Presentation; Object/Body Unit

The Object

Critical Appraisal

To begin with i didn't really have a strong idea on which to base my concept. After a few tutorials/seminars discussing and throwing ideas around I came up with something that has a strong connection/tie to myself which is the recession, of which i'm certain that this has an impact on many many other people also, not just myself.

How to show 'recession' as a concept through the medium of photography, this was a little hard but then it struck me that as i used to do every day after I had finished work was hang up my tools, jacket and boots and I had done that for the last time so there in lies my answer but with a slight twist to it, after arranging and re arranging my set trying out various ideas, Martin had the idea of using the Hod to carry some photography Books in as a symbolic reference to 'carrying knowledge' books being a metaphor for knowledge, this I had seen in the Dutch Vanitas paintings I previously looked at whilst at College.

Research

An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life
1640 - Harmen Steenwyck 

This is one of the images that I had looked at whilst researching various symbolics items within a picture

The books represent
the range of
human knowledge.



This is partly where the idea of using books come from, but I can't take all the credit, my assistant for the day Martin, came up with the Idea "carrying knowledge"

Contact Sheets

I have misplaced my contact sheet for this shoot but not realising until it was too late and, concequently not having the time to re do another contact sheet of the few images I shot for this shoot.

Photo Prints

Evaluation

Overall I am happy with my final outcome apart from one minor detail I needed to move the Hod slightly to the right a little more as it becomes a tad hard to see for certain what it actually is. I planned to re shoot this and correct the mistake but as it turned out I didn't have the time to do it due to other project commitments but planned to rectify after everything was completed.
Again this didn't materialise for one reason or another.

The issues I have had within this particular unit have been with myself and not being as proactive as I probably should have been. and therefore it shows in my final images.

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The Body

Introduction

I had the initial idea of loosely basing the concept on what I see when I go into Chatham town centre and what Chatham as a Town is known for. To do this I wanted to use a model and dress him up in the sort of attire that you might see on a average teenage lad in town however this is a little stereotypical and I wanted to portray an unbiased view on the town but as this wouldn't.

However this wasn't to be as the guy that I wanted was un able to help me out do to other commitments, and so I found another model who was able to help me out, She lives in halls and After speaking to her I go to know more about her, she is Turkish doesn't drink alccohol, which stood out to me as many students are stereotyped as binge drinkers or people who like to get drunk a lot, but with her this isn't the case.

I wanted to do something that would be fitting to her origins but with out being racist or patronising, after speaking with her some more I found out that she loves music, singing and playing the Guitar, with that I would use her and her Guitar in my images hoping to show her musical side via props.

Research

I was a little unsure who to research as I've not really looked into portraits in great detail, I am intrigued in how they can be really powerful and speak a thousand words but I myself are not that confident possibly due to lack of experience in that genre of photography but its something that I would like to really improve on.

I looked at Rankin, due to having seen his works before on Portraits and after watching documentaries on him and other artists that worked for the magazine 'Life'

His lighting techniques are rather simple in there set up but very effective in producing very good portraits.

This is one of the images that research led me to, David Gilmour is a Guitarist and vocalist in the Band Pink Floyd

I thought that this is the way that I would go with my image, I would like low key style image but I may change a few lighting setups on the day.

Contact Sheets

Test shots contact sheets.

What was my final images, the Camera mis fired
and I lost a couple of frames.

Third and final shoot contact sheets.

Photo Prints

This is my final image, after a few rolls of film I finally have an image that I like, having said that I really wished that I had gone back and printed one of the top right as that does look one of if not the best image of that shoot, the lighting is more low key and incorporates the rembrandt lighting style more so, which is what I was essentially after. 

Even so I am happy with how it turned out. 

Evaluation

This proved harder than I first anticipated as i have mentioned previously before, I'm not that confident in shooting portraits but I would like to really improve on that as its not one of my strengths, and being able to control the lighting in the right way to obtain the shot that I require requires knowledge and experience both of which I lack somewhat which I hope doesn't show to much in my final image.