First step- brainstorm
For starters I wanted to create a mind map so I could choose my own way to present the theme "Covert and Obscured". That way I wouldn't get lost and going around in circle during my development of my own work. Furthermore, I will continue exploring more ideas for it.
Tunnels
Before I've moved on into the obscured portrait photography I wanted to go around the urban environment to look tunnels. I wanted to take these shots of the tunnels because it gave me a little brief of what I want to do for my ideas, but turns out I decided not because I think taking pictures of tunnels starts to become too repetitive for the theme 'Convert and Obscured'.
Sophie calleSophie calle is a French photographer. She is known for her work that involves following strangers to investigate their private life. Calle tries to present their identity without actually interacting with them. Calle’s very first work involved following strangers around Paris. Calle had been abroad for a number of years and the idea behind this surveillance was initially an attempt to reacquaint herself with the city. However, she soon discovered that observing the behaviour and actions of these strangers provided information with which to construct their identities. Calle can explain her work in this video.
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My response to Sophie Calle
I encountered a girl that I had met at an event in central London and this is similiar to the way in which Calle encountered a man that she had met at an event . Her back-pack had a logo of a K-pop band that I like to listen to. This caught my attention because it is very rare to find people in London that listen to my favourite music genre. My next move was to follow her in Wood Green without letting her recognise me. I used photoshop to make the environment black and white. However, I'm kept the subject colour to establish a combination of Andy Warhol's pop art and Sophie Calle's style of photography.
Stephen GillStephen Gill is an english photographer and artist. In his early years GIll worked in a photography company in bristol copying and restoring photographs. In 1992 he went to South Gloucestershire and Stroud college and he did a foundation course for photography. When Stephen Gill was a child he tend to photographs wildlife taking shots of birds or insects and got the inspiration from a book called 'The Observer book of Pond life'. He named one of his work "Lost" I suggest that Gill called it that people are looking for directions in the urban environment looking at maps.
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My response
I've met up with an old friend from secondary school in the weekends and we were on our way to the streets of London. Throughout the journey around London we decided to explore around the UCL university, borough of kensington and finally the dark corners or alley way of west end. Furthermore, my friend and I tend to get kinda lost in the area we went and he's constantly looking at maps to know which direction we need to go. This series of events meant that I had te perfect opportunity to photograph scenes similar to Gill. Stephen Gill 's work has a connection with the theme "Covert and Obscured.". To me, you have no idea where the people in the street are going or where they want to go in general. It could be like they want to go the big ben, the London eye or the Buckingham palace its a mystery. Their plan is obscured to me. For those who are lost, the right way is also obscured to them.
Obscured portraits
My response
I photo- printed some of the photos that were taken by my teacher. I used two pictures for each collage. I cut out and put the images together in different ways. In one image I have used two of the same image to create an unsettling appearance to Daniel's eyes. The second collage actually involves three people. There is a person in each image, obviously, then the cut out shape is a silhouette of another person.
I didn't like this portrait idea because to me it has nothing related to the theme that I am working on. The only thing that is connected to "Covert and Obscured" is when you look at the photographs closely as they are being cut. However, it is sort of difficult to see the real identity of the person.
I didn't like this portrait idea because to me it has nothing related to the theme that I am working on. The only thing that is connected to "Covert and Obscured" is when you look at the photographs closely as they are being cut. However, it is sort of difficult to see the real identity of the person.
Digitally- Gordin Magnin
Gordin Magnin is an artist born in 1978 Reno Nevada. Magnin is famous for his surreal shape portraits and he said about his work "I don't really categorize my work as collage. Most of the work I would describe as altered found Image, the work isn't created through an additive process as is the case with traditional collage, but through the transformation of a single image". He created these portrait collages by geometric cut.
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my response
Julien PalastJulien Palast is a french photographer born in france and lives in paris. Palast usual photographs object such clothing accessorises, products and alcohols. However, he is famous for his scary portrait and Julien called it the work "deep skin" I think he named it because you can see the subjects body behind a stretchy material. Also, Palast wanted some of his model to open their mouth to make it look more horrifying while they are covered.
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I found a very stretchy material myself and got a model that really knows how to make a scary expressing before it and I think the result was pretty decent. I asked her to open her mouth having her face against it and putting her hand on her face and it worked really well. I just simply used the zooming in technique with a fast shutter speed. Although, i was a bit disappointed because the subjects with the other fabric didn't make scary what so ever and it just doesn't feel its not the result that I was expecting. I like this idea, but to me feel so repetitive after a while so I'm going to research more photographers to develop my ideas. Also, I even did a little video of it aswell adding music and a sound effect with Imovie.
Shadow- Tim Noble and Sue WebsterTim noble and Sue Webster are artist that tries to create a realistic shadows with a piles of rubbish. When I had a look of their work I thought it was okay in general, but its not great great because some of the works they did together doesn't look reality and I think they sort of altered the shadows together.
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My response to shadows |
I tried using some objects in the studio to create some shadows as-well, but I couldn't able make something realistic as the artist because I didn't know what object to use to make something perfect. So, I to create a strange landscape shadow with some old film cameras and I think its properly like the best one out of the responses I did.
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Strand 1: Mitsuko NagoneMitsuko Nagone is a japanese photographer grew in a small southern city of japan. She moved into tokyo to study photography at a college of visual art. Nagone wanted to carry on her education so she decided to moved in new york and went to Laguardia college. Finally she graduated and Nagone went back to japan and lives in Tokyo. Mitsuko Nagone is famous for the self portrait hiding her own face. She is inspired by Japanese culture. She uses a sec-timer technique. She wears a wig to cover her face and she turns her head back or has her head facing down.
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My response to Nagone
I tried hiding my face with some object that I found in the kitchen too and I even try using a blonde wig that sort of looks like Lady Gaga hairstyle in one of her video or portraits of her to what will the result if it worked and it did. Also, I tried wearing a trousers to cover my face to create a sense a humour and the photographs with the hats are just too simple to do. Furthermore, I used the sec- timer technique again and I had my camera on a tripod to avoid getting blur on my pictures. I like to use this idea for my development, but I think its isn't enough so I'm going to research for more photographers before making my final decisions.
Gallery Exhibition and Geraldo de BarrosI went on a school trip to a photographers gallery in central around oxford street. In the exhibition there was a interesting connection between the theme "covert and obscured" and the gallery because there were collages getting involve in it. There were three photographers we had to look at Peggy Frank, Laura Letinsky and Geraldo De Barros.
Geraldo de Barros was a brazilian painter and photographer born in 1923. After he retire from doing his photography work Geraldo de Barros went to europe on a scholarship, where it contain his old photographic work. Next, his daughter surprisingly box all of the negative of all of his personal archive and Barros wanted to revisit his photographs. Finally, Geraldo de barros use the cutting technique to create these collages and i quite like the one that he did of the man to me its like solving a mystery because you want to find out what the subject is looking at and its quite related to the theme "obscured". |
Strand 2: cut out
I attempted the collage technique of Geraldo de Barros using Photoshop. I had to adjust the photo from colour to black and white. These were taken in Oxford. I like how the tightrope walker and the bear stand out as not being typical of a street scene. I could have edited them a little better as you can still see some marks from the background. To be even more like Barros I could have layered this 'cut out' image over a completely unrelated background.
Strand 3:Kyungwoo Chun and blurKyungwoo Chun is a korean born in Seoul in the year 1969. Chun studied photography chung-Ang university and he decided to carry on his education to a next level In Europe. Kyungwoo Chun is famous for his blurred photographic portraits and I find his work interesting because I never realized that an artist wouldn't have their photographs in focus whereas other photographers do. This korean Photographer work is definitely related to the theme. He uses the out of focus technique on the subjects faces. By doing this he conceals their facial features.
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I tried using a manually-focus skills to make it blurry portrait myself of independent individuals for a head start. Furthermore, some of these portrait were taken on the photography gallery trip and I thought it came out pretty good. Also, I liked how I managed to blurred the environment as-well because when you look at it's so hard to recognize the certain parts of the urban landscape. Overall, I think this idea is brilliant because it is related to the theme that I'm working on and it could of been better if I had more than two subject to make it more like Kyungwoo Chun in the photo above my ones.
Decision for my idea
After all the strands I did throughout the week I've decided to carry on with the Mitsuko Nagone and the Kyungwoo Chun idea because the barros collage idea I wasn't really pleased with it and to me it's just nothing special to look at. Furthermore, finding people expressing out their talent in the streets is pretty rare to find nowadays.
In this set I was trying to combine some of the ideas that I have already experimented with, in these images my face is hidden and the background is blurred. Each image is made from two photographs, one in focus using the sec-timer and the other out of focus for the background. I managed to merge the focus pictures with blurred images by photoshop, but some of the pictures don't look like I'm in the actually landscape it looks like that I'm floating. It could be better if I had the background blur and it gets more in focus as it gets closer to the figure.However, the one with the fox mask hiding my feet is properly the best one out of this set because i can see that the background is getting more focus as it surrounds the subject.
My idea set 3 |
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In this set I tried to improve the blur environment by using photoshop. instead of taking two pictures I only did one using a sec-timer. In photoshop I edit them by using zoom blur to see what it come out and I think it's going in the right direction for what I am going for my work. However, it could of been better if I managed to clear out some of the blurs so that it actually looks like I'm in the blur background. This mean that I am going to do the same process with the set 2 again and make some changes.
Set 4Throughout the half-term I went around London to take the photographs for my exam. I had to take two picture in each environment just like I did for my set 2. Also, it was really hard to do in the urban landscape because there were so many people and I have take the picture at the perfect time.
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Final pieces
These photos on the tops are the ones that i edited for 8 hours. throughout the process I put myself into the blur just like I did in set 2 with photoshop. Next, I change the easer hardness at 0% and when the environment starts to get closer with by foot I keeping lowering the opacity so I start to blend in with the blur landscape.