UNIT 3 - PERSONAL PROJECT
Brief:
Create a series of images that explore the variety of techniques that can be used to create striking and interesting portraits.
TO DO LIST:
- FINAL PIECE???????
- Add street photography to the start of project, to draw link to Curatorship
- Take some close up portraits in the style of JR, another development
- FINAL PIECE???????
- Add street photography to the start of project, to draw link to Curatorship
- Take some close up portraits in the style of JR, another development
MUGSHOTS
For this task, I took a series of 'mugshot' style images of people, with the subjects keeping a neutral expression, with a plain background and simple lighting. Using these basic images as starting points I am able to expand and experiment with different techniques to create interesting portraits. I cropped and edited the pictures, reducing the saturation to give them an almost dull feeling which I hope will help to highlight the difference in work I produce later on in the project.
I am quite pleased with the overall outcome of this series and feel as though it has lay some good groundwork for the rest of my project. If I were to complete this task again I would probably get closer to the subjects as in these types of images, it is usually only the face that is important. However, I feel that task was successful and has produced quality work from which I can develop and explore new ideas.
CLOSE UP PORTRAITS - JR
Next I wanted to explore getting up close and personal with my subjects, at an almost uncomfortable closeness and angle in order to explore how that affects the image and its quality. I found a photographer, titled 'JR' who explores this idea and uses extreme close ups to create interesting and effective portraits. His work engaged me and inspired me to take a series of portraits in a similar style, getting up close to the subjects. Like some of JR's work, I could also then print these out on large pieces of paper and plaster them on brick walls in public places.
FIRST RESPONSE
STUDIO LIGHTING
For this task I am focusing on lighting. Lighting is one of the most, if not the most, important features of a good image. If the image is not well lit, it will usually not turn out the best, unless you are doing something like low-light photography. I decided to break this task up into three section: Studio, Natural and Alternative. I hope that all three of these different forms of lighting will allow me to produce dynamic and varied images. I started off with the studio lights and tried to explore three different types: Tungsten, Soft-box and Ring.
TUNGSTEN LIGHT
SOFT-BOX LIGHT
NATURAL LIGHTING
Having already looked at artificial lights in the studio, I decided to move on and focus on natural lighting to see what effect it has on the images and if it will produce a better photograph. Windows were my main source of light and I found that they also offered up interesting shadows and shapes, something I would like to develop later on in my work.
SINGLE LIGHT PORTRAITS
Continuing my exploration of lighting and the effect it can have on an image I decided that for my next task I would take a step back from focusing on lighting up the whole image and use only a single light. I found a light that was perfect for what I was doing and which had a slight orange hue to it, which I found added another dimension to the images. Furthermore, I made sure that the room I was shooting the images in was more or less pitch black as to let the light be the only source.
I am very pleased with this task and feel that it is some of the strongest work I have produced thus far. The way in which the faces of the subjects are surrounded and in some cases engulfed in darkness is very effective and makes for some interesting images.
EXPERIMENTING WITH COLOURS
Following on from my single light portraits, my next task is all about coloured lighting and how that can affect the tone and mood of the images. The first set of images I produced for this task were taken in a gallery in which there were green strip lights which I saw and liked, and ultimately used to take portraits. I was happy with the effect the coloured lighting had but I am going to produce a second response to this work in the studio, using coloured gels to produce even more dramatic and fun images in all different colours.
FIRST RESPONSE
SECOND RESPONSE (USING COLOURED GELS)
I found that my second exploration of introducing different colours and lighting was a lot more successful, mainly due to the fact that I was in a proper studio with bigger lights and more resources. I feel that I was more able to create a wider range of moods and tones in the series. For these images I used a range of different coloured gels over the lights to create a wide range of hues. The most successful images were the edited on photoshop, adjusting the brightness and contrast whilst also considering how I could crop these images.
Overall, I am pleased with the outcome of this investigation and I feel as though I have been able to create a series of strong images. If I were to do this again I would use multiple different coloured gels at the same time to add a wider range of hues to the images as this would create different effects. Furthermore, I would aim to create a variety of different gifs that show the differences in colour and potentially start to incorporate some kind of movement into my work.
RED AND BLUE PHOTOGRAPHY
For my next development I wanted to keep the idea of colour alive but this time focus on using more than one. I found these red and blue images to be very striking and I really liked the contrast between the two colours. This almost 3D effect interested me and I set out to aim to capture the same kind of effect. However, unlike the below images, I would not overlay images of animals as although this looks visually appealing, it does not relate to my topic and so I will be sticking to just people.
MY RESPONSE
After creating these red and blue images, I decided that I wanted to try and create some gifs that used this same kind of effect. On photoshop, I adjusted the brightness, contrast and saturation of the image and cropped it to a suitable size. Next I duplicated the layer and used the 'Blending Options' mode to adjust the RBG levels to create multiple different layers of different colours. I repeated the process until I had three distinct layers. Each layer was then moved a few places to the left/right to allow for the glitchy effect. To add an even more 'glitchy' look to the gif, I added some noise to make it look even more distorted. Finally, I opened up the 'Animation' window and made my layers into frames and adjusted the time delay to 0.2 seconds between images. I am quite pleased with the overall outcome of the gif and if I had the opportunity I would create more gifs of this kind of style.
PROJECTION PORTRAITS
NIGHT PORTRAITS
For this next development I decided to look for inspiration in unusual places such as bus stops, train stations and under streetlights. I wanted to capture some images that showed how these alternative lights and settings could be utilised and used effectively through portraiture. I chose to shoot at night to add a bigger contrast between the light and dark, and also due to the fact that many of these areas were quiet at this time and so I was able to convey a sense of isolation.
BRUTALIST LANDSCAPES
The term Brutalism was derived from the French ‘Béton brut’, or raw concrete, was a term coined for the futurist architecture being created by Le Corbusier and others like him. From this label the term Brutalism was created as a way to classify this style of architecture.The expression became associated with a movement emerging in postwar British architectural offices. The architecture itself is characterised by the large size of the buildings and the use of raw unfinished concrete. Brutalist buildings also make use of geometric forms in a way to attempt to communicate the buildings function and what the rooms behind the slabs of concrete are used for.
The photography by Simon Phipps provides a unique perspective and portrays Brutalist architecture in a sensitive, realistic and distinctive manner. Phipps has spent the last 15 years photographing and documenting Brutalist and buildings in the UK, creating a survey of photographic images that demonstrate the breadth of this contentious architectural style.
I visited the Barbican centre in Central London and shot my images. The three things I focused on were line and form, perspective and negative space. Overall I am pleased with my images as I feel that they accurately represent the Brutalist style. However, if I were to do this task again I would be sure to visit lots of different locations such as Southbank and the National Theatre so that my work shows a wide range of buildings.
The photography by Simon Phipps provides a unique perspective and portrays Brutalist architecture in a sensitive, realistic and distinctive manner. Phipps has spent the last 15 years photographing and documenting Brutalist and buildings in the UK, creating a survey of photographic images that demonstrate the breadth of this contentious architectural style.
I visited the Barbican centre in Central London and shot my images. The three things I focused on were line and form, perspective and negative space. Overall I am pleased with my images as I feel that they accurately represent the Brutalist style. However, if I were to do this task again I would be sure to visit lots of different locations such as Southbank and the National Theatre so that my work shows a wide range of buildings.
COMBINING BRUTALIST LANDSCAPES WITH PORTRAITURE AND THE WORK OF LAURENT KRONENTAL
Following on from my exploration of Brutalist architecture and landscapes, I decided to begin to combine this with previous developments, in particular my set of 'Night Portraits', that feature a lone figure in a variety of dark, atmospheric scenes. I really like the idea of using both light to create atmosphere but also the idea of the lone figure juxtaposed against the landscape. I have decided to stick with the Brutalist style as I find it visually pleasing and feel as though it will make for some interesting shots. I have found an artist called Laurent Kronental, who is a french photographer whose produces work in a similar style to which I hope to produce. His recent project, 'Souvenir D'un Futur', documents the life of senior citizens around housing estates in Paris. Most of the buildings were created between the 1950s and 80s due to the housing crisis, urban migration and the inflow of foreign migrants. Today, the buildings are often stigmatized by the media and marginalised by the public and so Kronental set out to challenge these views and show that the landscapes are in fact beautiful and that. I hope to produce a set of images that incorporate Kronental's photographic style and views.