I have decided that my personal study, based around the overall theme of Occupation and Liberation, will be based on the liberation and suppression (occupation) of gender expression, and the negative influences that stereotypes and suppressing ones true identity (likes and dislikes) can have on an individual. I will focus my work around the theme of breaking gender stereotypes, and the backlash that people often face from doing so, as well as the liberation they can feel when supported and understood. Here, I have interpreted the theme of Liberation and Occupation in my own personal way, as I along with a number of people that I know and live around, regardless of gender, face discrimination and retaliation from breaking the classic masculine-male, feminine-female stereotypes. I want to be able to interpret this theme in order to show the progress of how atypical expression has become more accepted as history has progressed, while at the same time showing the problems that still occur today, such as bullying and the mental health issues that can result from oppression and having to disguise and hide ones real identity.
Above is a Mind map that I produced showing how I interpret the theme of Occupation and Liberation now, incorporating my own concept into the meaning.
I created a mind map in order to arrange my ideas, and in doing so developed some ideas for a photoshoot that I could use to begin the process of creating images around the concept of the historical context of gender roles, and the way they have changed and developed over time. I want to be able to show a contrast between “now” and “then”, incorporating aspects of different periods in time such as clothing styles and typical gendered-jobs into each image.
During my Personal investigation based on the theme of Occupation VS Liberation, I learnt many new techniques from utilizing archival material to camera skills related to shooting in low light environments. During my Project, I used a lot of archival material such as Occupation registration cards and extracts from newspapers. I learnt how to appropriately set up an overhead camera tripod station in order to capture and record these documents and adjust the lighting to enhance the quality of the image. I also learnt how to use archival databases to find appropriate resources, making use of the Jersey archives online catalogue to select images and correspond with the appropriate staff members of the archive and relay serial numbers to them of documents I required. In terms of camera skills, On many photo shoots in environments such as bunkers and the Jersey war tunnels, I had to adjust my camera settings to be able to capture subjects in low light and ensure I had the best quality images possible. This involved adjusting the shutter speed to allow for a slow shutter speed yet one that wouldnt result in heavy motion blurring due to me holding my camera. The aperture would also have to be set relatively wide to allow for more light to enter the camera and create a much brighter exposure. My ISO levels would have to be around 1600 to allow for more light to enter the camera. A higher ISO than this, as I found out however, Results in a large amount of digital noise.
I hope to take these experiences and points and apply them to my personal study to further enhance my work. I Personally enjoyed the landscape approach to photography as I was able to really experiment with scenery as well as texture within an image, Photographing signs of decay within the bunkers I visited is a good example of this. I also enjoy the limitless creativity in terms of the use of landscape images. for example, My photo montage project where I overlaid cutouts of archival images and documents over the top of images from my visit to Batterie Moltke. I also enjoyed the portraiture element of the Project, Especially photographing Occupation Veteran Joan Tapley as I came to find that portrait photography is a great way to tell a story of a person and learn much more about their history. The portrait project also helped me realise that every person has a story to tell and that portraiture is a great medium to get this story across and told
The decayed ceiling of the German Radio Communications tower at Batterie Moltke on Les Landes Headland
A photo montage of the German Radio Communications Tower laid over a copy of the original front page of the Jersey Evening post, declaring the start of the occuaption to the islanders and outlining the proclamations and proposals from the German Occupying forces
Occupation veteran Joan Tapley, Who kindly shared her stories of the Occupation with us and allowed us to photograph her
MIND MAP AND MOOD BOARD: OCCUPATION VS LIBERATION
Personally, I find that my whole perspective upon occupation and liberation has changed massively since the start of the project. I used to be well aware of the impact the occupation and liberation had upon not only the island but my family itself as both of my grandparents lived in the Island through the occupation. Liberation was always celebrated annually by my grandparents as well as the rest of my family, but occupation was always reflected upon and many can say that if it werent for the occupation, The island and its inhabitants may not be the same way they are today. I have also begun to think of other meanings of Occupation VS Liberation, as they are both polar opposites. Occupation is defined as the state or period of being controlled or occupied by a force. Liberation is defined as the act of freeing a person or place from oppression or imprisonment. The term imprisonment can be meant both physically in the case of the occupation or metaphorically, Potentially maybe talking about how someone could be imprisoned by a job they do not enjoy or even imprisoned in their own mind and being unable to be themselves. Liberation can also be seen in this same sense, As someone could be going through the oppression of a boring week job and then feel a sense of liberation when the weekend comes around and they are free to live the life they wish to, Whether this be partying or simply relaxing. This could also be seen in the sense of someone being imprisoned in their mind, if they are able to find themselves an opportunity to let go of the feeling of imprisonment by partaking in an activity they like such as sport or arts. For my Personal study I would like to explore themes of Occupation VS liberation in more of a metaphorical sense.
IDEAS FOR FIRST PHOTO SHOOT
I would like to explore Occupation Vs Liberation in a contemporary, metaphorical sense. This would be based around the idea of being occupied by either a job or a persons own mind and I would like to use the medium of photographs to exhibit more intrinsic feelings and attitudes to portray a sense of occupation and liberty within a persons mind in terms of their attitude and feelings towards either work and play or a visual representation of their thoughts and feelings. I would therefore pick subjects and photograph them in an environment that they find occupies their lives such as a workplace or school, and then photograph them in their free time, enjoying their liberty from the oppression of their workplace/ school environment. This could be them either partaking in a hobby or past time or them out partying and socializing. I have also considered this same approach however focusing much more on the subject of mental occupation Vs Liberty, For example somebody who may be struggling with their emotions and whom is able to let go of the struggle when they are socializing.
For my first design I stuck to a normal zine layout, 16 page spread in A5 size and portrait orientation. In this design I looked at having half of the zine dedicated to the war and half dedicated to the home project. Overall, I felt that the transition between the two contexts was not clear or effective and almost spoilt the narrative trying to be presented. Below are the screenshots to this design, three pages at a time, with the page layouts being explained below with reasoning as to why these choices where made. In addition, I decided to stop this design shortly after the half way point, transition into the home, as it was not affective, with reasoning as to why, and still showed clear experimentation with new zine layout designs in mind.
On the front and back cover I decided to use the photomontage of the war objects and archival images of the soldiers. I felt as this was my strongest conceptual imagery, I believe it fit perfectly as my covers as it already held strong representation of my intended narrative, moreover the image itself is captivating through the warm vibrant colours, thus drawing viewers into the zine. For my first layout I wanted to use my strongest portrait from the Bob Le Sueur experimentation. I placed the image on the right hand side, as it showcases the subject looking over to the left, making it look more naturally placed. I then decided to add a direct quote from the interview with Bob. I felt the quote used clearly showcased the subjects opinion on the war and German’s and helped to present the beginning of the narrative, allowing a sense of flow within my outcomes. The next spread was an image which focused on detail and texture of Bob’s hands, which is emphasised through the structure and vibrance of the image, Placing this with the metallic headlight used in the war, both being whole page spreads presents the importance of the light during the occupation and the usefulness of the object. It also works alongside Bob’s quote as it shows everyone is alike, as we use the same objects for the same reason, which continues on the flow.
For the next three pages I looked at the transition between war into the home sweet home project. On my next spread I placed an image of a collection of war objects in the centre of the page, doing this supports the ideology that everyone used the same objects whether they were British or German, thus showcasing my narrative of the relationship between objects and portraits. For my middle page I wanted to use a double page spread which showcased liberation of the war, which leads onto the new occupation of the home. This then lead onto the 3/4 page spread of my strongest image from the home sweet home project, which is a macro photograph of a mouth. I felt that the image almost seemed out of place and broke the narrative trying to be presented, which lead me to question the effectiveness of the design.
After consideration I decided to stop with this design as I could not find a solution to transition the war into the home within one zine, therefore my initial design will showcase my experimentation and thought process when creating my final zine design.
Design 2:
For my second design I decided to experiment with different layouts of zines, showcased on my mood board on the narrative and sequencing blog post. After consideration I decided to explore the Dos a Dos design. The dos a dos zine contains two single section zines within one cover, facing them in opposite directions, it’s a neat structure for combining two sets of material which you really want a viewer to experience separately, rather than in a sequence where one follows another. For this one I’ve combined two very different sets of imagery about my native London, one about the city’s history, and the other about it’s possible future.
For the first half of my zine I wanted to showcase liberation from the war and the relationship between objects and portraits in the sense of liberation. I decided to keep similar layouts from the first design as I felt that some layouts were successful in presenting my narrative.
Originally my front cover was black with white text saying Liberation, which juxtaposed the Occupation front cover which was white with black text. Although this worked, having my zine as a dos a dos layout meant I lost two pages worth of display so I felt I was not utilising my pages wisely. This soon lead me to digging through my edits from previous photoshoots were I found an image I took from a worms eye view of Great Britains flag, I felt the fitted nicely with the ideology of liberation.
I decided to use the photomontage of the war objects and archival images of the soldiers. I felt as this was my strongest conceptual imagery, I believe it fit perfectly within my zine as it already held strong representation of my intended narrative, moreover the image itself is captivating through the warm vibrant colours, thus drawing viewers into the zine.
I wanted to use my strongest portrait from the Bob Le Sueur experimentation. I placed the image on the right hand side, as it showcases the subject looking over to the left, making it look more naturally placed. I then places the object of the head light on the left which faces towards the portrait. This presents a strong positive relationship between the two images, showing their importance during the war. This spread took inspiration from my first experimentation as I felt that this spread was the most successful in conveying my narrative.
For my last page spread under liberation I decided to showcase the liberation of the Island when Germans left. This spread focuses on objects of Great Britain’s flag and a radio set, which were banned during the occupation of the German’s. This full page spread clearly showcases the relationship with the objects to portraits with the absence of the portrait, as it is commonly known the citizens illegally held radio systems which outlines the objects importance within the imagery.
To start the occupation side of the zine, I started from the last page and made my way up to the first page, reverse order. The Occupation front cover which was white with black text, which juxtaposed my liberation front cover which was black with white text. As mentioned before although this worked, having my zine as a dos a dos layout meant I lost two pages worth of display so I felt I was not utilising my pages wisely. I will be changing this front cover, with the final layout shown below in order to show experimentation.
Within this half I wanted to showcase the occupation of marriage within a family and the relationship between portraits of objects under this ideology.
For my first page spread I wanted to showcase a portrait of my model hands, with one of the most traditional objects to do with marriage, the ring. A wedding ring symbolises the occupation of your love and life to your spouse, and is very important piece of symbolism to many married couples. Having this images as a whole page spread showcases a lack of space, showcasing the fulfilment marriage has on the impact of our lives.
I then wanted to keep the whole double page spread design as I liked the symbolism of the lack of space and how marriage impacts a whole persons life. I then decided to use this macro image of my models mouth who seems to be smiling, showing their teeth. The sense of black space on the left shows an emptiness and false sense of happiness, many marriages lead to relationship problems. This spread almost acts as a representation go how the models life has been taken away and how they are not happy about it but can not do much about it.
My final page spread focuses on the macro portrait of my subjects eyes. She is looking through her dirty glasses, which symbolises how she is unsure where her future is going and how marriage has lead her to not being able to freely make all decision by herself, showcasing the entrapment of marriage and the occupation it has.
Changes:
New Design
Old Design
For my first change I wanted to change the front cover of my occupation front cover, to have the same amount of symbolism and my liberation front over. I decided to use the environmental portrait of my brother sat on his bed. The sense of negative space on the left and high tonal contrast shows the negative impacts of marriage which fits the theme of the occupation of marriage and begins to showcase the relationship between objects and portraits towards this overall running theme of marriage.
New Design
Old Design
My second change was made after printing a trial run of my zine. In my initial design I turned the white space black, when printing this out the blacks came out as two different shades which distracted viewers from the conceptual representations and meaning of the spread. I decided to change this by getting rid of the artificially placed black on the left and just having it white, I felt that this change still gives off the same intended effect as the black.
Evaluation:
I believe I have made two successful experimentation of zine designs in order to showcase my narrative. I have been able to explore different layouts and the representations they held, with being able to clearly justify as to why I decided to have images in the sequence they are in. I have been able to show my artistic thought process throughout, with constant reference to my intended narrative when explaining each page layout. Overall, I believe my second design will be my final design with the changes made as I feel it’s the most successful in combining war and my home imagery.
The rational within my second photographic zine I would like to convey the narrative of the relationship between objects and people, to reinforce the ideology of occupation and liberation. This relationship will be presented through different page layouts with a close look at proximity between photographs on a page. Not only do I want to showcase occupation and liberation during the second world war, I would also like to implement images from my home sweet home project to showcase the occupation of a household and the how the relationships of objects and portraits can be changed due to the context of the imagery. I want the relationships to present clear conceptual representation which gives insight into both contexts of the war and home to allow a clear narrative for viewers to follow when reading the zine.
Sequencing:
For this photographic zine I am going to keep the sequencing of my images simplistic, I am going to divide the zine into two with the first half being focused on the war and the second half being focused on home sweet home. I will focus on proximity to convey the relationship between the objects and portrait, with images closer together representing a stronger relationship between the imagery. I will also focus on the sense of space, and the ideology conveyed with whole page spreads, half page spreads and 3/4 page spreads. In addition I will be using my war photomontage as a front cover to convey occupation and liberation as I believe the imagery can link into both contexts of the war and home, and provides a visually stimulating front cover or viewers to look at.
Mood Board:
Below is a mood board which shows different design ideas which could help influence the way in which I layout my photographic zine in order to convey my intended narrative of the relationship of objects and portraits during the war and within a home environment.
From your Personal Investigation based on OCCUPATION vs LIBERATION write an overview of what you learned and how you intend to develop your Personal Study.
During our occupation vs. liberation theme I learned a variety of different skills and also built upon previously known skills. At the beginning, I explored the use of archives. I learned how they can be used to research in order to discover more about a certain topic area, which in my case was the occupation of Jersey. This was extremely useful as it allowed me to incorporate further depth of knowledge into my project.
Another practical skill that was built upon were technical camera skills. Shooting at locations such as bunkers improved my ability to photograph in low lighting, by controlling the ISO and aperture. When I moved on to researching the occupation further by meeting an individual who lived throughout the occupation, my portraiture skills also improved. I learnt how to build up a relationship with a stranger, and how to learn more about them in order to photograph them appropriately which is something I had not previously done before. In regards to editing and developing my images, I learnt how to use lightroom and Indesign in order to improve my images and create my zine, which is something I had very minimal experience with previously. I will be taking these research, practical and developing skills forwards in order to begin my own personal study.
Describe which themes, approaches, artists, skills and photographic processes/ techniques inspired you the most and why.
I think the thing that initially inspired me the most during this specific theme was the research and the images I saw at the archives. I think this set the foundation for my project because it allowed to me gain a fundamental understanding and insight into what the occupation was like and how my project could reflect this. After this I was inspired by artists such as Klaus Pichler for the specific way he photographed still life, as this helped me better photograph occupation objects. Further into the project Rafal Milach inspired me to interpret my images of the occupation in a more creative way using colours and other props in order to express a sense of being trapped.
Landscapes, People and objects also played a very important role on influencing my project, as those 3 things are very personally related to the occupation and that gave my outcomes throughout this project a sense of authenticity that otherwise wouldn’t be possible. Landscapes that inspired me were in ares where certain important events in the occupation had occurred, such as the bunker sights. Namely, occupation survivors such as Joan Tapley and Bob le Seur also played an important part of my project as learning more about them and their personal stories allowed me to incorporate real life first hand events into my research and discovery. Lastly, the occupation objects I photographed were important because I they gave my project a more metaphorical connection to the occupation.
For my second zine, I will be using manly the images I have taken of the occupation objects and people, and also some archive images. I think this will be very interesting as I have already shown the story of the occupation in my previous zine through the physical aspects in Jersey, but now I will be able to tell it in a more personal way, through the objects and portraits.
I want my zine to have a structure to it, or to have some sort of pattern to it. I first started of by using the initial images I had taken of the objects and placed them on every other double page spread since they were landscape images. I had to edit one other image in order to have enough.
To begin, I cropped the image so that the empty space was more even the whole way around the image, as there was a lot more on the top left hand side compared to around the rest of the image.
Here you can see how I developed my original image. Increasing the exposure and the contrast helped to make the image stand out vividly, while also making the background a plain white colour. I increased the shadows and highlights as this helped get rid of the darker tint the background had. I increased the vibrancy to add an extra pop of colour to the object, and I decreased the saturation since increasing the vibrancy added a yellowish tint to the background.
Initial image vs. edited image
Here you can see what my layout looked like after adding these initial images to my zine design:
I then chose to place this picture as a double page spread right in the center of the zine, on pages 8-9. I chose to place this here as I only wanted to display 1 montage in the book, and I thought it would look best placed here in the middle to show the connection between people and objects. I chose to display this particular montage because It contained an object that I hadn’t already featured in the book. I think this is placed well, as when you get to the middle of a book, you see something very bright and colorful.
I then added in 2 archive images which you can see below:
I decided I wanted to include these 2 archive images because they both show people during opposite stages of the occupation. The first archive image shows the silhouette of a soldier, which I placed at the beginning of my zine as I wanted to show the images in chronological order, and this picture shows a soldier standing in full combat uniform showing the intensity of the beginning of the war. My last archive image shows the end of the occupation, as you reach the end of the zine.
I also added the image below into my zine, instead of the image of the 3 objects together. I did this because I thought it would look best to have all my full bleed pages displaying an image with only 1 object in them as it makes the narrative flow better.
You can also see that I added 2 different quotes onto the pages opposite my archive images as I thought this would help make them impact the viewers emotion more if there was some text to add context. The first quote I placed in the zine was from Joan Tapley who’s a Jersey occupation survivor. I chose this specific quote because it was very hard hitting, and I think it fit perfectly with the silhouette of the soldier as the quote was originally about how Joan’s father had acted in a slightly inhumane way towards an unknown soldier. My second quote was by from a speech given by Winston Churchill, “blood, sweat and toil”. I thought this quote was fitting to display next to an image of liberation day because those three very powerful words are almost a reflection of the 5 years of hardship faced by Jersey people.
Lastly, I thought about the front and back cover and the title of my zine. I decided on the title “objects of the occupation”. The word “objects” refers to both the physical objects, and also the people, since I also view the people as being objects of the occupation. I wanted this title to stand out by itself in order for the metaphorical meaning of it to be clearer and more easily absorbed by the audience.
In this zine I want to show objects and people of the occupation as one. I will be doing this through the use of my own images, through the use of archive images and potentially some text. I decided to focus on both people and objects as I believe they go hand in hand, and displaying them together can help explain the occupation through a more personal way. Because I think both objects and people go together, I will make sure to include a photomontage in my zine as my montages show images of people and objects merging together and this perfectly demonstrates how there is correlation between the two.
Sequencing:
Since my zine is going to contain a mixture of archive images, text, and my own images I want to make sure there is a specific order to make sure my zine doesn’t end up looking unorganized. I plan on using a mixture of full bleed, and single pages in order to display my images in a successful way. I may also experiment with different way of placing my images on the page, such as trying different types of borders in order to make my images stand out.
A zine is a photo book that is mostly produced on a small scale and by hand. Most of the time they are self published and will be distributed by the artist or by small scale businesses.
There are different kinds of zine, the differences can be based on the content and the way that they are created and presented. The genera that I will be studying is the photo zine; in which a photographer will present their photographs in a way that can tell a story or impact on a reader.
An example of a zine is from the Italian photographer Lorenzo vitturi called ‘Dalston Anatomy’, he lived in the Dalston area of Hackney in London. This is the area sometimes known as the African Quarter. He would photograph the people who he saw in the market and then with the leftover food at the end of a days sale. Then he would arrange the food into elaborate sculptures and would use some of the produce to make the portraits more interesting and colourful.
The way that he presented the book was a simple hardcover but the photos within were not set out normally they are different sizes with different sized borders, there are also set-up with matching or complimentary colours in a double page spread.
The second Zine I will be studying is called ‘Red String’ by Yoshikatsu Fujii it is based around the splitting apart of his family due to their parents divorce. The name ‘Red String’ was based on the old Japanese that says that two people destined to fall in love have an invisible red string tied around their little finger and it grows smaller and smaller until they are together. Fujii says that the string between his parents has been cut. The zine incorperats the theme of red string because the pages and cover are all bound with a red string.
The layout of the book is done so that it can be opened up to show two different smaller zines and they can be read through in different way to show the full history and story of the family and the parents relationship.
The book is laid out so that the left side is photos of his father and the right is his mother. The cover that connects the two sides is made of a soft felt. The cover of the book is stitched with the red string an has loose tails, the title and Fujii’s name are written by hand. The cover photo was his parents wedding photo but the heads have been cut off and then stitched to the cover only by their necks. There are pages in the book which have photos then attached to them by red string is a quote or a message given by that parent.
“The split binding allows the reader to page through one side and then the other, but the powerfulness comes from pairing both halves together. In this delicate and personal family album, Yoshikatsu Fujii ties the memory of his family back together with the cultural metaphor of red string.”
In order to create my photomontages I exported the original images as JPEG’s and then imported them into photoshop, where I created the montage. These outcomes are inspired by Milach who created similar imagery to contextually presented the children strike.
Design 1:
To create this design I opened up archival images of German soldiers, using the quick selection tool I cut out the sliders and placed them onto the still life photograph. Using the transformation tool I adjusted the size and positioning of the soldiers. I then used the rubber tool and went around the cutting making the outline smooth and more naturalistic. I then added a whole solider image in the light, which was done by cutting out the centre of the light and using the blending mode tools to combine and create this overlay of the two layers. I believe that this outcomes is the most successful from my further experimentation with my still life imagery.
Conceptually I wanted to convey the restrictions the German’s bought in on islanders when Jersey was occupied over the 5 years. The objects in the frame are minimalistic and basic suggesting how restricted Islanders where, as well as the ideology of lack of communication on the island which is shown by the radio set in the centre, contextually Islander where not allowed radio sets or contact with the main land which influenced the restrictions of objects the islanders where allowed. The soldiers represent the restriction and how the German’s were always around making it hard to have the contraband without being caught, creating a sense of authority and entrapment. On top of this, the soldiers in the light represent the unknown, when the war was occurring islanders did not know where they stood and who was winning due to the lack of communication
Visually, the image is busy creating a sense of chaos and lack of space, showcasing the conceptual meaning on how Islanders where restricted. The colours contrast the archival photographs, creating clear juxtaposition which reinforces the conceptual and contextual meanings outlined above. Everything is central in the frame, making it the main focal point. The lack of shadows and simplistic background supports this being the main focus point. On top of this, the main formal elements presented are colour, space and texture which is presented through the positioning of the composition.
Technically, the camera settings are simplistic and similar to Milach’s photography. The ISO was kept on 100 as well as the shutter speed being quick. The aperture was F16, allowing no depth of field to be showcased, but still allowed enough light in. The lighting was two artificial flash heads, reducing shadows in the background, which worked with the colour accuracy of my white balance used. Overall, I believe I have managed to produce successful imagery with strong conceptual and contextual representations.
Design 2:
For my second design I followed similar steps as to my first photomontage. When creating this image I selected an archival image of a solider and used the quick selection tool to cut it out. I then placed and positioned the the solider to look at the light, creating a minimalistic and simplistic documentary photomontage. Although this imagery is still successful and rich with conceptual land contextual representation, I do not believe it is as strong as the imagery created above.
Exploration Edit:
For my next edit I decided to select my top photograph which captured a singular object at a straight on angle on the white background. For my first design I created a colour version of this. I achieved the look by adjusting the contrast, structure, white, blacks and shadows allowing the colouring to be emphasise, making it the main formal element being presented in the outcome. There is clear highlighted areas which create a contrast in tonal regions, which compliments the rustic feel towards the imagery. A vignetting has been used to draw attention to the centre of the frame, almost creating an artificial depth of field. I find the colour edit visually pleasing to look at due texture and colour of the object to clearly be illuminated.
For my next design I wanted to create a black and white variation of the same image. To achieve this I started by making the image monochrome, and similarly adjusted the sliders of contrast, blacks, whites and shadows like the colour edit above. Doing this allowed a clear comparison as to if the image presents itself better black and white or in colour. Personally, I prefer the black and white outcome due to a ore metallic feel and the texture of the object to be showcase more, which helps to emphasise the contextual representations of the object more clearly.
I then decided to make a third edit, which really emphasised the texture and tonal contrast of the object. Utilising the image above I then went on to moving the sliders to the extreme, at the bipolar ends, allowing the metal to be clearer and showcase more tonal contrast. Doing this also allowed the shadow of the object to be presented, which I think compliments the object and outcome. In addition, it has allowed the backgrounds to be multiple tones of white and grey, which does not distract viewers from the background, making a more intriguing representation of the object. I believe that this outcome is the most successful from this photograph due to the overall atheistic it brings and the strong conceptual and contextual representations it holds.
Most Successful Outcomes:
Evaluation:
To evaluate I believe I have been able to show clear further exploration to my still life imagery, through using inspiration from artists and experimenting on Lightroom to produce different outcomes of the same image. Doing this has allowed me to develop my project and understanding of still life, as well as produce outcomes which I would not have initially created. I have shown my creativity through my photomontages and ability to use photoshop to create such design. The two successful images, are definitely images which I will be using in my new zine which explores objects and people. To conclude, I have successful produced further exploration to still life which showcase my ability to think about conceptual and contextual meaning when creating the imagery.
In preparation for my second photo shoot I reflected back on my previous shoot, looking at lighting techniques which worked and looked over the camera settings in order to capture effective imagery. For this shoot I decided to take a more contemporary approach by adding colour backgrounds to my straight on angle photographs, allowing an inspiration link to Rafal Milach’s work, developing my response to still life photography. I also wanted to explore more using singular objects of the complete white background, working on my manual focusing skills. I will again be using two set ups, the first for more flat objects (Birds Eye View) and one for 3-Dimensional objects (Straight on Angle). These two set ups required different lighting rigs, which is explained below. With my camera settings I put the mode to Manual, the ISO to 100 and the aperture to F16, allowing a wide depth of field to be utilised. The shutter speed for the Birds Eye View was between 1/250 – 1/200 and the straight on angle’s shutter speed was 0.5 – 0.8. The white balance for both was set onto daylight, with manual focus being used.
I used two flash head lights, set on a 2.0 power output. The lights where paced either side of the table, slightly facing downwards towards the object. On my camera I used a transmitter which triggered the flash heads to operate as I captured my imagery. In addition, I also used a pilot light in order to position a and frame my composition, this was located at the back of the table (on right) and did not affect the colouring or the outcomes of my image. The camera itself was placed on a tripod facing straight on at the table, with adjustments allowing me to have control over the composition of my imagery.
Edits:
First Edit: Flagged
Second Edit – Star Rating
Third Edit – Colour Rating
Outcomes:
The three outcomes below are my top photographs from the shoot, which clearly showcase my inspiration and application of Milach’s work into my own. I explored with coloured background, which complemented one another, allowing a more ameliorative tone towards my final outcomes. I felt that it was important the the colours were vibrant and bright, almost welcoming, in order to draw the eyes into the objects located in the centre of the frame, I really emphasised this when editing. I started off by adjusting the whites, darks, shadows and contrast, allowing the objects to show clarity and tonal contrast, on top of accurately making the background vibrant. I then used the spot removal tool, to ensure a consistent coloured background, so that the viewers attention is not drawn away from the objects presenting the concept, a lack of simple supplies that citizens had to live off when the German’s occupied the island, of the imagery. I also selected another photograph which used the plain white background and experimented with attempting to get the text clear and bold, making it the main focal point, which was done by adjusting the clarity, structure, blacks and whites.
Evaluation:
To evaluate I believe I have been able to produce strong imagery, which clearly convey my understanding of Milach’s work and ability to apply his techniques and designs into my photographs. In addition, I have been able to explore a new way of capturing still life, furthering my exploration with this style of photography allowing more conceptual and contextual outcomes to be presented. To further my exploration even further I now intend to create photomontages with the coloured outcomes to make stronger links with Milach’s work, as well as creating different edits of the same photograph to showcase my exploration.
