Reflection

Initially I thought that my concept may have been a little bit too cliché in its approach to waste however after considering the constraints of the project I now believe I have a really strong concept that I can go out and grasp with both hands and make some interesting images with. It took me about a week to realize that my work doesn’t have to be so out of this world that I don’t get it myself so I decided to take a step back and just focus on what I need exactly and I think that this will help me to create a strong set of images. Something that I realized may become a problem is the fact I am so fixated with cars so I aim to look at my images after I shoot and recap to make sure they are relevant to my concept not to my love of cars.

I set of by scouting some locations that I would possibly find tires around the Medway area and immediately found success in the small industrial estates doted around. These places ranged from tire fitting garages to vans advertising the need for tires, also random tires laying in areas of mess such as the road side gave me an idea as to how I could shoot some work. Although I don’t feel I have exhausted the whole area in my search so far I think I have a strong base on witch I can start to think about how I am going to shoot and things of that nature.

My early research has led me to some really interesting ideas about the rest of this project. It is strange for me to have so many artistic influences this early into a project but this can only be a good thing so I am going to continue looking into different types of research that will help me evolve my images. I feel that finally the artist I like have found me rather than me searching for images that stick out to me or ones that fit around my concept.

thoughts

The one thing that has kept coming up while I have been researching into how I can be clinical with my images is the technique of using lines throughout the set to frame the subject. After looking at various different photographers that use framing as a technique I found that I also like how a scientific approach to shooting could be used, similar to the Joel Sternfield, Thomas Struth and possibly most importantly the Bechers.

Even when I have been looking at portraits and fashion photography in my other assignments whenever an image that has strong use of line comes up it almost always gets my approval. Because of this I have decided to create a set of images that really take on this mode of photography. 

Edmunds Clark

After receiving a lengthy lecture from Edmund Clark I began to realize how documentary photography could be full of artistic choices that covertly tell the story to the viewer. What I found so great about Clarks work was the fact that It all seemed so spontaneous. The work didn’t seem staged or rehearsed in any way which I found refreshing as most work I look at seems as if it has had an age spent on it both post production and pre production. What I took from Edmund Clarks work was how simplistic the work is but I also appreciate how in depth Clarke was in his approach to getting access and finding locations to shoot at.

Seeing as my choice of location has been limited to only the Medway area I feel that I should take the same time and care to find the right shots for my set of images I need to produce. I think I need to find an image when I am just scouting around instead of making an image from something.

Edgar Martins

Edgar Martins has been one of my favorite photographers ever since I started this course and he has influenced me in a lot of ways I haven’t noticed until I have looked back at my work. His work has been a constant reference of mine in the background. Although I like a lot of different things when it comes to photography when I see a simple well-executed image that is uncluttered and evokes fond memories I find it to be almost perfect and most of Edgar Martins images tick all of these boxes.

All of the images appear to have emptiness to them and I think by having distance in the image the viewer has to scan across the image taking in what little detail there is in. The objects and textures that are in Edgar Martins images are always well proportioned and colour plays a big part in the images even though it is often limited to certain areas. The colours often seem to be too bright for the image and therefor they stand out and make a statement amongst the rest of the darkened images.

seminar task 2

The set of images from Daniel Riera (Vacation) 2012 for fantastic man are clear and have a strong sense of fashion when you look at them. the way in which the photographer has created the set really make it a stylised set of images, while there are many things that contribute to how the set gets this feeling across it is the poses of the models that really imposes the clothing. Bright bold and crisp colours are used throughout the set and there is a strong emphasis on line which creates a feeling of conformity. the photos carry a certain unprofessional angle to them and i think this adds to the overall style of the set. After looking at this set it was apparent that there was something that was not necessarily initially visible that was putting a slant on the images and on closer inspection it became clear that the models posses where offsetting something within the images creating a slight juxtaposition. As the set itself focuses mainly on the garments worn by the models and the location that they are in the fact the model fits in in a genuinely realistic way creates a slightly uncomfortable feeling as these poses wouldn't usually be related to this genre of photography. A false , artificial facial expression is used in most of the images and this indirectly creates slightly uncomfortable sense of happiness and the clothes worn by the model also try to make the viewer relate these clothes to health and happiness and the models appear to be all of this and more. "Moreover, the traditional distinction between realism and idealism is passed over in the gestures and postures of fashion photography, as it represents neither the real world nor an aesthetic ideal" i feel this quote makes a lot of sense and relates to what this set represents as the set shows what a vacation should be like, wearing your best clothes in a nice sunny environment with a large smile on your face.

Compare this to the set Cruise by Andreas Larsson 2012 where there is a altogether different approach to fashion photography it is clear that although many things within a set can be different but the gestures and poses adopted by the models can create a very particular set of associated emotions. As the sets both carry a holiday theme it makes the differentiation between the two sets not as clear but the way in which the photographer uses the models gestures makes the set carry and altogether different emotional attachment. in this set the models look into a mirror while creating a pose that almost seems like they envision them selves to be in the perfect scenario while wearing these clothes. So these poses almost take the models out of the actual image and put them into a unknown ideal. The fact that the set is in black and white takes away something from the image but we can almost make an assumption about what colour they clothes actually are. the gestures give an impression that the models feel empowered by the clothes they are wearing which is similar to the Vacation set however it appears that by looking into the mirror the models are reassuring themselves that they still look happy and healthy and i feel that this relates to the quote used earlier as the photographer is trying to create a sense of realism and by using appropriate posses it becomes less about environment and more about emotion and association as we can all relate to looking in the mirror for our own approval.

To conclude i would say that the two sets carry very different but at the same time similar techniques and ways of showing fashion but by using a particular gesture and posse the sets have an enforced overall meaning that people can relate to.

seminar task

Dorothea Lange's photograph White Angel Breadline, San Francisco 1933 shows a group of monotone  men huddled together confined by a small fence that is being used as to lean on. The subjects all seem to be one in the same but somehow different, however there is slight deviation in the dead centre of the image and this is the man that is facing the complete other direction in relation to the other men in the image. The man has a rather tatty hat on unlike the others in the image but he almost seems to blend in with them. The fact that he is engulfed by the other men really does enforce the fact that he is being categorised in this image as he appears to be the odd one out amongst the other men. His gesture also lends itself to categorising the man further as he seems as if he is gazing out and wanting freedom from the inside of this social circle. 

"After the second world war, a number of photographers rediscovered the traditional (or improvised ) studio as a site for taking photos, in order to rid the urban figures and social types of their everyday surroundings and to give them a stage on which to present themselves as individuals." Ebner Florain (2008) Urban characters, imaginary cities, in the street and studio: An urban history of photography, Eskildsen,  Ute ed, London Tate. this quote makes it even harder to refuse the fact that this image uses techniques that make man seem as if he is somehow out of his depth and therefor a inadequate man, compare this to the image Central Park 1982 by Tod papageorge and the difference is immediately visible. In this image the man is quite literally stripped of his clothing which therefore takes away his social identity and gives the viewer a more in-depth look at his as an individual. The fact that the mans business type bag is propping his feet up while he lays in the grass is the only thing that points to him being anything other than a naked man with no identity in a park really makes the quote ring true as this is a post WWII image that takes away most things associated with the street as such.

Initially i had lots of ideas for my waste project but all of them seemed quite literal and after speaking to my lecturers i found that i could make my waste project have a broader outline to it. after brain storming and looking at the waste projects from past years i saw that the usual ideas of waste were not going to be as hard hitting as some of the things i had seen. as the project has to be based in the medway area it was important for me to keep things accessible so i didn’t run into any problems getting to places or not staying in the required area.

my first initial concept was to try and photograph the unwanted tires and the byproduct of the (skid marks on the road) and i had thought about starting to shoot things for this concept quite quickly but i had a meeting with my group and we discussed our ideas and the group came up with a great idea about modifying my concept so now my concept is now the life of tires. i thought that this idea was really good as i could incorporate waste into every aspect of the tires life while keeping it in the medway area.

I intend to photograph tires at every stage of their lifecycle and link every picture to how they are wasted. firstly in a tired shop, then on a car, the on the road , then however i find one abandoned. i don’t want to fill the frame with the subject in this assignment and i think that this will help to convey the feeling of waste well.