Experimentation results
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EXPERIMENTATION
These pictures are experiments of my own existing material from previous projects. Each piece of material that I have taken from my photographic archive were taken with different incentives yet i have merged them together and created images with different meanings within their context. I’ve done this to further explore my idea of how western culture identifies with meat, in the hope of developing an alternative response that incorporates emotion and a story within my images. This inspiration has stemmed from the artist Marc Quinn and his ongoing series of self-portrait sculptures ‘Self’, sculptured entirely from his own blood, capturing his aging throughout the years. Quinn’s sculptures are innocently morbid, encapsulating the idea that we are all just made of meat. He’s used mediums from his own body without harming himself. Throughout history, there has always been the repeated idea that the body is sacred and should be left untouched after death. When exposed, the internal body has always been associated with death, perhaps connected with the fragility of life and the fragility of the body, yet the exposure of our insides is often forbidden through the eyes of religion. Western Religion has always taught people to respect the body before and especially after death. This also aligns with our laws and standards; it is commonly known that any mutilation of the body is forbidden. Although we carry out respect for our own bodies, the consummation of meat is often overlooked. The whole process of producing meat violates and mutilates an animals body before and after death. Surely all life in every shape and form should be protected, yet we break this rule by reassuring ourselves that animals are less than us and therefore, it is okay to enforce ill treatment upon them just to satisfy an acquired taste that everyone picks up from an early age. These photos that I have created is a reflection of ourselves and our diets. I have placed another animals internal layers above the external layers of these portraits, just for the sake of spite; we can’t mutilate one another but can mutilate beings ‘lesser’ than us – I have surfaced how this reflects on us – almost like the infamous Lady Macbeth from Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’, relating to the scene when she hallucinates blood on her hands. The meat connotes death within a picture of a life.
Experimentation in Photoshop – Surveillance and Stalking
Overview/Plan
For this experimentation I will use the photographs I’ve taken in the style of Sophie Calle; photographs that depict the journey’s of unknown strangers. I aim to edit these photographs in a way that merges the concept of stalking and invading that Sophie Calle explores in much detail, with this idea of surveillance that I have also began to explore in the earlier stages of this project. I want to find a way to age the photographs/lower their quality to mimic surveillance cameras and the footage that they produce. I also want to add dates and times to add character and realism to my ‘surveillance footage’. After the photographs are edited in a way that I like, I want to test different methods of presenting the images; try out grid formats – similar to ones used in typology (Bernd Becherand Hilla Becher) or perhaps try presenting the images in a row like a sequence or comic strip that will showcase the progression of events.
I started by inserting the image; unlocking the layer on the side so that I can make permanent changes to the image. I then went onto the details of my image by selecting ‘file’ and then ‘file info’ – this displayed the exact date and time the image was taken and I copied this value. After that, I selected the text tool and pressed paste; from here I experimented with the positioning of the text, the size, the colour and the font until I reached an equilibrium. I was aiming for something simple but also easy to replicate.
In order to process to the next step I needed to make the different layers one; I did this by converting the text layer into a smart object and merging it down onto the picture layer. Then, I went into ‘Filter’, ‘Noise’ and ‘Add Noise’ to reach this interface. I moved the slider around until I was satisfied and applied the said filter to my overall image.
Using the Polygonal Lasso Tool, I traced around the man, I then right clicked and copied the image onto a new layer using ‘Layer Via Copy’. This transferred the area I highlighted onto a separate layer where I could make adjustments. I went into ‘adjustments’ and then ‘Brightness And Contrast’ and edited the brightness, creating a stark contrast and in a sense, highlighting the man from his surrounding.
Presentation
A wider layout; One the first image I added a black and white filter over the image to eradicate the blue/green hue that the photos contained. On the second I did the same steps but didn’t add a black and white filter and therefore keeping the hues.
This photograph is longer vertically, I didn’t apply a black and white filter, this results in the photographs having a hue and the yellow text is much more prominent and visible in the image.
In this example, I opted for a much bigger space between the images; I also didn’t use the black and white filter and even made the background colour more brown to compliment and contrast the hues in the images.
This experiment was the opposite of the one before; instead of leaving huge space between the images I left none.
manifesto shoot and the sublime: shoot on bodily form/ surrealism inspired : Shoot 3 for sublime
For this more bodily focused shoot ,I was inspired by a set of images that had such power and wonderment by expressing an personal exploration of their bodies and they way in which they work is so abstract from that of anyone else. I belive there is a real strong sense of emotion within these photos and also the way in which I could also form colour and composition into this could to connote many important ideologies to do with political, power and the effect this has on people emotionally. However to develop this shoot further I have decided to divid it into two sections, one of which purley focusing on the textures, forms ,shapes and composition in which a body can make. And the next is capturing someone dancing and the way in which there practice of a dance such as ballet is a complete contradiction in the way in which a human body can and should be able to contort itself. Because of this i belive every dancer must have a strong passion for the sport and also have a strong emotional vulnerability to be able to dance in front of so many and practice for the long extended periods that they do so well. I belive the body of a person is such a sublime concept. So many things need to work in order for it to transpire and work each and every day and this is almost unacknowledged and ignored. Because of this i belive its pain and yet the beauty it goes through contains such a strong sense of power that really makes it sublime.
For the first shoot I had many ideas going round my head of the way in which I should capture this shoot and the effect it has in many different Formal composition and colour co ords. I think I have experimented so well ad throughly and this will help in the long run as good practice before I concentrate on what I would view as the more difficult shoot with the dancer. Due to my book not having a exact narrative but each of the images having the relation of a sublime power will really work well with these shoots and also with the effect of my previous nature shoot.
Plan for part of this shoot:As spoken about previously I wanted my shoot to show such an abstract positive and worldly experience throughout the composition of the room itself to become inviting and full of senses to be heightened to that of the bright colour can create a trance like effect for those who become part of the art itself. I want to create a whole exhibition to capture a purity of life and love within the whole shoot. Not only this but motion will still be occurrent throughout the shoot, in order to show aspects fo reality and have the person being immersed within the space but not in such a easy they become a solid attribute of the space itself.When creating the space I was very particular about the images I intended to use. I wanted to show imagery that would enhance the space and create a dream like state of informed surrealism. After I had chosen the images my next aim was to set up the room and compose it in such a ways it would look effective and pleasing to whoever would walk in and see it.
hand and body edits and close ups
As said previously I wanted to focus on the bodily composition so edited and present my images of hand under the effect of light, as the light itself can convey an emotion dependent on the colour itself. I believe the hands are successful and contain an interesting interest point. Overall I Think the editing of the colour photos are too over exposed but this had to be done in order to fit with my manifestos artist inspiration. However I think this will further develop my ideas as i know now i do not want to continue with these ideas of faces, but focus more on the structure of the body, and this might become more interesting within the mystery and not seeing an identity to the image itself.
Political Landscape – Shoot 5
Editing and experimenting with plants photos.
This is just a small and quick experimentation I have developed in order to shows how all of the images can be combines to form a mysterious and a genuinely more interesting composition. Due to the differing layers and levels it allows us to question the extent as if what we are looking at is beautiful or if it is a solitude presentation of dead flowers. The camera is the causation and memory of the past, we belive through photos that something has the ability to be immortal yet in actuality it means the subject could be dead by now. Because of the connotations of fading away the beautiful subject makes the audience becomes concerned the the actuality of the well being of the beauty of its life itself. There is a need question of suspended reality and i belive if i even further edited these images and possible experimented within exploding flowers this would create a more obvious example of the sublime. But these images being hidden within themselves and the actuality of them dying presents both a pain and beauty which are the two examples which constitute the sublime.
Photoshoot 2 and Experimentation
Plan
For my second photoshoot i want to visit green island and document the landscape as well as the area surrounding the island. I plan to gather objects i find there such as different types and colours of rocks or anything i find that would be interesting to photograph. I will then photograph these formally in a studio with artificial light to contrast with the landscape imagery.
I selected my favourite images from the photos I took and displayed them below. I flagged my top 5 images and display them below.
Landscape Imagery:
The images displayed above are my top 3 landscape photos of the area surrounding green island. To improve on my next shoot I will focus on the island itself, documenting what i find there. I chose the first image as i like the composition and the use of rule of thirds within it. The bright blue sky contrasts dramatically from the rock and sand, which emphasises them and the rocks shape. I chose the second image as I like how the dark rocks stand out against the pale sea, making there shape emphasised. I also like how you can see the waves on the sea creating texture in the image. I chose the third image as I like the repetition of the horizontal lines that the waves make. This creates sections and layers within the image, separating the different colours and tones.
To experiment with some of the images I took in my second photo shoot I tried to interpret the photographer Chrystel Lebas in her photo book ‘Field Studies’ where she collected objects and photographed then formally and displayed edited version next to it in the same page. To interpret this I inverted the images and adjusted the colour of the objects to create different images that juxtapose each other.
Example of photographs from her book:
“Drawing from Salisbury’s approach to documenting species by uprooting them and placing them directly onto paper or a sheet of fabric to photograph them, I placed each plant directly onto colour photographic paper in the darkroom under the enlarger light. Progressively changing the cyan, magenta or yellow filtration on the enlarger, each colour changes the way the plant emanates from the paper’s surface.” – Chrystel Lebas
Own interpretations:
I think I successfully interpreted some of the work in Chrystel Lebas’ photobook by editing my original images to match her style. I inverted my images which I found made the patterns on the stones i collected more noticeable and detailed. This turned the white background that I photographed the objects on turn black which i think makes an overall image more powerful and emphasises the objects much more than it did originally. When I inverted the image it turned the objects blue which I then adjusted the hue of to make different variations of the same image in the way that Chrystel Lebas does. I then displayed the images above together as I think they work better shown like this than they do shown apart as they juxtapose from one another and reflect the work in ‘Field Studies’ more.
I like these images as the details on the objects are emphasised through the image being inverted, making the objects stand out more against the black background. The edits make the images look more scientific reflecting the style of some of the earlier botanical photobooks that used photographic printing. This is through the image being inverted making it look as if its been printed using light and through how the objects are almost block colours. I edited different variations of this image by adjusting the hue and colour balance and displayed them above
Conclusion:
I want to develop the way I photograph objects formally as I continue through my project. I will experiment by using different types of objects I find when at La Motte e.g plants and edit them similarly to show a variety of images in my project. I will also incorporate writing into the images underneath objects which is what Chrystel Lebas does in some of her images to make the images look more scientific. Also, i will try to use different textures e.g sand within the images to see how the inverted edit affects how the objects is shown and to emphasise the patterns in more detail.
sublime shoot 1: nature experimentation
This is my first shoot really concentrating in on looking at the ideas of the sublime, and the way in which it doesn’t have to just be presented through people but can be shows through the natural forms of nature too. these photos below I have only yet so far edited in a lighting form but have don no further experimentations of the composition itself, which I think would really take these photos further. I do belive many of these images are [powerful in some type of circumstance, weather this by by the stature of the piece itself or however more so based towards the overall lighting and perhaps a bakue effect behind the images themselves. with many of my photos I wanted to concentrate on a specific aspect and point to the images, this being evident through the concentration and focusing on different sections that I belive are most interesting to the piece itself. I wanted to experiment within how my images could be successful in colour and also in black and white. My main aim was to make my images really interesting with a combination of the interest itself of the close up light and colour and also the form in which the shapes and plants make overall.
contact sheet:
overall I belive this shoot was successful and a good place to start when experimenting within the ideas of of a powerful sense of pain which to my mind is reflected in the deteriorating death yet still occurrent beauty seen within the flowers themselves. Additional some of the close ups you cannot tell what the original flower was or what i even intend to show you, this power f mystery which is subjected upon the audience is powerful as it allows their own imagination to form the circumstance of how the images came across and to express their own ideologies of what the image personally means to them. The differing textures seen within the plants are all different and connote different tones of expression of emotions. Wether this is beauty, pain or perhaps a sense of freedom, depending on the overall composition fo the piece itself.After this shoot I will definitely go back and further expand this idea of sublime within nature through landscapes and other atmospheres and small details.
My Response to My Manifesto
Future of St. Helier newspaper and instillation
Future of St Helier
Your final images/ design – choose from folders here
Then write your own evaluation / experience of being part of the newspaper and hoarding installation etc.
Copy and past all the below and publish as your own blog post
Hoarding Installation
The unveiling of the Future of St Helier Hoarding at the International Finance Centre on the Esplanade in St Helier took place on Thursday 13 Dec 2018.
First published as a 52 page newspaper supplement in September by the Jersey Evening Post the work produced by A-Level Photography students at Hautlieu School have been transformed into a 34m outdoor installation as part of Masterplan Community Arts and Education Project
We were challenged with responding to specific areas, streets and neighbourhoods divided up along the urban vingtaines of St Helier and to explore through research, archives and photography the built-environment, urban living, diverse communities, town planning, land use and re-generation projects.
We thank all sponsors and collaborators for making this a successful contribution to the island’s cultural records and historic archives Jersey Development Company, Camerons Ltd, MJP Architects, Archisle, Lewis Bush, Photo-Archive Societe-Jersiaise, Kevin Pilley, States of Jersey and Connétable of St Helier, Simon Crowcroft
Earlier today we unveiled the Masterplan Future of St Helier hoarding display at the International Finance Centre. Lots of local media interest from Jersey Evening Post, ITV Channel TV and BBC Jersey who broadcasted live on radio talking to photography students at Hautlieu School, Constable of St Helier, Simon Crowcroft and sponsors Jersey Development Company, Camerons Ltd, MJP Architects about the future of the island and its capital. An excellent example of how a community arts and education project can generate a debate that affects all those who either live, work or visit St Helier.
If you are interested in our views of young people tune into BBC Radio here (listen from 3:18:30 onwards or watch the six o’clock news tonight on ITV.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p06rlpdw
If you missed the news last night at ITV Channel TV you can catch up here with Hautlieu students talking (15m.12s) about their images on display at the Masterplan Future of St Helier hoarding on the International Finance Centre.
See link here
The outdoor installation on the hoarding around the construction site is a great way to engage the public in art and debates concerning the future of the island’s capital but, what we need in Jersey is a new contemporary art space that will provide a new venue to showcase art produced in the island, but equally also bring international art to Jersey for the public enjoyment of its residents and visitors alike.
The recent Culture, Arts and Heritage Strategic Review, commissioned by the Government of Jersey makes 20 new recommendations that will revitalise the island’s cultural infrastructure and achieve a wide range of social and economic objectives from tourism, to health and well being to external relations, to planning and environmental developments – in the hope that in partnership with Government it will enrich and enhance Jersey’s quality of life.
Let’s hope those in power who can make real changes to St Helier’s build environment will include such a new art space in the revised Masterplan of the Waterfront. All we need is political will and re-prioritising public funding for the arts. States of Jersey
Future of St Helier Newspaper
The outcome of students work was first published on Tuesday 18 September 2018 as a 52 page newspaper supplement, Future of St Helier that was printed in 14,000 copies and inserted into a daily edition of the Jersey Evening Post and distributed island wide.
Here is a video browser of our Future of St Helier supplement printed and distributed in today’s edition of the Jersey Evening Post. Hautlieu photography students were challenged with responding to specific areas, streets and neighbourhoods divided up along the urban vingtaines of St Helier and to explore through research, archives and photography the built-environment, urban living, diverse communities, town planning, land use and re-generation projects. Each student designed a page spread which was then split in half producing a fragmented image reflecting on the nature of experience and diversity of St Helier.
Here is a video browser of our Future of St Helier supplement printed and distributed in today’s edition of the Jersey Evening Post. Hautlieu photography students were challenged with responding to specific areas, streets and neighbourhoods divided up along the urban vingtaines of St Helier and to explore through research, archives and photography the built-environment, urban living, diverse communities, town planning, land use and re-generation projects. Each student designed a page spread which was then split in half producing a fragmented image reflecting on the nature of experience and diversity of St Helier. Make sure to get your copy before the shops close!Thanks to everyone involved in the creative process Archisle Lewis Bush, Jamie Cole, Simon Crowcroft, Kevin Pilley – States of Jersey and our sponsors Jersey Development Company and Camerons Limited.
Posted by Martin Toft on Tuesday, 18 September 2018
my image displayed on the wall:
