These images by Ralph Eugene Meatyard (Zen Twigs) are my inspiration for my A3 final image.
Photos by Mark Burban (One of them is called ‘Bangkok Traffic’).
These images are also by Ralph Eugene Meatyard (No focus).
For my A3 image I will use a Triptych layout.
Contemporary photography could be described as a photograph from our own time, compared to an image from a much earlier period. A relevant definition of the word contemporary is: “happening in the same period of time… or in the style of the present or recent times…”
Double Exposure:
Mirror Image / Kaleidoscope Techniques:
Overall in this project I have been able to experiment and explore the different ways that I can create abstract photography as well as learning the different types of camera skills I can use to generate those photographs. I feel I have been able to develop my photographs across the whole project well and have kept the fluidity of the project as I produced more photo shoots and experiments over the course. Into the next project I will try to get more photographs during my photo shoots as I feel this was something I had struggled with in this project and something that I can develop and would be helpful into the next coming, this will mean I have more options and more to experiment with, which will help me as I move through the next projects. I feel that I have tried to show my development of my skills and the development of my photographs and the project as they have develop. Something I feel I could do better would be to have more fluidity in the photographs I am taking and how I develop them. I feel at some points in the project I could’ve taken some more risks with the photographs I was taking and being a bit more experimental would’ve helped and this is something I will try to do into the next project.
Overall I am happy with the way my final photographs turned out and how I was able to display them. For my A3 and A5 image I feel they worked well as I contrasted them together as the different sizes but also the different takes on abstract. In the future I may try to explore more creative ways to display my photographs, I started to try and experiment with this with the tracing paper over my A4 display however I feel I could have found more ways to try and display my photographs in more creative ways and one way I will be able to improve this is to have more photographs taken during my shoots so that I can give myself a wider variety. I am happy with the way the editing of my A3 photograph turned out and this is something I will take forward and try to experiment with more.
A4 Display
A5 and A3 Display
In this project I have been able to explore into the concept of abstract photography. I have looked at a variety of artists, who use multiple editing and camera skills, allowing me to gain a greater depth into the theme of abstract photography. I have captured a range of subjects, from paper to twigs, allowing to experiment with the formal elements which play an active role in abstract photography. I have acquired many camera skills, from controlling the shutter speed, ISO, White Balance and Depth of Field. I feel that I have successfully demonstrated these skills through my photo shoots, which have been inspired by artists that I previously researched.
Here is a final plan for the layout of my final images:
Analysis
Overall, I chose the images as my final images due to them, in my opinion, reflecting my camera skills and perspective within ‘Abstract Photography’. I also chose them due to their abstract view points on colour: man made vibrant colours next to natural and neutral colours. Throughout my project I focused on photographing abandoned or decayed buildings or surfaces because I liked the idea of the fact that we’re living in a forever growing world with things being introduced to us everyday. Yet, there is so much decay and remains left for us to bare and manage. This overall project was to show how in our everyday lives, we ignore the decay us and proceed with our ‘new’ set in place futures.
After the final prints came through I began to experiment with ways to explore the out of focus photographs I had produced. To do this I am layering tracing paper in different ways to create different effects with the final photographs when they are displayed.
For a first experiment I tried layering up the tracing paper over my final photographs to produce and even more out of focus photograph for effect. I experimented with layering one layer and then two layers of the tracing paper to see what different effects it can create while still being able to understand and see the photograph.
One Layer
Two Layers
Two Layers
For this I began to experiment with ways in which I could place the tracing paper over my final photographs in different shapes to create different effects. Similar to the ‘Conceal and Reveal’ experiments on Photoshop it is experimenting with hiding and editing certain parts of the photographs to give them certain effects.
Using Triangles
Using Squares
This is the same as the ‘Conceal and Reveal’ experiments as it uses the idea of putting a layer over the photograph and then removing certain parts of the layer to reveal the photograph underneath. I am doing the same hear using tracing paper and cutting shapes out as to reveal parts of the photograph. Some parts are more out of focus than others due to the tracing paper creating another layer of opacity making the image more difficult to see underneath.
Cutting Away Shapes
In this project I have been able to explore into the concept of abstract photography. I have looked at a variety of artists, who use multiple editing and camera skills, allowing me to gain a greater depth into the theme of abstract photography. I have captured a range of subjects, from paper to twigs, allowing to experiment with the formal elements which play an active role in abstract photography. I have acquired many camera skills, from controlling the shutter speed, ISO, White Balance and Depth of Field. I feel that I have successfully demonstrated these skills through my photo shoots, which have been inspired by artists that I previously researched.
Here is a collection of all of the photographs I have captured and edited throughout this project. It shows the different camera skills I have obtained, editing skills and the overall theme of abstraction. These photographs I believe to be my top images as they are sharp, present formal elements clearly and again successfully show the theme of abstract photography. The images have been selected from every photo shoot I conducted which have been inspired by artists, which I researched.
These are the 4 final images which I have chosen to print out as my final images.
This will be my largest print out (sized at A3). I will seperate the print into the two images it consists of; then stick them onto one layer of white styrofoam board, then display them on a black A2 piece of card. This will make them literally pop out of the page more as they will be lifted approximately 1cm above the card. The whole display will also keep the black & white theme as the display elements are also black & white.
This image will be printed out in A4 size. I will frame it in black A3 card to keep the dark theme of the photo. Howevr, I will bevel the edges around the photo so that the white underside of the card shows through, this will help distinguish the image from the frame without adding too much bright elements.
This photo will be printed out in A5 size. I will cut it into three elements (left, middle, right) to help show how the image consists of three clear parts. I will then layer them on different thicknesses of styrofoam board; left part will be 2 layers thick, middle right part will be 3 layers thick, and middle part will be 5 layers thick. These will then be stuck onto an A4 piece of black card with small gaps between each third of the photo.
This photo will also be printed at A5 size. For this photo I have decided to keep things simple by only sticking it onto one layer of styrofoam board.