essay The sentiments of possession as seen through the lens
claudia silvester people and possesions
In t rod uc t ion
I have chosen people and their possessions as a theme because I find this topic stood out to me compared to the other themes. When taking photos, it tells you more on the person you are photographing, there is more depth to the photos.
I will be researching on what photographers have used this idea into their work, what photographers focus on the idea of people and their possessions, when researching I can see how they interpreted this work in with their work, this will help me when I am thinking of how I will use the idea of people and possessions into my work.
I will be looking at photographers like Cynthia Connolly, Elliot Erwitt, Anne Hardy, all these photographers have used the idea of possessions into their work, Cynthia focused on people and their cars, Elliot has focused on more the people and their pets, then Anne has focused on setting a room up with props and the audience to guess what kind of place it is and what people would be in there. Over last year I found all my shoots were very similar this year and for this topic to push my work even more I want to widen my photography, to do this I will be trying to vary the shoots I do, I want all my work to link but stand out different to the rest. I don’t want to just focus on a simple possession of a person I want more depth to the photos, and not as straight forwards as a girl with her car as a possession I want the viewer to have to think and wonder with what the possession could be in the photo.
The techniques I will be using will be varying the shutter speed, ISO and aperture I want to change the effect of the photo by taking the same photo lowering widening the aperture will create the photo to be lighter as the more light is captured which is a nice effect on the photo. I also will be looking more into developing some photos in the dark room, developing my ideas even further, also editing the photos in Photoshop using more tools I haven’t used before when editing.
I hope to learn more about how other photographers have used this idea in their work and for me to learn from it, and hopefully come up with my own idea of people and possessions in my work. Hopefully I would like to create for my final format something people like and wonder when looking at it, I like the idea of having a number of portraits of different kinds of peoples and having photos of their possessions next to them, this is a basic idea and I would like to explore further maybe focusing on the people’s hobbies being there possession, or taking similar people and seeing the different possessions they all have. My main idea is focusing on a group of people and focusing the idea on them being different.
Photographer Research Shape of framing: Photographer: Brno Del Zou Brno as a photographer has used a portrait he has taken and then altered the order of the photo, he has then framed the distorted photo, and I think this shows his own perspective of framing. This also gives me ideas on how I could express people and possessions through my work, I could have their possession photographed, and then a photo of them, cut up and arranged in similar ways. Time: Photographer in focus: John Bulmers His work captures moments in time, you can tell by the actions of the models in the photograph there not told, they were naturally doing what they were doing and the time he took the photo was captured. His whole work focuses on the concept of time. colour: Photographer: William Eggleston William Eggleston focuses on colour in his work, he has used a lot of oranges and blues throughout his work, his work really stood out to me compared to the others, I would love to use this kind of idea of colours through my work, enhancing certain colours to stand out compared to others does create the work to stand out which is what I am aiming for when taking my photos.
Focus: Photographer: Antoine Gregor Antorne focused on the idea of ‘the attention sucking power of digital technology displayed’ he focused on taking photos of the focus of the general public’s full attention on their phones, he used editing to express this idea, he stretched the faces so that it morphed into their phones this was a good way to show what he wanted throughout his work, he aimed for the subject of the phone to be captured.
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Size: Photographer: Ian Rhuter He has used the idea of size to express his own idea of photography, I like how his work has shown how he has ordered the world, I see this through his work when he has taken a background and used one subject in the middle, his work is also different because of the effect he puts on top of the photos.
This photo is by far my favourite out of all the photos the photographer William Eggleston had taken, i like how simple the photo is , but he uses bright colours to his work to make it stand out, if he focuses on bright colours this will catch the attention of the audience because it will stand out. I love how he has photographed the different blues and the bright red infront of it., i have noticed from looking through his work how he focuses on colours like blues and reds, this is because these colours are usually not put together but he has made it work, which makes the photo look better.
William Eggleston
Aaron Siskind 1961
This photo might be my favourote out of all of them, you can see that this surface isnt the most interesting if you were to look at it, but by him editing it black and white and photographing it in this way has shown the photos full pottential.
Surface: Photographer: Aaron Siskind Aaron Siskind has used the idea of three dimension on a two dimensional surface, the surfaces he has photographed shows a lot of detail, and roughness he has chosen black and white so that the detail in the photo is enhanced, this what makes them so Interesting In his photos he has focused all his work on the surfaces he has come across, i like how he hasnt used anthing infront of these surfaces he has just focused on the texture and look of the surface, in his work he has used mostly rough, old surfaces, surfaces that have deterioated or havent been appriciated or used in a while.
The idea of focusing something old and not worthy, and making it focused and important could be portaying the way he feels, or how he see’s others feeling, maybe he wanted to photograph this to express this point he feels. I like that idea, becausr theres a deeper thourght to the photo rather than just a textured surface.
He has photographed a surface, but by editing it black and white it has enhanced the different textures on the surface, making some look soft, some look hard and rough, by eidting the photo black and white it has shown the textures more on the photo, i think if this photo was coloured it wouldnt do the photo as much justice.
visual elements
Framing/Composition I think the photographer chose to include the simpliest of objects in the room, i think he carefully chose not many objects in the room to express the idea of so little in his life, he wanted to create the scene to be sad, and to make the audience feel bad for the characeter in the focus. Creating this creates a story line for the viewer to wonder and ask themselves when looking at the photo. It makes the photo stand out as well, i find a photo with more depth and saddness to it is a photo that will stand out more against to an photo which is there just for fashion, feelings and creating these feelings through photos are important because you want the viewer to sympathise and feel like the model in the photo, or the object in the photo, and you want them to feel what you where intending them to feel.
Color
Angle of View The angle he has used in this is a side on angle, he is placed in the corner of the room which i find interesting because it looks like the camera is spying on the man in the room, the man looks unaware of himself being photgraphed it grasps more of the emotion in the photo, like were seeing something that no one else see’s him doing, hes upset vunerable. The shot is taken at eye level, but the model photographed isnt looked at the eye of the camera hes looking away, maybe hes ashamed or cant face the person in the eye. The way the photo is shot makes me feel like the character is hiding, i feel sad when i look at this photo because i feel as the man is vunerable and im seeing something i shouldnt be, he’s hiding in a room. maybe ashamed, maybe to sad to look at the camera, it shows such a deeper message to the photo.
Focus When i look at this photo the sharp focus i see is the man sat in the room, also whats in slight focus is how empty the room is and how lonley he is, the photographer really captures the fact that he is so alone. and it really captures the dullness of the room, which coudl be helping to represent the dullness of his life, and how he feels in it. I think this does represent the feeling of saddness and lonleyness in the photo, i think this is what he was aiming for in his work to add depth and meaning to the possesions in the photo, but in this case the loss of possessions, it makes you wonder if the possessions where taken from him or he has none, what happened?
light quality The sourse of lighting he has used in a bulb, it isnt natural light because there is no where the natural light will be let in, the light is un-natural, by using this kind of lighting it shows the darkness in the photo, it potrays the idea of isolation, maybe he feels depressed, he wants to be locked away and not to be seen in the light, this makes me wonder if he does feel ashamed of something he has done, maybe he has lost someone, there possessions not to be seen makes you wonder why? i think by using this kind of dark lighting makes the viewer wonder more, why? is he locked in a dark room. There are harsh sahdows outlining the room, and whats in it, doing this highlights how little that is in the room, it outlines the little possessions he has, this is obviosuily the focus of the photo and what the photographer wanted to make a focus off in the photo.
I find when looking at photos that black and white photos are effective, more effective than colour because it adds more detail and depth into the photos, expecially pictures like this i would idealy want it in black and white, but the colours he has carefully used with the colouring of the photo creates depth and a lot of detail into the photo, He has carefully used the yellows and browns which are very old colours, you see them in older photos, this was to help set the scene and loation to be seen as older, maybe this house brings older memories back? you know it hasnt changed in a while. Using these colours are also a good way of expressing the dullness in the photo and creating a sinister depressessing feel to the photo.
Time From the colours he has used, the scene he has set the photo in shows me that the photo could have been taken a while ago, but it could of been set in a room where the funiture is old fashiones to create the look of the phjoto been taken a while ago. I like how he has done this, because he has used an older model in the photo, if he was put in a modern setting there would be less of an effect than putting him in an older set location, because this makes the viewer wonder if he has been there for a while? is this where he used to live? is this a special place? his daughters/ son’s room? his wife someone that has passed, it adds a lot more effect to the photo.
Texture The texture in the photos are displayed in the photo as soft, he has created the photo to be soft, you can see the ripples of the bed cover on the bed he is sitting on, but he has used the camera by lowering the exposure to make the photo seem softer. To be honest textures isnt something i notice straight away but after being asked what textures i notice, more and more come up when i look into the photo more, i can see the carpet and the hardness of it, the photo makes the carpet seem rough and old, the soft textures in the photo make me think its old furniture, hardly used, but kept the same.
time Aaron lineSiskid events
1961
•President Kennedy advises all “prudent families” to have a bomb shelter. •The DNA genetic code is broken.
•”Barbie” gets a boyfriend when the “Ken” doll is introduced. Alicabor ibeatia volum doloraest laboria nonsequ istion nia cumquas sequid maximi, que aut etur as eate odis aut alique cume parum quae explibusa pratus que sumqui ut eum esciatem ea dusda endus elluptas qui am quaeprent hitaquaepe se am sequam, offictotaque volentu reperum experi beat. Pa doluptat eserrum ipit hilitatum re, adia et essitibus assitat. Nat officium et aut lique et ut aut molor maio voluptaest inum ra dipsunt laceatem eum eatempos voluptassin
•Construction of the Berlin Wall begins, restricting movement between East Berlin and West Berlin and forming a clear boundary between West Germany and East Germany, Western Europe and Eastern Europe
•Russians send the first man into space.Solorro volut endaepr empores atur? Quiatur? Is aceped qui dem ide anim quassi utem eium lanihic tes ea conseque saectemIcaborumquis volum volum, sitatur, officit et quia audit et optate Maris of the New York Yankees hits his 61st home run in the last game of •President of the United States John F. Kennedy es- the season, against the Boston Red tablishes the Peace Corps. Sox, beating the 34-year-old record held by Babe Ruth. •The long running soap opera General Hospital debuted on ABC. •Baseball player Roger Name et moluptatur? Quis aut alignatem corrum, si sequae volupiciis inctemp ostrum duntio. Et explit eat quamenisque none
Adolf Eichmann is pronounced guilty of crimes against humanity by a panel of 3 Israeli judges.Hiciis doles nam, comnis ad qui bearciet voluptatum rem fugita sitatatatus, omnis auditio inctota volescipsant vent aperspe rspelic imetur, vellita estruntiorae solupta
glossary of words
1. An Aperture of f/2.8 is wide, a wide aperture gives more depth of field when focused on a subject far away then when the object is in front of the lens, he much had used a smaller lens of aperture f/21 to take this photo, because the subject of the photo is straight in front of the lens. 2. Brightness the brightness of this photo due to the aperture is darker, the photo is displayed darker, and this could represent the feeling off the characters in the photo. 3. Framing he has framed the photo well with the houses and road he has chosen to focus on the lady holding the bucket but she is framed by the objects around her. 4. Medium he had very little materials as all his photos where taking in the 1960’s, he simply walked around with a camera. 5. Low key in this photo there are areas of low key, where there are darker tones in the photo which create the bright colours to stand out, the yellow bucket the lady is holding stands out. 6. The Shadows in this photo is the background, having a darker background creates the subject in front of it stand out more. 7. The Context in the photo makes ask yourself when, where, why and how the photograph was taken, we know it was taken in the 1960’s but where it could be any street, is it a special street to him, and why did he take it, was there even a reason? There is no indication on what how he took this photo, was he just walking down the street and just took a photo, or was there a different reason to taking the photo. 8. This photo isn’t Corny it’s very original that’s why I like it, it hasn’t been set up and shot, it looks like they were in the middle of something, cleaning? I’ve never seen a photo like that, taking a photo of the subject in the middle of what they were doing. 9. The Icon of the bucket suggests to me that they were cleaning and then asked something. 10. There is a feel of pathos in the photo, the audience might feel sorry for the ladies cleaning.
comparing two photos
Step 2: Aaron: girls, talking, friends? Just met? Black and white, shoes, high heels, party? Going out, are they in a bar, restaurant, shopping? I see a blind behind them blocking out the window, is it night time, there’s a sign outside the window shining in, there’s not much in the photo the main subject is the girls sat in a row, very simple. William: I see a couple? Maybe friends sat in a car a red car, they have just gotten a fast food order, there eating, it looks like there sat in silence, they are sat so far apart, don’t look loving maybe had an argument? Or the photo is describing the kind of relationship they are in. Step 3: difference between the 2: 1. William focuses on bright colours – red, orange, blue 2. Aaron focuses on black and white 3. Aaron’s photo is showing the relationship between the girls to be close and loving, these are obviously friends or clearly get on. 4. Williams’s photo shows the relationship to be less loving, they are displayed far away from each other which could be describing how the couple are emotional so far apart from each other. 5. Williams’s photo is landscape; Aaron’s photo is taken portrait. Step 4: Cat: 1 literal: W is using a car; A is using a simple room to put the models in. Both photographers have used people in their photos. Cat 2: technical: W is colour, bright colours like red, white, making the audience focus on the car. A used black and white into his work. Both used low key tones to enhance the lighter tones to stand out more on the photo. Cat 3: symbolic: W: has shown the relationship to be cold, and no interaction, whereas A has got the characters very close and there all talking and interacting showing them all to be close. : Girls, talking, friends? Just met? Cat 4: cultural: shoes, high heels, party? Going out, are they in a bar, restaurant, shopping? In both pictures the characters in the photos are seen the same age. Literal: The couple are sat in the car eating fast food, this could be describing the kind of relationship it is, new couples are going on dates in restaurants there excited and loved up, they are not shown like this in the photo, maybe they have been together for a while is the love dead. A: has used a simple room and focused on the subject of the girls, there interacting and talking and that’s the main focus in the photo is the interaction between the girls. Technical: William has focused on the bright colours in the photo, he has chosen colours like red and white to catch the viewers’ attention. Whereas A has used black and white to create a lighter tone of the black and white to stand out. Symbolic: they both has used positioning in the photo to display the different relationships, W has displayed the 2 characters to be separated and far away from each other, this is to show how their relationship is distant. A has used the positioning of the girls all together chatting, to represent how close they all are and the kind of close relationship they have. Cultural: A has put the girls in party outfits and heels to suggest that they are in a party or a bar, there out altogether, whereas W has given no indication of costume to tell the audience what they are doing, they seem relaxed like they are just parked up somewhere on the way home.
Chapter 3 When I came to choosing my theme this theme stood out to me because it was so simple, could this be someone’s possession, what makes it someone’s though, I wanted to look into the relationship of someone and there possession, could a person be someone’s possession, I wanted to look into deeper into the persons possession. I wanted to look into what was a possession people would mostly have on them. I started from taking photos of literal possessions , then I followed on exploring different ideas looking at someone’s hobby as being there possession, someone collecting I took pictures of a lady and her collection. I then moved on to relationships people being a possession, I then followed on with the idea of the phone being the most common possession, this idea developed from me taking photos of people and realising that people constantly have the object of a phone in their hands, it started to come more to my attention because I sat there one time on the street looking at people rushing and walking and almost everyone was in connection with their phone, either holding, using it, listening to it, it’s a possession that connects people and almost everyone has, I find that so interesting how a simple object is so addictive and how no one can live without it. I have then gone on to focus shoots around the phone being the main object in focus rather than the person. From researching further through the course I learnt so much about how a possession can be so addictive, and how a simple object can connect people all over the world, these days technology makes the world go round.
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I have researched into Elliot Ewritt who helped me understand a comical way of photographing people and possessions; I liked how he would digitally edit the photos of people and show the possession. This helped with me experimenting with my own photos I digitally edited in collage to show the attention and the addiction being sucked from the person to their phone. I also was influenced with this idea from the work Antonie Guiger produced, he would take street photos of people and digitally edit them with the melting tool on Photoshop and it was based on the technology sucking the population in. I recently read an article on how ‘Teenagers are so addicted to social media, there constantly stuck on their phones’ but I think it isn’t just teenagers all ages are, I wanted to show this in my work, I went out in London and simply sat on a side of a street where people where simply walking fast, and I captured almost everyone walking past of all ages using their phone, instead of looking around everyone was so focused on their phone.
I have chosen manual settings, and been experimenting with different f-numbers to vary the aperture, I have experimented with different shutter speed to see different ways in taking different kinds of photos. I have also tried to experiment with my photoshoot of the phone and the light, lowering the shutter speed, and zooming in and out at the same time, or moving the camera whilst taking these photos these came out quite successfully because the light looks like it travels from me to the person holding the phone, swirling, I really liked how these turned out. I started off with setting my camera on automatic setting when I was first taking my photos, then further on in the course I learnt more on how to using the camera, experimenting with different shoots in class I then began using these settings in my shoots and further developing my camera techniques has produced better photos that have come out compared to my first shoot. I have then edited these photos online and experimented with dark room techniques to further develop the photos I had originally taken. Looking at ideas for my final piece, I want to create a number of photos in separate frames but all joined up together and I want to have in each frame a different technique, one could be digital collage, one could be time strip dark room technique, a cyanotype, writing over layered on a photo using the dark room.
I will want to take further the idea of the phone being the possession taking over the person , maybe experimenting with different cameras will help develop my work further, using a camera with film could help me work a camera which is different to what I usually use it could produce different photos to my others. I want to use different techniques to show how the phones take over this person, they can’t live without it. I want to include in my photos how social media is addictive to people, maybe text flowing through the photos ‘emily posted photo would you like to view it’ john liked your photo’ message from alex’ zoe poked you would you like to poke back’ something that directly addresses the person in the photo. I want to develop the shoot I took of my friend holding her phone, these photos were taken using an old film camera, I will develop them all differently some editing manually and digitally. When looking at how I will display it I came up with the idea of how text messages comes through, this is going to be a number of different frames all joined differently interpreting the business of someone’s phone, and how messages come through.
Before Christo and Jeanne-Claude brought the act of wrapping to much larger proportions when they applied it to the environment, Christo created many sculptures by wrapping everyday objects with fabric or polyethylene. Christo was a photographer who focused around the idea of rapping everyday objects
and hiding there true identity. I came across this photographer and decided I would make my own interpretation of what he had created. In my work instead of just rapping it, I had asked several of my family members to give me an object that important to them, with this I then told them to write down there thoughts about this object on a piece of paper, with this piece of paper I then rapped it round the object to slowly unwrap and show what the object was under the paper.
InterviewingMy sister
My Nan
My Mum
My Dad
This was my interpretation of his work he had created, for mine I wrapped up what was an possession of this person and got them to write down anything that came into their head when they were looking at the object they had given to me, with this I then wrapped the piece of paper in the object, and slowly photographed me revealing the object, from just starting from some words covering the object to then the actual possession.
conculsion I have learnt that the theme of people and possessions has got more to what I originally thought, I have explored different photographers and seen how they have created there work, from doing this, it has inspired me to take some photos, as before I was stuck on what to take and what would look good and show the meaning of peoples possessions in my work. I looked at James Molson, Hanna Lenz who had shown the different ways in which you could express the idea of people and possessions through photos, one went through a more direct way of doing this, then the other photographer went on more of a story line way of expressing the lady’s possessions. I also wanted to look into others work, to see the different ways in which they have taken their photos, what materials they have used and to see if they have used a different kind of camera I would usually use, I looked In Luke Fowlers work he used a half- frame camera, this camera would take two pictures in one photo, but at different times, I liked how he had done this because the photos contrasted well, I could use this kind of camera to separately take photos of the person and there possession, but conjoined into one photo. I also explored the work of William Eglleston who which caught my eye when looking through work, it caught my eye because I liked the colours he would use in his work, all his colours he used was bright and would catch the eye of any viewer, he would enhance these blues, red, oranges, whites, he would brighten them so that they stand out. I liked how he would use a red haired model with a blue background, blue objects all the colours he used complimented each other which made me think he planned this when taking his photos. I have discovered that there are different ways in taking a photo, I was usually just thinking of using my normal cannon camera but looking into other work gave me the idea of finding an old camera that I could use to take my photos, this would be different to my other photos I have taken, because the older cameras is a way I can widen my camera skills to not just my camera but cameras I haven’t used before, and cameras that were used a long time ago, I think this would help develop my ideas further. I found that before my research I came up with a few ideas but I was confusing myself with these ideas and making them too complicated which wouldn’t be so straight forward for the viewer to notice that my work was people and possessions. But after researching I found that I can use a straightforward idea and make it look good, I can use a an idea but the way I take the photo will show my development, this Is what I have discovered with looking over photographers work and thinking about my own.
bibliography havard refrencing Harvard referencing INTRO- http://www.mackbooks.co.uk/books/1027-Two-FrameFilms-2006-2012-.html PHOTOGRAPHERS RESEARCH- http://www.ignant. de/2014/08/22/else-by-hanna-lenz/ VISUAL ELEMENTS http://time.com/4062180/james-mollison-the-things-they-carried/ http://gearpatrol.com/2013/01/17/roundup-great-vintage-cameras/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-frame_camera http://ianruhter.tumblr.com/ GLOSSARY OF WORDS- http://www.galerie-l-oeil-du-prince. com/en/portfolios/photography/brno-del-zou/ http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/11/cellphone-attention-antoine-geiger/ http://lumieregallery.net/wp/202/aaron-siskind/ http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/eggleston/exhibition.php PHOTOGRAPHERS RESEARCHhttp://www.johnbulmer.co.uk/ TIME LINE- http://www.jeffs60s.com/timeline.php