Week 3 - Studio

or my third week I am going to be using the starting point of studio. My shoot is going to themed around Bert Stern's photoshoot of Marilyn Monroe, the last shoot before her death. The photoshoot was done in 1962 and have now become known as the "Last Sitting". Taken during several boozy sessions at the Hotel Bel-Air, the photographs are arguably the most famous images ever captured of America’s most famous actress: Monroe, sleepy-eyed and naked, sips from a Champagne glass, enacts a fan dance of sorts with various diaphanous scarves, romps with erotic playfulness on a bed of white linens. Six weeks after she had posed, Monroe was found dead of an apparent barbiturate overdose. I came across the images whilst looking in a book called "Photo Icons: The Story Behind The Pictures." The following images are my favourite ones from Stern's shoot.

Bert Stern recently re-created these images, with Lindsay Lohan, for a "New York Magazine" photoshoot, which got published on the front cover. What I like about Lohan's images are that she kept her poses and the femininity of the shots the same as the originals whilst making the images seem more up to date and modern. The following images are from the Lindsay Lohan shoot.

The theme of my shoot is going to be based around these images but I am going to be adding my own modern twist to them. The model which I am going to be using for this shoot is Natasha from my tutor. Tash is as beautiful as Marilyn Monroe but has a more modern look and attitude. I am going to be using a see-through fabric like the Marilyn Monroe shoot but i'm going to be using a vivid turquoise colour. I feel that the brightly coloured fabric will give the photoshoot more of a twist whilst the model's make-up and hair will keep the photos feminine.

This is Natsaha the model which I will be using for this photoshoot.

LomoKev aka Kevin Meredith Interview

Whilst looking for more information about the photographer Kevin Meredith I came across an interview which he did just a month after his solo book was released. The following article is the interview which I came across.

"He loves this city, and he shot this city. He even swims in the sea. But for Brighton photographer, Kevin Meredith, it is always about compact film cameras. Kevin, aka lomokev to many Flickr users, launched his first solo book – Hot Shots – last month.

You just had your book launch of Hot Shots last week. How did it go?
It went really well. I think we had about 150 people though the doors. Feedback from the night and for the book has been good. The free booze lasted for over 4 hours so I don’t think anyone can moan!

Is this your first book and what is it all about?
It’s my first solo book. The book is a how-to photography book that is written so that it can be dipped in and out of. Unlike most how-to books, there are no chapters but an image on every other page with a few hundred words explaining how it was achieved. It’s almost small enough to fit into your back pocket and is £10 online so it will make a great stocking filler for any budding photographer.

How did it come about?
The sub editor of the book Lindy Dunlop swims with me at Brighton swim club. She was familiar with my work because I was always snapping shots of us swimming in all weathers. I would send the links round to all the swim club members. I think she delved a little deeper into my Flickr account and thought it would be good idea to get me to write a book for her publishers: Rotovision, which is based in deepest darkest Hove.

How long have you been taking photos?
Since I was 16 so 14 years. I got really heavily into the Lomo thing when I was about 19 and since then I have collected an arsenal of compact film cameras. I never leave my flat without a camera. For the past five years, I have been doing more and more photography work as well as teaching and working in web development

To the cameraphobes out there - what is a Lomo camera? What’s so special about it, and how are you getting on with digital cameras?
The advantage of a Lomo over a camera phone is when you press the button to take a pic - it does not fanny around for seconds, shinning lights and trying to focus - a Lomo will take a picture straight away whether it be blurred or not. I can’t stand the delay in pressing the shutter button and the camera taking a photo. Photography is all about capturing a moment. It’s not good it you are constantly missing that moment! The color you get with film is some much richer than what you would get with a camera phone

I’m going to use the dirty word now...Photoshop. What is your position and will film ever die?
Photoshop is tool like any other - I think the goal for anyone using it should be to make their image not look liked they have not used it at all. As for film, it will always be with us because I think the hardcore will keep it alive, it might become more expensive to buy and develop but it ain’t going anywhere. My favorite film (Agfa Precisa) stopped being produced two years back. I bought up as much as could at the time and still have a large stockpile in a fridge. I found out last week its back in production but its called "Photo Agfa Precisa"

How important is Flickr to you?
I have met so many wonderful people though Flickr , its unreal. My book would not happened without it. I could not imagine where my photography work would be with out it. To me, it’s Facebook with a point to it and without all the poking!

You had your launch at Garage Studios, of which you now teach photography. Did you all meet though Flickr?
Adam Bronkhorst aka The Brownhorse introduced himself to me on the street at the International Beard Championships because he recognized me from Flickr. I got to know him at the Brighton Flickr meet ups. DarkDaze invited me to his photography show at the North Laines gallery with a Flickr mail. The last member of the Garage family, Matt, I met at the studio. He is not very active on Flickr. In fact, I don’t even know his Flickr user name!

You say that you live in and love Brighton, but work up in London. What is it about Brighton that makes you stay?
I sometimes work in London but not a lot anymore. I teach at the university of creative arts in Maidstone and Bucks Uni in Wycombe but mostly I work from home. I used to live in Wycombe, which was dump. I lived in London for two and a half years but there are too many people. Before Wycombe, I always lived in seaside towns, so had to get back to the sea. Brighton seemed like sensible choice

How influential is the city in your work?
I shot this city, I love this city, but I don’t know how influential its been because to that you have to take me out it to see a change and that aint’ happening!

Ok, I’m in Brighton for a weekend and you are my guide. I want to party like it’s 1999, but also want to see the city. Where do you take me?
Friday night we would start in a pub-crawl in the North Laines, then moving though the pubs in Kemp Town - maybe taking in the gay karaoke at the Queens Arms hosted by the lovely Betty Swollocks. We would have to end up at the Concorde 2; no matter what night it is, as they have great variety. There is never a moody or pretentious atmosphere, because of where it is. Everyone who is there, planed to be there, so you don’t get people trying to get in for one last drink. Also it’s a five-minute walk from my house which is handy! In the morning, we would have to go for a swim with Brighton swimming club in the sea down by Brighton Pier, then for a full English at the Dumb Waiter or the Opposition Cafe. Then repeat for your Saturday night.

Are you going to be holding more exhibitions in Brighton and where else can we see your work?
After I get married, I am going to start planning some new exhibitions and projects. There might be a Manchester Hot Shots launch in December - if I can get it together."

Kevin Meredith

After doing my photoshoot on Vernacular Signage I asked my lecturers if there were any photographers which specialize in Vernacular Signage. The photographer which came up was Kevin Meredith, an english photographer from Brighton. For Meredith his photography is all about using compact film cameras. He recently brought his first solo book named "Hot Shots" and in the book are a few images of Vernacular Signage. The following images are a few from the book.

Urban Vernacular Signage

For my second week of images I have taken pictures of Vernacular signs in my area. Three of the images were taken in Redruth, Barncoose Hospital in the early evening and two were taken around Truro in the late afternoon. All of the images were taken on a Lumix G1 and the exposure varied for each of the images. The following images are my favourite images from the shoot which have been edited for this blog. To see the rest of my shoot click here.

"10 MPH"

Taken: 28th February 2010

This first image was taken on the first day of shooting. It was taken at Barncoose Hospital and was taken near the end of the shoot just before the sun set. I took an image of this sign because I liked how worn out the edges of the sign were. After the shoot I opened the image on photoshop and adjust the saturation of the red so that the edge of the sign seemed more worn out. I also desaturated the background and increased the contrast of the sign so that the sign would stand out more from the background. I think that this image works well as 90% of the image is taken up by the sign which makes it stand out more. There wasn't any direct lighting on the sign as it was in the shadow of a building. I believe it works well without direct light as if there was any light shining onto the sign there would be a glare and it wouldn't look as old and distressed.

"Don't Enter"

Taken: 28th February 2010

I took this image on the way back from the photoshoot, I took this picture as it caught my eye as I walked past. I felt that there was some irony to the image as the 'No Entry' on the sign is actually in front of an entrance to a hospital yard. I also liked how the red stood out from all of the dull greens and browns surrounding the sign. Once I had uploaded this image I went into photoshop and de-saturated the colours around the sign to make the red stand out more in the frame. When I was taking this image I wanted to make sure that the viewer could see the irony that I could when taking the image. I made sure that you could see the entrance and the yard in the background but at the same time I didn't want to much of it showing as that would complicate the image, which would make the image less visually appealing.

"Clean It Up"

Taken: 1st March 2010

This image is my favourite out of the five which I have posted. Whilst walking around the residential areas of Truro I came across alot of these signs and I took photos of about 5 or 6 of them. Some were very new and had no signs of damage whereas, like this one, there were a few which were weather damaged and broken. I chose to use this image on my blog as I liked how the sign has become damaged, the sun has faded the yellows and reds and dirt and grim has made the edges grimey and darkened. Once the image was uploaded to the compture I put it into photoshop to edit. The first thing I did was de-saturate the image to give it a darker and more damaged look, I then increased the contrast as when I de-saturated the image the colours seemed flat and the image didn't seem as visually appealing. I feel that this image works well as the sign in the middle stands out from the background but at the same time doesn't seem out of place in comparison to the rest of the image.

"School Time"

Taken: 1st March 2010

This image is probably my second favourite out of the five images that I have posted. The reason which I like this image so much is because the sign stands out so much from the background. When I took this image there was already a contrast between the sign and the background but I edited this image in photoshop before I uploaded it to the blog as I wanted to create more of a contrast between the two. The first thing that I did in photoshop was desaturate the bush in the background to try and make the sign stand out more, after doing that I still felt like the sign needed to stand out more so I slightly saturated the red on the sign. I feel that this makes the images more appealing and makes it seem less flat, like it was before. I think that this image is successful as the triangular shape of the sign takes up the upper half of images but is slightly to the left of the frame which makes it not seem as perfectly set out in the frame.

"Around And Around"

Taken: 28th February 2010

Out of all the images which I chose to put on the blog for this shoot I would say that this is my least favorite of the five. I took this image on the first day of the shoot and it was one of the first images which I took. I chose to add this image to the set as it gave a nice contrast to the other four images. This is because the other images have duller and more de-saturated tones to them yet this image is vibrant which makes it stand out from the rest. The part of the image which I like the most is the sky as it starts off darker at the top of the frame but as you look down the image the sky gradiates to a lighter blue. Once I took this image I uploaded it to my computer and then opened it in photoshop to make a few small changes. The only things which I changed was I cropped the image slightly at the edges to centre the sign more and then I up the saturation of the blue to make it stand out more. I feel that this is a good image as the pole creates a good leading line which draws you up to main part of the image, the sign.

When taking these images I wanted to try and capture the variety of different signs which we can see in our everyday life but don't pay much attention to. I feel pleased with the images which I have managed to create and hope to try and do another shoot like this in the future.

Week 2 - Land

For my second week of images I am going to be using the starting point of land. My first photoshoot is going to be of signs in the urban land. My inspiration came when I was browsing through deviantart at miscellaneous urban and rural images. So far I haven't found an particular artist which specializes in signs in the urban land but I have found a few images which I find inspirational.

A Small World

After looking at the article on shutterbug I decided to do more macro work to add to my work on the blog. The following images which I have chosen are my favorite from the shoot, if you wish to see the rest of the shoot click here. This shoot was taken in my own home and I used a Panasonic Lumix G1 camera to take the images and all of the lighting was natural lighting.

"Colour Boutique"

Taken: 21st Feb 2010

For this image I wanted to capture all of the different colours and textures of the charms on my Paul's Boutique bag, hense the name Colour Boutique. To capture as much detail as possible on the charms I used a macro lens. The lighting for this image was just natural light which was coming through my window. The part of this image which catches your eye first is the Paul's Boutique label, this is because 1. It is on the bottom right intersection points, which is the first thing which you look at, and 2. because of the text. When I edited this image in photoshop the only part which I changed was the contrast so that text stood out a little more than the rest of the charms in the image. I also added a watermark to it, which I am now also going to do to all of my images so that if anyone uses my image it will still have my watermark on it.

" The Perfect Petal"

Taken: 21st Feb 2010

This image is my favourite image from the macro shoot, I really like how the vivid colour of the petals stands out from the dark green background. When taking this image I wanted the detail of the inside petals to stay as sharp as possible, whilst the rest of the image was blurred. To achieve this I used a macro lens and positioned the camera about 1-2cm away from the flower. The only lighting used to light this image was the sun, I took this image later in the afternoon as the sun wasn't too harsh and to stop it from washing out the colours in the photo. This image works well as you are drawn straight into the middle of the flower which is the sharpest part of the image. When I edited this image in photoshop the only thing which I change was the contrast slightly and then the saturation to make the flower more vivid and to come out of the background more.

"Modern Control"

Taken: 24th Feb 2010

When I took this image I was actually sat at the computer uploading the other macro images. I decided to experiment with my macro lens and take a few more images of things around my computer space. I think that this image works well as the leading lines, created by the shape of the Ctrl key, leads your eyes up to the Ctrl written on the key. The colours in this image also work well together as there are only greys and black in this image. When I had the image in photoshop I adjusted the contrast slightly as in the original image all of the greys were almost the same shade which meant the image had almost no depth to it and it didn't make such a visually appealing image.

When taking this set of images I wanted to capture the many different colours and textures of objects using macro. As macro is such a passion of mine I really enjoyed the photoshoot and was very pleased with the range of results which I got from this shoot.

Shutterbug Super Course

Macro photography is one of my strongest passions in photography. I love the extreme close-ups, the intesity of an image and how stunning an image can be. Whilst researching more about macro I came across an article on shutterbug.net which is about the different techniques and equipment you can use to help you to get amazing results. To see the article click here.

TabbyKat Photoshoot

For the first shoot of this week I have taken images of my kitten Moo-Moo. I took around 30 images and the following 3 images are my favourite from the shoot. All the images were taken using a Panasonic Lumix G1 with a macro lens. For this shoot I had to use auto on the camera as whilst the cat was moving around so was the shadows and light, so it was hard to capture images whilst constantly changing the aperture and shutter speed. To view the rest of the photoshoot click here.

"Slack Cat"

Taken: 8th Feb 2010

I don't personally like this image as much as the bottom two which I have added, but I still think that it is a striking image. This image was taken at the beginning of the photoshoot so I didn't use the macro lens for this image. I took this image whilst my cat was rolling around and stretching on the floor, so I think that this was quite a lucky shot as I got her looking straight at the camera. I edited this image in photoshop as I wanted to adjust the exposure and contrast, I think that this makes the image look better as before all the colours were dull and nothing really stood out. The face of the cat stands out most in this image as it is on the top left intersection point of the rule of thirds.

"In AWhisper"

Taken: 8th Feb 2010

I feel that this is a very strong image and that it stands out from others. To take this image I used a macro lens on my Lumix G1. When I took this picture my cat was starting to calm down and relax a little so it was easier to take. If you look at the rest of the shoot you will see that other macro images like this one have turned out blurry as the cat was moving around quite a bit. The lighting in this image was just natural lighting which came from the sun coming into my bedroom.

I felt that this image didn't need any editing as the exposure and the contrast in the image looked good as they were. The part of this image which I like the most is how sharp all the little details are and how the part which is in focus takes up most of the frame. I also like how the angle is slightly different than the one below which makes different in many ways yet just as visually nice to look at.

"Beauty In A Close-Up"

Taken: 8th Feb 2010

This image is my favourite from the whole shoot. To capture this image I waited until my cat was most relaxed and then shot it using a macro lens. I like the effect that you get with a macro lens where it focuses on one part and then the rest is out of focus. You can change what part of the subject you focus on by moving closer or further away from it. I also like how you are drawn into the nose straight away as this the part which is most in focus and it also takes up about half of the image. The other part of this image which stands out for me is the eye, this is because the rest of the image is made up of soft brown and cream colours where as the eye is a vivid green colour. The eye looks good in the image as it stands out but isn't so vivid that it looks out of place. Another reason why I think that this image is visually pleasing is that all of the fine details in the cats fur and on its nose are so sharp which makes it a nicer image to look at.

When taking these images I wanted to capture the beauty of the cats face, mainly the nose and mouth, as I think that cats are beautiful and intriguing creatures. I see many different animal photographers but only a few can capture the real beauty of an animal and I think that when they do capture it, it makes a stunning image.

Kristina Beceatchi

Whilst looking on the web yesterday for some inspiration for my first shoot I came across a photographer called Kristina Beceatchi. She has large collection of different images from different genres, but the image which stood out the most for me was the image titled "Another Vision". I felt that this was such an amazing and influencial image that it has inspired my first photoshoot.

http://www.buceatchi-kristina.com/index.html

Buceatchi's image is an extremely strong image with a great sense of composition. Because of the low key set-up, and the way that the light has been positioned to create strong highlights on the cats face, it draws you into the image, it makes you want to look closer. The black backdrop also makes the cat stand out more than it would on a white backdrop, which would make the cat seem more washed out, and to me wouldn't make the image as good a quality as it is. I think that Buceatchi put alot of thought and time planning and trying to create this image and that she has created an amazing image for a wide variety of viewers.