Contact sheet -I had successful outcomes in my material in my photoshoot, finding the correct white balance and ISO was tricky due to the lack of lighting I had because I was in a bathroom, which meant I couldn't bring in any additional lighting other than the main light and relying on the little natural light that came through the window as a result of the lack of plugs. I realised I couldn't take a picture without flash because a shutter speed that was too fast would not capture enough light and a shutter speed too slow made it hard to capture a clear picture when there is no tripod. The images I captured were not exactly how I imagined in my head in terms of the composition and what the images emulated. This has led me to think of new ideas of presentation. The bathroom wall emanates a sinister and dark tone which I feel takes away my point of mass production and focuses on the unethical issues of slaughter. Everyone feels guilt towards eating meat, yet they abandon the guilt and push it to the back of their mind. That reason alone is not enough for people to think and act on the problem. I don't want people to look at my images and only think my purpose behind it is to make them feel guilty with the consumption of meat, I want my pieces to trigger some kind of interest in the problem and the audience to realise the process of killing and eating animals is not just unethical but a root cause to problems in the worlds future. My images do not reflect the issue of mass production and therefore during my editing process I will add to the amount of bacon to have a greater effect.
Category Archives: Externally Set Assignment AS
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planning klaus pichler response
My aim for my response to Klaus Pichler is to tackle the similar issues he faces in his pieces. I don't want to directly copy his work so I will take a slightly different approach that reflects mass production and waste aimed at the meat industry as I believe this industry is a core problem to environmental issues. This issue is kept quiet and avoided by the Government and ignored by the public because we are uneducated about the issue and its detrimental effects to our lives.http://theconversation.com/five-ways-the-meat-on-your-plate-is-killing-the-planet-76128 From asking 20 people what meat they could not live without, giving them the options of beef, chicken, bacon or pork, 4 stated beef, 5 chicken, 8 bacon and 3 pork. Bacon was the most popular meat and therefore it will be my chosen meat to feature in my photo shoot. I will use my bathroom because I will be using raw meat which is not suitable for a studio due to fat, grease and general juice produced by raw meat. Hopefully the bacon will stick on my bathroom walls so I can easily compose my pictures.
Evaluating The Process
Creating paintings and creating photographs are two different processes. Often a painting presents what was truly seen at that moment in time but a photograph can be manipulated to show people what they want to see. My decision to appropriate old paintings of different meanings into current photographic pieces made it difficult as I would not have all the features of the artwork, such as the location, or the items of clothing. My ability to use the things that I have would be my advantage to creating identical pieces to the artists but I learnt that I did not need to ‘copy’ their work. Resembling the important meanings that these artists used like the photographers who appropriated them allowed me insight into using the same meanings but with current conventions.
Displaying My Final Images
I displayed my photos in frames to resemble fancy paintings that hang up on walls. I believed this would give my images the appearance of more status. The frames also made the images themselves feel more historical demonstrating their secrets and meaning.
Final Image Choices
I chose these two images as they are representative of two styles of paintings, Vanitas/Still Life and Portraits.
The Portrait image resembles Gwen John’s work from the model to the choice of clothing. This allows it to share meaning with the original piece of art whilst also gaining more meaning from the secrets behind the more modern subject. The light hits the subject’s face creating a subtle shadow that doesn’t destroy the image with harshness. The model stares intensely directly at the viewer allowing a link between their two lives, creating a more personal feel.
The Vanitas image holds a dark atmosphere in both visual and conceptual terms. It accurately represents the meaning of inevitability of death by the choice of items in the image, from the skull to the lit candle to the books, all common features of the vanita style. Although I took this image with a simple background, it still appears interesting by allowing the viewer different items with different stories to analyse.
Final image analysis and evaluation
The set of images I have chosen, strongly contrast with each other as they are all different but all have specific similarities. This will be effective when presenting them as it will allow each individual photo to stand out. Furthermore, I have made sure that each image isn’t too similar as I don’t want them all conveying the same story.
The top and the bottom image are to do with man made structures and contrast each other well but with a clear difference. Furthermore, they both have connotations of secrecy as both images where taken in abandoned areas of London which allows them to have clear links. The center image was focused more on urban landscape with a sense of secrecy running through it due to the lack of emotion from the 3 subjects in the front of the image. Therefore, allowing this image to link to the other two images through the conventions of secrecy.
My final piece shows a set of three images of visual evidence of man kinds effect on the landscape and the barriers within which I have been able to shown through layered photography which I have used to create my final piece. This links to one of my artist studies, Lewis Bush. Lewis try to push the boundaries and capture the negative impact they are having. Lewis uses black and white when taking his photographs which links to my work as I have also taken my final images in black and white therefore, linking our work together. Our work also have clear links through the way we have taken and edited our images which allows a clear comparison to be made between our work.
Secrecy is shown within my final piece due to the derelict and emotionless images which conclude with no reason. However, if looked further into the image, a story is conveyed through the derelict and emotionless images which bring the images to life and allows them to stand out. In addition, the sense of conventions has also been captured through my work due to the editing and manipulation of my final images and how present day photography is presented and made to have a story behind each image.
I think an important feature seen in my final piece is that my images have bee edited in a way that allows them to stand out and are presented in a way that allows them to stand out to the fullest. Furthermore, the balance between black and white creates a strong contrast bringing forth the structures and landscape shown. Through my final pieces I have also been able to show the ever-changing and jarring landscapes that man kind is evolving round and being blocked by these unnecessary boundaries that are effecting people from accomplishing everyday things.
Evaluation
Comparison of my work to artists work.
These are three of my final images compared to three images by Richard Billingham, overall I think you can see the influence of Richard Billingham's work in my images, I have tried take influence from his style by capturing conventional moments of people in their natural environments getting on with their everyday lives, trying to give a sense that you are not looking at an image but are just another person in the room that they don't notice.The main focus of my images was to document and capture the life of my grandmother who has Alzheimer's, my intention was to try and capture candid moments of their everyday life, by capturing the constant surprised and dazed look of my grandmother and them going about their everyday life. I wanted to be able to follow the idea of Conventions and groups of people and by taking photos of my own family I think that I have captured a different and more personal perspective than if I had documented strangers. I tried to make sure that the composition of each photo reflected the closeness of the topic and how it was from a personal perspective rather than an outsider, as part of the composition of the images I wanted the people to be the main subject but also have their everyday surroundings which are a big part of their lives also be a focus of the images. As I wanted the images to be a reflection of the people and their lives I tried to keep the lighting quite dull and the colours neutral to reflect the emotions and slow energy of their lives.
Images by Richard Billingham
Vanitas Edits
I applied filters to all these images to make the orange tones in the skull, candle and books stand out more. I reduced the exposure to make the background darker, and to emphasise the shadows on the skull.
Dan Bannino/Vanitas Response
Photoshoot Plan:
Concept: Vanitas Paintings use certain objects to represent the inevitability of death
Lighting: Dark setting with a spotlight on the objects
Props: Skull, Candle, Feather, Books, Coins, Jewellery, Sage
Location: Simple black background to put the focus on the objects in the foreground
Camera Skills: Quick shutter speed to capture the flame without blurring it
Dan Bannino | Vanitas
Someone described Banino’s work as “Pop-Renaissance” or “Pop-Baroque”, mixing popular culture and Old Masters. He has gained international recognition with his photos and has been published internationally in a variety of magazines including National Geographic, The Times, The Daily Mail, The Guardian, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Cosmopolitan and many others.
His work resembles the style of famous Vanitas paintings.
The two images above are examples of Vanitas Paintings by Pieter Claesz.
Image Analysis:
The image uses little lighting except one spotlight that hits the objects, this guarantees the viewers attention will be on these objects.
I believe the photographer would have used a quick shutter speed to take this image as there is a cloud of smoke that appears still above the candle
The arrangement of the items in this image help tell the story of the person who owns them.
Dan Bannino’s ‘Niche of Wonders’ dedicates personal collections of items intended to reveal something about how their owner saw the world. His inspiration came from the historical items people owned in the renaissance era.
This provides the vanitas style without the meaning of death, however is personal to owner and reveals mysteries about them.