Mini Major Project.

Brief-  We are required to produce a series of photographs based on a topic/theme.
This will be presented both as a mounted set of A4 Photographic Prints, as well within
a booklet (minimum 8 pages)

My Chosen Topic/Theme/Idea- So for my chosen topic i decided to go with the topic
of portraiture shots which is to capture 5-10 sets of images of different social groups for
example- Bikers,Mods,Indie,Football Players,Waiters,Dinner Ladies,Bingo Players And
generally alternative people. So i am Going to select 3 groups of alternative people the
selections i have chose are…

MODS.

BAND MEMBERS

Skateboarder Portraits.

Location Photography.

Location Photography.

Research On Location Photographers.

David Hobby also known as Strobist has been a photojournalist for over 20 years and is well know for his location photography now owner of strobist.com over 350,000 photographers visit his site a year to view his work and gain tips from the site's helpful sections.

I paritcularily like David's Work where he captures action shot's when he used set lighting and flashgun's his work is somewhat unique and also he has a similar technique as using highlights and shadows. Below This is One of my favourite pictures he has created as it captures the moment in action as well as highlighting the scene.

Tom&Tony's Telling Tales.

Task One.

So for our first task we were given a set song called Jilted John and set out to take photo's of a particular song lyric line in the song. So i chose the lyric "i was so upset i cried all the way to the chip shop"

Here below is my photo i took of the lyric line.
















Overall i am impressed with the photo but when we all had a group criticism in class i realised there is quite a few things that could be altered such as… the photo isn't straight,people also asked why the photo is in black an white because it may look better in colour maybe the facial expressions could be better an etc.

So i took everyones thoughts into account when taking the next photos in our 2nd task.


Task Two.

Research of Photographers.

Hannah Star key

Hannah is a irish photographer who captures Tableu photographer which means constructed as all the elements of her images are constructed.

Her photos are often seen as being very alternative but somewhat unique i particularly like this photo below.

This photo is great because it shows a typical scene within a video store but the lighting gives it a really eerie feeling and the silhouettes of people makes you question why they're like that an then the woman exiting the shop why is she dressed in all white?

Also i really like the lights up above on the picture as it makes the store look never ending.




Gregory Crewdson

Greg is know as been and elaboarte staged photographer who photographs photo's of scene's of american homes mainly.

Crewdson's photos are usually set in small towns within america and are usually very cinematic and Dramatic.

This is my favourtite photo of his work as it is rather mysterious and perplexing theres is many questions to be asked such as why is the girl in her bra? Why is she outside? Has the woman dropped the bag in shock?

I really like this photo mainly due to the lighting of the piece an it uses highlights and shadows an i like the silhouette of the car shown on the drive as also the headlights highlight the woman stood in her bra.


Jeff Wall.




sarah jones



For this task we were given a specific task as we were given a poem called Mondeo Man- Luke  Wright. The poem goes…

Last week I walked through Maidenhead suburbs,
the houses huddled together in twos
like anoraked couples perched on a bench
on some Autumn day at the end of a pier.

Past kids levitra indien playing scrappy 20 a side;
lads leaned on Bangra-blaring Golf GTIs;
Toyota Corollas with rear-view signs
on suckers: Dad’s Taxi, Baby on Board

That is just a short passage within the poem but i used the first three lines to capture my images from overall i am impressed with my photos i have captured.

Here they are shown below

The Houses Huddled Together in Two's

I chose this photo out of the many i took because it was in a rather rough area and i like how when i edited the moss onto the brickwork it looks rather dark and also the left hand house's entrance has a gate off and all the litter on the floor which could show the property has been abandoned and near a suburban area.
















Task Three.

So we have been set out to do our own task so i chose not to do a poem but a song an i Chose The Smiths Song Heaven Knows I'm Miserable now.

I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour
But heaven knows I'm miserable now
I was looking for a job, and then I found a job
And heaven knows I'm miserable now
In my life
Why do I give valuable time
To people who don't care if I live or die ?
Two lovers entwined pass me by
And heaven knows I'm miserable now
I was looking for a job, and then I found a job
And heaven knows I'm miserable now
In my life
Oh, why do I give valuable time
To people who don't care if I live or die ?
What she asked of me at the end of the day
Caligula would have blushed
"You've been in the house too long" she said
And I (naturally) fled
In my life
Why do I smile
At people who I'd much rather kick in the eye ?
I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour
But heaven knows I'm miserable now
"You've been in the house too long" she said
And I (naturally) fled
In my life
Why do I give valuable time
To people who don't care if I live or die ?

Howard Photo Studio Assignment.

Studio Photographer's Research.


Annie Leibovitz - Annie Shown to the right is an american portrait photographer and however is also known for photographing some of the greatest bands of all time such as The Rolling Stones and also John Lennon  some of her work is highly inspirational and people use similar styles to her work to this day.













I particularly like this photo of this woman she has captured
as it portrays the real beauty of the lady and also the black
and white coloring really shows the highlights of her skin.

The pose also created the impression that this woman could be somewhat hiding or brushing hair backwards.














Angus Mcbean- Now i find Angus's work extremely interesting due to simply how surreal it is and that her work is somewhat unique. Similar to the work of Salvador Dali Angus created studio portraits then also put the portrait onto a surreal setting suchasthe one shownbelow this is also a early stage of photomontage creation.








This is one of my favorite Angus photo's Here shown to the
right is Audrey Hepburn here she is in a very surreal background i
really like this because its a beautiful portrait of her then a freaky
background which also brings out the highlights of her skin.













Studio Essentials.

Within the studio you need a few essentials to get quality shots the main 3 is Light's, Sekonic exposure meter and also flash triggers. The sekonic exposure meter is probably the most important because you could be using the wrong aperture number an your photos will not come out correct and could either be too light or too dark.

So when using the Sekonic meter you need to make sure both the lights are on and to the same brightness level then another person needs to flash the light or lights then it reads the shutter speed that your camera needs to be set to and also the aperture number too as show below here's a demonstration on how to use the Sekonic Exposure Meter Step By Step.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR5frW5-onE



Lights

When Setting up the lights you can set the settings on the lights to determine whether or not you would like soft lighting or hard lighting to get soft lighting you can use both lights angled towards the model however turn the brightness to very dull an the lighting will appear soft against the complexion.

Then for hard lighting used in the studio for the model you simply do the opposite and turn the light bringhtness up so it is very bright an creates hard looking shots.

Triggers

To use the triggers you attach one to the studio light then one to the top of your camera then set both of the triggers onto the same channel so if your camera trigger is on 4 then the one connected to the light also needs to be on 4 once done turn on and take a photo then the trigger,triggers of the flash of the light creating shots.


Studio Photography Interest.

My studio photography interest is portraits of people mainly on a black backdrop with soft lighting highlighting small sections of the models face.



Development of studio photographs.

Here below are some of the shots i got during development i wasn't the most happy with some of these so i thought these would be good to look at criticise and then learn from my mistakes such as some below are too overexposed.

 Here is one of the very first images i took which had extremely hard light which was not the option i wanted so from this photo i took the option of turning down the light and creating softer light plus i angled the model away from the light so it highlighted the other side of her face. Plus i changed the shutter speed and aperture  too the correct numbers the sekonic meter told me too as this photo was highly over exposed.

This photo  i was not fond on using  simply due to the highlight of the skin tone on the left hand of the side of the face. Plus the lighting has created a dark shadow an then made the backdrop colour look like it has a purple tint.

This photo as well could be highly improved but because it has soft lighting i think that the background looks too grey and if i came closer to the model maybe the highlight on her face would have created a greater composition.












Proposal For my Ten final Images


So for my final ten images 6- Portrait 4-Product shots i am going to create soft lighted photo's on a black backdrop and then im going to export them into photoshop and put them in black an white as i think the composition will look miles better and my product shots will be colour to show the finest details.





Ten Finals Image.

Evaluation.


Overall I have Really enjoyed this product as it has developed my studio photography skills as well as taught me how to use different types of equipment when in the studio. I found it hard in some particular areas to get the right lighting within the studio when i have been creating photo's so i used the Sekonic light meter to get the right settings i needed for the camera such as the shutter speed and aperture number.

Spider Diagram

Why do we need art?                                                                             Does Art Have Any Meaning?

                                                                                                                                Of course it can show emotion

                                                                                                                                And moods depending what it is

To show creative skills an

For art to be sold.

What Is Art?

Art can be shown

As a drawing photograph sculpture painting

An many more to show creation and imagination.

How does a piece of art communicate?

It can tell a story an also if not certain moods

Within the picture.

 `

Gallery Visit- Royal Armouries Mark Wilson Exhibition.

Today we visited Mark Wilson's exhibiton The Last Stand where most of the pictures showed the aftermaths of war.

This is the photo i have chosen to talk about i really liked this photo from all of the others as it made me step back and think why is there a random what seems to look like a old war bomb bunker or something similar to that an how the its in the sea in the middle of nowhere is very odd.

However it still very spooky but somewhat intriguing and the tree on the left side gives it a eerie feeling also.














Photographer Research Task 3.

Reece Leung.

 Taken in July 2012 by Freelance skateboarding photographer Reece Leung.

 I like the composition of this image due to it looking very raw. however in some what it is rather mundane but i like that as it sort of stands out in another fashion.

Attiba Jefferson

Captured in November 2007 Atlanta george

By Attiba Jefferson.

Attiba is a brilliant skateboarding photographer who has been around since the 1980's his work is widely known all over the world.

Juxta po po

For this assignment we were asked to

Create a split screen video that showed something significant to us with mine I filmed two fairly average days of my life one where I am working at college the typical working day an my other is a day I'm enjoying my hobbie which is skateboarding here is the turn out I got of this. 

https://vimeo.com/82193445

Heres the video above.

Moodboard- development of ideas!

 

Evaluation-

This was a really interesting topic to study because it allowed us to be creative but also find some inspiration from places we had never discovered also it was odd to look back on two different days of our lives. 

If I were to retake this project I would maybe get more clips of my college day life an also add more visualization effects to my edit so it would be more appealing to the eye an also maybe add a more upbeat song! 

Distructure

Task.

For this assignment we were asked to make a video on interviewing
people within a minimum of 3 questions based on every day
life an then edit it within adobe premiere the outcome was supposed to be
humorous but also interesting here is what my outcome was.

The Questions i asked for this video were

1. What is your favorite food?

2. What's your favorite condiment? (sauce)

3. What did you in your Day?

4. What's your favorite animal?

5. Do a impression or accent?

6. What you think of christmas in a few words.

https://vimeo.com/82141040

Evaluation

Overall I am happy with the outcome of my video an i found this topic really interesting

but also funny to film/edit as none of the video really makes that much sense but if i were

to retake making this video i edit it so you could understand more of the story line.

I think this worked well though an will be entertaining for people to watch an enjoy.

A week in student life.

Urban Landscape/Urban people.

Induction/Task one.

A pinhole Camera image.

Here is all the work i have on pinhole photography done through induction in my sketchbook.

A photogram of found objects image.

Here is the photogram i created in my induction work in my sketchbook i used a feather then to give it an alternate look i used a paint brush to paint the developer on it so it gave a few blotches.

A 5x4 Negative prints.

Here is one of the 5x4 prints i made I'm really happy with the outcome of this however the downside to this is that it came out in backwards.

Digital shot in the studio and out on location.

Here is one of the studio portraits that i shot i have I'm happy with
the outcome as it created a brilliant shadows and i really like the blue dark background an then the light on the left hand side of his face shows lots of detail.

35mm Film negatives.

This is one of my favorite 35mm film negatives this is one of my best film pictures taken throughout this year as i think it it has come out rightly exposed and very well detailed however there is room for improvement with the left arm as it looks all black I'm not sure whether this was due to being in the chemicals too long.                                  

                 

Health And Safety Task Two.

The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 is the primary piece of legislation covering occupational health and safety in Great Britain. The Health and Safety Executive, with local authorities  is responsible for enforcing the Act and a number of other Acts and Statutory Instruments relevant to the working environment.

For example within the photography industry an studio you must have a safe working environment the things you
should look out for are...

1. Within working in a studio you should have all equipment being used safety checked before hand. Usually most equipment being safety checked has a label like this to show it is Ok to use.

2. Make sure there is no trailing wires in the studio as this is one of the biggest health an safety hazards in the industry as the main hazard of this is you could trip over an seriously injure your body an possibly break a bone.





3. Make sure you take no food or drink within to the studio because if you spill a drink an you do not clean it up you could also cause another accident as someone could slip an injure themselves like before with the wire if in case you do happen to spill a drink immediately clean it up as best as possible an find a wet floor sign so if you are working in a job situation whoever may get injured can not sue you for compensation money. 

Task Three Trial Images.

For this task we took our trial images of urban landscapes an urban people here below are the ones i took  these photos to show the techniques of freeze action, blur, differential focus and extensive depth of field shots.

This is one of the differential focus photos i took. Differential focus is easily one of my favorite photography techniques as i like how the wheel in front is not in focus but the one in the background is highly detailed an the graphic of the wheel is incredibly clear to the eye.

This Freeze Action shot i caught i am really happy with simply due to i caught the action of the skateboarder with no blur as i shot in a high shutter speed but not too high so i caught the shot bang on an the grey look of the clouds really blends into the skateboarder an the ramp creating a really nice composition an i like the angle i shot it from due the trees being in the background an on the left hand side it looks as if its creeping in.

Heres another Freeze action shot of again a skateboarder i really like this photo because the clear blue sky makes the picture look more vibrant an so does the graffiti however there is also lots of improvement that can be done when shooting a photo similar to this next time. In the future i would make sure no one else was in the shot other than the skateboarder i am photographing obviously plus make sure my camera is fully in focus because when i captured this shot i had my camera in manual focus an did not have enough time to fully focus the shot so next time i would use auto focus an maybe a higher shutter speed too for a sharper image.

Shown on the right is a blur photo i really like this technique because i mainly see this shot from above when most commonly the motor way is been photographed and all the lights are blurred in night light. This technique is clever because all the background is still in focus an not the  cars the reason that its like this is because the camera is set to a slow shutter speed so it is not able to capture the movement unlike freeze action shots.

Extensive depth of field in photography is a good technique to know because it also teaches you to get your images in focus but also looks appealing to the eye often some cameras have a macro setting on them so you can take photos like this. the depth of field is everything that is in the background blurred but like in this photo my friend is in focus compared to the rest of the photo.

street photography Research

Christopher Agou

chris was a photographer who every skill he had acquired he had taught himself

his work started on the topic of urban an street photography this opened him to 

many new choices within the city he was photographing where he included the 

use of subways and abandoned alley ways 

 This photo is one of many he captured in a subway   Not sure whether the woman noticed him taking the photograph as he could of been very sly about this however he also could of asked her to pose an act natural just to show everyday life.  

Arif Asci

Another street photographer Arif Asci uses very strange settings within his work to try portray a message however most of the photo he does take are usually shot in financially challenged areas.

This is my favourite shot from Asci  as it is rather humorous an really captured the setting an shows the feelings I'm guessing that this man is on a stag do an is trying to enter the club but has been rejected for the sillyness of his outfit. 

Polly Braden

Known again for street photography Polly Braden often took all of her photos in urban landscape she adventures the world an uses many different compositions like Christopher agou she is also very sly behind taking the snaps of her work an takes pictures of people who go about there daily business without even knowing! 

This piece of work is definitely one of my favorites simply due to I like how she captured the theme of highlights and mostly shadows also the fact of business men just passing to work but the man in the work on the right staring at something is totally oblivious to that he is being photographed an the reflections throughout this piece are also attracting to the eye as well

Final 4 images (2 urban landscapes/2 urban people)
This first image I'm really happy with because it captures the moment because I think this photo clearly states this man was homeless however when we approached the he allowed us to take as many shots of him we wanted as long as we spared some change. 

This 2nd photo I'm also really happy with as I think the graffiti artist is really captured in the moment at this skate spot new graffiti is sprayed over every week it's asif there's turf battles but the colours on this picture make it look really interesting to look at so it's automatically eye catching.

 

 

Evaluation- this project was really interesting to learn about because it allowed us to be very creative with the shots we took but was challenging at the same time an the hardest task was to pick the final 4 due to all the images shot being really interesting an unique compared to what anyone else had shot. 

Next time I think I would try find more abandoned buildings because when people criticised my work they decided they liked the derelict buildings the most.