Portraiture
This is a studio portrait which I then went on to edit in Photoshop. The lighting in the studio comes from his left and right, but stronger on his right. In Photoshop I used a blurring tool to give his skin a smooth over layer, I also brightened his eyes and give the whole picture a general glow. I used a digital camera with a standard 188mm -50mm lens.
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I explored camouflage in portraits by taking a series of shots with the Nikon 70D using the 50mm - 300mm lens at the 'Rain Room' exhibition at the Barbican. The idea was to use the powerful single source of lighting available in the rain room can capture shots where the falling rain fell in front and behind of my model. We tried various shots with and without flash - finding that not using the flashy meant for better camouflage, but it was much harder to get shots that were in focus as the length of time the lense was open, meant the camera was subject to more camera shake. This gave a very interesting effect when the model also moved.
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I explored balance in portraiture using two models in an underground car park which provided strong framing devices with the red pillars that separate the parking bays. One model is 15 feet behind the other. I used a Nikon 70D with a 15 - 50mm lens which meant I could either have the model in the foreground in focus or the model in the background in focus. I like the composition and structure of these shots
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William Klein
William Klein, born in New York on April 19, 1928, is a photographer and filmmaker. The majority of his photography is portraits taken in black and white, he is well known for his unusual method of photography in the context of photojournalism and fashion photography.
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Here are some examples of his work.
Daido Moriyama
Daido Moriyama, born October 10, 1938 is a Japanese photographer known for his photography in post-war Japan. Moriyama predominantly takes high contrast, grainy, black and white photographs within the Shinjuku area of Tokyo. One of his first and most famous collections of photographs showed the darker sides of urban life and the less-seen parts of cities.
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Here are some examples of his work
Klein and Moriyama exhibition Tate Modern November 2012
I went to the Klein and Moriyama exhibition at the Tate Modern. They were both street photographers and amongst the first photographers to take their craft to the streets - but using film cameras. Black and White was their preferred medium - in the video of Moriyama I saw him reverting back to black and white even when he was using a digital camera - saying he felt the colour was 'vulgar'. Both seemed to use colour when the mood they wanted to portray was enhanced by it. I particularly liked Klein's combining of architecture, graphic art and photography and his willingness to combine different art forms which was shown in the exhibition by his use of photograms which we have been exploring in class. What I took away from Klein's work is the incredible moments he captures in his images, how each image tells a story - particularly in his street photography. He talked in his video about capturing a moment in film.
'Everything was Moving' - photography from the 60's and 70's - Barbican Centre November 2012
I also went to an exhibition at the Barbican Centre in London. 'Everything was moving ' explores how artists and photographers intersected with their historical moment, and the world they inhabited, during the 1960's and 1970's. It was about how photography can capture a moment in history and featured the pictures of David Goldblatt, Boris Mikhailov and Ernest Cole amongst others. David Goldblatt captured South Africa's apartheid on October 31st 1961 with a powerful portrait of Dr Hendrick Verwoerd, the 'Principal Architect' or Apartheid . The composition of the three horses is very powerful.
Boris Mikhailov used a technique called superimposing and published it in a book called 'Yesterday's Sandwhich". He put two transparencies together, one of top of another in a random way to create a new image with new meaning. This approach ' was based on a deliberate pursuit of chance' - the pictures seems quite random but get a new meaning when they are together.
Ernest Cole, like Goldblatt, was passionate about bringing the reality of Apartheid in Africa to the world. His powerful portrait of a boy squatting on his haunches, trying to follow a lesson under intense heat.
Boris Mikhailov used a technique called superimposing and published it in a book called 'Yesterday's Sandwhich". He put two transparencies together, one of top of another in a random way to create a new image with new meaning. This approach ' was based on a deliberate pursuit of chance' - the pictures seems quite random but get a new meaning when they are together.
Ernest Cole, like Goldblatt, was passionate about bringing the reality of Apartheid in Africa to the world. His powerful portrait of a boy squatting on his haunches, trying to follow a lesson under intense heat.
Personal Strand
For my first attempt at a set for my final images I took three photos of women in advancing ages, there is almost exactly 25 years in between each of these people. i chose to have them in a half face composition so i could make good use of the depth of field
Sophie Calle - the shadow
In April 1981, at calle's request, her mother went to a detetctive agency. She hired them to follow calle, to report her daily activities, and to proviede photographic evidence of her existence.
In the Shadow she sets the detective's photographic account against her own observations, the observer becomes the observed. The viewer is the third witness. Sophie Calle's face does not appear in any of the pictures: her figure emerges like a shadow throughout the detective's photographs.
In the Shadow she sets the detective's photographic account against her own observations, the observer becomes the observed. The viewer is the third witness. Sophie Calle's face does not appear in any of the pictures: her figure emerges like a shadow throughout the detective's photographs.
these are my attempts at a series inspired by Sophie calle's the shadow series, I went out and took photos of a friend as if I were following them.