Month: April 2016

Module Reflection

Posted on by madisontburke

I took this module because I was interesting in learning and exploring London. I knew that I wanted to document my experiences through photography as well and I was hoping that this module would help improve my skills and give me a better understanding and knowledge of the subject. I have not taken much time in my life to research or go look at photographic exhibitions. If I go to a museum of gallery, it is usually for paintings, sculpture, or music. I did not have extensive knowledge on photographers or their varied plethora of techniques. I was very grateful to have gone to places to analyze that and learn how to apply it to me own photography. It was never that I was taking bad photographs before, but they just could have been better. I had my style before I can to class, but it was more working to define and expand its abilities.

What surprised me the most is that I actually like photography. I always thought of it as a chore before. I could admire the art or craft and praise those who were good at it. However, I was never very good and did not ever find the desire to get behind the lens an document my experiences and world that way. This module forced me to take photographs and learn that there are so many ways to do it, that one of them I have to like.

This class got tedious at times and I will admit, I did not always want to be engaged. But I never stopped wanting to learn and talk about the photography from the module. I hated updating the blog throughout the module, but now I am happy that I have it. I learned a lot about my own approaches to photography, but also everyone else’s. I learned to take what I analyzed and apply it to what I wanted to create. The photographic recreations allowed me to see what my eyes were good at picking up on, and then trying to recreate the technique.

Overall, I enjoyed this class. It was a lot of work, but I am glad I have some of it on the internet forever.

Photogrpahic Tour

Posted on by madisontburke

On this tour, I wanted to capture the experience of each location. I did not want to photograph the journey, but rather have each exhibition be the journey. I would take a photograph before entering the exhibition and try to emulate what I was feeling and how I believed it to be about. After exiting the exhibition, or rather while in it, I would snap a photograph of how it really was and truly made me feel. It was an interesting and fun process because it documenting me judging a book by its cover. The journey was experiencing things I wasn’t expecting.

Also, all of the photos turned on their sides for some reason. This was not intentional and WordPress will not change it.

  1. Mad about the BoyI originally thought that this exhibition was just going to be about fashion rather than the relationship of boys in fashion and how their sexuality can influence their work and life. I knew it was going to be funky by the fist image, by the second one captures how I felt. It is the only way to capture this exhibitions message, in a photograph of a fake bathroom plastered with feminine male ads.
    PT

    Before

    PT2

    After

  2. Abelardo Morell at Beetles & Huxley
    PT5

    Before

    PT6

    After

  3. James Coleman at Marian Goodman GalleryThis gallery actually did not look suspicious from the outside. It is in the middle of Soho and quite a nice building. However, the exhibition inside was dissonant, eerie, mysterious, and unnerving to the viewer. I felt creeped out and that everything was caving in. That is why I chose to put the photo in black and white and capture this long corridor.
    Before
    After

     

     

Reflection on Influences

Posted on by madisontburke

It was week 3 that the class visited the Photographer’s Gallery. It was there that I got to interact with the photographs of Saul Leiter. They were impressionistic and flaneuristic. I fell in love with them and his techniques. It is not my main style of photography, but I have taken away a great deal from analyzing his work. It is expressive and in your face. There is not too much hidden meaning because he lays it out all for you. It is a fleeting moment that the world is captured in his lens. His use of exploiting texture and reflection is also prominent. I have used that by becoming more aware of the differences in textures and highlighting upon them in my own work. His work has interested me because he combines so many different approaches to art successfully. Hes taken a painting technique and used it for photography. His creativity and execution are incredible. Beyond that, each photograph is very interesting. He has inspired me to start taking photographs of people. However not portraits, but more when the camera lens acts as a passerby. Fleeting moments of time. I am still not too good at it, but it has pushed me to try.

Final Project Progress Report #2

Posted on by madisontburke

I originally wanted to capture London through architecture. That idea has never changed. I wanted to capture and represent this city by not using the people that live here. Rather than exploit the surroundings people live in and how that infrastructure can influence their life. I also wanted to explain how diverse different parts of the city were while still being uniformed and connected. There are multiple personalities in London, but the all connect back to one identity. I believe that by photographing the architecture unique to my favorite places, it will give insight to that theory and help answer how a greatly diversified population all live in London at once.

The one aspect I did have to modify, was that I wanted to do this all with blue skies. This was not really possible, because London weather is not the most friendly. I still will and have gone out on clear days, but some photographs have clouds in them so far. I picked locations that are closer to my experience in London and places I frequent often. What i am using to achieve fluidity within the series is the angle ad point of view of my photographs. I want them to be in the viewers face head on, and not necessarily the most flattering photograph for that building. Its my representation of London and how the architecture interacts with the world around it. This relationship between the tangible and non tangible reality.

These are the photographs I will use so far:

What I have mainly focused on is the use of color and high contrasts. I still am influenced by Saul Leiter and the certain angles and point of views he used to approach a message. They were not always the best, but made the image more powerful.

‘DREAMY’

Posted on by madisontburke

D2D3D1d4

I love the word ‘Dreamy’. It is filled with possibility, but also relaxation and tranquility. It is different from the word ‘Dream’, which is filled with action, determination, and a desired want. When I take photographs, I love capturing things in this world that seem imaginary and dreamy. When I went to the Saul Leiter exhibition, his impressionistic approach to photography reminded me of the word dreamy. That is another reason I chose this word, because I wanted to see if I could recreate that technique. What I found is that the light and colors predict how that message will come across. It is easier to create ‘Dreamy” photos through landscapes, rather than people. Most of the time it helps if the photo is blurred or a type of fluidity is achieved.

These photographs were taken when I took a trip to Nice, France. The two blue ones are from the plane and uses a bird’s eye view. While, the other two were taken while in Nice. The sun is an integral factor in producing the dreamy quality to all of these photographs.

Portrait Recreation

Posted on by madisontburke

Original
Recreation

In class while choosing a portrait, I found this one. I chose it because it was not of someone’s face, but rather their arm. If i were to be a portrait artist, I do not think I would capture faces, but rather abstract parts of them. This person wears their pain and past on their arm. This conviction is achieved through the simplicity of the photograph. The background is plain and it allows the subject to be brought forward by using color contrasts. The light is artificial, but I did not have that harsh of light when recreating my version. I also found that eliminating shadows is very hard. The point of view and positioning are blatant, which was something that I very much wanted to capture in my recreation. it is not perfect, but it is very good. The skin both pops in each photo, however mine looks more green.

Original- Artist: Lauren Shear; Subject: M.H.; Wednesday 11:15am from the series Self-Harm; Date: May 2004

 

 

Portraits

Posted on by madisontburke

Portrait from Worm’s Eye
Portrait from Bird’s Eye
Portrait from Close Up
Portrait from Eye Level
‘Surprise Me’ Portrait

After visiting the National Portrait Gallery, me and my partner ventured into Trafalgar Square to take portraits of each other. This was a great idea, however my phone died two photographs into taking them. I knew that I would need to photograph someone, so I asked my friend Valerie if I could use her as my subject. She agreed to my proposition and we set out to take some portraits. She is a person with a dynamic personality. She can be a carefree and light girl, but then also be a passionate and serious woman. I am quite fascinated by how true and purely she represents her identity to the world.

Portraits are representations of the subjects and I aimed to capture her in many different ways. The two photographs on the stairs, allow the viewer to feel distant from the subject and come to her rather than the other way around. The framing and point of view enhances this idea. By slenderizing the framing, it makes the eye narrowly focused. In he close up portrait, I wanted to capture Val rolling her eyes, something she frequently does. This was a little hard, but I loved the angle I captured her from. She is also very tall, so this is an angle that most people would be viewing her from as well. It is a photograph representing my relationship with her. The portrait at eye level was the most difficult for me, because neither her or I could think of a position, pose, or look that would fully embody the right message. I still do not think that it was achieved. There are too many textures playing and it looks choppy. However I do like the way it is framed. The last one is my favorite because it shows her carefree and happy side. It was not a posed photograph, rather one I got because she was being herself. The point of view should have been more straight on, but then i realize that the expression on her face might not be as well depicted.

I chose to put all of the photographs in Black and White because I wanted the subject to speak for herself, rather than color. She is vibrant and can paint any photograph with color. It also allowed for me to play around with shadows on a different level and enhance the staircase photographs even more. The lack of color made it simple and matter of fact. p6.JPG

This was the portrait I took of a stranger. It actually happens to be ‘strangers’, but the idea is the same. I saw these people sitting and watching this young boy as I was in Trafalgar Square. I was enthralled by them and the difference between young and old. What I like so much about this photograph is that it represents family so clearly. It is generational, but also proves that life goes on and no one will ever really loose their childhood. I wanted the point of view to be head on. The background is not the greatest, but the setting was not a studio. I believe this fact makes the photograph even more powerful. I did not want to put this one in Black and White because I enjoyed the colors too much. They helped explain the different subject.

National Portrait Gallery-Taylor Wessing Photographic Prize

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TITLE OF EXHIBITION: Taylor Wessing Photographers Prize

NAME OF PHOTOGRAPHER(S) ON SHOW: Varied

  • What is a common thread running through the exhibition?
    • This is a competition at the National Portrait Gallery and all of the photographs in this exhibition are portraits of many different people. They might all be different, but they all aim to capture the essence of a human subject. It is a very personal interaction with photographer and subject because not only does the subject have a say on how that want the world to see them, but the interpretation of the photographer is important as well. This exhibition captures the souls of various people we share this world with and who made an impact through a camera lens.
  • What defines the photographer’s style? What do the images have in common, in terms of both subject matter and technique/style?
    • Since there are multiple photographers on display at this exhibition, I will talk about how each photograph in this exhibition are portraits. Portraits are unique because there is a different type of relationship between the subject, the photographer, and how one is captured through a lens. Not only is there the photographers choice, but the subject’s as well. Each photograph is personal and sheds a deeper light into the life and mind of the subject. Most of the portraits taken were of the face and not overly complicated. However, some took a more abstract approach.
  • If you could, what question would you ask the photographer in order to get a better understanding of his/her work?
    • How can portraits help define a photographer, rather than just the subject?

 

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NAME OF PHOTOGRAPHER: Paul Stuart

TITLE OF PHOTOGRAPH: Peter Capaldi

YEAR PHOTOGRAPH WAS TAKEN: Color Coupler print, June 2014

 

  • What is your personal reaction to the photograph?
    • I was very moved by this photograph because of how simple and understaded it is. There is not much color and the background blends into the forgroud. The subject is not looking at the camera, but is concentrating on something else. I loved that even though a portrait captures the essence of a person, this photo achieves that by almost disregarding the camera. It is a fluid picture and I feel as if I am peering into a small moment in time of this man’s life. Essentially a still taken from a moving picture.
  • Identify and describe one compositional aspect or photographic attribute (e.g., framing, point of view, shapes, lines, use of light etc.)
    • The lack of color and use of bright lights allows this photograph to achieve its message. Instead of the subject or photographer applying meaning through color and pattern, they leave it white in order for the viewer to paint the photograph. The point of view is also important because without it, the subject would have not looked so disengaged. It is eye view, but from an slight angle to the right. It does not create a complete side profile.
  • Identify and describe the meaning of the image. What message is the photographer trying to convey? What story is being told?
    • The meaning of the portrait lies within the lack of color used. White is meant to represent innocence. I do not believe this man has lived his life and returned innocent, but rather that his innocence begins with a new start. The absence of color is a representation of a new start and a new life. He is now ready to recolor his white shirt with new memories.