Category Archives: Research

Portrait Research

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Joel Santos

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I like this as the intense eye contact can tell a story to the viewer and different people can interpret it in different ways. To me its intense but he looks quite smug, so theres a slight smile on his face which I think is endearing. I like the framing for this too as he is clearly the focus and what he is wearing and how he looks is another part of him thats interesting to the viewer.

Steve McCurry

00735_19, 0735_19, Rajasthan, India, 2010 Top-10-photographers-for-travel-portraits27__700

 

These photos, especially the one of the girl, ‘Afghan girl’ are very famous and iconic to the world. I chose to look at such famous portraits because I wanted to see what the world and critics would consider being a successful and good portrait. Her eyes are the main focus of the image and she is intensely looking into the camera. I don’t think I would choose to take intense photos as they don’t really reflect on me as a photographer. I prefer photos of people laughing and being silly as I like the response they get from the viewer more.

Especially like Rineke Dijkstra’s photographs, I don’t like how uncomfortable the people in her photos look and this makes me uncomfortable which isn’t the feeling I want to give my viewer. I want to make people happy and I think this is done by using funny and happy photos. However I do like the composition of Dijksta’s photos of the children on the beach and think the lines and colour work well to remain the focus on the person.

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Bored Panda (2015) Top 10 Most Famous Portrait Photographers In The World. Unknown: Bored Panda. Available from http://www.boredpanda.com/top-10-photographers-for-travel-portraits/ [accessed 10 April 2016]

Home research

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Cia De Foto

I’ve found these photographs on flickr and although this may not be considered a very authentic photographer, I think they match my home photography quite well. They’re all dark images taken in homely environments which kind of shows a sadder side to home. However they are not explicitly depressing photos, so they’re not a sad representation of home. In the first image especially it shows a person standing in a rainy doorway which looks quite lonely and sad, which could be a way of describing how you feel when you’re away from home. I’ve also featured rain in my final images. In the second photograph it is of a women sitting on her own at a table in the dark, this is also quite lonely and secluded but I still think can represent home.

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Jon Conforth

As I knew I wanted to include photos/ a photo of my dog, looking into a animal/wildlife photographer. I think these photos are beautiful and give the animals a personality and look like characters. Although these are all wild animals and therefore aren’t as relatable to photographing my dog, they’re still animals who have their own minds and own ways of thinking. Photographing an animal is different to a person and can be less corporative, or sometimes more.

I also liked his landscape photography and included this forest one as theres lots of trees where I live and therefore I think I could use this as inspiration. This photograph cuts out the top of the trees which although I think can work I prefer to have a bit of negative space too, so I may use this as a way of changing the composition to make it my own. I find it uncomfortable that he’s filled the entire film with the tree lines.

USA, Alaska, Frederick Sound, Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) breaching potd-polar-bear_3484981k14_JonCornforth_HH_SeaLion Japan, Hokkaido, Tsurui, Trees covered in early morning frost at sunrise

Jim Dratfield

A pet photographer who i’ve also looked at to see how to professionally photograph your pet without it just to make them look cute. I wanted to concentrate on composition and focus. Although my dog moves around a lot so I think capturing him in a still and content mood would be an interesting juxtaposition to who he is. These images look like they’re in their own environment and are happy to be there and are engaging with their owners, which is a nice way to represent the animals. I especially like how in the second one the colour is drained and the way the pattern behind him is complicated but Dratfield has photographed him in a way to still make him stand out. He is the focus of the image which is important when photographing a representative of my home. However I’m not sure I would focus my final 6 all on my dog as this may become repetitive and not be a full representative of different areas of my home.

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Flickr (unknown) Cia De Foto. Unknown: Flickr. Available from https://www.flickr.com/photos/ciadefoto/ [accessed 1 April 2016]

Jim Dratfields (unknown) Jim Dratfields pet photography. Unknown: http://www.petography.com/dog-photographic-portraits [accessed 1 April 2016]

Jon Conforth (Unknown) Jon Conforth Wilderness photography. Unknown: Jon Conforth. Available from http://cornforthimages.com/ [accessed 1 April 2016]

 

Wes Anderson Influence

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“I have a way of filming things and staging them and designing sets. There were times when I thought I should change my approach, but in fact, this is what I like to do. It’s sort of like my handwriting as a movie director. And somewhere along the way, I think I’ve made the decision: I’m going to write in my own handwriting. That’s just sort of my way.” – Wes Anderson

Anderson is a filmmaker who focuses everything on the centre of things. I’ve taken influence from this throughout my whole project and really like the central style he displays. This video shows how his shots all have a central line in them and everything is symmetrical, similar to my work. He also uses quite pastel colour schemes which I haven’t really followed in my photography work as I prefer more contrasting and darker photos. However I do like his colour schemes too. I also like that with Anderson’s work, it’s very individual and unique and I hoped to create photos that are similar to this. I wanted to have a style of photography that is recognizable as being by the same photographer and I think I have achieved this, especially with my portraiture work.

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I’ve been influenced by Anderson’s work throughout most of my briefs and think he’s applicable to most of my photographs. Examples of how my work has been influenced by Wes Anderson:

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Appropriation research

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Barbara Krugerimage

 

W magazine, The Art Issue, November 2010

This features Kim Kardasian who is clearly not wearing anything, this gives a strong message to the magazines readers already But Barbara Kruger adding this message on stop, covering her most intimate parts creates a whole other meaning. I’m interested in celebrity pop culture and how artists and people challenge their power and explicitly expose them for the things audiences think they are.

Richard Prince

When discussing photography appropriation, Richard Prince seems to be the most famous one yet.

 

imageYes, Rasta by Richard Prince

This is my favourite Richard Prince piece as I like how simply Prince has changed the image just by adding a guitar and blue spots to cover the facial features. Although this photo caused a lot of controversy and the original photographer tried to sue Prince, I think this shows the impact of how effective the photo was on the viewers.

 

Still Life Research

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Klaus Pichler

mouldy pineapple imagemouldy cookies

Pineapple                                           Chokolade Cookies

moudly strawberries

Strawberries

After completing my contact sheet I researched more into photography of mouldy food and saw these photographs on the National Geographic website. These photographs are very similar to the ones I plan on taking. Except with these ones they often use a prop with the photo, giving them an almost royal look. I really like the very dark black background and hope to achieve this with my photos as I think it remains the focus on the object and creates a photograph, rather than a object. The main difference between mine and Pichler’s work is that he waited 9months for his food to mould, with mine the maximum time would be a week. However with my intended objects, Apple, bread and a tomato, these mould pretty quickly in the right environment.

The lighting on these photos also makes the fruit and mould look neon, another element I wanted to look into. This is also seen in David Maisels work.

More of Pichler’s work on the National Geographic website:

National Geographic (2014) Visualising Waste: Klaus Pichlers gorgeous rotting food. National Geographic. Available from http://proof.nationalgeographic.com/2014/07/16/visualizing-waste-klaus-pichlers-gorgeous-rotting-food/ [accessed 06 February 2016]

The meaning behind is work is to represent how much food goes to waste in the world and how it gets the chance to decay over time, yet there are still people in the world who are starving.

Alan Sailer

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“A pellet shreds three lit cigarettes in one of Alan Sailer’s impressive photographs. He creates amazing images of everyday items being hit by projectiles. Using high-speed photography, he can capture in stunning detail the moment items such as marbles and air gun pellets pass through objects.” (The Telegraph)

I like the flat background Sailer has used and how the focus is completely on the object in frame. I like the effect of the marble going through the cigarettes and the high speed shot and how it has focused on them, however this wouldn’t be possible with the equipment I have.

The Telegraph (unknown) Alan Sailer’s photographs of objects exploding as they are hit at high speed. UK: The Telegraph. Available from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/8850580/Alan-Sailers-photographs-of-objects-exploding-as-they-are-hit-at-high-speed.html [accessed 14 April 2016]