The Lens of Katie - DSDN144

DSDN144 (photographics) blog for VUW Trimester One, 2012 Katie Lock 300163071 This is where I will post my ideas, research, shoots and final submissions.

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Project 3: Reflection

While going into this project I had some initial ideas of what sort of concept I wanted to follow, I didn't really have a solid path. I'm really happy with how my concept turned out in the end, and how the series displayed it. It challenged me to try something a little different, and I had to focus to try create images that emphasised the subject feature whilst still showing the rest of the person and how they presented themselves when I was photographing that feature. If I had had slightly more time I may have been able to present a series with even stronger images.

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Project 3: Final Concept

Aims and Objectives: In this series I am presenting two images of four individuals, each image using light to highlight a feature of their body they like and dislike.

Methodology: I have demonstrated it in a documentary photography style, with grayscale images and the subject presenting themselves rather than being directed into pose. In this series I wanted to show both sides of the story,  having my subjects present themselves in a way that emphasised not only their favourite features, but also ones that they dislike and are self conscious of.

Rationale: I decided to venture into this concept as playing with humans and light made me wonder how we choose to present ourselves when being photographed, particularly under harsh light. Humans can be very self conscious and often we use photography and lighting in a way to present our “better” self.

Output: The purpose I intend for this series is to challenge how use light and photography to document ourselves – at the end of the day, we are human and we have flaws. We should present ourselves as who we are as a whole, not for our features.

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Artist Precedent: Eli Reed

Eli Reed has many documentary photography series in which he documents what was occurring rather than setting up shots to be how he wanted them. He often used grayscale to show the essence of the moment rather than be distracted by colour.

From the series Lost Boys of Sudan (2001).

From Marriage (1984).

From Teenage Pregnancy (1994).

From Lost Boys of Sudan (2001).

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Project 3: Final Shoot Contact Sheet

Project 3 Final Shoot Contact Sheet

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Just had my last tutorial before hand-in, I've got quite a bit to do but it shouldn't be too difficult. I just need to focus on refining my images to create a final series which fulfils my concept. I will continue to use the same aesthetic in my images, I just need to focus on creating a stronger consistency between my images so they work well as a series.

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Artist Precedent: Burt Glinn

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Edits of some potential photos for Project 3. I used a greyscale and high-contrast editing aesthetic so you very much focus on the focal point. I'm looking at using light to strongly focus on a physical attribute that each subject does not like, a change from the traditional "focus on the nice features".

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Project 3: Second Shoot

Second Shoot

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My attempt at creating an HDR image, both manually using the image fixing technique (top image) and automatically in Photoshop giving off the HDR "special effect".

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Light painting exercise.

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Project 3: Proposal

In this project, "light", I'd like to create a series to show the relationship between light and the human body. I'm interested in exploring using light to portray people how they would like to be seen - think of it as "your best side" or your "strong traits" - focus photographing these using light as a guide for the eye.

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Project 3: Initial Shoot Contact Sheet

Contact Sheet Initial Shoot

Just took a few shots tonight playing around with my concept for Project 3. I found that the torch produced a very blue-like light which was very unnatural. I guess this could be edited but the candlelight proved to be far more natural and produced far superior shapes and shadows around the face.

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"When We Were Young" - Project 2 final video

Music credit: "Like We Did (Windows Down)" by The Maine, from the album Pioneer. (C) Action Theory Records, 2011. No copyright infringement intended.

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Project 2: In Review

Once I had an ideal concept, I found this project to be very natural and simple. I’ve always loved stop motions for the fact that you can truly tell a story visually through your images, and use any sound or music to enhance these images, rather than focusing equally on the sound as you would on the visuals. I thoroughly enjoyed shooting with Devon and the concept behind this project very much sums up our friendship and how we spend our time together. We’re both passionate about photography, and often if we’re just chilling at a park, our cameras will be out to capture any perfect moments that may arise.

Editing the project was also very simplistic for me, as to keep the stop motion as natural as possible, I wanted the images to be straight off the camera (or minimally edited) and a natural pace of slide speed. I chose to edit in Windows Movie Maker purely due to the simplistic nature of the video – I felt that editing in Premiere Pro would not have added any extra value to the style of editing I wanted to use, and meant I would have to download the trial or edit at uni.

I found that this project brief was easier to work with than Space was, as I felt it was not as confining as time can be anything you make of it. I had plenty of ideas brewing in my head, and feel that the brief can encourage a wide variety of creativity and I’m looking forward to what everyone else has presented.

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Project 2: Finalised Concept

The stop motion that I have created for this project, “When We Were Young”, is trying to capture the essence of youth and how it feels to be young and free. I expressed this through a “day in the life” type format showing two friends enjoying a day at the park together. This is mainly taken from their point of view, with one friend capturing what she sees of the other friend. The idea is to capture a moment in time in these girl’s lives where they feel young together.

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Artist Precedent: Ryan McGinley

McGinley's work is trying to grasp the concept of wild youth and enjoying being young. I feel this concept and essence that he tries to capture in his work is a similar motive to that for my Time stop motion - shot very nautrally, showing people enjoying being young and free.

Jonas Barn Snow Disco, 2008.

Dakota (Hair) - 2004

Wade Wave, 2004.

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Weekly task - two photos taken almost identically but at different times.