Trent Parke

In the feedback to Assignment Three, my tutor, Robert Enoch, suggested I look at the work of magnum photographer Trent Parke.  I am already familiar with his work, having seen one of his images, Shark Bay at the A Question of Colour Exhibition in November:

Shark Bay (c) Trent Parke

The light in this image is astonishing - crisp shadows, overhead sign, bleached sand and stunning blue sky.

Looking through Parke's galleries on the In Public website, you can see his dramatic use of light and shade - really stark contrasts.  The black and white pictures in particular have a real sense of drama and an almost supernatural element.  In this image in particular, the use of light has a spooky effect taken facing a low sun with the long shadows, blown light in the background and halos around the pedestrians' heads.  A slow shutter speed was obviously also used to capture the blur of people walking in the street making it look ethereal:

Image 1880, Gallery 2, (c) Trent Parke

I really like Parke's work and am keen to see more of it.

Birdseed (c) Keith Wellbelove

Wish I'd seen this!! What a great photo by fellow KCC member Keith Wellbelove taken in Trafalgar Square. It has everything - light, dark, contrast, bizarre scene, and the composition really suits the subject matter with lightest part being the subject, at the centre. Really like the shadows of the heads of the four bystanders - this adds context, anchoring and a sense of voyeurism! I also like the way the edges of the paving stones provide leading lines into the subject, drawing the eye into the centre.

Like me, Keith is very interested in Street Photography, so I'm looking forward to seeing more of his work :)

Birdseed (c) Keith Wellbelove

Tom Hunter

I had the privilege to attend a lecture by Tom Hunter yesterday participating in an OCA study trip:

I had previously seen his work in the Seduced by Art Exhibition I attended previously, and now I've heard Tom speak, I understand a lot more about this exhibition!  What I really gained from listening to Tom, is a greater understanding of what it means to conceptualise your work.  I had recently started to gain an awareness that photography is used conceptually, but hadn't really taken it on board fully.  Understanding Tom's use of comparisons with the old masters to make a statement about living conditions that he himself has experienced is very powerful.  Some of his images are haunting, and become more so when you really appreciate the meaning behind them.

A great experience!

I have also thought of something I would like to conceptualise - to do with the passage of time and the way and which we occupy space.

Ida Pap

I went to a talk by Ida Pap about ten days ago at the City and Cripplegate Photographic Society.  A young, and fairly new photographer, she has a fascinating take on Urban Landscapes, focussing on the minutae of the scene, or the mood, rather than record or achitectural photography.  Using light and reflections to create a very dramatic effect, and allowing light to become blown out, Ida creates photographs that are almost bewitching.  Until this talk, I hadn't really appreciated what the addition of a person (mostly in silhouette) adds to an image in creating tension and drama.

Very inspiring!

Miss November

Just had a phone call today that I am Miss November in the Wainwright Society 2014 calendar - I am thrilled :) - this has been a personal ambition of mine ever since I discovered their existence!!!

Ill Form and Void Full

Ill Form and Void Full - an exhibition by Laura Letinsky at the Photographers Gallery visited last Saturday on an OCA study trip.

To begin with, I found it quite disturbing to look at the images.  The ambiguity of where the planes lie made me feel uneasy.  Once I'd understood that Letinsky is playing with light and shade and showing the relationship between positive and negative space I began to imagine how the scenes were created.  Not sure about the subject matter - she is playing with time showing food in various stages of consumption and decay, but why? 

To be honest, I found the exhibition interesting, particularly looking at the composition in each and examining thirds, quadrants, bisections, and receding centre-pieces, but I can't say I liked it.  Intriguing but not pleasing.  I'm not a big fan of still life photography, so may be this has something to do with it - I'm more interested in outdoors subjects - but it has given me some food for thought for TAOP As4!

I did like the white and shadow of white though and particularly with the use of orange in the exhibition and OCA people!

Photography Monthly - February 2013 edition

Very interested in the article about Steve Landeros and his "negative space" style of photography.  In fact, I had commented yesterday on an photograph I saw at the Ansel Adams exhibition that was about minimilism rather than the usual dramatic landscape.  The article describes the techniques Landeros uses to create monochrome images of mist, fog, blurred water and very little detail but maximum atmosphere.  The images often have very subtle and only slightly visible background detail - stunning!  

Negative space is created by placing the subject of the photograph to one side of the frame and using the direction of the sky to enhance the composition.  Using landscape lenses, Landeros favours very high ISO (50-125), a very slow shutter speed and varying apertures - f/4-f/16 depending on the image.  I noticed that with images with blurred and subtle background details, a wider aperture was used.  Landeros also uses N-grad filters to darken the sky (I have a set of these :-) !)

I really want to try some shots like these and I will do at my next opportunity to get out on my own and take my time with what I'm doing!