Country roads.

Miami

Jealous of Jack being in Miami AND visiting Love Hate

So much work

Bug Jam 2012

Last weekend (20th-22nd July) I went to the VW festival, Bug Jam. of course, it was A-MAZING (I'm itching to buy an old, battered camper van now). I took a few photos here and there and thought instead of wasting them, use them for a photo shoot. They aren't all completely in the lines of portrait but hey- why not?!

Bug Jam

Here are some of my favourite pictures I took at Bug Jam (the contact sheet is in my notebook)...

I took this photo in one of the dance tents. There's a lot of motion blur which I personally love because it adds depth to the photo. There's not much colour variety but there are various blue tones across the photo which gives it a cool, mellow feel. Some silhouettes of people can be seen at the bottom of the photo. The photo contains the rule of thirds which results in a well balanced picture. The only thing I would change if I could would be removing the black vertical line in the middle. Because of the patches of vibrant blue and brightness and the blurriness, it feels like a crazy, party photo where people are raving, drunk and are high on drugs.

There's not a lot to say about the meaning and depth of this photo. It's not very conceptual or has any underlying stories or assumptions. I chose this one from the variety I took because it takes everything back to simplicity. The lines up cars show a typical example of perspective and how neat it looks. It adds depth of field to the photo so it doesn't feel as flat and dull (because the colours are quite dull, without the perspective it would look flat and boring). Because the sky is brightest at the top, right hand corner, my eye is drawn to the top right-hand corner. It could all do with increased contrast and brightness.

I love this photo because it shows lots of layers- the tape then the mud, then people and cars, then tents, then finally the beautiful sky at dusk. I love that the glare of the sky reflects onto the mud which shows how watery and sludgy the mud actually is- it allows the viewer of the photo to sort of 'feel' the experience. The blend of pastel orange, pinks and purples in the sky is so beautiful and relaxing. The brightness of the sky and the darkness of the mud displays a great contrast in colour. The person on the bike is offset which I like (if he was centred, the photo would feel more uniform and less fun/ relaxed). I like that the tape is just visible at the bottom of the picture because it adds some sort of alarm and warning to the photo which portrays how slippery and dangerous the mud actually was.

Rebecca Stevens

Rebecca Stevens uses everyday objects to create pieces of artwork which she then photographs herself, too.

'the original inspiration came from my Smythson and Aspinal leather notebooks. The project was one set as a final major assessment at university. We were set the task to create something new and innovative; from the start I wanted to design a biannual publication people would want to keep and treasure, in a minimal style with intellectual content. Although I have a great love for fashion, I wanted to push myself with this project and so content includes art, travel and the everyday we often dismiss. I have an odd tendency to keep objects I feel have worth in their original boxes, completely pristine and unused. There is something quite extraordinary about a clean, unopened notebook, with its blank pages and solid spine.'

I want to use Rebecca's idea but instead of producing pieces of work which dont have much formality and are much more order and pattern-orientated, produces figures, whether it be a section of the body or just a stick person.

This is the idea of what I wanted to do to celebrity faces using photoshop to manipulate them.

Choi Xooang

Choi Xooang is a sculpture. He was born in 1975 in Seoul, Korea. He has an M.A. in sculpture. He produces wonderful (and VERY entriguing) clay sculptures which are deformed, twisted, wrong, mutilated and very interesting for the eye to look at. Xooang is attempting to draw attention to human rights abuses in Korea, and seeing these somewhat macabre, stunted figures unable to see or speak, it’s hard to dispute that. I would like to take my own pictures (as well as using glossy celebs as stated in my previous shoot idea) and edit them to have a similar effect as Xooang's sculptures do.

This is an example of one of his sculptures. As you can sea the figure has only eyes and ears on its head- no mouth or nose. I find this piece ever so creepy- mainly because of the mouth missing and the fact that it looks like a child (children make everything seem much more creepier). The colour of it is so dull and pale with only the colouring in the eyes and ears. All these features of the sculpture make me feel like it's expressing that one can only see and hear things but cannot be heard. It springs to mind the old saying 'children must be seen, not heard'. The scattered simples within the surface of the clay, to me, resemble some sort of harm, some sort of wounding. It makes me feel quite sad. The figure's head is tilted as if it's just asked a question and is looking for an answer. The body on the figure looks scrawny and malnourished. Overall, the piece of work seems to portray a sad story crying out for help.     This other example of his artwork with the two people kissing and interlocking their tongues is a little digusting. But, saying that,  think it's quite relevant to the 21st century as we seem to be a nation obsessed with sex. The two heads are coming out of two seperate walls, both bald, and interlocking tongues- very long tongues. Unless one of them is actually female, I am going to assume that they are both male. Assuming they are both male, I think they are a gay couple which find it difficult to show their love for one another- not because they don't want to- but because of their culture. Homosexuality is frowned upon in korea (which I found out after doing some searching on the internet). To me this explains why the walls are holding each of them back (representing society) and they are reacihng as far as they can using their necks just to touch one another, using their very long tongues to meet and kiss in the middles. I think the tongues have been made extra long and are on full view to produce something controversial and to send a message out to say 'WE DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK.'

                                                                                                                   

Photoshoot Idea:

I would like to find an artist/ sculpture who has produced pieces based on body deformity/ mutilation. I want to use their idea to create my own set of work. I want to use beautiful, glossy celebrities that everybody loves, admires and aspires to be, but then using photoshop, disfigure their features & body. I then wonder if this would change peoples views on them and would they aspire to be just like them any more? I think this shows how prejudice we are as a nation.

Stop Stressing.

After much stressing and pulling my hair out about how I could think of a contextual landscape photoshoot, I have decided to FINALLY stick with what I know and what I'm strongest at- portrait photography.

...And breath. Ah.

southbank skating.

My skateboarding is still coming along slowly but surely- I wish I could do stuff like this dude- THEY MAKE IT LOOK SO EASY!

Saturday night is play night

Jakob Wagner

http://www.jakobwagner.eu
I found this landscape photographer on the internet. His photos have so much drama and existence. They are positively stunning! He has produced photos which you never thought could be produced. The detail in his photos is incredible. I will post photos from him later.

Change of ideas...

So I was having a thought this afternoon. Maybe the idea of producing photos to illustrate a book is to bland, too straight forward- not enough depth and not contextual! I may shy away from the portrait area of photography and jump in the deep end and do an aspect of photography I haven't explored before- landscape.

Hi James.

My summer

Grimm's Fairytales

Grimm's Fairytales is such a well known set of stories. I think this could be an option to explore as the stories are quite sinister which could make an interesting photo shoot. The first volume was published in 1812 containing 86 stories. There were more volumes published and overall there are hundreds and hundreds of fairytales. This gives me wide ground to explore if I were to choose this path.

First ever volume of Grimm's Fairytales

                                                 

The fairytales already have many illustrations but if I were to reproduce them I would have my own modern day twist on them for example, there's a picture of a poor women in a street, I would put a modern twist on this by taking a picture of a homeless person which are seen quite regularly in the streets.

The picture of the poor woman in the street

Initial Ideas

I have previously worked on portrait photography which is one of my favourite types of photography because it connects with people in a very personal way. The picture could be very simple such as a face on head shot but it can speak thousands of words and tell a deep story. My first initial idea is that I would like to take books, wether fiction or non-fiction, & take sections from it to produce an inspired series of pictures. I think this would work well because instead of a reader trying to build an image in their head of the story, I am offering a suggestion of what that image could be. In a way it is illustrating but through photography instead of drawing/ painting.