Unit 2
Chosen theme- Edges
I'm choosing edges as my project, this is because my style of photography, when I take images, intentionally or even unintentionally falls into edges as a theme; and usually abstraction as a genre. This gives me more freedom to be creative with the images I make as I can use: architecture, in-house objects (inspired by Laura Letinsky) people and even vehicles etc. Although he isn't in the set brief for images, one photographer I will research and take inspiration is Lewis Baltz. He uses incredibly plain and un-interesting buildings but manages to draw out interesting features or patterns. This will ultimately be my main inspiration, however I will research other photographers for more unique approaches to the unit.
Evaluation of: strings and light.
With the strings I wanted to create a thick texture of colour as well as edges. I blurred the images to make the edges less defined, it also makes the colours less attractable as they mix and that tends to blur the image. As it's impossible to have both layers of the string in focus I had to decide which would look better in focus. I decided that when the closest layer was in focus it looked better (third picture along) as when the back layer is focused it makes the entire photo look out of focus.
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The images on the lower row are all focusing on the lights and shadows created by light. For instance the image on the left is like layers of light with the dark shades round the border, and then the bright grey created by the light, then just around the light source there is another area of dark shadows. However, the image doesn't feature any interesting textures or shapes (asides from the circle) which makes it look a little boring, especially compared to the colours and density of the strings. But the second and third pictures are both so simple they become interesting.
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My Pinterest- about edges
laura Letinsky
Letinsky uses the very minimal to take her photos, usually within the home. Her photos look like still art paintings, but she adds her own (sometimes very little) tweaks. For example if she's taking a photo of fruit, some fruit will be off. Or if she's taking a picture of a bowl with food in, some of the food will be cracked (eggs) or spilt out of the bowl. It's these small but noticeable additions that make her photos unique compared to other photographers. Also, the way Letinsky positions the tables against the background, and how the set is lit creates sharp edges with shadows and ledges of objects. |
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"Photography is a means to describe the world that was less invention and more a realization of a set of ideas and ideals about seeing and representation. I am fascinated by the circular causality of this medium in and upon the world, in its affect performed on its subject, and in the way photographic images direct perceptions so that wants, needs, and knowledge remain inextricably intertwined, evident without being exposed."-Laura Letinsky.
This is one of Letinsky's images very typical of her style with annotations on. As you can see there aren't many things in the picture, nor many annotations to match. But it's the simplicity of her photos that are what make them original to her and also in the theme of edges. The contrast of colours between the orange peel, octopus etc against the white background are the two most eye drawing parts of the picture but not the most important. The large amount of negative space is, arguably, the most important part of many of her photos. To me this is simply because it's the majority of the photograph, by a long shot; and although for the majority of photos this rule wouldn't apply with hers it repeats for many many photos.
Inspired images
These photos were inspired by Laura Letinsky's unique technique. However, most of the photos didn't work as well as I expected. One of the biggest challenges was placement of objects and where to take the shot from. For example when taking many of the photos it was hard to get in all the objects in as well as only having the white screen as the background. However cropping can easily solve that problem. These images weren't taken with any kind of brief in mind, I just wanted to see the limits of what still life photography could do for the edges theme.
What went well
Developing the set.
When I took the Letinsky inspired images the lighting was too warm and yellow. To solve this I went to the adjustments section in photoshop and selected levels, from here I can adjust the input levels which are responsible for the colours; specifically black, white and grey. I used the white, black and grey tools to select the parts of the photo which correspond with the tool (e.g the black tool with darkest part of the image) which makes the colours colder and closer to how they looked when they were taken. However I noticed that when I clicked on parts which didn't correspond with the tool it made strange effects that take Letinsky's work one step further.
As well as making the colours contrast more, it made them sharper and brighter (example below is to show the effects to it's maximum...effect).
As well as making the colours contrast more, it made them sharper and brighter (example below is to show the effects to it's maximum...effect).
Jed Devine
Devine takes beautifully delicate pictures of landscapes, portraits and still life's.
Most appropriate for edges being his still life photos, shown of the right. Usually small scale, they seem like they belong in a painting (which would make sense as he was originally trained as a painter), they are calming but intriguing at the same time. Unlike paintings however, he says his main subject of all his photography is light, and he doesn't have subjects in mind when he is taking photographs; except of course light. This means his images aren't limited to a certain theme and he has more freedom to take what interests him, which means his work has a large variety of meaning and purpose. |
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School set
I don't have any plans for these images, but I thought they were too good to pass up. The contrast between the natural and free forming clouds and the perfectly made geometric shapes was perfect for edges in two ways: the straight and bold edges of the strings against the sky, and the edge between natural clouds and man made lines.
Final Images.
Set 1-colour without.
This set was inspired by Lewis Baltz and Laura Letinsky. Baltz because of the literal edges and use of shadows, also using buildings as edges. Letinsky because of the negative spaces in photos and the simplicity of some.
Jed Devine's work is usually on small scales and delicate, I wanted to capture the same feeling his images create but with a bigger subject e.g buildings or trees. I also didn't want black and white images, but grey and dismal colours which is why a lot of the photos have the sky as a background: it was cloudy and grey when I took them which meant there were no gaps in the background and the brightness of the sky makes the subject darker and contrast more.
Jed Devine's work is usually on small scales and delicate, I wanted to capture the same feeling his images create but with a bigger subject e.g buildings or trees. I also didn't want black and white images, but grey and dismal colours which is why a lot of the photos have the sky as a background: it was cloudy and grey when I took them which meant there were no gaps in the background and the brightness of the sky makes the subject darker and contrast more.
Best and edited
Clarence John Laughlin
Laughlin's work reminds me of separation, through death etc. It seems like his subjects are searching for something, maybe a lost loved one or another chance at life.
This made me think, instead of literal edges I should focus on metaphorical edges for my second set of images. I decided to take the edges between life and death, and see if it's possible to capture the two in the same picture. |
Set 2-life and death
I wanted to focus on separation, death, life and belief.
Best and edited. ( final image 2)
Making them black and white was a choice inspired directly by Laughlin's work, it emphasises the bleak nature of the meaning of the photos. It also makes the textures and shapes stand out more against the background of foliage.
Final Piece 3
For my third final image I chose this one from the selection I already took. Although it may seem lazy, I thought the image had a different feel and meaning than the others in the set; I also thought it was good enough to be alone and still have a strong effect on the audience. It shows the edge between natural constructions and human constructions, and asks weather one is better than the other, do we need both or should have only one? It's also partly because this image took the most time and effort to take, I had the idea on the train but of course couldn't take it until I was there. But when I was there, no trees were near the shard that worked like I wanted to as I would have to look up too much and wouldn't get enough of the shard in. This meant I needed a tree further away, the problem being that there were no trees that you could see the shard through without any thing blocking the image. In fact, millimetres to the left and right are buildings that threatened to ruin the photo trial and error was a big factor in this image. At first I wanted to print out four A3 pages with a segment of the picture on each piece so it was as big as possible. However, I decided to print it on a large size sheet in one so it didn't have gaps or glue marks etc.
Final presentations (in the gallery)
Unit 2 Evaluation
My overall theme for unit 2 was edges. I chose this theme because some of my favourite photographers would fall into edges and my images tend to lean towards the theme of edges (un-intentionally or not) whenever I’m planning shoots.
Laura Letinsky was a big inspiration in some of my shoots; I found the simplicity of her images interesting. However after taking the images based on her work I decided I preferred images of architecture and nature in the real world and capturing moments where I see edges that could mean something. As opposed to setting up the moment purposefully, I found that when it wasn’t real you can tell and it doesn’t have as much purpose. After this I took more photos in central London because in Central there are hundreds of: buildings, statues, streets, sculptures and objects with literal and metaphorical edges. Although I mainly focused on literal edges, that looked interesting and raised questions about what it etc. Soon after that set I started focusing on metaphorical edges, influenced by Laughlin, so really I didn’t concentrate on one idea and develop it further, but I allowed one idea to lead me to the next one and learned from the mistakes of the last set of images.
When researching photographers I would use the artists own website, as I thought this would give me their own opinion on their work. This is because when researching the photographers ideas about their work are more important than what other people believe. After researching a photographer I would take a set of images inspired directly by them. Then I would combine their work my personal style to make inspired sets less restricted in content. When taking Letinsky-type images I would experiment with different light levels using the soft boxes to either creates harsh or smooth lighting. This was important when editing the images as the different levels of light allowed me to change colours easily. E.g. when the light was harsh I could make the image contrast more, and when it was smoother and darker I could make the image clearer and clean. After researching Laughlin I took a series of images based on life and death because his work provoked feelings of loss and separation. I wanted to convey the same feeling in my images, although mine are much more obvious and less abstract.
I have tried to present my research in interesting ways such as video, slide show, gallery and multiple columns.
Any idea I’ve had has been documented on my unit 2 page; the idea will be near what it is related to. For example my Laughlin inspired images are beneath the research for him.
Conclusion -
I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress during this unit, not only in photography as a course but as photographer as a whole. I feel more inspired to take my own photographs, and the unit has revealed to me my own style of photography; which will allow me to explore my style further and create better images in the future. Jed Devine is (out of the set photographers to research) the one that has the most impact on my images and me. I really enjoy how he has the same style as Baltz and Zen but on a smaller scale. They all use buildings/objects, as grids for their photos but the objects are the main focus of the image. They also share the view that anything can be a good photo no matter what it's of. That’s why all of their images, and some of mine, are of old and run down buildings or objects.
So overall edges isn't just the edges of buildings etc. it's the edges of believes and experiences. Edges are a much broader theme as it can include anything if you think imaginatively.
Laura Letinsky was a big inspiration in some of my shoots; I found the simplicity of her images interesting. However after taking the images based on her work I decided I preferred images of architecture and nature in the real world and capturing moments where I see edges that could mean something. As opposed to setting up the moment purposefully, I found that when it wasn’t real you can tell and it doesn’t have as much purpose. After this I took more photos in central London because in Central there are hundreds of: buildings, statues, streets, sculptures and objects with literal and metaphorical edges. Although I mainly focused on literal edges, that looked interesting and raised questions about what it etc. Soon after that set I started focusing on metaphorical edges, influenced by Laughlin, so really I didn’t concentrate on one idea and develop it further, but I allowed one idea to lead me to the next one and learned from the mistakes of the last set of images.
When researching photographers I would use the artists own website, as I thought this would give me their own opinion on their work. This is because when researching the photographers ideas about their work are more important than what other people believe. After researching a photographer I would take a set of images inspired directly by them. Then I would combine their work my personal style to make inspired sets less restricted in content. When taking Letinsky-type images I would experiment with different light levels using the soft boxes to either creates harsh or smooth lighting. This was important when editing the images as the different levels of light allowed me to change colours easily. E.g. when the light was harsh I could make the image contrast more, and when it was smoother and darker I could make the image clearer and clean. After researching Laughlin I took a series of images based on life and death because his work provoked feelings of loss and separation. I wanted to convey the same feeling in my images, although mine are much more obvious and less abstract.
I have tried to present my research in interesting ways such as video, slide show, gallery and multiple columns.
Any idea I’ve had has been documented on my unit 2 page; the idea will be near what it is related to. For example my Laughlin inspired images are beneath the research for him.
Conclusion -
I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress during this unit, not only in photography as a course but as photographer as a whole. I feel more inspired to take my own photographs, and the unit has revealed to me my own style of photography; which will allow me to explore my style further and create better images in the future. Jed Devine is (out of the set photographers to research) the one that has the most impact on my images and me. I really enjoy how he has the same style as Baltz and Zen but on a smaller scale. They all use buildings/objects, as grids for their photos but the objects are the main focus of the image. They also share the view that anything can be a good photo no matter what it's of. That’s why all of their images, and some of mine, are of old and run down buildings or objects.
So overall edges isn't just the edges of buildings etc. it's the edges of believes and experiences. Edges are a much broader theme as it can include anything if you think imaginatively.