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

Photo shoot 4 – Family Event

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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:

Edit 1 – Flagged
Edit 2 – Star Rating
Edit 3. – Colour Rating

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.

AO1 Develop Ideas

Deconstructing photobook

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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.

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

Photo shoot 3 – Laura Blight Inspired

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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:

Edit 1 – Flagged
Edit 2 – Star Rating
Edit 3 – Colour Rating

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

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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:

Laura Blight (2010) – House Clearance

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

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

Photo shoot 2 – LaToya Ruby frazier

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Planning:

After researching LaToya Ruby Frazier, I was able to understand the way in which her conceptual representations were presented within her imagery. Using this techniques of capturing naturalistic portraits in order to portray lifestyle, I conducted a photoshoot with my grandparents. At the beginning of the session I explained the purpose of the shoot and informed them that I would be following them around as they live out their everyday lives, emphasising the importance of them sticking to their true personality to accurately representing their lifestyle as I followed them around. The shoot was conducted during the middle of the afternoon which meant daylight was beginning to become darker, which forced me to increase my aperture in order to let enough light into, for the frame to clearly illustrate their lifestyle. The camera settings were kept basic, quick shutter speed, middle – high ISO and aperture of around f/5.6 in order to capture the imagery.

Conceptually, I wanted to convey my grandparents lifestyle and how their upbringing and past has influenced their life. For example, I focused on capturing the idea of my grandma being a house wife, while my grandad provided and worked for the family. I also wanted to represent the ideology of economic status and the way in which their financial situation has influenced their lifestyle which they thought were large influencing factors during my interview with them. Due to them being financially stable, it has allowed for them to have luxury habits, such as owning a large house, being able to afford expensive furniture and being able to retire early. These factors I tried to portray through my imagery, as well as recreate and produce imagery which follows the same stylistic features of Frazier.

Edits:

Edit 1 – Flagged
Edit 2 – Star Rating
Edit 3- Colour Edit

Outcomes:

When producing the outcomes from this photo shoot, I wanted to keep them simplistic and authentic, in order to clearly and accurately illustrate the lifestyle they live. Due to Frazier’s work mainly being in black and white, lead most of my outcomes to be showcased in black and white, in order to create close connections between mine and my artists work. However, with two of the images I decided to leave them in colour, as they best suited being presented in colour, due to them having a more authentic persona towards them which meant that the colour allowed for reality to accurately be portrayed within the imagery.

Analysis / Comparison:

The image below (Frazier’s) is the photograph which I felt held strong conceptual representation, and wanted to recreate within my work to present different concepts in relation to the subjects I was capturing. The two images follow similar composition, by having a subject present in the foreground and background looking in different directions, with a narrow depth of field being utilised. Both photographs are being presented in black and white, with the detail and structure being high, but the smoothness of the imagery and noise being low, likely done through camera settings with editing complimenting these values. Both photographs show clear focus to the formal elements of space, tone and texture which is clearly presented from the proxemics, clothes and basic background. Another similarity between the two is through the camera settings used in order to capture these images, due to them being alike, it suggests that I used similar settings The lighting used would have been artificial through studio lighting and lighting readily found in that room. The light source is soft and can be considered cold, which illustrates the brutality of this reality and how it has negatively impacted the families life. This works well with the low ISO which is used as no intended noise is being presented within the imagery. As well as the white balance being accurately set to an in door setting allowing for clear colour correction, illuminating the tonal contrast within the frame. In addition to this, the shutter speed is kept to a quick capture as there is no movement or intended blur within the frame of the photograph, which helps to compliment the ISO setting used. 

The main difference between the two images are the conceptual representation. Frazier wanted to showcase how herself and her family are being treated as invisible due to their race, presenting political power and situation in their suburb in Braddock. It also illustrates their lifestyle and poverty through the perspective of herself, mum and grandmother, this concept is further explained in my artist research on a previous blog post. Personally, I wanted to convey the social situation which was common in the 1940’s and still present in my grandparents lifestyle today, gender roles. Having my grandad being in the front of the frame well dressed up shows he is the authoritative figure who provides for the household, having my grandmother in the back suggests her submissiveness and willingness to follow instructions from her husband, although this may be considered a bad thing, to them it is normality which they both enjoy.

  • My Photograph
  • Latoya Ruby Frazier

Conclusion:

In conclusion, I believe that the imagery produced shows close relationships with Fraziers imagery, through the sense of composition and the ideology that we have both conveyed lifestyle in a similar way. With close regards to the final imagery produced, I believe that the photographs shows my ability to capture detailed portraits, which have clear focus and show my ability to produce a strong composition, which compliments the simplistic edits. In addition, I have been able to provide evidence my reinforces my ability to use Lightroom effectively to produce strong imagery.

AO1 Develop Ideas, AO2 Explore Ideas

Contextual Studies: LaToya Ruby Frazier

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LaToya Ruby Frazier:

Context and Concept:

The Notion of Family (2014) is Frazier’s photographic series which aims to tell the narrative of her African-American family whom are struggling to come to terms with oppression (prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or exercise of authority) in Braddock, a suburb of Pittsburgh, and the negative physical and psychological effects of the city’s steel industry. The paperback photo-book also looks at the impact of racism in the small suburb as well as the decline in the community and family, showing her personal and political viewpoint towards this topic. In this she explore three generations of her family who have lived through these issues: her grandmother, mother and herself which reinforces the personal attitudes towards her imagery, who “lives parallel the rise and fall of the steel mill industry,” (Frazier:2014) . Critics refer to her photographs as a “weapon” of choice against racism, intolerance and poverty. This series about the substandard living conditions, hardships and withering effects of the pollution-borne illness that have effected the three women, on top of their struggles to survive, Frazier illuminates the human cost of political indifference and neglect. This begins to explain the conceptual and contextual factors of her work and how it has influenced her narrative.

Mood Board Expressing LaToya Ruby Frazier’s ‘The Notion of Family’ photographic series.

“The Notion Family responds to that call to suspend the passive aesthetics that turns abject poverty into an object of enjoyment” (Frazier:2014:’So Present So Invisible’)

The quote above comes directly from Frazier during an interview with David Company, who gains insight into her recent project ‘The Notion Family’. In this she supports her conceptual representation of showcasing the negative impact of poverty into the suburb and how it has massively impacted her family, whom are African-American. She suggests that the photographic book stops us from being susceptible, as viewers, and fully understand the crisis and the issue that she is raising through her imagery, which is done as a form of enjoyment and entertainment to us. Personally, I believe that she is correct in what she is saying as her imagery holds powerful political and personal response to this issue, as the message is at the forefront of the images. This is reinforced by the use of words, verbatim from her family, which reinforces these viewpoints, and allows us to become a more active viewer and allows the message to be more susceptible to the issue arising.

“I helped Gabriella Kessler and Jean-Loic  Portron by informing them about African-American families and residents that remain voiceless and invisible to mainstream media” (Frazier:2014:’So Present So Invisible’)

During her interview with David Company she explains how and clearly presents her conceptual elements within the photographic series and how it links into the contextual factors. In the quote above she is simplifying the point that her race, African-American, are being ignored by society leaving them to be seen and not heard. She talks about how a she helped tow people who work for the media understand this topic, as it is an issue which is ignored by journalists, thus these issues are not raised with the world. This presents the theme of neglect and really illuminates how poorly treated Frazier and her family are, thus emphasising the conceptual factors of her work. With the statement made above, I believe that what she is saying is true, as after reading around her work it is mainly art critics who are writing about the issue, but no other media source such as the news.

“I am obliged to document and counter this reality, and ultimately re-imagine and rewrite it myself.” (Frazier:2014:’So Present So Invisible’)

Above she is describing how she feels almost forced to outline these issues of racial discrimination in Pittsburg and document how it is affecting these people’s lives, in hope that she can changed the way in which they are treated and “counter this reality” so equality is accomplished within the small suburb. She talks about how this photographic series almost acts as her imagination, how she wants to reshape and create a better world were all races, genders, religions etc are treated equally with respect. Personally, I some what agree to what she is saying, after looking through the series the images hold a pejorative tone which only outline the state at which the town is in now and not the future. However, I believe this is done to also make the viewers reimagine what the town could look like.

Visual and Technical:

The photograph above is one my favourite outcomes from Frazier’s ‘The Notion Family’ photographic series. When looking at the image, initially out eyes are drawn to the woman’s eye in the background, located in the centre of the frame, thus making this the main focal point of the photograph. Moving around the image out eyes then move to the two models and then onto the plain background, which emphasises their race of African-American, due to the patterned curtain in the background of the imagery. Both models are wearing lounge wear with wig caps on suggesting they are in an environment where they feel safe. The women in the foreground is covering half of the other subjects face and has her eye closed which emphasises the concept that their race is only being seen and not heard and are almost voiceless and forgotten within the small suburb. In addition, the facial expressions on the women also suggest the ideology of a sense of being forgotten. The frame has a sense of space, which works well with the other formal elements of texture and pattern. The photograph itself is taken at a straight on angle with it being presented in black and white, allowing high tonal contrast to be presented, illuminating the texture. The portrait is taken as a landscape, which suggests that it is a wide and on going issue in the suburb, and is in the style of a head shot, which juxtaposes the actual reasons for a head shot.

Technically, Frazier’s work is simplistic which allows the conceptual and contextual representations to be the forefront of her work. The lighting used would have been artificial through studio lighting and lighting readily found in that room. The light source is soft and can be considered cold, which illustrates the brutality of this reality and how it has negatively impacted the families life. This works well with the low ISO which is used as no intended noise is being presented within the imagery. As well as the white balance being accurately set to an in door setting allowing for clear colour correction, illuminating the tonal contrast within the frame. In addition to this, the shutter speed is kept to a quick capture as there is no movement or intended blur within the frame of the photograph, which helps to compliment the ISO setting used. The aperture which has been used is roughly a medium setting as to some extent there is a narrow depth of field being used, as the background is slightly more blurred compared to the foreground. Due to this it creates a little blur which reinforces the ideology of the family being forgotten about in society.

Action Plan:

To further my understanding of the techniques and stylistic features of Frazier, I will implement these techniques into my next photoshoot. I intend to photograph my grandparents lifestyle through black and white portraits in order to raise viewers understanding of their social situation, employing similar conceptual reasoning towards my next photoshoot.

AO1 Develop Ideas, AO3 Record Ideas, AO4 Present Ideas

Photo-shoot 2: Selection and Editing:

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For my second photo-shoot, I focused on displaying a break in feminine gender roles by focusing on showing women/girls in nature, showing them playing in forests and getting muddy. I feel like this approach allows for a subtle line to be drawn between the expectations that society has for girls, and the reality that many girls find joy in “masculine” activities, such as playing in the woods, exploring and adventuring. I find this concept to be a more subtle show of braking gender stereotypes than my first photo-shoot, and therefore have included this in order to contrast the more overt, brash examples of gender stereotypes with more subtle, hinting examples.

After selecting which images I would use to edit, I used the software Photo-shop to create and edit a range of images:

For many of my images, I increased both the saturation and contrast. I did this to make the colours and contrasting shapes and tones of the image stand out, allowing the viewers attention to be drawn to certain aspects of the image.

For the above image, I altered the saturation and contrast of the image, and then using the lasso tool on Photoshop, I highlighted the iris of the eye, and raised the contrast and saturation of the blue, in order to make the eye colour of the subject stand out much more. I did this to make the eye of the subject the focal point of the image, forcing the viewer to see the subject as an individual person by making eye contact with them through the image.

Simply by increasing the contrast and saturation of this image, and making small edits using the lasso tool, I was able to finish this image, using the colouring and shapes of the image as the focal point of the image.

The above image involved turning the images black and white , increasing the contrast, and placing all images onto a single page (I outlined the images with black rectangles using photoshop to better define each image).

For many of my images, I also altered the colour balance of the image in order to emphasise certain shades and colours. In this instance, I increased the red and blue and magenta tones slightly (and I also increased the contrast and reduced the saturation), which gave the below final outcome:

The hardest image to create was one in which I would be merging a set of images together to create a background, while keeping a single image opaque in the foreground.

Initially, I cut out the part of the image I wanted to use from the background.

I then used the quick selection tool and lasso tool to cut the image out from the background fully. After this, I used the eraser with 0% hardness to soften out the edges of the image to make it look more natural.

I then increased the contrast of the image and turned the image black and white to match the black background that I added. I used a soft black paintbrush to go around the edges of the image to patch up parts the edges that did not match the background.

I then used the lasso tool to cut out a range of images of faces showing intense and varied emotion from a range of different images.

I then used the eraser tool at 75% opacity to make these cut out image more opaque and soft. Finally, I added these images behind the image in the foreground, allowing them to create the background for the image. I feel that although this image took a lot of work, I believe the outcome is an effective piece.

AO1 Develop Ideas, Component 1 Personal Investigation, Uncategorized

personal project PHOTO SHOOTS planner

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Introduction

For my personal project i will need some photographs to include but in order to achieve that i will need to plan my photo shoots first, but unfortunately the idea of my personal project restricts me from being able to get many photographs as my personal project is about something that is past and not present so there’s not much i can photograph as its all gone now but i will be able to take photographs of objects or archival photographs that where already taken by someone else who was there in the past and past it on to me or my family.

First photo shoot

I will be going back to Jordan in Christmas but unfortunately i’m only going there for 3 days because my reason of visit limits me from staying there for longer, and i will be very occupied all day for the three days so i don’t have much opportunity to go out and do a photo shoot so i will be taking photographs of objects related to the project in my own home, the only thing i’m sure of is my knife that was given to me by Abu Ali who inherited it from the guy my project is about.i will be taking the photo shoot using my phone as i have no access to a camera, i will lay the knife down on a white paper and adjust the light to get a florescent white light.

Interviews

My secondary data will be collecting information and stories about Mashhoor Al Jazi to add up to my personal project and to do that i am going to be interviewing people that are related to him and ask the questions. down below is a list of the people that i’m going to interview and what i’m going to ask them:

  1. Hamzah Al Jazi (grandson): How many years do you remember with him? How did his death affect you? Is there any personal stories you want to share about him? How would you describe Mashhoor in one sentence? Are you proud of your family history because of Mashhoor’s accomplishments?
  2. Wael Mattar (old friend): For how long did you know Mashhooor? Did you have any accomplishments with him? Does knowing the fact that Mashhoor was your friend make you proud? How often did you used to see him? What did you do when you where with him? How would you describe Mashhoor in one phrase?
  3. Eman Mattar (daughter in law):How close where you to Mashhoor? since your the closest one to Abu Ali how would you describe Abu Ali’s condition was when Mashhoor died?

Conclusion:

After collecting all my data which include the photo shoots and my interviews i will arrange it all on different blog post for all of them to create one whole project and in the end i will create a summery blog post to make it as a final piece.

AO1 Develop Ideas

Personal Investigation – Interview with my Grandparents

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In order to gain more descriptive insight into my grandparents lifestyle, I decided to ask them a few questions allowing them to consider and articulate the type of lifestyle they live, in order to accurately present this ideology through my imagery. I felt doing this allowed them consider different aspects which they may not have thought about, as well as reflect on their life and childhood, making this project more personal to them, thus allowing me to gain more detail.

How would you say your upbringing influenced your lifestyle?
Upbringing has a very significant influence on our lifestyle. We tend to want to live in the same way – type of work, type of friends, what we eat, how we spend leisure time, ambitions – as our parents did. But upbringing can only form bedrock of our independent lifestyle as we tend to react to our surroundings, opportunities, setbacks in life. These
surroundings can and do change and we change with them
Our parents did not have mobile phones and in many cases televisions but we all react to them now and the enormous changes they bring

How does religion impact your lifestyle?
Very significantly. Firstly by attending church regularly taking part in acts of worship to God who we believe made heaven and earth and all things in it. Religion is of course not just attending church but is also about seeking answers to perennial questions such as why are we here? And what is God’s purpose for us as individuals? As Christians we believe the words of the Bible are sent by God for our guidance on how we should live our lives. The greatest message given in the Bible is to Love God and then to love our neighbour as much as we love ourselves. Neighbour is not somebody living next door but all those disadvantaged people throughout the world e.g. refugees, starving, civil wars. We never achieve perfection in living by this but we do try.

What does family mean to you?
Family means a lot. For most people it is mother father, brother, sister, uncles, aunts, cousins who first influenced us and mostly provide places where we have been safe, protected and encouraged in our development
For Grandparents this does not change but just makes the number of family members wider who you want to see grow develop and prosper. We are both in direct regular contact with our brothers and sisters – my sister’s husband John died when he was only 55, we often talk about him – and we hear from them of their own childrens’ activities. Interest in what is happening to them grows and does not go away as we get older.

How would you describe your lifestyle?
We are fortunate to live in comfort more so than most people enjoy. It has come mostly through hard work – ethos given to us as we grew up – and taking opportunities as they arise. And we all sometimes have a bit of luck as well as setbacks Family structure has little bearing on our current lifestyle as all our children are independent of us and we have no parents to look after. But please see above what Family means to us

How has your lifestyle influenced your childrens’ lifestyle?
 Just as we were in many ways influenced by our parents’ lifestyle so it is likely that our lifestyle will in many ways, though not all, influence our childrens’ lifestyle. There is the
question of genes within families which are passed through generations. Genes can affect everything from abilities, skills, attitudes and other attributes which get passed from generation to generation. I got my genes for being a genius from my grandfather and so you have your genes for being
genius from your grandfather!