Michael Wolf
A German born Michael Wolf, raised in United States, Europe and Canada fist took interest down the path of photography in 1994 when his career started as a photojournalist for German magazine 'Stern'. He documented events overseas in Hong Kong for 8 years, however the decline in interest of magazines resulted in Wolf's assignments becoming "stupid and boring". As a result he decided to work only on Fine-arts photography creating works such as "The Real Toy Story", "Architecture of Density" and "Lost Clothing". Whilst working in Hong Kong, Wolf felt one of his projects "Informal seating arrangements", was a great symbol of their thriftiness and resourcefulness receiving good reviews in the West, however some Chinese people argued saying it made them appear backwards, he was detained twice by Chinese authorities after "doing something which was harmful to the Chinese state" but this didn't stop him from creating the pieces shown in selected exhibitions from 2003 - 2012.
A German born Michael Wolf, raised in United States, Europe and Canada fist took interest down the path of photography in 1994 when his career started as a photojournalist for German magazine 'Stern'. He documented events overseas in Hong Kong for 8 years, however the decline in interest of magazines resulted in Wolf's assignments becoming "stupid and boring". As a result he decided to work only on Fine-arts photography creating works such as "The Real Toy Story", "Architecture of Density" and "Lost Clothing". Whilst working in Hong Kong, Wolf felt one of his projects "Informal seating arrangements", was a great symbol of their thriftiness and resourcefulness receiving good reviews in the West, however some Chinese people argued saying it made them appear backwards, he was detained twice by Chinese authorities after "doing something which was harmful to the Chinese state" but this didn't stop him from creating the pieces shown in selected exhibitions from 2003 - 2012.
George Rousse
George Rousse was born in 1947 Paris, and is now a photographer who has won many prestigious awards. Rousse received his first camera (Kodak Brownie) at the age of nine as a christmas present and since then there has never not been a camera by his side. Whilst taking a course in medical school, he also decided to study photography and printing techniques, he then opened his own studio dedicated to architectural photography. It was then he finally settled on a career of photography with the inspiration of Steichen, Stieglitz and Ansel Adams. The main area of his work revolves around the metaphor black square against a whir field, Rousse achieves this by luring the viewers eye to a furnished circle filled with vivd colours within an image of an abandoned or derelict building. It was from the 1980's onwards that George Rousse began to scale up his work to give the viewers an experience of the open space at the place it was taken and makes it more compelling overall. He has had many exhibitions across the world showing works such the ones shown below.
George Rousse was born in 1947 Paris, and is now a photographer who has won many prestigious awards. Rousse received his first camera (Kodak Brownie) at the age of nine as a christmas present and since then there has never not been a camera by his side. Whilst taking a course in medical school, he also decided to study photography and printing techniques, he then opened his own studio dedicated to architectural photography. It was then he finally settled on a career of photography with the inspiration of Steichen, Stieglitz and Ansel Adams. The main area of his work revolves around the metaphor black square against a whir field, Rousse achieves this by luring the viewers eye to a furnished circle filled with vivd colours within an image of an abandoned or derelict building. It was from the 1980's onwards that George Rousse began to scale up his work to give the viewers an experience of the open space at the place it was taken and makes it more compelling overall. He has had many exhibitions across the world showing works such the ones shown below.
Gordon Matta-Clark
Gordon Matta-Clark was an American artist born in 1943. Both of his parents were artists of French and Spanish descent however be was born and raised in Bet York. He studied architecture at Cornell University, but did not study the conventional architecture offered there. Instead he documented his work using his own style of video, film and photography, with his most famous piece of work being "building cuts". The idea behind his project was inspired by the 'American dream' of owning a piece of land ultimately offering freedom, rights of men and women, having a successful life, marriage and so on. As a result, Matta-Clark was interested in the idea of entropy and ambiguous space, his project "Fake Estates" was inspired by the dream, he bought 15 leftover properties ranging from $25 - $75 a plot. Although these properties were virtually inhabitable so the ability of ownership only existed on paper. His most notorious works were 'Bingo' and 'Building Cuts'.
Gordon Matta-Clark was an American artist born in 1943. Both of his parents were artists of French and Spanish descent however be was born and raised in Bet York. He studied architecture at Cornell University, but did not study the conventional architecture offered there. Instead he documented his work using his own style of video, film and photography, with his most famous piece of work being "building cuts". The idea behind his project was inspired by the 'American dream' of owning a piece of land ultimately offering freedom, rights of men and women, having a successful life, marriage and so on. As a result, Matta-Clark was interested in the idea of entropy and ambiguous space, his project "Fake Estates" was inspired by the dream, he bought 15 leftover properties ranging from $25 - $75 a plot. Although these properties were virtually inhabitable so the ability of ownership only existed on paper. His most notorious works were 'Bingo' and 'Building Cuts'.
Marcelo Daldoce
Daldoce, an artist who grew up in Brazil and started painting at a young age gained work experience at an advertising company working on illustration however this left him with a distaste for the conventional and so he decided to work on more expressive and innovative pieces. In one of his more recent works, Marcelo brings a piece flat piece to life by folding it and making a puzzle for the spectator making them figure out what part is real and what is manipulated, turning paint to flesh and paper to sculpture. He made them simply using water colour and stencils for a guide where to paint. I will use this as inspiration in my strands to try and get the audience to determine what is genuine and what has been fabricated.
Daldoce, an artist who grew up in Brazil and started painting at a young age gained work experience at an advertising company working on illustration however this left him with a distaste for the conventional and so he decided to work on more expressive and innovative pieces. In one of his more recent works, Marcelo brings a piece flat piece to life by folding it and making a puzzle for the spectator making them figure out what part is real and what is manipulated, turning paint to flesh and paper to sculpture. He made them simply using water colour and stencils for a guide where to paint. I will use this as inspiration in my strands to try and get the audience to determine what is genuine and what has been fabricated.
Nadav Kander
Born in Israel 1961, Kander moved to South Africa at the age of 3. His first love of photography came at the age of 13 when he received a Pentax camera. He later spent two years in the air force as part of his national service taking ariel photographs. It was then he made a final decision that this was the career he wanted to pursue. As a result, he moved to London in 1985 and since then he has had numerous exhibitions across the world. In an interview, Kander stated that no matter what subject he is working with in a project, "the beauty and nakedness of our inner conditions of being human are alluded to". Each of Kander's work is an expression and a reflection of human history, it is also a product of his feelings at the moment of capture but still allows for viewers to interpret it in their own way.
Born in Israel 1961, Kander moved to South Africa at the age of 3. His first love of photography came at the age of 13 when he received a Pentax camera. He later spent two years in the air force as part of his national service taking ariel photographs. It was then he made a final decision that this was the career he wanted to pursue. As a result, he moved to London in 1985 and since then he has had numerous exhibitions across the world. In an interview, Kander stated that no matter what subject he is working with in a project, "the beauty and nakedness of our inner conditions of being human are alluded to". Each of Kander's work is an expression and a reflection of human history, it is also a product of his feelings at the moment of capture but still allows for viewers to interpret it in their own way.
Nadav Kander's project 'Half Life' involved the photographer visiting Chernobyl as part of the 20th anniversary in 2004. Images included those shown above along with the other more distinguished scenes such as the blocks of flats, ferris wheel, dodgems and so on. The photo above at first thought appears to be shoes covered in snow, however when looked at closer you notice the white/greyish layering is actually large amounts of dust, a result of the disaster in 1986. Kander enjoys to picture the smallness of human nature against the larger scale of their ideas. Kander intended to make us react in the way to perceive the world in a beautiful way, asking us to accept some things aren't necessary. He has done this by photographing a bunch of "ordinary objects" perhaps not with much importance, however these are the items the owner has left behind in the adrenaline rush of evacuating the area after the accident. He strives on the interest of destruction by man, imminent in taking it's territory back. Most of Kander's work is a result of his feelings at point of capture, therefore we can be made to think what he felt at the time, this can be received as sorrow for the victims and possibly a chaotic scene at the time. Next comes how we interpret the image. The disaster was widely documented making us explore the thoughts of humans and how some can be deadly as proved by the disaster but the end effects can be even worse.
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Next comes an image of a classroom in Chernobyl. Nothing was different about the day reactor 4 exploded, therefore no civilians were expecting it. The images displays a slowly decaying room. What we witness is a desolate classroom with invisible dangers, Kander's intention was to make his viewers understand that what is left behind and created by man as a result of doing something can be more powerful than in the first instance. For example, the ideology behind the nuclear power plant was to create a clean source of power combined with the output amount, it also created thousands of jobs with a close community. Although ultimately it also destroyed the livelihoods of 40,000 people meaning ideas with good intentions may not always have positive outcomes. It appears as if Kander has not used any effects in the photo leaving it bare, this gives the impression of the pure devastation it has caused by not trying to sugar coat or enhance the image what so ever. This supports the point of the smaller man against the larger scale of their ideas.
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The Formal Elements
The 'formal elements' is a term used by artists/photographers associated with the fine arts industry. It refers to the elements which comprise an image, this can consist of a mixture of the elements or just include one or two, they are used depending on the style of piece the artist is searching for. For example if the artist wanted to express the feel of the image to enhance the texture of the subject, then perhaps a close up shot would be used along with it being in focus to display the material better than if it were furtherer away and slightly blurry. We visited an old abandoned swimming pool to try and capture all eight elements of photography, below are the results.
The selection above shows the different formal elements, each of which can be utilised in a different way to give a unique perspective on an image, for example if we take the image showing pattern and texture, we can see most of the image is filled with the repetitive pattern of the blue lines on the side on the swimming pool but also displays the neglect within the image by emphasising the cracks and debris laying on the floor. Effects like the ones shown above can be used in the future to express more of a message, I will most likely use patterns and perspective in my pieces to show the vertical nature of some cities today.
Reflections
Following the introduction of the formal elements, our task was to explore the ways in which our chosen formal element can be presented. I travelled to central London where I was surrounded by a number of glass covered sky scrapers on a clear day, I chose this location because I enjoyed the thought of reflection and symmetry as it also gives off the sense of repetition. To express this, I tried photographing subjects which easily showed symmetry and reflection by standing in the middle of the building and pointing the camera towards the sky, this technique also brings perspective into account.
Reflection Part 2
After looking at the images of skyscrapers from the instalment above , I had an idea of mirroring them against itself to create a 3D effect using the subject itself. By using this effect I feel it could also be considered surrealist piece with the hue and saturation of the sky or edited background. In the future I will be photographing skyscrapers in a different environment to see how two cities compare on wealth, importance or location. The edited results of the developed upon shoot are shown below along with a contact sheet.
Upon looking at this set of images, I didn't like the background as much as I thought I would have as I feel it takes too much away from the actual photo because the building is already strange and fake enough so it doesn't need that extra layer. Also the angle at which these photos were taken in order to mirror them were too sharp in my opinion and therefore the pieces didn't quite show the height or scale of these buildings. As a result in the next instalment, I will focus on more natural backgrounds which allows spectators to not lose focus on the main part of the picture, and also experiment with repetitive patterns like the photographer Marcus Lyon (more information below).
Rules of Thirds
The rule of thirds is a method which can help improve the taking of a photo. The human eye automatically focus on four focal points in the photo, these are where the grid lines cross each other. By using this knowledge, we tried to set the main subject of the photo onto one or two of the focal points however my camera did not have grid lines so it was slightly more difficult to position the objects. This usually improves the image by focusing on the most important part as well as the things around it perhaps making it more interesting. For example, the second image showing the sun in the middle of the picture doesn't seem very interesting as it focused mainly on the sun and not the things around it, however when it is moved into the corner near the focal point, it shows more of the scenery below for example the outlines of the trees making the image look like a negative space/contrast type image as well.
Reflections Part 3
Over the Christmas period, I travelled to Hong Kong where I photographed skyscrapers located in the city centre and in the suburbia parts of Hong Kong as well. Following on the idea of mirroring the buildings to show symmetry and producing a surreal effect I edited the photos to create a selection of bizarre looking images shown below. The inspiration for this came from the artist Danny Yonut. His video shown below uses reflection both horizontally and vertically however he films his work instead of photographing it like I have. Even though his work seems to be very effective making the viewer focus on the line of symmetry, I feel using a stationary image can still lead the spectator to achieving the same feelings without pushing them to focus on a certain part of the photo but instead the image as a whole will hopefully do that.
After looking at this set of observations, I definitely think it is an improvement over the previous ones. Although some photos are still slightly over the top in terms of editing I enjoy the aspects of the photos which show uniformity, it gives it a slight mesmerising effect and makes the audience ask where the line is between reality and fantasy.
Edit Walkthrough
Step 1: The first 4 slides show the process of me mirroring one half of the image to create a symmetrical photo. This was done by using the rectangular marquee tool and copying and pasting.
Step 2: The next step was to create the sky but first I had to make sure the building was the only object in the piece, therefore, I used the cloning tool on the sky around the other structures in the background to make it all cloudy. Then using the polygonal lasso tool I cut out shapes and pasted them around the building to make the strange background in the final edit.
Step 3: Finally, I pasted 2 versions of the same image in a new document to create the mirrored, cubic effect on the building, using the transform tool. Most of the final images above were created using this method.
Marcus Lyon was a big influence on the way I captured and edited my images in the reflection topic. Lyon's work in his BRIC and EXODUS series consists of repetitive themes either using genuine settings or duplicating parts of an image to create an impact of size and scale on the viewer. I have tried to recreate this effect by attempting to use the techniques as he does but in photoshop. My results are shown below.
Step 2: The next step was to create the sky but first I had to make sure the building was the only object in the piece, therefore, I used the cloning tool on the sky around the other structures in the background to make it all cloudy. Then using the polygonal lasso tool I cut out shapes and pasted them around the building to make the strange background in the final edit.
Step 3: Finally, I pasted 2 versions of the same image in a new document to create the mirrored, cubic effect on the building, using the transform tool. Most of the final images above were created using this method.
Marcus Lyon was a big influence on the way I captured and edited my images in the reflection topic. Lyon's work in his BRIC and EXODUS series consists of repetitive themes either using genuine settings or duplicating parts of an image to create an impact of size and scale on the viewer. I have tried to recreate this effect by attempting to use the techniques as he does but in photoshop. My results are shown below.
The word "exodus" means the mass departure of people; developing on this Lyon has explored the ease of migration since the beginning of the 21st Century as individuals or groups of people migrate and leave their society to find a better source of income or better quality of life. Because this has become such a simple task with ever growing development around the world, demands have increased to allow for this movement. In fact it has influenced the ways roads and structures are built and used. This is often a matter a quantity over quality but also with a thought in mind to last for the future, therefore cities are becoming densely packed with uniform buildings stretching into the sky. What I like about Lyon's work is the sheer scale and surprise factor impacted onto the spectator making them question themselves if the image is real or not. In addition I appreciate the way that everything within the image is so similar that no certain object has more importance than another and as a result the whole picture is focused on, so everything is scanned to look for a difference but its hard to find one in a sea of 'ordinary scenes' as it has become the norm of today's major cities.
I chose to look at Marcus Lyon because his series EXODUS and BRICs both contain images with perhaps too much information to take in. Furthermore they were created in cities similar to Hong Kong (fast growing), so I thought I would be able to try and replicate his style of work but put on a personal twist. Overall I feel my work was successful in the aspect it came out as I expected however parts of the final edit could be changed, for example maybe vibrant backgrounds detract the viewer from the main subject of the piece.
I chose to look at Marcus Lyon because his series EXODUS and BRICs both contain images with perhaps too much information to take in. Furthermore they were created in cities similar to Hong Kong (fast growing), so I thought I would be able to try and replicate his style of work but put on a personal twist. Overall I feel my work was successful in the aspect it came out as I expected however parts of the final edit could be changed, for example maybe vibrant backgrounds detract the viewer from the main subject of the piece.
Final Piece
For my final piece I decided to create a 3D version of my edits from the Hong Kong instalment. Because my edits when 2D had a three dimensional effect I enjoyed the idea of making it a reality which I did using foam board and printed pictures. I find it interesting how when a viewer is looking at the image straight on it may appear as it does it the 2D version however when they move their head either direction of the picture the perspective changes and they'll notice its actually a picture that comes out the canvas (as you can see from the side view above) and if it were to be placed in a gallery, spectators wouldn't need to stand in one spot to get the best view but instead are able to walk around it making it more inclusive. Furthermore, the symmetry is still kept in both pieces through the middle which allows you to see the same image but from a different angle.
Final Piece Development
As a development of the final piece above, I decided to make a lenticular piece by using a mixture of two photos. I experimented with different environments in these photos by reusing some from my trip to Hong Kong along with notorious scenes of London, as well as a day and night version of the same location. Personally I think the piece that works best is the bottom one. This is because it shows a whole landscape as opposed to being fixated on a single building or structure which can lead the spectator to being more open minded about the image. Utilising the lenticular effect replicates the style of seeing a picture from different angles like the three dimensional piece above, I enjoy this aspect because it makes viewers move around the piece and look at all of it instead of glancing over the picture. The images above are tests of the final piece but the final ones will be in colour and A3 because I think it will make it easier to distinguish between the two photos.