Photography is really a very good example of this maxim, "Seeing is Believing"
Yet one needs to remember that believing is not actually seeing!
Photographic "truth" is like belief; it is assumption rather than fact.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
OCA competition - Roll With it
I decided to enter this OCA competition with commitment; having won the last one, I felt I was in with a chance.
An early idea that came to my mind was a lamp with a toilet roll as the shade.
This was followed by other "still life" pieces
I wanted to photograph a scene of my mother coming out of the supermarket carrying a load of toilet rolls but she did not want to play and neither did she want me to ask a friend of hers to. I fancied doing a self portrait but this would have meant using a tripod and no doubt the management of Waitrose would have come out to ask me what I was up to and probably to tell me to stop etc
In the end, I went for an image that one tutor described as "strong work" and a student as "Great Work". There were other encouraging comments from other students. Might it not be the winner? It had to be!! I was aware of my crazy mind going on because somehow I knew it would not be.
This photoshopped photo of a black woman with a toilet roll superimposed over her face surely has narrative potential (as one tutor remarked).
It did not however really fullfil the brief and was not what the tutors/judges were looking for. Photoshop had seduced me from the raw experience of the photograph!!
An early idea that came to my mind was a lamp with a toilet roll as the shade.
This was followed by other "still life" pieces
I wanted to photograph a scene of my mother coming out of the supermarket carrying a load of toilet rolls but she did not want to play and neither did she want me to ask a friend of hers to. I fancied doing a self portrait but this would have meant using a tripod and no doubt the management of Waitrose would have come out to ask me what I was up to and probably to tell me to stop etc
In the end, I went for an image that one tutor described as "strong work" and a student as "Great Work". There were other encouraging comments from other students. Might it not be the winner? It had to be!! I was aware of my crazy mind going on because somehow I knew it would not be.
This photoshopped photo of a black woman with a toilet roll superimposed over her face surely has narrative potential (as one tutor remarked).
It did not however really fullfil the brief and was not what the tutors/judges were looking for. Photoshop had seduced me from the raw experience of the photograph!!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
further considerations in regard to the frame
The photographer, Henri Cartier-Bresson, used to be very strict about composing within the frame; the image was not to be cropped since it was composed within a particular framework of exact proportions. To ignore this might be to ruin the original conception of the photograph.
There was however, an ulterior motive here. While the frame did constitute a means of ensuring consistency in his working method, it also meant that editors would have to respect his compositions and not make their own interpretations as this might alter the meaning of the photograph from its' original intent.
I do not adhere to the method of "framing" photographs when trying to capture images because often, in wildlife, one is just trying to get an image and may not have the option of framing in regards to the proportions of the image. This is probably going to be something one can do better at a later stage.
There was however, an ulterior motive here. While the frame did constitute a means of ensuring consistency in his working method, it also meant that editors would have to respect his compositions and not make their own interpretations as this might alter the meaning of the photograph from its' original intent.
I do not adhere to the method of "framing" photographs when trying to capture images because often, in wildlife, one is just trying to get an image and may not have the option of framing in regards to the proportions of the image. This is probably going to be something one can do better at a later stage.
vertical or horizontal
When presenting one's work, it is natural to think in terms of the horizontal frame as this is more or less the way we see the world (through two eyes with one eye horizontal to the other); cameras furthermore, are designed to photograph horizontally although one is able to move the camera into the vertical position and make photographs with no technical impediment. The vertical frame is a little more unusual yet since vertical is often the preferred format for media such as magazines and books, vertically designed images are worthwhile making. It is something of a luxury to be able to contribute to a book where images are printed horizontally across the page.
When designing for the vertical or horizontal format, it is worth considering the way the commonly used proportions relate to each other; the diagram below shows different sizes and proportions together ...
In the diagram, blue is A4 while red is 10by8, the traditional portrait size.
When designing for the vertical or horizontal format, it is worth considering the way the commonly used proportions relate to each other; the diagram below shows different sizes and proportions together ...
The green frames are the 2by3 camera proportions shown in relation to both A4 and 10by8 sizes of paper; they fit quite well but if the page needed to be filled, part of the image would be lost along the top and the bottom.
If printed full frame then there would be some space between the photograph and the edge of the frame, along the sides but unlikely to be enough for a body of text in the vertical format.
on being inventive
Both of the assessment reports for the OCA modules I have done, mention that I lack inventiveness ... was not sure how to understand this remark. Read the following from Osho ...
"You will be surprised to know that all that you see has been invented by playful people, not by the serious people. The serious people are too much past-oriented — they go on repeating the past, because they know it works.
They are never inventive." Osho
Does this apply to me?!
Subjects like natural history and the Taj Mahal suggest it does!!
"You will be surprised to know that all that you see has been invented by playful people, not by the serious people. The serious people are too much past-oriented — they go on repeating the past, because they know it works.
They are never inventive." Osho
Does this apply to me?!
Subjects like natural history and the Taj Mahal suggest it does!!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Woman's Hour : taking a great photograph !?
Can you learn how to take a great photo … how to pose someone!
AJ - looking for the book she came to write; could not find it so choose some photographers she liked to feature
Anna - from fine art background likes Thomas Demand
can art be taught? good question! can't really teach someone to take a good photograph but can help student to become aware of what a good photograph is and the various ways it can be done
need for gut reaction
AJ - litle stories, odd photos; subject sometimes comes up with best idea of way to photograph !!
need for technical efficiency?! varies from photographer to photographer .. need for for some technical knowledge as per one's approach … pinhole!! …
does a photographer need a philosophy? what is that extra quality how one sees the world .. who you are that creates the pictures!
advice to amateur .. experiment do not worry too much about the technicalities!
catching people off guard
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I am intrigued by your choice of book partly because I attended the Tate Modern seminar on the representation of violence that followed in the wake of the EXPOSED exhibition. Is Sontag really saying that we have become inured to photographs of suffering? In her book, In Regarding the Pain of Others, she actually writes … “our capacity to respond to our experiences with emotional freshness and ethical pertinence is being sapped by the relentless diffusion of vulgar and appalling images – might be called the conservative critique of the diffusion of such images. I call this argument conservative because it is the sense of reality that is eroded. There is still a reality that exists independent of the attempts to weaken its’ authority.” (p.97 Penguin Edition 2004) which I consider is a vital statement of her outlook. Elsewhere, she admits that “There are hundreds of millions of television watchers who are far from inured to what they see on television. They do not have the luxury of patronising reality.” (page 99).
Sontag is however tends to be regarded as gospel and I do not think she is; her statements are rather sweeping!
Jose
What a wonderful book you have come across! such books are a bit of a luxury and although Amazon offer it at a reasonable price, it is a matter of whether I’ll have room for it. Maybe … these days I am my own Santa so its’ possible! The Antarctic may not be there much longer so these are poignant landscapes.
As for my own choice, it is rather personal. The Indians by Raghu Rai does not seem to be available through Amazon and the cost in Delhi of £80 seemed too exorbitant. Nevertheless, I was shown a copy. It starts with a collection of Rai’s old portrait photographs, images from a bygone era when Britain ran the country; these show something of an India that is no more. This is followed by Raghu’s own photographs and features portraits of famous Indians such as Mother Teresa (actually a European) and Indira Gandhi as well as some of the great musicians (Hariprasad Chaurasia for instance). My favourite portrait is that of Jiddu Krsnamurti, a teacher who is still recognised worldwide; he is portrayed in a triptych that suggests both agony and ecstasy. The one that made me laugh is of Moraji Desai, a former prime minister who seems to be glaring defiantly down Rai’s lens; Desai was also famous for drinking his own urine, a nature cure!
I would also like to mention Michael Freeman’s Photographer’s Mind. What I like about his books is the way they bridge the gap between critic and photographer.