Professional Life Practice
The Self
(Self Portrait Reference Image)
I picked Mohammed Ali Arslan as my reference image for my self portrait because a lot of his photos evoke a sense of loneliness and awe as he is photographed to be watching a large object in the distance whilst surrounding objects almost tower next to him. A large portion of his photos are shot in black and white which does create a sense of ambiguity as you’re focusing more on the photo, composition and lighting rather than the colours. His use of blur and fog is unlike anything I’ve seen in self portraits.
(selfie)
(self portrait)
There's a very large difference between the selfie and self portrait above. The most important difference in my opinion is intention between the two shots. The selfie took absolutely zero thought since I just wanted to show off my new t-shirt and cargo pants in a goofy way. The self portrait on the other hand took far greater planning and preparation in comparison. I had to wield my tripod around my city as well as my Nikon FM with an extra lens in order to get the shot that I wanted. I also had to meter for the shot and make sure i was using the correct settings. Meanwhile for the selfie, I walked about 5 steps to the nearest mirror and tapped the screen twice.
Human Behaviour
contemporary
credit: Joe Greer (@ioegreer)
Joe Greer is an American photographer currently based in Tennese who shot primarily street photography in New York from 2015-2020. His work stands out to me a lot as I find that the subjects he photographs stand out a lot in comparison to other street photography. In the image above, he has photographed a woman who is well put together on the corner of a NYC street in the midst of other commuters and tourists who are not dressed as well as her. This makes her stand out and makes the image more visually interesting. The composition of this image is quite interesting as the subject is almost framed by the other people in the foreground and background. The man holding his phone towards the left hand side of the image and the people walking past on the right hand side are the compositional tools used to frame the subject as the centre of the image.
Below is an image I've taken that is inspired by Greer's work. I took compositional cues from Greer's work and framed the subject surrounded by other people in the background. The subject is the woman in the centre with the union flag in her hat who is dressed very well. Another thing that helps frame this woman is the deep shadows on the right hand sides of the image. They guide the viewers eyes away from the shadows and onto the woman in the centre. I shot the image with a 35mm lens on my Nikon FM, the lens choice is not what Greer's image above was shot with but I am more comfortable with shooting with it since I find that 28mm lenses are too wide for my style of shooting. Greer also used an M6 and Portra 800, a colour film stock, for the photo above, the reason I chose Fomapan 200, a black and white film stock, is because it is much cheaper to purchase and looks really good when pushed a stop in development, which is what I did. I used my FM because it's the camera I'm most comfortable with and whilst the Leica M6 is more of a discreet camera, I don't have the money for one currently however I think that both cameras can be used in the exact same way if the photographer knows how to use it to their advantage.
contemporary
Credit: Louis Faurer
Louis Faurer was an American photographer who lived in New York and primarily shot street photography. The above image is one of my favourite images from him as he involves the NYC architecture in the background of his photos. The subject of the photo above also interests me quite a bit since they are twins wearing the exact same outfit. However, the twin on the right is seemingly displeased by the fact that she is being photographed by Faurer. This presents a metaphorical contrast within the image which makes it a lot more interesting in my opinion.
Below is an image I've taken which was inspired by Faurer's work. I really liked how he's added more context to an image by including the NYC architecture which is why I pointed the camera a bit higher in order to showcase the Canary Wharf architecture, which is inspired by modern NYC architecture. The main two subjects of my photo are the woman who is dressed well and the man talking to her. Whilst they are not exactly the same as the subjects in Faurer's image, they are similar in the way that they have reacted to the camera. The man on the left is unfazed by it whilst the woman facing the camera looks almost angered or confused, It's more likely that she had this look because of what the man was saying however she could've also had the same reaction because of my camera. I used an Olympus OM-1 with a Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 lens, I'm not too sure what Faurer used for the photo above but the depth of field and field of view is quite similar to a 50mm lens which is why I used it. I picked my OM-1 for this shoot as it is a bit more discreet and quiet and is the most satisfying to use in my opinion. I used Ilford HP5 for this shoot as it produces a black and white image just like Faurers and I increased the contrast in post production because that's how I like my images to look.
classic
Architecture
Classic
Credit: Robert Antal (@robertantal.jpg)
Robert Antal is a photographer currently based in London who primarily focuses on photography cityscapes and architecture. The shot above is quite visually interesting to me as the buildings in the foreground have seen better days whilst the images in the background are extremely modern and look completely different. This emphasises the size and grandness of the skyscrapers in the background. Another thing that I quite like about the above image is the difference in colours from the buildings in the foreground and background. The foreground buildings are much warmer tonally whilst the buildings in the background are much more cooler which presents an interesting visual contrast between the foreground and background.
Below is an image that I've taken which is inspired by Antal's work. I really like the desaturated look in his images which is why I chose Kodak Portra 800 as my film stock of choice. Unlike it's sibling emulsions, Portra 400 and 160, it's emulsion has not changed for over 20 years which means the colour pallete is much more desaturated and less punchy which was the perfect choice for the shot that I wanted. Compositionally, my photo is very similar to Antal's since the buildings in the foreground are much warmer tonally in comparison to the skyscrapers in the background. I liked Antal's use of a wide angle lens which is why I chose to shoot my image with a 28mm lens. This is not the typical focal length I like working with however it worked very will with the shot. If I could retake this image, I would shoot it in a landscape orientation as it would give more context to the scene and all the buildings in the photo would still be visible.
classic
Abstract
Credit: Laszlo Moholy Nagy
László Moholy-Nagy was a Hungarian painter and photographer who was also a professor at the well renowned Bauhaus art school which was one of the most influential art schools in the 20th century and was known to have popularised modernism. They embraced new technology, and this was evident as Moholy-Nagy encouraged students to use their cameras to imagine new worlds and to focus on experimentation of lighting and angles.
Below is a photo that I've taken which is inspired by Nagy and Modernism as a whole. This is one of my favourite photos that I've ever taken because of the lighting and contrast in the image. I really like the sharp lines within the image that go horizontally, vertically and diagonally. I shot the below photo with Ilford FP4 which is a 125 iso black and white film which is why the grain is extremely fine and visually appealing. The angle that i took this image is also quite abstract as I shot it from a low angle in order to make the building seem more grander than it actually is. If I could retake this image, I would shoot it at a different angle since there is a lamppost in the bottom right which ruins the image a little in my opinion.
The Built Environment
Credit: Josef Koudelka
Josef Koudelka is a French photographer based in France. His landscape work really interests me as it blends the built up environment with natural landscapes. For example, in the shot above, he has photographed a broken lamp post in the middle of a scene with fields in the background as well as power plants. This looks really interesting to me as there is a strong contrast in the image between the ground and sky and the lamp post sticks out like a sore thumb amidst the sky. As far as I'm aware, this was photographed with a custom Leica S2 that Leica had built specifically for Koudelka as he liked the panoramic format on film but couldn't find a digital alternative.
Below is a photo I took which was inspired by Koudelka's work. I liked the idea of mixing the natural landscape with the built up environment which is why the trees, leaves and branches are framing Canary Wharf, which is the main subject of the image. I really like the different tones within the image as it gives the image some depth even though it is a black and white image. Whilst I really love the composition of the image, the one thing I dislike is the grain structure in this photo. It does not look how I expected it to look and cheapens the look of Ilford HP5 by quite a bit. Because of this, I feel like shooting this on a finer grain film stock like Ilford FP4 instead would've been better.
This is another image I took which wasn't inspired by Koudelka's work at all however I really liked it. The main subject of the image is the 3 clocks surrounded by the buildings surrounding Reuters Plaza in Canary Wharf. I don't typically like photographing scenes with people in them however the people in this photo help show scale and how big the surrounding buildings are. My favourite thing about this photo is the tonal seperation from the foreground as well as different parts of the background. Directly behind the clock in the centre, the sun is shining directly onto it which makes it appear brighter than the rest of the scene, this light then hits the building on the left of the image and the lights fades away fast the more you move into the top half at the centre of the scene. Once again, just like the image above, I think it would've benefitted by being shot on finer grain film. I think it might've been a development issue as both photos are from the same roll of film.
Environment
Credit: Willem Verbeeck
The above image was taken by photographer Willem Verbeeck who is a Belgian photographer based in America. The reason I chose this photo to base my work off is because I really like the darkness and serenity of the scene he has photographed. The trees in the background are barely visible and don't have any colour information and are mainly just black. This contrasts significantly with the sky and lake in the foreground as they both have different shades of blue and pink. As well as this, the ripples in the foreground bring a sense of calmness into a scene that would look sinister without it in my opinion. If I was to take this photo, I would have metered the shot better to show the greens on the trees in the background as I feel they would improve the image.
These are the 3 images that I feel are quite similar tonally to Verbeeck's image. These were taken in a national park in the northernmost city in Morocco, Tangier. The first shot's shadows are very similar to the shadows in Verbeeck's photo however there is more information in the shadows which showcases some of the dark green shades within the foliage. I also quite like the composition of the image as the trees in the foreground and background help frame the house in the distance. I also like the strong contrast between the colours of the house and the foliage as it helps further isolate the house from the foliage. I'm not too fond of the second photo as I feel like I didn't correctly meter for the scene as there is basically no information in the trees and hills in the background which only leaves the sky as a visible part of the image. I also feel like the trees don't help with framing the shot as the sunset and sky is mostly blocked by the trees. I'm a big fan of the third shot as it almost looks as if the tree has been modified in order to wrap around the house however it is completely natural. I used a 24mm lens for this shot and a 50mm lens for the first 2 photos, I did this because I was quite close up to the tree as there was not too much walking space behind me when I was taking the photo and using this lens worked really well because it makes the house and tree seem a lot smaller than it actually was. Another thing I like about the last image is that the colour palette is completely different and is much more vibrant in comparison to the first two.
I presented these 3 photos in this order because it shows the journey from being far away from the house to being up close to it.
Nature
Credit: McKenna Olson
The above photograph was taken by McKenna Olson and is a photo that I took inspiration from when researching coastal landscapes. I really like the composition of the image as it is very simple yet effective at showing off the coast, sea and sky all at once. I really like the blues in the sea specifically as they are similar to pastel colours and are very visually pleasing to me. I think that these photos would be better with a bit more contrast as the greens and browns in the trees and coast look a bit washed out, whilst some may like this look, I personally do not. It does also look slightly out of focus, whilst sharpness isn't the be all to end all, I do like my photos to be sharp so that's another thing I would improve.
These are the 3 images that I've curated that are visually similar to Olson's photograph. I took these whilst visiting my cousin in the coastal town Salé in Morocco. I took these right at the top of the coastal formations. I don't think the colours are too great as I feel the white balance is slightly off on the third photo however as a triptych, they work very well as they have the same subject. I really like the blues in the first and third image as they do look like pastel colours but also have a little extra saturation which isn't usually what I like however it works very well in these photos. I really like the colour of the coast and rock in the 2nd and 3rd image as they don't look saturated and look more accurate than the coast in the first image. The composition of the first image is far greater in my opinion than the 2nd and 3rd as you can really sense how large the coast is because of the people on the beach below. Whilst I do like the use of grass in the foreground of the 2nd and 3rd image, I think that they would work better in the triptych if the grass wasn't present. If I could reshoot these images, I would choose a better film stock like Kodak Portra 400 because I felt like Kodak Ultramax hasn't produced the colours as accurately as I would've liked them to have been.
Diary
Credit: Archie Oliver
My work for Diary has been heavily inspired by the underground street fashion culture in London as well as Archie Oliver's work on a Corteiz pop up store in 2019. The above image is my personal favourite because of how chaotic the scene is and how well it represents the normal events at a Corteiz pop up store event. My favourite thing about the image is how the lighting is top down and how everyone in the photo eventually fades into the shadows towards the corners of the image. I also quite like the colour pallete of the image and how nothing is too oversaturated or overpowering.
I also quite like the image below which was taken by one of my classmates Alice at the same event in 2019, I thought it was important to also show it off.
Credit: Alice De Montjoie
The 5 images below are a series of images I took at the latest Corteiz pop up store in Shepherd's Bush in October. I wanted to showcase how the whole day went from start to finish which is why the series of images starts with a scene where a group of boys are running in a tube station. Since I and the boys wanted to get a pair of cargo trousers for 99p first, we ran through tube stations just to get on the first train to Shepherd's bush. The first photo is one of my favourite since it showcases how chaotic the day was. I also like how in the midst of the chaos, there is a woman with a bag of shopping trying to go about her day. The third photo showcases just how chaotic the day really was as hundreds of people can be seen within the photo whilst a man in a Corteiz branded balaclava tries to get past them. The photo has a little motion blur but that helps emphasise how chaotic it was. I had to point the camera and fire with my flash without composing so I'm really happy I got the shot. The sequence ends with a bunch of us chasing the man in the orange Corteiz hoodie as we thought he had tickets that would let us get the 99p cargos however he did not and he got very angry with us when we chased him to Westfield shopping centre. Overall, I think this sequence of images is really well however I think giving some context to what is going on would make the series a lot better.
