Professional Life Practice, exploring your practice.
Figure in the city.
For the first week, our theme was figure in the city. I first wanted to do a few candid shots of business people in the city going about their day to day life, however whilst out on that shoot I realised how many statues there are in London and decided to focus in on that.
I didn't study a photographer for this first task, as I thought I had a clear idea of what I wanted to do and how I wanted to execute it.
All of these statues are located in Paternoster Square, in St. Pauls, the main one I wanted to focus on, which is why I made it the middle of the grid was the tea party. I love how the bronze metal is a huge contrast to the white walls behind it, and how they seem out of place, in such a busy area.
I also saw the man with the sheep, which I also thought was very out of place, however after looking at the final image, I feel as if they fit a lot better than I originally thought.
For all three of these images, I followed the same editing process. At first, I cut out the main focal point which was the statue itself and created a new layer which was just the cut out. Then I went into the capture raw filter and edited the picture as a whole, in this, I turned the exposure down and the contrast up to make the tea party seem a bit more daunting. I then applied this to the cut out layer and blurred the original layer with Gaussian blur, which draws the focus back to the tea party.
The Flâneur.
For this week, we were asked to do Flâneur. Flâneur is a French term which means a man who saunters around observing society. For this I wanted to focus on photographing people in work gear. I also wanted to step out of my comfort zone and focus on photographing people who are unaware, or aware that they're being photographed.
I already had two images that related to my theme that I wanted to do so I used those and decided I wanted to go with a police theme.
Colin Ridgway.
I chose to research Colin Ridgway, as I initially liked the way he shot street photography, capturing people who are aware and unaware they're being shot at. He shoots the city life in Manhattan, capturing what he sees through the lens of a camera. This is something I wanted to encapsulate in my own work.
I chose these two images to study from and to help develop my own idea. I noticed in both of these images he used a short depth of field to make the subject his main focal point, whilst the background is interesting and detailed, it didn't take away from the main subject. I knew I wanted my shots to be in black and white, just because I prefer them, I think it gives the image a more powerful look, however in the second image of Colins, I like how you can see the bright colours of the officer's coat, against the deep red and purples in the background, which is something I also would like to experiment with whilst in post production.
Here is one of the images I experimented with. I like the way it looks in colour, however I do prefer it so much better in black and white.
If I was going to experiment with colour, I wanted to highlight the yellows of his jacket, I turned the exposure down and contrast up, to bring a focus to his work jacket. On top of that I added a bit of texture, and a bit of clarity, as that's just how I prefer my images to look.
I then thought the background wasn't blurry enough, so I added some Gaussian blur, to really pinpoint what I would like the viewer to focus on.
What Went Well?
Even better if?
Representation.
For this week we were asked to take images surrounding the theme of representation. I immediately knew what I wanted to do. For this week I wanted to focus on femininity. I wanted to do a self portrait because of how much and how long I have struggled to connect with my own femininity. I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone, and experiment with some of my own insecurities.
Thomas Crowl.
For my representation theme, I studied Thomas Crowl, a boudoir photographer.
I focused in on his boudoir silhouette's as they captured my attention the most.
What I like about the images is that you can't see the models face, which I like because it brings in an element of privacy into the final piece. I also enjoy how sharp silhouettes are, and how it outlines everything from texture to smoothness.
Crowl often places his subject in the middle of the frame, making them the main focal point, he also uses natural lighting and minimal backgrounds which draws the viewer into the main focus.
For these three images, I sat in front of my softbox whilst resting on my bed, which casted a shadow across my whole body. I set my camera up on a chair and used a self timer to allow myself to have time to pose and become comfortable with the poses I was doing. In post production I went into photoshop and casted an off white background onto all three of these images to make the subject really stand out.
In these images here, you can see where I added a new layer and solidified the background. As well as this, I went into the camera raw filter option and turned down the exposure and upped the contrast, on top of this I added some texture and clarity to create a sharper edge.
What went well?
I think the main thing that went well was that I was able to capture the theme of representation of my femininity well. I created three successful silhouette images, whilst not losing my theme.
Even better if?
I think I was really limited with my resources on the day of shooting. If I had longer to shoot, I would've booked out a tripod from the kit store as I believe balancing my camera on the chair did limit my amount of poses I was able to do, and where I could place myself in terms of being the main focal point.
Urban Environment.
For the week of urban environment, I didn't want to focus on a photographer, I wanted to get inspiration from a different medium.
For this week, I took inspiration from the book "The people of Camden Market" I decided for this weeks theme, I was going to go to Camden market and take photos of the market stalls, and possibly catch the people working them.
These are my three images for this week. I took pictures in the actual lower market, then found a stall that had the sun casted on it as well as a carousel that was in the sun.
I sequenced them like this as I believe the middle image is my best image, and the first and end image just supports it.
What went well?
I think I got a really successful image from this week, and I also went out of my comfort zone and kept the image in colour which is something I don't usually do.
Even better if?
I think it would've been better if the supporting images were more successful, and it would help tell the narration of the three images together better.
Performance and Fashion.
For this week, I had an idea in my head that I wanted to execute before studying any photographers. I wanted to lay clothes out on my bed and tell a story about how putting clothes on every morning is like putting on a performance every day.
Here are my final images, I laid some of my clothes on my bed and created outfits around the shoes, which is something I wanted to be the main focus throughout these three images.
I set my tripod up for the first and third image and held my camera close to the converse for the middle image.
I sequenced them this way because I don't think the first and third image were as successful as the midd.
What went well?
I think the middle image is my most successful image, and I think I edited it quite well. I also believe the three images show the theme very well.
Even better if?
I think if I tried a bit harder this week, overall it could've come out better.
Culture.
Graffiti Culture.
I wanted to show off the cultures that make London a distinct city, I gambled with the ideas of business culture or fashion culture in London however I wanted to zero in on graffiti culture.
Graffiti has always been a huge part of my life, growing up my older brother painted graffiti wherever he could, it was always in my local park, it was always apart of my life in more ways than one which is why I wanted to have this as my main focus point for this week.
One artist I took inspiration from was Martha Cooper, who travelled round New York documenting hip hop and street art. She said what really interested her was the kids that would go great lengths to create art. She also said her initial interest was the fact that the kids were doing it for each other. This was something I never thought of when looking at graffiti and the thought of that, gave graffiti a whole new meaning for me.
What I liked about her images was she focused in on a subject, whether it was a police officer or a person painting graffiti, it never focused in on the graffiti itself, this is something I wanted to showcase in my images.
In the middle image, the sky was super overexposed, however I liked the shot so much I was willing to either settle for the sky or figure our a way to change it.
I decided to change the sky with the sky replacement tool on photoshop. I chose the sky that had slight clouding as it was similar to the same one that was on that day.
I showed the layers above.
These are my final three images. I shot all of these in brick lane. I chose to set them out in this order as I thought it could resemble a house. The yellow door being the opening to the house, the stairway being the opening and the barred window being the end.
What went well?
I think I executed this week really well, I liked how the three images fit together to make a house in this sequence. I think my post production also reflected my skills really well.
Even better if?
I think there were minimal things I could've done to make this weeks images better.
Cinema.
As this weeks theme was cinema, I decided to take inspiration from a film. I looked into the Disney movie Tangled.
I noticed it used a lot of greens and neutrals but also had quite dark edges in the pictures. I also noticed that a lot of the movie was overgrown and that's something I wanted to showcase in my three images.
This is the reference image I used, whilst I searched online to find a spot in London that was cinematic and overgrown as well which was quite hard, but I came across the Hampstead Pergola.
The images of the pergola showed that it was a garden that had old pillars and overgrown bushes so I thought this was perfect.
These were my three final images, I feel as if they fit really well into the cinematic theme because of how I edited them, I made all of the images colder and saturated the greens making the plants seem more alive. I specifically like the middle image as I like how the old ladies are walking away from the camera so it gives the impression that I could be trapped.
What went well?
Image and Text.
For this week I studied Barbra Kruger. I've always liked the way Barbara Krugers expresses her views through her work, especially with her piece that says "We don't need another hero". This is something I wanted to capture in my work as well.
I also like how her background is in black and white and the words are usually right white with a red background, this draws the viewer's attention to the worlds, which is also something I wanted to incorporate in my final piece.
I sketched out the text in Procreate on my iPad and brought it onto the jpeg in photoshop, I then cut out the woman I took pictures of and made them a new layer so I could have them as one of the main focal points. I did white wording with an red outline and I think it was really successful.
These are my final three images. I blurred the background to bring more focal point into the centre of the image.
What Went Well?
I think I incorporated Barbra Krugers work really well. I also think I had a very clear message that was communicated well.
Even better if?
I think if I went up to the women and asked to take a portrait I could've pushed myself out of my comfort zone a little bit.
The Domestic.
For this week, I studied my old college teacher Chris Gascoigne. I specifically liked his project "Invited Intimacy." I've always taken a bit of inspiration from his projects as he was one of the main people who got me into photography so for the theme of "The domestic" I wanted to do this as kind of a homage to him.
These two images I absolutely love, it showcases three women in different areas of their home, one who is a bit more comfortable with herself, and two that are ore conservative. I also like how the lens gives the impression that he's looking through a peep hole, which is something I think I want to incorporate into my final piece.
These are my three final images, I chose this sequence as the middle image is a colder tone than the others. In post production, I added a vignette to signify looking through the peep hole.
What went well?
I think this whole week went really well, I also think I incorporated my inspiration perfectly in the images.
Even better if?
I think there was minimal changes I could make to the final project.
Social Media, gender, personas.
For this week, I read an article about how the punks in Camden live and get their earnings. This inspired me for this week and how being punk is a persona.
I wanted to go into Camden and catch some candid shots of them.
These are my final three images, I managed to capture a candid shot of two of the punks. The first picture of the three is the person that the article is actually about.
What went well?
I achieved my three candid shots and I edited them quite well.
Even better if?
I think if I had the chance to do it again, I might make one of the images a portrait instead of a candid shot and have a bit of differentiation throughout the tree images.
