Week20 Norway

I arrived in Norway yesterday to stay with my sister for a week, I had pretty much been awake for 24 hours as my 2 year old niece wouldn't let me nap!! The photo above is the most amazing view from my sisters front porch, imagine waking up to that sight every morning :)

Today we all went to the reptile park in oslo, which kinda looked like it was in someone's basement! but had a great range of snakes and lizards, even a crocodile and a parrot.

The lighting conditions were pretty dark and I didn't want to disturb the creatures by using the flash and so I used a slower shutter speed of 1/10 to 1/20, a high ISO and I put the exposure up to compensate.

I had a great time in Norway, I always do, espcially cause I got to see my sister again but also that I met my new baby niece Thea (pronounced Teya - the Norwegians don't pronounce their h's like we do!) to be honest thou, I think I will be going back to England for a holiday!!! not used to the early mornings and active days enforsed on me by my wonderful two year old niece, my sister bless her did try to keep her from coming in my room at rediculous o'clock..... you see, she does doesn't quite understand the whole lie in concept!! hats off to my beautiful sis thou, she is a great mum with two adorable babies :)

Week 19 C.A.P documentary project

These are some of my final images for my documentary project based on a community, I chose to explore the community within a gym and people working out, which lead me to also show the community within a group of friends and how they help each other and work together to get the results they want.

I actually found it really intimidating because although I love documentary images, I have never myself done a project like this and haven’t got much experience with photographing strangers. A tip the Platon gave me, when we visited him in New York, was sometimes its good to admit that your nervous because it makes the sitter feel more comfortable as they may be just as nervous. I used this valuable tip for my shoots and I definitely feel it helped, as it was a good icebreaker.

I used Photoshop to edit my images, as the original files were far too busy with too much colour causing the viewer to get distracted from the main message. For this reason I decided to do them in black and white and then play around with the levels and curves.

Overall I am happy with how I have managed this project, the shoots were all very successful and the post production was fairly simple too, I am really pleased with all my final outcomes as I feel they display the community within both the gym and their group of friends working as a team very well.

Week 18 Gaia underwater fashion

This week i finished my Gaia project, Overall I am very happy with my final outcomes, for my ability I feel they have come out better than I thought they would.

I found it extremely hard to get access to a pool to shoot in, I got no responses from my emails, and people I knew with pools didn’t have them working over the winter months. It was proving near on impossible to find somewhere and I really started to panic as the deadline was creeping up. I decided then to phone around loads of hotels in my local area hoping someone would let me shoot in their pool, after many no’s finally someone said yes, and I was actually taken back and then didn’t know quite what to say. I got a few more details together and called the manager back and arranged a day where the pool would be at its quietest.

The pool itself was perfect, for starters it was empty, painted blue with no tiles (much easier for post production) and the roof was all glass so the light was fantastic.

To push my idea even further and to link it back to the original Gaia theory, I wanted to make it look as though my model was swimming in a flooded street. I took some photographs of houses and high-rise flats. Online Photoshop tutorials are really helpful and so I used some to help me to make my images look underwater.

The camera I used was not totally ideal for this project, but I still feel I got some pretty good images from it. I would definitely like to take this idea further, the manager of the hotel was really nice and helpful and so I feel she would allow me access again. I am going to try and produce a personal project with hiring out casing for my Slr camera.

Week17 Frank Herholdt

Today I travelled up to London for a day's work experience with fashion photographer Frank Herholdt. I was pretty scared for a few reasons, the first was having to get to london, negotiate the tubes and find Frank's place by myself!!. The second was not knowing what to expect when I got there and whether Frank would actually like me!!!

I had absolutely nothing to worry about, I got there really early that i even had time to find a cafe for a cuppa to help calm my nerves. Frank was lovely too, he lives in a converted pub and the shoot was in his kitchen, so i got to meet his family who were having breakfast, which i helped to clean away before all the models turned up.

It was such a long, but fantastic day. Frank had two other assistants that day so I helped them clear the room and bring equipment up from the basement, I didn't actually set anything up, and im kinda glad cause I didn't really wanna be responsible for any breakages!!

There were 6 models for this shoot, and to get them to all look good there was a hair stylist, two make-up artists, fashion stylists and jewellery suppliers. Frank's kitchen was pretty busy to say the least!!

I stayed in the kitchen area for most of the day and made sure it was kept tidy and that all the models and guests had drinks and food offered to them. I didnt sit down for about 7 hours!! and boy did i feel it the next day! but i learned so much, having never assisted before or even seen a fashion shoot, I felt totally inspired by the way everyone all worked together and how Frank directed. Frank's wife, who is also a photographer, also played a big part with the smooth running of the day, proves the saying that 'behind every great man there's a great woman' :)

Frank has offered me to go back and assist again, he is also going to show me some of his retouching techniques, which of course i have agreed to, I think that experience is going to be invaluable.

Week16 baby Thea

My new baby Niece was born today!!! This is the first ever picture that I have seen of her which was txted to me by my Brother-in-Law and I can honestly say that I could smell the baby smell straight away (is that weird?)

My Sister lives in Norway and has done for the last 5 years and I only get to see her once or twice a year :( but its great for snowboarding holidays :) she lives in such a beautiful area, half way up a valley, about 15 minutes away from Oslo town centre. The winters are fresh and snowy and the summers are gloriously hot. When I went last winter people were landing small planes onto the fjords and only a few months before they were swimming in the water!!

I'm going out to see her and the new little bundle of joy in a few weeks and I literally cannot wait. I know though, that I will be absolutely knackered thou cause I have to leave my house at 2am for a flight at 6am. I then land in Oslo at 9am then have an hour coach ride to my sisters and I know I'm not going to be allowed to sleep cause my other 2year old Niece won't allow it!! she is just excited about me coming and hasn't stopped going on about it for days.

Week15 Nick Dawe

I came across Nick's work when i was searching through my AOP (association of photographers) book. I am currently looking into arranging some work experience for April and so have been searching for photographers work who grabs my attention and inspires me. Nick's work instantly 'wowed' me. I have chosen these two images from his website, I find them both very simple but packed with meaning and interest.

Nick infact emailed me back, and I am hoping to be working with him soon, if not in april then at some time in the future.

Week14 Zena Holloway

Another project I have going on at the moment is based around the theory of 'Gaia'. after spending a lot of time researching into the subject (as I had no idea what it was all about until now) I discovered that due to human actions, like pollution, deforestation etc the world is at threat of not being able to stabilize its system. One thing in particular I found, which always seem to appear in the news also, is the rising levels of the oceans. This gave me inspiration to create an underwater fashion photoshoot.

I took a few, easier ideas to my lecturer, but he seemed really keen for this underwater idea, which got me even more excited to do it..... a few implications however... what equipment do i use and where am I going to shoot? well a fellow student actually has an underwater compact camera, so I have that sorted (phew) I have also emailed a few sports centers and asked around for anyone with a pool.... to no avail at the mo... but i believe perseverance will pay off, I have never really done any fashion shoots before, so to combine this with water is going to be interesting to say the least.

When researching this idea I came across photographer Zeena Holloway. I find her work mesmerizing, the models look so elegant, suspended in this dark space and with their long hair and dresses flowing effortlessly. She also has illustrations drawn onto her images, which adds extra aesthetic interest. I would love for my own images to turn out this good, but I somehow doubt that, I do not have the funds for the best equipment and the facilities to shoot in. but if all goes well with my first attempt, I may well experiment further sometime in the future.

Week13 Collier Schorr

Well back from New york now and straight back to working on my projects, its all starting to get a bit more serious now, the fun first few months of going out and getting to know everyone are kind of over as people are starting to realise what this course is all about and that photography is not an easy subject!! I am one of those people, I always knew it was going to be tough though, but I am hoping to thrive off of this and use it to make me work a lot harder.

I have to produce a series of portraits and I have spent a long time deciding on who and where to shoot!! well it suddenly came to me.... I recently joined a gym... feeling I ate a few too many MacDonalds in New York!! (in fact i had nothing healthy at all!!) well... anyway, I remember looking at Collier Schorr's work last year at college...

she did a series photographing boxers during and after their training, so my idea was to get the personal trainers and the 'sweaty, no make-up' public to pose for me in the gym.

I have already asked them and a few seem keen, so i need to sort my model release forms and plan a practice shoot to get an idea of poses and locations within the gym. I am not sure yet which camera to use for my final shoot, I really like using medium format, but I don't want to make too much of a scene and disturb the gym, I basically don't wanna annoy them and for them to tell me to bugger off!! otherwise its back to the drawing board for ideas!!!

Week12 NEW YORK!!!

Ok, so just got back from a fantastic week in New York!!! :) had a great time with great people. It was however an educational visit so we had to cram a lot of gallery and studio visits in between all the shopping and sight seeing that had to be done!

Our hotel was a 5 minute walk from Times Square and every night groups of us would go off and explore. Last time I was in New York I was only 16 and so can't really remember it, plus we were kids and had to be chaperoned everywhere! but this time I took it all in and appreciated every second of it.

We arrived pretty late cause our flight was delayed, but not only that when we got to the hotel our lecturers discovered that the whole booking had been cancelled!!! so there's like 40-50 students all knackered and getting more and more p'd off as we had to be up at 8.30 the next day to start our packed itinerary! the hotel finally sorted the situation and we could all go to our rooms and sleep.

The rooms were really nice, some nicer than others i have to say, but mine looked out onto the Empire State building, that was pretty cool :)

Everyone looked a bit tired in the morning, but we were all so excited that we just kinda forgot about the major fiasco from the night before. We all went for breakfast to this nice cafe and took a walk to our stop on the itinerary - Platon's Studio :) very excited to meet Platon. I researched him before coming to New York and discovered he's a British photographer and that I really like his work :) he has an incredibly powerful style and has photographed some even more incredibly powerful figures.

PLATON

We all piled into Platons studio and were absolutely awe inspired by his fantastic series of portraits he had displayed on his walls from pretty much every celebrity and political figure. We had a good few hours there, it went so quick as I was just mesmerised with what he had to say, he is such a good speaker and seemed so confident about himself and his work. Truly Fantastic :)

He talked about his first ever portrait, which was with Anthony Hopkins for his silence of the lambs promo, he said that he practiced the night before with the lighting set up etc, he saw on the news that Hopkins had attacked a photographer and so Platon was bricking it!! but when he got there he started to talk to Hopkins and admitted he was nervous which meant they connected on a personal level as Hopkins himself admitted to being nervous.

"Honesty was the beginning of the journey - don't put on an act" - Platon

Platon is one of the most inspiring and enthusiastic people I have ever met, I felt like I actually wanted to be him, or just have his life!! - so jealous.

He gave us so much valuable information that I will never forget and take with me throughout my career and hopefully pass on to other people who will be as equally appreciative of it.

• be prepared to have a work ethic
• find a unique visual voice/style
• guide yourself
• get close to your subjects
• get closer
• connect with your model on a personal level
• use body language to your advantage
• take inspiration from everything

He has such a distinctive and unique style, it would be pretty easy to pick out a Platon print from a bunch of ordinary photographs of the same subject. He uses one light which he places directly in front of the sitter, he then positions him self between the sitter and the light and uses a wide angle lens from a low view point to create these unusually distorted and out of proportion images and he makes it work because he is Platon :)

PHIL TOLEDANO

We also had the fantastic opportunity to meet British photographer Phil Toledano, who's work I actually came across a few weeks before whilst researching for my 'incongruous' project. so to get to actually meet him was so exciting. myself and a few others turned up to his studio mega early, he let us in and we just had a little chat until everyone else turned up. He is such a lovely guy and still sounds very British :) he talked to us all about his projects and living and working in New York.

The photo to the left his from his body suits series, i actually saw the real suit, stuffed up high on a shelf out of the way, i was just like "wow, thats the baby suit"!! haha.

He also spoke about his very personal and emotional project 'days of my father' which almost brought a tear to my eye as i looked through his book and read each caption. It must be very hard to publish images like these and make them so public, but i think that also helped him be able to deal with it all.

CHRIS VERENE

On the last day of our visit we had a talk with American photographer Chris Verene, who was born in a small town in Illanois, which became the subject for most of his images for the first 20 years of his photographic career. He has had many of his work published and has a very distinctive gritty style. I found his documentary project of his family back home very interesting as it shows the community atmosphere over two decades, most of it not changing very much.

Week11 Simon Norfolk

I am currently writing an essay based on the content and form of documentary and reportage photography.

The work of Simon Norfolk has interested me greatly. His images depict the war torn landscapes of Iraq including skeletons of bombed out buildings. He has reverted back to the traditional use of the large format camera so he can carefully compose his images in order to create maximum impact. They are beautiful and stunning in clarity and detail, but without the typical shock or trauma perhaps expected with war photography.

I love how his work is reminiscent to landscape painters from the late eighteenth century, he has chosen to capture his images in this way in an attempt to draw the viewer in, which I think works exceptionally well. At first glance you may not be aware of the finer details and the tragedies that occurred here, I certainly wasn't.

Due to most reportage photography being captured by amateur bystanders with camera phones, professional photographers in this line of work are having to alter their approach and are seeking appreciation within the art world but printing the images for gallery walls and photo-books.

“When you see this picture in a gallery from 20 metres away, you think, “God, that's gorgeous!” It's only when you look at it in detail that you realise you're looking at a place where people were slaughtered" – Norfolk

Week10 Chris Floyd

British photographer Chris Floyd, came in as our guest speaker, he has made a name for himself by taking brilliant photos of stars such as Naomi Watts, Oasis, Paul McCartney, and Lily Allen. Floyd’s technique is truly one of a kind; he keeps his shots simple but at the same time stylish and fun. He started out in the 1990’s as a music photographer, his first big break through being Oasis before they made it big.

As he was growing up, Chris had many influences; his main photographic influence was David Bailey. Baileys subjects and style encouraged Chris to want to produce similar images. Chris was also very much into the popular music of the time and so he combined his love of music with photography. During the 1990’s the music industry still had money for band promos and magazine articles and so Chris found himself inundated with job offers.

Chris went to New York where he felt he changed and learned how to become, in his eyes, a better photographer. He discovered how to tell a story in a reportage style and how to sum up a whole story in one image. Whilst in America he had assignments to photograph the American/Mexican border, The Election Campaign 2004, Sports story for ESPN and Rodeo portraits.

Chris uses a Hassleblad camera with a digital back and carries a portable lighting kit with him for his location portraits.

He gave us some great advice which was “make what you can out of what you get, make a connection and ‘break the ice’ on a human level” – this is actually pretty inspiring advise. He used it for this promo shoot for Kung Fo Panda with Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Black and Lucy Lu. Jack was joking about how he looked pregnant, so Chris went with that idea for this shot. An ‘on the spot’ decision.

I really enjoyed our talk with Chris, he was a really nice guy, funny and down to earth and not afraid to take the mick out of himself – he openly admitted to partly becoming a photographer so he could talk to girls.

week9 Freddie Helwig

Today we had guest speaker Frederike Helwig come in and talk about her photography, she is a Fashion Photographer living in London and has done a lot of work for ID, Dazed & Confused and Vogue and many more.

I have never tried fashion photography and in some ways I feel slightly intimidated by it, even though I felt this way I went to this lecture with an open mind hoping to learn something new. That is exactly what happened. Frederike’s photography has a very distinctive and almost raw style, she uses a flash unit that fixes to the top of the camera and simply points and shoots, this creates an almost 2D ‘pop’ effect, she likes to include a sense of humour within her work asking her models to do outrageous poses.

One of the best tips she gave about how she came to discover her style was to just take lots of photos and pick one that is the best and shoot again in that style, then pick another few and so on, this seems fairly simple and obvious but makes so much sense, with this technique, over the years she was able to define her style.

She talked about this image, it is of actor Adam Brody, she decided to use a dog as a prop for this series which works really well as it gives the images added interest, she shot all her images on one street and asked Adam to do various poses, for this particular image, the dog was yawning so she quickly asked Adam to yawn too.

she told us that she always improvises and tends to come up with ideas for the shoot on the day. Before the presentation I had preconceived views on fashion photography, mainly that the photographers are a bit ‘stuck up’ but Frederike seems really down to earth and she brings an element of fun to her style. She has definitely changed my opinion.

Week8 William Eggleston

still gathering research for my essay and found William Eggleston as a great source. Eggleston started his photographic career using traditional black and white film. He later began to experiment with colour and built his reputation as a pioneer of colour photography. His images tend to be of mundane, everyday and often trivial subjects, literally photographing the world around him. To Eggleston, everything is equally as important; every detail deserves attention. This new way of looking inspired a new generation of photographers. Since the 1960s and 70s, photojournalism and documentary photography has found more of a market in the art world in art galleries and photo books.

Week7 Robert Frank

I am currently researching for my essay based on documentary photography, the question I have to answer is:

‘There are very few contexts today where an image can use the visual language of documentary and reportage and not potentially lose its message. I think its almost impossible not to be circumvented by style.’ (Charlotte Cotton) what are the implications of this statement for a documentary or reportage photographer working today?

One of my sources is photographer Robert Frank, he produced his famous photographic book “The Americans” in 1958 and was awarded a grant to travel with his family across America to photograph its society and culture. Frank started out with an optimistic view on the country but he noticed flaws and soon became interested in capturing the tensions within these bleak and lonely places. His use of unusual focus, low lighting and cropping meant that his work received a lot of criticism.

“…But the quality of Robert Frank is a quality that has something to do with what he's doing, what his mind is. It's not balancing out the sky to the sand and so forth. It's got to do with intention.” Elliott Erwitt

I love Frank's style, it is extremely raw and very simple but each image has so much depth and meaning.