Final Evaluation

Throughout this exam unit I have been taking photographs of homeless people, animals, and a family member to represent the relationship between Eyes and Emotion. I believe to have met my intention, which was to create a series of powerful images representing different kinds of emotions between different subjects. I am very happy with the results of all five of my shoots, for example, the shoot containing the puppy dog is by far my most powerful, as I have really managed to capture the emotion and feel a connection between me and the animal through a camera lens, which I believe is incredibly well shown in my photograph. 

I used 5 different artists for this unit, Aaron Joel Santos, Benoit Courti, Yaman Ibrahim, Lee Jeffries and finally, Gregory Colbert. Each of these artists have a completely different technique to the other, for example Jeffries photographs homeless people in a very striking fashion, whereas Colbert focuses more on the relationship between his subjects. I have been updating my blog throughout, explaining how I have used the techniques of all these different artists per shoot. For example, I used Jeffries’ technique of using highly contrasted black and white images to create a powerful and moving photograph in my fourth shoot, where I played around with the curves and luminosity to create the desired effect on my subject’s face. I then used Colbert’s technique of showing the relationship between two subjects in my fifth shoot.
I trust that the majority of my shoots did in fact work. Shoot 2 for example, was a shoot where I tried various different editing techniques to further develop my image, until I was happy with the final product. For example I created a motion blur on the people encompassing him, to give the image an ephemeral feeling. By this I mean that the people around my subject are so busy running around focusing on their own lives they forget to appreciate the sonder, which my subject is no stranger to, as he lives his daily life on the streets, rather than being part of the fast world that we now live in. This is the storyline I was aiming for, and I believe that using my editing techniques I managed to create an effect that really emphasised it. 
I am, however, displeased with my fifth and final shoot. No connection or real emotion is present, it is far too staged in my opinion. I believe that I could have improved this had I used a different subject, one who was a stranger to me, rather than my brother. Using my brother meant that as the photographer I acted far too casual (for lack of a better word) with my subject and so I didn’t manage to create a more emotional atmosphere as I did with my four prior shoots. 
For my final piece I am using all five shoots, a total of ten images each with different subjects. The way I am planning on mounting them is as follows:
I will order 10 A4 prints, one of each of my images. I will then stick together back-to-back the image pairs. Using an A3 card, I will fold it in half and cover the images. I will then cut out a section where the eyes are on the image beneath, so all that will be seen are the eyes of the subject. On the outside of the card, I will have four different emotions written out, e.g. happy, sad, sympathetic, annoyed. One of which will be corresponding to the image, the other three are just there for effect. Once guessed, the viewer may reveal the images and see the truth behind the eyes, and whether or not they guessed the subject’s emotion correctly. 
Overall, I am very happy with how this unit has turned out. I am very pleased with all five of my shoots and I think that my work really does display the relationship between Eyes and Emotion. 

Shoot 5: Final Edits

Fifth Shoot

My fifth and final shoot completes my five-image series for my Exam Unit "Relationships." Although it isn't my most favourite shoot, I am still pleased with its turn out. The reason I didn't feel this shoot was my best is because I didn't manage to get a great connection between me and my subject, who is in fact my brother. As opposed to my previous shoots, the subject isn't a stranger to me, and that is why I feel the connection was lost between him and the camera lens. This I feel has affected my fifth shoot, I believe I could have achieved a much greater photo had the subject been a stranger to me, and I feel this way I would have managed to connect a lot more with him as I could imagine a storyline for the subject, as I have done with the four prior shoots. However having said that, I'm not completely unhappy with my shoot. I managed to capture some form of emotion - which is what I was intending, right? I am glad I have a more happy emotion to end my series on, as the rest of the images are all rather melancholic in my opinion.

Sadly in this image, the subject's eyes aren't sharp, they are slightly unfocused. Truth be told I was having a few minor difficulties with my new lens, lack of practice with it meant I didn't know how to configure it or my camera to work in harmony so they could capture a fantastically sharp image, thus impeding me from capturing anything greater than this. But hey, blaming my paraphernalia doesn't make this shoot any better. Although I am usually quite pedantic about having sharp eyes in my images, I let this one slip and now I'm complaining about it. So the moral of this little anecdote is to ALWAYS check the images before shouting "That's a wrap!" to your impatient brother so he could go and have his long-awaited (now semi-cold) cup of tea. 

The second shoot for my series is better, though still somewhat disappointing in my eyes.  The connection between the subject and my cat isn't as strong as I had wanted, and I don't feel it seems natural as the cat isn't really willing to cooperate in this shot, she was forcefully clamped down for the purpose of an image, which makes the image too staged in my opinion. Although, I do like how the cat and my brother are looking at each other. Working with animals is hard, especially photographing them. I do wish I had made my brother wear a different jumper, as the cat's fur blends in with it too much. Next time I do a shoot I will think of the subject's wardrobe in advance, providing I have control over that factor, which I may not depending on who my subject is. 

The Edited Images:

Unlike my previous four shoots, I have edited these images differently. Instead of using my trusty Picasa 3 and GIMP, I used Photoshop CS4  for all my editing. My editing involved using the Spot Healing Brush tool to fix up any blemishes on my subject's face such as some scars on forehead and a few spots on the chin. Then after having duplicated the layer, I changed the image to Black and White and toggled with the different hues. Once I was happy with the different hues and I managed to find a good balance between them, I cropped my image to the same ratio as the original file. This is exactly what I did to my second image, however I encountered a small problem when cropping. I had managed to crop it in a slightly different ratio than intended, which I was not happy about. This meant that when I went to change the aspect ratio of the image, I had to compress it, so now my subject looks ever so slightly squeezed in. I don't feel it is too much of a problem as I believe I can easily get away with this flaw in my image, but I would rather the subject looked slightly compressed than having to fiddle with the aspect ratio later on when it comes to printing out my final pieces. 

Here are the contact sheets for my final shoot:

My editing was the same as the rest of my images, due to the fact I want some form of continuity in my series. I was influenced by Colbert's technique of showing the relationship between man and animal, rather than being influenced by his editing techniques. 
Despite me picking out every possible flaw in this shoot, I am however pleased with the outcome. I feel this shoot rounds up nicely my ten-image series. It maintains continuity, and is by far the happiest shoot of them all. I felt that I needed a more upbeat (for lack of a better adjective) shoot as the rest are all a little bit melancholic. This defeated the purpose of showing different emotions if all I was showing was similar sad emotions. 

Fifth Artist: Gregory Colbert

Born in Toronto in 1960, Gregory Colbert is a Canadian photographer, known for his work titled 'Ashes and Snow', exhibited in the Nomadic Museum, which was built solely for this exhibition. Colbert had the idea of a sustainable travelling museum in 1999. He wanted a structure that could easily be built, providing a transitory environment for his work in different parts of the world. Colbert sees himself as an 'Apprentice to nature.' 
His work is a series of collaborations between animals and humans, that depicts the non-hierarchical relationship among man and beast. In an interview with the news channel Al Jazeera (One-on-one with Gregory Colbert, August 2010), Colbert says "I would define what I do as story telling... What's interesting is to have an expression in an orchestra - and I'm just one musician in the orchestra. Unfortunately, as a species, we've turned our back to the orchestra. I'm all about opening up this orchestra, not just to other humans, but to other species."
The image that most caught my attention is by far the one I have pictured below. Two tusk-less elephants sit by the tree shielding the children from potential dangers, predators, or even the acts of mother nature herself. This image creatures a story in my head, could it be that poachers have killed these two magnificent animals for their tusks, but the mutual respect earned by these two children between them and the elephants have kept the beasts' spirits with them, shielding and guarding them from danger? Elephants, a symbol of power, strength and royalty, and children, a symbol of naivety, helplessness and forlornness, combined to create such a powerful photograph. 
Like Colbert does so well, I want my 5th shoot to tell a story, and show a relationship between man and beast, whether is be a pet or a completely wild animal. I have chosen him as an artist because I adore his work, and believe it is a true masterpiece. For my 5th and final shoot I wanted something slightly different. I wanted a happier subject, and what makes one happier than when one is with someone or something he or she loves? Although I know my intention is slightly different than that of Colbert's, I have still been highly influenced by his work, and I firmly believe that using his technique of encapsulating a story in a photograph, I will be able to create a strong final shoot. 

Untitled, taken for his Ashes and Snow journals, exhibited at The Nomadic Museum. 

Despite having contacted Colbert, he has not got back to me and so I cannot further annotate the image of the elephants. 

Shoot 4: Final Edits

Fourth Shoot

My fourth shoot is by far my favourite. I had originally planned on photographing the man who's playing the guitar as I was focusing on human eyes for my exam unit (pictured left), however I managed to get such a brilliant portrait of the puppy that I decided to use him instead. I managed to get a connection with the puppy, and I believed that that created a much more powerful photo than the one I had originally taken of the man - who didn't even look up to have his picture taken. 
As opposed to my three previous shoots, my subject isn't homeless. My intention was initially to photograph the emotion in the eyes of homeless people, but after having come across the puppy I couldn't help but modify my idea just a little, because I didn't want to throw away one of my best images just because "it wasn't my intention to photograph animals." 

I love the picture of this puppy. Even though he is an animal and doesn't necessarily understand what's going on, I still feel there is a warm connection between him and I, the photographer. 

This is part II of the shoot. I like this image as it shows where the puppy is actually situated. Both these images were taken at an aperture opening of f/5.6 and a shutter speed of 1/110th of a second.  







The Edited Images:

Like my previous shoots, I have cropped these images in Picasa 3 at the same ratio they were prior to the crop. I also adjusted the brightness and shadows to create an effect that is rather harsh to the puppy's facial features.
I did this because I feel it makes the photograph stand out a lot more than it did prior to the editing. Also, my artist Lee Jeffries' images are quite harshly contrasted, which is one of the things I like about his work.  
The same editing applies to this image. I changed the brightness and shadows in Picasa 3, and in GIMP I changed the image to greyscale and added the Luminance effect.

Here is the contact sheet for my shoot:

My editing for this shoot was inspired by that of Jeffries'. The harsh contrasts really complement the features of the puppy, and although my second image isn't as harshly contrasted as my first, I'm still pleased with how the images have turned out. 

Fourth Artist: Lee Jeffries

Lee Jeffries lives in Manchester, and as he was close to the professional football circle, he began his career as a sports event photographer. By chance he met a homeless girl in the streets of London and began taking photos of her from afar. Little did he know that she was going to change his artistic approach forever. When she noticed he was taking photos of her she began yelling at him, and instead of walking away, Jeffries approached the girl and began talking to her. This completely changed his perception of the homeless.  Jeffries takes photos of the homeless across Europe and the United States; "Situations arose, and I made an effort to learn to get to know each of the subjects before asking their permission to do their portrait." 
I emailed Jeffries about his work, asking him questions about a specific photograph (pictured below.) 

Untitled, photo by Lee Jeffries