Day 44 Monday 5th December 2011 (Perception)

Day 44 Monday 5th December 2011

10:00 Perception Unit Lecture -Exploring Time

Micheal highlighted several aspects of photography that could be discussed in relation to time and it's relationship to space within photography. Those headings selected included;

History (Photographers such as)                                     Alexander Rodchenko

Psychological  (Photographers such as)                           Franchesca Woodman (committed suicide at 22)

Memory  (Photographers such as)                                  Nan Goldin

Classical  (Photographers such as)                                  Andreas Gursky (geometric lines) and Scott McFarland              (idyllic landscapes)

Mythology  (Photographers such as)                               Tim Walker

Metaphor/Symbolic(ism)  (Photographers such as)          Ori Gerst

11:20 Printing B&W. I decided to do some contact sheets, and realising the dark room was free decided to attempt to progress and do some printing

14:00 Talk with Foundation Students (Room 803) Myself and fellow student rep Lucie made a very small contribution to the talk Caroline gave to the foundations students who might be considering joining the course in the future

14:45 Printing B&W. I ended up getting very frustrated at the poor quality easels that made it almost impossible to get a strait edge on a print. I wasted numerous sheets of paper before deciding to return again tomorrow when I'll select one of the decent easels (that require much more setting up. but that actually give a presentable edge. I suspect the easels will be an issue to carry forward as a student rep. It's frustrating and expensive to waste time and paper due to equipment failure.

Four of the prints have border issues (despite swapping easels). So I'll try to be more selective with the easel tomorrow, failing that I'll print without a border.

16:00 Perception Seminar. A continuation on the lectures earlier discussion relating to myth and mythology within the world around us and it's expression in the world of photography

16:40 Returning Enlarger lens to stores/putting away equipment

On returning home I've photographed the contact sheets and prints produced today and I'll insert those in the appropriate blogs.

Free day Sunday 4th December 2011

Sunday 4th December 2011:

Today has been a day of 'odds and sods'. I awoke with a pretty bad back today so that's restricted me somewhat. I've also been assisting an ill friend.

I did manage to read Ansel Adams 'The Camrea' further.

I've watched a further episode of 'The Genius of Photography' via e-stream

I've corresponded further with Andrea Still at the Salvation Army regarding some of the details relating to the shoot this coming Friday..

Free Day Saturday 3rd December 2011

Saturday 3rd December 2011

Made progress on my study/darkroom today with help and assistance from my roller wielding friend Jenna.

Also had confirmation my medium format camera will be delivered on Tuesday so I'm happy about that.

Did a number of mundane/routine tasks such as logging on and renewed library books, and also had an eye test today which has resulted in a new prescription.

Day 43 Friday 2nd Dec 2011 Workshop

10:00 Studio practice workshop:
We started the day by being assigned lighting plans with sets that needed to be built correspondingly. Once the sets were built Jonathan and Emily demonstrated how they worked, deconstructing lighting by demonstrating each aspect

Set One (Studio One)

Set two (group I, my group, studio two)

Set three (studio two)

Set three matched the criteria I had perfectly for my proposed Portrait shoot (which I'd blogged yesterday)

Set three again

Following on from building the sets, we were asked to deconstruct them and return the materials to stores.
We had a small task to do over lunch which consisted of supplying our lighting reference image(s) and a quick lighting plan based on that image and our proposed visual style for our portrait shoot.

Once we returned and Jonathan collated them we were grouped roughly into four groups based on the lighting style we wanted to test. For me this was Set three (above) and we were tasked with re-building the lighting sets and completing some test images, which we did during the course of the afternoon.

Like most people I HATE making mistakes, especially when they affect other people and today after getting home I realised that had made such an error. It's most annoying but after scanning today's negs this evening it was obvious they were underexposed and soon the penny dropped.

Upon checking my light meter I realised I'd left the ISO set at 100, when I'd loaded 400 ISO film (because that is what i had to hand), bugger!

A School boy error and worse still since I shared my film and light meter with Nikita  it's affected her images too. So I 'll apologise for that.


On a plus side, as test shots they still demonstrate the main effects we attempted to achieve. The whole process would have been perfect if the ISO had been correct on the light meter.
The image is underexposed (by two and a half stops since were where supposed to be overexposing by half a stop, and I underexposed by two stops) which is the outcome of my error. But you can see see the effects of the inclusion on a front reflector for example.

Background lighting

Radio slave system to initiate the flash (transmitter)

Radio slave system to initiate the flash (receiver)

Overall set up which I'll be using for real next Friday.

Scanned negative. Underexposed (see main body of text for explanation)

Scanned negative. Underexposed (see main body of text for explanation)

Scanned negative. Underexposed (see main body of text for explanation)

Scanned negative.  This image is also washed out,  due to the poly board reflector that we included as an experiment.

In conclusion I learnt a great deal from the mistakes.

The incorrect ISO setting on the light meter (first time I've done that, and a careless oversight). Secondly in the last image I included a reflector, but I never took a new light meter reading (another oversight always take a light meter reading!! Preferably with one that is set up right also!)

Free day 1st December 2011 Body Research

1st December 2011 Body Research

Tomorrow is a lighting test for the following Friday's portrait shoot. Having discussed backgrounds at the tutorial I'm going to test a white background that is lit (two lights one either side) if I'm able, with a single main light and probably a reflector (although the test shots will dictate if a fill is required). I'm hoping to be able to use an RZ67 Mamiya on the shoot day.

One of the instruments (a euphonium) I hope one of my sitters will bring with them. Reflections could be an interesting challenge.

 I've been reviewing images of a religious nature from different eras and I've blogged a few here to give an idea of some of the techniques and styles used.
I've quoted Brian Griffin as the photographer to influence the look of my images, this is based on a few of the images from his St Pancras series (which I have also added to the blog below).
Also Richard Avadon is the second obvious choice due the the visual style he employs with the bright white background used frequently.
I see the Salvation Army members as 'workers' for their church and Griffins images capture a mostly uniformed workforce in detail.
Avedon shoots a very diverse range of people using the same visual style.

Image taken from Jane Browns book Pillars of the Church

Image taken from Jane Browns book Pillars of the Church

Image taken from Jane Browns book Pillars of the Church

Image taken from Jane Browns book Pillars of the Church

Image taken from Jane Browns book Pillars of the Church

Images from Brian Griffins St Pancras series (images via http://www.briangriffin.co.uk)

Images from Brian Griffins St Pancras series (images via http://www.briangriffin.co.uk)

George Bush by Richard Avedon http://www.richardavedon.com

Lee Friedlander by Richard Avedon http://www.richardavedon.com

Free day Wednesday 30th November 2011 Object (Final re-shoot)

 Wednesday 30th November 2011 Object

Today I shot the object image again using a 5x4 Horseman again having booked the studio with three others members from group I some weeks ago.

 I'd sketched out a rough idea of how I wanted the image to look yesterday (and blogged that), so I knew pretty much how to compose the image and from which direction I wanted my lighting to come from.

As usual I shot a few frames during the day on the digital camera for the blog:

Initial partial composition (before/whilst making numerous changes and exposure checks-hence quick disc etc)

Final Lighting Method (although i forgot to add the barn doors to the diagram so excuse that omission)

Lighting and equipment set up

Contact on brown desk

Contact on green desk

Initial set up showed I needed to raise my main light, and I illuminated my background to remove an unsightly shadow which the objects created. I'd considered a fully dark or partially dark background, but wanted to represent an office space on a simplistic level, thus taking the lit/light background route.
The bin bag/recycling idea initial considered (with the bag initially being used on my first attempt at this brief) progressed into a symbolic desk/office with belongings boxed up and awaiting removal. Jonathan had previously discussed context (in relation to background) and content (in relation to the objects), and I wanted a stronger and simpler narrative. Offices generally contain desks and plain walls, and visually the boxing up of belongings I hope would be seen as a more familiar representation of the process of the final stage of redundancy. A P45 hinting (in a subtle way) at the end of a job, rather than the start of a new position, i.e moving out and not into a job! I was torn between diffusion and a harsher light, having experienced both types of light in the work place. Opting for a continuous lighting source (with gel colour correction) and a very deep depth of field (F45) to attempt to capture a sharpness throughout the image. I also wanted the text on the folders and some text on the ruler to be clear and readable, as well as text on the cup. I liked the idea of the "Shatter Proof" ruler as a metaphor.
I processed two negatives, then using some old film which is out of date I experimented by switching the desk for a different coloured (green topped) example, processing those negs also. I'd need to print the images to see how the two look and compare, as the contact sheets are both a little light (first time I've used the colour dark room contact sheet making facility). The negs look to be very sharp and i think the narrative is far more readable than my previous image.

Influences for the new idea come from sources/images such a:

image care of http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/patrick-butler-cuts-blog/2010/oct/27/lost-job-still-at-work 
(Image Rex Features http://www.rexfeatures.com) 30th Nov 2010

Image care of (Getty Images via) http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/blog/2011/jan/31/dear-jeremy-have-your-say 
(Image by Steve Cole http://www.stevecole.com) 30th Nov 2010

Image Care of http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-1070329/Things-don-8217-t-know---Redundancy.html
(Image by Bloom production)30th Nov 2010

More images to be found on Getty web site http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/photo/redundant-office-worker-high-res-stock-photography/97542879?Language=en-GB


"Self-made people thrive
They know where they’ve come from. And they dust themselves down, rely on their inner anger as fuel and try again.
The people that crumble are those who over-identify with their wealth and status; those who mistake income for personality or intelligence.
The people who are most successful are in touch with their inner core. They know what makes them great as human beings, irrespective of what they do.
It can make you a better person
Redundancy can give people a new lease of life. They can say, ‘To hell with it, I’m going to do relief work in Africa…to do what I’ve always dreamed of.’
It’s an opportunity to find your talents and your heart and to possibly pay much needed attention to your family.
It also generates an empathy with misfortune that may have been missing. And you can feel relief from the pressure of a job you weren’t aware you were carrying.
Suddenly you have a blank page. Scary maybe – but you can do anything with it."

Text also care of the daily mail article associated to the image in http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-1070329/Things-don-8217-t-know---Redundancy.html 30th Nov 2010

Free Day Tuesday 29th November 2011 Object

Having decided to re-shoot the object image after the interim review i have sketched out my new concept to narrate my original redundancy message. My initial idea didn't have a clear narrative, wasn't universal enough and felt rather flat and uninspiring.

Initial Idea

Adapted idea by using a cardboard box (rather than a bin liner or re-cycle container) and including much many more training folders

Tomorrow along with possibly three others members from group I have a studio booked and hope to re-shoot our initial object images. I have checked on 'myuca' and no mention of confirmed industrial action that would prevent us from shooting has been published.
I've spent some time selecting folders and ensuring they are annotated as training folders on the spine. Scanned a P45 and sorted out the props.