Wednesday, 6 May 2015

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. 

Tuesday, 5 May 2015

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. 

Tuesday, 31 March 2015

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. 

Monday, 23 March 2015

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

Thursday, 19 March 2015

Shoot 3: Final Edits



Third Shoot



 I am very pleased with the outcome of my third shoot. As I was walking the busy highstreet I came across a man who was collecting donations for the Royal Bournemouth Hospital. It was apparent to me that he was missing his lower limbs, and also had a bandage on his right hand, with a couple of fingers missing. After donating some money I asked him if I was able to take a picture of him, and he seemed more than happy for me to. 
It is evident in this picture here what situation this poor man is in. As we can see from this image he is located in a busy town. In the reflection in the window behind him we can see a Taxi, we can see people, we can see how busy the life in Bournemouth actually is, and we can see how he watches this pass by on a daily basis. 
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: 

This is my first edit for this shoot. I cropped these images in Picasa 3,  at the same ratio the image was in before the crop. I adjusted the brightness and the shadows to make the picture a little more vibrant. In GIMP I desaturated the image and added a luminance effect. I also added an extra transparent layer where I used the paint brush tool to create darker circles around his eyes. I also added a second layer where I traced the white in his eyes and made them stand out more by making them more obvious. 


As well as cropping this image in Picasa 3, I also straightened it as it was previously askew. Like I did with my previous images, I boosted the shadows and then I desaturated the colours in GIMP and added the luminance effect. 







Here is the contact sheet for my shoot:   



I believe I have used Ibrahim's technique rather well in these shoots. I have done well in capturing my subject's emotion, and I am please with the result. In this contact sheet I used images DSC_0051 and DSC_0054. 

Wednesday, 18 March 2015

Third Artist: Yaman Ibrahim

Untitled, Yaman Ibrahim, All Rights Reserved
Yaman Ibrahim is a full time Malaysian photographer based in Kuala Lumpur. Working as an art teacher and Senior Manager in Multimedia allowed him to have an eye for appreciating the finer things in life  that most overlook. 
He has gained awards both on a local and an international level, including Maybank Photographer of The Year 2013, Wedding Photographer of The Year 2009 (winning picture was exhibited at The New Forest Gallery, Lyndhurst.)





I adore the way Ibrahim captures emotion in this picture. It was this image that made me want to use him as a third influence for my Exam Unit. The fact that the subject is looking away from the camera with seemingly teary eyes adds more meaning to the photo - is there something behind the photographer that we can't see? What is causing him to be this upset? 
I want produce emotional portraits that evoke emotion from those who view my image, creating powerful portraits. I feel that using his technique will allow me to do just that.  

Thursday, 12 March 2015

Shoot 2: Final Edits



Second Shoot

 My second shoot proved rather successful. I came across a man who was picking up rubbish, who had very interesting facial features, and seemed quite melancholic. I instantly knew that I was going to capture a good image, and he was the perfect subject for it. Although I tried to engage in conversation with him, he never spoke a word - he just nodded when I asked for a picture, and that is as much interaction as I had with him. I do wish I knew his name, because I feel it would have given me a better connection with him. 
In terms of my second image, I liked this one the most out of the others I took because of the people who walked into the shot. When I took the image I thought to myself "great, people just walked into my shot, that's going to ruin it!" It wasn't until I got home and looked at the images properly that I change my mind completely. I had a great idea as to how I was going to edit the people and make my image even better than it already is.
These images were both taken at an aperture of f/4 and a shutter speed of 1/250th of a second.











The edited images: 

I am delighted with the outcome of my images. I think they are very strong and very emotive. 
What I like most about this edit is the crop, because although we're instantly drawn to the subject's face, we can see a woman in the background who appears to be staring at him. This can be interpreted as if she was judging him, or pitying him. The crop also emphasised the duct tape that is holding his hat together, which reveals a little bit more about him. Despite not saying a single word to me, I can feel a connection and I feel more understanding towards him. 

Here is a cropped version of the edited image. I dislike the face in the background of the first one (the one with the sunglasses) and so I tried to crop that woman out, yet keeping the other woman in - because I feel she gives context to the image. I do however dislike this crop as it removes part of his hat and his beard. Therefore, I'm going to keep the original edit. 

Both these images were cropped in Picasa 3, and the brightness and shadows were altered using a toggle. I then used GIMP to convert the images to greyscale and add the Luminosity effect. 
However, I further edited my second image by adding motion blur to the people who were walking in front of the camera. This means that not only are we not focusing on them and are drawn more to the man, but it also changes the atmosphere of the image completely. They say nowadays thanks to technology, the world seems a lot faster. The way I see it, the people who have walked into frame are busy people, have work to do, people to see... But then there's my subject, who, judging by the fact he was picking up rubbish and was wearing a hat held together by duct tape, isn't very fortunate in the professional department. It's as if he is static, whilst the world is busy speeding around him.





Here is the contact sheet for my shoot: 

I believe I have used Benoit Courti's techniques rather well in these shoots. More so in the first shot than in the second one, I feel as though I got quite intimate with my subject - like Courti does so well. Like his images, my shots raise questions such as who this man is, and what is his story? I am going to use Courti's technique of intimacy in more of my images, because I rather like the outcome of it. 

Second Artist: Benoit Courti

Benoit Courti is a French photographer living in Paris.
Fascinated by photography since his childhood, he first embraced a career as a music composer before becoming a professional portrait photographer in 2010. 
I chose Courti as my third influence because the moment I saw his work, I loved it. I very much like his technique, and how he can make something so simple look so interesting, for example the picture of a man throwing some dice - all he is doing is throwing dice, but it raises many questions... Is he a gambler? Is he a magician? What number will the dice show? Will that decide someone's fate? 



"Gambler" © Benoit Courti 2015. All rights reserved. 
I decided to use his technique of getting really up-close with his subjects. I feel that when one is really close to one's subject, it is more intimate, and more emotion is drawn out from the viewer of the image. 
I am going to use his techniques of getting intimate with his subjects for my own photography. I want my images to be powerful, and that is what I get from viewing Courti's images. There is a better example of this pictured below. 
Untitled, Benoit Courti, All rights reserved.


I managed to contact Courti, I asked him a few questions about his image 'Gambler'. I asked him what his intention was with this photograph, and he said he was "trying out a new technique" with his photography. He had just bought a new lens, and was having some fun by trying it out. When I asked him what the image made him feel like as the photographer, he said it "fulfilled my expectations", and that he is pleased with this photograph. 
Below is the email he replied with (you may have to click to enlarge):

Shoot 1: Final Edits



First Shoot

I went to Bournemouth, a city I live nearby to take all of my photos. I thought Bournemouth was my best bet as I always see many interesting people there. One of these interesting people I met is Steve, a 34 year old man who, sadly, is homeless. After having a brief conversation with him and introducing myself, he allowed me to take a few photos with him as the subject. 
Pictured right are the original images that I have taken. I am taking a series of two images per person, the first one is of their face, and the second is of their environment. 
The close up of Steve's face was taken at an aperture opening of f/2.8 on my Nikon D5100 with the NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G. I had a shutter speed of 1/500th of a second. 
The second image was taken at an aperture opening of f/5.6, with a shutter speed of 1/500th of a second. 




The edited images:



Here are both my edited shots. All my shoots are going to be in black and white, because I feel images edited like this are much more interesting and emotive. The way I edited these images were as follows: In Picasa 3, I toggled and played around with the lighting and shadows of the images, making them stand out a little more. I then went onto GIMP where I desaturated the image and chose the Luminosity effect, because to me, that seemed like the effect that suited my images the most. 


Below is the contact sheet for my shoot. Out of all the shoots, I chose the images I most liked (which are named DSC_0058 and DSC_0066 in the sheet).
I used some of Aaron Joel Santos' techniques through Reportage photography. I photographed people I found in the streets to create a powerful image which told a story. Although I don't believe my images to be as powerful as they could have been, they are still nonetheless emotive images, such as those of Santos'.

First Artist: Aaron Joel Santos

Aaron Joel Santos is an editorial and documentary photographer living in Hanoi, Vietnam. He is an award winning travel photographer based in Southeast Asia. He is represented by Novus Select in the US and NOI Pictures in Vietnam and Asia. He is also part of the agency roster at Wonderful Machine, a production company with a network of over 700 photographers and video gamers worldwide.
I came across Santos' work when I was looking up images of people's hands for my original idea. Endlessly scrolling through his website looking at all his spectacular images, I came across one he had taken in downtown Yangon, Myanmar (pictured below.) 
When I saw his work I instantly fell in love with his technique and his photographs, and I knew that I wanted to use him as my first inspiration.
I decided that I was going to apply Santos' technique of capturing emotions, like he does so well, in my own pictures. I want my images to be powerful, and Santos' images are exactly that. They tell a story, one which is either created by the viewer or given within the context of the image. This is what I want my images to be: powerful, interesting, and emotive. 






















Now, about the image. I emailed Santos and asked him a few questions, which he replied almost instantly. The image is untitled, it shows a mother carrying her child through downtown Yangon,  Myanmar, in the central market of a bustling Asia capital. The area isn't considered rich or poor, it's just downtown city. Western eyes may perceive it as a poor area, but it reflects upon the city as a whole. Santos says "but what better way to show the city than to show its inhabitants as well. They're the fabric that hold everything together." This candid shot shows exactly that, it shows how the inhabitants are what makes this city a city. Santos is representing the life of the subjects, and through this image is trying to emphasise the different lifestyles lived by the people of Myanmar to those we live here, in the West. 


Santos claims he has chosen this image because he likes the child's "wild-eyed amazement" at the world around her. 
 Here is the email Santos sent me, you may have to click to enlarge it.