So what have I learnt?

The art of photography has been a lot of things over the last year. At times challenging in content & time, fun, exciting and informative. I have learnt some new technical aspects of photography but the most valuable thing I take away is that I now spend more time thinking about and analysing images, both my own and those of other photographers.

Throughout this course I have explored many other artists, some famous and some less so. Many have influenced the way I look at  photographs and the manner in which I now set out to make photographs. This is not always evident in the photographs I have taken for this course work. The nature of some of the exercise called for a more 'technical' approach. Also looking back over the course I now see that in some projects I took a more technical approach where an artistic view may have been possible and more appropriate, for example the assignment  for 'light'.

I have always been keen on people photography and now can add to this abstract which I explored for the first time in a serious manner in 'Elements of design'. Through exploring other artists I have also become interested in street photography and aware of the importance of narrative and illustration in my work. From the learning perspective I have made many notes on how to improve the presentation and content of my next Blog

I am now looking forward to the next chapter in this adventure.

Narrative by other photographers - Darcy Padilla

As part of the suggested reading, I have been looking at the work of some photographers who have produced some important narrative work. The first of these I have looked at is Darcy Padilla, who over the course of a number of years photographed and documented the life of a woman with aids. The project was called 'The Julie Project'. I have made some notes to refer back to for my final assignment which is also a photographic narrative.

1. Mood.
The project has been shot entirely in black and white. The first thing that strikes the viewer is the perception of time of the images. Darcy started his project in 1993, that's 18 years ago at the time of writing this post. The very first image gives the impression that the photographs were taken a lot longer ago than that, the black and white re-enforcing the 50's look of the old building. This combination has set the tone for the rest of the images that follow.

2. The journey
We are not distracted from the journey by the shape of the photo's either. All are presented in landscape format which here leads you from one image to the next without any 'awkward' jumps in the process.

3. Information
Each shot shows enough information to put it's subject in context. Interestingly, this mostly seems to have been achieved by focal length and by light on the subject. Depth of field is used to direct the viewers attention but nowhere near as much as other artists make use it. take for example the year 2008. The attention of each shot is grabbed by the lighter main subject with DOF playing much less of a role. Note also that as well as showing enough of the surrounding of the subject, the images have been carefully crafted so as to not show too much.

4. Narrative.
The occasional insertion of a newspaper article or some other document gives a break in the images.I do find the written notes a bit distracting though.

RPS International Projected Image Exhibition 2011

Feeling really please with myself today. Just had an email from the Royal Photographic Society of which I am a member.  Some while ago I entered an image for the RPS International Projected Image Exhibition 2011. I have just found out that the image had been accepted and will feature in the exhibition that will tour the UK and Ireland.

The image titled 'An artist and his self portrait' was taken a while ago and features my friend Vincent. Vincent paints in oils and behind him you can see his self portrait. The whole idea was to create a photograph in a similar style to the old masters. Vincent's studio has a North facing sky light and he was positioned in the light falling from this much in the same way he would position a subject for painting. I did experiment with the portrait on the right but both artist and his facsimile looking out of the frame formed a much stronger image.

The camera was mounted on a tripod and natural light was used. This resulted in having to use a relatively slow shutter speed - I used a small aperture to capture the self portrait in relative sharpness. When I look at the settings now I see the ISO was160 with F13 at 1/2 second with a 27mm focal length.

Here is the picture...

An artist and his self portrait.

Lighting & Richard Avedon

Some of the lighting in this section of the course has caused me to take another look at some of the black & white portrait work by Richard Avedon. I am a big fan of the fashion genre and Richard Avedon was instrumental in showing me the 'art' in fashion photography.

Audrey Hepburn

Looking over a collection of his work it is possible to de-construct some of his lighting techniques. With my new found knowledge I am able to better asses how these pictures work. Here are a few of Avedon's images - some iconic and some not so well known.

In the images of Audrey Hepburn & Twiggy we can see soft, diffused light. The light is wrapping around the subject and the graduation from light to shade is gentle. In the case of Audrey, the light appears to be coming from two sources, one camera left just a little higher than her face (see the shadows behind her glove and on her neck) and the other camera right from higher up (shadows under and in front of her arm). This is a truly beautiful portrait of a beautiful lady!

Twiggy

In the photograph of Twiggy, she appears to be looking straight into the main light.  This again must be diffused - we can tell by the soft shadows under her chin and on her neck- alternatively this may be due to some light being bounced back with a reflector? This could also conceivably be taken in daylight, maybe from a high window - note the blurring in Twiggy's face which suggests a slowish shutter speed or at least slower than a flash speed.

Barbra Streisand (1965)

In contrast to this we have the pictures of Barbra Streisand and Elizabeth Taylor. Both of these photo's have harsher lighting although this is by no means detracting from the images. Of the two,  Streisand's image seems to have less contrast, be it only by a fraction - see the shadows on her neck and under-arm. The main light appears to be coming from high up camera left. This makes for a lovely sculpture like image which is further enhanced by Streisand's slightly unusual features and the shape of her haircut.

The image of Elizabeth Taylor is extremely well carried out. Of all the images in this post, this must have the harshest light but at the same time this is very well hidden. When you look at the light drop-off on the arms you may think that the light is quite soft but looking closer at the shadows under her scarf, chin and beneath her nose, you can see that there is almost no graduation from light to dark. It takes a good look to notice this though as each shadow is almost hidden.The contrast between light and dark across the whole image, combined with the shape of Elizabeth's torso, which seems to push our eyes up to her face and then traps them within the ring of hair and scarf, serves to place our attention firmly on the mesmerising stare straight out of the picture!

Elizabeth Taylor (1964)

Alfred Stieglitz

One of the images I submitted for the last assignment was of a sunset (without the sun). My tutor mentioned in the assignment comments that I should take a look at the 'Equivalent' series by Alfred Stieglitz. Subsequently I researched him on the internet and viewed a video about him on You-tube.

I was surprised to find that his 'Equivalent' series is referred to as possibly some of the first deliberately created abstract images. Alfred photographed these from 1922 on into the thirties. The cloud masses represent the inner states of the soul but I have also read that Alfred wanted to present the viewer with images without any subject matter, to test how good a photographer he was.

The variety and tones in the images is fantastic and it is easy to identify (or imagine) various inner states from the patterns.

The image my tutor was referring to is posted below.

It strikes me that this is a subject that could be picked up as a project and still produce varied and different results.

A Google search found examples of these images here.

A project influenced by Drew Gardner

Girl on Water Buffalo by Drew Gardner.

Back in March I posted about the photographer Drew Gardner. I am a big fan of his work and have for some time owned one of his DVD's in which he talks about setting up some of his shoots.

This inspired me to start a little project called 'lost in the woods'. A large part of Drew's technique is to do with the lighting. He uses studio lighting on location and basically drops the ambient light to a level where he can control the light on the subject using mobile studio lights. Other factors are the use of a smoke machine and conceptually, subject matter that stands out from the norm. I wanted to create a similar thing.

The project idea was called 'Lost in the Woods'. It was to be a semi fashion, semi story book sequence of images lit in a dramatic way. I would of course also need a model.

I am a member of Model Mayhem and a contact not to far from where I live came to mind as having the right look. I contacted Holly and explained what I wanted to do. She was more than enthusiastic and duly emailed me various clothing suggestions. We settled on the red dress and black tights. Next up some props!

I found a basket at a car boot sale and arranged it with artificial flowers. Something else was needed to take the shots just one step further away from the ordinary. Giant toadstools seemed to be the thing. I made several of these from paper mache. Lastly smoke for fog. I really wanted this to add some 'depth' to the shot, as Drew puts it. On the day this didn't work. I couldn't manage a proper smoke machine and the cans of party smoke were simply not up to the job - too much breeze.

One of my forest shots

All the elements were in place except lighting. For this I would use my speed lights. I have three with stands and some umbrellas as well as remote triggers to fire them.

On the day Vincent, a good friend came along to help with some of the kit as there was quite a lot to carry. He also held a flash unit with an umbrella most of the time as the wind was determined to blow this over.

Holly, our model, worked her socks off. There were various poses that required her to run and she was also happy to climb in among a tangle of vines as well as under a blown over tree.

The end result was a collection of images that I am very happy with. Not all the shots worked and there is of course no fog but hey, that's all part of learning. Above all though,  I think the objective to create a Drew Gardner inspired shoot was met!

More images from this shoot can be seen on my Flickr account. Just click on the images in the right margin.

UPDATE: I emailed Drew Gardner to check it was ok to use one of his images for this post and got an almost instant reply together with a valuable critique of the image above. Many thanks Drew -  well chuffed!

Part 4 -Light

Assignment three has now been sent off to my tutor so it's time to start on part 4, 'Light'. This is a very interesting chapter as I feel this is where I am as a photographer. I am experimenting a lot with light, both artificial and natural at the moment. An area of photography I am becoming ever more interested in is fashion. One of the reasons it appeals to me is the way light is used in this genre.

As an example see the image below from photographer Nicole Nodman. The lighting 'effect' is as much part of this image as is the girl, the clothing, the plant to her right and the out of focus background. The light is not 'just there' but our attention is actively drawn to it and the way it unifies the image.

A Busy weekend, elephants & buffaloes...

Richard Avedon.
Dovima with elephants

Well, its been a busy weekend! A number of us from the local camera club visited the 'Focus on imaging 2011' show in Birmingham. I was delighted to see photographer Drew Gardner giving a talk and managed to catch most of it.

I have been a bit of a fan of his ever since I stumbled on a video on Youtube where he explained the process of taking a picture of a model sat on a water buffalo. I looked for more of his work and found that it really appealed to me.

Listening to his talk at the show was equally inspiring and I hope to be able to catch one of his workshops at a later date.

Drew Gardner. 

In particular two of his images images, the water buffalo and an image with an elephant remind me of Richard Avedon's 'Dovima with Elephants'. They carry the same contrast of beauty and the beast. Although none of the photographs really shock any-more, the contrast still remains. In a way it is fitting that Drew's images are in colour and Richards in black & white. The old and the new.....

Drew Gardner

Masters of Photography

I have just discovered a gold mine of information for those researching photographers. On Youtube, under the heading 'Masters of Photography' there are a whole collection of video's to be found. I have just watched an interview with Ansel Adams and another with the daughter of Diane Arbus.

It is very interesting to hear first hand comments and opinions from the masters themselves about how they work and what they feel about their own images.

Several classic photographers are starting to stand out to me. Among these are Richard Avedon who I will be looking onto in more detail as I have always been a big fan of people images.

Here is a link to the Masters of Photography.

Investigating photographers - I

I have been watching "The genius of photography" on YouTube. It was interesting to hear Joel Meyerowitz speak about adapting Cartier-Bresson's "decisive Moment" for the fast paced streets of New York*.

Keen to investigate this further I managed to find a huge book about Cartier-Bresson entitled 'Henri Cartier-Bresson, the man, the image & the world (a retrospective)" in my local library. I am familiar with Cartier-Bresson's "iconic" works such as the man leaping the puddle and the family picnicking next to the river but this book shows so much more. I must admit to favouring colour work but was really surprised and interested in his later work

Other photographers I am going to investigate are Diana Arbus and Lee Friedlander and of course Joel Meyerowitz himself.

* The genius of photography, Episode 4.

Waiting for Curves

I'm sitting here looking out of the window at the rain waiting to get out to take the images for my next exercise, 'Curves'. Bah! first chance to get out and the first rain since before Christmas!

In the meantime I have continued reading 'The Photograph' by Graham Clarke. As some of the other students have mentioned, it can get pretty heavy going in places! I do have to wonder sometimes if the author of the photograph actually read as much into their picture as they were taking it as the author of the book subsequently does?

For my own interest I am going to look further into the work of Lee Miller.I have come across examples of her work in various publications and have for some time been intrigued by her life. In particular the transition from model to surrealist, fashion and war photographer.

End of the introduction

So, I have reached the end of the introduction section. I am starting to get used to coming to my desk and PC after dinner to edit my images and write up my learning log. Along with the exercises I am spending time reading some of the posts in the OCA flikr group and checking out some of the other Blogs.

One thing I have seen come up on more than one occasion is that students think they are not showing enough imagination in their subjects. I must admit to feeling the same way at the moment. Although I have already carried out the photography for the next two exercises, I am going to address this in further work!

On to part one, 'The frame'!

In the meantime

As I have been working my way through the exercises, I have been having some concerns about work flow. As the evenings are starting to draw in I don't want to fall behind through lack of light. After giving this some thought I am going to try working on the photography of the longer exercises at the weekends. This should give me the weekday evenings to process the shots and write up my learning log.

I have also ordered two books from the recommended book list, "The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos" and "The Photograph as Contemporary Art ".

Books Arrived

My books arrived yesterday. It's all very exciting! I have taken a look through the course materials and read the student handbook My first task is to write my student profile and contact my tutor.

A New Venture

My name is Simon Lawrence and I have been a keen photographer for many years. My first photographic memories are from when I was about fourteen. I used to stay at my grandparents and I can remember my Granddad showing me how to load 120 film into an old black camera that had and expanding front section. The pictures were black and white and all over the place but that didn't matter.

I'm now 46 and still love photography. There have been a few lapses over the years where time and circumstances have put things on the back burner but I have always come back to it. I am now an active member of the local camera club and sit on the committee.

If there is one thing I have learnt, it's that there is always MORE to learn and although I think my photography has come a long way I know that it can go a lot further. More than ever I am feeling the urge explore fine art and my favourite subject, photographing people.

So, I have taken  the plunge and signed up for the OCA 'Art of Photography' course! I intend to stick it out to the bitter end, the Photography Degree and can't wait to get started. I hope the course is going to open up a new way of thinking and a different way of looking at things.