I am very happy with these edits as they show an array of experimentation, focusing on motion and light influenced by the idea of travelling around in  cars with friends.

The first couple of images are straight shot, but I edited them to make them brighter, warmer and just overall slightly more cinematic. I also tried to use parts of the car to compose the image, for example in the first photo I used to window of my car to fit around Lucas and the door of the other car, creative corresponding shapes and a nice focus point.

I took the image below to show the environment of my car and how I used it to mix music often. I also edited it to look cinematic in the same way as the previous images.

The next two images are my first examples of light painting from the shoot. I like them as they resemble a soft, abstract painting which is really interesting to look at. The sunset in the background created a nice smear of colour, and the sharp shapes made by the movement of my camera over the dashboard create an interesting contrast to the general blurriness.

As it got dark I began experimenting with flash along with a slow shutter speed, and found that I could manipulate this to have the following effect. I was able to capture a sharp image with the flash, but due to the lack of light outside I could move my camera over the dashboard in the same shutter opening and draw over the image the flash captured. I began to play around with this a lot from here. I really like the craziness of the next image, and I was able to capture and draw with the speedometer fitting in nicely with the theme of motion and driving around in my car.

I was able to create an almost exploding effect by experimenting with zoom and slow shutter speed. I began the shutter zoomed in on Zacs phone, and whilst the shutter stayed open I zoomed out, expanding the phone outwards.

With the next few images, I experimented with the flash and shutter speed again, but this time drawing over Zac. I tried to think about the composition of the images, thinking about where the lights would be on the photos as I was moving my camera, I was able to make some interesting images drawing over and around Zac.

I really like the image below as I was able to draw the light around the curve of Zacs head, almost like a translucent bandanna, whilst keeping the portrait in sharpness.

The following images are some portraits, edited slightly warmer with a higher clarity. This is again to look slightly cinematic, which I furthered with the next image by experimenting with cropping sizes. The bottom of his head was originally cut out of the frame and so I cut down the top to make a more panoramic view of this scene of my friend in his car.

The following photos were made and edited to get really extreme, far more abstract images, more similar to paintings that capture a great amount of motion. The image below is actually a portrait that I have edited heavily. I used a slow shutter and shook my camera diagonally to create this effect. I then edited to colours to make it look a lot warmer, getting different hues of red and orange.

These two images were edited even more heavily, to create more interesting hues. I took the photos of lights in my car, and moved my camera, making repeated shapes from each light, just with different colours. This made a very interesting effect of repetition of these shapes in an extremely abstract way.

The next image is one of my favorites in this painted, mysterious abstract style. It is an image of my radio I made with again, a slow shutter speed and sharp small movements of the camera. The amount of lights on the radio meant that there would be lots and lots of small repetitions with each light, and the overall effect is this amazing flowing cylindrical light shape made up of lots of fading lines with many different blue hues.

These next three images are slightly more clear, but again still very blurry. I focused more on the movements of the person in these pictures rather then shaking my camera too much (although I still did slightly). The outcome of this was an abstract painting-esque image portraying movements of his head and arms all in the singe frame.

These following images show more tradition light painting. Using a phone torch, I got Jasmine to wave it about attempting to draw around the shape of the window in different ways. The outcomes were interesting.

As the exam brief was “Environment” i feel like i fulfilled it well. My project revolves around making a home in the environment, reminiscent of childhood dens. When beginning this project i immediately had this idea in my initial brain storm and therefore i feel as if this has allowed me to fully explore this concept. I begin with photographing my dens during the day, then adding in a sinister notion by photographing them at night. I was also able to create a couple of portraits of the people i imagined lived in the dens as i child and explore the impact of slow shutter speed photography suggesting the presence of a person. I feel as if the final consideration of archival diary entries i made about dens adds the final element to my project as it ties it all together to suggest the intentions of building these structures. They link the dens directly to childhood dens, without overtly stating it. My final book contains images from the very beginning of my project and the very end as my ideas progressed. A real turning point was to consider Yury Toroptsov to lead me to create the photographs at night, which was undeniably my best photographs of the project. 

After my experimentation of projecting onto the den i also wanted to print up some of my images like normal  to display in window mounts. I choose three main central images to print to have as single images. All of these images are from the night dens as when i photographed my dens the night time version had a lot more of an impact. They work quite well all together as the blackness of the night creates a link between all the images. I choose images from all different dens so as to show the range of materials i used. I choose the woodland den, umbrella den and the garden one with material as each one being made of different material created a more interesting final set of images. 

Above is the best photograph that i took of the wood den as a whole radiating light. This image was taken in the blue hours after the sun has set which you can slightly see by the sky in patches through the leaves in the background. With this photo shoot as the photographs were taken underneath the trees, the den being built in the woods, the background is made up of the dark shadows of the trees rather then the sky like my previous shoot. I composed this photograph according to the rule of thirds with the den itself more over to the right side of the frame. I also positioned the light inside the den more to the right side of the frame and so the image is fairly weighted on that side of the composition.  This contrasts quite well with having the bright blinding light of the den to the right and then in the sky the patches of light from the blue sky are on the opposite side of the frame, balancing the image.  I took the photograph from a slight angle, not photographing the den straight on so you can see directly into the den but more from the side so the inside of the den remains more mysterious. By putting the light within the den you are able to see clearly how the structure of the den is made up of branches and leaves intertwined together and the light then shines through these gaps.  The light quite literally radiates out from the points at which it escapes the inside of the den to create an interesting pattern of lines from the center of the den outwards. I think the effect is further emphasized by the light making the leaves it shines through a more vivid green, these bright green then contrasting with the red of the blanket.

The above image plays with the blur of the blankets in the wind. The impression of the photographs is that as the light is behind the blurred blanket, that it is rushing forward towards the camera and has a presence as the light suggests life. The light is intense and shines from directly behind the blanket  in a circle. The rest of the image is slightly illuminated, the tree and some plants but the background is an intense black which only exaggerates the whiteness of the blanket further. The blanket is also just blurred enough to suggest a fast pace of movement but without being too fast to become transparent. The image is composed to consider angles, the blanket covering most of the frame but its straight lines being complimented by the straight lines of the tree also. The tree flanked on both sides by different blankets. The image is illuminated so that it included the light shinning onto the plants and also the light shines onto both blankets. 

I then choose these two images below as a pair as they are a bit more abstract and i wanted to show the abstraction of the material and how it was layered over each other. These two images also show the imperfections of the den, with gaps in between the material. 

The above photographs are more abstract compositions which focus on the point at which material is over-layed. The two colours being various shades of blue complimenting each other. The light in the photographs comes from the top left hand corner to shine directly onto the material. The points at which the light shines onto the material is washed out with colour which shows the harsh intensity of the light. These bright sections of light then contrast with the dark shadows in sections where the blanket has slipped and therefore leads into the inside of the den. Both these contrasting lights and dark’s then make the colours themselves more intense. I quite like the contrasting angles in these photographs alongside the vivid lights and darks as the material runs alongside each other but then has different folds and patterns on them which adds a dynamic to the photographs. They also show the process of the den breaking and then being rebuilt. When considering Goldsworthy’s work this was a key part of his process, to rebuild and continue to re-build until the structure becomes sound. This is as much about the den being created as having a final product as the den comes undone because of the environment, be it wind or the un-ablity to get a blanket to balance. The above photographs focus in on the tiny points of the den which have become to come apart, where holes have developed in the structure. I quite like these photographs in showing the layering of material and the tiny holes giving an insight into the inside of the den. The photographs are composed so that the break in the den is right in the center of the frame. The light in both photographs is intensely bright. 

The next two sets of images show more of the process and how the dens are constructed. The set directly below is held together by pegs which shows how the images are put together. 

The above photographs are all small details which held together the den. I quite like them as detail shots to go alongside the photographs of the main dens. So often with dens people look at the final structure and don’t consider the process. As these photographs in this section of my project are all about process and how the structure comes together, as much as the final product i think these photographs work really well as part of the series. In particular i like the photograph which suggests the movement and tensions of the material in creating the den. I composed the photograph according to the rule of thirds, the peg which joins the material positioned to the left top corner of the frame. From this point the material billows out at an angle which suggests it is being blown from behind. I quite like how the background is over exposed as the light outside is so bright as it causes the material in the foreground to be more prominent. You can also see to an extent the light shinning through the blanket which adds another dimension to the photograph.

This image below then shows the process of each element of the den coming together to create the structure. It shows how each individual umbrella is an individual which comes together to make a den.

Finally, after doing artist research and choosing my favorite selection from my shoots, I was able to produce my own book for my project ‘Environments’. After designing my book I definitely knew it was the right way to present my shoots, as it allowed all of my photographs to flow.

Here is a link to my photobook: Nomadic Soul

Thumbnail of book layout; 

The reason for print-screening the book in a thumbnail version was because its more visually easy to see why I choose my certain layout. When designing the book I had to think about spreading out the double spread pages, the black and white images, and certain layouts. I had to make sure all images on the page next to each other worked well together. Another important thing when editing is if a page has a similar layout to another one, they have to have the same padding etc, so it looks organised and neat.

Digital version of my book; 

I believe the title of the book is very important aspect. Titles should convey not only a sense of the book’s subject, but also a feeling. The title you choose for your photo book sets the tone, hints at the genre or style of book, and draws the reader in. It’s your very first opportunity to “market” your book and make someone want to read it. I finally came up with the name ‘Nomadic Soul’ this was due to the word nomadic meaning living the life of a nomad; wandering, and a soul is an emotional or intellectual energy or intensity, especially as revealed in a work of art or an artistic performance. I found this title was perfect for what I was trying to represent as I wanted to represent a lot of energy and intensity of a traveler.

Unlike the artists such as Juergen Teller, Corinne Day and Theo Gosselin, who’s photo books I decided to analyse I  decided to put the title and my name on the first page. This is due to me wanting my first image to be a double page spread, and this wasn’t possible without having a first blank page, so I thought I would just make the most of this page, and immediately tell the reader what I was going to show them in my book. This was due to the title being on the first page working well with the rest of the layout.

It is crucial to use the perfect first image, as it makes or breaks whether the reader is going to carry on reading it or not. The reason for the choice of this image is because the book is representing a journey, and there is no better way to represent this than by a photograph inside a car, which isn’t stationary.

Every 4-6 pages I choose to have a double page spread, as it would break up the smaller images, and is almost like having different chapters in written books. It gives it a stronger structure and shows principal images. The images I’ve chosen for double page spreads also tend to be some of my favorite images, as they have so much detail and interesting aspects to them. The difficult thing about selecting my double page spreads was the fact most of my images had someone featuring in them, and usually tended to be central of the image, which made it difficult for designing the book, as I didn’t want the people to end up being split by the binding of the book.

When selecting two images from different shoots on opposite pages, I would make the images link in a certain way, for example below one can see that the girl on the right page looks as if she’s looking up at the girl on the left page, this is shown again two images below. Therefore I had to think about the composition of the images before putting them in a certain layout.

For my final image shown in my book, I choose a similar one to the first image as they both represent the journey. By having this as the last image, it looks as if even though the journey for the reader has finished, the journey for the people featuring in the book hasn’t finished.