The Shoot:
As part of my project I am focusing on historical sites from WW2. I decided to visit Noirmont as there are a range of bunkers that were built during the German Occupation. Whilst taking the photos I had to adjust my white balance on my camera and experiment with different angles to capture a variety of photos and get different perspectives of the bunkers.
Edits:
The final assessment of your Coursework will be done based on evidence published on your blog. Therefore it is essential that you complete your work following the instructions below. Some of you have completed everything and just need to double check everything.
DEADLINE for final completion is Fri 3 APRIL
LINK TO ONLINE BLURB BOOK
Your final blog post should be an online link to you BLURB book with an evaluation. If you have already written an evaluation as part of another blog post on your book design then add the online link to that blog post and change the date to make sure it sits at the top.
Log into your blurb account and click on Sell my book
Click on Privacy & Sharing
Copy link circled in red above.
Make a new blog post: MY PHOTOBOOK and copy in link from Blurb into the title of your book using Link button above.
FINAL PRINTS + EVALUATION
Make sure you produced a blog post with presentation of your final prints and written an evaluation. You can either make mock examples of window mount in Photoshop or use images of your final prints mounted on foam board and/or window mounts. See example here from Nathan Healey.
FINAL ESSAY
Publish essay, complete, incl illustrations, referencing and bibliography.
PHOTOBOOK DESIGN + PROCESS
Complete blogpost showing design process and annotation using a combination of print screens and text
OTHER BLOG POSTS
If you have completed any other blogpost from the tracking sheet from previous tasks, please make sure that you back date them so they appear in the right chronology
Here is a link to my online book : You Can Never Step In The Same River Twice
Link to my book: https://www.blurb.co.uk/bookstore/invited/8585261/874c6f3a382c21c2d07f4f1a25ebdac3708af998
The above images I will be placing in my book once it arrives. I liked the tactile feel of Yoshikatsu Fujii’s book ‘Red String’ and as I wasn’t able to do the physical split, I wanted to incorporate physical pictures. I chose these images out of my personal family albums. I chose these images as the two of my parents are of when they were younger at the beginning of their relationship and the others as they were the only photos that I could find that were taken in a similar way for both my mum and dad. I wanted to use a negative as negatives are the closest you can get to the original moment. Negatives were actually in the camera at the moment they were taken.
Overall I’m happy with how my book conveys my emotions about my parents divorce. The split is clearly shown throughout putting the images of my dad upside down making it only readable for one parent at a time. I enjoy having physical photographs as it gives my book a more interactive element, as well as having to turn the book upside to see some of the photos, which i think makes it more interesting rather than having just digital flat images. I also liked including my step-dad in my book as my dad is not re-married and just defines the split between and them and how truly the relationship is over. Including my step-dad was also fun as he is a big part of my life now. I am happy with the blend of portraits, objects and various more ‘aesthetic’ styled photographs. I feel each works in synergy with each other to fortify the emotion behind the book. I enjoy the minimal editing and simple subject photographs as it doesn’t force a reader to come up with meaning, it is already there presented to them. If I was to do this again however, I would experiment with editing and montaging images more. I may also explore not only my parents, but also my entire family, so include images of my sisters and their partners, or I could compare my parents relationship with my own. My critiques of my book would be that I don’t have as many portraits of my mum as i do of my dad, and I don’t have much from their relationship other than photos. It would’ve been nice to include letters, cards or gifts etc.
Yoshikatsu Fujii, born and raised in Hiroshima City. He began photography work in Tokyo in 2006. His photographic works often deal with historical themes and memory lingering on in contemporary events. His works were exhibited at the several festivals.
Fujii’s project “Red String,” was highly inspired by his parents’ divorce, produced a hand-made limited edition photobook. Nominated for several awards, including the Paris Photo-Aperture Foundation Photobook Awards. The book has been named as one of the best photobooks of 2014 by contributors to numerous publications including TIME magazine.
Since then, in 2015 he moved back to his hometown Hiroshima from Tokyo to engage in his long-term research project called “Hiroshima Graph.” Seen through the eyes of a third generation atomic bomb victim in Hiroshima city, the photo series attempts to shed new light on the disappearing traces from the war, so as to pass it on to the future generation.
Fujii has 3 main Photographical books out of his career available to the public which are : The Red string (handmade original Edition) , Independant Strangers, The Red string Trade edition.
His project “Red String,” was highly inspired by his parents’ divorce and produced a hand-made photobook for a limited copy of 35 editions. He was nominated for several awards including the Paris Photo-Aperture Foundation Photobook Awards. The book was also selected by TIME magazine as one of the Best Photobooks of 2014. In 2015, it was part of the permanent collection at The Museum of Modern Art in New York Library and the New York and Italy based publisher Ceiba foto printed a trade edition in 2016.
Yoshikatsu Fujii wrote about his book and his work and the reasons behind it this is what he said: “I received a text message. “Today, our divorce was finalized.” The message from my mother was written simply, even though she usually sends me messages with many pictures and symbols.I remember that I didn’t feel any particular emotion, except that the time had come. Because my parents continued to live apart in the same house for a long time, their relationship gently came to an end over the years. It was no wonder that a draft blowing between the two could completely break the family at any time.In Japan, legend has it that a man and woman who are predestined to meet have been tied at the little finger by an invisible red string since the time they were born.Unfortunately, the red string tying my parents together came undone, broke, or perhaps was never even tied to begin with. But if the two had never met, I would never have been born into this world. If anything, you might say that there is an unbreakable red string of fate between parent and child.Before long, I found myself thinking about the relationship between my parents and I. How many days could I see my parents living far away? What if I couldn’t see them anymore? Since I couldn’t help feeling extremely anxious about it, I was driven to visit my parents’ house many times.Every day I engage in awkward conversation with my parents, as if in a scene in their daily lives. I adapt myself to them, and they shift their attitude toward me. We do not give way entirely to the other side, but rather meet halfway.
Indeed family problems remain unresolved, although sometimes we tell allegorical stories and share feelings. It means a lot to us that our perspectives have changed with communication.My family will probably never be all together again. But I feel without a doubt that there is proof inside of each of us that we once lived together. To ensure that the red string that ties my family together does not come undone, I want to reel it in and tie it tight.”
The first time that we open Red String, we are confronted with two snapshots. On the left, a young father, sitting on a concrete embankment by the water, gives us an inquisitive look while holding what appears to be his newborn child. On the right, a smiling mother, sitting on the same embankment by the same body of water, holding the same child.
As the snapshot aesthetic hints, these are memories. A glimpse into the past, when things were whole. But even at that early moment, the separation was evident. Already the mother and father were apart and the baby split between them.
What follows on the inside of this wonderfully constructed artist’s book is a reconstructed journal of this separation. An attempt to make whole that which was (and remains) broken. Flipping through the two sections simultaneously, we see fragments of that which was: wedding portraits, family photos, snapshots from youth
and so on. In the words of the artist, Yoshikatsu Fujii, “My family will probably never meet all together again. But I can feel without a doubt that there is still proof inside each of us that we once lived together.”
As Fujii explains in the text at the back of the book, there is a Japanese legend that says predestined lovers are tied together by an invisible piece of red string, from the moment they are born. While that red string between his mother and father was apparently sundered, Fujii offers his Red String as a way to bind these losses back together.
Thus, the structure and layout of the book, combined with the fascinating mix of photos (old, new, black and white, color, abstract) blend together perfectly, offering an intimate artistic experience. It is exactly the kind of experience that is the unique province of this ever-changing, but loosely bound together thing we call the photobook.
I started my book off buy putting in my archive images and seeing what sort of lay out I liked such a full bleed images on the page or Images not touching the edges of the pages at all.
I chose to experiment with the modify page settings in blurb looking at how the different images fit to the bage on the different settings and experimenting to see what I think is best. When making the book I just did a lot of experimentation because then I felt that that wasn’t the best way to find out what I liked and what I didnt like.
When looking at which photos I wanted to put into my book I could go back the the library page click on the icon with lots of little boxes and see all the different images in relation to each other. This is useful to see what images I have and have not Edited and which ones still need to be edited and which ones are not being used.
when editing images that are light in lightroom I often change the background colour to black from white so the image is easier to see and when editing I can see the changes really well so I can tell when to finish editing my images. I change this in the library seeing and then bring the image over to develop.
When editing this image I changed it to B&W and cropped it into two seperate images. I did this thinking that it could make a two page spread in my book which I thought could look really good and be visually intriguing than the image as a whole in colour and not cropped.
Again I did the same with this image in B&W because I though it looked more effective. My thought process for putting it in the book is ether to have it on a double page spread or have one half at the start of the book and the other half at the end of the book.
When developing and editing the images In lightroom I found the sharpening tool really useful It gives some of my archive images that are slightly out of focus a crisper and cleaner look and also the highlights and shadows sliders I alway use to alter the images.
These are all images after surgery taken by me or someone else centered around hospital and images of me wearing my spinal brace after surgery. These images show how my operation has lead to further health complications but I have managed to stay positive through it all laughing and joking. Trying not to take the serious and sinister side of the reality of my health conditions.
Having to wear a spinal brace over my clothes was a struggle for me because it meant I gained a lot of unwanted attention both negative and positive. Thinking back on it all I depth well with it all not letting it bet me down because it was not a prementat implication I had to live with for the rest of my life it was just for 6 months. I had the attitude of after that I would be completely fine.
I have a lot of images from when I was taken back when my legs were paralyzed for 12 hours and I had to get admitted to hospital this is the morning after when my legs came back and the doctors kept me in to do lots of tests.
Also I thought I could use images of documents when I am in hospital such as medical records, food menus, tablet dosage time tables. These I feel can give interesting breaks in my photography and also help to guide where I want the story of my photobook to go.
This image I feel is to obvious for the story that I am wanting to tell it has no room for personal interpretation or talking point. I feel like i will most likely not use this image in my final photo book.
When I hospital I have to try make it all lighthearted so I don’t end up worrying about the underlying issues of what is actually going to happen. So my mum will often take photos of me un ugly hospital gowns and slippers to make it funny.
When I am in hospital I have a huge support network of friend and family how try there best to entertain me and keep me happy. I always like to document and take photos when I am in Hospital because it shows my journey of how far I have come and how far I have still got to go. I use images as a way to monitor when I am in and out of hospital.
From this shoot I did I put these images into lightroom classic CC to eddit. I originally put these in a specific document folder on my mac and then go back in and import this file into lightroom where I can begin the editing process.
All the images with little white flags above them are images that I want to keep. I have decided to keep these images because I have liked the way they turned out. These will be due to factor such as them being in focus, the image chaving contrast, The images portraying a message also things such as the IOS and WB being right also the shutter speed but these were things i adjusted when I was taking the photos.
When in lightroom I just the letters x and p on my keyboard to keep and discard my images. Images that are not infocus or I don’t like the look of will be discarded so I don’t spend time editing photos that I don’t actually want to use in my final outcomes. This for me if the most efficient first step to editing.
There is this really useful tool that I found when editing within lightroom and it’s the split screen where it shows the original image that I started off with compared to my eddied one. I have found this really helpful when editing because often I over edit images and the can not look at as successful as the original. So with this tool I can make sure I am not overdedditing photos and making the most effective outcomes.
I chose to put the images into black and white because I felt that they were more effective in black&white because I want the images in my book to be in mainly in that style because I feel black and white will tell my story better. I think I want the first and last images in my book to be in color and the last because i feel it will act like a sandwich and tie up the story.
I experimented keeping one in colors and trying to blow out the background so there are less shadows. Making the background brighter and the colors within the image more intense. I liked this photo because the images are more intense.
Also I was experimenting with the cat having his clothes on and off whether it made a difference to the feel of the image or the overall appearance of the final outcome. I feel that image looks better in black and white rather than colour. I need to edit the background shadow to get rid of it so the image look seamless.
This image I chose to keep the shadows in because I like the reflection of the cats face in the cats face in the still life table, so when editing I made this shadow more intense adjusting highlights and shadows.
This is the set up I used to create the cat still life images. I used the curved acrylic still life table this table is amazing for shooting still life because there are no breaks in the curves or edges where I would be photographing that would show up. This intern makes the editing process easier for me because then I don’t have to photoshop these lines ad match up the foreground to the background which takes time.
There unfortunately a crack in the still life table because someone lent on it but this doesn’t affect my photos because I am photographing above to crack meaning the table is still seamless.
I set my camera to be straight on to the cat so I get a profile image and I feel like a profile image is more striking. Also I wanted to get the cat looking straight down the lense so it feels like the viewer has more connection with the photo because direct eye contact is shown to make people feel more connected to photos and it gives them more content to the image, they can also design their own story behind why the image was taken.
I used a timer button to take my photos to make sure then I am looking through the lens that i wouldn’t create a shadow effect the image so by using a timer button I can step back once I have got it all in focus and this also means there is not chance of me knocking the camera once I have focused it or so I don’t change the position of the tripod at all the the image is still straight on.
The lights settings were put up to both there maxes the yellow dial changes it from white light to yellow light and because I wanted the max contrast between the black and white. I turned the dial up to white on the max so this blasted out any shadows present and ment there was more contrast between the cat and that background. Also there is another dial that controls how much light the lights are producing e.g how dim the light is. When looking at dimness of light, the dinner the light the more shadows are cast. I don’t want shadows in my images so I will have the dial controlling dimness at max on the back.
The lights have to be adjusted so that on camera there looks like there is the most minimal shadow possible. I do this by moving the light slightly taking a picture and then judging off that and how it looks.
I found that angeling the front light straight on to the cat and having the back light slightly turned away from the cat was the best way. On this image there still doses look like there are shadows which there are but when photographed on camera these look alot more minimal.
I used a 50mill lens when photographing the cat also adjusting the focal ring accordingly and had to re adjust the settings on the camera every time I moved the lights adjusting the ios and the white balance. I kept it to a high shutter speed to make sure the images were in focus and the distinctive black and white comparison could be photographed.
I have decided to use Mike Kelley as inspiration for this shoot especially his set off work – Ahh… Youth!
When planning my next shoot for my project I chose to look at my favourite toy that I have had since the day I was born. This cat comes everywhere with me on holiday to important event. It is a sign of luck for for me and security and has been always since I was little. He sleeps in my bed every night when I don’t have him there I feel worried very often and can’t calm myself down in a uncomfortable situation. When I decided to go ahead with my spinal surgery I knew that I needed to take my cat with me because otherwise i would feel lost without him.
Plan for my shoot is to look at my cat on a completely plain background so the focal point is just on my toy and nothing else. I have chosen to do this rather than photograph my cat in my bed or a place where he normally remains because I wanted to show him in a still life situation. I wanted to do this because i felt a background could take away form the actual focus of the image. I just want to show the toy and how many people have this same experience with toys.
Actuall plan for the photo shoot: Go down to the studio and set up the still life tabel with the lights. Also set up the tripod for my camera so my images are still and in focus. I am going to set up two lights either side to block out the shadow caused by the teddy meaning the foreground and background are seamless so the focal point will soaly be on the cat. The background of the image will be white because that is the color of the still life table. I think this color will work really well with the cat because it is black and will contrast the background making the image stronger and will give it more depth because of the strong contrast. Also my teddy where’s costs so experimenting with him having them on and off and him in different positions and then put all the images into lightroom classic cc and see which images i keep and which images i will discard, to then take on to the editing process.