Throughout the whole of unit 1, I have researched many artists to look for inspiration. While researching the chosen artists, I have evaluated their work; exploring the photographers for their techniques to help me develop an idea for a final piece. During this unit I feel that I have become more creative in taking or making images. I also feel that I have learnt a lot in this unit as I know now that you can use chemicals to make images and I have also learnt how to use editing softwares, such as Photoshop to edit my images. The first thing that I had done in unit 1 was to analyse images and artist; answering questions on how the images expressed the photographer's intentions and feelings, how an image can make a person feel sympathy/sadness/happiness, how an image can engage a viewer attention, how can an image communicate something that words cannot, etc. While evaluating these images and answering these questions, I then got a better understanding of what a good image should be like.
After evaluating on what a good image should be like I then moved on to techniques and processes. These included cyanotypes, photograms, pinhole photography and light painting. Cyanotype is a photographic printing process that gives a Cyan-blue print. A photogram is a photo which objects are exposed to light. Objects are placed on a light sensitive surface such as photographic paper and then exposing it to light. Where the object was placed the surface would stay white because it received no light. However where the surface area that received light it would turn black or grey depending on how long you expose it to light. For both of these techniques they require a darkroom for the image to work, luckily in our school we had the facilities, which gave us the chance to experiment and try out new techniques, such as cyanotypes and photograms. A pinhole camera is a simple camera without a lens and with a single small aperture. Light from a scene passes through this single point and projects an inverted image on the opposite side of the box, where there will be photographic paper.Pinhole images are softer – less sharp – than pictures made with a lenses. Light painting is a photographic technique usually performed at night or in a dark area where a photographer introduces different lighting elements during a single long exposure photograph. For each one of the techniques and processes I have researched artists who did similar work and evaluated some of their images to get some inspiration and to see how the image should look like. After doing this I experimented and made some images inspired by the artists that have researched; I then evaluated my own work picking out what went well and even better if's. While researching these techniques and processes it has helped me familiarise with the different resources and techniques that are available.
Continuing on from this I then started my first personal project which was Mobile Photography. To start off this personal project I first researched what mobile photography was; which is simply what it sounds like;. taking images using mobile devices. I also wrote about how changing the formal elements in a photo to change how it looks. For example focusing on only one of the formal elements in the image. The artist that I research in this project was Misho Baranovic, after researching a little about him I then went on to evaluating one of his images to see how he took it and what formal elements he had in them. what I really liked about Misho Baranovic was that he I able to take an image of something very simple and natural, but make it seem very unique and somewhat planned out. However after more research on him I found out that he was a street photographer as well as a mobile photographer, which literally means what it says. This then explains how he can take a natural image but make it look well planned and thought out. After fully researching an artist and fully understanding what mobile photography is, I started experimenting and made some images inspired by Misho Baranovic. After taking some images I evaluated them so I know what I did well and what I could improve on next time.
The second personal project was Street Photography. To start of this project we were given a video to watch to get an overview on how street photography was done and what it is. The video also gave us a list of photographers whose work was based on street photography; from that list the artist that I chose to research was Rebecca Lepkoff. Her photography captured people in the streets, especially children, as well as the buildings and the signs on storefronts. After researching a little about her; I made a slideshow of her images that I liked the most. I then evaluated one of her images; talking about the composition if the image and whether the image being in black and white or color would be better, etc. After doing this evaluation it has helped me to have a better understanding of street photography and what a street photograph should look like. Eventually, I went out to take some images based on street photography. The 1st set of images was taken in school, so I felt that the images were repetitive as my surroundings were very limited, this also caused some of my images to be similar to some of my classmates images as we were all in the same area. However, even though of all these barriers I still managed to take 14 images that I thought fitted into the criteria of street photography. After taking these images I evaluated them to see what I did well on and what I could improve on next time, I did this to an image that I thought worked out the best and to an image that I though that didn't work out well, doing this helped me to find out what I could improve on next time when refining my work. After initially doing this first photo shoot, we moved on as a whole class to ‘ why photographers use cropping and shadows in their images’. To start of this small sub topic, I wrote a small paragraph explaining why cropping and shows are used in images. I then went out to take images again but this time making sure to involve cropping and shadows. Similar to what I have done with my previous photoshoot, I have evaluated this photoshoot with what went well (WWW) and even better if (EBI), helping me to understand what I could improve on. Eventually we had the chance to take some street photography styled images outside of school, which helped me broaden my ideas on street photography as my surrounds were not limited. However after this we then carried on as a whole class working on more elements that would be in an image.
The third personal project was a project where we were able to pick the theme ourselves and I decided to do Openings. To start off this project I made a small plan stating what I was planning to do within this project. I then made a pinterest board, pinning images for inspiration. After the initial planning I then moved on to artist research. The first artist that I researched was Clarence John Laughlin and Joel Meryerowitz, doing this initial research helped me to start to understand about this project. After researching about them I went on to evaluation on of their works, hoping to gain more ideas and inspirations. After gaining a few ideas I went out to take images. With the inspiration from the artist research I had managed to take 9 images that I thought showed ‘openings’. Like always after taking these images I evaluated them writing WWW and EBI. After doing this I had realised that I wasn't really happy with the 1st photo shoot, so I decided to do more artist research. This then lead me to find an image by Andrew Frederick, that had really inspired me. After finding this really inspiring image I did experiments based on that images, which I then wrote a fully developed evaluation on WWW and EBI. I had also chose out the images that i though that worked well and images that didn't think worked well. After getting some help from my teacher and peers on what I could change next time, I came to the conclusion that i should try changing the shape of the hole on the paper making it as unique as possible. With this new idea in mind, I went out to experiment more; in the end creating 12 images improved from the last set. After this I was running out of ideas so I went on Pinterest to look for more artist that gave me inspiration, this was when I came across Josef Sudek who had a series of images taken from an opening in a window and another artist that I came across was Lee Friedlander who had a series of images from a car window. Both of these artist gave more inspiration for my next experiment. After doing this I started thinking about the way my final pieces should be displayed; I got some ideas for displaying from Pinterest. After deciding on how the images should be displayed, I had made the decision to put forward 2 final pieces which was, Andrew Frederic inspired images, Through a paper hole and Lee Friedlander inspired images, cars.
The fourth personal project was about Abstraction. Similar to how I had started Personal Project 3: Openings, I started project 4 with a small plan, a pinterest board showing images that inspire me for this project and the definition of ‘Abstract. After looking at more images on pinterest I had found 2 artist that I found really inspiring for this project, which were Marc Yankus and Bill Jacobson. Both of these artist were using focus as their main formal element in their images. Same as before for all artist that I have researched, I evaluated on of their works to get a better understanding and to see how they took their images. We had to then decide on a theme that we would have to stick to throughout the whole project, so I decided that my theme should be Focus. My first photoshoot was done at home and was mainly inspired by Bill jacobson and his bokeh images.This lead me to taking images off fairy light making them out of focus which make the image seem bokeh. After this initial photoshoot, I took more images focusing on focus in school, after evaluating these images, I found out that if i was change on of the images into black and white to make them seem more unique or to add more formal elements into my images so there is a variety of formal elements. I then went on to take more image at home but focusing more on edges and lines but still making sure to focus on focus. After taking more images I made sure to write about my planning and development, which was when i grouped my images into similar groups so that I could see what would look better as a final piece. This the helped me to make a decision on what final pieces that i should put forward, in the end i decided to put 3 sets of images as my final piece.
The fifth personal project was contrats. Starting of this project with a photo shoot of black and white portraits, within these images we had to make sure that the lighting was just right to create a good contrast in the images. After evaluating these images, we were given an artist to research on and that was Edward Western, continuing from this research we had to create images responding to Edward Western images. Another artist that I researched was Trent Parke, who was an artist who used harsh light to create a contrast within an image. Responding to Trent Parke, I then created 7 images inspired by him, this then helped me develop more ideas about the basics of contrast. After more research, I then figured out that there are many ways in which an image can be showing contrast instead of just black and white, for example the contrast between nature and humans. I then did more artist research and found an artist that inspired me to create my final piece which was, Christoffer Relander, he is an artist that used double exposure to show the contrast between humans and nature. I then started experimenting using an online software called Picmonkey to make a double exposure between nature and humans. I also used another online software called Clipping magic to make the backgrounds of images white or plain to make the contrast stand out more. However after after using this online software, when my mages were printed it would make the image look very grainy and pixilated. To overcome this problem I figured out that I should have taken a photo with a plain background already so all I had to do was to put another layer over it making a double exposure. When using this method, the printed out image was not grainy or pixilated.
The sixth personal project was Absurd. Similar to how I has started all the other personal projects, I started this one the same; definition and pinterest board. I then evaluated two absurd images to get a better understanding of what an absurd image looks like. To start of this project the whole class did the subtopic of hide. After taking 2 set of hide images we then moved onto another sub topic which was signs. Being inspired by David Shrigley's images 4 sets of images in response to his images. After this there was another subtopic, which was forced perspectives. After evaluating an image from forced perspectives, I took 3 sets of images in responses to that image. Doing all these subtopics , I the had a better understanding of abused images. Following on from all these subtopic, I did more artist esearch and ofun an artist that really interested me, which was Marcel van der Vlugt. Inspired by her work I created a set of images in response to her work. After this I found another artist that did similar work but digitally who was Mihaela Lvanova. After looking at some of her images, I made my own set of images in response to her images. I then used these images as my final pieces for this project.
After evaluating on what a good image should be like I then moved on to techniques and processes. These included cyanotypes, photograms, pinhole photography and light painting. Cyanotype is a photographic printing process that gives a Cyan-blue print. A photogram is a photo which objects are exposed to light. Objects are placed on a light sensitive surface such as photographic paper and then exposing it to light. Where the object was placed the surface would stay white because it received no light. However where the surface area that received light it would turn black or grey depending on how long you expose it to light. For both of these techniques they require a darkroom for the image to work, luckily in our school we had the facilities, which gave us the chance to experiment and try out new techniques, such as cyanotypes and photograms. A pinhole camera is a simple camera without a lens and with a single small aperture. Light from a scene passes through this single point and projects an inverted image on the opposite side of the box, where there will be photographic paper.Pinhole images are softer – less sharp – than pictures made with a lenses. Light painting is a photographic technique usually performed at night or in a dark area where a photographer introduces different lighting elements during a single long exposure photograph. For each one of the techniques and processes I have researched artists who did similar work and evaluated some of their images to get some inspiration and to see how the image should look like. After doing this I experimented and made some images inspired by the artists that have researched; I then evaluated my own work picking out what went well and even better if's. While researching these techniques and processes it has helped me familiarise with the different resources and techniques that are available.
Continuing on from this I then started my first personal project which was Mobile Photography. To start off this personal project I first researched what mobile photography was; which is simply what it sounds like;. taking images using mobile devices. I also wrote about how changing the formal elements in a photo to change how it looks. For example focusing on only one of the formal elements in the image. The artist that I research in this project was Misho Baranovic, after researching a little about him I then went on to evaluating one of his images to see how he took it and what formal elements he had in them. what I really liked about Misho Baranovic was that he I able to take an image of something very simple and natural, but make it seem very unique and somewhat planned out. However after more research on him I found out that he was a street photographer as well as a mobile photographer, which literally means what it says. This then explains how he can take a natural image but make it look well planned and thought out. After fully researching an artist and fully understanding what mobile photography is, I started experimenting and made some images inspired by Misho Baranovic. After taking some images I evaluated them so I know what I did well and what I could improve on next time.
The second personal project was Street Photography. To start of this project we were given a video to watch to get an overview on how street photography was done and what it is. The video also gave us a list of photographers whose work was based on street photography; from that list the artist that I chose to research was Rebecca Lepkoff. Her photography captured people in the streets, especially children, as well as the buildings and the signs on storefronts. After researching a little about her; I made a slideshow of her images that I liked the most. I then evaluated one of her images; talking about the composition if the image and whether the image being in black and white or color would be better, etc. After doing this evaluation it has helped me to have a better understanding of street photography and what a street photograph should look like. Eventually, I went out to take some images based on street photography. The 1st set of images was taken in school, so I felt that the images were repetitive as my surroundings were very limited, this also caused some of my images to be similar to some of my classmates images as we were all in the same area. However, even though of all these barriers I still managed to take 14 images that I thought fitted into the criteria of street photography. After taking these images I evaluated them to see what I did well on and what I could improve on next time, I did this to an image that I thought worked out the best and to an image that I though that didn't work out well, doing this helped me to find out what I could improve on next time when refining my work. After initially doing this first photo shoot, we moved on as a whole class to ‘ why photographers use cropping and shadows in their images’. To start of this small sub topic, I wrote a small paragraph explaining why cropping and shows are used in images. I then went out to take images again but this time making sure to involve cropping and shadows. Similar to what I have done with my previous photoshoot, I have evaluated this photoshoot with what went well (WWW) and even better if (EBI), helping me to understand what I could improve on. Eventually we had the chance to take some street photography styled images outside of school, which helped me broaden my ideas on street photography as my surrounds were not limited. However after this we then carried on as a whole class working on more elements that would be in an image.
The third personal project was a project where we were able to pick the theme ourselves and I decided to do Openings. To start off this project I made a small plan stating what I was planning to do within this project. I then made a pinterest board, pinning images for inspiration. After the initial planning I then moved on to artist research. The first artist that I researched was Clarence John Laughlin and Joel Meryerowitz, doing this initial research helped me to start to understand about this project. After researching about them I went on to evaluation on of their works, hoping to gain more ideas and inspirations. After gaining a few ideas I went out to take images. With the inspiration from the artist research I had managed to take 9 images that I thought showed ‘openings’. Like always after taking these images I evaluated them writing WWW and EBI. After doing this I had realised that I wasn't really happy with the 1st photo shoot, so I decided to do more artist research. This then lead me to find an image by Andrew Frederick, that had really inspired me. After finding this really inspiring image I did experiments based on that images, which I then wrote a fully developed evaluation on WWW and EBI. I had also chose out the images that i though that worked well and images that didn't think worked well. After getting some help from my teacher and peers on what I could change next time, I came to the conclusion that i should try changing the shape of the hole on the paper making it as unique as possible. With this new idea in mind, I went out to experiment more; in the end creating 12 images improved from the last set. After this I was running out of ideas so I went on Pinterest to look for more artist that gave me inspiration, this was when I came across Josef Sudek who had a series of images taken from an opening in a window and another artist that I came across was Lee Friedlander who had a series of images from a car window. Both of these artist gave more inspiration for my next experiment. After doing this I started thinking about the way my final pieces should be displayed; I got some ideas for displaying from Pinterest. After deciding on how the images should be displayed, I had made the decision to put forward 2 final pieces which was, Andrew Frederic inspired images, Through a paper hole and Lee Friedlander inspired images, cars.
The fourth personal project was about Abstraction. Similar to how I had started Personal Project 3: Openings, I started project 4 with a small plan, a pinterest board showing images that inspire me for this project and the definition of ‘Abstract. After looking at more images on pinterest I had found 2 artist that I found really inspiring for this project, which were Marc Yankus and Bill Jacobson. Both of these artist were using focus as their main formal element in their images. Same as before for all artist that I have researched, I evaluated on of their works to get a better understanding and to see how they took their images. We had to then decide on a theme that we would have to stick to throughout the whole project, so I decided that my theme should be Focus. My first photoshoot was done at home and was mainly inspired by Bill jacobson and his bokeh images.This lead me to taking images off fairy light making them out of focus which make the image seem bokeh. After this initial photoshoot, I took more images focusing on focus in school, after evaluating these images, I found out that if i was change on of the images into black and white to make them seem more unique or to add more formal elements into my images so there is a variety of formal elements. I then went on to take more image at home but focusing more on edges and lines but still making sure to focus on focus. After taking more images I made sure to write about my planning and development, which was when i grouped my images into similar groups so that I could see what would look better as a final piece. This the helped me to make a decision on what final pieces that i should put forward, in the end i decided to put 3 sets of images as my final piece.
The fifth personal project was contrats. Starting of this project with a photo shoot of black and white portraits, within these images we had to make sure that the lighting was just right to create a good contrast in the images. After evaluating these images, we were given an artist to research on and that was Edward Western, continuing from this research we had to create images responding to Edward Western images. Another artist that I researched was Trent Parke, who was an artist who used harsh light to create a contrast within an image. Responding to Trent Parke, I then created 7 images inspired by him, this then helped me develop more ideas about the basics of contrast. After more research, I then figured out that there are many ways in which an image can be showing contrast instead of just black and white, for example the contrast between nature and humans. I then did more artist research and found an artist that inspired me to create my final piece which was, Christoffer Relander, he is an artist that used double exposure to show the contrast between humans and nature. I then started experimenting using an online software called Picmonkey to make a double exposure between nature and humans. I also used another online software called Clipping magic to make the backgrounds of images white or plain to make the contrast stand out more. However after after using this online software, when my mages were printed it would make the image look very grainy and pixilated. To overcome this problem I figured out that I should have taken a photo with a plain background already so all I had to do was to put another layer over it making a double exposure. When using this method, the printed out image was not grainy or pixilated.
The sixth personal project was Absurd. Similar to how I has started all the other personal projects, I started this one the same; definition and pinterest board. I then evaluated two absurd images to get a better understanding of what an absurd image looks like. To start of this project the whole class did the subtopic of hide. After taking 2 set of hide images we then moved onto another sub topic which was signs. Being inspired by David Shrigley's images 4 sets of images in response to his images. After this there was another subtopic, which was forced perspectives. After evaluating an image from forced perspectives, I took 3 sets of images in responses to that image. Doing all these subtopics , I the had a better understanding of abused images. Following on from all these subtopic, I did more artist esearch and ofun an artist that really interested me, which was Marcel van der Vlugt. Inspired by her work I created a set of images in response to her work. After this I found another artist that did similar work but digitally who was Mihaela Lvanova. After looking at some of her images, I made my own set of images in response to her images. I then used these images as my final pieces for this project.