Nan Goldin

A selection of images Nan Goldin has taken reflecting the personal, private and intimate side of people close to her and herself.

Blog Presentation Feedback

Last week I presented my blog in class. After my presentation Ines discussed with me how she felt there was a lack of coherence within my blog. My images seem to be all over the place. This is clearly evident to anyone who even skims through my blog and I think my lack of certainty has really come through. However I realise that the work on this blog is meant to develop into a project for next semester.

On the other hand throughout this project I have come to realise that I really enjoy using the outdoor lighting kit. I like results of using the lighting and I like that the photographs aren’t taken in the studio, rather the images have the ability to become more personal because I can take them anywhere. On a positive note, Ines recognised my interest in taking photographs of people I know well and feel close to. She suggested I look into the image of photographer Nan Golden who too enjoyed photographing people she felt  close to, in fact as far as I know she only photographed people she knew. This has lead me to think about my second semester project of possibly creating a short book that relates to someone close to me and to take personal images of them in their space. Something Ines also pointed out which I found interesting was my interest in the colour red. This may be due to my past studies which were related to art. There is something so grasping about the colour red that I do enjoy using it within my imagery, because I feel it draws the eye, which infact I speak about in one of my posts. This observation from Ines has sparked in interest in me, because although I knew I found myself drawn to the colour I hadn't realised it, if that makes much sense and I feel as though her comment will not go overlooked, rather I plan on producing work which I find Ines found consistency in because that is obviously where my interest must lay.

In conclusion I appreciate Ines’s feedback and I think it may have helped me narrow down my aims for next semester a great deal.

Media

I have been meaning to add this photograph to my blog for a while now. I took this image for the Liverpool Biennial project in which we were asked to take an image which reflects contemporary art in some form and was influence by the different shows in some aspect. There were a lot of political messages in many of the exhibits and therefore I decided I wanted to produce a piece which puts a message across. The photograph I took as been posted below. The literal message not to eat everything the media tells you. The idea of this picture is to express how  most things delivered by the media need to be taken with a pinch of salt (pun intended).

I was quite please with this image, however what i dont like about it is how dark it is on the right hand side. I liked the shadow which developed round the bottom of the plate on the right, however I think it would have been a more interesting image had I added some light to the light and put it on a lower power setting, to keep it darker however to fill it with a bit of light.

Another thing I am not sure of is weather the image is clear enough on its own and if the messge comes across without having to literally tell the viewer and I hope so, because I very often prefer art pieces untitled. 

Ring Flash

Today we got inducted on Ring Flash which I've been wanting to use for a while now because I had liked results I had seen on pictures in first year. Initially Adam explained how ring flash creates a glow like shadow along the subject. I placed picture below of actress Jennifer Aniston because I thought it displayed this glow perfectly.

He also explained that because the flash is merely creating an even light across the subject it isn't actually creating anything exciting or dramatic unless you make it. So how you position and capture your subject is a vital part of creating an interesting portrait using the ring flash. The following are a few portraits which have been taken using the Ring Flash which I found interesting.

In the above case Ring Flash was combined with a long exposure to capture the ambient light from behind the glass. The camera was given a twist at the time of exposure to record the background as a series of streaks.

I really like the ring flash and have booked it out for a session in the studio next friday in aim of getting some practise.

Coloured Gel Photography

These are some more images I have found which use coloured gels. These images have been taken in a more interesting way to the previous post which was mainly to recognise the technical aspect.

Using just a grey paper background roll, portable Broncolor Mobil flash lighting kit and some coloured gels.

 coloured gel to provide the colour, a near infinite variation of saturation, hue and luminance is available. I used turquoise and lavender gels together to create this shade.

Long exposure in the dark - subject lit up by small torch with different coloured gels.

Using a Lomo Camera, the photographer takes an initial photograph then without winding the camera takes other photos to create an overlapping effect. For this image there has been an inclusion of gles which I think creates an interesting result.

I like the grainyness to this image and the composition of the image. The shut eyes and pose of the woman in the background, the eyes looking directly towards the camera in the foreground together with the purply/punk colours which are relying more on red then blue are creating a sexual connotation to the image.



Workshop

In today's workshop we practised using coloured gels amongst other things. I have decided to look at some different photographs that have been taken using coloured gels. To start off with I thought I would post this because there is a photograph displaying the photographers set up and a diagram further explaining.

I don't really like the final result and how the gels were used in this case however I find it good to see a set up and what results come from a set up, so that things become more and more familiar and understandable as I go along.

Couch Potatoe