Graffiti Analysis

In this shoot my aim was to take photos of graffiti through windows and objects. I did this by shooting graffiti in the distance through broken objects like glass. I liked how I could use this project to capture both wrecked buildings, adding from my last idea of abandoned buildings and graffiti in the same photo. I didn't like how some of the graffiti in the background came out blurry as it was hard to focus on the art outside of the broken window.

Shoot 8: Final Image (Graffiti)

Shoot 8: Final Image (Graffiti)

Shoot 8: Best Selection (Graffiti)

Shoot 8: Contact Sheet (Graffiti)

Portrait Shoot Analysis

In my portrait shoot I tried to portray a side of graffiti, by capturing people spraying it onto the abandoned walls of the mansion. I did this to show the diverse group of people that do graffiti including different age groups and genders. I aimed to show a different type of art in a rugged area that many people wouldn't look to find.

Portrait Shoot (Final Image)

Portrait Shoot (Abandoned Mansion) Best Selection

Contact Sheet (Portrait Shoot)

America Shoot Analysis

In the shoot I took while I was in America, I tried to capture every day life as most people from England that visit America only usually see tourist areas, and not the every day life. I went to the state of Pittsburgh where my grandparents are from and tried to focus on parts of the city that were worn down or had graffiti. Most of the photos are taken from outside a car window as I didn't have much time to walk around and take photos, so many turned out blurry.

Shoot 7: America Shoot (Final Image)

Shoot 7: America Shoot (Final Image)

Shoot 7: America Shoot (Best Selection)

 

Shoot 7: America Shoot (Contact Sheet)

Nils Muller (Photos)

Nils Muller (Graffiti Artist Research)

   Nils Müller is a former graffiti artist who taught himself photography so that he could immortalize his work, which is typically cleared away with haste by authorities. Instead of focusing on the graffiti, he looks at the act of creating it and all the emotional tension that involves. Müller’s photographs elevate graffiti to a sophisticated visual language, one that thrills both for its illicit nature and aesthetic value. His first photo book Bluetezeit and his second one Vandals, scheduled for publication on May 1, illustrate perfectly this balancing act.


   Driven by his curiosity and fascination with what goes on behind the scenes, Müller soon began photographing musicians, actors and other artists as well. While the images differed, the conditions under which they were created remained similar: nearly insufficient lighting and situations that required instant reaction.


   Müller’s empathy with his subjects helps him capture them at the precise moments that reflect their personalities and characters, whether they’re musicians on stage or graffiti artists in the act of vandalism. His work goes beyond the facade to reveal the feelings behind each subject. As such, Müller proves photography can be both realistic and mysterious.
Nils Müller is a multi-faceted creative who rigorously embraces a unique visual approach.


http://www.nilsmuellerphotography.com/about

Abandoned Mansion Analysis

My main aim for these shoots was to look at buildings that have been used for graffiti work. The abandoned mansion I focused on has been derelict for about a year and has already been broken down and altered by people who have been through it. I mainly tried to capture graffiti in the building and people spraying it on, showing the various groups of people that express graffiti in an artistic way by portraying images or 'tags' which represent themselves in a way.

Shoot 6: Final Image (Abandoned Building)

Shoot 6: Best Selection (Abandoned Building)

Shoot 6: Contact Sheet (Abandoned Building)

Iphone Shoot Analysis

In my Iphone shoot I used the app 'Hipstamatic' to create a film-type image as the app focuses on film looking photos. I didn't like some of the photos on a number of lenses on the app I chose to use because it either distorted colour or shadow in areas that I didn't want. I liked the effect that the app uses because of the film effect, as I usually use a DSLR camera which doesn't grab this effect.

Iphone Project Final Image

Iphone Project: Best Selection

Iphone Project (Contact Sheet)

Intention (Iphone Shoot)

For the iPhone shoot I am going to experiment with the app 'Hipstamatic'. This app produces the images as film as you can change the lens settings, putting different lenses on and you can change the film inside the app, giving the user ultimate control over the picture quality and style.

Shoot 5: Final Image (Abandoned Building)

Shoot 5: Best Selection (Abandoned Building)

Shoot 5: Contact Sheet (Abandoned Mansion)

Evaluation (Text Project)

In this project I tried to create a 'copy image' of one of Jim Goldberg's photos. I did this by incorporating text into my image and copying the writing as best as I could using a font called 'Simpsonfont' to recreate the handwriting type text Goldberg uses. This links into my theme by going against the means of society and order, highlighting identity and culture within the photograph.

Text Project (Final Image)

Text Project (Contact Sheet)

Intention (Text Research)

My Intention for the text project is to learn how to incorporate text on images better and to create a similar photo to one of Jim Goldberg's pictures. By incorporating text into my image, I am highlighting identity and culture within the photo, like Goldberg.

Jim Goldberg Photos

Jim Goldberg (Text Artist Research)

Jim Goldberg (born 1953) is an American photographer and writer whose work reflects long-term, in-depth collaborations with neglected, ignored, or otherwise outside-the-mainstream populations.

Goldberg is best known for his photography books, multi-media exhibits and video installations, among them: Rich and Poor (1985), Nursing Home, Raised by Wolves (1995), Hospice, and Open See (2009). Goldberg photographs sub-cultures, creating photo collages, and including text with his photographs, often written by his subjects.

Goldberg is part of the social aims movement in photography, using a straightforward, cinéma vérité approach, based on a fundamentally narrative understanding of photography. His empathy and the uniqueness of the subjects emerge in his works, "forming a context within which the viewer may integrate the unthinkable into the concept of self. Thus diffused, this terrifying other is restored as a universal."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Goldberg

Shoot 4: Final Image (Abandoned Mansion)

Shoot 4: Best Selection

Shoot 4: Contact Sheet (Abandoned Mansion)

Shoot 3: Final Image (Abandoned Mansion)

Shoot 3: Best Selection

Shoot 3: Contact Sheet (Abandoned Mansion)

Shoot 2: Final Image (Abandoned Mansion)

Shoot 2: Final Image (Abandoned Mansion)

 

Shoot 2: Best Selection

Shoot 2: Contact Sheet (Abandoned Mansion)

Self Evaluation (Abstract Photography)

In my research to abstract photography, I tried to copy Bill Armstrong's style of photo, creating a blurry, off-focus image to portray his work. I achieved insight on the topic of abstract photography, creating ideas for future projects and shoots. If I could take this photo again, I would have focused more on the detail of the subject, by increasing the shutter speed to capture the image quicker.

Final Image (Abstract Photography)

Contact Sheet (Abstract Photography)

Intention (Abstract Photography)

I intend to use this research of abstract photography to give me ideas for my next shoots. Even though my project isn't on abstract photography, researching abstract photographers and looking at examples of their work will give me insight on the topic. I will use this information to plan ideas and shoots for my upcoming project.

Ryan Bush Photos

Ryan Bush (Abstract Artist Research)

Ryan Bush has been a fine-art photographer for more than 16 years, during which time he has honed his abstract vision focusing on finding the beauty hidden in everyday objects, and the sacred hidden in the mundane.

Ryan's abstract photographs are influenced by his background in a number of other areas. He received his BA in Linguistics and Russian from Swarthmore College in 1995, got his PhD in Linguistics from UC Santa Cruz in 2000, and speaks eight languages. Music is a big source of insipiration for him, as he plays the flute and has a strong interest in classical music. He is also keenly interested in the relationship between photography and other media such as painting and drawing.

Ryan uses a Hasselblad medium-format camera. While he worked in the darkroom for almost ten years, he currently works digitally, producing archival pigment prints with an Epson inkjet printer. His work has been exhibited in many solo and group shows in the US and abroad, has been featured in a number of publications, and is included in a number of collections including that of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. He lives in Los Gatos, California.

http://www.ryanbushphotography.com/about_ryan.php

Bill Armstrong Photos

Bill Armstrong (Abstract Artist Research)

Bill Armstrong is a New York based fine art photographer who has been shooting in color for over thirty years. Armstrong is represented by ClampArt in New York, Hackelbury in London and numerous galleries across the country and in Europe. His Mandala series was featured in a two person exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2008, and he had a mid career retrospective at the Southeast Museum of Photography in Daytona Beach in 2010. Armstrong’s work is in many museum collections including the Victoria & Albert Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, and the Bibliothèque National de France. He has presented work in numerous museum exhibitions including: the Smithsonian Institution; Hayward Gallery, London; Musee de l’Elysee, Lausanne; Centro Internazionale di Fotografia, Milan; and FOAM, Amsterdam. One of Armstrong’s images was chosen for the cover of Lyle Rexer’s Aperture book, The Edge of Vision: The Rise of Abstraction in Photography. His work appears in Face: The New Photographic Portrait by William Ewing and Exploring Color Photography, by Robert Hirsch, among other books. He has also been published in numerous periodicals including The New Yorker, The New York Times, Harper’s, House and Garden and Eyemazing.

He is on the faculty at the International Center of Photography and the School of Visual Arts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Armstrong_(photographer)

Shoot 1: Final Image (Abandoned Mansion)

 

Shoot 1: Contact Sheet (Abandoned Mansion)