Structure: Architecture
For this task we had to photograph two different buildings: St James' Church and The Everyman Cinema. These structures are both in Muswell Hill and have contrasting styles of architecture; The Everyman was originally opened as the Ocean Theatre in 1936 and is built in an Art Deco style, whereas St James' Church was originally built in 1842 using the prevailing church building style of the time, although it has been extended and restored multiple times since then.
We were set the task of photographing both of these structures and showing the editing process in post. These are the photos that were taken:
For this task we had to photograph two different buildings: St James' Church and The Everyman Cinema. These structures are both in Muswell Hill and have contrasting styles of architecture; The Everyman was originally opened as the Ocean Theatre in 1936 and is built in an Art Deco style, whereas St James' Church was originally built in 1842 using the prevailing church building style of the time, although it has been extended and restored multiple times since then.
We were set the task of photographing both of these structures and showing the editing process in post. These are the photos that were taken:
Edited Photos- I decided to experiment with putting some of the photos in black and white to see if the effect would create more impact and emphasise the different architectural styles.
Homework: Brutalist Structures
The term 'brutalist' came from the French term for raw concrete which is 'Béton brut’. It is used for the kind of architecture created by architects such as Le Corbusier and his followers. The style became prominent in post-war Britain but people had mixed feelings regarding the new style of buildings. Buildings of a Brutalist style are big in size and are made of raw, often unfinished concrete. People felt it lacked a human dimension and found the environments created by Brutalist architecture unfriendly and alienating. Brutalist-style architecture was very evident in the Broadwater Farm estate in Tottenham, scene of serious civil unrest in the 1980s.
The term 'brutalist' came from the French term for raw concrete which is 'Béton brut’. It is used for the kind of architecture created by architects such as Le Corbusier and his followers. The style became prominent in post-war Britain but people had mixed feelings regarding the new style of buildings. Buildings of a Brutalist style are big in size and are made of raw, often unfinished concrete. People felt it lacked a human dimension and found the environments created by Brutalist architecture unfriendly and alienating. Brutalist-style architecture was very evident in the Broadwater Farm estate in Tottenham, scene of serious civil unrest in the 1980s.
Link Artist: Simon Phipps
Simon Phipps is a photographer that has spent the last 15 photographing Brutalist structures. His photographs are often in black and white and give the buildings being photographed a formidable and overwhelming feeling. For this task we looked to his work for inspiration:
Extension-
Link Artist: Thomas Danthony
Thomas Danthony is an artist that photographs brutalist structures around London and then creates a simplified version of them in a monochromatic colours. This makes the structure of these brutalist buildings stand out more.
Link Artist: Thomas Danthony
Thomas Danthony is an artist that photographs brutalist structures around London and then creates a simplified version of them in a monochromatic colours. This makes the structure of these brutalist buildings stand out more.
My response:
Structures in Nature
Link Artist: Myoung Ho Lee
This North Korean photographer that aims to allow the viewer to look at a piece of nature as a subjective object and as a piece of art in itself instead of looking at the whole landscape around it included.She does this my putting up huge pieces of white fabric up behind trees to separate them from the landscape.
This North Korean photographer that aims to allow the viewer to look at a piece of nature as a subjective object and as a piece of art in itself instead of looking at the whole landscape around it included.She does this my putting up huge pieces of white fabric up behind trees to separate them from the landscape.
For my response we went to the local woods and held up card behind trees and other plants to try and create a similar look to our link artist Myoung Ho Lee even if it is on a smaller scale. We brought A3 pieces of card to hold behind tree trunks and branches.
Edited Images- For these images I brightened them and tightened the contrast so that the white of the card looked more crisp and the piece of nature would stand out more.
Link Artist: Sanna Kannisto - Field works
Photographer Sanna Kannisto has spent several months a year living alongside biologists in the rainforests of Latin America. In this project called 'Field works' she photographed the nature while also adding elements of the scientific methods her colleagues were using to create this unique aesthetic. Much like Myoung Ho Lee she allows the viewer of the image to look at the nature subjectively and highlight its beauty instead of it in its natural habitat where it blends in.
These are some examples of her work:
Photographer Sanna Kannisto has spent several months a year living alongside biologists in the rainforests of Latin America. In this project called 'Field works' she photographed the nature while also adding elements of the scientific methods her colleagues were using to create this unique aesthetic. Much like Myoung Ho Lee she allows the viewer of the image to look at the nature subjectively and highlight its beauty instead of it in its natural habitat where it blends in.
These are some examples of her work:
My Response- to create a similar look to Kannisto we used the school's science equipment to hold up the plants
EVOL
EVOL is a street artist born in Heilbronn, Germany in 1972. His art involves him making making miniature blocks of flats or houses made of cardboard and photographing them to look realistic. He also paints on electricity boxes to create realistic blocks of flats.
For his cardboard houses he cuts out holes for windows and puts pictures of windows underneath the holes to create the illusion of real window frames. He often keeps the original printing that is on the box to give the work a more interesting look. I think his work is imaginative and original and makes the everyday into something to be admired. I also admire that he uses everyday structures in the street as his canvas and make these mundane objects pieces of art. Although I enjoy his work I do think it lacks some variety and I would enjoy if some of his works were a little different to what he always does. For example maybe including people in the works.
For his cardboard houses he cuts out holes for windows and puts pictures of windows underneath the holes to create the illusion of real window frames. He often keeps the original printing that is on the box to give the work a more interesting look. I think his work is imaginative and original and makes the everyday into something to be admired. I also admire that he uses everyday structures in the street as his canvas and make these mundane objects pieces of art. Although I enjoy his work I do think it lacks some variety and I would enjoy if some of his works were a little different to what he always does. For example maybe including people in the works.
This is an example of one of EVOL's artwork. It shows one of the cardboard block of flats he has created. It shows a realistic looking housing complex but still shows the texture of the cardboard so if you look closely you can see it is not real.
I like fact that there is still texture of the original cardboard as it makes the cardboard one of a kind and allows the person looking at the photo to tell its not just a normal housing complex if, for example, it is their first time seeing his work and they aren't familiar with the concept. Although I dislike that there isn't anything that really stands out in this image. In my own response to EVOL I will take after this image and keep any blemishes and maybe add some more if there is only a few. I'm hoping this will add authenticity to my response. |
My response
To create images like EVOL we had to make a miniature house similar to the ones he makes. I did my one miniature house by taking photos of real windows and doors and then printing them out on a tiny scale. I then took a square of cardboard that as relative to the print outs of doors and windows and cut out holes and stuck the print outs behind them to create the illusion of the window and door frames of the tiny house. Finally to finish the project I took photos of this tiny house around Muswell Hill.
These are the photographs:
Abstract Structure
Task 1: The White Paper Test
For this task we were challenged to create 24 unique images using one piece of paper and different types of lighing. We could only crumple, fold or roll the paper and we were not allowed to cut to rip it.
These were the images I created:
For this task we were challenged to create 24 unique images using one piece of paper and different types of lighing. We could only crumple, fold or roll the paper and we were not allowed to cut to rip it.
These were the images I created:
Structures of the Body
Link Artist: Peter Hickley
Peter Hickley is a photographer who in his collection called 'Complex Structures' creates intricate images that show the inner workings of the body. He does this by taking close up images of parts of the body and then uses thread to stitch over it to create the illusion that the inner workings underneath are showing.
To create images reminiscent of Peter Hickley we took a photos of a fake skeleton and photoshopped it underneath a normal photo of a person. We then erased the photo on top to slowly reveal the skeleton underneath. This gives the illusion of translucent skin and allows us to see the inner workings of the body and the structure of it.
The second part of the task was too use a medical model of the organs inside the torso. I used the same process to achieve this look.
Three Strands
Strand 1) Brutalism strand
Link Artist: Paul Eis
I enjoyed looking at the work of Simon Phipps and although I found it interesting, I wanted something more eye-catching and inspiring and this led me to the work of Paul Eis. He is a 20 year old German photographer that documents buildings and the architecture around Berlin and Hamburg and then colours sections of them, in post, with vibrant colours. For this strand I decided to take inspiration from both these artists and create a hybrid of them both by taking photographs of brutalist buildings and giving them new life with bright colours.
Here are some examples of Paul Eis' work:
Link Artist: Paul Eis
I enjoyed looking at the work of Simon Phipps and although I found it interesting, I wanted something more eye-catching and inspiring and this led me to the work of Paul Eis. He is a 20 year old German photographer that documents buildings and the architecture around Berlin and Hamburg and then colours sections of them, in post, with vibrant colours. For this strand I decided to take inspiration from both these artists and create a hybrid of them both by taking photographs of brutalist buildings and giving them new life with bright colours.
Here are some examples of Paul Eis' work:
For my first shoot I went to The Barbican and photographed Centre Point in Tottenham Court Road along the way.
This is the first edit I did of one of my photos:
Strand 2) Structure of a City
Link Artist: Martin Parr
Martin Parr is a British documentary style photographer. He has a distinct style of photography that is unlike anyone else and this style has brought him wide recognition and he has the achievement of becoming a Magnum Photographer. Martin Parr's 'Real Food' project is what I mostly took inspiration from and is a good example of his iconic imagery of garish colours and shows the comedic and somewhat ugly reality of people lives. It is a collection of photographs of food in Britain from hot dogs to cupcakes and is presented on a large scale plastered over walls to give an immense and unique viewing experience.
Link Artist: Martin Parr
Martin Parr is a British documentary style photographer. He has a distinct style of photography that is unlike anyone else and this style has brought him wide recognition and he has the achievement of becoming a Magnum Photographer. Martin Parr's 'Real Food' project is what I mostly took inspiration from and is a good example of his iconic imagery of garish colours and shows the comedic and somewhat ugly reality of people lives. It is a collection of photographs of food in Britain from hot dogs to cupcakes and is presented on a large scale plastered over walls to give an immense and unique viewing experience.
I took inspiration from Martin Parr and so I wanted to take photos of things people would normally see no artistic value in and would mostly ignore but simultaneously had something that was interesting to look at, whether it be perhaps colour or pattern. I decided to first photograph shop fronts because I thought that if I took after Martin Parr and there was a large amount of them lined up in some kind of order and brightened the colours it could look quite interesting.
For my first shoot I went through Highgate, Archway, Tufnell Park, Kentish Town and Camden and photographed all of the shops that I found interesting to look at, whether that be the colour or the design of the shop front.
For my first shoot I went through Highgate, Archway, Tufnell Park, Kentish Town and Camden and photographed all of the shops that I found interesting to look at, whether that be the colour or the design of the shop front.
I decided to follow my first thought with this strand and focus on the colour of the shops. I thought the best way to this was by simplifying the shop fronts down and making them look almost cartoon-like.
This is the finished product of the editing:
This is the finished product of the editing:
Strand 3)
Link Artist: Rita Zimmerman
I wanted to find inspiration from different places and hopefully find a photographer or artist that is less well known and take inspiration from them. I looked on Pinterest for this kind of inspiration and I came across an image of a digital collage made by Rita Zimmerman
Collages created both digitally and manually using print outs.
My first response
For my first response I tried to do a similar version of what she did in her work. I achieved this by using photoshop.
My process of making the collage above
The first step was to copy my photograph onto a picture of flowers I found on google.
After this I selected the section of the photo I wanted to remove.
Then you select the section and move it slightly to reveal the flowers underneath.
Finally, you crop the image so that none of the landscape can be seen outside of the gap.
When I finished the edits I was unhappy with the outcome. I decided to make a physical version of this work to give it a more authentic look because my digital version looks too fake.
I printed out a picture of some flowers of and also of two portraits I took. I decided I wanted to only remove the actual eyes of the pictures to start with. I then took some scissors to remove the eyes of the photo and then roughed up the edges of what I had cut out .
I printed out a picture of some flowers of and also of two portraits I took. I decided I wanted to only remove the actual eyes of the pictures to start with. I then took some scissors to remove the eyes of the photo and then roughed up the edges of what I had cut out .
After looking at the photos with only the eyes cut out i decided that i wanted to cut larger sections of the face and put things underneath them in order to ket them show through the holes.
After i had cut out larger sections of the picture i experimented with putting different things underneath. Here are my experiments:
After i had cut out larger sections of the picture i experimented with putting different things underneath. Here are my experiments:
After this experimentation i found i liked the look of both the flowers and the text peeping through the holes but i did rather the text because while i will still incorporate a small bit of the flowers into the image by using a piece of text it can add meaning to the image depending on what piece of writing you choose. I thought about an extract that i would like to peer through the holes of my piece and i decided on a short extract from 'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I chose this extract because it beautifully and poetically describes a character's smile in a way that moves the reader but also it shows the complexity of the human character with the last sentence.
This is the extract I chose:
"It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced — or seemed to face — the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favour. It understood you just so far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey. Precisely at that point it vanished."
"It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced — or seemed to face — the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favour. It understood you just so far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey. Precisely at that point it vanished."
My Final Piece for Structure
Portraiture shoot three
In this shoot I wanted to experiment with different textures so I decided to pour honey over the face of the subject, I thought this could recreate the look of dripping water while also dripping slower to give me more control over the images. These are some of my favourite images from the shoot:
In this shoot I wanted to experiment with different textures so I decided to pour honey over the face of the subject, I thought this could recreate the look of dripping water while also dripping slower to give me more control over the images. These are some of my favourite images from the shoot:
Portraits Development
After these images were taken I wanted to experiment more with textures and different effects could create. I used a different Nadav Kander image as inspiration along with a series of photographs taken by Alban Grosdidier called 'Drowning Project'
After these images were taken I wanted to experiment more with textures and different effects could create. I used a different Nadav Kander image as inspiration along with a series of photographs taken by Alban Grosdidier called 'Drowning Project'
Curated Street Photography
I wanted to move towards portraiture and studying the people as individuals rather than them in their environment and their interactions. To do this, I walked around my local area with a piece of white board
I wanted to move towards portraiture and studying the people as individuals rather than them in their environment and their interactions. To do this, I walked around my local area with a piece of white board
Pride
For this image I used the clone tool in order to edit out a friend who had got into the frame. I first cropped the majority of her out of the image and then I used the clone tool to remove the remaining parts of her that were in the image. Here, in these screenshots you can see my process
WWW: Her facial expression is quite interesting as she looks as if she is in awe of whatever she is photographing. The composition of the image is also nice because she is clearly the main subject of the image as she rises above everything else in the image and the way her arm positioning mimics the pattern of the flowers behind her along with the geometric reflection of the buildings on the glass makes for an aesthetically pleasing image.
EBI: I am going to attempt to edit out the lady's arm on the far right of the image as I think it will make for a better composition of the image. I will use the clone tool for this, the same process as the editing shown in the picture of the man below.
EBI: I am going to attempt to edit out the lady's arm on the far right of the image as I think it will make for a better composition of the image. I will use the clone tool for this, the same process as the editing shown in the picture of the man below.