FRAGMENTS
I went on Pintrest to get my inspiration for the theme of 'fragments'.
Fragments of a City
In this task I had to take pictures of fragments of a city. I took pictures of small detail of the city or I took pictures through the city through an obstructed view. This shows a fragment (a part) of a city. In a big city like London, people don't usually take the time to observe the little things so I decided to photograph them. I handled my exposure well however, it could be argued that I overexposed some pictures especially when I photographed the sky.
People's belongings
In this task you had to photograph items that represent a person. The items being photographed have to have meaning to the person and show a part of their life. I decided to photograph kitchen items to represent my dad, who is a chef. I photographed the various tools he uses in his everyday life.
I then decided to make the photo more appealing by only photographing objects of similar colours. This time I photographed my belongings and objects I use on a regular basis as a teenager.
Fragments of nature.
In this task I needed to isolate part of nature. I did this by photographing various plants with a white sheet of paper behind it. This isolated the subject by removing the background.
Myoung Ho Lee
My inspiration to photograph fragments of nature came from Lee. I could not isolate trees the way he did. This is because I did not have the means to do it on such a great scale, so I decided to photograph flowers with pieces of paper to isolate the background.
'Myoung Ho Lee, a young artist from South Korea, has produced an elaborate series of photographs that pose some unusual questions about representation, reality, art, environment and seeing'
Lee’s idea is simple in theory but complex to execute. He chooses a tree where there are no other trees around and physically separates is from nature by blocking out the background. The lack of other trees in the surroundings gives a sense of isolation and lonlieness even before the white screen is put up. By isolating the background, it immediately drives our attention to the tree. He allows part of the background to be seen. This farther emphasises how the tree has been isolated from nature.
'Myoung Ho Lee, a young artist from South Korea, has produced an elaborate series of photographs that pose some unusual questions about representation, reality, art, environment and seeing'
Lee’s idea is simple in theory but complex to execute. He chooses a tree where there are no other trees around and physically separates is from nature by blocking out the background. The lack of other trees in the surroundings gives a sense of isolation and lonlieness even before the white screen is put up. By isolating the background, it immediately drives our attention to the tree. He allows part of the background to be seen. This farther emphasises how the tree has been isolated from nature.
Fragmenting the environment.
The purpose of this task is to make pictures of fragments of buildings. This task links to the theme, ‘fragments’ as it is removing parts of a building, showing a fragment of the full picture.
My intention was to respond to Patrick Cornillet because I wanted to explore the theme of fragments. I had to break up parts of a building using the composition. I had to break up buildings digitally as I could not do it physically.
I used the polygonal lasso tool to isolate parts of the building so the viewer can concentrate on only one part of the photo.
The actual building I chose was good for the intended task. I could have taken more away from the picture to improve my work.
My intention was to respond to Patrick Cornillet because I wanted to explore the theme of fragments. I had to break up parts of a building using the composition. I had to break up buildings digitally as I could not do it physically.
I used the polygonal lasso tool to isolate parts of the building so the viewer can concentrate on only one part of the photo.
The actual building I chose was good for the intended task. I could have taken more away from the picture to improve my work.
How I made my edit.
Contact sheet.
This work was inspired by Patrick Cornillet.
Patrick Cornillet is a French architectural painter born in 1968 in France.
In this series, Patrick Cornillet creates a surreal type of image through architecture. He does this by removing elements of the buildings and replacing them with a white background. The fragments of buildings that were left in his images creates a sense of suspense to his viewers. By only having sections of buildings visible, his work makes the viewer more aware of the small details of the objects such as the materials used and the positioning of the object.
Patrick Cornillet is a French architectural painter born in 1968 in France.
In this series, Patrick Cornillet creates a surreal type of image through architecture. He does this by removing elements of the buildings and replacing them with a white background. The fragments of buildings that were left in his images creates a sense of suspense to his viewers. By only having sections of buildings visible, his work makes the viewer more aware of the small details of the objects such as the materials used and the positioning of the object.
Fragments of a city
Anastasia savinova’s surreal composition structures pieces of fragments of a city. Anastasia savinova found herself traveling through cities across different countries, looking closely at the architecture of the culture that inhabits them. With these pictures, she decided to turn them into large-scale collages to show a visual representation of the city and the culture.
She wanted us to consider the different mentality’s of the way of life for the locals. To create this, she walked around places that were less visited by tourists but more popular among locals, to get a realer ‘feel’ for the place. Regardless of how the place looks at first, she photographs it and then assembles the fragments of the city into one big collage on her computer.
Anastasia savinova also wanted us to consider how population growth is getting out of control and how uman made buildings are taken over. Her pictures reflect this by having little or no free space, giving a feel f claustrophobia
She wanted us to consider the different mentality’s of the way of life for the locals. To create this, she walked around places that were less visited by tourists but more popular among locals, to get a realer ‘feel’ for the place. Regardless of how the place looks at first, she photographs it and then assembles the fragments of the city into one big collage on her computer.
Anastasia savinova also wanted us to consider how population growth is getting out of control and how uman made buildings are taken over. Her pictures reflect this by having little or no free space, giving a feel f claustrophobia
My attempt at recreating her work.
Fragmented Portrait
Erwin Blumenfeld, is regarded as one of the most influential photographers of the twentieth century. Blumenfeld also created reels of groundbreaking fashion films from the early 60s, nudes and personality portraits. Blumenfeld uses an abstract technique in creating his work. He does this by having peculiar objects to photograph with such as mirrors to create a different type of photo or video.
In this task I had to take pictures with additional objects to make the composition of the photo different. I had to try and replicate Blumenfeld's work.
In this task I had to take pictures with additional objects to make the composition of the photo different. I had to try and replicate Blumenfeld's work.
Erwin Blumenfeld's work.
My Edited Pictures.
The variety of different textures and photograph ideas varied greatly so I am pleased. I did manage my exposure and my ISO well.
My 3 Chosen Strands
John Clang
John Clang, born in 1973 in Singapore, is a visual artist working in photography and film.
These pictures involve recording a location, to show the passing of time. Clang creates an objective image where the focus is the people walking past and their movement whilst everything around them stays in the same place. He does this by going into a busy area where many people walk past and takes pictures. He wanted us to consider the sense of ‘intimate intricacy of how time moves, and how people, albeit in a different time, are actually closer to one another and traveling in the same shared space’. Clang has used a tripod in creating this work. This creates a steady image with the building and roads staying in the same place but the people moving to show the passing of time. This also shows the fragments of a city. This is because it’s the people who are in the city that make it what it is. By having the same background but different people, you separate or join the people and the city.
These pictures involve recording a location, to show the passing of time. Clang creates an objective image where the focus is the people walking past and their movement whilst everything around them stays in the same place. He does this by going into a busy area where many people walk past and takes pictures. He wanted us to consider the sense of ‘intimate intricacy of how time moves, and how people, albeit in a different time, are actually closer to one another and traveling in the same shared space’. Clang has used a tripod in creating this work. This creates a steady image with the building and roads staying in the same place but the people moving to show the passing of time. This also shows the fragments of a city. This is because it’s the people who are in the city that make it what it is. By having the same background but different people, you separate or join the people and the city.
My attempt at recreating his work.
All of the pictures I used.
After I created my work by physically ripping the images, I decided to scan my final work. By scanning it it took away most of the colour and reduced contrast and colours. I later went into photoshop to fix this.
These are the steps I took in adjusting my work.
Sally Mann
Sally Mann is an American photographer best known for her large-format, black-and-white photographs. In her early work consists of black and white images of her three children, all under the age of 10. She made a collection called ‘immediate family’. Most of the pictures in that album were taken when she was on holiday where her children played and swam in the nude. Many of her photos explore typical childhood themes such as skinny dipping, dressing up and playing board games. However other pictures touch on darker themes such as insecurity, loneliness, injury and, sexuality and death.
When she first published her work there were intense accusations of child pornography. However, Mann considered these photographs to be ‘natural in the eyes of a mother, since she has seen her children in every state: happy, sad, playful, sick…’
Sally Mann has some photographs of children acting like adults. I am interested in this work as it is relevant to our everyday society. This is because in our society and especially our generation it seems like its a race for young people to look older. Young children start listening to the same type of music that the older teenagers listen to. Teenagers start smoking and drinking to make themselves look older and teenage girls apply makeup to look like grown women.
When she first published her work there were intense accusations of child pornography. However, Mann considered these photographs to be ‘natural in the eyes of a mother, since she has seen her children in every state: happy, sad, playful, sick…’
Sally Mann has some photographs of children acting like adults. I am interested in this work as it is relevant to our everyday society. This is because in our society and especially our generation it seems like its a race for young people to look older. Young children start listening to the same type of music that the older teenagers listen to. Teenagers start smoking and drinking to make themselves look older and teenage girls apply makeup to look like grown women.
My first attempt.
I decided to imitate Sally Mann’s concept of children trying to look older. I photographed a young boy imitating the actions of a man such as shaving and applying deodorant. This is reflected in society when younger kids want to look older and act older in order to impress other kids.
Development
For this task I wanted to show natural chid-like behaviours such as playing with a ball and pretending to be someone else.Sally Mann photographs her children act as adults, but however hard they try, they are still children which means that they will act like children even when they try not to.
In my photos, I wanted to show that despite the subject trying to act as a tough/bad guy he is still playing with props which is a normal childlike behaviour.
This photo is combining the different sections of a child’s life:
Trying to act older and playing. These different sections are the fragments of a child's childhood.
In my photos, I wanted to show that despite the subject trying to act as a tough/bad guy he is still playing with props which is a normal childlike behaviour.
This photo is combining the different sections of a child’s life:
Trying to act older and playing. These different sections are the fragments of a child's childhood.
The best edited picures
My intention behind these photos was to create a sense of uneasiness. The subject is expressing anger from his facial expression, which is reflected by the mirror in the photo. The background is a church. The subject is expressing hatred and anger at a religious sanctuary, which can make people feel uncomfortable. This contrasts the happiness and joy that is shared inside the church to the hate and anger outside of it. The point of the mirror is to give a second view of the subject. We would not be able to tell what and how the subject is feeling if it want for the mirror. The mirror also takes only a fragment of his face and can be liked to fragments as we only know a fragment of what going on in the subjects thoughts.
All of the pictures.
Mirror experiment.
For this strand, I wanted to try something different. Something that has not been done by any other photographer thus far. As I was going through my Pinterest, the idea of mirrors in photography sparked my interest. I could not find an exact photographer to study of take inspiration from so I had to rely on the images submitted by anonymous people on Pinterest. I liked their approach to the theme of fragments, which is to have a mirror to physically divide a person, a city or lots of people. The glass breaks apart a person from its body or separates a building from a city.
My First Attempt
My intentions with this piece were to create an image with a meaning and make the viewer intrigued as-well as uncomfortable. I chose to take a picture of an angry looking boy looking at a church. We only know the boy's expression when we look at the mirror. These pictures make the viewer feel uncomfortable as he looks angry at a church which is a place of worship and peace. His emotiions contrast with ones of the church. His face is being fragmented by the mirror. The mirror represents his emotions aswell as separates them for the body of the subject.
These two were my best pictures so I decided to edit them to make the colours stand out a bit more by increasing the contrast and saturation slightly.
I decided to take the colour away except from the point of focus. This helps drive the attention to the piece of broken mirror which reflects his face and reveals his emotions.
Second Attempt
I decided to take the broken mirror into the city to fragment many people at once.
Development
This time I decided to use a full, broken mirror.
In these pictures, I wanted to visually represent the feeling of not belonging. I took inspiration from the Bernardos campaign(video below).
Despite it being a photo rather than a video, I wanted to show what feeling out of place feels like. In the photo, the subject looks visually upset. The broken mirror reflects his confused and angry mood. The mirror also links in as a fragment because it divides his face and shows a physical break down of the subject. The broken mirror also symbolises the mental breakdown of the subject as it breaks him apart.
I purposely decided to make the mirror out of focus to make sure that the main point of focus was the boy. This draws more attention to the boy behind the mirror rather than the mirror itself. I also decided to edit the pictures, making the colours slightly darker to match the mood.
The subject is surrounded by grownups that don’t seem to care about him being there and are too busy to stop and ask if he’s lost. The subject feels out of place as he is in the middle of a city and is the only child around. These pictures raise ethical issues about childcare and raising children.
In these pictures, I wanted to visually represent the feeling of not belonging. I took inspiration from the Bernardos campaign(video below).
Despite it being a photo rather than a video, I wanted to show what feeling out of place feels like. In the photo, the subject looks visually upset. The broken mirror reflects his confused and angry mood. The mirror also links in as a fragment because it divides his face and shows a physical break down of the subject. The broken mirror also symbolises the mental breakdown of the subject as it breaks him apart.
I purposely decided to make the mirror out of focus to make sure that the main point of focus was the boy. This draws more attention to the boy behind the mirror rather than the mirror itself. I also decided to edit the pictures, making the colours slightly darker to match the mood.
The subject is surrounded by grownups that don’t seem to care about him being there and are too busy to stop and ask if he’s lost. The subject feels out of place as he is in the middle of a city and is the only child around. These pictures raise ethical issues about childcare and raising children.
Contact Sheets.
In my development i got people to hold a normal piece of mirror, however, I thouhgt that it was not interesting enaugh so I decided to break the mirror.
In my development i got people to hold a normal piece of mirror, however, I thouhgt that it was not interesting enaugh so I decided to break the mirror.
I also made movies of the broken mirror.
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Development
These are the videos I decided to take. I decided to include the person holding the mirror in the video.
Further development.
I decided to Create a cinema-graph out of the videos i created.
i used a tripod to make sure that there was no camera blur, however, the mirror was hand held so there is some unwanted shake in the video. To develop it further next time, I will use someone with a steadier hand. I will also go into an area where there are more people.
i used a tripod to make sure that there was no camera blur, however, the mirror was hand held so there is some unwanted shake in the video. To develop it further next time, I will use someone with a steadier hand. I will also go into an area where there are more people.
Step by step of how I created the cinema-graph.
The unedited video.
Final piece
In this task, I wanted to create a piece that linked to the theme of fragments but also had a meaning behind it. These videos link into the theme of fragments as people are walking past the mirror and they are being broken up into different fragments by the mirror. The mirror breaks people’s body up into different sections. This also has a meaning behind it is an illustration of how people can break down physically and mentally. I decided to have no-one in my background to make it seem as if there was nothing going on outside of the mirror. This also makes the mirror the only point of focus.
I used a tripod to make sure that there was no camera shake whilst filming to reduce inconveniences whilst creating the cinema-graph.
I decided to create a cinema-graph as it suited the theme. This is because the subject holding the mirror is completely still whilst the people inside the mirror are moving. This creates a sense that the subject is frozen in time which contrasts with the people in the mirror moving and not carrying on with their lives.
I used a tripod to make sure that there was no camera shake whilst filming to reduce inconveniences whilst creating the cinema-graph.
I decided to create a cinema-graph as it suited the theme. This is because the subject holding the mirror is completely still whilst the people inside the mirror are moving. This creates a sense that the subject is frozen in time which contrasts with the people in the mirror moving and not carrying on with their lives.