Josie Westerlund

Photography and the Lighting Studio

[josiewesterlund]

Further Practice: Spare room as a studio

Portraits of my friend, Sarah.

I had planned on using a portable studio lighting setup for this shoot but that didn't quite go the way I had hoped. Instead, I used the available natural light coming through the window to try and achieve a split lighting effect.

Overall, this was a great learning experience and helped me lean into considering the logistics and challenges that I will need to get comfortable with working as a photographer.

[josiewesterlund]

Studio Practice

'Meeting Myself', 2022

I wanted to practice a little of what I've learnt this semester and get more comfortable using the studio space.

These photos of my sister are about inner healing and body image.

I experimented with different lighting setups before settling on a single diffused light source.

[josiewesterlund]

Class Exercise: Speed Flash

These are examples of photos I liked from our class exercise.

First photo (top left): Speed flash bounced off the window

Second photo (top right): Speed flash bounced off the ceiling

Third photo Natural light from the window

Group members: Josie Westerlund Sky Chen Yiying Wang Rachel Chau

[josiewesterlund]

Wk 11 - The Composite Portrait #2

In these photographs, I was inspired by Paul Mpagi Sepuya's 'Stage' and how they included the camera and tripod in the frame along with people and a mirror.

I wanted to experiment with capturing family portraits that expressed a version of 'how we are'. We dressed how we normally would and my partner and I took turns taking photos of ourselves with our child. I liked the idea that the camera was in the frame as it seems to quickly convey the level of intimacy that comes with capturing a moment of our own family dynamic (rather than having someone else take photos of us). There is a level of comfort that comes through in how we are with each other that would likely be different (more performative?) if someone else were to photograph the three of us.

I wanted to have both our physical selves and our reflections captured to express some of the complexity and disconnect experiencing our early years of parenting has brought on.

As Shot

Sony Alpha 7 III Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Lens

35mm ISO: 100 1/125 F/8

Single source of light Diffused flash: 3.5 

Edit

Cropped and colour balanced in Lightroom.

[josiewesterlund]

Wk 11 - The Composite Portrait #1

Using a 10 second timer I captured these photographs with Cherine Fahd's 'Shadowing Portraits' series in mind. I was also thinking about the concept of 'the invisible woman' and how in many ways my role as a mother has disrupted my personal sense of identity. Silas has been positioned in the middle of the frame as a reference to how he has become the centre of our world. I liked the idea that David's face is visible as he has more easily embraced his new role as a parent than I have.

As Shot

Sony Alpha 7 III Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Lens

35mm ISO: 100 1/125 F/8

Single source of light: 45 degrees Diffused flash: 3.5

Edit

Cropped and colour balanced in Lightroom.

[josiewesterlund]

Wk 9 - Self/Other Portrait

I really like these images in black and white.

[josiewesterlund]

Wk 9 - Self/Other Portrait - Self Portrait

This exercise reinforced how uncomfortable I feel taking a photo of myself. It isn't so much an insecurity about how I look that is driving this, but possibly more a feeling of uncertainty about who I am now and what a photo says about that.

In this image, I wanted to try and capture some of the uncertainty I feel about my identity or at least how it is expressed. I've needed to be so many different versions of myself for such a long time that the 'real me' (if there is such a thing) feels fragmented - like a broken sea shell scattered across the shore.

Yet the contradiction is that I love to capture other people in their human moments and meet them where they are at.

As Shot

Sony Alpha 7 III Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Lens

24mm ISO: 100 1/125 F/16

Edit

Cropped and colour balanced in Lightroom.

[josiewesterlund]

Wk 9 - Self/Other Portrait

Given I know that how I feel in any given situation is heavily influenced by who I am surrounded by, I wanted to repeat this exercise with someone who I know very well.

It was interesting to note that in this setting I felt much more comfortable in front of the camera and less so behind the camera. Both of us often complain about how much we don't like how we look in photos so it was interesting to see how we naturally encouraged each other to be seen in this way - maybe even a glimpse at how we see each other in our friendship.

As Shot

Sony Alpha 7 III Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Lens

70/50mm ISO: 100 1/125 F13/F14

Edit

Tweaked in Lightroom slightly just to balance colours and crop the images.

[josiewesterlund]

Wk 9 - Self/Other Portrait - In Class

In this scenario, I definitely prefered being behind the camera instead of in front of it. I felt awkward in front of the camera and was unsure of myself or who I need to be in that moment. Whereas when I am taking a photo of someone else, I feel more comfortable and have an easier time helping that person feel more at ease than I can do for myself.

As Shot

Canon EOS RS EF 24-70MM F/2.8L II USM

70mm ISO: 100 1/125 F/11

MinSeo by Josie Josie by MinSeo

@minseo-kim-usyd

[josiewesterlund]

Wk 8: Street as Studio - Bonus

More experiments photographing my kid in the harsh midday sun.

With this edit, I wanted to push the golden sunlight further than in the previous images below. Rather than a 'California Boulevard' feel I was after a more nostalgic 'Australian childhood' feel.

[josiewesterlund]

Wk 8: Street as Studio - Bonus

After capturing the photographs I wanted for the weekly frames exercise I kept experimenting with capturing images in the harsh sunlight.

My kid is pushing through new molars and these photographs feel like a pretty good expression of what that has felt like for our family this week.

[josiewesterlund]

Wk 8: Street as Studio

These photographs were captured with Katy Grannan's Boulevard series in mind. Taken around midday, I wanted to emulate the idea of capturing a person casually going about their day. I liked the confidence and sense of character that comes through in Grannan's Boulevard series.

To help achieve a version of this, I gave my subject the opportunity to choose their own wardrobe for the shoot and capture moments as they decisively went about their business of play. I enjoyed working with the harsh midday sun. I liked the high contrast and the effect of the stronger shadows.

As Shot Sony Alpha 7 III Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Lens

50mm ISO: 100 1/250 F/8

[josiewesterlund]

Wk 8: Street as Studio - Before & After

When I was choosing the images to edit, I felt there were images more appealing/resolved than these. The reason I choose these two over them was because I could see the potential in the cropped versions of the images. The composition of the shadows really appealed to me and I liked how casual they felt.

After cropping, I brought up the exposure and warmth of the images to have a similar feel to photographs from Katy Grannan's Boulevard series. I experimented with editing the background separately from the subject and softened some of the texture slightly.

[josiewesterlund]

Wk 8: Street as Studio

Based on the soft lighting of Richard Avedon's In the American West series. I photographed my family members against an outdoor white wall at about 5:30pm and edited the images in Lightroom Classic to emulate a version of Avedon's style of photography.

I liked an idea shared in an article about the series that states "The conceit of the genre asserts that subjects are constant narcissists and photographers are professional adorers." - Kozloff, M. (2011)

When shooting, I tried to capture a subtle sense of self-interest in my subjects, softened by my own affection for them.

As Shot Sony Alpha 7 III Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Lens

Silas: 34mm ISO: 100 1/80 F/2.8

David: 24mm ISO: 100 1/80 F/2.8

[josiewesterlund]

Wk 8: Street as Studio - Before & After

During the editing process, I reduced the saturation most of the way and warmed up the temperature of the images. I wanted to retain a small amount of warmth to give the images a toned effect, similar to some of the images in Richard Avedon's 'In the American West' series.

I turned up the exposure slightly, added some contrast, darkened the blacks and lightened the highlights to achieve the overall look. I tweaked the sharpness and added some small amounts of grain and texture to help make the images look more gritty.

[josiewesterlund]

'Reconcile' 1/3 Still Life Photographs 8 x 10 in

As Shot 85mm ISO: 100 1/125 F/16

Soft Fill Light: 20% Flash Light: 3.0 Silver Reflector 

Edit

Cropped: 8x10 Exposure: 0.15 Contrast: 0

Sharpen: 60 Grain: 2

[josiewesterlund]

'Reconcile' 2/3 Still Life Photographs 8 x 10 in

As Shot 85mm ISO: 100 1/125 F/16

Soft Fill Light: 20% Flash Light: 3.0 Silver Reflector 

Edit

Cropped: 8x10 Exposure: 0.60 Contrast: 5

Sharpen: 60 Grain: 2