Marsel van

Marsal van is a Dutch photographer who specialises in nature and wildlife photography. He started his career in advertising. As an art director at various renowned agencies and has won numerous awards for his captivating work. Van made a Dutch nature conservation organisation which is representative of both his creative and emotional approach to communication as well as his love for the natural world and his concern for the environment. After a trip to Tanzania and Van’s close encounters with animals really sparked his love for wildlife and drew a deeper passion for photography. Now van’s lives in South Africa when he is not traveling and runs specialised nature photography tours for people to destinations worldwide. Van’s has been rewarded “Travel photographer of the year” and the overall winner of “Wildlife photographer of the year”

Image analysis

This captivating image by Marsel vanis really stuck out to me Due to my project being about the contrast of technology and nature this image brings the both worlds together. The dystopian effect of the monkey in the natural lake while holding a manmade item helps portray the theme of addiction towards technology. I also feel that the use of the closest species to man is significant in the evolution in animals but still how they conflict with humans due to this image looking unnatural. I admire the way that the lighting in this image is natural with the innate tones of the money and the bold focal point of the mobile phone.

Where: St Helier, Jersey

When: 28th of March, around noon

What/who: The people in the town and their activities

How: DSLR, auto focus to ensure all images are in focus.

Inspired by: Alec Soth and Nan Goldin

Selected images – flagging

From my selection:

GREEN – best images

YELLOW – middle

RED – not the best/ won’t use

Best images:

These images were taken in the centre of York and picture the streets and York Minster in the early morning. I unfortunately did not get many pictures at all and due to the time at which they were taken, I feel that a lot of them aren’t as exciting as they could be. Arguably, however, this may offer an interesting contrast to my other city images where there is more life.

I took these images in and around the centre of Edinburgh as well as tourist attractions and heritage sights such as Edinburgh Castle, the National Monument of Scotland, and the old buildings of Edinburgh University I think a lot of these images are strong, but I definitely didn’t get as many as I would have liked.

I also took some images from the plane on the way there and back, and I think these would be useful at times to establish the change of scenery.

I have looked into my Grandfather and Grandmother’s past, and discovered scrapbooks he had made about his success in his garage and boat business.

I might use these as backgrounds for my photobook, use them to fill pages in between some photos, or as a cover.

I am going to experiment with some of these artists in photoshop, using archived images and these scrapbooks.

Carolle Bénitah

Jessa Fairbrother

Alec Soth

During this shoot, I plan to get pretty much all my images done at once as I probably won’t get another chance to get everyone together to do multiple photoshoots.

What?

I will photograph different people dressed masculinely or femininely, depending on what they are comfortable with, and experiment with gender stereotypes and gender roles to explore people’s views.

Why?

I chose this project for multiple reasons, one is because the line between “Masculinity” and “Femininity” can be fragile and many people cross this line and experiment, I would like to explore the idea that masculinity and femininity are both social constructs that have been made from centuries of gender stereotypes. The second reason is that I experiment with gender and would like to portray my own experience with gender through both self-portraits and portraits of other people.

Who?

I have a group of around 10 friends who are willing to help with this photoshoot and even experiment with gender stereotypes by wearing clothing that wouldn’t typically be “assigned” to their gender.

How?

I will use my camera which is similar to the ones we use in class.

When?

It will be an afternoon on either Monday or Friday as that is the easiest accessible to everyone taking part in the photo shoot, most of the shoot will probably be done while it is getting dark.

Where?

Instead of going to an actual studio, I will set up a portable studio in the living room at home. As much as these images are for my photography project, I would like to prioritise the comfort of the people taking part in the shoot and I think the best way of doing this is by being in a home setting rather than a school environment. The living room is the easiest room to blackout in the house which is the reason why I will be using it for the shoot.

Intentions –

For this exam, I want to make cinematic photographs. Photos that have the aesthetics and quality of a movie. The things I want to take pictures of will mostly involve a person or people, so portraits, and also of many views, so landscapes. Most locations would be beaches, streets, pubs, clubs, busses, cars, pathways and more. I want to have a variety of different times of day too, some taken during daylight hours and some at night. With the evenings in between, which gives me the chance to include sunset shots. I can take pictures of the moon and sun too. The main category for this project will be Observe, because the photos are of people and landscapes, like the viewer is watching these locations and these people. The main inspiration for these images is from Godfrey Reggio, with his shots of cities in his movie, Koyaanisqatsi. I like his shots of the many buildings in the big cities, they appear very deadpan and still, compared to his shots of the busy streets and roads which I also like and will try to replicate too. The movie captures a few natural structures too, like mountains and geysers. Jersey has no geysers but plenty of hills and cliff faces to capture. I also want to go to the sand dunes and capture some images there.

Technical + Visuals –

I want to use colours that blend and contrast with the subject and surroundings. I want to feature all kinds of camera angles; down shots, portraits, medium shots, extreme close-ups, wide shots, back-facing shots etc.. In terms of misc-en-scene, I want to make some photos look grainy, like it was shot on an old movie camera, I can make some photos have an orange-yellow tint to them too, or any other colour can be used – done through Lightroom, to make it look more cinematic and photogenic. For night photography, I can make streetlights in the background look either blurry or more radiant, same for car lights, which gives me another idea of slowing the shutter speed and capturing the streams of light from the cars going past. Photographs of the city at night always look nice too. Similar to Rut Blees Luxemburg’s night photographs, but with a more vibrant and cinematic twist. Day photos I can have the beams of light from the sun shine on the lens or on a person, or add a lens flare to the image. A general edit I can make is blurring the background to make anything in the foreground stand out and be highlighted, this can be easily done by changing aperture sizes. If needed, I can add cinematic bars to make the photographs more dramatic and serious.

For my second photoshoot, I took pictures in small towers, located in a wood in Trinity. I used the rough walls as background, photographing the place with me and without me, similarly to my first photoshoot.

Contact Sheets

Sub-Selection

These are the photos I believe are the strongest, in terms of composition and fitting in with my project. They are the photos in which the interaction between the environment and me is most natural, which is something Woodman always manages to achieve. These are mostly likely the raws I will be editing into black and white.

For my first photoshoot, I decided to take pictures at home. I wanted a simple wall as the backsdrop with some bigger and smaller components to act as props around me. I took both self- portraits as well as photos of the room itself, showing a contrast between place and person.

I think this photoshoot links in with the theme by producing an indirect observation of my thoughts and feelings- linking to hysteria through the unnerving vibe of the photographs. It also challenges the stereotypical views of femininity and mental illness, openly showing feelings that tend to be hidden.

Contact Sheets

Sub- Selection

These are the photos I believe are the strongest, in terms of composition and fitting in with my project. These are mostly likely the raws I will be editing into black and white, and cropping them to improve the composition (e.g: cropping out the door frame present in some shots).