During this photo shoot,  I spent the day with my two closest friends Michael and Joe. During this day, along with the photos I took, I attempted to recreate the type of activities we would usually proceed on an average day.

Simple things that most teenagers are interested in like music, driving, tea and coffee, pets, smoking. Of course I myself am not featured within these images, but  I feel me and my perspective is very well documented throughout these images, being someone that is allowed into the lives of these two, in such a way that can capture their everyday lives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When photographing Michael, it is hard to capture an image of him where he isn’t in some way posing, or showing his imperfections. This photo of him above, features him biting his nails, which was completely unintentional in comparison to the other set of images. This photograph became my favourite from the entire shoot as I felt it was the most real.

When taking this picture, I simply pointed the camera in front of Michael’s face and pressed the shutter. So this photo is essentially a snap shot, that became successful. I felt that this image contained very strong qualities in terms of expression, as I caught him in a moment of vulnerability, which actually became very strong.

Joe poses with his guitar, even though he can’t play it, which is why I see this as one of the most important photographs from this shoot. Without knowing any background into this photograph or the subject, this would not be obvious. But knowing Joe, his immaturity as well as confidence is shown clearly through this portrait. He sits in his boxers and his hoodie, while trying to play an instrument, which to me implies a comfortable relationship between myself and Joe, that he is able to do this in front of me and even the camera.

This in a sense summaries this whole shoot. The ability to act comfortably in front of one another and replicate real and raw moments.

Theo Gosselin is a French photgrapher, born in Le Havre, a small harbour city in Normandy. He grew up surrounded by the ocean and was in love with the outdoors. His involvement with photography started from an early age when he saw his parents taking photos on their analog cameras, Gosselin began to capture things like butterflies and flowers in his garden, later becoming more skilled he studied photography at Art College. His friends and his life became his subject “not as a photographer, but as a teenager who wants to capture memories just like everyone else.”

Gosselin’s approach to photography is very simple, no sets, no staging, just allowing moments to happen. This is ultimately how I intend to photograph a large proportion of my own shoots, simply spending time with those that are most important within my life and capturing them as they are. This is to give a true representation of the people themselves and present images of raw quality.

The image above, from a collection of Gosselin’s work, features an over the shoulder perspective of a car journey, with a strong depth of field. Although this image appears simple, I feel that it is encapsulates the intentions of Gosselin’s work well, as well as his relationships with those around him. As Gosselin, shoots over the shoulder, it is almost implying that both him and the subject share the same perspective, as if their journey is both the same, which to me created a strong photograph in terms of it’s deeper connotations, which include friendship, togetherness and even sharing. Ultimately I feel like this image is telling us that Gosselin is on a journey.

Here, despite the fact that the subjects face remains hidden, I feel this image encapsulates the living conditions and lifestyle that Gosselin surrounds himself in. The light shining through the windscreen highlights the subject, yet this cloud of smoke distorts him, which in itself is interesting as a composition, as we are forced to take a closer look at the photograph to work out who we are looking at. But also, I gather an impression that this lifestyle comes with ‘clouds and sunshine’, there is freedom, but with this becomes instability and not knowing where you may end up.

Born near Le Havre in Normandy in 1990, Théo Gosselin grew up in the deserted streets of this grey city from the north of France. Passionate about drawing, music, and cinema, he chose a path through the art school, and graduated in 2012 as a graphic designer in Amiens. He started photography around 2007, and it Became his reason to live. He loves to capture the simple life, love, good and bad moments, his friends and his adventures. Eternal traveler, Europe and USA and share his way of life with the people He loves ; because the truth is in wide open spaces and in the heart of the characters that meet  along the way.

Gosselin’s photography reveals friends in the act of escaping from their regular lives into newly enticing and perilous modes of existence, ever in search of the persistent though elusive idea of freedom. His interest in cinema is reflected throughout his work with the cinematic style photographs he creates.

At times, Gosselin´s work approaches something similar
to poésie bucolique; his photographs representing modern day pastoral landscapes that resemble 21st century equivalents of Poussin’s Et in Arcadia ego, Manet’s Déjeuner sur L’herbe or Cézanne’s Les Grandes Baigneuses. At other times, his images capture moments more similar to, Rubens or Levêque.

The subjects in Théo Gosselin’s images are friends rather than models, and the situations are not mythic constructions but glimpses of an underground lifestyle in a post-9/11 and post-AIDS world in
which social media has blurred the boundaries between public and private, and between being documented and just being.

In august 2012, he made his first motion picture, “Goodbye Horses”, a road movie in which he is an actor with 4 friends. They bought a van and departed from New York in a van traversing the United States by 20 000 km from East to West to deliver a package in Los Angeles. An unprecedented adventure that changed the way they saw life and helped them explore themselves by discovering the beauty the American land has to offer. They were living the life of nomads in their van, they documented every moment on the road and shared many memorable moments, which created their special bond on a journey that they never expected.

Exploring various aspects of the American lifestyle, the youth, and the excitement of life on the road are some themes he covers in his work. The youthful style in which he entices his photographs towards representing an instagram-esque filter style, using warm temperatures and snapshot style straight shooting.

 

 

The reason behind this shoot was because it makes all of my photographs come together, as what I wanted to represent was some young adults on journey, exploring, taking in beautiful landscapes etc. Showing what they would do when away from home and away from the worries of typical every day life. Therefore I wanted to show a carefree youth. The van represents the literal movement between each place I’ve photographed, and show’s how relaxed they are on their journey as all they need is a bed, some books, and a camera to capture their moments. For my final outcome, i’m going to present it as a book, with all my favourite photographs to show the journey their vans have taken them on.

I choose this location as I wanted to show that the people I photographed would just pull up in a beautiful area and stay there for the night. Even though this is a fairly remote location, there were still other cars and people in the background, therefore we had to park the car so they wouldn’t be in the image. I also parked the car in the position which used the natural lighting to my advantage, as I originally was going to park it the other way so I could capture the sunset and the more scenic background, however because of the lighting I wouldn’t be able to get the natural lighting on the models face and show the little details which were important to the shoot.

The photographs below taken in black&white remind me of documentary photography, as they’re self explanatory and documentary photography generally relates to longer term projects which mine is meant to represent a group of my friends travelling.

I think these two photographs work really well together as it shows the movement of the model, and the composition is exactly the same, so it works nicely as a couple. The weather was perfect for the day as the wind made her hair blow and it made the photographs have more character.

The photograph below is shows the models surrounding and shows her looking directly at the camera. Therefore, because she’s looking at the camera it makes it feel as if she’s interacting with the person taking the photograph, and this makes the person who views the image feel as if they’re in that moment.

Referring back to the quote by Ted Grant, which I’ve analysed in my previous shoots; “When you photograph in colour you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph in B&W, you photograph their souls.” I think this quote is very true and important for the type of photographs I’m trying to capture, as I want my images to portray the basic life of a free soul.

For this photograph I was originally going to get the model to lie down surrounded by the pillows on the bed, however I noticed the lighting lying down wasn’t the best and there was a bit of natural lighting coming through the window so I made the model sit up against the back of the van, so i could capture the concentration on her face whilst reading the book.

I then left some of the images in colour, as the sun lit up the models her beautifully and made the images very colourful and therefore look playful.

Frequently in my shoots, I’ve captured the models hair blowing in the wind, an example is given below. This is due to the wind creating a carefree image. The natural lighting also captures the hair blowing and lights up half of her face and making her features stand out. I like the fact the model is not smiling in this photograph as it shows the images are purposely meant to look as if they’re not posed;

“photography is about capturing souls and not smiles.” Dragan Tapshanov.

The reason I believe this photograph works well is due to the composition of the photograph, because where the line of paint stops on the van it starts on the other side yet the line of the horizon.

For the images below I tried to capture it from a different perspective, and I took it up-close to create a more personal effect between the model and the viewer.

In the image below, one can see that it has had a filter added to it, like many of my photographs. This is done to add a certain feeling or aesthetic to the images;

“A lot of people in the art world hate to use the word Photoshop like it’s cheating or easy or something. I say bollocks to that. For me, it’s my tool, my paintbrush if you like, and lets me create my own visual language.” Idris Khan 

This shoot is really important, as the other shoots are more focused on a certain individual from the friendship group, and therefore this shoot show’s all the previous models together, except for the guy I took photo’s of and this is to make it feel as if he perhaps took the photos of the girls, and vise versa, they took the pics of him. Therefore that’s why there’s always someone missing in the adventures photographed, because it’s as if they were taking the photos. The girls from the swing, the girl playing the guitar, and the girl who went paddle boarding, altogether.

For this shoot, I choose this location as it’s one of the same places I shot the girl with the guitar, and it’s also remote and close to the sea. Which is similar to most of my shoots. Originally I was going to photograph them around the fire with the sunset in the background, however this didn’t work with the lighting because it would tend to make the photograph over exposed or underexposed, turning the people into silhouettes. Therefore I was pleased I shot images during this lighting.

The propping for this shoot was more difficult then expected, as the area which we did the bonfire was on the sand dunes so there was no wood for the fire. Therefore, before the shoot I had to collect the wood for it, however there wasn’t enough so we had to work with the dead marram grass, which would make the fire really big for a minute and then it would die down. In addition, we had to keep collecting lots of grass for the photographs to look good, the collecting of grass is shown in some of the images below.

The use of the models sunglasses makes the image more interesting, as one can see the fire reflected in the models lenses. Also the way the sun lights up the models hair makes it a very bright amber color, which works well with the fire in the foreground that looks as if it’s touching the models hair, who’s in the middle-ground. Therefore making the composition interesting.

In the image below, I tried to get the image to have the sunset in the background, but without allowing the people to become silhouettes. This was difficult as the sunset is over exposed, however i find it actually works in this image, as it creates an ambiance.

The image below relates to the quote;

“I always thought [my models] looked best when they were sitting in their pajamas smoking pot and getting pissed on a bottle of wine. So that’s what I documented. I liked the girls looking how they were naturally… ” Corinne Day 

The reason this quote links to the image, is because I’ve captured my models sitting around a bonfire and smoking, showing them in a natural manner and not posed. Also, these images documented the moment and not a posed image.

 

In the two images below I took them in a documentary style, the model not knowing they were being taken and capturing a moment/event, however they’ve ended up looking like fashion photography images, therefore making me think of the quote by Corinne Day;

“The best thing I did for fashion was bringing it down to earth, bringing a documentary quality to it.” Corinne Day 

I believe this is an important image from the shoot, as it’s very simple, and doesn’t have anybody’s faces giving away the emotions behind the scene. Therefore the viewer interprets the ambiance of the moment themselves.

 

 

This was my second photo shoot in which i created a potential character which lives within the den. This one was to correspond with my wood den and therefore i decided to make my subjects face look muddy and dirty as if she has been living among the woods. I got her to dress up in a a green dress as i wanted to continue on the idea of camouflage which this den revolves around so much. Overall i think the images work really well. For this particular shoot i decided to use my sister as my model as she has green eyes and i thought that this would correspond further with my den.  I defiantly think i have got some images from this shoot which i can use. 

The above and below images i took in a portrait framing, the light in both images coming fromt he right hand side of the frame. Both images are very similarly composed, it is simply the slight angle of the subjects head and the expression which differs. The angles of the subjects face in the image below appear a lot sharper and therefore cause the subject to have a tougher impression. The top image is a lot softer as the subjects face is facing towards the camera directly. The light in both images is quite a harsh light which contrasts which the dark marks on the subjects skin and also the subjects skin being very pale. The skin almost becomes washed out to a bright vibrant white by the light. The subjects hair in both images is very wild and therefore frames the face well as it blows in and around the face in a natural way. I used a narrow depth of field in the images so as to blur the background behind the subject. I quite like however how you can still tell clearly that the background is filled with pine leaves. This then links the location directly to the den images and creates a link between them.  Something which i had a problem with was that i couldn’t take a picture in which my subjects eyes had the sunlight illuminating them without washing out the entire of the subjects face and creating terrible images. I therefore opted that for these images i would focus on the lightning of the face rather then the eyes. Overall i think i prefer the below image for a photograph which shows the whole of the subjects face in a more formal portrait.

I also took some more abstract images as you can see from the images above and below. Above i experimented a bit with focus, having the focus in the background rather then the foreground to add mystery. I think the outcome of the images turned out okay. I like the below image best because of the contrast between the sharp lines of the light and the dark shadows of the rest of the face. The brightest point of the image is where the light from the right hand side cuts lines across the face. The subjects hair which then blows across their face creates a wild impression and also adds flicks of light as the stands capture the light. The image is composed so that one of the subjects eyes is directly in the center of the frame. I quite like the abstract nature of the image.

 

The above image is one i managed to capture which had light in the subjects eyes. I really struggled to get my subject at an angle in which i could easily show the light colour of my subjects green eyes. I think this image only really works because the background is such a light green colour that it brings out the lighter green colour of the eyes. I used a really narrow depth of field in this image to blur the background but keep the foreground in focus. This blur causes the subjects hair to look straggly which was the impression i was going for with the whole wild look. Only the immediate foreground of the eye was in clear focus, the black mud on the face contrasting with the white skin of the subject. I quite like how the blur of the rest of the images means the little details of the hair of the eye brow and the eye really stand out.

The below photographs are my first attempt at portraits which link to my dens. When i was doing my den shoots there was defiantly a theme to some of the dens and i want to be able to incorporate that into my portraits. This first set of portraits is for my field den. When i took those photographs there was a distinct African vibe to the den, both in the landscape i took the photographs in and also the materials i used for the dens. I therefore translated this into my photographs.

I decided to photograph my subject on a fairly overcast day because i want these portraits to almost act as a link in between the day dens and the night dens i am going to photograph. The day photographs are intensely bright and i didn’t want to have too much glare on the faces in my portrait so that was also another major factor in why i decided to photograph my subjects on an overcast day.  I also chose my location carefully considering how it linked directly to my den. I decided to use tall yellow grass as i felt like that linked directly to my theme. You can also see in the photographs of my den this grass within the background. The photographs were taken in the same location just not exactly the same area in which i took the den images.

Over all i composed the majority of my photographs fairly close to the face of my subject on landscape mode. This is because i wanted to take the pictures fairly close to my subjects face in order to capture an intensity in her gaze. In all of the photographs i used a narrow depth of field so the background is always out of focus to emphasis the subjects face. Overall i think i have two outcomes from this shoot that i am really happy with. For each set of portraits i do only need one photograph for how i am intending on displaying my photographs so overall the shoot was a success. 

In the above and below photographs i decided to use a landscape composition to include more of the background of the grass in the frame. I really like the similarities between the subjects hair and the grass as they are both very similar colours and they are both fairly straight. This creates a link between the subject in the environment, another connection within my images. The feathers in these images also blend quite well into the hair but then also add another texture, particularly in the below. I quite like both the above and below photographs but for different reasons. The hair in the top image adds a lot of movement and creates a more dynamic image blowing across her face. Her eyes are also more narrowed in staring at the camera, as if questioning or challenging rather than gazing passively. In the photograph below the eyes have the opposite effect, they look more haunted. Her eyes are a lot wider and while she is once again staring directly at the camera i feel as if this whole image is a lot more passive and the face has a lot less character in it. I therefore prefer the above photographs of the two as it conveys a better sense of a wild child behind the face.

I wanted to try a couple of portrait compositions as well as landscape to see which ones worked best. I also directed my model to close her eyes to see what impression it would create. While it does work i think i defiantly prefer having the eyes open as eyes and expressions of people faces add a lot of character to an image. I think you lose this a lot in this photograph because her eyes are shut .

 

The above photograph is the best photograph from my shoot and i think that it has defiantly incorporated all the elements of the other photographs which i like so much. This photograph is composed to be portrait and therefore it includes less of the environment then some of my other images. The main light source comes from the top right hand corner and shines directly onto the left side of the subjects face. This photograph is better lit then the rest of the images, i think this is because of the portrait composition including more of the sky and therefore the image appears brighter through the white sky. In this image like in the others the subjects hair matches the colour of the environment behind. This creates more of a sense of unity between the subject and the environment but the subject doesn’t become lost in the environment as i used a narrow depth of field so as to separate the two out. In this image the subjects hair is blowing over her face to the perfect extent. In the other photograph her hair covers her face perhaps too much. In this photograph however her hair blows not obstructing any element of her face and the small wisps which do blow over her face actually add to the wild impression of her. The fact that all her hair is blowing in the same direction works quite well as it almost leads you around the image. You start with the bright white light of her hair which then leads you into following the direction of her hair which leads you around her face.  Her hair ends up framing her face really well. The movement of the feather along with her hair is also very suggestive of being wild and adds to the loose feel to the image. The photograph feels less rigid and staged as the feather is also following the direction of the hair. The expression on the subjects face also works really well in this photograph as the angle of the subjects face turning towards the camera is suggestive of challenging and being confrontational. The eyes do gaze more passively then the first photograph but the overall impression of the image is still a wild child. Overall i think this photograph works the best because the lighting is brighter and the composition of her hair and face is very effective in conveying the impression i was intending.

These last two images were experimentation’s with using one of the blankets from the den i built within the composition of the portrait. I decided to simply wrap the blanket around the subjects shoulders and i think the final outcome actually works really well. I composed the images as landscape as it allowed me to convey how the blanket was wrapped around the subject better. These photographs are also very well lit as the sun had broken through the clouds a bit. The compositions and angles of the subjects face towards the camera is slightly different in both photographs. In the first image the top of the subjects head is cut off just above the subjects hairline which includes more of the blanket itself within the frame. The subjects face is then turned almost directly towards the camera. The position of the subjects head within the frame is also a lot closer to the edge of the frame. The second composition includes more of the top of the head, the head being center more towards the middle of the image and including less blanket. In both pictures once again the wind blows the subjects hair slightly across her face . This composition also allows for the background of the grass to be seen clearly. I think i prefer the first image, even through the second includes more of the head. 

Before taking my portrait photographs i need to plan exactly how my subject is going to look. The whole point of these portrait’s is to recreate my childhood friends looking like the characters we used to pretend to be while playing in the dens. I have started to see a pattern of each den having its own identity and character to it, which is what i want to reflect in the appearance of my portraits. The first portrait i am going to take is the ones which correspond to the den in the field down St Ouens. This den had a distinctly tribal feel to it so i began looking for inspiration of exactly what look i wanted my friend to have.

As i have spoken about i wanted to create a clear correlation between the den and the portrait’s so as this den was made up of oranges i decided that Orange was going to be the main colour colour used. I am therefore going to direct my subject to wear orange eye shadow shades to establish a link between the den and herself. The overall character of the den was also distinctly very tribal and African. I don’t want my subject to look too artificial and almost dressed up by using loads of face paint or anything but i do want to also create a tribal look to her appearance. I therefore looked at tribal face designs which you can see above for inspiration of adding some little touches that would convey a tribal atmosphere. I think i am going to go with the dots because they look somewhat understated and enhance the tribal feel to the image without going over the top. Lastly i wanted to make the hair appear a bit more dynamic so as you can see below i took inspiration from stereotypical feathers. Tribal is normally quite suggestive of being animalistic and close with animals and nature so i though that by adding a feather to my subjects hair would tie together this impression further.

These layering images have defiantly worked the best of all my experimentation’s. After taking the photographs of my paper sculpture i decided to experiment with layering them over my den images as they were so abstract i thought it could create some interesting patterns. The concept of those images was all about the transitioning between the game world and reality through falling asleep and so these abstract images which combine den and abstract spirals aim to convey this transition. As the images i combined are so completely different the combining of the images actually worked really well rather then just being a bit of a mess like some of the other images. The spirals being composed at the center of the image is suggestive of the den coming out of the spirals. Overall i really quite like these images and i’m glad i did the abstract shoot of images to explore the idea of falling asleep. 

 

As i have been considering with my stories/ games i played at childhood how the dens completely created another world for a couple of hours i wanted to take some abstract photographs to convey this. As i started thinking about how in my random scribbling’s we always had to go to sleep to wake up in reality from the game world i wanted to explore this idea by creating some abstract images.  I decided to create a sculpture made of paper which i could shine bright multi-coloured lights onto to create psychedelic patterns. I wanted to create images which play with your mind a little bit. I made the sculpture by cutting patterns into paper and then twisting the paper together to form a spiral. I thought the idea of the photographs being circular was quite important as it normally causes your eyes to travel inwards along the spiral and you become slightly lost in it all. I then shone a disco light which was flashing multi-colours into the center of the sculpture and this created the images below. I am defiantly going to use these photographs juxtaposed with my dens in some sense. 

Overall i think they worked better than i expected. This was just going to be a quick experimentation in which i considered this small sub section of my project but overall i really love the effect that the images have.  There is something very other worldly about the photographs which draw you in and almost suggest a portal to another world. This was exactly the impression i was going for with the images and so i’m glad they turned out so effectively. I did of course increase the contrast and saturation in all of the images, wanting bright and vibrant colours to add to the overall effect.

The two above images were blurry photographs which i took of the sculpture but i still really love them. The blurred nature of them actually adds to the surrealism as there is nothing to focus on completely. I quite like how with a lot of the images the composition of the photograph is exactly the same it is just the colours which have changed. 

The completely contrasting colours of the photographs also works really well as some images have completely different moods to them. The red photographs appear angry, all of this occurring due to the association of colours and feelings within our own minds. 

These pinks and purples in these photographs create a completely different impression, more of a magical impression.