PhotoStory – Evaluation

After shooting my photo story, and reflecting over the images I have been able to develop my skills with a 55mm lens using a large aperture of f1.8/f.14. This has been a tricky to work with such a small aperture as the depth of field is extremely small making the focal point small also. I have also learnt how to work with a Speedlight flash, however even though not using this within the images on my photo story I have been able to use this whilst shooting on live locations.

I will be hoping to develop my skills working with flash and will be continuing to look at portraiture and how to frame the individual within the frame. I will continue to look at different portraiture photographers to gain inspiration and will continue to photograph people in different ways.

Looking back at the images I have taken from the Jet Age Museum if I was to extend my shooting within the Museum I would have further contacted the pilots of the planes and would travel with them to showcases and would photograph the restoration team head on. I would have liked to have created “headshots” of the individuals placing flash into the images also.

Through this project I have used the skilled learnt throughout the different location shoots and though returning to the Museum I have been able to improve some of my images.

From where I have left this photo story I will be looking at how to change the perspective of my images and to make use of flash more often and to use inspiration of different photographers to develop my photographs.

 

 

Photographer -Irving Penn

Looking at the portraits that Irving Penn. Irving worked within black and white mainly, and would place his subject into intriguing positions, even making a corner to place his subjects to make them not only look as though they were in an uncomfortable position but they would have actually have been within one.

This portrait takes out the normal perspective of what a portrait is, This image is a studio taken image, and makes use of staging to complete the different perspective of the portrait. The image is black and white, not purposefully but because this was a limitation of the equipment used. The way the Penn has placed the individual at the end of the corner adds distance between the viewer and the individual, however the fact that the individual is placed in dead centre adds to the leading lines of the corner, drawing the viewer in.

I love how Penn changes the way in which is a portrait is taken.

 

 

Jet Age Museum – Context

After my last visit to the museum I had realised that I had to put my images into context. Therefore on my last visit I photographed the lack of funding that the Jet Age Museum receives. I therefore photographed the donation boxes and the work stations that the volunteer have to work in….

I have done this as to put the images that I have already taken into context, to show where the museum is and what the facilities are like. To add more of a feel to my photostory.

With these images I was mainly using a wide aperture inside the building due to a lack of light but when photographing outside I was using the smallest aperture that my lens would allow which was f.16. The lighting within the museum has been hard to work with as it has been typical warehouse lighting however I think the way I have worked has meant that the lighting has not prevented me from photographing this photostory.

Jet Age Museum – Photostory

After my previous shoot at Gloucester Jet Age Museum I have been back and have had the chance to photograph the aircrafts again, as well as the people who work upon the restoration of the aircrafts also. When I was  on location I was using a wide angle lens with a very wide aperture.

The people working on the planes were more than willing to have their photographs taken, and as they were working I was able to capture them as they were working.

Simon Norfolk

I have been looking at the work of Simon Norfolk after my trip to the jet age Museum. After seeing the chaotic mess of the wiring and how complex the computer systems were within planes I have looked at photographer Simon Norfolk and how he photographed the chaos of huge supercomputers.

The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast supercomputer. Reading, England

The supercomputer owned by Liverpool University, UK

Both of these images have long depths of field adding to the chaos of the wires, with everything in focus the wires all interact with one another crossing over and weaving in and out of one another. When I go back to the museum I will take my tripod so that I am able to use a smaller aperture and a slower shutter without having to change my ISO.

If the use of my tripod cannot be done, this would be down to lack of space as it is very cramped under the plane, I will use flash but reflect the flash off from behind me so that the light is not as harsh.

These are my images which I have taken with a small aperture from the range of f. 1.4 – 2.5, when returning to shoot I will refer back to the work of Simon Norfolk to recompose and reshoot these images, so to use them as part of my narrative of my Photostory.

Luis Sinco

I have been admiring this photographers work for a while. He is a well know war photographer and is most known for the Marlboro Marine image. This image was used a lot during the war within Fallouja, Iraq, 2004.

Luis Sinco whilst in Fallouja made a lasting relationship with what was soon to be branded as the Marlboro Marine, James Blake Miller. He worked to share his story after he was sent back to the US. He worked in close proximity of him, documenting James Miller on his road back into civilisation. I particularly like that way in which Luis Sinco has portrayed him. The use of natural light and the compositions which he has used captures his transition with great success.

This image of Marine Lance Cpl. James Blake Miller beamed around the globe and was printed on the front pages of hundreds of newspapers. Miller — a country boy from Kentucky — became an icon of the war in Iraq. Many saw a heroic figure. In Miller’s eyes I saw a man at the point of breaking. It was how I felt, too. The fight for Fallouja raged all around us. In the aftermath, as the years passed, our lives intertwined as we struggled to find meaning far from the battlefield.

 

http://www.latimes.com/la-na-marlboromarine-html-htmlstory.html

I love the way Luis has made use of the reflections, and has used the minimal light. With this in effect it makes it seem as though the soldier is softer and takes away the harshness which is present when using a flash. I think that I will use some of the techniques used here from Luis Sinco on my own portraits I think that within my stories images I will not use the same technique to such an extent, however within my own work I will transfer Luis Sinco’s style of lighting within my own work.

Jet Age Museum

After coming away from the museum, after my shoot I realised that I had been able to capture the feel for the place, and the jets themselves. However as I was unable to photograph the people who worked on the planes due to the rush they were under to finish a job I will be returning to photograph them. However I have shot the infill photographs I will need to complete my photostory.

I was shooting with a 55mm lens mostly using an f. 1.4 as the lighting within the planes was poor, however through doing this I was able to capture details clearly.

When I go back to the museum I will bring my flash so that I can grab some more detailed shots of the planes, however I know that I must be weary of the fact that the materials I am photographing may flare back into the lens. However the use of flash will be useful for the portraits, to pull out details within their features.

Gloucester Photostory update

So far with my story I have been unsuccessful with my contacts but I have been successful with  the Jet Age Museum. I have been to the museum to have a look and through this I have seen that the lighting is typical of that of  a warehouse. And so I when shooting I will have to adjust my camera accordingly. I have come to the conclusion that I will be having to alter my images within Photoshop to adjust the white balance.

I have been told that I will be able to photograph those who are working with the planes on a Saturday. This has caused some issues as I have not been able to get the time off of work. This is also meaning I will only be able to have access to the Museum for two Saturdays. Therefore I will have to be precise and refine my images whilst on location. I will therefore be bringing my computer so that I can double check each image to ensure that they are sharp and what I am hoping for.

Through the mean time though I have set up a side project and shooting the people that I live with, looking at portraiture.

Responses to Disasters – Thomas Hoepker

Thomas Hoepker’s famous 9/11 photograph as it unfolded depicts a different angle from what the hundreds of thousands of images shown. It is shown to have teenagers standing away from the disaster as if completely unaffected by the disaster, almost as if it has been completely unnoticed. The image contrived a number of complaints by the individuals within the image, saying that they were in actual fact highly distressed by the disaster and found that this image was insulting. This being said the image shows a completely different angle upon one of the most disastrous and well known affairs. It was written by one journalist that he perceived the image to be a symbol of how quickly atrocities are forgotten. He worte – “This is a country that likes to move on and fast.” –    http://www.magnumphotos.com/Archive/C.aspx?VP=Mod_ViewBoxInsertion.ViewBoxInsertion_VPage&R=2K7O3RK0762&RP=Mod_ViewBox.ViewBoxZoom_VPage&CT=Image&SP=Image&IT=ImageZoom01&DTTM=Image&SAKL=T

USA. Brooklyn, New York. September 11, 2001. Young people relax during their lunch break along the East River while a huge plume of smoke rises from Lower Manhattan after the attack on the World Trade Center.

I believe that the image is depicting how within this day and age if we are not directly affected by an event, directly involved, then it is not such an issue. Yes we may feel sorry for those who we have lost but as said by the journalist within this day and age we do not take long to move on. Especially within bigger cities, our day-to-day life takes priority over disasters not effecting us directly. As cynical as this being said is, this image proves this point. As we may reflect on times past it is only a snapshot that can be referred to. The image shows a side to the disaster which may never have been shown if the photographer was not there at such a time. The composition of the image is taken as if the 9/11 disaster was not meant to be apart of the image. I believe the image is showing how we may now think of past events, we may be able to observe them through images and through video footage, however we are not truly effected. We are like the bystanders within this image, we can continue our day-to-day lives however when approached with images and a perspective on such disasters being shown we may appeal to the many as being highly distressed, such as the individuals within this image have done so.

Photography and art forms spent a while documenting the 9/11 disaster however it was not long before even the art forms moved forward, it was as if 9/11 became a distant memory even before it had passed. No where is this better shown than  within Thomas Hoepker’s photograph.

Through Thomas Hoepker’s contact sheet it is not only shown that the smoke appearing off of the building had been happening for a while but it also adds the this idea of how largely populated areas can move on so quickly, as the people within the image are shown as completely unaffected by what is happening behind them.

CONTACT SHEET. USA. New York. September 11, 2001. – Thomas Hoepker

Stow – Horse fair

Recently as part of my studies I have been to Stow horse fair photographing the people, and building up my photography techniques.

Here are a few of my images:

Whilst shooting, I was shooting off the hip with a pre-focused camera. With other photographs I was able to focus the camera accordingly as they subjects were willing for me to photograph them. Whilst shooting, it was a cloudy day but I was using a wide-angle lens and so was able to open up the aperture to f/1.4. Even though I did not open up the aperture to such a wide f. stop I was able to capture a few images to show the people at the fair at Stow.

I think that these images have worked better than my shoot at Tewksbury, but as I was shooting off the hip there were a few frames which I had just missed where the individuals within the focal point of the image were soft and so I had missed the shot.

I think that within my later shoots I will use the wide-angle lens again to gain some more experience with the lens and to build my confidence using a different lens.