Category: Assignment 4

The category containing all posts for assignment 4.

Assignment Four : Languages of Light

Brief

Revisit one of the exercises on daylight, artificial light or controlled light from Part Four (Ex 4.1, Ex 4.2 or Ex 4.3) and develop it into a formal assignment submission. The submission requirement for this assignment is a set of between six and ten high-quality photographic prints.
There are many ways to edit and the most valuable one is probably to show your work to friends, family and your OCA peers for feedback – you are guaranteed to discover something new in your work. Another tip is to pin the work up on the wall and live with it for a few days.
‘A Quick Guide to Editing Your Photo Series using Stickies’ on the IPO (Invisible Photographer Asia) website, but bear in mind that this is not a narrative assignment – you’re not required to produce a story.

My approach

Looking back at exercises 4.1, 4.2 & 4.3, I learnt a lot about light in each of them. I enjoyed looking in to light in more detail. Before this, I hadn’t really considered how important it is to ‘create’ the right light, rather than trying to find a photo with the right light. It was good to be able to experiment with lighting in different ways. I chose to move forward with exercise 4.2: Artificial light.

I found an interesting article about artificial light. [2]. In the article the author recommends two photographers whose work have good examples of capturing light. They are Nick Turpin and Todd Hido.

I went from here, to look at the work of these photographers for inspiration. In an interview with ‘Lens Culture’, Todd Hido spoke about his collection “Homes at Night”. [5].

When asked about what he does if he finds himself “burnt out”, he tells how he looks through his previous works, but that its more often that he’ll go out and find nothing to photograph. Adding thats its usually due to him “being in the wrong place—that, or it is a horribly sunny day. All blue skies. In that case, there is nothing worse.” This was so.ething I took forward with me when considering what to photograph. Everything I’ve submitted so far seems to be in natural light, which was part of my reasoning for moving forward qith artificial light, even though natural would have been easier.

[6]
[7]

There’s a certain familiarity about the photos within “Homes at Night”. The two examples I’ve used above, made me think how they reminded me of places we see often. Perhaps, as Hido said, it is the lack of people in the frame which allows you to view it as you want. Although, the first image also made me a little uncomfortable, perhaps just because of dark alleys and lonely walk ways. I think that’s due to the atmosphere he’s created with the lighting. There’s a very eerie feel to some of the images in the collection. They evoked a feeling of loneliness in me.

This series of photographs inspired me to take my own photos of homes. I wanted to capture artificial light through street light or lights on within a house. In Hidos series, I like that the light doesn’t give away any idea of whats going on within the home and allows you to imagine your own story behind it. I used a black border to show them as more of a set.

My work

One. F/1.8 – 1/250s – ISO 3200
Two. F/4.0 – 1/100s – ISO 3200
Three. F/4.0 – 1/5s – ISO 3200
Four. F/4.0 – 1/100s – ISO 3200
Five. F/5.0 – 1/5s – ISO 3200
Six. F/4.5 – 1/5s – ISO 3200

When Hido was asked why there are no humans within his series of photographs, he answered “Because of the very simple fact that if it is an empty shell, the viewer can place their own memories within it or create a narrative that would otherwise be blocked by the reality of what is actually inside.” – this is something I wanted to portray within my own photos. [5].

Reflection

For this assignment I would have liked to re look at exercise 4.2: Artificial light using a high street, as I really like the work of Sato Shintaro. The bright colours and graphic novel like feel in his ‘Night Light’ collection was something I found inspiring. I would like to go out and photograph artificial lights on the high street but, unfortunately, with a 6 month old baby, I can’t see me having the opportunity to do that with early bed time routine, an unpredictable morning wake up and later sunsets at the moment. For that reason I continued my research in to artificial light to find a different source of inspiration.

In my research I came across Todd Hido’s “Homes at Night” collection. I liked how these photographs captured the normality of a light in a house, but at the same time, made you question what was happening inside. I wanted to use that to create my own series, in which I captured homes from my home.

I feel my photos work as a set, as they have a feel of the neighbourhood they were taken in and have similar tones and lighting. However, if I were to do this again, with the freedom to just go out whenever I wanted, I would expand this to more of a ‘one square mile’ type of set. I think that would allow me to capture more variety in my work with a larger area of different photo opportunities.

In my work for exercise 4.2, I photographed things inside my house. I found part 4 quite a challenge to find the time to go outdoors to take photographs. For that reason, I used candles and lamps, indoors, to create the artificial light.

This assignment has been a challenge for me. Its one I thought I would enjoy when starting the exercises, particularly when looking at the work of Shintaro. However, with the restrictions of being a new mom, and also still being in lockdown, and the pressure of a looming deadline, I felt the need to rush to get something that works for this breif. Although I’m happy enough with the photographs I have, I’m disappointed with my work as a whole. I dont feel I’ve had the time (with or without the deadline) to do what I really wanted to for this assignment. The last month has been a struggle and I dont feel I’ve had enough free time to take photographs. That is, therefore, the main reason for my set being homes from my home, as I found I could get a little time here and there on an evening to capture what I could see from my house.

From this, I’ve learnt that I won’t always be entirely happy with my work, and perhaps I won’t always be able to submit the perfect set. But, I can use that to figure out new ways of working, and allow myself to critique work which I’m not entirely happy with. Sometimes, deadlines & obstacles will force a different result from what I’ve imagined / hoped I’d be submitting. There is still the option to re work the assignment if it really isn’t good enough, and that is OK. Its not really the way I like to work, but if I can work to make something better, I will.

Tutor Feedback

My response to my feedback for this assignment can be found here.

References

  1. Jim Hamel. Tips for Getting Proper Exposure for Night Photography. (2020). At: https://digital-photography-school.com/tips-for-getting-proper-exposure-for-night-photography/ (Accessed 24/08/20)
  2. Slaney Cullen. Artificial Light In Nighttime Photgraphy. (2019) At: https://www.nultylighting.co.uk/blog/artificial-light-night-time-photography/ (Acessed 25/08/20)
  3. Urbanist. Dark Arts: The Work of 10 Talented Night Photographers (2020). At: https://weburbanist.com/2008/07/30/10-unusually-talented-night-photographers-photography/ (Accessed 24/08/20)
  4. Amateur photographer (2016). ‘Quick Tips: Intentional Camera Movement (ICM)’. In: Amateur Photographer (06/11/2016). At: https://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/technique/camera_skills/quick-tips-intentional-camera-movement-icm-97147 (Accessed 25/08/20).
  5. Coralie Kraft. Todd Hido On “Homes At Night” and Illustrating Memories in Photography. (2020). At: https://www.lensculture.com/articles/todd-hido-todd-hido-on-homes-at-night-and-illustrating-memories-in-photography (Accessed 25/08/20).
  6. Todd Hido “#2275”. [Photograph] At: http://www.toddhido.com/homes.html (Accessed 25/08/20).
  7. Todd Hido “#2632”. [Photograph] At: http://www.toddhido.com/homes.html (Accessed 25/08/20).