Vulgaria – Film Review

The storyline starts with the main character Chapman To who is an unsuccesful film producer who just can’t catch a break. However, he doesn’t give up and is always on the lookout to make one. But with all his financial issues he is extremely desperate for money to help him. You also see that To finds it difficult to make his alimony payments to his ex-wife. We see that To’s daughter still has faith for her father, even though her parents are bitter to one another, and encourages him that he will indeed create a hit film one day. She feels that if he is encouraged and he succeeds that she can boast about this to friends at school, informing them that he is a successful film producer, and a father to be proud of.

Later on, we notice that To continues on his quest for a hit movie, and is introduced to a local investor called Tyrannosaurus by a fellow friend who turns out to be apart of a triad gang. The film that they go to make together is a pornographic film, this is expressed through Tyannosaurus’ passion for sex. To be able to impress his new investor, To and his friend go out for dinner with him to discuss further the investment. Whilst they are attending dinner, they discuss subjects such as remaking an old movie into a new one and To becomes very interested in this idea. However, because To and his friend are unsatisfied with the food in Tyrannosaurus’ favourite restaurant, he takes this to offence. The only way that he would offer To the role was to get To and his friend to appear in the movie and engage in vulgar sexual acts with a mule.

The film captures many crude scenes such as the mule sexual act and raunchy jokes which are mostly in-jokes that would only be understood by Asian citizens. The comedy value is forced out in the film rather than smooth for a Western audience. Overall, this film is just a sex comedy filled with innuendos about pornography. I was a little disappointed with this film because it was dragged out too much. Because the film was not in English but had English subtitles it was difficult to read the subtitles and concentrate on what was going on in the film.

You are the Apple of my Eye – Film Review

You are the Apple of my Eye is a typical boy meets girl at high school film, but with one slight alteration, in Hong Kong. The two main characters within this film is one student who is outstanding called Shen Chia-yi, and the other is a mischievous boy called Ko Cheng-Teng. The two were classmates since junior school and never really took much interest in one another. However, this was all about to change when a small arrangement of a seating plan in english class took place. Ko was placed in front of Shen in the class, and small happenings began to creep up. Such as Shen forgetting her textbook, and Ko kindly gave his to her so that she wouldn’t get into trouble, looking out for her without even realising it.

However, because of this kind gesture, Shen could not ignore this and was touched by Ko’s actions towards her. After this, Shen decided to give Ko some personal study sessions after school to boost his grades, this was seen as a ‘repayment’ to Ko for being so kind towards her. For a turn for the worst, Shen becomes ill around exam time and fails to get the grades she needed for university. As distraught as she is, she’s happy that Ko was able to get good grades from his study sessions with her and get into university himself. Even though they become separated by university, and miles apart they still find time to talk to each other every night, and a strong friendship between them is blossomed. Eventually, they manage to go on their first date, but when Ko asked Shen if she loves him, however he’s fearful of the answer and doesn’t take notice. From then on they seemed to go downhill. Ko arranges a fight night to show his strength, however this causes an argument between the couple which results in a break up.

After this, all communication was lost and the two don’t communicate again until they have a conversation about whether they were okay after an earthquake that struck. Here, they begin to understand how they never worked out and come to an agreement that they weren’t meant to be together. So the end on mutual ground.

Years later, Shen is getting married and tells Ko about this. This then makes him think about how their relationship started all those years ago, so he decides to start an online blog to express his story about their relationship.

I enjoyed this film because it was a nice romantic tale that questioned the idea of fate. I wasn’t drawn back when the break-up happened because this is what happens within all romance films, and there is always heartache which turns out to be something positive. The overall composition of the film was effective, especially with the lighting because it’s natural looking and not over the top or artificial looking.

Starry Starry Night – Critical Reflection

Starry Starry Night is based upon a Taiwanese graphic novel by the Taiwanese author Jimmy Liao which was later made to be a film by director Tom Lin. The name of the film also makes reference to the painting by Vincent Van Gogh of Starry Night.

The main character is called Mei, who is a teenage girl who is 13 years old. Mei used to live with her grandparents, and throughout the film you can see that they had a very close bond with her grandfather. The house was situated in a shack in the mountains, however Mei had to move and live with her parents in the city. Because of this she felt left out and lonely within her family, especially as she was an only child. When Mei was living with her parents, we see that they like to complete puzzles together during family time together.

As you continue to watch the film, we are introduced to Jay who is also 13 years old and appear in the same class as Mei in school. At first we see how both of these characters live and act, with Mei being friendly and outgoing and Jay as a very secluded, lonely boy. Misunderstood by his class mates, he also feels lonely just as Mei does and this is portrayed well with the focal point of the cameras isolating the characters.

Jay carries around a sketchbook everywhere he goes, he feels that he can express himself through drawing so he hides them away and keeps them to himself. This is picked up during the film from some boys in class and Jay is constantly bullied for his isolated behaviour. Mei becomes fascinated by Jay’s drawings that she follows him into an art shop. When they eventually leave, Mei notices that Jay gets involved intone physical fight with the boys from school who have been giving him grief about his drawings, so Mei decides to step in to help him out. During this fight, we see Mei pictured as a monster in her shadows fighting away the demons. When we come to see Jays mother pick him up, we realise some home truths about Jay’s family life, how they are running from his violent father.

During the film, Mei and Jay become closer together and begin to spend every waking moment with each other whilst they create a display in their classroom. Later on we see that Mei and Jay decide to visit a puzzle shop, which is where she explained her love for puzzles which relates back to her happier times with her parents. She explained that every year they would complete a jigsaw puzzle of a famous painting, which happens to be one of Starry Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh which is the reference to the title. She tells Jay that she is missing just one piece from the puzzle and tries to buy just a single piece of the puzzle, however the shop owner doesn’t do this.

A death in the family, an announcement that her parents are divorcing and a cruel prank at school make Mei and Jay snap and suddenly take a trip to her grandfather’s shack in the mountains. Following through the journey as they travel towards the mountains, interupted by delicate animated sections. The effects in this film I find refreshing, because it gives a homemade feel as the design is simple.

The overall plot for this film is enchanting and also plays on your own emotions dependant on what you have experienced yourself in life. The dream like state that you feel whilst watching the film is continued throughout and I think this gives a soft touch to the film.

Rankin Exhibition – ALIVE: In the Face of Death

On Thursday the 23rd May, I went to Liverpool to take a look into Rankin’s exhibition being held at the Walker Art Gallery. From the title of the exhibition, I thought it would be maybe a gruesome encounter because that’s how the term ‘death’ is associated. However, with this I decided to just do a small Google search to find out a little more about the exhibition. I went onto the Liverpool Museums website to find out more. I discovered that the idea behind this body of work was to look at death and morality, featuring ordinary everyday people that have been diagnosed with terminal illnesses and people that have battled against their illness.

When I came to the gallery, i was struck by this bold image and title:

This was a simple but eye catching image and because I had previously looked into the exhibition I would have to learn more by looking at the images information that was given with them. Rankin created this image of a woman that had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and then found out she had cancer again in other areas of her body. Rankin’s idea was to capture the woman how she felt, and she told Rankin that this setup of make-up and pose was her way of feeling strong.

The next thing you are faced with is a small description about the work and how Rankin has discovered and explored through his lens the lives of people who have been touched by death, including those with terminal illness, people who have survived their illness or those who work within the death industry.

 

This work by Rankin is a juxtaposition from his usual glimpses of fashion photography and highlights that he can work in more area than one. He also makes a strong point with these images because when you read the stories behind the image, you get a sense of pain but also astonishment towards the images created.

 

A few images of the work in the gallery:

This image above, ‘IF I HAD WINGS’ is shaped into a skull but the particular thing I like about this image is how it is made from butterflies. The butterflies could be seen as a visual metaphor for life after death, as the butterfly is a continuous cycle from caterpillar to butterfly, the end of an old and beginning of the new.

 

In these masks particularly, you can see Rankin’s theme of fashion photography come through as he has used elements such as glitter, face paints and flowers giving the ‘death masks’ a more positive feel.

I really enjoyed the exhibition because of how you would take the time to gaze into the photographs. They were interesting and captivating, especially as you read the story behind the person photographed. Even though the theme of ‘death’ could be seen as a negative, I feel this exhibition gives it a positive outlook because we all have to face this tragedy at some point in our lives. I would highly recommend seeing this exhibition in Liverpool which is free and running until the 15th September.

 

 

Michael Collins

On Tuesday 7^th May, we were lucky enough to have a guest appearance from a report photographer, Michael Collins. He came in to give us an insight into his photographic world and how he works with medium format cameras.

Michael Collins is interested in photographing images according to the principles of record photography. He uses a very old and basic 5×4 plate camera with colour sheet film.

I quickly came to realize that Collins does not work in a documentary type of way, but his own reporting style. He is not only a photographer, but an artist and painter and decorator because you can’t simply make a living out of photography.

To start off the lecture, he began with showing us an image from the 1953 Coronation day. This was a group portrait, which we would just simply class as a group portrait. But the way that Collins talked about it, it really appeared as individual portraits of each person presented there. He made me think differently about the way we see photography. He also had a great way of thinking that photography is ‘looking, thinking, and then feeling, not the other way around’.

He then proceeded to show photographs of his own work, the first image was of London. This print was originally 5ft x 4ft and the reasoning behind such large prints is so that you can look at the detail captured on the plate camera. Collins expressed himself as being able to see more and more detail each time he looks at the image, and that there is always something new to look at.

London

Throughout the Michael Collins talk, I noticed a similarity in his work and working with the space that he has to photograph in. All his images were usually taken with fairly long exposures and he would set up and search for these places to photograph and then work fast, depending on his time restriction for the image.

Birmingham Factories (Hockley):

Throughout his images, you can also see that he likes to look at the aftermath of where humans have been. Photographing situations that have been left and unaltered by him. He also uses high vantage points to his images so that he can remove the ‘racing foreground’.

Birmingham Factories (Jaguar)

 

Birmingham Factories (Rover):

Potteries (Burleigh Pottery)

For the image above taken at the Potteries in Stoke-on-Trent. Collins focused his lens onto the lamp; this was to give the image more depth. Little details like this in his images is what creates atmosphere.

Brickworks:

The next few images below were taken at a brick factory. They were taken during a winter day when there was no wind. The reason for the image to be taken during winter is so that there were no leaves on the trees, which could be seen as a distraction. The need for no wind during the shoot was because the exposure of the image would be long so therefore you would need a calm setting.

Following the artist talk by Michael Collins, we were able to ask our own questions as a group, here were a few responses:

• Was it difficult getting access to some of the places?

It was a real issue, however if you say that you are working with museums and galleries they are more reluctant to give you access.

Occasionally, I would trespass but I would make sure to meet the landowners to let them know my intentions.

I prefer to get permission to photograph, as peering over your shoulder to make sure no one is looking is not a nice way to photograph.

• How much does the process roughly cost?

Sheet of film = £15 approximately

Processing of the film = £6-8

Almost £50 per exposure

Drum scanner use = £100

Overall amount £250-300 approximately

• Have you ever used another type of camera of has it always been medium format?

I began using the medium format camera, and it took me a while to get used to it. Took me 6 months to get my first successful photograph.

By using a digital camera, I feel too distracted. With a medium format camera, I can focus solely on the image I am taking because when underneath that black sheet it takes away the distraction.

All images taken from http://www.michaelcollinsphotography.com/

Michael Collins’ Medium Format Lecture

Our photography group got the opportunity to meet and talk to Michael Collins is a photographer that admires the calm, unembellished aesthetic characteristic of record picture photography. He uses a medium format plate camera and he was happy enough to come in and show us how to do this for ourselves!

• When you set the 5×4 plate camera up, you need to make sure that it is on a secure and sturdy tripod and the camera is quite heavy.
• When setting up the camera, if something doesn’t move, it most likely means it is locked so don’t put pressure on anything!
• To open the lens – loosen both cogs at the back by turning them equally in different directions.

– Press the button at the front and lift up

– To lock in place, tighten the knobs again

• To lift the lens up, undo knobs on either side of the bellow, pull the knobs forward. Adjust the height of the riding front so that you just hide the red dot. Level the camera before pulling the lens forward.
• To place the lens in onto the camera, take the back lens cap off.
• Make sure the lens is the right way up, so the aperture and shutter speed settings should face the top.
• Slot into position.
• Lock in place by push down the panel.
• Take the front lens cap off.
• To put the cable release in, screw it in to the hole on the left of the aperture. Be careful not to bend the cable or let is dangle freely from the camera.
• To open the plate screen, unlock the catch on the left hand side at the back.
• Push down on the door which should then pop out.
• Put the hood over the camera which you could secure with clips to the camera.

Now you camera is set to go out onto a location and take photographs. We took the camera outside to do our own shoot working in groups.

• We set the camera up outside following the same guidelines as earlier to get us started.

• The subjects the set up for the shot creating their own composition. We then chose a focal point to take for the photograph. We chose to use Charli as the focal point to create more depth for the image.
• 

  Using the focusing wheels, the photographer (Emma Hall) was able to focus the shot correctly whilst under the hood so that you could see on the plate.

• 

  Then, we used a spirit level to make sure that the camera was level to ensure the focus would be spread equally across the image. Being able to make the camera level was proven difficult at first but we soon got to grips with it.

• After we had fully set up the focus and levelling of the camera, the film was then inserted into the back of the camera.

• We used a light meter to gain the correct exposure for the camera and changed the camera’s settings to make sure it was correct.
• Next, we took the dark slide out. This enables the film to be exposed once the shutter release would be pressed.

• Once we took the exposure that we wanted with the film, we then put back the dark slide onto the opposite way round to indicate that the film had been exposed on that side.
• 
• After taking the image, you could either pack away the camera or go for a second exposure if you had loaded the camera with two strips of film.

I thoroughly enjoyed this workshop on how to use the 5×4 format cameras, it was different to what I had done previously because I had only worked with the Mamiya RB cameras.

Task 5 – Critical Reflections

Easter Holiday Research

Throughout this last term we have been working on a module called ‘Working With Light’. Before we began this, over Easter we were set some simple tasks to look into the uses of light and pinhole photography, which goes back to basics of photography to understand how light works.

When I was first introduced to this module, I already had basic knowledge of things such as pinhole photography, how light works and different uses that light have. This is because of my previous years in college had prepared me for this. At first, when we had to research different ways to use light, this excited me to be able to experiment myself with light and create my own outcomes.

As I started to work with my pinhole camera, I soon began to remember how unpredictable they could be with the exposure times. I had no trouble with creating my camera and using it, it was purely getting the correct exposure time with the surroundings I was in.

I feel that I understand how light works better from the different workshops that I have done this term, especially with the talk from Michael Collins and using the exposure meter’s to set up a fully manual camera. I also found this to be a great experience.

The images and techniques that I researched at the beginning of this module I would still like to try out and a few I have such as using the studio for high and low key photography. I also feel the run through how to use the studio was useful and better for understanding how the zone system works, I seem to have grasped better the use of lights and manual camera settings. Overall, my knowledge has grown with my through this module.

Working With Light

For this module we were set tasks to complete instead of a big assignment, I found this was easier to work with. The first task was to create a manual on how to use the studio and the lighting. I had previously written 2 manuals in my 2 years of college, so I added and improved these manuals to create my new one.

The second task given was to use the pinhole camera that we had created during our Easter break to produce a set of 2-4 images about the personality of an open place/space where it is devoid of human presence. I found this challenging at first but as I came to grips with my theme I was okay. Using a pinhole camera was easy for me because of previous experience with using one. My final outcomes were difficult to capture but work together well as a set.

Then came task 3, which was to capture the personality of somebody I knew in 5 photographs, with the use of lighting. I chose to photograph a close friend of mine, Jess. I used studio lighting to do this because I wanted to create professional looking photographs like Rankin and products shots of the things she liked/owned. I feel I completed this task to the best of my ability and the images show Jess as she is and the product shots show her prized possessions and things she uses often. This gives the audience the feeling that they want to own/have these items.

For task 4, we were sent to Severn Trent Water, Draycote Reservoir to take photographs around the area to enter into the competition. I feel that this task was easy and I enjoyed taking part and I was very happy with my final outcomes.

Task 2

Introduction to Task Two

By using our pinhole cameras, this task requires that we investigate photographically the personality of open spaces when it is devoid of human presence.

This task will enhance the skills we need to use our pinhole cameras as we have little control over the light, so this gives us a good chance to learn and adapt to our cameras. This task is to help out learning outcome of appropriate pre-visualisation techniques.

We must reflect on the personality of a place/space that we choose to represent which can be either public or private space. This is to show how it is momentarily transformers when it’s populated and make you consider how you can document this ‘non’ space.

This task requires that we submit 2-4 final photographic prints which represent the space we’re documenting.

My initial idea for this task is to look at Coventry as a city and to see what it’s like when there is no-body around. This busy city is full of student life and busy workers that in peak times there is no room to breathe, but you get this with city life. I want to look at the quiet side of the city when the people are extracted from the scene.

Over the easter break, we were asked to create a pinhole camera which I have written about in another post on how I made it. However, I hadn’t had chance to test my camera out yet so this is what I did when I got back to university. Here are my test shots:

First attempt with my pinhole camera, 15 second exposure on a very sunny day, no cloud cover. A little under exposed.

Another attempt on the same day in the same place. This time I did a 25 second exposure which turned out better. The image is sharp however there was a small light leak with the lid of the box which can be corrected with further enhancements to my camera.

This is the positive print from the negative pinhole camera images above. Exposed using the lights from the enlargers with the paper ontop of the paper to be exposed. Light on full brightness (biggest aperture) and 10 second intervals. This is the test strip.

This reversal exposure of the pinhole image was created with a 20 second exposure on the highest aperture. This is because the paper is thicker than a normal film negative so needs twice as much light. The white fogginess on my image at the top is a small light leak. This can be corrected with further improvements of my camera.

Here is an example of a bad image taken with my pinhole camera. 

There was  a slight light leak at the top of the camera where the lid gaped and let in light which is shown at the top of the paper above. The white blank space on the paper means that the shutter wasn’t released correctly and no image was captured.

After using my pinhole camera, I was confident that it worked but could do with a few adjustments this will be my next step.

Mike Seaborne

After this task, I went on to look at some photographers and I was put confronted with Mike Seaborne. His images look into the use of landscape and documentary work, which is shown throughout his bodies of work. The particular work that I focused on was that of the London High Streets.

The project was carried out to compare the high streets of London from different areas, and especially the suburbs. I feel that he chose a certain time of day to get the image he wanted because of how busy the images are. This also showed how people and their presence affect the streets.

All images taken from: http://www.mikeseaborne.com/mikeseaborne.com/London_High_Streets.html#0

Another set of images by Mike Seaborne that interested me was the London Facades. These are about the disappearing face of pre-corporate London. The presence of humans is completely void however you have the ability to know that people were once there as well as there being evidence within the images. The images are mostly shops fronts from this body of work with a few houses and industrial buildings. All the images were taken on a 6×6 camera with colour negative film.

Images of London Facades: http://www.mikeseaborne.com/mikeseaborne.com/London_Facades.html#35

All images taken from Mike Seaborne’s website:http://www.mikeseaborne.com/mikeseaborne.com/Welcome.html

Print Making

Throughout the whole week, I have been working on my pinhole camera to get it in perfect working order. On Wednesday 24th I went to re-try my pinhole camera and adapted it by adding a few more bits of tape to make the box completely light tight. I also found out that when I put the lid on my box that the lid would gape at the sides and let in some light, so now when I load my paper into the camera I tape the whole edge around the box. This gives me better results. Here are the results I got on Wednesday:

The image above was taken with a shutter speed too slow so it didn’t capture enough light and therefore being mostly white and underexposed.

Then on Friday 26^th April, I had some given time within the darkroom to work on my pinhole camera, but because I had already established that my camera worked, I decided to start making prints for my task 2 assignment for 152MC. As it was a sunny day with a few overhangs of cloud, I was able to have my shutter speed at 1 minute for each image I created today. Here is my first image from today, which was a total guess on what shutter speed to use so I used my previous knowledge of pinhole photography to determine the timing.

I then went on to reverse my negative prints from the pinhole camera to create the positive. I was pleased with the reversal of my first print; however, the image had captured my shutter release (black piece of card) and was visible at the top of the print as a black triangle. I did a reversal print as normal and then one where I used tape on the back of the image so that it didn’t let light through the image. This worked well and I was given a clear sky and overall improved the image further.  (See below for image)

After having a successful approach to the timing I used and the quality of print was excellent, I thought about trying some experimentation with the paper inside the camera. I cut a piece of photographic paper into three and wondered whether the image would be caught on each piece of paper, thus creating one frame into 3 separate images. I quite liked this technique, however the image came out a little flat but I was still pleased with the result.

After doing this, I discovered a book called Golden Gate by Richard Misrach. (shown below)

Throughout this book, you come across images that were taken within the same area but at different dates and time intervals. This shows the ever changing weather and lighting situation. I particularly liked these because they represented what was there and what had disappeared never to be seen again. Below are a few examples of the work.

http://fraenkelgallery.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Misrach_GoldenGate-41-424×338.jpg

This idea of taking images from the same place at different times interested me and I wondered if I could do something similar. This would also link into Mike Seaborne’s work of the presence of humans and comparing his images in the London High Street images. After I had this idea, I went out again but on two different occasions. I planned to do this shoot in the same day so the date was consistent and the only change would be the time of day, this would grasp the fact that the presence is different at different times of day.

What I Used:

Pinhole Camera

Change Bag

Photographic Paper

Scissors

Electrical/duct tape

Black bag to put exposed paper inside

I then proceeded to go and do my shoot. This first shoot was done at the hours of 6:30-8am. I also made a list of the areas in Coventry that would be busy in peak times and then visit them during the quiet times. I chose the Coventry Transport Museum and areas within the City Centre.

The images below were my results:

The image above was taken in a shadowed alley way looking out onto the Coventry Museum. With an exposure of 2 minutes, it simply wasn’t enough light and was underexposed. After doing this, I decided not to use this print because it just didn’t work well.

This image above was taken with a 50 second exposure, but because of the positioning of the sun at this early time it created flare on the image. Even though I like the idea of showing the flare because of the timing of the sun in the morning, the print was uninteresting and unsuccessful in my view.

The image below I like because it’s high contrast and with only a small glare from the sun. Again showing the absence of humans within the City Centre. The time to take my photographs changes the mood completely.

After a successful first shoot, I had a small group meeting to discuss ideas and the images I had already taken. My initial idea was to photograph places that should have been busy but because of the time of day it was void of human activity. The fact that I took my images very early in the morning is what captured people’s attention. From this, my idea developed onto something more and focused on the time of day rather than the presence itself. I then set out to do some more images, these would be taken at 2 different times of day, 1 very early in the morning and another from the exact location at a later time of afternoon/evening. Here were my results:

The image on the left was taken at 7am in the City Centre where the Godiva statue is. This is seen as a head quarters for the City because it is full of benches and plenty of shops. With these things you associate people. I like how the glare on the image has been captured because it gives you a sense of time of day with the sun just rising. Then when you look at the other image on the right, you see that the glare has gone because the suns direction has changed. You also notice the small presence of humans in the image, and it changes the concept of the image.

The image on the left was taken in the city centre where normally there would be heaps of people over the fountain and sitting on the benches (taken at 6:30am). However at an early time in the morning, it was completely deserted. The exposure for this image was a minute because the light was strong but the area I was in was very sheltered and dull. I think this print worked very well and the shadows casted in the image from objects in the scene make in more interesting. The absence of people gives a creepy look to the image. The image to the right was taken at a different time from the same area (taken at 4pm), this made a huge difference to the setting and vibe of the image because it was now busy with people. The contrast between the two images show well what the brief is trying to come across with changing the personality of spaces.

The set of images above I will present as my final images, mounted onto white card with a small caption with the time of day on it. This will mean that the viewer has to look at the time of both images and work out for themselves what they can and cannot see from both images. I feel that by presenting them in this way it fits the brief of looking at the personality of spaces that are devoid of human presence. I feel with this project I have done well, and my idea has changed for the better at the midway point.

Task 3

Task 3 looks at producing a set of 5 images (2 portrait and 3 still life) that represent someone through portraiture. The image we produce will be to reflect knowledge from the workshops that we have been doing this term in the studio and location shoots. The interpretations can be as broad as you like but the images need to cohesively fit together and increase the audiences’ knowledge of the person I am trying to represent. These images must be made into both digital and physical copies and submitted for the task.

For this, my starting point was to look at whom I wanted to photograph. I had a few ideas for whom I might like to photograph, such as my boyfriend. There were many different ways I could portray this as he is interested in motorbikes but because he was back home, I thought it would be extremely difficult to photograph this, especially with him working a lot. Instead, I chose to photograph Jess Oakes, as I have known her the longest and wanted to see if I could portray how I see her to others. My initial response to this was to take images of her in her room at university, but that’s not how I see her. I remember Jess from being back home and enjoying college together, especially in the studio. She is a quiet person but he personality is big and I wanted to put across her bubbly personality through her portraits that she would have a big say in. I feel that if I let her choose her poses and angles that she likes best that it would enhance the choice of final images.

After deciding on my model, I then went on to create an ideas blast on things to do with Jess.

——-INSERT IDEAS BLAST——–

 

My ideas and thoughts about how to take these images come from looking at Rankin’s images. I like the use of high key lighting to portray an emotion and personality through an image. Creating bold, cheerful, bubbly images such as these celebrities below.

 

 

All above images taken from Rankin’s website (portrait portfolio) http://rankin.co.uk/portraits/

From Rankins’ images, I feel that these portraits are putting the persons personality across because they are solely based on them, there are no distracting backgrounds which highlights them more. Rankin’s work aims to show a visually pleasing image and creates beautiful shots. The images I have chosen above all have a central, or near central point and use soft lighting. I feel this gives a more captivating image. Strong harsh lighting can sometimes give a sinister and dark look. I want to use soft lighting with white backdrops to create my portraits.

Portraits

From my portrait shots, I wanted to portray Jess and beautiful and confident because that’s how I see her. To do this, I tried to go for a high key white background such as Rankin’s images. I also introduced a fan a fan into this set up below the models face to create a windswept look like Rankin does. Here is a rough image of what I was trying to achieve along with the lighting set up.

The image wasn’t exactly how I pictured it because I don’t feel it had much emotion to it. I also noticed that if you taken an image to quickly before the lights have time to recharge then you don’t achieve the lighting you were after because the light is simply not available. I did this during this first shoot and I got an image that was better than what I was initially trying to capture. Shown below:

I feel the above image works better than the first image. The shadows casted on the left hand side of her face show he face structure and the light just enhances her face. Her natural pose gives a true representation of Jess and captures her shy side. I feel this is a beautiful, natural shot of Jess. The next image that I created of Jess was to represent that she is confident and to show this, I told her to sit on the floor and do a strong pose. I feel this is a very exposing position and gives the viewer a fuller expression of jess. The  circular lighting around Jess’ head enhances the fact that this image is strong and all about her. I also told Jess to wear something she feels confident and  beautiful in. The colours of the clothes and the pose possess a strong bold image about Jess, making her appear important to me.

In all of my photos, I did minor photo adjustments such as curves and contrast to make them stand out a bit strong, but the lighting does not change throughout the images. I just feel the adjustments add a little something extra to the images. I have also chosen to take these images in landscape because that was more appropriate for the poses. I did try to portrait images but I felt they didn’t quite fit in. The blank space around the images also gives a more true representation.

Still Life

When I moved on to take images of the still life objects I had chosen for Jess, I instantly knew that I wanted to take the images on the infinity curve table. This was because you could set up the lighting so that you could create reflections and I wanted to have this in my images. Below is a lighting diagram of my set up for the still life images. All the still life images were created with the same light set ups. I just tried many different compositions for each image.

 

The image of the cakes was to show that Jess likes to bake. I think this image gives a sense of wanting to eat one of the cakes, and creates a desire to have one. This is what I was going for. I also put a colour filter on the image in Photoshop to make them look more vintage and unique to the person who made them. I chose the composition like this because when you have a set of cakes you tend to create a symmetrical shape with them. I knew that if i used an even number of cakes that I could use one as the focal point which is what I did here, this gives a sense of depth to the image as the background is out of focus.

Another shot taken here, but with the lighting situated much further away from the subject. This was to create a grey background that gradually got lighter as it got to the subject. I like this image because you can clearly see the brand that the shoes are. Again, this gives a sense of desire for someone who wants Converse shoes. This also shows what kind of fashion that Jess goes for.

The next subject I chose to focus on was Jess’ pocket-watch necklace. Personally I feel that this gives the message that time is everything to Jess and that she needs to keep on track through her life especially with being at uni and having to do work. This jewellery is worn by Jess a lot and reminds me of her, it’s also beautiful in it’s own right. I tried to create the focal point of the clock face and have the surrounding chain out of focus to create more depth.

As a coherent set of images I think they visually go together, however, if you were to try and connect them to the person, you might wonder why they are connected at all? Because I know Jess personally this is easy for me. On my final printed copies of the images, I am going to add in a caption to further explain the images. These will be mounted on card with a small title.

Task 4 – Severn Trent Water

For task 4, we are required to visit a local Severn Trent Reservoir and use our knowledge gained from the class workshops and previous tasks that had already been set. This was so we could go out and take photographs for a set brief, which is for the Severn Trent Water photocomp.

 http://www.stwater.co.uk/photocomp

We had to read through the terms and conditions and look at what the restrictions were before going to the location. This gave me an idea of the things I could photograph on the day. The requirement for this task was to produce 2-5 images for the final assessed submission and submit at least two images into the competition. This task is meant to show that we can restrict ourselves within a brief and produce images in any circumstances, as we did not have any control over the weather.

I checked the terms and conditions and did some research into the area that we would be visiting to understand what I would be faced with. Under the section of ‘What to Enter’ in the terms and conditions it gives a list of subjects that we can include:

• Animals in their environment
•  Animal portraits
•  Plant life and vegetation
•  Landscapes
•  Waterscapes

With the photographs in either full colour or black and white, we are unable to make drastic changes to these images. However, small digital adjustments are allowed such as levels, curves, contrast, colour, saturation and sharpening.

The images for this competition are to be selected and put into a Severn Trent Water 2014 Calendar. So another point to consider was which orientation to photograph in as calendars are landscape.

After reading this, I set out my list of things to bring:

• Walking boots
• Appropriate coat
• Umbrella
• Nikon D3000 (own camera)
• Tripod
• Standard lens 18-55mm
• Zoom lens 70-300mm

The morning before the visit to the reservoir, I checked the weather on the BBC Weather website. This meant I could be fully prepared for the visit come rain or shine! Luckily, it was meant to be clear this morning so the sun was shining for a little while. From my 3 hours at the reservoir, I managed to take a vast number of images. I took my time to edit down when I returned home, looking into the reflections and lighting and enhancing these through curves and levels. I did small saturation changes and put colour filters onto my image to give them a more spring/summer feeling. The four images I have finalised for this task are shown below:

 

Overall, I was very happy with the images I came out with and the final images that I decided to use. However, I feel that the weather was a let down but I tried to make the best out of the situation that I was given. I chose to keep these images in colour because I work best in colour rather than black and white and because it’s spring time coming into summer, I wanted the images to portray this. My favourite image from the four above is the first one, the line of boats, because of the strong reflections in the water from the boats and the soft tones I have added with Photoshop, this was my creative side from the shoot.