found objects-

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

New objectivity, which is a translation of the phrase “Neue Sachlichkeit,” is a photography movement that began during the 1920s, bearing an attitude that focused more on the raw reality of everyday objects mixed with the formal elements of photography, while rejecting sentimentalism and idealism.

Albert Renger-Patzsch, a photographer that used new objectivity a lot, published a book, a novel concentrated particularly on specific subjects, such as wildlife, traditional craftsmen, mechanical equipment, landscapes, and architectural studies, displaying 100 of his photos based on his ideas of the New Objectivity, stating,

“There must be an increase in the joy one takes in an object, and the photographer should be fully conscious of the splendid fidelity of reproduction made possible by this technique”

Other photographers with similar interests in photography, particularly Objectivity photographers, such as Karl Blossfeldt. Their work shows similar qualities with Albert Renger-Patzsch’s, such as the raw focus on the object and high detail.

Closer toward the modern day, Patzsch has now influenced many photographers, such as Martin Parr. All of their works tending to focus more on the reality of their subjects as opposed to something idealistic, but still managing to find the beauty in something totally ordinary.

An aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane.

Evaluation

Overall, this project was a very fun and insightful experience. Majority of my pictures were based around the theme of memento mori, which we learnt about and wrote a section about in one of our blog posts.

I think my most successful area was the editing part as in my opinion majority of the photos turned out nicer and more vibrant. I think I was also very successful in the studio still life images as they all turned out unique and special with the colours being blended with one another.

I believe that i need to work on making my photos more coherent with each other, and maybe trying more styles in the phots rather than sticking to one. Having a variety of different styles would give me more options on my final pieces.

My best image

I chose this picture as my best image as I think the texture really captivates the viewer, and makes it look more realistic. I also like how fitting it was with the memento mori theme I was attempting for my images, since the skull and title of the book are both reminders of death.

Link to gallery: https://www.artsteps.com/view/63623519ddd4806749e13922

Studio lighting is an essential addition to most photographers’ arsenal. It allows us to create natural lighting effects in a variety of situations, and is far more controllable than a flashgun. And, with so many options available nowadays, it doesn’t have to be confined to a studio.

continuous lighting

Continuous lighting in photography occurs when you turn the studio lights on, they stay on – like a video light or a flashlight. 

flash lighting

When you fire the shutter, the flash fires, quickly lighting up your subject and then turning itself off. Flash lighting can be a simple speedlight, like the one pictured above, or a more powerful strobe. Speedlights and strobes, like continuous lighting, can also be used behind modifiers, with no modifiers, etc.

This was my final still life edit I chose:

By using Lightroom I could edit the shadows to make them look darker and stand out more. I lowered the highlights and colours.

Here I also cropped the image and adjusted the size ready to upload to my blog.

No highlights, to emphasise the dullness and more darks and shadows.

I like this because it does look as though it was a genuine double exposure mistake taken on a film camera, like this example. This is quite an interesting way to present images and I like its effect.

Walker Evans

What inspired Walker Evans and why was his photography different from the rest?

Walker was inspired by his ‘French cultural heroes’, Evans set out to document the authentic, ordinary, and transitory details that he now saw in his homeland. While Evans’s realism was clearly at odds with the aestheticized images of contemporaries like Alfred Stieglitz, he was quick to deny his role as a documentarian.

Walker has proven that the best photography isn’t always images such as views, nature and ‘beautiful things’ instead he has picked objects which people can almost relate to as they have seen or own it themselves. Using these everyday objects, he has managed to make them look interesting and meaningful, it shows the details and the way the tools have been made to help up build things ourselves. I think it’s a really interesting aspect/type of photography as it’s so simple but still interesting.

Object studio edits

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

By editing the colour of these to black and white it would look similar to walker evans images. I was experimenting the camera position/view when taking taking this pictures from above.

What is photomontage?

A photomontage is a collage constructed from photographs.

Historically, the technique has been used to make political statements and gained popularity in the early 20th century (World War 1-World War 2)

Artists such as Raoul Haussman , Hannah Hoch, John Heartfield employed cut-n-paste techniques as a form of propaganda, as did Soviet artists like Aleksander Rodchenko and El Lissitsky

Photomontage has its roots in Dadaism, which is closely related to Surrrealism.

Dadaism was a movement with explicitly political overtones – a reaction to the senseless slaughter of the trenches of WWI. 

some examples of photomontages:

My photomontage edits

My photomontage finals