Final photos – Evaluation

After planning my photos, I got my equipment together and went and took my photos. I made sure to stick to my plan as closely as possible but I did change a few things where I felt it would work better. Here are my final photos and how I feel they turned out:

 

For my first photo, I took a close up of one of the visible windows and a corner of the building. I felt this showed how much the building is vanishing into the floor/sand and how battered the bricks are too. This building has been through a lot and this really is shown on the corner bricks as they have been rounded off due to the sea passing over it every day. The bricks are no longer set shapes but are more uneven and jagged. The sand is flowing in through the window and filling the building up meaning that the building is inaccessible. In editing I made the outside darker due to Schreck’s work but I kept the building light and unedited as I like that side of Feijen’s work as it means you appreciate the natural look of the building. I did take them on an over cast day which helped get a bright look to the photos and also meant that the sky was completely grey. I like how your eye gets lead to the window and how dark and gloomy it is in there.

 

For my second photo, I tried to concentrate on the slant of the building and how much the building is falling into the sand. I also took it on the side with the door to show how there is no way in and to also show that you wouldn’t possibly know that that is the door way due to how covered up it is. I took the photo from a little away so I could include the beach going into the distance on the left and to have the sea on the right. This shows the surrounds and how out of place the building is. The slant of the building is facing the sea due to the backwash from the waves when it’s high tide. I like how this photo gives you a feel for how much this building is vanishing under the floor and will soon be completely gone.

 

For the third photo I wanted to show the same as the last photo but show more of the sea to make the viewer feel the threat of it and to understand the power of it and what it can do to a building. The picture also shows a window which is pretty much completely covered and part of another window which is like Schreck’s work where he only showed part of the second bed as it makes you feel like it could go on for ever. You can also see parts of the building where the bricks have come away due to it being battered by the sea. This building isn’t just disappearing; it’s also falling apart. I like this photo due to the feeling of helplessness that the sea makes the viewer feel towards the building.

 

For my fourth photo, I wanted to show the roof of the building being eaten by the floor. The way the sand is creeping up the roof shows the feeling that this building is being swallowed up by the floor/sand and every day it will be more gone and this is actually true as from the time I took my test shots to the point I took my final shoots I couldn’t take a photo through one window and out of the opposite window. It was only a little bit over a week between each shoots and there was already a massive difference in the amount of coverage. I like this photo as it gives a personality to the sand and makes it seem scary.

 

For my fifth photo, I took a faraway shot of the building to show how unimportant it is on the beach and how it could easily be walked past and not noticed. The beach is so big and vast that the building just isn’t noticed easily and can be walked past. For this photo I included a lot of sky and darkened it to make the photo darker and scary. I would have liked it more if the clouds would have had more texture just like in my test shots as it gives more emotion to the location.

 

 

For my last photo I took a closer photo from the same angle as the last but the purpose of this is to show how the importance of the building is stolen due to the pier being more important to most holiday guests and anyone on the beach due to the building not being fun or an activity which can be done. This means that the building is not important anymore and this photo really shows why. I also feel having all the people in the background helps prove my point as it shows that they are all walking towards the pier and are not interested in the building. I like how this photo came out and really helps show the viewers that this building doesn’t matter anymore.

 

Overall I feel that these photos show how buried and forgotten this building has become. The building went from being something that looked after our country to protect us from oncoming enemy boats to an unloved pile of bricks. This is also shown due to it once being on the top of the cliff and now being on the beach demonstrating its importance falling just like it did. I do feel that the clouds could have looked a bit more moody and had more shading but I’m overall happy with the way it shows the story of this building and it’s life on the beach.

Final photos – Planning

After researching different artists work and doing test shots this gave me enough time to experiment and find out enough information on what I want to do for my final photos. After looking at the different styles and using them in my own work, I found that the dark editing but not giving the photos a creepy feel worked best for my final location. After doing all my research I finally decided that I was going to take my final photos at the beach building in Norfolk. I’ve come to this conclusion due to the story behind the building and how forgotten it has become. I also feel that the way it completely vanishes when the tide comes in is crazy and more interesting than the other places I came up with. The thought that at least once a day the building cannot be accessed or seen from land makes the building distinctive as not many things get covered by the sea and stay complete. The building is also inaccessible due to it being mostly under the sand and full of pebbles too. The building is also at a slant due to the sea pulling it under on one side just like pebbles being pulled into the sea due to the backwash.

For my photos I would like to keep the focus on the building so I’m going to do this by trying to take close up photos but I also want to give a size representation and show how insignificant it is compared to everything else around it. I would also like to take them when the sea is pretty far out as I don’t want there to be any danger of getting stuck or splashed when taking the photos. I would also like to take them with natural bright light but not necessarily a sunny day. I like the idea of taking them on a stormy day or even just on an overcast day to give the photos a moody feel.

I would overall like to make the viewer see the beauty of this building once again and to give time to think about its history. I also want people to be intrigued by this photo and to want to find out the history of other places and to open their eyes to see things that they wouldn’t normally look at. I want to make people love the history of places again and to make people consider the story of run down locations.

Final Photos on location:

After changing my ideas and testing what I wanted my final pieces to look like I took my final photos. Here are the ones I took on location in my shower at home.

I firstly turned my shower on to hot and shut all the windows and the door to the room so that the room would become foggy and so that the shower door would become wet and misty. I then put red lipstick on my model and turned the shower off. Then I got my model to get into the shower and to stand up close to the door. I then took photos from the other side so I could capture the foggy window in front of my models face. Then when I’d captured a good amount of photos with it like that I rubbed out part of the fogginess on the window so that there was a gap that could be seen through better. Then I took more photos but including the gap that I’d just made. I tried to just have the lips and the nose through the gap as it means that you can’t fully identify the person which creates a sense of the unknown.

Here are some photos of me setting the bathroom up:

I her to wear a pretty brown dress that was low cut so that the shape of her body could be made out behind the fog making it easier to see that it’s a girl and they are wearing a dress. I also styled her hair so that it was straight and pointed at the edges. I did this so that her hair is noticeable and also catches peoples eyes and makes them want to have their hair like that. There are patterns on the door of my shower which are captured in the photos but I think this makes the photos more bizarre.

Here are the four photos I chose and edited:

The top photo is my favourite as the angle is really flattering and the whip through the glass really make the photo become unusual. I also like that the hair in the photo is being caught by the sun which makes it have a nice pop of colour. I feel the top two photos with the whips out worked the best whilst the bottom two photos look good but aren’t as easy to know that they are of someone in the shower as the foggy glass looks weird. I think these photos are bold and fashionable as they catch your eye easily due to the scenery and the pop of red coming from the lipstick. The lipstick is also the thing that could makes it fashionable alongside the hair which is also a main feature of the picture. To make sure that it  wasn’t just me that liked the photo, I went out and asked people within the age brackets what they thought of the photos and they all were very positive.

Here are are the comments people said about my photos:

“I really like how unique your image is and it’s defiantly eye catching. I think using the bright lipstick worked really well and I like how it’s brought to your attention by the wiped clean bit of glass”

“I love the idea behind the theme of the image. Very creative, also love the colours used in the image”

“Unique idea but works really well, I think you captured your ideas perfectly”

“I like how you used something in your everyday life to make a unique photo”

 

 

Final photos in the studio

After changing my ideas and testing what I wanted my final pieces to look like I took my final photos. Here are the ones I took in the light studio but ended up changing to the dark studio so that I could get a stormy look and be able to control the lighting in the photos.

I firstly started by making thunder storms on A3 pieces of card and then cutting them out and connecting them to string. I then once they were connected to the string put them onto a bamboo stick using tape and made sure they were all spaced out and at different heights. I then connected the bamboo stick to a camera pole that was in the studio using tape and positioned it over the set where I was taking my photos. Then to create a cloud I bought 5 bags of teddy bear stuffing and spread out on the studio floor under the clouds that were hanging. I then used yellow face paint to paint my model so that it looked like he’d been shaded.

Here are some photos of me setting the studio up:

I got him to wear fashionable clothing and to look like something that someone would inspire to be like. I wanted the feeling of the photo to be as if it was taken in the clouds and that my model is asleep up there and meanwhile there is a thunderstorm happening above. This is why he has yellow on his body so that it looks like the yellow from the lightning has caused reflections of yellow onto his skin.

Here are the four photos I chose and edited:

I feel the top two photos are my strongest out of the four I have taken for my final piece as they are from a flattering side angel. I also like the placement of the clouds over him as they bring your eyes down but don’t take full concentration away from the model. I do like the bottom two as well though as they show a different perspective of the cloud world I created and could tell a different story to views. I like the clouds in the last photo as they are placed differently compared to the other photos which shows that I’m experimenting and not just sticking to the same plan. I took them all in portrait as a magazine would need them to fit on the front cover. I feel that they worked really well and when I went out and tested it by talking to people within the age specification about what they thought about the photos, I got positive feedback.

Here are some of the things people said about these photos:
“the cloud images are very imaginative and you have shot them very effectively”

“I like the clouds as it’s a unique idea especially with the face paint”

“The cloud ones are cool and well thought out – tells a story behind the images”

“I like the fluffy cloud photos, incredibly unique”

Improving my Final ideas

After trying my first ideas out and thinking about if it would work for the front cover of a magazine, I came up with improved ideas and ones that I felt could be front page quality.

1)

For my first idea I wanted to create a photo in a studio with someone lying down and have them surrounded by things. Well that idea has changed quiet a bit but the basics are the same. Instead of patterns and the person being on a silk blanket, they’d be lying on a cloud of teddy bear stuffing and have massive drawings of thunder storms hanging over them from the ceiling. The person would be wearing fashionable clothing and would probably be a boy so that it could interest girls and boys. I want to make it like a drawing so that’s why the storm clouds are drawings. Also the boy would be shaded with yellow to match the lightning colour and give it the drawing feel. Here is a drawing to show my idea:

This is a rough sketch of my idea and I will be shooting the actual Final piece of it soon. I really think this would make a perfect and new idea for a front cover of a magazine. It would easily make people pick it up and it could make people want to feel as awesome as the photo.

 

2)

For my second idea it hasn’t changed much from last time but now I’ve changed it to being in a shower or somewhere weird. This would be my location portrait and I would use a girl to make it something both a girl and boy would be interested in. I would want the person to wear clothes and makeup to still show the fashion side of it and so it’s really weird. Here is the photo I took:

I took this without lighting or setting up properly as I just wanted to see if it would look how I expected and that you could still see the face enough. The only thing that I don’t think worked is that there’s no proper lighting making the photo very dark and grungy. When I take my actually final piece for this I think I’ll use bright lights and do noticeable makeup with a fashionable outfit.

Final Piece

After I’d decided my photography style and how I was going to display them I went out and took the photos from beginning to end of the exhibition which was over 2 weeks. When I’d got all my photos taken, I edited them and sized them all to A5 so they could be printed. In the end I had 11 final photos which I felt showed the stages of the exhibition really well. Here are the photos edited and sized to A5:

 

I got them all printed out and connected them together with a continues piece of translucent wire using a needle to thread them through the photos so that there aren’t massive holes in them. The wire travels along the back of the photos and comes over the top in the gaps and is held in place with tape so the photos don’t move around. I really like how they look and how long they are when connected together. I feel it’s eye catching and tells the story really well but with not too many photos. I think the photo angles do have a look of Henri Cartier-Bresson to them and have a really interesting feel to them.

Overall I feel the photos work really well for a narrative story and create an easy way of viewing it too. The floor angle gives the photos a quirky and uncommon look to my project. If I had to do them again I would captured an equal amount of each part of the exhibition going up so that the photos are mostly of the putting up like mine.

Development of Final Ideas

After thinking and trying out my ideas, I have photos to show how they are going and which one I’m preferring and I want to use. I also have thought about how I would like them to be displayed and I will be discussing this also.

Photo Style 1:

I tried this out and got many photos of people working on their work from just putting up to just finishing up the final details. I feel it does connect with the people but you can’t easily tell what point the exhibitions at from them putting their work up as everyone is at different stages at the same time. Meaning that I don’t think this would be a good idea for showing the stages of the exhibition. I feel like I captured the same kind of style as Doisneau as the others in the class didn’t seem to notice me taking the photographs, like I was somehow hidden and the photos are completely natural. Here are a few of the photos I took in this style:

 

Photo Style 2:

I tried this out and decided that I’d change it a little so that it’s not fully from the floor but more from a crouched potion so that I can capture more of the exhibition in my photos. I feel the photos are perfect for showing the stages of the exhibition and what people are getting up to. The photos show what is happening and what stage it is perfectly and they are interesting to look at too. What is really good, which I hadn’t thought of before taking these photos is that you don’t just capture what one person is doing you get to see what loads of people are doing in exhibition. I feel like Henri Cartier-Bresson photos helped influence the angles I captured in these photos. Here are the photos I took in this style:

 

Photo style I’ve chosen to use:

I’m going to be taking my photos at floor level as it’s an angle that is not seen much but can give us a lot of information from the shoes we can see or the state the floor is in. If the floor is dirty then it’s not fit to have people come around and see it and if people are wearing fancy shoes then it’s most likely open. The floor is some what the base of a story and is very important for details. As I said earlier I won’t take the photos straight from the floor but at a crouching position so that more can be seen.

The framing I’ve chosen to do:

For framing I’ve decided to do the ones that hang from each other as I feel it will make the photos more interesting and go best with the style of photography I’m going to be taking. I’m going to have the photos around A5 and hang from each other with transparent string so that it doesn’t distract from the pictures. I also want it to hang from string at the top so that the pictures can swing freely from the wall.

My final Diptych’s

Here are my 3 final piece diptychs of people I know but who aren’t the same age as me or in my class. Here I’m going to be talking about why I chose these photos and what I think about the outcome. I will also be going through the different stages it took to get to these photos and how the ideas changed.

Stress drowning:

For this diptych I couldn’t decided between my night and day photos so in the end I decided in combing the two but after further research I figured that a quidriptych would look out of place in the exhibition due to the rest being diptychs. Due to this I changed my idea to have to separate diptychs printed instead so I could have both but still fit in with the other students work within the exhibition. I really feel that these photos have turned out how I’d wanted and that they’ve come a long way from them only going to be day photos and up close just of the face to them now being both day and night photos both far away enough to be able to see the hands and the edge of the acrylic too. I feel my idea changed a lot over time but I think it’s for the best and that they show anxiety really simply but helps you know what it would feel like. I’m mostly happy with the night one as it includes the red and dark side I was looking for.

 

Heavy Balloons:

For this diptych I really wanted a surreal look with bright unnatural colours for a fairy tail look. In the photo my dad does have more emotion on his face then I wanted. I was looking for a completely poker face so that the viewer could choose what the meaning of the photo for themselves. Even though I changed the object photo from balloons to a pair of secateurs I still feels it gives the same message but tells the viewer more about my dad. I do feel that the photos have the bright colours I’d been looking for and that it gives the surreal and weirdness of him being in a suit whilst sat in water whilst surrounded by balloons. The photo has turned out how I wanted and I feel that the only thing I would want to be improved is the way the photo pops out at you and gives that wow reaction which I was looking at.

 

Happy Go Lucky:

For my final diptych I really wanted a fairy feel that you see when watching Disney or a theatre production. I used bluebells to create this as they are normally foun in woodlands and this is normally the home to mythical creatures. I really like movement in photos, so to capture the water being kicked was to make the photo feel more alive and as if it’s more than a photograph. I did have a problem with matching the blues of the flowers in both photographs but the way that the flowers in the object photo are so bright really makes it better and more like a fairytale. I am sad that the water idea didn’t work but sadly I didn’t have anything to back light it meaning the water wasn’t visible in the photos. I’m happy with how the photos came out though and how they changed to be better over time.

Overal I feel that all the photos turned out to show exactly what I’d wanted and even include parts that I didn’t think about when first writing my ideas down. All the photos have deep meanings and all of which perfectly describe the person. Some of the photos changed a lot along the way but that’s a good thing and has been done due to test runs. If I could change any of the photos I would have liked to add more link to show that they all have water in them for a reason. The reason isn’t for me to explain though as it’s for people to get out of it what they want.

Final piece #3

Here are the third lot of photos for my final piece. I took them of my dad in the ford in my village. I took the photos with him wearing a suit whilst sat in the water with balloons surrounding him. I wanted him to look like nothing was happening but slightly sad. I took the photos with my Canon 5D and used a reflector to bounce the light back onto the balloons and the water. I got him to sit down in the water as it wasn’t deep enough for what I wanted, which is for the water to come up to his waist with him stood up. This meant I had to change my plan so the water would reach his waist still. This meant I had his legs out in front of him instead so it’s as if he’s given up as well. I got the balloons specially for this and got weights put on them so they would stay in the water. I also took the photos when it was raining which can be seen in the water giving a more sad feel to the photos. I got my inspiration for these photos from the photographer Jacob Sutton. I really liked his photos and how they were taken of odd and creative things. I wanted to follow this sort of style also, which gave me the inspiration to do these photos like I did.

Meaning of the photos:

The meaning of these photos was to show that my dad has so many problems holding him down which stops him from escaping his worries. The balloons and suit symbolise his hope and dreams and the water and the weights show that he can’t escape them and he’s being held back by them. The ripples of the rain in the water is like pathetic fallacy as he’s sad and rain is seen as a bad thing.

Portrait:

For the photos I got my dad to sit in the water and look like nothing was happening and it’s not meant to be literal, it’s meant to be what the feeling of having loads of worries feels like. I took many photos some portrait and some landscape. I made sure I included foliage in front of my dad too as this brought green into the whole photo sort of like a frame. I really like the reflections of the balloons in the water and that you can just see the blue of the weights in the water. I prefer the landscape photo more as it can fit the balloons in better and the colours are deeper and the capacity of the photos is higher than the landscape photo which included more of the background which isn’t necessary.

Object:

At first I wanted the object photo to be of balloons falling into the water to show that his problems are always getting worse. This was done by chucking the balloons into the water and taking the photo as they hit the water. I really liked how the photos turned out but after putting the object photo with the portrait I felt that having balloons in both photos was too much and didn’t look great.

So then I took a photo of some of my Dads secateurs which I’d hoped were red to go with the colour of the balloons but sadly they were green but I felt this linked in with the greenery in the background of the portrait photo. I took the photo of the secateurs in some grass so that the main colour in the photograph is green and so the silver on them stood out more. I took the photo at this angle to show how different you can make something look at a certain angle.

Diptych:

After taking all the photos and picking the ones I felt went the best together I made the final diptych. I edited them both in photoshop to make them similar in colours and sharpness. I feel they go really well together and compliment each other. These photos really explain who my dad is and what his life is. The combination really makes you realise that my dad has a lot of problems in his life which are holding him down from being better than he is now and that he is a gardener and loves the outside. If I was to change one thing I would have got some red secateurs instead so that the red would have been in both photos.

Final Piece #2

Here are the second lot of photos for my final piece. I took them of my mum in a woodland area down a quiet lane in the countryside. For these photos I started by using a bottle strapped to my mums back by her dress strap. The bottle had a bendy straw coming out of it which was connected to her ear using an elastic band. After I looked at the photos I noticed the water couldn’t be seen so after trying many things for it to be visible I decided to ditch the water idea. The photos were taken with my Canon 5D but the photos had to be edited after as the colours came out too dull from my camera. In the photos I wanted my mum to look floaty and fairy like so I put her in a long lose dress and put glitter all over her face but sadly none of it showed up in the photos. I got inspirations for these photos from Maria Lough’s photograph of a lady playing in a water fountain as she has a floaty look and she also looks surreal. I also really liked how vibrant her photos were which you can she coming out in my photos.

Meaning of the photos:

The meaning of these photos at first was about how my mum has a lot of information to remember for her job and sometimes she forgets things. I wanted her to look like a fairy because she’s always trying to please everyone but she can’t always remember what it is that people have said to her. The photo is trying to show what she would love to do which is get rid of unneeded information for the more important things. Once the water bottle idea had failed I changed the meaning to be that my mum is a happy go lucky person who can make anything a pleasant experience which is shown by how happy she is kicking water.

Portrait photos:

The photo above is the photo using the water bottle to create water pouring from her ear. I took it on a hill of bluebells (Endymion non-scripta) in the sun for a fairy tale look. She has her arms out so she looks floaty and weightless. I used a reflector on the white side to light up the parts of her body which weren’t being hit by the sun. As you can see the water stream really its visible and it’s like this in all the photos. I like how the photo looks but sadly the water idea didn’t quiet work for me meaning I went on to try something different.

 

For this photo I sat my mum on a wall that was cover in bluebells and had a small trough under which was slightly clear. I positioned her to be crossed legged and to be admiring a flower and not showing her face. This shows her love of all things beautiful but also her shyness. This was taken in the shade so a reflector was used to make the light equal and brighter. The water represents that she could easily be in danger but she is safe on the wall supporting herself just like things she’s going through in life. I really like this photo and the position that she’s in as its very elegant and it’s very flattering. I still didn’t feel like it showed enough about her and that there wasn’t anything special about it.

 

Finally, the photo above is the last photo I took of my mum and the one I like the most as I feel it describes my mum well and it’s a very interesting and pretty photo. The colours are very vibrant and combined with the lighting makes the area seem very fairy-like and too good to be true. I let my mum do what she wanted without her knowing I was going to take photos still which meant I captured a true playful picture of her. Here I’ve captured her kicking the water around and smiling about it. I feel this explains my mum well as it shows that she still has dangers but she can make positives of them and overcome them. I want people to see that my mum is a happy go lucky person who can make a positive about anything.

 

Object:

For the object about my mum I chose to take an un up close photo of a bluebell as this is my mums favourite flower due to when she was a child her granddad used to take her to the wood for walks and it was always this certain bluebell wood. This means that a bluebell has very fond memories for her and they are a happy thing for her.

 

Diptych:

Here is the diptych I made from these photos. I feel that the photos go really well together due to the blue of the flowers in both of them being so similar. I really like the outcome of the photos together and I feel it describes the happy go lucky life of my mum really well whilst creating a simple but pretty diptych. If I was to change anything about it I would try and make the flower photo less eye catching then the photo of my mum so that all the focus is on her.