Overall Project Evaluation

I have enjoyed this project and it has gave me a good understanding of photography, I have learnt about photography in both a physical and textual way. The definitions of all 10 formal elements provided me with describing words which made it a lot easier to go out and shoot, and then by shooting I was using the formal elements which made me understand even more. the image banks also helped me a lot because by looking at others photos I imagined what I could reconstruct and when I did go out to shoot, when I saw something I could visualise the formal elements.

The thing I enjoyed the most about this project was being in the studio, I enjoyed the studio because I could plan what I wanted to shoot rather than going out on location and having to search for it. In the studio I felt I could be more imaginative as opposed to location. In the studio I like to take portraits of people and take pictures of their specific body parts, one of my favourite pictures that I have taken is in the studio and it is of Amelia's legs and it is Robert Mapplethorpe inspired. Since Robert Mapplethorpe I have also taken self portraits of myself with a head scarf on which I enjoyed as I felt it was an individual and personal topic which no one else could do, making it quite original.

The thing I least enjoyed about this project was the work diaries, I felt they were prolonged and they took me a long time to do as I felt they were a lot of effort. I think they would of been a lot better to do if I had done it after each formal element as opposed to doing them all together in a block, this would of broke it up so they didn't feel as if they was taking me forever. Therefore, in my next project I will do the work diary after the lesson instead of having to catch up, however I did join photography late so I sort of had an excuse.

I think what I did well was taking pictures of literally everything, even if I thought it wouldn't make a good picture, because most of the pictures I took which I didn't think would make a good picture, actually did as opposed to ones that I specifically went searching for.

I think what I could improve on is my time keeping skills as there were times when I didn't think I would meet the deadline which made me stressed. With my next project I will make sure to get a certain amount done by a certain date, so setting myself deadlines.

What I found hard was catching up due to joining photography late, which also falls into my struggle with time keeping. I think the next project will be less stressful as I wont have to catch up constantly. However I feel that because I had no choice but to catch up quickly that I learnt photoshop quickly.

Now that I have completed this project I think I will watch editing tutorials to extend my knowledge on the editing available with photoshop.

Connecting Essay- David Hockney

This photographer has used photojoiner and used photojoiner of someones face, this picture has been took at all different angles and somethings are repeated more than once throughout this, for example, you can see the mouth in 5 parts. I like this print technique because I think it is interesting to look at and you spend a lot of time looking at it rather than just skimming it, you really look at it because you want to imagine what the face would look like if it hadn't been took at so many different angles (which also is good to look at it because something 2d has been used at angles to show what it would look like if 3d). I enjoy looking at photo's which have used photojoiner.  David has put some pictures on a slant so they aren't in complete alignment, which I also like.

I used photojoiner also. In my picture I have took pictures at different angles to show what this 2d image would look like 3d, i have also zoomed in and out of certain aspects of my models face, for example, at the side you can only see one of her eyebrows, and a little to the left from the centre you can see both of her eyebrows, which is a distinction that I have zoomed in and out. I have arranged the pictures as if they form her face, so its a 2d image in a 3d format. I like my use of photojoiner.







Both pictures connect because we have used the same print technique of photojoiner, also we have both used colour in out picture and both have used a face as the context of our picture.

Connecting Essay- Ron Bigelow

In this photo Ron Bigelow has expressed the formal element of texture through a tree, he has portrayed it as rough. This pictures texture takes up the whole picture, and we see nothing but the texture of the tree, I dont really like this because with texture I like to see a contrast which is why in my texture pictures I usually have some background in it to show some contrast which for me represents the texture more.

In my picture I have included the background to show the contrast which I have mentioned that I like. Like Ron's though I have used a tree to show texture, also In my picture the texture is rough, however due to the grass in the background, there is another texture which contrasts against the tree trunk. I have edited mine to have a dark green coloring to it, however I think it looks very natural. I like this photo.





My photo connects with Ron Bigelow's because the context is the same of a tree, also both textures of the tree are rough as opposed to being smooth. The difference is Ron's is a close up and a bit difficult to see due to his color editing, whereas mine is very evident.

Connecting Essay- Roby Bon

In this photo Roby Bon has used literal movement to portray the formal element of movement. The blurring is only slight but you can see the blurring around the peoples skirts and around the top half, the only main person not moving is the person in solid black down the centre. I like this photo and I like how the movement is natural rather than moving the actual camera, you can assume that this pictures shutter speed has just been changed and that the movement is real rather than just taking a picture of a scenery with a changed shutter speed.

This image us of my leg walking which is real movement, but yes the shutter speed has been changed. Everything about this image is in movement unlike the other picture, which just shows the movement of the dancers. The movement seems natural as compared to a picture which would be taken by simply just changing the shutter speed, I like this image, it almost seems like an accident, as if it took my itself whilst I was walking, as if it wasn't on purpose.






These 2 pictures connect because they both have the formal element of movement within them and therefore blurring, both movements are also quite natural as opposes to taking a picture of a scenery and just changing the shutter speed which I commented on earlier.

Connecting Essay- Andrew Morrell

Andrew Morrell used linear and even patterns to represent the pattern of the chair, it is almost repetition as it is the same thing over and over again which is also very neat. The picture is very precise, which I like, the pattern is not done purposely as it is just the set out of a set of chairs for what seems like a form of assembly, it seems the picture has just been taken because the photographers eyes caught it out, which happens a lot in my pictures.

This is my picture of pattern, this pattern was on a girls leggings and I noticed how the pattern is simply repeated, like the picture above. The only heavy difference which I notice is the context and that you can see to the left that the picture is flipped, however the pattern is also put into lines, like the picture above, which reaches another formal element. The pattern is also repeated in terms of colours as it is monochrome, meaning black, white, black, white etc.




These 2 photos connect because both show the formal element of pattern and both patterns are linear and even in terms of that each pattern is repeatedly. Both patterns are also evident rather than hidden, you can see it very clearly that they both show pattern. The patterns are both taken without meaning to happen as well, I can tell that both myself and Andrew Morrell have just noticed the patterns within our separate places and took a picture of it.

Connecting Essay- Robert Mapplethorpe

This photo was shot by Robert Mapplethorpe and it is a portrait of Patti Smith. This photo is shot in black and white. This photo does not show Patti in a perfect light, her hair is messed up and she seems to have a lazy eye. The composition is very accurate in that her eyes are practically in the middle of the photo, however there is a lot of empty space at the top of the picture. The pictures main purpose is to show her face as there are no clothes within the picture shown, however we can see she is wearing something, the main purpose of the picture is to mainly look at her face.

I reconstructed this picture in a way, or more so saw it as an influence. I have turned the picture black and white, and although you can see her clothes, they also are not the focal point of the picture, instead it is her face which is light against the dark background. Like the other photo, I think they brightness of the eyes are eye catching. Amelia's (my model) hair is neat but not as neat as it could be which I think shows imperfection, which I like and I am glad I incorporated into my work.


These 2 photos connect because they have the same theme of portrait and black and white, also both compositions are slightly off which shows imperfection to me, which is also represented in the context with the slight mess of their hair. Also, both photos are of women and both photos show neither of them smiling but with a vulnerable expression.

Free Studio Shoot - Work Record

In this lesson the only brief we was given was to use a white background and a black background, I focused on portraits and close ups of the face, which I have grown to like to shoot, especially in the studio. I used Demi as a model and the only prop I used was a toy gun, however none on the gun pictures made it to my straight prints. After shooting I went back to the classroom and put my images into contact sheets where I then chose my 4 which I wanted for straight prints and then Paul chose his favorite 4 which I then made into my straight prints after editing them.

 I did not choose this picture but Paul did, I like this picture because it highlights her main facial features. Whilst editing I saturated some color out of her face and the used selective color on her lips so they came out bright, I think it went okay but to improve my photo I would feather I because you can see with some of the color there are some straight lines which makes is badly edited. I like the composition of this photo, I think that I took the picture quite exactly straight as her features seem exactly even, which they are in real life.

 Paul chose this picture but I didn't, and I don't really like it, I think Paul chose it because it is the only one selected that is against a white background and he felt like he needed one of my straight prints to be against a white background. I don't like the composition of this picture,in that if I was to do it again I would only capture half of her nose and mouth because I don't like how you can only see half of her eyes but near enough all of her mouth. I like the theme of this picture though, I think she looks quite innocent because in the edit the white background came out beaming and she looks sad, which gives me a vibe of doing the right thing.


To improve my photography I would experiment with the white background a bit more.

Robert Mapplethorpe - Work Records

Location
In this lesson we watched a video on Robert Mapplethorpe and Paul then told us to go out on location and shoot pictures you wouldn't normally shoot, shoot pictures of things that don't seem accurate. I went out on location and mainly took pictures of peoples body parts but just of a certain body part rather than their entire body. I enjoyed this because I think I focused more on composition. After shooting lots of pictures I went back to the classroom and put the pictures into contact sheets, after this I then picked my 4 that I wanted for straight prints, Paul then chose his and I edited these ones and they were my real straight prints which are in my folder.

 Paul chose this picture but I did not because there was a picture of hair blowing in the wind which I preferred, however I edited this picture and put it into black and white so it was of Mapplethorpe's style. I really like this image now that I look at it edited because I like the style of her hair and how the black and white shade alters the the color of her hair from light to dark. I also like the amount of wall left between her hair and the rest of the image as it follows the brief which was picture you wouldn't normally shoot, however like i previously said, I did focus on the composition.

 Paul chose this picture but I did not but I can see why he chose it, it is because of the context of a girl facing a wall, it is not something you would usually photograph because there is nothing to it when looking at it. However the use of black and white and the composition makes it so its actually dark colors contrasting against plain white, and that the girl is not fully in the picture and the top of her is cut off and the side, which makes it seem as if she is not important and perhaps the wall is, which produces a further meaning.



To improve my knowledge on Mapplethorpe I would research him on the internet and get more information on his work rather than about him.

Studio
In this lesson we went into the studio and created pictures based on the style of Robert Mapplethorpe. I enjoyed this lesson, 1 reason being I prefer working in the studio and the 2nd reason being I like having a brief like this to work with. I went to the studio and shot pictures of Amelia. The only props I used was a table and rope tied like a noose, however the table was my main prop as I got Amelia to sit on it through all of the shoot. After shooting I went back into the classroom and put my pictures into contact sheets and then chose my top 4. Paul the chose his and these were the 4 that I edited and put in my folder as straight prints.

 Both Paul and I chose this picture, I chose it because I like the shape of her legs in the position that they were in. I also like the slight shadow formed by her legs on the table. It seems like half of her is consumed by shadow whereas the other half is more in the light. I really like this photo. I put the photo in black and white as it is a typical thing that Mapplethorpe did, so by doing this I felt like a followed the brief more to create a Mapplethorpe inspired shoot.

 Paul chose this picture but I did not, purely for the fact that I thought I had better photos than this one from the shoot, however once I edited this into black and white I did like it. I like the way she looks quite vulnerable however serious at the same time. I also like the way her skin is light against the dark background. On top of this, I also like the composition this picture was took at, I like that it sort of follows the location shoot brief for Mapplethorpe it the way its not something I would usually shoot as a part of her head is chopped off, I think this highlights her facial features and makes them the focal point of the picture, for example, her eyes.


To improve my knowledge on Mapplethorpe I would look at more of his pictures, perhaps on his portraits.

Robert Mapplethorpe

Robert Mapplethorpe was a photographer born in 1946 in a suburb of New York, he was brought up a catholic and at age 16 he left for the Pratt institute, an art college as he craved excitement. Once attending the Pratt institute he discovered both photography and Patti Smith. Patti Smith was only ever a friend as Robert was a homosexual, they met by walking into the wrong room at the Chelsea hotel,. He died from AIDS in 1989. The prime time of Mapplethorpe was the 70's-80's.

Robert was known as Americas most controversial photographer for his sexually explicit pictures of Manhattans homosexuals which shocked many. However, Mapplethorpe was also well known for his pictures of flowers and portraits. His pictures made a very big impression on the art scene. Due to the content of his explicit photographs, Mapplethorpe was accused of being a pornographer, however Mapplethorpe shot homosexuals to express himself as he never cane out due to being catholic. Robert shot a picture of himself with devil horns, there were many interpretations to this picture and whether it was related to the fact that he was gay.

Robert Mapplethorpe was a very confident person and a confident photographer, he would approach the rich and famous and would ask if he could take portraits of them for free, he would then charge them the money for the prints, this is how he built his business.

His first portraits were of friend, Patti Smith, he started his photography with just a Polaroid camera. Taking his photos, he would film, process the film and then take stills from it, in this time there was no digital camera. Mapplethorpe also shot his work symmetrical like catholic composition (the alter), which he thought was just his subconscious. By his working being symmetrical, his work was also precise. In the majority of his photos, Mapplethorpe used black and white.

Mapplethorpe was believed to be ahead of his time, however he photographed the life he lived. He was a very honest photographer and captured what he thought people would want to see. Due to his team growing Mapplethorpe needed money to continue his career so he begun to photograph flowers, he commented that he liked the flowers structure.

There was controversy when Mapplethorpe begun to use black homosexuals in his photographs in a structured manner, due to everyone else being unstructured he was thought to be a racist.

Robert Mapplethorpe didn't set out to make a statement with his photographs, it just grew out of what he did.

Contrast- Work Records

Contrast 1
With contrast, we went out and shot things which contrasted each other, initially we did this with just things in the world around us and not people. My main focus was light vs dark because it almost represented good vs evil. I found this field of photography difficult but I quite liked it. After going out shooting, I went back to the classroom and put my pictures into contact sheets, where I then chose my top 4 and Paul chose his. The 4 that Paul chose made it into my straight prints, but before printing them off I edited them to see what seemed appropriate.

Both Paul and I chose this picture because the light and the dark is very evident through the dark room and the lightness shining through the window. I edited this so it was black and white therefore the light and dark contrast was more evident. If I took this picture again I would make the window more central so the X was right in the middle.

Paul chose this picture but I did not and even now i do not like this photo, however I took it because the contrast is natural vs man made which is a contrast I like. I did not overly edit this picture because I thought it was a picture that looked much better with a natural vibe. I like how I zoomed in so that you couldn't see all of the drain, I don't think it would look good like that.





To improve my knowledge on contrast I think I would create a list of different contrasts so it is easier to determine more contrasts.

Contrast 2 (studio)
In this lesson I took photos in the studio to show contrast, the main theme I focused on in this lesson was colour contrast which was quite easy since Shannon has purple hair which contrasted well against the white background. I liked shooting contrast in the studio because I like doing studio photography. After having finished the shoot I went back to the classroom and put my shoot pictures into contact sheets, from there I chose my top 4 and then Paul chose his. After Paul choosing his top 4 I edited these, usually making the colours more evident so the contrast was more evident. After editing, i then printed these 4 off as my straight prints.

Both Paul and I chose this picture because it was full black against a white background, when I then edited this as a straight print I altered the curves high so the picture was brighter therefore making the background a bright white and the black of her jeans and clothes a more bold black. I really like this picture because it is really simple.

Paul chose this picture but I didn't, I think he chose it for the multiple contrasts however. Perhaps the reason is because you have the colour of the skin against the white background and then the bracelets. Nevertheless when I edited this picture I edited the curves so that the background was brighter, the skin was more evident and the bracelets were bolder. I didn't even like this picture once it had been edited.



To improve my knowledge of contrast within a studio I would google human contrasts and then incorporate this in my work.

Electronic Portfolio

Electronic Portfolio 2 from bethbouchareb