Influences

Was checking out the net and also browsing through reading matter, looking for any kind of inspiration as I have so many ideas running through my head at the moment that it feels ready to explode. I really need to focus and decide what it is I want to do. I have been thinking about an assignment for Contemporary Photography, which is to be based on ideas found in film. We have been given a choice films to watch and from those we must come up with ideas for contemporary photographs based on the experience, using framing cinematography, theme and point of view. I came across this website and found it very useful. You can download the magazines which are packed with visual aids and interesting film stills. I am sure that I will find it extremely useful for this project alongside other research material. Check out past magazines under downloads.

Leon

Saboteur

Silence of the lambs

 

http://www.thebigpicturemagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=238:dark-portraits-the-photographs-of-amanda-norman&catid=31:features&Itemid=59

http://www.thebigpicturemagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=239:dark-portraits-the-photographs-of-amanda-norman-part-2&catid=31:features&Itemid=59 

This interview above is with Amanda Norman is interesting. She describes herself as a horror photographer and it was through a search for photography and film that I came across the interview and the site. The interview is in two parts. 

  © Amanda Norman - Self portrait side on

 © Amanda Norman - Shaun zombie

Case Study

Met up with a journalist today and conducted an interview with him. I know him personally, though hadn’t seen him in ages and I don’t actually know much about his work. I thought it would be interesting to speak to him before I spoke to the photographer so as I could attempt to understand the relationship between the journalist and photographer. It was a really informative session and I learnt a lot from him. He gave me background information on the changes in both journalism and photojournalism, as witnessed by his many years in the business and as his outlook was not from the point of view of the photographer, it was less biased. I know that he has worked as a journalist for a long time and like photographers in the media, journalists have also been affected by changes in technology, culture and working conditions.

He works as the editor for a local publication based in Salford. Though it used to be available in print format, it is now web based but definitely worth a look. He has also said that I am welcome to take photos for some of the events covered by the journal so I will bear that in mind for sure. Here is the link below:

 http://www.salfordstar.com/

I am speaking to the photographer tomorrow and know that he is freelance and is also a partner in a photography studio. I am also aware that he has not been in the business for years as the journalist mentioned above has, and might not be suitable for the case study. I will speak to him first and check it out, but I have been in contact with his Picture Editor who is also a photographer and has worked in the media for many years. He has said that he will be happy to answer any questions I have so that is definitely an option.

Future project

I have been communicating with a tattoo artist who was responsible for creating both my tattoos many years ago. I want to do a project on people who actually get tattooed from the perspective of identity. I really enjoyed a previous project on Irish immigration and wanted to use a similar formula for a totally different clientele. I hadn’t expected a response, as the tattooist has become more high profile since I last visited and I half expected him to be too busy. He has however told me that I can visit over the Christmas period in order to work on the project, which is great news for me. It will definitely take more than one visit to complete, but I plan to visit beforehand in order to sort out a workable plan so that I don’t get in his way but manage to complete the project successfully. I found this work on the net by photographer Bernard Clark and I liked the way he has used a background which was presumably added later, but complements the subject beautifully. 

© Bernard Clark

Case study

Have made contact with the managing editor at Manchester Evening News, Eamonn O’Neal who put me in touch with the deputy Picture Editor, Tim Bradley who in turn, put me in touch with the photographer Vince Cole. Long process but I got there in the end. Have found quite a bit of information on Tim Bradley the deputy picture editor and he has an interesting website and portfolio: http://timbradleyphotography.com/index.html. I am supposed to be meeting Vince Cole next week and will be able to suss out if he is a suitable candidate for my case study. I have checked him out on the internet and can’t find loads of work of his but will check it out when I meet him. He has also said he can give me the details of other photojournalists in the area so I also have that option if all else fails.

Influences

I decided to raid the library to see if I could find any books that might give me inspiration for future projects. It is not always easy to look on the web unless you have specific sites. I do like browsing through the photography on Deviant Art from time to time however and have found these shots which I will share with you: www.deviantart.com

 Night photography by Su7a

 

Demonyx by Lady Nex Angelus 

In the library, I came across a copy of The Black Book: Photography 2006 and also Photography Wrkbk 32 and leafed through them looking for inspiration. I have chosen a few of the shots that really stood out for me and intend to try and replicate them at some point. Well, not exact duplications, but will use ideas from their composition in order to create something based on the original concept.

 Uli Rose

Walt Denson

Practice

 Having already done a shoot for the Liverpool Biennial that I was happy with, I checked with the tutor what constituted a ‘lighting kit’ (one of three pieces of equipment listed as a condition of the brief) and discovered that a flash gun and reflector did not count. I had originally thought of using film and a scanner but after doing the shoot realised that the photographs would work better in colour. So I decided on a further shoot for the project based on my original ideas. I didn’t object as knew it would be good practice.

I borrowed a lighting kit for the weekend in order to gain more experience of controlling the lighting in my photography. God knows I need the practice! I was a little dubious about being responsible for £2,000 worth of lighting equipment but know I had to just get on with it. I took out one of the lamps on the Friday night and put it together quite easily. Gaining confidence I proceeded to put the other one together. I then downloaded the manuals off the internet and printed them out. I checked that the power supply was suitable for the lights and plugged them in and hey presto… they didn’t work! Bugger… Ten minutes later, I had sussed it out and both lights were working. Once I knew how they worked, I put them away having decided that I would practice the next day so that I would be confident for the PH2000 project that I intended to shoot on Sunday.

The project I was doing involved the subjects wearing masks whilst doing everyday family activities in different locations. The Sunday proved to be a bright sunny day, which in October would normally be a welcome change but proved to be a challenge when arranging the room as sunlight was pouring in through the windows. Once I had rearranged the furniture I decided that the easiest solution would be to draw the curtains and let the lighting kit be the main light source.

I used two lights, one just to the right of the window and one behind the subjects. I had positioned the sofa in front of the television so that I would be able to photograph the side profile of the subjects, with their masks visible and the also show the TV screen. This proved to be more difficult than I had expected as the size of the room did not allow me to manoeuvre the furniture as much as was needed in order to show all the important elements and make it seen realistic. Perhaps in retrospect I could have moved the sofa a little forward on one side so that the subjects were more face on, though this would have detracted from the intended realism of the scene. I discovered too that TV screens do not react to fast shutter speeds due to the monitor refresh rate. I had to use a slow shutter speed (1/20) and mount the camera on a tripod to overcome this problem. I also had a problem with the shadows but funnily enough, later in the week, attended a workshop that showed us how to eliminate shadows from the background. I will have to practice this in later shoots.

The shoot was relatively successful and I was glad that I had access to the kit. I do intend to borrow it again but will make sure I have an idea of what I intend to shoot first. Perhaps I might team up with another student so that we can bounce ideas off each other. At least I might be a little more confident by then. 

© Andrea Percival

Case study

Aaargh, I have been told that I cannot use the journalist as a case study! Serves me right for not having a backup plan. I will still use him as a source alongside the case study anyway as having spoken to him on the phone, he made some very interesting observations about the practice which I think are worth looking into, so I intend to meet up with him for a chat.

Have contacted the editors at some of the local papers and am awaiting a response from them. My first port of call was going to be the Manchester Evening News but I have been advised that they are not always very forthcoming when it comes to helping students, though I suppose this is mainly because they get inundated with calls. Ironically enough, one of the local papers is owned by them, so I ended up having to get in touch with the picture editor there anyway. I can only try, but hopefully he will be able to put me in touch with someone who can help me.

I have also been checking out local photojournalists on the web and many of them seem to be wedding photographers as well, or perhaps more accurately wedding photojournalists though I think that it is more descriptive of documentary style wedding photography where a more natural than posed style of photography is adopted. I am not really interesting in the wedding photography but I certainly won't dismiss it entirely as yet. It is always safe to have a backup plan anyway.

Case study

For this project we have to pick an area of photography that interests us and do a case study on an individual who works in that area. I have decided to try to concentrate on photojournalism as I am most drawn to that genre. I want to contact a journalist that I have known for a long time but haven’t seen in ages. I want to use him as a case study as over the years his profession seems to have undergone vast changes with the internet becoming a more dominant source of news coverage over the traditional print format. I want to find out to what extent the job has moved with the times and how this has affected working practices in journalism.

I emailed him and he told me that it was fine to meet up and interview him as part of a case study. I have explained the project briefly so hopefully his input will fit the brief.

Cricket

I wanted to attempt to photograph some kind of sports event and came across a sign advertising a cricket match at our local club. Now I am not a cricket person at all but I thought that as the pace of cricket is pretty slow, it would be a good opportunity to set up a camera on the periphery of the pitch. Apart from the camera potentially being a target for a speeding cricket ball, I felt pretty safe being behind the lens.

I had asked my husband and brother-in-law along to the match, partly as back up as the thought of sitting through a cricket match did not appeal at all and also for someone to talk to between shots. 

Some six hours later I nearly understood the rules of cricket. Actually, I lied, I still haven’t got a clue and no, I will not be joining the fan club but I did manage to get some shots of the match.

I tended to concentrate on the bowler and the batsman as I felt that they were more mobile than perhaps some of the other players. I had set the camera, a Canon 40D with a 300mm lens on a stand and carted it round the pitch, stopping periodically to take a series of shots. 

I really needed a bigger lens for this project but my student grant won’t stretch that far at the moment so I made the most of the equipment that I had. 

Perhaps it was because of the slow pace but I felt that there was not much going on in the game and that the photos were a bit samey. I could perhaps have focussed on some of the players standing around, but I wanted to capture action and concentrated on the more animated players.

I had previously taken some HDR images of the pitch and have included them. I love using HDR and like to take the colours and tone effects to the extreme in order to create a photograph reminiscent of a painting. I know that HDR is a brilliant tool, but for the moment, prefer to use it more creatively rather than to enhance ‘more realistic looking photos. 

© Andrea Percival

South African wildlife

Currently studying for a photography degree, I started with a vague idea of what I wanted to do once I had acquired the degree and what genres of photography interested me most. Now in my second year this has all turned on its head and there are so many aspects of the subject that appeal, I am getting quite confused!!! My aim is to try out as many styles of art as possible so that I can either narrow down my chosen options or decide to be a master of all trades (though the latter may prove too much).

Having spent a period of three months working in South Africa volunteering at an animal sanctuary, I had a wonderful opportunity to photograph animals in semi-wild conditions at the sanctuary and on safari. The locations I photographed in were forest areas where I was able to walk round and also the bush, where I photographed from the jeep or from a hide. All of the animals were free to roam around, in their natural habitat on a large expanse of land. It was as near to photographing in the wild as I was going to get and felt far more satisfying than photographing at a zoo.

The process was really a learning curve as at that time I decided I wanted to photograph solely in manual, not aperture or shutter priority. This proved somewhat a challenge in dark woods with fast moving animals but I persisted. I used a Pentax *ist with a 1:4.5-5.6 80-320mm lens

© Andrea Percival

I liked the silhouetted photographs of the giraffe and the rhino. These were taken in low light conditions and I hope that I captured the beauty of witnessing these magnificent animals in the wild.

I decided to change some of the images from colour to black and white to see if this added anything to them. For some of them it worked, for some it didn’t. When texture was a factor in the image, black and white enhanced it beautifully, for example, the elephants.