A real, live case!

Promptly in keeping with the subject of the moral & artistic considerations for extreme editing of images, this story appeared on Yahoo News on Thursday the 27th of September 2012. I have shown this article in part. Interesting to see that the decision to edit the photograph in this fashion does not appear to have been the photographer's on this occasion. This adds another dimension to our subject - should you edit other peoples work?

The article was credited to:  Bianca Ffolkes | Yahoo Lifestyle – Thu, Sep 27, 2012 13:16 BST and is reproduced in part below.

Model Karlie Kloss’ ribs airbrushed out of Numéro magazine photo

Tate Modern

Tate Modern, a photo by SimonLawrence on Flickr.

Following on from some of the previous exercises, I have converted one of my older film images to black & white. I chose this shot of a new exhibit going up in the Tate Modern, as it has a bit of tonal range.

Similar to an earlier exercise I had to do a bit of dust spot removal. In several instances this did mean having to choose between dust spots and real marks on the floor.

Cecil Beaton Exhibition

In a previous post I looked at the work of Cecil Beaton. I have just found out that the Imperial War Museum is hosting an exhibition entitled "Cecil Beaton: Theatre of War" which runs from the 6th September 2012 until the 1st January 2013. (link)

I will be making every effort to visit this exhibition!

A look at "Unseen Vogue"

As I have mentioned before, many of the photographers I admire have at some time worked as fashion photographers. I was recently looking through the photography book section of Amazon when 'Unseen Vogue' (Little, Brown. 2002) caught my attention. What is 'Unseen Vogue'? It sounds interesting!

The description for the book read "For every picture that has been published in Vogue, there are many that never make it - not because of poor composition or execution, but because the fashion styling may have been too inventive, the camera technique too pioneering or, frequently, because the magazine simply ran out of space"

This was tantalising enough so I ordered the book immediately and it duly arrived a few days later.

I was not disappointed. The book has turned out to be much more relevant to the course than I expected. Between the pages we find work from many of the great masters - Horst, George Hoyningen-Huene, Cecil Beaton, Lee Miller, Barry Lategan, Corinne Day, David Bailey and Helmut Newton as well as others that I will be researching further. As the description states this book contains pictures that didn't make it in to Vogue. It is incredibly interesting to see this work and the reasons for this decision. Many of the pages also contain contact sheets so we can get a view of the different poses and ideas the photographers, models and art directors have tried.

Further to all these gems, there are also notes and letters of conversations between Vogue editors and photographers. Finally, you get to see some new shots of some of our greatest models going back to the beginning of Vogue.

All in all this is a great photographers book if you have the slightest interest in fashion photography.

Little, Brown. 2002. ISBN 978-0-316-72766-2

Thinking about assignment three - continued.

I have had feedback from my tutor which includes the recommendation to look at the work of Harry Callahan (1912 - 1999) prior to starting my next assignment. I found a slideshow of some of his photography here and an interview with Harry Callahan here.

Harry Callahan, by his own confession, caught the photography bug after attending a workshop run by Ansel Adams in the 1940's. Callahan worked in both colour and black and white photographing his primary subjects of the city, nature and his wife and daughter. To keep his work from getting stale, he would switch subject and camera when he started to tire from the theme he was working on.

Callahan also used 'in camera' multiple exposure and camera movement techniques in his work. Below are some examples of Harry Callahan's (black & white) photography.

To get a better overall view of his images, I carried out a Google Image search. I have seen it written that Callahan has a strong sense of line. This is apparent if you view his images side by side and is evident in all the images below, be it the silhouette or the architectural shots. Another good example is 'Chicago, 1961' which has strong uprights in the lamp post, the figure in the foreground through to the chimney, side of building and other pedestrians. Moody tones are also evident in all the images - note that I am only looking at the black & white work in this essay as a prelude to the black and white assignment.

Eleanor, 1948

Chicago, 1961

Cape Cod, 1972

Cape Cod, 1972

Eleanor and Barbara, Chicago, 1954

Chicago, 1949

Other photographs with great tonal qualities to look out for are the series of pebbles in sand and a favourite of mine, 'Untitled, ca 1953' which depicts the fingers of a hand curling round the top of a table.

Thinking about assignment three.

As I am working on the last exercise before assignment three, I have started to think about what I am going to photograph for the assignment. This is a monochrome task so building on the last exercises in part three I have started to look for a subject that will allow me the maximum of scope to show form, tonal contrast and texture. I also want the subject to be easily accessible so that I can visit it on more than one occasion should I need to.

So far I am considering two ideas. The first is the local pier. This gives the opportunity of  pattern and rhythm as well as tonal variation in repetitive constructs such as the deck planking and railings, the pier legs etc. To bring variety there is also the tonal range of the sky if I photograph this in a manner that it forms part of a pier view and choose the right time to do it.

My second thought is a little more abstract but something I will investigate. This will be a series of photographs of one of the pedestrian bridges across a nearby A road.  Might sound a bit strange but it has some great shapes. My only concern is being able to get enough variation across 5 to 10 images.

Catharine Portfolio Shoot

I did some more portfolio photography with Catharine last weekend. The location was an old ruin not too far from where I live.  The idea was to get the shots as 'fashion' looking as possible.

Catharine had three outfits and a number of accessories. For my part I paid a lot of attention to the lighting. I was using a Strobist set-up of a shoot through umbrella with a remotely fired flash gun. As part of getting the look, I set the lights to eliminate quite a lot of the shadows on the face and aimed to also get a fairly even lighting across Catharine.

Final touches were carried out in post production. The colours were slightly de-saturated and a certain amount of toning has been added. 

My influences for this type of work come from magazines such as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar as well as the online work of many fashion photographers.

Hotel room.

Hotel room., a photo by SimonLawrence on Flickr.

Some time ago I looked at the artist Stephen Shore. I am interested in his 'deadpan' style of photography. Here is one of my attempts to photograph in the same style.

The picture was shot on 35mm film in natural light, hand held. The location is a hotel room in Gent, Belgium.

I am very happy with the shot. I love the colours which are pretty much how the camera took them. I am aware of, and don't really mind about the burnt out window.

A look at Cecil Beaton

I picked up a book about the photographer Cecil Beaton CBE (January 1904 – January 1980) in a second hand bookshop a little while back. The book tells the story Beaton's life in the first section and then a has great many plates that span his whole career. I was surprised at how experimental and modern some of the photographic concepts appear. His early images of sisters Baba (Barbara) and Nancy show an interest in costume and elaborately designed set-ups. In later years Beaton is to win awards for his costume designs for the films 'My Fair Lady' and 'Gigi'.

Beaton has been a photographer for British vogue and Vanity Fair. He is also well known for his society and Hollywood Star portraits. Beaton also photographed the Royal Family on numerous occasions.

During the early war years Beaton was employed by the Ministry of Information to document the war on the home front. One of his images, a young girl clutching her teddy bear and recovering in hospital after a German bombing raid, was used in the world wide press. Images like this would eventually cause the American Government to join the war.

I thought this look at Beaton might be quite relevant to this module for a number of reasons. There is naturally a great deal of black and white photography which provides for a good study of tones. Equally interesting is his composition and use of props. It is also often  mentioned that Beaton was not the most technically adept of photographers and examining the reason for these comments could be useful.

Beaton has been an influence on photographers such as David Bailey and Angus McBean.

A Google image search revealed a good cross section of Cecil Beaton's work.

Baba, Wanda Baillie-Hamilton and Lady Bridget Poullett, 1928, showing creative use of props.

Eileen Dunne in the hospital for sick children 1940. 

Marlene Dietrich, 1935

Fashion, c1950's

Ref: Beaton, James Danziger Octopus Books, 1980, ISBN 0 7064 2663 0

Shoot & Edit Inspired by Emily Soto, fashion photographer.

Catharine edit., a photo by SimonLawrence on Flickr.

This image is from a recent shoot inspired by fashion photographer Emily Soto. I am a big fan and have been following Emily for some time now after finding her work on the internet. The toning of her images is handled wonderfully, with the location and editing working together perfectly. Emily kindly gave me permission to link to her web site.

Here is one of my first edits carried out with Lightroom 4 and a little touch of Photoshop. I used LR4 for the initial RAW conversion and the colour adjustments and then popped into PS to add a little more blur around the edges.

Emily Soto,
Web site
Blog


Strobist info: YN560 CL with shoot through brolly.
5D MKII with 85mm F1.8, 1/250 @ F1.8. RF602 RX.

Lightroom 4

I have just upgraded to Adobe Lightroom 4 with the student discount available through OCA. This has meant a change to my workflow and the ability to use better organisation and key wording for my images. I will be playing around to see what Lightroom can do for my images and getting up to speed as quickly as possible!

An evening with Lee Miller

What a fantastic evening was had at the Bognor Regis camera club last Thursday. The invited speaker was Antony Penrose, son of the late Lee Miller and Roland Penrose. The talk centred around Lee's life and work, and what a life it was!

Antony's talk gave invaluable 'behind the scenes' information  which really helped to put the images into context. We learnt why Lee's career changed from model for vogue to photographer, about her move to Paris and involvement with Man Ray and the surrealist movement. We learnt about the discovery of 'solarisation' and then followed Lee from D Day to the liberation of the concentration camps, stopping of at Hitler's apartment on the way.

The evening included information about the Lee Miller archive and the steps taken to preserve her work and make it available for exhibitions around the world. 

But the final cherry on the cake was having my book 'The lives of Lee Miller', which accompanied the talk, signed by Antony Penrose!

Don McCullin, Shaped by War

I managed to fit in a trip to the Imperial War Museum in London last week. The purpose of the visit was to take a look at the Don McCullin exhibition ‘Shaped by war’ before it closes in mid April of this year.

The exhibition is somewhat chronological and begins with early work consisting of local gangs in Finsbury Park. It then moves on to more political photojournalism including the setting up of the Berlin wall and events in Northern Ireland. The images are mainly in Black and White which drives the gritty subject matter home.

The exhibition then continues with areas of conflict and finishes with some of Don’s non conflict and later work. A nice touch is how the background walls change colour from dark, as they are in the conflict areas, to light for the other works.

In several places it is mentioned that Don does not call himself a war photographer, concentrating more on the effects of war on the victims. This is evident in many of the images and indeed gained Don  ‘World Press photo of the year’ (1964) with "A Turkish woman mourns her dead husband, a victim of the Greek-Turkish civil war".

Also of particular interest are the post-it notes plastered over the iconic image ‘Shell-shocked US marine, Hue, Vietnam, February 1968’  with instructions on how to print the photograph. Various items of equipment used on some of the assignments and of course Don’s shot up Nikon camera are also on display.

The imagery is interesting, captivating and in some places shocking.

As an aside there is also a second exhibition running at the IWM. This is work by photographer Ori Gersht  (born 1967, Tel Aviv), the exhibition being entitled ‘This Storm Is What We Call Progress’. The imagery deals with conflict, history and geographical place (IWM).

In this series of images Gersht experiments with digital noise, a subject particularly relevant to this part of the course.

Investigating other artists - Stephen Shore

Stephen Shore (b 1947) first came to my attention in the book "The photograph as contemporary art" in the chapter discussing deadpan photography. His image "Untitled  28a" (1972) caught my attention for its 'ordinary-ness' and the colour tones of the photograph. I started reading more about Shore and was surprised I had not come across him before. I have an interest in Joel Meyerowitz and William Eggleston, who alongside Shore are often named as leading the way in the acceptance of colour film into the art world.

Shore is represented by 303 Gallery, New York, where a good selection of his images can be viewed on-line (link). The vernacular style of the photographs bring to mind the snap-shots we may have taken when first venturing into photography.

It is difficult to analyse and pinpointing why this work it grabs ones attention. Perhaps viewing the images does take us back to our first attempts at photography? Maybe we feel slightly voyeuristic due to the subject matter, as if we are looking at somebody else's private shots. In many of the images you get the feeling of being there with the subjects or present in  the street scene depicted.

Technically there does seem to be a geometric thread that can be followed through many of the pictures. This is starting to become apparent even in Shore's earlier work 'The velvet years'. The centre of the image often holds a point of interest, even if that comprises of a simple table lamp (Room 110, Holiday Inn, Brainerd, MI, ) or TV set (Stampeder Motel, Ontario, Oregon, July 19, 1973) . The eye is often 'pushed' to this point by leading lines from surrounding objects. In many of the shots it is possible to find a triangular composition hidden away in the everyday surroundings.

Shore has been acknowledged as an influence by Martin Par and Nan Goldin among others.

One of the challenges I have set myself when investigating other artists, is to try and initially mimic and subsequently build on their style. I believe this will open up my experience of trying things that I may never have tried of my own accord.


Sources:
Cotton, C , "'The photograph as contemporary art',Thames & Hudson world of art.
Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Shore (accessed February 2012).
303 Gallery representing Stephen Shore. (accessed February 2012).

Other Artists

I have just finished reading 'the photograph as contemporary art' by Charlotte Cotton. (ISBN 978-0-500-20401-6 Thames & Hudson world of art). This is a great book and once you get into it, you'll find it hard to put down! The book mentions many artists but some I have noted down for further investigation. This may be because I really like them, don't like them or don't understand their work. I will be trying to find out more about Stephen Shore, Yang Yong, Paul Graham, Corinne Day, Larry Clark, Tracey Baran and Charlie White as I proceed through this course.

Selsey reed beds II

Selsey reed beds II, a photo by SimonLawrence on Flickr.

A trip to Selsey Bill resulted in a couple more intentional camera movement shots. This one of some reed beds. I shot this with my Canon 5D MKII and a Sigma F1.4 50mm lens fitted with an ND8 filter. The movement was just a very slight up and down motion.

Via Flickr:
Some intentional camera movement in Selsey Bill.

Canon EOS 5D MKII @ F16 1.3sec Sigma 50mm F1.4 with ND8

The Agfa Silette 1 Exposed

I have put my first role of film through the Agfa Silette 1. The film was Neopan 100 ACROS and I had it professionally developed by Fuji print. The exciting thing was the printing though. My friend has a dark room and gave me a tutorial on printing.

I had a pleasant evening picking through my contact prints and printing up some of the images on 5 x 7. The images themselves weren't really anything to shout about , they where really taken to see if the camera worked and more importantly, to see if I could work with the camera!

I was quite happy with the way the camera performed though and could well see myself exposing a few more rolls of film to see if I can get to grips with it. Now I have found a manual on-line, I can start working with the depth of field scales too as there is no focussing through the view finder.

The evening has also encouraged me to get a couple of rolls of 120 to put through my Yashica 124G TLR.

Digital Photographic Practice - 1st post!

I have just completed my first OCA module ‘The art of photography’ which will be submitted in January for the 15th of March for assessment.

Whilst working on my Blog for the first module I made some firm decisions about what I wanted to do in my next Blog. For example, I found that a lot of my images were a bit ‘utilitarian’ and had started to drift away from ‘art’ in order to complete the exercises. In some cases there was no alternative to this but in my second module I would like to try and redress this and make the most creative shot wherever possible.

Another area where I wish to make a change is to print out the images for assignments so that I can supply them to the moderators as prints at the end of this module. I am also considering keeping a paper version of the Blog but haven’t come up with the best way of doing this yet. Maybe I will print out the posts and keep them in a scrap book? This is for the sole purpose of having a record of all the work to look back on in years to come and should anything happen to the internet version.

My books arrived last week and I been in contact with my new tutor, so now all that’s left is to get started!

I will be working with my Canon 5D MKII again but have added a compact camera with manual controls, the Canon S95. I bought this to have a small camera that I could carry around all the time. It should also come in handy for street & candid photography due to it’s small size.

Just for fun I have also bought a little old 35mm camera, an Agfa Silette 1.This is purely manual with no exposure meter. I have it loaded with a black & white film to see what I can do with it. This sweet little camera came from a car boot sale for £2.

Agfa Silette 1