Art is a way of life.

Thursday 29 September 2011

Depth of Field Workshop

Today was the Depth of Field workshop where I used the large format camera for the first time in the studio.


This workshop allowed me to look at focus, sharpness + depth of field
DOF - is the distance in front of and beyond the point of focus that the subject appears to be in focus

My partner and I used a kettle pot as our object and took shots of DOF



Examples of small/shallow DOF
- Philip Lorca Dicorcia
- Paolo Roversi
-Peter Fraser
-Naoya Hatakeyama
-Gareth Mcconnel

Examples of large DOF
(smaller aperture)
- Jenny Van Sommers
- Hyne Veen
-David Bate
-Gregory Crewdson
-Thomas Struth


Wednesday 28 September 2011

The Picturesque Period and Timing of English Landscape

Today I looked at an image called 'Falls of the Llugwy at Pont Y Pair - 1857 by Roger Fenton
And analysed what is represented and communicated in the Photograph.
In autumn 1857, Fenton traveled to the small village of Bettws-y-Coed, in North Wales. Nearby Fenton found the subjects of some of his finest landscape photographs. 
"I passed over [the Pont-y-Pair] to the opposite bank … and took my station upon one of the rocky projections looking up the river. It was some time since any rain had fallen, and the stream was comparatively shallow, exposing the rude masses of granite that stood midway in the channel, and laying bare to their foundations the broad deep chasms which the rushing waters had formed in their headlong descent." 


Fenton wanted to represent a description of the place written in Thomas Roscoe's guidebook - Wandering + Excursions in North Wales 1853. He stood at the same place where the description was written in order to get the same viewpoint. - Dynamic Structure

Visual Elements - Composition; Water centred on the photograph surrounded by the rocks trees almost fills the top third of the image ; cut it off to draw more attention to the falls.

Visual Choices;
- Focusses on falls and surroundings of rocks
- Close distance
-Natural Lighting - Location mid-day
- F16 - 6 Second exposure (approx)
- Tripod backed up against wall by footpath - level with the top of the rocks.

Tuesday 27 September 2011

B+W Film Processing



Today I processed film for the first time, and it was a very strange but different experience
It will take getting to used to and only way that happening is to keep practising!

Monday 26 September 2011

Reality and Representation



In todays lecture I learnt many things about 'What is Photography'


* It's about constructing reality
* It provides a mirror to the world
* It's about transformation of the state energy to another state of energy 
Personally, Photography is about viewing the world through your eyes/lens but as stated in todays lecture a Photograph does not provide a transparent window to the world and it does not guarantee 'truth' - it may resemble and evidence it but it is not the truth of reality.

  • What if two people understand the same image in different ways - This is all based upon their background, beliefs and appreciation of art. 

Friday 23 September 2011

Studio Object Practice





Today I did my first studio practice with medium format - Bronica (To get ready for object shoot!)

Setting up!
My object given was a candle and candle holder
Aperture;
F16 - Mid-tone
F8 - Shadow
F4 - Highlight 





My overall experience with the shoot was fairly confident, however it did become confusing when changing the aperture to record the Mid-tone, Shadow and Highlights of the object when using the light meter. Also, remembering to change the aperture and shutter speed on the Bronica was not easy as not being used to doing it before on an DSLR. But I did see it as a learning process. 


Types of Shutter speed and Light readers





Shutter Speed

  1. Focal Plane Shutter
  2. Leaf Shutter
- Curtain Shutter in DSLR

Photographer Dan Holdsworth uses several minutes of exposure in his work - few examples


 British Landscape Photographer is very enthusiastic about his long exposure images



Devices for 'Still Life' controls amount of light

In todays class I learnt of what tools to use to control the amount of light in Photography studio shoots

Required;

- Black gobo flag
This blocks of light from going into the camera

1x - Black reflective
1x - White reflective
- Fresnel lamp 



This is what American Photographer - Richard Avedon used to get his shot for American west series











Wednesday 21 September 2011

Landscape becomes the narrative

Casper David Friedrich - 'Chasseur In The Forest' 1814

The German forest had a particular meaning to the artist as in 1814 When he celebrated the expulsion of the French, it was with 'The Chasseur in the Forest', a haunting image of a solitary French dragoon lost in a wood of evergreens. It is a compassionate picture: the invader's fate is just and inevitable, but also sad, and seems to belong to the same higher natural destiny as the forest's vigorous growth.

Oil Painting - Wanderer above the sea of fog

Casper David Friedrich  - Wanderer above the sea of fog 1818
Whilst analysing this painting by German artist Friedrich, I noticed the posture of the man (one leg forward) illustrates elegance and also gives away a sense of achievement in some sort. 
I believe he wants to enjoy the moment of admiring the view as he must of climbed this mountain to reach such great height which goes back to the point of achievement. For some reason I get this feeling of grace; from the man. The Wanderer - metaphor for unknown future. 

Environment Unit - Introductory thoughts

In today's lecture about the Environment unit we looked at several artists and their work of the Environment.

- Walker Evans - American Photographer -Best known for Photographing the Farm Security Administration during the great depression - 1930s.







Evans began the project in 1935 and wanted to capture the spirit of the American people, but due to the depression increasing Evans began Photographing white middle class, African+Latino neighbourhoods as well as people in mining. The misery of the depression is portrayed in Evans photographs.



Jitka Hanzlova
Czech republic Photographer





The body of work called 'The forest' by Hanslova are beautiful but yet quiet dark and vaguely disturbing.
They also give me the impression that the environment is not as safe as people may think it is.
The forest is in the village where the artists grew up which is her environment from when she lived there as a child. Her images are three things; unpredictable, dangerous and fascinating. 

Edward Burtynsky
The canadian Photographer is known for his large format industrial landscape Photography



Burtynskys work consists of stone, minerals, oil, transportation, silicon etc
The artist searches for subjects that are rich in detail such as recycling yards and mine tailings in order to make his ideas visible. Also he looks for scale with open meaning in his places. 
I think his work incites pity and Burtynsky finds the natural beauty in processing synthetic waste and the machinery of humanity.  

Whats led Burtynsky to spend 17years photographing large industrial landscapes is that he believes we are aware of the fact that the world is suffering for our success as we are drawn by desire - a chance at good living. 
In this video, Burtynsky talks about how he feels the world of mines is unseen which led him to create a large format colour images to illustrate symbolism of landscape that we use.
He believes Photography is perfectly suited to contemplate the industrial landscape and that everyone should take a chance to analyse it - take it on board
Moreover, he wants to show through his photography how we should think about dealing with energy crisis, which is why he did a series called 'End Of Oil' 

500 years of oil growth
30 billion barrels used per year

Naoya Hatakeyama - Japanese Photographer

Series called 'Blast' which focuses on Limestone and how the world is dependant on it for concrete, steal, glass, plastic and even medicine. 




To capture the deconstruction of Japans Limestone, Hatakuyama used remote-control cameras from point- blank range. He began working on the mining operations in early 1980s and published in book in 1994.







Monday 19 September 2011

Pseudo-Science

Artists;

Have practiced Pseudo-Science in their Photography and each have produced unique images
But what is Pseudo-Science?
It's a belief which is presented as scientific but does not actually have a valid scientific method.
It just phrased for unprovable claims!

Fontcuberta examines the truthfulness of Photography and now who teaches photography in a Fine Arts programme at a University in Barcelona, has stated Photography "should be taught not in fine art schools…but in philosophy schools." He insists photography is a way of thinking more than a way of art, and he sees his role as undermining the legitimacy and authority of the photograph as a depiction of unquestioned reality.



Fontcuberta is mostly known for his diverse work - Fauna (1987) and Sputnik (1997)     





 In this series, Fontcuberta "arranged inanimate objects such as electrical cord, plastic, a shaving brush or a rubber hose into what appear to be exotic plants",thereby creating "pseudo plants".The black and white still-life photographs of these constructions were "drily classified in Latin and thereby resembled the photographs of Karl Blossfeldt The photographs were exhibited in Belgium, the United States, Germany, Japan, Italy, Spain, Canada, and France.


 FontCuberta artistic imagination is shown in his series called Miracles & Co which are not intended to represent reality as it documents an imaginary isolated sect of monks who have developed miraculous but useless powers.  What I like most about the selected image is not knowing what the monk is doing to the 
tree. Overall its a magical Photograph.


Peter Fischli and David Weiss adapt objects and situations from everyday life and place them into an artistic context. Most people don't see everyday objects in their surroundings as art, but the Equlibres Photograph has made a statement. Both are influenced by Dada, Surrealism, Pop, and Conceptual art.
Fischli/Weiss have been collaberting since 1979 and are the most renowned contemporary artists of Switzerland. Their best known work is the film "Der Lauf der Dinge (The Way Things Go)." 

This was described by The Guardian as being "post apocalyptic" as it is all about chain reactions and the way in which objects fly, crash, and explode across the studio it was shot in. Both artists live and work in Zurich.


What triggers my mind when seeing their work is 'Why' and 'How'
Why did they decide to do a series of objects and possibly how did they think of it?
What could it mean to them or even to us - the audience?




Chema Madoz - Spanish Photographer is best known for his surrealist images
The image on top left is called 'Stairway to heaven' which is portraying a ladder in the mirror - but where does it go?
The irony with which Madoz assaults recognizible objects creates a relationship with viewers that leads to paths of a parallel universe. - Which is what Madoz creates in his studio. 







The beauty of Madoz's Photography is that he allows us to participate in his work, by being the viewers we  get to decide what his images mean or what they may mean and play a game of our own perception. 
He allows us to think about 'understanding Photography' on a whole different level and his
art-work is mind-blowing. Which not only makes the viewers think and grow but it trains the human mind. Madoz's work is filled with facination and exhilarating imagination, which I've never seen before in Photography. 






Jenkins is interested in recording the visual and material world and she wanted to create images which promised to give some information but actually relayed nothing. 




Recently Jenkins has turned her attention to Alchemy - the attempt to change base metals into a higher material, often lead into gold using the transforming properties of Lapis Philosophorum [the philosopher's stone].