At home, I downloaded the software called Bookwright which is a similar software to Blurb and is of thew same organisation as Blurb but a different piece of software with a different interface. I downloaded this as it will allow me to create my magazine better than I could do on Blurb as Blurb does not provide this option.
However, because I have downloaded it at home, I can only produce my magazine at home in my spare time, however, I will work around this and make sure it is completed in time for me to produce other work in class on exam days.
Before I began creating other cover pages with different text graphics and a different layout, I only had my primary draft version using the handwriting text I had originally produced. Therefore, I could only insert these covers as experiments for how a cover may look but I had the intention of crating other drafts – which I have done and will publish this as a blog post soon.
This have me an opportunity to begin becoming comfortable with the Bookwright software and its tools and how to navigate and there are also video tutorials on how to create magazines using the software and I intend to watch these also.
I inserted JPEG images of my front and back cover an this is shown below in the first screenshot.
Screenshot of primary front and back cover experiments in Bookwright
Screenshot of same page on Bookwright, however, with a different back cover but the same front cover as previous. This back cover eliminates the use of imagery and concentrates on the title graphics and the slogan I also created for the magazine as this is a common convention of fashion magazines that look at gender and expression
This screenshot shows the the inside pages of the cover pages an I had made them both yellow, on the back and front to create a colour theme and the yellow used is the same as that of the title colour
A screenshot of the first page where I have inserted an image of the same slogan that was present on the second back draft
After completing my first four shoots with my models, I have gathered all the images and collated a final selection of my best ones which I would be happy to use in the final product.
After each shoot, I looked through all my photos and selected the best ones and then narrowed these down even further to my best 10-20 and edited these with the intention that they would all have the potential to be published in the magazine.
From my shoot with Lucy, Peter, Max and Jasper, here are all the best edits that I will be using in the magazine and I aim to produce at least one more shoot to bring my total of shoots up to 5 and provide me with around 25-30 images overall with about 5-6 images from each shoot/character.
The film, The Tree of Life was my main form of inspiration for this experiment. My goal was to create a film full of scenes of nature during evening time as an experiment for my project Wabi Sabi. The Photographer Rinko Kawauchi is another source of inspiration that I used for the film. Her style of Sublime photography really suited my theme and idea. To create the film I need to capture a lot of imagery of a few second shots of different things such as light, the sea and everyday events. An idea for the film is to use a subject, a model, as the focus of the film. The film would be about the different things that occur throughout the evening through nature. The title, Before the Sun goes works really well with the idea for the film because I am capturing the beauty and specific details that happen in the evening, before the sun sets. I decided to use a subject within the film because it made it more interesting and showed more of a story line by using the subject to symbolize the sun disappearing. In the last part of the film, the subject is seen running away towards the sea. My reason for this was to create a visual and symbolic link between the subject and the sun. As the sun was setting, the subject was also running away. Overall, I am very happy with the outcome of my film, Before the Sun goes, because it ties in well with my overall project and shows a thought process and story line behind my theme.
In the book Concerning the Spiritual in Art Kandinsky writes about the spiritual effect color has on a person. In the first paragraph of the chapter The Psychological Working of Color Kandinsky writes about how if you let the eye stray over a palette splashed with many colors it produces a dual result. Kandinsky goes onto say
“In the first place one receives a purely physical impression, one of pleasure and contentment at the varied and beautiful colors. The eye is either warmed or else soothed and cooled. But these physical sensations can only be of short duration. They are merely superficial and leave no lasting impression, for the soul is unaffected. But although the effect of the colors is forgotten when the eye is turned away, the superficial impression of varied color may be the starting point of a whole chain of related sensations.”
Kandinsky then goes onto write about how different colors and different shades of color can have a different affect to a persons soul. For example hes one red would prove exciting and another would cause pain or disgust through the association with running blood. A bright yellow may look sour because of the association to the taste of a lemon. He also goes onto say there is a link between color and musical notes. For example he says “it would be hard to find anyone who would try to express bright yellow in the bass notes, or dark blue int he treble”. I find this very true when visualizing music personally I picture darker colors for the bass notes and brighter colors for the higher tremble notes.
Kandinsky also goes onto say that chromotherapy, which involves stimulating the brain with different colors, has had definite influences on the whole body. Red light stimulates and excites the heart, blue can cause temporary paralysis. However when tried on animals and plants this no affect. Which Kandinsky goes onto say:
“Generally speaking, color is a power which directly influences the soul.”
“Color is the keyboard, the eyes are hammers, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand which plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul.”
On the 18th of April I drove to St Ouens bay to do my shoot three for the wabi sabi film. The aim of the shoot was to capture more images of nature and the landscape with the sun setting because that was the time of day that I had decided to focus on. I wanted to capture the different colours and the different ways the sun can effect nature. I also wanted to capture the sense of movement within the film to replicate the movement of the sun while it sets. The different things I managed to capture was the way the sun hits on leaves and flowers such as the clip below.
Another way I wanted to replicate the movement was by simply moving my camera while I was filming. I used this method mainly for far away clips such as the sea and the sky. I really like this clip because of the colours and shapes that are captured.
Another way I was able to show movement was by filming the sea and the waves by the shore in St Ouen. I wanted to capture clips of the sea because Its the last thing the sun touches before it sets. I also love the expressive movement it naturally creates. The pal blue and green colours also work really well with my wabi sabi project because there is a lot of use of colour, mainly pale colours.
Michelle Sank is a contemporary photographer born in Cape Town, South Africa. Her biography on her website reads: “Michelle Sankwas born in Cape Town, South Africa. She left there in 1978 and has been living in England since 1987. Her images reflect a preoccupation with the human condition and to this end can be viewed as social documentary. Her work encompasses issues around social and cultural diversity.”
Sank is a photographer who has the ability to, so poetically, tell a subjects story so well through her ability to interact with her subject to make them feel comfortable in order for them to feel comfortable to perform for the camera. Sank relies heavily on body positioning and facial expression to tell a narrative i her images.
In particular, I will be looking at Sank’s project that consists of 18 individual images which each tell a story of one individual. The project is entitled ‘In My Skin’ and is a very poetic and truthful series of images which focuses on one subject per image and tells their story through that one image. Each image is very similar to the previous in the way it is constructed and this is a deliberate attempt at telling a consistent narrative that is understandable.
In the project, ‘In My Skin’, Sank visits the houses of a variety of people across Britain who are either thinking of having cosmetic surgery or have had it in order tot change the way they look. She sets out to tell each of their stories and achieves this through an intimate relationship between herself, the camera and the subject. On her website, the project synopsis reads: “These images are from a project called In My Skin about young people under 25 in the UK who are challenging their body image. I am looking at those who have had or are considering having cosmetic surgery in order to become more acceptable to themselves and achieve their ideal of being ‘beautiful’. Social consensus in Western society today is particularly focussed on physical beauty and achieving and maintaining the “perfect” face and body. Intertwined with this I am also documenting body dysmorphia as young people try and conform to this social expectation resulting in eating disorders and body transformation. Lastly I am documenting transgenderism and the struggle young people have to live within a body they were born into but have no affiliation with.”
The images are very elegant and can also act as typologies because of the way they are presented and the similarity between them all in the way they are constructed and framed. Each image is photographed in the subject’s bedroom and Sank positions them exactly how she wants them to come across to the camera.
I will be using Sank as inspiration for the way I take my own photos and although I will not be covering as hard-hitting topics, I hope to be able to present my subjects to the camera in the same poetic way.
Sank’s images are very raw and look as though the have been edited very minimally and I would imagine Sank has done this as she feels the actual content of the photographs speaks for themselves and therefore, did not want to over-edit them to the point that it removes their meaning. In my own images, I will only be editing them very subtly to enhance any necessary factors such as highlights, shadows, exposure or the black and white leveling because I do not want to distort them to the point that they lose their meaning that should be told through the way the subject present themselves to the lens.
As well, Sank uses bedrooms as her studio and in particular, the bedroom of the specific subject she is photographing because this is where they feel most comfortable and therefore, the truest representation of them can be expressed and it becomes a very personal series through photographing in such a personal space.
For my own set of images, I will be using the street as my studio as I will be creating street fashion photographs that show the behavior of boys when given the opportunity to roam free and act however they want.
Sank also uses the ‘gaze’ of her subjects to tell a narrative and this is a very powerful tool to use in order to get across a message and allow the audience to feel a a sense of connection and inclusion into their story trying to be told. Through the subjects gaze into the camera, the audience can easily connect with them and feel a sense of sympathy if the content is as raw as what Sank has explored.
Looking at Sank’s work will allow me to better tell a narrative through my images, which, although doesn’t necessarily have to follow a clear narrative, I will be able to better take images that are more expressive after examining the work of Sank and the methods she uses to create poetic works as shown in this project.
Laura Pannack
Laura Pannack was born 12 June 1985 and is a British social documentary and portrait photographer, based in London. Pannack’s work is often of children and teenagers.
Laura Pannack, like Sank is a modern, conceptual photographer that has the ability to photograph a subject so elegantly to tell their story. Something that is evident in Pannack’s work is her use of very soft colours and tones as well as a use of very soft focus around the subjects existence in the forefront of each frame where, most of the time, Pannack captures them either looking directly at the camera or facing the camera with their eyes closed.
This effect of the subject closing their eyes in the photo is something I will be trying to up-take and emulate in my own work because I feel it adds a very subtle and elegant tone to the imagery and a compelling mood is achieved when the subject eyes are closed because the audience feel a sense of inclusion in the image – that when looking at the subject closing their eyes, we are included in the thoughts they are thinking. I will using this technique of the subjects closing their eyes in a couple of my images so achieve a look of vulnerability – that when they close their eyes, they become more vulnerable as they become unaware of the happenings in front of them due a deep focus in their mind about their thoughts. This sense of vulnerability is something I wish to capitalise on in my project to show that boys are not always confident and boisterous freaks of nature that don’t fear anything and instead, through particular photographs of them with their yes closed, a much more vulnerable state of their personality can be shown.
Pannack, like Sank focuses on telling her subjects story and focuses on the audience ability to connect with what the subject is experiencing in the frame. Both photographs focus on the notion of a gaze from the subject in the image to aid the narrative that can be told. When a subject gazes at the camera and in-turn, the viewer, they achieve a very somber effect that often works very well to present a mood. A gaze can not only be achieved through the eyes but through the other facial expressions of the subject and how they rest the other feature on their face to bring the attention to the eyes. A gaze can also be achieved through body positioning and body expression and the use of hands to help create meaning is also very effective.
Pannack’s work has been shown in three solo exhibitions and contributed to a couple of publications. She has received a number of awards, including a first place in the World Press Photo Awards in 2010, the Vic Odden Award from the Royal Photographic Society in 2012, and the John Kobal New Work Award in 2014. Pannack has also worked commercially for The Mental Health Foundation, Save the Children, Oxfam, Dove, Samsung, Barclays and Vodafone.
Pannack’s notable personal projects include The Untitled,Young Love and Young British Naturists. For her personal work Pannack largely uses a film camera and I believe this is noticeable in her work because of the very soft and subtle colour tones that look quite faded – an effect achieved from shooting on film.
The video above shows Laura Pannack at Nicer Tuesdays – an event by It’s Nice That which invites exciting creatives to share short, sharp insights to recent projects, aiming to inform and inspire. Pannack in this video, talks above her recent works to an audience and shows her processes and the meanings behind what she does.
In an interview with The British Journal of Photography, Pannack describes her processes on how to take a good portrait photograph and the thought behind taking compelling portraits that for so many, seems so simple but the methods Pannack uses shows her professionalism and dedication to creating the quality of portraits she does. BJP writes in their article, “dedicated to developing strong relationships with her subjects, Laura Pannack’s work is always a collaborative endeavor between artist and sitter.” This resonates with me strongly because I too believe that to create a strong portrait image, the collaboration between the subject and artist is vital because from this relationship can become a developed bond between the two of them in order to create the right portrait to tell their story. Pannack’s interest in youth culture is evident in her work and BJP highlights this in their article.
Pannack’s focus on documenting youth culture is another reason I have decided to study her work. Fro m observing the way she photographs this particular sub-culture will give me a sense of understanding to go and do it myself as I too will be photographing the youth of Jersey – youth are often ignored in this newly-developed political society that is now so focused on the present and the views of elders and the empowered at a time where the economic states of our country is the most talked about subject for last two years.
In Pannack’s project entitled ‘The Untitled’, she aims to “challenge the sweeping generalisations and often negative perceptions of teenagers held by many, by capturing the individuality of each of her subjects.” In her portraits which she confesses to often titling the name of the subject pictured, Pannack’s aim is to show to her viewers that these people are unique individuals, not just as part of one single group.
BJP also asked Pannack, what, for her, makes for a compelling portrait and Pannack answered, “for me, a compelling portrait is one that provokes emotion and encourages an attachment. I like the idea of a threaded connection from subject, to photographer, to viewer – one that flows effortlessly and connects all three.” For me, this is very true and I agree with this strongly because it reiterates to the gaze that not only myself, but many other conceptual photographs attempt to achieve in their images. The gaze of a photographer on their subject is shown through the release of shutter on their camera and this gaze is then carried on to the subject that, in their image, gazes at the viewer on the other end of the photo. This is what I will be attempting to achieve in my portraits of young people.
James Greenhalgh
James Greenhalgh is another conceptual photographer and is British, like Pannack an again focuses on youth culture of England to create a range and sense of consistency I his work – photographing youth is his specialty and being young himself, this allows him to connect extensively with his subjects in order to create a collaborative process which results in images that show another side to teenage Brits that people often don’t see – Greenhalgh highlights the youth of Britain in his soft images that are a mixture of black and white images and colour images.
Greenghalgh’s work is of such a similar nature to Pannack’s that he was picked out by The British Journal of Photography to shadow Laura Pannack on an exclusive BJP portraiture commission.
BJP writes: “After a lengthy judging process, Laura Pannack has selected 18-year-old James Greenhalgh as the winner of a competition to shadow her as she shoots Separation, a series of portraits commissioned by British Journal of Photography. Separationexplores the angst and myriad emotions experienced by London-based couples who, as a result of Brexit, have been forced to contemplate separation.”
Greenhalgh is currently in his first year of studying Photography at London College of Communication. However, it was his A-Level project, Tungsten, that caught Pannack’s eye. A series of portraits of teenage boys, Tungsten seeks to break down the mask of masculinity and show the beauty and sensitivities that lie behind. And this seen, this is why I have chosen to study James Greenhalgh as his interests in photography lie within the opportunity to collaborate with his subjects, and in particular, teenage boys to show the sensitivities that exist beyond the face of masculinity that is often so forced in an attempt to fit in to society that sets, on a regular basis, the standards and ways boys should behave and act.
Greenhalgh was asked what appeals to him about portraiture and his reply to this was, “The connection that you share with the person you are shooting is so precious and special. For somebody to open up in front of you and be themselves without fear or judgement (with or without a camera present) is truly beautiful, especially in a world where everybody is putting on a mask or persona in an effort to appeal to others. With portraiture I feel I can capture that organic moment.”
These are Photoshop edits of my previous wave shots. I like these images because I wanted to create edits that blow up the idea of light, and therefore represent accurately the spiritual forces that are working within nature that is beyond human comprehension. These images are almost blowing up and highlighting what can’t be seen and what is beneath the surface of ordinary comprehension. I believe these edits link well to spirituality and the idea of action beyond our realm which however directly affects us as humans living on this planet.
This was a shoot that I took waves and wave motion. I was interested, following on from my previous post, in photographing the random and unexplainable reasons for the forces of wave motion. These images I believe strongly link to the idea that nature is not just a powerful force, but one that is stimulated and controlled by nature. I believe I have captured a sense of spirituality in these images because I like the harsh, white tones but also the movements and the close shots. In doing this, we can see individual details of the elements of the water and also see how they move collectively. This links back to the theory of creationism and the idea of continuous evolution, adding spirituality to the scientific processes of origin, because it presents the water as moving all in one direction, to go somewhere or achieve something figuratively speaking.
The photo is a montage of different images layered over one another to create one large abstract image. From the images I can make out I can see dancers, a mountain and windows. Each photos adds another texture turning the photo into a very layered piece. The transparent edges that can just be made out makes it look as if we are looking through glass. The inverted colors of the dancers alienates them as some of their body is not yellow like he rest of the image. This photo is like a piece of art, when looking at this I do not see a photo that has been captured in the moment, it’s a piece of art that has very carefully been put together. The imagery behind and in front almost mimics the dancer. Each edge and corner is sharp like the dancers posture that is very rigid and tense. There is also some curvature from the mountain behind that can also be found where the dancers hand meet as it is like a circle. I like this photo very much it very different to anything I have seen before. It looks as if a lot of thought has gone into the picture making sure meaning is a large part. At first glance it looks like a mess however when studying the photo it becomes to what the photographer was trying to convey. This photographer has done a whole line of works like this in a project called Choreography where he focused of mixing photos of dancers with either one or multiple landscapes.
Image 2 -Glass House 0469, 2009, 2009
This photo is from a collection of photos from the project called Glass House. Welling has multiple photos of this glass house from different seasons. James Welling has used color filters between the camera and the subject. Welling said he used the word ‘filter’ as a noun and a verb. In addition to plastic, colored filters, Welling used clear plastic, fogged plastic, clear glass, pieces of glass that were slightly uneven and tinted, and finally a diffraction filter that breaks light into the spectrum. The colors in this photo have been changed and have split the photo into two. The top half red and the bottom orange. The house is slightly off center and surrounded by trees. The change in color matches the change in seasons. Brighter colors are used in lighter seasons and darker colors are used in seasons like winter and Autumn. I like this photo and have used it as inspiration for one of my shoots. I have used different colors to show a spirituality and how certain colors can make a person feel different things.
BLOG: End your blog with evidence of the following:
1. Show evidence of how you intend to present and display your final prints – make mock up in Photoshop – for example. a single image or diptych, triptych, predella, size A5, A4 or A3, typology-style grid, collage etc
2. If you have made a photobook – write a book specification and describe in detail what your book is about in terms of narrative, concept and design. Produce a mood-board of design ideas and consider the following:
How you want your book to look and feel
Format, size and orientation
Design and layout
Rhythm and sequencing
Structure and architecture
Narrative
Title
Images and text
Colour and B&W (or a mix)
Paper and ink
3. Write an overall final evaluation (250-500 words) that explain in some detail the following:
how successfully you fulfilled the EXAM brief and realised your intentions.
links and inspiration between your final images and exam theme including artists references
analysis of final prints/presentation in terms of composition, lighting, meaning, concept, symbolism etc.
4. Go through all your blog posts and make sure that you have completed them all to your best ability, e.g. good use of images/ illustrations, annotation of processes/ techniques used, analysis/ evaluation of images and experimentation
5. Present your final outcomes in window mounts or on foam board, label with name, candidate number, attach velcro and put in a BROWN/BEIGE/YELLOW folder.
To achieve a top marks we need to see a coherent progression of quality work from start to finish following these steps:
The following students have been selected for moderation:
Coursework:
Chiara Buesnel
Alisha Cadec
Elinor Dargie
Ben Fosse
Anna Houiellebecq
Peter Le Gal
Charlie Lucas
Zoe Pannenborg
Josie Robins
Lauryn Sutcliffe
Shaynee Whiteman
Externally Set Assignment:
Chiara Buesnel
Harrison Cummins
Felicity Flinders
Anna Houiellebecq
Darcy Kelly
Madison Lee
Ethan Moyse
Max Rivers
Jo Searle
Abbie Waller
Sank also uses the ‘gaze’ of her subjects to tell a narrative and this is a very powerful tool to use in order to get across a message and allow the audience to feel a a sense of connection and inclusion into their story trying to be told. Through the subjects gaze into the camera, the audience can easily connect with them and feel a sense of sympathy if the content is as raw as what Sank has explored.
This effect of the subject closing their eyes in the photo is something I will be trying to up-take and emulate in my own work because I feel it adds a very subtle and elegant tone to the imagery and a compelling mood is achieved when the subject eyes are closed because the audience feel a sense of inclusion in the image – that when looking at the subject closing their eyes, we are included in the thoughts they are thinking. I will using this technique of the subjects closing their eyes in a couple of my images so achieve a look of vulnerability – that when they close their eyes, they become more vulnerable as they become unaware of the happenings in front of them due a deep focus in their mind about their thoughts. This sense of vulnerability is something I wish to capitalise on in my project to show that boys are not always confident and boisterous freaks of nature that don’t fear anything and instead, through particular photographs of them with their yes closed, a much more vulnerable state of their personality can be shown.
Pannack, like Sank focuses on telling her subjects story and focuses on the audience ability to connect with what the subject is experiencing in the frame. Both photographs focus on the notion of a gaze from the subject in the image to aid the narrative that can be told. When a subject gazes at the camera and in-turn, the viewer, they achieve a very somber effect that often works very well to present a mood. A gaze can not only be achieved through the eyes but through the other facial expressions of the subject and how they rest the other feature on their face to bring the attention to the eyes. A gaze can also be achieved through body positioning and body expression and the use of hands to help create meaning is also very effective.
In Pannack’s project entitled ‘The Untitled’, she aims to “challenge the sweeping generalisations and often negative perceptions of teenagers held by many, by capturing the individuality of each of her subjects.” In her portraits which she confesses to often titling the name of the subject pictured, Pannack’s aim is to show to her viewers that these people are unique individuals, not just as part of one single group.
BJP writes: “After a lengthy judging process, Laura Pannack has selected 18-year-old James Greenhalgh as the winner of a competition to shadow her as she shoots Separation, a series of portraits commissioned by British Journal of Photography. Separation explores the angst and myriad emotions experienced by London-based couples who, as a result of Brexit, have been forced to contemplate separation.”
