Postmodernism was a reaction against modernism. Modernism is a philosophical movement that, along with cultural trends and changes, arose from wide-scale and far-reaching transformations in western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Among the factors that shaped modernism were the development of modern industrial societies and the rapid growth of cities, followed then by reactions of horror to World war 1. Modernism also rejected the certainty of enlightenment thinking, and many modernists rejected religious belief. Photographers began to produce work with a sharp focus and an emphasis on formal qualities, exploiting, rather than obscuring, the camera as an essentially mechanical and technological tool. In this context, “modern” is not used in the sense of “contemporary”, but merely as a name for a specific period in history.
Postmodernism is the name given to the defining artistic movement of the second half of the 20th century. Modernism was characterised by a rejection of previous artistic trends, such as Romanticism and a tendency toward realism. Postmodernism is a large movement that developed in the mid- to late 20th century across philosophy, the arts, architecture and criticism and that marked a departure from modernism. The term has also more generally been applied to the historical era following modernity and the tendencies of this era.
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
John Baldessari is an American conceptual artist known for his work featuring found photography and appropriated images. He lives and works in Santa Monica and Venice, California. He was a painter, however Baldessari began to incorporate texts and photography into his canvases in the mid-1960s. He painted in a gestural style but by the end of the decade he had begun to introduce pre-existing images and text often creating riddles that highlighted some of the unspoken assumptions of contemporary painting and in the 1970s he abandoned painting altogether and instead made a large range of media. His interests generally still focused on the photographic image.
We spent a lesson outside the classroom to do a an outdoor photo shoot task. Started out in pairs we would throw balls up in the air in an attempt to try frame and photograph them with no blur and the ball being in the centre of the view finder. We did this by using a high shutter speed on our cameras in attempt to clearly capture the object. The point of this task was to try and teach us how to photograph a moving object while ensuring the subject was framed in the correct way.
We then focused on our partners. In this task we again used a high shutter speed on our cameras and tried to photograph our partner who was consistency moving around. This tasked also focused on moving objects and trying to capture them without motion blur.
Further experimenting
I wanted to experiment further by editing my Images in the style of Baldessari’s works by covering their faces with coloured circles. I did multiple experiments but found these three were the best due to the original image being stronger than other images from the shoot. I found these images where strong as they had multiple subjects in the image and worked the best when creating images the same way as John Baldessari.
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.
Charles Jones (1866-1959) was a trained gardener who worked at several private estates between the years 1894 and 1910. He also photographed what he produced. He created a series of gelatin silver prints of vegetables, fruits, and flowers. Unusually he photographed them in isolation against a neutral backdrop so that the images highlight the distinctive features of the subject matter. Born a year later than Blossfeldt, he worked in a similar way but with more of a focus on the horticultural detail rather than an abstract aesthetic. Jones remained completely unknown as a photographer in his lifetime. It seems that his interest was not shared with anyone outside his immediate family. He died a near recluse in Lincolnshire in 1959. Some 500 of his photographs were discovered by Sean Sexton, a collector, in Bermondsey Market in 1981 and their value recognised. He was only identified as the photographer when the photographs were displayed on the BBC and his granddaughter identified them – and promptly wrote to the producer. Sean Sexton created a monograph about the images in 1998 and Jones subsequently enjoyed wider attention as a photographer rather than a puzzle. Since then his work has been exhibited by the Howard Greenberg Gallery (10 November, 2006 – 6 January 2007)
Image analysis:
Jones’ photograph of two white roses signifies the beauty and delicacy of flowers and their natural, untouched sublime. His photographic exploration of botany and horticulture is simple; he photographs natural forms as they come against a neutral background, doing little to change their form or appearance. However, his photographs are powerful as they represent the intrinsic detail and variation within nature. This particular photograph emphasizes the tonal contrasts between the flowers and the background. The white flowers against the complimentary grey background really highlights the main subject and draws your eye to the shapes and patterns, curves and folds of the roses. His work is extremely similar to Karl Blossfeldt’s, so I aim to respond to both photographers in my second shoot based around flowers / leaves. I too will place the natural forms I find against a neutral background, along with editing my images into monochrome.
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.
In my first photo shoot, I am taking inspiration from Lilia Luganskaia’s dog image.
Concept: I will capture the relationship between my friend and their dog in a range of individual portraits as well as portraits featuring the two.
Lighting: Natural Lighting
Props: I want the subject to wear something pink as it symbolizes love.
Location: Household where they live, Beach nearby
Camera Settings: Camera settings will need to be adjusted to suit the weather and lighting on the day, I want my images to feel warm and soft. I want to show the happiness of the friendship between the dog and its owner so will choose to slightly overexpose my images. For close-up portraits, I will use flash as it makes the small details of colour stand out e.g. eye colour, pink clothing, hair/fur colour
‘Investigation of Love’ is an exploration on the abstract notion of love, determining whether photographic evidence is enough to prove the presence of love. The project was inspired by an application for a Dutch residence permit. The couple were required to share photographs of the places they visited together and things they did; objects form a story within the relationship, items they gave each other, purchased, found, or stole together. An anonymous immigration officer assessed the evidence to determine whether Russian-born Lilia Luganskaia was allowed to stay in the Netherlands with her lover.
“We fell in love and lived happily ever after’ wasn’t a satisfying answer for the grave looking officers at the Immigration Department”, Luganskaia told GUP. “They said: if you love him, you better prove it”, she added.
The collection of 514 personal objects is handled as evidence and has been photographed in a clean, catalogued environment and is displayed in the same way as a family photo album . It includes a set of dessert forks purchased at the Texel island flea market, postcards, the furniture which the couple bought together, books which they recommended to each other, letters from friends and relatives and even a dog.
The project asks whether several pictures of a couple justify love? And if not, how many more images would it take to do so? Is it at all possible to depict an emotional bond with photography? What other objects can prove love as well as the book does?
Image Analysis
The style of the image is very minimalistic due to its use as evidence. It prefers to remain conceptual, suggesting the idea of love through symbolism. The dog is the focus of the image, being placed in the centre on a wooden podium to represent its importance in telling the narrative of the couple’s relationship.
The dog featured in the series could be seen as a symbol of loyalty, between the couple as well as towards the dog that they care for in a parental manner. It says so much about their relationship in that they have obviously been together a long time, long enough to adopt a pet together, however the name of the dog is not given showing that there is still some aspects of their relationship that would rather stay private as intimate connections to each other.
Seen in the image is a lot of the colour ‘White’, in the background and in the fur of the dog. White is often seen as a representation of innocence suggesting that the love they share is pure.
The environment in the image appears to be well lit suggesting that artificial lighting was used.
Baron de Meyer, Flower study, 1908, autochrome Anon, Boy with a parasol, c.1910, autochrome Helen Messinger Murdoch, Colombo Gardens, c.1914, autochrome
The first colour photograph made by the three colour method suggested by James Clerk Maxwell in 1855, taken in 1861 by Thomas Sutton.
In 1839, when photographs were seen for the first time, they were regarded with a sense of wonder. However, this amazement was soon tempered by disappointment: photographs captured the forms of nature with exquisite detail, yet failed to record its colours.
Attempting to meet consumer demand, photographers began to add colour to monochrome images by hand. Even at its very best, however, hand colouring was not the solution.
In 1861, James Clerk Maxwell conducted an experiment to prove that all colours can be reproduced through mixing red, green and blue light. This principle was known as additive colour synthesis. With the fundamental theory in place, several pioneers did succeed in making colour photographs, but their processes were complex, impractical and not commercially viable.
It was not until the end of the 19th century that the first panchromatic plates, sensitive to all colours, were produced. Now, at last, the way lay clear for the invention of the first practicable method of colour photography: the autochrome process, invented in France by Auguste and Louis Lumiere.
Autochrome plates are made up of red green and blue microscopic potato starch grains, around 4 million per square inch. When a photograph is taken it passes through the colour filters to the photographic emulsion. The plate is processed to produce a positive transparency. As light travels through the strach grains they begin to combine creating a colour image of the original subject.
For the second part of my 3D edits, I have used a different colour set, green and magenta. This has pulled through some of the more vibrant colours in my images.
