I tried using different black and white presents to experiment with my portrait. The black and white Infrared created a textured and grainy image while also giving more definition to the masks in the background.
EDIT THREE:
This photoshoot was experimenting with the camera and creating environmental portraits. We had taken the images around Hautlieu school. My best image was taken on the languages wing where both Anna and Phoebe, were sitting on the stairs with the masks behind them. Most of my images have a low resolution and are out of focus, when taking my environmental portraits I need to check my camera setting before I go out.
Within the two images they both include two people within them, there are some similarities between the images however there are also some differences. Both images are in black and white however Sanders image has more of a grainy texture due to the technology at the time, as well as him trying to reduce using new technology. Both images have two people within the frame however they have different connotations. Due to the close proximity of the subjects in Sanders image it could suggest they are related or relatively close friends. Both kids are looking directly at the camera, giving a direct mode of address, suggesting that they have been instructed what to do, this could be because they are children however in observing their clothing it suggests they are part of the upper class so they have to maintain a certain image. In my image both girls are looking at their phones with a space between them, this is to show how society has evolved while showing the effects of new technology and how it has consumed young minds. With the distance between the images it is reinforce the idea of the distance that technology create social interactions.
August Sander was a German portrait and documentary photographer.
Sander’s photography career began when he was a teenager. Sander worked on his project through a period of tumultuous social and political change that spanned the Weimar Republic and the Nazi regime, and one of his early book projects, Face of Our Time. Sander’s work continues to be a source of inspiration for generations of photographers, including Walker Evans, Diane Arbus, Bernd and Hilla Becher, and Rineke Dijkstra.
Visual –
In this image you can see a man standing against bricks. This is an example of an environmental portrait taking it perhaps at his place of work. His full body stance suggest power and strength, he is showing his whole body which suggests he is revealing himself and has nothing to hide. He is wearing a white jumpsuit, suggesting he is in work uniform, however you can see some dirt suggests he work hard labour. Furthermore due to the place this image is taken in suggests that he is a builder which shows he is hard working. The background is plain yet the positioning of the brick creates a frame around his body trapping him between the two towers, creating a slight frame in frame photograph. The tone of this image is muted and subtle, the black and white in this image does not creates a feeling of no emotion yet has a slight ominous undertone within it.
Technical –
Sander did not use the newly invented Leica camera. Instead he remained devoted to an old-fashioned large-format camera, glass negatives and long exposure times. This allowed him to capture minute details of individual faces.
Contextual –
“Man of the Twentieth Century” was Sander’s monumental, lifelong photographic project to document the people of his native Westerwald, near Cologne. Sander was trying to document people and how they evolve and what they do for work showing the difference throughout the years. This image was taken in around 1926.
Emotional Response:
This environmental portrait shows the relationship between mankind and [nature] natural setting. This image is ominous and suspicious due to the connotations of this eerie dark green tone in the image, and the hard stare that Krupp has. The way that Krupp presents himself in this image, it radiates power and danger towards the people looking at the image; the direct mode of address also make the audience feel slightly intimidated.
Visual -what can we see in the image:
In this image Krupp presents himself as a dominant, powerful, dangerous man; this can be supported by his position in the image. He is in the centre of the image while also being in the foreground this is suggesting that he is the focal point and what the receiver should be focusing on. His hand gestures emit this commanding feeling which is reinforced by his hand and body position as a triangle, pyramids are know for being strong which could suggest that his is trying to reinforce this idea. He is wearing a dark grey suit in an abandoned industrial site perhaps the site he used to work in. The pillars on either side of him create a frame in frame, further framing Krupp in the image and perhaps drawing more attention to the background. In the background you are able to notice the trains and this neglected space, furthermore on the roof of this building you are able to see light right above Krupp’s head giving a sense that it is leading you out which creates more depth to this image. The tone in this image is dark including very little lighting, yet matches the image perfectly while also having the right amount of light in the image to give more depth, the texture of the image is slightly grainy maybe to further show the connotations of a ditched site or maybe it was just the camera they had used.
Conceptual – why was the photo taken / presented;
Contextual – who, when, where etc…the story, background, impact:
Arnold Newman was a Jewish photographer. “As a Jew, it’s my own little moment of revenge.”, he wanted revenge for what Alfred Krupp was responsible for, during the WW2. The WW2, lead by Adolf Hitler, which killed around 6 million Jews. Krupp, the man in the picture, was responsible for transporting resources through a family company.
Technical – how was the photo taken:
Newman had a platform specifically erected in order to place Krupp against an industrial backdrop and he knew exactly what kind of image he had in mind. When composing the shot he asked Krupp to lean forward slightly, when he did he clasped his fingers together under his chin.
An environmental portrait is a portrait executed in the subject’s usual environment, such as in their home or workplace, and typically illuminates the subject’s life and surroundings.
It is thought that you will be able to better illuminate their character, and therefore portray the essence of their personality, rather than merely a likeness of their physical features.
Environmental portraits reveal much about a persons lifestyle. They show what work ethic and jobs they have as well as sharing possible hobbies of there’s, but most importantly they show the source of income a person gets. Source of income is what can define you and help you in society it reveals your personal life and you way of living, this is how people make opinions about you. However environmental images can conceal the emotions the person is feeling, in the image they could look powerful and dominant, yet we don’t actually know there true feelings. In a photograph people can create an illusion and create a different personality, they can create a new person; in a photograph you can fake your emotions and make the audience receive a completely different interpretation.
PLACE OF WORK: where a person works shows an aspect of their personal life, an example can be someone working in a workshop.
HOBBIES: hobbies can show the type of personalities a person have, it gives an audience a view of the type of person they are, what kind of values they hold.
HOSPITALITY: taking an image of someone living place can show a persons income, and type of living, what kind of challenges they have to overcome to live.
With this A3 image I decided to create a window mount, this is because the size of the image already speaks for the actual photo itself. This image was taken in Town, St Helier, and when editing I decided to change it to a black and white image as it gives a further connotations of the world dying. This fit with the Anthropocene project.
These images I created during my further editing and experimenting. I printed them A4 and mounted them on white foam board, this is so the image look more eye catching to the audience walking passed. I didn’t created a tryptic with the highlighter image as it didn’t seem to have any relation to these other images.
I chose to base my Anthropocene project on plastics. Mankind is becoming dependent on plastic; using it everyday yet all these plastic items are slowly destroying Earth. Mankind is become careless about the way they treat the world and the consequences that faces are due to all the polluting of non-reusables items. My project is supposed to highlight how much plastics we are consuming and showing how much plastic we use on a daily basis.
I wanted to show the variety of waste we use in a week that gets burnt or thrown into the sea, this is why I extended my project further from just plastic items to cans and other waste products. I began collecting things from around my house that we use on a daily basis and then collected after a week how many plastic bottles we went through.
I took the pictures in the Hautlieu Photography Studio. This is so they could look more professional. This is because i wanted to use studio lighting to make sure its evenly photographed. I wanted my images to show impact like Mandy Barkers images, I used inspiration from her using a black background to attract the eyes to the colours; I wanted my photos to make a statement. At the beginning I edited my images in Lightroom Classic to reduced exposure and increased the contrast, however later I decided to do some experimentation in Photoshop. I wanted to create abstract images like Mandy Barker.
During this project it was difficult to collect objects from my house, mainly because people forgot and threw away the plastics. However the most challenging part was to plan the project out. Planning the project is the most crucial part of the project because if you miss or forget to do something your behind. Furthermore when I was in the studio I thought I had taken more images however when I came back I only had 35, this made things difficult because I didn’t have a wide range of images to work with in editing.
Reflecting on my Landscape project I believe it improved from my first part of my ‘HOME’ project. My blog posts have been becoming regular and creative to look at. My blog posts are minimal with information filled with many links to sites with further information or websites I’ve taken information from. Planning my photoshoots and working overtime has been the most challenging part for me in this project. The weather was rainy and not ideal to take most of my Landscape images, however when I took my ‘WAVE’ images the windy rainy weather created a more dramatic feel to the images. In my next project I will try to expand my blog posts with my writing and more analytical with artist reference and my images; more analysing. Furthermore I need to make time to take my photoshoots so I have a wider range of images to work with when it come to editing.
CREATING MY VIRTUAL GALLERY
When creating my virtual gallery I used Adobe photoshop. I looked on the internet for photography galleries I could use as a template, however the template also had to fit the aesthetic of my images throughout my landscape project. I used images throughout my landscape project; Topographics, New Typologies, and Anthropocene. I inserted my images from my documents that I had previously edited, using the transform tool I changed the sizing so it fits onto the canvas. On the images that are on the side of the wall I used the ‘skew’ and ‘distort’ tool to size the image onto the side.
ANTHROPOCENE:
TOPOGRAPHICS:
LANDSCAPE: WAVES
Rosenthal and Barker have similar styles in photography, yet their work is contrasting.
Both Rosenthal and Barker are showing how plastic is affecting life and the Earth. Rosenthal highlights how much plastic and non-renewable sources we use on a daily basis, perhaps without even realising or not knowing its plastic. However Barker shows how plastic is affecting Earth and the natural life such as the sea, this therefore affecting habitats for the water animals with them digesting the plastic.
Rosenthal usually uses a white background with minimal objects in the foreground. His objects are well placed in a sense that they cover the frame equally, or they look like they have been randomly scattered. His photos are basic yet his message is shown directly and still is recognised.
Barker photographs her image in a more aesthetically pleasing way. She started off taking pictures similar to Rosenthal while she was on the go, however it wasn’t getting the recognition that she had hoped for. She photographs her objects on black velvet which energises her photos and brightens the colours. Barker edits her photos more than Rosenthal so she can get her audience to engage more with the eye catching images.
My images are placed on black cardboard I took inspiration from Barker as I wanted the colours to seem more vibrant and to contrast against the dark background. I did use a diet coke can, it may not be plastic but its many things that is one time use and people don’t recycle. I tried to replicate the plastic cap image from Rosenthal so I could link it back, however mine is slightly different with different sizes and colours. Perhaps if I collected them for a longer period of time they would look more similar.