Thursday, 9 December 2010
Trish Morrissey
Yesterday I gave a presentation on photographer Trish Morrissey and decided to quickly add her to my blog so that I remeber her before the due date!
I mentioned two products produced by Morrissey, the first being 'Seven Years'. The name represents the age gap between her and her sister. In the images Morrissey and her sister reconstruct a family album to which most of us can relate. The pictures are very generic and she made sure all the clothes and props reflected the eighties period which allows us to again look back and relate to our own family album's which were created in the past. There is nothing special about the actual images however it is the concept behind them which struck me. Below I have published some of the images from the 'Seven Years' project.
I mentioned two products produced by Morrissey, the first being 'Seven Years'. The name represents the age gap between her and her sister. In the images Morrissey and her sister reconstruct a family album to which most of us can relate. The pictures are very generic and she made sure all the clothes and props reflected the eighties period which allows us to again look back and relate to our own family album's which were created in the past. There is nothing special about the actual images however it is the concept behind them which struck me. Below I have published some of the images from the 'Seven Years' project.
I find the images somewhat demeening to the family album in one respect because of how so many people can relate to the constructed images and how fake they all must be as we all pose infront of the camera. In a lot of th eimages however, unlike in most family albums Morrissey and her sister are not smiling and that is to concentrate on their body language and recognise the tension within the relationship on display.
The other project was called 'Front'. Through this project Morrissey went to beaches and spoke to families asking to take the place of a female within their unit. In most cases the mother figure. She would also ask to wear her clothing and pose with the family as if she were them. I found this whole concept intriguing, she is observing beaches, relationships and identity.
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
Silly Experimenting with Adobe Photoshop CS4
ORIGINAL
GRAIN: 4, HIGHLIGHT AREA: 0, INTENSITY: 10.
COLOR HALFTONE. Set MAX RADIUS: 4
Set the BLENDING MODE to DARKEN.
STROKE LAYER STYLE of WIDTH: 20px, POSITION: Inside and COLOR: #F5ECE1.
Not convinced with this image, it didnt quite work out but I've added it anyways as one of my failures, because this is all just for playful experimentation.
ORIGINAL
Added NOISE and DUST AND SPECLES
Reduced SATURATION to Black and White.
Meant to have the look of an old film.
ORIGINAL
Filtered image to NOTE PAPER
Cropped Image
SATURATION to the Max, HUE of choice
I think the final image turned out quite fun, I like it.
ORIGINAL
Played around with the LENS CORRECTION
Kind of like how it has put trish more in focus and the slight contortion to the shape of the image.
ORIGINAL
Added CUTOUT filter.
ORIGINAL
Shallow Grave
We were asked to watch a few movies and choose one we wished to produce work which would show a reflection on the film. The film I chose was Shallow Grave. The concept of the film is quite interesting although the acting skill is lacking somewhat in my opinion, which is irrelevant anyways; moving on. I initially was interesting in the angles at which the directer often chose to shoot at. Furthermore I developed some shots of trying to take photography of my subjects at weird angles. I wasn't really impressed with anything i was doing that is when i realised i was focusing too much on the angle and too little on the subject. So I turned everything around and started focusing a lot more on subject. Through out a lot of the film I feel as though the viewer is made to feel uncomfertable. We are faced with twists and turns leaving our minds filled with uncertainty. We observe the friendship of three people as it falls apart for the sake of greed. Hwoever through out the film I questioned the victims. We are faced with Alex, Juliet and David. Initially David is totally against the idea, then pressured into it by Alex, and because he pulled the short straw (literally) he had to cut up the body. This lead him to turmoil into madness, obviously, yet he is depicted as a bad man, we do catch him spying and being violent and threatening however. Alex, seems like a happy guy didnt want trouble just the money and to have a good time, but thinking of how forceful he was on the matter I question wether he brought this on himself and if so does that make him less of a victim? Juliet, possibly the most deceivng of them al. Using her femal charm on David who she knew had feelings for him how convenient even involving herself in the violent fight at the end of the film in desperation for the money, hammering down a knife into her 'friend' to keep him pinned to the ground while she escapes. However she too a victim feared by Alex and his possible capabilities.
This is where the change of mind came through, I really liked the concept of questioning the victim and wanted to produce images in which one questions whether their subject is or is not infact the victim.
This is the image I produced of Simon. What I like about the image is the expression on his face as it is pressed against the glass. Seeing somone pressed against glass with a look of distress would initially fire the thought that we are looking at a victim, however if you look at his hand, he is holding a hand saw; a weapon. Could this be a weapon being used in self defence or have we been presented with the attacker perhaps amidst an attack?
Bowl Light and Canon 5D Mark 1
Above a lovely portrait of myself. I smeared my make up, put baby oil on my face to imitate tears, ruffled my hair and all this together with some acting that shits on Kerry Fox's (Juliet in Shallow Grave), we have an image of distress. I used myself for this image, because I wanted the face of a woman. Furthermore when we see a woman distressed in most cases we defend the female. When you watch Shallow Grave however Juliet is no less violent and morbid then Alex and David, on the other hand she is perhaps darker in some respects. Moreover ones initial response is to see a man's hand forceful on a woman and a asume the worse on her behalf, however an image is a moment in time, we do not know the before or after. Should we not consider the idea that perhaps the subject is not the victim? perhaps she is being pushed away rather then raped. That is what I want from my viewers, to think of different responses to the images rather then to their initial thought.
The reason why I chose this image is because I like how the lighting came through and angle. I took several images to be able to have a lot to choose from, just snapping away with my arm stretched out while I moved around and got pushed around.
Bowl Light and Canon 5d Mark 1
Finally an image of a male peering through blinds. Again, I showed this to a few people in request of their response. In most cases we are looking at a pervert, a creepy Peeping Tom. However might he not be frightened in his home? hearing sounds from outside? Very plausable. Something I also find charming is how peering through blinds is recognised as perverse, yet I'm pretty sure if not everyone, then almost everyones either peered through curtains or blinds, or just watched someone knowing they don't know at some point.
Soft Box and Canon 5D Mark 1
In conclusion, just like when watching Shallow Grave, my images have been produced to question our subject. Obviously we are unable to come to any conclusions as we are unaware of any time or happenings surrounding the actions captured. However we should not jump to conclusions rather we should develop them. And finalyl, the images should leave the viewer feeling uncomfertable, uncomfertable by the situation and uncomfertable by not knowing whats going on and whether to feel sorry for the individual or not as I did in the film.
This is where the change of mind came through, I really liked the concept of questioning the victim and wanted to produce images in which one questions whether their subject is or is not infact the victim.
This is the image I produced of Simon. What I like about the image is the expression on his face as it is pressed against the glass. Seeing somone pressed against glass with a look of distress would initially fire the thought that we are looking at a victim, however if you look at his hand, he is holding a hand saw; a weapon. Could this be a weapon being used in self defence or have we been presented with the attacker perhaps amidst an attack?
Bowl Light and Canon 5D Mark 1
The reason why I chose this image is because I like how the lighting came through and angle. I took several images to be able to have a lot to choose from, just snapping away with my arm stretched out while I moved around and got pushed around.
Bowl Light and Canon 5d Mark 1
Soft Box and Canon 5D Mark 1
In conclusion, just like when watching Shallow Grave, my images have been produced to question our subject. Obviously we are unable to come to any conclusions as we are unaware of any time or happenings surrounding the actions captured. However we should not jump to conclusions rather we should develop them. And finalyl, the images should leave the viewer feeling uncomfertable, uncomfertable by the situation and uncomfertable by not knowing whats going on and whether to feel sorry for the individual or not as I did in the film.
Ring Flash and Medium Format with Digital Back
As I have already mentioned we were shown how to use the Ring Flash last week and I took a couple pictures. The image below is of Simon and I took it using the Ring flash and a Medium Format Camera with a digital back, which is amazing. The photographs were immediatly transferred onto Capture One, which is a programm I really need to learn more about. I made a point of using is last Thursday to get a bit more used to it and confident with it. I understand the basics of the program like starting a new session, correcting the white balance, creating a 'thread' so that each photograph follows through with the same qualities proposed. However I am not fully aware of the potential of the program and understand that a lot of proffessional photographers are using Capture One and I really need to get cracking and become completly used to the program first however I want to look into what exactly its about and does, then I will experiment because I will know what I can experiment with.
I took the image of Simon using the ring flash and the medium format camera with a digital back which is amazing, the detail on this image alone is impeccable. Simon had to be sat down for this shot becasue of his height, I stood close to him and took it from above pointing downwards. I used a large aperature for a shallow depth of feild which is really apparent in this photograph. You can see how clear his face is and how the focus drops as the words on his t-shirt become blurry, there is even less focus on his ears. I'm actually really pleased with this portrait and I am really excited about using the ring flash again this Friday in the studio hoping to get some interesting and fun shots.
The picture above was taken of me by simon. I like the way he's cropped the image I think its very neat and concise. In regards to the expression on my face, I wasn't meant to look that miserable; it's just my face.
I took the image of Simon using the ring flash and the medium format camera with a digital back which is amazing, the detail on this image alone is impeccable. Simon had to be sat down for this shot becasue of his height, I stood close to him and took it from above pointing downwards. I used a large aperature for a shallow depth of feild which is really apparent in this photograph. You can see how clear his face is and how the focus drops as the words on his t-shirt become blurry, there is even less focus on his ears. I'm actually really pleased with this portrait and I am really excited about using the ring flash again this Friday in the studio hoping to get some interesting and fun shots.
The picture above was taken of me by simon. I like the way he's cropped the image I think its very neat and concise. In regards to the expression on my face, I wasn't meant to look that miserable; it's just my face.
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