For the double exposure I placed one of my chosen images on top of the other and then lessened the opacity of the top image so that the background layer was showing through and this creates the double exposure effect and I feel works really well as an option for my final photographs.
Final Edit
Kaleidoscope
EditingEditing
For the kaleidoscope editing I opened one image and then doubled the canvas width and then doubled the image and pulled the second layer across to the blank canvas space, I then doubled the height and pulled across the top images to the bottom to create the kaleidoscope.
Below are the my chosen images to manipulate slightly and display as final images, I have chosen the ones below to work with as I feel they have the most potential to produce good final images once displayed and maybe slightly manipulated and experimented with.
These are my initial choices and ideas for my final developments as I believe them to be my best photograph outcomes.
Own Work
This is one of my initial choices for a final photograph to be produced. I feel it is one of my best images a because it has a strong sense of geometric abstract photography due to the arrangements and patterns of the horizontal lines across my the photograph and this also becomes contrasted with then vertical lines which travel down the right side of the image. The photograph has a lot of light giving it some shadows in the top right of the image contrasting the very light panels that travel through the middle.
Own Work
This image again becomes abstract by the use of the symmetrical geometric patterns throughout. The lines range from going diagonally downwards to less of a slant towards the top of the photographs. Unfortunately the image is slightly off centered and the line towards the back of the image does not travel directly up the middle which I feel would’ve made it a better image for the abstract project due to the identical symmetry that it would create. Apart from this I still believe this photograph could be a potential final image as it has strong line and texture running across the bottom of the image which many abstract artists also looked at.
Own Work
This image has an object off center to the right at the bottom of the frame this is what the eye will naturally draw to first and is darker compared to the rest of the light and blue tinted image and this I feel helps to bring it an abstract feel. This image also has a strong development of lines in different directions which can be seen clearer than some of the previous images due to the clear background behind. The image is very light and doesn’t hold a lot of contrast however I believe it is it’s geometric lines which develop it in an abstract way.
Own Work
This is another image which works well due to it’s symmetry and it’s use of line. This photograph is unfortunately over exposed however this could be useful into further editing and could be used to my advantage while editing and developing further along. This image has a strong symmetrical line directly down the middle with the geometric lines fraying off, this is what I feel develops it as an abstract image.
Own Work
This photograph is one that was taken in inspiration from Ralph Meatyard. It was developed by working and experimenting with using manual focus to purposely put the image out of focus to develop an abstract image. I feel it is one of my best photographs as I feel you can clearly still see the form of the plant even though out of focus and unlike some of the other photographs I have produced there is the white negative space in the back which helps to bring the form forward and there isn’t anything in the background that is overpowering and confusing or creating too much noise.
Own Work
This is another image from the same shoot in inspiration by Ralph Meatyard, I feel if chosen these two images would work well as a pair if developed into a final piece. In this image compared to the previous image there is a slight out of focus colour making it’s way in on the left side which I personally would crop down if I moved forward with this image. As well as the previous image this has a lot of negative space in it’s background however it helps to bring out the forms of the branches on the tree. This image and the previous could relate to Meatyard’s work in ‘Zen Twigs’.
Own Work
This is one of my photographs that came from inspiration of Aaron Siskind. I feel it was one of my most successful photograph in this experiment but also as a whole, I feel it has an abstract feel due to the rotting and rusting walls and the pipe down the left side draws the eye towards that as an object and contrasts the rotting wall which has soft wavy edges compared the straight vertical edges of the pipe. I feel this would make a good final image in A5 and as a singular image. This image focuses on the uses of texture and line.
Own Work
This is another from my shoot with inspiration from Aaron Siskind, I felt this was one of my more successful photographs as it shows a lot of contrast and texture whereas a lot of my previous images focus on line contrast. It also shows elements of colour and colour contrasts of the dark colours of the blue and the black contrasted with the white and the creams. I feel these elements work well to create it into an abstract image that works well and could potentially be used for one of my final photographs.
To start with, I went and chose a picture which was abstract, and one I thought was interesting. I then went to layer, went down to new layer, and then chose solid colour and changed it to whatever colour I wanted.
After I got the layer with the colour, I went to opacity and brought it down so I could now see the picture through the top layer. I then went and got the rubber tool, adjusted the edge to what I wanted and used the ‘[‘ and ‘]’ button to change the size of the circle, and then and started to erase parts of the top layer.
Finally, I went and changed the opacity back to 100% and got my finished image.
In conclusion I am happy with the final product, while my link to Letha Wilson is rather vague I feel it is still evident in the manipulation of the images. I like the lighting in the images as it creates very soft tones while still having plenty of contrast. I’m also happy with the color balance of the images as none of the tones are too overpowering except for perhaps the brown tones in some areas. The center-piece of the final product is my favorite mostly due to the strong depth of field which nicely compliments the sharp edges created by the style of editing. My favorite display of editing however is the image on the right as that had the most intersections of any image. If I were to redo this project I would likely make sure that the images were more similar in composition and perhaps color. I would also likely tone down the brown slightly as it is a bit too strong for my liking in the central image particularly in the background. I would also make sure that the 2 images on the sides were cropped to the same aspect ratio however these images simply didn’t allow for that as parts of the image were frankly boring and detracted from the image.
Edgar Martins is a Portuguese photographer. The photograph below comes from a series of work he produced that was inspired by the writing and the sending of letters and the power and intimacy of letters. For this mini series he photographed paper, carefully lit and isolated from anything else. There is a stillness to them that belies the fact they may have been written as suicide notes, contact between prison inmates and loved ones and more. Martins spent time working with court, prison and parole officials and indeed, prisoners in Portugal exploring this theme, that often ended in death for many of his subjects.
Edgar MartinsOwn Work | Edgar Martins
Above is one of my own photographs from a paper shoot beside one of Edgar Martins work. They are both very different takes on photographing paper. Edgar Martins photograph and way of working is a lot darker the photograph is very dim compared to my way of photographing paper which uses very harsh artificial light on the paper, this may be due to the context that Martins work with, when he photographs the paper he is looking at the power of paper in some very dark areas such as suicide notes and prison letters, the photograph portrays this in a visual manner of the black dark space with the very slim paper which itself is dimly lit, this would be done on purpose by Martins maybe for effect of portraying the subjects he is looking into in his own visual manner. Both takes on the paper are focusing on isolating the paper so it’s on its’ own, Martins does this with the dark space and the thin isolated paper, the paper in my photograph is isolated on the white background and left to itself on the white blank paper which is a different take on the ideas of isolating the paper.
Bruguière was an American photographer who moved to London in 1928 where he began to experiment with non-representational photography, part of this was him starting to create his cut paper photographs. Bruguière exploits the endless subtle qualities of both paper and light, manipulating both in order to create complex patterns of texture and form. Throughout his life he experimented with multiple exposures which is something he explored throughout his work.
Francis BruguièreOwn Work | Francis Bruguière
Above is one of my own photographs from the shoot of ‘Photographing paper’ alongside one of Francis Bruguière own work. In comparison to each other they have two different takes however they have some similarities with each other and they way they were photographed. Both my own and Bruguière photographs seem to be using artificial light in order to create effect of light, tone and shadows and this is a similarity they both have with each other. Bruguière looks and the texture of the paper by cutting it and folding them into each other this creates smooth textures of the paper whereas with my own image I experimented with folding and creasing the paper to create texture and to explore this, both takes are exploring texture but in two different ways with the paper. Bruguière’s work shows a toned down exposure to some of his other work and is a lot darker when compared to my own work which is a lot brighter due to the white artificial light used creating a brighter photograph.
Lewis K. Bush is a British photographer, writer, curator and educator.He aims “to draw attention to forms of invisible power that operate in the world”, believing that “power is always problematic” because it is inherently “arbitrary and untransparent”. London was once known as the Metropole, the mother city at the heart of a vast empire stretching across a quarter of the planet. Produced during numerous winter night walks through the city, Metropole records the effect of this capital influx on London by documenting these new corporate high rises and luxury residential blocks as they are constructed and occupied. Using double exposures to layer building over building, these structures becomes increasingly disorientating and threatening as the series progresses, obliterating scale, perspective and orientation, and emulating the sense of loss that many Londoners now feel.
Lewis K. BushLewis K. Bush | Own Photograph
Above is a comparison of my own photograph taken and edited and Lewis Bush’s own from the series ‘Metropole’. Both of the photographs include a double exposure creating a blurred and busy effect on the photograph, this may be done intentionally by Bush to emphasis the thoughts he is trying to put across of the city and the ‘Metropole’ being a busy place with this rushing past, by creating a double exposure, maybe using the same image to angle it Bush is creating the effect that the building itself is rushing and moving which is implied by the way he presents the photograph that sits with the context of the project and the photograph was taken in. Bush’s work has a lot of contrast in it’s photograph using the black and white whereas I am trying to use the blue tones to work together as the lights and the dark’s to create a contrast. Both the photographs have a strong sense of line throughput the image, Bush’s photograph has very geometric and symmetrical lines whereas mine tend to be a bit more abstract themselves due to the angles and directions they go in.
This image was taken at TATE modern in London, a space filled with abstract and modern day art. I particularly loved this exhibition as the space where the art was exhibited in was flooded with natural light. Combining this with the crisp and clean white backdrop allowed me to capture some truly beautiful images that showed of the subtleties in each image. The space was also very large and open which allowed me to maneuver my camera without the disturbance of other people or pieces of art.
This was in my opinion one of the most successful images from this photo shoot, therefore making it into my final selection. I reflected up on many different photo shoots from the last couple of months in order to make my selection, even going through images which i have previously discarded as i have learned throughout the past couple of months that almost any image can be transformed through simple editing and cropping, Image 1 i thought initially was too simplistic and quite frankly boring, yet i have discovered that minimalism is a very real and valid form of photography therefore i reconsidered the image. After reviewing the image, i found that it actually holds many different aspects and qualities, like the interesting creasing of the fabric and the contrasting textures of the wall and the floor.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF IMAGE 1:
TECHNICAL: For this photo shoot I approached each image in the same way, setting my focus to auto as each piece of art work was fairly big and i did not focus in on small details therefore setting it to manual would be totally useless. I kept my exposure throughout the photo shoot at 400 as each large, white hall was filled with natural light, the bright white walls added to extra light bouncing into the camera. I kept it at a stable level as i wanted to prevent the images becoming overexposed. I switched on my white auto balance setting as again the white walls created problems with the colors of the art work becoming washed out and dull. I set the shutter speed 1/60 as i wanted to create very clean and crisp images that show all aspects of the art work.
VISUAL: One of the most notable aspects of this image i find are the shadows created by the large creases in the draping fabric, the intensity of the shadow increasing the further down the fabric that the eye travels. All aspects of this image are crisp and clean, the high shutter speed to which i set my camera meant that the image is sharp. There is contrast in texture all around in the image, from the rough surface of the fabric, the smooth and matte white wall, to the glossy grey-black floor. The rule of 1/4 applies to this image as most of the subject is contains in the first 1/2 and 1/3 of the image. There is also a sense of repetition in the image through the even creases that go down the fabric sheets and the 3 sticks that mirror each other. Although the image is already bright, a lot of the light is hitting it from the top right hand corner, creating a slightly deeper shadow on the left side of the sheet. The colors in this image are very simple, consisting of a slightly blue toned white, a grey-black and caramel beige. There are many sharp lines which cut through the image such as the separation between the wall and floor, but also the 3 sticks which prop up the fabric which gives the image some geometry and symmetry.
IMAGE 1
CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF IMAGE 2:
TECHNICAL: For this photo shoot I approached each image in the same way, setting my focus to auto as each piece of art work was fairly big and i did not focus in on small details therefore setting it to manual would be totally useless. I kept my exposure throughout the photo shoot at 400 as each large, white hall was filled with natural light, the bright white walls added to extra light bouncing into the camera. I kept it at a stable level as i wanted to prevent the images becoming overexposed. I switched on my white auto balance setting as again the white walls created problems with the colors of the art work becoming washed out and dull. I set the shutter speed 1/60 as i wanted to create very clean and crisp images that show all aspects of the art work.
VISUAL: This image overall is very busy and overwhelming with the density and contrast in shape, texture and color. Firstly there is a sharp contrast with the texture in the image, with the white, glossy floor and the ragged and varying fabric of the sculptures. Although being very different, create harmony as an image. The light hitting directly above from the image creates depth and shadow which is cast onto the floor, creating a sort of subtle reflection. The larger the shape, the more dramatic and deep the shadows become. There is a lot of repetition in this image, not only through the editing and mirroring the image, but also the varying round shapes of the sculptures that fill up the image. The small white line creating a border around the sculpture in a way breaks the harmony and separates the image from the chaos of the sculpture and the smoothness of the floor.
CONCEPTUAL: Magdalena Abakanowicz began sewing three-dimensional objects with sacking, stockings, rags and rope in the 1970s.
These cocoon-like objects reflect Abakanowicz’s interest in biological systems, organic matter and regeneration, topics she discussed with scientists in her native Poland. In response to a commission to represent Poland at the Venice Biennale in 1979, she made hundreds of soft sculptures of varying shapes and sizes, ‘rounded like bellies, or elongated like mummies,’ as she described them. Abakanowicz collected old mattresses, clothing and sacks to create this ‘invented anatomy’ of forms and installed eight hundred in Venice under the title Embryology.
CONTEXTUAL: Made at a time of political tension between the Soviet Union and Poland, Abakanowicz has said the work ‘could be understood as a cry from behind the Iron Curtain’. She had come to prominence in the 1960s with a series of large woven sculptures called Abakans. At the time, the Polish state would not allow her to buy or rent a studio, so she made them on a loom in a friend’s basement, using sisal from discarded ropes. Without a large space in which to work she would often see her pieces in their entirety for the first time only when they were installed in exhibitions.
IMAGE 2
CRITICAL ANALYSIS IMAGE 3:
TECHNICAL: For this photo shoot I attempted as much as possible to recreate Meatyard’s “zen sticks” series. I particularly focused on exposure settings, focus control, and depth of field. The photograph below was taken of a dead tree, of the branches facing upwards towards the sky. Meatyard’s images are all very dark and dramatic therefore I chose to do my photo shoot during the evening, on a stormy, grey day. I increased the exposure to 800 in order to capture the branches in a dark setting yet still have some highlights and shadows. The dark night, and mid-range ISO setting meant that the image contracted a lot of motion blur, the effect which i was aiming to get.
VISUAL: It resembles the work of Meatyard in many ways. The dark evening also meant that the resolution of the images decreased and became more grainy. The branches of the tree were also quite far up meaning i had to decrease the depth of field and zoom in, again compromising the quality of the image. The grainy texture of the image I feel adds to the overall aesthetic of Meatyard’s work: old and worn. The differences in motion blur also create a focal point in the image, with the central branch being less blurred than the outermost parts of the image. The image is also quite underexposed which further adds to the dramatic and intense tone, giving it almost a Gothic aura. There is a very apparent sense of space in the photo as the lack of branches in the top left hand corner of the image freeing up space. There is also a lack of light in this image due to both the time of day the image was taken and the lack of exposure adjustments made on the image during editing as i wanted to retain the dark theme.
CONTEXTUAL: Ralph Eugene Meatyard (1925–1972) lived in Lexington, Kentucky, where he made his living as an optician while creating an impressive and enigmatic body of photographs. Meatyard’s creative circle included mystics and poets, such as Thomas Merton and Guy Davenport, as well as the photographers Cranston Ritchie and Van Deren Coke, who were mentors and fellow members of the Lexington Camera Club. Meatyard’s work spanned many genres and experimented with new means of expression, from dreamlike portraits—often set in abandoned places—to multiple exposures, motion-blur, and other methods of photographic abstraction. He also collaborated with his friend Wendell Berry on the 1971 book The Unforeseen Wilderness, for which Meatyard contributed photographs of Kentucky’s Red River Gorge. Meatyard’s final series, The Family Album of Lucybelle Crater, are cryptic double portraits of friends and family members wearing masks and enacting symbolic dramas.
CONCEPTUAL: Meatyard stated in a lecture to the Louisville Photographic Society, he was involved in working on no fewer than 12 “methods, series, subjects.” Among them were what he called “photographs made under the influence of Zen,” shown here with the title “Zen Twigs.” While the images are very minimalist, they deal with growth and decay, is impressive, they are familiar enough to be looked over lightly. A particularly beautiful one (untitled, like much of Meatyard’s work) shows a young trunk sprouting — or seeming to sprout — a branch that curls around it in a wiry loop, the whole almost a visual haiku. The simplistic tonal range of the image is effective in portraying the theme of deterioration and degeneration. Meatyard has clearly used a very narrow field o view, with a singular branch being in focus and the rest of the backdrop is extremely blurry. The images are in a mid-range of exposure, not too overexposed or underexposed. The light grey tones from the backdrop of the photo, highlight they unsophisticated, dead branch. The upwards growth of the branches, have strong and dark lines which cut through the sea of blurriness. The image also contains various shades of white, black, and grey, all working together to create a harmonious image. The contrast between the blurry backdrop and the foreground give the image a real sense of depth and space.
I then went and got the rubber tool, adjusted the edge to what I wanted and used the ‘[‘ and ‘]’ button to change the size of the circle, and then and started to erase parts of the top layer.
