Photo Shoot 1

For my first photo shoot, I went to Brighton to take pictures of shop windows but focusing on the people that could be seen in the reflection.

I chose to take pictures in this shop window because I liked that the cakes were very bright and creative looking, for example the cookie monster cupcake. 

I found this shop quite interesting since it sold 50s style clothes which aren't sold in most other shops. I wanted to capture the sales assistant who was also dressed in 50s attire. I think this image would be better if the assistant was standing closer to the window so that you could see her properly.

I like that this image shows a couple interacting in the background, however it doesn't have much relation to the shop window itself.

I chose to use JD Sports' window as it is a typical representation of the youth. In the image above a young person in similar closing walks past and appears to be like the target audience for JD Sports.

I thought it would be interesting to experiment with taking a direct photograph of some people looking in to the shop window rather than using a reflection. I don't think this looks as successful as the other images as it is unclear what the subject of the photograph is.

I like the depth of field in this image as the focus is in the background rather than the foreground. Also the reflection looks more like a multiple exposure image rather than just one photograph. At the same time I think that the theme of the photograph gets lost in this image.

This was my favourite photograph out of this photo shoot. I think the older people contrast with the representation of the youth in the shop window, thus representing them as the 'other'. I decided to edit the image in black and white with a high contrast as I think that this makes it look more dramatic. The image has a slightly grainy effect too which makes it look vintage. This emphasises the age of the subjects whilst subverting the shop window's youth. I think I would like to use this photograph as part of my final few pictures.

Inspiration: Tom Bovo

New York Streets 2

New York Streets

Watching

Tom Bovo is a New York based photographer that has been active since 1985. His work has been featured in many exhibitions in Brooklyn. He studied painting and printmaking at Columbia University. His influences include abstract expressionist painters, but also photographers such as Eadweard Muybridge, Andre Kertesz, and Diane Arbus.

"My images are not accidents—the camera does not reveal things that do not exist, but can reveal the things we filter out when looking directly at them."

Bovo defends his authorship by explaining that his photographs are a reflection of his own perspectives. This is useful for my topic, since I will be taking pictures of shop windows too, but I will make sure to include specific details of things that I believe will engage the audience.

In the image above the manequin is denoted in the centre of the image, making her appear to be the focus. The store would have used the mannequin to set an ideal standard for the customers; it appears to be quite thin, with glamorous hair and makeup. Bovo goes beyond the typical perspective of the shop window and places the mannequin within the New York setting by using the reflection of the window.

I think with my own photography I would like to include more than just the window display but also the people and buildings in the surroundings.

Sources:

http://www.440gallery.com/Artist-Tom-Bovo

http://www.tombovo.com/bio.php

Ubiquitous Photography & Web 2.0 Platform

Ubiquitous: present, appearing, or found everywhere.

Ubiquitous photography refers to images that are visually similar and can be found in many places. This can refer to the way that images are distributed widely, especially through the use of social media. Web 2.0. allows users to contribute content to the internet, as opposed to Web 1.0. which was just an information archive for passive viewing. With web 2.0. people use social media websites such as Flickr to share their photographs in order to form a collective social community,

Jose van Dijck - Flickr and the culture of connectivity: Sharing views, experiences, memories

Photograph sharing websites such as Flickr create a communal experience to express its user's views. Sharing photos leads to a collective perspectives, experiences and memory. In terms of sharing perspectives, social media sites allow users to collect their ideas and form an agreed upon viewpoint. With collective experience people form their identities through sharing pictures. Finally social media is used as a collective memory whereby people upload their pictures to look back upon. Dijick argues that it has become an "unsconscious technological pursuit" as most people upload pictures to social media without thinking too much about it.

"Sharing pictures in the present naturally leads to a collective interpretation of the past."

Penelope Umbrico

Compiles similar photographs that she has found on Google Images, to create collage prints. Similar topic to authorship since she uses other people's photographs

The image above is from Umbrico's project called 'Suns of Flickr'. It denotes a collection of pictures of sunsets that were found on website Flickr. "This is a project I started when I found 541,795 pictures of sunsets searching the word “sunset” on the image hosting website, Flickr. I cropped just the suns from these pictures and uploaded them to Kodak, making 4" x 6" machine prints from them." It's interesting how all the images have a similar colours and composition.

Joachim Schmid

Joachim Schmid collects photographs that are similar in order to display trends at a certain time. Since the development of Web2.0 he has been able to discover more photographs through the internet on websites such as Flickr. 

The photograph above is from his book collection called 'Other People's Photographs', and this set of photographs is called 'Kisses for Me'. It denotes many people kissing themselves in the mirror. Like many of his other collections, this set shows a slightly absurd amateur photographic trend. I think that Schmid's work is interesting because in many years to come people will look back at current trends and find it peculiar. 

Data Bending

"Data bending is the process of manipulating information from within a media file of a certain format, using software designed to edit files of another format. Distortions in the medium typically occur as a result, and the process either falls under a broader category of, or is frequently employed in glitch art."

(Wikipedia definition)

Sabato Visconti 

• Creates 'glitch art' by taking one image and distorting it in many different ways, thus creating variations of the same picture
• I like that in the above image you can still see the original photograph but with the glitch effect only applied in certain areas
• http://www.sabatobox.com/jules-in-june#5

Heitor Magno

• Also created glitch art by using layers on photoshop to replace certain parts of the original picture

In class we experimented with using text files to data bend an image. When changing the order of large amounts of html it changes factors such as the colours and composition. I found the randomness frustrating at times as I wished I could have more control over which effects were changed (although this would require a highly advanced knowledge of html coding). However I think that some of the images still came out quite difficult. From doing this exercise I've learned that I quite like the use of muted tones in images which give a kind of vintage effect. I would like to find a way to achieve this effect with Photoshop if possible. Also I think the random combination of the glitches could be used in some of my final project as well.

The picture above was my favourite of all the experiments. I like that it created varying shades of blue with hints of pink and purple. This makes it look like a combination of images taken at different times of the day.

I found it interesting that this image was distorted in a way that changed the composition. I also think that it's interesting that it created neon shades of green and red.

Not much was changed in this image except for the bottom of the picture which has a very dark grungy effect. I think that that effect emphasised the texture in the image.

This image was divided into three sections. The top third remained normal. The second section has a slightly paler tone with a slightly red tint in it. The bottom turned much darker.

This picture connotes a spooky atmosphere like something out of a horror movie.

Circulation & Authorship of the Photo-image

Authorship refers to the person who has ownership of an image
Circulation (in modern times) can be sharing images on social media, e.g. Facebook, Instagram, and Flickr. Using Instagram as a case study, the social network allows its users to easily circulate their own pictures. Accounts which aren’t private can be seen by users across the world. The use of filters allows all users to use someone else’s artistic vision which questions  the concept of authorship. However Instagram users still have ownership over their photos.


Analog to Digital: The Indexical Function of Photographic Images

McLuhan: “the message of any medium or technology is the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs”. For example, the railway did not introduce movement or transportation into human society, but it did create new types of cities and accelerated human movement. Digital technology has allowed for editing, because rather than being an object (analog), the photograph is data. Digital technology “challenges the the historical belief that photography is representative of reality”

Analog Photography: “Light bounces off an object and is recorded in the silver salts of the film’s emulsion”
Barthes: “photographic referent” is the object that is in front of the lens, needed to record its image

Digital Photography: Translated into code, so lacks a physical connection between the subject and the image. Doubting “the reliability of photography’s connection to the real”. “Certainly subjects have been told to smile, photographs have been staged, and other such manipulations…but now the viewer must question the photograph at the basic level.”

Richard Hamilton

• Born in 1922 in London, died in 2011
• Inspired by Eduardo Paolozzi and Marcel Duchamp
• Pop Art
• Popularised and recreated Duchamp’s work

“The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors, Even” also called “The Large Glass”

(Duchamp’s work on the left, Hamilton’s recreation on the right). His work questions authorship since it's almost a direct copy of someone else's work. 

Julian Stallabrass

• Art historian, photographer and curator from London, UK
• Professor at Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London
• Photographs people, places and sculptures usually in vernacular style
• Uses photography as a social commentary to enforce his own ideologies

The image above was taken in Berlin. It denotes a graffiti portrait of Snow White wearing a bandana and holding a grenade. The text below is translated to ‘anti war’. By Stallabrass taking a photograph of this it is suggested that it reflects his own ideology that he too is against war. The studium of this photograph would be the graffiti in the centre of the image, however this was art created by someone other than Stallabrass. This questions his authorship as the very thing that attracts you to the photo was made by someone else.

This photograph was taken in Chingford, London. Stallabrass argues that taking things out of their context and constructing a more beautiful image is too conventional. He therefore prefers to capture the essence of the natural environment without tweaking too much. In terms of authorship, he considers lighting and composition when taking his pictures. “When photographing, I look for a combination of light, formal and symbolic juxtaposition that appears to work together and gives the subject coherence. Choices about framing, exposure and focus may help to bring that coherence out”.

Michael Wolf

• German Artist & photographer 
• Become a photojournalist working in Hong Kong in 1994
• In 2003 he decided to only work on fine-art photography projects

The photograph above is from Wolf's series called 'Real Fake Art'. Wolf photographs regular people holding famous pieces of art. It could be argued that the punctum of the images are the pieces of art which is not his own work. However Wolf uses his own artistic values in terms of deciding on location, subjects, and lighting. In the image above, the setting looks quite deprived and the lighting is very low; this subsequently draws attention to the Pop Art painting. 

I think this topic as a whole is quite relevant to my project, since with taking pictures of shop windows, I will be showing someone else's creation in terms of the shop display. However, like Wolf I will make my own decisions in terms of lighting and create my own punctum that is different from the original creators vision.

Lighting Workshop

For this week's task we were working with the flash guns on the camera. This can be used to compensate for absence of light or to combat shadows.

I think that this picture worked well since there was a lot of natural sunlight coming from behind.

I then tried to use the flash gun in an area where there was less natural light. The flash gun worked well to illuminate the subject.

I think the image above worked well since the background was quite dark but the foreground was really bright.

In this image we again tried to work with an area that was quite dark. Here you can see that the natural light coming from the window slightly illuminates the subject. Furthermore the use of the flashgun brightened up the image as a whole.

When shooting inside many of the images appeared overexposed, even though the artificial lights were dim. Using the flash gun resulted in the images appearing blurry.

Cultural Imaginaries & Landscape Photography

This topic largely relates to photographers editing their photographs to create an imaginary landscape. Landscape photography was originally used to denote the background of a subject and there's usually an absence of human presence.

Victor Burgin - Thinking Photography: Photography, Phantasy, Function

"Art is a set of 'techniques' for upsetting routine perceptions of the world" - Schlovsky

I think this quote relates to this week's topic, since photographers take literal perceptions of landscapes and then subvert them to conform to their own artistic perceptions.

Rodchenko states that conventionally photography will create 'the navel photo' by taken a picture with their camera rested on their stomach facing directly straight ahead. Rodchenko argues that photographers should experiment with using all different angles and compositions. The cultural imaginaries topic encourages imagination and not necessarily painting a literal portrait of something.

Oktyabr photography - Supported the development of 'specifically photographic' formal structures without the influence of 'bourgeois culture'
ROPF - Supported swift and effective communication that could easily be understood by everyone

Burgin argues that neither of these concepts were 'post-revolutionary' and probably disagreed with these theories since they don't particularly encourage imagination. Contemporary works critique Oktyabr for defying conventions.

Further points from the reading:

• Photography and classical painting both depend on 'camera obscura' - projecting light from 3D solid onto a plane surface. This conforms to geometric laws of light
• Freud - psychological investment in looking - creating scopophilia. Men look whereas women are only looked at 
• Burgin argues that there is never 'just-looking;' There is always context with subject
• Shifts between voyeurism and narcissism

This is a screenshot from a student presentation. Analysing the psychology behind 'viewing' gives a reason for why photographers create cultural imaginaries. It suggests that the photographer may look at a subject in a different way to another person therefore will reflect their perspective through their photograph. This then allows the viewer to see from their point of view.

Esteban Pastorino Diaz

Diaz creates cultural imaginaries through his use of model landscapes. By physically creating the landscape he is able to portray a more accurate portrayal of his perspective.

The photo above denotes rows of identical houses across a lawn, which seems to represent a suburban lifestyle. Diaz' use of the tilt-shift effect makes the houses look much smaller but also draws attention to the houses in the front row. I like the use of bright colours and high contrast as it makes it look surreal.

Lauren Marsolier

Lauren Marsolier combines different photographs to create a new landscape. She explains that they are meant to reflect an unknown place.

The photograph above denotes a single house placed within a mountainous setting. I like the gradient of colours in the sky and the faded tones of the mountains, as I think this connotes a dream-like setting. This contrasts with the quite bright colours in the foreground, which makes it look unnatural and fantasy like.

Although I am fond of these photographers' work, I think for my own project I would prefer to document what is really there rather than creating my own landscape.