About

Toledano was born in 1968 in London, to a French Moroccan mother and an American father. He grew up in London and Casablanca. He received a BA in English literature from Tufts University in Boston.

Toledano considers himself a conceptual artist, believing that everything starts with an idea, and the idea determines the execution. Consequently, his work varies in medium, ranging from photography to installation, sculpture, painting and video.

Book reference

Toledano created the book ‘when I was six’ as a way to honor and remember his sister, Claudia, who passed away in an accident when he was just six years old. After his parents passing, Toledano discovers boxes of Claudia’s belongings that were kept by his parents and so the book is his way of getting to know, not only his sister but his parents relationship with her as well as showcasing some memories he had from the time.

In my opinion, creating a book such as this must take a lot of strength, since exploring something so painful would be difficult for almost anyone. The way Toledano showcases his sisters belongings in the book is symbolic in a way. His use of lighting is done in such a way that it depicts the knowledge he gains of his sister, information that was hidden away finally coming to light after all these years.

Why I chose him

I chose Toledano as one of my artist references due to his link to memory, much like the reason I selected Sternfeld. I also think Toledano’s use of lighting would be a useful technique to replicate in my personal study, since to me it represents something coming to light by just having a small section, or box, brighter than the rest.

Another approach I would like to try and replicate is with some objects, he makes them appear almost dream like or foggy in a way. I think this would be very interesting to do when I showcase something I don’t remember too well, such as an object or a landscape as it would represent how it’s not a clear memory.

Image analysis

Within this image, we are able to see a dress which seems to be preserved due to the well kept condition it’s in. This tells the viewer that the dress has not been touched in a long time, creating a sense of sadness when looking at the photo.

We are also able to see the lighting in this image, with the majority of the photo cast in a shadow except for one square. This square of light could symbolize the lid of the box being taken off, revealing the dress as well as memories of his sister. The dress is also off center, however, this means that our eyes are drawn to the light overlapping giving off a slightly more positive outlook, maybe suggesting that Toledano is feeling more at peace with his sisters passing.

Lastly, the colouring of the image is important. Majority of the tones in the image are cool, creating a calm outlook for the viewer, once again potentially linking to peace.

pinterest photos:

my parents photos:

Home

I took these photos along time ago one of the first projects I worked on with haulier I remember i enjoyed doing it however the photos are very basic.

Romanticism

this photo I really like however it only looks good in black and white and don’t really like using black and white I believe I should use more colour in my photos and I plan on using colour in my personal study

New Topographic

these photos I like I feel like these where my first proper good photos in photography however I don’t like using black and white but I believe the photos needed it or else they would of not looked good.

Constructed landscapes

I found this topic quiet weird however and I don’t really like the style of this type of photography I do believe my photo turn out alright.

Anthropocene

I really like these photos I believe i got the mood of the topic on point and the photos look good.

Studio Portraits

I like theses photo found it fun experimenting with the studio lighting and the photos turned out really good.

Femininity And Masculinity

I like these photo thought they turned out really good.

AI Photos

I really liked this topic and I most likely will be using AI in my personal study if not I will definitely be experimenting with AI to see what photos I can get and if they fit with the theme.

nostalgia/ St-Malo

I really enjoyed the st-Malo trip I got some great photos from the trip and St-Malo is a beautiful place with a lot to explore so I had fun going around taking photos of different thing and places.

Troy Pavia focuses on night time photography with mostly all of his photos he goes around the place he photographing and adds colored lights to his photographs he does this by lowering the shutter speed and walking around his photo basically painting with lights. I really like the way he paints with lights in his photos and I would like to try and do something like this in my personal study. Troy Paiva was born in 1966 and has been talking photo since 1989 he went to school at the university of Massachusetts Dartmouth hes written four books and helped with other had a dozen magazine appearances and has done photography workshops hes still alive to this day and is actively looking to do talks/ speaking gigs he also does freelancing and hes still doing photography. I want to make a couple of my photos the same way he makes his so i will be going around at night taking photos of things that remind me or give me the same feeling as the his work and then I will paint with light and see if I can get the same effect.

Elizabeth Castle FINAL.mp4
this is the Elizabeth castle film

Liam Wong is a Scottish photographer and games designer. He was Artistic Director of Ubisoft Montreal and was involved in the design of game series like Crysis and Far Cry. He is known for his cyberpunk, sci-fi style of photography. Wong is the author of the book To:ky:oo his book is a collection photo from Tokyo he says “I got lost in the beauty of Tokyo at night” To:ky:oo was published was published in 2019 and the photos look amazing. Liam Wong hasn’t done to much in the photography world however I really like what he has done and his night photography is very well done with the neon lights and all the vibrant colour really make his work I cant wait for his next pieces of work and I know it will be great. he got another book called after dark which was funded by crowdfunding which got 5x over the initial £40,000 target To:ky:oo focused more on the neon lights and bright colours but his new book After Dark goes for a more darker more depressed theme he travelled around the world visiting different city’s such as Seoul, Paris, London, Chongqing, Osaka, Hong Kong and his hometown city in Edinburgh. there are about 200 images in his photobook the photos in his book are a collection of photos from different city all over the world collected over years, Liam Wong decided he didn’t want to make a separate book for each city and decided to make a book with all of the best photos he got from each city

This is a mood board compiled of Latoya Ruby Frazier’s works.

Latoya Ruby Frazier is an American artist and now professor of photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Born in Braddock (Pennsylvania), she started her photography journey at sixteen by documenting her hometown. This stemmed into the production of her first photobook. In this book ‘The notion of family’ she explores racism and economic decline in America’s small towns, as shown in her hometown of Braddock, Pennsylvania. She portrays the hardships of Frazier’s family, who grew up there, through her images. She has included a selection of photographs; landscapes, portraits, and objects. She particularly focuses on capturing black and white photographs of herself and her family.

Latoya Ruby Frazier draws upon very personal and intimate aspects of her life to create meaningful photographs. She combines this with facing issues of racism and economic injustices. These result in the creation of her raw images of friends and family. Frazier says “the collaboration between my family and myself blurs the line between self-portraiture and social documentary”. This shows how she puts herself in front of the camera, in a vulnerable light, allowing viewers to see very personal details about herself and her life. This adds to her impactful images and allows her to address serious world issues through her work. Because her own family was part of her project ‘The Notion Of Family’, and it was a reflection of herself, it allowed her to give her photographs a deeper meaning and understanding. The process of image making is also a lot more effortless as the subjects become comfortable in front of the lens when having a close, trusted family member creating the images. 

About

Joel Sternfeld was born on June 30th in 1944 and is an American fine-art photographer. He is best known for his large-format colour pictures of contemporary American life and identity. His work contributed to the establishment of colour photography as a respected artistic medium. He earned a BA from Dartmouth College and began taking colour photographs in 1970 after learning the colour theory of Johannes Itten and Josef Albers. He currently teaches at Sarah Lawrence College, where he holds the Noble Foundation Chair in Art and Cultural History.

Sternfeld documents people and places with unexpected excitement, despair, tenderness, and hope. Ever since the 1987 publication of his landmark “American Prospects,” Sternfeld’s work has interwoven the conceptual and political, while being steeped in history, landscape theory and his passion for the passage of the seasons.

Book reference

Sternfeld’s book ‘on this site’ was originally published in 2012 and is a collection of photographs that showcase tragedies that have taken place within America as well as short descriptions to inform the viewer of what had once happened. They show the current day locations of incidents, such as the location of Martin Luther kings assassination or the Cuyahoga River which was set on fire after having chemicals dumped into it.

All of these images are used to raise awareness and help to ensure that we do not repeat the same mistakes that lead to such disasters happening as well as helping us to remember the events so that we do not forget the tragedies that occurred.

Why I chose him

I chose Sternfeld as one of my artists references as his work focuses on memory. I plan to also focus my personal study on memory, so taking some inspiration on how he presents the theme in his book may prove useful when creating mine.

I really like how Sternfeld has a small paragraph of information besides the image as it help’s the reader to understand what it exactly it is they are looking at, since many people may not be aware of the tragedy they are looking at.

Image analysis

This image is taken of the stone wall inn, where the patrons of the gay bar were arrested and beaten which caused the village to rebel, creating what is now known as the stonewall rebellion. This photo denotes that there was a change, due to the neon sign in the window which links to a more modern design.

In the photo we are able to see a lot of red ambient lighting, which is often use to either represent danger, warmth or love. In this case, we are able to see that it represents love due to the heart bouquet in the window. Another thing we are able to tell from the image, is that the bar is still up and running due to the more modern appearance it has taken. This tells us that even with the tragedy that occurred here, the bar has survived the attack and is currently thriving.

This photoshoot was to document my family in Poland during an event and my Gran’s house. The process of selecting is done on Adobe Lightroom Classic.

RED: BELOW AVERAGE

YELLOW: AVERAGE

GREEN: *BEST* IMAGES/ABOVE AVERAGE

Most of my images are highlighted yellow. Those highlighted in red are below average images due to me trying to figure out which setting works best. Because I did outdoor and indoor images, I needed to change the settings in order to create the best images I could. When taking these images I had the ‘FLASH’ turned on to create this aesthetic of ‘documentary’ photography. The images highlighted in green are my strongest images, most of the images are portraits of my family members either together or behind the scenes of my grandparents cooking. These images bring me a sense of nostalgia seeing 3 different generations in the same room, while also having my Polish family there which allows me to project my Polish heritage and traditions through the photography.

BEST IMAGES:

Matt Emmett is a photographer who’s goal it is to rediscover the forgotten worlds all around us, he won the first historic photographer of the year award in 2017. Emmett started his abandoned photo carrier in 2012 at the national gas turbine establishment the site was a design and testing environment for military jets engines until it closed in 2001. after Emmett went to the national gas turbine company he started traveling the world exploring abandoned building and places. Emmett’s photos have surreal effect they look very eerie and mysterious some of them have a very big spacious feeling and others have tunnel effect I believe his favourite effect is the tunnel effect seen through the majority of his photos I believe it gives a quiet claustrophobic effect giving it a quiet a unique feel to the photos that he uses the tunnel method with.