Artist Comparison

Steve McCurry

Colours of Cuba

What interests me most about this photo is the very contrasting and vibrant colour used, yet they are ironically sed in an environment that is unkept and looks dishevelled. The person in the photo is seen on the border between the 2nd and 3rd third, and due to them being a silhouette it is difficult to work out whether the person is walking towards or away from the camera. This makes the photo more interesting to me, and also creates contrast between the completely black silhouette and the colourful environment.

The photograph also gives a sense of isolation and mystery, with the person in the photograph being completely alone and shrouded in darkness. This imagery is one usually seen in horror or thriller films, and is used to help give the villain or a character a dramatic entrance or give them a sense of mystery, though in this context they seem to be an average person.

My photograph is fairly similar to The Colours of Cuba by Steve McCurry as both feature very unkept yet colourful environments (though mine to a lesser extent in terms of colour) and a single isolated person walking into the distance. 

The main difference between the two is that mine features a more modern and open environment, whereas The Colours of Cuba feels fairy enclosed, furthering the sense of isolation. s mentioned earlier, the colours in my photograph are less vibrant and more muted than the photograph taken by McCurry, despite there being more of them comparatively. The Colours of Cuba also feels a lot warmer than mine, manly due to the high saturation of colour, whereas mine seems quite cold and unpleasant.

Photograph Analysis

I think this photograph works well because of the variation in colour, and the distance the photo reaches. Without the larger buildings in he background it wouldn't have worked as well, as it would lack depth. I also like the perspective of the road and the buildings.

The photo feels very glom and unpleasant, due to the water drenched roads and the grey cloudy sky. The fact there are very few people walking around helps to give the feeling that its an unpleasant day, and everybody has chosen to drive.

The vibrancy of the colours contrasts with the dirty and dishevelled impression that the photograph gives. For an image like this a more common colour scheme would be dark browns and blacks, but instead theres orange, green, blue and red. This contrast in terms of colour and with the tone of the photo makes this really interesting to me.

The colours in this photo usually imply very different things to how they are used here, for example; green would usually be seen on plants and green grass, which would be associated with nature and summer. Blue would also be associated with clear blue skies, another common piece of imagery seen with photos during summer. Instead these colours are used in a busy photo taken in a built up and industrial environment, unkept by society and filled with our waste.

The bin bags being left by full up bins gives the feeling of a place thats been forgotten, with objects left to pile up forever.

The person walking alone down the run down and rain soaked street gives a sense of isolation. Despite the ranged colour palette it still feels lonely and cast out, sine it doesn't look to have been cleaned, and just felt to rot. The only things that are in good condition are the cars, which are also the only things that will only be there temporarily.

Its also ironic how he is wearng a high visibility jacket, and yet is completely alone, as if being ignored.

I like the contrast from the left to the right hand side of the street. Left being filled with shiny cars that have been cared for and cleaned, while the right being bare brick wall coated in graffiti, and a lamppost covered in stickers next to a pile of rubbish.

Due to the use of dramatic perspective, the image seems warped and abstract, almost as if its being sucked in. This gives the photo a sense of movement, and is fitting since the bridge is supporting a train track above. The photo almost looks like a painting in the sense that the sky is completely white, as if its part of a canvas that hasn't been painted on. I think this makes the photo looks really interesting, and it gives you some breathing room, unlike the other ones which are very full and have alot of detail crammed in.

The overgrown environment makes this photo stand out against the others, as the others focus more on the unkept and run down indstrial areas, while this on shows a glipse of nature reclaiming the environment.

Birmingham Trip Video - Version 1

The purpose of this video is to resent my final images for Documentary in a way that incorporates sound and the kind of atmosphere present in the photographs. The intention with the mix of audio is that it makes you fee like you're actually in the photograph. The audio for this was mainly recorded by me in Nuneaton town, though in this version there are some placeholder sound effects which i found on YouTube. These are to help me get a better idea as to what i need to record for the next version of the video.

The improvements i am currently woring on are:

Cut the duration of the nitial photograph in half, add a title showing the subject name and my name, lower the volume or change the audio around the photos with less people for something more ambient (no people in photographs - no people in audio), Quieten video at around 1:17 for a few seconds and replace with the sound of footsteps, have less cars / traffic audio around 2:02, add some train sound effects around the bridge photograph and add end credits - showing the source of the audio, subject name and my name.

Trip Planning

For the trip to Birmingham i plan to primarily take landscape photographs in the more industrial areas where there are factories and a lot of run down buildings. I find this sort of setting a lot more intriguing and i feel that i can take higher quality photographs if i focus on these sort of areas.

I'd also like to take photographs of large crowds of people, mainly by busy roads, from an eye level angle and from a high angle, looking down on crowds of people. I also think it would be interesting to try and capture large crowds or main roads using a low shutter speed, to show passage of time.

I plan to try and focus on areas that are fairly run down and unkept, as i feel that it would create more interesting photographs. I would also like to capture the busy streets aswell in order to create a contrast, as if its two completely different places combined into one.

Exhibition Review

During our trip we visited the Walsall gallery and looked around an exhibition of work by Mat Collishaw. 



I decided to analyse one of his photographs of crushed moths, as the amount of detail and the scale of them intrigued me. I like how they made something that we see as being so insignificant into a sight to behold. The colours were also very vibrant and strong, which contrasted very well with the black background.

The photograph looked almost like it was in space, and it was like a huge ship exploding, as all of the small pieces appear to be floating away with a completely black surrounding. This helped to exaggerate its size, and made me feel very small by comparison like our positions had been switched.

Another piece of worked that i looked at was of food. shot in low key lighting and with low saturation, and also high contrast. The use of these made the food look extremely unpleasant and as if it was off or mouldy. 

The meals are recreated meals which criminals have chosen while on death row, and serve as memorials for the dead. Though instead of the usual memorial which usually includes flowers and celebrating their life, instead the memorials are made to look extremely unpleasant and almost sickening. This is most likely because it reflects Matt Collishaws opinion of the people these photographs represent.

It is like a complete opposide to his photos of the crushed moths, as the moth photos almost act like memorials but are highly saturated with colour and are printed on an epic scale. They make something that is seen as so insignifant into a significant impact on the room they're in. Instead, with the photgraphs focusing on the meals, the memorials have impact due to the lighting and low saturation, making them look depressing - as if to focus on the impact those people had on the world instead of the people themselves, therefore the depressing look to the photograph. They almost emcurage us to look down on those people, rather than up at them, which is the case with the crushed moths.

Documentary Title Page

Evaluation - Portraiture

My initial aim was to incorporate the style of Catherine Balet used in her body of work 'Stranger in he Light', along with the theme 'My World is Beautiful' and diversity in terms of race and ethnicity. I feel I was able to capture the style of 'Stranger in the Light' fairly well, though I found it hard to incorporate 'My World is Beautiful' and the diversity aspect. The diversity aspect would have worked if I photographed more than one person, but since I was photographing the same person, I couldn't show diversity in any way. My interpretation of 'My World is Beautiful' was that I would include nature and / or wildlife into my photographs, but due to the lighting was working with, I found it very hard to incorporate this, as it was too dark. This meant that I had to take photos by main roads in order to get enough lighting, but not too much that it would prevent me from capturing the style of 'Strangers in the Light'. I also tried photographing in the day so I could incorporate nature, but it was too bright for me to use any lighting techniques, which relate to Catherine Balet.

 

(A photograph of one of my 3 plans.)

In my planning sketches I spoke about how i wanted to use all 3 of my chosen themes, though my final otomes only contained the lighting aspect i spoke about in my plan, but even then, the location was changed.
 

A key technique that I carried over from my technical project was shutter speed. Since it was so dark, I lowered the shutter speed in order to let more light in, and also to create some interesting lighting with cars driving past. I feel that this was executed fairly well as the lighting that i was able to capture was very interesting and quite unique.

I feel that what was most successful was recreating the style of lighting that Catherine Balet used in 'Strangers in the Light', and was the only aspect that I feel went to plan, as the other two themes I wanted to incorporate were not present, or at least my interpretation of them. To help me be more successful I need to work on my planning, as it was my panning at fault when it come to not incorporating diversity in race and ethnicity and my interpretation of 'My World is Beautiful'. Had I planned more I’d have been able to get another person or a few more people involved in order to show diversity, and also taken one of my photographs at a time where there was more natural light, so I could incorporate nature into my final outcomes.

 

(One of the unusable photoraphs taken while i was shooting my final outcomes.)

This was an attempt at using tree branches in order to incorporate nature, but none of the photographs taken using this idea resulted in being usable. The branch was also too hard to see in the lighting that as available.

An obstacle I had when it came to these photographs was the lighting, since it was nearly pitch black, though this was easily solved with lowering the shutter speed, which also allowed me to be more creative with the lighting. The lighting was also a huge improvement over my final outcomes for the first part of the course, and makes for much more interesting photographs. This is due to me being forced to be more confident with different settings and messing around with the shutter speed, aperture & ISO as a result of the lighting situation.

 

(One of the unusable photoraphs taken while i was shooting my final outcomes.)

Due to the high shutter speed i decided to use, alot of my photographs were blurred in areas that i needed to be very sharp.

For my final outcomes I feel I had quite a variation as I had one close up and one environmental portrait. Since I am relatively new to portraiture photography I feel I was quite experimental and I they turned out a lot better than I expected.

My ideas when it came to lighting were very strongly linked to Catherine Balet and 'Strangers in the Light' and so my artist research really helped my final outcomes. Without the artist research my photographs would have turned out very differently, since I hadn't considered incorporating the ides used by Catherine Balet before my research. Though I did try and add something f my own to it - for example, instead of photographing inside I decided to photograph outside in an attempt to incorporate nature, and I also made the contrast between light and dark a lot more present, as where there is no light it is nearly pitch black, creating a sense of isolation.



Photograph by Catherine Balet.

 

(One of my final outcomes.)

In my photograoh it is generally pich black where there is no light (higher contrast), unlike the work of Catherine Balet where the lighting is softer and evetually gets darker as it gets further from th light source.

To improve on my final outcomes I could have tried painting in some of the trees behind who I am photographing to help it link more to 'My World is Beautiful' and also have another photograph in which I use more than one person. Having two more photographs which are instead photographed earlier in the day when it is still dark, but light enough to see trees could have also added a nice amount of variation and also helped it link to one of my key themes.

If i were to shoot these again I would also shoot on a wider variety of locations, such as where there are more trees, or somewhere that lighting is more interesting. Another improvement wuld be to incorporate more light sources, such s using flood lights to create  stringer light, but one that was still clearly artificial. I could also try using a wider variety of angles, such as high or low angles, to give the photograph a different tone.

Final Outcomes - Portraiture

Wanderers

By Oscar page

Everybody seems to see the world through the screens of their phones or the monitors of their computers, wandering from one building lit with the lights of advertising to the next.

From my body of work I tried to show that the only lights we see are the ones that we make, and we let those lights made by the countless companies hat dominate our world guide us through life. When we can’t see those lights we feel lost and out of place, as if we belong in a place full of the advertising we say is destroying our planet. Cars drive by and we think nothing of it when we see people rendering what they were meant to use useless, and when we do decide to walk we’re the ones that are out of place. Suddenly when we don’t support the people who think nothing of turning our planet into a neon lit city we’re the once who are out of place.

Even when we don’t think we’re supporting anybody but ourselves when we walk from destination to destination, we still use the LED’s on our phones to keep us from feeling cut off from everybody else. As long as our phone has charge or there’s still cars shooting past us too fast to even see who’s driving them we don’t need to worry. Its only when we’re in a natural habitat that we’re somewhere unnatural to us.

Planning For Final Outcomes

My plan for my final outcomes is to incorporate lighting techniques which are present in the photographs of Catherine Balet - mainly from her body of work called 'Strangers in the Light'. I also plan to include racial diversity diversity in my photographs by photographing people who are from different racial backgrounds in each of my photos, though this is limited to who i am able to photograph.

I'd also like to include the theme of My World is Beautiful, by trying to incorporate nature into my photographs as often as i can. A recurring theme will also be technology, which will be the focal point of who i am photographing, in order to keep within the same style as Catherine Balet.

I also did some sketches in order to help plan out my final outcomes. They show they way i would like the photographs lit, the props i would require and the composition.

How successful these are depend on the weather and the environments i have available to me, and also who i am able to photograph, as i would like to show diversity in terms of race and ethnicity in my final outcomes. 

Artist Research - Catherine Balet - Portraiture

Catherine Balet

Catherine Balet has a collection of work called 'Strangers in the Light' which resembles the idea that i have for my final outcomes. These photos use artificial light sources like phones and computers as the primary light source of the photo. The people in these portraits usually look very tired or bored, especially while doing very mundane things - though photographs featuring more interesting / special events often have people displaying emotion, they are still while looking at the world through their phones / computers.

In this photographs, the lighting is primarily low key other than the laptop / mac screens, which are the primary light sources. Both people look tired and bored, and are doing very mundane activities. In the scene on the right, there is light creeping around a slightly open door, hinting at an outside world that she is neglecting for her computer. on the left, the man seems to be trying to play chess by himself, giving the impression that he's lonely or has just suffered a loss, and technology is what he's turned to. The darkness surrounding them makes the photograph seem isolated, which is how people are usually perceived when they often use computers and phones.

The colours are also fairly muted which gives the photographs a more depressing and subtle feel. The LED gives off a very cold looking light, as it is very slightly blue, which fits with the theme of isolation, which is prominent in this photograph.

In this photograph we see a group of people photographing a very young baby. It seems to be a play on the fact that all of a babies first moments are usually recorded or photographed by somebody, and that they tend to attract a lot of attention from other people. The photo is very exaggerated though it is very similar to real events. The fact that the baby is the most lit person in the shot shows that this is is the other peoples focal point, and is the photographer saying that it should be our focal point as well.

The theme of isolation is also abundant in this photograph, despite there being a group of people, due to how dark it is around them. The photograph also shows how soon people are introduced to technology, as a baby is already being surrounded be technology, and it being used as a part of everyday life.

My World Is Beautiful Title Page

Black & White Portraiture Title Page

Examples Of Portraits

Full Length

Environmental Portrait

Close Up

Classic Portrait

A portrait is a photograph who's primary focus is a person, intended to portray their likeness, personality and emotion. It is generally of a person in a still position rather than a photograph of them moving, ad usually has the person looking directly at the camera, in order to create a stronger connection between the viewer and the photograph. Portraits are also often taken to commemorate events. Early portraits usually contained very soft and equal lighting, though as it developed photographs became more experimental and entered different locations rather than studios.

Photoshop Skills

Lighting / levels

The intention for this photo was to make the lighting a lot harsher and increase the contrast, in order to make the environment look darker.

Cropping

The intention of this was to crop the photo so that there is more focus on the face of the parson rather than the full body.

Lighting Techniques

Classic Portrait (overexposed)

The background for this photo was made using the black side of a reflector, as I didn't have access to any black sheet or cloth. I tried different ways of lighting this picture in order to capture the least amount of creases possible.

Environmental Portrait

This photograph is of my friend playing a game, and the main light source was the TV screen, which gave a blue tinge to the photo.

Natural Light - Using window

This was taken in front of a window in my house, I chose the room that was the most bare in order keep as much focus on the person as possible, and not have too much happening in the background. I also felt that a slightly lower angle shot would work with the position he is in and the way his eyes are positioned.

Natural Light - Split lighting

This photo was taken in my garden, I wanted to have a background that would contrast well with the person in the foreground, and have a split in the background as well as split lighting in his face.

Natural Light - Even tones

This photo I think could have been framed a lot better, as the house behind him provides a background that is too detailed and is slightly overpowering, which draws attention away from the person I photographed.

Lighting Portraits - Artificial Lighting

This photograph was lit using a television, which was fairly close to him. The lit curtains behind him create a contrast an makes the darker side of his face stand out more.

Close Up

This photograph is closer to a mid shot than a close up, as I have more of the rest of his body in the shot rather than his face. I also think the photo could have benefitted from using a reflector to project some more light on his face, but he shadows are also fairly interesting.

Mid Close

In this photographs the light source was behind me and was covered up slightly by the branches of the tree he is sat on.

Full length

Gold Reflector

Makes the image look warmer & more pleasant.

Silver Reflector

Creates higher key lighting and lower contrast.

White Reflector

Higher key lighting, lower contrast and softer light than silver and gold reflectors.

Creating Shadows & Shapes

A light source was placed on the other side of a door with a pattern on, which created the shadow and the lines I tried to make the lines line up with features of tis persons face, to make it resemble a tattoo or something thats on their face, rather than light.