BRIEF:
In this project I will be exploring different branches of the word 'FORCE'. The brainstorm below shows clearly the different aspects of what could be involved in my project. I will be focusing on the 'man vs nature' side of 'FORCE', and the forceful effect nature and man can have on each other. I will be using the internet, photography books and hopefully an exhibition to research different artists related with this project.
BRAINSTORM:
CHRISSIE MCDONNALD: OVERGROWN
Chrissie Mcdonnald is a London based photographer, these are some pictures from her project 'Overgrown'.
These pictures show similar or the same thing, nature making its way through man made things. Its the endless war of man vs nature, represented by the artist placing plants in strange places they clearly do not belong.
INITIAL RESPONSE: NATURE.
FAVORITE 3:
TOGETHER NATURE MAN
I picked these three shots out of the above, because they all seem like they are not 'belonging' where they are in the picture growing out of or around in weird places. Each picture shows a different angle on the man vs nature 'situation'. The first, shows man and nature working together almost as it explains in the caption; the second shows nature thriving inspite of man; the last one shows man restraining nature.This is a little bit like the work of Chrissie McDonnald's 'Overgrown' soot, as researched previously.
SECOND RESPONSE:
FAVORITE FOUR:
I took my favorite four out of this shoot. It was difficult to find man vs nature i found in a forrest, because it was mostly just nature but i managed to find some. The first was a stuffed toy i found that had been put into a tree trunk. I took this picture thinking it represented the theme well because the toy looks like nature really has taken its tole on it. I was originally using my Ipod, and the camera is not very good so i had to change the contrast of the photo to see the animal more, using photoshop. The second picture along was a worn away sign saying 'junction path'. It is a man made sign for guidance in the forrest, I liked this picture because it is only just standing up and you can barely read it with the colour washed away, surrounded by nature. The picture of the house, I think, also fits the man vs nature theme well. It is a man made house, still looking quite fresh although it is being covered in leaves. In the reflection of the right window you can see more leaves, i think this adds the feeling of completely being surrounded in nature even if it hasnt a direct effect. The last picture is more sinister, it is of three very old grave stones, covered by leaves. I kept the colour in the leaves around but took it out of the grave stones, and some leaves around to make it looks more 'washed out' like there is not much left after nature has had its way with them.
APPLIED FORCES: FIRST SHOOT
In this first shoot i tried out some simple crunching, ripping, stacking ect. on some different materials. I found that using tinfoil worked best in photographs as the tinfoil, although reflective, gave distorted reflections just of light and the contrast of light and dark colours worked well in the photo's. In my next shoot i would like to experiment with the force of water and possibly wind.
APPLYING FORCES: DIRECTLY TO PHOTOGRAPHS.
For this, I took a physical photograph of myself. I sewed into the background of the photograph with thread, overlapping on the same color to make darker and lighter areas. I changed colors every now and then for the background, to make the black and white picture colorful. I sewed into one eye, but leaving the other to show what it was before. I also finished of by sewing into my lips and outlining them, to make them stand out.
For my second picture, I took a photo and burnt it in different areas. I then changed colour settings and contrasts on my camera to get different effects on retaking the picture.
This is the photo with normal settings.
THE USE OF WATER: ARTISTS
I am interested in using water as a part of my future shoots as it is the combination of a direct force possibly due to the pressure in water, it is nature, oceans and rain, and I can involve a person which is what I wanted. I researched photographers using water as the force in their photographs.
MARK MAWSON:
Mark Mawson is a photographer who specialists in shooting life, people and underwater. I am focusing on the pictures by him using water, and a girl in water because I am planning on experimenting with both of these. Some photo's of his show paint, or something colorful, being dropped into water. I have already experimented with this, but I think I would like to revisit it with brighter colors and a darker background for a better effect. I have not yet visited underwater photography with people, but as I do no own an underwater camera I think I will have whoever I am photographing in the water and I will take pictures from outside. I hope this will give the distorted effect I hope for, possibly using a longer exposure to give a more 'wavey' effect. There are some examples of the two types of Marks work below.
These photo's are similar to ones I have taken myself in my 'movement' project, they also relate to this project of force because things move due to 'force'.
This image is probably what I was going for when I started the overlapping 'movement' project. Now in force I have a chance to revisit some of these ideas and try again to improve on what I have done and develop it.
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These are my photographs. The top one is similar in colour to the artists, but the bottom one has the good black background. If i experiment again with this I will make sure that I have no shine, or water droplets showing on the glass in the pictures, and that my background is all one colour.
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This is a new type of water photography that I have not tried. I will be looking at it in my next weekend hopefully.
CORRIE WHITE:
Corrie White was born in the Netherlands, she now lives in London, Ontario in Canada. Corrie white specialises in 'water drop photography'- a macro art form where you can mould figures out of liquids. This is alot like Mark Mawson, but as well as the mixes of colour in her photography she has pictures that normally cannot be seen by the naked eye. This is by using a very high shutter speed, to capture what we cannot normally see. Some examples of her work are below.
I find this artists work incredible, I think many people have done water drop photography before but corrie does it in a new way. The pictures are vibrant and full of colour, shapes and ideas.
BILL VIOLA:
Bill Viola is a contemporary video artist. He is considered a leading figure in the generation of artists whose artistic expression depends upon electronic, sound, and image technology in New Media. He was born on the 25th of January, 1951 in the USA. Bill viola did a piece called 'Five angels for the millennium' in 2001. Each photo represents a different angel of something.
Departing angel Birth angel Creation angel Desending angel Fire angel
BRIEF: EXPANDING MY PROJECT.
I have decided to progress and continue with the project 'Applied force' by taking the water path. First I am planning on taking pictures of someone from outside a swimming pool, and/or a bath and leaving the exposure on for long to get a 'wavey' effect on the picture. I will not being going in water yet with the camera as I have not gotten a waterproof case yet. I will also print out a picture and leave it in water over the weekend, and see the effects on that.
ALBAN GROSDIDIER: DROWNING
This are artist did a project called 'drowning'. This linked to my project of 'Applied Force' as I have chosen the water path. I experimented with some similar concepts below.
This is my favourite picture from my first shoot with water. the eye makeup is gold, and the lips re red which akes them stand out. The colours in the picture are dull and sort of muddy, and my model is a pale colour. This gives a hint of an eary look to it, looking like she could be dead but with still hints of fading life (the lips, the bubbles of breath'.)
NEXT DEVELOPMENT:
Next, I have printed some of these pictures from the bath out on regular paper. Each picture, i put in trays of water, and took pictures of the effect. Some of the pictures the ink moved and changed colour and you can see this transformation in the photographs. To some of the trays, I tried adding petals to it and took photos of that.
I adjusted the contrast of my favourite one
I adjusted the levels and curves of this picture on photoshop.
NEXT DEVELOPMENT:
Next I took an idea from putting the pictures in the water with flowers to tried and do something similar, by putting my model in the bath with flowers. I liked the ghostly look from the previous bath photos and tried to focus on this by making the water similar colours and changing the lighting.
I took one of the photos and changed the contrast and brightness, then adjusted the levels and the saturation.
I merged the two photos on photoshop, to have more petals and hair showing in the picture.
I eddited this photo on photoshop, shown below, to make it look more ghostly and dark.
I put some of my photos together and mounted them on thin card. I used the four photos that most resemble the 'ghostly', 'dead' look. This is my interim piece.
INTERIM PIECE:
I am planning to develop my project in the style of hana al-sayed. Her photos come out with a smokey look to them. although I do not know how she got this effect I have done a similar picture using paints to make the water more opeque. Next, I will try and add milk to the water to make it more opaque and put them in black and white to see the effect. hopefully I will get something similar. Some examples of this artist are below.
Another way I have thought of to get this effect of steam in my photographs is to actually make a room, or the shower steamy and take photographs. One way I can do this is to make my shower really hot and make steem. Another is hopefully, to use a wall steamer to steam a room and create the look of steam again in my photos.
ALBERTO SEVESO.
I would like to do something in this style, i will play around with photoshop, and also projection. I would layer my new images with the bath with my older paint images in my 'movement' tab. I will put the image from bath, or steam on a screen, then project my old pictures from movement onto it and take pictures. I will also so the same on photoshop with layering and changing the opacity.
davis Ayer
Davis Ayer is a Photographer from California. He has a lot of originality and a tendency to personalise each of his shots. He has a different approach to each photograph, sometimes he does double exposures, gives his photos a vintage style, other times he uses long exposures with varying hte frames or light painting. His photographs have lots of movement and a bit of blurring. I love these because they are taking exactly what i was looking for, projecting elegance.
These are the first try at projecting the movement photo's onto my subjects face and body. I found that it worked better with a plain shirt, but could be even better with a white, or lighter one to see the projection clearer. The colours came out quite well on her face.
I took some of these pictures and cropped them. I felt they didn't need editing other than cropping so I have left them.
ALEXIA SHEILA.
This artist relates to what I am doing, as the next thing I wanted to do was do a milk bath shoot. This links in the paint from my movement project and what I have already done so I will try and create something inspired by this artist. This artist makes the pictures look like the model in the photo is in a comic book, by outlining her features. This look creates a surreal feel to the image, which I really like.
The first thing I have done with developing my project, is doing the milk in the bath for the smokey/steamy effect idea. I took these in my bathroom by adding one bottle of milk to the bath. I found that when I added anymore milk to the bath I could not see Tamsin's face underwater so I kept it to only half a bottle. I like these pictures because when put in black and white they resemble the misty pictures by the artist hana al-sayed, which was what my aim was.