My Object Shoot

For my first and main idea, I chose to use a Union flag in the background without making it a focus point. I felt by having a flag in the background it would link more to my subject and theme, and give my photo more character.
I chose to use my Uncle's medals and ornament as a part of my image as he himself was in the Army, so I felt this really supported my visual aspect of my opinionated project.
I used a white candle within my image as I read whilst researching that it represents spiritualiy. This linking to the lives lost during the War.
I shot this image without lighting the candle as I have not yet tried photographing a naked flame. If I was to do this shoot again, I would definately research into what a lit candle represents and how to photograph it.
The meat links to my personal opinion, that the British soldiers (linking to the flag) should not be out fighting in Afghanistan. And at the beginning of this war, they were sent out there, or thrown, like peices of meat.
The splashes that looks like blood was actually meat marinade which my local butcher was kind enough to give me.

I wanted this image to be quite dark and have a soft spotlight, concentrating entirely on my objects.
So to do this shoot, I used a black felt material as a base for my objects to absorb any light.
I used the black side of a foam board on the right of my image whilst a broncolour light on the left.
To help achieve this soft spotlight effect I also used a 'honeycomb' on the light.

The camera I used was a Horseman 5x4, loaded with large-format, colour film with an ISO of 160. I also used a 120mm lens.

First Idea;

To achieve the first shot, I used an aperture of f16.5, but only because I accidently nudged it whilst cocking the shutter. The QuickDisc said to allow 0.7, so I upped the broncolour to 8.3.

I now made the second exposure (Bottom image above) keeping everything the same but making sure the aperture was on f16.

After carefully looking at my negatives I decided that the image looked a little flat. So I used an aperture of f32, but also changed the lens plane (focus) and film plane (perspective) of the camera;

Second lot of images: The only problem I had with this, was that I accidently moved the t-shirt and knocked the badges off, so I had to carefully and precisely recreate a part of my set-up again.

I was rather pleased with the results of these shots, so as I had another darkslide left which was loaded, I decided to try two other of my ideas;

For this image I used a 'United Nations' t-shirt as the background and made it look blood stained, whilst having the meat and more of the blood-like substance in the foreground.
By using the skull infront of the t-shirt, I played around trying to capture all of the highlights and midtones.

For this image, I kept the t-shirt in the background as I felt it gave a good effect. I then threw the meat onto the flag to give some more colour, whilst throwing more blood-like fluid across it. The meat and the marinade started to dry and darken with colour by this time, so I wanted to see whether when printed it would give a different effect.

I also wanted to capture the 'Quality assured England' on the skin of the meat, as a humorous point, but still linking to my theme.

The Pastiche; Part B.

Task: To submit a set of images based upon my own personal conceptual approach to representing the Landscape.

Initial Ideas;
Firstly, I thought about creating a Landscape in the style of Roger Fenton as I find his work really interesting.
I started thinking about possible locations, a model to put within the image - like sitting under a tree for instance, and the outfit that they would wear.

I then started thinking about Medway as a town and my opinion on it.
There are some lovely areas and sites to Medway, (such as Rochester) so I was thinking about showing the viewer that Medway can be beautiful, you just have to look at certain places in a certain way.
OR
To just reveal Medway's disheveled and crummy area in all it's glory.


First shoot; I went to Margate and had a walk along the main strip of the town - along the seafront. I didn't know exactly what I was going to shoot, I just walked around looking for inspiration and created shots at random places, that had something I wanted to capture.
Margate used to be "the place to be" years ago, whereas now it's a rundown, grey and depressing drug parlour with nothing to offer apart from a coloured, cartoon mural with memories of "the good ol days".

My Negs: For this I used a black and white film which had an ISO of 100.

With these images I kept getting a lot of different light readings so I went with what I thought was best.
These are a little darker than my cliff side negatives but I would still like to see how they print.
I struggled using the tripod I borrowed as nothing seemed to go right. So for a few of these images I hand-held the camera and rested it on something else.
I accidently pushed the shutter with the darkslide still in place and the back of the camera fell open slightly which fogged half of one image.
But, it's all part of experimenting - I'm just happy that I managed to get some images.

The Pastiche; Part A

Task: Imitate the photographic language of an image by researching and reproducing compositional form, camera setting, lighting, conditions, depth of field and scale.


I chose to imitate the image by Jem Southam, 'Seaford Head', 1999.

I wanted to imitate this image as I knew a lot of areas which have cliffs. I felt if I knew the area and where to go I would be better prepared and could spend more time trying to create my image, rather than trying to find a location.


I loved the different textures and tones to this image and was interested in trying to recreate these features especially, as I feel these elements give the photo character.
I chose to shoot my image in black and white as I felt I could experiment with the tones more when printing. Also, as I am still learning which aperture etc to use, I felt more confident testing with black and white than colour.


To create this image I went to Dunford, Ramsgate. I walked to the end of the beach to as near to the cliffs as I could get before setting up the tripod.
I made these shots using a medium format camera mainly using a shutter-speed of 1/500 and an f.stop mainly between f8 and f16.


My Negs: For this I used a black and white film with an ISO of 400.

 

 

Ideas;

Our task was to construct a photograph based upon a current social issue.
I started thinking about many issues but also considered how I would portray these issues as a still life and what objects I could use.
The main issue that stood out for me is the Army and British soldiers being out in Afghanistan.
It is a subject close to my heart and an issue I feel quite strongly about. I felt this fitted best to my brief and as I have strong feelings and knowledge of this subject, I was hoping this would stand out in my photograph.

At first I wasn't quite sure as to what specific point of view I wanted to portray.
So, I started to research photography within the Army.
I went onto; http://www.army.mod.uk/news/press-office/7728.aspx and had a look at what Army photographers take pictures of themselves to see what they portray.

From this site, three photographs really stood out to me and started pushing me into a specific direction as to what I wanted to express through my brief.

The 1st image;

I felt that this was a very conventional photograph to portray the Army in what they do and are initially trained for. This image imitates destruction and war and shows what soldiers do for a living.

The main focus point of this image for me are the soldiers themselves, alongside the dust and smoke in the air. The surrounding area is really quite grey with the odd section that has a lot of contrast. The area in which these soldiers are, is not very clear. You can see however that they are crouching behind what looks like part of an old wall. The odd weeds on the ground give the idea that this is a waste land or deserted area.

The first thoughts that came to mind to do with the Army and soldiers, is that they go and fight for their country, with obviously, the risk of dying, in honour of their country.

Second thoughts, in relation to the Army & Soldiers, is the considerable amount of pride that they have with their job.

Also thridly, the harsh training and regulations that come with this duty. - For instance, when I thought about soldiers and their pride, I thought of crisp, clean uniform, shiny boots and nothing out of place. I then thought of their objects that are perfectly lined in order ready for inspection.

I didn't want to portray the general pride of the Army for my task as I felt that it was too broad and not personal enough.

This 2nd image really caught my attention;

I feel that this photograph is a really strong and emotional image. Even though it represents the 'down-time' these soldiers are having, (which is where the soldiers have a rest) the expression on this soldier's face tells something different. This soldier in the foreground is the main focus point to this image and shows what all of the soldiers must be experiencing. Even though this soldier is meant to be relaxing, the stern concentration and motivation in his eyes reveal that there is no relaxing time in his situation. They have to be alert 24/7. The blank expression could be the realisation of being in a life and death situation. The idea of clearing your mind and being 100 percent focused on the situation, whilst trying to push fear out of your mind.

The slight glisten to his skin, which is most probably sweat, shows the strenuous, physical tasks they have to go through.

3rd image;

This photograph stood out to me because of the smokey background and not being able to see though it. This made me think of the idea that soldiers do not necessarily know the full extent to what they are going into. For example; when you go on holiday, you know more a less what to expect, but you do not know the full extent until you are actually there. - The same with soldiers being sent to fight a war.

This smokey background also represents the idea of destruction. (Just like the first image above). The portrayal of the vehicles and the other soldiers on the right shows movement and working as a team.

The soldier in the centre of this image is facing away, whilst the other two are facing towards the front, looking out for their man. 

I like the way this image makes you feel as if you are right there behind them amongst the action.

I want to express emotions and ideas around the concept of being sent out to war not fully aware of the circumstances and the possible outcomes.

I am very proud of our Army and the soldiers but feel strongly that the British soldiers should not be out in Afghanistan fighting a war.

I also feel that new recruits should not be sent out to fight so young. They need at least a few years training to not only physically prepare, but emotionally and mentally prepare for the full effects of war.

Soldiers today, (the same as years ago) can be and have been mentally scarred from the negotiation of war.

Personally, I feel that our soldiers were thrown out into Afghanistan like pieces of meat. - Which links to one of my 'object' ideas. For one of my studio set ups, I would like to photograph a bit of meat that looks as if it could be flesh. This would represent my personal opinion and also a possible outcome of fighting in war. - Many soldiers have lost limbs and even more unfortunately have lost not just a limb, but their lives.

This idea of literally using meat came from researching Owen Silverwood. I felt it was a really dramatic way of expressing an opinion and fitted in with mine perfectly.

I would have a dark background instead of white like Owen Silverwood, with perhaps a soft spotlight on the meat and objects.

Another idea I had was to portray some medals soldiers are/have been rewarded and the emotion and meaning that comes with this.

To do this, I thought about simply photographing medals with the badges they wear or have worn, alongside perhaps a candle and a British flag. I feel that a candle would represent one of many things, such as 'peace' if the candle is white and perhaps praying or 'faith' if it's lit. A lit candle may also give a spotlight kind of effect on the objects. - This would draw the viewers attention directly to the objects.

The viewer would not necessarily know whether the soldier was dead or alive and would have to think about what these objects mean and represent.

I feel that we should think about our soldiers more often and really appreciate what they go through and do for us and our country.

Research; Owen Silverwood

I came across Owen Silverwood in a lecture. I found his work really interesting and precise.
I really liked the way he captured a still life that also had movement and hidden meanings and messages.

I really like the way Owen captures the movement of the liquid or blood with every detail. I think this image could represent destruction and the motion that goes with that, or, perhaps the slaughtering of animals by the chicken being present on the right. The red liquid could be the blood and the way in which it may look on the floor after the slaughtering perhaps. The use of veg could then represent the result of a roast dinner we eat after the slaughtering process.
I think this is a very dramatic and powerful image expressing maybe vegetarian morals and views.
The white background also makes the colours stand out more. The colour white could also represent the white butcher uniform, if, it is about vegetarianism.
By having this in a landscape view, the photograph makes the viewers eyes pan across the blook-like substance to the center, taking in every detail that Owen Silverwood has cleverly been able to precisely capture.

I personally really like this image. Not only does the flag itself show movement, but the whole series made into one image, looks as if the flag has been blown across the studio area and these are the continuous shot results.

I think the Union Jack flag is quite powerful and can represent a lot of things.

This image could represent the British Air Force. By looking closely, the flag itself looks as if it could be a figure flying. This could represent the Britsh Sky Divers.

The Grey background makes the colours of the flag appear even more vibrant.

(I've been thinking about representing my views on sending British soldiers out to Afghanistan, so this use of a Union Jack flag I would be interested in using)

This image I think could tie in with the idea of destruction and also movement.

The cloudiness of the water could represent explosions, which would link to destruction and war. The tones and movement of the cloudy water could express the cloudiness of the air/sky after an explosion.

The idea of this being in a glass could represent war being contained within themselves - who it involves, the army.

By outside of the glass being unaffected and untouched, this could represent the rest of the world and maybe 'us' - the viewers, only seeing the destruction on the news and being unaffected ourselves.

The grey tones of this image may play the grimness and darkness of this issue - destruction & war.

Quotes & Notes to Remember

" You don't take a photograph, you make it " - Ansel Adams

-  Incresing Focal Length, whilst keeping the same lens-to-subject distance, INcreases the magnification, but DEcreases the Point of View

- The focal length of a lens is defined as the distance in mm from the optical center of the lens to the focal point, which is located on the sensor or the film if the subject (at infinity) in "in focus"

- Photography is fundamentally about transformation of continuous light energy.

' Photography ' - ( Etymology )

( Greek ) = Ρhòtós - Graphia "Light Writing"



" The Photograph not only signals a different relationship to and over nature, it speaks very much to a sense of power in the way we seak to order and construct the world around us "  - Graham Clarke.

" The real voyage of discovery consists in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes " - Marcel Proust

Making two images appear the same but with different lenses

For this workshop, we were asked to make two images appear the same whilst using a different lens for each. I used a Horseman 5x4 camera and to take the photos I used a 180mm lens for one and a 210mm lens for the other.


For the black and white image I used the 180 mm
lens.
- Light reading was 5.6, so I turnt the broncolour
box to 6.1 from 6.
- The QuickDisc read 0.6, so I upped the light to
6.7.
I also measured the distance between the objects
and the edge of the photograph by the squares on
the grid.

          For this colour image I used the 120mm

     - I moved the camera back about 1 foot.

                                                                     - The light reading was 8.5.

        - The QuickDisc read 0.6 so I upped the light to 6.

     - The light reading was now 8.4, so I upped  the light 

to 6.3 which then read 8.6 on the light meter.

                                                                                          

We then took another two photos, but now whilst changing the 'Perspective Control'.

Not that you can see very well from the scan, but below are the negatives from this shoot, for which I used a 210mm lens. One was taking looking at the book straight. (Colour Negative)

The other was taken with a 'Tilt' of +34 degrees and a 'Swing' of 27 degrees. (Black & White Negative)

Colour Printing

This process was just the same as the black and white workshop, apart from the obvious differences of changing Cyan, Magenta and Yellow settings.

My first test strip; Cyan - 0. Magenta - 60. Yellow - 80.

I chose to go with 20 seconds light exposure as this looked best..



I thought this looked a tad dark and too cyan, so I lowered the Magenta and Yellow by 5.
I now made a light exposure of 18 seconds with Cyan-0, Magenta-55 and Yellow-75

I was happy with this so I made a large print;

After this large print, I then decided that it was still a tad too dark, so I altered the light exposure to only 14 seconds. (Cyan, Magenta & Yellow kept the same as the previous print)

Research; Roger Fenton

I came across Roger Fenton from a lecture. I really liked the style of his work and the representation of people in the landscape. I particulary liked the old-fashioned trailors with the working class men and the ladies in a field with their dresses. Such as; (The photo below)

I'd really like to play around with this concept, whilst still portraying a beautiful landscape. The person or people would just be a feature within the photograph.

I like the tones and textures in this image of the cart/carriage against the soft, quite plain landscape.
This is quite soft and painting like. Although personally I think the image is more about the male on the cart and the possible meaning behind that, rather than just being present in a beautiful landscape image.

I find this photograph a bit chaotic but really interesting. I like the way different parts of the landscape draw your eye contact and make you look deeper into the image. - For instance at the bottom-left of the photo, your eyes are drawn into different sections of the wood and the old cart wheel.

It's not until you start scanning the image and looking at all of the sections you notice that there are people within the image. I like the discovering sense of this. The fact that the people aren't obvious but once found, give the photograph more character.

The pinky tones to the sky give a warmth to the photo, perhaps revealing that it is early morning and/or that these people are family or close friends.

Research; Chema Madoz

Whilst looking at Chema's work, I found the way she presented different objects whilst revealing something else at the same time really interesting. A simple object(s) that reveals a connotation, a deeper meaning, thought or story.
For instance;

This match stick which had been precisely positioned on a piece, or block of wood. This wood has a pattern which looks like a flame. The way the match stick is positioned it looks as if the match is alight.

This also has a connotation of burning. - We strike a match for a flame, we burn wood... Etc.

This photograph may represent a time of death, due to a clock being presented on a coffin. This could be a time of death of a loved one, that Chema herself may not be able to forget. The time may be a constant reminder.

Or, this image may symbolize the fact that at some time in our life we will all die.

The simplicity of this image, may stand for the fact that once we die we're on our own. The way in which the coffin stands out at the top but at the bottom of the photo, the coffin blends into the wall may be showing that once we die, we're only a part of peoples memories. The rest is gone.

Research; Simon Norfolk

In relation to the term 'Environment', all three of these images are from Simon's work; 'Afghanistan - Chronotopia', which reveal the chaos that was here and the destruction and remains of this land.

This image, I think represents the once chaotic landscape that is now at peace. The textures and tones within this landscape all have different meanings and representations. I think they also give an edgy character to the photograph. For instance the broken, destroyed planes show the hard, assassinating history, whereas the calm, clearing, warm sky perhaps represents peace and that the worst has passed or is passing.

 This photograph is of an old outdoor cinema - A place, once probably full of enjoyment, laughter and happiness. I think the warmth of this image represents this. - Also with the pinky tones of the sky. The sky in the background looks really beautiful.
The cinema doesn't look as if it has decayed over time. I think without even knowing the title of this image, the viewer would come to the conclusion of a non-natural erosion process.
By photographing the destruction of a cinema and by the screen being the central focus point of the image, it may portray what the people of Afghanistan had to see and watch.

I personally really like this image, due to the different colours of the sky. I think the sky is the first thing the viewer looks at before anything else.

The bottom of the photo is quite dark, showing an old bus station. It looks worn and run down which may be why it is so dark. - To represent the lack of life and use of it now.

I think the colours of the sky tell the story. By showing black and grey clouds with the sunshine just coming through the other side, I think may express that bad, or grey times may form but sunshine will come out in the end. Perhaps linking to the old sayings of 'the light at the end of the tunnel', 'calm before the storm', 'things get worse before they get better' etc.

As photographer Simon Norfolk claims in the following interview, his work documents an international "military sublime." His photos reveal half-collapsed buildings, destroyed cinemas, and unpopulated urban ruins in diagonal shafts of morning sunlight...

BLDGBLOG: Could you start with a brief thematic introduction to your work?

Simon Norfolk: All of the work that I’ve been doing over the last five years is about warfare and the way war makes the world we live in. War shapes and designs our society. The landscapes that I look at are created by warfare and conflict.... So I started off in Afghanistan photographing literal battlefields – but I'm trying to stretch that idea of what a battlefield is. Because all the interesting money now – the new money, the exciting stuff – is about entirely new realms of warfare: inside cyberspace, inside parts of the electromagnetic spectrum: eavesdropping, intelligence, satellite warfare, imaging. This is where all the exciting stuff is going to happen in twenty years' time. So I wanted to stretch that idea of what a battleground could be. What is a landscape – a surface, an environment, a space – created by warfare?

BLDGBLOG: Your photos are usually unpopulated. Is that a conscious artistic choice, or do you just happen to be photographing these places when there's no one around?

Norfolk: Well, part of this interest of mine in the sublime means that a lot of the artistic ideas that I'm drawing on partly come out of the photography of ruins. When I was in Afghanistan photographing these places – photographing these ruins – I started looking at some of the very earliest photojournalists, and they were ruin photographers: Matthew Brady's pictures of battlefields at Gettysburg, or Roger Fenton's pictures from the Crimea. And there are no dead bodies. Well, there are dead bodies, but that’s very controversial – the corpses were arranged, etc.

BLDGBLOG: Ironically, though, your photos haven't really been accepted by the art world yet – because of your subject matter.

Norfolk: Well, I cannot fucking believe that I go into an art gallery and people want to piss their lives away not talking about what’s going on in the world. Have they not switched on their TV and seen what's going on out there? They have nothing to say about that? They'd rather look at pictures of their girlfriend's bottom, or at their top ten favorite arseholes? Switch on the telly and see what's going on in our world – particularly these last five years. If you've got nothing to say about that, then I wonder what the fucking hell you're doing.


The idea of producing work which is only of interest to a couple of thousand people who have got art history degrees... The point of the world is to change it, and you can't change it if you're just talking about Roland Barthes or structuralist-semiotic gobbledygook that only a few thousand people can understand, let alone argue about.


That's not why I take these photographs.

Full Interview: http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/warphotography-interview-with-simon.html

Black & White Print Processing - Self Test

After my assisted workshop of printing, I then changed the negative and decided to give it a go myself.

I first done a 5 second light scale reading. (5, 10, 15, 20, 25)

This was far too over-exposed, so I changed the setting from G0 or G2 to G5...

I then done a test shoot of 10 seconds on both of G0 and G2;

This wasn't what I wanted so I done another test using G0, G2 and G5, with 10 seconds exposure on each, resulting in...



This still wasn't what I wanted, so I done a third test using G0 and G2 with 10 seconds exposure and then G5 for 20 seconds;

After all of these tests, I then finally realised if I changed the aperture from f8 to f11, it may help...

I then got a test shot of;

My A4 print of this;

Black & White Printing Process

After having our introduction to the darkroom and materials etc, we printed our negatives out onto a contact sheet;

After setting up our sections, i.e fixing our lens, putting our chosen negative into the view-finder and created our border sizes etc, we then focused our image and started creating tests on sections of photographic paper to make final choices for our A4 prints.

I first done a test of a light exposure scale of 5 seconds. (5, 10, 15, 20, 25)

I used an opened lens on a G2 scale;

This then tested this scale of 5 seconds again but used f8 and G5;



After choosing the tone I wanted to work with I then then made a test shot of this;

I now started to look at contrast, density and tone. I made varied choices and tests to see the results before making a final decision...

I used G0 and G2 on this for ten seconds each;

I decided I wanted the background darker, more tone in the squares and less exposure in the highlights on the bottom right of the image and object. I now tested the same G. scales but with different times.

I made an A4 print of this to show the image before making further alterations..

I now started to make slight changes..

First try; G0 and G2 for 10secs, then G5 for 10secs..

Second try; G0 for 20secs. G2 for 5secs then G5 for 10secs...



Third try; G0 for 15secs, G2 for 5secs and G5 for 10secs...

I was really happy with this third result so printed this on A4.