As a whole, I would say that I’ve learned a lot about photography on this course so far, improving on my technical skills such as editing images and creating compositions, and my more practical skills, for example, using camera settings to my advantage and using lighting to establish tone and mood.
A lot of themes have been covered on this course, but the two that stick out to me the most as powerful and inspiring would have to be identity and nostalgia, as I feel they both link together, but they also provide plenty of personal experiences that make me who I am that I can reflect on and use in my work.
I’ve found myself more interested in the medium of film as a means of expressing my work, but I still prefer the idea of photography and feel that my skills in this area are more advanced and varied.
– Alex Hurst
Conceptual and documentary photography are the two approaches I’ve found to be the most intriguing as I believe there’s a lot more that I can do and explore with them, as opposed to tableaux photography, a genre that doesn’t really appeal to me all too much.
My favourite artists that I’ve looked at/studied are Henri Cartier-Bresson, Alec Soth, and Ansel Adams.
Henri Cartier-Bresson
I feel that Cartier-Bresson’s style had an incredibly large impact on my work, as it has completely changed my approach to street photography and improved how I put together a composition in the frame. His influence has also provided me with a lot of confidence toward shooting at ‘the decisive moment’ to capture an interesting and lively piece. This example above
Alec Soth
Alec Soth has inspired my work in the sense that I try to create compositions that focus on the person as a whole, so that their personality and aspirations are evident within my presentation of them, through their body language and even the use of props. His work has definitely made me more thoughtful about the message and implications of my own work.
– Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams was a very powerful artist to study when it came to landscape photography. It taught me different methods of adding drama and romanticism to my photographs, which gave them a stronger overall composition to make them stand out better.
‘Paris Photo is the largest international art fair dedicated to the photographic medium and is held each November in the heart of Paris. Since 1997, the Fair’s mission is to promote and nurture photographic creation and the galleries, publishers and artists at its source.
Paris Photo brings together up to 200 exhibitors from across the world, offering collectors and enthusiasts the most diverse and qualitative presentation of photography-driven projects today. Leading galleries showcase historical and contemporary artworks from modern masters to young talents. Specialized publishers and art book dealers present unique and rare editions, as well as book launches and signature sessions with many of today’s most renowned artists.
Paris Photo also provides visitors with first-hand insights and access to the art world. Programming includes curated exhibitions with renowned public and private institutions, awards, conversation cycles with curators, artists, collectors, and critics, and special events exploring the unique history of the medium; varying visions, practices and emerging trends. In addition, the Fair’s “In Paris during Paris Photo” programme reunites a dense network of cultural institutions throughout Paris comprising some of the most historically rich photographic collections in the world.’
I enjoyed looking at the work on display at Paris Photo, but the sheer range was honestly rather overwhelming. I found a few examples of work that I might wish to draw inspiration from for my personal study.
The above image is of a collection of Polaroid images of a TV screen taken by Tom Wilkins over 4 years (from 1978-1982) of various actresses, with individual captions. Sébastien Girard later buys this collection in an auction of Tom’s belongings following his disappearance and publishes it in a book in 2017. Girard describes this book on his website:
‘Tom is American. He lives by himself. TV keeps him busy. In 1978, he buys a polaroid camera and spends 4 years photographing the women who inhabit his TV screen.
Moreover, he carefully writes on each print a caption and the date. Over 4 years, Tom assembles an extraordinary diary, a silver harem of a thousand annotated polaroids arranged in albums, all titled My Tv girls. Following the disappearance of its author, this lot was put up for sale on auctions together with other belongings.
Simultaneously interested by this story of appropriation and fascinated by Tom’s visual diary, I decide to buy this archive. I then study them and recreate their incantatory dimension in a book, ten years later.’
This work is that of Horacio Coppola’s, an Argentine photographer of the cafes, side streets and neon-lit boulevards of Buenos Aires in the 1930s. He introduced avant-garde photography to Argentina. I particularly enjoyed the way in which he portrayed city nightlife and I find his images definitely inspire me to create similar ones to respond to the brief of nostalgia.
The above images are taken by Joel Meyerowitz, an American street, portrait, and landscape photographer. I like these because they also have a strong relation to the theme of nostalgia, and I think they have a particular style to them.
Los Angeles, Early Evening – 1986
I like the work of Larry Sultan also, the above image was the one displayed at the exhibition and I really like the way he has used the light to perfectly capture the essence of the evening air. I think this also relates to the theme of nostalgia because all of his images have this kind of faded and forgotten feeling to them. This series, Pictures from Home, is significant as it is Sultan’s memories of his parents from when he was a child. He uses the typical architecture of the American suburb to create imagery that can be relatable to many viewers.
Overall, In think the film turned out better than we thought. Through out the process of making the film we though of more ideas that would improve our film. The main focus of out film was the letter from World War Two, I think we presented the letter well as it is displayed across the images and we had someone read it out,
The process of making the film was quite long as we had to learn how to use new soft wear such as Adobe Audition and Adobe Premier Pro. I don’t think making a film would be my first choice to present my personal study as it was such a long process.
We visited the Musée d’Orsay to view the vast array of artwork that is displayed there, including the work of famous artists such as Vincent Van Gogh, Auguste Renoir and Claude Monet. I felt that the building’s architecture only emphasised the beauty of the work within, with its wonderful open space and translucent ceiling allowing natural light to permeate the main hall. In the smaller rooms, we found the different collections of classical art on display. I enjoyed the pastel work of multiple artists such as Millet, Degas, Manet and others. I also explored paintings by Winslow Homer, an American landscape artist, with my favourite being Summer Night (1890).
We visited the Jeu de Paume because they were holding a V&A exhibition of the work of revolutionary portrait photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. This is the first large-scale retrospective devoted to the artist in Paris, made up of some one hundred photographs. We studied her photographs earlier on in the portrait project because she was the first of her kind to truly explore aspects of theatre in photography. This was even more remarkable at the time because she was a woman. The exhibition also features exceptional loans from the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Musée d’Orsay, and the Maison Victor Hugo.
The museum also happened to be holding an exhibition of the work of Victor Burgin, which I felt was my favourite showing I had seen. Victor Burgin is a conceptual artist and photographer whose work is composed of both images and words. I enjoyed the experience that his performative pieces represent, and I felt that the story told in Gradiva (1982) was truly captivating and cinematic.
Gradiva,1982, One of 7 panels
His US77 series was also extremely interesting to me because it explores ‘the construction of sexual difference in representations, of patriarchal power relations and the “masculine” identity that supports them’. They were originally exhibited under the title ‘Tales from Freud’, which indicates their topics of discussion.
How do archives function as repositories of knowledge?
Archives function like a human brain through holding information, and us selecting where the information goes, but can only hold things that have happened in the past and what is currently occurring in the present moment. They hold information through peoples activities or organisations which they have done, they are mainly seen as records of something, for example, an image, or a poem, even letters of important or even non-important information. archives are more the gran scheme of things which hold the information, they are not the information themselves, they are designed to only hold the information and can be in large quantities. Archives are digital, and physical, most commonly they are physical because in the past there wasn’t anything “digital” and they can be better looked after. Société Jersiaise are a facility which do all this but specifically about Jersey and its historical context. They where founded during 1873 by 3 islanders who where interested on the antiques and languages the island held, which grew the facilities a lot and allowed for information to be held much better. They even have people that have been taking images over the years of the island every day to show people for the future what society looks like currently and how people acted in every day life, even what it looked like. We learn a lot from doing things like this, as it shows a timeline of how society has grown or when it has crashed. To better understand it, archives are things like apps which you may log into or just use, even what you watch, as these things hold information about you and track what you do which is sort of like an archive, but also like building blocks, as the more you use the apps the more things it knows about you and the more it stores about you like an archive. And now knowledge is power.
Over year twelve and thirteen I have covered many topics such as Nostalgia, Anthropocene, Home, Feminity/ Masculinity/ Identity and more. From these shoots I am going to revisit my favourite ones to help direct me towards a final idea for my personal study. I found some of these shoots more powerful than other ones, such as feminity, rural landscape photography, and long exposure portraits. I enjoyed the other shoots, but these three were my favourite, with my best outcomes. I also enjoyed my year twelve summer task ‘My Jersey’.
Rural Landscape
These were my best outcomes from this project:
My favourite part of this project was the pressure to capture light and shadows in the limited time given by nature, due to the fact the light was disappearing and changing. I might use some rural landscape photography in my personal study photoshoot to give a sense of surrounding in my personal life.
Feminity
This shoot wasn’t my strongest shoot, however I really like focusing on feminity as a subject because it is a big issue today that needs to be seen. Using photography to emphasise this issue is a really creative technique and I enjoyed the process of trying to show the power of females through Francesca Woodman’s inspiration.
Francesca’s Work
My Final Outcomes
I might consider feminity as a theme for my personal study, however if I was going to choose it I would combine it with my personal life and how feminity is shown through my past, and growing up as a female in a nostalgic sense.
Long Exposure Portraits
I experimented with Rembrandt and butterfly lighting in year twelve, and then moved onto long exposure photos with different colour gels for lights. These outcomes are also some of my favourite photos from the year. I really enjoyed the process of adjusting the shutter and achieving a balanced aperture and ISO to get the movement in the photo. These are some of the images:
I don’t think I would use this in my personal study, however going back and reviewing them gives me the opportunity to consider it.
Overall
Looking back on my old shoots and techniques I learnt, I revisited my ‘Nostalgia’ blog post. I find the positive mood given from nostalgia interesting and I like the idea of using it in my personal study.
A section of my blog post states ‘The personalities, possibilities, and events of the past are seen as a longing when associated with nostalgia, specifically the idea of “good old days”. People typically view the future more negatively , in contrast to the past as a more favourable thought. This is called diclinism when applied to one’s beliefs about society/ institution. It’s been expressed as “a trick of the mind” and as emotional approach to find comfort when the present day is dull.‘ I think revisiting the past with archived images from my childhood, then juxtaposing them with present day images could create a good piece. I might also photograph certain objects from my past that create nostalgia, and places that hold memories.
During our trip to Paris I took many different types of images including the surrounding architecture/buildings as well as people/city life and street art etc.
edited images:
Exhibitions:
We spent hours looking around galleries and photography exhibitions looking at work from a range of different photographers and their various different styles. Here are some of the images that i felt most inspired by:
THE APP USED TO EDIT OUR ELIZABETH CASTLE FILM; PREMIERE PRO.
The process in making the film was particularly difficult, Alice was using this software for the first time which meant she had to familiarise myself with the tools. Alice being the creator of the film making was tasked with adding creating the composition of the images/videos, the visual aesthetic, adding fading to the images, and making sure the audio was in the right place. Firstly she added our original image into a sequenced that we liked which also flowed better with a narrative, in order to add some history aspect to our film. According to Hesmondhalgh’s cultural industries theory producers use existing material so the audience can relate and minimise risk when releasing a product.
In this image you are able to see the sequencing of videos and images. To create a smooth film she tried to add similar images as to what you could see in the videos, sort of like a visual conclusion in what you saw in the short video. Furthermore with the archive images which i gathered she faded our original images into them to show the evolution and change you are able to see.
In this screenshot you are able to see a fade from one image to another. You can do this by slightly overlapping the two images and adding two key frames in the edge of each image. You are able to create different types of fades depending on how you position your images and the fade.
Here you are able to see the adjustment layer that is added on top of the sequence throughout the film. An adjustment layer, is an application of the same effect to a multitude of clips on your timeline. In the adjustment layer I added a black and white filter from the list of adobe filters, this was so the edited images and videos could have the same mood. However in order to make the archive images distinctive I added a different filter ‘Kodak Tobacco’ to create a more vintage old look. This filter had a gold/warm tone which seemed to look a bit like rustic paper used back in the day.
This is a reflection of the work I have done at A-Level photography, and I will mention the areas of my study that I think showcase my best work, as well as the areas that I find are most significant.
Themes
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1850. It began approximately during 1770, during the industrial revolution. Romanticism is often seen as the reaction to the developing urban world, and the negative impact it has on people. Romantics believed in the natural goodness of humans which is hindered by the urban life of civilization. They believed that the savage is noble, childhood is good and the emotions inspired by both beliefs causes the heart to soar.
Examples:
My Response:
Femininity/ Masculinity
The definition of ‘femininity’ according to Wikipedia is ‘a set of attributes, behaviours, and roles generally associated with women and girls’, however this definition has been criticised by many people throughout history, as it causes it to be a very general and constricting term. The idea of femininity is a social construct, and people are slowly realising (especially younger generations who are typically more open minded) how the term doesn’t only surround women- but people of all genders and it is slowly becoming a much more fluid term. Furthermore, the opposing word ‘masculinity’ is defined as ‘is a set of attributes, behaviours, and roles associated with men and boys’, the same definition but for men/ boys. Although some people believe there is one ‘correct’ definition of both femininity and masculinity, each culture has its own views on the terms, some of which even completely contradict each other. Moreover, any human can portray both feminine and masculine traits. Gender stereotypes link in a lot with femininity and masculinity, which can be very harming to both sexes, especially when the people surrounding them pressure them into presenting a certain way.
Examples:
My Response:
Summer project- Nostalgia and Family
For this project, I decided to focus on my grandad’s life. He was born in Bierna, Poland on the 9th of September, 1948. He grew up with his two sisters, Zofia and Krystyna, and his father Tadeusz and his mother Elżbieta, my great-grandparents. My grandma (my grandad’s late wife) was born on the 31st of January, 1949. They got married on the 31st of August in 1974 and they had my mum, Małgorzata, on the 28th of March 1976. My grandma sadly passed away on the 29th of August 1992, which left my grandad a widower. I looked through many photos of my grandad’s life as a young adult, even finding a photograph of him as a young child. I picked out photos in which he looked happy, either alone or with my grandma. During my holiday in Poland, I took pictures of my grandad and his environment, even recreating some of the photos from the past.
This is a project I enjoyed a lot, as exploring the past was very interesting to do. I wanted to focus on the life of my grandparents as young people, in contrast to the life of my Grandad as a widower. This is something I would like to add to for my personal investigation, as it links heavily to nostalgia.
Examples:
My Response:
Mediums
Photographs
Photographs have been the main way we have used to create our projects.
My Response:
Film
For one project, Caitlin and I recorded a film as a way of presenting our work, which was an interesting experience.
These artists are my biggest inspirations that I have researched during my A- Levels.
Stephanie Jung- Anthropocene
Stephanie Jung is a freelance photographer based in Berlin, Germany. In 2010 she finished her studies in Visual Communications, where she discovered her passion for experimental photography. She loves to travel all over the world, especially to big cities, to capture the vibrant and hectic mood of a place. But her work is not just about city life, it’s about time and caducity, about capturing special moments getting lost in time. Her extraordinary shots show cities that depict reality but nonetheless lead to a different, surreal dimension apart from our real world. With her camera, she does no more than 4 exposures. She believes anything more than that is hard to control and the pictures’ structure vanishes. Instead, she reworks the images, adding elements and editing them the way she likes.
Examples:
My Response:
Francesca Woodman- Femininity/ Masculinity
Francesca Woodman was an American photographer who created black and white pictures, capturing herself and other female models in interesting ways. Her photos show herself and other women either in unique outfits or stark naked, in weird positions. The photos mostly appeared to be blurred, since she used a slow shutter speed, letting more light in to create movement in a eerie way throughout her work. She was born on April the 3rd in 1958 and died on the 19th of January in 1981, aged just 22 years old. Despite her dying so young, Woodman has continued to inspire many upcoming photographers, being an icon of self- expression in photography. Her portraits portrayed her as vulnerable and isolated, but also intense and powerful, creating a interesting contrast.
Examples:
My Response:
Photographic Skills
These are techniques that I will use in my personal in my personal study to assure my photos turn out the way I want.
Aperture
The aperture is a hole located in the camera’s lens that decides how much light is let into the picture, thus controlling the exposure of the outcome. Photographers can manually control the aperture by switching to ‘A’ or ‘AV’ mode and then changing the f/number using the dial on their camera. The lower the f-number, the bigger the hole, meaning it lets more light into the picture and it is a larger aperture. A very large aperture (such as f/2.8) can result in an overexposed image. On the other hand, the higher the f-number, the smaller the hole, meaning less light is let into the photo and the aperture is lower. A very low aperture (for example f/22) can result in an underexposed image.
–Natural Light: this is light from outdoors- the sunlight will determine how your photos will be lit up as it isn’t something you can control.
–Artificial Light: this is light from things that use electricity or halogen gas to glow. Light rooms are typically used in photograph as the lamps are easy to control.
–Continuous Lighting: this is light that is constantly on, such as a torch. The thing you are photographing is always illuminated by the light. Natural light is continuous however studio light can also be set up as continuous.
-Strobe Lighting: this is light that creates a very short burst of light just as the photo is taken, illuminating the thing you’re photographing for a very short time. Also known as monolights, strobes have a quick recycle time and a full power output of anywhere from 100 to 1,000 watts. The only natural light that is strobe lighting is lightening, as it is a quick flash in the sky. Camera flashes are strobe lighting.
Experimentation:
natural lightingartificial/ continuous lighting
Shutter Speed
The shutter speed or exposure time is the length of time that the film or digital sensor inside the camera is exposed to light when taking a photograph. The amount of light that reaches the film or image sensor is proportional to the exposure time. 1⁄500 of a second will let half as much light in as 1⁄250.
