Recycle - Research
Our Recycle brief takes the idea of taking something we’ve either forgotten about or discarded in our lives and bring it to life in the studio. The main idea is to first find an object of interest, something that sets the overall tone for the image. Then to look through lots of different photographs and mood boards to imagine what feeling or vibe we’re wanting to portray. Finding a good background is essential as the textures, details and colour scheme will help emphasis the objects importance in the frame.
Image Research
Here is the classic typewriter image giving off the rustic aesthetic, I think this image is a good base ground to analyse from, it has many different little items scattered around the frame but the attention is still all drawn towards the typewriter. The items intention is just to build an image and idea of what the subjects purpose is. The scene overall has very soft diffused lighting, this can be seen in the shadows as they have no harsh edges or abruptness to them. The cloth background gives subtle textures throughtout the frame, it has quite neutral tones but the slight creases, folds and marks add an overall personality. This has been achieved by using one large diffused light source from above the subject towards the top of the frame. Everything compliments each other quite nicely and nothing feels necessarily out of place. The stopwatch, thread and scissors add a nice touch of personality. It brings an image into the viewers head of a creative DIY persons workspace, someone writing a personal journal or possible writing stories in this space. Overall a very soft colour scheme with a muted but peachy coloured tone.
Running with the theme of writing this frame also carries across the warmer tones from the last. This can be down to the idea of vintage items always being conveyed as warm, possibly due to the colour of rust or warmth in history. A much tighter crop here as all the tiny intricacies of clock hands, curves in metal and book textures give the frame the feeling of craftsmanship. I imagine a 100mm lens is being used, a soft box once again with a reflector of some sort in use, maybe some white card on either side of the frame to fill in the shadows.
This is starting to work towards the image I’m wanting to create, using retro unwanted technologies that once were viewed as the pinnacle of tech. It’s working with more a large scale still life, not just using a table or bench to set your shot up but using a whole environment. Harsh lighting would indicate the use of a spill kill, the distinct deep black shadow on the right side of the frame shows this. The rouged and concrete scene helps build on the image of a derelict but once fresh television. That muted green/gray tone might help with the idea of old as it makes the TV’s look stale, which is exactly what the photographer will be going for.
A much more dramatic image using a high contrast scene of shadows and intense light to make only the details of the walkman show. Having the walkman sitting on a tall skinny column is creating the square patch of light, having the lighting directly above the object. A snoot is directing the light to the exact spot with no straying light. I like the cool blue tones over the walkman to give it a metallic feel, a roboticness. This will have either been done in a dark room or using lots of boards to block off the light. Quite a simple image but I think it works well to show what the item feels like.
Now for the wacky cool still life captured by Philip Karlberg, using old vinyls to spin different types of desserts? Strange idea right but I think it has an interesting look. Using a slow shutter speed then spinning the vinyl to give motion to the frame, the sparkler brings the image together in my opinion. The soft box directly above is giving emphasis to the shapes in frame. Very simple image to set up, a green background, one light source above and a slow shutter speed. This has been captured without the flash, just the modelling bulb to give a long exposure. Maybe not exactly what I would go for and shoot, but a cool idea none the less.
