These three images I have chosen to print are my favorite and most successful photos over the abstract project. My A3 print is a combination of three separate photos taken from the same shoot which was about exploring blur motion, focal points and negative space. The first photo situated on the left hand side was taken in the intention of having the plant  in focus and the background as blurred negative space as i wanted emphasis on the vibrant red and detailed stalk, as i felt the contrast between the dull murky background and the bright plant would fit well together. The second photo in the middle is similar to the first but I made it black and white, to match with Ralph Eugene Meatyard’s Zen Twigs work. ISO 200-39mm-1/50-ƒ/5.6, these were the setting I had my camera set to to take this photo, I ensured my camera has a middle focus, in order the capture as much detail as possible from the plant as well as being able to display that I can use negative space effectively within my photos. The third image on the left is completely blurred the background and the plant, this is also inspired my Meatyard’s work. I chose to place them in a repetitive structure to extenuate the similarities of the three pictures. I felt that the black and white worked well as a contrast in the middle between the colourful pictures.

My second print is a combination for two photos from my pre AS summer task. The shoot was inspired by Jan Groover an American photographer who was among the very best still life photographers since the medium’s invention. Her Kitchen Still Life photographs were first exhibited at Sonnabend Gallery. She received a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in 1979. In 1987, Groover had a major retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art which subsequently toured the United States. Her work has been exhibited and included in the collections of most major museums worldwide, and continues to influence a new generation of artists. Groover moved to France in 1991, with her husband, the painter Bruce Boice, who still lives there. I cropped both photos in order to focus on the detail in the pipes, the reflections from the natural light and the cobwebs. The layout of the photos are overall messy, which to me made sense as i was trying to recreate the work of Groover in which she focuses on catching things in the moment. In the two photos there isn’t a clear focal point, I want the viewer to be able to work there way around the photo as their are several different elements to them.

My final print is my favourite photo from my shoot which was inspired also by Ralph Eugene Meatyard but a different collection of his with is called ‘No focus’. Meatyard made his living as an optician. He was a member of the Lexington Camera Club and pursued his passion for photography outside the mainstream. He experimented with various strategies including multiple exposures, motion blur, and other methods of photographic abstraction. Two of his series are particularly concerned with focus and depth of field, both stretching the expressive potential of photography, film and cameras when looking within the ordinary world. My camera was set ISO 200-34mm-1/40-ƒ/5.6.  In order for this blur affect to be achieved the aperture must be wide (smallest f-value) so that the blurred area is harsher. A long focal length and a reasonably far distance from the subject would have also been techniques that Meatyard would have used. In all this photos of this particular collection he used a colour balance of black and white, which creates cold tone. The black and white goes well with the motion blur as it creates a mirroring effect for instance the people are walking, everything is fast pace and blurry, you can see no expression from anyone, this is similar to how there is no colour expressing the atmosphere, everything is gloomy and dull. I wanted this photo to be isolated as its own as I feel it was my successful over the abstract unit.

In photography and cinematography, a multiple exposure is the superimposition of two or more exposures to create a single image, and double exposure has a corresponding meaning in respect of two images. The exposure values may or may not be identical to each other.

Final Outcome:

Ernst Haas-Water

Haas  was an Austrian-American photojournalist and colour photographer. He incorporated his photojournalism and photography as a medium of expression and creativity.His father was photographer and encouraged Ernst, but it was only by his fathers death in which he became intrigued by photography when seeing his fathers darkroom. Haas used black and white  film for much of his career, color film and visual experimentalism became integral to his photography. He would make his own photographs, translating his passion for poetry, music, painting, and adventure into colour imagery. Once he began working in color, he most often used kodachrome, known for its rich, saturated colors. To print his color work, Haas used the dye transfer process whenever possible. An expensive, complex process most frequently used at the time for advertising, dye transfer allowed for great control over color hue and saturation. As the technology of color photography evolved and improved during this period, audience interest in color imagery increased. Many of the magazines that published Haas’ work, such as Life, improved the quality of their color reproduction, and increasingly sought to include his work in the medium. Despite this progress, many photographers, curators, and historians were initially reluctant to consider color photography as art, given the technology’s commercial origins. His images don’t have a focal point, the picture as a whole speaks, not just one area of the photo. He uses natural lighting to create the clear reflection, he has relatively low level of control due to the fact he can’t position the whereabouts of the sun, so his pictures may have been planned. His photos have contrasting tones, some areas are warm some are cold, his work clearly empathizes the beauty in colour.  When I think of colour in photography I picture a vibrant, detailed flower, but Haas, creates colour from objects such as transparent water.

I decided to use Ernst’s water photos as inspiration for my final shoot. I used the puddles of water on a swimming pool cover and on a kayak as a focal point for my reflections and ripples. My texture came from the leaves and water, my colour from the blue and red. In my first and second photos I was influenced by Ernst’s water reflection photos, I got my brothers to stand in the same direction in which the sun was shining in order to achieve the distorted reflections. Natural lighting was the easiest way for me to achieve the reflection, I found I had relatively low levels of control as the positioning of the sun determined the angles at which I could take the photos. I also found it hard to take pictures without them being  over-exposed due to the high intensity of the sun, the ripples however were easy to create and added a sense of structure and pattern. I had to crop all of my final outcomes in order to get rid unwanted negative space which interfered with the overall colour combination.

Final Outcomes: