I have now finished my photography exam and below will be the finished outcomes from the shoots that I have completed, using images based around the theme of environment. In evaluation I believe that the story being told by the images is an interesting concept that relates to everyone in the world today. The idea of the subject was to make the images seem mysterious which is a goal that I believe was achieved. To present the images I have used a display of black window mounts, using high quality photographic paper. This is a different way of presenting the images than I first imagined. The reason this happened was because the initial idea broke down after the second photographer needed in London, could not complete the shoots required to make a comparative book between Jersey Images and London.

However I believe the images were of a high quality once printed and I am happy with the presentation, including the window mounts that I completed.  I have decided to print 1 image from shoot one, and 2 images from shoots 2 and 3. Here are the images:

Shoot 1 image:

This image was printed on A3 photographic paper. In my opinion this image is of high quality and presents a mysterious but friendly concept. As you can see the image is surrounded by a black window mount.  This is my favorite image from the shoot (1). The reason I believe this is the strongest image is because the environmental portrait has a strong composition. The natural light causes a blurred reflection of the subject in the water which created the effect of him blending in with the reflections of the trees around him. In the photo the subject is taking an image of the environment around him because he believes it is a particularly sublime location to be in. In a way this image follows the idea of tableaux photography.

Shoot 2:

This is my favorite image from shoot 2. I think this because I like how the image is dead pan with the subject looking directly at the camera. Again the contrast of the flowers to the subjects suit and props makes the image stronger with the black and white filter. I have decided to place the subject further away from the camera to show the size of the field and how he is only a small part of the nature in this moment of time. The second reason I like this image is that the use of landscape shows the separation of the rule of three in a better way. The rule includes the ground, the tree line in the middle of the image and the sky. The subject’s head is just above the tree line which makes the frame more sublime.

This image above shows the window mount that shows both an image from shoot 2 and shoot 3, shoot 2 top and shoot 3 bottom. I have decided to do this to contrast the differences between the two shoots, and how they are similar but with a completely different location and environment. Also these two compositions are very strong images that work well together in the same window mount. Top image: After experimenting on images I have decided that the top image is a great composition as more of the landscape can be seen. I think this image is a strong environmental portrait because it is a close up of the subject which allows us as viewers of the image to again interpret the scale of the nature. Also the image has beautiful natural lighting which allows the contrast of the image and the exposure to work well together. I decided to place this image on the top because of these reasons, it also worked better on the presentation front. Bottom: I have included this image in the same presentation layout because it cross references to one of my artist references being ‘Katrin Koenning & Sarker Protick. The two artists use two images created by one another to present their work and compare the differences and similarities between their outcomes. After experimenting on the shoot I decided to take a closer image of the subject. Putting the subject in the middle of the path was set up in a particular way, as you can see the subject is standing in the only light part of the path. This ensures that he is not absorbed by the other areas of darkness, and he can stand out more. During the shoot I took one image from a further distance and followed up with the same image in a closer shot, this being the closer.

Shoot 3:

In my opinion this was not the best outcome after the print was created. The image is too dark and shows the subject to be slightly lost in the composition. However this is another one of the better images produced in the exam project so I have decided to continue mounting the image for the examiner to look at in person rather than just digital form.

With more time I would like to of completed a artist reference around photographer Alec Soth, who was also a factor I used towards creating my project.

All of the images that I have decided to print will be printed on high quality photographic paper and presented using a black window mount technique.

Below are the images that I decided to print, as you can see I did not print every final outcome as time it limited, although with more time I would of liked to do so.

A4:

A3:

A4:

A3:

A4:

A3:

I decided to look back on tableaux photography because I believe that the final images from my project use some of the ideas used in tableaux photography, it is also one of my personal inspirations towards photography and why I created the project in the first place.

Tableaux photography is a style of photography where people are staged in a constructed environment and a pictorial narrative is conveyed often through a single image.

Tableaux comes from the french word ‘tableaux vivant’ which directly translated in English means ‘living picture’. Tableaux Vivant was very popular within the Victorian era, the term describes staged groups of artists models often using dramatic costumes, carefully posed, motionless without speaking and theatrically lit, recreating paintings ‘on stage’. In modern day photography we have interpreted tableaux photography as a style of photography where people are staged in a constructed environment, it is when you respond to a painting in the past and turn it into a photograph of your own. Therefore, as  this is how it is interpreted I will be making my own set up images based on a famous painting. Below is an example of Tableaux photography, as you can see, the top image is the image of The raft of Medusa, a very famous image. Tableaux photography has commonly been seen based around this image, also seen in the modern interpretation of the image. The modern image could also be allegorical since it does not convey the same literal meaning, however it has no meaning apart from being a funny but well crafted image.

Allegorical:

Allegorical is when an image has a less literal meaning than what is conveyed as it is only a fantasy of what real life is actually like. The word Allegory has the definition of  ‘a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.’ An example would be Allegory of Music by Filippino Lippi (between 1475 and 1500). As seen below.

I have decided to focus on romanticism as one of the isms based around my images from all of the shoots.

Romanticism was a movement in the arts and literature which originated in the late 18th century, emphasizing inspiration, subjectivity, and the primacy of the individual. In most areas romanticism was at its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1850. Romanticism can be seen as a rejection of the precepts of order, calm, harmony, balance, idealization, and rationality that typified Classicism in general and late 18th-century Neoclassicism in particular. Among the characteristic attitudes of Romanticism were the following: a deepened appreciation of the beauties of nature; a general exaltation of emotion over reason and of the senses over intellect; a turning in upon the self and a heightened examination of human personality and its moods and mental potentialities

In modern day it is seen that a romanticist image is a beautiful image, however in the 1800s it was seen as a painting with a strong meaning. An example of romanticism back in this age was the painting ‘The raft of the Medusa’. 

This painting was created in France by the chief early Romantic painters Baron Antoine Gros, who painted dramatic tableau’s of contemporary incidents of the Napoleonic Wars, and Théodore Géricault, whose depictions of individual heroism and suffering in The Raft of the Medusa and in his portraits of the insane truly inaugurated the movement around 1820. As a whole romanticism was seen as a vast movement that included many mediums to present. This was just one of the most famous paintings created during the movement.

The inspiration for the use of my props including cards, blue brothers hat, blacked out glasses, bow tie, tuxedo and casino chips, all came from watching a movie before the start of my project. The movie James Bond – Casino Royale, is of course a successful spy movie based around a single character, however I was more captivated by the stereotypes of what is worn in a casino. During the spy  film, a casino scene becomes the main climax of the movie. The casino scene is what inspired me more than anything else, to create something using this idea of stereotypical gamblers. The props I have used all relate to this scene in the movie, with a few extra additions. The images again are taken in standard colour but edited into  black and white  because it follows the idea that the stereotype  attire for a casino is a black and white outfit, especially for those who are high rollers.

My third shoot is based on the same thing as the second shoot, however it will be shot in a different location. The third shoot will take place in St Brelade’s in the woodland area on the left side of the bay. I have decided to take images in this location to create more variety of images for my London connection photographer, this way it is easier to respond to the images that I have taken. The inspiration for the use of my props including cards, blue brothers hat, blacked out glasses, bow tie, tuxedo and casino chips, all came from watching a movie before the start of my project. The movie James Bond – Casino Royale, is of course a successful spy movie based around a single character, however I was more captivated by the stereotypes of what is worn in a casino. During the spy  film, a casino scene becomes the main climax of the movie. The casino scene is what inspired me more than anything else, to create something using this idea of stereotypical gamblers. The props I have used all relate to this scene in the movie, with a few extra additions.

Editing this image I decided that the full composition needed a lower exposure to light to ensure that the subject can be easily seen in the background of the image, I have also used a low exposure to allow the trees and the ground to stand out through the light circles that hit the ground. From the shoot the light is totally natural, the image was taken on an overcast day. When the weather is overcast in my opinion it gives the best light since it will not over rule the rest of the details in the image.

This image used the same composition as the previous image however after experimenting on the shoot I decided to take a closer image of the subject. Nothing has changed otherwise in this particular frame. Putting the subject in the middle of the path was set up in a particular way, as you can see the subject is standing in the only light part of the path. This ensures that he is not absorbed by the other areas of darkness, and he can stand out more. During the shoot I took one image from a further distance and followed up with the same image in a closer shot. 

Walking back through the woodland area to leave, I got lucky with an image of the subject casually walking away from the camera. The shot gives a sense of motion since the subject is clearly walking. Also this image combines nature with natural behavior. giving extra meaning to the shoot. The sky is not visible in this composition again so the frame is completely filled with the surrounding nature.

Other finals: 

This is one of my favorite images from shoot 3. This is because the composition was made using a wide angle lens which allows me to show a more vast area of the woodland. The subject is standing on the edge of an inbuilt bunker from the world war which has been left to grow into the environment. Having the bunker in this image creates the sense of how man has built into the environment and just left the creation as a stain in the natural woodland.

All of my images were shot in standard non-filter fashion. To make the strongest image I experimented with the images that I have taken to see what looks the best. From the shoot as a whole it is clear to see that the black and white filter on the images makes it much stronger and tells more of a story to it’s audience. In my opinion the topic of environment is very black and white as a conceptual idea, this is because environment can be seen in 2 different ways, man made or natural. In this case man represents black and the nature represents white. This is because the white shows hope in the image but the black dominates and absorbs the focus of the image. Below are comparisons of the best images from the shoot compared to that of the standard colour version. Standard below, best top.

EXAMPLE 1:

In my opinion the black and white version of the images in the shoot stand out much more in general, besides how they present more conceptual meaning than the colour version. Apart from the image in colour being more vibrant the b&w creates a stronger environmental portrait. I also chose the black and white images since the focuses on my chosen environmental artist references use the black and white, so I have created my own version of someone who has inspired me to do so. Lastly the subject stands out in the image a lot more in the black and white version since the contrast between the blacks of the suit and the white flowers is strong.

EXAMPLE 2:

The theme between the images is continued through both comparisons in the ssame way, below will be more examples of the standard version and the edited version of the images.

EXAMPLE 3:

EXAMPLE 4:

In the case of example 4 it is clear that in the top image, before editing there was an interruption to the frame from a dog. However once the image is put into black and white the dog head is not visible and the image becomes much stronger, with the center focus of the subject in the middle of the gates.

In reference to my blog post “shoot 2 ideas”, I have stuck to the focus of one of my AS level shoots. In my previous year in AS level photography we were given the task to present images based on 100 years of history in Jersey through a teenagers eyes. My focus on this topic was to create a scenario of  a young gambler. This is something that I would like to continue in my A level photography, however this time the images will be taken in the outside environment showing the islands natural beauty. The use of wearing typical gambling suits and black and white attire is to present the concept that our gambling has an effect on the nature around us. This links to larger problems of global warming and how we are causing this problem as man. My plan was to take the images for my second shoot around the lanes of St Lawrence, a relatively un photographed area of natural beauty in the island. St Lawrence is filled with small country lanes and fields that present the opportunity for me to place my subject into the environment. I will be using black and white filter to present the images to make the subject stand out in the environment, also it follows the images created by artist I have made references to previously.

The images that I captured from the shoot use the natural beauty of the fields. Looking around St Lawrence for a suitable location I decided that one field stood out a lot more than any of the other fields. This was because the entire field was filled with daffodils from top to bottom. This made the images more sublime in natural beauty. However the use of the man makes the image more mysterious and interesting since a plain field of flowers does not catch my attention. I think the use of the props in the image, such as the hat and suit make the image create the feeling of wonder. The images have the concept of gambling with our environment as we develop on our land as said above.

The field was filled with daffodils from top to bottom, all white on the head. This gave a great contrast between the colours of the suit that the subject was wearing and the flowers below him. I have set the subject looking up to the sun to create the effect of him looking at what the world has to offer and how the natural beauty should not be changed. I have set up the subject in the middle of the image to ensure that he is the focus of the image with his surroundings filling the rest of the frame.   This is my favorite image from the shoot. I think this because I like how the image is dead pan with the subject looking directly at the camera. Again the contrast of the flowers to the subjects suit and props makes the image stronger with the black and white filter. I have decided to place the subject further away from the camera to show the size of the field and how he is only a small part of the nature in this moment of time. The second reason I like this image is that the use of landscape shows the separation of the rule of three in a better way. The rule includes the ground, the tree line in the middle of the image and the sky. The subject’s head is just above the tree line which makes the frame more sublime.

Similar to the image above this image gives the same effect but from a lower angel on the flower height. I have blurred the flower to gain more focus on the subject which is the main component of the image. 

The images above and below are the same image at a different level. After experimenting on both of the images I have decided that the top image is of better quality as more of the landscape can be seen. I think this image is a strong environmental portrait because it is a close up of the subject which allows us as viewers of the image to again interpret the scale of the nature.

To give more meaning to the shoot I have used an image of the subject on a large driveway entrance. This image has the concept of how the subject has built upon the natural beauty to create something so unnecessary, destroying the countryside.  

Similar to the contact sheets of shoot 2 I have decided on which images are the best outcomes of the shoot. Once experimenting with the editing of the images it was clear that again the black and white images were the strongest. This factor has led me to flagging the black and white to being the best images.

These two contact sheets from light room show the images that I selected to edit on from the shoot taken in St Lawrence. I have decided that the images will be in black and white to follow suit upon the images I have taken in AS. I have flagged the images that I like most to ensure that it is easy to tell the best images apart.