Final Images

In Comparison to Justine Kurland

These images relate to Justine Kurland’s work, as they have a similar outdoor and more cloudy weather, rather than a bright summers day. The setting of her images is important, as it sets the story of the runaway teens, so I have experimented with a similar setting to her. However, I have also experimented with more sunny images, because in my youth I did more activities when the weather was better, so I wanted it to fit my theme of my own personal youth.

I have also tried to take on board the concept of the ‘runaway’ girls by having a bag as a prop for one of my models to reach into. The bag is all she has and is and has the contents of what she uses in her everyday life.

In Justine Kurland’s images here you can see a suitcase and a backpack, which sets the scene of the runaway girls, which is what I have tried to replicate using the bag in my photograph and the setting of the photograph. The setting of the photograph looks like a place where homeless people would go to get shelter from the cold and rain, so I thought this setting would be a good place for me to try and recreate the runaway narrative.

I also wanted to include my dog in the photoshoot, just how Justine Kurland had dogs in a few of her images. I also wanted to use my own dog, as I have grown up with her and she has been a part of my youth and is therefore a part of my identity.

I also created a similar image to the photograph of the girls running down the road.

How does this relate to the themes of youth and identity?

This photoshoot relates to the themes of youth and identity, specifically my youth and identity, because my models and I visited the beach next to kiosk, which is a beach I used to go to a lot when I was younger. I also still go to the kiosk quite regularly now, so it was a great place for a photoshoot for this topic. I had my subjects pose sat on the bench on the slipway, as this is where we sit during summer, as well as up on the rocks. We also visited the shed that we used to go last summer, but it is now a lot more destroyed than it used to be, probably due to the storm, so we weren’t able to sit in their, but I did manage to get some images of us exploring it now. I also managed to get detail shots of the newspapers that were left there, that date back to 1900, which we all used to look at and found very interested during our youth.

In comparison to Jeff Wall

In this photoshoot I explored more simplistic narratives, similarly to Jeff Wall, such as just sitting on the beach, rather than having my subjects do more complex activities, like climbing trees etc. Instead of focusing on the narrative, I focused more on the visual elements in my photographs, just like Jeff Wall does. An example of a visual element that I focused on was texture. I displayed the texture in the photograph below by using the textured setting of the rocks. I also experimented with the tone and colour in this image as well, especially with my editing, by making it more vibrant.

Analysis of 1 Image

In this photograph there was two types of lighting used in this image, which was natural daylight, as well as the flash on my camera. I had to use two types of lighting, because it had started to get dark when these photographs were being taken. There were also high levels of control in this photo, as I manipulated my subjects, as well as the location and distance I was from my subjects. I did this in order to create the best composition I could. However, I had little control over the setting and the lighting, due to it being a natural environment. There are also a lot of darker tones in this image, due to the darker lighting, but because of the camera flash there were some lighter tones, especially in the clouds, which created contrast between the setting and the subjects.

There are also lots of neutral colours in this image, such as grey, blacks, white and beige, so this image isn’t very vibrant. There is also quite a bit of texture in this image, which can be seen in the shapes of the clouds and the footprints left in the sand, which gives the image a more 3D sense. The main viewpoint of this image is the two subjects in the centre of the frame in the foreground of the image.

This image is similar to one of Justine Kurland’s images from ‘Girl Pictures,’ where two subjects are running down a road. My image relates to the themes of youth and identity, specifically my youth and identity, because I used to visit Kiosk beach and sometimes still do with my friends, which is where the setting of this image is, so this image presents my identity, because it presents a part of who I am and what I enjoy doing in my free time.

Photoshoot Conclusion

Overall, I think this photoshoot went well, because I was able to take images with my subjects, as well as being able to take landscape and detailed images, such as the images taken of the newspapers. This will allow me to be able to have a range of differing images in my photo book, so I can have a more aesthetic layout.

I was also able to explore more activities I did in my youth, or still do, which also allowed me to explore my identity during my youth and my identity and how it has changed now. I also got to experiment with my composition a little bit, by positioning and directing my subjects. However, I would like to experiment with that some more.

In this photoshoot I was also able to experiment with my camera skills, including adjusting my exposure, as it continues to get darker and experimenting with shutter speed to create movement in a few selected images.

In my next photoshoot, I would like to experiment with compositional elements a lot more, such as rule of thirds and more visual elements, such as tone and texture etc. I also want to include more compositional methods that Jeff Wall has used in some of his photographs. Next time, I would also prefer to take photographs earlier on in the day, so it is not as dark, so that the lighting is better in my photos, as I would not need to use the flash.