This image of Sugimoto’s expresses his style. Evidently, the black and white theme continues but he uses animals instead of people or objects as his subject. In the image, Hyenas, Jackals and Vultures appear to be fighting over something, likely a kill. This fighting is a fine line where life meets death, the kill itself is represents the dark side of that spectrum. The weather also plays a vital role in exposing this theme which is only emphasized by the black and white. The horizon marks the border between the light and the dark, the margin that represents the border between life and death.
Despite the image being constructed post shoot, it looks very real and to the viewer, it creates a sense of fear perhaps and an exaggeration of the line between life and death. Visually, the image stands out by being unique and interesting with its wild subjects however the composition of the image itself increases the image’s likability. Being black and white, the image attracts a nice contrast between light and dark, linking to the theme of life and death that we see in the subject matter. Further,more, the sky has little structure and retains a rather smooth texture yet the shading adds a real depth to the image and almost sets the brightness of the entire image and creates an effect making the image appear brighter yet still having a meanness to it.
This image, despite using fake subjects, is quite a fascinating image when it comes to the taking of the image itself. It could appear that Sugimoto put himself in danger being so close to wild predators. He captures a lot of lives in that image and that fact even further expresses how fragile that can be as they fight over a kill. I would think that he used a wide angle lens at quite a close range, maybe only 5-10 meters from the subjects. I would believe he used a faster shutter speed and a medium ISO to capture the birds flying perfectly still but also having the light in the image to light the foreground but not too much to have the background (sky) to be over-exposed.
A GIF (Graphical Interchange Format) is an image format invented in 1987 by Steve Wilhite, a US software writer who was looking for a way to animate images in the smallest file size. In short, GIFs are a series of images or soundless video that will loop continuously and doesn’t require anyone to press play. This repetition makes GIFs feel immediately familiar, like the beat of a song.
I then wanted to go one step further and develop my own GIF use the software Adobe Photoshop. Before doing this I would have to photograph one specific objects and variations of the objects shape and size, the object I decided on were water bottles. I chose bottles because of their common use in the everyday world and how easily they can be obtained, I then gathered together the classes bottles and proceeded to photograph them in the same position as the first, giving off the impression of the bottle changing as the frames moved. For one of the animations I wanted to add shapes moving around the screen to see whether it would effect the overall outcome and create a more aesthetic result. When I came out with the final result I made sure to put each frame at 0.2 seconds so that the animation seemed more fluid, these were my results:
Once I had made the GIFs I found that they related to the topic of variation and similarities through their constant transitioning between different styles of bottle. By doing this in future posts it would allow me to experiment with variations of some of the things photographed such as reflections and rock formations but taken in a topographic way where all subjects are taken in the centre of the image so that their transitions in the animation are smoother.
John Coplans (1920 – 2003) was a British artist, art writer, curator, photographer and museum director. Coplans is a veteran of World War II and emigrated to the US in 1960. He has exibitions in Europe and North America – including the Art Institute of Chicago, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Modern Art, NY. He is known for his series of black and white self-portraits which are a study of the naked and aging body. He photographed every part of his body but never his face as his photographs would not focus on a specific person or identity. Coplans’ photographs questioned the taboo of age through the forward style in which he addressed his body. Coplans stopped making paintings in the early 1960s and in 1979 took up photography; he says he decided to become a photographer because “I wanted to go back to being an artist. I had had enough of art history, critics, museology… I chose photography because I could not go back to painting… photography… is a medium to build an identity out of a composite personality, to find an artistic identity”.
“I have the feeling that I’m alive, I have a body. I’m seventy years old, and generally the bodies of seventy-year old men look somewhat like my body. It’s a neglected subject matter… So, I’m using my body and saying, even though it’s a seventy year old body, I can make it interesting. This keeps me alive and gives me vitality. It’s a kind of process of energizing myself to my belief that the classical tradition of art that we’ve inherited from the Greeks is a load of bullshit”
Coplans shows through this explanation that he believes just because he is older his body is not inferior to what a conventional body in its prime is – he believes that an aging body should be celebrated and documented for everyone to see. Coplans began to think about the body as being able to express a language through shapes and lines. The photographs produced by Coplans were always cropped tightly and dramatically enlarged. To capture the photographs Coplans would use a video camera and monitor to view parts of his body. Once he has selected an area, an assistant would take a photograph using positive/negative Polaroid film which would create an instant image as well as a negative used for later printing in large scale. The fragmentation of the male body and the manipulation to create ambiguous shapes recalls artistic classical sculptures such as the Belvedere Torso as well as sculptures by artists such as Franz Xaver Messerschmidt who would explore extreme expressions to create something away from the ordinary in the way that Coplans does.
Coplans/Tim Booth and ‘Variance and Similarities’
The work of Coplans is similar to the work of Tim Booth in ‘A Show of Hands’ in which he photographed portraits of subjects through their hands to show an insight into the subjects lives and professions through markings and objects related to the subjects’ lives, such as a chess piece for Lord Carrington’s portrait. Booth’s work explores the body in detail in the same way that Coplan does and brings emphasis to the small details and flaws within the human body and celebrates the details that make everyone individual. Both photographers also use a black and white filter in order to highlight the blemishes and veins rather than the viewer focusing on colours. These projects fit into the theme of ‘Variance and Similarities’ because they look at how each individual has unique marks, likes and shapes within their body that makes their body individual and unique to them – these may be features that the owner of the body believes is private to them or may be individual but obvious lines such as a person’s fingerprint. I believe that this is what Coplans is trying to show through his focus on his body; he wants to show that everyone has flaws and quirks in their body and they should embrace these individualities rather than feeling ashamed because of them. I plan on responding to both Booth and Coplans by conducting my own photoshoot focusing on the hands of the subjects – I will do this in a style more similar to Coplans than that of Booth’s as I believe that a more macro and close-up/abstract approach to the shoot could be the better option but I will be experimenting with both.
Analysis
In this photograph of Coplans hands and knees it appears that he has used a strong studio lighting to create dark shadows behind the wrists and in the space between the knees below the fingers, resulting in dramatic and contrasting atmosphere within the composition. This dramatic use of light to create shadowing creates a wide tonal range within the photograph ranging from the deep black tones underneath his kneecaps to the light grey of the background. A deep depth of field will have been used when setting up the photograph which can be seen as the whole of the photograph is in focus and both the hands and knees are clearly in focus allowing the viewer to pay attention to details as small as the hairs on his thighs. A quick shutter speed with an ISO as low as 100 will have been used in this photograph as to capture the highest quality photograph possible with correct exposure Coplans will have ensured that he kept the ISO as low as possible whilst having the shutter speed slow enough to allow plenty of light to enter the lens from the studio to create a composition that is correctly exposed. There is a slightly cold colour cast to the photograph which reflects the fact that Coplans doesn’t want to create compositions that are friendly and familiar – his work is about pushing boundaries and comfort zones.
For the same reason as using a cold colour cast to the photograph, Coplans has used a black and white colour palette as he wants to create a cold-feeling to his work. This black and white colour scheme also allows the viewer to focus on the small details within the hands and body, such as the veins and hairs, rather than focusing on the colours within the composition. Although this is a self-portrait, Coplans doesn’t show his face as he instead focuses on isolated body parts such as hands and feet, showing them enlarged and close-up, so that they seem at once familiar and unfamiliar – this leads to an interesting composition that sets his work apart from other artists that have explored the body, such as Tim Booth. The photograph was taken at the level of the knees, viewing them directly from the front. The skin at the joint of his knuckles appears stretched and the wrinkles can be clearly seen throughout the photograph, creating a textured, deep and dramatic composition. The image is tightly cropped, ending at the artist’s wrists at the upper edge and the bottom of his knees at the lower edge. A narrow margin of white background on either side of the legs frames the body. Due to the narrow margin of white background and the framing of the hands and knees there is a slight 3D effect to the photograph which, when paired with the textures and shadows within the photograph, brings the details out to the viewer.
Coplans believes that an aging body should be celebrated and documented for everyone to see. Through photographs such as the one shown, Coplans began to think about the body as being able to express a language through shapes and lines whilst creating an unfamiliar composition using familiar body parts in an abstract way. Coplans would set up the photograph and composition using a monitor and then use an assistant to take the photograph once it was to his liking. By using this style of photography Coplans wants to show that even a body of a seventy year-old man can be extremely interesting as the marks and folds show the events and life that the person has been through. Ultimately, Coplans is showing how individual and abstract the human body can be and that everyone has flaws/marks that they are either proud of or try to hide; but Coplans believes that the way forward is to put these individualistic features on show for the world to see.
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.
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.
My GIF is very simple and explores the ideas of similarity and difference. This card reader is the same object but turning to face different directions.
My concept for the beginning of this shoot was first to show a type of beauty within my personal daily life, I wanted this to be a reflection of the everyday and seeing beauty within the normal. I wanted to show both a combination of femininity but also a focus on how I could express this not only through a softer tonal scheme but a more vibrant colour. I wanted to show variations of both nature elements, and also more detailed areas that are looked over for being seen as beautiful. I not only wanted to from beautiful imagery but I too wanted to how a more abstract and interesting composition to my work.
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.’
