Category Archives: Research

Filters

Author:
Category:
Analysis, Contextual Studies, Developing, Evaluating, Experimenting, Planning, Recording, Research

Framing Ideas For Final Piece

Leave a comment

After I had complete making the book I then wanted to go onto designing some layouts for prints which I could mount up on foam board and card. I wanted to incorporate eight to nine images from each theme of abstraction and present them in a mood-board fashion where the images can be viewed as individual collections. However before going a head with the actual framing up I decided that I would make some smaller mood-boards which I could possibly implement the photos into when scaling them up. Here are some of my ideas regarding how I could go about composing each composition:

I quite liked the idea of compacting all the photos together and so for this composition wanted to have only the images separated by a thin black boarder which would merge them all together into one aesthetic mood-board as a result. I really liked the idea of symmetry here and wanted to use that to have the more significant images on the outskirts with the middle having smaller images that linked to the larger ones through topics or themes of colour, topic or composition.

Here I wanted to try experimenting with the use of negative space on the mood-board, to do this I added larger gaps between each photo which I hoped would highlight the larger or more important images more. This mainly was based around the bottom of the board where I emphasized the three individual images compared to the rest of the photographs, this would allow me to use three images that had the closest theme together so that they would be presented as the focal point for the overall composition.

Finally for my last composition I reverted back to the compact theme of the first composition. However when designing this one I got rid of the symmetry, instead replacing it with a random order which slotted together like a puzzle, this way the board would not become too predictable therefore drawing in the viewers. I really liked the pairing of the four A5 images in the bottom left corner, this is because of how I think they provided order to the overall relatively disordered board.

Overall I am relatively happy with the outcomes I have produced for each of the mood-boards, as a result of this it is likely that I will use one of each for the three different photographic themes I have regarding abstraction. When making them I will probably be mounting them onto white foam board and then glueing them onto a black sheet of card so that it create a 3D illusion when looked at, before this however I will be adding a white boarder to each of the images so that it defines them more, allowed them to be identified easier.

Analysis, Developing, Evaluating, Final Outcomes, Planning, Recording, Research

Final Books Layouts

Leave a comment

For the final titles of each book I settled on Motif, Form and Hue, this was because of how they are synonyms for texture, pattern and colour as I found them to be more effective if only consisting of three or four letters. When creating the final design for each colour I decided upon using a dark grey to contrast the lighter grey of the title, this way the text slightly merged with the cover preventing it from becoming too overpowering. The books themselves have been printed on a 15 x 25cm format (Journal book), this is because they would fit perfectly inside the sleeve I am currently creating to fit each book in. From my first draft there has not been considerable change due to how I was overall really pleased with the results I had created, with the only tweaks being the composition of the last two images on the final page.

Overall these are the final layouts for each of the books, Motif, Form and Hue. The three books contain a different theme within each looking at colour, texture and pattern, all of which come under my topic title of abstraction and the variety of ways in which it can be portrayed through the camera. Within the books I have included a variety of different page layouts consisting of double spreads, single images and triple photos, all of which I have previously experimented with so that they can transition between the different photos inside s effective as possible. Regarding certain images I have made sure to include a white border around each photo due to how it effectively boxes in the pieces, separating them from the next and creating contrast between the pages which I have used a white backdrop for all pages except the covers. The use of a white backdrop I found was the most effective outcome I could produce due to it not taking away anything from the images like a coloured backdrop would, instead adding definition and that needed bit of contrast on the monochrome imagery. In creating the book I wanted to go straight into the theme portrayed on the covers of each, this meant that the first pages would include my best image from each section so that it set the pace and theme for the rest of the spreads.

When creating the books I made sure to have sub themes within each of the books, this could include colours ranging from blue and green to different depths of shade created through the monochrome filters. I decided against the implementation of page number because of how they interfered with the single images covering double page spreads, which in my opinion reduced the impact through the presence of small numbers in each corner. I also went against it because of how my initial idea of creating a personal journal exploring an abstract theme, leaving me to want pages to be as minimal as possible.

Proof of purchase
Developing, Evaluating, Experimenting, Final Outcomes, Planning, Research

Phtotobook | Title Page

Leave a comment

After much umming and ahhing I decided on a name. ‘Latitude’. I discovered this name when looking through a Thesaurus at other names for circles and I rather liked it straight away. I had a couple of other options however for me, this one stood out for many reasons.

Firstly, it just sounds cool and catchy. Secondly, latitude is a circle on world charts and this links to my images of tiny planets as they are globes like out planet. Lastly, on a map, latitude looks like rings around the earth and this links to my cover image you see above of the wood with the rings representing life.

Developing, Evaluating, Experimenting, Final Outcomes, Recording, Research

Merge Experimenting

Leave a comment

I attempted merging images together to create one image where the circles are halved. I thought this would work well however this image was the only presentable one. I am glad I experimented and realized that this didn’t work however I do not believe this image would fit in with the rest of my book as it would be too alien in comparison to the other images in the book. As well as the fact both of these images are used in separate pages.

Analysis, Developing, Evaluating, Experimenting, Final Outcomes, Planning, Recording, Research

Experimenting With Text

Leave a comment

After I had finished designing my first drafts for each of the three books I then decided that I would go onto implement potential text fonts to the book covers I was in the process of creating. The only text that I would be adding was regarding the actual title of the books and the my name on the bottom of the front cover. For me the text is extremely important as it is the first thing the viewer sees when looking at a book and the font used, linking the contents and the overall themes of the books together so the could be relevant to each other, whilst also presents an overall theme of design to the audience. To experiment with fonts first I would need create a mood board regarding the fonts that I thought would be most effective for the cover of the book. I found a variety of photography quotes and proceeded to find fonts that I thought suited a contrasting background well. Here are my results:

By experiment with these fonts I hoped to find one that would draw viewers in whilst not being overpowering and reducing the effectiveness of the overall book. This would be vital as the books have hardly any text meaning that the text which is there would need to be designed to its best of ability. Before I went on to do this I decided that I would go and explore a few ways in which I could implement the text onto the surfaces of each book and their positions, here are a few ideas of various examples I would draw certain aspects of inspiration from in my final design of the covers:

Once I was satisfied with the design in my head I decided to go ahead with what I thought would be the most effective use of text positioning for the titles and author names on each cover. Overall I had three designs in mind which I thought their simplicity allowed for maximum effectiveness. These are my designs:

After I had finished designing my covers for the three different layouts I decided upon the far left cover. This was because I wanted the title to be the first thing that the audience would read (left to right) and the implementation of the full stop filled in that extra bit of white space whilst stopping the title ending there. Here I wanted the authors names to contrast the position of the title and so deemed the placement of it in the bottom right of the cover would provide effective due to it being the second thing that the viewer would read.

Analysis, Recording, Research

Image Analysis From Each Section

Leave a comment

Once I had started the developement of my book I decided that I should analyse an image from each theme of the book, this is because of how each image represents the catagories that I am exploring and the processes I have gone through to produce the desired outcomes. By doing this it would allow me to have a better understanding of how I should compose my books, as if I go about changing the layout in the futureit could give me ideas of how the different areas within each book could look through this change. Here are my chosen images:

Abstraction through Texture: For this theme within my book I had wanted to particularly look at the surface texture of things such as trees, water and plants. When photographing the subjects I always took into consideration the structure of what I was looking at, examples of the consist of the image above where I would make sure the grain or any abnormalities within the subject was photographed in a way that reflected symmetry generally facing the opposite direction of the overall movement of the rest of the photo. To accompany this I have been looking at the topic of colour as well in textures and how the area that is photographed can often reflect what type of environment it was taken in and the textures you would see whilst walking through that specific area. When putting together my book I will be making sure that the images have a smooth transitioning between the colours so that it prevents the book from being jumpy and having an uncoordinated structure.

Abstraction through Colour: This was one of my favourite themes to photograph because of the use of in camera settings to create the desired results wanted from the topic. Composition is a huge element of this section due to how the simplicity of much of the imagery produced requires a unique perspective in order to portray them in a way that interests the viewer and draws them in. To do much of this I have been basing my compositions in the book around the idea of transitioning between the intensity of the certain colour present in each photo, in the case of the one above it being blue. By doing this in the book it prevents the order seeming like a splatter of colours jumping from yellow to blue immediately, instead allowing it to start merging into the next like a slideshow. Much like texture I wanted the viewer to experience a unique perspective of how the environment could be viewed, however instead of isolating the subject like the other two themes I have chosen to look at the entire landscape so that the viewer gets an overall impression of what has been created.

Abstraction through Pattern: Regarding the theme of pattern this was probably the most intensive theme due to the amount of experimentation that was required to create the results I wanted. Within the book I have grouped together the images that I thought used similar techniques to produce them such as aperture and monochrome like the one above. Through the use of this it allowed a greater emphasis of whites in particular, presenting the outcomes as more pure than the reality it’s in whilst highlighting the patterns inside each. Much like the theme of texture I really wanted to explore the form of the subjects photographing, and made sure to photograph the patterns in a way in which captured movement and the beauty that could be seen. The reason I chose to photograph this subject using a monochrome filter was that it was hard to capture pattern to its full effectiveness without removing all aspects of colour, reducing it to shades and preventing the viewers from becoming distracted by other contrasting aspects.

Analysis, Developing, Final Outcomes, Planning, Recording, Research

Book Designs – First Drafts

Leave a comment

When editing my book I decided that I would use the software called Blurb to create my three books for final exam. I chose this because of how it presented me with a bigger variety of different templates that I could more easily access to that on Lightroom, allowing me to experiment more with my layouts. Whilst designing my books I decided that I would make myself refer back to my photographic books which I had drawn inspiration from by the photographer Robert Frank. By looks at his three books together it gave me ideas for the development of my own, this included the use of negative space being used effectively in order to enhance each image the way I wanted. Overall when looking over the three books ‘Tal Uf Tal Ab’, ‘You Would’ and ‘Park Sleep’ I found that I had gone down a slightly different path as in Frank’s books he had a closely similar theme throughout the three books compared to that of mine which have a similar but different theme in each book. Using his books as references and my main influence I was able to select and layout about forty images for each book. Here are my current compositions:

Title: Hue. Here I made sure to have an overall theme of blue in which each page consisted of vivid colours where yellows, greens and blues dominated the majority of the pages. I particularly wanted to focus page compositions around the idea of trees and other things against the backdrop of a bright blue sky due to really liking the contrast that it produced. For the selection of the images I decided that I would mainly focus on shots from a distance, this is because of how I thought by portraying the overall landscape that each picture was taken in would be more effective than choosing to focus on only one singular object, isolating it.
Title: Motif. For this book I wanted to look at the idea of abstraction through pattern, here I made sure that I would isolate the subjects from their surrounding environment, by doing this it would allow the audience to really enhance and look at the detail present in our everyday lives. Throughout the book I made sure to have a clear distinguish between the darker images and the lighter ones, by doing this for me it allowed for a smoother transition from page to page as it portrayed the impression of the book getting darker and the lighter,
Title: Form. This book focuses on the idea of abstraction through texture rather than pattern or colour, for this book particularly I wanted to portray the commonly seen things during walks through woods in a new light not previously seen before. To do this I made sure that I captured the surfaces of each subject in a lighting that defined its surface more dramatically that it would usually be seen as. I tried to base the book around the themes of brown, green and blue, all colours repeatedly seen in woods, using in camera settings to portray them in a more surreal and abstract light.

When designing my books I decided that I really wanted each book to have the same layout as the next, this was because I wanted the viewer to know that each book was linked together, regardless of the photos inside, and that a similar composition was a great way of doing this. Within the books I have made sure to include a variety of different page layouts consisting of one image a spread to three images a spread, this way it didn’t make the outcomes dull and bland, instead adding interesting changes in the design of the book to make the reader want to turn the next page. I originally had experimented with the blank spaces and had found by using certain images it allowed for me to use photos as a transition between different coloured pieces or subjects within, preventing this outcomes as seeming too much and rushed. I didn’t choose to have any text in my books due to wanting them to be as minimalist as possible which would allow the viewers to only focus on the images rather that what was around them.

Some of the issues that I am having through the process of creating the compositions are the particularly the compositions of the last spread, this is due to how I want it to be more simplistic, but rather retain the overall qualities and composition of the rest of the book. My final issue is the composition consistency throughout the books, this is due to a stronger start of portraying images, however this becomes harder to maintain as I progress through its creation, leaving me too have some pages blank in which I need to come back to and redesign.

Research

Code Unknown – Satoshi Fujiwara

Leave a comment

In Michael Haneke’s 2000 film Code Unknown, there is a scene in which the protagonist’s lover, a photographer, secretly snaps pictures of passengers sitting across from him on the train.

Inspired by the film, Satoshi Fujiwara used the same approach to shoot people on Berlin trains. In contemporary society, it is not acceptable to publicly display pictures of people’s faces that were taken without their permission. Thus, Fujiwara shot and edited his pictures in a way that makes it impossible to identify the individual people who served as “models, using the shadows created by the direct sunlight pouring in through the windows, various compositional approaches, and digital processing to keep their identities anonymous.

Satoshi Fujiwara is ultimately a street photographer; he carries a camera with him in his day-to-day life and shoots people and events that catch his eye. The pictures were taken over a period of several months and show people from a diverse range of ethnic backgrounds, German, English, and other European languages, but also many languages from the Middle East and Asia.

The artist describes being inspired by the unfamiliar, chaotic qualities of European visual culture in relation to the homogeneity of his native Japan. He has brought aspects of this fascination with the West back to Japan.

Award, Shortlists

2018     Foam Paul Huf Award, shortlist

2017     Prix Pictet Japan Award, shortlist

2015     Outset | UNSEEN EXHIBITION FUND, shortlist

2014     Japan Photo Award

https://vimeo.com/183273417

Published in 2015 by Amana/IMA Photobooks

Deconstruction of the physical and narrative features of the book:

Format, size and orientation: 58 pages (multiple sizes), The cover is 27 x 37 cm

Images and text: Includes an essay by the artist on a loose sheet, explaining the inspirations behind the project.

Book in hand: The book is loosebound and comes with an elastic band to hold all the images together. The Soft cover has a glossy finish.

Paper and ink: 56 colour and black and white reproductions on several paper stocks (matte, glossy, white bordered, thin/thick etc.). The use of different paper stocks and/or of different page sizes can be a very simple way to organize information in a tactile and/or visual sense. An attentive reader will realise that there is a difference in meaning behind two images if they consist of different materials.

Structure and architecture: The unconventional construction of the photobook created by a folded layering effect presents a twisting collage of mixed body parts. His portraits are oriented in all directions. Some spreads feature a cropped face on one side and on the other, an extreme close-up detail from that same face, but rotated ninety degrees.

Rhythm and sequencing: The narrative is provided by the book’s dynamic design which highlights a distinct sense of immersive motion. Faces swirl and overlap, building on one another (sometimes on the same page), becoming an interwoven mixture of disconnected features, just like the swim of passing faces on a crowded train. This is a case where the packed density of the photobook form is likely the fullest manifestation of Fujiwara’s vision. While certain individual faces stand out and will make striking large scale prints, it is the pleasingly jumbled public/private experience found in the book that thrums with visual and conceptual richness.

Title: The title “Code Unknown” is taken from Michael Haneke’s film of the same name. It also links to the unfamiliar qualities of European culture, being that Satoshi is native to Japan. Code Unknown signifies an outsider looking in, noticing detail that make us all the same and removing all social convention.

Contextual Studies, Developing, Planning, Research

Photobook Specification

Leave a comment

Narrative: What is your story?
Describe in:

  • 3 words – Circles, Difference & Similarity
  • A sentence – Exploring circles in different environments and in different ways.
  • A paragraph – For this project I will be responding to circles. Maybe not that simple… I would like to explore a shape we rarely take notice of in our daily lives and I would like to use different techniques and environments to share what people miss so easily yet appear everywhere. The aim is to perhaps inspire people to look around and enjoy the world around them and take notice of the little details, like circles, that appear everywhere. The similarity being the shape, the differences; being the environment, location, angle, photographic technique and the urban/rural landscape.

Design: Consider the following

  • How you want your book to look and feel – Landscape, similar width to height, perhaps slightly longer width but only marginally, hard back and strong binding that doesn’t have much image lost in the gap.
  • Paper and ink – Not matte but not glossy, in between.
  • Format, size and orientation – Landscape, ever so slightly longer width than height.
  • Binding and cover – Visible binding, hard back with printed images on the cover.
  • Title – “Latitude” or “Meridian” or “Annulus” or “Ecliptic”
  • Design and layout –
  • Editing and sequencing –
  • Images and text – Little text other than title and all images will be the very best, not a huge amount, short but sweet.
Developing, Evaluating, Experimenting, Final Outcomes, Planning, Recording, Research

Mounting and Display Designs

Leave a comment

My first images to present (below) are contrasts of each other and work very well as a set of two. I have two ideas to start with, one where each image is on white foam board and the other idea is they they are in black window mounts. You can see the two designs below and I have decided to go with the black window mount. When using the diagrams below, I liked both ideas however the black mount make the colors more prolific and allowed for a nice contrast between the white in the water and the black mount.

My next set of images to present are different, I plan to have a set of 3 images in a line sitting next to a larger image. I have two very similar ideas for this one, as you can see below. You see the set of 3 on the left on top of an extra foam board to make them stand out (3D) and the image on the right is not, however on the second idea the image on the right is also on foam board. In the end, I decided to follow the second idea and have the image on the right on foam board as well and the set on the left.