Initial Ideas

My Initial Ideas 

The two mind maps below depict my initial two ideas upon studying the exam titles for component 2. The two headings that stood out to me most were 'Sensory Experience' and 'Transformation', I feel that they are both interesting ideas that I could adapt artistically. 

The mind map above shows my initial ideas for 'Sensory Experience', I concentrated mainly on the work of the photographers named. These being Ashvini Ray, Joel Meyerowitz and Robert Adams three photographers that take the concept of senses in different ways. Ashvini Ray concentrates mainly on close-ups of people skin and eyes producing similarity in her work. Whereas, Joel Meyerowitz and Robert Adams photograph landscape which you might not expect. Joel's work looks at bright colours that stand out in a dull setting, connecting with sight. Robert's photo's are of peaceful, tranquil settings that relax the senses of the audiences, the aren't complicated or saturated so are very pleasing on the eye. 

 

This mind map has my ideas for 'Transformations', the photographer that I am the most interested in is Abelardo Morel as the idea of Camera Obscura is very interesting and original. I like the idea of transforming a room using the landscape that is outside of it. This really brings the outside and the inside together something that isn't commonly seen in photography. The other photographer I like from this topic is John Stezaker and how he uses landscape images as masks over portraits. This is something that I could easily try in my own work as landscape, patterns and portraits are something accessible to me.


Stretching images
distorting images using magnifying glass 

Shoot 1 - Patterns at Kew Gardens

Patterns - Kew Gardens 

Plans for shoot - 

My plan for this shoot was to head to The Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, London to collect images that I could use as natural patterns. I wanted to take photographs of different plants quite close up to show detail and depth. In this shoot I wanted to gain a range of colour that would stand out against black and white portraiture. 

Research Influence - John Stezaker

This shoot was mainly influenced by the work of John Stezaker as he overlays landscape images onto people faces however I decided this would work well with patterns especially of flowers and different plants. Below are two examples of this - 

I particularly like how in the first image you can see the smile on the boys face just below the landscape adding expression and emotion to the image. This is something  I would like to try when it comes to experimenting with my own work. 

AO1 - From reflecting upon the work I have produced below I believe I have been influenced by the work of John Stezaker because the patterns I have produced will work well in his style. I have tried to take images in both landscape and portrait orientations so that when it comes to editing I will be able to see what works better with each photograph. I have also tried to take some harsh or masculine photos (such as the cactus) and some feminine images (such as the flowers), therefore I can match them to the person similar to what John does.   

Image Bank 

Below are some images that have actually been taken at Kew gardens itself that I found online. These are the kinds of images I was aiming to achieve when I was there as they are patterned and would work well over black and white portraits. 

Contact Sheets 

Best Images (Edited)

AO2 - This shoot was taken at Kew Gardens which has an array of plants, textures and colours that are perfect for my proposed idea. As I was walking around the Botanical Gardens I didn't have the opportunity to use a tripod therefore had to ensure I was using a high shutter speed that wouldn't produce blur (majority being over 1/80sec). The photographs that you see above were taken with a small aperture due to the close nature of the images, however the top two were in a more exposed environment, requiring a larger aperture. Throughout the shoot I stayed at ISO800 as it was quite a clod day and I was shooting inside, hereford I needed more light sensitivity in the camera. Despite this being quite a high ISO it didn't interfere much with the quality of the images. 

For the images I have produced I edited them slightly just to increase the contrast and the saturation. This made the images look more aesthetically pleasing but not unrealistically edited as I want them to remain similar to how they were taken. Below is an example of the editing I done - 

As I have been shooting in camera raw the first step of all my editing is to adjust the exposure, contrast, temperature and more in quite close detail. As you can see I didn't change much about the image mainly the temperature. 

The second thing I changed was the curve option allowing me to just eliminate the slight over-exposure of this image. 

As mentioned before the editing of these images was kept simple as I didn't want to alter the natural beauty of the plants too much. Plus in John Stezaker's work the landscapes he uses aren't edited, they are placed onto the portrait just as they are and I think this works really well. 

AO3 & AO4 - I believe I have produced a good piece of work relevant to my original intentions, the images I have produced are ones that I can effectively use in the experimentation part of my project. These images will be used as overlays to portraiture photographs covering the eyes or whole face of the person. Although I am happy with the work I have produced I would have liked to include more texture in the photographs or experimented with the patterns themselves by using magnifying glasses. 

Progression 

As mentioned in AO4 I would have liked to experiment with the patterns themselves. This could be through perhaps shooting with magnifying glasses to distort the flowers, this would transform not only the overall image but also the overlay, making the image much more interesting. The future of the images in this shoot is to be used in the style of John Stezaker, using these photographs over the top of portraits. This will be one of my experiments and will be completed when I shoot my portrait images. 

Experimentation 

As mentioned above these images will be used going forward with shoot 3 - portraiture. This is in order to create some John Stezaker style images. Below are my results- 

John Stezaker

John Stezaker 

I have chosen to research the photographer John Stezaker because his work includes the transformation of portraits. I like the idea of taking something simple like portraiture and changing it into something original by adding landscape or combining it with a pattern. His work heavily involves either photoshop or physical experiments, both I could get different results from depending on the outcome I want to achieve. 

John was born in 1949 and is an English conceptual artist. In John's work he takes classic movie stills, vintage postcards and book illustrations and adds them to old photographs to give them a new meaning. His work is sometimes used to put across his own opinion using whitty photographs that could indicate a message. 

This first image is from the collection of photographs called 'Marriage'. This series of image shows two faces being put together to create a new face that looks slightly strange and comical. The reason it is titled marriage is because the faces that have been put together are husband and wife, mirroring each others facial features at roughly the same scale and feature placement. I think that the image above is quite powerful, both husband and wife have the same poignant look on their face despite the photos being taken separately. This could show the connection in personality between the two characters as they both glare at the camera in the same way. As you can tell from the colouring and slight graininess of the photos they are quite old fashioned, this suggests to me that John Stezaker might not have actually taken the images but perhaps possessed them from people he knew, then worked with the to produce his own style. 

This photograph is from the collection titled 'Old Mask'. From first look we can see that this is a portraiture image that has been partially covered by a landscape image of arches. It is quite possible that the portrait images has been taken by John Stezaker himself as it is of an old man in black and white, something that could be easily produced. The landscape photograph in front however seems to look very old fashioned, especially because of the colour of it, it has a slight yellow tint perhaps from ageing. I believe that perhaps the landscape and the person in the portrait have a significant connection, somewhere the person likes to visit as this would bring meaning and context to the photograph. Overall, I like the image as it has many different possibilities as to why it is set out this way dependant on the person viewing the photo. 

The image above displays a young lady with a very colourful landscape covering the majority of her face. The reason this image stood out to me was because of the colour shown in the landscape, something that a lot of John's work doesn't show. This stands out against the black and white portrait bringing life and a little bit of modernity into the image. To me the fact that John hash; covered the ladies mouth and we can see a slight part of her smile is because he wanted to show the expression she had. Giving her character not just the background that can be overlooked. Again I think perhaps that the location that has been placed n her face may hold some significance to her, not just two images that have been randomly placed together. Overall, I think the photograph is very interesting and certainly transforms normal portraiture or landscape. This is something I definitely want to try in my own work. 

Lastly I chose this photograph by John Stezaker. Similar to the last image it includes a landscape photograph with colour that juxtaposes the black and white image below, making the image come alive. However, what is different about this photograph is that the ladies face and upper body is mostly covered by the landscape, leaving nothing to be seen about her expression. From the way the lady is sitting and dressed it almost appears to be a model posing for a magazine cover. Therefore perhaps John Stezaker has covered most of her face due to the fact that the people we see in magazines are staged, the expression they have is what they are told to do so don't show any personality. I believe that by doing the same but with a landscape could be playing on the way the media portrays some models. 

Influence 

I have tried John Stezakers style of work by putting both portraiture work and 'natural' photography together. I shot some images of a subject and some at Kew Gardens so that I could create the 'masked' images like he does. John's work was one of my initial ideas however I did not continue with his work after my experimentation as I went down the route of camera obscura. Below are some of the photographs I produced in his style - 

The images are extremely similar in appearance and concept however I did choose to only cover the yes of my subjects, making my masks much smaller. I decided to do this because I liked the effect of having the subjects mouth in the photo in order to show some form of expression. 

Abelardo Morell

Abelardo Morell 

I have chosen Abelardo Morell as one of the photographers I would like to research because I like the use of camera obscura in his work. This is a technique that I haven't used before however I would like to try it. I think that Abelardo's work links very well to the exam brief of 'transformations' as by projecting an image of the outside world into a room completely transforms its look and feeling. By trying this new technique I am hoping it will enhance my work showing a wide skill set. 

Abelardo Morell was born in Cuba in 1948 however he immigrated to the United States with his parents. Morell received his undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College and his MFA from The Yale University School of Art. He has received an honorary degree from Bowdoin College in 1997 and from Lesley University in 2014. Throughout his life he has also received a number of awards for his work in Fine Art Photography. This shows how successful Morell's work is nationwide. 

This image above shows one of Abelardo Morell's pieces of work using camera obscura. This was taken in a room that had a north facing view of Central Park. One of the most striking aspects about this photograph is the array of colour that is shown in the landscape from the trees, the orange and red tones indicate that this was taken in Autumn. I feel that the landscape being projected onto this empty, grey wall brings it to life. It completely transforms the way the room feels and appears to the viewer than if the landscape was absent. The saturated colour and vivid detail of the landscape are almost surreal in this image, much more enhanced than you would expect from a camera obscura photograph, making it all the more spectacular. I think this image celebrates the life that nature and the outdoors brings into our otherwise mundane lives. 

This photograph shows an early morning view of the East side of Midtown Manhattan, New York. What I enjoy about this image is that it looks like the landscape has been painted onto the walls due to the perfect layout, proportion and colour of it. The blue sky looks almost too perfect to be real and something you probably wouldn't view outside, however when brought inside it is seen in a completely different light. The reason this camera obscura is the right way up is because in Abelardo's later work he sued a prism in his lens that meant the landscape would be projected the way we view it. I think this is important in this case as it enhances the feeling of it being a painting. One of the main aspects I would like to take from this photograph is the slight detail you can include in the room to improve the image. For example in this one there is the glow coming from the bottom of the doors that is very inciting. It invited the viewer in and perhaps makes them curious as to where this was shot and whats through those doors. 

The image above was taken in a hotel room overlooking Times Square. Upon first appearance this photograph is very complicated with a lot of different pieces of wiring, images and colour spreading all around the room. I think this reflects the confusing and potentially overwhelming nature of Times Square itself, the hustle and bustle of city life. What I like about the image is the slight blur you can see on the road on the ceiling and on some of the billboards, this is due to the fast pace of the city that doesn't slow down. The blur that is shown in this peaceful and empty room reflects what can be seen outside that you otherwise wouldn't predict was there based on the room alone. This landscape has been kept upside down which I think works best as it means that the road runs along the ceiling in a straight line as opposed to curving around objects. 

Lastly, there is this image by Abelardo Morell that shows a view of Philadelphia from Loews Hotel Room. As you can see from this image the landscape takes the main priority on the wall of the room, making it upon the first appearance look like this is just a regular landscape image. However, it becomes apparent that in fact the whole image has been turned upside down as the bed appears to be on the ceiling. This is original compared to the rest of Abelardo's work as it makes the landscape centre stage perhaps putting the importance of the outside above what is inside. This image is very simple yet effective, something I would like to include on my own work as I think that Camera Obscura works better when the content of the room is kept to a minimum, like this one. 

Influence 

The image above was inspired by Abelardo Morell in the style of camera obscura. The image focuses only on the interior and the landscape outside the window as that is what Morell does. It doesn't include people or the main subject like my other images do. I decided to shoot this image with the landscape hitting my wardrobe doors as I found this was a common theme throughout Morell's work, it helped enhance the detail of the work. I followed the technique that Abelardo does by turning my bedroom into a dark room and having a small hole in the window as a lens, this worked really well and led me to produce a successful camera obscura shoot. 

In conclusion, Abelardo Morell was the biggest inspiration for the camera obscura idea as he is the most well-known photographer that done this. I researched the technique and learnt the best way to do this through his work consequently leading me to produce good photographs that I can then work on throughout the project. I feel that Morell has provided me with a good stepping stone to further my work on camera obscura leading me to introduce my own style through experimentation. 

Image Bank

Image Bank 

The four images above show projections of what appears to be city lights onto peoples skin. I think this is powerful in showing how people can be consumed by the city. 

These three images are by Heitor Magno, this is a style that I might try if I decide to go down the route of distorting portraiture. Would work well as a physical experiment. 

Reflects the work of Nigel Henderson, by Bruno Metra and Lawrence Jeanson. 

Photography by Jean Faucheur, would work well as a physical experiment whereby parts of the face are cut and rotated. 

The above four images are by David Copithorne, from his 3D photography collection. I think these images are very creative in transforming the landscape. They look futuristic and very technological. This is a potential computer experiment I might attempt. 

This photograph is portraiture and projection. The female standing there has the face of another female projected onto her body. I like this idea as it transforms somebody's appearance with someone else. 

These two photographs above demonstrate camera obscura. A technique that includes using a pinhole camera and the view from the outside. I would like to attempt this technique in my own work however it might be quite difficult to achieve. 

These images above both show a transformed landscape in one way or another. Both show a landscape being imposed on a different area of a photograph. I particularly like these images as they are slightly surreal.