Week 6 & 7: Methods and Strategies
- Laura Marsh
- Nov 8, 2020
- 3 min read
The topic covering these two weeks discusses methods and strategies.
Our first forum discussed faux pas within our or another photographers work, something we all experience from time to time, I thought about the time I used 35 film and the uncertainty of what the outcome would be and used the example below, along with my explanation for it.
Forum Post:
My faux pas photo is one that I took 8 years ago while staying in a holiday cottage in Devon. There was a large pond at the end of the garden, which I spent nearly everyday walking around. This photo is shot on 35mm colour film and when I received the print I realised it was not quite in focus, also that I probably needed glasses. Despite the fact it is out of focus, except for the pond weed in the background, it is one of my favourite photographs. The colour and dark lighting on the pond gives a serene, soft and peaceful feel and a sense of the viewer also being in the water.
I received some great responses and feedback from my peers and module tutor on this image, some noting how the colour scheme works and how the green with the subtle hint of purple in the lower third of the image compliment each other. This was another faux pas, as this digital image was originally scanned from 35 mm print, the purple hint is a result of that process. One of my tutors noted that is resemble that of Susan Derges's early work, which I can see in relation to the softness of focus, it was also mention by another student that they could see early inspiration for my current work, underpinning my own realisation that my early work is influencing my work, at at least the inspiration has maintained
Micro-Project:
I paired up with Tracey Paddison for this task and we arranged a webinar via Canvas and discussed our ideas for each other. I shared my idea for Tracey, taking into account her area restrictions at the moment, that she try and capture decisive and chance moments around her home, of objects, humans or animals, whichever she felt suited her situation.
Tracey had the idea for me to try and photography food in a fine art style, think about what restrictions I could give myself, equipment, types of food, times such as mealtimes, snacks and choosing my own number of images and style.
I thought of an image in The Photography Book, by Emmanuel Sougez, Grapes, 1934, his still life of grapes on a table in a glass, and the high contrast of the black background and white of the grapes, plate and table.
When I think of fine art food photography, I think of the tones, high contrast and bold colours that seem to be present and links back to still life drawing and paintings. Tracey suggested chef and photographer Giles Duley on Instagram for some inspiration, By looking at his photographs I could see similarities in some that were like that of the idea I had of my own, a single lemon is directional light, simple colours and high contrast with shadows.
I also discovered the work of Mariyan Dimitrov, her use of reflections in still life work struck me with similarities between the first image I took, where I accidentally captured the reflection of the lemon and lime in the surface. The effect is stunning and it linked to the idea I had with this commission, for dark contrast and colours.
Below are my notes for my preparation and initial ideas for this commission
This image below, I took soon after Tracey and I had shared briefs. It was an opportunistic moment and I wanted to see what style and look I could create. I used some simple edits, soft tones and contrast which gave this a 'rustic' feel, but not the look I wanted. I decided that still life was how I wanted to create this work.
Contact Sheets
Final selected images
I recieved good feedback from my peers, Tracey and tutor, with some great references to other artists such as; Klaus Pichler, Sam Taylor-Wood and Jocelyn Lee who I will look into more, still life is something I may venture into regarding my research project and these photographers/artists work could be relevant to my theme/topic, along with suggestion son techniques for using reflectors with natural light. This is something I would like to try for my project in the future.
Below is the brief I sent to Tracey Paddison and my final presentation document, which contains the brief from Tracey to me.
Bibliography:
Books:
Jeffrey, I., 1997. The Photography Book. London: Phaidon.
Images References:
Dimitrov, M., n.d. Commercial. [online] Mariyan Dimitrov Photography. Available at: <https://mdimitrovphotography.wordpress.com/food-photographie-nice-france/> [Accessed 8 November 2020].
Duley, G., 2020. Login • Instagram. [online] Instagram.com. Available at: <https://www.instagram.com/one_armed_chef/?hl=en> [Accessed 8 November 2020].
Comments