after – I decreased the black because I wanted the background to be way darker and played around with the contrast and shadows. I also decreased the whites to make it more ghost like.
before
after – I increased contrast to make the image a bit darker, then turned the highlights all the way down ( it was too bright and I wanted my head to be more visible) and shadows all the way up because it was too dark.
before
after – Here I slightly cropped the image to have the matches more in focus. I also tilted it because it wasn’t straight. I then turned the image black and white and played around with the contrast and blacks to make it stand out more.
More Final Edits:
I like this image because it’s confusing me. I like how I can barely see my face and how my hair is so much shorter than it actually is and how I’m just blending into the background because of the slow shutter speed.
I really like this picture because I think the slow shutter speed made it look interesting. I just like how my face is hard to see because it’s so bright and how it looks ghost like.
This is one of my favourite images because it looks almost like my body is leaving my soul and I think that is interesting.
I decided to keep this picture with the other ones because it contrasts them. Unlike the other edits, this image is colourful and happy and for once you can actually see my face and my smile.
Over the next two weeks you will be looking at producing blog posts and responding photographically to:
New Topographics
Urban Landscapes
Industrial Landscapes
Camera Skills – vantage points
URBAN LANDSCAPES
The New Topographics
New Topographics was a term coined by William Jenkins in 1975 to describe a group of American photographers (such as Robert Adams and Lewis Baltz) whose pictures had a similar banal aesthetic, in that they were formal, mostly black and white prints of the urban landscape…
The beginning of the death of “The American Dream”
LEWIS BALTZ
Many of the photographers associated with The New Topographics including Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Nicholas Nixon and Bernd and Hiller Becher, were inspired by the man-made…selecting subject matter that was matter-of-fact.
New Topographics inspired by the likes of Albert Renger Patszch and the notion of The New Objectivity
Parking lots, suburban housing and warehouses were all depicted with a beautiful stark austerity, almost in the way early photographers documented the natural landscape. An exhibition at the International Museum of Photography in Rochester, New York featuring these photographers also revealed the growing unease about how the natural landscape was being eroded by industrial development.
STEPHEN SHORE
The New Topographics were to have a decisive influence on later photographers including those artists who became known as the Düsseldorf School of Photography.
BLOG POST: Photoshoot /Practical Responses…
Produce a list of places in Jersey you could go and shoot urban landscapes.Create a blog post as a mood board or photo shoot plan. Scrapyards, building sites, cranes, restoration yards, derelict ruins, car parks, underpass, harbours and dockyards, industrial centres, retail park, Stadiums, floodlight arenas, staircases, road systems, Circuit boards, pipework, telephone poles, towers, pylons, Shop displays, escalators, bars, libraries, theatres and cinemas, Gardens, parks, playgrounds, swimming pools, etc.
Possible titles to inspire you and choose from… Dereliction / Isolation / Lonely Places / Open Spaces / Close ups / Freedom / Juxtaposition / Old and new / Erosion / Altered Landscapes / Utopia / Dystopia / Wastelands / Barren / Skyscapes / Urban Decay / Former Glories / Habitats / Social Hierarchies / Entrances and Exits / Storage / Car Parks / Looking out and Looking in / Territory / Domain / Concealed and Revealed
Look at how the New Topographics approach has inspired landscape photography and the way we document our surroundings / the way we are using and transforming the land.
The artist Ed Ruscha is famous for his paintings and prints but is also known for his series of photographic books based on typologies, among them Every Building on the Sunset Strip, Twentysix Gasoline Stations, Some Los Angeles Apartments, and Thirtyfour Parking Lots. Ruscha employs the deadpan style found in many photographic topologies. The book shown above is a 24 foot long accordion fold booklet that documents 1 1/2 miles of the Sunset Strip in Hollywood.
Here’s another topology for you to look at by Ólafur Elíasson :
Compare and contrast your work to your artist reference(AO1)
Evaluation and Critique (AO1+AO4)
What do I photograph?
ROADS / BUILDINGS / STREETS / ST HELIER / FLATS / CAR PARKS / OFFICE BLOCKS / PLAYING FIELDS / SCHOOL / SHOPS / SUPERMARKETS / BUILDING SITES / TRAFFIC / HOTELS
Where to shoot ?
ORDANCE YARD / ST AUBINS HIGH STREET / COBBLED BACK STREETS / OLD ST HELIER / NEW ST HELIER / FLATS / ESPLANADE / TOWN / CAR PARKS / FORT REGENT / FINANCE DISTRICT / UNDERPASS / TUNNEL / NIGHT TIME / PIER ROAD CAR PARK / HUE COURT / LE MARAIS FLATS / PLAYING FIELDS / SCHOOLS / ANN STREET BREWERY BUILDING SITE / SPRINGFIELD STDIUM
Research and explore The New Topographics and how photographers have responded to man’s impact on the land, and how they found a sense of beauty in the banal ugliness of functional land use…
Create a blog post that defines and explains The New Topographics and the key features and artists of the movement.
ANSWER : What was the new topographics a reaction to?
A case study on your chosen NEW TOPOGRAPHIC landscape photographer. Choose from…ROBERT ADAMS, STEPHEN SHORE, JOE DEAL, FRANK GOLKHE, NICHOLAS NIXON, LEWIS BALTZ, THE BECHERS, HENRY WESSEL JR, JOHN SCHOTT ETC to write up a case study that will inspire your own photography.
Produce a list of places in Jersey you could go and shoot urban landscapes.Create a blog post of a visual mood board and photo shoot plan. Scrapyards, building sites, cranes, restoration yards, derelict ruins, car parks, underpass, harbours and dockyards, industrial centres, retail park, Stadiums, floodlight arenas, staircases, road systems, Circuit boards, pipework, telephone poles, towers, pylons, Shop displays, escalators, bars, libraries, theatres and cinemas, Gardens, parks, playgrounds, swimming pools, etc.
Possible titles to inspire you and choose from… Dereliction / Isolation / Lonely Places / Open Spaces / Close ups / Freedom / Juxtaposition / Old and new / Erosion / Altered Landscapes / Utopia / Dystopia / Wastelands / Barren / Skyscapes / Urban Decay / Former Glories / Habitats / Social Hierarchies / Entrances and Exits / Storage / Car Parks / Looking out and Looking in / Territory / Domain / Concealed and Revealed
Firstphotoshoot inspired and influenced by your first chosen urban landscape photographer. (+100 photographs). Can be any urban landscape photographer, but remember to include a brief case study and examples of their work that have influenced your work.
Select, consider and decide on best images (show contact sheets)
Develop ideas through digital manipulation (ie: cropping, contrast, colour balance etc.)
Realise a final outcome.
Once you have completed your photo walk from Havre Des Pas to La Collette you should aim to make comparisons with photographers and their work
Your image selection and editing may be guided by this work…and you must show that you can make creative connections.
For Example Albert Renger Patszch and The New Objectivity
Secondphotoshoot inspired and influenced by your second chosen urban landscape photographer. see list below URBAN PHOTOGRAPHERS (+100 photographs). Can be any urban landscape photographer, but remember to include a brief case study and examples of their work that have influenced your work. Ensure you experiment with different vantage points eg: worms eye view etc.
Select, consider and decide on best images (show contact sheets)
Develop ideas through digital manipulation (ie: cropping, contrast, colour balance etc.)
Your vantage point affects the angles, composition, and narrative of a photograph. It is an integral part of the decision-making process when taking a photograph.
We often spend more time considering camera settings and lighting, than exploring viewpoints. A picture taken from a unique vantage point makes us think about the subject in a different way. Perspectives from high or low angles add emotion to the photograph.
Eye-level vantage points provide a feeling of directness and honesty. Changing your vantage point can include or exclude part of the photo’s story.
As you look through your viewfinder, ask yourself some questions:
How could I add interest to the subject?
How can I show the viewer a new perspective on this subject?
Do I always stand in this position when taking photos?
What else can I include in the frame to tell the story? How can I make this happen?
TRY LOOKING UP, LOOKING DOWN, AT AN ANGLE, FROM A DISTANCE, A WORMS EYE VIEW ETC.
WORMS EYE VIEW
WHERE IN JERSEY ??
TYPOLOGIES and the landscape
Bernd and Hilla Becher – Typologies of industrial architecture
Read this useful introduction to the Becher’s work from American Photo magazine which describes their interest in the ‘Grid’ and their influence on future generations of photographers, members of the Düsseldorf School.
The term ‘Typology’ was first used to describe a style of photography when Bernd and Hilla Becher began documenting dilapidated German industrial architecture in 1959. The couple described their subjects as ‘buildings where anonymity is accepted to be the style’. Stoic and detached, each photograph was taken from the same angle, at approximately the same distance from the buildings. Their aim was to capture a record of a landscape they saw changing and disappearing before their eyes so once again, Typologies not only recorded a moment in time, they prompted the viewer to consider the subject’s place in the world.
The Bercher’s influence as lecturers at the Dusseldorf School of Photography passed Typologies onto the next generation of photographers. Key photographic typologists such as Thomas Struth, Thomas Ruff, Thomas Demand and Gillian Wearing lead to a resurgence of these documentary-style reflections on a variety of subject matter from Ruff’s giant ‘passport’ photos to Demand’s desolate, empty cities.
You could:
Create your own typological series documenting repeated forms where they live and work. For example, you might like to choose one of the following subjects:
front doors on the street where you live
cracks in the pavement
fences and walls
the colours of all the cars in the supermarket car park
telegraph poles viewed from below
TV aerials silhouetted against the sky
KEVIN BAUMAN
Images from 100 Abandoned Houses – A record of abandonment in Detroit in the mid 90’s by Kevin Bauman
Select your images in Adobe Lightroom and clearly show your selection process on the blog…include your reasoning for your choices eg how do they link to your artist reference?
Edit, manipulate and enhance your images using Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop (or other methods)
Take regular screenshots to show the key changes in your process
CONTROLLED CONDITIONS : Essentials
You will have 15 hours to complete this unit…focus on selecting and editing your final images / set of images
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
Print size images = ADD YOUR a4, a3, a5 MEASUREMENT TO SHORT EDGE in Lightroom / Photoshop
BLOG SIZE images = 1000 pixels on SHORT EDGE
Always ensure you have enough evidence of…
Mood-board, definition and introduction (AO1)
Mind-map of ideas (AO1)
Artist References / Case Study (must include image analysis) (AO1)
Presentation of final outcomes (AO4) ENSURE THIS IS A SEPARATE BLOG POST
Compare and contrast your work to your artist reference(AO1)
Evaluation and Critique (AO1+AO4)
Day 2
Aim to complete your editing…review and reflect on your process
What is working well?
What do you need to change or improve?
How are you going to sequence and order your images / prints ? This can drastically alter the story and impact of your images. Think about the size and shape of your images too…
You must aim to complete all of your Identity Blog Posts.
Complete a VIRTUAL GALLERY (add your images to a gallery in order to show the presentation of them…)
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…
Step 4: Create your own location or choose a template.
Step 5: Upload your images, put them in your exhibition, name it and give it a description.
Step 6: Present / view your Exhibition.
Add your images to the print folder here…M:\Departments\Photography\Students\Image Transfer\Printing Yr 12 IDENTITY
Complete any unfinished work from last term if you have time
File Handling and printing...
Remember when EXPORTING from Lightroom you must adjust the file size to 1000 pixels on the Short edge for “blog-friendly” images (JPEGS)
BUT…for editing and printing when EXPORTING from Lightroom you must adjust the file size to Short edge for “high resolution” images (JPEGS) like this…
A5 Short Edge = 14.8 cm
A4 Short Edge = 21.0 cm
A3 Short Edge =29.7 cm
This will ensure you have the correct ASPECT RATIO
Ensure you label and save your file in you M :Drive and then coip across to the PRINT FOLDER / IMAGE TRANSFER
For a combination of images, or square format images you use the
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP > NEW DOCUMENT + PRINT PRESETS on to help arrange images on the correct size page (A3, A4, A5)
You can do this using Photoshop, Set up the page sizes as templates and import images into each template, then you can see for themselves how well they fit… but remember to add an extra 6mm for bleed (3mm on each side of the page) to the original templates. i.e. A4 = 297mm x 210 but the template size for this would be 303mm x 216mm.
For my second photoshoot, I focused on taking pictures of myself in my own room. I used a tripod and a timer and had to manually press the button on the camera in order to take the pictures and because of that most of the images are out of focus. However, I like the way they look because I feel like it adds more personality. The only props I used were a match box, a glass bottle and a book. To improve I think I should take more pictures and try out different angles and the use of more props would also make the images look better.
I lit some matches, placed them on a piece of paper and took some pictures of them because I thought they looked interesting.
Here I tried taking close ups of my face, hands etc. To improve I would have to take more images than this because most of them turned out bad and my selection is limited.
ExtraContact Sheets – Outside
This is not a photoshoot and the pictures were not planned, they’re just random photos I’ve taken in the past 2 weeks or so. I think it’s a good idea adding them here because they are part of me and who I am as an individual.
Best Images:
I have picked these images as my best shots because I like the framing of some and how they are not in focus. I think they will all look good together later on.
Claude Cahun, born Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob was a French surrealist photographer, sculptor, and writer.
Schwob adopted the pseudonym Claude Cahun in 1914. Cahun is best known as a writer and self-portraitist, who assumed a variety of performative personae.
Cahun’s work is both political and personal. During World War II, Cahun lived in Jersey and was active as a resistance worker and propagandist
Cahun lived in Jersey during the Occupation, her resistance activities during that time led to her imprisonment.
A death sentence was commuted and she was freed from prison when Jersey was liberated. She lived in Jersey with her stepsister until her death in 1954.
Since her “rediscovery” over a decade ago, Claude Cahun has attracted what amounts to a cult following among art historians and critics working from postmodern, feminist, and queer theoretical perspectives.
Photographs of Cahun posing in the 1920s and 30s in various dramatic settings and guises have been displayed alongside contemporary works, showing the timelessness of her work.
Identity is what sets an individual apart from those surrounding them and is influenced of by a persons environment, upbringing, gender, culture and more. These factors can change how people think of others and themselves which can also lead to a lack of identity where an individual may question who they are and may feel disconnected from who they are as a person. All of these factors can affect how a person dresses/acts towards others due to their personal experience throughout life.
Claude Cahun was a French surrealist photographer who challenged identity, gender and social norms by taking androgynous self-portraits, looking drastically different in each portrait due to the characters they portrayed in each photoshoot. They embraced gender fluidity in their work by dressing up in different clothing [most of which society wouldn’t have accepted back then] and would pose in interesting ways, making their work easily recognisable due to their artistic flare.
“Masculine? Feminine? It depends on the situation. Neuter is the only gender that always suits me.”[4]
– Claude Cahun
In this self-portrait, Cahun is dressed in a stereotypically masculine way with shaved hair and men’s clothing, something that wasn’t acceptable at the time [women didn’t start wearing trousers until the mid-20th century]
In this self-portrait, Cahun is dressed as a body builder with hearts drawn on their face, adding femininity to a male dominated sport.
Angela Kelly
Angela Kelly is an Irish photographer whose work focuses on documenting women and exploring historical places. I will be taking inspiration from some of her early work, specifically her collection ‘Woman’s Identity’. In this collection, she takes a variety of self portraits, all in black and white, and focuses on how she’s changed over a period of 5 years both in her work and mind as she becomes a photographer and feminist.
I like the framing and lighting in this image as it surrounds Kelly an almost unearthly which emphasises where she’s framed in the centre of the image
I like the how everything is framed in the image as it allows each object to flow from one to the next. I also like how Kelly’s shadow is barely in the image, drawing more attention to everything else in frame
“The visual history of women is an incomplete record. If we don’t make a record of our lives it’s as if we didn’t exist.” – Angela Kelly, July 1987
Francesca Stern Woodman was an American photographer best known for her black and white pictures featuring either herself or female models. Many of her photographs show women, blurred, merging with their surroundings, or whose faces are obscured.
She often used slow exposure that blurs her images into ghostly figures. Her images have an unsettling yet timeless feel to them which makes them more eye catching.
She was influenced particularly the photographs of Man Ray and Claude Cahun. This can be seen in the themes and style of her work. She developed her ideas and skills as a student at Rhode Island School of Design.
This image conveys an underlying sense of human fragility. This fragility is exaggerated by the fact that the photograph is printed on a very small scale – making it seem more personal and intimate. The shadows of the door frame create the feeling of shelter as it covers her from the light that is coming in through the windows. However this could also be seen as an escape as the lighting on her legs contrast the darkness of the focal points of the image.
Claude Cahun was a French surrealist photographer and sculptor born in 1894 she was best known for her self portraits which play around with the theme of her gender identity. Her work is described as political and personal she worked in jersey during her life and produced many unsettling yet eye catching photos.
Image analysis
This self portrait of Claude’s reflection in the mirror highlights her gender fluidity as she avoids facing herself directly which gives an almost surreal view into her different identities the version of her in the mirror has an exposed neck which shows a vulnerable side to the opposing watcher who is hiding behind her collar. Could be viewed as an extension on her acts of defiance.
