Matt Hawthorne

Matt Hawthorne is a Dallas based photographer who takes fashion, portraiture, action sports and lifestyle images. Hawthorne is trained in fine art photography using large format cameras and film. Hawthorne uses studio lighting in and out of an actual studio to shoot his action images for advertising and fashion jobs. I was inspired by Hawthorne’s work by the studio images with the powder chalk, i think that this would be really interesting to try and recreate these for my personal study, as a sort of advertising campaign. I think that by using chalk in the images it gives a raw feel to the images, and makes them look more ‘sport-like’.

Michael Clark

Michael Clark is an outdoor photographer, whereby he takes images of adventure sports, travel and landscape photography. Clark takes images of sports people pushing themselves to the limit and has also risked his own life to get the most amazing raw images of the sport, for example of rock climbing sport. Clark uses unique angles, dramatic lighting strong graphics in his images which capture the intense moment of the sport itself. Clark’s work has been used for editorial reasons. Clark has been taking photographs since 1996 and in 2003 started to use digital photography. Clark’s images inspired me to try and take some editorial photographs for my personal study whereby i set up the shoots. 

Joachim Ladefoged 

Joachim Ladefoged has been a professional photographer since 1991, Ladefoged works for editorial clients such as The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazines. February 2008 Ladefoged published a monograph called “Mirror” and in 2009 he directed a short film “Mirror” about bodybuilders. In this series of images he went to bodybuilding competitions and photographed the different competitors, for these images it looks like he used a photo-booth type area to take these images with studio lighting, this is so that the muscles on the bodybuilders are more prominent for the images. This is also why the bodybuilders have had a spray tan before their competition, usually these competitors would of had between 1-3 coats of fake tan so that their muscles are more on show. For my photographers i want to take some images inspired by these, for my images i will not be taking my images of bodybuilders but of younger male gym-goers with a main focus on my main subject but also photographing him and his own friends in their own world. Some of these images i want to recreate as i think that tit would look good to recreate the different set out of images placed together to create a montage sort of images. 

Some of the artists that i have chosen are very media based photographs in comparison to Joachim Ladefoged’s images. I think that Ladefoged’s images are more the type of images that i would like to take for my photographs as they are stronger images. For these images i will need to use studio lighting which is not in the gym, so this is what i will have to change in comparison to these images. 

For one of my photographs i would like to take an image like this as i think that abs have become and important part of the male physique and especially nowadays for the younger generations as this is what they believe the perfect male to look like, and this is what young boys aspire to look like as they grow up. When going around the gym there is a difference in who is there, nowadays there are younger men going to the gym 6-7 times a week and working to get what they think is the perfect body. 

For one of my ideas i want to make a montage image similar to this image, however i do not think my image will include having my subject’s tops off because in the gym you cannot do a work out without your top on. 

Ladefoged has a dream of becoming a soccer player, but he couldn’t because he was ‘almost crippled by rheumatism. Rheumatism is ‘any disease marked by inflamation and pain in the joints, muscles, or fibrous tissue’. This is when Ladefoged decided to start taking photographs.

In what way has Martin Parr been influenced by Tony Ray-Jones photography with his work on celebratory events in Jersey in the late 1900’s.

This art exhibition is a representation from past to present. Presenting images both from our past in Jersey achieve at the Jersey Societe. This creation of photographs were produced in celebration of contemporary photography in Jersey and to mark a 5 year milestone for the Archisle. Immediately, I gathered a sense of patriotism as soon as I entered the exhibition as the first set of images I looked at were Martin Parr’s representation of Liberation day in 2013. The overall vibe of the exhibition felt very welcoming and as I could relate to some of the images, I found them very satisfying to look at in depth. Each photographer chose a photographer that inspired them to pursue their idea, and were presented next to their work in smaller print. This idea of recognition proved to make me, and others want to learn more about why and how these new images were created. It was amazing to hear where the inspiration came from as it got me thinking about linking the achieve with my final pieces but it makes the photograph worth more with regards to thought and power.

Tony Ray-Jones took these images from 1967 and in the photographs it is visible to see that they’re doing the same thing that happens each year, being together eating cake and drinking tea. In Martin Parr’s photographs, the type of people look different by the way they dress and they place they’re sitting, but really are ordinary working class people enjoying this day of celebration. His famous quotes was, “Photography can be a mirror and reflect life as it is, but I also think that perhaps it is possible to walk like Alice, through a looking-glass, observe the puzzles in one’s head and find another kind of world with the camera.” Tony Ray-Jones photography career spanned only one decade,  he defined a new way of looking at his own society — with irony, nostalgia, compassion and humor. His point of view exerted an enormous influence on the development of British documentary art photography from the 1970s through the present. I personally think this is how Martin Parr got his inspiration from Tony because his thoughts and visions were admirable.

Tony Ray-Jones

Martin Parr

“Away from St Helier, you might not realise that May 9^th is a special day in the Jersey calendar. Unlike Guernsey, where flags flutter from virtually every house, tree and telegraph pole across the island, Jersey seems to take a more low key approach. In some of the quieter and more remote settlements, aside from the occasional bed of strategically planted red and white geraniums, there is little to indicate the significance of the date.”

“After the meal, John thanks the cooks and leads a sing song, shouting out numbers from the parish song book. This is also a brisk, no nonsense affair, just one verse from each of the old favourites – Pack up your Troubles, Daisy Daisy, There’ll be Blue Birds.”

Martin Parr focus’ on the true meaning of liberation day, his work is displayed in a story, whilst explaining his images show the true beauty of people who are involved in the event, together representing true patriotism. His work corresponds with Tony Ray-Jones as the simplicity of the photographs allow you to see the true events that occur on this special day. I like how Martin’s photographs are in colour as I think that the reds the blues and the whites really stand out and make the photograph look more eye catching and then you notice the true meaning behind the colours is in correspondence to the British flag. The innocence of the photographs really made me think about the events that occurred and therefore made me want to look into the achieve and find out more about the images. Martin’s captions to the photographs are really touching especially when he notices the pure enjoyment from ex-service men, “Soldiers like Eric were overwhelmed by the rapturous welcome they were given as they arrived in Jersey back in 1945. Although the number of people who experienced and can remember the Liberation is in inevitable decline, it has been marked every year since with dances, concerts, meals and parties across the island. Perhaps the most sombre event, fittingly held at the crematorium, is the memorial service commemorating the hundreds of forced workers brought into Jersey by the Germans to build fortifications. Tellingly, only one survives: Emile Boydens, a Belgian, who still lives on the island.” Background information make the photographs so much more meaningful and I think that Martin has perfected that art. The positive connection between the two artists is visible as you can see that Martin wanted to capture images of the current and ex service men and women and Tony Ray-Jones captures images of people returning home with the sense of relief from their loved ones being by their side. The emotions between the images from both photographers is really what I found special.

This is the revised edition of my first design. I wanted to make a much more traditional design template, one which is clearer and more suitable to the type of images I am currently making over the basis of this project. I included the same three images from the first story, however not as a triptych this time.

I felt a lot more confident making this design. I struggled making the the first design and was not happy with it. I learned a lot of skills however and used it as practise for this design

Layout

I changed the establishing shot which was originally Nana staring out of the window, to the portrait of her in her Salvation Army Uniform. I decided that this was a strong establishing shot because it directly introdues the theme of the Salvation Army, allowing the link with my Granddad to be easily conveyed as a result. Visually it is also a stronger image

This design, like the previous one, includes  a triptych.

• The left-hand image is a picture of the shed in Nana’s Garden –  used as the background picture in the previous design. I like this image, especially in black-and-white, because the run-down appearance of the shed in addition to the images high contrast made possible in black-and-white, means the image has a very strong texture, subsequently giving it a powerful and defining presence in the story.

• The middle image is the photo of Nana looking out of her window.

• The right-hand image is the one of Nana holding her ring

I decided for this design not to include any image captions or descriptions. This is because I wanted to create a story which was much more subtle, not giving as much away about the story. Also I felt that in my last design I included far to much writing, and this time around I wanted to simplify the layout.

The relationship shot for this picture is an old photograph of Nana and my Granddad. This links directly to the establishing shot of Nana, the through link of The Salvation Army, as Nana is wearing her Salvation Army Uniform in my portrait of her, and the archive image shows them both on duty, with their uniform on. The Army played an important part in my Granddad’s life and Nana’s also, and so I felt this was a good theme to establish for this story, as it establishes a link between them.

The background image is a close-up shot of Nana’s Uniform. This image confirms the theme of the Salvation Army as the main aspect of the story. Visually it is a good image to use as a background because it allows for text to be written over easily whilst remaining clear.

The use of drop shadow, which I have included for some of the images is effective because it helps to make the image visually stronger. I have done the same for the text in order to make it bold and easy to read, as I found on reflection that the text in the first design was visually quite weak. The red colour of the text further adds to the bold presence.

The quote is a reference to my Grandparents service in the Salvation Army. I chose this quote to make it relevant to the underlining theme of the Salvation Army, further adding context to the narrative.

Evaluation

Overall, this picture story is much more better than the first one. The images flow more on the page and the story and text fits much cleanly on the page. The inclusion of the drop shadow for the images and creates for a three-dimensional perspective, adding strength and depth to the presentation

I struggled in the making of my first picture story design. I was just working out the different process and photo-shop skills needed to make a photo-story and so I found the process to be very challenging. I had no clear plan of how to go about making my first design and so tried to be as creative a possible in the designing process, changing my themes and ideas as I went along.

I started of by selecting my title. I decided on the title of ‘Once a Wednesday, Once a Week’ because it was the title I had previously used for by AS Exam Book I made and it works quite well.

Main Images

The three images in this story work as a triptych

Left-hand image: This portrait of Nana in her Salvation Army uniform is an ‘environmental ‘ shot. This is a good image to use as it is a strong and confident portrait that clearly establishes the theme of the Salvation Army. There is a sense of order to this image, it is calm and well considered, and therefore allows the viewer to reflect the theme in a focused way.

Middle Image: The image is a close-up shot of Nana holding her wedding ring which she wore when she was married to my Granddad. The close-up shot is very reflective of the style of Martin Parr (extremely close-up abstract style and with the use of flash), making for a strong, detailed image. Using a similar style to Parr was important in this instance in creating a raw and authentic image. For example, the rugged appearance of Nana’s hands which this style achieves highlights somewhat a biopic of her life, one which has been of hard-work and sacrifice to raise children whilst devoting herself to her work/religion at the same time. This makes the story more realistic.

Right Image: The last image of the series shows Nana staring out of a window in a reflective manner. This image is contains a lot of metaphors which I have explained in the image description. I find that this image works very well as an establishing shot because it is a strong image but at the same time is not too specific and keeps to the subtly of what I am trying to convey

Background Images

The way the background images have been arranged is quite unusual. The old photograph of Nana and my Granddad that I have included has been blended in the layer mode to present it in a silhouette style. This is a  feature I have embedded into the story which explores my how Granddad and his memory almost a ghost-like apparition to Nana – still existent but an old and fading memory. The other image, a black and white image of a shed in Nana’s garden, again is presented in a very dream-like manner.

Text

The main body of text briefly explains my project learning more about my Granddad, and the work I have been doing with Nana in relation to this project.

The captions explain my image choices and provide context to the story in a narrative-like way.

I have included a quote which is a comment Nana made concerning the time they spent in Kenya. I included this quote because it explore how Nana often reflects into the past in a fond way.

Evaluation

I have worked hard in making my first design and it has been a good practise. The actual design however  is very complicated and a bit confusing in terms of layout, especially the text. For my next design I think it will be a good idea to go for a slightly more traditional picture story, as the type of narrative I want to convey is more suited to this. I also need to reconsider my image selection to be able to give a more directed narrative.