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Mary-Ellen Bartley “7 Things again and again”.

My Response

I started by looking for interesting objects in my house and ones that I see every day. I chose a grater, timer, plum, knife and a jar of tea. Along with Mary Ellen Bartley, I was also inspired by a photographer I previously studied Laura Letinsky and the subjects of her photographs- mainly domestic items and fruits and food.

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The Photos

first cut-

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image editing-

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final images

MARY ELLEN BARTLEY:

During the 2019 pandemic of COVID-19, a lockdown was announced. Bartley is this time decided to give herself a photography challenge she was able to do at home. She picked 7 objects from around her house that seemed to have meaning during this pandemic, everyday in her tiny studio she created she would take a picture of the same objects but different ways.

PHOTOSHOOT:

What is formalism ?

Formalism represents the how a photo or image is made (its form). It also includes the position that the image was taken from e.g. birds eye view, worms eye view etc. It is what is in the image and how is has been pieced together, rather than what the image tells us. Formalism began in photography in the late 1800’s, it was an approach in response to the post-impressionism movements that was major in the art industry at the time.

What is includes:

Formalism includes four main areas. Technical, visual, contextual and conceptual. They tell and describe how the image is made with the features that it carries.

Edward Weston:

An example of a formalism photographer is Weston, he takes images of objects close up to capture their detail and puts the images in black and white to show the shadows ad depth. I like the two images of his below as they hold lots of different tones and shades that intrigue the viewer into the image.

My example:

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New objectivity is a style of photography started after World War One. The chaos and sombre events of the war effected photography as did the rapid industrialisation of both America and Europe leading to new objectivity becoming popular as a reaction to change. It was also a response and rejection to expressionism a style popular before the war and favoured focusing on real life without sentimentality as opposed to expressionism which depicted romantic and unrealistic scenes. New Objectivists tended to focus on more ‘mundane’ everyday objects or scenes – creating patterns and visual interest from things around them.

The world is beautiful explores Renger-Patzschs ideas of Photography as its ability to reproduce reality and capture the essence of an object allowing us to fully appreciate it. In the Weimer Republic it was held as an iconic example of New Objectivity however heavily criticised by some photographer for being too ‘aesthetic’ and not true to the style of realism.

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 “The secret of a good photograph—which, like a work of art, can have esthetic qualities—is its realism … Let us therefore leave art to artists and endeavor to create, with the means peculiar to photography and without borrowing from art, photographs which will last because of their photographic qualities.”

Was a German photographer born in 1865. Best known for his close up photos of plants and living things. Blossfeldt developed his own series of homemade camera allowing him to photograph plants magnified with more detail. His works where mainly used as means of teaching and were brought to the public with the publishing of his first book in 1929 “Urformen der Kunst ” (Art Forms in Nature). The book quickly became popular through its detailed photos showing the shapes and structures of nature.

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Focus points are areas on a camera sensor that are sensitive to changes in lighting, detected either through a method called phase-detection or contrast-detection.

Phase-detection uses the prism inside a DSLR camera to tell whether the image is in focus. After the light from an image hits the prism, it then separates into two, which, if said image is in focus, should line up together in the camera’s viewfinder and appear sharp and focused. If the two aren’t lined up, however, the image will appear blurry and unfocused. The focus sensor in the camera controls this, and can adjust the focus accordingly to make sure the images line up. Phase-detection is typically used for action shots with fast-moving subjects, as the rate at which a camera with phase-detection focuses is often within fractions of a second.

Contrast-detection uses the image sensor itself to analyse the pixels within the image in real-time. It’s programmed to think that a subject is in focus when the contrast is the highest, pushing back the focus point of the camera lens back and forth until it reaches the desired result. Because of this, it’s a much slower method of auto-focusing and can make it very difficult to record a moving subject, which is why manufacturers often implement phase-detection in their cameras today.

The speed at which a camera focuses can also be affected by the type of focusing point used, which can be either normal or a cross-type focusing point. On higher-end models of DSLR cameras with phase-detection systems, such as the Nikon D5, there are several clusters of cross-type focusing points on the sensor, whilst lower-end cameras, such as the Canon Rebel T3i, usually have one central cross-type focus point. This means that the rate of focus in the centre of an image will be more reliable and quicker than anywhere else in the shot. On the other hand, normal focusing points tend to be much slower and less consistent, which can be difficult especially when taking action shots of a moving subject.

In the realm of fine art, the focal point is defined as a point of interest that makes a work of art unique. In photographic terms, a focal point can broadly be seen as a photographer’s point of view. Think, for a moment, about how drastically different a photo can become depending upon what you choose to focus on.

Why is focal point in photography important?

Focal points are important factors in photographs, as it gives the viewer a location within the frame to place their eyes. Focal points give people a subject of interest and keep them drawn to your photograph. A focal point can consist of literally anything.

How do photographers choose focal points?

An effective way to set the focus point on your subject is using a narrow depth of field. You achieve by focusing on the subject while having the rest of the elements in the image blurry. This is based on the fact that the sharper part of the image attracts the viewer’s attention.

DIGITAL MONTAGE

Montage one

Original photos:

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Result:

Montage two

Original photos:

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Result:

Montage three

Original photo:

Result:

Montage four

Original photo:

Result:

How I made them:

To make montage one and two, I started by cropping the original pictures to a size that I thought worked best for the two pictures together before selecting, with the marquee tool, the side I did not want and then deleted it.

To make montage three and four, I started by editing the pictures (montage three – into black & white and colour, montage four – into inverted and normal) before then layering the cropped parts of one edited picture onto another.

PHYSICAL MONTAGE

MONTAGE FINAL IMAGES

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Photography is a form of art which involves taking and processing photos. These photos could be of something natural and unplanned or something that has been set up beforehand. The word photography means ‘drawing with light’ which lets us know that light is one of the key factors when taking photographs. You want to have good lighting so you can take the best image possible.

Photography shows peoples creativity and imagination when taking photos. It’s When artists create photos which hold meaning behind them and a story which explains what the photo is showing.

This image by Yves Klein leaves the viewer questioning, why would someone jump off a roof for a photo? Is he a professional stunts man and able to perform the stunt safely? It gets them thinking about the image, how it was created, if there was any editing involved etc, and gets them wanting to do research on the image to find out more about it.

This is the two images that Klien combined to make his Leap into the void photo. On the left is how he jumped of the roof safely without getting injured and on the right is just an image of the road on its own. Klien merged the two images together to make it look like he jumped of the roof and had no one there for safety. This is what got people questioning the image.

This quote by David Campany tells us all about photographs and how they can be perceived by people. Every photo you look at could confuse you if you don’t know what is happening behind the lens but it could also fascinate you to want to look into the photo and find out more. They distract you as there could be a main focus in the photo which is distracting you from everything else going on in the photo.

Photography can be used to capture images that you would want to keep forever but it could also be used to just document something that might be needed in the future. it’s a way of capturing things and saving moments that you may not of been able to notice otherwise.

This image creates a perfect example of photos being confusing but fascinating as we don’t know what is going on with the photo and why it looks how it does, (there might of been a problem with the camera or something might of made the lens blurred). This makes the image fascinating and gets you wanting to know more about it and what actually happened to make it look how it does. It also makes the image confusing as you can’t make out what anything is in the image, e.g. if there are any objects in the image or not. Also what the photo might mean as it is just colours and why the photographer decided to take a photo like that. That could make you confused and lead you to question the image.

This photo by Robert Capa is a good representation of a photo that distracts as much as compels a viewer. It distracts as it is action packed and has a main focus of the soldiers running across the field. The mountain in the background probably isn’t thought of because of the soldiers which makes the photo distracting. It is also compelling as it has the image of war and combat which people normally don’t like to look at.