How much can a visual
lead you to be cognitively engaged?
TARGETS FOR MY FIRST PHOTOSHOOT
FIRSt INSPIRatiON
ALAN SCHALLER
Alan Schaller is a London based photographer who specialises in black and white photography. His work is often abstract and incorporates elements of surrealism, geometry, high contrast and the realities and diversities of human life.
In his series Metropolis, photographer Alan Schaller interprets the disconnection between people in the digital age. The series examines the way in which we are dwarfed by the world around us, and how that feels. Schaller was born in London, where Metropolis also began. The majority of the photographs were taken on the streets candidly, because Schaller wanted them to convey a true sense of urban life in its many facets.
Brands he has worked with include Apple, Philips, Huawei, Union Coffee, Kew Gardens, Nokia, Huntsman of Savile Row and London Fashion week. He is an ambassador for Leica Cameras.
His work vastly inspired me to change the ways I look upon a photograph and also the technique he uses to capture an image. when factoring all of these into one single photograph, it creates a much higher level of uniqueness to that photograph.
artist analysis and relations
second inspiration
brian lloyd duckett
Brian Lloyd Duckett is a professional street photographer, author and lecturer. Brian also runs street photography workshops for individuals and groups around the UK and Europe. HE inspires many young photographers like myself. His photographs link to my topic of limitations as another way of saying this is "restrictions" or "restricted" and his work is mostly based on people who are stuck in such a lifestyle or a hobby. this can be both from the good and bad side of things. one good example would be a picture of an individual coming out of his way to bring out his camera to capture a scene, signifying his or her addiction to photography. a bad example would be a darker looking image creating a more sinister mood plus a man smoking with loads of cigarettes on the floor beside the man whilst he crouches beneath a stone step at the back of a restaurant or cafe.
< Alan schaller >
Alan Schaller's latest work titled 'Metropolis' is a series examining how we are dwarfed in the modern world around us and often lost in it. This is creates the perfect link to my project as the original thought title of my final piece was 'Perdu' which in modern French means 'Lost'. Alan's work and collection of immersing photographs diverts the attention of the public to not just realise how vast the infrastructure around us is but also how terrifying it can become. The photograph I have chosen from Alan's collection is titled 'Man at sea', its lack of saturation shows us how easily one could be forgotten or lost due to blending in with such vastness and space. This further relates to my final piece idea as I had planned to use the idea of placing a human in such open space to create to feeling of being overwhelmed by the amount of free space / ground.
artist analysis and relations
< Brian Lloyd Duckett >
Brian runs street and travel photography workshops around the UK and in European cities such as Lisbon, Venice and Prague – with other cities to follow. He runs workshops for small groups and also one-to-one workshops and mentoring programs. He teaches as a Visiting Lecturer on photography degree courses and is a lecturer and judge at camera clubs across the UK. His first book, ‘Mastering Street Photography’, has become a best seller and the follow-up – ’52 Assignments: Street Photography’ – is hot on its heels (both published by Ammonite Press). He also writes for blogs and for travel and photography magazines.
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The amount of recognition Brian has gathered from his photography is what caught my attention but it is very interesting as Brian's photography is nothing the world hasn't seen before. But its the lack of care for how the public could throw out horrible and down-putting comments at his work. He simply takes photographs of anything he finds that fits into his collection. Some would call his collection 'harsh' but I like the way he presents his work. The majority of his photos are raw and not edited in 3rd party software. This fact about his work adds a sense of realism and originality even though the style of picture was something seen many years before the times of Brian. The harsh feeling of Brian's work is what helped me create or lead ideas to a final piece.
THIRD inspiration
JANNE PARVIAINEN
Janne has organized exhibitions, light installations, light art work shops, performances, music videos and commercial work as a solo artist and with the Finnish light art collectives "Valopaja" and Light Paint Box he is part of. Janne is part of the Advisory board in the international light painting group LPWA and is an author on the Light Painting Blog, that covers the field of light art and light painting internationally.
Panne Parviainen also has 20 years of expertise as an artist and he has a very recognizable style in which he combines oil colour, metal leaves and permanent marker on glass using old windows. Janne has been teaching drawing light art and oil color painting for 18 years in various schools in the Helsinki region.
the PHOTOSHOOT
< Brian Lloyd Duckett >
Brian runs street and travel photography workshops around the UK and in European cities such as Lisbon, Venice and Prague – with other cities to follow. He runs workshops for small groups and also one-to-one workshops and mentoring programs. He teaches as a Visiting Lecturer on photography degree courses and is a lecturer and judge at camera clubs across the UK. His first book, ‘Mastering Street Photography’, has become a best seller and the follow-up – ’52 Assignments: Street Photography’ – is hot on its heels (both published by Ammonite Press). He also writes for blogs and for travel and photography magazines.
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The amount of recognition Brian has gathered from his photography is what caught my attention but it is very interesting as Brian's photography is nothing the world hasn't seen before. But its the lack of care for how the public could throw out horrible and down-putting comments at his work. He simply takes photographs of anything he finds that fits into his collection. Some would call his collection 'harsh' but I like the way he presents his work. The majority of his photos are raw and not edited in 3rd party software. This fact about his work adds a sense of realism and originality even though the style of picture was something seen many years before the times of Brian. The harsh feeling of Brian's work is what helped me create or lead ideas to a final piece.
< how did it go >
Once I find a potential location, I’ll snap some test shots and see if the location works within the constraints of the sketch. I take test shots because I like being well prepared. One negative about shooting outdoors, is that I need to travel with backups of all vital equipment (strobes, triggers, batteries) so that, if something breaks, I can still push on with the shoot. This leads me to a point I can’t accentuate enough (but bolding it will have to do): create an equipment list and use it to pack for every shoot. Before I started doing this, I found myself in some embarrassing situations. I like to be free to focus on creativity when shooting. I’ve learned the hard way that if I give myself too many jobs I don’t perform the job of photographer as well. So, I like to always have at least one assistant on a shoot. If the shoot is a complex one (with, say a smoke machine and multiple lights) I try and get two people to help out. As a cultural photographer, it makes sense that I’m interested in the story behind the subjects I photograph. But the truth is, it was an interest in my subjects that guided me towards cultural photography, not the other way around. Thinking beyond composition and lighting will add complexity and depth to your images. That is what the next stage is focused on: taking that idea and expanding on it, learning about it, and seeing what other people have done with the same idea.
While researching a concept I’m looking to answer a few basic questions:
– What emotions are my photos trying to convey?
– What tone would best fit these emotions?
– What colours should be dominant?
– What props will I need?
– How many models will I need?
– What kind of location will I need?
FULL SIZE final Edit
FULL SIZE final EDIT
detail
"PERDU"
1.
The location of this photo is in Brill, Oxfordshire. The road up to Brill is known as Oxfordshire's most dangerous road for bikers.
6.
After adjusting the texture and clarity settings in Adobe Lightroom I was able to create a painting like feeling.
2.
This photograph represents both the sense of freedom and limitations.
7.
The density of the grass creates a very heavy feeling surrounding the main suspect of the image. This was exactly my intention.
3.
I captured this by standing at the top of a stairway leading up to an entrance to the Brill windmill.
8.
This was the perfect location for capturing such a wide shot. Photographs like this are not possible in the city centre.
4.
Freedom is shown by the suspect being alone and peaceful in this huge crater full of natures beauty.
9.
The exam topic of Limtations is shown by the suspect not being able to get out of the deep crater he/she has fallen into and is stuck in.
5.
I made the suspect wear a helmet as this adds more to the idea of centered imagination being trapped.
10.
The image was taken in raw so that I have as much information behind the photograph to digitally play with.
"PERDU"
the second PHOTOSHOOT
< improvements/notes >
When it comes to photography, the type of lighting that I use is one of the most important elements of any photo. Light in photography refers to how the light source, which can be natural or artificial, is positioned in relation to the subject. The position and quality of light can affect any number of things in the final photo, from clarity to tone to emotion and so much more. By paying attention to how light plays off of the angles and curves of your subject, and which parts of the subject are illuminated and which are in darkness, I can become a stronger and more confident photographer because I will start to learn how to harness the light source in the most effective way for any given project.
< hard light >
The opposite of soft or diffused light, hard lighting is when the light source is pointed directly at your subject. It results in high contrast and intensity, bright whites and dark shadow, and is often created by making use of the midday sun. I can also manufacture this type of light in a studio by using a spotlight or other source of light that is not diffused.
FULL SIZE final EDITS
"OUVERT"
"FERMER"
experimenting light photography
