TRUTH, FANTASY AND FICTION
My first interpretations of this theme include ideas of images that confuse the viewer, fairy tale based photos and 'impossible' shots.
Task 1 - Absurd
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Above are two videos showing the work of German artist Erwin Wurm.
My Responses
Before taking the photographs, I sketched out ideas with my subject.
With our responses, my partner and I analysed Wurm's work and found that there were similarities including: white background, simple pose, few props. Whilst some of the shots did not completely fulfil this criteria, the first image below was our best attempt at doing so.
Above is my favourite image from this shoot. I attempted to replicate the same criteria that Wurm uses when creating his work, such as the inclusion of a white background and the use of only a few objects.
Hide
The photos below are a response to the word 'hide'. My aim with these photos was to capture an 'unusual' moment where the subject was hiding in a peculiar way.
I looked at the artists above for inspiration, but still decided to have my own take on the idea. I wanted my images to relate to real life, yet still be out of the ordinary. To achieve this I photographed my subject using everyday objects against simple backgrounds.
Task 2 - Glitching
The art of glitching questions traditional artistic forms using digital techniques. Data corruption and distortion can make an original image appear completely different and create a whole new meaning behind an image. This links to the theme 'Truth, Fantasy and Fiction' as this work showcases an altered reality, creating a digital fantasy through the use of real images.
Audacity:
The photos below were edited using the programme Audacity. Whilst this programme is intended for editing audio files, I used it in a unique way to create a 'glitched' effect on my photos. As you can see below, I went through a number of stages to get my final result, which is a complete alteration of the 'truth'.
I imported images in to Audacity as 'Raw Data', and then began to randomly apply effects to the data.
Below is a slide show of each image in order of editing. As you can see, each photo slowly became more glitched as I added more effects to the data in Audacity.
Text Edit:
To glitch photos via TextEdit, I opened photos in the programme, and then randomly altered the coding that made up the image. For example, I would delete sections of the coding, copy and paste sections, and even add my own random text and numbers to the coding.
Below are the different stages I went through before I got to my finished image. As you can see, at first I altered a lot of data within text edit to produce my first edited version, but then gradually changed data as I went along to produce my final version.
Heitor Magno
Heitor Magno is an artist who uses glitching in a unique way.
His technique and work provokes interesting feelings and emotions. The glitched look adds a very modern tone to his images, which suggests a number of different meanings to his work.
His technique and work provokes interesting feelings and emotions. The glitched look adds a very modern tone to his images, which suggests a number of different meanings to his work.
Glitch Extension
Flower Glitch (using Text Edit):
For my glitch extension, I used other techniques than simply glitching to create a finished image. The image above and two images below show a condensed process. I used text edit to create a random yet somewhat intended gltiched version of a flower photo I had taken, and then edited the final glitched image in photoshop to enhance the colours, brightness and contrast. This then gave the photo a more modern and stylised look as it features very dark colours against very bright ones.
Unposed Truth
This task is aimed to capture real moments of people in real time. This means that they are unaware of the camera and are simply going about their day as they would normally. The 'truthful' aspect of this relates to the exam unit theme, 'Truth, Fantasy and Fiction' by taking shots that are not altered, nor are they a false account of an event.
Garry Winogrand
These shots taken by Garry Winogrand capture raw, truthful moments, where the subjects are unaware of being photographed. Whilst his photos are taken sporadically, he still forms great composition within his shots, making viewers feel like they are standing within the scenario and amongst the people in the shot. This is due to much of his work being taken from eye level, making viewers feel like they are in the 'event' of the photograph. |
Half Term Homework
Below are my photos in response to the work of Garry Winogrand.
During my shoot, I encountered a few problems as I was struggling to take photos that were not blurred as a result of the time of day, and the fact that I was walking whilst taking the shots. This meant that many of my photos were indeed very blurred. However, I decided to work with those shots and thought that the blurred quality could allow them to be interpreted in an interesting and unusual way.
Through observing the shots I took for this task I noticed how similar people look when walking down a busy street. Everyone is purely focused on their destination, and many did not notice me capturing these shots when I was less discrete.
Through observing the shots I took for this task I noticed how similar people look when walking down a busy street. Everyone is purely focused on their destination, and many did not notice me capturing these shots when I was less discrete.
Micro Macro
After looking at the work of Slinkachu and Tatsuya Tanaka, I created work inspired by theirs. Their images feature miniature models of people, often found in train sets and other toys, used in a unique way to create an unusual perspective, where small things seem big.
During this shoot I was aware that there were a huge number of possibilities regarding how I could use these miniature figures to create effective images. I therefore tried to be as creative as I could. I decided to take shots where a unique sense of scale and proportion would be shown.
After finishing my shoot for this task, I subtly edited my best shots in Photoshop by increasing the contrast and brightness levels. This gave the shots more depth and better perspective, which was essential as scale was an important factor to consider when taking and editing these photos. |
As you can see below, I have shown the difference in size portrayed by the final shots and the scale in reality.
The contrast between the final images created on the left and the process shown on the right portrays the unique fantasy that the shots create.
Big Becomes Small - Tilt Shift
The two photographs below were taken in 1920 and whilst they look like aerial shots of roads and fields, they are actually two hour long exposure shots of a large piece of glass that had collected a year's worth of dust. These images capture the extreme detail and texture of the dust, which trick our brain in to thinking they are aerial shots. This relates to the exam theme of 'Truth, Fantasy and Fiction' as the photos are not edited whatsoever. They are an accurate representation of the piece of glass, yet at the same time appear to be something completely different, something false - and that is a fantasy.
These images relate to the exam unit theme 'Truth, Fantasy and Fiction' as they appear to look like something that is an altered truth. We are tricked in to thinking that we looking at model cities, when in reality we are looking at real photos that have been edited to confuse us.
Tate Modern Exhibition - Performing For The Camera
Recently I visited the Tate Modern to see the latest exhibition, 'Performing for the Camera'. A lot of the work featured there linked to this theme, 'Truth, Fantasy and Fiction', and I got some inspiration for potential paths I could go down for my final work. The exhibition included a range of work from a number of artists such as Martin Parr, Romain Mader, Amalia Ulman, Masahisa Fukase and others.
In what way? |
The contact sheet below includes photos that I took whilst at the Tate. I tried to capture shots that I could edit using the same techniques as I had been previously in our different class tasks.
I used the tilt shift technique to edit this image below, in an attempt to make the people look like small figures, and make the buildings look like models. Whilst the final image was somewhat successful, I was still not completely satisfied, as I had not edited it to a high enough standard that
Three Strands
Portrait Manipulation
With this strand, I wanted to create portraits portrayed a false interpretation of emotions. I was inspired by a number of different artists that altered and manipulated portraits in different ways to create new meanings to photos that would originally have less meaning and no underlying message.
This strand was inspired by the work of Daniele Buetti. He produces an effect featuring small white dots by piercing small holes through physical photos.
With this strand, I wanted to create portraits portrayed a false interpretation of emotions. I was inspired by a number of different artists that altered and manipulated portraits in different ways to create new meanings to photos that would originally have less meaning and no underlying message.
This strand was inspired by the work of Daniele Buetti. He produces an effect featuring small white dots by piercing small holes through physical photos.
As you can see below, I experimented with a number of different techniques on the same images to see the possible outcomes I could get. After photographing four people in a studio setup against a black background, I lightly edited the images to make the brightness and contrast higher.
I then firstly used gradient maps on the subjects' eyes, so that their eyes were covered by black and white circles or ovals. This created quite a subtle effect, but did not portray my intention as it was in fact too subtle.
I secondly attempted the process of placing white lines along their faces, highlighting the edges and features of their faces. I then proceeded to try more abstract techniques. As you can see I edited out the figures from the shot, so that they were on a white background. I then used gradient maps again, but with a bright orange and yellow gradient.
I then firstly used gradient maps on the subjects' eyes, so that their eyes were covered by black and white circles or ovals. This created quite a subtle effect, but did not portray my intention as it was in fact too subtle.
I secondly attempted the process of placing white lines along their faces, highlighting the edges and features of their faces. I then proceeded to try more abstract techniques. As you can see I edited out the figures from the shot, so that they were on a white background. I then used gradient maps again, but with a bright orange and yellow gradient.
I was inspired by the work of a previous student, Leo Thompson, who placed geometric lines and shapes on portraits to create a futuristic unique effect.
However, I found that when I attempted to use a similar effect on my own photos, the final images did not link with my intentions of this strand, which was to create a false interpretation of emotions. This led to me trying out different techniques as shown below, including altering the colour of sections within the subject's faces. This too did not create the effect that I desired in order to portray my intentions. After trying out these processes, I decided to edit my images in a similar aesthetic to the work of Buetti. |
This set of images below were purely inspired by the work of Buetti. He produces an effect featuring small white dots by piercing small holes through physical images. I decided to try and create a similar effect by editing my photos within Photoshop. I simply used the paintbrush tool with a very small size and put white dots across each of the four images that I was using for this strand.
False Landscapes
For this strand, I wanted to create images that showcased false landscapes, where the viewer would be tricked in to thinking that they were looking at a real place. I also wanted to experiment with creating more abstract and unique images that used 'real' photos in an artistic and aesthetic based way.
I was inspired by a number of artists, including Laszlo Moholy-Nagy (featured on the left). |
Below are a series of images that I created using photographs I took at the Barbican. As you can see, I created images using a range of techniques, including taking circular sections from photos and repeating them and cropping photos to place them against a coloured border.
These circular collages were directly inspired by the work of Lazlo Moholy-Nagy as he created a series of work featuring geometric shapes.
These circular collages were directly inspired by the work of Lazlo Moholy-Nagy as he created a series of work featuring geometric shapes.
After experimenting with a range of techniques and processes to create images that fulfilled my intention, I found that I was not satisfied.
The image below was created using two different photos, one in the Barbican in London and the other a view from a mountain in France. I merged them together to create a fake, futuristic world where the building looks like it has been built within the mountains. This links to the theme of truth, fantasy and fiction as it merges 'truth' (photos taken of real buildings) to create a 'fantasy' world where a building in London appears to exist in a mountain landscape within France.
The image below is the final version: I altered the brightness and contrast of the image above to further make the photo look more realistic. This also allowed the building and landscape to blend in better.
Confused/Lost Identity
The images below were inspired by a number of artists including Kieran Cropper. As you can see from his image on the left, he produced an image where he cut up sections of a portrait in to various shapes and changed the order. This creates a unique effect of presenting someone in a mysterious and confused way. I was intrigued by this effect and wanted to explore it further by taking inspiration from Cropper's techniques.
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During this shoot, I took a range of photos in the same location, using different angles and perspectives. In some shots the subject is looking directly at the camera whereas he is not in others. My contact sheet below shows how I experimented with these different styles of portraits. As my main intention was to reflect the idea of a lost identity, I experimented with a number of different techniques to portray this, including blurring the subject's eyes, blurring different facial features, and adding extra crops of images on to others.
After experimenting with different photos and techniques, I found that these three images best reflected my intentions or portraying a lost identity. The blurred repetition of facial features represents the uncomfortable feeling that we can often feel towards our identity. Sometimes people feel like they are not being truly themselves, or are maybe not even aware of what their inner identity is in itself.
The techniques I applied to my photos below create an uncomfortable sense of confusion within the subject. As we, the viewers, cannot clearly see the subject's face, it instantly puts us at a loss of his physical identity. This further leads us to question whether the subject feels comfortable with their appearance and personality or not.
The techniques I applied to my photos below create an uncomfortable sense of confusion within the subject. As we, the viewers, cannot clearly see the subject's face, it instantly puts us at a loss of his physical identity. This further leads us to question whether the subject feels comfortable with their appearance and personality or not.
My experimentation led to me understanding that I could create a similar effect through slightly different techniques, as long as the images maintained a constant theme. The shot above features more drastic and heavy editing whereas the left one below is more subtle. I also chose black and white to create an unhappy and negative mood, further expressing the subject's inner disbelief towards their identity.
After reviewing these separate images, I noticed that as they were all fairly similar in terms of composition, I had the idea to collage them together. As you can see below, they all blend well together due to their black and white nature, alongside the fact that they are already blurred. This meant that overlapping the images together would work and even further portray my intentions. I found that using a reasonably low contrast allowed me to blend the images in a more dynamic way, as there were less harsh edges in my shots.
Growing Up Series
After experimenting with the idea of blurring people's facial features, and putting them together as a collage, I decided to use the same technique but with portraits of people at different ages.
I was inspired by the work of Bobby Neel Adams, and decided to create images based on the idea of people at different ages, to show a change in both appearance and personality.
I got two photos from the subject I planned to shoot, each at different ages. I then took some portraits of him now.
When taking these current shots of the subject, I decided to take simple portraits outside of a studio. I experimented with different angles, and in the end decided to use a very simple shot of the subject looking directly at the camera. This was because the two younger photos I planned to use had a similar angle, so this would make my final image better with each individual 'photo pair' flowing well together.
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After selecting the image I wanted to use for my first collage, I edited it within Photoshop and put it against the other two older photos to begin blending them all together.
I then edited the older photos I got from my subject, making them black and white, and applying the blurred box effect over their eyes.
To make the final image look smoother, I used the blur tool on photoshop to blur out the edges of the younger photos. However, this still did not completely satisfy me in terms of the overall effect as the three separate photos were clearly visible and did not merge together as well as I wanted them to.
Whilst I was pleased with the final aesthetic of this image, it did not fully express my intention behind the theme. This led to me thinking about how I could improve with a new set of photos, and change my techniques so that the reasoning behind my work was more clear.
I decided that I wanted to move away from a simple aesthetic where similar angled portraits were placed side by side. This was because I thought that the theme of childhood memories could not be explored deep enough through this aesthetic.
I decided that I wanted to move away from a simple aesthetic where similar angled portraits were placed side by side. This was because I thought that the theme of childhood memories could not be explored deep enough through this aesthetic.
Final Piece Work
After working primarily with black and white towards my final piece, I decided to transfer similar techniques whilst using coloured photos. However, to improve my mistakes and concerns from the previous images, I either did the opposite or completely changed certain techniques I had applied.
As stated previously, I also changed my intention with these photos. I decided that I wanted to focus on the ideas of memories, and how they could be portrayed in happy yet also nostalgic way. This was because I was aware that more people can relate to this, as we often remember certain moments from our childhood, either happy or sad. My final piece focuses on this idea, and is my attempt to capture someone's childhood memories, and how they are affected now.
As stated previously, I also changed my intention with these photos. I decided that I wanted to focus on the ideas of memories, and how they could be portrayed in happy yet also nostalgic way. This was because I was aware that more people can relate to this, as we often remember certain moments from our childhood, either happy or sad. My final piece focuses on this idea, and is my attempt to capture someone's childhood memories, and how they are affected now.
The photo above and two images below are the final shots of the subject as he is presently that I decided to use. When taking these photos, I wanted to capture shots that reflected his mood and emotions towards his childhood memories. His gaze is intended to represent him day dreaming whilst having flashbacks to his younger self. Many people often worry about their identity, and look back to times when they were younger to seek an older lost identity.
To the left is the contact sheet for the shoot I did with my subject. In terms of aesthetics and composition, I wanted to take shots outside of a studio, so that my final piece would look more natural. However, I still wanted to photograph the subject against a simple background, so that I would have more possibilities, and it would be easier for me to blend in other/older images together with these recent ones. These factors contributed to allowing me to portray my final intention and theme behind my work.
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Alongside taking current photos of the subject, I collected images of him when he was younger. I chose three main older photographs to include in my final piece. I chose them based on their composition and what exactly he was doing in the shots. I wanted to use photos that could be more representative of memories as opposed to simple portraits. This meant that I needed to use photos of more real life scenarios, which these three below did well. The unique and slightly odd angles help to reflect peculiar memories and flashbacks as often they are from unusual perspectives.
As you can see below, after slightly altering the brightness and contrast of these younger shots, I further edited them to distort the faces and body. My intention was to create a sense of the subject's childhood memories being blurred, so implemented this by adding repeated sections of the photos in a faded and subtle yet effective way. This was done using Photoshop, and I used the opacity tool to change the opacity of each separate layer for the extra face or body crops. As shown below, changing the opacity gave the images a more gradual fade, further making them appear like distorted memories.
Below are the two separate collages that I made. When deciding about which layout to use, and how I would go about merging these shots, I considered the overall composition and colour balance. I found that placing the green grass in two of the younger shots next to the subject's ginger hair in the recent shot created a visually pleasing aesthetic, as green and orange are colour opposites.
Whilst editing each individual photo, I altered the brightness and contrast to enhance the colours and lighting slightly. Each photo had a fairly neutral colour balance, but I knew that my intention behind my work would stand out more if they were more intense and vibrant. This further made the younger childhood images appear more like memories as they are often over exposed and feature intense colours in other medias. For example, famous films often make it clear to viewers whether a scene is a memory through these techniques. Whilst I wanted to create a similar effect, I decided to keep the photos fairly close to their original states so that they would all blend in well together.
Whilst editing each individual photo, I altered the brightness and contrast to enhance the colours and lighting slightly. Each photo had a fairly neutral colour balance, but I knew that my intention behind my work would stand out more if they were more intense and vibrant. This further made the younger childhood images appear more like memories as they are often over exposed and feature intense colours in other medias. For example, famous films often make it clear to viewers whether a scene is a memory through these techniques. Whilst I wanted to create a similar effect, I decided to keep the photos fairly close to their original states so that they would all blend in well together.
The image on the right is composed of five separate photographs. The centre image appears to be one individual image of the subject, however it is actually comprised of two separate ones that I merged together. Whilst you can see the separation, this further adds to the blurred effect that represents the distorted personality and memories that I intended to portray.
As we grow up, memories of our childhood become distant, and these photos intend to portray that. These types of memories are often blurry and unclear, alongside our mental images often being vague and confused.
As you can see below, whilst editing these photos I had an idea to try a similar process with the previous set of images that I had edited in black and white. Whilst using the colour definitely made the final collage more vibrant and representative of memories of the subject's different ages, each shot was too busy in terms of composition so that the intention was slightly lost. I decided that I would resort back to my original plan of using the more recent photographs that I had taken and collected.
Below is my final piece for this exam unit. After creating multiple images using the same photos, and experimenting with different layouts, I decided in the end to merge these separate images together, forming one larger, more panoramic piece of work. This allowed me to include more photos and to create a more immersive final image, where there is not one main focal point. I have pushed my technical ability with this final image as it includes a detailed array of photos that I have altered in a range of unique ways.
As my final intention was to create an image that portrayed the emotions and nostalgia associated with childhood memories, I was satisfied with my outcome. The overall distortion, crossover and dynamic of the intertwined images represents this theme. Happy yet nostalgic and distorted memories are reflected through the bright colours and blurred blurred eyes or bodies.
This clearly demonstrates my intention of distorted childhood memories, which overall links to the theme of Truth, Fantasy and Fiction due to the combination of all of the three elements.
As my final intention was to create an image that portrayed the emotions and nostalgia associated with childhood memories, I was satisfied with my outcome. The overall distortion, crossover and dynamic of the intertwined images represents this theme. Happy yet nostalgic and distorted memories are reflected through the bright colours and blurred blurred eyes or bodies.
This clearly demonstrates my intention of distorted childhood memories, which overall links to the theme of Truth, Fantasy and Fiction due to the combination of all of the three elements.