24.09.10 - 1st Shoot.

After seeing the Steve McCurry exhibition earlier on in the day I decided I might as well go out and try and take some pictures of my own for the contrast project. The whole process was quite difficult to be honest. Due to my theme I had to try and find a sort of abandoned and derelict location which was not easy, the only place I could think of was a spot in Newtown which i had used for photos before but again I wasn't sure if they had started building it up so that didn't help. My model suggested a broken down house which he had visited about 3 months ago so again that wasn't really helpful as we didn't know if that would be useful. We ended up giving that a shot as it turned out it belonged to someone he knew and it was quite close to where we were.
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When we got to the house it turned out to be a bit done up, well more than I wanted it to be; still i thought i might as well use it as a starting point as sort of my observational photos. After getting over this mini wall with great difficulty we managed to open up one of the doors and get in. There was a good source of light available due to the time of day and big windows. I didn't really get to experiment a lot with the light or the camera settings due to the fact we were trespassing and the floors upstairs didn't look stable; so my initial idea was to get photos as fast as possible without even worrying about the settings. However I did try as much as I could to create specific compositions in the frame when shooting the photos.
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My photos didn't come out the best obviously, so when doing my next shoot I need to consider the location more, and try to find a place which is available to fit my needs. I think that I shouldn't restrict it to just buildings but any other areas which give off a sense of abandonment and dereliction; for example old car parks, under bridges etc. Also I need to make use of a tripod to obtain better images.
Below are some of the images from my shoot. I've edited them slightly to try and create more of a mood and atmosphere. By editing the contrast the images look sharper and less flat, this helps to add texture to the surface which as a result makes the images more realistic. I have also altered the saturation and hue to add sort of a blue tone. I think that this works well as it creates a dark and cold atmosphere which instantly adds impact. This can mainly be seen in the second picture; this works well here as you can't directly see the mans face so this along with the way he's positioned instantly in my mind adds a sense of mystery and makes you question the mans identity and his story if there is one. Why is there someone like him, someone that appears well off in that environment? Why does he appear sad? Is he sad? Does he have any connection to that place? Also in that picture I like the composition. I think if I was to zoom in and fill the frame with just the main subject it wouldn't be as effective. The empty space which is left directly under, adds to the gloomy and lonely atmosphere.

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Contrast Theme:

Contrast is the difference between two visual elements. The difference is very easy to spot and is a good way of creating a specific mood/atmosphere or show and emphasise a meaning. For this project I want to look at contrast between subject and its environment. In this case the subject will be people and as the environment I want to use sort of derelict areas for my background.

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To show contrast I want the people in my images to be dressed in a way which makes them sophisticated and glamorous compared to their surroundings; so to show the contrast between rich and poor in a way. As well as the contrast in the pictures I also want to create specific moods within the images so to give a deeper meaning to the photo rather than it just being a image of someone in a random place. To help with this I might at a later stage look at some sort of literature i.e. a poem or song, to act as text to go along with my images and maybe create a story within my photos. Additionally, I like the idea of using a child in the same surrounding as this would show a bigger contrast between the derelict and abandoned environment,as well as carry a deeper meaning as children portray innocence so that itself would raise questions.
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Thomas Hoepker: GERMANY. Hamburg. 1963. (http://www.magnumphotos.com)


Jacob Aue Sobol: Thailand. Bangkok. 2008. (http://www.magnumphotos.com)

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14.09.10

In our first lesson, we were given the title of our project which is contrast, I personally think that overall it's a good theme as there's numerous ways in which I can interpret the meaning to my liking. As a group we discussed contrast and then went onto list subjects which we could consider for our projects. This included the following:
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Rich - Poor
Reality - Surrealism
Sharp - Blurry (DOF)
...as well as numerous others.
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For me this project would be easier if I worked with a film camera because that is what i am more comfortable with. Also I like using the darkroom and techniques in there as opposed to photoshop to enhance my photos.
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After discussing ideas we went through the different parts of the film camera as well as DSLR which I was all familiar with. Then we learnt about exposure which is controlled by the F.Stop and Shutter speed. Next we went outside to test the cameras in groups. As it was dark with the only light artificial from lampposts, it was good to try out motion blur and creatve camera shake by lowering the shutter speed to have a long exposure.