Lee Jeffries

I really like all of these portraits by Lee Jeffries. They are all a bit odd which makes them hard to not look at and I like the thought of faces appearing from the darkness. 

Practising in the studio

My first attempt in the studio and capture 1.

 

Studio Shoot

Getting to work in the studio with less people around was really, by being made to just get on with setting the lights and camera up with just a couple of others helped me made me understand the set up so much more by physically doing it myself. Also with a smaller group of people I could get on with what I wanted to do and experiment a lot more without feeling like I was taking up all the studio time. And the models seemed more relaxed and natural in front of the camera without the pressure of people watching them.

Today in the studio I managed to mess around a bit and try photographing with a black background but without a black backdrop. It took a bit of experimenting with the lights to get it right but I got there in the end. Once the background and the lighting was correct I then had the task of getting my photos to have the took that I wanted, this was influenced by Steve Pyke's work with his Moon Bug project. I wanted to have them black and white with a heavy contrast but I wasn't to sure how to do black and white with capture one as I was still getting use to the software. So I thought that I would do this later when I use Lightroom. I increased the contrast a little but I thought that I would also do more of this on Lightroom so I can see how it looks with the black and white.      

Richard Avedon

Richard Avadon was well know in the photography business for fashion and portraits. His fashion shoots seemed to have a lot of movement, this showed the fashion garments off on a new light as you could see how the material moved. It also created elegant photography like the garments themselves were dancing.

His portraits on the other hand seemed more striped back and simple. He often didn't use props but if he did it was just the one to help portray the subject. For example his use of props in these two photos portray the image of country kids witch may illude the look of a deprived childhood to the upperclass.





I don't think you could get this without the props. They would still have the dirty clothes and messy hair but the snake and the gun let you know a bit more into these children's lives. The young man on the left might have just been given his first gun from the way he is holding it. This might mean he is seen as a man in his dads eyes and feels hes son is old enough to go shooting with him.


The other side to Avadons portraits is capturing inner beauty of people. Like the image of Kate moss, she is completely stripped back from make up and hair appliances and it's just kate infront of the camera with no added extras. I also like that she isn't symmetrical and her face isn't technically pretty but I don't think that's what beauty is. I think beauty is about being unique and having imperfections is good and is what makes you stand out.





All photos are from google images
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=richard+avedon+portraits&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=qQufUqHgNei30QWd8oCoBQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1600&bih=987

Moon Bug

The other day we watched a documentary about Steve Pyke, who wanted to take photos of the first handful of men that got to walk on the moon. I found it really interesting how he had gone to so much effort to take pictures of these old aged astronauts who seemed that they had past there time. But as he is going around America and photographing these men, it's quite sad because they seem a bit like yesterdays news as they have grown old and are now living normal pensioner lives. But they are a huge part of historic events as they were the first set of people willing to risked there lives knowing what had happened in the disastrous flight of Apollo 1, and that must have been a really scary thing to do. 

I really like the way the pictures look, with the faces emerging from the darkness and how the features of the mens faces are really defined with the type of lighting and camera settings. For my portrait project I would like to try out this lighting technique that Pyke has used because it looks really dramatic, and we are getting professional prints developed and i think all the black ink engulfing the faces will hopefully look really good. Another touch that Pyke added was he took a photo of the men's feet, I thought this was really nice as it was an obvious connection to them walking on the moon.
  

Also when he was photographing the men he made them really relaxed by going to there homes where they were comfy or if they wanted to go outside like one man did, who was seen as a bit of a free spirit he did so. With him doing this they were able to have a chat about there experiences and him stories, which bought out there personalities. And Pyke was constantly aware of what there faces were doing. So if they were about to laugh he had already pressed the shutter. Because of this I personally think he managed to capture the personalities of the young astronauts that they use to be.

Also with all of these images you can't tell if they were taken outside or in someones house. He has managed to make them all look like he has taken them in the studio.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=steve+pyke+photographer&espv=210&es_sm=91&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=ySOWUq69E4mUhQfEqICIAg&sqi=2&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1001&bih=513#es_sm=91&espv=210&q=steve+pyke+photographer+moon+bug&tbm=isch&imgdii=_ 

This link was used for both photos.                                                                                                                                                               

Hasselblad Cameras

Today I was in the studio learning a bit more about A Hasselblad camera. I had briefly had a look a one before, but never really got to take it apart and learn about the lens, body and back until today. I liked learning about how each component of the camera worked and how it linked to the next part of the sequence to make images. 

I am really looking forward to getting started with this next project and am going to try and get a lot of research done as soon as possible so I can book studio time and make sure I am happy with my pictures so when I get my pictures back through the post I am really happy with the final prints, as I wasn't majorly happy with my final images for the street photography assignment. I think it was because I rushed using up the films so i could quickly develop them and start finding the ones I liked if I had taken more time on what images I had been taking I would have been much happier with the outcome.

top photo is from google and the other two are mine.
http://blog.larrymcneil.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Hassy_Camera_Logo3.jpg

Evaluation

When I first got the brief of street photography I didn’t really know much about it or anyone who was well know for it.  So I started to do some research and look at other peoples work to get a better understanding of the genre. I didn’t really think much of the images that I was looking at and seemed to be slipping into the mind of ‘anyone could take that image’ but it wasn’t until I got my first manual camera a small Olympus OM 10 I started to realise it was a bit more than just aiming and shooting. 

At first I found it challenging just putting the film into the camera, as it was all completely new to me. But the hard bit was the part I thought was going to be the easiest. And that was actually walking round the streets taking the photos. I wasn’t too sure why I was finding it hard to just take photos of the street and of the public, but I did feel really strange.  I they got to learn how to develop the film. This was really exiting as I couldn’t remember what was on half of the film and was keen to find out. But once again it wasn’t as straightforward as I had thought. I found it challenging having to do everything in the dark as it seemed unnatural to me, especially clicking the film around the reel I found that really difficult. But because so much time and effort goes into developing a film it makes it so much more exiting to see what the outcome it going to be. After developing it I soon realised that on each film there might only be a small handful of images that I might actually want to use.

The next time I went out shooting film I had watched a small documentary on Bruce Gilden and how he portrays street photography. And I found that it helped me a lot when I was going for my second attempt because of the way he was walking around and taking images he wasn’t worried in the slightest of what people thought of him. And I think this is defiantly where I was having a problem before. As I did feel strange so I was constantly worried that other people thought, that they might think I was being really odd and strange but I shouldn’t have cared because it wasn’t odd or strange at all it was just my images portraying the streets of Hartlepool. So in order to get over the fear of just taking photos and looking strange I thought I would try what Gilding does and just take a few images of people close up. It turned out that people weren’t that bothered about it and when people did comment, it wasn’t that bad.

Once I had made a start to overcome my fear of photographing, I had a look at what photos I thought looked good and why? I came across one of a man on some steps and this got me thinking about interesting angles and pictures that take your eyes on a journey in a certain way around the picture. So I looked at a street photographer call Eric Kim and he had some pictures that I really liked that included bold lines that and strong structure,  this is what I focused the rest of my films on to have a collection of five images that all had a factor that linked them together.

Taking Time To Develop Film

I had taken my camera to Newcastle for a change of scene for my street photography prints. When it came to developing the film I rushed putting the film onto the reel in the loading bay. I think the reel had come apart in the middle so instead of the film being separated allowing the chemicals to flow over all the film, with mine the film must have come into contact with another part of the film, making them stick together so the chemicals didn't get chance to work on certain parts of the film. I did a contact sheet anyway but it was very white and only a few worked. So next time when I develop a film i will take more care and time on what I am doing.

What Street Photography Is To Me

I was looking on the internet on "what is street photography" but I soon found out this was useless, as there are so many different opinions and everyone you end up looking at says something different. Eric Kim has also mentioned this on his blog.

http://erickimphotography.com/blog/about/what-is-street-photography/

So I thought I would just mention what I think street photography is. When people say its not always about capturing activity on the street and portraying the urban environment, I disagree. For me thats exactly what street photography is all about. When i'm out taking photos I am always looking for the grimmest places and situations. I think this is because of the modern world filling the streets with rubbish, chewing gum and dog muck. Because of people not caring what there actions are in comparison to the way people might have behaved in the earlier days. I think of what the streets use to look like in pictures from the 1900s. When the streets seemed elegant with members of the public making sure they were looking there best when they went out to the market, people used bikes as transport and genially the streets seemed a lot less dirty and polluted. But today the streets have a whole new look and it's because of the way we have made them. So by taking photos of the raw grime in the streets I think it shows a contrast on how there is a change in human behaviour over time and is not always a good thing in the bigger picture.

The pictures are from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2173872/Edwardian-street-style-Astonishing-amateur-images-capture-fashion-women-London-Paris-century-ago.html 

I have mentioned the 1900s because I really enjoyed the program Mr Selfridge. It was really interesting how he wanted to change the way people shopped and the entire program just made oxford street and London in general just look really classy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLborDbtx3M

Street Photography Location

I have only been doing street photography around Hartlepool and its always been pretty quiet. So I have always been a bit apprehensive about taking close ups of the public as I am never really that desecrate about it. And am not confident enough to just get on with it and go up to people incase of confrontation as photographers in the street are seen as strange and inappropriate at times.

So to save confrontation I have decided to go to a larger destination and have decided on visiting Newcastle. I have decided on Newcastle because it will be really busy and crowded, therefor people will not notice my presents as much, if they do they might think I am taking a photo of someone behind them because of the amount of people on the streets. I am really exited to see what the developed film might look like in compartment to the ones I have done around Hartlepool.

Artist Influences

I was trying to look for a street photographer that had noticeable angles and lines in there photos and thats when I came across Eric Kim.

I like the way he has captured people standing in the exact right place where there are lines or beams of light. I wonder how long he has waited, for someone to walk past in the perfect place? I also really like how both images look rather symmetrical as there is a focal point in the middle then lines going off in opposite directions. Next time I go out shooting I am going to try and look out for similar scenario and see what I end up with.

Another thing I like about Eric Kim's work is that he will crouch down on the floor and gets interesting view points and this sometimes distorts the lines making them look elongated and deceiving. I defiantly think I will be using this technique next time i'm on the streets and then people might not be so intimidated as your not at face level. I shall also try higher points of view, looking down on people as they go about there everyday lives.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=eric+kim&espv=210&es_sm=91&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=mfZfUrC9JsWv7Aad9oCwDg&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1001&bih=512&dpr=1#es_sm=91&espv=210&q=eric+kim+street+photography&tbm=isch 

Group Critique

In the group critique today I had 5 prints on the table that I had just picked randomly. When I saw them all together it looked messy as there wasn't really a link between the pictures. So I thought I would see what the critique was before I chose a theme to follow.

When walking round the rest of the classes work, it was really good to see what everyone else was doing and some of them made me think what I could be doing differently with my work. When we had walked round and made comments on everyones work, we could then have a look at what other people had said about our own. Most people said my strengths were either getting close ups of people or capturing odd angles. My weaknesses were that a lot of my images weren't focused very well and these are mainly the ones of the people because I panic and don't concentrate that much on the focus as I am trying to be quick and desecrate.

So with the feedback that I received, I have decided to go down the root of trying to capture unique architecture and angles in the street whilst people are floating around doing there own thing. And making sure I take the time to make sure its all in focus. Also I quite liked to vertical images so i will try and do a few more of them.

Developing Film Panic

I started to develop my second film that I had taken around Hartlepool. I had put the film on the reel then started the developing process, that took 20 minutes. It was all going well until I went to poor the developer out into the waste bucket, and the filter fell out and with it followed two reels of black and white film! I grabbed to two films out of the bucket and quickly put them back in the developing tank and screwed the filter back on. I was sure the films were going to be ruined but I carried on with the stop for 20 seconds and fixer for 3 minutes. When I put them in the water it was the moment of truth and I started to pull them off the reel and have a little look. One film only had about 3 usable images on it but the other was absolutely fine and had an entire usable film. 

So i managed make a contact sheet but it needed a about 55 seconds under the light so i'm guessing when it fell out into the waste and got exposed to light to soon it over exposed the howl film. So instead of going up in fives under the enlarger for my test strip I went up in tens and then when I found one at the right shade I did another test strip around that number.         

Paul Russell

STREET PHOTOGRAPHY NOW
Page 171
Bristol, England,
2007

This is an image that i came across in a street photography book. The image is by Paul Russell and It stood out for me because I thought it was funny. because old people are meant to be really cute and quiet, but in this case it looks like one lady is going to wallop the other with her walking stick.

When I was walking round Hartlepool I had this image in the back of my head and was looking for similar situations. I still wasn't that confutable at taking photos of the general public yet but for some reason I felt okay taking photos of the elderly because most of the time they were just wondering around in there own little world and didn't even realise I was there.
This is what I ended up with and although they weren't about to start scrapping or anything, it shows that old woman just love to have a chat in the street and this maybe because they are filling a lonely gap in the day and this maybe where they get the most company. The image is out of focus though, so I will be going out again and i'm sure the streets of Hartlepool won't be shot of elderly pedestrians having 10 minute chats on every corner.

The Dark Room.

Last week was my first ever experience using a dark room and i found it really exiting. I was a little worried about things at first because I really didn't want to ruined the film as there seemed to be lots of little thing that you could do wrong. The main thing was going into the loading room in complete darkness to load the film onto the spool. At first I was thinking, how on earth am I going to do that? But when I was in there I got a feel for the action that is needed to click the film round the spool. I think that was the hardest part because you still don't know if you have done it right until you have finished the whole process and look at the end result.

Thankfully I managed to process the whole film with no problems. After it had dried it was time to take go into the dark room and make a contact sheet. I had only ever heard of a contact sheet on Photoshop and it ended up being the same thing as what we were going to be doing in the dark room. But it seemed so much more satisfying than making one from scratch rather than on Photoshop. The best thing about making the contact sheet was putting it in the developer and watching it process on the photo paper, and seeing that it's clear and you can see all the individual images all together.

Street Photography

The other day we were told to go out with our cameras and take street images. Before we started this, we watch a documentary on a guy called Bruce Gilden. I was amazed at his technique of just jumping out at people on the street then carrying on like it was normal.

So with this in mind I started walking around Hartlepool with my camera, i thought i get out of my comfort zone and start taking some pictures of members of the public. I must say i did feel really strange and that i was being weird but at the same time i couldn't help thinking i can't wait to see what these are going to look like!

I didn't act quite in the same way as Gilden because i can imagine there is much more husel and bustle in Brooklyn so you could get away with putting a camera in someones face more without confrontation. Not that thats a problem for Gilden because he just gives them comments back saying "its a free country"
But in Hartlepool it was so obvious to the people on the street if i was taking a photo of them and one guy even said "why are you taking a photo of my mate" and i felt a little embarrassed and did an awkward laugh and said "why not" he also laughed and i felt so relived. After that i tried a more subtle approach and held my camera down by my side and just guessed and pointed at my subject and hoped for the best. But i don't think that way is very reliable and i will have to just get used to looking a bit odd and dealing with a few comments from the public.  

Street Photography

These are a few images from Markus Hartel from the internet and quotes also from Hartel from a book called STREET PHOTOGRAPHY NOW by Sophie Howarth and Stephen McLaren.


'My Pictures are not necessarily pretty, but they do show beautiful moments of the urban jungle.'
          - I liked this quote because most streets in towns and city's can appear pretty grim but when i have been looking through a street photography book there are moments where the photographers have been in the right place in the right time and they have managed to capture rather rare moments.



'Street photography is like gambling you get lucky or you get nothing...'

          - I think this is so true because i can walk around for ages and think what have i even been taking photos off, but then when it comes to looking through the images and you stumble across one that you hadn't even realised you had taken and when it ends up being the one you like the most, it's quite satisfying.