Monthly Archives: February 2021

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Independent, Task

HEADSHOTS- up close

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Bruce Gilden

An Iconic street photographer with a unique style,  Bruce Gilden was born in  Brooklyn, New York in 1946. Although he did attend some evening classes at the School of Visual Arts in New York, Bruce Gilden is to be considered substantially a self-taught photographer. Gilden has received many awards and grants for his work, including  National Endowments for the Arts fellowship. In 2015, Gilden published Face.

My Images

Plan :

When/ where : Two different evenings , birthday party and a evening in the beach

Who : I decided to take pictures of my cousins ​​because I think they are perfect for showing strange and funny facial expressions

Final pictures (edited) :

  • Carmen Kirchner
  • Bruce Gilden

In this shoot I was inspired by Bruce Gilden’s close ups. The image on the left (my image) is the one I find most similar to the work of Bruce Gilden. Since both subjects / models have similar blank facial expressions , which shows that the photo was taken unexpectedly – one can see the honesty in the faces as the models were not prepared. We can notice similar composition, eyes, mouth, forehead almost in the same place. At the hairline both have curly hair, which features organic lines and natural shapes – which are not artificial. There are small touches of similar colors that can be seen in both images like the blue of the dummy and the blue eyes of the girl. Another example is the pink in the clothes of one and the lips and under the eyes of the other.
In Bruce Gilden’s work we can see that he used a flash to take his photo since there are light reflections on the models’ faces. Unfortunately I did not take my photos with a flash but to make up for it I over exposed my photo to have the same effect. And finally the two images contain simple backgrounds, not a great depth of field because the images are very close.

Independent, Task

Photomontage photoshoot/editing

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Photoshoot plan

Photomontage Editing

Original Image
Edited Image
Edited Image
Edited Image

To edit the first image, I recreated John Stazaker’s method of layering images from vintage actress portraits, however I incorporated my own photography by taking portraits I took for the diamond cameo photoshoot.

For the second image, I attempted to recreate Stezaker’s common use of layering landscapes and portraits, so I used my own photos from my abstract and portrait photoshoots to recreate this.

For my last edit, I noticed Stezaker often crops and layers multiple images to distort the portrait’s original identity. Here I used my environmental portraits project and diamond cameo project to layer over one-another, and cut out some shapes similar to that in the work of John Stezaker.

Independent, Task

PhotoMontage

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Photomontage is the process of copying, pasting and layering multiple photographs onto one photograph in order to create a new image. This can be done physically, for example printing and cutting, or digitally on photoshop. This process is typically done with portrait images to create an almost warped piece of art.

Examples of photomontage

Raoul Hausmann, ‘The Art Critic’ 1919–20
“The Art Critic” – Raoul Hausmann (1919-1920)
‘Cut With Kitchen Knife Dada Through the Last Weimer Beer Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany’  
“Cut With Kitchen Knife Dada Through the Last Weimer Beer Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany” – Hannah Hoch (1919)
“Marriage I” – John Stezaker (2006)

John Stezaker

John Stezaker. Marriage XV. 2006 | MoMA
“Marriage XV” – John Stezaker (2006)

John Stezaker is a British conceptual artist born in 1949. Stezaker attended the Slade School of Art in London when he was in his early teens, and graduated with a Higher Diploma in Fine Art in 1973. He was best known for his work in photocollage, where he would take existing images from postcards, film stills, etc. in order to create juxtaposing artworks. John Stezaker was widely recognised for his photocollage series, “Marriage”, where he layered portraits of vintage movie stars to create a disjointed image for the viewer. Stezaker has had his work featured in exhibitions in The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Modern in London, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and many more. Until 2006, Stezaker tutored in Critical and Historical Studies at the Royal College of Art in London, until he retired.

Examples of John Stezaker’s work

“Mask XIV” – John Stezaker (2006)
John Stezaker: 'I was trying to create a sort of photographic cubism'
“Kiss II” – John Stezaker (1978)
“Double Shadow II” – John Stezaker (2014)

Analysis of John Stezaker’s work

Image result for JOHN STEZAKER
“Mother Night” – John Stezaker (2018)

This photograph, created by John Stezaker, is titled ‘Mother Night’. This piece of work companions another labelled ‘Father Sky’, which were part of Stezaker’s ‘Dark Star’ series. In these portraits, vintage film stars were photographed against studio backdrops sometimes involving illusionistic pictorial grounds.

The lightest part of the image can be found in the highlight of the actor’s face, especially seen in the forehead and around the eyes. The darkest areas are seen in the outlined figure-shapes night landscape, however the darkness is contrasted with the tiny dots of light seen in the stars of the scene or in the lit windows. In the portrait itself, it is most likely lit using hard, artificial lighting as the portraits are taken in a studio and have harsh highlights.

The outline of the night sky create a contrast between tones and colours as the darkness juxtaposes the light. It also provides a contrast in direction, as the two figures face different angles. There is also contrasting straight-edged lines that are found in the buildings of the night scene.

There is no use of repetition in this photograph, however there is a sense of reflection within the water of the night scene, as the stars and artificially lit buildings reflect against the water in rippled motions.

The majority of the shapes in this photograph are organic and curved, however these are contrasted against the geometric, straight-edged lines that are seen in the buildings of the night scene.

There is little example of depth within this photograph, although it can still be seen. For example the shadows and highlights in the actors face prove a sense of depth, and also the houses in the night scene slowly fade into the background creates a sense of depth that is still quite shallow. The solid background behind the actor lacks depth as it is a negative space. The night sky also contains a lot of negative space in the top thirds of this scene, however this is contradicted by the stars in the sky.

There is juxtaposing textures within this image, especially in the night scene. For example, the rippling water creates a smoother texture, whereas the brick house and cobbled roads create a rougher texture.

There is a large range of tones in this image from dark to light. The lightest tones can be seen in the highlights of the face of the actor as well as both artificial and natural lighting in the night scene. The darkest tones can be seen in the dull mountains in the background of the night scene, and the sky in the night scene also. Overall, the image tends towards darkness, as the night sky section of the image takes up a large amount of empty space with the photograph it has been layered over.

There is a range of both vibrant and muted colours within this piece by John Stezaker. The saturated red of the background portrait contrasts with the more dulled tones of the skin from the portrait. These colours are then juxtaposed again by the sombre tones of the night scene positioned over the models face. The dark blues and blacks of the night scene create an eerie atmosphere when placed against the vivid red.

The composition if the image appears to be somewhat balanced as the two silhouettes in their own tones are roughly the same size but are angled in different directions. There is also a fair balance between the light and dark tones which adds another element of balance. The rule of thirds is not used in this instance as there is no geometrical shapes that can be superimposed into this image which can be said to make the understanding of the composition difficult.

John Stezaker inspired photoshoot

Independent, Task

CANDID PORTRAITS AND STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

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Intro– A candid photograph is a photograph captured without creating a posed appearance. … However, if the subject is absolutely unaware of being photographed and does not even expect it, then such photography is secret photography, which is a special case of candid photography.

Image result for robert frank
Robert Frank ; “Trolley — New Orleans,” 1955.

Street photography is photography conducted for art or enquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public places. It can capture everyday life of strangers without them knowing you took photos of them.

Urban & Street Photography – Auckland
unknown

Mind map of ideas-

My photoshoot action plan–

  1. who? strangers walking through town or someone working but unaware that they’re being photographed
  2. where? in King Street or any busy place
  3. when? after school just before it gets dark
  4. why? to show the everyday lifestyle of people walking through town and what street life is like when it’s filled with different individuals.
  5. how? on my phone during the day time

CONTACT SHEETS-

My favourite edited image- i increased the brightness levels as well as decreasing the contrast to make the christmas lights really stand out in the photo. I then increased the saturation slightly to get the red light on the street to reflect back. I chose this image as I like that it’s not busy and barely any people. This makes town look empty and create this feeling of being alone yet peaceful as not many people are around you.

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Photo montage 2

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John Steazaker was born in England in 1949 and is currently working in London. Stezaker is one of the leading artists in modern photographic collage and appropriation. Employing vintage photographs, old Hollywood film stills, travel postcards and other printed images, he creates fascinating small-format collages that bear qualities of Surrealism, Dada, and found art. Stezaker overlays and conjoins distinct images to create new personalities, landscapes and scenes.  His works have been featured at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Modern in London, Tel Aviv Museum of Art and many others.

Analysis of one of his photomontages

This image is called ‘Bridge’ and comes from Steazaker series , ‘Mask XIV’. Mask XIV is a collage created by superimposing a postcard on a black and white photograph. The photograph is a film publicity portrait of an unidentifiable actor taken during the 1940’s or 1950’s. The postcard is a colour image mounted over the actor’s face. This image shows a rocky cavern in which a sandy track curves around a central pillar. On the bottom left the card is captioned ‘Zig zag path, Folkestone’. Folkestone is a port town in Kent, the town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. The postcard covering the actors face appears to have been taken from inside of a cave looking out through two openings towards the light.  Stezaker has positioned the postcard on the actor’s face so that the dark silhouette of the rocky openings and the natural curves of the cave line up with the contour and shape of the actor’s face making it look like his ‘eyes’. The way Steazaker has placed the postcard has created a humanlike approach to the image as the two openings of the caves create an eye shape look and the middle rock looking like a nose. This gives the viewer a very real view on the image and gives us a sense of the two images merging into one and framing a new person. The fact the actors face is covered makes the image feel more mysterious as we don’t know who this is and why he is being covered.

Independent, Task

HEADSHOTS – DOUBLE / MULTI EXPOSURES

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Double/Multi exposures


A double exposure is a combination of two images into one where one image is overlaid on top of another with an opacity less than full opacity. Often done with artistic intention. In digital photography, double exposures can be made in Photoshop specifically to achieve digital double exposures.

Selected

Plan

What:
Transform old pictures I took in double exposure.

When:
Monday 5th of February.

Where:
In a studio.

Why:

To try different effects with my pictures

Images:

Result:

Images:

Result:

Images:

Result:

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STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

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Street photography is a genre of photography that records everyday life in a public setting. The publicness of the setting enables the photographer to take candid pictures of strangers, normally without their knowledge. Street photography does not necessitate the presence of a street or even the urban environment. Though people usually feature directly, street photography might be absent of people and can be of an object or environment where the image projects a decidedly human character in facsimile or aesthetic.
Street photography also includes candid portraits, which is often used to refer to the type of portrait taken when the subject is unaware of the photographer.

Examples of street photography:

  • William Klein, 1955.
  • William Klein, 1955.
  • William Klein, 1955.
  • Bruce Gilden
  • Bruce Gil.den
  • Bruce Gil.den

Here is a video of Bruce Golden , an American street photographer known for his candid close-up photographs of people on the streets of New York City, in action on the streets of New York.

Street photography can tell a lot about a persons lifestyle, class and a lot about a persons existence. Street photography captures people in their rarest moments which can show a lot about a persons true emotions. Usually it’s a form of candid photography, when the person isn’t aware they’re being photographed, which creates more realistic and powerful images.

Mindmap of ideas
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Self reflection post (CC)

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Now that it’s over, what are my first thoughts about this overall project? Are they mostly positive or negative?

My first thoughts on the project are that I feel like it went quite well and I now have a further understanding of what a photography exam is like

If positive, what comes to mind specifically? Negative?

I think everything went well for example my research and photos etc

What were some of the most interesting discoveries I made while working on this project?

The amount of work needed to be put in and also what improvements can be done to take the photo shoot to the next level to improve my grades

What were the challenges?

Time management so how I used my time wisely giving myself enough time to explain and plan photo shoots, research and outcomes

What is the most important thing I learned personally?

That I needed to have a wider variety of photos/ photo shoots that needed to be taken with different lenses, effects, locations, weather and time.

How did I come up with my final best solution?

I saw on the blog a post about a guy called Kensuke Koike who used photography to edit photos and take snippets from different images and put them all together. This really changed my idea of how I could create identity because I could now make a final outcome that had loads of different images in one photo

What most got in the way of my progress if anything?

The time constraint as I didn’t realize how fast time goes when working

What obstacles did I overcome?

The edit I was trying to create was not working in Photoshop so I left it and came back and it brought a new light to the idea and i was able to overcome the obstacle

What did I learn were my greatest strengths? My biggest areas for improvement?

I completed everything I needed to during the time constraint. I also believe my Photoshop skills have improved and my way of showing photo shoot plans and contact sheets. I believe my areas for improvement are planning my photo shoots in advance so that weather and time aren’t problems. This would aid me in creating a wider variety of images that showcase different emotion, weather, light and feel

What would I do differently if I were to approach the same problem again?

As I have previously said, I would plan photo shoots in advance to collate a wider variety of images

What could I do differently from a personal standpoint the next time I work?

I would collect my best images to reduce the amount of time spent on going through my images to find the best

What can I improve?

I can improve knowledge on further Photoshop skills to help me create more complex images that could potentially bring my grades up and also to know exactly how to edit in certain ways so that I could explain in depth with use of screen shots how I did everything

How will I use what I have learned in the future?

Plan everything in advance and prioritize what is the most important and what should be done before the rest during the exam

WWW – WHAT WENT WELL

I believe my edits and outcomes from my 3 photographers went the best as I responded to my images and criticized and compared them to images by my photographers

What are your strengths and weaknesses?

My edits, outcomes and plan were my strengths

My time management, photos and research need to be improved

EBI – EVEN BETTER IF

I feel like I could improve my analysis, research and range of photos if I did this again or on a future occasion

Controlled Conditions

Self- reflection

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Now that it’s over, what are my first thoughts about this overall project? Are they mostly positive or negative?

Now I have finished I feel my project went well, I was very happy with my final outcome images and felt they went the way I wanted / expected them to come out like. However, I do feel I could of gone a bit more into depth into my research on my artist and her style of work, although there was limited information on my photographer.

What were some of the most interesting discoveries I made while working on this project?

I found the physical editing of my images interesting and how cutting and destroying images can completely change the meaning of the image.

How did I come up with my final best images?

For my final images I just experimented and used my photographers images as inspiration to come up with the ideas I used for my final images.

What could I do differently from a personal standpoint the next time I work?

I think next time I should be more prepared and have more of an idea of what images I wanted to produce before my shoot as this could have made my images better.

How will I use what I have learned in the future?

What I have learnt from this project will be helpful to me in future exams as I know I need to be more prepared and maybe experiment more with lighting.

Independent, Task

HEADSHOTS – DEADPAN / PASSPORT

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Deadpan/Passport

Deadpan as passport portraits show people in their natural state, typically not showing any sort of emotion. They aren’t posed, are not dressed up for the occasion, and seem completely honest. The color of deadpan photographs is commonly de-saturated. While not completely devoid of color, the colors tend to be muted. Some photographs that are recognized for their deadpan photography such as Rineke Dijkstra and Jitka Hanzlová.

  • Jitka Hanzlová.
  • Rineke Dijkstra

Selected 






 In the end I succeeded in creating what I wanted to do. My model has no expression, shows no emotions and is in its natural state and shows a honest facial expression. I decided to make the image in black and white because even if some photographers choice their deadpan images in color, the color of deadpan is commonly de-saturated.