STILL LIFE EXPERIMENTS

STILL LIFE SHOOT

These were my first set of prints I took, I thought they were quite successful, with just the right amount contrast. I achieved this by shining a small move-able lamp around my object to have different sides which were lit with more light and others with less. They lack in strong shadows but I assume that was just from the position in which I took the photograph which meant you couldn't see it. However all in all I thought the came out good.

ANDRE KERTESZ-EDWARD WESTON

Andre Kertesz & Edward Weston

This photograph was taken by Andre Kertesz, named 'The Fork'. Kertesz was a Hungarian photographer. Born in 1894 and died in 1985. The subject matter of the photograph is simply a fork and a plate. I think that there is a deeper meaning in the photograph, as Kertesz has managed to capture simple, everyday objects which we as humans take for granted and has transformed it into something which will stay in the mind for a long time. In my opinion the meaning behind the fork, is that it could represent all the things we take for granted, but when captured in a single moment, we see how it is much more than a simple fork, as clearly we use it to eat, but when we do it brings us joy and how some who don't have a fork will never understand what that joy is. On first looking at it, you don't really quite understand what it is about, and in a way that is the beauty of it, because it makes you think, but then on looking at it and trying to understand you can see that maybe it has some form of a hidden meaning. 

The frame of the photograph can be considered a close up, with the fork being placed sideways on the plate, this creates really good shadows. The contrast in the image is really amazing, how he managed to get the right amount of darkness to compliment the lightness of certain areas. He uses the shadows to his advantage as they are really dark in comparison to the whiteness of the plate and the grey fork. I really like how he has arranged the image , everything seems to be in the right place as if they do belong there. 

In some ways I think the image was planned, maybe to provoke a response from the audience, but then it could also have been spontaneous. Kertesz used very dramatic lighting to cast does really dark shadows, the light seems to have been shone from the above which give the photograph that really nice contrast. I don't think Kertesz did anything much to his photography work, he seems to keep everything true to the original, there doesn't seem to be any cropping in his images or any form of editing as the photograph was taken in 1928 which meant he didn't have any form of modern technology to do anything really fancy to his work.

I think this work makes me really think that there are always two sides to everything. As even though the fork is light and contrasted the shadow it casts is very dark, which could represent us as human begins having two sides, and I think that even though the fork is an inanimate object it too has to sides. As even though its main function is for eating it can also cause harm if used in the wrong way. 

Kertesz's, the fork in comparison to Weston's pepper are quite different. The fork has a very defined form and is very crisp in focus. The lighting is very harsh and very precise, with the shadows falling in the right places. However Weston's 'Pepper' is more contemporary and a lot softer. With having such soft lighting the photograph almost looks like it was made with charcoal. The smudging of the background also adds to this.

I prefer Kertesz photograph as I like that fact that it is very crisp and in focus. The dark areas and light are clearly shown with the use of such high contrast.Whereas Weston's pepper is more fluid and not as contrasted, instead blending the colours together.
                                             

MIND MAP-LIGHT

Light Mind Map

ANALYSIS- DAVID BAILEY

David Bailey

The photograph was taken by David Bailey. Bailey was born in 1938 and is still alive today at the age of 74. He is regarded as one of the best British photographers. I choose to look at the photograph of Jack Nicholson as it seemed to me, to be one of the most interesting of Bailey photos. I also tried to achieve a similar look with my own photographs with the use of artificial lights.

Lomography

To gain a better understanding into Bailey's work I looked at a magazine article from 'Lomography' which talks about the 'Swinging Sixties' era, which cam about when Bailey and other photographers Terence Donovan and Brian Duffy, began a culture celebrating high fashion. They mainly associated with famous actors, actresses and musicians which resulted in most of his photographers being of well known people. I would say that the genre of the design is definitely portraiture as it is a close up of Jack Nicholson, with the focal point being his quite disturbing facial expression. I am not so sure if there is a theme for this photograph, but when searching for the image I did come across that it was under the label 'Legends', and Jack Nicholson can be considered as such for his iconic movie 'The Shining'. The subject of the work as mentioned is Jack Nicholson a famous actor in hollywood and it is quite likely that the photograph was taken around the same time as the movie, 'The Shining' as this was were he was at the height of his career.

The photograph was captured using a simple black and white, film SLR, which was pretty much all he could he use as at the time the photograph was taken there wasn't any digital cameras. Bailey used a very strong lighting form, with light only shining from one side of his face, whilst the other was quite dark in comparison. I assume he used a fast shutter speed to capture the photograph. The high contrast in the dark areas of the photograph make it seem more sinister and quite scary. Also the shadows in his face help to highlight the wrinkles on his face. His expression seems to be one of pain, as he doesn't seem to be angry because his eyes aren't wide open, instead they are shut as if he is crying. Nicholson's expression in this photograph could reflect his character 'Jack Torrance' in The shining.

In my opinion I really like the photograph the emotion he is portraying is really strong. The contrast of the dark areas and light areas are perfect, there is enough dark areas to bring about that sinister mood, however there is enough light areas that you can still see the details in his face. Since knowing each other I would associate Bailey's work with that of Terrence Donvan. Bailey's work has inspired to be more adventrous with lighting and to use it to my advantage.

MOOD BOARD-LIGHT PROJECT

Mood Board-Light Photography

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.

STILL LIFE

Still Life Photography

This piece of photography is done by Andre Kertesz- The Fork.

Kertesz was Hungarian, 1894-1985. His image, The Fork (1928) was is Kertesz most famous work from this period. It was taken with an SLR Film camera in Black and white. The light seems to be shone from above because of where the shadows is placed and the light areas seem to be more on the tops of the fork.

Photograph by David Bailey- The Rolling Stones. Bailey is a british photographer born in 1938. Most of his work was done around the 1960's, they are also mainly black and white. He photographed many celebrities and done images for Vogue Magazine.  The light in the image of The Rolling Stones is mainly on the faces, they are also wearing dark clothes which helps with the contrast between the light and the dark. The background is also dark.

This photograph is done by Edgar Martins from the Dimishing Project 2003/2005. He is a Portuguese photographer but works in the UK. He likes to take pictures during sunrise, day time, night time. He takes images of street lights, cars, runways, and he also visits location which means he uses natural light.

Picasso light painting- centaur. Picasso is spanish 1881-1973. The photograph was taken in a dark room, using 2 cameras, one for side view and the other for front view. He left the shutters open  which meant he was able the catch the light streaks swriling.

LIGHT PROJECT-BRIEF

Light Project Brief

EVALUATION- EVERYDAY LIFE

Evaluation

I was quite pleased with my final prints, I think that they are quite 

contrasted due to them being in black and white and the subject links to the theme of everyday life. However I was displeased that my coloured photographs didn't come out as well as I had hoped, they were either too dark in some places or not in focus, so instead I decided to stick to my black and white prints. I did find that taking the photographs proved to be a challenge because each time I had to ensure that the lighting was good and that the image was in focus which is quite hard to do on a film SLR. Also developing the images wasn't too difficult, however making sure that you exposed the film for the right amount of time and had the correct filters on was a bit of hassle and at times I did forget to check everything which could have been the cause of not having very successful images. I enjoyed all the techniques I was taught throughout the project, especially the slow shutter speed because I really do think that it makes the image more alive and and adds a lot of movement if done right. If I had to do anything differently it would be to retake my coloured film photos, because I was really disappointed when they didn't come out like I had hoped and also because I really like the theme I was given and also looking at Tom Wood's coloured photographs I had hopes mine would turn out similar. As mentioned I was really influenced by Tom Wood's photography because his work is pretty much about capturing normal everyday life as that is the basis of his work. but also the black and white nature of Jason Martini's photographs.

Overall I really did enjoy the project, and also the theme was really good, I hoped we were given a little bit more time to take all of our photographs though.

ANALYSIS [FINAL PIECE]- TOM WOOD

TOM WOOD

This amazing photograph was taken by Tom Wood. Tom Wood was born in Ireland, 14 January 1951 and is a street photographer based and working in England. He has had solo shows and his work has been collected in five books. This photograph is called 'Mirror Mersey' and was taken in 1989. The work was exhibited in the Photographers Gallery and it was the first major UK show of photographer Tom Wood, since 1973 until the early 2000's. The exhibition was simply called 'Men and Women'. I choose to mainly look at Tom Wood's work for my final piece as I felt really inspired by his photography and I really liked the retro vibe it has. Also because it was taken at a different time period, the fashion is obviously different and I think this also adds to the retro-ness of the pictures.  

To better understand Wood's work I looked at the whole collection of photographs for this exhibition.

MEN AND WOMEN

I also read an interview he did for the guardian which also has mentions of the Men and Women exhibition. 

Guardian Interview

"I'm just interested in good photographs," he says, shrugging. "I'm not a documentarist. I'm not trying to document anything. It's more about deciphering and transforming. I make what you might call real-life photographs."

In my opinion Tom Wood's work are portraits but some could argue that it's not. I think that the main theme (if there is one) is everyday life. His photographs are just of people living their everyday life and he happens to come along and take a photograph. I don't think there is a deeper meaning to his work, as he says he is only interested in a good photographs and he doesn't want to seem like he is documenting these people. 

I don't think that Wood's photography isn't too complicated and he hasn't used many fancy tricks, he simply just saw his subject, insured the light was good and snapped away. Although for some of his shoots were it gives the illusion of movement he may have used a slow shutter speed to capture the movement. The colour of his photographs has got to be my favourite part of his work, I really like how the clothes due to their era are quite bright in comparison to the background.

I choose to look at his work because I really like the era that his pictures were taken and how much colour there is in his work. This work had inspired me to think a little less about trying to achieve the perfect picture, I also liked his subject matter of catching everyday people go about their lives.