The White Paper Test
Twenty three shots of pieces of white paper playing with lighting, colour filters and mirrors. For this task I took photos of paper from different angles. I twisted and rolled the paper to create different effects and used torches to produce shadows to make more detail. I experimented with these things in order to make a more interesting photograph. I took photos close up and further away and was able to create distorted pictures where the subject didn't look natural.
Brendan Austin
Creates imaginary landscapes out of crumpled pieces of paper. He calls them 'Paper Mountains'. Austin examines what we mean by nature and the way humans have impacted upon it. "The isolated desert city running on oil generators, the mars like landscapes of a volcanic environment and the mountains made from paper all attempt to start a conversation concerning the loss of meaning and reality." The resulting images appear both recognisable as landscapes but also suggest a sense of artifice. Humble materials are made to carry an important message.
Digital Manipulation
Dark Room Manipulation
Chemigrams
The chemigram process was discovered by Pierre Cordier on November 10, 1956. You take photographic paper and apply substances are sticky and stay on the surface of it, for example; honey, moisturiser, toothpaste etc. These are called resists and they hold back the chemical effects of developer and fixer on the photo paper. Paper put into developer that has been exposed room light will turn black, except where a resist blocks the chemical reaction. Similarly, paper put into fixer turns white, except where a resist blocks the chemical reaction.
I like the patterns created with the chemigram effect.
Bill Jacobson
Each photograph depicts a man’s face, its edges and features blurred and softened in a painterly style that reflected Jacobson’s preoccupation with loss and mortality in the early 1990s; themes closely tied to his observations of the AIDS epidemic. The faces are hard to grasp, difficult to discern as they recede into the white field of the photograph. Jacobson conveys the sense of futility in trying to capture a human likeness in memory or portraiture.
These – and other – ‘defocused’ monochromic images defined Jacobson’s early successes as a photographer. They were inspired, in part, by the artist’s fascination for early twentieth-century photography and the blurred or obscured subjects of the medium’s early pioneers. Collecting anonymous old snapshots at flea markets, Jacobson was interested in the ‘layers of time’ that these photographs revealed, and by their ability to transport the viewer back to the precise moment of their making, when the people, their lives and their surroundings were ‘current’.
These – and other – ‘defocused’ monochromic images defined Jacobson’s early successes as a photographer. They were inspired, in part, by the artist’s fascination for early twentieth-century photography and the blurred or obscured subjects of the medium’s early pioneers. Collecting anonymous old snapshots at flea markets, Jacobson was interested in the ‘layers of time’ that these photographs revealed, and by their ability to transport the viewer back to the precise moment of their making, when the people, their lives and their surroundings were ‘current’.
My Response:
Erwin Blumenfeld
Erwin Blumenfeld, regarded as one of the most influential photographers of the twentieth century. An experimenter and innovator, he produced an extensive body of work throughout his thirty-five year career including black and white portraits and nudes, celebrity portraiture, advertising campaigns and his renowned fashion photography. Born in Berlin in 1897, Blumenfeld drew early inspiration from the Dadaists, incorporating experimental techniques like solarization, multiple exposures, and photomontage into his darkroom practice
My Movie from Charlotte Davies on Vimeo.
Saul Leiter
Since he first arrived in New York, Leiter had 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 noirish vision of the city. Leiter was also a pioneer of color 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 color work,”
My response: Street photography
Three Strands
Portrait physical manipulation
Pablo Thecuadro
Initial portraits:
Physically manipulated using a scalpel:
I like the effect created using a scalpel. It blends more nicely than on photoshop and I like the handmade feel to it. One thing to improve on is the precision when cutting around the portrait. In some of the photographs I left white gaps around the figure and some of the lines dont curve properly and are jagged- this makes it look unfinished.
Initial portraits for photoshop editing:
Photoshopped collage:
I am really not happy with the way this collage turned out. The lines are not clean cut and the photo is too busy. It is unlike Thecuardos's collages as there are too many portraits being combined and it looks messy. It also looks slightly disturbing. I found digitally collaging really difficult and if i continue with this strand I would have to practice the technique or keep editing physically- which I also much preferred the effect of.
I dont like this outcome as it looks too comedic.
Landscapes
David Hockney
David Hockney is an English painter , printmaker, stage designer and photographer who was particularly influential in the pop art movement of the 60s.
Hockney began creating photo collages which he called 'joiners'. At first he used polaroid prints but he then moved on to use 35mm. Hockney arranged a 'patchwork' of images to create one composite image. Some pieces are landscapes and others are portraits. This work is said to have links to cubism and one of Hockney's main aims is discussing the way human vision works.
Hockney began creating photo collages which he called 'joiners'. At first he used polaroid prints but he then moved on to use 35mm. Hockney arranged a 'patchwork' of images to create one composite image. Some pieces are landscapes and others are portraits. This work is said to have links to cubism and one of Hockney's main aims is discussing the way human vision works.
3. Mirrors/reflections
Cody William Smith
Cody William Smith is a cinematographer and still photographer from Nevada. He describes himself as an 'adventurer'.
His series 'A Moments Reflection' is a study of specular or mirror like reflections. His intention is to draw connections by creating reflections in places where one would not normally exist. The mirrors also act as windows creating a new view of a certain location. He explains that because the project is on-going the thing he is trying to capture in the mirror changes as it's surroundings do . He reveals hidden symmetry in landscapes and manages to shoot in two directions at once.
His series 'A Moments Reflection' is a study of specular or mirror like reflections. His intention is to draw connections by creating reflections in places where one would not normally exist. The mirrors also act as windows creating a new view of a certain location. He explains that because the project is on-going the thing he is trying to capture in the mirror changes as it's surroundings do . He reveals hidden symmetry in landscapes and manages to shoot in two directions at once.
My Response:
I took the concept of using mirrors to refelct a scene in a photograph, but unlike in Smith's photographs, I photographed a person holding the mirror and it was more figure-based as opposed to nature. I thought this was effective as the firgure holding the mirror is a kind of onlooker, and It evokes questions about who he is and why he is there in the viewers mind. It creates a memory-like effect and this could be a theme throughout a series of photographs like this.
My favouritre pictures in the selection are the ones using the square mirror covering the subjects head. I like the effect of the mirror blending with the background and creating the illusion that his head is missing and also the fact he is unidentifiable creates an aspect of mystery.
One thing i would do differently next time, Is I would increase the shutter speed so that I could capture more shots of the people inside the mirror frame. For example, in the photographs with the boy kicking the football, I only managed to capture two frames. This meant that when I came to make a gif, it was difficult as there werent enough frames to make it long enough and it was jumpy as they were taken too seperately.
My favouritre pictures in the selection are the ones using the square mirror covering the subjects head. I like the effect of the mirror blending with the background and creating the illusion that his head is missing and also the fact he is unidentifiable creates an aspect of mystery.
One thing i would do differently next time, Is I would increase the shutter speed so that I could capture more shots of the people inside the mirror frame. For example, in the photographs with the boy kicking the football, I only managed to capture two frames. This meant that when I came to make a gif, it was difficult as there werent enough frames to make it long enough and it was jumpy as they were taken too seperately.
Development- Cinemagraphs
For this part of my development I went to the South Bank because the mirror would reflect views of London from the bridges, also because it is busy and I would be able to take videos with different kinds of movement to turn into cinemagraphs.
The first set of footage I took was my friend holding the mirror and reflecting the London eye. I thought the movement of the London eye would be interesting in a cinemagraph. This didn't work effectively as the london eye was moving too slowly. For future development I could record it for a while and then speed up the video and create a timelaspe. Even though this didn't produce material for a cinemagraph, I think the photographs were interesting.
Carousel- first cinemagraph
I thought the movement and light of the carousel would look good reflected in the mirror. I used a tripod to try to eliminate unwanted movement, however it was difficult for my friend to hold the mirror completely still. I didn't really realise that this would matter until I was editing the footage. It meant that the edges/outline of the mirror moved, and therefore the still image layered over the video didn't always remain aligned. If you look at the right hand edge of the mirror, you can see that a gap opens up where the mirror moved backwards.
After realising the problem with the first cinemagraph, I worked in photoshop to try and fix the problem. I decided the to get rid of the gaps which open, the mirror in the background video would need to stay constantly bigger than the photo layer. To do this I edited the film layer by selecting 'cmd+t', converting the video into a 'smart object' and then enlarging it and dragging it around to fit the other layer. To check the placement, I first made the hole in the photo layer so I could see through to the film and make sure i was enlarging and dragging it to the right place.
Cinemagraph 2
I like this cinemegraph as it captures the location as you can see parts of the london eye as well as the big ben in the back right and hungerford bridge reflected in the mirror. To improve I could improve the quality of the film as the image is pixelated. I could do this by lowering the ISO.
Cinemagraph 3
For this video I decided to stand further away from the subject, I like the effect this had as the people in the still image are more in the foreground. However, in this video I don't like the movement in the mirror, although it does look more abstract.