Representation of a Person
Portraits date back to 5000 years ago in Ancient Egypt. Since cameras didn't exist, sculptures, paintings and drawings were the other forms of portraiture used. They were made and used to show power, importance and beauty or to flatter them.
The word selfie is slang for 'self-portrait'. In today's world the word is used when taking a self portrait on a mobile phone or posting to social media. Most social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat have made taking selfies very popular. In 2013, 'Selfie' was word of the year in the Oxford English Dictionary. I think that the reason they became so popular is because they are self expression forms of art and in many ways people can express themselves by taking selfies. Since you can see yourself from the front camera, it means you get to decide where you place it and how you take it and what you look like. There can be a downside however from sharing selfies. For example on Instagram, many people edit their photos to look better or change something about themselves or the background. It can bring a fake reality to teenagers and adults therefore making it seem like you have to look a certain way and if you don't, your 'ugly' or 'don't fit in'. It can be very harmful and damaging to the mental health and wellbeing of whoever comes across those I don't think there are many rules apart from taking inappropriate selfies if you are under the age of 18. Some basic rules however are getting permission from people if you want them to be in your selfie. If its only you it doesn't matter. You also shouldn't be taking any types of selfies while driving and don't overdo your selfies.
- My Pinterest Board
The Selfie
Selfies can be traced all the way back to the origins of photography as far as the 1800's. The actual word 'selfie' was only founded in 2002. It happened when an austrailan man called Nathan Hope got drunk at his 21st birthday, he then posted a picture with the caption, 'sorry about the focus, it was a selfie'. However the earliest known example of the originial selfie was taken in 1839 by a man with the name of Robert Cornelius. Cornelius was an amateur chemist and photography enthusiast from Philadelphia. He came up with the idea by just setting up the camera and then running into the frame for the picture. Thats how the first ever selfie came to be. |
The Shadow Selfie : Lee Friedlander
Friedlander's love for photography struck at 14, he then started photographing the American Social Landscape in 1948. He has an amazing ability to be able to organise vast amounts of visual information in dynamic compositions. His photos normally use detached images of urban life, store-front reflections, structures framed by fences, posters and signs.
Lee is known for his asymmetrical black and white pictures of the American social landscape, he began in 1948. His love for photography struck him at 14. Many of his photographs include fragments of store-front reflections, structures framed by fences, posters and street signs.
My Response:
The Obscured Selfie : Edu Monteiro
Monteiro has been working with photography since 1991, as well as that he's also a visual artist. For his sensorial self-portrait project he directly confronts his fears by creating masks that cover his entire head, the masks include organic materials such as animal body parts and tissues.
My Response:
The Reflected Selfie : Florence Henri
Henri was a surrealist artist and primarily focuses on painting and photography. She is an American born Swiss photographer, best known for her use of mirrors and unusual angles to create disorienting photographs.
My Response:
Character Recognition : Myra Greene
Myra Greene is a photographer that focuses on taking portraits of herself and others using traditional photographic processes. In the project 'Character Recognition', she focuses on different parts of the face as a process of recognition and exploration.
With this project, her intentions were to capture what 'blackness' looks like and frame it. By using black glass ambrotype as her photographic process, she inclines viewers to associate the images in her collection with historical images of African-American slaves taken in the 19th century. The linkage to these slave roots makes these images powerful reminders of the stereotyping Greene spotlights through the materials that she uses to create this collection. |
Before and After:
The raw photos I took compared to the edited ones.
The raw photos I took compared to the edited ones.
My Response:
Valerie Kabis
Kabis is an artist that is interested in how different shapes can be created by limiting light. By using movement, shadow and other factors, she creates lots of dark and thought provoking images.
These are the raw photos without editing, I took various photos so I could choose the best ones. When taking the photos, I asked my model to change different positions and I also moved around the lighting so I could get a variety of different pictures. Lastly I used different zooms so as to focus more closely on the face itself.
My Response (Digital Portraits):
WWW: I used light on either side of the face to create a strong contrast on my models face.
EBI: Next time I will un-focus the lens when taking photos and use movement so my images will look more similar to Kabis.
EBI: Next time I will un-focus the lens when taking photos and use movement so my images will look more similar to Kabis.
My Response (Analogue Images):
With Valerie Kabis we also got to try analog cameras. These are older cameras that were invented in 1975 by Steven J. Sasson. There were 3 different analog cameras available for us to use in class. These are similar to pinhole cameras as you insert a piece of photographic paper in the back of the camera and expose for a certain amount of seconds. However you can still only put in one piece and not multiple. The same process happens all over again where we go to the darkroom and develop the film through 3 different chemicals.
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I used the third camera to take my images. I made 4 attempts before I got a my final image.
David Bailey
Bailey is a British photographer and director. He's well known for his fashion and celebrity photographs. In 2014, he once got the chance to photograph the queen herself. He was inspired by natural history which then progressed to his love of photography.
His Work: In each of the photographs the light comes either the left or right. I've noticed that he doesn't tend to face the light directly in front of the face, rather he likes to have shadows to define certain features of the face. I feel like he tries to tell us a bit of their background when he takes them, for example if they are hiding something or who they kind of are by whats in the picture. You could say that the fur around the face of the first photography makes Mick look like an innocent and kind person, however the reality is that he was found doing acid and was a sexual predator. The clothing/props in the picture are important because what a person wears tells us a lot about them. Say when we walk around in public, we usually look at people and notice what they wear, the same goes for Baileys photographs. Everything is equally as important. The subjects normally look directly to the camera, or like in the last picture, to the side. When looking directly at us, it can make me feel like I have a first person view into their lives. I feel like maybe I'm part of it? When the subjects look away, it's as if I'm watching them and they're not aware. Each of Baileys photographs are interesting to me. They're all different, no two photos are the same. I feel like he puts a lot of effort and really thinks through his composition. His work inspires me to really think about how I will take portraits of others and what they will be wearing, the persons facial expressions and which way the light will face to best display their features. From the pictures that I've taken, I think that we have both made sure the background is plain and the subject has a specific action/expression they are making. Ive thought about what distance to take the photographs and I think it more or less goes by what Bailey has done. Bailey had his subjects wear different clothing and had props such as a strong fan to make things more interesting.To improve my work I think I could think more about my composition and prop use to make my photos more interesting and professional looking. |
My Response:
Here I tried to convey different emotions by exploring different facial expressions:
GeorgeTown-Lewis Kahn
Lewis Kahn is a photographic artist from London. He photographed George in South London, creating these series of photos called 'Georgetown'. He would see him everyday in his hometown for several years and they even used to play football together. Lewis created a short 11 minute film on Georges life, he photographed his home and objects that were meaningful to him, something that we can all remember. |
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First Response: Home Documentary
For this project, we were asked to do it at home with someone that was close to us. I decided to do my mum as she works at home. I photographed what she does which is wood and resin work, she has her own website called Bermor Decor. She works with my grandpa, so her dad and together they both started a business. My mum likes to put lots of dedication into her work, she has a workshop space and likes to do trading and watch movies in her spare time. |
Second Response: School Documentary
For this project I went around school and asked various teachers if they wanted to take part in my school documentary project. I asked them to either smile at the camera or continue working so I could take real pictures of them. I also photographed some of the places around the room to show more about what subject they teach.
Design & Technology |
Art |
Cleaners |
Office |
Receptionist |
Library |
Types of Lighting
Lighting can make a huge difference to how portraits look and what emotion they portray. There are many different types of lighting such as tungsten lighting and natural light. Here I will be showing 7 different types of lighting.
Natural Lighting / Direct Sunlight /Shadowed Light:
Side Light / Fill Light / Overhead Light:
Tungsten Lighting:
Coloured Light:
Ben Watts
Ben Watts was born in London, 1967 but moved to Australia to start his photographic career. Watts first started working as a photographers assistant and then moved on to his own shoots with Australias 'Elle' and 'Vogue' and many others. He became so fascinated by Americas urban culture that he decided to move there in 1995 and document urban youth by going to streets and clubs trying to capture it all in film. Since then he has been advertising campaigns for Nike, Polo Ralph Lauren and Kodak. He also contributes to numerous magazines such as the New York Times, Rolling Stone and Detour. |
In class we were asked to recreate some examples of Ben Watts work. We got supplies such as different coloured paper, black/transparent/brown tape, film, oil pastels and black fine liners.
Independent Development
Brief:
For my project I will take inspiration from Lewis Kahn's 'Georgetown' by photographing one subject documenting their trip around London and at home. I will also incorporate David Bailey's work into it by making my model pose showing their features and expressing their personality.
For my project I will take inspiration from Lewis Kahn's 'Georgetown' by photographing one subject documenting their trip around London and at home. I will also incorporate David Bailey's work into it by making my model pose showing their features and expressing their personality.
-My Pinterest Board for Inspiration
Contact Sheet:
His room:
Documentary inspired by Lewis Kahn:
For these pictures I decided to add a green tone as that was Brian's, my subjects, favourite colour. I also asked if they could wear a Colombian football shirt which represents their background. Throughout the day we went mostly around Holborn, Oxford and Soho.
Brian is around 24 years old and a vegan, therefore he eats plenty of greens and exercises daily at 7am. One of is favourite shops to buy clothes is 'Urban Outfitters' and 'Holland and Barrett' for essential oils and snacks. He's also recently started a candle making business that can be custom-made.
Brian is around 24 years old and a vegan, therefore he eats plenty of greens and exercises daily at 7am. One of is favourite shops to buy clothes is 'Urban Outfitters' and 'Holland and Barrett' for essential oils and snacks. He's also recently started a candle making business that can be custom-made.
Jason Travis
Travis is a photographer, director, designer and musician based in Los Angeles. His work has been featured in CNN, VSCO, Buzzfeed and more. He learned his way around camera by shooting portraits of family and friends. He then started his 'Persona' series which paired photos of people he's met with the things they carry in their bag. Since then he's taken more than 500 portraits since 2007. He also did another project called 'transpLAnt' which paired a full body portrait of someone with a handwritten note that he got them to write.
In 'Georgetown', Lewis Kahn shows his subjects life by documenting a day in their life. For the first development of my project, I chose Jason Travis as he does a similar thing. Instead of capturing a whole day, he captures his subjects belongings and what they look like into one using a flat-lay technique. I think this is a great way of showing who someone is without spending the whole day, this way you can do at least more than 5 people in one day.
Contact Sheet:
My Response:
Evaluation:
-For the Georgetown Work I think I could've chosen a different colour tone to better enhance the photos rather than green. I also could've made it better by choosing more different angles to shoot from rather than a normal point of view. I think I photographed his day quite well.
-For my Jason Travis work I could have improved by taking more photographs of different people. I think I did well in placing the objects in a flat and organised way, but I think I could of made the lighting better in some of the flat-lays.
-For the Georgetown Work I think I could've chosen a different colour tone to better enhance the photos rather than green. I also could've made it better by choosing more different angles to shoot from rather than a normal point of view. I think I photographed his day quite well.
-For my Jason Travis work I could have improved by taking more photographs of different people. I think I did well in placing the objects in a flat and organised way, but I think I could of made the lighting better in some of the flat-lays.