Monthly Archives: September 2018

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AO4 Present Ideas, Unit 1 Abstract

Week 3 Abstract Photography Best Photos

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For all of these photos I was on the shutter mode on the camera. The ISO was on 400 and the shutter speed was around 4-6.

This photo was taken outside at the back of the school and I really like the outcome of this photo.

This photo was taken of  a piece of art that I really liked. I feel like this photo is very abstract and unique.

 

This photo was taken of another piece of art. This has to be one of my favourite photos I took. I really like the colours and how some of the shapes fade into the background.

This photo was taken outside near the entrance of the school. I really like how bright the trees are in this photo. The lighter greenish/ yellow tree really stands out.

This photo was taken at the back of the school. I really like how the whiter bits of the tree are making a curved shape, it makes the photo more abstract and different.

This photo was taken in the canteen near the lockers. I really the contrast of the light coming from the lights and the darkness coming from the ceiling.

 

This photo was taken at the main stairs. I really like how the photo is the tiniest bit blurry but it still works because the focus goes straight to the three lights.

I am really happy with how all these photos turned out and I hope to adapt and use this style in future projects and photo shoots. Also I think to make this better I can take a few more photos so I can select more photos and have a wider selection to choose from.

AO2 Explore Ideas, Component 1 Personal Investigation, Unit 1 Abstract

Trip To Entre Nous Exhibition

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Claude Cahun and Clare Rae

  • Who is Claude Cahun:

Claude Cahun (1894-1954) : Claude Cahun was an avant-garde queer artist and writer associated with the Parisian surrealist movement in the 1920s, before she relocated with her female partner Marcel Moore to Jersey in the 1930s. Since her rediscovery in the 1980s, Cahun’s subversive self-portrait photographs and texts have become highly influential for artists dealing with questions of gender identity and representation of the female body. Claude was known for her self riveting photographic portraits that seem early ahead of her time, Claude has attracted  and almost cult-like following,

  •  .Who is Clare Rae:

Clare Rae is an artist based in Melbourne, Australia who explores ideas of performance and gesture to interrogate and subvert dominant modes of representation. Her work is informed by feminist theory, and presents an alternate and often awkward experience of subjectivity and the female body, usually the artists’ own. Recent projects have engaged with site specificity, involving works that are captured and displayed within the same environment. A central interest within her practice is the exploration of performance documentation, specifically how the camera can act as a collaborator, rather than mute witness, to the performer.

 

 

On the trip to Entre Nous we looked at a recent exhibition on Clare’s in which she tired to immitiate similar themes of moving into the spaces around her in the landscapes, which some, previously, were inhabited and imaged by Claude Cahun. The theme of black and white was maintained throughout as well as the images predominantly being captured on coastal lanscapes, usually featuring objects such as large rocks and cliffs.

In the picture above the higher middle picture shows the model lying down on a patch of sand. This can symbolise the model trying to blend in with the natural environment around them which in this case is the beach.

The middle picture in this image is another of Claude’s and shows a set of arms coming out of a pilar of rock. This follows Claude’s theme of blending into the natural environment as it is as if the photographer is trying to capture the model moulding their body and changing the way it is to fit in with the norm around it. Therefore some believe that Claude’s work has a deeper meaning that relates to Claude’s depicting herself in her environments in that day and age and how although she would try to blend into the natural surroundings, her sexuality preferences would stand her out from the crowd of ‘environment’ due to it being so uncommon at that time to be queer.

This is a photo of Clare Rae’s where she is trying to re-create the idea of the model moulding to and fitting in the the natural environment them. I think this replicates the first photo i described of Claude Cahun’s very well because this photo, like the first of Claude’s is located on a coastal location and more precisely, probably in a rock pool on a beach. Not only does this make it similar to Claude’s work, it also can be seen to be similar due to the model posing in an unusual way as if they are trying to become part of the surrounding environment. Which carries on the ideas and themes Claude created.

This is my favourite photo captured by Clare Rae due to its eerie and very weird nature that comes along with the carried on themes from Claude Cahun of moulding the body to fit in with the natural environment.  As well as capturing the model moulding to the rock, this picture also captures the essence of how Clare could have perceived Claude’s experience of fitting into the norm back in her era and how hard she believed it could have ben for Claude to do this being queer. This is captured by the actual position the model is in and how uncomfortable this would be known to be by the interpreter.

Overall the trip taught me about the deeper meanings to a photographers work and how it can be related to their lifestyle, time era and personal thoughts and ideas. It also shows how themes of photography have remained consistent over time for example the Black and White feature and how modern photographers still enjoy capturing ideas that older generations had that still contain a strong message.

 

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CCA Gallery visit. Cahun Vs Rae

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During our first visit to the CCA Gallery in St. Helier I saw how the australian photographer Clare Rae uses herself as the main focus of her photographs to represent gestures and performance in reaction to an older French-Jewish photographer Claude Cahun.

This photo of Rae shows her in an uncomfortable and unnatural position. I think that this was a hard photo to do as she is her own model so she had to set up her camera and set a timer or have a clicker, of her in this unusual position.

This photo shows her trying to manoeuvre  herself to try fit into her surroundings. I believe that this photo is almost representing how people change to adapt to their surroundings but to also fit  into society more.

This photo of Claude Cahun, just proves to us that she was exploring body image by shaving of her own hair to prove herself. I really like this photo not just because she has done this to herself, but because she has shown many textures within the photo, from the smoothness of her clothes and hair to the rough textures of the granite wall behind.

I also quite like this photo of Clare Rae in the ruins of an old German bunker. I like this because of the dullness of the sky above it really brings out the rest of the photo. I also like the use of depth in this as you can tell she is far away, although there is depth there is no specific focal point.

 

Overall I really enjoyed the trip to the CCA Gallery as I learned a lot about both of these fantastic photographers, I also got to compare their similarities and differences upclose.

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Clare Rae and Claude Cahaun

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Both images share this same concept of the subject standing behind the rock with only a hand or hands pointing out which may represent a loss of identity because everything about them that could be identified is being covered by this un-moving slab of rock.  Both images are black and white giving them a vintage look however Clare Rae’s has more contrast between the black and white. In both images the images the subject inst dead center which breaks the rule of thirds. This may have been intentional because it makes it seem like the subject has even lost their identity as the subject. Rae’s is more of a landscape whereas Cahaun’s is more of a portrait. In Rae’s, because it’s a landscape, she blends more into the background which may have been her intention to make herself appear like every other rock which shows she lack identity.There’s a lot more light in Cahaun’s work which you can see shining on her arm and the rock and there is more in the background. There is a lot more darkness and shadows in Rae’s work. The background in Cahaun’s work is more blurry that Rae’s which brings more attention to the subject, however in both the sun hits the rock the subject is behind.  The composition of each piece is different. In Rae’s she’s behind the rock with her hand touching he rock passively, however in Cahaun’s the camera looks up at the subject and their have are bent out like stick man’s in an emotional way like anger of shock. In a lot of their pieces you question if they are truly the photographers if they are in the image. In these ones that identity of the subject is hidden so it leaves the question if they are the subject again or the photographer. In Cahaun’s image you can see bracelets on the arm closest to us but not in Rae’s. Maybe Cahaun wanted to add a little bit of identity like gender to the subject behind the rock.

AO2 Explore Ideas, Unit 1 Abstract

Contact Sheets

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In class we were introduced to the concept of contact sheets. We complied all our images on a Photoshop document and then we could ether edit them by had or by using Photoshop. I decide to do them by hand because i like the look of the finished product the combination of pen and printed. Each different color of pen and design have a different meaning, for example the red circles over the images mean i want to use them in a final product and the ones with black dots are ones that can be discarded. This is very similar with the other contact sheet i made.

AO1 Develop Ideas, AO2 Explore Ideas, Component 1 Personal Investigation, Homework, Unit 1 Abstract

Clare Rae X Claude Cahun

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Both these images caught my eye when at the exhibition but both for different reasons. Clare’s work all had her in it as the focal point but the positions she took up didn’t overpower the photos they blended in with the surrounding well and even though some of the positions looked uncomfortable they created a delicate feel to the photo, like in the one below. Her clothes also add to this they where clearly thought out, in the photo above she wears a mid-length skirt which adds to the modesty of the photo and how she doesn’t want to be spotted she wants to blend in with her surrounding  and not stand out. Whereas I feel the opposite with some of Claude’s work, as she dresses up very boldly to make a statement, but in the photo below I felt differently because her naked body seemed to fit perfectly with the surroundings. The low position meant she could become closer to her surroundings creating a more natural pose. The seaweed wrapped around her is a subtle but genius addition to the photo, it’s as if the water is trying to grab onto her and bring her closer. Even though being naked isn’t subtle, to me it feels delicate and it’s our natural state, so it matches the natural state of the rocks and the sand. Cahun is well known for exploring the world of gender within her work, I feel that Rae has also emphasized that in her work. The two photos above both exhibit a great deal of gender confusion as the people in the photos could be either male or female. Both positions show a lack of control over themselves and how they can’t move a certain way, they are who they are, and they can’t do anything about it, they are stuck that way. Also, the fact that neither of their faces are showing expresses how you can’t define gender by a certain look, facial features don’t have anything to do with your gender, you make your gender, your looks don’t define you. 

Clare Rae
Claude Cahun
AO1 Develop Ideas, AO2 Explore Ideas, AO3 Record Ideas, AO4 Present Ideas, Component 1 Personal Investigation, Uncategorized, Unit 1 Abstract

Paper Photography

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Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 4

This is my favorite image from the shoot with the paper.

Technical:

Lighting – The photo was taken with flash the try and highlight the contrast between the white paper and black card.

Aperture – The aperture was F3 so a medium amount of light was being let into the camera.

Shutter Speed – Was around 1/15 of a second which gave the top photo in particular a slight blur. An improvement would be to maybe use a faster speed of 1/250 or use manual focus.

ISO – The ISO was around 800.

White Balance – The temperature and warmth was turned up when editing to give the paper a worn effect as if it had been left for some time and been used. The white balance was also turned up to help the paper stand out.

Visual: 

The texture of this image has been greatly heightened to over exaggerate the crumples in the paper. I used the warmth tool to increase the worn look on the paper to make it look like it had been used or is old.

Conceptual:

The idea behind this work and image was to capture a raw and simplistic picture that can still be powerful and emphasize how such common items such as a crumpled piece of paper can be captured in unique and diverse ways, showing how photography can create a virtual presence of something so plain.

 

AO1 Develop Ideas, AO2 Explore Ideas, AO3 Record Ideas, Homework, Unit 1 Abstract

Experimenting with Paper

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Martin Creed

Martin Creed

Martin Creed (born 1968) is a British artist and musician.  He won the Turner Prize in 2001 for exhibitions during the preceding year, with the jury praising his audacity for exhibiting a single installation, Work No. 227: The lights going on and off, in the Turner Prize show.  Creed lives and works in London. 

For this experimentation with Paper I focused on the artist Martin Creed.  Creed is looking at a sense of possibility.  He is experimenting with the shape of the ball and also into the creases that can be made onto the paper as shadows and lines.

My aim was to use Martin Creed as inspiration to produce my own set of photographs from and experimental photoshoot.  This included experimenting with the different positions of the paper and where in frame it sat but also what effects I could create with the creases in the paper and also different paper textures such as plain white paper and also tracing paper.

 

Contact Sheet of Own Experimenting

I have done experiments with the angles I have taken of the paper and how I have positioned the different sheets to form one image to create different compositions.  I have tried to experiment with the different traps of light between the creases of the paper to create different tones in the final photographs.

I often used the flash when creating my photographs, I did this to experiment with the amount of light I could hold and experiment with to see different outcomes of tone and exposure as I photographed the paper.

Final Chosen Photograph

Unedited
Final Edited
AO1 Develop Ideas, AO2 Explore Ideas, Unit 1 Abstract

Contact Sheet- Paper

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Contact sheets consists of many thumbnail photos which are printed on a single sheet of paper. They were regularly used in the days of film but their use went away when digital photography began. They can be used to review images so you can decide which ones you will delete, use and edit. I think that using contact sheets is an extremely intelligent way to start the editing process.

What each symbol means

Green circle: My favourite images 

Green square: I will use this image

Red X: I do not want this image/section

Orange ?: I am not sure if I should use this image 

F: This image is out of focus

L: The lighting is bad