Final Images

 

These are the final photographs that I have chosen to hand in. I have decided to print the middle one A0.The one that I am printing up to A0 was taken on the phase one camera and the other two where shot on the D800. In all three of the images I used flash but the last image shown I had to use a zoom reflector and bounce the flash of the celling. This was only because I could not book one out the store for the day I wanted it.

I am pretty pleased with how the images have turned out. If I was going to do any of the images again I think I would reshoot the A0 one. This is because the model is not quite were I wanted him in the frame. Apart from this I think the images have come out really well.

Interm Crit

 

 

 

This is the photograph that I used for my portraiture in my Interim Crit. Over all I think that my peers liked the image but there were a couple of adjustments that were mentioned. One person said that they would have liked to see the sofa in the middle of the frame because it was slightly off. I agreed with this point and agued that in this setting, because I was quite far back then it was hard to position the sofa in the center of the image. However I agree that it is something that I can work on.

Another reason that the sofa was not quit in the center of the image was I had the soft box in the corner of the shot. I had to keep moving my camera so the soft box wasn’t in shot. One of the solutions to this was suggested a peer. They said that is would be better to have the soft box behind the camera when taking the shot this way it wouldn’t be in shot.

I took everything on board that was said and I am going to work on these improvements. I think that I am going to stick with the genre of portraiture, as I don’t think I have explored it enough yet.

 

Brian Griffin

Brian Griffin is a famous English photographer who was born in Birmingham on the 13^th April 1948. Griffin has worked with many people doing various portraits. Most of Griffins photographs have been desaturated this is his prefured way to work in digital.

Our group was lucky enough to have a portraiture workshop with Brian Griffin. We were split up into little groups of 4 and he showed up how to set up the studio for portraits. The first shoot that we did was a portrait of me. Griffin placed me in the studio were he wanted me and then began the set up the lights. Griffin used three lights for this shoot. The first light was a beauty dish placed directly above my head using the boom. This lit up my shoulders and the back of my neck. The second light was in front of me to the right of the camera this had a zoom reflector that lit up my face. The third and final light was a hair light that was behind me pointing down just on my hair.

After we had set up the lights Griffin made the images black and white and carried on shooting. This was the final effect of this shoot.

 

For the second shoot that we did another member of our group had their portrait taken. For this we had a slightly different set up. Instead of standing up Griffin got the model to lean over the still life table that has a surface and a backdrop. This gives the effect of the model lying on the floor.

Griffin had set the shot up in a similar way using three lights. He then

Desaturated the images to give the photos a film nuwar look to them. This was the end result of the shoot.

I really enjoyed the workshop with Brian Griffin. I think that he is an amazing photographer and I defiantly learned a lot from him. I think that I am going to try and use some of the lighting techniques in my own work. I now understand more about how you can light up your subject.

Steve Schofield

Steve Schofield is a well known English photographer who has worked for many people and company’s including; Vogue, Vanity Fair, Esquire, Marie Claire, Tatler, The Sunday Times Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, EMMY, Empire Magazine, Guardian Weekend Magazine.

Schofield spent the majority of his early career in London. He then moved to the US in 2012 and now works between New York and Los Angeles. There is a series of work that Schofield has done that I am really interested in. this pices of work is called ‘The Land Of The Free’.

In this body of work that he has made, Schofield explores the fascination that the British public has with American popular culture of fandom. Schofield has photographed star trek fans or (Trekkies) and star war fans that are dressed up in their costumes in there homes. When looking at this work the viewer is given a glimpse into the life of a Trekkie or star wars fan. When you look at these images the people look out of place photographed in their costumes sitting on the sofa or standing in the living room. However his is what Schofield is trying to do. He is photographing the extrovert/frenetic in an ordinary setting.

I really like the way that Schofield has photographed these portraits by leaving in the surroundings of the home in shot. I think that this gives it more character and tells us a bit more about the subject.Schofield has used a big soft box over a flash to light his images. By using a big soft box you get this overall flat light to the image which has a lovely effect to it.

Jemima Stehli (strip)

Jemima Stehli is a British photographer who did aself-portrait series in 2000. The series was called strip. Stehli got various art critics to come to her studio for a shoot. She sat the male critics down in a chair and began to strip in front of them. Stehli positioned herself to the right of the shot facing the subject with her back to the camera. She then gave the art critics the shutter release for the camera. As Stehli began to strip the art critics would squeeze the shutter release and take a photograph at any time they wanted.

This self portrait is about the man reaction to the strip that Stehli is performing. In some of the shots the man looks quite shy and awkward. However in others the man looks like the alpha male with his legs spread apart looking strait at Stehli as she strips.

 

Self-Portrait

A self-portrait is a portrait of your self. It can be a simple mug shot of the face or it can be a bit more complex, for example like the work of Alexa Wright.

The self-portrait can be about the identity of the person. It can tern the personal into the political. Also it concerns friendship and relationships using your face or bobby to express your feelings.

 

Thomas Ruff

Thomas Ruff is a contemporary German photographer who is most famous for his portraits. Ruff studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (1977-1985). This was the academy of Düsseldorf, Germany. When i was looking at Ruffs work i came across the book ‘Thomas Ruff Andere Portraits + 3D’ this was a book on the sea rise of portraits that Ruff had done. The book was really interesting. One of the things that Ruff says is ‘If things are the way that they are then why should I tray to make them different’.

Ruff also comments on the renaissance and says that in that time portraits were a sign of social status. The props, jewellery, clothes and objects in the paintings were meant to illustrate the persons background. What Ruff is saying is that he didn’t want people to do this with his work. Ruff says that he thinks it is outrages the way that people treat his portraits. Ruff didn’t want people to think about the persons background in the photograph. He just wanted the viewer to look at the  photographs.

There is a 3D aspect to this book. Ruff has combined two faces together in one. the effect of this gives it a strange look. Ruff wanted to do this because he said that it was like combining to heads together. Ruff said that is was interesting because this could not be done in real life.

Portraiture

portraits are works of art that record the likens of a person or an animal. Taken with a camera or painted a portrait is usually of one specific individual. The portraits back in the renaissance focused less no the feachers of the person, and more on what was in the painting with them. Objects of value to the subject would quite often be painted in to the portrait to show the viewer the social status of the person in the portrait. On reflection portraiture at that time was a means of demonstrating your wealth and connections with social hierarchy. Nowadays we just tend to use portraits as mug shots for passports or for social media sites as profile pictures with i think is quite sad really.