too much at once. The image looks like an office set up and not a staged one.
From left to right: Tower (2006), Big Fish (2012), Tape (2012), Green jelly (2014)
IMAGES I CAN'T RELATE TO:
In 'Doubting Saint Thomas', I don't know why the hand is relevant but I can see the veins in the arm correlating to the stems on the plants on the fabric. In 'Milk', I don't quite get what is unusual in the photo as its clearly set in a bathroom with a sink and toilet and possibly a bath located in the bottom left corner. This image is the most normal looking one in his series of photos. The only thing I get from this image is the relation of the colour of the sink and the name of the image. The sink is a milky white and the name is "Milk.' In 'Two Steps' , I don't quite understand what is going on in the image. There is a staircase with a large, neat pile books blocking the exit/entry to the stairs. I don't know whether the purpose of the books is a meaning such as to prevent something from happening or a purpose to create something. In 'Still Life' I don't know whether the tooth picks are meant to replace a fruit bowl or they are a metaphor of forcing the fruits to be still as if they are alive and wanting to move.
From left to right: Doubting Saint Thomas (2002), Milk (2002), Two Steps (2005), Still Life (2005)
MINI BRIEF 1 PHOTOSHOOT:
Initially, when planning this photoshoot and researching similar images, I thought this to be easy but when shooting, the process of finding objects to put in places that wouldn't look right was a bit tricky. I chose to shoot this at home where I had more resources to work with and natural set ups. I used a picture of natural and artificial lighting as in some cases natural lighting worked better due to the weather being nice on the day of shooting. One of my ideas for the 'A Bad Idea' shoot inspired by the quote 'You can't blend in when you were born to stand out' was to create a set of images where they'd force you to look twice and question yourself and that idea, although I chose a different one, can be seen in some of these images such as the hand in the printer one and the log image at the end. I chose to change them into black and white to further experiment and because I tend change my photos to that medium. I like the way that the black and white hides the fact that the objects aren't where they're suppose to be.
I came up with titles for these photos and they are:
Theres Not Mushroom (2021), It's Gonna Get Hammed Up (2021), Green And Clean (2021), Toasted (2021) and Freshly Logged (2021)
FRIDAY 1st OCTOBER 2021
TODAYS NOTES:
In groups we were given a type of photography to research and then choose a photograph and analyse using concept and context which was explained to us on how to perform. Context is what is in the picture so what you can see and concept is what the image means to you and what you think is going on in it. My group were given Advertising photography and we researched the different types and looked up some images and chose ones each to explain. I chose the Heinz tomato sauce. Even though I looked at others, I kept coming back to this image as it was striking in the sense that the tomatoes represented freshness and showed that the colourings and flavourings weren't artificial.
CONTEXT:
In this image I see sliced different sized tomatoes stacked on top of each other in the shape of the bottle. I see a red backdrop which tone matches the colour is as vibrant as the tomatoes themselves. I see that although the label has been cut up and altered slightly, the logo is so iconic that it is still recognisable and readable. The quote "No one grows ketchup like Heinz' stands out as it is in a clean white font on a darker toned colour background.
CONCEPT:
This image represents Heinz as a brand as they are best know for their tomato products, especially their tomato sauce. The way they have said that the sauce was 'grown' suggests that it's made that way and not processed.
2 PHOTOGRAPHERS I LIKE:
1. EDWARD WESTON
Edward Weston was born on 24th March 1886 in Illinois. His first images were included parks in Chicago and his Aunt's farm. His interest then moved on to children, pets and funerals. In 1922, he improved his style with a new focus on abstract form and sharper resolution of detail capturing the true form. “The camera should be used for a recording of life, for rendering the very substance and quintessence of the thing itself, whether it be polished steel or palpitating flesh.”
I like Weston's photography as its very textural and the way natural forms idea is so simple yet so effective. I find his images a little sticky as I don't quite know the purpose of them. Could they be just highlighting how beautiful nature is or documenting the shapes and patterns? I also like the fact that to me, I can see things that aren't there for example, in Pepper (1930) I can see a muscly deformed body of a person hunched in a ball with their back facing the camera. The idea that these photos would appear different if they were colour is interesting as people might not see them the same way - the colour could add something that the black and white takes away. From researching into Weston's photography, I see that not only did he photograph vegetables and natural forms but nude people in odd positions which further links the theme of 'natural.' I prefer to work in black and white as I think the details are projected more and the images created are more impactful and have a deeper meaning. I think B&W images are emotional more than colour ones as the lack of colour leaves the view to create their view of what the image means to them and what it would have looked like when it was taken. In this case with Weston's photos, the viewers only have the choice of seeing his images in B&W meaning that they only have their imagination of the mood and set up of the images.
From left to right: Shell, (1927), Cabbage leaf, (1931) and Pepper, (1930).
2. SEB JANIAK
https://sebjaniak.com/mimesis.html
See Janiak is a French photographer and was born 14th October 1966. I've only just come across Janiak and I was taken by the beauty and creativity of his images in a collection called 'Mimesis' from 20212 to 2014. The contrast of the black background against the colourful and bright insect parts makes them stand out so much that the details on the wings can be seen very clearly. He has said: 'Mimicry/Mimesis is a adaptive imitation strategy involving various morphological, physiological, ecological and ethological aspects. Mimesis is a complex co-evolutionary mechanism involving three species: the model, the imitator and the dupe.' What I like about this series is that he doesn't actually say what he uses to create the images. To me they look like bugs such as butterflies but he never mentions what he uses although he does state that they are animals just not the species and breeds. This creates a sense of confusion and wonder as it makes me want to find out what he uses and how he performs the shoots. He says that he uses no retouching for his images so I wonder what camera settings he uses to create such perfect and detailed images. It seems as if he uses the 'insects' to form flowers from the style and titles of the images for example, he uses the words 'Hibiscus' and 'Lilium.'
(In order on his website) From left to right: Lubhyati Solitudinis (2014), Aphyllae Maleakht (2014), Hibiscus Trinium (2012), Lacus Luxuriae (2014)
REFLECTION:
Todays lesson was very resourceful in terms of things being explained clearly by the tutors. I have Harvard referenced in the Foundation course at Ravensbourne but never quite known if I was doing it correctly but when it was explained and examples were given, it was quite easy and simple.
WEEK 2:
TUESDAY 5th OCTOBER 2021
NOTES FROM TODAY:
From the feedback from my peers and tutors, I decided to change the order of my photos because the layout suggested to me would be better at presenting this theme of images. My tutor said that he liked the way that the series started with the round mushrooms and finished with the round logs and I like the way that they act like bookends. This series can be endless as there are many objects that can be put in place of others.
MINI BRIEF 2 - THE SELFIE AND THE SELF PORTRAIT:
NOTES FROM SLIDES:
FRIDAY 8th OCTOBER 2021
My name is Elise, I'm 19 and I lost my confidence when I lost me in 2013. I had brain cancer and the treatment striped me of everything - hair, confidence, weight, muscle and more. I was a very confident and had long hair with lots of friends but now I am shy, have short thin hair and don't have many friends as not everyone chose to understand me and my limits. I have found a new me and I like it just as much as the old me. I tend to keep myself to myself and am only comfortable around my family and true friends. I love my fashion and music and tend to express myself how I feel comfortable. I may not look like everyone else in terms of clothing and makeup etc but I love that I stand out as it helps with confidence. I love photography, music, cooking, my dogs and my life. I don't so much like nuts, meeting new people, heights, spiders and photos of myself unless a filter is used so most of my selfies are taken using snapchat. I like abstract and unusual things and tend to use that idea
MINI BRIEF 2 PHOTOSHOOT:
Compositions I can see: Frame within a frame, Motion blur.
1. Shoot your reflection - Reflection in mirror
2. Shoot your shadow - Shadow on floor
3. Shoot an object that represents who you are - CD's and music
4. Shoot yourself as a sequence/action - High five
5. Shoot a moving image of yourself - Blurry selfie
I chose to photograph my reflection in the O2 arena where there was a wall covered in guitar amps, cd's and records as the reflection was clearer than other areas and I didn't want the image to be too obvious like a mirror although I did come across some mirrors. Photographing my shadow was a little tricky as there was not sun to cast a shadow so I thought of other ways to make a shadow and walked past some shops which had bright lighting which cast a light shadow enough to catch it on camera. For the image that represented me, it was hard because there isn't much around the Greenwich Peninsula which I could have used but I manage to find something related to music which was the same wall I took photos of for the reflection but I just photographed the cd's as they are what I listen to most. I didn't quite understand the sequence/action task but what I thought of action was like a punch or walking etc so I chose to photograph myself doing a high five to the camera in a way that showed movement. The moving image task was quite easy so I chose to take a blurred selfie which turned out better than expected as the effect with the trees looks like theres shooting stars in the background.
PHOTOSHOOT PLAN FOR FINAL IMAGES:
For my images for 'The Selfie and the Self Portrait' I'd like to have images which show versions of me/my personality. An idea I have is objects covering my face with represent me and one object I'd like to use is a Dr. Marten boot as I am known for wearing them all the time. Another idea I have is inspired by Andy Warhol in the way he uses minimal colours and has different versions of his portraits. I like his portrait where it looks double exposed and this is exaggerated by the two bright and different colours against a black background. The black is actually another layer on top of the other two colours but acts like a background. I like the glitch effect created as it's quite comical.
Self-Portrait (1986), Andy warhol. Synthetic polymer paint and silkscreen ink on canvas 203.2 x 203.2 cm
I am also inspired by René Magritte's 'The Son of Man' and 'The Great War on Façades' and the way that there is an object blocking the the models personality. I am a little shy so the idea of an object in front of my face is an idea that I would definitely consider. I also don't like the way that my face sometimes looks different on camera to in real life so this would be hidden. In 'The Son of Man' painting, you can see part the man's eyes peaking through under the leaves but in my images I would probably have my facial features covered apart from my hair and the skin areas around my eyes, lips etc.
The Son of Man (1964), René Magritte, The Great War on Façades (1964), René Magritte
I like the concept of showing the past me rather what people see and know about me now. I like the abstract element within this. I got this idea when researching photographers who create self portraits and came across a photo which was of a man in a swimming cap and goggles. This sparked a happy memory of when I was a competitive swimmer. Not a lot of people know this about me so it would create a sense of confusion which I like. I also like Robert Mapplethorpe's Portrait (1988) in the sense that his body disappears into the blackness and only the important features that identify him are shown. With is idea I would combine the idea of swimming and a dark background and have my back turned to the camera with my head partially looking over my shoulder to create an image which shows me looking into the past.
Self-portrait in the 'rain' (N/A), The COOPH team.
Self Portrait (1988), Robert Mapplethorpe
My final idea was to use a mirror which would make it easier to use the camera as I might now be able to get a tripod to the location I’d like. I went to a park which had a forest in it and thought it was a nice setting for a photoshoot. It would show me as I like to photograph nature and I like natural things like as patterns. Once at the location I would experiment with a small mirror until the best self portrait image was created. I like the concept of placing a mirror by a tree and sitting in a position with my camera in front of my face. I’d wear clothing which was natural looking so it suited the theme of the shoot.
FINALIZED PHOTOSHOOT PLAN:
After looking through the ideas I came up with, I decided to use elements of Magritte's paintings and use the camera as an object which obscures my face and identity. I also like the idea of having eyes peaking from behind the camera so I will include that when taking the images. I will combine this idea with the use of mirrors as it will be easier for me to take photos of myself and I like the effects created with them. I have a relatively big mirror which will be big enough to get my whole body in so I will use that. It is a little heavy so I will have someone come with me to carry it in a bag for me. I plan to go to a local tarn for this shoot as I like the natural elements and this helps show me as I love taking photos of nature. I performed a recce before finalising this location and found some spots where this shoot would be best. These were by the entrance as there was a patch of small flowers by a tree where I would lean the mirror up against, some benches where I could put the mirror on and get more of my body in and a few other places which I think would be good at achieving a self portrait.
I am very self conscious with the way I look as my hair is quite thin due to loosing it when having chemo and radiotherapy 8 years ago. I also don't like the way my face can look in photos as it can look different/distorted which makes me a little unhappy. I do plan to capture my face in these photos but just part of it to show my timidness but to help the audience to get an idea as to what I look like. I will focus on cropping my head off in some of the photos as well as photographing my face behind the camera to sort of tease the audience too. I will use natural lighting as I like the way the light seeps through the leaves of the trees and the weather for when I plan to shoot this is sunny so no need for artificial lighting.
EQUIPMENT:
- Camera
- Laptop and editing software
- Backdrop
- Phone
- Lighting
- SD card and reader
- Mirror
- Assistant
MINI BRIEF 2 SHOOT: THE SELFIE & THE SELF PORTRAIT
I think this shoot went far better than expected as I had so many photos I was happy with. I also couldn't decide what one to choose as the best photo so I chose a selection to include in a series. I really enjoyed this shoot and it was definitely the best one out of all the shoots I came up with.
COLOUR IMAGES:
B&W IMAGES:
ORDERED:
I prefer the B&W version as it looks more detailed and the lack of colour makes you want to look closely at what is in the image. When I look through these, I take longer looking at the B&W images than the colour, which I just scan through. More of my personality is shown through the B&W images as I don't really like having my photo taken, I am wearing clothing that I love and feel comfortable in, I love taking photos of nature and changing my images into B&W. I chose to present them in this order as I thought they went better like this due to opposite images matching together. I also chose to include 'bookends' as from my feedback from the last project, I was told that it worked well so took photos in which would act as 'bookends.' The first and last images correlate as my legs are facing opposite ways. The images inner to them are of my my feet so they match. the images inner to them stitch together as the left image is of my top torso upwards and the right image is only of my legs. The images either side of the middle image relate as they are of me squatting down to take the photo. The middle image was the one that didn't have a match so i chose to put that in the middle. It was also the only one that had sunlight in it.
HOMEWORK:
Read chapters 18 & 19 of Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes and reflect on the meaning of the Punctum mentioned in the book, onto your digital workbooks. Look for an image that reflects this idea of the Punctum and explain why you chose it.
From reading these chapters, I found out that a punctum is a detail or object that stands out to the audience. The author seems to read the images and then says what he sees.
Of this image the author writes:
I don't see what he says but I see importance of the lady from the way the two people are standing, guarding the lady and the woman is sitting on her 'throne.' The author had said what stands out to him in this photo is not the spectacle but the 'belt worn low by the sister.' What stands out to me is they fact that they are all staring seriously into the camera as if it is an important photo.
PUNCTUM:
I chose this image by Sam Abell because it presents the punctum well. My focus goes from the photographer's reflection to the two men behind him. I noticed the expressions on their faces mainly. I am more interested in the two men as I can see that they are talking but I don’t know what they are saying as it’s just an image. I dismiss the photographer as I know what he is doing as it’s more obvious than the actions the other men are doing.
WEEK 3: A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE
FRIDAY 14th OCTOBER 2021
Today we went to The Photographer's gallery in London.
In pairs, we had to choose a good and bad piece to talk about. My partner and I couldn't decide on pieces to call the best and worst so we chose to choose what piece we liked the best and then compared them to then choose what one to class as the best and worst. In the end we decided on my piece being the bad one out of the two and the other being the better one as we thought we understood it better contextually. The piece I chose was Maurizio Anzeri's Kate Moss, 2019 piece. I recognised the face from researching him in previous years so knew that he tends to cover up the subjects faces but leaving facial features like the eyes or mouth. He normally uses embroidery and it was interesting to see that he used another material. To create my own interpretation of this image, I would use the concept of leaving important features showing and other parts of the photo covered using materials such as threads, ink or transfer foil.
Kate Moss, photographed by Ezra Petronio for Self Service magazine, 2019.
WEEK 4: A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE
TUESDAY 19th OCTOBER 2021
Today we started by being introduced into the new brief which is called 'A Different Perspective' and was told to read a chapter of a book and then create a photoshoot inspired by that. We then layout out our prints of the last brief which was called 'Own Interpretation', went round and on a piece of paper we wrote our thoughts on each others photos.
NOTES FROM TODAY:
REFLECTION:
I found this part of the lesson very useful as I didn't know about the papers in terms of matt and gloss looking different apart from the sheen. I also found the fact that the thicker the paper, the more ink absorbed really helpful as i have noticed in the past that my images look different on different papers such as printer paper and photographic paper. The colour triangle was something new to me and that again, is really useful for when my images are slightly too intense in one colour and I now have the knowledge as to how to correct that,
MINI BRIEF 3 FINAL IMAGE:
I was inspired by the way that the artist - Maurizio Anzeri, covered part of the face but you still knew who the model was (Kate Moss). I also like the way that he used multiple types of materials in which some are not what he usually uses. I didn't recognise this work as Anzeri's until reading a sheet that was handed out in the gallery as it looked quite different to his usual works which just consisted of thread which hid everything on a portrait but the eyes and sometimes the mouth.
I tried different ways of interpreting this image, I didn't want to copy exactly so I created my version digitally without sewing onto the image partly because I didn't have enough time to. I experimented with different materials to the one Anzeri used to cover the right hand side of the face and these were images of copper leaf, foil and natural materials such as leaves. In the end I chose to use the natural idea as I thought it better represented me as a photographer as I enjoy photographing nature. As for the threaded part of Anzeri's image, I chose to use it in a different sense by focusing it around the eyes and mouth. I chose a brush tool which was similar in texture to thread so it looked more like I sewed into the image.
I thought that the first image was a little too similar to Anzeri's image as I used a foil image. At first I was stuck on how to interpret his image to make it mine but I thought that covering the entire face and leaving the eyes and mouth would contrast to his. The second image used an image of copper leaf and I really liked the texture and colour as I stood out against the black background. I chose to experiment with the materials melting as I liked this effect and I thought that it stood out. The third image I used an image of silver leaf but after experimenting, I thought it hid the eyes too much and made them blend in which is the opposite of what I was trying to achieve. The last image was the best one as I figured out what worked and what didn't. I thought that a copper/orange colour worked best as I found a leaf which was an ideal size, shape and colour and photographed that. I wanted to enhance the orange tones so I took the image into photoshop and changed the brightness & contrast and the hue & saturation. I saw what Anzeri doesn't really use is eco friendly materials as as I like nature, I chose to use a natural material to make my interpretation. I like the way that I've added the threads on the inner parts of the leaf as it looks like spider webs which add to the natural feel of the image. I also like the effect of the leaf going outside of the black background as it creates depth to the image.
FEEDBACK:
When people were going around writing their opinions on each others work, I noticed that people tried to pick at the threads to see if they were actually real. I like that people recognised the fact that those lines were threads. I also got some really positive feedback from the image too. Some feedback I got from the tutors was about the paper and how i chose the correct one which was premium gloss - it wasn't too shiny or matt and also about how the white dots on the dress I was wearing were brilliant white.
FRIDAY 22nd OCTOBER 2021
Today we all went on a trip to Peckham to do some street photography with a street photographer called Nico Froehlich. I found this a bit daunting at first as Id never been to Peckham before and I heard that it wasn't the best area but I was intrigued as to how street photography was conducted. After the brief was given I was a mixture of excited and nervous as I felt it wrong to take photos of people without their consent or knowledge. We had to take 5 - 10 images which included candid, portraits and authentic images which captured Rye Lane.
THIS WAS OUR BRIEF:
EDITS OF BEST IMAGES:
I chose to edit these in colour to intensify the colours and B&W as I always change my images to B&W and I think they tend to look better this way.
EXPERIMENTING:
I was thinking on how I could change up these images even though I really liked the B&W versions. In some of the images, I liked how vibrant the colours were but then I also liked them in B&W so I decided to have a bit of both in most of my images to use as the final and best ones. I edited all but 2 of my favourite. I ended up choosing 7 images which turned out the best and best responded to the brief given.
FINAL AND BEST IMAGES:
BRIEF 4: A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE
PHOTOSHOOT PLAN:
For this shoot I was inspired by a few parts of the chapter from a book we had to read called: Why Look at Animals?' by John Berger. I was looking through the chapter and my interest focused on the parts where humans and animals were mentioned together like a comparison as after all we are not far from being alike.
I liked this part of the chapter because it says that humans and animals are alike in some aspects but because of things like appearances and the way we act we differ.
This part interested me as it says that an animals life is not to be confused with a mans meaning that it can look similar.
This part, to me, proves that we may not all look similar but inside we are the same and work the same way.
The part that says 'It is because man originally felt himself identical to all those like him' inspired me the most as even those man sees other living things the same as him, they're not treated the same for example, they're kept in cages and zoos or slaughtered to be eaten.
I understood this piece to say that animals respond to what they have and see so when they're stuck in a zoo, they have no choice but to be confined to their enclosure and what they can do inside of it.
I found the part where it said about the behaviour of animals interesting as when put in different situation, everyone and everything reacts differently and this links humans and animal.
I chose to include this part as I disagree with the statement 'The zoo is a demonstration of the relations between man and animals; nothing else' because I find it incorrect. animals don't really have a relationship because they are forced to be in zoos by man, not on their own accord. The way animals are treated in zoos by man is not loving or how animals should be looked after but animals have no choice as they cannot escape.
I plan to perform this shoot using a model and an image/s of certain animals and blending their face onto the models to show how we are the same. I like the idea of how animals look at humans and how their expressions show their emotions in a similar way to humans so I'd like to recreate that in this shoot. From the chapter, I am using the idea that animals and humans work the same way and that we aren't that dissimilar. I also like the idea of showing the animals that aren't so thought about by humans and aren't treated how they should be.
FINAL IMAGES:
For the final images, I went with the idea of zoos and how the animals enclosed would look at humans. I chose to merge a human and some animal faces, mainly their eyes because thats where most emotion can be seen. I chose to make one face opaque so that you could see both faces to show that we aren't so dissimilar to each other to say why do we treat other living things so differently. I researched into what animals were kept in zoos and chose the ones that would be recognised and are well known. I found it hard finding the right images of animals as they were either too blurry once I edited them or the background was too prominent and distracting. I like the idea of how in the book it describes us as being similar yet humans are treated differently to animals.
WEEK 5: HALF TRUTHS
TUESDAY 26th OCTOBER 2021
NOTES FROM TODAY:
FRIDAY 30th OCTOBER 2021:
Today the class went to The Tate Modern in London to do some street fashion photography as well as to took around the Tate itself. We were given a brief to perform during our time there which was a series of tasks:
MY BEST IMAGES:
I found it quite hard to get the correct camera setting as every photo came out really dark even though I had a large aperture, low ISO and low shutter speed. Some of the images I took were blurry/grainy so when editing I chose to make them B&W as it helped to tone down the grain. The images I took outside however, were much better and clearer so they are mainly in colour baring one as I thought it suited the absence of colour as in the colour version, the tones weren't very strong.
we were told to choose a specific part to photograph when we were there so I chose shoes and when looking around for shoes to photograph, I found that a lot of people were wearing my favourite branded shoes which are Dr. Martens so I focused mainly on them. The images that included engaging with a subject were quite fun as the people were really open to us photographing them so therefore the images turned out much better than the ones taken in The Tate.
What drew me to this lady's shoes where her trousers and the way they matched the shoes in the sense of the colour of the stitching on the label on the boots. The colour version wasn't very clear and didn't show this very well so I decided to change the image to B&W and I like the way that a different perspective has been created as the trousers look more like marble and the pattern is more clear and crisp.
This image is still a bit grainy but I like this effect as it creates a mood and a look as if this has been taken using an old camera. A sense of movement has been captured by the position of the feet which makes it seem like this is a still from an old film.
With this photo, it was a little tricky to get as the lady kept moving every time I got the camera ready so this was an accidental shot in a way as I just kept taking photos without looking so that I had lots to choose from rather than one which wasn't useable.
This was the best photo out of the rest I took of this man and even though it is grainy, again, I liked this look once the image was changed to B&W so I chose to include it in my final 5 - 10 images for this project. I like vans and the way the person was wearing them with the dark colour jeans. I also liked the composition and the way that the shoes are in the top corner as they distract you from the empty space. I did have to crop this image as the person on the left was in the frame a bit too much and was distracting you from what I wanted you to focus on.
A group of us were just walking across he bridge to get some lunch when we came across this man and we were intrigued by his appearance and liked how his clothing and makeup was all coordinated so asked if we could take some photos of him and he allowed us to do so. We didn't ask him to do anything but he started posing for us which was helpful as they made some really good images. I like the way that the background is blurry, forcing us to take in the details of the model. I also like the way he is in the middle of the frame and the way the side of the bridge is parallel to the frame.
This man was open for people to photograph him and some even got him looking into the camera but I wanted a more natural image so I discretely photographed him to show what his job is. In the colour version, there wasn't enough colour to make the image pop but when I change it to B&W, I was instantly taken to the amount of detail there was which wasn't shown in the colour version. I also like the way that the background is blurred and the musician is solely in focus from having a large aperture. When I am looking at this image, I always seem to go to his eyes as to me, that is where the detail is and where its most clear.
Again, this man was really open for us to take his photo and I went again, with the sense of the model doing something natural rather than staged so I didn't stand directly in front of him so that he looked into the camera. I took a few of this man and I chose this one as he is in the middle of the image. I like how he pops in the image and stands out against the neutrals around him in the background.
We were also asked to take a photo of a piece that would reference out 'Blue' project and I saw this piece by Shirazeh Houshiary which is called: (no title), 1992. After coming up with a few ideas for this projects, I came across the idea of using a fish eye lens to take some photos to make it seem like the camera a fish's eye and to create a story as if the camera was a fish. The fish idea came from the concept of water and the sea. I wanted to go with something more abstract than obvious so this idea is the one I will be considering. This piece related as its blue and the art is circular which is what a fish eye lens does to images. I liked the sense of depth too.
BRIEF 5: HALF TRUTHS:
PHOTOSHOOT PLAN:
For this shoot I plan to go to three different locations which include bus stops as I like the idea of journeys and time. I'd like to capture different stages of a bus stop for example, when its quiet, busy, when a bus arrives etc. I thought that this would be a good way of telling a story as you don't know where those people are going or have been so its left to your imagination. I plan to venture into my local community and the local high street where I know there are lots of bus stops. This shoot will be done outside so I am relying on natural lighting to help brighten the images.
FINAL IMAGES:
TUESDAY 2nd NOVEMBER 2021
Today we were asked to get into groups and swap our images without the text so that the other person could write their text in to see if it made sense.
This is what the person wrote who I swapped my images with. I think that the last image's quote is better suiting to the image than the one I wrote.
FRIDAY 5th NOVEMBER 2021:
Today we were given time slots for formative and presented three slides which had the basics of our idea for the 'Blue' project.
My finalised idea is to take photos of my legs in the air and flip the photo upside down to make it seem like I am walking on air as I like the concept of emotions when I think of the word 'Blue.' I think of sadness, calmness, quietness and peace. The idea of being upside down came from a mouth and the way it an upside down happy face intrigued me.
BLUE BRIEF MOOD BOARD:
I researched colour pallets for skies and the more vibrant ones stood out to me so I would like to try and capture at least one image per photoshoot where the sky is clear and the sky is very blue.
WEEK 7:
TUESDAY 9th November 2021
Today we trialed the online exhibition space we will be using to exhibit out 'Blue' project. In groups we created one and I was in charge of curating and adding in the images. I found it quite confusing as I had never used this platform before so it took me a little longer to place the images. I couldn't work out how to resize the images either so I will have to have a play around and figure out how to do that before I need to put my final images in. As a group we agreed on placing our final images from the 'Own Interpretation' brief and then chose to haver a neutral colour for the background as everyones images had different colours in so the background I kept plain.
I found today a little frustrating as at first, I couldn't log into the zoom meeting and then I got timed out so had to log in again and then no one in the group could decided who to curate the exhibition so then I chose to and then I felt like I was under so much pressure from multi tasking, I couldn't work out how to alter the sizing of the images and the fact that we didn't have long to finish, it topped it off. I did it all my myself and a little more help from my peers would have taken the pressure off a little bit.
PHOTOGRAPHER RESEARCH: DAVE MARROW
Dave Marrow is a full time landscape & night sky photographer, author, educator and world traveler. On his website he talks about how he uses fear to capture his images. The concept of fear drives him to take photos that others might find unthinkable, difficult or dangerous to do.
Marrow explains that 9 months of each year he lives out of his vehicle and travels the wilderness by foot on an endless backpacking & landscape photography trip. I like this idea as you are able to get to places that vehicles limit you to go.
I chose these images as I liked the look of the skies and the way that they are all different. They look like a process of changing when put together and that's what I would like the skies in my images to do.
PRACTICE SHOOT PLAN:
For this practice shoot I plan to photograph my legs in the air to make it look like I am walking in air. This relates to the idea or ‘blue’ as I am thinking about the emotions I associate to the word. I think of peace and tranquillity, the world around me being silent and me being the only one in the world and I think the idea of being in the air show these concepts. My idea was for me to lay on my back and photograph my legs in different positions and have a series where my legs would slowly disappear off the image as if I was floating higher. I would then either choose to keep these the way they are in terms of not altering the perspective or flip the image to exaggerate the fact that I am meant to be in the air and not walking on the ground. Part of me thinks this idea would be successful but the other part of me doesn’t think so due to angling as I am limited as to how low and close I can go as there won’t be a lot of space between me and my legs bent. So I came up with a plan B in which I think would show my idea of ‘Walking on air’ just as well. With this idea, I would set the camera settings to the desired ones and either set my camera on a tripod or get an assistant to hold the camera and press the trigger whilst I jumped in the air. I would angle the camera upwards with it being lower to the ground to capture more of the sky and no ground.
I might be going to the beach on the weekend and think that this setting would be a good surrounding for this shoot as I could include the sea which I also associate with being peaceful and relating to ‘blue’. I would use natural lighting as it is a practice shoot to see what works and doesn’t work.
PRACTICE SHOOT 1:
From conducting this mini photoshoot, I was able to see what would and wouldn't work in terms of lighting, position and framing. The day and weather itself wasn't the best as I would've preferred more blue in the sky but the weather this past week has not been the best. I was advised that I would probably need some lighting beneath my legs and it turns out that I did. in this shoot, I just wanted to see what I would need to change in order to not make the same mistake again. I like this idea a bit more than before now that I have created a visual representation of that idea. I would still like to try my other idea of jumping in the air and capturing myself whilst in the air to create a different view of walking in air. I feel like that would be able to grasp my idea of emotions and the sense of quiet and peace a bit more than this idea.
I do like the way that in some of these, my knees and legs seem to be blurred and I like this effect as the shoes are more in focus and they are blue too. I'm not sure if I'd use blue shoes again as my idea wasn't really about colour but the emotions I feel about the word.
When editing a few of these, I would change the contrast and brightness to brighten the shoes and possibly make the sky a bit more blue and obvious that it is sky by either changing the hue and saturation or colour balance.
EDITING:
From using Capture One in one of my lessons with Tiana lea, I knew that I could mask off and area so I could just work on that so I decided to have a go and I was able to lighten the dark parts of the image which were my legs. I now know that this is an option if i cant get the correct exposure on my legs. I like how the sky, although white, looks a bit blurred which to me helps to create the effect of walking on air.
In this edit, I like how the sky is a little brighter than the shoes as the effect of walking on air is made a bit clearer in my opinion.
With this image, I masked off the shoes and my legs and changed everything in the exposure section, making sure that nothing looked out of place. I think that I could've made the background a little less exposed as its a bit flat at the moment but thats mainly due to the colouring of the sky and that thee wasn't a variation of colours at the time of shooting.
With this image, I did the same thing in terms of changing everything within the exposure settings but this time I didn't make the background as bright. Overall, I think that I prefer the other image in the way that it was a little brighter. I prefer this image as I like the way that the hint of trees looks like I am walking above them.
Again, with this image I did the exact same as the others but the adjustments are slightly different due to the lighting and position of my legs. I do quite like the inclusion of trees as it suggests that I am above them.
This edit isn't the best one as you can see where I have over masked the shoes and my legs due to the way i have used the exposure tool.
Again, you can see where I have over masked the shoes but in terms of the sky, the colour is the best one as I figured out to add layers so I could work on that separately. I enhanced the saturation of the sky and managed to make it more blue which helps to identify that it is the sky. I think if I had captured elements of a tree and made the masking a but neater then this would have been the ideal practice shot.
PRACTICE SHOOT 2:
In this shoot, I went out at a different time of the day and managed to capture the sky with a bit more blue in which helped to make the sky more obvious. From the previous shoot, I found that I quite liked the inclusion of trees as it helps to exaggerate the idea of me being in the sly above them. With the better images from this shoot, I will experiment further and try rotating them to see if I can achieve my idea better. I managed to figure how to darken the sky and that was to have a smaller aperture and by doing so, I got some blue and details of the clouds. I much prefer this shoot as I was able to capture blue sky with detail from the clouds. I might change the clothing from a grey or from trousers to something else as different colours might be better against the sky. This has warmed me further to this idea but until I try my other concept then I am still undecided as to what one with be chosen for my final representation of the 'Blue' project.
EDITS:
With this image, I masked off the legs and shoes and changed the brightness and saturation of those as they were a little dull. in a separate layer, I masked off the sky/background and changed the saturation and brightness of that which helped to bring out the blue behind the clouds.
I chose this image as I liked the way my leg position showed movement as if I was walking. I like this idea so I would take more images where I was doing this.
I like the way in this one, I appear to be walking so I chose this to edit. I did the same as I have done with the previous 2 but made it slightly darker as any brighter and it would have been a little over exposed. I think I could have put the camera back a bit more to make my legs seem longer.
WEEK 7:
FRIDAY 12th NOVEMBER 2021
From the feedback I got from my tutor, I got a reference which I chose to use. Universal everything's 'Transfiguration' video showed the journey of changing state and this linked to my idea of the skies changing. I liked the way that the changes were smooth and that concept will be considered with my images.
RESEARCH:
Transfiguration, An ever-evolving walking figure (2020), Universal Everything:
https://www.universaleverything.com/projects/transfiguration-2020
I chose to include this piece as it shows the process of change and that is one of the ideas I would like to include. I also like the colours used as they are quite strong and define the object used to portray the figure.
PRACTICE PHOTOSHOOT 3:
In this shoot, I went out at a different time of the day on a day that wasn't very bright.I did like the inclusion of the trees as along, with the feet in different positions, it showed movement and that I wasn't just in one place. I'm not going to edit these like with the last two shoots as I have an idea from the previous shoots of that the images will look like once edited. i tried to get different skies in this shoot so when I stitch my chosen images together for my final piece, the weather changes from really cloudy to clear shy. I would use one or two images from this shoot at the beginning of my series as the clouds are just partitioning.
WEEK 8:
PRACTICE SHOOT 4:
This day was perfect as the sky was so blue and there were no clouds in the sky so these image are perfect to finish off my series of skies transitioning from cloudy to clear. I think the sky heavily links to the 'Blue' project and I was very lucky to have caught this sky within the time frame given to complete the project shoots. I would've used lighting on my legs and shoes but I couldn't find the one I wanted to use and the other lightings I had just weren't strong enough so in order to brighten my legs and shoes, I will have to rely again on Capture One so I can mask off the sky and shoes/legs so I can work on them separately to brighten and enhance the blue of the sky and lighten the shoes/legs.
PROCESS OF EDITING:
I used Capture One to edit these images as I knew I would be able to mask the legs and the sky so I could edit them separately. These are some of the images I edited and the process was the same for all - I masked the feet/legs off first and then changed the contrast, brightness etc so brighten then up as the RAW images were too dark. I then masked off the sky and worked on that to enhance the vibrancy/saturation of that to create a nice and more stronger blue.
FINAL IMAGES FROM ALL SHOOTS:
During my tutorial on Friday 19th November, I was told that maybe adding in some more images would be good to slow down the process of change and make it a bit more smoother. I agree so I will be going back through all the shoots and choosing some more images in which I can stitch in between.
EXHIBITION OPENING:
On Thursday 18th November I went to the NOW Gallery opening of Lydia Chan's 'Your Ship has landed.' I found the installation quite mesmerising due to the colours and shapes and the way the sculptures filled up the entire gallery space. During the exhibition I was told that there were QR Codes to scan which brought up filters that were of her installations but they were brought to life as if they were aliens. I spoke to someone and they said that all the pieces in the exhibition took 3 weeks to be made and to me that seems quite short for the amount of effort put into cutting the shapes and colouring them the way they were. it looked like the were spray painted which could have sped up the process.
These images were taken using the exhibitions QR codes. Alien filters appeared on the camera. ⬆️
This is another image using a different filter. It made the installation come alive.⬆️
These two images use another filter which was available on their instagram. ⬆️
I like how colourful and wild the installation was and the fact that it was interactive. In all honesty I didn't really understand the concept and thought it was a little boring but I admired the intensity and scale of it. There was also music played my a DJ which I found a bit distracting as it was quite loud and it made me want to leave as my head was starting to hurt. Drinks were supplied for free which was a nice touch. Something I will take from this exhibition is scale. I do think that bigger is better so in future exhibitions held by Uni which includes out work, I will heavily consider scale with my images. I think I prefer the digital version with all the artworks moving as it creates a sense of the artworks being alive. I like the 3D aspect to it too as the installation is only 3D.
WEEK 9:
TUESDAY 23rd NOVEMBER 2021
Today we came in for tutorials so that out tutor could create templates for us to be able to put our work into for printing. The given size available was too small for all 9 of my images so I had to compromise and remove 2 which didn't effect the rest of the image series.
This is the new order I will use for the exhibition:
FRIDAY 26th NOVEMBER 2021
Today we had an online lesson which should've been at uni but sue to a tube strike, the lesson was moved to online. In this lesson we were given the log in details for Kunstmatrix which is a virtual exhibition space. At first I found it a bit tricky to use but the more I used it, the easier it became.
WEEK 10:
TUESDAY 30th NOVEMBER 2021
Today I volunteered to help out with the exhibition space and get whatever is printed ready to be put up. As the fabric wasn't ready today, we didn't do too much other than cut the prints and get any prints reprinted as they were either damaged or the wrong size. I saw my print and thought it was a bit too small and the details were lost so I asked the tutor if I could reprint. In the end we managed to split the images into 2 sections of three images as the template wasn't big enough for the size and length of my image series to then put together once printed.
This was the size of my print and the details of the shoes are a little lost. I do like the intensity of the colours though so there was a positive aspect of this print.⬇️
WEDNESDAY 1st DECEMBER 2021
Today I volunteered again to help out with the exhibition and this time the fabric came so we were able to start putting that up. I had to leave mid day but whilst I was there with two other students, we managed to get most of the fabric up and discussed what was the best way to have it hanging from the ceiling. We also started to put card on the back of the prints to keep them flat as they kept curling which distorted some of the prints. With the fabric, we decided to ties them either side of the sections so that they draped nicely and then cut them different lengths. I really liked this way of displaying them as it wasn't uniformed.
FINAL IMAGES:
I am very happy with my final images as they depict my concept of 'Blue' exactly how I had planned. If I was to better this, I would lighten the shoes up when shooting by using lighting so then when post editing, I wouldn't have too much work to do. I would also Have a larger series to show a slower process but I like the process shown here. I really like how vibrant the sky us and how the clouds look as altogether, it does create the illusion of 'walking on air.'
EXHIBITION OPENING - THURSDAY 2nd DECEMBER 2021
Today I came in with a few other students to finish up installing everything in the exhibition space. We added some lights and put up any pieces that were needing to be placed. I was quite impressed with the effort that those who helped put in. There wasn't many of us so what we did in the time given was extraordinary. I love the way the fabric hangs and has been displayed as it really gets people moving around the space. It's nice that everyone had a QR code so that anyone in the exhibition space could access everyones virtual exhibition to see more of their images and explanations behind them.
I am really happy with my outcome for this term and for the final brief and it is nice to end the unit with the exhibition of all our works. It was intriguing to see what everyones interpretation of 'Blue' was. I have really enjoyed this unit and the outcomes of every mini brief. I have been introduced to many things like street photography, different perspectives and much more which I will always consider in photography.
