Coursework (Component 1) will account for 60% of the grade
The Personal Study (critical essay) will account for 12% of Component 1
The theme for this year is “Home”
There will be Externally Set Assignment in Spring 2024
Coursework Deadlines
Fri 9 Oct –
Wed 11 Nov –
Fri 29 Jan (2023) –
Wed 11 Feb (2023) –
Controlled Conditions Schedule
January 23rd / 24th / 25th May 24th / 25th / 26th July 11th, Tues 12th, Wed 13th
Throughout the course we will endeavour to track and monitor your progress, and feedback the information in meaningful 1-1 sessions, email updates and comments on each student’s blog. Over time, we have found this system to be progressive and a valuable process in enhancing each student’s awareness of their development in the subject.
We would urge each student (and parent) to ensure that 2-5 hours per week is spent on INDEPENDENT STUDY, and aim for 2-3 blog posts to be submitted each week. We have regular assessments to complete and want to reflect each students progress as accurately as possible!
COURSEWORK: Some of you need to update/ improve aspects of your Coursework. You must make sure to get this done too ASAP –
We CANNOT complete your mark and current grade if you have not submitted all of your coursework so far.
Here is a list of the main items that must be on the blog
Final Essay with illustrations and bibliography
Photobook with final layout and an evaluation
Film embedded into blog from Youtube/ Streams with an evaluation
Any supporting blog posts that show the process of designing photobook with screen shots in Lightroom / editing film in Premiere with screen shots
Any other missing work as per your Go4 Schools tracking sheet
You will be shown how to make a hyperlink to page browser for your Blurb photobook.
You must ensure that course-work to be done outside lesson time. The week commencing Monday 29th March we will conducting 1-2-1 critiques with you about your project.
HOW TO MAKE A 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: LINK TO MY PHOTOBOOK and copy in link from Blurb into the title of your book using Link button above.
Studying photography enhances your creative, social and cultural understanding, while developing your specialist technical knowledge around equipment, techniques and style
Remember that many employers accept applications from graduates with any degree subject, so don’t restrict your thinking to the jobs listed here.
Work experience
You’ll need a portfolio of your work to demonstrate your ability and style. You can develop this through work experience or volunteering, as well as getting involved in university projects, local competitions and final year degree shows.
Degree courses may provide opportunities for you to get work experience through placements and to undertake live briefs. Use these experiences to build up a network of contacts that can be helpful for finding work. Attending industry talks can also provide access to contacts.
You may be able to find relevant opportunities in image archiving, print services, framing services and photo developing centres within pharmacies, supermarkets and department stores.
Interpersonal skills are critical for photography careers, so any experience which promotes customer service skills will be useful, as is experience at events, particularly social ones, where you can observe structure and organisation and practise your photography skills.
There are many online courses and tutorials available which could help you to develop skills in photo editing and image processing.
Relevant employers can depend on your specialist area, which may cover:
architectural
commercial advertising
documentary
fashion
fine arts
landscape
portrait
press
scientific and medical
sports
wildlife.
Employers include:
media organisations such as newspapers, magazines, film and television
publishing companies
wedding photographers or high street photography companies
advertising agencies
design companies
large organisations such as universities, hospitals or airports
cruise liners, holiday and leisure companies and theme parks
the police – for ‘scene of the crime’ photography
A large number of photographers are self-employed and work in a freelance capacity.
It’s also possible to use your creative skills in related areas such as marketing and digital marketing, advertising, web design, graphic design, publishing and curating, where opportunities exist with a range of businesses and consultancies. Teaching is another option for photography graduates.
Studying photography provides you with expertise in sophisticated photography techniques, such as composition, manipulation, editing, processing, colouring and visual effects, as well as practical skills in relevant technologies.
You learn how to curate and exhibit your photography and develop the marketing skills needed to sell and promote it. You also learn about the key legal, ethical and cultural issues around taking, editing and selling photographic images.
The course also allows you to gain confidence in relationship building between image maker, subject and client.
In addition, you acquire a range of skills that are highly valued by employers. These include:
critical, analytical and practical problem solving
risk taking and making use of failure
rigorous self-evaluation and critical reflection
organising, planning and time management
working independently and in collaboration
presentation
project management
literacy and communication through technical descriptions, reports, essays and a dissertation.
Further study
There are a range of photography-related postgraduate courses available both in the UK and internationally. These courses may help develop the skills you need for self-employment, or improve employability in what is a very competitive field.
Some courses focus learning into a specific area of photography, such as clinical photography or photojournalism, while others offer a more in-depth look at photography generally.
Other areas of postgraduate research, study and training commonly taken up by photography graduates include advertising, design, film, editing, journalism, teaching and creative enterprise.
Over a third of graduates working in the UK six months after graduation are working as photographers or audio-visual and broadcasting equipment operators.
This induction task is designed for students who wish to study A Level Photography. The aim of this task is to ensure that the students who have chosen this option both understand the requirements of the course and start as early as possible in their journey towards completing it to a high level. The work you produce in this Induction Task will be used to stimulate a group discussion during the first session as well as form the beginning of Component 1 (coursework) in your 2 year A Level Photography course.
You can explore all / any of the genres below to express your unique ideas…
Abstract — try close ups and alternative viewpoints and extreme cropping
Landscape / Architectural — try inside or outside
Portrait photography — try people / people in places
Still Life and Objects — try interesting lighting and sharp focus
Show how you can observe, interpret, define and most importantly photograph signs of …
“LIFE AFTER LOCKDOWN“
…influenced by the COVID-19 / Global Pandemic
Bruno Taveira took this photo in Cascais, Portugal. Of the photo he wrote, “Many people turn to supermarkets to buy essential goods, after the Portuguese government decreed a state of emergency.” Credit: Bruno Taveira/Public Source
You may want to explore visual aspects, or subtle and nuanced ways of photography various forms of
freedom, liberation, captivity, isolation, loneliness, care, health, separation, mental health, well-being, environmental impact, recovery, family, community, communication, social distancing, before and after etc
…that have an emotional or personal edge. There are many possibilities…some more obvious than others. You may want to compare and contrast these aspects of how our lives have been forced to change in the last few months…
You should / could start by photographing some of the following suggestions… and of course, you may already have some of theseimages so add them to your project
Research your own chosen photographer, who is he/she, what type of photography, what does it say to you?
Analyse his/her work, style, technique, meaning – aim to show knowledge and understanding
Respond – at least 3 different shoots that show development of your ideas and style as well as your understanding of abstract / portrait / landscape photography
Edit – make a first selection and cut down the three shoots to the best ten images, and justify your selection in annotation and explanations / captions.
Experiment – work on cropping / adjustments of brightness/ contrast/ colour correction and show further Photoshop / editing techniques if you can
Evaluate – describe process of experimentation and reflect on learning etc.
Present – put all work together in a digital format such as Powerpoint / Word
Select your favourite outcome, print out as an A4 image if you can and explain why you have chosen it in your final evaluation (at least 200-300 words.)
Vivian MaierTimothy ArchibaldRichard Koening John Stezaker…before and afterKensuke KoikeMartha RosslerStudent ExampleStudent ExampleStudent Example
What do his / her photographs say to you?
Look at composition and its visual elements e.g. line, form, shape, colour, tone, contrast, texture, depth, balance, space, perspective, viewpoint, foreground/ mid-ground/ background, rule of thirds. Look at the use of lighting e.g. natural lighting; sunlight, overcast, soft, harsh, directional, contrast and artificial lighting: studio, flash, spotlight, side-light, backlight, reflected light, shadows, chiaroscuro (light / darkness).
Use photographic language as above in your annotation and consider the artistic merits :
Technical
, Visual , Conceptual and Contextual elements
Write a short introduction about the work of your chosen photographer and the nature of their work
Issues to consider:
His / her attitude to photography and the advantages / disadvantages of the camera as a way of “seeing”
Are we looking at fact or fiction (or a hybrid of both?)
The ways in which your chosen photographer explored the formal elements in his / her work e.g. form, light, rhythm, line, texture, repetition etc.
Planning: Once you have spent
time evaluating the work of your chosen photographer, plan a shoot using the
same techniques and mindset.
You must: Produce a mind map showing your thought process and with breadth of thinking, and a mood board (collage of images) to illustrate the look and feel of your project.
Recording: After planning your
idea, gather together what you need. When you take pictures try and think about
everything that you see in the frame – what’s in the foreground, mid-ground, background. To achieve this you must think about composing your picture (use your
zoom lens and/or distancing yourself from subject/object), focussing (sharp,
soft focus), use creative exposure tools on camera like fast/slow shutter speed
to either freeze or blur a sense of movement, different aperture settings to
control the area of focus and sharpness in your picture. E.g. a high aperture setting like f5.6 will make the background soft and
out of focus whereas an aperture of f16
will make everything in the picture sharp from foreground to background. Also
by zooming in or using a telephoto lens you can throw the background out of
focus, or conversely if using a wide-angle everything in the frame will be in
focus. Crop
your images carefully.
Editing: Editing is one of the most important aspects of photographic practice so be critical and selective when you choose your final selection of 5 images and then your best photograph. Think about sequence and relation between images – does your series of images convey a sense of narrative (story) or are they repetitious? Sometimes less is more!
You Must: Gather your images and select your final selection approx 5-10 images, describe each of the images, artistically and share your thoughts on what why you took and then selected the image.
You should: Show your ability to correct or adjust the images using image manipulation software, such as Photoshop, consider the cropping, adjust levels, contrast, colour correction, B/W and balance of the image.
You could: Use Photoshop to enhance your creativity and expand on the possibilities that photography gives you, include screen grabs to illustrate the techniques you have used.
Presentation: Think about how you present your work in terms of layout, scale, colour and perspective. A Powerpoint presentation is ideal for this and allows you to change and adjust your work easily.
The presentation of your photographs is just as important as your photographic images themselves. Consistency of layout throughout is paramount and try to make your work personal.
You must: Gather all of your work and present it in a logical and aesthetic manner…
A grid format could work well for this exercise
You should: Produce an individual and comprehensive response to both your chosen artist and the inspirations that the artist has given you.
Create DIPTYCHS
Evaluation: Reflect, contrast and compare the images and ideas that you have taken and make an account of how you made the photos, development of idea and what you were trying to achieve and communicate. This can be done throughout your layout as annotation or at the end as part of your final evaluation. Finally, choose your favourite image and present this separately from your series of images. Accompany this with a brief written analysis (250-500 words) explaining in some detail what it is that you think works well about this image.
Make sure you bring with you: all of your work including your best A4 printed image for your first photography lesson in September 2020.
An over-crowded British beach — summer of 2020 — social distancingMartin Parr
Studying photography enhances your creative, social and cultural understanding, while developing your specialist technical knowledge around equipment, techniques and style
Studying photography provides you with expertise in sophisticated photography techniques, such as composition, manipulation, editing, processing, colouring and visual effects, as well as practical skills in relevant technologies.
You learn how to curate and exhibit your photography and develop the marketing skills needed to sell and promote it. You also learn about the key legal, ethical and cultural issues around taking, editing and selling photographic images.
The courses also allow you to gain confidence in relationship building between image maker, subject and client.
In addition, you acquire a range of skills that are highly valued by employers. These include:
critical, analytical and practical problem solving
risk taking and making use of failure
rigorous self-evaluation and critical reflection
organising, planning and time management
working independently and in collaboration
presentation
project management
literacy and communication through technical descriptions, reports, essays and a dissertation.
Talk
Mr Cole and Mr Toft are more than happy to discuss ideas and future plans with you at any time. Hopefully, we will be able to invite experts from a range of backgrounds to help and show you ways into the creative areas and how to push your career ambitions onto the next level this year!
Also…Mr McKinlay co-ordinates Creative Pathways and can arrange focused placements and internships for you, so have a look here and see what you think…
Task 1. An introduction to exploring Formal Elements and Principles of Design
The idea is to use whatever equipment you have available (I have used iPods and the Hipstamatic app which generates a square frame) and go on a Photo Safari. Use the activity sheet that identifies a range of compositions in the form of simple patterns, shapes and lines. Your job is to search for photographic subjects that correspond as closely as possible to the diagrams.
The Formal Elements in photography The formal elements in photography are slightly different to those you may have encountered in art and design. There is no definitive list but this is the one we tend to use:
Focus: Which areas appear clearest or sharpest in the photograph? Which do not? Light: Which areas of the photograph are brightest? Are there any shadows? Does the photograph allow you to guess the time of day? Is the light natural or artificial? Harsh or soft? Reflected or direct? Line: Are there objects in the photograph that act as lines? Are they straight, curvy, thin, thick? Do the lines create direction in the photograph? Do they outline? Do the lines show movement or energy? Repetition: Are there any objects, shapes or lines which repeat and create a pattern? Shape: Do you see geometric (straight edged) or organic (curvy) shapes? Which are they? Form: How are three dimensional objects represented? Do they appear flattened? Do they cast a shadow? How do they relate to the space in the image? Space: Is there depth to the photograph or does it seem shallow? What creates this appearance? Are there important negative (empty) spaces in addition to positive (solid) spaces? Is there depth created by spatial illusions i.e. perspective? Texture: If you could touch the surface of the photograph how would it feel? How do the objects in the picture look like they would feel? Tone (Value): Is there a range of tones from dark to light? Where is the darkest value? Where is the lightest?
Once YOU have gathered your images they can be uploaded to a powerpoint or similar or printed as a contact sheet and annotated. Aim to answer each of the questions above.
Useful discussions can then be had about how closely you managed to match the photographs with the drawings in the diagram. Further discussions can focus on the ways in which your images refer to one or more of the formal elements or principles of design.
The essence of this activity is to encourage you to look at THE FORMAL ELEMENTS purposefully and carefully frame their shots, paying close attention to the edges in your viewfinders.
Look at Albert Renger-Patzsch (below) for ideas : Albert Renger-Patzsch
German photographer Albert Renger-Patzsch was a pioneering figure in the New Objectivity movement, which sought to engage with the world as clearly and precisely as possible.
In 1928 Renger-Patzsch published The World is Beautiful, a collection of one hundred photographs whose rigorous sensitivity to form revealed patterns of beauty and order in the natural and man-made alike. Embodying a new, distinctly modern way of looking at the world, the book established Renger-Patzsch as one of the most influential photographers of the twentieth century.
Task 2. The Age of The Image
The links below will take you to Episodes 1-4 of a recent documentary that helps to explain how and why images are so vital to the way we understand the world.
Please watch 1 episode per week…and write a summary of key findings in your powerpoint with specific examples to show knowledge and understanding.
You will need to make a BBC account to access these links…it is easy and free!
This mini-project is designed to help you explore some creative, and hopefully, playful aspects of image-making. During this period of lockdown you will be required to respond to quite ordinary things around you that can take on another life with some thought and ingenuity.
“Abstract art is art that does not attempt to represent an accurate depiction of a visual reality but instead use shapes, colours, forms and gestural marks to achieve its effect “
History and Theory : Key Artists to research and include…
Compare and contrast your work to your artist reference(AO1)
Evaluation and Critique (AO1+AO4)
What to do…
aim to tackle each of the TASKS below
for each TASK choose a photographer to focus on and develop a set of creative responses that are inspired by your chosen artist
create a set of blog posts that show your knowledge of abstract photography and how a sensitive understanding of the formal elements are key to creating interesting / provocative / successful images
remember to go through the process (above) thoroughly and sequence your blog posts correctly
publish 2-3 blog posts per week, take plenty of photographs and submit the entire project by the end of May !
Task 1: the formal elements
The Formal Elements can be extended to include : patterns, texture, symmetry, asymmetry, depth of field, lines, curves, contrast, color, viewpoint, depth, negative space, filled space, foreground, background, visual tension, shapes.
Task 2 : white paper
James Welling Although these images, entitled ‘Abstract Photographs‘ resemble sheets of paper they are, in fact, made from filo (phyllo) pastry dough. The artist explains: “A lot of my work is intuitive and comes from just trying different things. With the money from the sale of my first aluminum foil photograph, I bought a wooden 8-by-10 camera and started photographing draped cloth. At the same time I was also photographing crumpled shards of dry phyllo dough. Without much premeditation, I combined the two, and sprinkled dough on the draped cloth. Against the dark fabric, the dough suggested, perhaps, torn book pages from the diary I’d photographed, or geological debris fallen from above.” Welling has also experimented with other unlikely materials such as tinfoil, gelatin and ceramic tiles.
Brendan Austin Brendan Austin creates imaginary landscapes out of crumpled pieces of paper. He calls them ‘Paper Mountains‘. Austin examines what we mean by nature and the way humans have impacted upon it. “The isolated desert city running on oil generators, the mars like landscapes of a volcanic environment and the mountains made from paper all attempt to start a conversation concerning the loss of meaning and reality.” The resulting images appear both recognisable as landscapes but also suggest a sense of artifice. Humble materials are made to carry an important message.
Task 3 : texture and surface
Task 4: subtleties and nuances
Task 5 : shape, colour and mimimalism
Extension 1 / Other Suggestions
Stephen Gill is a contemporary photographer who uses his camera to investigate his environment, often in imaginative ways, most notably in his home district of Hackney, East London. His book A Series of Disappointments is a collection of folded and discarded betting slips gathered and photographed against a plain grey background. The title of each photo is taken from the betting details found after performing unfolding “autopsies” – these include the race time, a name or trap number, and the money at stake. For example the first image on the left is titled 12.27 Trap 2 £50 to win. These accompanying details become additional categories within the work. The forms themselves might be considered as involuntary sculptures, most likely to have been manipulated as races were lost; individual expressions of fading hopes.
Ray Metzker ‘Pictus Interruptus’
Metzker is known for his unconventional street photographs. More abstract than either Cartier-Bresson and Meyerowitz, Metzker exploits and exaggerates the properties of still photography – odd framing, multiple exposures, deep contrast, and, in this series, the interruption of various objects placed between the lens and the ‘subject’. Metzker seems to want to deliberately disorientate the viewer and question the indexical relationship between photography and the world.
It becomes clearer…that I am looking for the unknown which in fact disturbs, is foreign in subject but hauntingly right for the picture, the workings of which seem inexplicable, at the very least, a surprise. — Ray Metzker
Good luck, have fun and remember…these tasks are the next set of links to the A2 Photography course and will be an important part of your 2 Year Linear Coursework Portfolio!!!
For the weeks leading up to the AS PHOTOGRAPHY MOCK EXAM at the end of January 2020 you will need to refer to this resource pack
“SELF -PORTRAIT and IDENTITY JAC PDF”
(to find it just copy and paste the link below into the top bar of the folder icon on your screen)
M:\Departments\Photography\Students\Resources\Portraiture\TO DO
We have included a mini-unit to help you explore opportunities with self portraiture in photography as this may become essential to your project outcomes. We will spend 1 x lesson looking closely at this and discussing ideas for you…
Remember…your stimulus for the month of January is…
define “identity” and explain how identity can be influenced by “place”, or belonging, your environment or upbringing /gender identity / cultural identity / social identity / geographical identity /political identity lack of / loss of identity
Add a mindmap and moodboard of ideas and trigger points
Choose a range of photographers that you feel explore identity as a theme and create at least 1 x CASE STUDY on a chosen artist (that will have an influence on your final outcomes re : MOCK EXAM)
Organise and carry out your photo-shoots !!! You MUST complete a minimum of 2 PHOTO-SHOOTS in readiness for the mock exam itself
Decide whether or not YOU will become a feature of your work…will you point the camera at yourself? (how important is self-portrait to “identity”?)
Show your experiments and outcomes as a response to chosen artists over the next few weeks…and begin to plan how to finalise and display your ideas.
Some suggestions for you to look at…
Carole Benitah…memories of childhood, loss and belonging
Jessa Fairbrother…mother and daughter relationship
Phillip Toledano…loss, death, memory, grief
Laia Abril…loss and memory, eating disorders and body image
Diana Markosian…cultural, geographical and political identity
Rita Puig Serra Da Costa…death, grief, loss and family identity
Yoshikatsu fuji…relationship breakdown
Nancy Borowick…relationships and support
Julian Germain… people as individuals vs community
Remember…1 image is a statement, 2 images asks a question
The daily grind can be a test of endurance. In Tokyo Compression, Michael Wolf recorded the extreme discomfort of Japanese commuters pressed up against windows dripping with condensation on their journeys to and from work.
In Harlem Trolley Bus, Robert Frank showed the divisions within American society in the mid-20th century. Dryden Goodwin took pictures of exhausted travellers on London night buses and wove a protective cocoon of blood capillaries around them.
Two-Frame / Diptych Arrangements
Connections with film making…
The idea for this project comes from Luke Fowler‘s series of half-frame photographs recently published in the book ‘Two-Frame Films‘. The project is intended to encourage students to concentrate on the editorial aspect of photography, the selection and juxtaposition of photographic images and how this might affect the ways in which a viewer engages with the work. Fowler is better known for his work in film but has used a half-frame camera as part of his practice. This work explores the relationship between two juxtaposed images. A half frame camera exposes two shots on each 35mm frame. A roll of 36 exposures therefore produces 72 images in pairs. The resulting diptychs are still images but reference the theory of montage, first articulated by Russian film makers in the 1920s, specifically Sergei Eisenstein
An example of two frames from Sergei Eisenstein’s film ‘Battleship Potemkin’, 1925
Triptych (3 frame)
Picture Story Layouts
Circular Aperture / alternative framing
Diorama / pop-out book layout
Using projectors / clear acetate and transparencies
Making a Virtual Gallery in Photoshop
Download an empty gallery file…then insert your images and palce them on the walls. Adjust the persepctive, size and shape using CTRL T (free transform) You can also add things like a drop shadow to make the image look more realistic…
Mock Exam : Essentials
Remember to label each JPEG in the print folder with your name
Minimum 1 x file per A3. A4, A5
Ensure that your final images are a direct response to your chosen photographer (s) and show a clear visual link
A tableau vivant (often shortened to tableau, plural: tableaux vivants), French for ‘living picture’, is a static scene containing one or more actors or models. They are stationary and silent, usually in costume, carefully posed, with props and/or scenery, and may be theatrically lit.
Tableau Ideas and Starting points
re-create or re-enact an existing story-based photograph or painting
You could …illustrate a poem, story, song lyrics, fable, moral, mythology, legend, dream or historical event
You could portray…one or more of The Ten Commandments
You could elaborate on…one or more of The Seven Deadly Sins
Tableau Photography is staged. Think of it like theatre.
Tableau Photography is dependent on a defined NARRATIVE, theme or storyline
Blog Post 1 / TASK 1 .(extend and complete for homework)
Define and present examples of Tableau Vivants
You must develop and PLAN a story / part of a story that involves at least 1 x character
You must bse your idea on careful planning and RESEARCH — look at other artists for influence.
You could / should explore gender roles, masculinity, forms of social commentary, sexism, feminism, equality, isolation, belonging, alienation, disenchantment, political agendas, hierarchies, power, status, imperialism, bullying, environmental concerns etc
Include props, backgrounds, costumes and outfits and mise en scene that connects to your theme somehow.
Try to introduce symbolism and metaphor in your image(s) and produce a series of images (like stills from a film)
You may want use the lighting studio…or experiment with suitable locations (connect the location to the theme / storyline)
Final Outcomes : a choice of
3-5 photographs that clearly show your understanding of TABLEAU and STAGED REALITY
Either a group approach – or individual
Blog Post 2 / TASK 2 (minimum 1 x blog post)
Choose a Tableau photographer to research from the examples below
Analyse, interpret and evaluate a key image by your chosen artist : A CASE STUDY
Demonstrate creative links to your own idea
COMPLETE TABLEAU UNIT BY FRIDAY 20th DECEMBER
Example 1 :
DiCorcia’s working methodology:
Dicorcia’s work is a mixture of documentary and staged tableaux for which he is best known
Well known for his use of lighting in street photography
While shooting Hustlers, he paid his subjects, causing controversy in the photographic community
DiCorcia only plans / stages his photographs up to a point and then relies on something unexpected to happen
He does digitally manipulate some of his images by removing or adding items
He does not direct people
Very often he does not know his subjects
He usually has his camera on a tripod
Sets his photos up so that the viewer can assert his/her own interpretation to the image – open narrative
DiCorcia has no patience for visual passivity. “I’ve been trying to create photographs in which the emotional and psychological content is time-released… From the very beginning, I was fighting against this media-created idea that imagery is so disposable that it’s exhausted within a very short amount of time.” His tendency is to slow time down, an apprehension that has nothing to do with entropy. Instead, it is a seduction into the act of looking.
Example 2 :
He uses a large format camera and tripod
He uses polaroids for planning out his scenes
Draws inspiration from iconic Victorian paintings and recreates the scenes in a contemporary setting
Infuses the mood of the Victorian paintings into his modern industrial settings
His work is socially aware and pays tribute to art history
He uses well known art motifs in his work, e.g. the window as in Vermeer’s paintings
His portraiture pays tribute to the Dutch Renaissance and pre-Raphaelite master painters
He simulates similar colours and tones as those used by Vermeer
His portraits are of the disenfranchised people living close to the margins of society
His work is a blend of fictional and factual
He most often replicates Vermeer’s methods of portraiture:
… amongst the art historical references glimpsed within Hunter’s oeuvre, the voyeurism of Vermeer is most discernible. Subjects are often shown full figure, in private spheres (e.g. sites of domesticity), and set in the mid-ground in order to include something of their environment.
Example 3 :
Gregory Crewsdon talks about ‘the real and the imagined’. He works around concepts of place / setting; character; narrative. He is also very clear about the technical aspects of his work, particularly lighting and mise-en-scene, ie the arrangements of objects in his frame. He is a storyteller, using photography to catch a frozen moment in time, that both suggests the back-story (what happened before this frozen moment) and the story that may unfold. It is about ‘bringing the viewer in’. As he says, ‘there are no answers in these pictures, only questions.’
