Hamish Fulton uses a combination of text and imagery to evoke meaning and a deeper narrative from his long travels through various countries. I wanted to experiment with my own photographs using text to create a more compelling photograph as well as give more context and understanding to the message behind the photos.

I picked the above image because the composition enabled a lot of open space to place borders and text. The image also didn’t have a main focus point enabling to leave more focus for the text over the top. The tones of the image were also fairly dark so white text would stand out more. I tried a selection of colours but found white worked best. I started by placing a white-border what was a similar thickness to the font I panned on using. I used the font Segoe UI Bold Italic to create a simple effect that still evoked impact. I found the photograph was already fairly busy with the texture selection of small details to didn’t want to add too much that would make the image too busy.

I picked a selection of words that linked into what was happening in the photograph as well as the message I want to show the viewer. The first set of words in the top corner of the first image represent the more serene elements of nature whilst the words below evoke the industrial, man made side. I used these words to represent the combination of nature and man made.

For the above images I removed one of the words and put them into order of length. I then became more experimental with the layer types. For the first image I selected the layer of the text and the border and changed them to exclusion, which inverted the white, making it contrast from the background image. For the second I again used the exclusion feature by creating a second layer of orange and blue then changed it to exclusion. This gave the image a new more abstract style.

I then moved onto a second image featuring a huge amount of warm tones. I wanted to include the phrase ‘The juxtaposition of nature and man made’. I picked a cream colour that was present in the image and found it worked better then white.

I used the same colour and font for the text in the two images above from the previous image. Similar to the previous, I think the cream worked better as was softer then white and could contrast the blue tones in the unlit areas. I sued extracts by the poem ‘As I walked out one evening’ by the English poet W.H Auden. The poem discusses important themes such as love and time, mixing in references and imagery of urban and rural settings. I picked lines that referred more closely to the transition of time. I found the text worked well in this image was it wasn’t too overpowering, making the image not too overly busy. I also found a border wouldn’t have worked with the composition as crucial features of the image such as the window in the lower left corner would have been covered.

I used the same cream text for this image but changed the font to regular as opposed to italic like the rest. I picked a word that related to what the focus of the image was, the work nocturnal refers to the idea of being active and awake during the night, which relates to the light coming from the window. I used the exclusion feature similar to my previous pieces.

I used the colour filters and the exclusion filter to create the above images using different coloured layers. I find they work well as a series.

I wanted to explore and respond to the dark portraits of Bill Henson as well as how Todd Hido used lighting to evoke a sense of ambiance and human presence as well as how both these artists used this as a way to build meaning and narrative.

After looking at Todd Hido I wanted to use low light as a way to add drama and narrative to something that would have otherwise appeared mundane. I noticed how the mirror in my house allowed for someone to be seen looking in, but only show the reflection of a person, I wanted to test this use of reflection and how this could evoke an eerie form of narrative but with the lighting style of Todd Hido. The blue lighting comes from Christmas lights whilst the lighting in the second photo below comes from regular house lights.

Due to the very little light and single light source, the photographs are made with a long exposure of about 8 seconds with an ISO of 200. This long exposure creates a ghostly effect from when Ryan moves slightly, although this was not intentional, I think it works really well. For the photographs above I made them both have a ratio of  8.5×11, I wanted it to be a smaller ratio to give more isolation to both the figure, the mirror and the door. For the below photograph I made a longer landscape photograph.

The above photographs is the photograph I have based the below photographs on. I planned on including a lot of dark tones and black space to leave focus on the figure in the photograph. I wanted to evoke the murky cool tones that Henson had shown in his work as well as evoke a dark, melancholy tone as well as the fearful expression on the girl face. Before the shoot I used blue and red eye-shadows on Ryan’s face to evoke a more eerie effect, the red was a cream consistency which added a glossy effect, I also used these on his cheekbones to give a more dramatic effect.

The above photograph came from using a too long exposure with lighting from an iPhone. I found the blurriness added to the eerie ambiance I wanted to reflect in Henson’s work. I was very reluctant to use the flash from my camera at first because I was concerned it would make the images too bright or flat. All these photographs were taken outside in almost complete darkness, even with the camera set to manual, the camera often wouldn’t take the picture due to there being not enough light, to override this I used the iPhone lighting to trick the camera into taking the photograph. I went back to locations I had previously taken pictures of such as the house and garage from my HDR photographs. When editing the above photograph I changed the levels to add more contrast to add more depth.

All photograph are of a different ratio that suits the individual photograph. I preferred how they looked in a longer landscape ratio as it gave them a more cinematic effect, as if they were a still image from a film. Whilst editing in Light room I upped the contrast as well as decreased the shadows whilst increasing the highlight levels, making Ryan stand out more but also defining his features more, this also brought out the tones in his skin, making him look sick, evoking an uncomfortable narrative to the audience. The dark, grungy backgrounds added with the rugged threatening look of the character gives the photographs a harrowing effect, similar to that of a horror film.

The above photograph is a good example of how I could use media techniques use in films to evoke a narrative to the viewer and add more context to what I am trying to show. The low angle of the camera looking up at Ryan makes him look larger and more frightening. The dark low lighting also makes him look more uninviting, the low key lighting with harsh shadows creates a chiaroscuro effect, which evokes tension that would typically be used in a horror film. His body language makes it appear as if he has just turned to face the viewer, the use of eye contact directly at the camera also creates a connection with the subject and the viewer, the resentful expression adds to the melancholy effect created in this photograph.

I wanted to evoke this in these portraits as I wanted to explore how low, night lighting could completely change the ambiance of a photograph and add narrative to something that would have otherwise been very mundane. This use of low light has also been used in the work Henson to evoke meaning and ambiance. For this shoot I would have preferred to use natural lighting such as moonlight as well as surrounding street lights but found this was unreliable and there was still not enough light available to create a good image.

The above image is probably the most jarring of the selection I have taken. The use of chiaroscuro is very present in this image, giving it the eerie effect. Using the flash gave the background a very textured, grungy effect as well as adding to the mise-en-scene of the image, giving more context to what might be happening within the image, adding narrative. His troubled expression and his complexion suggests a troubling narrative. Again I have used a long landscape ratio to create a more cinematic effect. The juxtaposition of natural and landscape is also subtly shown in this image, such as the weeds and moss that have grown through the wall.

The relevancy of this shoot to the rest of my exam coursework is not exactly obvious, but it could be argued that the juxtaposition of nature and urban is shown from the human present within the image, considering that people are in fact living, natural things. It could also be said that the raw and jarring expression evoked in the photographs is created by human emotion, which is innate within everyone. The unnatural aspect comes from what we have created around us such as the buildings and walls, the images themselves are also not natural from how I have added in lighting that was not present in the surroundings, for subject I have also used makeup to add more emotion and character. These also share a lot of similarities to the artists I have looked at such as the tone and composition as well as how they have used these to evoke narrative and ambiance to the viewer.

As an initial photographic response inspired by the theme of environment I did a shoot at the Jersey Animals’ Shelter. I haven’t yet decided on the main theme for my project as I have several individual ideas that on their own don’t seem interesting or strong enough so I am planning on developing or finding ways to combine them. In this experimental shoot I wanted to explore the environment of animals outside of the usual domestic environment. I focused mainly on pets which have been disclaimed and are awaiting adoption such as cats and a few dogs but I also looked at the rescued wildlife such as birds. I was trying to avoid the typical appearance of Pet photography and the ‘cuteness’ associated with this and instead adopt a documentary style to explore how the animals interact with their environments and the contrast between the clinical-like nature of their environment compared to how they would often be seen in homes. There is also the idea of waiting and being more restricted which I aimed to represent.

This shoot was partly inspired by the photography of Raymond Meeks. Along with his partner Adrianna Ault (whose father ran an animals shelter and she had grown up in this environment) he did a project which involved photographing four major animals shelters in New Orleans.  The facilities they engaged with housed a variety of domestic animals but they chose to focus on the dogs. Meeks has said that they began the project without a pre-formed agenda and more questions than answers. They were hoping to find out if certain character traits and behavioural patterns suggested a collective phenotype (characteristics resulting from the interaction of an individuals genotype with an environment). They wanted to see if there was a common thread that united the marginalised animals and if this had any parallels to the human population. Mostly they wanted to examine the human treatment of these vulnerable animals. I was drawn to this project because of the elegant and respectful way in which they captured the animals with the use of black and white creating an emotive tone.

In my shoot I photographed the different animals cared for at the Jersey Shelter but with a focus on the cats. I photographed them as they were released individually from their cages as well as through the glass of these segregated enclosures they are kept in. Below are the edited images from this shoot. I used black and white in reference to the photography of Meeks and because I think it effectively creates a serious atmosphere as well as emphasising the contrasts and shadows.  I think this was quite effective because domestic animals aren’t normally seen behind glass and I purposefully included the reflections to show the bars when you can see the animals looking out of the window which is quite interesting.

I think if I was going to develop this particular idea further I could explore in greater depth the role of the shelter as a charity and community service within the Island. I could also look into other institutions or local charities where there is a reliance on people to improve environments of people or animals.

After looking at Idris Khan’s work I began experimenting with different techniques on photos in photoshop, attempting to give similar effects as to what we see in his pieces.

Using the image above made by Hilla Becher, I edited it in the style of Idris Khan. By taking the image and layering it multiple times, each time moving the image a few steps to the left or to the right. I then blended each layer into each other to give this fading effect.

I used a street photograph i took on a trip to Paphos in Cyprus last year for my next experimental edit. I wanted to do the same layering and blending technique but in a vertical rippling motion. I also rubbed out all the layers covering the girl on the bike apart from the background layer giving a focused part of the image.

After looking at Khan’s images I noticed that many of them are edited to seem almost like a general essence of the true original images. I interpreted this into another image from my trip to Paphos. By sharply adding and blending about 10-12 layers together it created this essence effect, only revealing and repeating rough outlines of the peoples bodies.