Trip Report

Artist Research - David Hockney

David Hockney created his joiners by taking multiple polaroid photographs of the same thing from different angles, this one is of a man sitting, I like his joiners because they are usually almost perfect, with small imperfections like the foot being at a weird angle. With joiners we are able to see multiple sides to the same object/person in one photograph.

This joiner by David Hockney is really nice in my opinion, it looks like the pool is busy with lots of people at first, however, it is actually multiple photographs of the same person in the pool, I think it is very creative of Hockney to have done it like this and I think it creates a really good effect.

For me, this joiner is one of my favourites because at first glance it looks perfectly normal, but when you look at it for longer, you notice that one of the girls has four legs! It is probably his most morphed joiner and I think that it creates a really childish effect, these children obviously didn't sit still for the photographs, they fidgeted a lot like children do, which meant many of the photographs are a lot different

David Hockney has inspired me because he's made me think less about my photograph looking perfect, sometimes imperfection is better, in addition he has made me think about taking photographs from multiple angles, rather than just sticking with one and only coming out with four good pictures. I have learnt to explore with my photography more.

Artist Research - Alec Soth

This photograph is showing us the mans hobbies and interests, in this project, Soth wanted to show a wide diversity of people in Mississippi. I think that this photo looks like he has been caught during action rather than some of the other photographs in the project which look very staged.

This photograph is showing this womans passion, which from what I can tell, is religion, this project was carried out in Mississippi, which is a state in the bible belt. Soth obviously wanted to show this side of Mississippi in a subtle way.

I really like this photograph, it was taken in a prison in mississippi, it is again showing the religious side of Mississippi with the writing on the top, Soth wanted to show how big a part religion plays in peoples lives.

These are examples of portraiture by Alec Soth, I love his portraits because they show people in mid act, he has caught them in their own home doing whatever they were doing, I also love that the photograph hasn't been cleaned up, the background is cluttered which shows it was an unexpected photograph. Alec Soth's photographs all tend to be quite muted colours which looks quite good I think as they are quite lazy looking photos in general, no one is doing a lot of movement in any of the photos.

Physical Experiments

For this photo I decided to burn through it as I thought this might create a good effect, however, the ink meant that it went green before it burnt. I like this however next time I would have to do it with a green photograph because you would notice that less.

I really like this edit, I have outlined the building with a thick gold pen, then I drew clouds in the sky and more outlines, I think that this makes the photograph look a lot more childish and dreamy, like something from a comic. This was relatively easy so I would be able to do something like this again.

For this edit I decided to do scratching, I wanted it too look like graffiti which I think it does, however this photograph doesn't really signify much and it took quite a while so I probably wouldn't do this again

This photograph has an element of creepiness too it already because of the lighting, and I wanted to add more to it by editing it in real life, so I decided scratching it would create this effect that I wanted. I think this looks good however it is quite time consuming so it isn't a thing I would do very often.

I didn't enjoy the physical experiments much, as they didn't add much to my work, so I only did four of them.

Overall Evaluation

When I first started the year I had no photography experience, so I think I have improved incredibly since then, doing the shoots for the formal elements was very helpful in exploring photography as a whole because when we did all the elements, I was able to find out which element I liked best that I could focus on more. I really liked lines, which was the first shoot that we did. There was around 10 formal elements: line, shape, colour, pattern, texture, tone, form, movement, depth, and reflection, we also did some extras: landscape, portrait, and documentary images. Of these, lines, depth, landscape, and portrait images were my favourite. I think that my photographs have improved from doing these shoots.

Additionally, my artist research has definitely helped me improve my photography, my favourite photographer is Cédric Delsaux, I think that the issues he touches in his Nous Resterons sur Terre album are all very interesting. I also loved how he used contrast in his photographs 

For example, in this photograph, it is of workers houses in front of a casino, showing the contrast between the people that visit and the people that work there, one is obviously very well taken care of, whilst the other is dilapidated.

I think that Cédric Delsaux's photography has made an impact on my photographs, I frame my landscape photographs a lot better due to studying his work; his landscape photos are incredibly framed, theres nothing cut off weirdly and the lines in his photos are all straight, showing the amount of care he has taken in shooting this photograph.

Furthermore, I studied Rut Blees Luxemburg. She takes urban landscape photography in London, and I really enjoy studying her photography. As you can see from my London trip, I took photographs inspired by her, however, I didn't have my tripod with me which made it almost impossible to get a photograph like hers. My photograph is a bit shaky, although it was my first try at this style of photography so I think that I did it pretty well. I went on to look at this style in more depth in the second unit.

Another photographer that has inspired me is David Bailey, he took portraits of famous people in controlled lighting, I tried this for one of my portrait shoots, however I think that it turned out a bit too dark. I used a honeycomb light for this shoot and next time I would direct it more in the subjects face, because you can only see a little bit of the face and the rest has no light on it at all. In contrast his photographs have a lot of light all over, but more light on one side.

I experimented with my photographs on both the computer, and physically. Personally I think that computer experiments worked better, however in some cases, physical experiments look a lot better, for example, when making a photograph look creepy, it works better to edit the photograph physically, unless all you want to do is change the lighting, which can be equally as powerful.

When editing on the computer, I was able to try things out a lot easier, because I had the option of just undoing what I did if it turned out badly, whereas with physical experiments, I would have had to print out another photo to edit again, so more planning is necessary for the physical experiments. In addition, I know how to use photoshop well on the computer, but I wasn't sure what to do for the physical experiments, which is why they are very simple.

This is one of my physical experiments next to a computer experiment, although in this case the physical experiment looks better, it took so much more longer that I don't think it is feasible to be able to do it for all my final shoots in unit 2 because I only have 10 hours for the exam.

I think I am most successful in my portraits and landscapes, I really liked Thomas Ruff's style of deadpan images and I liked to recreate this style. However I didn't take enough outside, the majority of my portraits were in the studio, this is because at the time it wasn't very good weather and the lighting wasn't very good, next time I do portrait photography I will do it in the summer when the lighting is a lot better.

My landscape photography was very good in my opinion, I took a lot of urban landscapes which I love, however I had only just started using a tripod so my usage of it wasn't very good, in unit 2 I will aim to use the tripod better so I can have steadier photographs.

Artist Research - David Lachapelle

David Lachapelle is a portrait photographer who takes photographs of mostly celebrities, his photographs are extremely saturated like this photograph, this photograph is definitely improved by the saturation, it looks a lot brighter and hotter and the colours are a lot more powerful, it works because the photo is meant to be fun.
However you wouldn't be able to do this with any type of photograph because some photos, like war documentary, is better with muted colour, as it gives meaning to the photo.
Overall I think that this photograph works really well, he has made it look a lot more exciting than it probably was, just by using colour.

This is a photograph of Courtney Love by David Lachapelle, he has gotten inspiration from christian images and ideas for this photograph, to signify Courtney as a godly being. The lighting he has used also shows this, there is light coming from behind her, creating almost a halo around her, although we can se its from the horrible little lightbulb on the ceiling, I love this photograph because Lachapelle has made it look beautiful in what is really a horrible situation.

This is another photograph by David Lachapelle, it is of David Bowie, I think this is a really good photograph because you don't notice David Bowie straight away, theres lots of other characters on there that you might look at first, because next to them, David Bowie is very normal looking. Although, I still think that he is the main subject of the photograph, his face is the only one that looks very human, as the others are all masks. 

In addition, I think that the colours are lovely. The red is very rich, in contrast to the masks which are usually a pink or white colour.

He has inspired me to look at using colour a lot more, I can use different colours to show emotions in my photographs, he has also inspired me to take more portraits, I really like the human form and I could take photographs of this. 

Best 30 - Unit 1

Mind Maps - Formal Elements

checklist unit 1

UNIT 1: Exploring The Visual World

Name ............................................... Target Grade.................. 

Mindmap  - one for Formal Elements…..

Definitions – Line… Colour… Pattern…. Texture….. Tone….. Form…. Depth…. Shape…. Movement…. Reflection…… Landscape….Portrait,… Composite … Documentary images

The definitions post requires you to find a definition for the formal element/ photography genre that you were assigned, adding at LEAST one example and also in your own words provide your understanding of what the definition means.

                                                                                                                       

Image Bank – Line… Colour… Pattern…. Texture….. Tone….. Form…. Depth…. Shape…. Movement…. Reflection…… Landscape….Portrait,… Composite … Documentary images

The image bank requires you to show a MINIMUM of 5 image examples that inspire you and that are linked to the formal element/ photography genre that you were assigned.

Research Notes – Cedric Delsaux….Ansel Adams… David Hockney… Henri Cartier Bresson… David LaChapelle…. Richard Avedon… Bill Brandt… Rut Blees Luxumberg… Alec Soth… Vivian Maier...

For each research note you are required to show a minimum of 3 images, carry out an evaluation of the images (denotation, connotation, context) and state how their work has influenced you.   For example Vivienne Maier 

Visit report:   As briefed this document should be in Power Point or Word to be uploaded via slideshare on Alec Soth and/or Julia Margaret Cameron

Connecting Essay. Here you will connect an image that you have created to another photographers image as an essay,    1……. 2……. 3……. 4…… 5…..

Work Diaries -  1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…9….10…

Details on how to complete a work diary are posted on Qube and will comprise two main sections:

·      An EVALUATION section

·      IDEA DEVELOPMENT (Progression)  section

Straight Images (posting 4 images)  Line… Colour… Pattern…. Texture….. Tone….. Form…. Depth…. Shape…. Movement…. Reflection…… Landscape….Portrait,… Composite … Documentary images

Technical Exercises – Studio Low key lighting, Studio Portrait Thomas Ruff, Depth of Field

These posts should be labelled as technical exercises, camera settings and lighting set-ups (position of the lights as a plan view diagram) should be recorded

Computer Experiments - 5/5

Computer experiments will demonstrate your ability to experiment with the medium of digital photography… This is an important aspect of the AQA assessment criteria.  You will need to label each time you make a computer experiment and explain the process used.   You can do this either visually with screen prints and text or just use text only.

You should evidence the photograph before and after the computer experimentation. 

A minimum of 5 computer experiments are required.

Physical Experiments – …..

Physical experiments will demonstrate your ability to experiment with the medium of photography… This is an important aspect of the AQA assessment criteria.  The process involves the way a final print is physically transformed and how the meaning of a print changes as a result of the transformation.  Physical experiments SHOULD be recorded by scanning in the transformed print.   Paint, cutting, scratching, tearing, tape and or other materials can be used as part of this process.  You will need to explain how the transformation has changed the meaning of the photograph e.g. describe your concept and the connotations associated with the print. 

A minimum of 5 Physical experiments are required.

Electronic Portfolio

Here you will select 30 of your best images.  You should sample these from the range of assignments undertaken including your formal elements, photography genres, physical images and computer experiments.  The images should be presented as a Power Point.

30 Final Pieces – printed on Canon paper 1… 2… 3… 4… 5… 6… 7… 8… 9…. 10… 11….12….13….14….15…..16…..17…..18….19….20….. 30

Overall evaluation of your project  - 

Here you will need to summarise how your work has developed as a result of the shoots and research that you have undertaken.

·       How has your research influenced the images that you have created (name some influential artist that inspired you and explain their impact on your work).

·       What new technical skills have you developed and how has this impacted on your work 

o    technical (learning new techniques in camera operation, shooting, studio lighting, compositional techniques, etc.) 

·       Has the way you take photographs changed/improved.

·       In what way have you demonstrated your ability to experiment.  (computer experiments, physical experiments, etc.)

·       Is your work is developing in a particular direction e.g. abstract, compositional, etc.)

·       In what areas of your work were you most successful in what areas were you the least successful.