White paper test
With the white paper texting we shone light on different coloured gels on folded or crinkled paper and took up close photos of the shadows it created.I took 20 unique photographs only using one sheet of paper without cutting or tearing it .The task was to explore lighting and to change the lighting every so often, so in my pictures I experimented with texture, shape and colour.
The coloured gels helped to produce interesting shades however next time I would take photos from different angles.
Task 2 - Abstract development
With this task we had to respond to two artists from their visual practise and take photos in our own interpretation inspired by their designs. We experimented with shadow, colour and texture
Francis Bruguière
Bruguière was an American photographer who moved to London in 1928.He created these unnatural pictures by manipulating white paper and lighting. He experimented by using pone light moving it around with non representational photographs. The photographer exploits the endlessly subtle qualities of both paper and light, manipulating both in order to create complex patterns of texture and form.
my interpretation:
I admired the different strips of paper created interesting shadows however next time I could have removed or hidden the tape that is seen within a few of the photos.
Brendan Austin
Austin manipulates paper to make it appear like an imaginary mountain landscape. He labelled his series of photographs "paper mountains". Austin's inspiration came from his admiration of nature and the way that humans have an impact on it .He makes the viewer question reality of the mountain and photography. He mimics mountains with the creases and colouration of the paper creating this hard rock appearance especially when its black and white as the darkness intensifies the realness of the photo making it 3d
my interpretation:
when editing these pictures aiming to resemble mountains I made them black and white the altered the contrast.
In response to Austin, I liked how darkening the photos on photoshop really gives the illusion that they are mountains next time I would use brown or dark coloured tissue paper showing texture and not turning the photo black and white.
Edward western - ordinary to extraordinary
Edward western was a well know 20th century American photographers that is known as one of the most influential photographers. He predominately focused on taking close up photographs of vegetables and fruit capturing the detail and "essence" of the object while manipulating the natural lighting.Western used a strong depth of field created by a high aperture in his images giving them a unique quality and definition.
Westerns most well know photograph, the pepper no.30, shows the quality of his work.His photograph of the solitary pepper is interesting, as it makes you focus upon the intricate details of the peppers shape. The unusual shape of the pepper is interesting along with the deep black and white tones giving it this intriguing 3d look.
He came across a few complications when taking his photographs, predominately his depth of field as when getting too close to the subject the photo would lose quality.
In this task we firstly took photos of vegetables in natural lighting against a black background then again using studio lighting inspired by
Westerns most famous works.Weston took photographs using a Graflex which allowed him to see the subject matter/photograph in the right format before taking the photograph.Westons philosophy about Photography is that its his photographic language.He was a master at composition and he had his own perceptive vision.Weston encountered when photographing the pepper no.30, was that he lacked depth of field so he had to create and interpret his own aperture and as a vehicle drove past him he would have to start over.This was due the fact that he used natural light as he was outside and his exposure took about 4 to 6 hours.The movement of the light over the course of a long exposure gave the pepper luminous qualities to make it almost seem to glow.
Westerns most well know photograph, the pepper no.30, shows the quality of his work.His photograph of the solitary pepper is interesting, as it makes you focus upon the intricate details of the peppers shape. The unusual shape of the pepper is interesting along with the deep black and white tones giving it this intriguing 3d look.
He came across a few complications when taking his photographs, predominately his depth of field as when getting too close to the subject the photo would lose quality.
In this task we firstly took photos of vegetables in natural lighting against a black background then again using studio lighting inspired by
Westerns most famous works.Weston took photographs using a Graflex which allowed him to see the subject matter/photograph in the right format before taking the photograph.Westons philosophy about Photography is that its his photographic language.He was a master at composition and he had his own perceptive vision.Weston encountered when photographing the pepper no.30, was that he lacked depth of field so he had to create and interpret his own aperture and as a vehicle drove past him he would have to start over.This was due the fact that he used natural light as he was outside and his exposure took about 4 to 6 hours.The movement of the light over the course of a long exposure gave the pepper luminous qualities to make it almost seem to glow.
Mushroom, 1931
|
Pepper No.30, 1930
|
my interpretation:
natural lighting
|
|
|
|
|
studio lighting
|
|
|
|
|
I successfully responded to Edward Western, focusing on the control of detail, light and texture.However next time to improve my response I will take up close photos of the subject showing the intricate details.
home response
natural lighting
|
|
Abstract Comparisons: Body and Nature
Alicja Brodowicz
Polish photographer Alicja Brodowicz who was influenced by the similarities between the human body and nature. She spent a couple of months working on a project called "Visual Exercises" which is a series of diptychs where combining different parts of the human body and nature to explore the connection between the human body and the natural environment. The similarities are linked by the lines, shapes and compositions highlighting the correlation of human and nature.
"I photograph the human body – the microcosm, Its’ fragments: hair, scars, texture of skin, wrinkles. I am interested in individual particularities; I look for distinguishing features and irregularities. Imperfections are my favourites.”
"I photograph the human body – the microcosm, Its’ fragments: hair, scars, texture of skin, wrinkles. I am interested in individual particularities; I look for distinguishing features and irregularities. Imperfections are my favourites.”
Agnieszka Lepka - Human Vs Nature
Similar to Alicja Brodowicz, Polish based photographer Agnieszka Lepka photographs the similarities between human being and mother nature as shown; fingerprints resembling a tree trunk from the similar patterns. Her pictures range but are predominately close ups of elements found in nature. Her work shows how interlinked we can be with nature.
To take pictures with inspiration from these two artists we went to coldfall woods and took pictures thinking about the similarities between the elements found in nature and human.
|
Abstract Portraits
Bill Jacobson
Bill Jacobson
Bill Jacobson takes these bleached out of focus pictures which are quite defocused. To take these abstract portrait photos we used coloured gels and paper creating these colourful scenes getting your subject to stand behind a frosted tracing paper creating this glow. By making your subject place their face against the tracing paper their face appears more.
Erwin Blumenfeld
.Born in Berlin 1897, Erwin Blumenfeld is considered as one of the most influential photographers of the twentieth century.His work had a influential impact to the fashion industry between the 1940s and 1950s and his predominately taking photographs of women, photographs that coincided art with fashion, such as his black and white portraits that where featured on the postwar pages of Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Harper's bazaar and many others.
For this task I took photos in response to Blumenfeld.Firstly in the studio we used smaller pieces of glass to cover the subjects face, then we found different types of glass that had different textures which distorted the subjects face similar to Blumenfeld's work.
Abstract architecture
Johnny Kerr : 'Ambiguity'
Karr is an American artist best known for his ambiguous abstract photos.He meticulously focuses on forms,shapes and textures and they influenced him as a designer.By observing the structural lines, Kerr was able to perplex the viewer
My response to 'Ambiguity'
Abstracting the environment
Saul Leiter
Since he first arrived in New York, Leiter has been documenting street life in black and white, intriguing the eye with his use of obstructions, blurred movement and half-concealed details. In 1992, his work came to the attention of the curator Jane Livingston, who included him in her “New York School”: a group of noteworthy midcentury photographers, including Robert Frank and Diane Arbus, with a film noir vision of the city.
Leiter was also a pioneer of colour photography: He developed a distinctive, dreamy style that played with shallow depths of field and a vibrant palette. Erb argues that these images are closely related to his love of painting. “You can see influences of abstract expressionism in his colour work,”
Leiter was also a pioneer of colour photography: He developed a distinctive, dreamy style that played with shallow depths of field and a vibrant palette. Erb argues that these images are closely related to his love of painting. “You can see influences of abstract expressionism in his colour work,”
Stephen Calcutt
Stephen Calcutt takes photos in the scratched graffiti plexiglass in bus stops in Birmingham, he feels as if they are expressions of frustration, anger, love or hate taken out on the glass.
Lee Friedlander
Lee Friedlander is an American photographer who was fascinated by 'social landscape' focusing on frames, shadows and reflections. Lee Friedlander's work is built upon the concept of reflection, seeing reflections from different perspectives including buildings, nature and public streets. Friedlander picks up on the subtle details which people may not observe on their first glance as he captures elements within his photos that people walk past and probably don't notice. He uses windows as framing devices.
I went to central London and took pictures of reflections captured in shop front windows. Some of my photographs incorporated the public, nature and buildings. Friedlander explored his urban life pictures using black and white film which I mimicked within couple of my photos in photoshop by lowering the saturation and adjusting the contrast. Within the photos I attempted to capture reflections in shop windows.
I went to central London and took pictures of reflections captured in shop front windows. Some of my photographs incorporated the public, nature and buildings. Friedlander explored his urban life pictures using black and white film which I mimicked within couple of my photos in photoshop by lowering the saturation and adjusting the contrast. Within the photos I attempted to capture reflections in shop windows.
Independent development: Three strands
Stephen Calcutt
Stephen Calcutt is a well regarded photographer from Birmingham, here in the UK. For his abstract photography series Bus Stop, photographer Stephen Calcutt found a new way to document graffiti.Instead of spray paint, he turned his focus on the scratched-in etchings that people make on plexiglass bus shelters.He says, “Graffiti can be great art, however, for me, the etched, scrawled and scratched graffiti into the plexiglass windows of the bus stop feels like a violation like a poke in the eye, or deteriorating vision through age or disease".He visualises window's full potential as a clear barrier between yourself and the elements is compromised when the view beyond is obscured, distorted and blurred by the scratches and distractions.
Calcutt’s photos also raise questions about the way individuals exist in public space, highlighting the way graffiti—and the way we contrastingly view it, how it impacts our perception of the world around us.
For my interpretation of Calcutts work photographed behind telephone box's that had graffiti across the glass obstructing what you could view behind it.
Calcutt’s photos also raise questions about the way individuals exist in public space, highlighting the way graffiti—and the way we contrastingly view it, how it impacts our perception of the world around us.
For my interpretation of Calcutts work photographed behind telephone box's that had graffiti across the glass obstructing what you could view behind it.
Film soup and manipulation
Inspired by film soup I bleached some photos influenced by artists Tom Evans and Barbara Murray who experiment with distorting photographs using random ingredients, however I painted bleach onto the photo printed with photographic paper. The bleach reacts with the ink on the paper lightening the colour and distorting the photograph producing these toxic looking plants. The bleaching that takes place chemically alters the film to produce unexpected result.
my interpretation
Within this response I admired the different effect on certain colours and areas drawing the boldness out of the bright colours, however next time I would experiment more with texture and printing them off in a photo shop as generally the ink that they use is stronger so gives a more obscured and distorted result. Next time I will experiment with using actual film in a role and submerge it in a range of different liquids.
Seung-Hwan Oh
Seung-Hwan Oh was born and raised Soul where he now lives and works until he moved to New York where he studied photography and film. He was influenced by science and philosophy. He distorts his photographs in the series "Impermanence" inspired by the second law of thermodynamics (the idea that all matter including all the life forms collapse).He cultivates fungus and applies it to his film before he take his photos bacteria which erodes the material of the photograph almost eating and decomposing the photograph. He uses film and bathes it in water and homegrown bacteria for months some even years, blending the organic and artificial damaging the photo.
His photos appear distorted and discoloured showing what is visible and what is lost under the distortion.
His photos appear distorted and discoloured showing what is visible and what is lost under the distortion.
first attempt :
With these photos I used some photographic paper but the inks weren't as reactive as the ones that you can get printed from a store.What i achieved was a difference to the original photo as the bleach brought out a rusty colour on the jacket and distorted the face, however to improve this I went to snappy snaps where I got a new set of photos printed out.
second attempt :
To get this distorted affect I printed the photos at snappy snaps then applied neat bleach onto a paint brush and applied it to the photo as the bleach took place and lightened the photos.My aim was, like Seun-Hwan Oh's photos create a distortion by fading my subjects facial features resulting with a blur of abstract colours. The bleach accentuates the colours of the ink and with the middle one I used a Jackson pollock style affect by spraying the bleach on.
With these I manipulated them on photoshop to appear ruined by using a layer of crinkled cracked paper on top of my bleached images and reducing the opacity of the layered image. I liked how the face of my subject disappeared on the left however the clarity of the pictures disappeared when I overlaid the crinkled layer.
Development : Christoffer Relander
Christoffer Relander was born in 1986 in Ekenäs, Finland. From a young age, he expressed interest in art and eventually studied Graphic design and Visual Art in Porvoo. Relander was exposed to the idea of double exposure after viewing Man Ray's work featuring a cat juxtaposed onto a woman's face. In search of the painterly feel to an image, he began experimenting with camera movement, exposures, and other effects until he refined his technique.In his work, Relander merges portrait and environment photography. He believes that the abstract manipulated photographs accentuate the timeless atmospheres. The identities of his subjects are not as important as the relationship between people and nature, therefore the distortion of his subjects really interconnects nature with people.
My response:
This development was really fascinating, I liked changing the opacity of the pictures and creating this double exposure within the photograph by merging the scenery alongside the side profile of the person.What I would better next time would be adjusting certain features of the subjects face making them more apparent.
Development : Oliver Blohm
Blohm is a Berlin based photographer that focuses predominately on the manipulation and experimentation of portraits. He discovered from the early age of 9 when he moved with his family to a small village that he was fascinated in photography due to the fascinating environment around him, such as forests, fields and old factory buildings. Later on in his life he got recruited as a fashion label and he discovered that there is more than just commercial fashion photography. This is why people became his focal point as a photographer. Fascinated by the most important visual focus point of a human body: the face, he took polaroid's then developed them using an old microwave know as his 'Impossible project'. As a result of this it leaves the film distorted and adds interesting discolouration, burns and texture
My response:
For this development I took a series of photos some with artificial and natural lighting and also different angles and printed 9 of these images out .Then I experimented with them by leaving them in bleach and water for a certain amount of time.
The bleach and water fades the picture and if left in the mixture for enough the film starts to peel off which distorts the photo and takes away certain elements of the photo.
The bleach and water fades the picture and if left in the mixture for enough the film starts to peel off which distorts the photo and takes away certain elements of the photo.
Final piece, edited Images: