From every photoshoot I have completed in response to this project , I have manually burnt the photographs, covered them in bleach and other substances to change the colours of the images. Upon using all of these techniques I discovered and learnt more about the ink itself. I have discovered what the heat and the different amount of it can do to to the print itself. I have discovered that when gently applying the heat to the print it will slowly peel the ink from the paper. That how I was able to peel some of it off, however it was very fragile. For some of the photographs I have stuck the peeled off ink onto another photograph. For some I have left as just bleached, and for some I have scraped off the ink from the print. and sowed into the images. I mixed some of these methods to achieve different effects.
Once I was happy with the manipulation of the prints, I took photographs of them and then, cropped them. On top of cropping the images I have also edited them slightly when it comes to contrast, highlights and texture, and used the stop remove tool to remove the light bouncing of the images.
Final Images
I did this photoshoot in response to Jessas’ work, but also to show the connections between me and my mum in a more visual way.
Luxemburg is a German photographer, known for her night photography of urban/city environments. An artist I wish to feature in my essay about my upcoming photobook. Her photos that we will be talking about and showing appear to have a sort of run down, dark and ruined aesthetic of the industrialized world.
Career
As said already, her photos are of the streets of cities at night and urban areas. Most of them have a wet rainy look, combined with light being reflected off the puddles walls etc..
Visual
Each photo above is set in a dark alleyway/street etc. and has light either reflected or casted across walls, perhaps from the street lights or car lights. I think this because most of the lighting being casted has a hint of orange, which would be the colour of most streetlights in cities like these, combined with more warm orange-red lights likely from the break lights on cars. The areas are dirty and not maintained very well given the scratched and cracked walls and grounds and they all appear to have a sort of grainy and rough texture. The edges and corners on the buildings shown create lines, which result in shaping and creating sections of the image, even more so when colors are shown to be different on each side of corners/edges, it creates more variety in the image.
Conceptual
Some elements of “New Topographics” (Robert Adams) can be seen in these images too. When it shows edges and corners on buildings being perfectly straight, in contrast to natural structures such as hills and cliffs, which would have irregular shapes and forms. Perhaps Luxemburg is trying to convey a similar message that Adams tried to do.
Response
In my mock exam, I hope to respond to this work by creating my own images in reference to the work from Blees. I can take some night photography photos around town in the various alleyways, streets, roads etc.. I can take advantage of the cameras features by perhaps changing the ISO around and the Shutter speed to low, that way I can have lights from cars going past remain on the image as strips of light. Another thing I can do is in editing, bring out more of the colored lighting by adjusting the levels and the colour balancing in Lightroom.
Mon 5 – Wed 7 Feb: Class 13A + 13B 15 hours controlled test Photography classroom + Photography studio
DEADLINE: LAST DAY OF YOUR MOCK EXAM ESSAY > PHOTOBOOKS / FILM > BLOG POSTS
IN PREPARATION FOR MOCK EXAM MAKE SURE THE FOLLOWING IS READY BY THE END OF THIS WEEK:
Complete and proof read essay draft this week (so there is enough time to make final corrections and incorporate it into book design in Mock exam.)
Upload new photoshoots and edit in Lightroom – make sure to produce blog posts showing selection process and experimentation of images.
A draft layout of your photobook/ rough cut of film edit before your Mock Exam begin (that time is used to fine tune design with teacher’s approval)
Review Checklist on blog for overview of work that must be completed.
Go through Go4School Tracking Sheet (sent in email on 17 Jan) and improve, complete and publish missing blogposts.
Structure your 3 day Mock Exam as follows:
DAY 1: Essay: Complete essay, incl illustrations, referencing and bibliography + publish on blog. Essay also needs to be added and presented at the end of your photobook)
DAY 2: Photoshoots/ recordings: Complete editing images or recordings for your photobook / film + produce blog posts showing selection process and experimentation of images. Use a combination of print screens + annotation. Write an evaluation about what went well and what you need to do next to develop your shoots and project.
DAY 3 Photobook/ film: Complete photobook design/ edit film + produce blogpost showing design process and evaluate. Produce a blog post showing layout and design process using a combination of print screens + annotation.
Prints: Select final prints and produce blog post showing presentation ideas and create mock-up in Photoshop and create a virtual gallery. Make sure you save final images in print folder here by end of the day:
Blogposts: Finish and publish any missing blog posts as per Checklist and your Go4School Tracking sheet.
ESSAY Publish final essay as a separate blog post with illustrations of key works by artists and your own images analysed in your text, as well as a bibliography listing all literary sources used. Also incorporate essay in the back of your book using layout in text columns and include illustrations and bibliography.
Marking Criteria
PHOTOBOOK Make sure you have a made a blog post that charts your design decisions, including prints screens of layout with annotation and write an ongoing evaluation. If you complete it; final book design must be checked and signed off by teacher.
For more help and guidance editing, process and evaluation go to blog post below.
BLURB – ORDER BOOK Inside Lightroom upload book design to BLURB, log onto your account on their website, pay and order the book.
Consider spending a few extra pounds on choosing better paper, such as Premium Lustre in check-out, change colour on end paper or choose different cloth/ linen if needed.
FILM Make sure you have a made a blog post that charts your editing process, including prints screens with annotation and write an evaluation. If you complete it; final film must be checked and signed off by teacher.
For more help and guidance on editing, process and evaluation go to blog post below.
Export final film as mp4 file and upload to Youtube / Microsoft Streams and embed on Blog. Follow these steps:
In Premier: Click on Sequence > Render IN/OUT
File > Export > Media
Export Settings: Format H.264
Output Name: use title of your film and save to V:Data drive
Click Export at bottom
Using Microsoft Stream: Open up Office 365
Go to All Apps and select Stream
Create > Upload Video
Browse to upload your exported film from V:Data drive
Write a short description, choose thumbnail and publish
My Content > Videos > embed film into Blog post with evaluation.
In Youtube: Set up an account at home (www.youtube.com)
Click Create (top right corner) > Upload video
Select file > your exported film from V:Data drive
Write a short description and choose thumbnail
Once uploaded, embed film into Blog post with evaluation.
BLOGPOSTS All blog posts in relation to the above must be published, including any other supporting posts missing from previous work modules since the beginning of Yr 13 academic year, including zines which must be printed & bound, Hockney ‘joiners’, 3D photo-sculpture and final prints.
See previous student, Stanley Lucas as a guide on blogposts that needs to be done and published before you the end of your Mock Exam.
EVALUATION: Upon completion of photobook/ film and presentation of prints make sure you evaluate and reflect on your learning and final outcomes. Comment on the following:
How successful was your final outcomes (book, film, prints etc)?
Did you realise your intentions?
What references did you make to artists references? comment on technical, visual, contextual, conceptual?
FINAL PRINTS Select your final prints (5-7) from photobook/ film and make a blog post showing ideas about how to present them.
In photoshop produce a mock display (create new document size A1: 594 x 841mm) using different image sizes, for example: A3 x 2, A4 x 2, A5 x 3
PREPARE AND SAVE IMAGES FOR PRINTING:
Add your images to the print folder here…M:\Radio\Departments\Photography\Students\Image Transfer\YR13 PRINT FOLDER NOSTALGIA
Complete any unfinished work from last term if you have time, For example: select images for print form Zine and My ROCK project.
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 copy across to the PRINT FOLDER:
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.
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…
For this photoshoot I have followed a similar style and what I was photographing as the previous one. This is because I wanted to show the link between my mum. I have set up the camera on a tripod and using a timer on the camera I was able to take photographs of my own hands as well as some portraits of myself.
The narrative of the story is following the front papers with a hue reminiscent of mimosa, there are miniature portraits portraying her maternal family lineage, creatively framed by cut-out windows. These snapshots encompass grandparents, an aunt, her parents, and Puig-Serra Costa herself. The visual narrative unfolds further with a collection of diverse images sourced from family albums, featuring snapshots from her childhood and collaborative works with Spanish photographer Dani Pujalte during the years 2012 and 2013. Additionally, the compilation includes reproductions from her exclusive inheritance as the sole child, ranging from an entry in her mother’s initial diary to doodles, cards, and even a recipe for chicken broth. This amalgamation of various media, formats, and genres not only hints at the protagonists’ identities but also serves as a compelling testament to their profound bond. She has images exploring this through portraits, landscapes, still-life. Following different genres within those too, where within portraiture she explores; self portraits, studio portraits, environmental portraits and many more.Within landscapes she explores different settings but which revolve around natural landscapes.
EDITING
why i love the images within this book is because of the variety of the outcomes. which are also achieved through the editing process, which also, with every image varies. However throughout the book there’s a theme reoccurring, where there are many light colours and cool tones withing the images. this gives a certain feel to the overall book, for this instance this is calm and relaxed due to the colour pallet. Some images are also edited to appear more older then they are to match the other archival images.
SEQUENCING & LAYOUT
The book follows a great storyline, where it starts of with the beginnings of her life, or, before it even started, by showing her family tree. She showed this though a specific layout, where each person is cut out separately, so with each page turned, a new family member appears. other then that interesting opening to the book, the rest of the pages are of pictures printed on them. the book itself is a little bit bigger than an A5 paper.
Questions to answer:
Book in hand: how does it feel? the texture of the paper is slippy and shiny, the pages being smooth and sleek to touch.
Paper and ink: The ink used for the photographs is colourful. nearly all of the pictures within this book are in colour, with B&W photographs only used for older images.
Cover: The book has a hard cover with a printed image on the cover. And the only writing of the title and by who it is is written on the books stem.
Title: the title is both literal and poetic, “Where Mimosa Bloom” is referring to where her family tree grew quite literally and figuratively. she associates this tree with her family, especially her mother, therefore she is showing where her mum grew as well as the family tree.
Design and layout: the sizes of the images vary through the book, with one double page spread in the middle of the book, and most with one full bleed page and the other of just the item. the pattern and alignment of these images is irregular, however some do repeat.
Editing and sequencing: The editing of the images seem to follow a certain theme, where the images are edited to fit the same aesthetic, which are soft and warm colours. The editing process is quite natural and calm with soft tones.
For these edits, I made the temperature of the photo warmer, as a representation of happy memories that my grandad has of his home and surrounding area in Poland. I also adjusted the contrast and exposure, making the images darker and having a suitable exposure. These photos were taken during the summer, and I wanted the photos to be a mix of portraits and landscapes. The yellow hue and the grain I added causes the photos to have a retro look, a portrayal of the ‘good times’.
For these edits, I made the temperature of the photo cooler, since I wanted a blue hue within each picture. I think since the pictures are landscapes and micro photos, it adds a sense of loneliness and sadness. I also added a bit of vignette, since it guides our eyes to the middle. I also adjusted the contrast and exposure, making the images darker and having a suitable exposure. I also added a slight haze, exaggerating the blurriness of the photos. I think the blurriness was very effective, since it adds a feeling of timelessness to the photos. I picked these pictures out for editing since they act as a representation of my grandad now, as well as linking with my grandparent’s connection to nature.
Story of the book: Mitch Epstein went back to his home in Holyoke, Massachusetts to study his father’s failing real estate and retail furniture store businesses after a group of bored teenagers set fire to a building in 1999, the book was published in 2003.
Genre: This book’s genre is Photojournalism, presenting the demise of his father’s business through portraiture, landscapes and still life images.
Who is the photographer? Mitchell Epstein (born 1952) is an American photographer. He has created many books throughout his career, his first being published in 1997 and his most recent in 2021. By the mid-1970s, Epstein had abandoned his academic studies and begun to travel, embarking on a photographic exploration of the United States. Ten of the photographs he made during this period were in a 1977 group exhibition at Light Gallery in New York.
The book:
Book in hand: Quite a heavy book, paper’s quite smooth, smells like a book. Paper and ink: All of the images are printed on matte photo paper, no black and white images, all printed in paper . Format, size and orientation: The images are a mixture of landscape and portrait orientation, there are 295 pages, including the ones with written work. Cover: The cover is a plain fabric cover with an image wrap dust jacket which shows products that his father sells in his company Title: The book is about his father’s business, making the title Family Business literal. Narrative: He builds his narrative using a mixture of landscapes, still-life images, portraits and stills from interview footage with his dad, mum and staff members of the business. Design and layout: There are no images that go over both pages of the book, most images have a border around them, highlighting them more. Editing and sequencing: Very often, Epstein places an image of somewhere unclean next to an image of his father or another staff member, highlighting how put together the people of the business are. Images and text: Most images have text to describe them, and the stills of interview footage have text saying what was said during the interviews.
After photographing different products and the bakery, I had around 100 images, I, however, narrowed that down to 50 before importing them to Lightroom.
By the time I had narrowed them down again, there were around 16 that I liked and would like to use in my photobook.
Editing process; most of the images were slightly under exposed but that was easily fixed, apart from that, not much had to be done to the images.
The aim of this photoshoot was to produce images of how mine and my sisters identity got confused when we where younger. I did this by taking pictures in the studio of her and some old images of us together when we where children and her pointing to herself or looking away when it was a single image of me. I edited these pictures in Lightroom as well while trying to give them a warmer and softer look.
Overall I am not as happy with this photoshoot as I feel that the lighting set up wasn’t ideal. Some of the pictures came out a lot warmer than others and I feel that they don’t represent the story that I wanted to tell. Next time I will spend more time trying to set up the perfect lighting which complements the features of her face.
