Monthly Archives: January 2020

Filters

Photo shoot 4 – Family Event

January 14, 2020 Nathan H Leave a comment

Planning:

Christmas is a large event, which everyone in my family looks forward to every year. It is a tradition for my Grandparents to go to church in the morning and then come down to my house at around 12pm on Christmas Day to have a Christmas dinner with us, and exchange presents. The aim of this photoshoot is to showcase how my grandparents lifestyle influences the way in which we celebrate Christmas, due to this day being considered religious celebration. I also want to be able to capture the interaction between my grandparents and other family members, as well as showcasing our ‘traditional’ Christmas. When capturing the pictures I tended to take images of key events, and times within the day, and moments when my grandparents personality is clearly being showcased. The camera settings on my DSLR were kept minimal, allowing for a naturalistic documentary style image to be presented. My shutter speed was quick, with my ISO being low and my aperture also being low, reducing noise, blur and allows enough light into my imagery.

Structure of Christmas:

12pm Grandparents arrive – drinks, snacks are presented as we begin celebration.
12:30pm Present exchange – We provide a present exchange, gifting each other plants, car air fresheners etc.
1pm Dinner – at 1pm we gather round the table, say grace, and open our Christmas crackers as the ford begins to arrive. We usually discuss topics such as work, school, future and how our life is in general.
2:30 Dessert – We light the Christmas pudding, and my grandma provides us with her ‘Blue Peter Recipe’, a chocolate cake.
3pm Queens Speech – We all gather around the TV as we watch the queen deliver her yearly speech.
3:30 Christmas Tree Presents – Each year a member of the family will by a ‘joke’ gift for everyone else and will present these gifts later on in the day.
4pm Leaving – My Grandparents leave with their presents, and left over food.

Edits:

Outcomes:

When selecting my outcomes to edit and adjust to improve the quality of the photograph, I wanted to select images which accurately portray the events and the relationship my family have with my Grandparents, and the way in which this tradition reflects their lifestyle. In addition, I critically chose these photographs to work with as I believed that they helped to tell the narrative of this project. When adjusting the images, I wanted to maintain this simplistic and minimalistic aesthetic towards my work, and so I only present the imagery in black and white or in colour, and the I only focused on adjusting, blacks, white, contrast, detail and sharpness of the imagery. These experimentations are clearly presented below.

Analysis:

The photograph below is my favourite outcome from this photoshoot as I believe it clearly meets the aims of this photoshoot and clearly presents my theme of lifestyle. Conceptually, this is the moment before food arrives and my family are reading out the jokes from the Christmas crackers. It showcases their reaction to the delivery of the jokes. Typically, my brother does not understand the jokes, like this occasion, and requires people to explain. The photograph shows the bond and strong relationship everyone has around this table, as we follow the family tradition, which illustrates my grandparents lifestyle on a major event like this. Contextually, every Christmas we follow the same schedule and repeat the same day essentially every year. Following this pattern is crucial, as it allows my grandparents Christian religious beliefs to fit in with the day, and allows their grandchildren to follow, understand and practice their beliefs and traditions about christianity. Personally, me and my brother have been christened but do not actively consider ourselves as religious people, so this contextual factor on Christmas influences out day and the way in which we go about activities.

Breaking down the visual and technical components of this image allows for the concept and context of the imagery to clearly be displayed. Visually, we are presented with my family sitting around a table, with Christmas hats on as they laugh and look joyous at one another, making this the main focus point of the imagery. The photograph is presented in black and white, allowing clear tonal contrast, and is taken at a straight on angle. In some respects the photograph can be regarded to be using rule of thirds, to create the composition. Further more, the foreground is considered busy and lively due to a lack of space, with the background remaining plain and simplistic, which reduces distractions from the central focus of this image. The main formal elements which are presented in this frame is, space, detail and texture, which are all shown through the way in which the image has been framed. The photograph is sharp and showcases clear detail on the subjects skin, clothes and the table. Technically, the photograph was captured using and quick shutter speed and low ISO, which reduces intended blur and means no noise is presented in the frame. Additionally, the aperture has been set to a medium setting, as enough light is being let in, and a minor narrow depth of field is being presented. Alongside this, naturalistic lighting is being used, which compliments the daylight white balance being utilised.

Conclusion:

To conclude, I believe that photoshoot has been a success. I have been able to produce imagery which meets my artistic aim, and clearly represents my conceptual message of how my grandparents lifestyle influences the way in which my family celebrate major events. On top of this, I have been able to hint at contextual representations throughout my photographs, which adds additional meaning towards my final outcomes of this photoshoot. I have been able to experiment further with different ways of editing imagery using Lightroom, and have reinforced my skill of being able to critically analyse and select imagery which meet my artistic aim.

AO3 Record Ideas, Component 1 Personal Investigation, Uncategorized

Personal project-Secondary data (interviews)

January 14, 2020 Talal B 1 Comment

Intro

I went to Jordan over Christmas for a couple of days and collected some data by interviewing some people about my personal project. I did the interviews as one to one interviews sitting down with a notebook in my hand and i asked them the questions i planned to ask them on my planner and recorded their answers. And i’m going to put out my results on this blog post down below.

Hamzah Al-Jazi

Hamzah is Mashhoor’s Grand son also the son of Abu Ali, after asking his permission to interview him about Mashoor i collected these answers from him down below.

-How many years do you remember with him?

“he died when i was only 12 years old so only about since i was 6.” said Hamzah.

– How did his death affect you?

“I was only young when he was in my life but yet i still have felt like there is something missing from my life since the day i died.” He said

– Is there any personal stories you want to share about him?

“One of the very few things i remember still of when i was that young was when he took me hunting with him on the weekends and he’d always make a perfect shot” He said

-How would you describe Mashhoor in one sentence?

” He was a man of power and pride who a lot of people will always remember.” Hamza Stated.

– Are you proud of your family history because of Mashhoor’s accomplishments?

“if their was something that made me who i am today then its Mashhoor’s accomplishments and i’m very proud of that.”

Wael Mattar

Wael was Mashhoor’s best friend in the old days, i went to his home and interviewed him over a cup off coffee and down below is his answered that i recorded.

For how long did you know Mashhooor?

“i met mashhoor when i was only 16 years old in the neighborhood” said Wael.

Did you have any accomplishments with him?

“i used to be Mashhoors first officer in Al Karamah battle and i was his right hand during all the battle.” He said.

Does knowing the fact that Mashhoor was your friend make you proud?

“Yes in fact i still believe the luckiest thing that ever happened to me was when i met him he changed my whole life forever” said Wael.

How often did you used to see him?

“It varied a lot but i used to see him everyday during times of battle as i had to always be by his side” He said.

What did you do when you where with him?

“We used to play soccer together as teenagers, then we used to work together at times of war” He stated.

How would you describe Mashhoor in one phrase?

“A man of pride and loyalty” phrased Wael.

Eman Mattar

Eman is Abu Ali’s wife, so i went to her house and interviewed her about Mashhoor and recorded her answers to my question down below:

How close where you to Mashhoor?

“Mashhoor was my father in law so i saw a lot of him and we were really close, he treated me as his own daughter.” Said Eman

Since your the closest one to Abu Ali how would you describe Abu Ali’s condition was when Mashhoor died?

“Abu Ali was a really strong person who didn’t show much emotion except for when hes falling asleep, even if he had any problems or depressing situations no one would be able to tell as he always puts a smile on his face, but i could tell how he may have seemed alright to everyone when his father died but i knew he wasn’t the same anymore, he always seemed a bit lost. Stated Eman

Conclusion

In conclusion these interviews and answers are going to help me a lot in my project as i have a bigger picture of the story and i have more answers now. I will now be using this data i collected as a guide to what i should include in my project.

AO1 Develop Ideas

Deconstructing photobook

January 13, 2020 Jazmin G Leave a comment

Sophie Calle is a French photographer and writer. Her work frequently depicts human vulnerability and examines identity and intimacy. Her photographic work often includes panels of text of her own writing.

Contrary to other photographers who think that their photography work must explain itself, Sophie Calle’s position hiding the photographs inside the book is her intent. The text will affect the way in which the viewer will read each image but that isn’t necessarily wrong. Her work combines the text and images smoothly so that the viewer cannot prioritise one over the other. You could say the most important aspect is the story she tells using both elements in order to narrate.

The photo-book tells a story through an image of an idea that appears into her head. She tells us the reason or at least one reason why she captured the image. The photograph is then revealed later, hidden within Japanese binding. She reversed the relationship where individuals instincts are to look at the image and then read the words that accompany it.

The photo-book’s front and back cover has a silky quality that feels smooth to the touch. Depending on where the light hits, the colour changes from burnt sienna to gold. The photographer’s name Sophie Calle is displayed on a small card on the right side of the cover. It’s unusual how the title of the photo-book Because isn’t displayed on the front, however there is a short poem which gives the viewer insight on what to expect inside.

All the pages within the photo-book have the same design and layout. In each piece, a felt curtain embroidered with Calle’s writing conceals a hidden photograph behind it. Presenting the viewers with the text before the image is an unusual order in which images are read. This aspect has intrigued me since it creates a poetic surprise.

All the images that are hidden within the pages are in colour. The photographs presented in the photobook are either landscape or portrait and they all vary in different sizes. There are 72 pages with 32 photographs inserted between the pages of the book. Behind each image is the title she gave each image

The title Because is intriguing since each poem she presents alongside the image has the word because somewhere within the poem. She either uses it once or several times. Calle uses this word to explain to her viewers on why she captured the image.

Uncategorized

Understanding Photo Book Design:

January 13, 2020 Francesca H Leave a comment

Title: literal or poetic / relevant or intriguing.
Narrative: what is the story/ subject-matter. How is it told?
Structure and architecture: how design/ repeating motifs/ or specific features develops a concept or construct a narrative.
Design and layout: image size on pages/ single page, double-spread/ images/ grid, fold- outs/ inserts.
Editing and sequencing: selection of images/ juxtaposition of photographs/ editing process.
Images and text: are they linked? Introduction/ essay/ statement by artists or others. Use of captions (if any.)

OUT OF THE BLUE, Virginie Rebetez.

Book in hand:

The book isn’t heavy to hold, instead it’s weight fits its size. The cover has a rough feel to it and it has that new book smell.

Paper and Ink:

Most of the book is in colour. The pages are smoother than the cover and have a very slight glossy look to them. At the back of the book when the photos end, the paper changes. It becomes pink, showing photocopies of police reports and other legal documents. Black markers have been used to censor any private information.

Format:

A4 size portrait.

Binding:

Hardcover binding.

Cover:

Linen cover. Gives the book texture. The cover has a wrap around image of the side of Suzanne’s face.

Title:

OUT OF THE BLUE. The title refers to an event that occur without warning or provocation, specifically the disapearence of Suzanne Lyall.

Uncategorized

Shoot 6 and edits

January 13, 2020 Gabrielle L Leave a comment

This shoot went really well. I used this shoot to create some new narratives in order to create variety in my images. I wanted to focus on the idea of women feeling like they have to get surgery and become plastic to look good. I also wanted to focus of the doll fighting back and overcoming her stereotype.

Uncategorized

David Kirscher: Artist reference

January 13, 2020 Niah D Leave a comment

Mood Board:

David Kirscher is a photographer based out of Paris and Madrid. His work is very diverse ranging from fashion and editorial work with models to even just photographing his friends in different situations. His passion for photography started when he was 15. Whether he is shooting with professional models and artificial light or with friends and natural light, he says the bottom line is always the same: how to tell a story with pictures. He says he likes to play with the boundary between fiction and reality, He likes to photograph travels, parties, love scenes, black and white or colour photography, mostly analog, but also digital.

Kirscher works on the assumption that if a picture doesn’t make him feel any emotion, it won’t to anybody. It is certainly not true, but knowing that he has a liking for extreme feelings, it is quite a challenge.

Kirscher says that Cinema is definitely what inspires him the most. He can spend hours analysing frame by frame the light work in a movie, the color of a carpet matching with a lipstick, an outfit, the shape of a lamp reflecting in an eyeball. His portfolio is rather diverse because this is the way he is. He loves soul, jazz, techno, opera, metal, pop, piano, rock ‘n’ roll. There is no overall message. He just tries to be true to himself. And don’t cheat.

Usually for editing, he tries to make the editing process not too visible. And natural. Natural is intimate. He says even in 2019, with all the editing tools and filters we have, natural doesn’t mean anything anymore. So he tries to make it not too visible. No vignette, over-saturation or HDR look. He likes to work with analogue cameras because depending on the film roll, it naturally defines the look you will get.

Kirscher says to create a safe space for his models, communication is the key. He always explain what he’s doing, and try to go step by step, and never force anybody to do anything. He also likes to put some music on. Music is important, it goes through walls. Information from https://beloved-stories.com/david-kirscher-exploring-intimacy-through-photography/?fbclid=IwAR2LoYfRQmJJskTWK5AG_JS9A_-aqKixJt6TT_489jcDEoPHv1FTK45zUhA and https://www.arismoskov.com/index.php/event-experience/310-david-kirscher

Image Analysis:

Technical:

This image looks like it was taken with a red light to capture the raw moment and to create a romantic and sensual aesthetic. The exposure of this photo is neatural which gives the photo detail and sharpness. The aperture for this photo is very quite high and the depth of field is quite sharp. Also, the ISO will be around 400 and the white balance looks to be either daylight or shade.

Visual:

The colour of this photo is very saturated and is quite dark to give it a ominous and mysterious look to it. Also the cropping of this photo leads the eye to the people lying and hugging on the bed. Also, the people being the main focus in the photo makes it stand out a lot.

Contextual:

David’s work is very intimate and shows raw emotions and feelings. The context of intimacy is prevalent in his work and gives the viewer a feeling of intimacy and closeness.

Conceptual:

Natural is intimate. He works on the assumption that if a picture doesn’t make him feel any emotion, it won’t to anybody. No matter who he is working with, he says the bottom line is always the same: how to tell a story with pictures.

Uncategorized

Reflecting

January 13, 2020 Gabrielle B Leave a comment

After uploading and editing photos, I went back and looked at both swell and red string again and decided that I liked the physical aspect of both the projects, so decided to get some physical photos that I would be able to use. I also decided it would do two more shoots to gain even more images.

AO1 Develop Ideas, AO2 Explore Ideas, AO3 Record Ideas, AO4 Present Ideas, Component 1 Personal Investigation

Photo shoot 3 – Laura Blight Inspired

January 12, 2020 Nathan H Leave a comment

Planning:

After researching Laura Blight, and the way in which she conveyed interior of houses to tell the narrative of the previous owner he has recently died, I wanted to conduct a photo shoot in a similar style which showcases my Grandparents house in order to tell the narrative of their lifestyle. I will be looking at interior, as well as capturing exterior, furthering from what Blight captured. When deciding what to capture I will be looking at different areas of the house which I believe help to capture their lifestyle, from macro images to using the formal elements of space, texture and colour to help convey this. My camera settings are going to be kept standard, with my ISO being around 400-800, shutter speed being quick and the aperture being round f/5.6, with the use of manual focus and natural light source.

Edits:

Outcomes:

When editing my outcomes, I wanted to adjust the images to look like the work of Blight, by allowing the colours to slightly be desaturated, and noise to be presented, and having a natural darkness and somewhat eerie feel to them. I experimented with mainly the contrast, blacks, whites and shadows as well as the structure on lightroom to produce these outcomes. I tended to stick to black and white outcomes for exterior, as I felt the texture and tonal contrast allows for the house to hold more personality and tell it’s story, and the interior to mainly be in colour so that my work had a similar feel to Blight’s imagery. My experimentation can be viewed below:

Analysis:

Below is my recreation of Blight’s image of the chair in her photographic series ‘House Clearance’. The two images hold a lot of similarities, due to my clear understanding of the technique Blight used. For example, the composition of the framing is similar, with a chair in the foreground and windows in the background. Both photographs clearly represent the formal element of space, texture and colour, and represent the personality and characteristics of the room, as well as showcasing traces of human life, a key conceptual factor of Blight’s work. Due to similar outcomes, it is likely that we used the same shutter speed, quick, and a low aperture, alongside a natural daylight white balance.

In my image, the photograph presents the chair at more of a worms eye view/straight on angle, and is darker than Blight’s imagery. In addition, the surrounding of the chair in my image is a lot busier, which creates the representation of life still living in the house, which allows my conceptual representation of lifestyle to be clearly presented in my work. In addition, my image has more ‘noise’ in the sense that I used a high ISO, due to the natural lighting not being bright enough to illuminate the whole chair. On top of this, my image hold more of a modern day feel, due to my subject being more modern and up to date furniture. A final difference between to two images is that my photograph uses more of a wide depth of field, as we can clearly see the background of the image, which showcases my grandparents garden, but still does not distract viewers from the conceptual representation of my imagery.

I believe that my attempt of recreating this photograph is strong, I have been able to apply the techniques of Blight into my work, and have been able to introduce the ideology into traces of human activity and apply it to represent my grandparents ‘luxury’ lifestyle they live.

My Imagery
Laura Blight’s imagery

Conclusion:

To conclude, I believe I have been able to produce strong imagery, which clearly depict the luxury and wealthy lifestyle my grandparents have, trough capturing the interior and exterior of their homes. Alongside this, I have been able to employ the composition techniques of Blight when capturing my images, in order to hint at her conceptual representation of human trace. I have been able to further explore this by applying these techniques to capturing the exterior of my Grandparents house, in order to showcase the size and ‘traditional’ values that the house holds, emphasising the luxury lifestyle they live, based on their upbringing and contextual elements of their past.

AO1 Develop Ideas, AO2 Explore Ideas, Component 1 Personal Investigation

Artist Reference – Laura Blight

January 12, 2020 Nathan H Leave a comment

Laura Blight –

Contextual and Conceptual analysis:

Laura Blight is a British photographer who, who’s interest lies within capturing traces of human activity, exploring the ideology of strange and familiarity. “Traces left by human activity are recurring themes throughout her work” (Laura Blight, 2019). In her 2010 series ‘House Clearances’, Blight captures the interior of British houses, which in most part have had the owner or tenant pass away, leading to her reoccurring theme of traces of human occupation behind. She focuses on the emptiness, objects and furniture which illustrates themselves as the only thing left behind, creating a desolation within the imagery. All these factors leads to mystery towards pass events and the previous owners, which helps to convey the conceptual representation of traces left by human activity through eerie furniture and interior design. This embodiment of work was apart of her degree project, and upon in-depth research of this photographic series, there is little to no reviews or critiques about her work.

Contextually, in 2010 London a standard house costs increased by 437% over to previous 6 years, due to the capacity and business focused area London is, but the interior suggests differently. With costs being so high, it meant residents in 2010 struggled to maintain and modernise properties. This factor may have influenced Blight to capture this series in London due to the character and vintage elements of the house, which creates a more interning to the conceptual ideology stated in the previous paragraph.

Mood Board Showcasing Laure Blight photographic Series ‘House Clearance’:

Technical and Visual:

The image above is my favourite image in Blight’s photographic series House Clearance. This is due to how the image accurately portray the conceptual representation of showing traces of human activity through interior of houses were the previous owner has passed away, and contextually showcases the rise in houses in central London. In addition, the composition allows for an interesting photograph to be viewed. The portrait image is presented in colour, which allows the character of the design to clearly be illustrated in the imagery. The chair is located in the centre of the frame, with the background being kept plain, allowing the chair to be the main focus point. In the chair you can see an indent on the back with a red book sat on the chair, which creates an eerie atmosphere and depicts the ideology of traces of human life. The formal elements presented in the image, is space, colour, tone and texture which are presented through the composition and subject found within the frame. Technically, the photograph utilises daylight, which comes from the windows in the background, suggesting natural lighting. In the image a sense of noise and texture is shown suggesting a high ISO, which also allows for the character of the interior design to be illustrated. The subject is focused and sharp which suggests a narrow depth of field and a low aperture being used when capturing the imagery, as well as the shutter speed being quick. A final clear observation to make is that the colour seems to be desaturated slightly which allows for this unique retro vibe to be showcased, and makes the conceptual representation clearer. Personally, I really like this embodiment of work, due to framing of the image and how it encapsulates you into this idea of traces of human life during an economic increase in housing prices.

Action Plan:

Understanding the way in which Blight captures imagery of the interior of housing, in order to convey conceptual representation, I intend to conduct a photoshoot were I capture the interior as well as exterior in order to convey the lifestyle of my grandparents, using the same techniques, visually and technically, as Blight.

Bibliography:

Blight, L.(2019), Laura Blight. Bio: https://www.laurablight.co.uk/about

Uncategorized