Review of Year One: Favourite Projects

Photographic Practices: Studio Portrait

Although this was one of the first projects of the year it is one which I enjoyed the most. The studio brief gave me the opportunity to develop my skills in the studio, as I had never worked that way before, as well as enhance my skills in the dark room. I was very happy with the final image, as it was well exposed and technically quite resolved, and I felt that my work had developed significantly since the first test shoot. 

Evaluation of final image:

Overall, I feel like my final shoot was very successful, and I have been able to select a final image which is very successful in terms of technique, as well as being a striking, and graphic photograph.

I made two copies of my final image, one of which I selenium toned, to bring out the highlights. I was pleased with the results, as sometimes prints can be tinted blue, but the difference in my print was very subtle, although it has been sharpened quite significantly.

Although there were  a few imperfections on my print which I could have spotted, I decided against it, as I would rather not risk ruining the print – the imperfection was in a mid tone area  which is a lot harder to mix correctly.

In general, the exposure of this image is correct, and because of this, I did not need to dodge or burn any areas in the dark room – the lighting is spread evenly  across the whole subject, and there is a wide range of tone and contrast.

If there was one aspect of the final image I would change, it would be the framing, as the hand has been cropped out. However, I now know that the framing of an image is something that I have to work on,  and I still feel this image was the most successful in terms of other aspects, such as lighting, exposure, expression, pose and composition. 

Photography and the Printed Page

This was another project which I enjoyed but also one which I felt I learnt a lot from. It was interesting to work on an extended body of work as well as considering other factors such as sequencing, layout and book design.

Introduction to book:

Six Hundred and Ninety Eight explores through imagery the crime rates in the City of Bath in 2012. The title refers to the total number of crimes that occurred in the city in February of this year, and each image was taken based on specific crime figures from this same month. The map opposite pinpoints the locations in which the photographs were taken and the statistics throughout describe the crime rate in that particular area of Bath in 2012 so far. Although the photographs have been taken with the concept of crime in mind, there are no traces of specific crime apparent, providing juxtaposition between the ideas of the imagery and the almost picturesque landscape that is presented - these are places where crime would not be expected.

Evaluation of book:

Overall I was happy with the final product, and thought that the layout and sequencing of the images I had chosen was successful, as it worked well with the ideas behind the photographs. The book has a formal and factual feel to it, relating to the statistics and figures I have used to base the project on, and the layout of the images on each page further reflects this – the images are presented in an almost forensic and scientific way.

Sequencing and Layout:

The sequencing has worked well as each image works alongside the other due to the perspective lines and the atmospheric qualities of the photographs. The time of day is also reflected in the series, and the book takes the viewer on a journey through the streets of Bath.

Having the same format throughout the book means that there is no distraction from the content; there is a formality to the sequencing, almost as if the book is a case study of the crimes occurring in the city (straightforward context).

I feel that the photographs were taken using the relevant format, and the qualities of the images would have been different if I had used film or a larger format and therefore they would be read differently.

Text and Images:

After reviewing the book once it arrived, I feel that I could have placed the introduction after the images, as the explanation gives too much away. As a result of this the images become illustrative of the text rather than being the other way around.

Overall Design:

I am happy overall with the design of the book, however I feel that the images would have looked better on matte paper, as the glossy paper can be quite distracting, and a matte finish would have bought out the shadows and tones more. I also wish that the text was slightly smaller in comparison to the images, but it is very difficult to judge this while designing the book. 

One Day Brief: Manchester Street Portraits

While visiting Manchester for the day we were asked to create a small body of work: 4 portraits taken on the streets which had to work as a series. I decided to capture candid moments rather than approaching people, and decided to focus on street workers and entertainers, as I noticed that there were many diverse examples of people working on the streets in the Piccadilly area of the city. 

I found it challenging to try and create a series as we had a limited amount of time and had no way of viewing the images as we worked. However, I feel that the four I have chosen work together visually and are linked by the theme. Although I would prefer if each image had been composed in a similar way, the tones and colours within the photographs work together well and therefore visually connect them, making a more coherent series.

Manchester Exhibition: Roger Ballen

Shadow Land: Photographs 1983-2011

Shadow Land is Roger Ballen's first UK exhibition, covering three decades of work from his time living and working in South Africa.

Over the years Ballen's work has developed, becoming metaphors for the inner mind and moving away from social critique, as well as becoming more painterly and unreal. The line between fantasy and reality is becoming increasingly blurred and in some of his newest work, Ballen has incorporated other medias, such as sculpture, painting and collage to create elaborate sets, with the presence of people absent altogether. 

I found the photographs slightly disturbing yet compelling, and aesthetically the prints were striking, in stark black and white within a simple square format. 

Ballen switched to using the RolleiFlex square format in the early 1980's and the effect on his work was immediately apparent; the formal shapes and contrasting textures and tones are emphasised within the photographs.

Visiting Speaker: Thijs Wassink

Wassink collaborates with another photographer to create bodies of work based on a range of ideas and themes. The way that the photographs are presented in book form is seen to them as just as important as the images themselves. The pair, known as WassinkLundgren, are more interested in making books than selling prints, each book being designed in unique ways - the design and sequencing of images can completely alter how an image is read. 

Since we are currently working on making our own extended body of work which will be displayed in book format, it was interesting to hear about Wassink's projects and the way he presents his images and how this affects the way they are interpreted. I was particularly interested in the design of Stradtrundfahrt, a small book containing images of trees in Berlin. Each tree in the city is numbered, and Wassink travelled around the city photographing them. The layout of the book is straightforward and contains a map at the end pinpointing where each tree is located within the city. 

The design of this book was relevant to my own work, as I have chosen to use a formal layout and a map to show the locations which I have photographed, giving the work a factual and almost scientific feel. I found this talk very inspiring and was very interested in the way that Wassink works and the reasoning behind the design of his books. 

John Bulmer 'The North' - Visiting Speaker April 24th 2012

John Bulmer has been described as a pioneer of colour photography, always quick to take up new technologies, even at the start of his career. Bulmer's reputation grew through regular commissions from magazines, including Town, when he first began documenting the north of England. During the 1960's, a time of great contrasts in the UK, Bulmer photographed many of England's industrial regions, including Yorkshire, the North-East and the Black Country, providing a record of working class ordinary life. 

The North was seen by many as a groundbreaking project because of Bulmer's decision to use colour - 'It didn't occur to anyone to take the north of England in colour - that was considered a black and white subject' (John Bulmer). Many of the photographs in the series, including those taken in the Black Country were taken throughout the winter, almost always using natural light, which more clearly portrays the atmosphere of the place at a time when many families were struggling as a result of the depression. Although using colour, Bulmer chose to photograph in the normal weather rather than on bright sunny days, which was when colour film was typically used; the mist and rain gives more of the real atmosphere of the place. 

John Bulmer's work is currently being shown in one of Leeds College of Art's gallery spaces. Many of his most famous images have been reprinted, and it is the first time that so many from the industrial series have been shown together, a mix of both black and white and colour. 

Bradford Exhibition: Mark Power

The Sound of Two Songs

The Sound of Two Songs, produced over a period of five years, is an extensive photographic survey of Poland. Mark power became fascinated with Poland at a time when hundreds of thousands of Poles were coming over to the UK to live and work. The fascination developed when Power made his first visit in 2004 as part of a project for Magnum Photos to document the ten countries joining the European union that year. 

Power's focus has slowly shifted from an investigation into EU membership into a more subjective and autobiographical response to the country, and although he is sensitive to the problems of being an outsider, Power embraces the opportunities of being in an unfamiliar place and seeing things for the first time. 

Although a personal project, The Sound of Two Songs also functions as an important historical document of a fascination time in Poland's history. The image present Poland as a country 'bursting with visual contradictions'. 

The photographs exemplify Power's belief that 'ugliness can be profoundly beautiful', many of seemingly mundane landscapes seen from a foreigners point of view from a respectable distance.

The majority of Power's large format colour photographs depict landscapes often featuring surprising elements, alongside a series of portraits. Each image is meticulously detailed, enhancing the impact when they are framed and displayed in a gallery context. 

I found this exhibition very interesting, due to my interests within documentary photography, and found  each image as strong as the next, in terms of composition and the great detail which comes from using large format. 

Studio Practice

Still Life: Using Large Format

This was one of my favourite briefs, and explored the theme of self identity. My initial ideas involved photographing my toy clown, which I have owned since the day i was born. The final image had to be taken using the 5x4 technical camera, which was a challenge but produced successful results.

Overall, I am very happy with the results of the still life shoot – I feel that the shoot itself went well and I managed to solve my ideas both visually and technically, with the use of a shallow depth of field and multiple flash. The final transparency image is well composed and focused well, with very clear detail in the texture of the hand and arm. The use of depth of field has also been successful, as the hand is the most focused part of the image, which helps to convey feelings of intimacy, and although it is a toy, the clown has an almost human like anatomy. The colours in the image have also come out well, they are very vibrant and clear which creates a more visually interesting image for the viewer. Although the image overall has been successful, the white sheet in the back ground is slightly underexposed – with this type of transparency film, underexposed whites take on a slightly pink tone, as the film does not deal with mid key lighting very well. This also means that there is no detail in the sheet, giving the appearance of just a purely white background, however I don’t feel that this takes anything away from the images visually.