John MacleanJohn Maclean is an artist -photographer who is based in London but spent his younger years in the USA. This artist was one of the suggested for the exercise and I can see why. In this project he uses diptychs which I think create an effect of showing the same location at different times and how this creates different moods and effects. I also like how imaginative the images are, such as the box image, where the only difference is the way the camera and box is turned and having it be 'this way up' in both images and this is a creative way of distorting the same area.I think his work links to my initial idea of mood and this exercise as I feel he is making and thinking about this photographers rather than just taking.
|
"I make photographs that engage with subjects I find fascinating: the limitations of language, the absurdity of modernity, the encroachment of the virtual into the real, the predicament of originality, the psychology of seeing… but above all, photography itself."
John Maclean - https://www.jmaclean.co.uk/photography/photography/about/
Achal MishraWhen looking for photographers who explore the idea of mood and atmosphere within environments I came across Achal Mishra who's image caught my eye and where what I was looking for. Achal Mishra is a photographer and film director who is based Mumbai.The thing that I liked about his photos are the warm tones and the way these tones and colours create different mood without having any people in the shot. Also the vibrancy and the way the different colours work together is really successful to be and I would like to explore this in my own way. As seen in the quote bellow, he sometimes returns to places he's been before and finds new details that can change the original feel or atmosphere which I think is really successful.
|
“I have found myself returning to spots to photograph them across a span on time. The composition remains the same, but it is the little details and differences in colour and light that excite me.”
Achal Mishra - https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/achal-mishra-photography-310122
In this response I wanted to explore the idea of capturing different moods and atmospheres but in spaces and places instead of through faces. I first responded to the photographer Achal Mishra through similar styles and tones (such as warm colours and lighting) but then I decided to also add John Maclean's method of taking a photo of the same place but at different times (in my photos I tried to take photos of the same place but at different times of the day and to see how this affect the mood of the space but also how the lighting changed) and putting them into diptychs. I really like how these images came out and I like how I haven't just got one type of layout I have images on their own but also images together in diptychs or triptychs. When taking the images I had the camera setting on 'flash off' to help enable me to just capture the light that is there without any additional lighting. I think this allowed me to create these warm tones and natural beauty effect to my images.
|
Further GIFsTo further create movement I used the images I had taken in both shoots and turned them into gifs. I created two from each shoot, one from the most successful and cohesive series of images and one of the most successful out of all images that were taken. What I have found from exploring these processes is that I like exploring portraits with colourful lights as well as the idea of movement. I also liked the way I have created these images and other processes to create emotion and also demonstrate emotions to the viewer.
|
Exercise #4: Shoot first, think laterTake at least 20 pictures a day for 5 days straight. Photograph whatever is available. Don’t worry about quality. It’s quantity that matters to begin with, but try not to take more than one picture of each thing you photograph.
On the 6th day, look through your 100(ish) pictures and identify any interesting themes or patterns in your work. What did you see? Look past the obvious subject of the photographs and consider colours, light, patterns, textures, moods etc. Think about what the camera saw that you might not have noticed? Also, how can we begin to make sense of your own photos, not to mention all the other trillions of photos in the world? |
I wanted to explore this series of photos further by creating a book out of them. I first narrowed down my diptychs to the most successful and most colourful and printed them onto cartilage paper. I then designed a cover and back ( which consisted of images from one of my favourite diptychs to go on my book and printed them off too. I then cut the pages to fit and put them in a similar colour order to the video previously. After making sure I lined the pieces of paper together I decided to use a Japanese style of binding to put my book together ( using thread that matches the cover ). For my first own-made book I am impressed and really like the look, feel and aesthetic of the book. Even though there could be areas to improve such as the paper not perfectly matching up I still like the homemade feel it has to it.
|
Joachim SchmidJoachim Schmid is a Berlin-based photographer who did a project based on other people's photographs. He assembled the photos between 2008-2011. The project was to symbolise the different aspects of modern life through the eyes of amateur photographers. What links this photographer to my 20 photos a day project is that the photos include things people have spotted and wanted to show. Even though he hasn't taken these photos himself he has edited and arranged them personally and connected these random photos together even though they may have been taken at different times, places and of different things. Even though the photos aren't connected to my work through the visual elements they are connected by capturing elements around you.
|
Exercise #11: Dream CityImagine that your nearest city (or a more distant city you may have visited) only existed as a dream, perhaps the kind of fantastic city written about by Italo Calvino in his book Invisible Cities. Photograph this dream city. There are no restrictions about how you might interpret this assignment, so use your imagination. How can you use factors like the time of day, colour, movement and details to evoke the mood of your imaginary, dream city.
Think about how sequences of photographs can create a new reality from an existing one. |
Some photos can be seen to be either a mirror or a window, this was explored in the Mirrors and Windows exhibition that happened in The Museum of Modern Art and which was later created into a book.
...there is a fundamental dichotomy in contemporary photography between those who think of photography as a means of self-expression and those who think of it as a method of exploration. As a class we discussed these ideas and did different task to enhance our ideas around photography and also to develop our personal investigation.
|
We then looked through one of our photos from our projects to see if we felt it was more of a window or a mirror. I have included my picked image and when asked if I felt it was more of a window or mirror I stated that I felt it was more of a mirror as one, I see myself in the image which is what you see in a mirror but two I said that it is also a mirror as I fell it echos and reflects a mood that I wanted to convey in the image. Another thing I stated was that its a mirror as it as a mirror and photo do the same thing by bouncing an image to your eyes. However from another point of view you could say it is a window as someone viewing it would show and display to them the mood and emotions I am feeling in the photograph.
|
MIRRORS AND WINDOWS has been organized around Szarkowski's thesis that such personal visions take one of two forms. In metaphorical terms, the photograph is seen either as a mirror--a romantic expression of the photographer's sensibility as it projects itself on the things and sights of this world; or as a window--through which the exterior world is explored in all its presence and reality.
- Museum of Modern Art Exhibition Press Release, 1978
The intention of this analysis has not been to divide photography into two parts. On the contrary, it has been to suggest a continuum, a single axis with two poles. Many of the pictures reproduced here live close to the centre of that axis, and can at the reader's pleasure be shifted mentally to the other side of the book's imaginary equator.
-- John Szarkowski
Jiro Takamatsu - Photograph of Photograph, 1972-3In this project Takamatsu commissioned a photographer to take images of his photos from his family album but capturing a reflection of light on the images. These images are seen as mirrors as they are recreating the process that a mirror creates ( reflecting light and an image back to the viewer and they are also considered to be a mirror as they reflect aspects of his personal childhood and his family.
|
Robert Parkinson - Rear Window, 2020During to the COVID- 19 pandemic, Parkinson restricted himself to only taking images of things he could see outside his window such as the light changing, reflections and mundane things such as people walking on the street. He framed all of his shots from his window. This is similar to the ideas explored in Alfred Hitchcock’s film Rear Window .
|
In Alejandras' project 'Where We Belong' explores belonging, community and femininity of The ‘Jane Austen Pineapple Appreciation Society’ who are a group of people who share a strong passion of Jane Austin's books. She met these Janeites at a festival were people meet up and dress up in regencey clothing and recreate the time in which Austins book take place. When describing her project on her website she states that "Through my work, I explore how the sense of safety and belonging that specific groups might offer can empower the individuals and strengthen their own identity. In my photographs, I use physical and psychological closeness to represent the intense relationships fostered within these communities and to depict the existential need to belong. I am also interested in examining the threshold between fiction and nonfiction, between past and present. My goal is to invite the viewer to question where the performance starts and ends, and to challenge where the limits between reality and imagination lie."
|
After this task we choose an word to take an image of that we felt displayed the meaning of the word. The word I used was intimacy. I struggled at first to find something to fit this but ended up spotting the lighting set up in the order of the room and felt the way the light bounced of the white background and the effect of the shadow just gives of this really beautiful intimacy between light and shadow. After I had taken the photo I placed the word next to the image.
|
I think this was my most successful as I really like the closeness of the portrait as well as the way the arm interrupts the space between the two people. Sometimes taking images at school can be quite limiting but I think I managed to move past that with these photos and was able to create successful outcomes.
|