2 independent shoots

Landscapes independent shoots

Shoot 1



Best images







Requires improvement





Shoot 2



Best images










Requires improvement






Shoot 1

The two images are of the same view of four trees just with changes to the shutter speed they didn't look right so I learnt from this two images to adjust the shutter speed further.

Shoot 2

This image of the church was taken after the ones inside at this point I had forgotten that I had to change the settings before taking photos. It is also blurry I had forgotten to take use the tripos but I have used a tripod for the over images.

The second one is at a different angle where I didn't thing about changing the settings. Although I changed it later getting the top picture on my best images list for this shoot it is of the same view as this image. This test image did help in the end.

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

My idea for landscapes was take photographs around the town. I was inspired by Simon Roberts' images and to not take boring photos of the country. Most of the images tuned out as I expected. 

With reference to the Best selected images

Shoot 1

My frist image mixes a building with nature, which is a good transition from my first try at landscapes. This has made a good continuation from my last work. It also shows the way the people at southend live.

The second is of an gazebo. This is a reminder of the victorian times when the seaside holiday was at its peek of popularity and is still a big part of British culture just as much as fish and chips or bad weather. The bad weather is also seen in this image as it's not the best.

The last is of four trees which perfectly shows the British weather. Although I will brighten it up as it dose look like south end is a horrible place as its dark, south ends not my favourite place but its not that bad.

Shoot 2

This image is the top half of the entrance to the church. I didn't add the entrances door as the back lighting makes it look dark and scary inside which isn't right for a church.

This second image is from an weird angle to distract from the graves in the background. I did not want to add the graves into the shoot as they make me uncomfortable and they aren't the first thing I like to think of when I think of church.

This last images is of a stain glass window the backlighting makes the image feel like Gods presents was their as its got an heavenly glow.

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

For shoot 1 I wanted to continue taking photos of boring buildings but this time with some nature. The second shoot is different as it's images of a church both in and out. I do thing that churches are boring but they have strong meaning of religion for most people. This second shoot has more nature meaning compared to the first shoot and my previous work on landscapes. I think this makes a good contrast. 

I have mad the final images lighter so they are happier. The last image of the stain glass wind uses two images on top of each other to make the image look more holy. The first image is on my best image list but the next was far to blurry to see that its of a stain glass window in the first place. The combination of the good and bad image to me represents yin and yang showing that opposites working together can make something brilliant and that getting photos wrong isn't bad as it can help make other images better.

AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements. 

I believe I have created a good series of images inspired by Simon Robberts. The final images were created by adjusted the colour.

Final Evaluation

Final Evaluation

My research into the following artists have helped me including Peter Keetman which was very useful for both my work in line and to help start the flow of ideas for the over topics as the start; William Eggleston who I did use as inspiration for colour but didn't fully grasp the style till later in the form elements shoot were I focused on colour again in my shoot of fruit and vegetables as most of the images were of two bright colours. Storm Thorgerson is my favourite of all the artists, as his work is fun and with a good senses of humour. I hope I have captured the same style in my work on composite image making.

I developed technical skills in photoshop, I haven't used photoshop before this. However I haven't mastered all these skill e.g. composite image making. I've also learn't how to use camera settings something I haven't done before as I didn't use a camera but my phone. Working in a studio and using lighting is was new to me and at first I didn't understand how to use them but now I know how to use them to get my desired image.

I have defiantly changed the way I take photos as I am framing them better and they aren't as blurry near the end because I used a tripod. My shoots are turning out with less photos with imperfections. Although it's best to take perfect looking images but the odd bad one can help inspire a better photo e.g. when I used a blurry image of a stain glass window to make another better. I say this as I have learnt from my mistakes and I'm starting to think like a photographer instead of a novice.

I have demonstrated my ability to experiment by finding out what does and does not work with the techniques I have learnt on photoshop. At first I took photos of anything that vaguely worked but now my experimenting is less spontaneous and more thought out which has helped conserve time. Even so   I do still have spontaneous moments.

My work is developing towards abstract which I have always like just haven't shown in my work. As well as that my work has gotten darker themes but not with out the opposite light moments. My work is usually light and colourful but I contrast it with darker themes.

Imogen cunningham




William Eggleston




My image of a skull which is from based on form and similar to the work of Imogen cunningham from which it is based, an example of her work is provided above my image, over then the obvious similarity of the fact both are in black and white. Both also use light to emphasis the objects form.Another example of how my work compares to the photography that I was inspired by is from shoot 2 of my independent shoots on formal elements. This shoot was inspired by William Eggleston and focused on colour. I don't think my original shoot on colour went very while as it didn't look inspired by William Eggelston, I didn't pay much attention to Egglestons work and how to incorporate his style into my style. I just did what I like, so I decided to try again with the independent shoots. I think the image of the lemons having two strong colours looks like William Eggleston's approach. I think this image as well as the overs in the shoot look like a mix of both mine and Eggleston's styles.

I was most successful creative with the composite image making as the work was random like dadaism which it was inspired by. I also like shoots 2,4 and 5 from my indecent shoots. I was least successful with my use of editing ability with photoshop, due to lack of knowledge of it. I can improve this with practice and research. I also have to remember to use a tripod and to work in the studio ,if needed, to get the best results.

Portfolio documentary

Portfolio documentary

Documentary from RebeccaRichardson40

Documentary

Documentary

Definition

Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle events or environments both significant and relevant to history and historical events as well as everyday life.

The decisive moment is a concept made popular by the street photographer, photojournalist, and Magnum co-founder Henri Cartier-Bresson. The decisive moment refers to capturing an event that is ephemeral and spontaneous, where the image represents the essence of the event itself.







Henri Cartier Bresson 


French photographer whose humane, spontaneous photographs helped establish photojournalism as an art form. He was the first to use the term decisive moment. He often wrapped black tape around the camera's chrome body to make it less conspicuous.







All these pictures were taken using the decisive moment, the perfect moment to capture your desired image. 

Martain Parr

Martian Parr looks at aspects of modern life as well as documenting the social classes of England. The colours are bright which is unlike british weather. The people who's faces you see are usually blank and reserved.







All these photos show british culture in an exaggerated way.  The top image shows how much the British love football and how patriotic they are. The seagulls eating the left over chips perfectly some up the sea side on a sunny day. Wearing socks with sandals are a well known fashion faux pa which shows the british males attitude to fashion, by that they don't care.

Slinkachu

Slinkachu uses miniatures to create small scenes where ever he chooses instead of the conventional photography of catering a moment in action







The first makes a piece of chicken and few chips from KFC look like a KFC restaurant. The next has the yellow lines on the road look like a beach with the black part of the road as the sea. The bottom one is symbolic of the Donald Trump campaign crushing America.

Image bank







I hope to get images similar to the ones above capturing life.

(AO:1.  You must ensure that several of the visual ideas/inspirations within the image bank are pursued. )

Contact sheet(s)

Shoot 1

Best images

Requires improvement

Shoot 2

Best images

Requires improvement

Shoot 3

Best images

Requires improvement

Images that require improvement

Shoot 1

Both of these images are of my first step into the snow. I don't like them as I think they are not as interesting as I first through they would be when I took them as you can see any emotion from it.

Shoot 2

The frist image is to far away from the houses Christmas lights. As well as being to blurred. To prevent this from happening again I would use a tripod and also get closer to the houses.

The other image has a house with lights outside but I think the car outside is distracting from the lights. I also didn't move the camera enough to capture movement.

Shoot 3

These two images with the elf which are inspired by Slinkachu have the right idea but the lighting is wrong, the first especially as its too dark. The last is also wonky, this would of been prevented if I used a tripod and had better lighting.

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

My idea for documentary was to photography my Christmas holiday. I was inspired both Martin Parr and Slinkachu styles the most. My photos were a good first try but not my best work.

With reference to the Best selected images

Shoot 1 

This image of a bush in my garden is a good measure of how much it has snowed. It's darker then I want it to be so I will make it brighter using photoshop later.

The second image is also in my garden and of my fence. It represents the first time your about to go out and see how the snow changes the environment.

I like this next image of my neighbours fence as you can see greenery in the background which is odd for winter as most plants loses they leaves in the winter. I will use photoshop to make this image brighter to celebrate the plant thriving.

Shoot 2 

For this shoot I tried to capture the movement of the light which you can see in my choosen best images.

The frist image is of a house with Christmas lights although you wouldn't know this as the movement has made the light look like multiple lighting spikes. Out of all the shoots this is my favourite ,even thought its not the most Christmas inspired, image as its so different. I will make the image better yet by cropping it and changing the colour.

The second are Christmas lights on a metal fence. I moved the camera making it more interesting. I'll also make the image brighter and crop later using photoshop. 

The last of the same fence which I also moved just more then the over. It ended up making a backwards tick which looks fun.

Shoot 3

With this image of the Christmas tree I tried using movement again. I'm pleased with the result as the lights have made the a shape like a candy cane making it extra Christmasy. 

The next picture of the same Christmas tree looks like the trees is move at high speeds away. This shows how quickly Christmas is over and reminds you to enjoy it. This effect was also achieved moving the camera to capture the movement.

My last image is of a friends Christmas tree. All the decorations mean some thing to the family especially the mother who is trying to hold the family together as her children get older and want to leave the home. Both the parents and the children remember the happy times around the same plastic tree they have had for years. I always thought Christmas trees were odd and Im surprised they have lasted so long especially in a world where trends come and go in days. This photo reminds me someone who doesn't like Christmas why Christmas is so good for families.

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

My cannon camera was used to take all of these photos as well as a tripod for all but the elf and all of shoot two photos. I didn't use a tripod as I wanted to capture the movement this was also why I used a pretty low shutter speed of 1/4.

To improve my images I decided to use photoshop to make the image more vibrant to make the colour stand out. Some images were also cropped to emphasise the movement. How this was done is shown below in a sample image.





The screen shoots selected show how Photoshop was used to create a the final iamge.  To do use this, I used the cropping tool and then another tool to adjust the brightness and contrast using the  sliders to get the desired effect.






For this image I cropped the bottom out as the bottom left corner has a bit of my sofa in it.



In the screen shoot above I then used levels to make the background white but kept the shadow.

To make the image brighter I made the Hue low and the saturation of cyan high so you can see the detail of the tree.

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

My research of Martain Parr and Slinkachu was the most useful. I was inspired by Martian Parts subject matter and was going to use it by taking picture of my parents opening gifts on Christmas Day, but they didn't want to be in the photos. It also wouldn't be as good as children opening presents on Christmas Day as the present aspect of Christmas is more for Children. I then thought I could show either the religious side of Christmas but both my parents aren't the most religious. My final idea was to show the family side of Christmas or even what Christmas is like for those who don't like it ,like myself, but was stopped once again by my parents not wanting to be in the pictures and not wanting to ruin Christmas, so I went the more obvious way of showing the happy side of Christmas.

After seeing Slinkachu's work I divided to do something similar I was just unsure about how I could do something similar with a Christmas theme. When looking on social media later that day I saw that parents had bought elf toys and had put them around the house doing naughty things ,like making a mess and cleaning it up. I thorough this would be the perfect thing to use. I don't think that they turned out right as the lighting ruined it. My Slinkachu inspired work would of been better if done in the studio.

Henri Cartier Bresson's use of the decisive moment widened my view of documentary but his work itself didn't inspire me.

AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements. 

I don't think my images are not the strongest as they don't show any political views and I haven't linked them the best. Although I have documented my Christmas holiday. The images below are my best images after editing.