These images were experiments using an application on my phone, I added images into the app and it created the circular effects and I then adjusted it to exactly what I wanted.
Sea
Mountains
Sunset over the sea
Coastline from the air
Agriculture
Using this app, it has allowed me to explore Tiny Planet photography and encouraged me to do more and experiment more with this and I would like to carry on making these images but using a camera and Photoshop, a very difficult process I have not tried before.
In Lewis Bush’s ‘Metropole’ he used a technique of double exposure. In response to this approach to presenting the shapes and features of buildings I have attempted to create edits by layering photographs over eachother to create confusion and an abstractness within the photographs. This links to the theme ‘Variance and Similarity’ because it explores the fact that there are an increasing amount of large buildings for offices or flats taking away from green land and so the landscape in which we live is turning into a repetitive view of similar flats and offices leaving citizens with a feeling of monotony as everything is being redeveloped to serve the same purpose. By using a double exposure technique it is merging together both similar and different building faces to create one abstract and abnormal building face. Bush’s work on ‘Metropole’ shows a lot of emphasis on the repetition between buildings due to his double exposure effect.
I think that my experimentation with using double exposure whilst drawing inspiration from Lewis Bush has resulted in a type of composition that is both familiar and unfamiliar – similar to the feeling that John Coplans evokes in his audience with his photographs of his different body parts. I believe that this method of presentation is effective as it catches the eye and forces the viewer to think about what they are looking at as well as picking apart the image but I think that when trying to convey the theme of ‘Variance and Similarity’ it may compromise the ability of the photographs to show the differences between different buildings as well as the similarities within them due to the fact that it merges the buildings together. Although saying this, upon looking deeply into the features of the photograph the viewer will spot features of different houses and will be able to see features that do not belong to the base house in the photograph and so will be effective in establishing the different individualistic features that belong to each house. Therefore I will not write off this method of experimentation as it achieves the aim of causing the viewer to look deeper into the photographs.
An example of my experimentation of using double exposure
This shoot is a development on my original shoot which drew inspiration from photographers Lewis Bush and Michael Wolf. My previous shoot focused more on the faces and structures of housing and office blocks but I have decided to expand beyond this in this shoot by also photographing other types of buildings such as hotels, shops and individual houses. Through expanding beyond housing and office blocks it allows me to further demonstrate how different the housing situations within Jersey can be, as well as showing how similar the styles of housing can be in a certain area as the shoot took part near Havre De Pas where a lot of the houses are terraced and quite old-fashioned. I plan on editing photographs from this shoot, future shoots and previous shoots by experimenting with styles such as GIF’s, typologys and layering through double exposure as Lewis Bush did on ‘Metropole’. My intentions in experimenting in these ways is to explore which method is possibly the best at demonstrating how similar but different the houses/flats in jersey can be as well as emphasising the shapes and patterns within the buildings. I feel that it is important for me to focus on different types of buildings within Jersey rather than focusing on only high-riser buildings as that would limit the extent to which I explore buildings in Jersey as well as limiting the extent to which I show variance and similarity within the buildings
Contact Sheet
Edits
After going through all of the photographs that I produced on this shoot I selected some of the best that I could edit. I edited these photographs by putting a black and white filter on in order to allow the viewer to focus on the shapes within the photographs rather than the colour. I then used a perspective crop on the majority of the photographs in order to make the photograph completely straight on in order to further emphasise the symmetry and patterns within the photographs. As well as the black and white filter I increased the contrast, used high highlights and whites, used low shadows and blacks and adjusted the exposure accordingly to create a composition that is mostly over exposed but the features such as the windows are emphasised to help the shapes within the buildings to come forward.
Analysis
I captured this photograph in a natural lighting in order to bring out the natural shadows and shapes within the building that I was photographing. There is a wide tonal range due to both the nature of the building and my editing to the photograph. The bright whiteness in the walls of the photograph contrasts greatly with the dark black shadows on the balconies. I took this photograph on a bright day where there was plenty of sunlight so only needed to use a low ISO of 100 along with a shutter speed of 1/60 to capture this photograph. The low ISO paired with the quick shutter speed allowed for the photograph to be as high in quality as possible as well as not being overexposed (even though I edited the photograph to increase the exposure. I edited this photograph by using a black and white filter to bring out the shapes in the windows as well as the shadows and then I increased the contrast, highlights and whites whilst reducing blacks and shadows to create a composition that had high contrast between the black and whites. A depth of field of f/16 was used to capture the photograph which can be seen as the whole of the photograph is in focus. The photograph has a slightly cold colour cast to it due the bright whiteness throughout it.
I opted for a black and white filter over a colour photograph as it helped to bring out the details within the buildings, especially the contrasts as well as a wide tonal range to create a more dramatic composition. Due to the deep shadows and edges within the photograph as well as the editing of the photograph the composition has a 3D effect as it appears to have different layers which bring the photograph to life.
The aim of this shoot was to create a set of photographs that showed the repetition of shapes within not only blocks of flats and offices, but also within houses, shops and other styles of buildings within Jersey. The overall results shows how even though there is a lot of repetition within individual buildings, each building has its own unique characteristics and shapes and therefore have variance. The inspiration for this shoot came from photographs of tall tower blocks in cities such as Hong Kong where each floor and flat are almost identical, which is perfectly demonstrated in Michael Wolf’s work as well as inspiration from Lewis Bush’s ‘Metropole’ in which he looks at the development of buildings through a double exposure technique to create a similar outcome to what I have done – I plan on further developing this shoot to photograph more buildings in a different area of Jersey to further demonstrate variance between the houses. I will also be experimenting with different ways of presenting the photographs.
The concept behind the previous shoot is that there are an increasing amount of these large and repetitive buildings that make way for office buildings or flats due to the ever rising population and urban migration but this shoot focuses as well on the housing of the population away from these tower blocks. The photographs resulting from my shoot show just how repetitive these buildings that are taking space from nature really are, especially ones in within close proximity to eachother, and reflect the idea that some residents may believe that the landscape of cities including Jersey is becoming repetitive and monotonous as lots of land is being taken to serve the same purpose of housing or offices.
I first started experimenting with the images from my first shoot by editing them black and white. Doing this emphasises the reflections on the water and highlights the shadows under the water, creating more depth in the image. I also think it emphasises the white on the plants under water making them contrast more against the shadow which is the main focus of the image. I like the range of tones created in the image, the darkest point being the plant closest to the water and the most noticeable reflection, the ground underneath the water is the mid tines, and the lightest point is the plants underwater, growing in the direction the water is going. I think that the black and white edit creates a different effect than the image in colour as it removes the warm/pink tones. This makes the image look less inspired by Rinko Kawauchi as it doesn’t emphasise the light on the water. I think that this images reflect more abstract ideas, providing responses to my research into abstract artists and photographers. I also think that it links to my research into the romantic era, looking at ideologies like beauty which i think is emphasised by the soft, round shapes in this image.
This image is one of my favourite black and white edits from this shoot as I think it reflects the abstract research I have done previously in my project. I particularly like the lines created by the movement of the water and the geometric shapes that all different tones, portraying juxtaposing colours. I think this reflects ideas of abstraction as at first glance it is difficult to identify what the image is of. I like how the plants underneath the water are shown in the light areas and less in the darker areas as it makes them stand out more.
This image in particular i think looks at the beauty of nature effectively as it emphasises the delicate aspects of water and plants through the soft tones and lines. I also like how the different tones in the water create texture showing the different shapes of the waves. One photographer in particular that this image remind me of it Andrew S. Gray who creates intricate work from shaking his camera. He produces abstract landscapes inspired by the paintings of the old English masters of pictorialism.
Colour Edits
I then went on to edit the images in colour on photo shop and tried to emphasise the different shapes portrayed in the images. I did this in various ways like adjusting the hues of the images to create different variations of the same image. I think by experimenting with different colours it creates interesting images that are exploring beauty and fragility in nature, bringing inspiration from other art movements.
I chose to display these images as I like how they work in a series, contrasting from one another , each one one portraying a different atmosphere. The first two images use pink and purple, experimenting with the idea of what stereo typically considered feminine. I think these two images reflect ideologies of romanticism and beauty from the the soft, pastel colours that I edited them in. The first image uses a darker purple, which is emphasised by the even darker brown lines of the plants underneath the water. This all contrasts to the plant in the foreground of the image which is white. I also like how some of the waves on the water have turned white as well which complements the plant in the foreground and creates a more aesthetically pleasing image.
In the second image I edited a light pink to be in most of the image which contrasts to the plants underneath which are white in this image. To me, this work is more inspired by the photographer Rinko Kawauchi, through the use of pale pink and white in the image. The green of the plant in the foreground looks at traditional colours in nature, which contrasts to the pale pink. For the third image I chose to experiment by editing a bright red into the image and contrast it with the green, which are complementary colours. I think that this image is more bold and powerful as red isn’t a colour which is normally associated with nature and beauty. I think that displaying these images together is effective as each image makes you notice something new, through the different colours of the same aspects.
I took inspiration from Wassily Kandinsky in these images who was a pioneer in abstract art. He first began to use expressive color masses separating them from forms and lines. Soon after that, he started to merge geometry with abstraction. I think that this relates to the images I have edited as I have tried to emphasise the different shaped lines which are curved or straight against the background colour of the image. I also tried to use colours that arenet traditionally associated with nature. For many of his painting he uses lines which are round and curved which is an aspect that links are work together. In my images the rounded shapes of the plants underneath the water going in different direction reflect this. Also the plant in the foreground is an interesting shape which has a solid block colour, reflecting ideologies of abstraction.
I then started experimenting by inverting the images I took in my first shoot. I chose this edit to display as I think that the inverted effect emphasises the natural shapes and fragility of nature that weren’t as obvious before. This makes the overall image have a different atmosphere, through the dark blue colours that weren’t there before contrasting with the bright white. The edit also makes it harder to tell what the image is of. Even in the original image, the way the image way taken through a puddle wasn’t too obvious, with this edit it makes it even harder, also reflecting ideologies of abstraction. One particularly aspect I like in this image is the red shapes on the left side of the image as I think they contrast effectively to the navy blue and white colours in the rest of the image, making it more interesting.
To experiment with this image I decided to play with the idea of pastel colours to emphasise the beauty and femininity . I like this image as it is an aspect of nature that isn’t normally related with beauty. By taking the photo close up to fill the frame and emphasisng warm pink tones I think it effectively reflects my ideas of fragility in nature, through the soft rounded shapes. I experimented by adjusting the colour balance and tones in the image, making some versions colder colour, and some warmed colours to see which was the most effective, I think that the warmer colours are most effective as they play on the ideas of traditional beauty through something that isn’t considered beautiful.
I also experimented by inverted the image to see what effect it would have. I found that it created an image where the shadowed parts are much darker than the original and the lighter white/ pink areas were brighter, almost looking as if they were glowing. Although I thought that this edit made an interesting image, I think that for my project where I slightly emphasise and manipulate the colour to change the overall appearance of the image works better. This is because the the slightly edited version still reflect the nature that was there when I took the image originally. With the over edited images I think that the nature that was there orginally is less obvious in the final version, taking away from the ideologies of beauty and fragility I have been looking at in my project so far.
Rinko Kawauchi
I think that this image goes well with the previous edited image as the blue and pink tones and the rounded shapes complement each other. I edited this image to have more cooler blue tones which I could contrast to my warmer toned images. I think that this is effective in giving me a variation of images that were taken in the same place. I think that this image takes more inspiration from Rinko Kawauchi as I think it follows how she takes photos depicting the ordinary moments in life and ‘the mindful awareness of what is special in simple things’ like in her images I displayed above. . Patterns created by falling and moving water is an ordinary moment and may not be something that many people notice in their day to day life which is why I think my work relates to Kawauchi’s. I also like this image as I think that the reflection of the sky on the water is emphasised by my editing. I also like how the bubbles in the bottom left corner are slightly blurred further emphasising the effect of moving water.
For this shoot I wanted to focus my attention around the textures and patterns found within the abstraction and isolation of photographing a single plant. Having previously looked at the works of Karl Blossfeldt I became inspired through the simplicity of his style but effectiveness regarding the plants hidden beauty from their structure and aestheticism. What I wanted to capture in this shoot was how patterns and textures can be found wherever you go in Jersey whilst looking at the wildlife, and that one such instance, in this case plants, can’t be viewed by the everyday eye but instead needs to be viewed from a closer and unusual perspective in order to properly see how the plants truly looks. I wanted to achieve an aesthetic looks like Blossfeldt’s, using a monochrome filter that exaggerates the shades of the plant, contrasting it from the surrounding environment. Some of his work can be seen below:
Once I had looked at some of his work I decided to go onto make a mind-map for my shoot. By doing this I hope to make my shoot a lot more easy for me to complete, this is because by using a mind-map it would allow me to more effectively identify what I should photograph when in the are, stopping me from taking images that would maybe distance myself from my aims. Here are some examples of my ideas regarding the new shoot:
Once I had completed my mind-map I decided to go ahead with the shoot, my main focus for the area are around the coastal areas of Jersey which have the biggest variety of plants to photograph. Using my mind-map as my primary source of inspiration I decided to take 100-200 images regarding textures and patterns. Here are my results:
Once I had completed the shoot I decided to go onto select ten images I thought best reflected the overall intention of the shoot. By doing this it would allow for me to whittle the results down to only five which could then be used to analysed in more detail and find the photo that best overall represented the entire shoot and my thought process. Here are the selection of ten images that I thought both visually and contextuall reflected the shoot:
After I had chosen the ten images I thought were most effective I then moved onto selecting the pieces that I thought summed up the shoot well. To do this I will be analysing the five that I found to be both visually and contextually appealing to me and the viewers, this would include looking at the visual, technical and conceptual aspects of the piece in order to select the image that best sums up the overall shoot. Here are my decisions:
I chose this image because I loved the textured pattern created by the branches of the tree growing out, for me this resembled a spider web where a general formation can be seen from what the branches have created, however there is a randomness overall as each branch has no sense of direction. I found that the thickness of certain branches brought together the overall piece, this is because of how they provide a sense of aestheticism within due to smaller black lines dart out of the sides of think thicker pieces. For me this is particularly effective from how the backdrop is white and so creates silhouettes of the outreaching branches, really abstracting the tree and highlighting the patterns created from it. Overall I found this image related well to the topic of patterns and textures due to it presenting the top of the trees through a perspective not usually regarded. providing the viewer with an insight into the patterns branches make across the landscape.
What I really liked about this photograph was the use of motion blur to capture the lillies and the reflection of the water. By capturing the brightly coloured lillies against a mainly dark surface of water I found that it created an unusual texture as by incorporating both on a sunny day it removed the impression of water, instead replacing it with a mirror of what overlooks the pond. The motion blur for me also added a sense of movement within the piece due to how it distorts the water surface replacing it with a pattern of blues and blacks blended together making it look almost like a convas. Overall I found that this piece went well with the topic of textures and patterns due to how the blur smoothened the waters surface whilst using the lillies as patches of vibrant circles to highlight what is reality.
For me I selected this image because of how the forms created by the wood come up from the ground as if they were an alien species, these little wooden formations jot up from the group and spread out as they lead further back in land. This pattern they create for me really provided a great contrast due to the variety of different colours which can be seen defining the shapes through things such as grass, moss and water. I found that the black border which surrounded the piece really added to the overall effect due to ow it almost boxes in how the image is represented, making the viewer question what is beyond the patterned field of wooden spires. Overall I found this piece represented the topic well due to the odd spire like structures dotting out of the ground in random patterns, for me this was a good representation of natures patterns and how they can range from normal to unnatural.
The reason I selected this image was because of the use of repitition present throughout the photo. I found this image to be effective due to how it portrays a common pattern often seen in nature through many of the same plants seen side by side often next to walkways, and so capturing it using a composition that boxes this symmetrical and repetative pattern in really abstracts it from its surrounding environment as it gives the viewer a more upfront and personal confrontation to a common pattern seen in your everyday life. Overall I found that the piece is effective in presenting viewers with an everyday view into the patterns and textures you can find almost anywhere you are.
Like one of the images above what I liked about it was the use of motion blur to create a textured pattern between both the water and lillies. I really liked the random pattern created by the lillies onto of the water which reflects the lillies below the surface, by doing this the water creates the imapression of two layers of lillies on top of each other. I didn’t however find this photo to be overall that effective due to how the lillies for me take up too much of the surface leaving little for the waters surface to be portrayed properly. Overall however I found it did relate to the topic of textures and patterns due to how the double layer of lillies represented the repetition found in nature.
After my shoot and analysing five of the images it allowed me to come to a conclusion regarding the best outcome from the entire shoot. Here is my final decision for the photograph that best sums up my aims from the shoot:
Final Image:
When looking over this image I found that it put across a great sense of aestheticism with the blacks of the waters surface and the blues complimenting the vibrant lillies which are dotted around the photograph. I really liked the underlying lillies below the surface as I thought they added some depth to the overall image with the reflection of the trees overcasting the lillies added to the contrast of the image. In regard to the topic title of textures and patterns I found that the photo related well to the title due to how the pattern of the lillies dotted around the surface with the surface of the water becoming blurred from motion which as a result added texture to the surrounding area.
First my first few photo-shoots I have a few ideas.
Drone Top Down
Steel Wool
Circles in town
Circles inside
Drone Top Down
For this shoot, I plan to shoot one if not more locations in Jersey where there are prominent circular features. These places include Noirmont Point MP1, Noirmont Point Lighthouse and a roundabout, likely at the Waterfront St Helier.
A similar stlye to what I would like to try – Image by BAM Perspectives
Steel Wool
For this shoot, I would like to produce something similar to what is below. It involves sparking a strip of steel wool and swinging it around in a circle.
Unknown
Circles in Town
Walking around urban areas, photographing things that are circular. I am not sure what to expect but I would imagine I will find a lot of examples.
Jono Vernon-Powell
Roundabout
Again with the drone, I would like to fly over a roundabout (perhaps at the Waterfront St Helier) and shoot top-down onto the roundabout.
Unknown
Circular Tiny Planet
For this I will take images and then use a circular photograph program to create this images.
Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky was a Russian painter and art theorist. Kandinsky is generally credited as the pioneer of abstract art. Born in Moscow, Kandinsky spent his childhood in Odessa, where he graduated at Grekov Odessa Art school. He enrolled at the University of Moscow, studying law and economics.
Kandinsky exploited the evocative interrelation between color and form to create an aesthetic experience that engaged the sight, sound, and emotions of the public. He believed that total abstraction offered the possibility for profound, transcendental expression and that copying from nature only interfered with this process. Highly inspired to create art that communicated a universal sense of spirituality, he innovated a pictorial language that only loosely related to the outside world, but expressed volumes about the artist’s inner experience. His visual vocabulary developed through three phases, shifting from his early, representational canvases and their divine symbolism to his rapturous and operatic compositions, to his late, geometric and biomorphic flat planes of color.
Kandinsky’s most famous pieces are his abstract work, in these examples you can see his frequent use of circles in his paintings. This was another artist of whom sparked or continued that interest in circles in imagery and I would be keen to explore this further and produce responses to these artists.
Squares with Concentric Circles
Squares with Concentric Circles (above) is a small watercolor made with gouache (a type of watercolor paint) and crayon. Kandinsky created a grid composition (the “squares”). Within each square unit, he painted “concentric circles”, meaning that the circles share a central point. He believed the circle had symbolic significance relating to the mysteries of space and he used it as an abstract form to which he would create his art. Kandinsky explores many side-by-side combinations of color relationships: complementary (colors opposite each other on the color wheel, such as orange and blue), analogous (adjacent colors on the color wheel, such as red and orange), and triad (colors spaced equally on the color wheel, such as red, blue, and yellow). He varies the intensity and value of some colors, sometimes even within the same circle. The close placement of such high-value colors makes them appear to pulsate.
The painting is a study, or sketch-like investigation into a subject. Kandinsky’s quick, freehand renderings produce lopsided and irregular geometric shapes, giving the conceptual work a living, organic feel. The watercolors bleed into one another, and the artist sometimes breaks from his formula. He saw the formula as secondary to the study’s purpose, which is the experience of viewing color relationships. Kandinsky never intended for this study to be viewed as a finished work of art, but rather as a color aid to refer to while he worked on other paintings.
BAM Perspectives is a business created and run solely by Marc Le Cornu, who happens to be my father. ‘BAM’ (his nickname) began the business after becoming a trained commercial drone pilot for the States of Jersey Fire and Rescue Service a few years ago, he then created the emergency services drone team to allow all emergency services to acquire use of the Fire Service’s drone and train multiple operators with ‘BAM’ in command of the team. His passion for drones and drone photography was clearly visible from this point, he loved it and decided to buy a drone himself; a DJI Mavic. This drone was compact, light and had a good camera for its relatively small size. It was with this drone he began taking photos and videos which sparked online with many people sharing and liking his work.
Fun Fair St Helier
With this, he decided to create his own business to run part time whilst in the Station Commander/Group Commander position at the Fire Service. He came up with BAM Perspectives, he used social media to advertise almost completely free and he also created a website to sell images (which he could legally do with a commercial licence). He is the only local drone pilot to hold a dense urban area license, allowing him to fly over town (large built up areas) which other pilots simply cannot do (legally).
DJI Phantom 4 Pro Obsidian
DJI Inspire 2
DJI Mavic 2 Pro
His work mainly consists of landscape imagery, both from drone and DSLR. He has 3 drones currently, DJI Mavic 2 Pro, DJI Phantom 4 Pro Obsidian and DJI Inspire 2. Not only does he do landscape imagery, he does land survey imagery, property surveys and progress images for building sites and even the predicted window views for the Horizon Apartments site. He also takes a fine art approach with abstract imagery, his use of circles both in natural and urban landscapes is something that sparked some ideas for me to follow for a project idea.
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