PLACES - A Familiar Place that is Significant or Important to You

The Kitchen

For one of my images of a familiar place that is significant or important to me, I choose my spice and ingredients cupboard in my kitchen. Being mad about food from both a cooking and eating point of view, and having had a lifetime career in the food industry, it felt right to award this cupboard the special place it deserves. It is the most used and frequented place in my entire house, both for pleasure and for business. A place without which I could not have got to the place where I am in my life.

PLACES

Another great Artist who's work I admire is Colin Prior. He has produced a series of images of some of the worlds wildest places from the Ice fields of Greenland to the Highlands of Scotland and Cairngorms. His work usually takes a panoramic form, is highly detailed by use of a small aperture, and is magnificent in his use of colour and detail in every inch of the frame. Please follow this link to see his work on the official Colin Prior website. http://www.colinprior.co.uk/

These two images are from my own collection which I took at Tarn Hows in the Lake District, using a DSLR and the smallest aperture that my camera would afford.

PLACES - Wilderness or Countryside

Here are two further images which I have chosen from the series shown on the contact print sheet. These were taken at approximately 3000mtrs up using a Nikon DSLR and a 10 - 300mm telephoto lens in order to zoom in closer to the ground. I used f32 and 1/40th of a second at ISO 800. I like the way that there is just nothing but the patterns made by the trees, and to the left a small meandering road cutting through them. Black and white adds contrast and the images become an abstract form.

PLACES - Alien Landscape

I like the idea that by altering the angle of the camera, you are in control of creating a different image. This image now makes me imagine the curve of the earth as if you are looking at the surface of a planet, which you in fact are doing. I am using black and white throughout my images because I want to create an abstract view with items in the frame forming the image. I also like the contrast which this creates, since it is more striking than the hazy colours created by the altitude. I used a UV filter to try to eliminate this as far as possible.

PLACES - Alien Landscape

I took this image of the countryside from high up on a mountain looking down. The landscape was totally deserted of humanity. The trees and scrub having naturally formed into a wave of pattern by the extreme wind across the plain. I used a Nikon D80 SLR, at f11 and 1/160th of a second and a focal length of 150mm using a 70 - 300mm Sigma Telephoto lens.

PLACES - Wilderness & Alien Landscape Contact Print Sheet

This is my contact print sheet for Wilderness or Countryside. These images represent a series which actually work quite well together as a set. However, I felt it better to alter them to black and white and increase the contrast using photoshop for the most effective impact.

PLACES - Wilderness or Countryside

This is my take on an Ansell Adams style of Landscape photography. Buffavento Gorge is still a totally unspoilt landscape, and so relatively unique in this day and age. This was taken using a Nikon D80 SLR with a 38mm focal length, at f16 and 1/100th of a second.

Above: Clearing Winter Storm, Ansel Adams, Gelatin Silver print.

When Henri Cartier-Bresson talked about the "Decisive Moment" in the process of image capture, it must surely have been applied here, as the storm is just clearing, Adams chooses carefully when to press the shutter. In an instant the moment is captures as the storm clouds move away in the top of the frame leaving the fresh snow untouched behind them. The use of the greatest depth of field creates breathtaking clarity and interest.

PLACES - Contact Print Sheet for Buffavento Gorge

When you are considering which of your images to use for a final piece, a contact sheet is really helpful to help in the decision making process, since you can view all similar images in one place. Also, sometimes you see something in a photograph that you hadn't considered in its' individual format.
Contact prints like these were created in Adobe Bridge CS4, which is easy and faster than earlier Photoshop programmes to use.

PLACES - Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams, left, was born in San Francisco, US in 1902, and was the Co Founder of the Group f/64 alongside Edward Weston and Immogen Cunningham. One of the groups aims being "pure or straight photography"., in essence they perfected a technique using a very small aperture to give a great depth of field, and were to strive to make photography a pure art form requiring no other tools or techniques to create their images.

Famous amongst other things for his Landscape photography, Adams most famous works include those taken in the Sierra Nevada in 1938, including the work, Clearing Winter Storm.

Follow the link to the Ansel Adams official website to see the stunning collection of this great artists work. http://www.anseladams.com/

PLACES - INTRODUCTION

In this brief I want to explore some of the ideas posed by masters of photography such as, and amongst others, Ansell Adams and Faye Godwin, as an untouched form, which I will look at in the Wilderness or Countryside unit. I also want to create a mini series or book of images for my Familiar or Significant Place which may contain duplicate images from this unit along with new ones connected to the Alien or Foreign Environment in order to make a complete series of images that form a coherent set.
As part of my research I read an essay entitled The Landscape of Disappointment, by David Chandler, in which he describes his journey back to a council estate where he grew up, drawn he says, "by the magnet of memories" and wearing clouded rose tinted glasses. He describes how he comes across a cherry blossom tree, which his mother had planted 20 years earlier, which he didn't expect to see, because he had forgotten it, and finding it an almost surreal experience. To me, this seems to describe the idea of re-looking at something and seeing the unexpected.
For my City or Urban Sprawl, I will be looking at Liverpool, and its major landmark buildings which may define it as the city it is. Planning a series of shots around those.

PEOPLE - Corporate Images for Justfoodanddrink

The above images were taken for a company who specialise in, (amongst other products), freshly squeezed 100% pure orange juice. They are really passionate about the integrity of their product, and maintain a "hands on heart" approach to their marketing, the purity of their brand and where it comes from, being paramount. I used a Nikon D80 SLR to take these images, with a two studio flash light setup, one soft box and one umbrella, plus an assistant with a reflector using the gold side for warmth. For all the images in this series, the camera was set to ISO 400, and the white balance was set as flash although it was actually mixed lighting with daylight. I positioned the lights at 45 degree angles to my subject, but slightly overhead to avoid reflections from glasses and heads. Aperture was f5, shutter speed 1/125second and the focal length of the lens was 28mm using an 15-55mm lens. Post production I have applied a dark vignette to improve the way that the eye is directed to the subject. I kept the plant in the background as I felt it added a sense of Organics to the overall result. When you shoot into a window or alternative light source, you need to expose for that first, then use the flash to fill in the foreground. These may form part of my final images which will be printed and presented in a professional format.

PEOPLE- Corporate Portraiture Contact Sheet

PEOPLE - The Corporate Portrait Introduction

The Corporate Portrait - Introduction

I began looking at Corporate Portraits by going straight to most photographed corporate family in the world today, The American President, his campaign, his government and his family.

Above Left : Macmillan Nurses (from the official Macmillan website)

Above Right: Chairman of ICI (from the Telegraph website)

Peter Souza is the official photographer to the White house and in this capacity as a Photojournalist, takes Corporate Photographs for public impression. This type of photojournalism is used to raise public awareness of such campaigns through a mixture of ongoing images of the day to day work of the subjects, but also to raise their corporate image.

You can view Souza's work and his gallery of images at the following link.

http://www.petesouza.com/gallery.html?gallery=Portrait%20of%20a%20President

However, most usually, Corporate Portraiture is used by Business and Industry to promote its employees, or to promote an individuals profile to the public. For example; the chairman of ICI may want a strong public image to match the view that he is head of a powerful company. Alternatively, a Macmillan nurse may wish to be projected as a kind, caring and safe pair of hands.

Photographic Companies who specialise in a variety of corporate photographic services include, Ede & Ravenscroft, who specialise in schools, universities and legal portraits.

Individuals range from the likes of David Bailey, Annie Leibowitz and Mario Testino to Self made photographic individuals, who number many on the world wide web. Corporate Photography is a competitive business, and only the select few who make it to the very top get to photograph the leading people in the world.

PEOPLE - Environmental Portraiture/ Images with Words

When you are taking environmental portraits of people you need to capture some of the environment in which they inhabit.Here you can see that the image is as much about the librarian as is it about the librarian. I think the image with the word service works quite well because it is stating the obvious. These images were taken using a mixed lighting setup, with daylight and flash. An umbrella was used overhead to try to cut down on reflections from his glasses.

PEOPLE - Environmental Portraiture

I wanted to try to capture the spirit of this man, who has worked in this environment for over 26 years. He is rightly proud of his legacy.

This lighting was set slightly behind, against the bright daylight, thus creating a cross lighting effect which has outlined the shape of his face. The hint of the books in the background was all that I wanted, as there is so much more to this person than just his librarianship. He has acted on Television,and is also a priest, so his face tells the story that there is more beneath the surface.

PEOPLE - Environmental Portraiture Contact Sheet

Within a small team, we asked the Librarian at the university Centre Blackburn, if we could take his photograph in his environment. The task was to use studio lighting kit on location. From a range of shots I then chose the one I wanted to use for my final image. The lighting was set up using flash in order to equalise the available light coming from the window, which was bright daylight.

PEOPLE - Cross Lighting Techniques in the Studio

This is an example of how to create subtle highlighting effects on a model in the studio, by using 4 studio lights at 45 degree angles to the subject an spaced equidistantly. The addition of an overhead light completes the subtle effect of creating highlights all around the subject and ensuring a flattering and interesting result. This was taken using a Nikon D80 SLR with a wireless slave attachment to fire the flashes on the studio lights remotely. The camera was set at ISO 200, and I used a 55mm focal length lens, f11 and 1/125th of a second as per the average reading taken with a light meter to each light separately in order to obtain a nice even effect.

PEOPLE - Studio Cross Lighting Techniques

By using two cross lights behind your subject and keeping the overhead light you create a moody cast to your image.

Environmental Portraiture - Introduction

Environmental Portraiture

Environmental Portraiture is used to illustrate a person within their environment, be it the working environment, or another place where they are such as a Yachtsman on a Yacht etc. It is important that the environment is seen, and equally important that the person is well placed within it. The one being at home with the other and as much a part of each other. My images of the Librarian work well because he has been in this environment for over 20 years, and seems a part of the furniture. These were taken on ISO 100, f5 and 1/125th second.

Other images include the women who are in their offices, which were taken using portable studio lighting on location. Images such as these may be used in company brochures or portfolios, and the working environment helps to place the people. It is important to be able to use Studio lighting on location for this type of work, and to be familiar with power packs, and health and safety, so that you do not put people at risk of tripping or any other hazards.

PEOPLE - Lighting Effects

This series of Portraits were taken using side lighting from daylight through a glass window which slightly diffuses it. There was a black screen placed opposite the daylight. I like the humour and the drama from dark to light that this has created. I would class these as a cross between fine art and candid since the subjects were all goofing around. The camera settings were ISO 1600, 1/25th second at f 5.3, showing a great deal of detail to the images.

PEOPLE - Fine Art Portraiture

Silhouettes

All the images for this series were taken using the back lighting with a soft box method, exposing for the light and then taking the subject as underexposed. The camera was set to ISO 100, 1/800 th second and f2.8 using a 50mm Prime Portrait lens on a Nikon DSLR.

PEOPLE - Fine Art & The Human Condition

To take silhouette photographs, you need to have a suitable light source behind the subject. These images were taken of a group of people who play in a band. As portraits they retain a certain secrecy about them, and allow the photographer complete control over what the viewer may be told is true about the image, such as the outline or shapes, but the detail may not be visible, which appeals to the human condition which craves for visual information. To take this set of images, I used a Nikon D80 DSLR with a 50mm portrait prime lens. I used manual focus and exposed for the soft box behind the subject. I used a hair drier to ruffle the hair and to add a further dimension to the work.

PEOPLE - Halo or Ring Lighting & Effect

The way a subject is lit creates the mood and effect. Here, using a round light from behind becomes a part of the image. The effect creates an innocence to the photograph. We associate circles of light such as this with Halo's, perhaps Christ, and therefore something more, maybe heavenly. This effect is created by exposing for the light first, and then you can bracket to get the exposure you want. If you only use the same exposure as for the light then you would create a total silhouette, which I looked at previously.

PEOPLE - Fine Art Silhouettes

Contre Jour Lighting is another term used in photography for the art of taking images against the light, creating silhouettes. This technique creates an air of anonymity, and can sometimes be used in journalism to protect someones identity. The human condition means that we are curious to find out more, even obsessed by wanting to see more, and this type of lighting allows the photographer to mask certain traits of their subject, forcing the viewer to make assumptions about their work.

In the book Manchester Looking for the light through the Pouring Rain, Kevin Cummings uses this type of lighting extensively throughout, using the dark, poor weather typical of Manchester to create moody, expressive and mysterious images using silhouettes to their best advantage where light is scarce. The resulting works depict the personality of the subjects perhaps by a quiff of their hair, such as on the cover of Morrisey, or the grit and grime in the images of the underpass and the mums with prams.

PEOPLE - Fine Art

I like the way that Walker combines photography with art, in her silhouette work.

Silhouettes leave the human brain in the position where it has to fill in the gaps, finish the image, and leaves much to the imagination. In terms of the human condition, we strive for answers, and this creates a question mark.