Home contact sheets: narrowing it down

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Family contact sheet

When I met up with my family I took lots of photos of the day and around about my home with my family.  think quite a few of these came out quite well but I’m not sure I would use any as my final piece. I think a few have a personal photos included though which will work for the home brief, as they may not be very obvious to other people viewing them, but to me, they mean something, what home is all about.

familyContactSheet

Random things in my house contact sheet

My house is full of random objects and things that have been collected by my family and put together to make my home. I especially like the carpets in our house, collected from different countries my parents have lived in. The photos featured below are all of things I can say are a part of my home. These photos were taken mostly using a macro lense as I feel like this gives off a much more clear and professional style.

randomContactSheet

Scenery contact sheet

These photos have quite a dark and miserable look to them, which isn’t what you would think would be associated with the brief home. However I life in England and it rains all the time, the pylon also reminds me of the road I drove on everyday to school and to town as there were dozens of them in site along by the railway. The tree photos are from the back of my house and I think with the way the light came in and the compositions they looked very effective.

sceneryContactSheet

St Pancras station contact sheet

I chose to photograph St Pancras international station as when I first returned here after first term of university I walked through the station and felt as though I was at home and safe. I think the station is very beautiful and combines old and new well and beautifully. The sun was at a good angle against the outside of the building too and created some nice lense flares too which almost distort the building to be unrecognisable.

trainsContactSheet

Nature contact sheet 

This reminds me of different areas around the area I live in Kent. Each part is recognizable and makes me feel content. I think as a composition these look good together too, as they have similar colour schemes and have the same theme to them.

plantsContactSheet

Life’s a Twitch: My dog

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My dog, Twitch, is very special to me and is probably featured most on my phone camera roll. He makes myself and everyone around him very happy and is the focus wherever he is. Over the 2 weeks I was home I took hundreds of photos of him and found it difficult to whittle these down to just 6 I could use for my home photos. I made a contact sheet of my favourites as shown here-

TwitchContactSheet

Home: Initial thoughts

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My first thoughts for the brief home were ‘happy’, ‘safe’, and photos that would make me smile on reflection. I didn’t want to plan specific photos as I think as things that feel like home to me, aren’t forced, they are natural and raw. Whenever I felt there would be a good representation of home I would take my camera with me to try to represent this. However as this was at my original home I didn’t have the canon cameras so used my Sony DSLR instead. I enjoyed using the micro lense on this as I like photos that are close up and include lots of detail. The first thing I did was take my camera to a family event, as this is the stereotypical and classic idea of home. Looking back on my photos I realise most of them are of my dog, Twitch, which I thought is what would happen as he is very photogenic and my favourite. When I think home and being safe and happy, I think of Twitch so I think this could be a focus for my home project. However over the two weeks at easter I was taking pictures of anything I liked and made me feel good. So I have categorised all these photos into different themes for editing and to decide on which ones to use to represent how I see home.

Final portraits

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Self

LILLI7

I chose this as my final image as I wanted to use an image that I feel represents me. I like myself best when I’m smiling and this is usually when my friends or something had made me laugh. I also like this image because of the position of everything and think the line of the top of the brick wall works well to draw the viewers attention to the focus of the photograph, my face. I also think this is quite a natural photo and I think they are the best ones as they are not forced or uncomfortable to look at. As it’s a self portrait too I think choosing one which my friends and family would look at be happy with, is important.

Friend

MATTb&w1

I was really happy with this image and felt like this one was the most successful out of all my friends photos, in and outside the studio. I think the way I’ve use the aperture settings to focus on him and blur the background works well as It keeps the viewers eyes on Matt. I changed it to black and white as I think it told a different story to if it was in colour. There seems to be more meaning and questioning in this image than the coloured one which attracts the viewer. This photo wasn’t as planned or posed as the others either so it was natural, like my self portrait.

Stranger

stranger final

This is my final edited stranger portrait and I’m happy with how it came out. Although it is just a straight on photo, I think the way I’ve used aperture and Lightroom to edit makes it a successful photo. I find this photo intriguing as I drained the colour and the only real colour in it is the red rose. This makes the viewer question what does this red rose mean and if it does even mean anything. I changed the shadows feature for this as in my last edit you couldn’t see her eyes and this made her feel distant to the viewer. Now theres a slight shine in her eyes, making her more human and real.

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.