Final Shots for Mini task

This is the final response to the portrait Mini task. It consists of 6 final shots that were taken in the influence of Cartier Bresson, a bit of Platon and from what I have learned from experimenting in my initial shots. The pictures where taken in a candid way. Both my subjects knew I had a camera by the end but initially they did not know. 

The aspects I took from Bresson was the candid aspect of m work, this was mainly to compliment my need to get my subjects relaxed , by not knowing there picture was being taken. This helped to produce a more relaxed subject and make it look more real than a set up one.

This is Jessica, This picture was taken as she was getting something from a cupboard. This was taken from a low angle, and I am sure she knew I was taking it, but that was okay due how comfortable Jessica is around cameras.

This picture was taken when I was walking to my house and Owen had the idea to jump the wall, so he went first and i took the picture as he was in mid-climb. This made for a great candid action shot of him trying to parkour over the wall. You can almost imagine him as a small child trying to be a super hero. 
It was taken with an aperture of 4.5 and a speed of 1/500 due to it being an action shot. 
This I feel is one of my better shots of the 6.

This is him again when he was so engrossed in his game he was paling he hardly noticed my taking his picture, I was going for a Platon style with using a low angle to enlarge some features, such as the controller. Altho I focused on the controller it is still a portrait as the subject is in the background but as he is zoned out with playing a computer game it makes him seem so absorbed in what he is doing. Taken with a aperture of f/2.5 and shutter speed of 1/320.

This is a candid photo of Jessica while she was surfing youtube. This isn't the best as originally there was not a lot of light in the picture so I have edited it in Raw but i feel it gives it a more fake look than it would have if I got the settings right to begin with. This picture was taken with a aperture of f/4.5 and a shutter speed of 1/200. This would have needed to be have s slower shutter speed to improve it. There are a few initial shots which i prefer more.

This Is an attempt to get a better hand on piano picture which I nearly did in my initial shots. This is a action shot of Jess playing the piano. This was taken with a aperture of f/1.8 and a shutter speed of1/15 which gives the piano a clear look while her hands are a bit out of focus with a slight motion blur, which makes you imagine how her hands where playing with grace.

Final one of Owen, he was lying on the sofa explaining his day to Jess, when I take this. It makes it look as if he is trying to think really hard about what he is doing and saying. He is also very relaxed and laid back with this due to its candid nature.

The shots of Owen are the better ones of him, although  some of Jessica's could have been better, and i much prefer the re-shoot of my initial shots with her and her instruments. due to them being more creative and more thought out than for my final shots, due to my thoughts on trying to focus on candid too much for Jessica as she is already comfortable around cameras and doesn't need as much help to relax.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson is a photographer who was born in 1908 who went though out his life taking pictures. Bressons work is all in black and white as he was using film. He takes lots of candid photos of people , so the picture is taken when people are not aware of it being taken. The pictures are taken in France, as this is where Bresson was born.  The pictures show lots of every day life activity and events which shows how personal and ordinary the pictures are. This is because they  are just ordinary people who you can relate to.

This picture is one of his and it shows a family having a picnic by the river. It shows what people view the french as, setting out time to eat. Having wine at luck time. And its a relaxed atmosphere as the men have there jackets off. This gives a every day mood and feel. It is a landscape picture. As it was candid it means that he would have taken it quickly. 
As an observer you are drawn to look, like we all do in this situation, and we feel its okay to look due to there backs being turned so they wont notice.

If i use this artist I am going to have to manage to get the candid view of people, and manage to take pictures of them. I wont make mine black and white as i feel that the reason his are like that is because he had to, and there was no other option but it adds the old feel to the pictures but the ideas they portray are still relevant to the modern day.

Selfie Vs Candid

We were given a task to try to take candid shots of people, which are shots that the subject(s) are unaware you are taking them so you get them in a natural position and posture. The one on the left is my brother and he fell asleep on a car journey. This is one of the easiest ways i could take a shot as they are not aware of anything around them. The next one is of Dan who was chatting away to another person across the room and my sly "checking Facebook " look got me a quick snap of his relaxed position on a chair. Then again Owen and Jessica where hugging and concentrating on another person so i managed to take a candid shot of them. 

This was my selfie pictures that i took of myself and as the idea goes they are not candid. The main focus is trying to look the best possible for the camera. Further more it also is a way to take pictures of myself in places when I'm on my own. The one on the left is of me with symbols of my interests, for instance my laptop and guitar.  the one in the modes is me on a cafe which i was sending the picture to show where i was. And the last is me on holiday with my sister on top of the world. A selfie is a picture that is so staged i pulled a face so it looks like I'm having more fun than i am. It portrays a fake image of the person taking it.

The main differences between candid and not is that candid the subject has to unaware of a picture being taken, as yes you can stage a candid photo but its not as genuine as a per on in there natural environment feeling relaxed.

Art History- Platon

He is a photographer who is now based in new york working for a magazine. In a lot of his photos he has edited them into monochrome, which give it a cold feel. Most of his work is portraits and a lot of it are of famous people. He uses interesting angles and view points to enlarge features of a person that is a symbol or has a meaning, such as the large hands on the presidents due to the  power they hold.

His first appearance was in in 2004 with his first monograph, which included a range of politicians, celebrities and culture events. Most of his work had been shown on   front covers of major magazines, which is where he works today. The art is simple and has the style that is used in a lot of magazines but is different which is why it is so iconic. The work he did in 2010 he focused on Obama and the US military and portraits of world leaders, shows the diverse world that we are in and how he was trying to capture.

The Picture is of Obama is taken from a low angle and a monochrome filter was added after for effect which gives it a mood change to if it was in colour. He is trying to capture Obama in his element of Leader of the free world but also as relaxed handsome individual. The whole work this is apart of was a continue. It also is a contrast with his already black and white suit he is wearing.

The Mood of the piece is made to feel bleak with the monochrome filter, this is due to the lack of colour and we relate colour to feelings and emotion But it also shows how his job is effecting him as a person. Which creates an honest view of Obama.

Mini-Task Portraits- Initial Shots.

I decided to experiment with a wide lens to take the portraits.
I took my model Owen Hayes and told him to just talk to me as i took pictures of him. this gave me a wide range of different poses i liked, although the lens did not suite what i was trying to do in some cases as i needed to be very close to my subject to take a face portrait.

Further more using the wide lens made a vignette around the photos, and I was not aware that i could take of a cover around the edge of the camera to remove this but as it turned out it draws attention to the subject more but are very distracting.

I was going for a urban look with my subject. The Subjects name is Owen Hayes, and is a very good friend of mine, so I thought that he might not mind a camera close up in his face. 

In all the pictures have a medium sized aperture, between f/7 and f/13 with a fast shutter speed from 1/50 to 1/200 with an IOS of 400. This was due to me taking the pictures outside where was a high intensity of light.

After showing the 12 pictures to the class I received feed back about my work. First off I was told i love to use tricks that were clique such as the wide lens. This was because I was attempting to try the new lens. Although I should have taken some with other lenses to get a contrast in the selection. I found that my model in a few shots looked scared of the camera,using the new lens didn't help as to get a whole face shot i needed to be extremely close, which could have made him uncomfortable. I was advised to take another photo shoot and attempt to make the subject look more at home and natural. 

In the Top left most photo was one of the only one that made him seem relaxed, which made it a better photo. He looked more relaxed due to him leaning into the shot and not standing up straight so looked more natural. This is what i have to do when i do it again. To me he first on the left is the worst due to his blank expression and how posed he looks. Further more he normally wears glasses and he looks very odd without them.

The picture I appreciate the most is the one where he is staring at the camera with a confused look (middle left) , this is because it was taken quickly as i called his name and he turned, which is when i took the shot. It has its flaws due to his large nose that was produced from the wide angle lens.

 For a re-shoot i need to think less about the camera lens and try to talk pictures with less tricks. Also need to have better convocation skills with the subject to get them to relax more and make them feel more at home having there picture taken. Then i need to spend more time taking the picture and setting it up. So I have borrowed a 50 mm lens to take pictures of a new model as the previous one was unavailable. Also was given a lens baby to try out.

This next set of photos I have taken of Jessica Owen. I got her to go and collect all her musical interments she could play, as i thought that if she was playing them she would not concentrate as much on the camera and more on what she was doing. I was going for my image of her, which is very musically talented.
As i was taking pictures I first got her to play the piano and the concentration of her playing made it look like and a candid action shot which gave her a relaxed feel which is what i was going for. And in my opinion it worked quite well so i stuck with this theme through the whole shoot.

Next Jessica used her violin which as she was getting out i took a shot of her which made the depth of view focus on the violin and bits of her are blurred out which adds to her personality. It focuses on the violin with her on the edge of the photo, with a bit of blur as she was just in the depth of field. 
The ones with the Harp are the most interesting as her face has been taken out of the depth of field with her hands left in. I this this shows how intently she is playing and is hardly taking any notice of the camera.

There are two picture where my subject is staring at the camera, this because i was talking to her as i was taking the pictures and she looked up to talk back. Which has produced an iterating effect with natural look.

The pictures were taken with an aperture between F/1.8 to F/5  and a shutter speed of 1/1250 to 1/400 with and IOS of 1000. This was different from the first set as i did all of them inside.





From my initial shots I have discovered that to get good portraits in need to get the subject relaxed and at home with a camera pointed at them, I think that my first subject found this hard where the second found it much easier to do so. In my final shoot i will need to combine the candid type look to distract the subject and take influence from other photographers such as Platon and Bresson such as using different angles and use candid photography.. This should improve my work.

No Worries, Martin Parr

 Parr is shooting portraits of men and women in remote Western Australia for a project called "No Worries"

1. What does Parr say about Facebook "contamination" of "serious" portraiture?  

He mentions smiling as being a generic portrait and how it should be a picture showing how they are proud of what they are and that it should be a serious thing, lots of dignity. He said he wants to show this by not being like all the Facebook pictures which have a role in the social network but a serious photographer needs a serious pose. in which to capture.

2. How does Parr go about capturing his work?

He was going around Australia for this Social Documentary called No Worries and would walk up to people and ask, and he loved how people were friendly. He was attempting to capture Australia in its details in picture form, setting out with and ambition.

photography school of america in his early life and has gradually gained influence as he has made his way though life.

3. Where do you stand on the question of "Is documentary art?”

I think that a documentary can be art, but it all depends on the purpose of the documentary. Say that it was a documentary on a school and was purely informational, then I would not cndieder it art, but something like this, telling the background story behind some art that was produced, that can be art but its just a different media. Such as you can produce art films, you should be able to produce art documentaries.

4. Parr cites various photographers. 

Who is Henri Cartier-Bresson? He is a famous french photographer. He was one of the influences of Parr that was mentioned. 

 In what way is the work of the Brechers typological? The way Parr descried how he was influenced.

 How much did Andreas Gursky's work Rhein II sell for at auction?

$4.3 million (then £2.7m) in 2011.

A-level photography

Staring photography A-level, for our first mini-project is Portraits. So to start we have been asked to take 12 photos of a person or lots of people with a common theme.

We have looked into photographers such as Sam Taylor Wood, Platon and Ceail Beaton who use lots of styles. For example Platon took lots of  shot of presidents from low down exaggerating there hand which was meant to represent how they hold the world in their hands.

 Over all looking at all three artists when taking my shots i will need to look at place , posture and/ or props to reflect a personality I want to portray in the subject. Also some art history pieces on each.

This Is something I have taken into account when taking pictures for the mini-task we are starting with.