Étienne-Jules Marey, born 5 March 1830, in Beaune, was a French scientist, physiologist and chronophotographer.
To study the flight of birds, he invented a camera in 1882 with magazine plates that recorded a series of photographs; the pictures could be combined to represent movements. In 1894 he adapted the motion-picture camera to the microscope.
His work was significant in the development of cardiology, physical instrumentation, aviation, cinematography and the science of laboratory photography. He is widely considered to be a pioneer of photography and an influential pioneer of the history of cinema.
Marey’s chronophotographic gun was made in 1882, this instrument was capable of taking 12 consecutive frames a second, with all the frames recorded on the same picture. Using these pictures he studied horses, birds, dogs, sheep, donkeys, elephants, fish, microscopic creatures, molluscs, insects, reptiles, etc. Some call it Marey’s “animated zoo”. Marey also conducted the famous study about cats always landing on their feet. He conducted very similar studies with a chicken and a dog and found that they could do almost the same.
Although Marey was a man of science, one cannot ignore his profound contribution to photography.
Image Analysis
I have chosen this photograph of Étienne-Jules Marey to anaylse because I like the effect of sequencing and want to incorporate it within my project in a way. This photograph is extremely old and the outcome and effects on the photograph are not intentional but a product of the time and camera, but I like the contrast of blacks and whites/creams and the almost border that is created by the white circle surrounding the two people, the focal point of the photograph. The blur adds an interesting abstract effect to the photograph. In conclusion this photograph is complex and interesting and has factors that I hope to photograph and include in my own project.
David Prentice was an English artist and former art teacher. In 1964 he was one of the four founder members of Birmingham’s Ikon Gallery. His work is hard-edged, abstract, close to the Op art of a period when young artists and architects were full of ideas for new beginnings.
For many years, his subject was the Malvern Hills, which he knew intimately from countless walks with sketchpad in hand. The forms of the hills were a constant, the weather constantly changing. He painted with the concern for structure and surface that had characterized his earlier work. The watercolors, often done on the spot, were more specific but the paintings done in the studio were as carefully constructed as ever. In time his subjects expanded to include dramatic cityscapes of London, especially of the river, and the landscape of Skye, or rather its approaches.
Images from David Prentices galleryHiroshi Sugimoto Image from Seascapes Project
I believe there are direct correlations between the work of David Prentice and Hiroshi Sugimoto. The key similarity is the attention to lighting and textures as appose to detail and displaying a landscape how we would usually see it. Instead, Prentice uses large brush strokes giving a faded/blury look to the landscape with emphasis on accurate depiction of light. Sugimoto focuses on using slow shutter speeds to bring about this faded look like Prentice does. Despite Sugimoto’s images being in black and white I believe there is a main focus on how lighting/weather can transform the similar landscape that he focuses on. Another key similarity in their works is the elimination of any man made features creating a difficulty in identification of a place.
From the series No More No Less Kensuke Koike & Thomas Sauvin
Kensuke Koike is a Japanese contemporary artist, currently living in Slovenia, widely known for his exceptional skills in collage making.The Japanese artist has thus developed a certain taste for image destructuring. These new images have therefore their own independent life, barely connected to that of the original photos, showing that in the end everything depends on our point of view of reality and what we take into consideration. In kensuke’s images none of the images only moved around, which is a philosophy that he applies to all o this work “nothing is removed, nothing is added”. When editing my images inspired by his wok I will try to work by this same philosophy.
This image is from the sires No More No Less by Kensuke Koike & Thomas Sauvin. In the image there is a potrrt of a young Chinsee boy, in which two triangles have been cut out of his face. These two triangle cover the section where his eyes would be, these two sections have then been swapped around, to give a new perspective on the image. When I first saw this image I thought that the two sections of triangles, before I knew that these image where scraps that Kensuke had found I thought that the two triangles where the boys Mother and Father, I thought that it gave the image a new perspective and added a lot of conceptual meaning to the image.
For example take an old portrait of a loving couple, cut their eyes out, switch them around and the relationship takes a new direction. This is what Kensuke’s work is about getting a new perspective on the way that images can be viewed. The image above is taken from his project in collaboration with Thomas Sauvin ‘No More No Less’ which is a photobook which was published last November. The publication came about after Koike was invited to work with Sauvin’s archive of old images that he recovered from Beijing silver-recycling centres.
The images where made by an unknown Shanghai University photography student in the 1980s, simple black-and-white studio headshots that have an evenness of style, tone and lighting throughout.
For this shoot I wanted to explore the use of natural forms in abstract and unusual ways using a monochrome filter to do so. Here I would walk around on specific area photographing the subjects in a highly contrasted light, which once edited would differ visually to what I originally saw. The photographer who I wanted to use as a reference of photography for this was Aaron Siskind, someone who specialised in abstract photography within streets as a means of creating a political view. What I especially looked at in his works were how he used only monochrome filter to create this images, choosing to take an angle upon the object that completely warps it compared to its original state. Here are some examples of his works:
From here I wanted to go on to produce a mind-map, by doing this it would allow me to focus on the things I intend to photograph when on the shoot, preventing me from capturing subjects that would have no relation to what I was doing at all. Not only would this make me more efficient, but also make the results of my shoot overall more effective. Here are some of my ideas for the future shoot:
Once I had finished with my ideas I decided it was time to move onto the shoot itself. For the shoot I would be exploring the North of the Island as I found that was the area of Jersey that had the highest ratio of agriculture and natural landscapes. Using the mind-map as my reference I decided footpaths would be my main go to. Here are the results of the shoot:
Once I had finished the shoot I then decided to whittle all the images down to a selection of only ten. By doing this not only would it make it easier for me to decide on an image that best reflects the overall idea of the shoot, but also the one that both technically and visually is best. Here are my choices for the ten best images:
After I had selected the ten images I found most effective I then decided to once again whittle the selection down to now only fives images. In doing this it would allow me to analyse each image in more depth than the rest, looking at why the image was chosen, the technical aspects of it and its overall relation to the entire topic, whilst making it easier to pick the final image. Here are my choices:
I selected this image because I loved the contrast between the wall and the surrounding ivy which grows upon it. For me by photographing a slither or concrete contrasted by the ivy it produces an abstract effect where two different environments merge into one, warping the images as you make your way to the centre of it. Composition wise I found the use of the darker ivy as a border to be effective as it slowly joins with the lighter shades of the brick, making use of any negative space which could have been there whilst producing an aesthetically pleasing result. I found that the use of a higher contrast was particularly effective here as it really highlights the hidden feature within the moss and bricks, creating more depth whilst also stopping parts of the piece from becoming too eye-sore for viewers.
For this image the reason I chose it was because of the great use of a depth of field. By only focusing on one part of the mesh wire I found that it produced an abstract effect that messes with the mind regarding where the focus come into play. The detail of the actual focused wire that separates itself from the rest of the image for me creates a huge aesthetic feel, as the fluid transition from focus to out of focus really compliments each other, especially through the use of shades such as greys and blacks. Regarding the composition I really like how it is not centred in the middle, but rather the top left, this really gives a sense of depth within the piece as the background becomes blurred and the then is up to the viewer to interpret what could be surrounding the fence.
What I loved about this image was how the varying shades of the horse create an aesthetic abstract effect where each shades merges into the next. I largely chose this image because of how the composition portrays the side of the horse, with the whites coming down from the left and the rest of the piece being surrounded by black hairs which provide the photography with a natural border. What sold the image for me was how the use of a high contrast really brings out the definition within the side of the horse and the form of the body, this in a way isolate the actual horse from its side as it takes the viewer a few moments to actually figure out what the image is of, with only hints giving it away.
For this image I was drawn towards once again the depth of field within the landscape. By focusing on only one layer of the bushes it creates a feel or vastness within the photo as it highlights the sharpened ends of the branches whilst softening the rest of the area. This contrast for me really brings a sense of aestheticism over the whole image, as by using only a monochrome filter it leaves the image devoid of any distractions to rather allow us to look at the formation of the natural subjects within. The composition of the focused areas is also a major reason why I selected it, this is because of how there is a larger area of focused bush on the left which grows smaller as you progress, stopping the blurred backdrop from becoming more overpowering than it actually is.
Finally I selected this image because I loved how the overlapping twigs presented themselves as a sort of abstract mess, with there being no actual order to how or where they are coming from. I also really liked how the shadows between the twigs were really contrasted opposed to the lighter shades of the wood which consisted mostly of lighter areas. This was complimented through once again a use of depth of field which blurs some of the layers of twigs out, by doing this for me I found it to be more effective due to how its stopped any eye-sore from occurring for the viewers, prevented us from not being sure where to draw our eyes to.
Once I had analysed and selected the five images I thought were most effective regarding their technical, visual and relevance to the overall topic I then proceeded to chose my best photo:
FINAL IMAGE:
The reason I chose this as my final image was because of the composition, contrast and definition that was present inside this photo. What drew this to me the most was how the piece was perfectly focused with some use of depth of field, whilst using a variety of different shades present on the horses side to create an abstract effect that mimics the natural environment around it. In relation to the entire topic of variation and similarity I found that this image reflected well the differing aspects regarding the textures and patterns which can be found within the different landscapes of Jersey, where the North could consist of more natural ones like this, whereas the South could maybe be more concrete and urban. As well as this the image for me presents me with a new perspective regarding how textures and patterns can also be found in living things found in these particular landscapes rather than just the way you personally view the landscape as well.
To help form ideas, I filmed myself everyday for 5 days carrying out the daily repetitive task of brushing my teeth.
I was inspired by the minimalist style of artists such as Marina Abramovic.
Since the beginning of her career in Belgrade during the early 1970s, Marina Abramović has pioneered performance as a visual art form. She created some of the most important early works in this practice, including Rhythm 0 (1974), in which she offered herself as an object of experimentation for the audience, as well as Rhythm 5 (1974), where she lay in the centre of a burning five-point star to the point of losing consciousness. These performances married concept with physicality, endurance with empathy, complicity with loss of control, passivity with danger. They pushed the boundaries of self-discovery, both of herself and her audience. They also marked her first engagements with time, stillness, energy, pain, and the resulting heightened consciousness generated by long durational performance. The body has always been both her subject and medium. Exploring her physical and mental limits in works that ritualise the simple actions of everyday life, she has withstood pain, exhaustion and danger in her quest for emotional and spiritual transformation. From 1975-88, Abramović and the German artist Ulay performed together, dealing with relations of duality. She returned to solo performances in 1989 and for The Artist Is Present (2010) she sat motionless for at least eight hours per day over three months, engaged in silent eye-contact with hundreds of strangers one by one.
In my response, I used red lighting as I wanna explore colour further in my project. All videos are cropped to just the face and played alongside each other to make the variation more distinct.
Repetition
Based on the idea of emotion, I took photos of multiple people wearing a balaclava. The balaclava served as an emotional barrier between the person and the viewer, blocking off most of the face. I consider the mouth and eyes to be the strongest features in presenting how someone feels. People often call the eyes the “windows to the soul”.
For this response, I took inspiration from early 1920s typologies by artists such as August Sander. The movement titled the ‘New Objectivity’ served as a reaction to expressionism.
Dafna Talmor is a photographer, artist and lecturer who is based in London. She works with photography, video, and collaborations with other artists. Some of her work is displayed in in public galleries like Hiscox, Deutsche Bank and many private collections across the world. Her work work is also included in Robert Shores book, Post Photography: The artist with the camera, also Brady Wilks book, Alternative Photographic Processes: Crafting handmade images and been featured in many publications from Elephant Magazine, 1000 words, ArtReview and more.
Talmor’s most recent commission was from the FT weekend magazine for their supplement of Photo London 2018. Her most recent work includes that of Constructed Landscapes at the the TOBE Gallery in Budapest, 2018, and Photofusion in London a year earlier.
Talmor is also a associate Lecturer for the fine art course at Solent University in Southampton, and also leads the yearly summer school of fine art at Goldsmiths, University of London. She also works freelance as an international lecturer, and has run multiple workshops.
Sir Peter Blake was born on the 25th of June 1932. He is an English pop artist who has created an immense amount of iconic British artwork. Of this work he is best known for co-creating the cover artwork for the Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. His other best known works include the cover of the Band Aid single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”, and the Live Aid concert poster. Peter Blake also designed the 2012 Brit Award which is designed by a different artist every year. As one of the best known British pop artists, Peter Blake is considered to be a prominent figure in the pop art movement as a whole. His paintings show his great interest in images from popular culture which he incorporates into his collages. His artwork has been so important for British culture, so much so that In 2002 he was knighted for his services to art. His chaotic aesthetic is something which I believe relates very closely to the work which I am intending to produce for this project, and therefore believe that to refer to Peter Blake is relevant.
Below are some examples of Blake’s work which I have spoken about…
Below I have embedded a 16 minute video which I believe to be very interesting, in which artist Damien Hirst visits Peter Blake’s studio. This video is an easy watch and I believe is shows Blake’s work process and work space and also allows you to have a second opinion and voice on what is discussed from Hirst.
Eadweard Muybridge was important for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion and in motion-picture projection.
Producing over 100,000 images of animals and humans in motion, capturing what the human eye could not distinguish as separate movements. He was a bridge between still photography and recorded movement.
Leland Stanford hired him to prove that during a particular moment when a horse is trotting, all four legs are off the ground simultaneously. His first efforts were unsuccessful because his camera lacked a fast shutter. After awhile he used a special shutter he developed that gave an exposure of 2/1000 of a second. This arrangement gave satisfactory results. By 1878 he was photographing horses in motion using batteries of cameras, their shutters triggered by the horse’s movement over trip wires. The results were a technical and conceptual breakthrough. In their published form, they laid out the span of time captured by the cameras as a sequence of stop-motion images unlike anything that had been seen before.
Seeking a means of sharing his groundbreaking work, he invented the zoopraxiscope, a method of projecting animated versions of his photographs as short moving sequences, which anticipated subsequent developments in the history of cinema.
This work reminds me of the artist Andy Warhol’s early work where he uses repetition as a device to alter our perception of a different type of society portrait, creating different variations of the same image.
In the early 1960s, he began a series of portraits of stars. He used photographic silkscreen printing to create his celebrity portraits. This meant he could directly reproduce images already in the public eye, such as publicity shots or tabloid photographs
To respond to this work I could also photograph something moving with a fast shutter speed to create a series of images of the same object. Similarly, I could take the same photo and create different variations in colour and appearance and display them together like Andy Warhol.
Thomas Florschuetz is a German photographer who was born in 1957. His work has featured in numerous exhibitions at key galleries and museums, including the Museum of Contemporary Art Leipzig (GfZK) and the Galerie m Bochum. Thomas Florschuetz’s work has been offered at auction multiple times. Florschuetz’s images of the human body are quite abstract and show unnatural expressions.
Stuart Pearson wright
Stuart Pearson Wright went to school in Eastbourne, Sussex and graduated from Slade School of Fine Art, University College of London (1995–1999), receiving a B.A. in Fine Art. He is best known for his irreverent and detailed figurative portraits.
I chose el tantawy as my second artist think it is fascinating how she manages to not only capture reflections within different mediums such as glass and water, but also using this with the addition of light. I believe the different uses of natural elements are an occurring sentiment within her work. I too want to capture a variation of daytime and njght-time imagery, yet still achieve the same effortless representation of people and emotions. Another area of her work that I belive is very fascinating is how she actually achieves such complex compositions without editing her photos to do so. An article that I found very interesting, was explaining tantawys inspiration throughout her work. It discusses how she finds moments of beauty and optimism even in the darkest places, and she is beyond the point where she sees nothing. ‘Growing up without a fixed place to call home, Laura El-Tantawy struggled with a fractured identity. Then she found liberation in the form of a camera, developing an impressionistic eye that helped her reconnect with her native Egypt.’ There’s a point I always return to when thinking about what photography means to me. I was studying journalism and political science at the University of Georgia when I took a photo class as an easy credit, just to have fun, and fell in love with it.’ She then continues to discusses her love of movement within her photos, and how this movement to her is a parrel between-her inspiration and movement towards wanting to be in her home town. ‘ One of the first assignments was to photograph movement. I went to a dance performance, just playing around with my camera settings, not really knowing what I was doing.’
Much of her work has an impressionistic undertone that, looking back, it feels perfectly in tune with the path my work should take: Finding moments of beauty and optimism, even in the darkest places. But there was one editor who said, “You know what? You can take pictures just for you.” That’s essentially what I’ve been doing ever since. It’s not a selfish or egotistical thing. It’s liberating. I have no expectations whatsoever, only to take pictures that mean something to me in that moment.I was born in Worcestershire in 1980 and my parents moved back to Cairo when I was five months old. We were in Egypt until about 12 and then my father got a job in Saudi Arabia, so we lived there for about six years. Then I went back to Cairo for two years, moved to America for 10 years and I’ve been in the UK for almost a decade now.t gives me a space where there are no boundaries. But living all over the place means I’ve always felt like I’m looking for something and I don’t know where it is. That sense of constantly trying to connect gradually led to Beyond Here is Nothing, which is about the beauty and the tension of living somewhere you don’t really know.
This perception of seeing the smoke is perhaps one of my favourite images, this is due to the interesting composition. I believe the effortlessly of the lighting, and a habit which is deemed as dangerous and unhealthy, is almost presented as beautiful within this image. The lighting is almost embellished within the fluidity of the weaving smoke. And something which was once deadly she had now turned into art. I also think the use of the shadow instead of showing the whole man himself, also creates a more successful piece. it brings out a more occurrent resemblance of mystery within the work. Too the image on the left is a scene of a hardship, and flooding, it is once again something never seen as beautiful or perhaps even a sight portrayed as picturesc. Below i’ve added some quote and reasonings as two why the artist has created these images, and what they mean to her.’ Enclosed between four walls, the sound of silence never seemed louder. It’s claustrophobic. I wait for the phone to ring, check for emails obsessively, eat everything out of the fridge. The hunger remains. I feel like if I dig my hand deep into my soul, I will find nothing. The awareness I am experiencing is unspeakable. Faces change when we meet. Is their solitude reflected in mine? There is an awkward silence.’
The work above is from her work ‘Beyond Here Is Nothing’ is a photo-book object meditating on home. A place of belonging, a tranquil state of mind; a nostalgic memory or an imaginary destination – home is a perpetual possibility El-Tantawy is journeying to reach. Her personal experience growing up in contrasting cultures is the window to an intimate and emotive visual exploration of the unsettling feeling of rootlessness, the mental burden of loneliness and the constant search for belonging in unfamiliar places. Drifting between the physical and the whimsical, the book reveals itself through layers of images and words. A mirror of dispositions. A living object harmonising with time. I chose her work as I see an angelic effect, I see her own narrative of relating her own feeling of love for somewhere else shown with her current environment. Her work looks as though it is a combination of overlapping images and edits, however, her work is a sight which was actually visible, This brings a certain respect of truth to her narrative, it is a reflection of real time. The way she uses colour in such a strong tonal way, yet still occur the sense of peacefulness is beyond what most photographers capabilities. The femininity and the soft touch to the images, create a very female orientated view.
I believe through this composition and vision board of her images, you are really able to see the narrative development and artistic influence of abstraction. I like how she not only pictures nature and belongings but she presents people in such a disposition, that they too become part of her own narrative. I have spoken about for this shoot and using this artist as artistic inspiration, I will also use myself through the shoot. I believe it is fascinating how she can even display traumatic events, such as the middle right image, with boundlessness of beauty and see a complete depiction of her own life narrative. You can belive that these were all taken with the intention from being experienced by herself. The lighting in these images, brings a warmth and an aspect which I believe is the most successful part. Images analysis: conceptually all of her images have a conjoined narrative of wanting to show a beauty of her country in someone else’s country. I also believe through the more I see her work, and through the way it is composed, is how they are about beauty and tranquility. Her images still have so much colour and vibrancy within them. And this is an area which I too want to show and use throughout my work. Although her images do not necessarily carry the same theme, they all work so well together as a narrative group, and I believe this is evident as seen above. My inspiration and how I will develop these concepts from her work, Due to her narrative being focused on her missing home, so creating abstract images full of beauty in order to resemble her love and beauty for her home, Perhaps my narrative journey should be aspiring to see the beauty within myself and my environment. It should be the ability to see the happiness and capability within my life and my own actions. This is an article about shooting in black and white, however I still believe it shows pivotal demonstrations of capturing a beauty within street photography, and the construction of a narrative with people and the space around them.
This perception of seeing the smoke is perhaps one of my favourite images, this is due to the interesting composition. I believe the effortlessly of the lighting, and a habit which is deemed as dangerous and unhealthy, is almost presented as beautiful within this image. The lighting is almost embellished within the fluidity of the weaving smoke. And something which was once deadly she had now turned into art. I also think the use of the shadow instead of showing the whole man himself, also creates a more successful piece. it brings out a more occurrent resemblance of mystery within the work. Too the image on the left is a scene of a hardship, and flooding, it is once again something never seen as beautiful or perhaps even a sight portrayed as picturesc. Below i’ve added some quote and reasonings as two why the artist has created these images, and what they mean to her.’ Enclosed between four walls, the sound of silence never seemed louder. It’s claustrophobic. I wait for the phone to ring, check for emails obsessively, eat everything out of the fridge. The hunger remains. I feel like if I dig my hand deep into my soul, I will find nothing. The awareness I am experiencing is unspeakable. Faces change when we meet. Is their solitude reflected in mine? There is an awkward silence.’