For the presentation of my final photographs in my exam I will be presenting the photographs in a typology grid. I believe that this method of presentation is very effective and appropriate because I have experimented with it throughout my project and have studied the likes of the Bechers’, who pioneered the use of typology grids. Originally, when planning on how to present my final work I had the below four photographs planned as my final four, as I was experimenting with the different layouts I found that it looked slightly off – I eventually decided that the photograph in the top left did not fit in well with the other photographs as it depicted a more brushed steel texture as opposed to the rusted texture in the other compositions. Saying this, I still thought that this photograph was very effective and aesthetically pleasing so I decided that I would include it by presenting it by itself as a side piece to the typology and replacing it in the typology with a more fitting composition. The resulting piece is a set of photographs in a typology grid that portrays how a standard house face can be so similar in features but at the same time can be completely different due to their own individual features. This idea is added to by the rusted steel layered over the building face as the steel represents how the materials used in house construction has changed over time from granite towards steel modern structures. The photographs will be printed as four A5 photographs and one A3 photograph.
Layout 1
Layout 2
My final typology layout
My final photograph
How will the photographs be laid out?
I plan to present the typology grid made from four photographs and the individual photograph on a foam board. One way in which I could present the photographs is by using a window mount method – in order to mount the typology grid I would first stick the photographs to a piece of white card and then tape it to the mount like an ordinary picture. I could also present the photographs on white card as shown below. After experimenting with both options on photoshop I believe that the most effective layout of the photographs would be to use window mounts and black card because the slight white border contrasts well will the black mount board, which also brings out the colours and shaped within the photograph. This contrasts with if I was to set it out on a white background as the contrast in colours and shades does not exist in this option, making it the weaker option. I have also experimented with which side to place the individual photograph and have come to the conclusion that I will place it on the right as I want the viewers attention to first come to the typology grid.
Experimenting with a white background
Experimenting with a black background and the single photograph on the left
My decided final presentation
PART 2
The second part of my presentation will follow the same guidelines as the above presentation but will be made up of my compositions in which I layered building faces over granite. It will include four A5 photographs made into a typology grid along with a single A3 photograph all on one black window mount. The idea behind this presentation is the exact same as in part 1, except that the granite is replacing the steel by giving an insight into the internal structure of the houses to show what material they are based upon.
Layout 1
Layout 2
My Final Typology Layout
How will the photographs be laid out?
I will present these granite compositions in the same style as the steel compositions in order to ensure consistency in my work – I will window mount all the typology photographs onto white card and then window mount that card and the A3 photograph onto a larger black card.
The below photographs are the ones that I intend to present as my final piece. I have included four photographs that will be grouped together, of which are compositions of double exposures with textured steel layered over building faces. Please see my next post to see how I will be presenting these photographs in my exam and explanation on as to why they are presented in that way. I have chosen these photographs because I feel that they effectively reflect the standard of work and the theme that I have been exploring throughout ‘Variance and Similarity’ and I believe that they are effective at showing the variance and similarity between buildings, as I will explain further in my coming work.
The shoot at Noirmont comprised of air and ground shoots. My main aim was to scout around looking for circles with my camera and snapping what I saw that formed a circular shape, I would also map out places to look at from the air using a drone. I then took the drone up and photographed circular shapes from the air over the Noirmont headland and Janvrin’s Tomb in Portelet.
Below are my final outcomes:
German Gun barrell
Lens
Logo
Wood
Janvrin’s Tomb
Range Finder
MP1
Noirmont Lighthouse
Lighthouse
Portelet
Gun
Gun
Emplacement
Emplacement
Water storage
I am very happy with my final outcomes above, they really capture the more rural side of my project and show how circles can be found everywhere.
Image Analysis
Wood
The above image was a wooden post on the Noirmont headland as part of the shoot you see above. The pole itself caught my eye as I was walking looking for spots to shoot with the drone. I positioned myself above the pole and shot top-down with a low aperture, automatic white balance, 100 ISO and a medium shutter speed. The low aperture produced the effect where the grass below is not in focus yet the pole is extremely sharp. This allows for the viewers eyes to be drawn straight to the pole and have little to distract them, it also makes the image very simple and eye catching.
The rings on the pole are the growth rings of the tree the wood came from. Each year, a tree forms new cells, arranged in concentric circles called annual rings or annual growth rings. These annual rings show the amount of wood produced during one growing season. Therefore this pole shows the life of a tree that once stood and lived and grew, each circle representing the growth and age of the tree and this can be interpreted into human life and human context.
The image clarity really brings out the textures and feel of the wood and you can almost feel is as you see it, you can imagine your fingers passing over it and feeling the roughness of the wood and feel the individual rings. The high aperture creates the effect of blurring the background giving it depth. The colors itself have been brought out through editing, the original image made the wood looked quite pale and the grass quite bright however through editing the nice woody color and textures could be brought out to their best.
The above image was a collection of over 50 images taken in portrait covering 360 degrees. I like how smooth this planet came to be and I think this is a very successful attempt at a Tiny Planet as an experiment. I plan to carry on a do a few more. This one in particular was at Les Landes in the fields of St Ouen, this captures the calm and peaceful environment of life in the West. My only dislike is the distortion in the middle however I do not thing there is anything I can do about that.
Grosnez
Again, the above image was a collection of over 50 images taken in portrait covering 360 degrees just like the Les Landes planet. This one was taken on the cliffs at Grosnez where you can see the castle. I would not really call this one particularly successful. Yes it is a tiny planet and it did what I wanted it to do however, due to the nature of the location and subject matter, the planet comes across as being very squished and distorted and makes the subject difficult to recognize and the planet looks very strange and I do not believe it captures the nature of the area.
In conclusion, I think the Les Landes planet was much better than the Grosnez one because I think being on cliffs/by the sea on the Grosnez planet stops the planet being smooth and more circular and makes the image look a bit messy and too distorted for my liking.
For this shoot, I wanted to just focus on light and/or shadow affecting objects or areas in and around my house. I used my Canon camera for this shoot. Below are the contact sheets displaying my responses:
Contact sheet 1
Contact sheet 2
Contact sheet 3
Experimentation
To edit my images, I used lightroom. I adjusted the brightness, contrast, shadows, whites, blacks and sometimes the clarity. I also experimented with 2 black and white images but thought that the colour images looked best for these types of images, as light and shadow contrasts the best when in their natural colour.
I did this shoot at home, where I wanted to focus on nature and close-ups within my project of light and darkness. Some pink flowers had fallen off one of the trees in my garden so I took 3 different flowers and did a shoot inside with those flowers. I wanted to focus on shooting close-up images of the flowers, where I got someone to hold a torch onto the flowers so that it created clear light and shadows within my picture frame. I took these images with my Canon camera, and experimented with the ISO to see different photographic responses with the light I was using. I also varied between the use of the ‘close-up’ mode on my camera. Additionally, at the time I found these flowers, there was a bold stroke of sunlight that looked appealing on some flowers I had in my house – so there are 6 images in my contact sheets that were not taken in a studio shoot – I took them primarily due to the sunlight shining onto them through the window.
Contact sheet 1
Contact sheet 2
Contact sheet 3
This shoot was inspired by mainly 2 artists: Rinko Kawauchi was one of them. Her illuminance photo-book consists of images such as:
Rink Kawauchi’s image
Rink Kawauchi’s image
Rink Kawauchi’s image
Images of mine inspired by Kawauchi:
Experimentation
I used lightroom to edit these images. I wanted to experiment with adjusting the brightness and contrast, as well as the vibrance, highlights, shadows and clarity.
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.
