Location Photography 3 expriment on photoshop

I was researching different photographers and different types of photographs yesterday. Found something really interesting on Saatchi Art website. I like the abstract form photographs. I did not look through all of them. There are just a few examples.

I don't know how they get the photographs. So I started to try to see what photoshop can do. I just used the image I found on internet, just want to what i can do with an image on photoshop. Here is a few images I used blur and liquify. 

These are just some simply experiments. I will try to do more. 

I watched a few Youtube videos about how to use my camera last night. When it showed how to take photos for fireplace. I thought I just try with my ceiling light. I moved the camera a bit when the photo was taken. To my surprise I got a really nice image. So I started to try to move the camera in different directions and results were really interesting. Then I used different kinds of light in the house and found different light can give different effects. I went outside and switched on the car lights, did the same and again the results were very interesting. I tried on the moon but I thought it must be too far away and light needs time to travel to the camera, so I only got a few lines. I wanted to transfer them on computer today but because I ejected the card improperly, I sadly lost all the photos on that card. Will try to do them again. 

Location Photography 2

I was wondering what the difference was between Location Photography and Photography. After research, there is not really a definition. To my understand, I think location photographs are a series of photographs were taken in a same location, either exterior or interior.

Here is a diagram somebody summarised  which I think is quite good.

A few things about taking location photographs:

• Picking up a location : think about: What it is that define the place , what makes it different, why you choose this location, what is the features and characteristic
• Make a target list
• Think big
• Think small
• People
• Different view points and composition

Humphrey Weightman

Humphrey Weightman  is a graphic designer. His talk was quite long, his voice was not quite laud enough for so many people I think. Even if I was sitting right next to him, I needed to listen really hard to be able to understand him. But, there was a kind of strong energy  came from him as a whole which you do not see very often from a 69 year old man. That is something really stunning I think in such an age, he is still working and working with high enthusiasm. He still loves his job which he had done for so many years. This is a very positive impression I got from his talk.

I like the simplicity of his work. But I am not so into graphic design, especially typesetting for books etc. So some of his work was not really attract me as much. But I was really appreciated  that he can use his own time come to college talk to students, tell us his experiences and his mistakes. I can feel clearly his positive attitude towards work. This is very important not only for a graphic designer, but also to really very kind of job. It was very interesting when he showed us how to let people choose. I think it is a very useful skill in life. I remember it now. It will come to handy when I need it! And again, displine, displine, which I know I am lack of.

 This is another good thing to listen to people who has success in different fields.  It is not just about their prefessions. There are lots of other things we can learn. It makes you see yourself more.

Sam Cornwell

Sam Cornwell came to college to talk about photography today. I was quite excited about his coming. Really wanted to know how a professional photographer works. With no surprise the photographs he showed us are amazing. I was really touched by his work. I was so amazed by what dark room can bring out. There are so many beautiful photographs on his website. I chose these three here I specially like. They are not with the golden section rule. But they are so perfectly together.

I was so amazed that the dark room can produce abstract images. Sam said at a certain stage, he stopped capturing the world and started to create things, to find his voice. I like the way he put lots of frames together to get one image. There was a kind of beauty of  uncertainty in this process.
I guess this one was done by this method.

The wet plate collodion is very interesting too. Sam showed us his camera. i was surprised that the camera is so simple. I really like the effect that the plate can create.

His astronomy work again are just amazing. Nowadays, there are so many nice photos appear to you on all kinds of devices, It takes you seconds to see them,  but they are taken far more than seconds to take. Very hard work!

The beautiful images are what I understand about photography. like Sam said: perfect lines, perfect cleanness, perfect compositions, perfect colors, perfect viewpoints. But he stopped taking this kind of photos and started to takes photos of everything and his family when his son was born. I watched the video of A Second A Day form Birth. it has over 2.5 million viewers on Youtube. It is such a brilliant idea. But it must take a lot of effort.

I do not know what bring him to Hawick to set up his studio. I asked among his work, which are his favorite and most important to him. He said it is the work about his family. I can understand what he mean. But it makes me confessed that what photography is really about. I guess it is depends on everybody's own circumstances.

I am looking forward to the Location Photography unit. Looking forward to see where I can get to from this unit.

Start of Location Photography

We started Location Photography yesterday. I was looking forward to do this unit this year and wish to learn a bit more about photography.  We were given one hour to take 6 to 10 photos. When I have the camera in my hand, i can feel that I was wishing to take photos. And it was not like when I was in level 2. Since we were not allowed to even view the photos we took, I found it was really hard to decide if you really want to take that photo. When I found something which looked interesting, I have to keeping changing position and view point to get a better composition.  I could not make the view point low enough unless I lie on the ground on my tummy which of course I did not.  I found when taking photos this way, it forces you to think more and consider more. I think it is a good practice. I was quite happy with the photos I took without any editing.

When I edited them just use iphoto, I can see the obvious difference e diting can bring.

This is before and after. I did not do much, only crop it a little and brighten it up a bit.

 

 This was the first photo I took. I spotted this view when I was in the classroom, thought the color could be nice to make an image.

 When seen it on computer, found the colors were not bright enough as I thought. Tried to brighten it up, but I did not feel the colors works well together. So I changed it to black and white and quite liked the effect.

Naill showed me how to split channel on Photoshop. I found it was really interesting. This one is only on grey channel. Thought it is quite interesting.

 

This is the original photo I took. It is inside of a ceiling light. I zoomed in the camera and found the image appeared was very interesting. Because it was zoomed in quite a lot, and it was difficult to hold the camera steady. It was quite hard to get the right part of the light which I want to take. I was quite happy with this image without any editing.

I changed the color on iphoto to black and white.

 

Got these a few photos when I played around on Photoshop, changed the colors in different channels.

 

This is the original photo. As I said I could not get the view point low enough as I wish. otherwise I could get more depth. I did not see the little thing on the right in the viewfinder when took the photo.

 

Changed the direction on iphoto and cropped that little thing out. 

 

Made this one on Photoshop, thought it is quite interesting.

 

I aimed the camera to a big pipe and saw the light came in from the other side, thought that might be interesting. I did not notice the lines inside until I saw the photo on computer. 

 

 

Here are some changes I made. Not quite sure, the light maybe too bight.

 

 

Saw the sun shone through the leaves, tried different position and got this one. 

 Cropped it and adjusted the color, again , i think the sun is too bright.

 

Cropped it more and changed the colors on iphoto, quite like the effect.

  

Again, split the channels on Photoshop, adjusted the colors, thought this a few images are really interesting. It will be nice to make a notebook cover, or wrapping papers.

The last one I took was the sky through the glass. I don's think it works. So I did not do anything to it.

But see it now, it gives me an idea. I can try to take a photo of the cloud when it is sunny and see what Photoshop can do to the colors.

 

 

Oliver Reed

Oliver Reed came to college to give us a talk about his work. I have to say from a presentation point of view, his talk was a bit quiet in a dark room. it was a bit hard to feel his enthusiasm  about art from his talk. But afterwards, I went on his website and saw so much work on there. I looked through, his work is all about landscape, but they are in different styles. From as early as 1993's abstract work till present's representational work. There are paintings, drawings, photographs, videos and sculptures There are certainly strong enthusiasm in his work. He did not keep in one style. We can see from his work he keeps changing styles, looking for new things, trying different possibilities. He has been an art practitioner for over 20 years. If there is no strong belief and genuine love in art, this would not continue. And this is where it hit me. I watched a short video about how he apply paint. It was very interesting. Although his work are not so much my style, I like the way he keeps his art his way.

There are a few things he talked about I feel are very useful for my current learning.

• A nice and quick work comes from long time practice and lots of experiments
• get the idea out of your head in a quick way by using photographs, photocopies, cut and paste, collage etc
• using photographs to look for interesting elements and work out compositions

Here are a few his drawing I like. Feel that they can be made into tiles. 

video of nonsense

We asked to make a 30 sec video of nonsense. It sounds quite easy but when I started to think what to video, it seems not easy at all. Had a few ideas, tried, and felt they were not what I want. And I do not know what I want.

It is easier when you given a specific topic. When it comes you can do anything, it is actually more difficult.

Damien Hirst

The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, 1991

I chose this work because I like its title although it is a very long title.  I did not understand the 
work when I first saw it. I even questioned why it is art. I did not like his using of animals to make his art work. Some of his work make people feel sick. Then  I started to look for information about his work. I still can not say I like them but I think  I understand them better now. 

This work is about death, about fear. Hirst said " You try and avoid death, but it's such a big thing that you can't. That's the frightening  thing isn't it!" He used a real shark to force you to see death, to face  fear. Is it art? There are a lot of arguments about Hirst's work. I think it is his way saying what he wants to say weather you like it or not. He found a way which no one else used to express himself, to show you death, fear and pain. The effect is so strong you can't ignore it. I think this is enough. The artist used an effective way to express himself, and to tell the truth. 

Some said this work successfully pushed the boundaries of contemporary art. Like Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain" was regarded as a very important work in art history. Weather is it art or not, I think time will tell. Great artists are always looking for new ways to express themselves. 

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