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.

Week6 'Incongruous'

Well this is my final piece from my earlier 'mouse hole' blog entry, as you can see there is a small person in a mouse hole!! :)

The title for this unit is based around the theme ‘incongruous’, which means not in keeping with what is correct, proper, or logical. I knew my final outcome would have to look out of the ordinary, believable yet still fictitious in some way.

I researched into artists and other photographer’s work which proved extremely useful and influential for my own ideas for this project, especially looking at the work of early surrealist artists such as Dali and Rene Magritte and how they influenced photographers like Man Ray to experiment with their medium.

Over the course of this unit, my idea evolved and the more I understood what I needed to create, I found that my Photoshop skills and knowledge also developed. The tutorials we had were extremely helpful and I also used online resources to further myself and get the final results I desired.

I shot my location images first and made sure the lighting and angels were all correct. I then went into the studio and arranged my model to sit in a pose that would make it easier to combine the two images. I had to take into consideration the same lighting, angles and perspective from my location shoot. I also tried various positions, background colours and props.

Overall, I am very pleased with my outcome, as I have not experimented with composite images like this in the past. I have learned so much, not only new Photoshop skills but also about myself, my photography and the way I work which I will use for my future projects.

Week5 figure in a landscape

As part of the getting to use all the equipment, I have to use a large format camera on location!! I have never used a camera this large or expensive before, so I'm a bit of a mixture between scared and excited at the moment!!

I scanned this image from a fashion magazine, i have used it as inspiration and research for my 'figure in a landscape' project,

This image caught my attention because of the unusual use of space and cropping with the natural colours and tones. I also really like the way the model is posing.

Week4 Sally Mann

I have been asked to produce a 35mm black and white image that has used natural light as the main light source. I thought of Sally Mann's work she did of her children playing, although she did actually use a large format camera, I really like the way she has composed her shots. They look really natural and almost candid, but the fact she had a large format camera her kids more than likely noticed her, plus the amount she took I wonder if they would ever get annoyed with her!!?

Week3 Mousehole

I mentioned in my first blog entry about my digital manipulation 'Incongruous' project, well.....

This is a test shoot of a mouse hole i found in my kitchen next to my fridge. I took it at night and used the fridge light as the only light source. I had to actually lie down on my skanky floor to get the right angle, so i made sure I wore my paint covered tracky bums!! - a kitchen in a shared house is not always the cleanest!! Mmmm nice!

I am going to use this photo for my digital manipulation project, although i do need a bit of guidance and advise from my lecture before I have to get down and dirty and re-shoot it! the plan for my 'Incongruous' idea is to and insert a studio shot person inside the mouse hole. I will obviously have to take into consideration the perspective and the lighting, by shooting the location first I can then get an idea of how I will need to pose my model and at what positions to place the lights. I will add the finished piece once it is complete!! watch this space :)