unit 2: evaluation
For this exam unit I chose the theme Fantastic and Strange. This theme stood out to me because, there was such a big variety of photographs I could create. I could create many types of interesting ones, which were all completely different from one another. My initial thoughts about this theme, was making mind illusion-like photographs, that could trick peoples minds. This influenced my first couple sets of images. I took the photographs from different angles, so the picture would like it was originally taken the right way up. For example taking a picture of someone lying on the ground, from a birds eye view, so it looks like they are standing up normally. I tried to push this idea as far as I could, by using different positions for the models to be in, and including other objects as well. Once I felt like I had done as much with this idea as I could, that's when I decided I wanted to create more pictures, that were completely different to my initial one.
To do this I had to research some photographers, who's pictures were nothing like my first few sets, to give me inspiration and new ideas. Some of the photographers, who gave me inspiration were Abigail Reynolds and Floris Neususs. I found these photographers when I looked up strange and fantastic on pinterest. I was really interested in Abigail Reynolds work, as lots of her photography, is based around showing the changes of the same thing after a long period of time. But what really intrigued me about her work, was the way she displays her pictures, she layers the photographs on top of each other, then folds the top layer, which allows the bottom photograph comes through. However she uses photographs which had already been taken, this technique is called appropriation. This gave me inspiration for my first final piece, to use photos that already exist, as well as my own.
This got me thinking about using appropriation in my photographs, the way Reynolds does as well, but on parts of well known locations in my local area, Greenwich. I went online and I found some interesting photographs, of Greenwich park when it was first built, as well as old drawings. The next this is did was, go to Greenwich park and re-create the photographs/ drawings. I thought this was effective, because it showed the differences in the surroundings. For example, one photograph I found, was an old picture of the Queens house, so when I re-created the photograph, the main noticeable difference, were the skyscrapers in the background, that hadn't been built in the original photograph. Once I had taken the photographs, I started playing around with the colour effects on iPhoto, to try and make the present photos look more like the originals. However I didn't want to try and make the photographs look exactly the same as the originals, because I wanted to make the difference between each photographs or drawings clear. Once I created the photos, I picked out my favourite one, which was the Queens house, as there were both clear similarities and differences between the two time periods. Although Reynolds layered her photographs, then folded them, I wanted to try merging the photos in another way. I then decided to try cutting both of the photographs in half, then putting them together, to make one photograph again. However when I did this, I didn't like it that, one photograph was slightly at a different angle, so the pictures weren't perfectly in line with each other, so I just created a small gap between the two halves of the different photographs. Then I created the same picture, but using more sections of each photograph. I really liked this way of Displaying the photographs, as it was very simple, but effective in the way that it clearly compared the two pictures.
I then decided I wanted to try and do something interesting with these images of Greenwich park, whilst still using appropriation, but by using the technique of photograms and rayographs. I took all of my photos, and the original pictures and drawings, put them all into photoshop, and inverted all of them. I then layed them separately on top of photographic paper, and exposed them for 2-3 seconds in the darkroom. By doing this, the final outcome of the photogram will be in positive colours, but in black and white. I wanted to try this out as an experiment, as I have never done it before, and the theme of fantastic and strange allows me to create photographs, using different techniques and processes, which I haven't used before, or haven't used a lot. One thing I really liked about these photograms, is that it was harder to tell the difference between, the pictures I took and the originals, as the photograms came out a bit blurred, which I think made the photographs more mysterious and strange overall. One of the photographers I discovered who created photograms, was Floris Neussus. He creates whole-body photograms, which are based around the human body, by looking at his work, it gave me the inspiration for my second final piece.
Like Floris Neussus, I wanted to create something like his work, but as I had already created some photograms, I decided to create a cyanotype. To create it I used two large A2 pieces of mounting board, and covered it in Potassium ferricyanide and Ferris ammonium citrate. Unlike Neussus's work though, I wanted the cyanotype to tell something about the person on it, to make it feel more personal. My next step was bringing in objects linked to music, such as paper music notes, ipod, headphones and CD's. I then placed those objects around myself, as I was lying on the cyanotype, and I have always liked music. However as the cyanotype was quite big, it needed longer out in the sun. This meant that lots of my objects, moved around by the wind. I could of improved on this, by using heavier objects. On the other hand I really liked the final outcome of the cyanotype, as there were some shadows oh the objects that moved, and a couple of footprints in the corners.
Overall I am really satisfied with this unit, and all of the images and final pieces I have created. I have really enjoyed this, as I have been able to research people or specific techniques, and get inspired from them, to create my own images. However the main reason why I enjoyed working on this unit so much, is because every image, or sets of images I created, I had a lot of fun doing, which made it more rewarding, when I was happy with the photographs I created.
To do this I had to research some photographers, who's pictures were nothing like my first few sets, to give me inspiration and new ideas. Some of the photographers, who gave me inspiration were Abigail Reynolds and Floris Neususs. I found these photographers when I looked up strange and fantastic on pinterest. I was really interested in Abigail Reynolds work, as lots of her photography, is based around showing the changes of the same thing after a long period of time. But what really intrigued me about her work, was the way she displays her pictures, she layers the photographs on top of each other, then folds the top layer, which allows the bottom photograph comes through. However she uses photographs which had already been taken, this technique is called appropriation. This gave me inspiration for my first final piece, to use photos that already exist, as well as my own.
This got me thinking about using appropriation in my photographs, the way Reynolds does as well, but on parts of well known locations in my local area, Greenwich. I went online and I found some interesting photographs, of Greenwich park when it was first built, as well as old drawings. The next this is did was, go to Greenwich park and re-create the photographs/ drawings. I thought this was effective, because it showed the differences in the surroundings. For example, one photograph I found, was an old picture of the Queens house, so when I re-created the photograph, the main noticeable difference, were the skyscrapers in the background, that hadn't been built in the original photograph. Once I had taken the photographs, I started playing around with the colour effects on iPhoto, to try and make the present photos look more like the originals. However I didn't want to try and make the photographs look exactly the same as the originals, because I wanted to make the difference between each photographs or drawings clear. Once I created the photos, I picked out my favourite one, which was the Queens house, as there were both clear similarities and differences between the two time periods. Although Reynolds layered her photographs, then folded them, I wanted to try merging the photos in another way. I then decided to try cutting both of the photographs in half, then putting them together, to make one photograph again. However when I did this, I didn't like it that, one photograph was slightly at a different angle, so the pictures weren't perfectly in line with each other, so I just created a small gap between the two halves of the different photographs. Then I created the same picture, but using more sections of each photograph. I really liked this way of Displaying the photographs, as it was very simple, but effective in the way that it clearly compared the two pictures.
I then decided I wanted to try and do something interesting with these images of Greenwich park, whilst still using appropriation, but by using the technique of photograms and rayographs. I took all of my photos, and the original pictures and drawings, put them all into photoshop, and inverted all of them. I then layed them separately on top of photographic paper, and exposed them for 2-3 seconds in the darkroom. By doing this, the final outcome of the photogram will be in positive colours, but in black and white. I wanted to try this out as an experiment, as I have never done it before, and the theme of fantastic and strange allows me to create photographs, using different techniques and processes, which I haven't used before, or haven't used a lot. One thing I really liked about these photograms, is that it was harder to tell the difference between, the pictures I took and the originals, as the photograms came out a bit blurred, which I think made the photographs more mysterious and strange overall. One of the photographers I discovered who created photograms, was Floris Neussus. He creates whole-body photograms, which are based around the human body, by looking at his work, it gave me the inspiration for my second final piece.
Like Floris Neussus, I wanted to create something like his work, but as I had already created some photograms, I decided to create a cyanotype. To create it I used two large A2 pieces of mounting board, and covered it in Potassium ferricyanide and Ferris ammonium citrate. Unlike Neussus's work though, I wanted the cyanotype to tell something about the person on it, to make it feel more personal. My next step was bringing in objects linked to music, such as paper music notes, ipod, headphones and CD's. I then placed those objects around myself, as I was lying on the cyanotype, and I have always liked music. However as the cyanotype was quite big, it needed longer out in the sun. This meant that lots of my objects, moved around by the wind. I could of improved on this, by using heavier objects. On the other hand I really liked the final outcome of the cyanotype, as there were some shadows oh the objects that moved, and a couple of footprints in the corners.
Overall I am really satisfied with this unit, and all of the images and final pieces I have created. I have really enjoyed this, as I have been able to research people or specific techniques, and get inspired from them, to create my own images. However the main reason why I enjoyed working on this unit so much, is because every image, or sets of images I created, I had a lot of fun doing, which made it more rewarding, when I was happy with the photographs I created.