I visited the 2019 Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition at Somerset House.  It is always an amazing display of hugely diverse photos from around the world.

There were many on the theme of Transformation:

Boyuan Zhang from China

His photos of Xinjiang in NW China.  It is a place where dozens of ethnic groups co habit and the social system is rapidly developing alongside the legacy of human civilisation from thousands of years ago.

 

Yan Wang Preston

Preston created a series of ‘ecology recovery’ landscapes in Yunnan Province in China.  Where a small rural area is being urbanised to create ‘an international leisure town and an ecology model town’.  The topsoil of the entire area is replaced by a type of red, semi artificial soil which forms the base of non-indigenous planting.  Green plastic netting is used to cover everything unappealing to the eye.  It is an 8 year project.

 

 

Connor Henderson

Mirrored entrance to Tokyo Plaza

Alexandra Fink-Milosovjevic

Hamburg Central Station using multiple exposures.

Task 1

From my research over the term of the evolution of still life paintings, and the reoccurring themes and definitions throughout the centuries of:

nature morte, funeral paintings, religious connections, moments mori, vanitas

it is clear that although still life paintings are predominately of flowers, fruit, dead animals there is an undercurrent of death, not only in the definitions of the genre but the  feeling that the painting capture inanimate/dead objects.   I wanted to adopt a different tack.  For this project I choose a subject matter that encompasses this theme of death, rather than still life and the items I choose were from my Great Uncle who was killed in WW1 in 1917.

The photo, would capture his life and memory – his camera, photo, medals and poppy in memorandum in an event to create a ‘still living’ not forgotten photo.

The lighting set up had to encompass the reflection from the glazed poppy but add enough light on the ‘death penny’ which was non reflective and very dark. I created a small vignette to darken the photo to create a memorial atmosphere.

 

 

Task 2 – Portrait

On a recent visit to Amsterdam, I visited the Rijksmuseum and the Rembrandt exhibition.  Rembrandt is well known for his dark portraits, with use of shadow and light on the faces – which gave rise to the photographic term of Rembrandt lighting, where half a model’s face is in shadow and half illuminated.

This was the inspiration for my Portrait.

In 1635 Rembrandt painted this portrait of ‘Man in Oriental Clothing’.  This portrait has the classic use of Rembrandt playing with lighting.  It floods the man’s turban and the right side of his face like a powerful studio light.  The left side remains in shadow.

Paul, my classmate, kindly volunteered to be my model as he had the perfect beard.

 

This was my final choice of portrait photo:

 

 

Task 3, – Location

Final presentation photos – I created a series of 9 photos, all in black and white and added vignettes enhance the photos.  From the incredible beauty of the original sculptures to the museum pieces that they have become today.

The photos were printed in A4 gloss and, inspired by the new topographic photography of Bernd and Hilla Becher, displayed in a rectangle. I was really pleased with the results and displaying the photos in this way made them even more powerful.

 

PEOPLE AND THE ENVIRONMENT

I have really enjoyed this term learning about lens-based image making.  I believe my practise and research has helped me to develop ideas and my project on People And The Environment was based on the River Thames.

This stretch of the Thames is an area I have known for many years and have photographed but this term I have begun to look at it in an different light and wanted to create a project with a new view of the river.  Having visited photographic exhibitions I realise that photographers and painters view the ‘normal’ in a different aspect and I have begun to do this as well, trying to find a different aspect to what I normally see.

Experimenting with different lenses this term has also bought a new aspect to my photography.  Using a macro lens not only for macro photography but also portraits has shown some very pleasing photographs.  My use of prime lenses means that my new 50mm prime is now my lense of choice.  My 300mm lense has brought a new aspect to my sports and wildlife photography.

The wonders of photoshop are still a learning area for me.  I try to only make minor adjustments to my photos (sharpness, hue, saturation, black and white etc) but would like to progress to more abstract adjustments with clone tool etc.

My photographic journey continues, I am learning more and more through the course and my photos are improving and maturing as a result.  I am looking forward to the studio modules next term to add a new dimension to my photography.

 

 

 

M3, M4, D1, D3

Last week I visited Kingston Museum (whose building was funded by the Scottish American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1904) and among the Roman artefacts and Anglo Saxon relics was the an amazing exhibition of the work of Muybridge.

Edward Muybridge, was born in Kingston Upon Thames in 1830, moving away to make a fortune in America in 1852, before returning in his retirement in the late 1880s. When he died in 1904 he bequeathed a significant part of his photographic equipment and work to  Kingston Museum.

In San Francisco he begun to take photos of Yosemite and San Francisco Bay and sold them to the middle classes of the town. His collection of over 200 photos took several months to achieve and he travelled with all his equipment waiting for just the right lighting and conditions. His fame and fortune as a landscape photographer grew.

His fame brought him to the attention of a former governor Leland Stanford (and later founder of Stamford University) and he was commissioned to solve an old argument through photography – does a galloping horse have all four feet off the ground at any one stage in its stride?

At Stanford’s stud farm at Palo Alto between 1877 ad 1879 a camera shed was set up with 12 and later 24 camera each with shutters attached to threads. When the horse broke a thread as it passed in front of the camera, the shutter dropped and and instant exposure was taken.

 

Between 1884 and 1887 he worked at the University of Pennsylvania and created a huge series of photographs called Animal Locomotion.  This included running men, horses, animals and birds.

Zoopraxiscope

He created the Zoopraxiscope which was essentially al projector or ‘spinning picture disk.

He would take photographs in sequence – for example the horses breaking the threads as they galloped past the shed.

The prints were then slightly curved/folded over and rephotographed to gain the curvature required.

They were then put under the clear glass disc and an artistic would effectively trace the photo onto the glass disc so there were a series of images shown and the same intervals around the disc.

The disc was then turned on the zoopraxiscope and the movement projected through the lantern.

67 of the 71 known surviving discs are in Kingston Museum with early examples in the Smithsonian collection.

His innovation was only surpassed by the advent of the moving image.

 

 

 

P4, M1 M4

Using an 80mm macro lens, I attempted to recreate paintings of insects and flowers.  The painting are not my own, but the photos are and I have matched them to the paintings I recreated.  I used single shots and, to obtain more details, should perhaps have used HDR, photo stacking, multiple exposures as per Levon Bliss (who would take 5000 of one insect and stack them together into a single image), but perhaps that is an exercise to try next term.

Victorian botanists, explorers and writers – in the era before photography – would create incredibly detailed drawing to capture the specific characteristics of their subject. Something that can by done today so much quicker than photography.

When using macro photography, which requires getting mere centimetres away from a subject, care must be taken to avoid contact with the subject and also to ensure that you are still aware of your surroundings, other members of the public and the ground underfoot.

Grasshoppers in Greece

Peacock Butterflies In Devon

 

Bees In Surrey

 

 

P2, P1, P3, P4, M1, M2

We practised studio lighting set up –

Split lighting

Rembrandt

Loop with beauty dish

Loop

Photo of the week!

Studio Lighting Set Up

KEY LIGHT

The key light is the main light in your shot. Is the light against which all of the others are balanced. It’s often, but not always, the brightest light in the shot, as you want your subject to stand out. Sometimes, though, you might find that your rim or background light requires more power depending on the final look you’re after.

FILL LIGHT

The fill light is there to help give the shadows a bit of a lift and prevent them fading to pure blackness. The fill light doesn’t need to be very bright at all in order to do its job. A  much larger softbox for the fill lighting than the key light is often used.  The fill light is simply to fill in the shadows, you don’t really want it casting noticeable shadows of its own.

RIM LIGHT

A rim light adds highlights along the shadow edge of the subject. It adds shine to the hair, or creates a highlight separation to stop your subject from blending into the darker background.

BACKGROUND LIGHT

The background light is pretty much as it sounds. It’s a light that you point at the background to light it up.

HEALTH AND SAFETY

When using a studio, be aware that the lights become very hot.  Hoods should be changed over using a protective glove to avoid burns, the model should be considered to prevent them becoming too warm during the session, beware the build up of static electricity on the light.  Always use the correct bulbs and fittings as recommended by the manufacturers.

 

 

 

 

The Atlas Gallery in Baker Street has a display of original photographs and prints by Ansel Adams.  He is well known for his iconic photos of the American Wilderness in black and white, graduating light and exposure. Exposing the nature patterns in the rocks and mountains.

The photos were beautiful but not printed on a large scale – probably A3 was the largest.  Some were limited edition prints – clearly printed recently but others were older and had  a sepia tone.  Prices for the prints were up to $90,000.

The 20 or so prints were framed with white mounts and with black frames.

I had gone to the gallery with great anticipation of seeing Ansel’s iconic photos but was hugely disappointed.  I believe the prints were not displayed in their glory and seemed insignificant.  I had seen a better display of his work from prints in a Forestry Commission Museum near Loch Ard in Scotland.

The landscape patterns in his prints are also a favourite topic for my photos.  These were taken on rocks in Devon last summer:

 

In black and white –

Ansel Adams inspired photos from Iceland:

But some photos are better in colour as they show the landscape in greater detail:

Steve Mccurry

Afterwards I went to Selfridges Department Store on Oxford Street and found an amazing Photographic Section in their Book Department on the Lower Ground Floor, including  anthology’s of Ansel Adams’ photos.  They have the most amazing collection of large scale photographic books on a huge number of subjects.  It you have an hour to spare their photographic book department is well worth a visit.

I bought a copy of Steve Mccurry’s book ‘Untold – the story behind the photos’ which is the story of his main photographic journeys and how he captured the photos.  He started in 1979 having left his job working for an american newspaper and travelled to India with rolls of black and white film and two cameras (as developing black and white photos were cheaper than colour).  During his time in India he met refugees from the Afghan war and was asked by them to travel to their villages to document the destruction of by Government forces.  This was the start of his ‘war’ documentation and over the years he has travelled to many such conflicts.

https://stevemccurry.com

Perhaps his most famous photo is “the Afghan Girl’ which was published on the cover of National Geographic Magazine and whom he traced again 17 years later.

 

He has a portrait style where the subject fills the frame.  The eyes of the subjects are the most important part of the photo and are always looking at the photographer.  Mccurry says that while lighting and composition count, the best photographs are those that create a connection. ‘McCurry, known for his heartfelt photographs of citizens around the globe, knows that in capturing universal human elements, his work remains timeless’ – National Geographic.  His photos have a real vibrancy, they feel alive even when shot in black and white.

 

 

 

 

 

Trying to capture the red moon I had seen the reality of the moon was rather different –

 

Used 300mm lens with a cropped sensor giving a 1.5x higher focal length.  I tried the recommended 100 iso, 1/250sec at f/8 but thought the higher iso of 250 gives a better result. I shot in full darkness but will try again in twilight when the moon is lower in the sky and I need to frame the composition but I have to may trees in my neighbourhood! I will work it as a project to photograph over different locations.