For this shoot I am going to mainly use my family who work in different environments to show a range of different backgrounds. I am also going to take some images in school with either students or teachers in their class room to show what they teach or are learning. When taking the images I am going to make sure that more that just the persons head is in the frame to give the viewer more of an idea of what they do as well as because environmental portraits shouldn’t be head shots and should include more. I am also going to take some images inside and some outside to give my projects a wide range of images. In the images I am going to have some of them with the person looking down at the camera and some with them looking else where or at what they are doing/ holding for example.
An environmental portrait is and image which capture a person usually in their work place or shows their work or in their home. It focuses on their life and surroundings which influences them daily.
mood board:
Images by Arnold Newman, Mary-Ellen-Marl, August Sander
For my first final piece I am going to use two of my edits, which are the same just in black and white with two different images, and print them out on A4 sized photo paper. I am then going to mount them onto foam board and then on black card to lift them.
For my second final piece I am going to use two of my images inspired my Barry Rosenthal and I am going to print them out on A5 gloss photo paper. Then I am going to trim the images to get rid on the white boarder and then stick them on to foam board allowing the foam board to add a boarder.
For my third final piece I am going to use another one of my images inspired by Rosenthal and print it out on A3 glossy photo paper. I am also going to mount this image onto foam board leaving a small white boarder, however, I am then going to stick it on a sheet of black card to make it look bold.
For my fourth final piece, I am simply going to print it out on A3 glossy photo paper and trim around the edges. Then I am going to stick it on to a piece of foam board and cut it out with the smaller boarder so that the images isn’t on the edge.
For my fifth and final final piece I am going to print one of my industrial edits on A4 glossy photo paper and trim it. I am then going to stick it on foam board and leave a boarder before mounting it onto a piece of black card.
At the start of this project I decided to focus on plastics and un-used items as well as the industrial side of Anthropocene. I think these two things play a big part in how we are damaging our planet and think it is important to make sure people are aware of it. I went to various locations such as Bellozane and power stations and took images of the industrial structures which I thought fit in with the theme. I also went to some beaches and mainly collected different old bottle caps before taking them back home and photographing them laid out on a sheet of black card. I also used some old pencil colours and played them out on the black card as well. For the bottle caps and pencils I was specifically inspired by one artist in reticular. Barry Rosenthal used collected plastics from beaches and photographer them to show viewers his discoveries, I think he is a powerful photographer and uses his work as a way of connecting to people about Anthropocene.
Once I had all of my images I then used Lightroom classic and photoshop to adjust and edit them. Firstly, I used Lightroom to adjust the lighting and exposure making sure that the images were clear. On photoshop, for the inspired images I then filled the background in with black to make the objects stand out more and engage the viewers with my images, as well as crop the images to make sure that the objects were in the centre of the frame to make them as similar to Rosenthal’s as I could. I then used the industrial images for create some edits holding value about Anthropocene. I used a few different ideas, techniques, and tools as can be seen on a previous blog below. I tried to link my edits to Anthropocene as well as my images hoping they carry a meaningful message behind them.
What went well:
Within my project I think there were a few main things that went well for me Firstly, I think that my inspired image connecting to Barry Rosenthal’s came out well. I like how they are very simple and give things that people don’t usually think of such as bottle caps a new purpose as well as it being easy for others to recreate.I think my images look very similar to Rosenthal’s but still have a different showing that they are mine. Secondly, I think that my edits were effective as they each had a different style, whilst still linking to Anthropocene. I like how they are effective and engage the viewer allowing them to see the detail and depth in the images.
one of my inspired images
Possible improvements:
As a whole I am please with my project however, there is always things that could be improved. Mainly I think that I could have produced more images as I was very limited with what I had came up with. I think that I could have tried to recreate a few more of Rosenthal’s images as the one I did came out effective, as well as more industrial images. I think that I could have visited a few more different locations from my mind map, on a previous blog, to give myself a wider range of images to work with. I also think that an improvement could have been made with my edits Whilst I had a range of techniques with different meanings behind them I think I could have made some with more detail in them that more obviously relate to the theme of Anthropocene.
For my final images I created a virtual gallery to see what they would look like in an exhibition. To create this gallery I used the website www.artsteps.com. This allowed me to choose a space/room to add my images to to make it look realistic. Firstly, I chose the gallery that I wish to use, in this case I used ‘the loft’.
After that I then added my images into the gallery by clicking add image and dropped it into the space from my folder.
I repeated this process with all of my images adding them to different places in the gallery. Overall I think that the gallery is a very effective way of presenting my images as it allows me to see what they would look like as well as see how I could improve them next time.
I like how my first two edits above turned out as I think that the pattern makes the viewer interested in my images as it is very unique and different from others. I chose to create this edit as I think it shows how people don’t always think about pollution or climate change etc and how they look at it with a cover thinking that it isn’t as bad as people say it is. I think it shows that we don’t look directly at it and don’t do much to help make a change. If I were to do these two edits again it would swap the colours and the images as I think the dark image would look better with the white pattern and the lighter image would look better with the black pattern, however I think they still contrast nicely with the lighting.
For my second edit I chose to create this circular pattern with the image show the viewers how pollution and climate change, damaging the earth, is a reoccurring pattern and at the moment is never ending. I think that this edit turned out well as it is simple but effective and is engaging as it isn’t just a plain image.
For my third edit I have slightly moved sections of the image upwards and sections downwards alternating. I think that edit shows how Anthropocene isn’t as straight forwards as some people think and even by helping out in little ways it can help massively. I like how the edit isn’t as visible as some of my other ones and how you have too look closely to see what I have done with the image, similarly to how pollutions etc isn’t very visible to the human eye. If I were to do it again I would make it slightly more obvious.
Finally, for my forth edit I have tried to show how in this day some people etc try to forget/ cover up how we are damaging the planet by cutting out squares and moving them attempting to cover the industrial towers, however because the squared are parts of the buildings it shows how we cannot cover it up or leave it for other day. I like how the image is quite dark as it sets the mood for the theme of the image as it isn’t a happy topic.
I like how theses image have came out, I think they portray the theme of Anthropocene nicely as it shows how industrial building etc are becoming more and more common all over Jersey and even damaging the island. I think that the carry a message through to the viewers making them aware of what is happening and get them thinking about how they could help or try and do something to help make a change.
inspired images:
My image: Artists image: My image: Artists image:My image: Artists image:
Overall, I am very happy with how my artist inspired images turned out. I think that the back backgrounds make the pencils and bottle caps stand out to the viewer and intrigues them into the image. In my first inspired image I like how the pencils draw you in because of the shape and pattern of them, they make you interested and look into the image for the more detail and depth of what the images is made out off etc. If I were to do the image again I would be more persist with the placement of the pencils make sure that they were the perfect length to meet and the corners where my image has a few gaps. I would also use less black pencils so that they could be seen easier. For my second inspired image I like how I have used a range of colours and different shaped/sized bottle caps, as it makes them very bold with the background being black. I think my second image is more the style of Barry Rosenthal’s work rather than inspired by his image as they are quite different, therefore next time I would use the same colour caps and place them in a more structured layout. For my final inspired image I think it works very well from far away as it looks very similar, however I have used coloured pencils as opposed to plastic straws like Rosenthal. I still like the image as it is very bust with the pencils being scattered rather than placed. If I were to recreate it again I would use straws instead as well as using more as he has more straws in his image than I do pencils. As a whole I like how my images show how regular items, that many don’t think of, can become something more than rubbish or wasted products.
For my final images I have chosen to use my three Barry Rosenthal inspired images as well as a few of my edits using the industrial images seen on the blog post above.
Firstly I opened up my images on Lightroom and went through them all selecting that images I wished to use using ‘x’ to reject the image and ‘p’ to pick the image. I then filtered my collection to only have my selected images viewable to create my final selection. final selection
Artist inspired edits:
For my first edit I was inspired by Barry Rosenthal. I used bottle caps of different colours, shapes and sizes and placed them on black card photographing them. As you can see above I then selected the background and filled it in black to make it sharper. I then began to use the quick selection tool and selected the individual bottle caps. layer via coping’ them and moving the duplicated caps around to fill the image. For my second edit, also inspired by Rosenthal, I used old pencil colours and pen lids to create a square shaped pattern on black card. I then used Photoshop and the quick selection tool again to select the background and filling it in black to make the pencils stand out more prominently. Lastly, I cropped the image to make sure that the pencils were in the centre of the image. For my last image inspired by Rosenthal, I used the same old pencils and laid them all out on the black card randomly. In photoshop I then used the quick selection tool and selected the background. filling it in black to make the image sharper.
Industrial edits:
For my next two edits I used some industrial image that we taken at bellozane. I opened up my image on photoshop and duplicated the original image. I then filled the second image one with white and the other with black. I then began to use the elliptical marquee tool to select circles all over the image, revealing the original image behind.
I repeated this on both images creating a stencil like pattern over the image. For my fourth edit I also used one of my industrial images, and the elliptical marquee tool. I used the tool to select a circle in the middle of my image, before layer via copying it and using CTRL + T to select the circle. I then rotated the image slightly to the right and repeated this process multiple times until I got to the middle of the first circle. For my fifth edit, I used another of my industrial images and the rectangular marquee tool as seen below. I used the tool to select rough squares of different sizes and layer via copied them. I then used CTRL + T to select the squares and moved them to a different part of the image. I repeated this multiple times until the main part of the image was covered. For my final edit, I used my last industrial image and the rectangular marquee tool like in the edit above. This image I selected rectangles in columns and also layer via copied them. I then also selected them with CTRL + T and alternately moved them either up or down slightly. I repeated this until the whole image was distorted.
Firstly I opened up one of my images on photoshop and changed the canvas size by doubling the with of the image to the left side and making it red so that I could clearly see where my original image was. I then selected the red side with the ‘magic wand tool’ and right clicked to select inverse so that my original image was selected, I then layer via copied my image so that I had two of them. I used CTRL + T to select the second layer/image and right clicked to distort. By doing this it allowed me to flip the second image over onto the red side mirroring my original image. Once I had done that I repeated the same process however, this time I doubled the height to the bottom, mirroring my edited image. Finally I flattered my image to save it.
my edits:
Overall I like how my edits have turned out and I think this style is very intriguing for the viewer as the mirroring of the images draws your eyes into the centre then allowing you to look further out to the rest of the image which is full of detail and different tones.
Gustave Le Gray was a French artist who was born in 1820. in around 1847 he began and focused on photography and by doing so he became one of the most renowned pioneers of the new art producing many influential pieces, mainly of landscapes, portraits or architecture, such as the one below. Eventually he moved to Egypt and became a drawing instructor after he became bankrupt and left his business in 1860 despite his success. After moving he kept taking images and made photography a fun hobby, he stayed there and shortly died after in 1882.
The Great Wave was taken on the Mediterranean cost, southern France, in 1857, he took multiple images to create it, i.e., he would have used one image for the horizon and one for the sea. This allowed him to achieve a good balance between the two and shows the viewers how he would have seen it in his own eyes. A journal of the photographic society, at the time, wrote about his image calling it a ‘glow of glory’ with ‘liquid light’.
The Great Wave, 1857
Dafna Talmor:
Dafna Talmor was an photographer who used multiply images and cut the out carefully layering them to create unique images. It is a project that she started in 2009 of a collection of images that she began taking in 2003. She has now made a book of her images arising in 2018, with great publicity.
from Constructed Landscapes II
Both could be described as landscape pictures. What kinds of landscapes do they describe?
I think that Le Gray’s image describes a more dark and gloomy landscape with the waves breaking and heavy clouds. Whilst Talmor’s images are more complicated with sharp landscapes and detail, looking more suburban.
What similarities do you notice about these two pictures?
Both the photographers have taken images of landscapes and have edited them in some way to make them more intriguing. They both have lots of depth and detail throughout.
What differences do you notice?
Le Gray’s images are one landscape and are very clear, whereas Talmor’s are very roughly cut and have more texture.
What words/phrases best describe each of these landscapes?
Le Gray’s: dark, gloomy, heavy
Talmor’s: sharp, detailed, rigid
In which of these landscapes would you prefer to live?
I would rather live in Talmor’s landscapes as it looks more calm and peaceful as opposed to Le Gray’s is more storm like weather.
