IMAGE LAB 5 LARGE FORMAT

 

Sarah during our large format technical induction

So Christmas is creeping closer, and it's time for our final project of the unit! This week we were introduced to the world of large format! Even though it seemed a little daugnting seen as I have no studio experiance, I was really excited about starting this project. I have never worked with large format before and i knew it would be a challenge but a great way of pushing our technical knowlagde.

When we were first introduced to this project I started thinking about to contemporary still life photography by Wolfgang Tillmans. These are some of Tillmans' still life's taken from the book "Wolfgang Tillmans"
ISBN 0-7148-4192-7

Still life, New York, 2001

Still life, Talbot Road, 1991

Podium, 1995

I also thought about the incredible, alian like still live's by Edward Weston, so I had a look at the beautifull Edward Weston: The Flame Of Recognition (Aperture Monograph) 

However after meeting in our group we decided that we would like to create a still life that was a homage to the  renaissance painters of the 15th and 16th centuaries such as Pieter Claesz,

I think that if we thoughroly research this era and could possibaly add a contemporary spin we could produce a sucsessfull photograph.

Still life with a skull and a writting quill, 1628, Pieter Claesz

Still Life with Fruit, Glassware, and a Wan-li Bowl, 1659
Willem Kalf

OUR FINAL IMAGE

  I think that this has been a relativly sucsesfull first attempt at large format for our group however with more research and better planning I think that we could have produced a much more substantial image. Overall I loved working in this way and I can't wait to develop these skills more. I think that this has been a great way to end the unit on, and looking back over the last 11 weeks, despite struggles along the way, I think that i've learned a lot. 

 

IMAGE LAB 4 TIME AND THE PHOTOGRAPH

New week and a new project! After watching BBC’s “A picture of Britain” featuring David Shringley, Robert Taylor, and Richard Billigingham we were introduced to our new project on time.

For this project we could create images on any digital medium, from DSLR’s to webcams.

So I got thinking, how am I going to represent time in my photographs, I could experiment with shutter speed and exposure, blur and freeze movement or shoot objects that physically represent time. But what is time any way? It’s some thing were obsessed with, always measuring, watching and constantly racing against.

I began to think about the fragility of time and how we are desperate to preserve it.

So I decided to make a “living sculpture” and still life from freezing flowers in ice. I liked the idea that the still life will melt and change from time. To me it also represents how no matter how badly you want to preserve and hold onto time it all slips away from you in the end.

These photographs were taken on my mobile phone as experimentations.

ORI GERSHT

This photograph is from the incredible series “Time after Time” by Ori Gersht in 2011. Gersht creates these incredible images by freezing beautiful  arrangements of flowers and then exploding them. The flowers which communally represent fragility and amity then become victims and part of a brutal action. The photo’s to me depict a destruction of beauty. I think that Gersht's work really relates to my time project, and just goes to show what incredible photographs you can create when you continue to develop and idea and meticulously set up your photographs.

From the series Time after Time 2011



http://www.mummeryschnelle.com/pages/gersht.htm

IMAGE LAB 3 PROSESSES PROJECT

So the range and quality of work at Paris Photo was incredible and slightly overwhelming to say the least! But I had a fantastic day! There was so much to see and take in, and finanly after hours and hours of visual overwhelment I managed to discover the piece I would use for my prosess’s project, one of my favourite photographs of the experiance by photographer Adam Jeppesen.

Every one's work hung in the Gallery

Link to Adam Jeppesen's website.

http://www.adamjeppesen.com/

I will leave you this week with some picture's of my Parisian adventures.

IMAGE LAB 2 DIGITAL SCANS

These scans were created in the first scanning session, I wanted to create an image using neutral tones, they were objects I collected from my weekend that I spent in the new forest, autumn leaves, tobacco, and a bracelet I found,  I think that I could improve a lot on these images, maybe by changing to colour of the background to create more depth, or adding more texture.

Research:

http://tomasandjones.blogspot.com/2011/05/its-darker-art.html

http://www.photopoly.net/30-wonderful-examples-of-scanography/

After researching Scanography artists, I've decided that a black background would be more effective for my scans and provide a deeper atmospher that i'm after. Black backgrounds can be created by leaving the scanner lid open or just simply placing black paper on top of your composition.

Those were the most successful scans so far but I still think I could develop my idea’s further, I might experiment with adding more acetate layers and try to add more texture I will also try using a black background rather than leaving the scanner lid open because I think this has resulted in a loss of colour in the leaves. I might also try to create more“light leaks” were the scanner light has reflected against the acetate. I think this piece would be more successful if it wasn’t so flat and there was more intensity in the colours.

To me these images are really personal, there about my struggle this year of dealing with death, after I lost someone really important to me to cancer. It’s been a tough year and these scans represent how the way i see the world has changed, however through this I have learned that you must have an end to have a beginning.

GILBERT AND GEORGE DISSCUSION

This week we watched a documentary about the artists Gilbert and George this sparked some really interesting discussions about their art.

There are aspects of Gilbert and George’s work that I would argue are shock for the sake of shocking but overall I can’t help but be intrigued by the way that they preserve and portray the world around them, I think that there is much more to them than a shock factor. In particular the way in which they see themselves as living sculptures, places themselves within and live their art is admirable and intriguing.

I personally think that they could have moved onto a digital format to create a disequilibrium, people have become familiar with their “style” and analogue processes, and that is what they expect to see when viewing their work. I think this change is not unlike the way in which they dramatically changed the way they work after The Nature of Our Looking, 1970 as they believed that the audiences were not receiving the full concepts of the work, instead, admiring the aesthetics and skill behind it. The new digital format seems more crude and shocking maybe even amateurish however they messages are still as poignant as ever it is just another way they can connect with an audience with the physical way of communicating ( their artworks) not getting in the way or disrupting what they wish to convey.

If you are interested in the work of Gilbert and George I would recomend watchting "With Gilbert and George" (2011)

IMAGE LAB 1 PINHOLE PHOTOGRAPHY

Over the past two weeks we have taken part in workshops with the renowned pinhole photographer Justin Quinell. It was a privilage to take part in these workshops and they reinforced the fact that with pinhole photography the possibilities are endless and the results are pretty magical.

I have worked with pinhole photography quite a lot before but the sessions with Justin were an invaluable learning curve

ADVANTAGES OF PINHOLE PHOTOGRAPHY

Infinite  depth of field

 Can create solargraphs, month long exposures tracking the sun

 Simplicity, this is probably the biggest benefit of pinhole, camera’s can be constructed out of almost anything, as long as its light tight.

Pinhole photography is unpredictable and invaluable for experimenting

My Carlsberg Camera

My inverted pinhole photographs.

Overall his enthusiasm was infectious, this was a great start to the unit!

Any one who is interested in Justin's work,I would really recomend checking out Mouthpiece, as well as visiting his website, which has tutorials to how to build your own pinhole camera's as well as links to other fantastic pinhole photographers.

Mouthpiece ISBN: 9781904587330

Justin's website : http://www.pinholephotography.org/

OTHER PINHOLE PHOTOGRAPHERS

Mark Tweedie

Katie Cooke

I have also found a fantastic article in Black and White photography issue 101 August 2009 about digital pinhole photography which is something that I experimented with last year, It also has a fantastic tutorial of how to make your own digital pinhole camera's.

My own Digital pinhole photographs from an experimentation series "I keep having dreams" for my Final major project of my art foundation