Research Log

Research Log 

John Stezaker - Old Mask V 

       This image is by John Stezaker who transformed portraits using landscape images. His work first started emerging in the 1970's, however his portrait work didn't start to become of significance until the 1980's when portraits were of a high value, especially those of well-known people. When commenting on his work John Stezaker states that by physically composing these images you get the cuts and seams of the photo, a kind of art against the seamlessness of computer edits. As the portraiture work emerged it was an acknowledgement of surrealism that was slightly taboo at the time as it wasn't often seen. Stezaker concentrated on this as it portrayed a different meaning to a usual portrait image. The landscape images that are overlaid are referred to as masks by Stezaker, an obliteration of identity, the person behind the mask is no longer important as seen above there is only a framework of a portrait. This image was titled 'Old Mask V' this refers to the age of the man reflected in the aged landscape photo. The image is a metaphor for interiority (an inner character), it isn't important who the man is, it is only important whats underneath as the image of people and the mask conceals much of who they are. The reason Stezaker uses landscapes that look like tunnels and caves is because its important what is inside and you can't make out what it is until the inside is revealed. This is the meaning behind using a mask on the portraits that John Stezaker produces. 

Abelardo Morell 

This image displays camera obscura and is by Abelardo Morell. The image description states that this is a view of Manhattan and the Chrysler Building, looking West on New York.  This image is very effective in its placement and sizing, the landscape that is outside the window filled the wall perfectly with the Chrysler building toughing the very bottom of the wall. It perfectly reflects the size and power of the city by completely overwhelming the room, the same way that when a person is in the city it completely overwhelms them. I like the perspective of this image as you get to look out over the skyline making it much clearer as to what you are looking at, unlike if Abelardo had taken this image from a lower floor of the hotel. I think the simplicity of the room is what makes the image work so well, theres slight detail in it that makes it apparent what is going on and where it's being taken but not os much that it makes the image confusing. The shadow round the door works well too as it makes the image look three-dimensional, without this added layer I think the image would look flat and therefore appear as a photograph on the wall. By creating an image that brings the outside world in I think Abelardo displays the connection between the two, showing the viewer the a perspective that they wouldn't see by just passing by. A perspective that encompasses the feeling of a room relative to it's location. 

Ethan Jackson - Clerestory 

The image above is an example of camera obscura taken in a library in Denver, Colorado. It is from the collection titled 'Clerestory, the term clerestory refers to the building it is set in. With the high roof and many windows, this is why it is classed as this title. This particular projection was natural, it used nothing but the natural light with any electronic light. It was bright enough to see even with the ambient light of the library, showing how powerful the brightness outside was. This project was one of the largest in Jacksons work as it was five years in the making and used many optical elements. Special window housings had to be installed for this project as there needed to be more room for the lenses and mirrors in order to project the landscape on the well-designed ceiling. Most of the optics in this project were on the ceiling, there wasn't much concentration on the walls. I feel that because the landscape appears to be the clouds and the tops of buildings it's like looking out of a window at the top of the building. The muted and natural colours of the landscape are extremely peaceful and still, reflecting the feeling of being in a library. I think Ethan chose to do this particular scene in this building as they tie together very nicely, it seem's that where the library is situated is perfectly suited to it's function. Despite Ethan Jackson not taking images that are particularly artistic he is still an inspiration in my work as I love the way he fits the landscape to the building not the other way round. I feel that this shows a lot of consideration rather than just setting up a camera obscura wherever he can. 

Marja Pirila - Interior/exterior 

The image above was taken in Rouen, France and is from the collection titled 'interior/exterior'. Marjas early work was inspired by that of Abelardo Morell who photographed spectacular landscape projected into a room. The concept behind her work was to be able to photograph a person and the view from their room as a way of encompassing one person's living environment into just one image. As you can see above this is very powerful in showing us some depth into this persons life, the location where they live tells us a lot about their lifestyle and their preferences. As Pirila's work went on it started to expand into showing the fears, dreams and memories of the person in the image. This is through the expression on their face in relation to where they are and what they can see. We can also get this information from the objects they have around them, this helps us look more closely at who they are and what they hold onto. I especially like the image above as the man isn't looking straight at the camera instead he is more engrossed in his setting. He is looking around the room showing comfort in his surroundings and perhaps a familiarity, proving that this person actually lives here. The landscape we can see by the man is in great focus and shows so much detail which is amazing for a camera obscura. I would love to be bale to achieve this in my own work. 

Lucas Simoes - Ausencia (absence) 

The image above has been created by the artist Lucas Simoes. Lucas works with already taken images and fire, combining the two to create a powerful piece that has a lot of meaning. This particular image is from the collection 'Ausencia' which translates to absence in English, this gives the viewer an idea of what the photographers aim was. Despite this not being a camera obscura image it is still one that I have researched as it will be an important part of my physical experimentation. I want to try this approach in my work as I think the burnt area will work well to portray the concept of camera obscura and the small 'burning' hole of light that is used to achieve it. The reason the image above has the burn mark on it is because Lucas uses it as a way of adding meaning by using the erasing of the mans face as showing 'absence', an absence of identity and facial expression, leaving us with just his body and the helmet. I think this added detail and the destructiveness of burning adds to the feeling of absence, the taking away of perhaps emotion or feeling and just leaving pain. The fact that the burn is real shows us the raw emotion and the realness of the pain this person is experiencing, rather than it just being edited on to give a similar effect. As mentioned above I would like to try this in my own work to portray the burning power of the sun. 

Lee Kirby 

The image above is by the photographer Lee Kirby, one I haven't previously researched. Instead, I have just used this specific image as inspiration in my own work as it isn't strictly camera obscura. This image falls into the category of projection, similar to camera obscura but using a projector to show a chosen image the right way up instead of the landscape outside the room upside down. Therefore it is a similar concept however not entirely the same as the camera obscura approach has some limitations. The aspect I would like to take from this image is the curvature of the projected image onto the ladies skin. The way the landscape fits onto her perfectly as if she's been wrapped up in it. I think this will be powerful in my work when it comes to shooting my subject in their own bedroom as that in their environment ( they are wrapped in this landscape all of the time). I also think the vibrant colours of this image work well with the concept as they almost drown out the subject a little bit, rather than being consumed by the person it is the other way round. In order to achieve this kind of vibrancy in my work I will need to make sure I shoot on a bright day where the sun is extremely bright in a relatively bright room. 

Marja Pirila - Room in the Attic 

The image above is another one of Marja Pirila's work, taken from her collection 'interior/exterior'. As we can see the image is of a room the has been made into a camera obscura, it is very simple with what looks like just a few books on the floor. It is such a simple image yet is still so effective in showing the life of someone who lives here. By showing the small details of how they live and what their home is like we get a small insight into their life. This mixed with the projected landscape from outside gives us as the viewer a detailed view at their environment and where they live. It seems to me that there is forestry outside of their window, indicating they may live an urban life. I feel that this fits into the interior decor as its very simplistic and rustic, compared to modern homes in the city. Usually in Marja's work she uses people as her subject however I feel that this image breaks the collection up making it stand out and is powerful without the subject. I enjoy the composition of this photograph as it mainly focuses on the floor and the little bits of furniture you can see around the room, the reason this works so well is because it shows off the landscape in great detail and makes it the main focus of the image. I would like to have some shots similar to this one in my own work as it breaks up the shoot and keeps the viewer intrigued by the landscape. 

Shoot 4 - Interiors

Interiors 

Plans for shoot - My plan for shoot three was to take pictures of interiors that I could use along side Shoot 2 - Landscapes. By taking pictures of rooms I am able to use my previous landscape photographs to achieve the camera obscura effect. I decided to do this as one of my initial ideas to see whether I liked the camera obscura outcome. 

Research Influence - Abelardo Morell was my influence for this shoot as he was my original photographers research. This is where I got the idea in the first place to do camera obscura. Despite this shoot not using the technique the aim was to take two sets of images that I could put together to achieve the effect. 

AO1 - This shoot doesn't directly link to Abelardo Morell's work as it doesn't use the camera obscura technique. Instead I have taken pictures of interiors that will link to his work, similar rooms to where he shoots his camera obscura work. 

Contact Sheet 

Best Images - Edited 

AO2 - To take the photographs of the interiors I used an aperture of F22 to ensure that the whole room was in focus this way there would be a wide depth of field. I also used an ISO400 throughout as this insured I had the correct exposure without gaining any noise or blur. This just left the shutter speed that I changed according to the room and how much more or less exposure was required for that location. 

For the images above I have just increased their exposure so that they are brighter than the original photos. I haven't done much else on the images as they may need editing further when it comes to using them in the computer experiment. 

AO3 & AO4 - I believe that if I was to take these photos again I would try to take them in the middle of the day as then it would be brighter without having a really long shutter speed. I also think this would increase the depth of some of the images as the shadows would be more prominent. I am going to be taking these photos forward for experimentation as they were taken to edited into a camera obscura effect. I will do this by mixing shoot 4 and shoot 2.

Experimentation 
The images above are of interiors in my house, they have been taken to be used with shoot 2 that was landscape images at Kew Gardens. Below are the images that I have produced -

The details of how I made these images are in 'computer experiments' along with Photoshop screenshots.  

Marja Pirila

Marja Pirila 

Marja Pirila is a lady who was born in 1957 in Finland near the Arctic Circle. In 1996 she became obsessed with the phenomenon 'camera obscura', she believes this is due to her northern heritage and fascination of the lights there. Marja has worked on a number of projects that go as follows -"Interior/Exterior" (1996–) I have made the projects "Milavida" (2012-2013), "Speaking House" (2004–2006) and "Inner Landscapes" (2009–2011). Her ongoing project being 'interior/exterior' that she started back in 1996. She has dozens of exhibitions across Finland and other countries and her gallery representation lies with gallery Heino, Helsinki, Finland. 

This first image is from the 'interior/exterior' collection of Marja's work. It shows two little boys (Alvar and Eerik) in their home in Rovaniemi, Finland. The two little boys are the main subject of the image as they are what the viewer see's first. Especially due to the fact they are sitting on toy boxes, one quite high-up. Some viewers may see this behaviour as mischievous, tiring into the expected behaviour of an 8/9-year-old boy. From their appearance we can assume they are brothers, playing in their room together on a bright sunny day. The reason we can tell what the day is like is that of the landscape that fills the wall, the sky looks blue and there isn't much movement, indicating Summer. The large tree from the landscape fills most of the wall and projects a slight pattern onto the boy's faces and bodies. This really adds depth to the photograph as the landscape outside mixes into the interior. This is why I believe this image was put into the 'interior/exterior' collection as they blend so well, the two belong together and neither looks out of place in its location. I think the pops of colour from the boxes in this image adds to the childish, youthful feel of it. Without the toys and boxes, this image looked plain and lifeless, as if the boys didn't fit into the room or were staged for the photograph. However it seems to me that Marja is looking into their life without altering anything, she has photographed it how it is. This shows the beauty of their natural behaviour.

Again this image is from the collection 'interior/exterior' and is of a young girl called Sara from Tampere, Finland. As you can see the young girl is laying on her bed staring straight at the camera with branches projected around her room and across her face. I feel that the girl in the image looks very elegant and fragile due to her pale complexion and fair hair laid out on the bed. The expression on her face suggests to me worry or fear, her eyes are wide and fixated on the camera. She seems to be shadowed by this dark branch above her head that brings darkness into her otherwise light room. Perhaps this represents the fears of the girl, her innocence being overshadowed by something much bigger and more fearful than herself. I like the closeness of this image as I feel it brings a personal touch to the image, by being able to see the girl so well we can see her expression and the detail of her setting perfectly. I also like the use of light and dark in this photo as it almost appears to me that it was taken at night time although this probably isn't true. However, the bright area in the centre that is lighting her face reminds me of moonlight and the rest of the room is still cast in shadow. I would like to create an image as detailed as this in my own work. 

The photograph above is of a little boy called Leevi, taken in his home in Tampere, Finland. It appears to me that he is sitting at the end of his bed enjoying the view out of the window. His expression looks slightly upset like there is something on his mind and he has distanced himself to think. Due to the camera obscura effect, I can take this observation further as we can see what the boy is looking at outside the window. The bare, tall and dark trees seem overpowering even when projected into his room, they seem intimidating to be outside the window. I feel that this reflects the way the boy is acting, maybe he is fearful of his setting or the outside world. One thing I really enjoy about this image is the fact that the landscape only covers half of the room as opposed to all of it and it isn't on any walls. Instead, it is concentrated on the end of the bed and the foreground of the floor. This makes a distinction between the outside that has a blue tone and looks cold to the inside where we can see the orange, warm light coming through the door. To me, this shows the difference between interior and exterior and which one is more inviting. 

This photograph shows a young couple and was taken in Florence, Italy. The couple is laying on the bed with the man cuddling the woman who appears to be asleep. I feel that this image shows the 'real' side of love, it doesn't show a perfect or unrealistic setting instead it shows a normal messy room with clothes hanging on the wall. As this is so close to reality the photograph appears very personal, like we as the viewer are looking through their window to see their everyday life. The landscape that is on the wall shows us the view from the window giving us a further idea of who the people are. The houses opposite don't look very fancy,  they look like regular housing so we can only assume this is similar to where they are. Again this 'reality' check photography links well to the viewers as most people will have experience with an environment like this as opposed to the work Abelardo Morell who focuses on amazing landscapes. I love the narrative you can infer from this piece as there are many ways I could imagine the couple being, therefore it is a piece that is described differently by each viewer. 

Influence

This camera obscura image was influenced by Marja Pirila. Her work includes amazing but subtle reflections of the outside world in a room where people are getting on with everyday life. I decided to include this in my work as I feel the subjects added meaning and a story to the images I was photographing. It also allowed me to be more creative with my work as you can see above I did a double exposure in this image. I feel that Pirila's work has had the biggest influence on my work as it has shaped the way the rest of my work has gone. I feel that carrying on with the project, having subjects in the photographs has massively improved my images. 

Overall, I love the appearance of Marja Pilira's work, it is more appealing than just seeing the camera obscura. I feel that by researching her work it has made me think more creatively about the rest of my project rather than just changing the interiors, I can chagne the meaning and the subject within. 

Camera Obscura Technique Post

Camera Obscura Technique 

Definition - a darkened box with a convex lens or aperture for projecting the image of an external object on to a screen inside, a forerunner of the modern camera. 

What was camera obscura originally used for? 
The camera obscura or 'dark chamber' in it's Latin translation was used for centuries as a way of viewing a solar eclipse without damaging someones eyes. By the 16th century it was used as a drawing/painting aid as the subject or landscape would be on the outside and projected inside. The projection inside would be traced in order to produce the art, it made drawing very precise. A little while on portable versions were made, much smaller so that they could be moved around, many of these had an angled mirror fitted in order for the image to be projected the right way up. 

 

How have I produced a camera obscura? 

My transformations project is based around 'the transforming if rooms relevant to the landscape outside' this means that I am using the camera obscura technique in an artistic way to transform a room using the view outside the window. The way I am doing it is by using the room as the 'box' by eliminating any light that could get in to make it a 'dark chamber'. For example, when setting it up in my bedroom I covered my window in black paper in order to get rid of the light coming in. I then cuts small hole in the middle of the window to allow some light in. I kept this hole about the size of a 2p coin to keep the image sharp. Once this was done I made sure that the wall opposite the window was clear and bright (this is key in the quality of images), this is where the landscape was projected. 

At first the camera obscura in my bedroom wasn't very obvious, it just appear to be upside down shadows on the wall however when using my camera setting at a high shutter speed the resulting image showed the colourful and detailed landscape outside of my window. 

Contemporary Example of camera obscura 

The idea came from Belén González Dorao, the entrepreneur and founder of the project in Cádiz. Her brother, Ignacio visited during his holidays in Edinburgh a Camera Obscura and told his sister about the existence of this interesting optical effect. Later Belén started to think that the light in this region and the privileged situation of the Tavira Tower would be ideal to realize a similar project in Cádiz, which was right. 

Examples of my work 

Shoot 6 - Living Room

Living Room

Plans for shoot -  My plan for this shoot was to try another camera obscura set-up but this time in my living room as a change of scenery.  I decided for this shoot I wanted to experiment with the different placements of my subject. As the shutter speed for these shoots was quite long I wanted to try have my subject move around a little bit so that in the end image they would appear multiple times.

Research Influence - My influence for this shoot comes from the photographer Mirja Pirila. Her work is based around the camera obscura concept whereby a room in transformed by the outside, however it isn't the main subject of the image. Most of her work includes a person or multiple people in a room with the landscape on the wall. Upon looking at her work the people are more evident than the landscape itself however it is this subtle extra that makes her work so aesthetically pleasing and very gentle. These are some examples -

AO1 - My photography from shoot 6 reflects this photographers because I have experimented using my sister within my camera obscura images. This is what Marja does in her work and I think it looks really good as it adds extra context compared to the work of Abelardo Morell who concentrates mostly on the landscape. I believe I will be taking this idea forward as it will work well in my last shoots where I am aiming to have a narrative. 

Contact Sheet 

Best Images 

AO2 - For this shoot I decided to keep my aperture on F22 as this ensures that the images I take are the sharpest they can be with every aspect in focus. The ISO for this shoot varied between images due to the changing amounts of light needed within the different shots, it varied between ISO3200 and ISO6400. Although these ISO's are high so may add graininess to my images this is thee amount of light sensitivity I needed to ensure the images were correctly exposed. The most important camera setting for this shoot was my shutter speed as this determines how much of the landscape I get in the image, in clouding the amount of colour seen in the result. The last shoot I done on camera obscura I used a shutter speed of 30secs however this time I used the 'time' setting allowing me to determine how long I wanted the exposure to go on for. As you can see from the camera setting about I experimented with both 1 and 2 minutes to what worked better. I would say from the results that 1 minute looks clearer and has a lot more sharpness to it.

For the editing process I kept it quite simple as I am not experimenting with these images yet, just correctly their temperature, saturation and exposure. You can see the process below -

The first step I took was to increase the exposure, saturation and change around the highlights and shadows to add the depth I was lacking in my images due to the limited amount of light I get to work with. 

Secondly I adjusted the curves to bring some of the shadow back that I had lost previously. Due to increasing the whites a lot this can make the image look washed out and two-dimensional therefore the curve tones that down slightly. 

AO3 & AO4 - I do not think that this shoot went as well as my first one perhaps because the living room is much bigger and the window os bigger it was hard to work with the light. However unlike my first shoot I managed to work with the 'time' setting on my camera so that I was in charge of the shutter speed rather than being tied to the maximum of 30seconds, I think this will really work in my favour in my future shoots. One criticism I would have of my work here is that I had some issues with graininess that I didn't experience in the previous shoot. I will need to look into this on my next shoot and compare what I have changed. The next shoot I will be working with a slightly smaller and brighter room, this will hopefully improve the quality of my images. 

Shoot 5 - Bedroom

Camera Obscura - Bedroom 

What is camera obscura? 

Camera Obscura is a photography technique that allows you to bring the outside landscape into a room. The projection of what can be seen outside the room in reflected onto the wall but upside down, they way it would appear in a camera. In a basic description, to achieve this outcome you must cover a windows in dark paper or a sheet so the no light can come in and cut a small hole in the middle, acting as a lens. 

Below is the set-up in my room - 

Photographers Influence - Abelardo Morell 

This shoot was influenced by Abelardo Morell as I was experimenting with the camera obscura technique that is commonly associated with his work. He uses this technique to achieve images like the ones below - 

These are examples of Morell's work, he usually uses areas with a beautiful landscape outside or includes well-known buildings in his work. I will not be able to do this due to the access I have to a limited amount of places. However I will be experimenting with what I have therefore producing interesting images just in a different way. 

AO1 - My work reflects that of Abelardo Morell's due to the fact that I have tried Camera Obscura. I have taken this technique and tried to create my own images that I think have turned out relatively well. The only difference between mine and Abelardo's is that some of my photographs include my sister as I thought this was bring a slight story or narrative to the image due to not having access to amazing landscapes like Morell does. 

Image Bank 

The images above are ones I have found online and I think they are a lot more achievable for me. This is because the landscapes that are outside the window looks like common places, just roads with houses and some of forests. I also like the fact that these images include people, this adds a story ands substance to the image, I would like to try this in my own work. 

Contact Sheet 

Best Images (Edited) 

AO2 - The camera settings I used for this shoot varied between the images I took at night and those I took in the morning. As you can see above the first two images have a slight blue hue to the where they are night time shots whereas the bottom two are clear as they were day-time ones. The ones taken in the evening have a very high ISO of 12800 and an aperture of F3.5, this is because I had to maximise the amount of light that the camera picked up in order to properly expose the landscape on the wall. The day time images were slightly different as there was more light, they were taken at ISO800 and F/22 which made them sharper than the evening photos. All of the images however were taken with a shutter speed of 30secs as this was the amount of time I needed to pick up the colour and the detail of the landscape that was on the wall, without this amount of time the camera wouldn't have been able to see anything in the room and the images would've come out blank.

Below is an example of the simple editing I done on the images above. My main aim for my editing process was to increase the contrast and saturation of the patterns on the wall to make it more obvious.

The first step I took was to change the exposure and highlights in the image, this made it slightly brighter and brought out the snowy rooftops, making the landscape stand out against the wall. 

Secondly, I slightly adjusted the curves of the image. By just bringing the line down below the original it made the shadows more prominent, consequently increasing the depth of the shadows. 

The last thing I done was work with the colour balance of the image as it appeared slightly yellow from the editing I had done. Therefore, I used this tool to move the bar away from yellow towards the blue, I think this gave the room a different feeling. 

AO3 & AO4 - This shoot was my very first attempt at using Camera Obscura and I think it went well. I achieved the desired outcome in the style of Abelardo Morell, by projecting the landscape of outside onto the wall. As this was my first attempt there are a few things I have learned from it. Firstly, to make the image sharper I am going to decrease the size of the lens hole I used on my window, this will sharpen the landscape. Secondly, I have researched how to increase my exposure time from which I found out about the bulb settings whereby I can do a longer shutter speed than the maximum 30seconds. 

Going forward with this idea of Camera Obscura, there are a few ideas I would like to try out. One being by using a subject in the image and getting them to move so they appear in more than one place at a time. This would give a fine art or surreal effect, it could also have a narrative behind it. The other experiment I would like to do is to have two or more holes on the window as this may project the same landscape twice from different perspectives.