Unit 2: Ritual
- I chose Ritual as my exam topic because it will give me the chance to explore and develop my skills when taking street photographs. I wanted to do this because street photography tends to be a lot more raw and interesting then others in my opinion and this is why it is my favirot variation of photography. My Initial idea, however, was to attempt to document food in a different way through means of different photographic techniques. Here are some Photograms I made on the day I chose my theme.
First ideas...
https://uk.pinterest.com/harveycb/photography-ritual/--click here to see my Pinterest board with my first ideas
Mark Cohen
Mark Cohen was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania where he lived and photographed for most of his life. Most well know for his Black and white photography, Cohen was also a key pioneer of the 1970s colour movement that changed American photography. I find that with street photography, it is difficult not to capture people doing something out of the ordinary. And I think its therefore more about the way in which you capture these event rather then events themselves. This is probably why street photography from people such as Marc Cohen, taking photographs close up- cropping out vital parts of |
Bruce Gilden
Nick Waplington- Living room.Nick Waplington's book, "living room" is one of my favourite photography book along with Marc Cohens "True Colour". The book contains photography of relatively poor families, doing what they do. Photographs include getting take away (a friday night ritual for some), the father of the family playing with the children, and a family get together during christmas. These photographs seem like they could be very boring but they are done so beautifully that you cant get enough. Also these are scenes I am familiar with. I remember travelling up north as a child going to see family for christmas. The plastered, unpainted walls and the gravel on the outer walls of the houses. They're recognisable to most people in some way and therefore relatable, and I think this is a key reason why his images are so successful. In fact there are photographs of me and my cousins as children playing with my uncle similarly to that in the photograph.(these are below).
|
New York
over the easter holiday, went to the states for 10 days. At first, we went to Nebraska, where my step mums family live, and then on to New York for 3 days. Whilst I was there I took hundreds of street photographs attempting to incorporate ritual into them. Here are the 76 of the best ones From New York. These images have been taken over 3.5 days and edited from 300...
And here my Top photographs...
I took this image in a cab on our way to the hotel. The cabs in New york are different to the ones in London as the are a lot ore intimate, you are less then 5 feet away from the driver with nothing separating you from them. This means that all of their things are scattered around, and as they spend the majority of their day in the same cab, there tends to be a lot of things. His daily ritual, of driving a taxi back and forth from the airport, into the city, meant that he had to have these items near to him. These included his phone charger, sat nav, water, identification, recipt books, a cup with pens in it, and a cd holder that clipped onto the roof of the car above his head. (which you can see above). And this is why I decided to document it.
|
I took This photo on the last day, or rather morning of my time in New York. In an attempt to make the most of the short afternoon we had before we left the hotel for the airport, we decided to get up early, get breakfast and eat it on the subway on our way to the natural history museum. This photograph is of my dad holding his breakfast on the platform. When we were in the cafe/shop before, it occurred to me that what we were doing, changing our daily routine in order to save us time, was ritual for the people who work in the city, again, this interested me, not just because they ate breakfast on the way to work but because it took for me to be in a different environment in order to realise and decide to photograph it. Compositionally, I like this photo. I used the rule of thirds to separate the navy, almost black of my dads coat, from the rest of the locals in the station, one of which slumped over, with a huge bin bag of plastic bottles and cans, which i came to see alot whilst I was there.
|
This image is an example of ritual dampening the excitement of seeing the statue of liberty. I took this image over then shoulder of a stranger on a ferry me and my family were on. The ferry is used by tourists, like us, who wanted to see the statue, but also by people who were travelling to and from work on the nearby islands. You quickly were able to tell the difference between the two. Everyone ran outside, and children pushed they're faces against the windows staring at the statue whereas people like this man, went on their phones or read a newspaper to pass the time. I thought it would make an interesting image. So I took a few photos over his shoulder experimenting with the depth of field. Over all this was the best image. Below is another shot i took with the statue in focus instead, it was at a bad angle so i decided to rotate it...
|
Editing...
OR...
Final image mini evaluation..,
The other version of this image was technically a better photograph however I wanted to have a variation of the first image with the statue in focus as a pose to the man and this is why I decided to edit it. I think that this image works better as a message than then the other one because the depth of field is more wide and as a result you can make out the man and the statue instead of a greenish blob and a man from over his shoulder. The image represents he aneathesization that ritual brings. Its not necessarily true as he may be doing something important on his phone, but I'd still prefer to glance up at least once, rather then stare at my phone screen for the whole 20 minute journey (which this man did). Also, this ferry may be part of his daily ritual and that is why he's become desensitised and as well as this, was photographing people on the ferry for the majority of my time on it so who am I to speak. The photograph contains various colours and textures which I think come together to make a great image. The soft blur of the mans face against the bright orange fence are a nice contrast. The grey sky dampens the whole pictures and the water reflects it, dominating the image. |
Peter Fraser
http://www.peterfraser.net/
Peter Fraser is a Welsh photographer born in Cardiff in 1953. To me, his work intimately describe human condition. The selected use of colour in his photographs are what really brings them to life. Similarly to Marc Cohen, in a lot of my favourite of his works, he uses very warm colours that seem to me as quite grubby or dirty. And even though some of his photographs concentrate on fine details, the colours seem to tone it, and calm the photograph down so that they portray an intimate but relaxing environment. This is probably because of his camera. Peter Fraser uses a Plaubel Makina camera that he first used for an exhibition in 1982. Ive chosen to look at Peter Fraser because I really like his triptychs and I would like to experiment with this technique.
|
TRIPTYCHS...
Peter Fraser
Both of these triptychs follow the same set of rules in that they each contain a human, an object and a setting. Also, the colours used to photograph the setting clash with the rest of the photographs. Peter Fraser has set up a kind of story for his audience to follow through the three photographs in each triptych. On the left, it seems as though this woman is alone and is torn between happiness and sadness. The vase, half full with water leave the question, half full or half empt, and the middle photograph that looks like a somewhat abandoned shack or small house, this could be a metaphor for her, or it could be where she is perhaps. And the the image on the far left, the woman. The intended subject of the photograph, the one who is living the story. Sat alone on a bed in a room with warm colours and pattern carpet and quilts on the bed. In front of her sits a bottle. Alcohol perhaps? And the other piece.
Pinterest, some triptychs I like...
My triptychs...
Here are some of my triptychs that I have composed using some of my photographs from Nebraska
Here is a link to the page where these photographs are: http://harveysgcsephotography.weebly.com/nebraska.html
Here is a link to the page where these photographs are: http://harveysgcsephotography.weebly.com/nebraska.html
After experimenting with triptychs, I decided that I wanted to display my final piece as/in a triptych, so I printed out small versions of the images I wanted to use and played with compositions until I found the right one, I also ask my friend for her opinion. Whilst I did this, I tried to bear in mind Peter Fraser's rules; Person, Object and setting...
Whilst I was looking at them, I noticed they look good as a whole piece, as two triptychs together.
I then printed out these images A4, and recreated the triptychs on a larger scale, backing them on mount board.
After I had finished printing them out, it came apparent to me that they were too dark in areas and required some digital editing, so I opened them up in I photo and played around with the brightness, contrast, saturation and low/high lights until they were just right to print out again. Next time I should watch out for this because photographic paper is expensive...
Final Piece Scale
Beats Streuli
http://www.beatstreuli.com/home.html
Beats Streuli is a German photographer who uses a camera with an extremely long lens and photographs at distances in public that mean you wouldn't even know if he had taken your photograph. Not having a specialist lens of my own, nor the money to get hold of one, I attempted to make a small quick response on my way home from school using the 20x zoom on my dads camera in the park. Although not a very gripping set of photographs in my opinion, they were successful in photographing people without them noticing.
Photo shoot 1:
WWW: I achieved what I wanted to do, which is take images of people far away without them realising (apart from the small girl on her bike in the bottom middle). Also, I have learnt from this shoot, next time, I will try and get closer but still maintain a low profile.
|
EBI: I took more care in trying to make them interesting and engaging, as these are, on the hole, not. Also, I could go onto the street instead, maybe I could find more images because there are more people and thus more opportunities. Also, next time I will try and take the photographs closer up also they are more portraits rather then landscapes. I could stand to get nicer angles.
|