Assignment (Unit 108) - Research - David Levinthal

David Levinthal

For my final research subject I have decided to go back to the battlefield.  David Levinthal's I.E.D. exhibition showcases war photography like none I have seen before now.  What's so different about Levinthal's work is the fact that his subjects are all toys and dolls.  Levinthal creates some amazing scenes and it's his use of lighting and composition that makes these images come to life.  For my surrealism/war theme I am definitely interested in creating something using close up and miniature photography.

Through the use of miniature soldiers which were found in most American toy stores, Levinthal constructs and recreates the horrors of modern warfare.  His images aren't merely trying to recreate what is happening every day in the world around us but they are trying to question our perception of war.

I find quite often, Levinthal's photographs blur the line between real life and fantasy extremely well.  With brilliant uses of shadows and highlights and the really soft focus you almost forget that these photographs are merely toys.  The way he blurs out the background just enough to show you whats there, but take away any of the detail is a great way to hide the plasticity of the tanks and cars.  It's great to know that you can create such powerful images without putting yourself in danger.

On viewing this series of photographs I can help but be taken back to my childhood.  I was forever playing war with those little plastic soldiers and hundreds of the little blighters are probably still out their in the jungles of my garden and buried deep under the mud.  As a child I was amazed by global conflict without any consideration about the aftermath.  Through films and history we were spoon fed glamorous tales of heroism and everyone wanted to be the guy that single handedly wins the war.  Levinthal's photographs bring the brutality back but I think we live in a society where people have been de-sensitised to violence.

Looking back, it cant be a good thing to have children seeking satisfaction by murdering hundreds of toy soldiers.  We all did it as kids but we never stopped to think, "There's something not right about that!"

It's amazing how thought provoking a few photographs of toys can be.

“Ever since I began working with toys, I have been intrigued with the idea that these seemingly benign objects could take on such incredible power and personality simply by the way they were photographed. I began to realize that by carefully selecting the depth of field and making it narrow, I could create a sense of movement and reality that was in fact not there." - David Levinthal

Assignment (Unit 108) - Research - Jerry Uelsmann

Jerry Uelsmann

It's quite astonishing to think that before Photoshop, images as amazing and surreal as anything today's technology can offer were being created many years ago using old darkroom techniques.  Jerry Uelsmann's images were created by exposing various negatives onto a single print.  It's amazing how real the images look.  It's almost like Uelsmann is out there documenting dreams. 

The image of the 'treehouse' may be familiar to fans of the 1995 TV series, 'The Outer Limits.'  It's such a simple concept yet one that produces a powerful image.  It almost has a nightmarish quality to it.  I love the way the roots of the tree lead up to the house, drawing your gaze to the centre of the frame. The house itself has that haunted house look about it.  The use of black and white gives this picture more of an atmospheric feel.

The final picture is one of my favourites. Not because it shows nipples but because it's such an amazing composition.  Uelsmann has taken an often photographed scene and created a work of art from it.  The way the flowing river morphs into the female form is just fantastic.  To me, this image is all about life.  Water is this planet's lifeblood and women are humanity's means of reproduction.  Without either of them we would be a dying race on a dead planet.  That's just my interpretation anyway. 

Looking through Uelsmann's work you cant help but be inspired.  With photoshop and other software packages, you can create works as mind blowing as these in just a few hours.  This is definitely a direction I would like to lean towards with my manipulation assignment.

 “Ultimately, my hope is to amaze myself. The anticipation of discovering new possibilities becomes my greatest joy." - Jerry Uelsmann

Assignment (Unit 101-105) - WWII Shoot - Review

After giving myself time to think about my adventures in the woods I feel that I was a little hard on myself for the way my images turned out.  Sure, I had problems with the sharpness of some of the images, but on the whole I feel that I have more than enough photographs to submit for my final body of work.

Not having the funds to purchase the most fantastic DSLR's available, all my shots were captured by my trusty Sony A200.  A camera which is fairly decent as an entry level camera but one which may need to be upgraded if I want to become a serious photographer.

Most of my shots were taken using my Sony DT 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6 lens which seemed to be more effective.  I wanted to try and get up close and personal and this lens was a lot better at achieving this. The wider aperture of the standard lens meant my Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG MACRO lens spent most of its time sitting in my backpack.  The Sigma did pop out for some of my long shots.

Now a word from our health and safety advisor.

Being in the woods, with deadly weapons and lots of camera equipment requires careful planning.  Firstly, the frozen ground was an issue.  My German pal fell on his backside to the amusement of myself and my American friend and this was a constant threat.  What can you do about the weather?  We just had to make sure we took care and tried not to walk on the really icy paths.

My friend Dave (The American) is a native of the woods which was partly the reason we chose Baddersley. I don't mean he's a hermit who actually lives in the woods or anything, I mean he's a local lad and spent most of his childhood running about in said woods.  We knew where we were going and we had our trusty WW2 era mobile phones at hand in case anyone got lost.

As far as the weapons were concerned, the bayonet stayed in its sheath until needed as did the rifle.  The rifle itself was unloaded (we had no ammunition to tempt us) and the safety was left on at all times.

To avoid the threat of having the police intervene, we made sure to put the weapons away whenever civilians walked past (luckily, this only happened once or twice).

The only other consideration we took was adopting a "common sense is self defence" mentality.

Back to the shoot...

When I set out to shoot these images I made a conscious choice to use only natural light.  I figured that back in the battlefields of the 1940's photographers would have had little opportunity to arrange the perfect lighting setup.  At least I had the time to move my subjects into the required position.

f/25 1/3 sec ISO-400

Being in the middle of the woods meant that the light was broken up by the canopy and quite often I managed to position my subjects so the lighting highlighted parts that I wanted to be the main focal point.  For instance, in the above shot I wanted my German soldier as the main focal point.  I then wanted the view to be drawn across to see what he's aiming at.  I then used the sunlight to make my American soldier poke out of the woods.  I was quite happy with how this shot turned out.  It was one of five in a series before the light disappeared under the clouds.  I used a narrow aperture to try and keep the background in focus.

f/5.6 1/40sec ISO-400

In my shot of the German soldier surrendering I positioned my 'actors' so that the light would be shining on the face of the German.  I wanted my two characters to stand out as the whole act of surrender was the theme of the picture.  This was another shot that took a lot of tinkering with.  Positioning the people into exactly the right places took a lot of time but I was rewarded with some nice shots.  At this time I was getting into the mentality of shooting as many images as I could until the conditions had changed.  I took this photograph in landscape and portrait and decided that the portrait version just seemed tidier and on the whole, it just worked nicely.

Upon entering the woods I had a clear idea of the shot's I wanted but I was also willing to let things flow and see what happened.  As I ventured deeper into the woods I found some great places to stage photographs and this affected the overall outcome.  Shot's which worked well in my head didn't work with certain surroundings and figuring out how best to re-compose things was a challenge which I really enjoyed.

f/5.6 1/40sec ISO-800

After arranging my final set piece of the German attack on the American soldier, I decided to shoot from a variety of different angles to see what effect it had on the overall scene.  The above shot shows very little detail of the aftermath of the attack but that's what I like about it.  By focusing on the helmet I managed to slightly blur out the dead guy's head.  Below is the more revealing shot which (yes I have already posted on a previous blog) was one of my favourites of the day.  I waited patiently to catch the sunlight breaking through the trees.

All that's left to do for this part of my assignment is to whittle down my photographs so I have at least six to ten strong images.  I will be looking for images that show good composition, lighting and quality.  Ideally, I would like to tell a picture story with my images that will continue onto my manipulation assignment.

Assignment (Unit 108) - Research - David Lynch

David Lynch

Best known for directing the films, Blue Velvet, Wild At Heart, Eraserhead and Mullholland Dr. Not to mention his fantastic Twin Peaks TV series, David Lynch is somewhat a hero of mine.  Artist, Director and Photographer, Lynch is the person who I hold in the highest regard.  His endless creativity and 'jack of all trades' mentality is something I aspire to.

David Lynch's movies are filled with so much wonderful imagery that it would take me forever to pick out a few snippets to talk about and seeing as this is a photography blog I think I'll just concentrate on his recent foray into this field.

This small selection of photographs come from Lynch's collaboration with musicians Sparklehorse and Dangermouse.  The images are said to be Lynch's visual interpretation of the music from the album Dark Night Of The Soul.

My favourite image from the project is this image of the three collaborators standing in a field.  It's a very subtle image and the desaturated appearance gives the image a very fantastical quality.  Anyone who is a fan of Lynch expects the unexpected and his photography doesn't disappoint.

The thing about Lynch's work is the absurdity of everything he does.  He's very good at throwing images at you and offers no explanations.  Everything is open to interpretation.  I have seem many similar images to this one and have even tried something similar myself yet the way in which Lynch manages to capture these shots so easily shows he knows what he's doing.  I guess you would expect to have an eye for a shot after so many years making films.

The above image of a giant head on a table is typical Lynch.  The use of photo editing software seamlessly turns a normal scene of a family getting ready to eat dinner into something horrific.  The final image however seems relatively normal in comparison (well, normal in the Lynchian way of having a barbecue in pitch black).  I love the way Lynch has captured the flames rising out of the barbecue.  It's a very nice homely image except for the forks on the left of the photograph resembling something rude.  A lot of Lynch's early films touched on small town suburbia and I feel this image fits in with that theme quite nicely.  

'It's wonderful to imagine that every viewer interprets a picture or film very individually. Some come quite close to my own interpretation; some, however, are miles away form it. When I watch a film or look at a photo, I don't really think about what I'm seeing. I would even go as far as saying - the more abstract, the better.'  - David Lynch

Assignment (Unit 108) - Research - Hans Bellmer

Hans Bellmer

Hans Bellmer was a German artist and photographer who is most notably remembered for his work with life sized dolls.  Some of is works have inspired various other mediums including the hit video game Silent Hill and also the works of Jake and Dinos Chapman.  In his native Germany, Bellmer's work was declared degenerate by the Nazi Party and he was forced to flee to Paris where his status as a surrealist grew.

Bellmer's work with dolls absolutely fascinates me.  The images are erotic and haunting at the same time.  You can kind of feel that Bellmer had some disturbing sexual issues.  There seems to be an overt sense of forbidden love and sexual aggression in his work.  Theres also a strong question of possession.  Many of his dolls are positioned in suggestive poses and the fantastic black and white shows off the highlights and shadowy areas superbly.

I think the use of black and white actually gives these photographs a realistic quality.  You kind of feel like voyeur looking in on some strange world of living automatons.  Bellmer's compositions are unlike anything I had seen and they really do stick in the mind. I find a lot of his photographs appear over or underexposed in places and this just adds to the effect.  Bellmer also uses shadows to good effect.  The above picture is given greater depth by the lighting arrangement.  The projected shadows on the wall also give the scene a more busy feel.  It's kind of like a merry dance of limbs.

The photograph below is one of my favourites.  The way the light shines through the window onto the dolls is very dreamlike.  It's a very relaxing picture. 

There has always been a lot of controversy surrounding Bellmer's works.  There's a power in the confusion these images create.  For instance, the above image has been interpreted in many different ways.  Is this a sexual struggle of some kind?  The scene does have some nightmarish qualities. The eerie use of shadows, the apparent struggle of the dolls and the suggestion of sexual and domestic violence.  It's thought provoking to say the least. 

I love the way Bellmer, in this self portrait seems to look more surreal than the mutilated doll he's standing next to.  Thanks to the use of a slow shutter speed it's as if Bellmer is a ghostly apparition in his own strange world. The crispness of the doll totally contradicts the difference between whats real and whats fake.   



"It was worth all my obsessive efforts, when, amid the smell of glue and wet plaster, the essence of all that is impressive would take shape and become a real object to be possessed."  - Hans Bellmer

Assignment (Unit 101-105) - WWII Shoot - Day 2 Evaluation




f/22 1/25sec ISO-400

Looking back on my WWII adventure I feel many things.  Firstly, I feel glad that I chose such an engaging subject matter.  I'm impressed with the fact that I managed to acquire all the things I needed to complete the task.  I can't say thank you enough to Adam Wilson, Kegan Burrows and especially Dave Land  because without their help I would never have got this project off the ground.  I'm also pleased to see my Christmas bonus from work has gone a little way towards repairing the large hole in my bank account.

Day One came and went in a blur of excitement.  I did what I thought was best and came away with some interesting (but not technically great) shots but I was safe in the knowledge that I could do better. 

Day Two however proved that I can't actually do better.  It was a more of the same kind of job.  Either I don't have the experience or technical know how to be able to compensate for any occasions.  I was tempted just to flick the camera onto Auto so I would at least have something amazing to show off.  I would have only been cheating myself though.

I know that this is a beginners course and that we are all in the same boat but I don't ever expect to be average at something.  This may sound big headed but I go into everything with the aim to be brilliant at it.  Whether it's football, music or even shelf stacking I always pride myself at being damn good at it.  I guess it's a character flaw of mine.

Now it's not that I believe that the pictures I took are bad.  I think I managed to create a few decent compositions but it's just the sharpness that lets them down.  I imagined them blown up to maybe an A3 size and I'm worried that if I went down that avenue the pictures would look relatively poor.  However, after comparing the images to those of my research subjects I do think that the images look like they actually are 1940's war photos and some of the softness of the images add to the feel of the picture..

So on reflection, if I was actually taking photo's in WWII then I'd be quite happy with some of the images. Of course I'd probably be scrutinised for letting that poor American soldier get jumped by that dirty German.  It would have been wrong for me to interfere.  He might have killed me too.


f/5.6 1/40sec ISO-800

I may have one more go at capturing the shot's I want.  A Day 3 looks likely.  I feel like I need to have a good chat with Marie on Wednesday and see what pointers she can give me.





Assignment (Unit 101-105) - WWII Shoot - Day 2

Last Sunday I set out into the unknown to try to make my visions come to life.  Sadly last week's shoot didn't fulfil those vivid dreams of a glorious days photography.  This morning, with a car full of equipment and my trusty volunteers at hand, I once again set out into the now not so unknown to see if I could do better.



Last week I made the stupid mistake of not having a full battery at my disposal so I am pleased to announce that there were no such troubles this week.  I did manage to break my tripod though.

left pic f/5.6 1/80sec ISO-400 right pic f/5.6 1/30sec ISO-400



When we arrived at our location we were quite surprised to find a lot of people wondering about.  Now this is early morning, in the freezing cold and there were actually quite a few people getting ready to do a spot of rallying.  Luckily they rallied off over to a nearby quarry and left our side of the woods alone. 

It took me a while to sort out my camera settings.  The woods were quite dark with the odd ray of sunshine bursting through the canopy.  I tried a number of settings and had varying results.  I mainly found myself using my camera's widest aperture.  Because of the lack of light I found using ISO-400 got the best results.  I was reluctant to use a higher ISO because I found the image quality would have deteriorated.  I did have to bump the ISO up to 800 as we started to lose the light after a few hours.

 left pic f/5.6 1/40sec ISO-400 right pic f/5.6 1/30sec ISO-400

For a lot of these pictures I decided I was going to tell a little story.  You can kind of tell whats happening without me having to explain it.  I found some great little places thanks to last weeks recon so once I had found settings that worked it was quite a quick process arranging my shots.

My major concern is the sharpness of the images.  Now I had this problem last week and have pretty much experienced the same problems this week.  I took hundreds of photo's and the results were a mixed bag of surprises.  I tried a lot of settings to see if that would make any difference and I even flicked the camera into auto focus for a few shots.  This didn't improve the situation.  I have decided that I'll just have to get a new standard lens for Christmas.



f/5.6 1/30sec ISO-400

Im not sure if these photo's are good enough to be selected for my final piece.  I'd like to think they are but there's just something that bugs me about them.  I think I need to view them on a bigger and better screen than the one I have at my disposal.  I keep complaining about my laptop but seriously, how are you supposed to edit brightness and contrast when whichever way you move your head your screen looks completely different?

Also, this blogger is really starting to annoy me, it never seems to do what I ask. 

A bad workman always blames his tools.  Maybe that's the problem, maybe I'm just not as good at photography as I think I am.  Now that's ruined my day.



f/5.6 1/100sec ISO-800



f/5.6 1/40sec ISO-800







Assignment (Unit 108) - Initial Ideas

Initial Ideas

Usually I'm full of wonderfully crazy things to do.  Today I'm having a bit of trouble thinking of something decent.  Maybe it's because someone is playing really horrible loud music downstairs, or maybe it's because I'm half watching Flight Of The Conchords on the old DVD player.  It may even be because of the snow.  Too many damn distractions.

World War II Continued...
Anyway, I was thinking about doing an extension of my War theme.  I would create some images to put together as part of a story.  I would create some images set pre-war (well, before my friend has joined the fight) which would lead into the main war shoot.  Then I'd do something set afterwards.  Maybe have my soldier in purgatory after being killed in action.  I could try to create some hellish landscapes and even manipulate images of people and turn them into demon's or something.  I think it would look visually stunning and would be a nice little picture story.

Superheroes

Thinking back to my previous idea, I think this would be a good one for the manipulation assignment.  I could show my heroes actually using special powers on the scum and villainy of the world.  After spending a lot of money on my war theme I feel like I had best do something that's not going to cost much.  Maybe this is one for the future.

People & Places/ Surrealism

Maybe it would be interesting to take photographs of people doing everyday tasks in really strange surroundings or just adding a surreal twist.  For example, have people driving cars around fish tanks, taking the giant pet rat for a walk.  Jockey's riding sea horses, people in jellyfish hot air balloons... you get the gist?

I could do a lot with this theme if I had the time.

 

Attack Of The 50ft Woman

Did you ever see the film?  It was rubbish.  That's not important.  The important thing is the concept.  I'd go out and shoot lots of images of Birmingham and manipulate those images to show a giant woman (or man) attacking various landmarks, eating people and just being down right nasty.

The Movies

After looking at the 50ft Woman poster I was thinking about producing a series of film posters for fake motion pictures.  Using layers, filters and texts im sure I could create something good enough to be vandalised in a bus shelter near you.

That's all I have right now which isn't a lot I know.  I'm sure more ideas will come soon and I'll be back on here to tell you all about them.

If you see any actual 50ft women attacking any major cities in the UK, give me a shout.  It might make this assignment a tad easier.

Cheers.

Assignment (Unit 108) - Introduction

Assignment: Manipulation
Unit Modules:

• 108 - Digital Image Manipulation

For this assignment I am required to select and manipulate a minimum of four images.  These photographs are also required to follow a theme and will be displayed along with the unmodified images.

Once again I am required to show my preparation, influences, how equipment was used, image quality checks, legal and ethical considerations.

As with Unit 101-105 my blogs will keep a record of the following-

• Ideas
• Research
• Experimentation
• Developing Ideas
• Evaluation

If I need to, I have been told I can use the same images from my previous assignment.  I would like to try something different but it's a nice option to have available.

Photo manipulation is something that really interests me so I cant wait to get started.  I'll be posting some of my initial idea's on here as soon as I have some.