End

For creative and productivity purposes I have decided to put this blog into sketch books and will continue to work in that format until the end of this project.

-Alex Hurst

Return of the Nick

Whilst waiting for a tutorial Nick walked past me and we had a quick chat. He told me that since our chat he had a feeling of guilt, which was amusing, but he also told me that he has thought of an idea that I could try out. This idea being combining the lenticular stuff I’ve been doing with looking at the racecourse. What I would do it choose apart of the course on a busy meeting, set up tripod and camera and photograph the course going through its stages, so whilst everyone is a the parade ring so it will be pretty quiet, the before the race whilst everyone is putting their bets on, during the race where people will show lots of emotions and it will busiest and then post race where people are going back to the parade ring or collecting winnings. I’ve got to say it’s a good idea, I am going to try it out at the next race meeting in a week’s time and I hope something will come from it. At least it will get me taking photos again and hopefully it will be a good path to go down or at least point me into a look that will interest me and something I can then continue on doing.

Su talk

Just to get myself back into a state of knowing anything I had a quick tutorial with Su today so I could go over my project proposal and talk to her about where I should and could talk this project from the point it is now. The main thing that I took from the meeting was that I should not scrap the research that I’ve already done and that I should look at some of the old pictures I’ve taken from Leicester racecourse and just look and see if there is anything interesting that I could pick up on. Now with this in mind I’m really thinking about doing the portraits of stands as I’ve never done anything like that, I didn’t look at it at all in 3409 and it just seems like something that I can run with relatively quickly. I know of a fair few courses in the Midlands and there are a lot around London and Hertfordshire so it would think it would be do able getting to them its just trying to organise it and really do it.
Still not happy about this however getting on track doesn’t seem like mission impossible

"OK Time For Plan B"

After that, I have come to a couple of conclusions, firstly I’m glad, I’m glad that Nick told me this now, not wait until the end of the year for that to happen and me to be well and truly screwed, at least I have several months to get my act together and I know I can do it if I really try. Secondly I have to do something that I can do on my own accord and not have to rely on anyone at all and can be a completely individual project.

I have decided that I have two very murky paths that I can really go down from the research I’ve done and the proposal I wrote last term. The first is portrait, but have a strong, powerful subject to look at. Two things come to mind, the first is Leicester Racecourse, the problem is that I’m already looking at this location in my Tuesday Module, however I could do several things to alter it, first of look the main stand, and then travel to other courses so I’m taking a portrait of different stands from across the country. I think that’s got potential, will be expensive however I think that it would be a good thing to do, if I did it in the style of Thomas Ruff then I think it could look pretty striking. Another kind of portrait/documentary thing I could do, and something that my housemate offered was to look at launderettes. In my project last year I looked at a object that people just really don’t pay attention too, and I think that launderettes could be that subject, I know in the one I use it has a sign saying ‘ deaths on this property aren’t responsible to owner’ and I reckon other ones must be equally as random, also, they are stuck in the 80’s/ 90’s with the style and look and I think it could be interesting to look at.

The second path that I have potential of going down is technique based, and that’s lenticular. I do now know how to create them however I would have to find a very strong subject field to look at and something that wouldn’t just look tacky as hell, say a sunset would just look crap and I might as well drop out of the course now. It’s just a technique that just feels it has potential, Nick told me that he doesn’t normally like technique work however even he said it has potential, just have to really put my mind to it and try and find something that isn’t really looked at and something that would be interesting to have several frames taken of it.

Now I just need to take a step back, talk to Su and just try and get my act together on this on else I could fall into a pit.

Rock and a hard place

Just angry at what I've let myself do in this project and I'm well and truly stuck. Today I went and spoke to Nick Lockett, a professional photographer and my first year tutor and, not on purpose, he has blown this project into a million pieces. The really annoying thing is and the reason why I am so frustrated is that it's all stuff that I should have been paying attention to and stuff that I should, as a near professional photographer, should NOT have to have been pointed out to me. What he said is that I'm only looking at technique and no subject, which is entirely true. The problem is that my main interest is what I’m doing for my Tuesday module, and after that I’m keen on several techniques I’ve been practicing over the years. This is what I should be doing in second year not fucking third year where everything matters. This is also queries what on earth I was thinking about when I was choosing my subject. I honestly struggle to work with people, in the past when I’ve had photo shoots organized people always don’t show and trying to get everything planned, for me, is a massive pain. Also, I heavily criticize people who only use other students and people their own age in their photos, and that’s all I’m doing. I know this is still really in its experimental phase however with me lacking confidence I really have no clue what I was going to do for my final bit of work. So, change, and change ASAP, this project is very close to being dead and berried and its going to take a bit of experimentation to turn it around and get it back standing. I also spoke to the head of the course, Laura, to just to get a piece of mind and help me get on track. She, unsurprisingly agreed with everything Nick told me however did give me some ideas with what I can go into which really helped. I just need to find something to look at, very quickly, some area that I’m interesting, that doesn’t evolve me having to work with people and something that I can just get on with straight of bat. I need to get my head together but will try and think of a few possibilities later today.

Finished and editied

So over the weekend I edited the pictures in the way I wanted experiment with and then today I put them through the lenticular procedure. One thing I decided to experiment with was enlarger of facial features. So far I’ve only really though about what it would look like to remove people facial features however I’ve never thought about enlarging and that’s what some suggested in a tutorial a couple of weeks back. I’m really not sure what to think, like it would, in a way, people who saw me creating the pictures said some positive things however I’m not bought. I think it’s too comical, I had this problem in college where I had a technique which I experimented with and all of a sudden it look more comical then anything else and I initially set of wanted to produce work that would have some sort of shock value, not make people laugh. Images 3,4 & 8 are all with the enlarged features, I do like them, and there is almost something mysterious about them, which I do like however on the opposite hand they just don’t fit my aim which is really annoying and kind of problematic with a part of my mind looked at the final outcome. Pictures 7 & 10 are what I did in my first try, face looking at 3 or 4 different locations and then overlaid, I think 7 works the best as it hasn’t been manipulated in any way and to be it just works. Picture 9 is the same image twice however in one there are no facial features, got to say it has a very ghostly look about it, however another problem I’ve encountered is that sometimes making the lenticular and not putting the plastic over it looks like it really lowers the quality which is a bit annoying. Just because I want a fresh set of eyes on this project I’m having a meeting with my first year tutor Nick Lockett to see his opinion on my work.

Post photoshoot

So after the photo shoot I’m not too happy with the outcome however at least I’ve got some work edit however not as much as I would have liked. Unfortunately I only have three people show when ideally I would have had double and that’s how many people I was told would come. Not the end of the world however it does bring the question of why I decided to do a project on portraits in the first place as I’ve often had difficulties with trying to organise people in the past. Anyway after that note the three people who did show I’m very thankful of and also thankful that they where good people to photo. What I decided to do was keep it short and simple. Basic medium shot portrait with them facing directly into the camera and then looking at either side of the camera. I think it should give me some good looks when I edit them and put them through the lenticular process. Also for the sake of it and did a full body shot as I have a couple of ideas in mind that I want to experiment with. Below are four pictures of one of my models, just showing the shots that I was aiming for and the look I wanted.

Random Internet

Over the last couple of months I've come across or been show several random items on the internet that have really took my interest and really link into this project well. This first is a set of images I found and shown below in which has two images layered over each other, one of human and one of animal. I would imagine that this is fashion photography however I feel it fits into what I'm doing nicely. I really like it, using only 2 colours on a solid black background works fantastically for me and overall really works to an advantage. I really think it could be an interesting thing to look at for me, however instead of looking at a human with a animal have the person and an object that really defines them. For example have a photographer and a camera, or musician with a violin or even a IT specialist with a apple logo. Definitely an idea to keep in mind for the later stages of this project.


The image below is kind of what I would have liked to have created at the start of this project. Looking at identity and how you choose what you want the real world to see you as. This image is just a very heavy photoshopped image. It works however its not amazing to me even though it would normally be really interesting to me. Would could work for my project is having a single person, however have them change their own look for different needs and have them layered over each other. Could touch fashion photography with this but just an idea.


This picture, despite it being a room of naked women I really like, the removing of the face and hair is what I'm doing and it also has a feel about identity. It would appear they are all wearing heels and you can see imprints on their legs from the shoes. Again this is properly bordering on fashion, or lack of fashion but I really enjoy is as a photo. I know I'm not going to be able to get that many naked people in one room however I really think it has potential is some way or form and I think it would be good to incorporate it into my own work

Ideas

Tomorrow, Thursday 24th I have my first studio shoot of 2011, its really pretty late however its taken me this long to really know what I want to do. I'm almost certain I'm going to be doing the lenticular idea however I've still got to make a choice between using the lenticular plastic and make the image change but not how it should be, OR, simply without, use the software to create the image however leave it at that point, have a solid black frame around instead of the lenticular lines as that also seems quite effective. I think that after this shoot and I've played around with the software it will come pretty easily to me, hopefully.

My plans for tomorrow are relatively simple, shooting on a white background and nothing over the top, close up of face, likely to include shoulders just for space and maybe if I have the time a couple of full body shots. Initially I want the same from my first shoot, looking left, centre and right, but, again if I have time and models, looking up and down, pulling different emotions some good overall experimentation.

Sam Taylor-Wood

The work of Sam Taylor-Wood has had my interest for many a year now however with a lot of it being video or huge panoramas I’ve never been able to look at him, apart from now. I was recently flicking through his self-titled book when I came across a load of stills from his video Method in Madness (Link at bottom). In the video it shows a middle-aged man having a break down and going through many different emotions. I’ve also posted several stills from this video below. It’s a great video that, over the 10 minutes you really can stop watching and been done so well that it does provoke some emotions whilst watching it, like pity for the man but also amusement, you see this is a few other Taylor-Wood videos and he is one of my short film directors. What I found interesting when having my work in mind is that the man never actually moves from that one position and that’s heavily linking with my work whilst working with lenticular. When I come around to doing the actual shoot this kind of work is what I’m going to be looking at producing. Having the model in one position and pulling many different facial features and then in postproduction overlaying them. I’m going to have to draw up a list if possible poses that I’m going to want and looks that I will want to achieve.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_rk9ejDQY4



Sam Taylor-Wood

Stefano Scheda

Straight from the get go I have to say I really like the work of Stefano Scheda, the look of his work a whole is something that I really like and think that as a group of work it works really well. I would say that he most favorite full body portrait photographer, reading into him I found great quote where he says ‘The body itself it a portrait, even when it lacks a face. It typifies the photographed individuals despite them being ‘beheaded’. It retains its own uniqueness without acquiring the same iconic value as the face, which continues to hold sway as the mark of uniqueness in the social code’. I think that this for his work it’s a great comment and I also feel that it would with a lot of photographers around. For me what works so great is the change of covering the people’s eyes and also the person being completely naked, the combination of the two works really well. Also just the overall concept of the pieces of work for me is great, combining man and women’s body into one in a pretty simple idea but has worked with great effect. In my own work I think it would be great to do some nude shoots and try an get some full body models and just do the same as what I am planning to do with the faces, I think it would give an interesting feel and would help make people get drawn into the work, all providing I can get the models to do it.


The Portrait, Photography as Stage

Julian Wolkenstien

Again whilst looking though backdated portfolios’ I came across Julian Wolkenstien who does nearly the exact same thing a John S. The use of colour completely changes the entire mood of the image. With John S’s work there is something odd about, I think its because he uses children however its bordering on comical to me. Wolkenstien’s work is much neater, shooting on the grey background and more of a medium shot for me works a bit better as he has also done half of the torso as well which is interesting. I think it would be interesting to do full body and take another step back, would have to be naked because cloths show to many shadows and different textures but if I could get the models then I differently think it would be worth the experimentation. Also you wouldn’t need to use lenticular and just have them as well, even 1:1 ratio prints.

John Strezaker

I was looking through some old Portfolio magazines a few days ago when I came across the photographer John Strezaker who I hadn’t heard of before. His work is really interesting, it’s a body of work titles ‘Fearful Symmetry’ in which he simply takes half a persons face and then mirrors to create one. As you can see from the images below they are pretty weird to look at. In the covering essay it says that he only uses children in the work and it works, it almost looks like they are sculptures not photography. Img 01 looks somewhat like a doll and Img 03 looks like some type of creature from a film, which for me really has something about it. I’ve got say that I would like to incorporate this into my own work, theres another photographer called Julian Wolkenstien who does the exact same but with adults so I would have to try and do something with it and lenticular but could work really well. I also think it be pretty hard to copy, you would have to find people with no make-up, short hair that’s neat and lots of base symmetry.

LCD Design

Whilst browsing around on the Internet one day I discovered a design agency called something like LCD Design who more importantly do some pretty amazing photo editing that goes with my work pretty well. All four of the images below are in the some path of what I want to achieve. For example img 1, it actually is relatively gory but not over the top which spot on for what I am wanted to achieve. I haven’t yet contemplated using props as I think that would lead down a path away from the initial idea however if anything comes up then I’ll give it a go. Img2 on the other hand is much more heavily modified and really that’s what I wanted to do in the first place however my technique ability isn’t really strong enough. It does look very good however it’s not something that I see do able within this project. I’ll e able to take aspects of it however I don’t see that I’ll be able to do a complete modification. Img3, 4 seems like it’s the closest to the type of work that I’m going to be doing on this project, straight on portraits and only modifying the head. Agreed I want be taking away the whole head like those two images however I would say that they are a good overall look of what I will be likely to produce with in the next few months.
Overall I really like this work, it’s much like the Erik Johnason work that I looked at earlier just not so extreme. I feel that this is the main level that I want to get my work to look like, obviously not as professional however it’s the type of work that I will always be keeping in mind.


Internet source

Robert Mapplethorpe

Whilst looking at the work of Robert Mapplethorpe is that I really think that his work wouldn’t be as interesting if it wasn’t made black and white. The individual shots for me don’t really bring anything new to the world of photography, that’s not to day they are bad however more a long the lines that been there, done that. Looking at this artist statement he says that he is mainly interested in the human form and you can see that in his work. They reason why I’ve wanted to put his work on this blog is because of his use of black and white. In studio environment and using a black background he has been able to produce some pretty interesting shots because he has been able to find some very interesting models and that I do like. Img01 I struggle to tell if that person is alive or not but there is something pretty interesting about the look of her. I don’t really know if I can take anything from this work, maybe having the person look dead and then alive could be interesting however with the lenticular effect if may not look as good as I would hope, might be work a try and will give it a go.


The Portrait, Photography as Stage

Boris Mikalov

To look at a completely different style of photography that often incorporates portrait photography I decided to look at Boris Mikalov’s book looking into the break-up of the soviet-union. His work is primarily documentary however with him documenting homeless people a lot of the time he is taking portraits and some of the time relatively posed. Out of a lot of the work that I’ve looked at from many different artists, his is the one that just has a strong emotion feel about it, as it’s a strong topic that he is focusing on. Also, the people that he is photographing are not most normally of looking people. This is something that has got me thinking, so far with me only doing the one photo shoot I’ve not even contemplated that kinds of people that I will be wanted to use in my pictures. The reason why I choose to use a girl was because of the facial hair and a more easier to work with face however now looking at it a man with a beard may work, or a girl with a lot of make-up on might work equally as well. I’m certainly going to have to have a big experimentation when it comes around and try and get a large amount of different faces. Looking back at Mikalov’s work it might even be good to look at people with something extraordinary about there face, even just basic stuff like a bent nose or possibly a wonky eye, nothing like the extremes that he has captures but maybe a water downed version.
Overall I really like Mikalov’s work, looking through his book even I have to admit that some parts are pretty hard to look at however in my opinion that’s what makes his work so great, it think it would have been interesting to get some of the people into a more stages studio however it might have changed the way that they act.


Case History

Man Ray Re-visited

I recently happened to stumble across a Man Ray book of his portrait photography and I thought it would be good to re-visit his work. Now straight away I know that the work of Man Ray is not at all what I’m going to be doing however he is such an iconic person he is hard to ignore. Whilst looking at his work I find it hard to figure out exactly what it is some of the time, you would think that it portrait photography however in come example I wouldn’t know if it is. For example img 02/03 the target’s eye line is of camera, but not like it’s on purpose, and it’s almost as though Man Ray is documenting the people some of the time. I guess it’s because he was kind of in unknown territory but a lot of his pictures almost seem like photo snaps, which is odd, as these pictures will have taken more setup. Unfortunately I can’t really take anything from looking at Man Ray as photography has come on so much since his time however I still like to just look at his work and think just how much he has achieved.


Man Ray's Paris Portraits. 1921-39

Howard Schatz

I was browsing a few website today when I can across some pretty interesting work by Howard Schatz. It has a pretty basic concept however it works very. All it is is actors pulling very strong emotions and it works really well. I think that this could work really well combined with lenticular and just do exactly what he is, get some people who would be able to do the faces necessary and then layer them and create a lenticular, it would be pretty basic however it might be on of those things that just pays of, can only try and see. Overall I really like this work, I think because he has been able to use people who can pull the kind of facial expressions well helps a lot however it also just is a basic idea that has worked well, I like it.

Ralph Steadman

Just looking through some books in the library I came across the work of Ralph Steadman, straight away it got me interested. The works comical, almost caricatures but it just nicely fits into this project. The actual working method is all physical; in his book it says that the pictures are Polaroid’s that he has then pushed the paper in certain ways to alter the overall picture. If I can get my hand on a Polaroid then I would love to experiment with it however I’m not sure I could easily get myself a camera, but still it’s good to look at. I think what I like about it so much is that its extreme, the reason why I normally like caricatures is that they are never subtle and always over the top which for me works well. I suppose one thing I could experiment with doing is this in Photoshop and really manipulate the portraits, use the liquify tool and really play around.

Rineke Dijkstra

The work of Rineke Dijkstra is photographically the middle ground between the two photographers Thomas Ruff and Valerie Belin whose work you can see earlier in this blog. The reason why I’ve decided to look at her work is because to me it is the most effective portrait style. Whilst reading her comments about this project she says that she works to show political issues, in this case women and for this she has taken photos that are able to show her target almost perfectly. Very well lit, eye and body facing the camera and framed just below the shoulders really helps to display the person to her audience, as you can see from the two pictures below they are both pretty striking pictures that really capture the person very successfully. I like it, looking at the photographers I have so far I would say that hers is my most preferred working style I’ve seen, as much as I like the work of Belin, her work wasn’t showing the person with any feel as she was showing the face as a mask and I see that as being something I’m going to need to pay attention to. This project doesn’t have an actually backbone, I don’t know if it really needs one however I’m not doing this project for any real purpose apart from artistic and when looking at other portrait photographers they all have a strong reasoning to be doing the pictures in the way they are. This is something that I feel is going to raise it’s head later on and its something that I don’t know about.


The Portrait, Photography as Stage