Latest Shoots, Another Look At Duane Michals

These are my latest photos looking at Duane Michals, these are for my panel one, replacing photos on there that were boring, I LOVE these photos, and are my favourite so far. I found inspiration from Duane Michals ''Fallen Angel Shoot.'' I liked the idea of having something drape over Logan, like this angel is draping over the person. 

Recent Shoot-Arjan Benning

I took some photos using the ideas of Arjan Benning, where he used pegs to make letters. I thought I would just experiment with the pegs first, then see if I like the look of the letters next. I love how these turned out, especially the hand ones. So I'm thinking that I will do this again maybe on different parts of the body, like face, arms and back. I didn't love the face ones i've done so far, but I will take some more, maybe with bigger pegs and make them work. 

Latest Shoot - Kelly Nipper and Walead Beshty

I had another go at using Walead Beshty as an artist model but the photos just didn't turn out. So I started using Kelly Nipper and looking at her photos. I think I will return to looking at Walead Beshty and try again. I like how Kelly Nipper uses movement and posture to show still photos of dancers. In my next shoot I'm going to go deeper in looking at Kelly Nipper, and imitating her techniques to fit into my work. 

Kelly Nipper - Research

Kelly Nipper works with video, performance and photography. In her photos she uses still photos of models in awkward positions and uses contemporary dance to show movement. She also uses series of photos to show this and still life in her work. 

     

This is three different photos and shows series

Worksheet

1. My work is about the struggle of being in a dark state of mind. The blanket represents the pain and pressure from society to be the best. I want to develop this further with Logan breaking about of the blanket, and showing him as an individual, with the blanket standing next to him, side by side they work, but one cannot try and take over another.

2. Duane Michals, Eileen Cowan, Bill Brandt, Walead Beshty.

3. Sequences for Duane Michals. Eileen Cowan for the strong black and white contrast. Bill Brandt with the close up of hands and face. Walead Beshty is for the photos that I have taken but not yet added to my blog.

4. Panel 1 - FINISHED.

5. Dont have enough photos to have extra, I will work on taking some more over the next week or two.

Artist Model Research - Duane Michals

Duane Michals is an American photographer, who uses slow shutter speed and sequences to show philosophy and emotion. He also uses series and multi-exposure in an innovative form. Michals began his work in the 60's where he was inspired by photojournalism and wanted to communicate and show narratives in photo form. He did this by using 'frame by frame' layout, also in a grid format. Michals uses text throughout his images to title a piece of work or the person in it and to push a statement across to the viewer.
Michals work has been exhibited in many exhibitions in the last 50 years, including The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Odakyu Museum-Tokyo, International Center of Photography-New York, Thessaloniki Museum of Photography-Greece.


In this picture below Michals uses the grid, frame by frame format to position the photos. He uses text to Title the photo with the models name and the year in which the photo was taken. He uses black and white to show the strong contrats between the colours. this also shows alot of positive space, with the background, his hair, and skin being lighter than the rest of the photo. Making these areas of the photos really light makes the darkness in his eyes and mouth really stand out. Also his photos are very symmetrical and even, where the object or person is placed in the same place in all three photos, but still manages to show movement.

               

I have used his techniques of slowing down shutter speed and creating movement in a still photograph. By my strong use of positive space, show similarities in my work and the techniques of Michals. I've decided to not use black and white in my photography as I dont like the look of it. 

Latest Shoot - Duane Michals and Eileen Cowan

This is my latest shoot. I've used Logan with a plain black top on and a light background to make the photos look of high contrast and harshness. 

I really think using an all white background is a contrast in what i have done in the rest of my work, where I have used black and negative space. I think these relate well with Eileen Cowan's work as my photos are showing high and obvious contrast between positive and negative space.

Duane Michals uses slowed down shutter speed quite prominently in his work which is the technique i was experimenting with in these photos. I want to develop this further and go back to my original idea of using sequences in panel 1.

Plan for Panel 1

This is my plan so far for panel 1 of my folio. I've decided to develop the technique of sequences and use Duane Michals as a strong artist model. I've used these first shots to show the anger and frustration, and I'm going to develop this further with the sequencing technique. 

I also decided that I didn't want to use black and white as thoughout all photos on my folio as I personally find it boring and unappealing, so after talking to Mrs Clemence I have decided to use sepia and instagram style filters and possibly ending up in full color by the end of the folio. This isn't my final decision on this as I dont want my photos to look childish and tacky, so I'm still deciding on this one. 

My next shots I want to take will be close ups on Logans face and head, with him shaking his hair around and looking angry, I'm thinking of possibly using tears in this picture. I'm going to try with shutter speed and play around with the focus most likely in the dark room. I want to develop these shots and have four-six photos cover across the middle-bottom of panel 1. 

Im unsure of what I want to put in the gap between these photos and the previous photos i've taken, but I'm sure after taking,  editing and putting the next shot on my first panel, then I will have some inspiration of what to put there. 

Work So Far ...

In the past 2 weeks I have begun to take photos and I'm beginning to see my artist models come through my work, mainly with the sequence photographs.
I feel that I need to start to plan my work so I'm not taking photos that I wont actually use, so starting next week I am gonna plan out my first panel and write a list of artist models that are relevant. I will do this on paper and post it up on my blog on Monday or Tuesday.

The sequence photos are just a practice of using shutter-speed, so I wont use those ones for my folio, but I'm thinking of re-taking them so that they are relavent to my concept.

New Photos + New Concept

I was talking with Mrs Clemence and we came up with the concept of depression and anxiety shown through pictures. So i'm thinking of using a model in a crowd of people and showing how they are feeling lonely, and maybe by the end of my folio having the model overcome their anxiety and fears. Im thinking maybe starting with black and white then moving to full bright colours by the end of the folio, which would symbolize overcoming the depression and anxiety. I still want to use sequences and street photography in with this concept.

I edited these to make Logan look dirty and high contrast.


What I have so far :

First Shoot-Sequences

As I have been looking at artist models that use sequences. I want to develop this idea further, with street photography. But for now I am just practicing the technique and using photoshop more in-depth.

This is what I have so far:

I had issues with the layering of photos as the shadows would overlap and make the photo look messy and blurry in places but I think with more practice I will be able to fix this and make the photos look correct. 

I like these so far and I think I can develop this idea further and work it in with street photography, possibly by going into town or maybe in the botanical gardens. Hopefully this will help me come up with a concept. 

Research: Cinematography

Cinematography is the art of camerawork, moving picture and photography in filmmaking. A cinematographer is the directer of photography and film. This role is used to make movies, documentrys, tv programmes etc.

The main cinematographer or sometimes called the director of photography, works with the film's direction to capture the story in a way that will captivate the movie audience and make people want to watch the movie. Cinematographer will work with the director decide which lighting, camera angles and other film techniques to use that will portray the right effect in which the movie viewers will be interested and also, they choose which of these techniques match the mood of the scene or film.  

Conrad L. Hall has been a cinematographer for many movies including American Beauty 1999 and Road to Perdition 2002. He has won many awards such as an Academy Award for Best Cinematography and has been recognised as one of the only known cinematographers around.

He has been the director of film for the following movies:

American Beauty 1999

A Civil Action 1998

Road to Perdition 2002

Source : http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/cinematographer1.htm