Family Assignment

Family

Artist Statement

When I have a camera in my hands, I feel really positive and happy with the thought of producing a good piece or body of work. Having an artistic flare I try to be creative with my images whether it is from the composition or the actual subject itself. I am very adventurous and I am willing to give anything a shot when it comes to photography, although, I aspire to become a great portrait photographer having the skills and confidence to create fantastic images and hopefully getting some of my work published. As well as portrait photography, I really enjoy wildlife photography. I think this is due to my great fascination with wildlife animals; capturing great shots within this category would give me an amazing sense of achievement.

As I am currently studying at college I am taking advantage of trying to experiment with the different fields of photography to find out which I am best suited to. When I get a good idea for a shoot I really focus and try to create that image as best as I can, for this, time alone (in quiet) is a must to think it through. In order to get good images I research other artists work and see what kind of shots of whatever it is I am shooting to gain the knowledge of what my competition is.

I am loving learning all these new skills within photography and watching my work progress so every now and then I look back from old too knew to see how my work is improving which gives me a great sense of achievement.

Definition of Family

For this assignment I am looking at the word Family in a different/creative way rather than it's obvious meaning of blood relations - parents/siblings etc. 

I see the word family as one of many meanings. I feel that an assembly of objects with common features could be known as a 'family of objects', for example, instruments all belong to different families i.e. brass family. Also, animals all belong to different families for instance you have, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, fish, birds and insects. These would also fall under genus which opens a vast meaning to the word family. From genus you can look into zoology, form, bacteria, biological science - biology, plants, liliospid, fungus and many more. 

Another example is exactitudes, from the work of photographer Ari Versluis, grouping together peoples dress codes which then brings categories of fashion into the meaning of family.

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Initial Ideas

Fashion Categories - Styles - Indie, Urban, Gothic, Classy, Emo, Punk... 

Clothing - Shoes - Vans, Converse, High-tops, Stilettos...

Science - Chemicals, Molecular Model,  Atom Structure, Elements, Cells, Bacteria, Science Laboratory Equipment, Flame, Water...

Animals - Horses, Dogs, Cats, Monkeys, Tigers, Lions, Donkeys, Giraffes, Goats, Cows, Sheep, Pigs...

I want to be really creative with my images making them colourful an maybe some abstract images too. 

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Research

Bernd and Hilla Becher

I find the work of Bernd and Hilla Becher inspiring because they took a typological approach to photography, documenting blast furnaces, cooling towers, gasometers, water towers, lime kilns, compressors, factory halls and head frames of mine shafts. They compose all of their images the same placing the building in the centre of the frame isolated from its enviroment. I think this works well when they categorise them into typologies as it clearly shows the similar characteristics and structure within the same type of buildings and structures. I like the concept of this work although I want my images to be more vibrant and more modern.
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Ari Versluis

 

I like these images as they show perfectly how I see the word family. I think that because he has photographed each exactitude in the same pose and composition, it strengthens that meaning and shows it more clearly. I am inspired by these images to create my own images using a studio because it clearly shows the story behind the image with no distractions in the background and maybe trying to position my objects in the same pose to emphasize my definition on the word family.
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First Shoot


Contact Sheets

For these images, I used a white backdrop and a flashgun with my camera set at 1/10 - 1/30 as I had some light from the window which kept changing and affecting my image, with a wide aperture of f4.5-f5.0 and my ISO set at 400. 

I was aiming to create a clean image which clearly showed my idea of a 'family of objects' in this case all being the same type of shoe without any background/foreground distractions. Inspired by my artist research I tried to photograph them in the same pose/composition although I wanted to add a little creativity to the images so I added a little twist to them. 

EDITS

 

I am really happy with the outcome of this shoot and feel that I have gained some really strong images. I think that with the shoes all being of the same kind and using the similar colours it really works with the idea I am going for. This is my favoured image from the shoot as I like the composition with the shoes being in size order and the use of the rule of thirds. As well as this image showing a family of shoes, if you look at it in more depth, it could also have a story of a family of mothers, sisters and/or friends. Although I am happy with this shoot, I really want to try and look into my biological science idea and try to explain that idea through images.

Experimental Idea

Image research
     

These are a few images I looked up to get the idea of what Bacteria cells look like under the microscope in order for me to create the correct look when doing my experimental shoot.
 
Contact Sheets 

To create these images I had my camera set to 1/30 with a wide aperture of f5.0 and the ISO at 400.

After completing this shoot and looking through my images, I decided that in order to gain the image I was aiming for I was going to have to use a filter in photoshop to give the image more of a realistic/professional touch. To edit my images, I gave them a really high contrast in Camera Raw so that they would work well with the filter that I wanted to use. I then opened the images into photoshop creating a curves layer and using a bas relief filter at around a 20-40% opacity. 

Edits

           

   
                                                

This is an experiment I did to try and create scientific images. I used ingredients that I had at home to attempt to represent a family of cells, bacteria and fungus as if you were looking at it through a microscope and was lucky to find some fungus in a plant pot lay on the top of the soil. As I have previously stated, I think this links with the word family as biological science - biology comes under genus and there are thousands of categories of bacteria's, cells fungus etc which all belong to different families.

Final Image

Evaluation

I have chosen this as my final image because I feel it holds more of a story behind the image. Also, I decided that with my images shown as a set rather than individually I feel that this helps to portray my definition of the word family, showing a family of images displaying families of bacteria, cells and fungus. I was inspired to use my images as a set rather than individually from looking at the work of Ari Versluis. During my shoot, I focused on making these images abstract in order to try and make them look more realistic. I think within these images, I have managed to represent at least 3-4 families as a whole, these being; blood cells, bacteria cells, fungus, and water. 

To make sure my images looked like I intended them to, I got a second opinion in which I was told, "The bottom right image looks like some fresh blood drying out, where as the top right image looks like a very small amount of red blood cells mixing with water." secondly, "The top left and middle centre and right images all look like some form of growth or fungus that's growing wildly." and also, "The bottom left image looks like water has been frozen in a state of movement or frozen where there has been bubbles of air still rising in the water."

 I think that going more into depth with the meaning of the word family for this assignment has worked really well especially in the short space of time we had to complete it. This assignment has made me realise that one word can have a vast amount of meanings; you just have to put the effort in to research it. 

 Tour of Britain - Stage 5

Stoke-On-Trent

Teams UK Youth and Sky - Tour of Britain - 

Stage 5 Stoke-On-Trent, Cycling out of Trentham Gardens

 Team UK Youth - Tour of Britain - Stage 5 Stoke-On-Trent,

Cycling out of Trentham Gardens

Teams UK Youth, Node4 Giordana Racing, Orica greenEDGE-

Tour of Britain - Stage 5 Stoke-On-Trent, 

Cycling out of Trentham Gardens

Teams Rapha Condor, Raleigh - GAC, Garmin - Sharp -

Tour of Britain - Stage 5 - Cycling out of Trentham Gardens

Teams Garmin - Sharp, Rapha Condor, Node4 Giordana Racing,

AN Post Sean Kelly Cycling team - 

Tour of Britain - Stage 5 - Cycling out of Trentham Gardens

Teams Garmin - Sharp, Node4 Giordana Racing, Euskaltel Euskadi -

Tour of Britain - Stage 5 - Cycling out of Trentham Gardens

Oh the places you'll go...

Initial Idea

I am planning on visiting Edinburgh Zoo this summer, therefore, I am going to take my camera and take advantage completing coursework whilst enjoying a good day out. Documenting the animals that belong to each area of the zoo.
As I will be photographing wildlife, I am going to need to use a telephoto lens as this will enable me to get a close shot of the animals in their territories. The lens I will be using is a Canon 75-300mm. I will be looking at using a wider aperture with a fast shutter speed to capture the animal in it's movement, freezing the image and giving me a shallow depth-of-field, most importantly a nice sharp crisp clean image.


Research
Andy Rouse

I have chosen to research Andy Rouse because I find his images really strong because of the shallow depths-of-field, compositions and how he has used the scenery to frame some of his images. I like how his images have soft tones created by the shallow depth-of-field.
These are the kind of images I am aiming to achieve. To do so, as I have said before, I will be looking at using a wider aperture with a fast shutter speed to capture the animal in it's movement, freezing the image and giving me a shallow depth-of-field. Also, I will have these images in mind as inspiration, aiding me into thinking about framing my images with the scenery etc.


Wildlife Photography

Larger telephoto lenses are often required for wildlife photography, although if you prefer to capture the smaller insects etc then a macro lens that would allow for magnification and close focusing would be required.

The best time to shoot wildlife photography is at dawn or dusk when the light is not always cooperative because that is mostly when the wildlife become more active.

If you have the money, fast telephoto lenses are ideal although, there are now more affordable, slower telephoto lenses that can capture great images too. 

Contact Sheets

One of my favoured animals. Just thought I would add these images in because they make me smile :)

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This was originally going to be one of my final images, although looking through my images and thinking about the concept of the assignment I have chosen to go with another image.

f5.0   -   1/400   -   ISO 400
I chose this image because I like how the shallow depth-of-field allows you to focus directly on the tiger. Inspired by Andy Rouse I tried to frame this image with the leaves/background and the tree trunk. I feel this image has worked rather well, even though at first I wasn't happy with the idea of the leaves obstructing the tigers face but from the angle I was at, I was very limited and really had no choice.

Final Images

I found these three images the strongest from my shoot.

f5.0   -   1/400   -   ISO 400
I decided to go with this image rather than my previous choice because I feel that this image has more mood to it, also down to the fact that the tiger only has one eye which is shown better in this image that it is in the other image. I feel that this holds a strong story behind it and upon researching and reading into this, I found that Tibor (the tiger) has been brought into the zoo along with another tiger from Spain which they are hoping will mate, although Tibor had damage to his eye which on arrival at Edinburgh Zoo was checked and treated by vets who deemed it necessary for it to be removed to cause him less pain. The zoo are really hoping the pair mate as there are as little as approximately 300 of these Sumatron Tigers left in the wild, which is a good thing but also it would be nice to see these animals where they belong! In the wild.

f5.6   -   1/320    -   ISO 400

I am really happy with this image of this White-naped Crane. It was a difficult image to capture as these birds  had a tendency to jump about and dance around along with the fact that the aviary they were kept it were very crammed with tress etc. I think that the shallow depth-of-field and the composition work really well in this image. Also I like how the red patch around its eye stands out from the rest of the colours in the image being of natural colour. I think this image has character and holds it's own story behind it from the bird broken beak. 

f6.3   -   1/320   -   ISO 400
I chose this image because again, I like the shallow depth-of-field, I like the composition of the branches of the tree and where the monkey is sat on those branches. I also like how the monkey is looking towards the camera but not directly at the camera because I feel this gives it more of a natural look. I think my inspiration from Andy Rouse's work has really paid off with this shoot.


Evaluation

I am really happy with the outcome of this assignment. I feel that I have managed to create some really strong images that link really well with my inspiration from Andy Rouse's work. I think I have found a style that I am  very pleased with for my images that I will use in my future work. I really enjoyed myself with this assignment because of the freedom we were given. I found photographing the animals really interesting as going to the zoo/safari etc, is something I really like doing in my free time. I am hoping and plan to complete some more wildlife photography in the future.
To gain the effect in these images, firstly I slightly up'd the contrast in Raw, then I adjusted the curves using an extra curves layer to adjust the blue. In some of my images I used a solid colour adjustment layer with the opacity approx between 20-30%. Then I used a saturation layer and desaturated the images a little.
If I could change anything about my shoot or images, I would have set out a little earlier to get there in time to book a ticket to view the pandas that they have there so I could have got some images of that. Also, I would go at a time when less children and families are about so that I don't feel like I have to fight through crowds of people to be able to just see let alone take photographs of the animals. I would also consider using a faster shutter speed which may mean I would have to increase my ISO, to see if I can get my images sharper as some of my images were quite blurry. 

Me, Myself and I

Me, Myself and I

I have chosen this as my final image because I found it to be very strong and eye-catching. I think this because I like how the background is dark with a soft hint of colour showing through and behind the sign from the TV, I think that this gave the image more character. To gain this effect I created a shallow depth of field using an aperture of f5.6 and a shutter speed of 1/60, I also used an external flashgun. On editing my image, I created a curves level so that I could bring out the colours a little more as I felt this was an important part of making this image strong. The reason I decided to photograph images of the bar is because my family drifted apart slightly so once we built the bar it gave us an opportunity to bring the family back together to spend quality time together.

Contact Sheets

Exhibition Work

Amy-Kate Brennan

Photography

I like this work because I have a military background and it shows that people are creating awareness for the jobs that service personnel on a daily basis.

I feel that these images being created how they have in the studio work well because it shows the person in uniform and although they are not in a work enviroment because of the uniform you automatically know the story behind the image. If the images were shot in civilian clothing people would not see them as service personnel and just everyday ordinary people.

Daniel Alan Paddick

I liked this work because it really drew your attention. It has been created to a very high standard and looks like a lot of hard work has gone into it. I feel that if this was a childrens annimation that was on tv regularly that a lot of children would be watching it.

Lisa Malkin

Art & Design

I liked this work because of the colours. It really made the work stand out from the rest and cheered me up.


Richard Mark O'shea

I found this work visually interesting as

True Colours

Rankin

I have been inspired by some of Rankin's work as I like how he as used creativity in the make-up. I feel that this idea would work well for my self-portraits as it will allow me to really express my character with make-up. I like how he has used plain backdrops for these images as it allows you to focus directly on the subject and read into the image.

I plan to focus my shoot on showing my character in make-up and also base it on films or styles. 

Contact Sheet

Edits

These are two of my images that I was struggling to decide to have as my final image. I decided with the zombie image because I felt like this was my strongest image having more impact on the viewer. 

Final Image