More pictures

I have now taken another series of images with a different style to them. I have used my dad my sister and myself to get some more portraits. I set up the studio again in my lounge and used a studio light for these portraits.





The first image is of my sister, like the post below she is in a neutral pose and is just staring into the camera. The second picture is of myself, I put the camera on timer and took this, I think it is quite a good image but could do with some editing. Finally the last image is of my dad. I like this image as he is not looking into the camera like the other two and his face again is very neutral. The brief I gave them was to look distracted or dissapointed in something and I think these images do show this emotion well.



Here I have turned the images into black and white and changed the contrast slightly. I have put them altogether to make one large image. I think this image does sit very well into the soliloquy theme as all the faces are very dead pan and using the black and white tool I have created more of an atmosphere. This image is my final piece for the theme of soliloquy and has been enlarged and put up in the school opening evening display.

Extending Ideas

 Keeping in mind the soliloquy theme I have taken some more portraits and they are photographed in a slightly different way. The are much more dead pan and bare. This is the original.

I have edited this picture in photoshop to change the style of it slightly. I changed the image to black and white and changed the hue also to add some atmosphere to the image. The set up for the image is the usual studio set up with a black background however with these portraits I used a light instead of a torch and just a flash.



I think the edit works well and it highlights significant parts of the picture such as the 'love life' on the t-shirt which she clearly isn't. However I think I added too much to the saturation as the skin is not so flawless anymore and it has seemed to bring out blemishes, which however could be a good thing but in context I think these are not so good.


I also edited the image again and focused more on making the 'love life' darker to add some contrast to the image. I have also looked at photographer Yousuf Karsh as he did many black and white portraits of celebrities. His images are interesting and especially as he highlights the hands of his subject. Both these people are very influential to society and I think the images highlighting the hands and only specific aspects of the face, underline their place and show them off in a very good way.






The set up he has used highlights particular parts of the body which exagerates these aspects of the composition in the image, creating atmosphere.
I have also been researching Irving Penn, his photographs are very inspiring and he seems to capture many soliloquy type images.

This image is very hostile and seems to have a story of despair behind it. The fact that its black and white places the subjects in very plain clothing and just in the middle of a simple photographic background. Also the fact that the bags are slightly see through add to the despair the image seems to display.

This image is very striking and the eyes seem to burn out of the image. I think my image of my sister that is highly saturated can relate to this one as the skin tone is really brought out and the shape and definitive features of the face are also. As well as this, as it is so close up it adds more tension to the image.

First experiments

I have done a photoshoot with a black background on stands and a porta flash light however in the end I decided the brightness of the light was too overpowering so I instead turned off the main light and used a torch to illuminate my models face. I took all of my photos in colour on a digital camera as I was running low on time to use film.


This is my first edit on the images, I changed the colouring to black and white and used the simply paintbrush tool to draw a yellow cross over the image (like the Marylin Monroe pictures) and then made the opacity more transparent so the cross did not immediately block out the image or overpower it too much.


I really like this image and so I decided not to heavily edit it too much. I added the text at the top of the image to give it some atmospshere. As well as this the brief for the picture is for the Lighthouse in Poole which is a theatre. I choose my quote carefully from a selection of musicals and shows and found this one from 'Cabaret'. I choose the quote 'Im going to be a great film star! That is, if booze and sex dont get me first' because it incorporates my theme from before of Marylin Monroe and happy go lucky lifestyle as an actress. The quote is quite open and honest however it has many connotations such as sex, drugs and other consequences of living a famous lifestyle in the time that 'Cabaret' was written and played, ie, prostitution. Using a young model has added to the atmosphere of the image as it shows her innocence. Again I just used a simple studio set up as the image before without any strong lighting as I wanted the image to be quite dark and sinister.

Expansion and first experiments

I intend on taking my pictures on a canon film camera with the pictures in black and white. I will set up a studio environment in my room and use a model to photograph. I am taking the initial ideas from the Marylin Monroe images as I want that same idea to flow through my images. As well as the influence of Avedon, I have also revisited Bruce Gildens images which are black and white.

This image is very interesting as its clearly just a quick snap of this man in the street. However we can understand much personal information already. For example the fact that he is wearing a watch may signify wealth and the smoking of a cigarette. Also he is looking just over the camera which may be him simply avoiding the camera or actually looking over at something else.


This image however is much more staged than the first and everything seems to be clearly placed. There also seems to be a lot of power in the photo as the man is relatively bulky and is clutching a gun. Also there seems to be quite a lot of tension in the image as the man is looking right down the lens with a straight face. Also he seems to be a bit of a 'gangster' in his suit and jewellery such as a watch and a ring. All the images have atmospheric lighting which adds to the emotive aspect of the images.

My ideas from research

From my research into Avedon I now want to come up with some ideas of my own to take some interesting portraits. These portraits, I want to keep in the theme of soliloquy so I will need to photograph people that are different age ranges and have different styles of face to get a vast range of images. I want to incorporate the styles of Avedon along with Bert Sterns style of the crossing over images to add another layer to the image.

I think this type of image will seen to be simple to recreate however I will need to get the right model and the right lighting and posture for the images to be a success. The combination of the film pictures mixed in with the fame and beauty of Marylin Monroe makes these images both art and fashion in one and this is what I hope to show in my images. These images show the 4 negatives that have been crossed over very roughly with an orange pen.

Researching

Richard Avedon has a very unique style of working. His portraits are very interesting and seem to tell stories and spark ideas very quickly. Avedon (1923-2004) was an American photographer born in New York City. Avedon did not conform with the standard technique of taking fashion portraits with motionless models but in fact changed the concept and photographed the women smiling and full of emotion and often in action also. In addition to fashion Avedon also branched out and photographed patients of mental hospitals, protesters of the Vietnam war and also the fall of the Berlin Wall. Avedon photographed many famous people and liked to get an emotional response when taking the photo so often got into awkward discussions or asked psychological questions.


This image is very interesting, it is of a man named Ronald Fischer taken in 1981. He was a bee keeper and caught Avedons eye so he photographed him. The image is very intimate as the man is bearing all. As well as this it is noticeable that the bee's could in fact be stinging him but the emotion on his face does not tell us whats happening.


The images below are from a collection of images by Avedon, where he went out to capture the people that had 'hard uncelebrated jobs who are often ignored or overlooked'. The guy below is Roberto Lopez an oil field worker and next to him is Charlene van tighem a psychological therapist. The two images are very striking and I think they both stand alone or together really well. The fact that they are in black and white enhances features such as the eyes and the figure of the woman.













This image is one of the most interesting of the whole collection. This man is Richard Garber a Drifter from Utah. On a website I found a commentary from Avedons assistant Laura Wilson. She explains how Avedon and herself met this man in a cafe where he was in a very sorry state, crying and talking to himself. They heard of his plight, of his car being impounded and his mother being taken into a mental intuition. Then followed the photograph in front of the simple white background.


The style of the images is plain yet effective to the viewer. They clearly show the plight of these people yet are still very stylish with the professional way in which the photo's are taken on white background with probably some sort of studio set up or extra lighting.