LATEST

These are my latest photos for the start of panel 3,  I used the idea of Human Presence Implied in the photos without Logan, with the blanket in motion it makes it seem like there is someone in the shot, but really there isn't. 

Walead Beshty - Annotations

Artist Model Drawing Task

 Focal Point

 - In these photos an my drawings the focal point is the move moving the rocks, because there is a white boarder, it draws the eye to the image. Also the pyramids along the back draw the eye to the middle of the photo

Eye Level View

- The eye level view is perfect because it shows everything that is necessary in the photo. If it was from a birds eye view, the focus would be taken away from the man and put on the pyramids because it is the biggest part of the picture. 

 Landscape Format

- Allows the Pyramids to be seen in the photos. If the photo was portrait it would make the background smaller, and less a part of the picture. Which would make the concept irrelevant.

 Symmetry

- The photo is quite symmetrical not in the way that its the same on both sides, but in the way that the subject matter is very evenly placed, apart from the man.

 Rule of thirds 

 - The landscape of the Pyramids is along the line of the rule of thirds, so it does apply here.

 

Latest Shoot + Proof Sheet

I re-took the latest photos, and I prefer these ones a lot. I've used Duane Michals and Kellp Nipper, also with references to David Hilliard and Eadweard Muybridge. These photos use sequences and stick to the high contrast and difference between the darker and lighter pictures.

Plan for Next Shoot

This is the plan for my next shoot, using Duane Michals and Kelly Nipper as artist models. I want to use sequences and series as a techinique in the photographs. I want this to be at the bottom of my panel 1. I've tried to take these before and it was becoming to hard to edit in photo shop, so I'm trying again. This was my first attempt, but I've struggled to take away the harsh lines.

Panel 1 Plan with Artist Models

This is a plan of my first panel , with all my artist models.

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.

Artist Model Research - Eileen Cowan

I've beginning to look into other ideas and explore other artist models as I need to develop my folio further. The artist models I've started to look at are Eileen Cowan.

I've started to look at Eileen Cowan, who uses close ups of human features with lots of negative space and very little negative space to show the contrast between light and dark. I've decided that I want to explore my ideas further with this because I think it works well with the mood of my concept.

I've taken some photos so far with lots of negative and dark space. I really like the creepyness of these photos and I think they work really well. In my next shoot I'm going to take similar photos again, but with closeups of the arms and hands, and possibly use Logan's face aswell. The closeups will show more positive space with more light and shadow effects.

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. 

Artist Models

This last few weeks I have been beginning to look at artist models from the NZQA page, I have found a few that I am interested in and have been researching these photographers. I think i will narrow these down when i start to take photos and work out what my concept actually is.
For my concept itself, i've been looking a lot into street photography, which shows something like a basic day in the life, or show a story of a person in an urban setting. I have also been looking and personal identity and life and death.

A NZ photographer i've looked at so far is Julian Ward. Julian Ward is a street photographer that uses the setting around her to show 'everyday' people in an everyday setting of Wellington. She uses black and white and high contrast to make the photos look grim and personal. She has been 'roaming with her camera' since the 1970's and has wrote on her website that she found it easier back then as there was more freedom for photographers and that you could take pictures or almost anything.

Some of her photographs, sourced from her blog and website, full credit to: Julian Ward.

Duane Michals is an american photographer who uses sequences and the passing of time by using double exposure and slow shutter speed, which is something that I am very interested in learning and using in my photography. He uses black and white in his photos.

Some of his photographs sourced from here and here. Full credit to Duane Michals.

Some of the other photographers i've been looking at are: Sally Mann, Anne Nobles, Robin Morrison, Ann Shelton and Rineke Dijkstra. I will research them further over the next few weeks.

I have started taking photos and experimenting with sequences, and getting the hang of photoshop, as i only really used the basics of it last year. I will have another post up during the week with those photos once they have been edited.

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

Research: Implied Human Presence

Implied human present is a photo where you can tell that someone has been in the photo, whether the person has made a mess, or made a track or made there mark on something, but there is actually no human in the picture.

Andy Goldsworthy is a sculpture, artist, photographer. He uses nature and the raw materials around him to create sculptures by arranging leaves, ice, rocks, flowers and grass. He uses shapes such as circles. As his work is made of all natural materials, they will deconstruct and over time be destroyed, so he uses photography to keep a record of his works. He also uses bright coloured leaves prominently to capture the eye and the circle shape lures you into his work. He also uses and ombre effect where the outside of the shape is darker.

Some examples of his work is:

source:  http://www.iamparagon.com/2009/06/artists-that-inspire-me-andy-goldsworthy/

Richard Long is an English sculpture, artist and photographer and is one of Britain's best known 'land artist.' He has had many exhibitions that have been seen all around Europe, USA and Asia. Long uses splashes of paint,mud and stone to create his artworks, and uses hes hands and fingers to create texture and movement in the paint or mud. Along with Goldsworthy he often uses circles to make the sculpture look more clean-cut, even tho he works with mess and makes mess doing his work. He uses nature and places rocks, stone, tree cuttings etc in his work. Also Long uses rectangular shaped and swirls. I think that with the sculptures the finger strokes he uses in his sculptures and painting give a presence as they can look like finger prints or trails of someone. He makes his artworks seem like tracks that someone has walked on.

Some examples of his work:

source : Richard Long, The guardian article,