As planned earlier I have gone out to photograph frog habitat which involved in getting quite close to frogs and their colonies. To do this I needed to have larger wellies to get into the ponds. I took a few pictures over 1hour. I focused on photographing the trip as well as what I found and experienced.
Photoshoot
Sub Selection
I have selected photographs of the best quality, and ones I though were showing the experience in the best way .
Editing
When it comes to editing I was able to copy the same editing style throughout the images, the main features I did change depending on the subject of the photograph was the exposure, as most were either over or under exposed. The main featured I did highlight were the exposure, sharpness and clarity.
Final Photographs
After editing I narrowed down my selection further depending on the photographs quality, what is was showing and checking is it wasn’t “repetitive”, meaning showing the same or similar thing. I wanted to have a good range of the photographs, and I think I achieved that.
What– The objects I will photograph are swampy areas therefore I couldn’t help to capture water in these swamps, with leaves, algae, water plants etc.
Who- My main goal is to capture frogs, therefore although I might include pictures of the surrounding habitat as well as documenting the trip, I plan to produce images mostly of frogs.
Where– Near Wayne, there are natural ponds, where I have been honoured to join on a documentary trip, with my friends dad who needs to look after them as they are endangered.
When– We would have to go when it gets quite dark to see them better but to also skip the crowd. in the dark, when using a torch it is easier to see underneath the water, and that is what we will need to do.
How– using the digital camera I will have to use flash as it will be very dark and except from a camera flash we have a limited amounts of torches.
Why– It will be a great adventure and will get me out of my comfort zone, as I never had to do something like this before, I also think that the outcomes will be quite discovery photographs, which link to my main idea of adventure and travel.
Maurice Van Es was born in 1984 in the Netherlands. He is a visual artist that works with photographs. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Arts in Hague using his graduation project “Now will not be with us forever”. It was a book cassette which contained seven different books. This work was published by Lodret Vandret and was exhibited in New York, Paris and Amsterdam.
In this book he deals with photography’s intrinsic dimension: seizing a moment that will not return. He does this by focusing on his close surrounding environment, his family and what he is familiar with. This would be done through images of his younger brother leaving for school each morning, or his grandfather putting on a pullover and other physical objects like a car or a blanket.
I came across this book in class and it immediately stroke my attention due to the unique layout of the book, or a collection of zines. It was unusual for me but it interested me at the same time.
Van Es captures detailed photos in his work “Textures of Childhood” (2012), zooming in on items from old family photos, such as his parents’ bedsheet and the couch. He adds dates to show when these things were used, giving them a sense of life that objects don’t usually have. The “book” is a set of eight booklets in a case, each with a different coloured cover and paper inside, ranging from shiny to soft. They’re like a beautiful plate of desserts, carefully made to be enjoyable.
The project as a whole is imbued with an exploration of the passage of time. In “New life” (2012–14), van Es captures the evolving dynamics with his younger brother, who, upon reaching sixteen, refuses to be photographed. Van Es responds by documenting his brother’s attempts to evade the camera, resulting in a series of candid images reflecting adolescent frustration. In contrast, “To me you are a work of art” (2011) presents a touching homage to their mother. Described as “Unintentional installations made by my mother,” the booklet departs from the typical format, featuring a pocketed folio containing five posters depicting everyday domestic scenes. The book “Now will not be with us forever” acts as a big self-portrait, showing what’s important to van Es in his life. While most of the book focuses on his relationships with others, the thickest booklets, “Putting on 2012” (2012) and “The past is a strange place” (2010–present), are all about him. “Putting on 2012” lists every piece of clothing he wore in 2012, while “The past is a strange place” has photos of his daily life. These photos reveal how van Es notices small and interesting things in ordinary life. He uses a bright light in his photos to make the details stand out and sometimes makes things look weird or abstract.
Since it was the layout that captivated me more than the subject of the photographs themselves. not because the photographs were unsuccessful, but instead because the subject of them doesn’t link to what I wish to explore. I wanted to focus in more detail about the layout of them.
What I like the most about his outcomes is the layout, as it is unusual, compared to traditional methods of displaying images, such as a standard photobook. One of the many things about his layout is how he is not afraid to combine various techniques, like how in the compilation of the zines there is a folder containing photographs which unfold to an A3 paper size. To me this layout enhances the message of the collections itself. Through this layout he can mix different photoshoots by putting them in groups, a zine for each photoshoot. Like when he grouped textiles from childhood, into a zine consisting of only zoomed in photographs of different fabrics. When thinking about how I plan to present my final outcomes if I follow Murices’ methods that he used for this book, I will be able to communicate the message of my selected theme the best. as my idea consists of many different approaches to the subject, my outcomes are also going to vary from each other, therefore by grouping them together, zine per photoshoot, I am able to show them in a better way than in a photobook. I also want to experiment with the different ways of the image display, like the foldable images in the folder.
I would want to explore adventure through the photographs as it response well to all : challenge, seek, observe. to me all these aspects are mostly seen when seeking for travel and exploration. To me specifically I see traveling having an impact on my future, therefore choosing to focus on a subject I know I will be passionate about photographing I hope will result in great outcomes.
I am planning to start by collecting archival images from my last summer, where I went for a trip with my 2 friends where we camped in another country with no plan, I will look for photographs taken in the past where I was exploring other cities, towns, countries etc. I then plan on a series of photoshoots where I will have a huge difference in my outcomes. Although I will have different outcomes, the theme of the photoshoots would be the same, most of the work will be outdoors and challenging me to get out and seek for adventure.
I will begin my study by diving into photo albums that include pictures of travel, I then want to plan a photoshoot revolving around rural landscapes and some urban. As I am limited to Jersey, I plan to explore jerseys some hidden some obvious points, and hopefully discover things that I can capture through the lens.
When it comes to photoshoots I will collect pictures of objects that carry sentimental value from the previous trips and hold memories. A lot of the photographs however I think will revolve around rural landscapes, where I can tap in into romanticism. However I also wish to photograph people, where I want to capture moments of people living, not posing, I want to capture the beauty and nature within people, to catch them is a natural settings. This means photographing subjects in motion, in the moment scenarios, instead of pre planned studio photoshoots. Meaning most of the pictures will be taken outside the images will be more documentary and observational, however I might have to stage a couple to get the desired look.
I will make sure to be very experimental with the images I create. Experimenting with different angels, ways of taking photographs, I want to especially explore underwater photography, or strive for an underwater photography effect. Other ways I will achieve interesting photographs could be through zooming in onto subject photographs not only from one distance.
Some of the images might be taken by different mediums of photography, this being shot on film, digital camera, or polaroid’s, I love film photography so I will try to use it the most when possible, but when it might not be possible I can always achieve a similar effect through image altering in photoshop or Lightroom. Depending on the format and how well the images compliment each other the sequence of them might change. I think adding in a more older look to the photographs will also enhance the meaning of them being documentary, taken in the past, reminiscing on the adventures etc.
When it comes to presenting my outcomes I am still unsure how I would present them exactly, however I know that I don’t want to make a photobook, instead I will look for other ways to display my outcomes.
Overall, the outcome I want to achieve will be to have a series of images that are of adventurous nature, images that are discovery and look fun. I want them to how travel and exploration through travel. I want to show that even in a restricted island it is still possible to find beauty and be adventurous regarding it’s size.
I have made another mood board which presents my focus in a narrowed down way. This revolving around the ideas of adventure, travel, discovery and freedom.
The outcomes vary from each other in the mood board as I don’t have a specific way of capturing my images just yet, but I know there are some elements I wish to in cooperate, these being portraits in natural scenes, landscapes of more rural landscapes as well as I want to explore challenging but effective photographic techniques, such as underwater, reflections, etc. Where it is also the camera that is adventurous.
I think exploring these themes relate to the title of the exam well , as I will constantly be observing life around me through documentary photography. The photographs themselves will have a meaning of seeking for adventure, exploring and finding. And the photographing process will be challenging to capture specific moments.
The title for this project is Observe, Seek and Challenge, I have attached bellow the exam paper. In this booklet there are useful tips on how to gain ideas for these themes.
Bellow I have created a mind-map of ideas from the main headings. these included similar words, but also relating words and subject ideas I can focus on.
Observe- The main ides that strike me when hearing observe is everything that surrounds us on a day-to-day life, things that are ordinary, because many people might see them but not observe them. For example when choosing the same route to school everyday after weeks there can still be subjects that become unnoticed. Therefore to me observing means paying attention to one thing thinking about it, analysing it, enjoying it, and having a response to it. Therefore to observe it is much more than just seeing. By observing we discover and fin new things, we become more creative and curious. When it comes to photography the camera lens acts as a lens to observe the worlds through, therefore photographs that respond to this the best are ones where life is being represented, for example moments that are captured by the camera, but also photographs of subjects that represent that the photographer looked for, meaning they discovered them, just like special moments/ special events. To this documentary photography responds to very well as to be able to capture moments through documentary photography, photographers have to constantly observe everything around them in order to focus their camera on a specific moment and subject.
Seek- The first words that come to my mind is to be wanting, to seek for something, this leads me into the category of goals or wishes, to be seeking a specific kind of future, if it is with family, a person, career. To seek is to want something this might be a specific feeling or person or item, place. This is why when it comes to photographic responses to this category, what comes to mind are portrait responses that show people striking to achieve something, to reach a goal. This as well as photographs that show emotions, because I feel that out of all 3 to seek is a very emotional world that could be shown through portrait photographs. There is also another interpretation of that word where more photographic responses showed up once searched for this word, which are of hide and seek, this links well with the idea of observing, and finding, as when kinds play hide and seek, they seek for people, to find them. This can be also interpreted with outcomes that are playful and adventurous, responding to the idea of hide & Seek.
Challenge- To challenge means to go against something, this could be a view or an opinion, it also means to do a task with difficulty, therefore this can be interpreted many ways as photographic responses could go in different directions, some showing challenging tasks that people or animals go through, sometimes willingly or sometimes not. A great example of this is the image Migrant Mother showing the struggles of a single mother in poverty with 3 kids, then some can be seen of animals in a wild doing best to survive. However what cant be discouraged is challenging tasks people willing like to put themselves through games, board games or video games, or stress at work, learning or other personal challenges. I thing the biggest one is one that majority of people can relate to, mental health, nearly every person struggles mentally with a task or just with personal issues. Therefore many photographs can show this, these need to capture human emotion. I think the ones that do that best are once again documentary photographs of protests, where raw human fatigue and distress can be seen, not in one but in a group of people. The other side of “challenge” as a topic could be taken literally onto the technical aspect of the photograph, a photograph which was hard to capture, this because of the subject being photographed being challenging or by the specific way of photographing that is challenging to the photographer, an example of this are Olympic and sport photography, where it’s challenging to capture the perfect moment as the person is in constant motion, therefore ensuring the right setting on a camera is essential, to know how to do that might also be challenging for the photographer. Depending on light, speed, etc.
Mood-Board
Bellow I have collected few of photographs that I believe respond well to the mind map above as well as the description of each word in the title.
After creating the mood-board I could see a certain theme that the photographs all lead to, this to me were of adventurous nature, documenting life, catching key moments and being very discovery and full of life behind them. This means that majority were documentary photographs. From this I will be able to narrow down my focus for the exam.
