Tuesday, 10 March 2015
FRANK GRISDALE
Frank Grisdale is a contemporary photographer based in Alberta, Canada. Having started to develop his work in his mid forties, he has achieved a very personal landscape style that is often compared to impressionist paintings. Instead of looking for details as many landscape photographers do, Frank creates images in which details have been dissolved into an altered vision of reality. Using long exposure times with a hand held camera and post-production methods, his photographs turn out nearly abstract, although the general elements of the landscape can still be guessed in it.
The image I chose - Grassi Lake #19 (#1 of 5)- shows a rippled water reflecting what seems to be the landscape around it. The colours are vibrant and one can almost feel the freshness of the water by looking at it. It makes me think of summer days and I think I can see flowers reflected in the water, but I am not sure, which brings me that sensation of uncertain memory I am looking for in this project. I am also interested in exploring the distorting power of the water as a reflective surface, which is another reason why I chose this image.
DAYANITA SINGH
Dayanita Singh (born in 1961) is a photographer born and based in New Delhi, who has published several books with her work. She is considered to be the most important figure in in contemporary Indian photography. A big part of her work revolves around people and their life in India, a big part of this work being in black and white. The photography I chose belongs to the book ‘’Dream Villa’’, published in 2008, which centres in the mystery of everyday spaces when they are transformed by the darkness of the night. She uses colour photography and juxtaposes artificial and natural lights to create an enigmatic atmosphere, in which part of the image appear, shown by different gradients of light, and part of the image is hidden in the darkness.
The image I chose shows a tree being lighten by a diagonal light that goes down from the top left of the image and a grass part of which is also lighten seemingly by another source of light. Parts of the image gradually vanish in the darkness making an apparently simple and uninteresting view seem mysterious and even a bit unsettling. This image talks more about what’s hidden in the darkness than about what we can see. I chose this image because I feel it relates to my theme, giving the sense of something that cannot fully be seen or understood, like it often happens in dreams or something that we can’t totally grasp, like an old memory.
The image I chose shows a tree being lighten by a diagonal light that goes down from the top left of the image and a grass part of which is also lighten seemingly by another source of light. Parts of the image gradually vanish in the darkness making an apparently simple and uninteresting view seem mysterious and even a bit unsettling. This image talks more about what’s hidden in the darkness than about what we can see. I chose this image because I feel it relates to my theme, giving the sense of something that cannot fully be seen or understood, like it often happens in dreams or something that we can’t totally grasp, like an old memory.
PREFACE
‘’ I grew up in a small coastal town 15mn by train from Lisbon, Portugal. My dad used to fish as a hobby, so winter or summer he could often be found with his fishing pole standing on the rocks waiting for the fishes to bite. Once, he found a penguin that had been dragged by the waves. It was alive, and my dad, being an enthusiastic museologist brought him home. I was very little, around 5 years old, but I remember playing with it in the balcony. It passed away shortly after, even before my dad had time to take him to the local zoo. Years later, when those memories came back into my mind, I thought I had dreamt it. It was just a hazy small fragment of memory, my dad arriving home with a penguin, me playing with it in the balcony. So distant and so unlikely, that in my teenager mind, it couldn’t have happened. Until I asked my family and they confirmed that those indistinct images I had in my mind were, in fact, memories of something that had actually happened, rather than memories of a dream.’’
Mara Cabral
Mara Cabral
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
For this project I chose the theme ‘’Indistinct’’. Having worked with blurred movement and light painting on my previous project I felt I would like to develop a little further this side of photography that allows photographers to allude to whatever they want to show without showing in an obvious way. In other words I would like to explore photography that allows for different interpretations and that, at the same time, leaves something unsaid.
Within this frame of mind ‘’indistinct’’ is the theme that appeals to me the most as the word itself means something that is not completely clear. Indistinct makes me think of how memories that are nor very clear work. Memories of early childhood, memories of dreams and memories of events that for some reason we can’t fully reconstruct tend to come in fragments which logic we are not fully able to grasp. Sometimes these fragments of memory are triggered by something, a smell, a melody, a sight, sometimes they just seem to come to our minds for no special reason. In both cases they tend to leave us with that nagging feeling that there’s something more that we should be able to remember but we can’t, something that feels very close and yet too far away to reconstruct in our minds. It’s that feeling and the way it could be expressed through images, that I would like to work on in this project.
When making my mind map I was gathering ideas of how I could tackle this theme technically, and four possibilities stood out to me: unfocused image (maybe including bokeh technique); photographing reflections on water, because of the way water distorts shapes and renders them less clear; focusing on details or textures; and using light painting to illuminate only parts of a night scene. These are the ideas I have so far for this project. I might not use all the possibilities mentioned above, I may try to mix them up. I am not yet fully sure which techniques I would like to explore more deeply in this project, but I know I would like do it with more precision than in the previous one, giving more attention to the way I am using each technique and trying to learn from it.
For this project I chose the theme ‘’Indistinct’’. Having worked with blurred movement and light painting on my previous project I felt I would like to develop a little further this side of photography that allows photographers to allude to whatever they want to show without showing in an obvious way. In other words I would like to explore photography that allows for different interpretations and that, at the same time, leaves something unsaid.
Within this frame of mind ‘’indistinct’’ is the theme that appeals to me the most as the word itself means something that is not completely clear. Indistinct makes me think of how memories that are nor very clear work. Memories of early childhood, memories of dreams and memories of events that for some reason we can’t fully reconstruct tend to come in fragments which logic we are not fully able to grasp. Sometimes these fragments of memory are triggered by something, a smell, a melody, a sight, sometimes they just seem to come to our minds for no special reason. In both cases they tend to leave us with that nagging feeling that there’s something more that we should be able to remember but we can’t, something that feels very close and yet too far away to reconstruct in our minds. It’s that feeling and the way it could be expressed through images, that I would like to work on in this project.
When making my mind map I was gathering ideas of how I could tackle this theme technically, and four possibilities stood out to me: unfocused image (maybe including bokeh technique); photographing reflections on water, because of the way water distorts shapes and renders them less clear; focusing on details or textures; and using light painting to illuminate only parts of a night scene. These are the ideas I have so far for this project. I might not use all the possibilities mentioned above, I may try to mix them up. I am not yet fully sure which techniques I would like to explore more deeply in this project, but I know I would like do it with more precision than in the previous one, giving more attention to the way I am using each technique and trying to learn from it.
RESEARCH SHOOT 1
RESEARCH SHOOT 1
SHOOT PLAN:
Material: canon 60d camera
Where: Wetlands Centre on a day where there is some sun
When: middle of the afternoon
Aims: to make a more general shoot investigating the idea of both indistinct and indistinct memories and the way this could be conveyed through photography. I wanted to work this theme on an outdoor location as I like the effects given by natural textures and forms when shooting details and I also wanted to explore the potential of the water as a reflective surface. In this shoot I was looking to work on reflections, details and textures, mainly.
RESULTS:
This shoot worked well as a first approach to the subject. I think the images are more connected to the general idea of indistinct, connected in this case with natural forms, than with the more specific approach of indistinct linked to unclear or fragmented memories. There are some interesting compositions that are visually pleasant but I feel I must work deeper on the notion of how these can link with memory, as I feel these images need a stronger concept to hold them together. I felt the reflections on water and ice have a lot of potential so I think that’s the idea I’ll take forward to the next shoot.
Chosen images: I chose the 5 images I thought worked better in terms of composition and that all together would form a whole that was related with this idea of showing only a part of something. Looking at them together, they seem to be connected by the idea of nature and outdoor. Because of the closeness I feel they are also very tactile images, that bring you the sensation of being in straight contact with nature. They could work as fragments of memory, but I think this idea must be more explored to make this feeling more dominant.
SHOOT PLAN:
Material: canon 60d camera
Where: Wetlands Centre on a day where there is some sun
When: middle of the afternoon
Aims: to make a more general shoot investigating the idea of both indistinct and indistinct memories and the way this could be conveyed through photography. I wanted to work this theme on an outdoor location as I like the effects given by natural textures and forms when shooting details and I also wanted to explore the potential of the water as a reflective surface. In this shoot I was looking to work on reflections, details and textures, mainly.
RESULTS:
This shoot worked well as a first approach to the subject. I think the images are more connected to the general idea of indistinct, connected in this case with natural forms, than with the more specific approach of indistinct linked to unclear or fragmented memories. There are some interesting compositions that are visually pleasant but I feel I must work deeper on the notion of how these can link with memory, as I feel these images need a stronger concept to hold them together. I felt the reflections on water and ice have a lot of potential so I think that’s the idea I’ll take forward to the next shoot.
Chosen images: I chose the 5 images I thought worked better in terms of composition and that all together would form a whole that was related with this idea of showing only a part of something. Looking at them together, they seem to be connected by the idea of nature and outdoor. Because of the closeness I feel they are also very tactile images, that bring you the sensation of being in straight contact with nature. They could work as fragments of memory, but I think this idea must be more explored to make this feeling more dominant.
REASEARCH SHOOT 2
RESEARCH SHOOT 2 - water reflections.
SHOOT PLAN:
Material: canon 60d camera
Models: a man and a girl dressed in normal outdoor clothes for some of the photographs.
Where: Wetlands Centre on a day where there is some sun
When: middle to the end of the afternoon
Aims: in this shoot I want to develop the idea of photographing in water and ice reflections started in the previous shoot, this time including some human figures in it, as I thought this might add something to the idea of linking the theme indistinct to the way distant or faint memories work. I decided to do this shoot in the same location of the previous one, as the Wetlands Centre has many possibilities in terms of water reflections. I want to do start it at more or less the same time of the day, as sometimes is good to work with reflections when the sun is still high (or as high as it is in this time of the year - winter) and then keep working with the light as it comes down and the light gets a warmer tone.
I want to keep on the work started on the previous shoot, paying attention to the whole composition of the image and the role the light plays on it, but this time focusing on having a bit more content connecting the photographs.
RESULTS:
I think this shoot worked better than the previous one in terms of getting the message I wanted across. Including the human figures in it brought another dimension that came to add up something to the natural forms. Although all the ice had already melted it was very interesting to explore the possibilities of the water as a reflective surface. If there is movement in it gives a distorted image, similar to an impressionist painting. If it’s very still and the sky very blue, it works as a very clear mirror and sometimes only looking twice we realize there is a different nearly dreamy quality about that image. Sometimes the reflection is totally abstract and beautiful in itself giving a calm feeling only by looking at it. The water puddles also gave interesting results as the image came fragmented, making it feel very related to my theme. I liked this idea of showing only part of the image instead of distorting the whole image to make it look unclear, so for the next shoot I would like to carry this through.
Chosen images: I chose 5 images whose compositions where harmonious and that could also convey this feeling of something that is there but we can’t fully see it. I think all images have that quality about them, individually and as a group. They are telling something, but the message comes in pieces and even putting them all together, there are holes to be filled.
SHOOT PLAN:
Material: canon 60d camera
Models: a man and a girl dressed in normal outdoor clothes for some of the photographs.
Where: Wetlands Centre on a day where there is some sun
When: middle to the end of the afternoon
Aims: in this shoot I want to develop the idea of photographing in water and ice reflections started in the previous shoot, this time including some human figures in it, as I thought this might add something to the idea of linking the theme indistinct to the way distant or faint memories work. I decided to do this shoot in the same location of the previous one, as the Wetlands Centre has many possibilities in terms of water reflections. I want to do start it at more or less the same time of the day, as sometimes is good to work with reflections when the sun is still high (or as high as it is in this time of the year - winter) and then keep working with the light as it comes down and the light gets a warmer tone.
I want to keep on the work started on the previous shoot, paying attention to the whole composition of the image and the role the light plays on it, but this time focusing on having a bit more content connecting the photographs.
RESULTS:
I think this shoot worked better than the previous one in terms of getting the message I wanted across. Including the human figures in it brought another dimension that came to add up something to the natural forms. Although all the ice had already melted it was very interesting to explore the possibilities of the water as a reflective surface. If there is movement in it gives a distorted image, similar to an impressionist painting. If it’s very still and the sky very blue, it works as a very clear mirror and sometimes only looking twice we realize there is a different nearly dreamy quality about that image. Sometimes the reflection is totally abstract and beautiful in itself giving a calm feeling only by looking at it. The water puddles also gave interesting results as the image came fragmented, making it feel very related to my theme. I liked this idea of showing only part of the image instead of distorting the whole image to make it look unclear, so for the next shoot I would like to carry this through.
Chosen images: I chose 5 images whose compositions where harmonious and that could also convey this feeling of something that is there but we can’t fully see it. I think all images have that quality about them, individually and as a group. They are telling something, but the message comes in pieces and even putting them all together, there are holes to be filled.
RESEARCH SHOOT 3
RESEARCH SHOOT 1
SHOOT PLAN:
Material: canon 60d camera
Models: a man and a girl for some of the shoots.
Where: Clyne Gardens, Swansea
When: middle of the afternoon
Aims: in this shoot I intend to investigate about showing only parts of the image clearly and ways of doing this: cutting elements that wouldn’t usually be cut of; using a shallow depth of field so that the background is blurred; shooting through some sort of barrier; using perspectives that might make viewers feel we are shooting the wrong piece of the scene.
RESULTS:
I think this shoot keeps in line with the previous one in that the aimed feeling is starting to be there, but this atmosphere is achieved by different means. Isolating parts of a scene, shooting details and blurring the background also works in trying to create this feeling of fragmented indistinct memories. There’s nothing I feel that has particularly failed in this shoot, but it gives me the feeling that I need to work more with the possibilities I now have available.
Chosen images: whilst the 5 chosen images from the previous shoot made me think more of memories of a dream, due to the dreamy and a bit surreal quality given by the water, the 5 chosen images in this shoot make me think of old memories, images we suddenly remember but can’t quite place in time and space. The atmosphere of these memories seems to be a light one, memories of relaxed times, although there is something mysterious about them as well.
SHOOT PLAN:
Material: canon 60d camera
Models: a man and a girl for some of the shoots.
Where: Clyne Gardens, Swansea
When: middle of the afternoon
Aims: in this shoot I intend to investigate about showing only parts of the image clearly and ways of doing this: cutting elements that wouldn’t usually be cut of; using a shallow depth of field so that the background is blurred; shooting through some sort of barrier; using perspectives that might make viewers feel we are shooting the wrong piece of the scene.
RESULTS:
I think this shoot keeps in line with the previous one in that the aimed feeling is starting to be there, but this atmosphere is achieved by different means. Isolating parts of a scene, shooting details and blurring the background also works in trying to create this feeling of fragmented indistinct memories. There’s nothing I feel that has particularly failed in this shoot, but it gives me the feeling that I need to work more with the possibilities I now have available.
Chosen images: whilst the 5 chosen images from the previous shoot made me think more of memories of a dream, due to the dreamy and a bit surreal quality given by the water, the 5 chosen images in this shoot make me think of old memories, images we suddenly remember but can’t quite place in time and space. The atmosphere of these memories seems to be a light one, memories of relaxed times, although there is something mysterious about them as well.
DEVELOPMENT SHOOT 1 - BOKEH 1
DEVELOPMENT SHOOT 1 - bokeh 1.
SHOOT PLAN:
Material: canon 60d camera
Where: Sandy Water Park (sunny day)
When: mid morning
SHOOT PLAN (second part):
Material: canon 60d camera
Models: a girl
Props: Christmas lights, vintage hat, toy dog, doll, mirror.
Where: living room
When: middle of the afternoon
Aims: The initial plan for this shoot was to try the potentialities of the bokeh technique in the outside, using the reflection of the sun on the water to create the circles of confusion. Due to reasons beyond my control I had to interrupt this shoot in the beginning and couldn’t continue it that week as I didn’t have the appropriated weather, so I decided to plan the rest of the shoot in the house so that I could continue exploring this technique in order to refine it later. For the first part my aim was to play with the more abstract effects that this technique allows, in a natural environment, and explore which sort of atmosphere and visual effects could be created. In the second part I wanted to introduce the human presence and a few objects, linking it in with the idea of introducing either the human presence or hints of it in part of my shoots, as I had concluded during research that this added a very important dimension when working with the idea of memory and dreams. The several props introduced where mainly ways to explore a technique I was not familiar with at all.
RESULTS:
There’s a clear separation between the two different parts of the shoot.
The first one is very directly related to the notion of indistinct, something that can be guessed but is not clear. It continuous the work I started developing during research focusing on details of the nature, as for me details are deeply related to memory and the way memory manifests itself. These images were made by shooting through the branches of the bushes and trees that surrounded the lake in Sandy water park. I searched the parts of the lake where the sun would be reflected on the water and dispersed by its movement and unfocused the image until I found the circles of confusion. I like how abstract the images turned out. It is still clear that we’re seeing some part of the outside world, but it’s hard to say exactly what in most images. The bokeh effect gives these images a very delicate feeling. They are aesthetically pleasing, as if we are looking at a filigran of light.
The second part of the shoot has more varied results as I was making several experiments regarding the use of bokeh. I did this placing the lights on the window and shooting at the trees outside, using a mirror to create a double image of my model and placing them before the mirror and then shooting through the mirror what was going on by the window.
The Christmas lights were obviously too colourful for the sort of atmosphere I was looking for, but it still gave me a good idea of what could possibly be done. The circles of confusion seem to be a good resource to hide part of a scene and at the same time create a strange, half-surreal atmosphere. This was more of an experimental shoot, but there are two main things I would like to carry forward from it. Firstly I would like to o a refinement shoot exploring more what was done on the first part of this shoot. From the second part of the shoot I would like to try to develop the images done looking through the window (photographing the trees outside) with the light on the foreground, only this time doing it outdoors and using white fairy lights for it.
I find that these more abstract images that result from using bokeh with natural elements could be used in conjunction with the images where we can partially see a human presence to provide a counterpoint for them. Whilst the latter can represent glimpses of memories of dreams that can’t be fully reconstructed, the bokeh ones represent the memory in a more symbolic way.
SHOOT PLAN:
Material: canon 60d camera
Where: Sandy Water Park (sunny day)
When: mid morning
SHOOT PLAN (second part):
Material: canon 60d camera
Models: a girl
Props: Christmas lights, vintage hat, toy dog, doll, mirror.
Where: living room
When: middle of the afternoon
Aims: The initial plan for this shoot was to try the potentialities of the bokeh technique in the outside, using the reflection of the sun on the water to create the circles of confusion. Due to reasons beyond my control I had to interrupt this shoot in the beginning and couldn’t continue it that week as I didn’t have the appropriated weather, so I decided to plan the rest of the shoot in the house so that I could continue exploring this technique in order to refine it later. For the first part my aim was to play with the more abstract effects that this technique allows, in a natural environment, and explore which sort of atmosphere and visual effects could be created. In the second part I wanted to introduce the human presence and a few objects, linking it in with the idea of introducing either the human presence or hints of it in part of my shoots, as I had concluded during research that this added a very important dimension when working with the idea of memory and dreams. The several props introduced where mainly ways to explore a technique I was not familiar with at all.
RESULTS:
There’s a clear separation between the two different parts of the shoot.
The first one is very directly related to the notion of indistinct, something that can be guessed but is not clear. It continuous the work I started developing during research focusing on details of the nature, as for me details are deeply related to memory and the way memory manifests itself. These images were made by shooting through the branches of the bushes and trees that surrounded the lake in Sandy water park. I searched the parts of the lake where the sun would be reflected on the water and dispersed by its movement and unfocused the image until I found the circles of confusion. I like how abstract the images turned out. It is still clear that we’re seeing some part of the outside world, but it’s hard to say exactly what in most images. The bokeh effect gives these images a very delicate feeling. They are aesthetically pleasing, as if we are looking at a filigran of light.
The second part of the shoot has more varied results as I was making several experiments regarding the use of bokeh. I did this placing the lights on the window and shooting at the trees outside, using a mirror to create a double image of my model and placing them before the mirror and then shooting through the mirror what was going on by the window.
The Christmas lights were obviously too colourful for the sort of atmosphere I was looking for, but it still gave me a good idea of what could possibly be done. The circles of confusion seem to be a good resource to hide part of a scene and at the same time create a strange, half-surreal atmosphere. This was more of an experimental shoot, but there are two main things I would like to carry forward from it. Firstly I would like to o a refinement shoot exploring more what was done on the first part of this shoot. From the second part of the shoot I would like to try to develop the images done looking through the window (photographing the trees outside) with the light on the foreground, only this time doing it outdoors and using white fairy lights for it.
I find that these more abstract images that result from using bokeh with natural elements could be used in conjunction with the images where we can partially see a human presence to provide a counterpoint for them. Whilst the latter can represent glimpses of memories of dreams that can’t be fully reconstructed, the bokeh ones represent the memory in a more symbolic way.
DEVELOPMENT SHOOT 2 - BOKEH 2
DEVELOPMENT SHOOT 2 - bokeh 2.
SHOOT PLAN:
Material: canon 60d camera
Where: Wetlands Centre in Llanelli on a sunny day
When: mid afternoon
Models: a girl
Aims: As mentioned on the previous shoot I wanted to refine the images obtained by creating the bokeh effect with the reflection of the sun on the water. My idea was to create somehow abstract images that would represent memory and dreams in a more abstract way, not so much by showing what could be fragments of memory, but rather by carrying characteristics of memory itself. I liked how delicate the first images seemed, so I was looking to create something along those lines, illustrating how fragile and fleeting memories can be, especially the memories of a dream when you just woke up in the morning.
RESULTS:
There is both a feeling of both delicacy and intricacy in many of the images. At the same time, the circles of confusion seem nearly textured, as if they were bubbles one could reach and touch. In most of the photographs the source of light was the sun shining on the water. On the last ones, the circles of confusion result from the sun shining on some plants. I particularly like the more abstract results, in which all we can see is the circles, often agglomerated together, and sometimes a few thin tree branches or leaves. They are very harmonic, nearly meditative.
I also tried to create some images in which we could see part of the image covered in circles and then to have some sort of presence, human or animal showing up in between circles. This didn’t work much with the birds though, as it was really hard to find the right distance between the light shining and the birds, and in the end it just feels the birds are wrongly unfocused. The ones with the girl work better, as I could control the distances.
SHOOT PLAN:
Material: canon 60d camera
Where: Wetlands Centre in Llanelli on a sunny day
When: mid afternoon
Models: a girl
Aims: As mentioned on the previous shoot I wanted to refine the images obtained by creating the bokeh effect with the reflection of the sun on the water. My idea was to create somehow abstract images that would represent memory and dreams in a more abstract way, not so much by showing what could be fragments of memory, but rather by carrying characteristics of memory itself. I liked how delicate the first images seemed, so I was looking to create something along those lines, illustrating how fragile and fleeting memories can be, especially the memories of a dream when you just woke up in the morning.
RESULTS:
There is both a feeling of both delicacy and intricacy in many of the images. At the same time, the circles of confusion seem nearly textured, as if they were bubbles one could reach and touch. In most of the photographs the source of light was the sun shining on the water. On the last ones, the circles of confusion result from the sun shining on some plants. I particularly like the more abstract results, in which all we can see is the circles, often agglomerated together, and sometimes a few thin tree branches or leaves. They are very harmonic, nearly meditative.
I also tried to create some images in which we could see part of the image covered in circles and then to have some sort of presence, human or animal showing up in between circles. This didn’t work much with the birds though, as it was really hard to find the right distance between the light shining and the birds, and in the end it just feels the birds are wrongly unfocused. The ones with the girl work better, as I could control the distances.
DEVELOPMENT SHOOT 3 - BOKEH 3
SHOOT PLAN:
Material: canon 60d camera, a string of solar charged fairy lights.
Where: My back garden
When: end of the afternoon, when it starts to get slightly darker.
Aims: I wanted to explore a bit further the results I had obtained in my first bokeh shoot when I placed some Christmas lights in the foreground and photographed the foliage outside my window, creating an effect in which the circles of confusion appear over the natural forms instead of being in the background. I wasn’t exactly looking for a specific atmosphere, I just wanted to understand where this could lead me, this time using white fairy lights.
RESULTS:
The results were quite interesting in some of the images. I particularly like the ones in which the photo was made against the bare tree branches. The fairy lights create a somehow artificial effect. The circles in there seem a bit out of place, as if their presence was a bit absurd over the branches and that reminds of the fact that memory often gathers unlikely information together, we remember two things that in our memory have a correlation, but logically we can’t understand the connection. The same happens in dreams. At the same time these same images seem both slightly distorted and layered and this symbolizes well the way memory can occur in our minds: hazy, juxtaposed, fragmented.
The images with the circles over the green were not so successful as they are just too abstract, without any definition to create a bit of tension and depth in them.
DEVELOPMENT SHOOT 4 - DYNAMIC ZOOM 1
SHOOT PLAN:
Material: canon 60d camera, tripod.
Models: a man.
Props: black hat, headphones, doll.
Where: living room, by the window.
When: afternoon/end of the afternoon (depending on how dark the day is, as slow speeds will be needed)
Aims: The initial idea was to plan a shoot outside and experiment with this technique having a human figure on a landscape. Nevertheless, the weather was too rainy all week, so I decided to plan a shoot inside just to understand how this technique works, as it is my first experience with it. The idea is to shoot by the window so the trees will be seen across the window. This technique seems like an interesting tool to explore the idea of memory and dreams, so using this and including a human presence who will stay ‘’anonymous’ (meaning his face or body won’t be seen clearly) I expect to create images that may represent the way we might remember things: through flashes that are often not very defined and that can change with time and disposition.
RESULTS: This was mainly an experience that allowed me to understand this technique a bit more and consider new ideas to use it, having my theme in mind. There are some interesting images. The location works well with the dynamic zoom, as the lines seem to drag the viewer into the view outside the window. I decided to ask my model to face the window, with his back to the camera. I feel this makes the person being photographed less ‘’specific’’. When we see a face on a image we tend to create a general idea about that person, and we decide right away whether we identify with that person or not, whether we like them or not. When the face is hidden, the identity suddenly becomes a lot more vague. It might reminds us of someone, but we never fully decide who we see in there. The atmosphere in some of the photos is a pensive one: a man looking out of a window surrounded by a strange effect that seems to draw the viewers attention on him, and his own vision on whatever is outside the window.
Material: canon 60d camera, tripod.
Models: a man.
Props: black hat, headphones, doll.
Where: living room, by the window.
When: afternoon/end of the afternoon (depending on how dark the day is, as slow speeds will be needed)
Aims: The initial idea was to plan a shoot outside and experiment with this technique having a human figure on a landscape. Nevertheless, the weather was too rainy all week, so I decided to plan a shoot inside just to understand how this technique works, as it is my first experience with it. The idea is to shoot by the window so the trees will be seen across the window. This technique seems like an interesting tool to explore the idea of memory and dreams, so using this and including a human presence who will stay ‘’anonymous’ (meaning his face or body won’t be seen clearly) I expect to create images that may represent the way we might remember things: through flashes that are often not very defined and that can change with time and disposition.
RESULTS: This was mainly an experience that allowed me to understand this technique a bit more and consider new ideas to use it, having my theme in mind. There are some interesting images. The location works well with the dynamic zoom, as the lines seem to drag the viewer into the view outside the window. I decided to ask my model to face the window, with his back to the camera. I feel this makes the person being photographed less ‘’specific’’. When we see a face on a image we tend to create a general idea about that person, and we decide right away whether we identify with that person or not, whether we like them or not. When the face is hidden, the identity suddenly becomes a lot more vague. It might reminds us of someone, but we never fully decide who we see in there. The atmosphere in some of the photos is a pensive one: a man looking out of a window surrounded by a strange effect that seems to draw the viewers attention on him, and his own vision on whatever is outside the window.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)