I chose the three final images because I felt they best recreated the painting and gave it some additional depth also. I took some images that were not in the exact same position as the painting but that were of the same scene, just from different angles.
I took the pictures outside to mirror the setting of the painting, and I also dressed the two people in the colours that the two figures in the painting are wearing, but the actual clothing itself is modern to represent how I am giving the painting a modern twist. I had “Narcissus” look into her phone instead of a pond to reflect how technology can be argued to be making people more self-obsessed and vain, much like looking into your own reflection constantly. I also gender-swapped the roles for an additional modern twist.
Tableu Vivant, french for living picture, describes a still image that shows a scene of one or more subjects. It combines the aspects of visual arts and theatre, with them carefully posed, usually in costume, with a constructed scenery and theatrical lighting. Tableu paintings were first used in the eighteenth century, with a natural effect that also expressed a scene of drama.
Staging photographs allow for an amount of control over the image, in the same way that a painting is precisely created for only what the artist wants the audience to view
The Dining Room (Francis Place) 1997 Sarah Jones
Rather then capturing spontaneity, artists stage their images with specific details planned out. This allows them to create events, environments and emotions in the image. This means that as well as the photographer, artist also become directors, with stage and costume design.
Tableu photography uses symbolism by exploring key themes such as sexism, feminism, isolation, gender roles, equality, political statements, power, status and environmental issues through staging scenes with props, costumes and backgrounds; allowing the build up of a storyline to the viewer that gives the image an entire concept.
Street photography is a sub-genre of photojournalism and similar to candid photography. It features direct, chance encounters and random incidents within public places. The portraits are taken without permission and without knowledge of your subjects
Street photographers convey their personal perception of the world. Aiming to arouse and array of emotions, associations, feelings and memories
Another purpose is to portray certain social cultures in their essence. It’s a way to document the societal norms of the world and the trends of that current time.
Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French photographer. He was a humanist photographer, meaning he emphasised the value and agency of human beings. He was considered a master of candid photography.
He lived through world war two, having been taken prisoner by the germans in 1940 and after two failed attempts he successfully escaped on his third attempt in 1943. Bresson later travelled world-wide during his photography career, to places like the USA, India and China.
Bressons images helped to establish photojournalism as an art form through his images – The decisive moment is a book and a concept created by Bresson, containing his greatset work and referring to capturing an event that’s fleeting and spontaneous, where the image represents the essence of the event itself.
Photoshoot
Best images from the shoot
Editing Process
Edit 1
Increasing vibrance before converting to Black and white
Conversion to black and white
Increasing contrast
Having spontaneously taken this photo from afar I was unable to zoom any further. Using Photoshop I was able to bring the subject into focus. The conversion of black and white was inspired from Cartier-Bresson’s work and allowed me to eliminate the distracting and garish colours of the subject’s surroundings.
Edit 2
conversion to black and white
cropped- final outcome.
Using natural lighting aimed to make the main focus on the foreground and subject within it. Reasoning being as they’d been wearing unusual clothing, not typical of the general population in Jersey, as well as their phone, which is additionally atypical of the current society, who rely on high tech devices such as iPhones or Androids.
Artificial stringed lights from the coffee shop and background of the image imply that it was taken during a holiday season. This information is juxtaposed by the facial expressions and body language of the subjects. Having experiment with a black and white filter, I settled in using the coloured version as it allowed for the two individuals to stand out more than they would have with the filter. Decreasing shadows by 4% and increasing the highlights within the image by 12% created a more vibrant image.
Cropping this image aided bringing the subject into the foreground. Converting the image to black and white created a product resembling the work of Cartier-Bresson with ‘The decisive moment’.
Evaluation
This project proved to be difficult as I aimed to capture people unaware but walking around with a camera is the least inconspicuous way of going about it, especially considering I didn’t want to invade their privacy. To avoid this exploitation I made sure all ,my images were taken in public spaces where it’s expected to be watched.
However, many of my subjects had been so caught up in their own lives that it wasn’t difficult to get an image of them. The project itself really enlightened me to the skill that’s required to take well crafted street images, additionally helping me to build confidence as a photographer.
Using Cartier-Bresson as inspiration, I took many images spontaneously, trying the capture the subjects as they get on with their lives. Other images, however, were taken when the individual was static.
Street photography, which is sometimes called candid photography, is mainly about capturing random incidents and unmediated encounters in public places. It is often seen as a way of observing the streets.
Here, Street Photography tends to focus on peoples behaviours in public, therefore seen as a way of documenting how society behaved in that time period.Many people such as photojournalists and social documentary photographer, work in a similar way to street photographers, here they all try and capture news worthy events where people are visibly in the public domain. There have been many problems with ethics over the years, over consent and laws of privacy which can be difficult for people trying to take pictures in the streets.
Street photography dates back the the original invention of photography itself, in the early 20th century. Here the first few were taken in the street, showing that street photography started at the same time.
Many people are scared of the idea of street photography due to the fear of being “caught”, here many people suggest using heavily populated zones and cities as then people are more aware that their photo might be taken. After a while of staying in that spot photographers tend to feel more confident and get better shots.
Well known photographers tend top try and shown the emotion and thought process that that person mkay be going through in that particular moment. Here this can be shown though the facial expression of even just the eyes.
