Sophie Calle/Duane Michals

In the feedback to Assignment Four, my tutor suggested I look at Sophie Calle and Duane Michals in view of their unique approaches to narratives.

 Of the two, I liked Sophie Calle more and found her ideas interesting.  I found a few articles on The Hotel, Room 44 in which Calle had photographed different aspects of a hotel room in order to construct a sequence showing the hidden world of the occupant of the room.  She worked as a chamber maid to gain access to personal possessions, therefore observing their life, without them realising.  This is intrusive and voyeuristic, but I like the approach.  Looking at the photos themselves, they work individually as stand alone items, but put together they tell a completely different story.

The work I saw by Duane Michals, I liked less, although again some of his work that I saw is very voyeuristic.  However, in contrast, in The Human Condition, Michals creates a sequence of six photos, transforming a commuter into a galaxy by playing with the light and exposure.  The sequence in this case is less of a narrative and more of a transformation.

I looked at these photographers after I had completed my work for Assignment Five, so I can't comment on whether they inspired me or not, but I could see that the work by Calle might inspire me in the future. 

My tutor also suggested I look at Magnum Photos and World Press Photos; I have "liked" both these sites on Facebook, so that I get a regular update on the news feed.

BBC Wildlife Magazine Summer 2013 - volume 31 number 8

Pages 46-53 ran an article, called Saving a Ghost, about the rarely seen Siberian or Amur Tiger and the race to ensure its survival.  I was drawn to this article, not only because of the subject matter and the beautiful photographs, but also because of the difficulties the photographers encountered in making the shots:

- there are only around 300 of these tigers left, so they are hard to find

- in the Reserve where the photos were taken, there are only 4-6 cats

- the photographer Toshiji Fukuda who took the amazing picture of the tiger on the beach on page 46 has only seen two in 23 years - they followed the paw prints in the sand

- Toshiji and his assistant endured conditions of -40 C watching out for the tigers for 50 days

I spent one day photographing puffins in Wales and had 800 photos - I can't imagine what it must feel like to wait 23 years for one photo!

Snow Tiger (c) Toshiji Fukuda taken in February 2012
after months of planning and 50 days waiting

Backgarden Blossfeldts

Unfortunately I couldn't make the study visit to the Blossfeldt exhibition at Whitechapel, however, thought I'd have a go at the "homework".  What struck me about the Blossfeldt's I've seen online is the focus on the shape and the surrounding space but from a minimalist/simplistic perspective.  So I had a look in my back garden for something that would suit the brief.  As my garden is paved (dog proofed and too lazy to do gardening) I was reliant on weeds growing around the edges, and unsurprisingly this is what I found:

I also tried the image in black and white, but I think I prefer the minimal palette of the colour.

Sebastiao Salgado: Genesis

I visited the Genesis exhibition in April - a fantastic accumulation of eight year documentary photography.  Unfortunately my original write up has disappeared from my blog so I've lost my initial reactions.  This has now been rewritten from memory of what I wrote the first time round :-(

I am actually wondering now if it was taken down because I had added some of Salgado's images?  Although I attributed them to him, and if you are using them for study purposes this is not a breach of copywrite, I wonder if that is what happened...

Anyway, this was a stunning exhibition.  Well worth the visit.  Excellently curated with a section for each geographic region.  Bags of interest for landscape, wildlife and anthropology.  All black and white so really focusing on texture and shape.  Great examples for TAOP Elements of Design!!

One thing I noticed was that most of the pictures were grainy - obviously deliberate - does Salgado add this after or is this a result of very high ISO.  I also noticed that in some pictures the framing was so tight that parts of e.g. a whale tail had been chopped.  Again - assuming deliberate - but why?  I think that if I did that - my tutor would complain!

What I loved about the exhibition was the objective: to show landscapes and communities untouched and unscarred by modern life.   I also really liked the use of abstract in wildlife, which was something I hadn't seen before, e.g. the lizard foot and the iguana tail.

I have put the book on my amazon wish list for Christmas - I will write more then when I can reference the images more easily.

Photography Monthly - June 2013 edition

I love long exposure landscapes.  This is slowly becoming an obsession and even more so now I have an ND filter!  I love love love love love them!  In this month's PM there is an article about Trevor Cotton and how he uses long exposures and minimal colours to create landscapes with a difference - see pages 28 - 32.

These landscapes are about sea and sky and describe how Cotton produces almost abstract effects with misty water and moving skies.  Looking at the meta data published, he seems to favour ISO 100 (necessary with such a long exposure) with a medium aperture f/11 - f/15 and exposures between one and four minutes - presumably depending on available light - and the addition of a LEE 10 Stop and and LEE ND Grad.   The result of this is beautiful with the foreground sharp and the background disappearing into the horizon.  Using a long extension subject such as an old jetty is very effective as the eye is taken into the picture by the subject and further on into the blurred horizon.  The minimal colour is achieved by post processing.    I have noticed recently that I am drawn to landscape images using a minimal colour scheme - not sure why - but I think the simplicity of colour helps emphasise texture and atmosphere - particularly in these almost surreal landscapes. 

For examples of Cotton's work, please see his website, as he has explicitly requested for his images not to be reproduced.

However, I can show my own first few attempts at long exposure landscapes with my ND filter:

Finally.....

After 14 MONTHS OF BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS....and sulking.....I finally got full marks (10/10) in Kingston Camera Club's 5th print comp this year for my street pic (Hackney No. 2) - renamed "Keeping an eye on the children" for the competition.  The judge in question was Rosemary Wilman Hon FRPS former president of the Royal Photographic Society, so it was a result worth waiting for!  :-)

Heather Angel

I was lucky enough last week to go to a talk by Heather Angel at Guildford Photographic Society.  Heather gave us a beautiful slide show showing her macro and wildlife images and provided us with some much valued "pearls":

Macro:

• Work hard on backgrounds - they can make or break a photo
• If no flash - can use camera bag to cast shadow to make background black
• Use diffuser to reduce light on subject
• Metering pale or dark subjects - spot meter an average tone
• Use a reflector to bounce sun into flower centres
• Use a light tent for photographing individual flowers - produces even lighting - botanical painting effect!
• Bright colours with dark areas - use flash
• Fibre optic light good for texture
• Black velvet and plamps to create black background
• Focus stacking to create total depth of field

Wildlife/travel

• Expect the unexpected
• Meter off neutral tones if subject mainly black or white  

And of course I bought a few books, particularly in preparation for my forth coming trip to Skomer to photograph puffins :-)