Week one - Thomas Ruff - 25th January
In todays lecture we started the "People" Module. As an opening to this module we were each given a certain portraiture photographer to research. Within our research we had to find out these main points: -
- Find a set of at least 6 images
- 3 main points about their approach
- 3 points about their visual style of photography
- find their website/ homepage and further links to their work
The photographer that i was given to research was a man called "Thomas Ruff", here are some links that i have found that lead to some websites that show his work:-
http://www.davidzwirner.com/artists/thomas-ruff/
http://whitecube.com/exhibitions/thomas_ruff_photographs_/
For another point to research we had to find a set of images. Below are a set of 6 images that show the work he produced.
Another thing I had to research about "Thomas Ruff" was, what are 3 the main points about their reproach - ..........
The last thing I had to research about this certain photographer was, what are 3 points about their visual style of photography.
First, his early portraits were black-and-white and small, but he soon switched to color, using solid backgrounds in different colours. Second, He began to experiment with large-format printing in 1986, ultimately producing photographs up to seven by five feet in size, and third his building portraits are likewise serial, and have been edited digitally to remove obstructing details – a typifying method, which gives the images an exemplary character.
As another opening to the "People" module, we have to research 4 different types of portrait photography, these 4 different types are:-
- Fine Art Portrait
- Corporate Portrait
- Environmental Portrait
- Candid Portrait
First I researched "Fine Art Portrait", Fine art photography refers to photographs that are created in accordance with the creative vision of the photographer as artist. Fine art photography stands in contrast to photojournalism, which provides a visual account for news events, and commercial photography, the primary focus of which is to advertise products or services.
Second I researched "Corporate Portrait", this is.......
Next I went on to research to "Environmental Portrait" this is a portrait executed in the subject's usual environment, such as in their home or workplace, and typically illuminates the subject's life and surroundings. The term is most frequently used of a genre of photography.
By photographing a person in their natural surroundings, it is thought that you will be able to better illuminate their character, and therefore portray the essence of their personality, rather than merely a likeness of their physical features. It is also thought that by photographing a person in their natural surroundings, the subject will be more at ease, and so be more conducive to expressing themselves, as opposed to in a studio, which can be a rather intimidating and artificial experience.
And lastly I researched "Candid Portrait", this is where a photograph that is made either without the subject's knowledge or without their explicit permission, hence they are captured unposed.
At the end of todays lesson with andy, we were also given the task to take a set of images of "Environmental Portraits". For my set of images, I decided to photograph 2 different family members within their our environment at home. The first person i photographed was my mum, i took a couple of different shots of her, one where she is in the kitchen washing up, and another sat in the living room knitting. Here below are the images i took of her :-
The second person that i photographer was my youngest sister Nimah - I photographer her sat on her bed in her bedroom reading a book, because this is favourite thing to do, and this is her most personal environment. Here below are the images that i took of her:-
As further research into Environmental Photography I have found an artists that has produced work within that area, his name is Shelby Lee Adams.
Shelby Lee Adams (born 1950) is an American environmental portrait photographer and artist best known for his images of Appalachian family life.
Adams has photographed Appalachian families since the mid-1970s. He had first encountered the poor families of the Appalachian mountains as a child, travelling around the area with his uncle, who was a doctor. His work has been published in three monographs: Appalachian Portraits (1993), Appalachian Legacy (1998), and Appalachian Lives(2003).
The reason as to why i have chosen shelby lee adams work to show and research is because i think just by looking at the images you can see straight away what kind of lives those people lead and the state to which they in. I have also chosen these images to show because i think when you look at them so many stories to come to your mind as to what has happened there i the past.
Portraiture - Fundamental Considerations in Portraiture
In this weeks "People" seminar with Katy, we discussed the Fundamental Considerations in Portraiture, which we split up into 6 different things, these are :-
- Appearance / likeness
- Character
- Emotions
- Eyes/Gaze
- Gesture/ Pose/ Body Language
- Status postion/ setting
After discussing these 6 different headings that come under portraiture, we moved on to talk about Physiognomy - this is where a persons face would identify what kind of person they are or were, but this became quite racist.
Physiognomy i think is very important when either taking or looking at a portrait image, this is because people judge each as soon as they see another person, whether they know they are doing it or not, people judge others straight away, so with taking physiognomy into consideration and understanding it, your looking at a persons face and right away your making a decision to whether they are a certain person or not.
To understand this concept more we went on to look at the work of a photographer called Rineke Dijkstra. Rineke Dijkstra concentrates on single portraits, and usually works in series, looking at groups such as adolescents, clubbers, and soldiers. Her subjects are often shown standing, facing the camera, against a minimal background. So by her work being like this we are use Physiognomy because we are only looking at the faces of those people and identify and making judges just by what we see in the image.
Other things that we went on to discuss while in this seminar were different thing to think about while you are taking a portrait image. These were things like :-
- eye level
- composition
- different types of portraiture images
- backgrounds
People Task - BasketBall Team
For the People Brief we were set the task to get in touch with some one we didn't know at all, wether it be a sport team, shop, or company and ask if we could photograph them in their own environment.
We were set this task to help us get comfortable and also to get us in the routine of photographing people we don't know.
So for this task i got in touch with the basketball team in Haslingden, called The Rossendale Raptors. I photographed the team by going down and photographing them whilst they were playing a game. I did this to get some good action shots.
I think i benefited from this task because, when it comes to things like that i think i am quite shy and not very comfortable and don't really know how to act, but from doing this i know now how it feels and now know what to expect when i come to do it next time the future. I also liked this experience because now the basketball team know who i am and that i'm willing to photograph them again,and since then i have been to photograph again.
Here below are some of the images that i got while i was there -
I like these images i took while at the Basketball games because in these images i think i have captured the fast action movement well.Even though there is are some blurred parts within the images, i don't think they take away from the photo, instead i think they add something more to the images.
If i were to try and improve on these image i think i would re shoot them with a zoom lens, i would do this so i was able to get closer into the players, so when looking at the image, you would be able to see the expressions on the players faces and also i think you would feel like you were at the game with them.
Lighting Lesson - March
For the last couple of weeks Martin has been teaching and showing us all about lighting set ups within the studio, whether it be using studio lights or just normal day light. By carry out these exercises with the light, martin wanted to show us correct ways to light an object and also the incorrect way to light an object.
From trying out these different lighting situation, i learnt a lot from how to use lights properly, how to seat a model in the best for taking images and also what is good and bad lighting. Here are the images that i got while within these lessons :-
