Review on Hamish Fulton's website.

The website I am going to review is one of the photographer I have been recently working in the style of  Hamish Fulton or "The Walking Artist" as he calls himself.

To just be brief about what he does, he takes a walk somewhere, be it a forest, mountain or anywhere else and then sums up the walk in a few pictures or a single block of text, very interesting stuff if you ask me. I like his work quite a lot, I find it to be quite interesting, yet I find also to be simple which I like, overly complex things can become dull or just confuse the viewer, but his stuff is just plain and basic, which I like.

http://www.hamish-fulton.com/

The website itself is rather plain in terms of a background, just a plain white background. The main focus of the site is in the center of it where his work is being displayed along with his name, title and a list of numbers that show bits of his work, also if you have sound enabled you can hear sounds from nature, insects buzzing, birds chirping, water running, wind howling down a cave, you can also hear his footsteps and some car horns, I think this adds quite a nice little touch, the viewer instantly knows what he does and where he bases all his work in a sense, it also goes with the pictures and adds to them a little bit. Below the numbers there is a small link that leads to information about the artist, his biography, his work and publications, what I like about it's in a very streamline style of putting it, a basic block colour as a background and another black block to highlight the white text, this then has several drop boxes you can click on to view the information.

Review of the Bryan Adams book: Wounded.

"The first casualty of war is the truth."

This book titled "Wounded" by Bryan Adams is nothing short of one of the most fascinating books I have ever read, it has given me massive insight to not just photographic techniques to imply, but also personal issues of a injured solders trying to fit back into normal life, facing the challenges of normal life but with scars and wounded bodies. 

The book follows the story of Bryan Adams as he recalls the events of war and the stories of young British soldiers who where wounded and had to retire from military service, he captured them in the exact same background and lighting, the pictures inside where of wounded soldiers after they returned home from battle. The injury's within are quite grim, ranging from scars, lost limbs, mechanical body parts and burnt skin, however what I found is that hardly any of the soldiers look in pain or sad, most of them are shown either smiling, looking like they are laughing or have a strong look on their face but what I noticed is that their eyes looked somewhat drawn out, as in they where more noticeable in some photos, I believe he was going for this to show to emotions at the sometime, both strength and sorrow. In my mind the whole book truly questions the humanity in people, pointless wars, pointless death and everything in the middle of it. The stories of the soldiers in this book really puts things into perspective.

 ‘When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains, And the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle and blow out your brains, An’ go to your Gawd like a soldier.’

This quote I find to be quite chilling, in a sense of how harsh war really can be.












I pulled this picture out from all the others because it is my personal favorite, it shows what I said before about showing humanity. The upper part of the male is muscular, strong looking giving the view a thought that he is a strong man, the lighting giving highlights of the muscle tone in his back and arm, even the tattoo adds to it over all, but the lower section of his body looks weak, with mechanical legs that are crosses in such a way that makes them look broken or damaged, like they have been thrown down. But I also note that the lighting is not focused to much on them but the white backdrop brings them out, almost like they are not hidden but not meant to be focused on either



 If you are into studio shots or working with human models in general, this book is fantastic for showing you how you can show strong figures of people, keeping both dignity and strength, while showing humanity. I took much inspiration in my recent fashion, taking similar shots and using the style he did, taking portrait, focus on lighting and the models composure. All in all, this book is fantastic, I take much from it, working with models, lighting and composition is critical.What I like most about this book is that it does not focus on the photographic work, but more on the personal story behind each solider. Each story tells about their injury's and how they happened, if you match what they say to the picture taken, it gives another level of depth.


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bryan-Adams-Wounded-The-Legacy/dp/3869306777 - This is a link to where you can buy the book, I highly recommend it.

Research on composite portrait

What is composite portraiture? A composite portrait is a compilation of portrait photographs mixed and matches to meld together, for example. If I take a picture of a farther and a son, I can use photoshop to mix their faces together to make them hold and more often than not will show similarities, matching them up from the eyes, the nose, the lips, the chin.

The several links above are research I have done on the subject and there will be more added with time, overall I have found this to be an interesting subject to study and even more so to practice, my experiments have shown me that it can be very difficult to preform this if you are overly OCD about how things look and that it can take quite some time to find a correct match, but I did manage to create a experimental picture that I really liked, it was a combination with me, Gandalf and George RR Martin. Three who don't exactly look alike but it did go together rather well after some tweaking about with it. 

I was happy enough with it, so I posted it here. I found it to be both an enjoyable process but also frustrating due to my inability to correctly to match it up and then when I did I had erased to much from the other picture, however once I got the hang of it, it became a simple process. I like this one because it shows three different face that I did not think would fit, yet to my pleasant surprise they did.










Overall I did like doing this project but it's something I would like more time to work on, I think if i spend another week on experimenting and working on it I would produce a much strong piece than I did, if I got chance to do this again, I would love to try and replicate some of Nancy Burson's work, get that unique look.


Research notes:

http://nancyburson.com/ - Photographer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_portrait

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2435688/The-average-woman-revealed-Study-blends-thousands-faces-worlds-women-look-like.html - Interesting topic, must do further research

http://faceresearch.org/students/averageness - http://faceresearch.org/demos/average - http://faceresearch.org/

PH1300 - Introduction to Photography Practice: Part 1 Film and Dark Room.

Seeing as this is part one of my project blog I would firstly like to welcome you and thank you for reading my posts, sit down, relax, grab a cup of tea and put your feet up. Enjoy my babbling and pictures till your heart is content, now that being said let's get this started.

This is the introduction to my project for Uni, it details my introduction to photographic practice and goes into the techniques and styles that i will be learning and developing over my time here. The first project I took part in was a introduction to the dark room and photographic film, 33mm to be exact. Firstly we had to head out into the local area and take on location photographs, I myself was using a Nikon F3 with 33mm film, the area i took the shots of was Bootle located in Liverpool.

This first one was taken around noon, I personally like it because of the lines leaning up to the hill and then the buildings looming behind it, I noticed after developing it that it was slightly titled, this could be fixed in photoshop but I want to keep it as it is due the fact this is my first attempt ever at using film and I personally liked it as it was.

This one was taken around the noon as well, a little further down the road there was a garden with a skip in it, I looked at it and thought for a moment about how to compose it to look right, once I had my idea I took the shot, three of them to be exactly, the other two failed as I did not set the camera correctly, the ISO was not set right and was way off. However once I devolved this one after several attempts, It came out exactly how I wanted it to, I was extremely pleased with the outcome, the colouring and shadows became striking and the details became more defined.






Now, to sum all this up I will talk about my experiences with the dark room.

The dark room was quite the experience to have, I will admit I struggled at first but I got the hand of things after I had it explained a second time I got the hang on it perfectly. The process to develop film was quite interesting and took quite a bit of testing and practice before getting what you want, I honestly enjoyed working with it. Overall I found it to be a very eye opening experience, I learned a lot about the old ways of Photography and film, I made a lot of mistakes during this project and would love to redo it, but for a first attempt it's pretty good. 

PH1300 - Introduction to Photography Practice: Part 7 Fashion.

For this project we had to take a look into fashion photography and then work with several models and make up artists to create four to five shots. The shots would have to show the make up artists skill, the models ability to portray emotions and take direction, and finally the photographers ability to take the shot, set up lighting and give direction.

I found this project to be enjoyable but not to my best skill, as I find giving models direction and working with people in general difficult, I think it's my poor people skills in a professional environment. However I was able to create the images needed to finish my work and they turned out great, if I were to do this again, I would spend a little more time with the model before taking the shots, just so they would feel more comfortable in front of a camera, I find that they relax their face more and don't force poses and faces to what you expect.

This first one was taken in the dark room where I normally develop my film rolls, the model was wearing black clothing and had an Egyptian theme to her make up, it complimented her skin tone and face structure. The lighting I used was tungsten and I found them to work perfectly, I was able to take full advantage of the light matching her skin tone. For direction I went for a style of Egyptian queen or goddess, with a slightly darkened area on her face and looking down at the camera. Only thing I would change about this would be put more focus on the headpiece, bring out more of the gold on it.

This one was quite interested as I had a few different shots of the model in different lighting and back grounds, at first using a white background with soft box lighting. didn't like how it turned out, next I tried a black background and very low lighting from a soft box, this I found brought out the colour in her face and made it a main feature, while the lighting brought out the extra details that where painted on. I liked this one mainly because of the lines and details in her face, they show the make up artist's skill, the other things i like are the lighting on her face I really enjoy how soft it all was in correlation to her skin, i like how the colours came out you can still notice them despite them being in the dark. I think if I where to retake this one I would focus more on the colours by saturating them more than I have, I would also use different lighting, i would have liked to experiment with tungsten lighting more with this one, to give a more dynamic shadow.




Out of all the shots I took, this would be my favourite out of them all, what I really like about this one is the elegance it captures in her, she has a dignified face in this which compliments the lighting and backdrops as it is soft and controlled, rather than overly bold and in your face. I used minor amounts of photoshop pin this one only to adjust the dress on her chest and some minor blemishes on her arm and face, besides that nothing more than lighting fixes and enhancing shadows and highlights. I think improvements for this one would come in the form of showing better detail and different lighting but there is not much else i would change. I intend to use this in my portfolio to show my ability to show lighting and portrait.

This final one was done rather quickly, the model was busy and I had other work to deal with as well. HOWEVER! This one turned out excellent and more than I expected it to, the theme of her make up was based on an ice queen, so that told me to use soft lighting to give a pale complexion. Once I got it into lightroom, I give it a blue tint to it so it appears like ice more, I also found that the mask and other decorations on her head began to glow slightly which I really never expected to happen, but I was happy with it! I would not change anything about this one, perhaps minor changes to the make up, but that is not my field to be picky about.

PH1300 - Introduction to Photography Practice: Street Photography and Story Telling

This project was based around street and location photography, I myself went to my local city and began taking pictures of the area. My personal aim was to capture reflections from the rain within the city, and for the second half I went home and followed my cat around to take pictures of him, the aim to capture his personality and daily habits.

For this first one I ventured to my city to gather photographs, it was to my gain that it was raining, it gave each photograph a dynamic look with a strong reflection. I like this because it shows a young man in his stride, walking with such purpose. The reflection adds to this piece, the stone work in the ground leading towards it as well, it reminds me much of (----) work. I think improvements to this one would include better placement and better timing with the shot, I could have took it sooner to get his full reflection in.

 This one is of the Albert docks, overlooking the liver building in the city. This was taken just after the rain had stopped falling and the sun was starting to go down, this brought so many colours out from the buildings and sky, with the droplets of water reflecting light. I enhanced this one in lightroom some to really saturate the colours. The only thing I dislike about this one is the angle is slightly off, I think I could of framed it better, however I greatly enjoy the vividness in this, it reminds me of a liverpool photographer Matt Thomas, his work being quite colourful as well as mine.

             
 This was taken int he shopping district of liverpool known as "Liverpool one" I found this to be an excellent location as it provided many different kinds of people and the rain gave a very interesting look on the ground, the pillars and platforms give such lovely lines. When i got to the location I noticed this elder man walking along and noticed how well his white jacket reflected off the ground. I think I could of framed and cropped this better but I enjoy this piece greatly.







This is one of the photographs of my cat that I took once i returned home from shooting. The method of taking them was simple, follow him around my home and wait for the perfect moment he would do something that reflects how he is. This is a prime example of what I got, it was in the garden, I was resting my camera to change the SD card within it when I saw him climbing up under it and poking his paw through the gap, I quickly loaded the camera and waiting for him to stick his head out. I feel like this is one of my favorite photograph I have taken during my time as a Photographer.



Over all I enjoyed this project and found it to be to my liking, the street photography section was enjoyable as i got the chance to test my skills of perception and ability to judge light, predicting movement and ability to line up shots correctly. The second half of following my cat around was even more interesting as it partook in a character study of my own pet, bringing out his personality and all the parts that make him a cat. I feel that I improved during the course of this, gaining skills for on-location shots, however I believe I could have done better, spending more days shooting in the city to get different shots.

PH1300 - Introduction to Photography Practice: Part 6 - Still life.

For this project I had to take several still life shots of indoor houses, the idea being to capture the life of the person in a single frame. My idea was to take a picture of light switches and part of the wall around them to show contrast between the light switch and the wall, I believe the wall paper, colour and wall reflect the person, their tastes and style.





This first one is from a friends home, on the bottom of their staircase. When I saw the white line running along the red and then the light switch in sliver and black I had a good feeling. It shows a solid mix of colours and textures, the white pain some what splattering into the red and leaving lines going upwards, the texture being like a woo dish or pain covered canvas. The light switch with a solid silver square with two black switches in the centre, I think personally it's an enjoyable piece but it could have been better, maybe using a better contrast and angel, perhaps with some editing I can bring out it's full potential.



For this second one, I took it in another friends bathroom, the plastic walls with a marble pattern. I like this one because it has a clean look, with a bright white light switch which casts a slight shadow, giving it some more depth. The walls have a clean look as well and has thin pinkish lines that almost look like cracks. I myself am quite a fan of the ways the lines lead up to the light switch in some senses, however I do also think this one could do with improvements, such as better lighting and better visuals on the it, I should have took the shot at a time with more light but I am over all happy how this one turned out.

This one is quite an odd one to talk about, I will admit I was slightly rushed with this one as I could not get a shot I wanted the time I was there and I had to leave before I got exactly what I was after. But! I do like this one for some little reasons, mainly due to textures in the wall, my friend is currently in the process of redecorating his home and I found it a good time, the ripped of paper and cracked wall give a real interesting visual look at ageing, if one where to view it from the wallpaper to the darker wall it looks as if it decays. However I personally believe this could be much better, a more straight shot, better lighting and a correct white balance would fix many of the problems I have with it, however I also think that I could have framed this better, having more of the focus being on the light switch, if I get chance I will reshoot this and post the end result of it.

Now this final one is my personal favourite of the four, I find this one to be the most clean, strong and visually pleasing. For started the light switch on the left (The bright blue one) is extremely different from all the others and is on quite an bland background, further enchaining the look of it to make it more noticeable and the main feature of this, however your eyes gently glide along the picture to the switch on the right which is blurred out slightly and blurry, which is fine as it is not the main focus, however it being there adds to it I think over all, as it looks far more plain, boring and simple than the other so this yet again, boosts the looks of the blue! I can't think of to many improvements of this one personally, however I would like to play around with this in lightroom to bring out more details in the image and increase the sharpness without ruining it.



My overall thoughts of this project.

I overall enjoyed this project, I only wished I was not behind with work at the time so I got more time to focus on this rather than writing but I would do this again given the option to do so, I enjoy working with still life images as I get to fully control everything without the aid of others and the object does not make objections to my ideas and plans.