Planning shoots!

I have been looking at different places to go and do some more shoots for this project!
It has been interesting looking for different places to go to and i know that i am going to have to visit a lot of different locations to get loads and loads of photograhs.

Sometime in the next few weeks I am looking at going up north a little bit to scope out and photographs some different and new locations that i have never been to before!

the area that I am looking at;

 

I am going to take a few days out and visit a few different places within the circled area on the map, aide from these locations i am also thinking and looking for other places to visit! 

Other parks....

 

Here are three other parks I am going to visit to see what different things that i can find to relate to my subject matter - again i am going to all these locations blind and do not know what i am going to find. I think this is one thing that helps me to show the beauty of these selected areas to people as I am not aware of what is there just like they aren't, so its like witnessing the same situation. I just want to make people aware of these things surrounding them and open their eyes to them.

Studium and Punctum

http://georgepowell.wordpress.com/2008/07/01/studium-and-punctum/

Studium

Creates an interest in the photographic image.
It is about the intention the photographer has when taking an image, this is reversed by the spectator viewing the image and trying to piece together what the photographer was thinking. 
The photographer thinks of an idea or something that can be captured and then presents it though the photograph that is taken. the intent is known by the photographer but the viewer has to piece the intention together and figure it out.

Punctom

Is similar too but the second point of the term.
It is about how something within an image, i.e and object or something similar jumps out at the viewer, it's about the rare details that attract people to the image.



One thing is that no two meaning from two individual people will ever be the same, i.e the photographer and the spectator, the intent will be different for both two people. The photographer could have one intent with the image and the spectator can piece something totally different together as the photographers intent, they wont have the same meaning in the end.

Photographing natural forms

A photographer that I am familiar with from previous work is Karl Blossfeldt, within his work he photographs natural forms such as plants and stems, he is most known for his series of plant portraits in which he was able to show the small details of different plants and reveal the things that would not necessarily be seen by people.

 

 

 

In the images above you can see the small  details on the plants that wouldn't always get noticed by people and what he wanted to do was show people these things. He was inspired by plants and the way in which they grew so this is why he documented them in this way, he believed that plants are valuable to us. He took these photographs with a homemade camera, on which he made so it allowed him to magnify the original scene up to thirty times its original size, which allowed him to pick out and show the tiny details that would go unseen.

Edward Western and Group f/64

Western an other famous photographers, i.e Ansel Adams founded the group and called themselves 'Ground f/64'.

"The group chose this optical term because they habitually set their lenses to that aperture to secure maximum image sharpness of both foreground and distance."

They were so set on making sure that both the foreground and the background of the images they captured were super sharp and crystal clear. This is something that completely contrasts to my work, I am totally set on using depth of field o separate the foreground and background of my image having one definitive focal point for my image rather that having everything focused. 

 

 

 

Like you can see with the images of Western's above they are all in focus and everything is as sharp as it can be. With them being nature and landscape based images its quite interesting to see the total difference between how he was so set on ensuring that everything was in focus and definable whereas I am not for that, i prefer to have one sharp focal point within the frame, drawing the viewer into that one point more than anywhere else, but when I am choosing this point within the image, weighing up the angles and composition through the view finder of the camera I am consciously thinking about what would be the best focal point of the image and what would work best with the viewer. 

It has become very apparent to me over time that I have my own way of putting an image together, yet when I am in the process of capturing an image I don't think about the choices I am making, they come naturally and I just try different things to see what works best within that frame. I don't tend to over think an image, I point and shoot, just a very quick think about what I can see and what will work and i've pointed the lens in a certain direction for a certain reason - but a reason that I may not necessarily realise until looking back upon the images later.

Rinko Kawauchi's work is quite poetic and beautiful

With her images appearing quite soft and smooth they flow like the lines of a poem, they are moving and powerful in expressing a meaning through imagery.

 

 

 

 

Rinko Kawauchi is a visual poet, so her images have to tell the story and speak for themselves. She needs to be able to get across the whole story and what she is trying to say with the one image. 

Her work has a sort of soft light haze over them which i find quite interesting and moving, it just makes the image that little bit lighter and moving. Clearly light plays a big part in her images and she is using that is at her disposal.

I came across a brief interview with Kawauchi and a small section of it is below;

"How would you describe your photography?
I don’t know how to talk and describe very well, that’s why I’ve become a photographer, I guess. I want to show my photography without explanations.
How did you choose this medium?
It is in a way a proof of my life. Sometimes I forget what I was doing and photography reminds me of that.
You also write poetry – haiku. Do they form a dialogue? How are they similar for you?
One haiku is like a one picture. I don’t describe my images, I say it within haiku. At the same time, my images are poetic."

http://fkmagazine.lv/2011/12/09/10-minutes-with-rinko-kawauchi/

It's quite interesting because it is made know that the use of poetry is what helps to explain the meaning of the photographs.

"One haiku is like a one picture" a short poem is what fuels the image, this is something that i really like the idea of, it could be something i could link in with my images if it works correctly. I am going to look into haiku a bit more and read more about it and try and find some solid examples.

Another thing is that all of her photographs are square format. This is a format that is slowly growing on me and i think it would be something that could be quite interesting and work quite well within my own photographs as their focal point' are very definitive and stable, i am going to experiment with square format in the future and see how it works with my images.

Natures truth and the paradox

With my photographs I want to show people nature and the natural beauty that is surrounding us. But there is a paradox to this within what I do to these captured images after I have taken them.

"A paradox is a statement that apparently contradicts itself and yet might be true"

Sometimes in post production I will slightly alter the contrast and the levels of my images just to make the colours a little bit deeper and make different colours and tones bounce off each other. But like the above statement makes, it is slightly contradicting the point in which I am trying to make with these photographs, but the image after post production could be true, depending on the light at the time. 

I am technically producing images that are slightly contradictory because of the editing that I do to them, however the images are still true in showing what nature is providing us as the contents of the images are all real and are what is present in a certain location at the time in which i have taken the photograph. So with my images there is something quite paradoxical about them but this is something that I can work with because of how the contents is still truthful, I am still showing people the beauty of the world and what is surrounding us.

Contrasting with The Boyle Family!

The Boyle family' work is something that I am familiar with, and contrasting with mine, they randomly select a point on a map to which they will go to and take a photographs at that exact pinpointed location, where as I am looking for different places to go to, specifically to try and get the type of photographs that I need to capture based around nature and the landscape.

I think the approach that they took is really interesting and intriguing because they had no idea of the photograph they were going to capture which i really like. But for my work this is not appropriate as I have an idea of what I want and I need to be able to capture these images.

Keith Arnatt

Pictures from a rubbish tip is always a series that intrigues me. Arnatt has taken everyday things that have been disguarded of and has made them into something more interesting through the photograph. Although the images don't appear that appealing and are sometimes a bit stomach turning there is something quite interesting about them. They are documenting the things that we get rid of, the everyday things that we have through life and don't pay a second though to. He is effectively documenting what happens and what we do with these things when we are finished with them.

Arnatt takes things that are deemed as disgusting or just unwanted and he has a strange way of making them appear like something beautiful. He has a way of framing the element of the image and turning it into something totally opposite to what it actually is, making it appear as something it is not, something quite beautiful and interesting.

Burrs Country Park shoot

The photographs above are taken in Burrs Country park, it is a place where I have been previously and it it very much nature at its best because nothing has really been altered or intervened with out on the canal areas, everything and anything is free to grow how it wants and that is what i love. My intentions are to show people the natural beauty of what is out there and when I find locations that haven't been altered with in any way I know that I will hopefully be able to get some successful photographs.

Location:

I feel that from this shoot I have been able to get some good photographs that are steering my in the right direction towards my outcomes. Everything is still very much in the development stage but I feel that I have been able to get some successful photographs that are documenting and showing the natural beauty of the world that is surrounding us, which is exactly what I want to be doing and what I want people to be seeing from my images.

Clifton

Location:

Having never been to this park before I was not too sure of what to expect and what sort of photographs that I would come out with, but with the weather pretty much perfect for they type of photography I want to capture I went on a whim and just walked until I was happy with some of the photographs I managed to capture. I was not necessarily looking for anything in particular to photograph but obviously I have an idea of what I want, it is looking for the little interesting things that are within the world that are natural and natures finest things that tend to get missed and go unnoticed by people. I want to document and capture these different things as a way of showing people that they are there, and if you look for them or start to show an interest in seeing beyond your little bubble you can find these beautiful things and yes, there are free!

With my photographs for this project they are all going to be based within the landscape, showing the natural world with maybe sometimes a hint of human intervention depending of what I find and what fits within the composition I have in front of me.

With these photographs I feel that I was able to get some good interesting and successful initial shots, I am happy with going in this direction and I feel that I can get some interesting shots if i go out and find lots of new and interesting things, again - linking back to the point of what I am trying to say to people that if you look for it you can find it!

photographs..

These are some of my most recent experimental photographs, with these photos I went back to my more abstract approach of using a lot of depth of field and one strong focal point. I think this is an interesting was of creating quite an abstract piece that is quite interesting and effective and for some reason my photos always seem to go in this direction, intended or otherwise! With these photographs I was simply exploring the beauty of the natural formations that were surrounding me. I found myself looking for the little interesting things, the compositions that had formed from the natural surroundings, some things i would normally notice, and some that maybe I wouldn't. But I guess the whole point of this is to look for the natural beauty in the world that doesn't necessarily get noticed. This is something that I have done with these photographs.