Final Piece Development

Photo Object, Photo object test shoots, Photography As Object, Year 2

This is the first stage of the creation of my final collage piece. I am combining my own images taken in the studio with ones I have found in various magazines. My aim is to match the face of my models face, to other facial features I found in magazines. I experimented using different ways to attach the elements of the collage together. I played around with the construction of the images, for one of my images I chose to sow them together using black string. I manipulated the appearance of my own images by layering and matching them to ones I have found in magazines. The concept behind the project was to manipulate the way we see beauty, by putting models faces together I have created an inhuman being made up from other subjects of beauty.

The idea of taking the beauty of a model then manipulating that beauty by combining the models face with other subjects really interested me. Its the idea of two or more beautiful things not always having a beautiful outcome.

Object in Time- workshop

Objects In Time, Photo Object, Photo object test shoots, Year 2

Today I took part in a workshop looking at objects in time. In the workshop I used stroboscopic photography. Stroboscopic photography is a series of high intensity flashes, over a long exposure time. The results from producing photographs this way is a motion blur effect (as seen below). Every time a flash is let off the camera captures the models movement at the time of the flash, so over a two second exposure the model is captured moving multiple times. Stroboscopic Photography will set off a minimum of 10 flashes per second, creating the illusion that the model is moving through the photograph.

For this workshop I wanted to look at movement in both the model and objects. For this shoot I got my model to spin around with a long scarf during the time the camera made the exposure. The results I captured show the model moving through the photograph and give the illusion of moving image opposed to a still image. I was happy with the result I gained from the first half of the shoot, but I wanted to try something different for the second half of the shoot. Since researching Gjon Mili I loved the effect he created with his photograph of Picasso drawing a vase using just light. To create the same effect I used the flashlight from my phone, I increased the exposure on the camera to ten seconds, then started drawing while the stroboscopic flash system was going off.

The camera captured every movement I made with the flashlight, creating a light drawing. Me and the group I was working with then decided to make a group shot. To do this we all stood in front of the camera while the flash was going off, we then moved out of the way of the camera as soon as the flashes stopped. Then one person in my group then drew with a phone light in the position we were all standing in. The results from this shot are below with the rest of my images from the workshop. Overall I really enjoyed the workshop, I loved having the opportunity to work with such an advanced studio set up.

Experimentation-collage

Photo Object, Photo object test shoots, Photography As Object, Year 2

This is a collage I created using a number of different collage techniques. I combined; text, magazine images, book illustrations and my own images to create this experimental collage piece. Creating this piece really helped me decided which part of collage I wanted to use for my final piece. I wanted to combine lots of collage techniques so I c[could get a better idea of what looked visually pleasing and what aspects of the collage didn’t. completing this personal task has helped me decided what I want to achieve in my final collages.

Photogram Workshop- Photo Object

Photo Object, Photo object test shoots, Photography As Object, Year 2

Below are the results from my photogram workshop, I experimented with various objects to create these prints. Colour photograms take place in the colour dark room, I placed the light sensitive paper under the enlargers along with a selection of objects such as; rubber gloves, feathers and plants. Once I was happy with the arrangement of objects I then exposed the paper for 5 seconds and fed the exposed paper into the developing machine. Below is my results from the photogram workshop, overall I am happy with the results.

Cyanotype Workshop- Photo Object

Photo Object, Photo object test shoots, Photography As Object, Year 2

This week I took part in a darkroom workshop session looking at the process of cyanotypes. Cyanotype is an early form of photography put together in the black and white darkroom. Ferric Ammonium Citrate and Potassium Ferricyanide are mixed together with 100ml of water and formed into a liquid. Both chemical compounds are then poured into a container, it is important to mix the chemicals in a brown glass container so no light can get to the chemicals. After mixing all the chemicals needed I spread the mixture across some paper using and sponge. Once the mixture was on the paper I used a hair dryer to dry off any water.

The next stage was to add objects on top of the paper, I chose some stencils provided by the technical staff member. Once I was happy with the placement of the objects I then placed the objects and the paper into a concentrated light source for 10 to 20 minutes. Once the timer was done I then rinsed the print off in water, then put the finished print on the dryer. Below are my results from my cyanotype workshop. Overall I am happy with the way my cyanotypes came out. During this workshop I experimented with the timings of the exposure, I learnt that the longer I left the print in the light bed the darker and more defined the finished outcome would be. I would definitely consider working with cyanotype again, I enjoyed the practical side of process and seeing the variations of results.

Collage workshop- Photography as an object

Photo Object, Photo object test shoots, Photography As Object, Year 2

Today I took part in a collage workshop. I was asked to bring in some of my own photographs and any un-used magazines I had indoors. This was the perfect task for me because I am specialising in collage for this photo object unit. Above is my results from the workshop. I focused on a theme of people as I want to incorporate portraiture into my final piece. Overall I am happy with the outcome of this workshop, i managed to combine my own photographs with magazine cut outs to create with final outcome. The workshop got me thinking about how I can use my own photographs with existing ones to create a totally new outcome.

Object and Body Workshop

Object and Body, Photo Object, Photo object test shoots, Year 2

Today I took part in another studio based workshop, once again there was two different studio set ups for me to use each with slightly different lighting set ups. The main difference between the studio set ups was the backgrounds (one with a white background and the other with a black background). Each studio set up gave me different results due to the difference in equipment. The main benefit of this workshop was getting to use the Hasselblad cameras. Getting the opportunity to use Hasselblad to shoot in the studio was a privilege. The workshop looked at relating people to objects so during this workshop I focused on simple portraits.

Because of my artist research linking to collage work for my final piece, I decided to use this studio session to focus on capturing simple portraits. I wanted to focus on plain portraits because I am later doing to use the photographs from this workshop and create a series of different collages, deconstructing the face of the model and putting the print back together again. After shooting in the workshop I chose one photograph to edit in the second half of the workshop. In the afternoon I took part in an advanced photoshop lesson. I was taught a number of very useful photoshop skills that will come in handy in the future, these skills included; burning, curves, shot heal and layers. During this photoshop session I was also introduced to Wacom tablets. Wacom tablets are a handy tool which makes editing a lot easier and a lot more precise.

Overall I found this workshop to be really useful especially the photoshop workshop. I now have a greater understanding of the importance of photoshop and how I can improve my work through the use of photoshop. Below are the photographs I took from todays workshop sessions and some of the outcomes I produced during this workshop.

Still Life – Test Shoot

Photo Object, Photo object research, Photo object test shoots, Still Life, Year 2

Week one of the ‘Photo Object’ technical workshop I focused on still life. I completed a number of different studio set ups working with my objects for still life. The workshop included various different lighting set ups, experimenting with mirrors and different studio lights. The results I got from this task were not what I was expecting, if I could redo the first stage of the workshop I would have brought in different still life objects to photograph. The next stage of the workshop was looking at different surface areas, by elevating different still life objects gave me a different results to the first task in the workshop. Overall the first part of the still life workshop was not a strong point, however I felt needed this part of workshop to build my confidence in still life photography.

The second part of the workshop was my favourite, I worked with a long exposure to create a long lasting light effect. By making the studio pitch black and using a pocket wizard to set off one single flash, I was able to use multicoloured neon lights to create a vibrant background for my still life object. My still life object was a metal sculpture of a chicken from my house, I chose this object because its different and not a standard still life object. By waving different colour lights I created a rainbow effect. In the end I settled for a red light in the background, I chose this particular colour because it complimented my still life object well. The final task of the day was working with large format cameras.

I set up one single shot to shoot on the large format camera. After shooting the image of my choice I went to the film processing lab to put the large format negative in the developing machine. Overall the colour negative came out well, next week during our colour darkroom workshop I am going to develop the picture from the still life work shop.