FMP-Week 1

For the first week of the final major project I decided to research using my camera by taking photos of various things, for example images of a building being knocked down, dying flowers and the buildings/architecture in Camden in order to explore the theme of decay in different forms. I also visited the science museum and looked at old transport as a reference to how things have changed and modernised, however there is still work to be done as many places still suffer from urban decay which is what I aim to uncover throughout my project. A selection of these photographs can be found below.

Science Museum

 

 

Fallen Building

 

 

 

 

 

The photographs that you see above show a building in the process of being knocked down. I decided to take pictures of this as I thought it was relatable to my project and also shows part of the process of urban decay as it does sometimes involve derelict buildings being bulldozed. What I like about these images is the different colours as I took them as the sun was setting and I think this can make photos look quite romantic. I also like the various textures of the bricks and rubble and also how in some of the images you can see parts of a newly built structure in the background which creates a contrast. I have tried to experiment with different angles and orientations of the pictures in order to show a wide view of the building being knocked down, however I feel I could improve these photos by being more adventurous with my perspectives and focal points to create a variety of pictures. I think the time of day works well with these images as the lighting creates a softness among the photos as well as highlighting the detail of the falling building.

Roses

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took these photos of dying roses in order to experiment with different forms of decay. What I like about these images is the detail you can see on the roses as I took them as close up as I could. I also used the flash on my camera in order to make sure the outcomes will be clear and also to accentuate the colours and details on the petals and leaves. I think these photos have a rather warm mood because of the oranges and reds and the use of over head lighting, however I feel that I could improve these photographs by experimenting more with different types of light sources and where the light source is coming from. with these images I also experimented with wide and shallow depths of field.

Other Photos

 

 

 



 

 
 
 

Overview and Final Major Project Preparation

I have enjoyed focusing on photography and expanding my knowledge and also being able to learn new things within this pathway. Although I have enjoyed it I have also found some areas difficult, in particular the 3 week project when having to come up with your own idea, I also have found this aspect difficult when thinking about my final major project.
Moreover, my favourite photo shoot from the pathway is that of the solids in liquids where I dropped a strawberry into a bowl of water and captured the effect as part of project; 'Opposites, Juxtaposition and Contradiction'. I think the reason that I like this shoot so much is because I feel that my final images have turned out really well and I was very pleased with how they looked, as I like the boldness of the colours and also the clarity of the photo as a whole.
Overall I feel that I have progressed throughout this stage by developing my ideas and also how I have found where my strengths lie within photography. The next stage within my work is to put to practise the skills that I have learnt throughout and continue to learn as I go into my 'Final Major Project'.

I am looking forward to beginning this project as it is the longest one that we have done and therefore I feel that I will work better with this time limit as I am able to let my ideas develop even further. The theme that I am looking to explore is that of 'Urban Decay', I hope to do this by looking at derelict buildings and also at objects associated within this topic, however I want to photograph these areas in a way that is less obvious in order for me to put my own twist on it. As part f this I would like to incorporate the use of a shallow depth of field which is one of the strengths I have found whilst doing this course, another skill of mine I hope to use is photographing found objects that not everyone will notice or think to look at. Some photographers that I am going to look at include; Thomas Ruff, Thomas Struth, Keith Arnatt and Eugene Atget, along with many more as I progress throughout the 7 weeks.

Thomas Struth

Thomas Ruff

 

 

Keith Arnatt





                                                                  Eugene Atget

 

3 Week Project

I found this project quite difficult because I had to come up with my own theme/idea completely to create a series of 8 photographs. I wanted to look at photographing found objects in order to use a shallow depth of field which is something I enjoy including within my photos. I therefore decided to look at textures but I wanted to get some quite close up shots to make them look abstract in order to get the audience to think about what the objects could be. The next stage I went through was narrowing down what textures o look at, for example: in food, around the home, in the natural environment, animals, people e.t.c.
I decided on the idea of textures in the environment so I began to take photographs of these, I then developed my idea further by layering textures to create a new one, I experimented doing this with the camera but found that it did not work as well as I hoped so I overcame this by using Photoshop. These final images can be found below.

 

 

I created my final 8 photos using Photoshop, I decided to layer the same image over the top of another to get this effect, however the second photo was a more zoomed in copy of the original, I then changed the background image to be black and white to create a mixture of colours and tones. I think this worked out well because there is still a sense of abstract within the photos as it is not obvious what they are. Overall I did enjoy this task as once I had decided on a topic and how I could make my photos look interesting I found lots of way to photograph, I feel that this shoot was successful as I experimented with different angles and perspectives as well as layering techniques as I then continued to experiment by layering interior textures with exterior textures and also changing the colours of my final 8 photos completely into monochrome tones.

 

My experiments:

 

As part of this project we also had to come up with ideas on how to promote/advertise yourself, I decided to advertise myself to an age range of 18-25 year olds and promote myself in a way that would be suitable for that group. My aim was to create an Instagram account to promote my images and I would advertise this page using other social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. I chose this idea because most people now use these sites, therefore I thought it would appeal to my target audience and also be public for anyone to see.

Instagram link:  

http://instagram.com/hannahsphoto

Freedom and Liberty

FREEDOM-Ability to act freely: a state in which somebody is able to act and live as he or she chooses, without being subject to any undue restraints or restrictions.

LIBERTY-Right to choose: the freedom to think or act without being constrained by necessity or force.

This topic began with watching 'The Naked Rambler', a nudist named Stephen Gough who walked from Land's End to John O' Groats as an introduction to the new topic 'Freedom and Liberty'. To begin with I started generating ideas by brainstorming which aspect within this I would like to photograph, I also created a mood board of inspiring images to help me come up with a final idea. Some of my initial ideas included freedom and the natural world, for example open fields/landscapes and the nature within them such as birds, however I found that this was too obvious. I then looked at religion and how that can be seen as a form of freedom, as part of this I researched Shirin Neshat and her images from 'Rebellious Silence' which made me think of the idea of freedom of speech. Once I had decided upon this I then began to think how you can portray speech in a free way which drew me to the idea of graffiti and how people use it to express themselves.

These photographs are my best photos from this photo shoot, I really enjoyed doing this topic because I found it interesting researching the photographers and also going out to the location where I took the photos. What I like most about these images is the brightness of the colours and also how bold they are, furthermore I enjoyed walking through the tunnel looking at the different drawings and the writing because of the effort and detail that goes into each individual piece. I think I could improve my photographs by putting my own twist on them more and looking at different angles and perspectives as well as going closer to the subject and picking out unusual aspects in the locations.

Contradiction, juxtaposition and opposites (final photos)

I decided to change my idea previously explained as I encountered many challenges. Therefore I decided to look at solids and liquids as opposites for one photo-shoot and also how a solid can have an effect on a liquid when dropped into it.

Solid dropping into liquid:

 

 

These selection of photos are the final images I chose to use to show the effect a solid has on a liquid when dropped from a height, in order to achieve these photographs I set my camera up on a tripod and used a flash so that I could capture the splash and the strawberry clearly. I am really pleased with the final outcome of the photos as I think they are clear and the colour of the strawberry is also bright and bold, as is the splash of the water that was created. I think my favourite photo of the four is the second one because I like how I have captured the strawberry and also the shape of the splash, another aspect I like about these images is how the splash is completely different in each of the photos. I think I could improve these images by experimenting with dropping different solids into the water and also experiment with a different liquid, however I did experiment with dropping a strawberry into cream but this did not really work. As part of this photo shoot and my second one where I looked at solids submerged in liquids I research photographers such as Harold Edgerton and Jonathan Knowles.

 

Solid submerged in liquid:

 



 

 

This is my final photograph for my second photo shoot where I looked at submerging a solid in a liquid, I also thought a lot about lighting with this photo shoot as I wanted it to look abstract so that the audience were made to think about what it could be. The lighting I used to create this effect was very simple as I just used the torch found on the iPhone and placed my solid and liquid in a clear bowl and put it directly on top of the light source. I really like this image overall as it does look abstract which is what I wanted to achieve, I also like how the lighting has made certain aspects of the solid and liquid really clear and makes the photo as a whole look as though the colours are monochrome, however this is in full colour. The solid I used was a large piece of ice and I submerged it in a bowl of water, I think this has worked really well as it is not obvious that that's what it is on your first look. I think I could improve this photograph and my photo shoot by experimenting with different materials to use and also the lighting, I could also perhaps experiment with changing the hue/saturation of my image and see how this effects it overall.

Contradiction, Juxtaposition and Opposites (ideas)

CONTRADICTION-Direct opposition between things compared, inconsistency.

JUXTAPOSITION-An act or instance of placing close things together or side by side, especially for comparison or contrast.

OPPOSITE-A word that expresses a meaning opposed to the meaning of another word.


Some of my ideas for this project include:
-Gender
-Age
-Solids and liquids
-Open and confinement

The area that I would like to focus on is that of 'Age', as I would like to do a staged photo shoot of my brother and nephew but use role reversal, for example my nephew would be dressed and acting like his dad (my brother) and my brother would be dressed as a baby. As part of this I have looked at Cristian Girotto who is a high-end retoucher, I would focus on his project called 'L'Enfant Exterieur' which stands for 'The Outer Child', where he makes the image of the adult look very childlike. Figures 1 and 2 show some examples of his work.

Figure 1



Figure 2

I like these images because I think they are a really interesting interpretation of age and opposites/contradiction. I find these photos unusual and intriguing as they look so realistic, I also like how he has enlarge their eyes in order to create the childlike feel/look.

Christmas (2)

I continued to photograph when I was home and these photos are a selection of those taken on Christmas day and Boxing day.

 

 

 

 

 

These photographs show a variety of different aspects of Christmas, what I like about them is how different they all are. My favourite images are the first two that you see as they show the technique of photography that I most enjoy using which is a shallow depth of field. I also like the wide variety of different colours that I have captured as all the images look very bright and colourful. However, I think I could improve my photos my exploring a wider variety of different techniques and also different objects associated with Christmas, for example the food/presents/tree e.t.c.