Project 2 People: 2nd photoshoot, Edited images

Here are the best images from 2nd photoshoot. Before taking photos at this group of people, I approached them and asked for permission before taking photos as I have been told that you have to ask for their permission before taking photos or problems could occure later. I have noticed that the difference in people's attitude and behaviour changed quite noticeablily, with comparison to the first photoshoot, I didn't ask for their permission and the players didn't really care or noticed me taking photos, the images turned out to be better. Whereas in the 2nd photoshoot, even though the players didn't look directly at the camera, I could still notice them being conscious in what they do and maybe because they are young people too, they try to look cool and good for the camera.





However, this series focus more on the interaction between players. and I try to capture each players movement to show their individual techniques/tactics.

Reflecting back on this photoshoot
-Need to do some photo editing to adjust the colours and contrast of these images and hopefully get it in the same quality as the initial photoshoot. Because the final images should be read in a series.

-In the 1st photoshoot, I wanted to explore on the shadows cast by the players on the ground which shows their movement and actions. I will go back and take another lot of photos more focused on this subject.

-Also it will be interesting to have close up shots of player's facial expressions. Which will show their emotions and possibly their relationship and interaction with other players. This could be quite intereing.

Project 2 People: 2nd photoshoot

The weather in Wellington hasn't been very sunny after the initial shoots, But I still need to take more photos. With that in mind, I went back on a finer day (but it only stopped raining towards the afternoon! So the images were of a different quality to the initial shoots) hoping to take more photos of players in action.

After the initial shoots I have decided that I wanted to explore more on the players with the following points and really need to refine my concept more with a stronger rationale to support the images:

What am I photographing?
A group of young people in the basketball courts in the city.
Not a planned gathering or a fierce competition, but just a group of people who has strong passion for basketball and to play and enjoy the sunshine with other people's company.

Why did I choose to photography basketball players?
I feelt that young people's buzzing energy and passion for life can be revealed in the basketball courts, a place where they can be carefree and purely endulge in the fun and company of their mates.

The swift movement of the young players makes a game more exciting and their interaction between players shows their relationship with one another, the bonding between one another can sometimes unintentionally shown by the players if they have been playing together for a long time where they have a 'tacit understanding', as well as each individual's tactics which makes each player unique and each plays an important part in the team.



Contact sheets from the 2nd photoshoot:

Project 2 People: Artist model

The Artist model that I looked at this week is Brian Finke.

"Brian Finke, USA, 1976, is a documentary photographer that also works in advertisement for clients such as Heineken and Nike and various editorials. In 2008 his book Flight Attendants came out. He documented the people that choose to work in the skies, before, during and after their trips. In 2003 he released the book 2-4-6-8. He followed American cheerleaders and football players from around 175 different high schools in the US. The following images come from Flight Attendants, 2-4-6-8 and Frat Boys."

http://500photographers.blogspot.com/2010/08/photographer-092-brian-finke.html

Flight Attendants Series

Cheerleader Series

These two series I found interesting because the images were saturated to create a vivide colour scene and has a boldness sense to it. And it is almost comical in way that portraits a sense of exitement of the people in the images.

I could try to alter the saturation of the images that I have taken, to experiement with different levels to create a similar bold and vivide colour scene.

Project 2 people: Initial shots

I still was not quite sure where I want to go for the project so I went out to Waitangi Park on a sunny day and sat by the skate board and basketball court to take some photos of young people in that space. I found action shots of basketball players jumping for the ball or reaching for a goal quite interesting and it gives a sense of movement and people interaction in that space.









Some of the shots that I thought was successful:













This shot here displays another idea or way of approaching the players on court. From this angle, some really interesting shadows are cast and it could potential portrait the movements or actions by the players. I want to explore further the play of shadows, so the next step would be to go back on a sunny day around the same time and approach the players with the sun behind them and compose the shot so it includes the shadows on the ground. Also I'd need to take into consideration of the buildings behind (Te Papa) I could move further to the right away from the builiding and more of the sky to achieve a greater contrast of the objects, as the players are currently blended into the background.





The next step would be to go back to take more photos and explore and define what my concept is, and what I want to capture from these players.

Project 2 people: Class exercise_ PS merging

From Studio we experiemented with photoshop and manipulating images (merging of photos) to create a face from multiple images. Also we were introduced to different lighting techniques and lights from the photography room.

Here is the image I created using Lukas and my face. I couldn't find the original photos because they were saved on T:drive and it was deleted by the time I went back to look for it. But here is the end result.

-Using my hat

-my eyes/glasses

-Lukas's fringe

-Half of my hair

-Lukas's mouth

From this exercise I discovered that merging images together can be done with care and the end result is quite realistic. I could possible use this technique in my project to manipulate images where possible.

Project 2_People: Thoughts from lecture 5 11-08-2010

Project 2 - People - Medium Shot

In lecture 5 we were introduced to the idea of the Gaze.

-It is the relations of power and the photograph, the way we look at images.

-It is about you as the viewer looking at the image.

When we are looking at an image, there are questions we can ask about it.

-Who took the photo? Assumptions and positions

-Who is the intended viewer?

-What is the subject?

The male gaze- Laura Mulvey

In her essay, she discusses idea of Woman functioned as objects for male 'to gaze' at, more so in the Hollywood world, often seen in films and photoshoots aimed at male audiences. It is the idea of woman as the constructed object to give visual pleasure and narrative cineman. It was also interesting to see that how we have sub-consciously accepted this fact as the norm without realising it.

Even before Hollywood, in paintings in historical art, the male gaze existed.

Naked woman in historial paintings.

'Honest Art'

'Marilyn Monroe'

'Dita Von Teese' Ad for beer beverage

The Political Gaze

-It is about propaganda paintings

-Claims the truth

-Documentation, not to distort the truth
-Controlled photoshopping

Napoleon Crossing the alps, Jacques-louis David 1801

Obama campaign for President of USA

Lastly it's the Photoshop Gaze

-It is a phenomena

-In this era we are aware that the tool of photoshop is being apply to almost every image that we see.

-Photo montage, becuase of it's fictional nature, it makes it okay. Whereas if we were to use photoshop to distort the truth, then it could be wrong and untruthful to our audiences.


Annie Lebowit 2007

Annie Lebowitz 2007

Annie Lebowitz 2007

Annie Lebowitz 2007, in this series she captures Hollywood stars in fantastical backgrounds. In Disney Fairy tale story scenery, this was interesting to see. As the images are obviously staged but it is very powerful in a narrative sense.

From all the examples from the lecture, I can take into consideration when doing my first shots to think beyond portraiture. How people be captured in their absence.

An idea that came to my mind is capturing people in action.

I was interested in two ideas

1) Coffee Culture, capturing the atmosphere in the cafe as a place of relaxation/meeting over coffee/spot to spend time with loved ones.

2) The angle from the minorities, i.e. racism, sterotype, what you perceive of others might not be what you think they are.

Some images that I found related to those topics:

Coffee Culture_Enjoying a shot of strong caffine

conflict in a cafe_ however this image is obviously staged

Baby with tattoo, Sterotype

With the two ideas in mind, I will carry out initial shots to test which idea is the strongest. Experimenting lighting and choosing between images where people are stage and images of people 'naturally'.
As I have noticed that people often act differently when they are aware of being captured in photographs, I would need to take this into consideration on whether I want to hide when taking photos so I'm not interferring with their actions so they can be more real and at ease.

Project_2_People_Initial Response

The next project is about People.

From the introduction lecture and looking through the brieft I have note down some parts and with questions that will be answered to understand the brief properly. Because from the last assignment, I don't think I have grasped the concept enough to be able to take stronger images.

"Explore portrait photography both inside and outside the studio."

This meant that I could explore taking images of people, not only in everyday situation or in a documentary form. But also could be 'staged' using the correct lighting and positioning to portrait my idea.

"Alternatively, you may want to conceptualise that would constitute an 'anti-portrait'. You may want to explore the nature of what it is that makes us who we are."

I thought this part of the brief was quite important. First of all, 'anti-portrait' can be understand as images taken with a sense of people with no face, so it is about capturing the sense of people.

1949 year of Ox, Daniel Lee, Manimal series

1965 year of Snake, Daniel Lee, Manimal series
Daniel Lee interprets the Chinese Zodiac in contemporary terms through computer manipulation of photographic images. There are 12 zodiac signs (animals) which is merged into a man form.

http://inventorspot.com/articles/manimals_13736/

Toilet, Paul Smith, Make my night 1998

Race, Paul Smith, Make my night, 1998

Paul Smith used a technical method combined with the use of multiple self-portraits. Which makes the single person reappearing in the photograph to compose the image. This was quite effective as the photos have a narrative sense even though it is only in one time frame.

http://www.paulmsmith.co.uk/portfolio/make-my-night/make-my-night.html