Picturing the what now?

Picturing the body has been a very intriguing and challenging module, I have seen a variety of different styles of photography. Some have inspired me and some have changed the way I now view the body.

I think the human body opens a world of possibilites when it comes to photographing it. I have really enjoyed photographing the body and learning different ways to present them. Just because we are photographing the body it doesnt mean that it cant be creative. When I mentioned to my friends that I was doing the picturing the body module, many of them were very put off by photographing themselves or the body. I have to say that I did share this view at the start of the module, I was slightly anxious about having to photograph myself naked or my subject but looking back across the projects. I think that ive learnt a lot from each photographic set that I have produced.

So lets begin with a quick (as jonathan would say).. whistle stop tour of each task.

“Photographing A Stranger”

– This task for me was properly the most challenging but as I said before rewarding of the lost. All of the tasks brought their own different challenges, successes and failures. Photographing someone I feel can be a very personal activity as you are taking an image of how the world/and I myself see them. We all have very different perspectives on how we see ourselves which I find fasnicating, Maybe Im reading too much into it but this what I felt during this process.

It took me very outside my comfort zone as I am very used to photographing people I know. Put me in a room with my family and I’ll happily snap away like Mr David Bailey but photographing someone Ive never met, makes me probably just as uncomfortable as the subject.

What have I most taken away from this task :

– Probably how much more confident I feel now, I feel I’d be able to do this again with more practice I think I could be quite confident in taking more photographs on the street even!.

“Experimenting with light.”

Now this task, I had previous experience in as I used to dabble in photography at a-level. This is where I picked up most of the foundation of photography from. Working in groups, Myself, Helen and Jenny booked out lights and a light meter… and a camera.

We began at first playing around with the exposure and the shutter speed. It took a bit of getting used to as I think its safe to say we were all out of practice. With a bit of help from jonathan we began experimenting with our photographs.

What have I most taken away from this task:

– Having a Good old classic photographic skill re-visted and a fresh outlook on lighting :).

“Nude and Naked”

As werid as its going to sound but I really enjoyed engaging with this task. It was very outside my comfort zone and I took a lot from it. I photographed myself naked and my friend of mine. Although technically I did not photograph him completely naked as I felt it wasnt needed, from looking at the shots I took already I was happy enough for the pants to stay well and truly on.! I guess if im honest majority of it was down to the creative decision, I wanted to prove and insight anyone viewing my work that “picturing the body” wasnt all about getting people’s bums and boobs.The body can be an incredible tool for photographing whether its presented in close ups or angled. I dont judge or slate anyone who has done this, I have seen some fasnicated work from my fellow picboders! and photographers that we have been introduced to on this module. I just didnt feel for my ideas and final aretefact that it,  was needed :).

Photographing myself was interesting for me, I had never exactly stripped down and snapped away before. However it really helped inspire me for the texture project and to draw out factors ive learnt about my photographic skills which has helped me grow and develop.

 “The Clothed Body”

Now for this task… all we had is  a subject and a white t-shirt. Bet your thinking thats probably all you normally have when photographing someone. However this time the t-shirt was to be used for our addvantage and to be used as a prop you may say. I found it difficult at first as I was lacking inspiration to what could be done with this tshirt… sounds silly doesnt it? but I wanted to focus on texture, tone, what the white tshirt did to the subject if anything.

From looking at my other picboders work, We have all,  developed different styles within in our work. Some of used shirt shirts some have used polo shirts, it creates a nice variety to view.

What I most taken from this task:

– That you can be creative with whatever you have. An image speaks a thousand words.

Okay so I think I wrapped this up, I hope from reading this, (I apoglise its so long, but I wanted to break the module down it to the parts that I most learnt from and to have a piece of evidence to refer back too, next time I dabble in photography.

I thank Jonathan Worth and Matt Johnson and all those picboders out there ;)! Hope you’ve learnt as much as I have if not more on this journey with PICBOD.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gottacaptureitall/ – My Flickr Account.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/picbod_tasks/ – PICBOD Flickr Account.

http://www.picbod.covmedia.co.uk/ – PICBOD Website

Scrapbook  and Final Book!

Photographing A Stranger

For this photographing a stranger task, I decided to use  “A friend of a friend”. Many would argue that approaching this task in such a way is in fact easier then if you were to approach a stranger on the street and ask to take their photograph. Granted that would be a lot more difficult but that doesnt mean that photographing a friend of a friend was any less awarkward for me..

I knew my subject through friends and had spoke to a little, but its completely different photographing someone your close with a close friend or family member, then photographing someone you’ve met twice and have very little in common with.

However this task really made me think about my subject and how to frame the image to achieve what I wanted to get. I guess I didnt really plan the shoot before hand, I mean I knew roughly what photographs I wanted but I hadnt set up any postions or fixed environments. My reasoning for doing this was because I wanted to make the subject feel as comfortable as possible, it can very offputting having a camera snapping in your face following your every move. In doing this I decided to let her get on with what she would normally be doing and I would photograph her. Similiar to photographing for “being inside the tribe” task, I felt I could relate to what I had learnt during that task with this shoot also.

I tried to almost go “unnoticed” and to try and achieve naturalistic photographs. Im happy with the set of photos from this shoot. I feel that this set would be more of an experimental set and something that I have learnt a great deal from which will enhance my skills as a photographer. Although there are only a few final images that I would print and exhbition.

Overall what I have taken from engaging with this task, is how important people skills are. If you can develop people skills, simple ones such as being easy to talk to, feeling confident around new people it can have such an effect on the process. Making your subject feel comfortable and at ease with you can be the most challenging (if they are not used to having their photograph taken) and most rewarding thing about being a photographer. You need them more then they need you.

 

Photographing Sam – “The clothed body”

For this task, We had a subject and white t-shirt. This was an interesting task I felt quite excited by it at first because it took away everything and gave us bare minimals to work with. It helped to focus and frame the photograph, to set the photograph up.

Although we were stripped to bare minimals, this did make it challenging too. I often felt when I was taking the photographs what what my aim, my purpose, what did I hope to achieve from these set of photographs. However although it is a good thing to think about these things and to structure the shot up, sometimes it is also good to just experiment and to use what you have. In this example a subject and a white t-shirt and see how the tshirt changes the subjects portrayal.

To begin with,  I wanted my subject to try and act normal and to go about his day. This was easier said then done as people have a tendency to act differently when a camera is shoved in their face. So having a camera on him did make him react differently.  Experiencing this is something, I have picked up on throughout this task and this module. I need to work on being more naturalistic in taking photographs. I am very eager and quick to set an shot up to get what I want instead of letting the situation fold out and the subject become comfortable. Taking part in this task has shown me that I need to work on this issue, I think that I need to be more patient when working with my subjects and letting the camera do the work.

These contact sheets show all the photographs I took of this task.

Sam’s Contact sheet – PICBOD

Contact Sheets – SAM picbod

Im still not 100% as to what I wanted to achieve by producing this set of photographs. I particular like the images where my subject is showing with the tshirt. As the shirt is white it obviously goes see-through which I thought would make a good texture.  I really like the effect the water had on the tshirt because it gave a rippled effect on the shirt which was interesting to look at.

 

Experimenting with Light “Task 2”

Light contact sheets

Week Two saw us experimenting with using a light meter and lights. We experimenting with using the camera and the lights to get the right exposure.

This first one, we experimented with slowing the shutter speed and we experimented with exposure.

Looking at the contact sheets, I think that the experiment was successful. It was good practice to use the light meter and the lights. Also it was good to use different lighting in the shot. As lighting is very important and I think ive learnt more into the inside of how lighting can really benefit the effect a photograph can have.

 

Ideas …

Drawing to the end of the Picturing the body module, led me to start thinking about drawing together all the photographs I have taken so far and trying to produce a link and final product.

One of my main challenges for me as a photography is that I have only photographed people that I know and is personally close to.  Much of my work features my family members and close friends that were comfortably enough with being photographed. Therefore my lastest work features my sisters and mother in the frame specfiicly. This led me to look into how skin develops and changes over time. I am very interested and fasincated by the body especially the skin and how it can show many emotions/memories that we cant see without a story.

Everybody has a story to tell and I believe that you can develop this from focusing on people’s skin. I have taken some photographs already, but I dont believe they had any structured theme, therefore I want to focus now more on the face. I am using my mum and my sister as its old vs new and I think I can produce an interesting collection of photographs. Whether it will be orignal is my next concern.

I am to hopefully begin my experiment into using 35mm film. I have not done much since alevel photography. I am feeling quite anxious but excited to experiment. I am hoping to make a few prints in the darkroom also once the film is developed.

(To be continued)

First Batch…

During the Picbod module, we were introduced to and shown a lot of different photographers works. From the 3hour portraits from Gary Schneider to the Intimacy of relationships from Ross Rawlings. And not forgettng Prison Photography with Pete Brook and Jason Tilley’s amazing story of long lost negatives from India.

Looking into Gary Schneider’s work in a little more depth, Here are some of his work that I was most inspired by. All of his work is really good but these images are what began my creative journey.

From seeing Gary’s work, I had a little experiment myself and achieved some very odd results.

After seeing Gary’s work, I thought it would be fun to scan my face!.. Although this is slight different style to his work, as he uses a medium format camera and exposures take up to 3 hours. But I like the effect of disformation that reminds me of Gary Schneider’s work.From this I hope to do more work in the future with possibly using glass/window frames to experiment with using materials to create this effect.

All have brought very different styles of photography to the table, however I have really enjoyed seeing such a variety of styles. It really opened my eyes to what can be done with photography. Ive always had an interest in photography so seeing these styles from all these photographers in depth helped to open my eyes.

My first set of photographs started off looking into skin. I wanted to focus on texture within the skin and possibly how skin changes through situations. Etc How it changes and develops with age and working conditions. Hard working hands = Hard skin and I believe you can tell a lot about someone from their skin.

PICBOD CONTACT SHEET 1

Looking at this contact sheet, theres a variety of different photographs. I have picked out the best ones I think work best for the texture theme I am trying to portray through the set.

I think the idea of texture is definetly something that can be explored. I did a set in colour and a set in black and white.

So looking at these set of images, I really like the close up angles. They are not what you would expect when thinking of the body. Although they may look like simple “pictures of the body”, I think that they show that the body is such an interesting tool that we have at our disposal. It proves that you really cant photograph anything and be creative with what you have.

These next few photographs, were taken from the “nude and naked” task.I decided I didnt want to take photographers of myself or my subject fully stark naked as I didnt feel comfortable enough taking them or having them taken. So I got creative. I used what I had props wise and in my mind to create a set of images that possibly teases the mind without giving the whole image away.

 

Inspired by Ross Rawlings.

Being on this open access “picturing the body” course never fails to inspire, shock and challenge myself. Seeing Ross Rawlings work was no exception.

Listerning to Ross talk in our lecture and seeing his work was inspiring because of his style of photography. He photographed his partners at each time of  a relationship and captures the intimacy of that time. He documents his life and the life they share using photography.

http://vimeo.com/37326960 This video, features Ross Rawlings talking about his work.

More photos found on his website : http://www.rossrawlings.co.uk/

I have yet to take Ross’s Intimacy style of photographing into my own work. However during a few of the tasks, I have photographed my friend sam on several occasions and although it isnt on the same level as photographing a relationship, It still has been on a much more personal level then I am used to.

These are a few photographs I took using myself as the subject. Im not gonna lie I did feel very self conscious taking photos of myself in such a vunerable state. Although its natural and theres nothing to be embarrssed about, the human body is an amazing thing. I did feel very exposed thats why I wanted to use props to hide the body parts and not have them fully on show, as I dont think you always need to be stark naked to make a creative photograph.

Looking back over both my work and Ross’s, They both share a level of vunerablity that comes with showing the body naked. Whats different between my photos and ross’s are that his style is to show more of the relationship and the connection he has when in that relationship and not just the special moments but the everyday moments.

 

Prison Photography

Listering to Peter Brook talk about his work, gives a very good insight into his passion of prison photography. He mentions Robert Gumpert’s work so I began there :.

American photographer Robert Gumpert has been documenting the criminal justice system in San Francisco since 1994.

Robert Gumpert always uses Audio to go with the images, he is very passionate with this idea as photography is all about storytelling and having audio helps to build the story.

Some quotes I have taken out from Peter’s talk.

http://vimeo.com/36534353

“My first line of my bio is.. I am not a photographer”

“His work is images and audio.. non interrupted” – (Robert Gumpert)

“Its the first chance they get to re-represent”

“We in social media can chose how to represent ourselves, we all do it. We can choose how we want to be seen. Whereas the prisoners dont have that oppurtunity.”

“This lady is making a performance because she knows her family are only gonna have one oppurtunity to have a portrait, and instead of putting any worry or stress on her family members she smiles, even though shes properly miserable”

” Photographs dont deal with facts like words do, and words dont deal with emotion as photographs do” – Robert Gumpert.

 http://www.elitismstyle.com/blogazine/robert-gumpert-a-story-teller.html

I have been really inspired by hearing about this project Prison Photography, When I first was introduced If im honest I did just think it was as it sounds : Photography in a prison. Dont get me wrong that is exactly what it is but it is so much more. It tells a story of representation, these photographs are the only thing some of the prisoners have of themselves since been booked into the prison. They are a gift to family members, loved ones and a simple yet very effective way of letting inmates represent themselves.

The poloraid pictures which started peter’s interest, were found couple years a go and basically use a vibrant background to be used as a backdrop for the photo.

I just think this whole project is so interesting that it makes me want to engage more into it, and just listerning to peter talk about how far the project has come and you learn that its not just simply a photo for them its so much more for them.

 

Week 1 – Preparation Reading

I decided to focus on Sally Mann for this preparation task, After seeing her work previously I chose to study and look more in depth into her work.

Here are my first initial notes from looking at her book : Immedidate Family.

– Children are being used as the main subject, adds to the effect the photos are trying to have. Using children often represents vunerablity and innonence.

– Some photographs have a caption, others dont. Some of these captions I feel are needed: for example this photograph

Is captioned with “Candy Cigarette”, You wouldnt know it wasnt real if the caption didnt explain it.

– How children were reflected in those days. 1989 – to today Children putting on makeup/dressing up (young mothers).

I love these photographs, they are my favourite ones out of the collection. I think they are just brillant. She captures children simply being children.

– The photographers show that time hasnt changed the influence society is haing on childrens behaviour. We can relate to these photographs in comparsion to the world we live in now. They give us a insight into how they live and the different way of life.

I like the style of Sally Mann, She spent mauturity of her life photgraphing her family and people around her. The approach she has to her work can come across quite un-nerving at times, The way she photographs her children is obviously very personally to her and this is shown throughout her work. Its hard to explain it in words, the way many of the children are nude represents how much freedom and they way of life very in a nut shell. They are often photographed nude which to me seems slightly odd as the viewer but gives us an extremely big insight in to their lives.

I like her style and I am going to try and incorporate that into my work of picturing the body. Hopefully experimenting with this personal engagment with the subjects.

 

Being on the “Inside” Goldin Style

For this week’s task, We were asked to photograph someone close to us using Nan Goldin’s style of being on the inside.

Image by Nan Goldin

As You can probably tell, Her work can be perserved as having quite an extreme effect. For example this photograph shows a woman who, in my opinion, my  inital reaction is that she has been beaten up. Seeing this photograph is quite vunerable and personal. Goldin’s style is of a much more “being inside instead of on the outside”. Most photographers capture what they see yet Goldin uses her oppurtunity of being in the inside and appiles this to her work.

Looking into Nan Goldin’s work has made me challenge myself more as a photographer, and for this task in particular I have learnt a lot from taken part. Looking at the photographs I have taken for this task , I dont feel it have the same effect as Goldins but with practice I hope to practice it.

Here are some of the best photographs I have picked.

 

On reflection, looking at these photographers. I think it shows how young teenagers live in today’s world. I decided to use my sisters they are both twins (hopefully that comes across) as I am very close to them and live with them. Therefore I could document the life of a young person.  I tried to show emotion through the close up angle of my photographs.

From studying Goldin’s approach to her photography, It has made me question and challenge myself as a photographer. I would like to focus more on people photography, I think it would help me to develop more confidence which will come across in my photographs.

 More photographs can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/gottacaptureitall

Contact sheet – view from the inside

Here are the rest of the photographs I took, I used my family life as my view for being on the inside. Then I used my sisters to show there lives in today’s world. I think ive taken a lot from this task and photographing in “Goldin’s” style has definetly inspired me and challenged me to photograph more from the inside.

Being a photographer is all about going unnoticed, sometimes you need to blend in. Become part of the furniture. This is something I have struggled with as I believe it is a skill that not everyone possesses and to be a good photographer you need to have this skill more then anything. From this set of photographs I have learnt a lot from doing this task.

– I have learnt that I should experiment with photographing in Goldin’s style more often, I am going to work on this and develop the skill further into work.

–  Ive learnt that you can get some very interesting photographs from photographing the subjects from a more personal angle. Its okay to photograph the ones close to you just like Sally Mann has done with her work. I think its important to photograph the people around you and the people close to you. Thats what makes for an interesting photograph.