Rain, rain go away...

While writing this last post, I am currently sitting by a window, staring outside at...a rainy, miserable day. So, I thought it would be appropriate to look at a few talented photographer's rain images. 

I hope the weather changes so that I can take some photographs of the beautiful English summer (when it eventually decides to arrive!), so in the meantime - bye! :)

A Review

So, even though I have written about this particular exhibition for my Exhibition Review, I have decided to write a small piece about it on my blog. I went to see Piers Rawson's exhibition in New Milton which wa called, "Small Moments: The Human Face of Semana Santa". I have never really been into history and culture, however, I decided to look at a smaller exhibition which looked at exactly that. 


"Carrying just a single, unobtrusive camera, photographer Piers Rawson spent several days on the streets of Seville during the Semana Santa Easter celebrations.

Rawson was looking for the more intimate, human face and telling details behind the solemn outward formality and religious fervour of the Spanish Holy Week. Behind the showy theatricality and emotional intensity of the famous processions, this is a time for families, for commercial opportunities and for the display of social status."

I did enjoy the exhibition, and the work that was hung at New Milton. However, I was disappointed with the way that the exhibition was laid out. There were thirty images, all displayed throughout two different rooms. However, they all seemed very scattered with no real order. I think that the exhibition would have almost made more sense if they were in a particular order, and all in a straight line across the walls, rather than muddled and on different levels. 

However, the work that I saw was outstanding. The way that Rawson went around with nobody noticing was brilliant and the way that he composed the images is thoughtful and interesting. Although all of the images are in black and white, I do not think that was colour is necessary because he was trying to portray the way that the people were celebrating, not anything else; so I don't think that colour was important. 

Back to the Future

Wow...this is probably the most simple portraiture I have seen, but some of the most effective. Irina Werning is a photographer who loves to look at other peoples’ old photographs, but instead of just admiring the photos, she wonders how people would feel and look if they were to reenact the same photos today.

The project, called 'Back To The Future' features a series of her photographs of individuals and groups of people reenacting a photograph that was taken in their past (usually quite a few years ago).

The results are beautiful. You can tell just from one photo that a lot of work has been put into research, locations and props for each shoot – even time and money has been put towards finding the same (or similar) object in the background, such as wallpaper, curtains or costume.

I absolutely love these images, and the fact that each element of the photos are reenacted makes them even more creative and interesting. I like the way that she has chosen a variety of different backgrounds and ages of the people. This definitely makes the project more interesting than choosing a lot of the same kind of pictures. Anyway, I really do like this project and am looking into doing my own version in the near future!

365 days

Last October, Portland based 17 year old photographer Brendon Burton began an ambitious project in which he committed to creating one self-portrait every day for a year. Now, half a year later, Burton is still going strong and his Flickr photo-stream is full of beautiful and creative images that show his development as a photographer. 

When a lot of people think of self portraits, they think of a simple image showing their own face, not doing anything particularly exciting. For a 17 year old to come up with such creative images, and to display them online is really inspiring. From looking at this site, I have decided to produce my own self portrait project starting at the beginning of next year. I do not want my series of work to be boring or tedious to the viewers. I want it to portray me as a person, through the environment that I am photographed in, the clothes I am wearing and my expression from day to day; just as Burton has done here. 

But its just a phone!

I have recently been interested in looking at different styles of camera and photography. From some research, I came across a competition for the best mobile phone photograph. I was not expecting much because, personally, the camera on my phone is not the best. However, the entries for each category were well presented and well composed. My favourite would have to be the winner for the 'infrastructure' category: 

Although there were a limited number of categories, the images selected to win are really creative seeing as they were only using a mobile phone. Even though some of the images are fairly simple, I like the way that they have managed to use depth of field and shutter speed on their phones, making them look professional and interesting. 

A lot of people have recently argued that Apps such as 'Instagram' are ruining photography because there is nothing to it - you just take a photo with a click of a button, and then choose between a few filters to make the image look worthy. However, I disagree with this view, because I feel that mobile photography is a different kind of photography. People always carry their phone with them, whereas a lot of people do not carry a camera. This means that lots more people (not always photographers) have the chance to capture a moment in time, rather than think 'oh I don't have my camera with me...'

Fake

I recently read an article about an anorexic girl who strongly believes that airbrushing should be banned when photographers are editing images for the public eye. The 21 year old from Warrington suffered from anorexia throughout her teenage years and had been given 48 hours to live. She says her eating disorder was made worse by photoshopped pictures of celebrities in magazines. This made me think, why do so many girls aspire to look like magazine models? What is so good about being skinny and glamourous? Also, why is it so acceptable that so many young girls are making themselves thinner just to look like these women?

"The Home Office review Sexualisation of young people has recommended that airbrushed images used within the media should be indicated with a symbol, and that age restrictions should be introduced on 'lads' magazines'.

Unite/CPHVA Health Visitor Forum chair Maggie Fisher stated: 'These recommendations are a good way forward. Airbrushed images of models are giving children and young people a false view of how "normal" people look, and are creating a unhealthy environment where we are not valuing individuals who are perceived as "less than perfect".' I completely agree with this view, and the fact that photography is having such a big impact on young people today is almost disturbing. From smoothing skin and getting rid of wrinkles, to enlarging muscles and slimming waists, airbrushing men and women to almost ''perfection'' has become the absolute norm in the advertising media. These images don't reflect reality at all, yet from a younger and younger age, people are aspiring to these impossible bodies. 

The art of airbrushing is so simple that there is no excuse for an image to hit the front of a magazine without a little tweaking. Add a little tan, nip a little waist, slightly larger breasts and wallah! But...I think the impact of the airbrushing is not completely realized as almost every women's magazine uses it to change the way the models look. But why? What is so wrong with a natural body? I suppose it is just one of those questions that is yet to be answered...

Dramagraphies

This week, I was having a flick through 'F Stop' and the featured artist was really interesting to me. The photographer was Michel Lagarde, and his featured pieces were a series of self portraits. The reason I have chosen to blog about his work is because I found it really appealing how every single image was different to the next. He was dressed differently, in a different place, pulling a different expression. I could not help but look at every single image to see quite how much they differed. 

The creativity with Lagarde's portraits are second to none, and have really inspired me to look more into self portraits. It has shown me that taking a picture of yourself does not have to be simple and it does not have to be vain. His way of showing himself in different environments is creative and really interesting to the eye. "Talking about my work is quite difficult for me, lets just say that this project is a result of practising different forms of art and that I wanted to put together: in theatre, both as an actor and a decorator - painting, photography and the pleasure of ''story telling''. Recomposing photos where all these different forms of art are present, but most of all showing a snapshot of images in my head which have been formed since childhood." 

"It is not so much of myself that appears in "Dramagraphies", it is rather the different roles that I have interpreted as an actor. Having that distance is important as less of me project in these images rather than keeping them within me. Naturally, the images come from within me, but I am not relating my life, I am having fun interpreting them without any regard for my physical appearance, which I tend to deform more than anything else."

Gunter Brus

Wow, so, from reading 'The Photo Book', I came across the 'Self Portrait' project by Gunter Brus. The images took my by surprise because they are rather disturbing...yet intriguing. Brus covered himself in a whit paste, and marked with a brush a line of what might be dark stitches from his scalp to his neck. It really looks as if he has been opened up and put back together again. 

The make up skills that Brus has shown in this project are superb and really creative. I particularly like the way that he has chosen to show one piece of apparatus that could have given him the injury in each image. This makes the viewer wonder what happened to him and what was his inspiration - was his inspiration a real life event? So, apart from the really creative art work on his own face, Brus really involves the viewer by giving off some mixed narratives. It reminds me of Orlan; an artist who had a variety of plastic surgery on herself in the name of art; to be something completely different and to push the boundaries of the art world. Although this is not as dramatic and permanent, it does remind me of the story because Brus has changed the way he looks in the name of art. Also, to some it may be quite disturbing, as the work or Orlan was to me.

Interesting

While researching, I came across a rather different look at Photography. It was called '100 photos taken at unusual angles' - although the site is intended for a humorous purpose, I found the images really clever and interesting. The majority of the images have been set up to look a certain way:

And some were simply a misjudgment of the angle...

I think that these images, where the composition is not intended to be a certain way, are incredibly creative and interesting to the eye. All are down to a talented photographer who caught each shot at a fantastic moment in time. 

Life Hurts

I came across Zach Gold while undergoing some research for another project. In all honesty, I liked every single piece of Gold's work. In particular I really enjoyed his series of work, "Life Hurts". This project portrays a number of images showing people clearly hurting themselves. They are all in black and white, bu I think this added contrast really emphasizes what is being shown in the photos.

The images that I have chosen here would have to be my favourite. Gold has captured each incident either in mid air or during it happening. I think this is both clever and visually aesthetic. The fact that each image has the words 'life hurts' printed clearly over the situation, makes the viewer engage more with what is actually happening.

Kurt Wenner

'3d Street Art', also known as '3d chalk art' is 2-dimensional artwork drawn on the street itself that gives you a 3-dimensional optical illusion from a certain perspective. It can be very breathtaking, realistic and at the same time very captivating once you get the angle right. Kurt Wenner is best known for his 3d Street Art and has made it a craze around the world. I first came across it on Facebook and now 3d street arists are gaining much popularity these days. Famous brands are already taking advantage of the public’s curiosity on 3D street paintings to create awareness for their new products. 

I decided to write a post on this 3d art because the first time that I saw it, I was totally mesmerized and gobsmacked. It is so incredibly clever and original, and I had never seen anything like it before. It makes me think, 'could I do something like that if I put my creative skills to the test?' Probably not. But worth a try one day I think... 

Some of my work - Definitely a proud moment

In March this year, I volunteered to do some event photography for a local music festival, which was organised by a 3rd year Music Journalism student. My role as photographer was to use VIP access to capture a variety of shots of each of the 10 acts. The festival was a huge success and I was really happy with the images that I got out of the experience. The festival itself was based outside the Guildhall in the town centre, and the students had set up a stage and a DJ tent for people to enjoy for no charge. 'Smile in the Square' was a brilliant day for me, as a photographer, because it gave me some extra experience in event photography. Here are just a few of the shots:

This experience was one that I will remember for a long time, and the images will all be revealed in my portfolio. I took over 600 images during the day, and  have narrowed them down to only 300-400. The guys who led the festival should be incredibly proud, as I got to see first hand all of the preparation that went into it. It really made me think about the fact that all musical acts come from small local bands - so all of the acts that I photographed could one day be as big as some of the worldwide artists that we see today.

Girls, Girls, Girls

From doing a lot of research into portraits in my Representation project, it reminded me of an exhibition that I visited a few years ago - Women of Our Time: Twentieth–Century Photographs from the National Portrait Gallery 


"This critically acclaimed exhibition is a stunning collection of photographic portraits of women whose brilliance, courage, style, and unflagging spirit have helped shape America as we know it." - National Portrait Gallery website

For me personally, this exhibition was incredibly inspiring as a woman, to do exactly what I want, when I want to do it. The empowerment of women is so important to our lives today, and this exhibition really put it into perspective. My favourite image that was up, was the picture of Marilyn Monroe, because she, to me, is one of the most inspiring women of all time. She is sexy, elegant and inspirational to everyone. In each image, the composition shows the woman in the centre of the frame, so that the eye is drawn directly to them, rather than to anything else in the image. It is almost like the women are empowering the images themselves, rather than being in a vulnerable state, like in a lot of photographs. 

100 Years Ago...

So, as it is the 100th anniversary of the sailing of the Titanic, I thought I would do a bit of research into a photographer who was actually on board the ship. Father Frank Browne spent only a small amount of time on the ship, but the priest captured some of the most iconic and enduring images of the ship - images upon which our naiive modern-day knowledge of the interior of Titanic and the atmosphere on board are based. Father Browne was so much more than an amateur photographer who snapped away. The fact that he has captured real people going about their business on board ship, and that the majority of those people were dead a few days later makes his images interesting and treasured. 


He really knew the value of what he had captured because in the Spring of 1913 he contacted the White Star Line’s advertising department to seek permission to use photographs and further materials in his lectures on Titanic. The reply he received was astonishing. “We shall be glad to obtain photographs of the illustrations to which you allude in the Olympic booklet but shall appreciate it if in any lectures you deliver you will abstain from any reference to the Titanic as you will easily understand we do not wish the memory of this calamity to be perpetuated.” In the end, a good story could not be kept down and Father Browne’s pictures were central to its telling over the past century. 

"Photographer Father Francis Browne Year 1912 Location Cork Francis Browne received two gifts from his uncle Robert that would change his life. The first was a camera, given to him when he was 17 as he left his native Ireland to tour Europe. The second was a first-class ticket for the first leg of the RMS Titanic's maiden voyage in April 1912, when he was 32. 
Consequently, Browne, a trainee priest at the time, produced dozens of photographs documenting life aboard the most famous ship to set sail. 
On his passage from Southampton to Cork, Browne was befriended by an American couple whom he met in the firstclass dining saloon. The couple, who were millionaires, offered to pay for him to continue his voyage to New York. He telegraphed his superior to ask permission to stay. The reply was short but indisputably clear: "Get off that ship - Provincial." - The Times, 2010. This was incredibly ironic and fortunate, because now we get to enjoy his fantastic photography that is now celebrated for the ship's 100th anniversary. 

Analogue V Digital

I fail to understand the big deal of digital photography replacing analogue photography. It is usually perceived as two completely different things, when they are not. Just like most things in this world, photography has evolved into a digital form. For example, music - the days where cassettes get stuck in tape players are long gone! Like different lenses have different uses, analog and digital photography have their respective places. Both have their pros and cons to the individual photographer and I do not think that one is better than the other by any stretch of the imagination.

Analogue Photography
The term analogue refers to cameras, which use film as the printing medium for photographs. They are then produced in analogue, using a chemical process.

Film cameras have the advantage of being quite cheap as compared to digital cameras of the same quality, but on the other hand, buying film and developing rolls can get expensive (as I have realized through my time as a photographer!). Analogue cameras have 35 mm film; hence the light covers a bigger area than digital cameras.

The main disadvantage of an analogue camera is for beginners; they would need to note down the camera settings, before actually taking pictures. Different effects on pictures, which result from developing, also need to be looked at.

The most important advantage of an analogue camera, the reason why most photographers choose it, is the picture quality. The picture quality that can be achieved with a film camera is incredibly high and the images turn out extremely sharp and precise. The reason behind this is the chemical reaction which takes place when light from the shutter touches the film, and as a result an exact representation of the object is created. This is not possible with a digital camera. 

For me personally, I find that analogue photography is much more rewarding that digital. Yes, it does take a lot of work and precision, but when you walk out of that dark room with a perfect print, nothing else matters.

Digital Photography
Digital photography is no different from film photography, as matter of fact the style and technique used is actually same, except for just one aspect. The distinction between digital and analogue photography is that traditional film is replaced by a charged coupled device, 'which contains tiny grids containing millions of photosensitive elements.'

Where digital cameras are concerned, there’s no clumsy process to put any film in, no fear of film exposure and no worry about wasting frames. Digital cameras store the images they capture on storage cards so you can view your pictures immediately - you could keep an image if you liked it you or else just delete it, simple! 

Beginners should be advised to start with the digital photography, and improve their mistakes in the shots. The cycle of improvement is so important to photography. Additionally, analogue is inconvenient if the photographer's knowledge is limited, and it also winds up being pretty expensive.

There are other functions in digital cameras, like 'anti-shake' which helps to take sharper imagers without a tripod. It is possible to change the ISO speed settings easily in the middle of shooting, and there is no need to worry about weather changes. On other hand, analogue photography means having new film where the ISO speed has to be loaded. It is possible to take a picture in different formats, like black and white, or sepia with or without photoshop. It is possible to just plug in a camera and shoot.

So, personally I do not have a preference, as there are pros and cons to both the style of camera. I think that to me, there are times that I can use both cameras, and times when it is not relevant to use a particular style of camera. I think that taking a quick-shot fashion shoot would require a digital camera, but for a more meaningful landscape shoot, for example, an analogue camera would be more relevant. It totally depends on the photographer and the shoot - but neither are 'better' than the other.

Diving into Photography

One of the best experiences I have ever been through would have to be my underwater photo shoot. One of the main inspirations from this particular shoot was Zena Holloway. Her work is all based on a typical fashion shoot, except it is always shot underwater. I found this incredibly interesting and somewhat different, so decided to give it a go myself. Here are a few pieces of Holloway's work: 

From looking at Holloway's work, this gave me the push to try an underwater shoot myself. I rented out part of a local swimming pool and used one model. I used a disposable underwater camera and swan behind the model as she flipped and dived in and around the water. The images came out really well, so I decided to add to them by scanning in painted paper and a variety of collage pieces to add to the photos. I was slightly disappointed with the quality of the images because some of them came out incredibly grainy. This was because I had used a disposable camera, and not a professional underwater camera. My model was incredibly patient because I wanted the photos to be unique. I decided that I did no want my model to wear any floating clothes like in Holloway's, so that I could pick up the flow of the water, rather than the eye being drawn straight to the clothes in the image. Well, anyway, here they are...