4.8 Emulation

The image above is my response to the work of André Kertész, and his image Fork, Paris, 1928, shown below. (Huxley-Parlour, n.d.).

My preparatory work for this assignment can be viewed in my learning log https://wordpress.com/view/karenfip.home.blog. My work included trying to recreate the image above. Though a pastiche, it was a challenging, but extremely valuable exercise making me aware of the importance of composition and how the placement of the smallest object can have and impact on the overall image. My aim was for my final image was to create an photograph with the following characteristics

Simplicity
Creative use of light
Composition creating patterns and shapes
Light and Shadow
Contrast

When researching the work of Kertész, I discovered his work with mirrors and distorting the image and wanted to build this into my emulation. My final image was created in two stages using the shot image below, which was then edited in Photoshop using the distort (shear) filter. Rather than using shadows and a strong light, in this image, the patterns and shapes are created through reflection. The forks are placed on a mirror, with a blue translucent sheet of plastic (bought from an art shop) held above for the colour and reflection. Taken in a conservatory with natural light, the forks reflections show the lines of the window frames, adding interest to the image.

Some of my experiments with the distort filter are shown below

My final image, though inspired by Kertész, feels like it is very much my own. As in previous assignments, the preparatory work as allowed me to develop from a starting point and create work of a higher standard.

References

HUXLEY-PARLOUR.(n.d.) Fork, Paris, 1928 [Online]. Available: https://huxleyparlour.com/works/fork-paris-1928/

4.8 Emulation: Preparatory Work

The exercise is to take a key photograph of an artist I admire, and use this as a starting point using aspects of the photo that appeal to me to create my own image.

My chosen image is Fork, Paris, 1928 by André Kertész. (Huxley-Parlour, n.d.).

Characteristics

Simplicity
Creative use of light
Composition creating patterns and shapes
Light and Shadow
Contrast

Though the exercise is to take these characteristics and make a new image. I thought it would be an interesting challenge to recreate the image. Though on the surface this could be viewed as a simple photo of a fork on a bowl after dinner, it is a fascinating composition with the frame divided into triangles, balanced by curves. The texture of the table surface provides interest, and the black shadow of the bowl leads to the edge of the bowl, that in turn leads to the black border at the top of the image at the edge of the table.

After trial and error and some editing in photoshop to enhance the contrast I created an image that though not as strong as the original captures some of the characteristics that appeal to me.

Through this process, I learnt a lot about the importance of composition and how one tiny change of angle can create a completely different effect. The light source was a strong torch. Having the freedom to explore different lighting effects from the position of the torch led to the following images, which all look for patterns and shape, and light and shadow.

These images all have a texture added as a blended layer.

Though not part of the set exercise I found recreating the original image a challenge, but a valuable experience. My next step is to explore more with the use of light, strong shadows and reflections.

References

HUXLEY-PARLOUR.(n.d.) Fork, Paris, 1928 [Online]. Available: https://huxleyparlour.com/works/fork-paris-1928/

Tutor Led Zoom: Reflective Writing 19 Feb 2020

Led by Andrea Norrington

Key points

Reflective practice is much wider than reflective practice and should be built into our work from the outset
Plan Act Observe Reflect Revise Act Observe Reflect
Don’t just reflect at the end
5 mins free writing can help clear your mind, providing focus and structure
Journal at least weekly. It is really helpful for assignments if you have a record of your through processes through all the stages.
Use models e.g.

Gibbs (for me the headings need more explanation to make this clearer, but this tends to be one of my most used frameworks)
A model devised by Andrea.

Review/Action Plan Model

Review

Where am I now?
What have I learnt?
What are the issues?
What are the solutions?
Where am I going?

Action Plan

what do I do next?
When do I do it?There are additional points that I will add when the presentation is made available.

Afterwards, I was reminded me of some training led by Alison Blair, looking at Phil Race’s model of learning. There were some excellent questions at the end for developing an action plan.

Questions for developing an action plan

One thing I am going to do is…
One idea I’m taking away is…
I am going to think about…
I have found out that…
I’d like to know…
In future I am going to…

Documenting the Process

Posted by Kate513940. This is from an essay Documenting the Process by Mike Simmons in Photographers and Research the role of research in contemporary photographic practice, Shirley Read and Mike Simmons, Routledge 2017. Heavily paraphrased and including my own notes in brackets it goes as follows.There are three core questions to ask yourself. What? what did you want to do? what did you actually do? what were the outcomes So What? analyse the situation. What worked well? What didn’t? what influenced your decisions?Now What? This is the most important one for me. I try to take the work out of the OCA assignment “box” and imagine it as a longer term project. What would I do differently? What else do I need to consider?

Google models of reflections, there are many different ways suitable for different approaches.

Writing Strategies
- Stream of consciousness
- Free writing with a theme
- Dialogue
- Write a Letter
- Lists

I found the session a useful reminder of the benefits of reflecting at all stages of the process, and also to try out different models of reflection. It was a good introduction to the benefits of reflection and made it accessible to students to whom this may have been a new concept.

Research point – Self reflection

I build in reflection to my creative practice throughout the process. My development points from my third assignment, have informed my responses to the points to consider in this exercises

Points to consider

Areas to develop

Continue to develop my knowledge of the work of other photographers
Look at how other art forms influence photography
Create more regular learning log posts to consolidate my learning and research (approximately 500 words per post).
Research the use of flash.
Plan how I will communicate my ideas to models I am working with.
Ambiguity can be good, the photos should be able to speak for themselves without being over reliant on descriptive titles or text.
To continue to get feedback on my work from a range of people including my tutor, fellow students, and other people (including photographers and non photographers).

My tutor recommended the book, Light, Science & Magic, an Introduction to Photographic Lighting, as lighting is a recurring point.

In addition, I am also reading, Langford’s Basic Photography.

Both of these books are more technical than my previous reading, explaining why things work in a certain way. For example how light is reflected in different ways depending on the surface. They are a useful next step in developing my knowledge.

2. What type of photographs do I want to take

A difficult question, I am drawn to many different types of photography, but as I progress through the course I am interested in images that have pattern and shape, with creative use of light and shadow. This could be still life, architecture, landscape. Fine art photography, mixed media, and abstract are other interests.

3. Photographers who interest me

André Kertész
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Rui Veiga
Valda Bailey
Matthieu Venot
Ola Kolehmainen

4. Key elements

Creative use of light
Patterns and shapes
Light and Shadow
An exploration of colour
Intentional Camera Movement
Contrast

5. One key photo to use in Exercise 4.8

Research into the photographers mentioned above will be ongoing and posted in my learning log.

André Kertész: Fork, Paris 1928 *(Huxley-Parlour, N.D.)*

There are many images to choose from. I chose this image for its simplicity and a starting point to explore further some of the techniques used by Kertész in the next exercise. This also supports my aim to learn more about different techniques of lighting.

References

HUXLEY-PARLOUR.(n.d) Fork, Paris, 1928 [Online]. Available: https://huxleyparlour.com/works/fork-paris-1928/

4.7 Repetition

4.6 Photomontage in Photoshop

This exercise provided opportunity to experiment and though these images are not a complete photomontage, I developed skills using layers, blending modes, and cutting out, combining unusual objects to create images that have an element of surrealism.

The image, Life and Death, was the most challenging as this uses a shoot from a bush with the stem joined onto the trunk of an upturned dead tree giving the impression of roots. The final image, Window of Stories, uses a beautiful window with different coloured panes of glass as the back ground. As a development it would be interesting to use something like this as a frame for a series of images.All of these images gave me the opportunity to create something that was slightly unusual and would make the viewer look twice, and play with expectations.

One of my aims when starting this course was to develop my skills in Photoshop and through this and exercise 4.4 I have extended the range of creative opportunities for my work.

Time Flies, Apple Surprise and, Life and Death

4.5 Photomontage

The exercise was to create a photomontage using images from magazines or newspapers. A google search for photomontage opened a whole range of ideas beyond the scope of the exercise, including cutting, and weaving paper.

The following surreal, and to me unsettling image, provokes thoughts of hidden mental health issues. People on the outside can put up a front of everything being fine, whilst in reality they are struggling. consists of a woman (from a Specsavers Brochure) and a photo of spring blossom cut into strips. From this short experiment, I can see the value of photomontage to create a message or commentary in a different way from a standard photo. In the image below though the subject is conflicted. The outward appearance does not reflect what is happening internally

This is only an exercise, but to develop this work in the future I would experiment more with the cuts of the paper. How the subject is cut out, and having more separation in areas of the face. The woven paper on the right-hand side, is perhaps unnecessary and looses the strength of vertical strips.

Following on from this, I decided to experiment with paper weaving two identical photographs. As with the exercise above this requires more work, but overall this has been thought provoking project considering what types of image would work well together, and thinking about how an image is constructed, and how the elements work together.

John Heartfield

John Heartfield, original name Helmut Herzfeld (1891-1968) was a German artist known for his use of art to make a political point or a statement. He was a pioneer of photomontage; some of the most famous of these are the anti-fascist montages such as the criticism of Hitler. Using cut outs of photographs and images he created a photolike process achieved without using a camera.(Heartfield Photomontages, n.d.)

The J. Paul Getty Museum describe how his images were a reflection of what was happening in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s, ‘as it slipped toward social and political catastrophe.’ They go on to describe how the impact of his images made photomontage a method of mass communication. The technique allowed him to take images of well-known figures or events published in newspapers and then recreate a new image with a different meaning. (Agitated Images: John Heartfield & German Photomontage, n.d.)

Heartfield was active in the Dada movement in Berlin. Dada flourished at the end of World War I in Zurich, New York City, Cologne, Berlin, Hanover, and Paris. Knierim (2012) identifies common styles that were introduced by Dadism as collage, montage, assemblage and the ready-made. He describes the Berlin Dadaists as ‘the most progressive and politically subversive of the international Dada movement.’ Other artists included Hannah Höch, Raoul Hausmann, and George Grosz.

Many of Heartsfield’s imagers were published in the Arbiter Illustrierte Zeitung (Workers’ Illustrated Magazine), a communist newspaper. One of his early photomontages, The Tire Travels Around the World (1920) was used as a cover. The photomontage includes a tire, slogans, cut out words,. Fragments of words and images represent the tire, adverts, creating an image that is a chaotic representation of Germany’s state following World War I. (Heartfield Photomontages, n.d.)

One of the most well known political images published was Adolph the Superman, Swallows Gold and Spouts Junk (1932). The image shows a picture of Hitler overlaid with chest X-ray, and the spine replaced by coins. The image can be viewed at https://www.johnheartfield.com/John-Heartfield-Exhibition/john-heartfield-art/famous-anti-fascist-art/heartfield-posters-aiz/adolf-the-superman-hitler-portrait. The image can be interpreted as a commentary on Hitler’s funding by financiers and industrialists in contrast to his working-class rhetoric.(Agitated Images: John Heartfield & German Photomontage, n.d.)

References

AGITATED IMAGES: JOHN HEARTFIELD & GERMAN PHOTOMONTAGE. n.d. Available: https://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/heartfield/ [Accessed 17 Jan 2020].

HEARTFIELD PHOTOMONTAGES. n.d.: The Art Story. Available: https://www.theartstory.org/artist/heartfield-john/[Accessed 17 Jan 2020].

KNIERIM, F. 2012. Dada. In: HACKING, J. (ed.) Photography The Whole Story. London: Thames & Hudson.

Exercise 4.4 Layers

I found this a thought provoking exercise. A large part of the challenge was choosing the images that would work well together. The original four images are shown below.

An example created in the process of experimenting for Exercise 3.1 is shown below

Through the process, I decided to experiment further with contrasting shapes, using architecture as an inspiration. The image below is created from two photographs of the Corn Exchange using the Pin Light Blending Mode. In this blending mode, ‘Where the colors are 50% gray on the blend layer, the base layer shows through. Lighter or darker than 50% gray will display on the blend color.’ (Smith, 2016)