A few more images from the Francesca Marotta show.

LFW has kicked off so here are a few pictures that I took at Goldsmiths Hall, St Paul's at the Francesca Marotta show today.

In this final shoot I decided to go out with the young man one more time to see if there way any way of me being let in at all. I don’t think this shoot is as successful as the previous as its very similar to the ones at the start. I haven’t seen a different side to the by like I was able to in the previous shoot. Although I don’t think the images are awful as they remind me of a much more commercial shoot which you would see in a magazine or on a website, maybe advertising his coat or his hat.

I didn’t want to just disregard these images so I took the opportunity to display some digital image editing which I have displayed across the page.

I decided to look at these images as commercial images rather than images that I had done for myself. Therefore I would need to retouch the images otherwise they wouldn’t look brilliant if they were being used commercially. By having past experience working in a fashion photography studio and currently interning at Lumiere London doing the same thing, I decided that it was very important for the images to look clean, especially the model. So I simply masked and blurred the face and body to soften they erased sections that needed to be much sharper. I also darkened the clouds to make the sky a little moodier to match the mood of the young man. 

When I looked back over all the images I have taken throughout the project I realised that they were all along the same lines, in the way that they were all very similar and didn’t really give much of a full scale portrait of this young man, Sam. I wanted to show that there were different sides to his emotions like there are within us all so I decided to go about this shoot in a different way.

I decided to shoot at night and not use a flash but depend on the streetlights for what I would see and record. By being able to capture the defined features of his face by having very particular lighting it felt as if the lights were only showing me what they wanted me to see. As if there was no way of me being able to see him completely or try to discover every aspect of his personality or character because I simply couldn’t read him properly. Although, this only intrigued me more because it made me think about things like, ‘would I ever know this person completely?’ and ‘would he ever let me in completely or would I just be constantly trying effortlessly to understand him?’

When I look at these images I feel as if, even after recording him for weeks, this is never going to be enough to understand this person and the transitions in his life that he has previously been through and the ones he is currently ongoing. I feel as if the dark shadows surrounding these images will just always be there and not just with this one person but with all of us. I don’t believe that any of us will truly ever let someone in completely. There will always be things that are left untouched, maybe even hidden, for the rest of our lives. As if we are the red light trying to surround this person but it’s just not good enough.

I also converted the original images to black and white as I thought they were a little bit clearer but I’m not sure whether the red in the images really bothers me as these images are not about the colour but the amount of light that is illuminating the figure. 

This is my favourite image from the set because unlike the other images, Sam is not smiling or relaxed. He actually seems tense for the first time in the set and probably the first time in all the images I have produced since working with him. This one image alone put up against any of the others gives you a straight look into another side of his personality which is something I don't feel I had managed yet. This is his reality. What I have been trying to capture for quite some time now.

Don't Tread On Me - Ben Rayner

I came across Ben Rayner a few years ago when I was doing my A level in photography and I still think he is a fabulous photographer. This series 'Don't Tread On Me' is one of my favourite series' and I feel as if it connects with the kind of images that I'm trying to create. 

Over all the times I've done a study on Rayner's work I've become very fond of the characters he chooses to shoot. In this set of photographs I feel as if it's more photojournalism as there is almost a story that's being told throughout the set of images. He not only shoots the people but almost sets the scene by capturing the surroundings and clothing which helps to paint the scene. His ability to capture the emotion and moment of every image really makes you feel as if you were at the scene and lived it yourself which is such a special talent that involves a lot of patience and making sure you're in the right place at the right time. 

Here are a few images that I selected from the images I took before Sam and his friends went to 'Vegas', a grotty place in Greater Manchester that they nickname Vegas due to the all round tackiness.

I noticed how Sam seemed to loosen up a lot throughout the couple of hours as the alcohol flowed which was only to be expected but this made it much easier to photograph him as he accepted the camera, being much more relaxed. Or rather, he paid more attention to the fact that his photograph was being taken. Towards the end of the session he would look at the camera whenever he felt it pointing at him as if he liked the attention he was getting. This obviously could be related to the fact that he had drank a lot and was becoming much more comfortable around me and in front of the camera as we have spent a lot of time playing around with this activity now. 

From the point of view of someone who doesn't know Sam, here you would a twenty year old man, who happens to look a little younger, galavanting with his friends before a night out. Although I feel like even just in the few photographs that I selected to include here you get a range of emotions which give you a slight insight into the mind of this young man and the kind of person that he is. 

Notes.

I decided to join my model again during another occasion where I would be able to capture him in a relaxed and comfortable environment. So I caught up with him a couple of hours before he hit the town with his friends. I thought it would be interesting to record what he gets up to when he's with other people, not just on his own, to see whether or not this would alter his mood or emotions. I want to get to know the personality of my model Sam more by seeing different sides of his personality where there's not only just himself and the photographer in a comfortable environment but where there are other people that he is relaxed around as well to see how this effects the changes in his moods and emotions. 

Teenage Angst - Danny Cohen

When I first started this project I remember one of my tutors saying that what I was doing reminded them of teenage angst. McGinley's version of teenage angst which is taking over the USA is much more my cup of tea but when I found this version I couldn't help but find it quite pleasing to the eye. There is something quite amusing about these images as they are almost making fun of typical teenage angst. These portraits are obviously posed which I've been trying to avoid in my own work due to the kind of artists and photographers that I've been looking at, but from looking at this photographer, Danny Cohen, for the second time it has made me more eager to do a couple of different kinds of portraits, a little more like these but without the quirkiness.

Four Lovers - Danny Cohen

I really like this series of images by photographer Danny Cohen, I'd never come across him before and his website doesn't give much about him or his work away. There is something about this set of images that helps you connect with the people in the images. I'm not one hundred percent as to what this set of images means but what I do know is that there is a longing emotion in all four faces which is where the name 'Four lovers' could relate. From a technical point of view I think the images are just pleasant to look at: framed beautifully with lovely flashes of colour in the background from the city lights. 

From looking at these images and this artist I'fe realised that I need this kind of powerful yet muted emotion in my own images.  

I came across this guy when I was just mooching around the web and I really liked the way he spoke about his portraits. 

'Growing Up

Capturing the expression and emotions of a person allows David to create a lasting memory. No one single frame will capture our span of emotions and expressions.

David takes pictures while you talk and have fun, making use of natural surroundings.The results are usually revealing, evocative and memorable. Showing the persons expressions and thoughts at that time in their life. For a young child it creates a "whole" portrait that will remain relevant and insightful as they grow and mature.'

I know this is probably obvious to a photographer, but I think it's nice to see it written down and it made me think that this is exactly what I want to create within my portraits. Of course as David Morton is a portrait photographer who you can book for weddings and such he only needs to work to creating beautiful pictures to please his clients but what I like about his images is that he makes them as realistic as possible. There is nothing more pleasing to the eye than real emotion as trying to portray emotion could never be as powering or effective as the real thing. 

That is exactly what I want to try and capture within my own images, by not setting up all of my images but going out with my model and capturing him within a comfortable environment where he can relax and be himself just like Morton does with his own images. 

Notes.

I started to think about what I was doing with my work and realised I wasn't doing anywhere near enough. I wasn't sure where I was going or why I was even doing the work that I was doing. Why was I photographing this one boy? Was it because I thought it would be an easy subject? The truth is, I had no idea what to do with this first project. I'm not into fine art at all so this project has been a real struggle from the start but I'm not doing my art foundation course anymore and I've got to do this myself. I knew that by photographing Sam, he would be available whenever I needed him to be and I know that he looks good on camera. This obviously wasn't a good enough reason. I couldn't just photograph someone because I know they would look good on camera, but unfortunately I'm so used to doing fashion photography that I'm ignorant to the fact that there's more to photography than people looking fantastic. 

Although one thing that I've learned from looking at artists like Nan Goldin is that those people are not random people who have been caught in the moment. They knew she was photographing them; for all we know, they didn't start off as her friends, they started off as people she was employing to photograph. This of course, is just an idea. I'm sure Goldin is just as real as every other artist. 

Therefore I believe it is okay to pick and choose who I want to photograph, whether it's because I like the way they look or whether I don't like the way they look. As long as they fit into the idea and concept that I want to capture then that's fine by me. 

With my model Sam, ignoring the fact that he's available and easy to photograph is that realistically he is a boy growing into a man. This is what I wanted to capture, events of a boy becoming a man. It's the perfect time in his life to capture him on camera because he has just moved from the home he has lived in from being a child, to a new city, not knowing anyone and practically doing everything by himself. Something that everyone goes through at one point in there life. I want to capture the different kind of emotions and create a case study about this one person. 

Crit Feedback

I need to decide which route I want to go down after the crit today. Nan Goldin pretends she is a fly on the wall when realistically, why would anyone let someone photograph them shagging if they didn't know she was there and so on..? She has to put herself in these shocking positions and find situations where she is welcome. 

Do I want to go down the route like Diane A where people can look at the camera and engage or do I want to do a Goldin and be anonymous? How shocking do I want the images to be? I could explore much more intimate imagery with Sam to show how strong the relationship between the subject and the photographer is. I couls also shoot from strange angles like I am looking down on the subject or through a window and so on to become that fly on the wall. 

Artists to look at - 

Nan Goldin 

Diane A

Richard Billingham.

Crit November 7th 2011

The images are a way of exploring the lives of the people around me. I wanted to follow them and see what their reality is. How they live their lives day to day. I looked at the way Nadar started to document people and the way Nan Goldin photographed the vast cultures around her in a completely different light. She used a much more documentary type technique to create her portraits where Nadar didn't have these options and simply took portraiture for a documenting level to a fine art level. I wanted to meet in the middle of these two photographers as I don't want my images to represent documentation but I don't want them to just ooze shock value. They are there to explore the lives of my friends, family and maybe strangers to illustrate their lives, personalities and the people they are to the world. 

A few of my favourite landscape images so far from the current project 'Reality'.

Following the young man around I capturing more scenes from his everyday life to try and connect with him and figure out what kind of person he is. 

This subject of reality has really got me stumped. What is reality? In our tutorials people are going on and on and philosophy and a load of other crap. I'm simply following this young man (my boyfriend ssshhh) and capturing his reality in a documenting format. Quite literally by capturing every angle of the specimen before I begin. I'm shooting in colour on 35mm then processing and printing myself in the snazzy colour darkroom at London College of Communication (I'm learning fast).

A few images exploring reality. I chose to be real simple about the whole thing. I'm now at University of The Arts London and the game has got much harder so I'm sticking to what I know for now. Portraiture & fashion. It's my first crit on Monday and to be honest I have done very little. It's a lot different being in now and again compared to last year when I was in every day!

Orrell Water Park

I have presented two images from this shoot as my final two. The weather was not particularly great which made it difficult to capture images that wouldn't need much edited as I am completely against serious editing. I think the two images above contrast extremely well together. In the left image the model is innocently depcited almost as a bride in the white dress that she is wearing. With the calm lake behind her it creates a sense of tranquility and innocence that suits her pose and her facial emotion and expression perfectly. In the image on the right it is much more fierce with the attire she is wearing that is almost skin tight you get a kind of amazon feel as if she were a native in some kind of jungle. The way her hair falls back creates a beautiful drape down to her arm. The very dark background covered in leaves in very different and much more wild than the calm lake which shows how much you can achieve from one location.

Here I have another four images from the Haigh Hall shoot but this time focusing on the cream dress. I found that this shot beautifully against the creamy wooden walls and doors and especially against the old floral wallpapers that were still covering the rooms. As the colours are naturally very de-saturated they look very dated but this is something I like about the images as it makes them a little more quirky. Again you have the very seductive nature of the imagery due to the very glamourous attire and the fact they seem to be dated which makes you think of Hollywood glamour which is wonderful.