The Portrait

For this week I was tasked to go out and take a photograph of a stranger, which as you can imagine is a terrifying thing to ask of someone. To make this less painful on myself and to reduce embarrassment, I took my portrait at a party so that it would be less awkward to talk to a stranger. The images I took are of a boy named Roman, a stranger when we met and when i took the photographs, but some conversations later, he is a person I’d now consider a friend.

 romAN-2 here he is.

The photograph was taken in a dimly lit room, which caused it to be rather dark originally, like i said previously this was taken at a party therefore i wasn’t really planning to whip out a soft box. To fix this issue, in lightroom, i brightened the image by playing with the exposure and contrast/highlights within the software. I also added a slight vignette to the edges to bring the attention to the subject more.

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Here are two more, kindly photo-bombed by the person in the background. I experimented with lowering the exposure and adding a slight contrast effect, which can be seen in the photo on the left. For the photo on the right i slightly increased shadows, and added a slight grain and a vignette to give it a sort of vintage look. I enjoyed the vignette as i felt like it gave the photograph some structure, and i liked the exposure experimenting, which is why i chose to do this in the final outcome above.

Still Life

 

still?

This is the photo i have chosen to use for my found object still life project. These are objects I found around my flat, I pieced them together as they didn’t make much sense, which i think is very representative of myself in a way, because most of the time i don’t make much sense.

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I tried variations of the above image, where i put the flowers in different places, and rejigged the lighting a bit, which i thought lessened the image overall. within editing, i cropped them slightly, and increased shadows, however i didn’t think this really added to the image.

Studio Photo Task

During the workshop task in week 6, we were told to come into the workshop as our alter-ego, or as someone else for the day (made easier as it happened to be halloween). We then experimented with lighting and lenses to take portraits of each other. Below are some that were taken of me and my friend Elen.

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The next ones are some photos I took of elen. These are of her channeling Wednesday Addams in a black dress on a black background, therefore it was difficult to get her outline, however I like the effect that she just blends in to the background, and is also moody as heck.

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I learnt how to set up the studio to take high quality photographs which was helpful, and will come in handy for future projects.

Project Proposal Form

Which of the words given in the brief document have you selected, and why?
Division, because it stood out the most to me due to the broad range of options available to fit with the brief.
What do you want to point your camera at?
I want to point my camera at products sold that are similar, however are made for specific ‘genders,’ such as different colours in packaging. I will make the photographs black and white to signify the idiocy that represents colour representing gender.
Why are you interested in this subject?
I am interested in this as it seems to be a problem in society that “gendered” products are sold, such as boldly pink things for girls, and mainly blues and greens  for boys.
What do you hope an audience will take from your images?
I hope an audience will be shocked or angry that genders are categorised at such a young age, that people may see it as wrong to see a product and associate it with a specific gender.
What areas of research are you considering to help deepen your understanding of the subject you have chosen?
I have researched into retailers toy sections and noticed a very clear divide between the toys we associate with boys and the toys we associate with girls.
What practitioner(s) or visual resources would you consider to have influenced you? This not have to be photographic.

This article-> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3482589/Gender-stereotypes-holding-strong-Beliefs-roles-men-women-firmly-held-1980.html

The artist David Levinthal.

this russell howard skit-> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joC9_8_EzDE

What support or equipment might you need to achieve your goals?
A camera, toys sold in boys/girls sections