Portraits
We had to take 6 outdoors portraits, and 6 indoors portrait.
We start with the outside the portraits and we enjoyed taking photos with the basketball because it adds a lot to the photos. I prefer taking photos outside because i can add more to the photos outside because they is a lot of different things that i don’t t need to change. I could improve by different levels and angles.
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We start with the outside the portraits and we enjoyed taking photos with the basketball because it adds a lot to the photos. I prefer taking photos outside because i can add more to the photos outside because they is a lot of different things that i don’t t need to change. I could improve by different levels and angles.
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Outside
We had to take 6 outside photos for homework. I used Blackheath as where i would take them. I went out when the sun was setting which add to the photos.
Interviews with documentary photographers
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I find Siân's work really different as she uses her photography work as a chance to disappear and turn invisible, whilst still being part of a community. She also uses it as a chance to discover who her daughter is, and so she can develop a strong bond with her. Her photos are candid, they are taken in the moment and no one ever poses for them, as instead of her being a presence, she becomes invisible
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Jalloh uses photography as a way to tell people her story instead of feeling trapped and alone. Jalloh says she wants to 'keep her memories alive' and show other people other than it just being stored in her head. She says her photos vary from more meaningful pictures such as where she comes from to just loose day to day photographs. I think Jalloh finds it a nice feeling to know that people can look at her work and feel like they can relate to it in some sort of way. She describes her work as a 'visual diary' i think this is a nice way to describe her photos as it really's tells us why and when she takes them.
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Dawoud Bey may want to take photos of his community to share his experiences, and enlighten the world and show the secrets inside Harlem. These could also be linked to street photography as they show not only the portrait of the person, foreground, but theres also a thought out background, where everything is in the correct place. You can also see that in most of the photos he has a bond with the subject of the photo, which shows he is respected member of their community and is present a lot of the time.
I think it was important that he took photos of his community because he could share his experiences and his relations with the people in his community. The photographer and the subject collaborated, because not many of the photos were candid, meaning they were staged, resulting in an in-depth, thought out background. |
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I find it interesting that McDiarmid focuses on colour when taking his photos. A lot of documentary photographers seem to use black or white, or just your average everyday colours. However he looks for different colours.
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MY COMMUNITY
I like these photos because they show the quiet and the busy side of society.
The Dark Room
The first photo is negative then i took it in the dark room and developed it.
Documenting communities
My favourite photo
I like this photo because the lighting is very strong and she is in the shadow and it shows one or two of her features. You can see the clouds
Black and white
These are the cropped, edited made in to black and white photos
I put it in black and white then I changed the exposure. This is because the colour was to yellow and I needed it in black and white. I also cropped out of some of the unwanted space.
Tyler Mitchell
Photos
- Probs
- Interesting
- Fashion
- non stereotypical of black people
- eye catching colours
- greenery and interesting colours
Working Outside
The the props were really vibrant. The probs and colours were used to change the photo to become more interesting and made different types of photos then before. I prefer this photos than before because it adds to my photos.
Nick Meyer
I think that this images show and reflect different types of people that some people don't see a lot.
Extended project
I enjoyed taking these photos because it shows different contrast of my life. They show aspects of my parents childhood, their past and our present as this is where we still live. The 2nd to last photo is my favorite image because it has a lot of different contrasting element, such as colours , levels and directions. I feel this image shows that the world/ my community is continuing as normal after Covid, which is good. However some of the photos show that Covid is still got an affect on the world. This can be seen in the empty streets of Greenwich which are normally busy and has issue with congestion of traffic. The contrast that I wanted to highlight is shown in the Battersea funfair pictures which show a high level of human traffic and their use of the area compared to Greenwich which the first half of my images were taken. I also wanted to highlight the deconstruction and develop of the different areas Greenwich . Greenwich has a landmark status however there are many areas that are left neglected as well as areas that are being rebuilt to house the growing population.
I choose these 25 images because they have a variety of different lighting which adds to every photo. Through these images I have captured the mundane of everyday life because I took these images when I was out for a walk with my family. There is a wide variety of images like the park, the street and the river but they all explored the sun setting in the evening.
Collages
Favourite collages
This composition is my favorite because it has a nice amount of people and scenery. The brightest parts of the photos are in the middle. I believe that I had a focus point in all of the photos I did this because it makes you think more about one part of the picture. I think that I could have added more in the collage.
Ideas
I choose these images because they are interesting and i think they all could be very good. They are all very different. However I choose the first picture to do my work on because it is the easy to look at which i think is the best and i think it shows my work very well.
Final evaluation
Research I had a lot of photos to choose from and I liked a lot of my photos but I choose these 12 because I think they worked well together. All my photos were landscape because I feel that in landscape photography, you are able to capture more of an image using landscape orientation. They all are the same distance away from each other and the images are also all the same size and length. I choose this layout because it is simplistic and I feel like the viewer can see all the photos properly. I think that I could maybe add more to the composition by changing the way the pictures of position I explored how the pictures can be positioned and shaped. I also think I could add some different types of photos with more people in them. One of the skills I used was positioning because I was low for some of the pictures but high for some of them because it can make a photo look a lot different them just standing up right. I have taken some of my ideas from my school photos by using the light it changes the photo. I was inspired by Dawoud Bey because he takes photos of community which I did with my photos.
Jeff Wall
I believe that this type of photographs are staged. I suggest this because it appears that the pictures are taken at a certain time of day to make sure that the street is empty. This draws the attention to the main characters in the photos. I believe that the top left one shows how the construction of a staged image because the of way they are placed in the photo. They are walking together but staggered. You can tell that two of them know each other as they are holding hands but the second man is level of the man in the couple but they show no connection. The artist may want to mislead the viewer because it makes the viewer want to look at the picture longer to know what the picture is about, drawing them in to look more closely at the image. A more candid image will create the idea that there is a story about how the picture was taken. The image of what could be a bedroom that has been abandon and destroyed. This image leaves me with a lot of questions: What has happened? Why was it taken? What is it the artist trying to say? How long did it take to stage? The titles help me to gather context about the pieces and gives me some insight into how they were taken. This can be seen in the staged set up and what is being depicted in the images. For me there is a theme of neglect due to the mess and untidiness. The sink image looks like it has not been cleaned yet is being used. Some have a similar style, The Destroyed Room and After "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison, both are pictures of rooms that has been heavily altered for the photograph Serie.
Zoe Leonard
The common theme between the images is that they are all shop fronts that are closed before or after trading. They are all coloured images that show shops with metal shutters. These shutter are a level of security, shutting the passer by out from seeing inside. The difference is that they are all of different businesses, like tv repair shops and tailors and coffee shops. The colours of the shopfronts are very bland shades, washed out and unappealing. This makes the shoes appear not inviting or interesting. However as a collection of photos they are showing a theme, which draws people in. Yes, capturing a series of shopfronts can show how a community has developed and changed over time. In this case it shows a community that appears to be neglected and in need of regeneration. It also shows that this community may not be safe and how the shops have to protected. This is a way of documenting the changing time without including people and making assumptions about their social and economic background. I believe that the photographer was trying to show similarities and differences in a derived area. I suggest this due to the shutters on all of the shopfronts. These images show how small business adapted to survive in their community. Personally I feel that the series of photos have a strong emotional influence, due to their simplistic nature. They also give me the sense of gloominess, and wouldn't generate any positive feelings. This can be a reflection on the rising costs of living and how society has adapted to thrive in uncertain times. The photographer has done a very good job of finding shop fronts that all fit together, considering there are 400 photos, yet they all look like they belong together in sequence. I would ask 'Was it hard to get the timing right for each shot considering there are no unwanted people in the pictures for this process to be completed. I am asking as we are told it took 10 years to be completed'.
SHOP
This is my homework of shop fronts they are all in blackheath some of them are open and some are not. Next time i would like to take them all when open because they can be more interesting with people going on with they life. However I think that everything being empty is different because blackheath is usually has a not of people in the shops.
Peter Mitchell
Where does Peter Mitchell take most of his photographs? In Leeds, where he lives and does most of his work.
What does he depict within his photographs ? He depicts the shops, streets and stores around his home, giving us an insight in to his sense of belonging in a community.
What sort of mood do his photographs portray? His photos are quite sombre and dull. They do all have colour in them but they seem desaturated of the colour, like the life has been drained from them. However, appear well composed and symmetrical. I think this is intentional as it creates a very honest depiction of where he lives. I think that he wants to show that place have changed in nature and have become unwelcoming to their users.
Why do you think that? I think this because the differences between Mitchell and other photographers we have looked at is that he use film instead of digital which means they are harder to edit, so they capture realism.
Do you think that he uses a film or digital camera? As I stated above I believe he uses a film camera due to the quality of the pictures.
What can you write about the colours within his photographs? Another difference is the use of colour; for example, Tyler Mitchell's work uses colour as a something to stand out and draw the eyes into the subject using bold and bright colours whereas Peter Mitchell uses it as part of the image and uses composition to grab the attention of the viewer.
What does he depict within his photographs ? He depicts the shops, streets and stores around his home, giving us an insight in to his sense of belonging in a community.
What sort of mood do his photographs portray? His photos are quite sombre and dull. They do all have colour in them but they seem desaturated of the colour, like the life has been drained from them. However, appear well composed and symmetrical. I think this is intentional as it creates a very honest depiction of where he lives. I think that he wants to show that place have changed in nature and have become unwelcoming to their users.
Why do you think that? I think this because the differences between Mitchell and other photographers we have looked at is that he use film instead of digital which means they are harder to edit, so they capture realism.
Do you think that he uses a film or digital camera? As I stated above I believe he uses a film camera due to the quality of the pictures.
What can you write about the colours within his photographs? Another difference is the use of colour; for example, Tyler Mitchell's work uses colour as a something to stand out and draw the eyes into the subject using bold and bright colours whereas Peter Mitchell uses it as part of the image and uses composition to grab the attention of the viewer.
Final piece
This is my final piece we had to take pictures of pictures in our community then mate in arrangement which suited each other is my favourite picture out of the four Is the one on the left the pet shop do you think the shadows work really well and looks good coming out of in the window.
3D
During this project, I have observed, evaluated and responded to many different themes and ideas surrounding the subject of communities as well as looked towards artists and photographers for inspiration. I first researched the work of Dawoud Bey, a photographer who works in the Harlem area, taking portraits of those around him in the local communities and neighbourhoods, his photographing of people he knows and has a connection with helps his portraits to look more intimate as the subjects and people in the photography look more comfortable. I used the idea of taking pictures of people I'm close and this influenced me with my final piece in that most of my pictures were of my friends when we're out.
Documenting photography : Evalution
During this project, I have observed, evaluated and responded to many different themes and ideas surrounding the subject of communities we also looked at and photographers for inspiration for example the work of Dawoud Bey, a photographer who works in the Harlem area, taking portraits of those around him in the local communities. His photographing of people he knows and has a connection with helps his portraits to look more intimate as the subjects and people in the photography look more comfortable.
As a class we have studied three main themes: portraiture, community and simplicity. In my pictures of people in my community I enjoy to take simple photographs that are taken in the moment and don't require much preparation - this was mainly picture I took for my homework, the pictures needed more direction and we're a lot more formal than the ones I did for homework. As for portraiture and community; all of my pictures were of people I see often and have are comfortable with taking pictures around; and most of the pictures I used in my final piece were photos with no people in them. For majority of the pictures I took, I was using the school cameras and was photographing my classmates as response to different concepts within the theme of community. Towards the start, I had the impression that documenting communities would be mundane and uninteresting as I didn't know what would be so exciting or creative about taking pictures of people you see on the street walking past you. But as I further developed my work by exploring new artists techniques and processes that they go through and I tried to use them in my pictures. During this project I have used many different methods, techniques and processes to explore different theories and decisions all in order to refine my work. An example of this is my 3D and 2D responses to Zoe Leonards work as well as my first response to Tyler Mitchell. When responding to Leonard, I had to frame my pictures in a way that replicated her work My first response to Tyler Mitchell's work had me taking objects either from home or from school and walking around the school trying to make my pictures look like they were not taken where they were by adding things that not not belong in where I was. Both of these responses taught me a lot about framing, and how it can change the narrative of a photo
As a class we have studied three main themes: portraiture, community and simplicity. In my pictures of people in my community I enjoy to take simple photographs that are taken in the moment and don't require much preparation - this was mainly picture I took for my homework, the pictures needed more direction and we're a lot more formal than the ones I did for homework. As for portraiture and community; all of my pictures were of people I see often and have are comfortable with taking pictures around; and most of the pictures I used in my final piece were photos with no people in them. For majority of the pictures I took, I was using the school cameras and was photographing my classmates as response to different concepts within the theme of community. Towards the start, I had the impression that documenting communities would be mundane and uninteresting as I didn't know what would be so exciting or creative about taking pictures of people you see on the street walking past you. But as I further developed my work by exploring new artists techniques and processes that they go through and I tried to use them in my pictures. During this project I have used many different methods, techniques and processes to explore different theories and decisions all in order to refine my work. An example of this is my 3D and 2D responses to Zoe Leonards work as well as my first response to Tyler Mitchell. When responding to Leonard, I had to frame my pictures in a way that replicated her work My first response to Tyler Mitchell's work had me taking objects either from home or from school and walking around the school trying to make my pictures look like they were not taken where they were by adding things that not not belong in where I was. Both of these responses taught me a lot about framing, and how it can change the narrative of a photo