Teci july 2013 by Matthew Hickey

Teci TEACH | ENGAGE | CAPTURE | INSPIRE

Second Edition

COOL KIDS

Photoshoot Breakdown Textures :

Creating and Using In Your Photography Work

Vivian Maier

An Amazing Discovery

July 2013

CONTENTS

04 07

Inspiration:

behance network

From the Web:

Peeping Tom

project:

Cool Kids

artist spotlight:

vivian maier

creative corner:

textures

n o i t a r i p s n I Behance Network from the Web The Behance network is a wonderful way to create a body work and display it in a professional online portfolio. Behance is a online community of like minded creatives collabrating and sharing their work. Photographers, Makeup Artists, Cartoonists, Digital Art, Drawings, Illistration, Animation, Graphic Design and Calligraphy are just some of the categories of creatives displaying their skills. Behance operates like many other social media site where you can search for and follow peoples work. You can also gain feedback on your work through WIP (Work in Progress) and portfolios. The site is professionally designed and easy to operate. Uploading your work is done through an Add Work button which takes you to a portfolio page where you can design how your page will look. You can add commentry, links and of course your artwork. The Activity Feed and Creatives to Follow sections are a great way to explore and start following some amazing artists. Visiting the site can be a great way to get over a creative block... or kill an afternoon surfing cool content. Make sure you have a look at the site and sign up for an account which is free.

[ www.behance.net ] 5

From The

Web

Article from Messy Nessy Chic http://www.messynessychic.com

harming eccentric or tolerated local boogyman? The townspeople of Kyjov in Czech Republic could never quite decide. Miroslav Tichý took nearly a hundred photographs a day with his homemade camera, wandering around the streets of his hometown, often spotted at bus stops, the main square, the park and the swimming pool, although he was frequently

arrested for lingering around the local pool taking pictures of unsuspecting women. When he returned to his chaotic and cluttered home afte a day of shooting, he would develop and print his pictures, sometimes crudely frame and decorate them, but ultimately cast them aside into a mess of untitled, undated and unseen photographs. For more than twenty years, his work would remain secret until a childhood friend and neighbour discovered his prints amongst the chaos of undeveloped rolls and cardboard cameras. His work has since been celebrated at museums and galleries across the world including London, Paris and New York. Born in 1926, Tichý could have become one of the prominent painters of the modernist Communist regime. He was accepted to the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, but after the Communist takeover in 1948, he grew defiant of requirements to draw socialist workers in overalls rather than female nudes and quit the prestigious school. Tichý was quickly identified as a rebel by the oppressive regime who began making attempts at “normalizing” him (whatever that entailed). After his compulsory military service, Tichý became more eccentric. He ceased to care how he looked, dressing like a vagabond, possibly expressing his rebellion through his personal appearance. The state often tried to keep him out of sight, snatching

him up and sending him to psychiatric clinics for days at a time over Communist patriotic holidays. Removed from society, it was around this time in the 1960s that he stopped painting and began making his intentionally imperfect cameras and experimenting with photography. TichĂ˝ certainly preferred his subjects to be women, most of whom were completely unaware that they were being photographed. Some just didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t realize that his camera made of plywood and tin cans was even real, and would smile simply to be kind to the crazy local man with the long beard and his toy camera.

When he was banned from the local pool, he made telephoto lenses with cardboard tubes to snap his clandestine photographs from a distance, which is why a wire fence can sometimes be seen in his pictures. In 2010, after an exhibition at the International Centre of Photography, The New York Photo Review described his work: We see women photographed from the rear, from the front, from the side; we see their feet, legs, buttocks, backs, faces, as well as complete bodies [as when drawing a nude at the Academy]; we see them walking, standing, sitting, bending over, reclining. There are a few nudes, though the poor image quality sometimes makes it difficult to determine if we are looking at a nude or a woman with not much on. [...] Whatever eroticism is present is limited to that of the voyeur; these women are not inviting us into their world. TichĂ˝ lived off a small disability pension and took photographs for his own amusement, paying no attention to the standards of fine print. Sometimes he drew on his photographs to ac-

centuate the contours of his subject’s fleeting glimpse or her bikini strap. When his work was finally discovered, most prints were damaged and exposed to the harsh conditions from being improperly stored in the squalor of his studio. In 1981, Roman Buxbaum, Tichý’s neighbour and friend found his prints strewn around on the floor and began collecting them over the years. He was for a long time, the only person other than Tichý to see the prints, which were often gifted to him in stacks by his eccentric neighbour. In 2004, Buxbaum’s collection of his photographs was shown at the Biennial of Contemporary Art in Seville and the following year, the works won the Rencontres d’Arles 2005 New Discovery Award.Then came major retrospectives of his work, celebrated for its poetic imperfections, in Zurich and Paris. Tichý was 71 by this time and Buxbaum had set up a foundation on his behalf to preserve and exhibit his work. Of course Buxbaum was also making handsome commissions from the galleries where he placed his collections. Rather suddenly in 2009, Tichý severed all ties with his childhood friend and the foundation he had set up. In a published statement, Tichý announced that “he made no agreement, written or oral, with Buxbaum to propagate his works, that Buxbaum exploits his works without authorization and violates his copyright, and that only he, Hebnarová and his lawyer have the right to decide on the use and propagation of his works”. In 2010, Tichý had a solo show at the International Center of Photography in New York City which featured 100 splotchy photographs, strewn around in a glass box as they would have been in his disordered studio, along with his makeshift cameras and rolls of undeveloped film. Since his discovery,Tichý never once attended an exhibition and remained an outsider for the rest of his life. He died in the same village where he was born in 2011 at the age of 85. Tichý is pictured here with one of his long telephoto lenses. He ground lenses out of plastic with toothpaste and ash, putting them together with cardboard toilet paper tubes, dressmaker’s elastic and old camera parts he found. Tichý famously once said, “First of all, you have to have a bad camera”, and, “If you want to be famous, you must do something more badly than anybody in the entire world.” For exhibition news, visit the Miroslac Tichý Facebook page.

S D I K L O O C Broken Down Step-By-Step

orking with kids can bring chills to many photographers. Others seem to excel at this category of photography, why? When kids are running around the studio, pushing over your background, tripping over a light stand and you are trying to dial in your settings while shouting at the kids, “Don’t touch that, stand here, why are you crying?”. All you want to do is capture a great photo for mum and dad, but nothing is going right. It’s time to channel your inner child and join in the fun. Play first, shoot second.

“Play. Don’t be afraid to get in there and play with them before, during and after the session” Children’s photography can be very • Include the parents in the shoot. A rewarding, especially when everything common face is much more likely to goes right and the kids turn on the charm. made the kids smile than a stranger But it’s those other times that seem to holding a big camera in their face. be more common. Here’s a are a ideas I have to help the shoot go to plan and get • Eye contact. Put your camera down and the photographs you need for your client. away from your face when you aren’t shooting. Practice bringing the camera • Have some toys which are appropriate up to your face, focusing and shooting for the subject. By appropriate I in quick succession prior to the shoot. mean, don’t have a Barbie for a The camera will appear less intimidating boy or not small toys for young and ultimately result in better photos. children who may decide to eat them. • Play. Don’t be afraid to get in there and • Be prepared. You should have all your play with them before, during and after the gear setup prior to your client arrives. session. If you make the shoot engaging, Kids have a limited attention span. You it will break down the barriers between don’t want to waste it setting up lights yourself and the subject. Think about or finding the correct camera settings. the experience from their perspective.

• Involvement. Use your equipment to your advantage. If you are using flashes or strobes, get them to see if they can find where the flash came from. It usually results in a great shot where they are pointing off to the side with a huge smile on their face. Use props so they have to climb, jump, run or spin. It will extend the amount of quality shooting time you have with them if they are involved in the session. • Something special. Ask mum or dad to bring along a special toy or object. Not only does it result in some special sombre photographs, it’s a wonderful way to record memories for later viewing. How good is it looking back at photos of your parents as children and they are playing marbles, dominions or original army men and Barbie’s. If you accept the fact that kids will be kids, your session will be a lot more fun and your images will reflect that. Your clients (mum and dad) will be amazed at how beautiful and peaceful their children look and hopefully will purchase lots of images from you.

Vivian Maier

y r e v o c s i D An Amazing

Story sources from www.vivianmaier.com

A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. Piecing together Vivian Maier’s life can easily evoke Churchill’s famous quote about the vast land of Tsars and commissars that lay to the east. A person who fit the stereotypical European sensibilities of an independent liberated woman, accent and all, yet born in New York City. Someone who was intensely guarded and private, Vivian could be counted on to feistily preach her own very liberal worldview to anyone who cared to listen, or didn’t. Decidedly unmaterialistic, Vivian would come to amass a group of storage lockers stuffed to the brim with found items, art books, newspaper clippings, home films, as well as political tchotchkes and knickknacks. The story of this nanny who has now wowed the world with her photography, and who incidentally recorded some of the most interesting marvels and peculiarities of Urban America in the second half of the twentieth century is seemingly beyond belief.

An American of French and Austro-Hungarian extraction, Vivian bounced between Europe and the United States before coming back to New York City in 1951. Having picked up photography just two years earlier, she would comb the streets of the Big Apple refining her artistic craft. By 1956 Vivian left the East Coast for Chicago, where she’d spend most of the rest of her life working as a caregiver. In her leisure Vivian would shoot photos that she zealously hid from the eyes of others. Taking snapshots into the late 1990’s, Maier would leave behind a body of work comprising over 100,000 negatives. Additionally Vivian’s passion for documenting extended to a series of homemade documentary films and audio recordings. Interesting bits of Americana, the demolition of historic landmarks for new development, the unseen lives of ethnics and the destitute, as well as some of Chicago’s most cherished sites were all meticulously catalogued by Vivian Maier. A free spirit but also a proud soul, Vivian became poor and was ultimately saved by three of the children she had nannied earlier in her life. Fondly remembering Maier as a second mother, they pooled together to pay for an apartment and took the best of care for her. Unbeknownst to

them, one of Vivian’s storage lockers was auctioned off due to delinquent payments. In those storage lockers lay the massive hoard of negatives Maier secretly stashed throughout her lifetime. Maier’s massive body of work would come to light when in 2007 her work was discovered at a local thrift auction house on Chicago’s Northwest Side. From there, it would eventually impact the world over and change the life of the man who championed her work and brought it to the public eye, John Maloof. Currently, Vivian Maier’s body of work is being archived and cataloged for the enjoyment of others and for future generations. John Maloof is at the core of this project after reconstructing most of the archive, having been previously dispersed to the various buyers attending that auction. Now, with roughly 90% of her archive reconstructed, Vivian’s work is part of a renaissance in interest in the art of Street Photography.

Film: “Finding Vivian Maier” (coming out soon) Vivian Maier’s photos were seemingly destined for obscurity, lost among the clutter of the countless objects she’d collected throughout her life. Instead these images have shook the world of street photography and irrevocably changed the life of the man who brought them to the public eye. This film brings to life the interesting turns and travails of the improbable saga of John Maloof’s discovery of Vivian Maier, unraveling this mysterious tale through her documentary films, photographs, odd collections and personal accounts from the people that knew Vivian. What started as a blog to show her work quickly became a viral sensation in the photography world. Photos destined for the trash heap now line gallery exhibitions, a forthcoming book, and this documentary film.

Book: Vivian Maier Out of the Shadows Vivian produced over 100,000 negitaves during her life time which only a few people were privilaged to see her amazing talent. Vivian Maier: Street Photographer (136 pages) was the first book published in 2011, showing the world her craft in print. Out of the Shadows (2012) is the next book of her work, expanding on the first book with over 280 pages of duotone images and details of her travels and working life as a nanny. The book focuses on several periods in her life and her influences at the time. The book does a wonderful job at giving the reading a glimps into the life of Vivian which adds value and context to the images you view on following pages. The images are grouped well to co-incide with the commentary and are adequately displayed in the 9.5x9.5 inch hardcover book. This is a book which should be in any serious photographers library. Vivian’s work goes to the heart of photography. She took photos, not to be famous, not to

make money, but for her own interest and passion. Her images could have easily been lost or destroyed. We are very privileged to have her images collected, restored and put together in a book which everyone can experience and enjoy.

Using Textures T

extures can add interest to your photographs but it’s not always obvious where to get your textures or how to use them. We explore a little further into the use of textures and how they can add the extra touch to your images.

Sources for Textures Capture your own images This is the most rewarding of all the options but also the most time consuming. Textures don’t need to be high quality so using your phone while your out and about can be all you need. If you notice a crackled paint wall or maybe a stained concrete floor, grab an camera and capture a shot. Next time you’re looking to add something extra to an image, try a blending layer to see the image come alive. Paid Sites It seems wrong when all it takes is for you to grab your camera and walk around your home to find an interesting texture, but if you are pushed for time, then purchasing textures from a website is an option. Some sites to checkout for great images in a searchable index are TextureVault.net, iStockPhoto.com, ShutterStock.com or PHLearn.com Free Sources Free sites are very similar to the paid versions but usually not as well set out and organised as the paid option. Good sources are CGTextures.com and Google Images searches. How to use your textures Photoshop is a tool which allows for the layering of images to create a look or feel. The use of blending options for the layers allows for creative effects which can differ greatly depending on the image being used. Layers can be used to add bokah (blurred light) effects, or grit and grunge effects to dirty up an image. Adding a noise layer to your image and utilising the blending layer options is another example of utilising textures in Photoshop.

“Textures don’t need to be high quality so using your phone while your out and about can be all you need”

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