Final Crit

How hard do you think you have worked during the module?

For two of the assignments I thought where the most challenging , Who’s Who? and Loo Roll, I focused on these first and almost tried to ‘get them out of the way’. The thought of approaching strangers and ask to take their photograph taken worried me as I can be a shy person, and I couldn’t think of any ideas for Loo Roll due to me wanting my ideas to be “different” from everyone else’s. Once I got out of that frame of mind these were the 2 assignments I enjoyed photographing the most, I enjoyed the freedom. But, I subconsciously put Light & Shadow on the back burner for a while and, although I’m still happy with the outcome, I believe I could have done better on this set. But overall, I believe I worked reasonably hard on this module.

Are you aware of the independent study hours associated with this module?

I was aware of amount of work but not the exact hours needed.

If you were to redo the module, what would you have done differently?

If I were to re-do this module I would plan my time management on each assignment better. Spending equal amounts of time on each assignment rather than more on the assignment I enjoy.

How successful did the images transfer to print?

I had some issues with printing; 1. My images where central on my screen but when they printed the border didn’t look equal on each side. 2. When the paper was fed through the printer the paper would tilt and it would print slightly wonky. But the more you looked the most you noticed, especially on my images with a dark edge. To solve this I fed paper one by one and made sure it was perfectly straight in the tray. After this, my images came out perfect.

What is the Aperture sequence?

f/2.8   f 4    f/.6    f/8    f/11    f/16    f/22

What is the Shutter Speed sequence?

1″   1/2    1/4    1/8    1/15    1/30    1/60    1/125    1/250    1/500    1/1000    1/2000

What have you discovered during the module?

During this module I have learnt to have more faith in myself and my images and to step out of my comfort zone especially when it come to approaching people.

Which photographers have inspired you during the module?

A few photographers which have inspired me are;

Christopher Mckenney:

Lee Jeffries:

And, Luc Kordas:

Who is your favourite photographer and why?

Out of all the photographer who have influence my work, my ultimate favourite has to be Luc Kordas. As he quotes:

“Street photography is 99% failure. A weird and demanding genre”

Street something has become something I enjoy to look at and in the future I would like to explore. But he doesn’t document anything, he has no mission, and he doesn’t have a defined project. If you go out searching for that ‘perfect images’ you wont fine it. It just happens. Like this photograph of the man through the window of the building, it was just a perfect moment.

What do you think you need to work on next semester?

As stated above, Next semester I need to focus on spending equal time on all of my assignments and more planning so I’m not stuck if my first idea doesn’t work out. I also need to work on my own confidence in myself and my work.

 

Final 4 – Light & Shadow

Final 4 – Who’s Who?

 

Final 4 – Loo Roll

 

Who’s Who? – Photoshoot 3

Bare face close up

Full body

Full body

Mask close up

Following on from my research into Surreal horror themes portraits I used a Halloween Mask and I asked my other model Charly from a previous shoot if she knows any males who wouldn’t mind helping. She got her boyfriend, Tom, to help on this shoot. I found a path and took a range of close ups and Body images.

Due to the day getting late, I had to use my tripod to stabilise my camera to be able to use a slower shutter speed to allow more light into my camera.

Who’s Who? – Research 3

Christopher Mckenney

Looking through my Who’s Who work and it’s come to me that I need to do another photoshoot. I’ve always had an interest in the Horror themed portraits so doing some research I have come across Christopher Mckenney.

“I don’t like to call myself a photographer, I prefer to be referred to as an artist”

Dropping out of college in 2010 , Christopher McKenney a Pennsylvania-based artists bought a Nikon D90 camera and started teaching himself Photography. McKenney used Youtube videos and experimenting to learn the basics and started creating straight away. McKenney states that the hardest things he had to face was shooting manually, “I had to wean myself off shooting on auto”, which means learning such things as Shutter speeds, Exposure times and Aperture (F-Stops). His subjects range from people falling onto beds on fire, which became one of his most favourite pictures, to “ghosts”.

He found himself in the woods one day in 2012 with nothing but a sheet, a chair and a frame to create these self-made “ghosts”. “I put the sheet over my head and Photohopped my body out” Which left a body form beneath the sheet after editing. “I don’t like to give people an identity; I like to focus on the story, not the person.”

After submitting his work to A.R.T.S.Y Magazine, he is now working with them on upcoming projects. As well as A.R.T.S.Y he is currently working on an Advert campaign with Sony, featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

 

 

Loo Roll – Printing Process

Experimenting with moving the Acetate during development

Experimenting with moving the Acetate during development

While these Cyanotypes were developing I experimented with moving the Acetate during development so create a ‘Blur’ but after looking at my outcome I don’t think I will use these in my final print. It looks too messy on the 1st Portrait image and the Loo Roll is unrecognisable as Loo Roll.

During the same time I kept one more or less still, I did knock the acetate slightly but it only has a dramatic effect on the tree branches. I like the way this Cyanotype looks, it Evokes a sense of destruction, which is what happens for us to get paper and Loo Roll, trees are destroyed to make them.

Peeping through Loo Roll

Who’s Who? – Printing Process (developed)

Less exposure time NEW

Long exposure time OLD

I have been looking into the exposure time for my Cyanotypes as I’ve noticed some of them lack detail in the darker areas and today there was a good amount of sun to give it another go.

I like the way more of Charly’s face is visible than the previous print. I only left this print in sunlight for about 1 hour 30 minutes compared to roughly 3 hours for my previous.

Another difference between this print and my previous is the amount of Cyanotype mix I used while covering my paper, rather than saturating the paper I used a light layer so it only took around an hour to dry.

Loo Roll – Development 1

Black & White

Black & White

I’ve be planning on more how I’m going to be editing my images lately rather than my photoshoots. I have been really enjoying black & white images and I think they go really well with my Loo Roll Photoshoot 2 images.

Final Submission plans

For my final submissions I am doing two Cyanotypes for each set (Loo Roll, Who’s Who? and Light & Shadow) along with two ‘normal’ digital prints. To make sure I fulfil the module brief around my Cyanotypes, I am scanning in my images and printing them a well as handing in my original prints.

I’m still yet to decide on whether my images will have colour or black & white and my formatting. But over the next few weeks, I will be developing my work until I have my final edit.