Work Diary - London Trip

Work Diary - London Trip

We travelled to London to see the Alec Soth exhibition at the science museum, I really enjoyed this trip as it gave me a chance to take more urban landscapes which I really enjoy, it also gave me the chance to take motion photographs. During the day whilst it was still light, I took photographs of some of the buildings around Trafalgar Square. As it got darker, taking photographs got harder because the shutter speed got slower, and I didn't bring a tripod which meant that my photos would end up out of focus because I wasn't able to keep the camera still. However I was able to get some motion photographs when it was dark, even though I couldn't keep the camera steady and the background was slightly shaky. I really like the photos that I got that evening because they show motion fantastically.

Progression:

Next time I will aim to bring a tripod so that I can get better night photographs that aren't shaky and even better day photographs that I can use a slower shutter speed on to create a different effect, using a tripod would give me more opportunities to play around with the settings on the camera.

This is probably my best photograph because it shows a lot of motion, I think that the colours from the car lights are also quite warm, which contrasts to the cold looking blue that surrounds the lights. For this photograph I used a f stop of 16, a shutter speed of 1.3 seconds, and an iso 400

This is probably my worst photograph because it isn't in focus and I think that it looks messy because of this, although there is a difference in how focused the background and foreground is, I don't think this looks as good as any of my others.

Connecting Essay

This is my photograph that I took for portraiture, I did this photograph in the style of Thomas Ruff, who does photographs that are in a deadpan style. I really like this style because it shows us that even when you see a photograph of someone, that doesn't mean you have any idea what they are thinking. I think it makes us think about how presumptuous we can be with thinking we know how someone might react to something or how someone might feel about something.

I think that Thomas Ruff's photo is incredible and I think that it shows us a lot about the subject whilst also showing us absolutely nothing, the photographs have a lot of detail in them which makes you feel as though you know them, however they are absolutely dead-pan so we have no idea what they are thinking

Connecting Essay

This photo was taken by me at the college when we were studying shape, I got the other photo from the internet.

I think that these two photographs are quite similar because they are both taken at quite a high angle, additionally they both show very geometric shapes.

They are taken at a similar time during the day as you can see from the amount of light, however due to the angle it looks a lot brighter on the other photograph.

This is the photograph that I got from the internet, I think that it is a very geometric based photograph because of all the straight lines like the windows and the roof, my photograph similarly shows this with the windows, one of them is a circle and the rest are very sharp straight lines. I think that they are showing how geometric and aesthetically pleasing man made objects are, especially my photo in contrast with the clouds in the background.

Connecting Essay

This photo was taken by me in London when we visited Trafalgar Square, this photograph is similar to Rut Blees Luxemburg's work because it is showing the night life in London. I think that Luxemburg's photo was taken with a slower shutter speed because her photo shows a lot more light, my photograph has quite a quick shutter speed in contrast, however my photo shows a lot of light, similar to hers.

This photo was taken by Rut Blees Luxemburg, I think it shows a lot of movement, whilst also showing how empty London is, many people can pass and it can still feel like nobody is actually there, I think that my photo shows a similar message, it shows us how fast people can move by. Her photo shows this a lot more subtly than mine, because at first glance you might not notice the lights on the road.

Overall, I think that these photos show us how fast London moves and how lonely it can feel, even when hundreds of people pass by.

Connecting Essay

This photograph is by George Wheelhouse, I really like this photo and I think it is similar to my photograph, however he used more of a contrast by turning it black and white, I think that it looks like an Ansel Adams photograph. He took this photograph at night which meant that the background is a lot darker which creates even more of a contrast, additionally, this church looks a lot older than the church in my photograph, I think that it looks quite eerie. This photograph has been taking from the front whereas mine was taken from a higher angle and I stood to the side of the church.

I think that my photograph is similar to this, we both used a high angle to make the church look bigger than it was, the leading lines in our photographs both lead you to the top of the church, however I took my photograph during the day which meant that I was unable to get as large of a contrast.

Connecting Essay

This a photograph I found on the internet by David Bailey, he has used honeycomb lighting to create this effect and I think that it looks really good, it creates a high amount of contrast because on one side it is incredibly lit up and there aren't many shadows at all, however on the other side it has a lot of darkness and shadows, it looks like there is a lot more depth. This could be showing us that there are two sides to him, good and bad, or that there is more depth to him than you would usually see, on the left is what we see but on the right is how he is in reality.

This is my photograph that I took in the studio when I was studying portraiture, I took this using the honeycomb light but I made the photograph a lot darker than David Bailey's photo. In my photo Sarah looks like she has quite a dark personality because one side is completely black and the other has a lot of depth and shadows. This photo was inspired by both Thomas Ruff, who takes passport-like photos and David Bailey who takes photographs with this honeycomb lighting.

Honeycomb lighting is a type of lighting that is more direct and controlled, it means you can make some of the photo very dark and some very bright, it can create a contrast or it can drag the eye to a specific area of a photograph.

Straight Images - London Trip

Contact Sheet - London Trip