Start by doing some of your own research into the photographers discussed above. Then, using fast shutter speeds, try to isolate a frozen moment of time in a moving subject. Depending on the available light you may have to select a high ISO to avoid visible blur in the photograph. Add a selection of shots, together with relevant shooting data and a description of process (how you captured the images), to your learning log.
Tonight, my parents puppy became the subject of my practice shots for part 3. As a playful, 13 week old Jack Russell, I knew it was going to be a challenge. So I just took it as a little fun with a new family member, rather than trying to use it as a serious way of capturing movement – and if I got a good shot from it, bonus!
Jack brought his own difficulties, as he’s still shy around people he doesn’t live with, myself included! So when trying to photograph him first time round, he ran away. Second time round I took some while he was saying hello to my Dad, who’d just got home. Then I took some still frames whilst he was lying on the sofa, which actually came out quite nice! After that, I sat on the floor while he was in and out of the room. During this part, he ran straight to me and licked the camera, maybe he likes his photo taken after all! A little later, he was playing fetch with my mom. I used this time to try to get the “movement” shots.
Perhaps photographing a quick little puppy isn’t the easiest of challenges to start with, but it was fun. I think I needed it to be fun so I wouldn’t be so worried about the shots not being ‘good enough’.
contact sheet for photos taken during this task. I took some stills of Jack to try to get him used to me being close to him, and me having a camera!
My Work
1/200 – f1.8 i think this is the best shot from this set. Jack seem S to be in focus rather than something in the background and he’s pretty central in the frame.1/200 – f1.8 I like that jacks paws are off the ground in this shot. You can see the pads of both of his back paws. The focus isn’t exactly right, as the dish seems to be in focus, not the dog. Also, the framing would need to be cropped to better show that the photo was of the dog, as it’s not very obvious when first looking at it. 1/200 – f1.8 Again, this shot would need cropping, but it wouldn’t really work as he’s so high in the frame. Again the still things within the shot are in better focus than Jack.
Reflection
From all the shots of Jack, there are a couple that came out quite well, with his paws in the air whilst running. But, mostly they came out a little blurry. I’m quite happy with this for a first try though. Although I love long exposure photos, shutter speed is one part I’ve never really played with as I’ve always thought it is quite difficult. So it was good to have a go and see what does & doesn’t work. This is definitely something I need to continue practicing.
Difficulties: He’s really fast. He ran out of the frame a few times. Shutter speed wasn’t set quite right so he looks a little blurry. Room was fairly well lit (nighttime but lights on), but to get a slower shutter speed, I had to use the flash. Flash distracted him at first. This 39 weeks pregnant belly stopped me getting down low on the floor to get better angles! I only had my 50mm lens with me, so I could not zoom. So either he was a little too far or a little too close to get the right focus.
I plan to continue practising with the ‘freeze’ exercise, and will add to this post when I do.
Start by doing your own research into some of the artists discussed above. Then, using slow shutter speeds, the multiple exposure function, or another technique inspired by the examples above, try to record the trace of movement within the frame. You can be as experimental as you like. Add a selection of shots together with relevant shooting data and a description of process (how you captured the shots) to your learning log.
Research
Robert Capa As the course guide recommended, I had a look in to Robert Capa, reading the article around his Normandy landings portfolio [1]. I found the article really fascinating. The photos are so recognisable and well known, it was good to finally read the story alongside them. As much as you can see in the photos that the photographer was there, it’s hard to visualise how he had to work to get the shots. The article really gave a sense of how close to the ‘action’ he was and how brave he must have been to face what he did, in a life threatening situation, to tell the story of that day.
I found the article reminded me of a project I did in secondary school, looking at the film ‘Saving Private Ryan’. We looked in to how the cameras were used to give that realism and closeness to enable you to envision it like you were actually there. I got the same from Capa’s portfoio.
“Waist-deep, with rifles ready to shoot, with the invasion obstacles and the smoking beach in the background – this was good enough for the photographer.”
“Exhausted from the water and the fear, we lay flat on a small strip of wet sand between the sea and the barbed wire. The slant of the beach gave us some protection, so long as we lay flat, from the machine-gun and rifle bullets, but the tide pushed us against the barbed wire, where the guns were enjoying open season.”
“I took out my second Contax camera and began to shoot without raising my head.”
The above quotes from the article really described a desperate situation for me. Knowing the danger surrounding where he was, I found it completely understandable that Capa didn’t dare to raise his head to take more photos. Unfortunately, not all of the images actually made it to print, due to a heating error. But the photos that did, all have that same raw, rushed, almost scared feel. The movement with the frames gives an emotional edge to them and allows you to connect.
Hiroshi Sugimoto When watching the YouTube video suggested within the course guide, I found it interesting to hear the theatre described as an empty space. In general, when you think of a screening at the theatre, you imagine full seats, full of life and movement and a show on the screen. The images created in this series seem to show the opposite, and therefore create the opposite feel. An empty room, a big white screen, and yes, an emptiness. I wonder if this was what Sugimoto expected when first producing this kind of long exposure shot. [2]
Michael Wesely I found the long exposure shots from Michael Wesely quite haunting. With such a long time captured within a frame, usually 2-3 years, there is so much detail. There’s more and more to see the deeper you look it to the frame. [3] In the 1990’s, Wesely used this method to capture building projects over a period of a few years. He also thinks this method could be used over a much longer timescale, perhaps even up to 40 years. [4]
‘Start by doing some of your own research into the photographers discussed above. Then, using fast shutter speeds, try to isolate a frozen moment of time in a moving subject. Depending on the available light you may have to select a high ISO to avoid visible blur in the photograph. Add a selection of shots, together with relevant shooting data and a description of process (how you captured the images), to your learning log’.
Research.
Eadweard muybridge
1830-1904. Eadweard Muybridge was an English photographer, whos developments were instrumental in moving photography forward and capturing things which, before, were impossible. He was a Landscape photographer before becoming a war and official government photographer. [1]. After being asked to prove that horses gallop with all 4 legs off the ground, Muybridge found his equipment didn’t allow him to do so with the shutter speeds available. So, after being acquitted of murder, he made his own high speed electronic shutter, giving him the ability to capture a photograph (using up to 24 cameras) with a shutter speed of 2/1000. [2]
These photographs were criticised, with people not being convinced a horses legs could really move in this way. Muybridge went on to create a zoopraxiscope – a lantern showing his images almost as motion – and used this to give lectures. Muybridge’s developments had a big influence on future photography.
Harold edgerton 1903-1990. Harold edgerton, also known as “papa flash”, was an electrical engineer. He started taking photos for his experiments, rather than as a photographer. As with muybridge, Edgerton created something to help capture what he wanted – a stroboscope – to produce short bursts of light. He became known for strobe lighting, using it to catch images such as balloons bursting. He went on to use this technology for scientific purposes under the sea. Hence the nickname “papa flash”.
Philip-Lorca DiCorcia Born 1951. Philip-Lorca DiCorcia is an American photographer. In his earlier work, photos were made to look like they weren’t staged, but they were. He them moved on to taking photographs of strangers. Adding in things like strobe lighting to capture individuals. [5]
‘Find a subject in front of a background with depth. Take a very close viewpoint and zoom in; you’ll need to be aware of the minimum focusing distance of your lens. Focus on the subject and take a single shot. Then, without changing the focal length or framing, set your focus to infinity and take a second shot’
Approach
Whilst doing exercise 2.1 : zoom, I went to a factory. I saw a few opportunities to do this exercise whilst there so I took the shots below.
This is something I’ve been interested in doing before. The shot allows the eyes to focus on two different things, even though the framing is exactly the same. Within the first shot, the eyes look at the metal racking as that is what is in focus, then you look in to the frame, although it is difficult to make out what that is.
The second shot draws the eye completely past the metal racking, to look at the background, as that’s now the part in focus. Although, it seems easier to make out what the blurred part in the foreground is over the blurred background.
I like this method of shooting, and have always admired the blurred foreground. I think it draws you in through a little mystery in the foreground, pushing your attention to the deepest part and then back again.
Find a location with good light for a portrait shot. Place your subject some distance in front of a simple background and select a wide aperture together with a moderately long focal length such as 100mm on a 35mm full-frame camera (about 65mm on a cropped-frame camera). Take a viewpoint about one and a half metres from your subject, allowing you to compose a headshot comfortably within the frame. Focus on the eyes and take the shot.
For this exercise, I took a shot whilst trying to get the shots for exercise 2.2 : Viewpoint. I used the viewfinder to zoom in to the eyes so I could focus more easily. When reading back the brief, I don’t think I got the right background, as it isn’t ‘simple’ and its not exactly pretty either. But, I did try this shot again, this time with a different subject. I think the second image shows the wide aperture better, as the background is better than the first.
In the first image, I was more focussed on the subject than the background. Therefore I didn’t look at the whole frame. I focussed on making the subject sharp. The background isn’t straight in the frame and it isn’t simple, that takes away from the subject. However, in the second try, the subject is clear, the background is bright but still doesn’t take from the subject due to the aperture.
‘Select your longest focal length and compose a portrait shot fairly tightly within the frame in front of a background with depth. Take one photograph. Then walk towards your subject while zooming out to your shortest focal length. Take care to frame the subject in precisely the same way in the viewfinder and take a second shot. Compare the two images’.
Research
This exercise reminded me of a ‘photo genius’ YouTube video I watched before entering on to this course. In it, Paul Farris describes how changing your positioning and zoom effects the perspective within a photograph. He describes us as becoming “lazy” due to zoom lenses.
I used my parents back garden for this exercise. The brief tells us to use a background with depth, which it has. On a bright day, I asked my brother to be my subject. I had previously tried this in a field, but it was a very sunny day, making it difficult to see the viewfinder and having done it before my research, found that I had selected a shallow depth of field and I hadn’t got what I wanted in focus.
My Work
1/250 f4.5 1/200 f4.5
For the first image, I set my lens as wide as possible, at 55mm. I then stepped away from him, and zoomed in. Although both photos are fine, there is an obvious difference in what is seen in the background. Stepping towards the subject and having a wider lens shows more background and gives a feeling of space. Whereas zooming in on the subject seems to bring the background closer too, and the perspective is a little lost.
‘look back at your personal archive of photography and try to find a photograph to illustrate one of the aesthetic codes discussed in project 2. Whether or not you had a similar idea when you took the photograph isn’t important; find a photo with a depth of field that ‘fits’ the code you’ve selected. Add a playful word or title that ‘anchors’ the new meaning’.
‘The ability of photographs to adapt to a range of usages is something we’ll return to later in the course’.
Research
As asked, I read around the photographers mentioned in the exercise. I have posted these separately as I’ve done them – linked through their names below.
As a film theorist and critic, his view was that photography / film should consist of little editing. He advocated true continuity, saying the quality wasn’t the most important thing, it’s what the image portrays and how it came to be.
From ‘What is Cinema?’ André Bazin. Essays selected and translated by Hugh Gray. Volume 1.
“The photographic image is the object itself. The object freed from the conditions of time and space that govern it. No matter how fuzzy, distorted, or discoloured, no matter how lacking in documentary value the image may be, it shares, by virtue of the very process of its becoming, the being of the model of which it is the reproduction; it is the model.”
An American landscape photographer. This was the photographer I found most interesting. I like that he used his photography to influence the things he felt strongly about – environmental conservation.
As he photographed the Yosemite National Park, he showed the natural beauty of the setting, even through black and white photography. Although I personally love Black and white photos, I hadn’t considered that they could portray Landscapes as well as, or even better than colour. When I think of landscapes, I think blue skies, green grass etc. However, Adams’s images capture the scene without a distraction from those bright colours.
Similarly to Bazin, Adams thought photography should be “pure”. As in sharp focus and little editing. He seemed to love the National Park project, which may be why he applied for the funding to continue it, and that is mirrored in how he describes taking a great photograph :
“A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed”.[1]
A British photographer also known for her black and white landscapes. I felt I could relate to how she took to photography. She became interested after photographing her children, and progressed from there. I’ve always loved taking photos of family members on a smart phone, which led me to buying a DSLR camera and starting this degree process.
As with Ansel Adams, She used her photography to influence environmental conservation. Godwin’s photography was influential in changing the laws governing access to the British countryside.
In her documentary – ‘don’t fence me in’, Godwin is seen in a coastal destination, photographing the plastics and rubbish which had washed up on the shores. She then took some of these things to create new images by intertwining them and re arranging until getting an image she thought worked. Plastic waste is currently such a big issue, with many environmentalists still raising the issue through Film, TV programmes and photographs. Whilst taking photos on that beach, she said of macro photography, it is like :
A German filmmaker, director, screenwriter, playwright, author, photographer. He has used his travel while filmmaking to capture images along the way.
Starting out as a painter, he went through a few things which could have been a whole career, but always stuck with something creative. Using photographs and film to tell a story.
Wenders photographed moments, which he perhaps didn’t understand straight away, that he could learn from and portray his feeling about it through the image. he said of his ‘open-air screen’ – “I came across this mysterious little place. It seemed abandoned. Nobody seemed to know what these chairs were doing there. I liked the emptiness of it.” [5]
In that same article, there is an image called ‘wall with sink’. as with the quote above, the image could be seen as an abandoned space, but he noticed the towel on the sink and assumed it must still be in use. He comments on the monument behind the wall saying “I have no idea what the monument is”. I like his honesty and curiosity. I feel I often do that. I take a photograph of something I find interesting or odd. I take the photo because it caught my attention, but often I could not tell you why. So I like his quote :
“Sometimes that’s a reason for me to photograph something. I think if I look at it long enough I’ll understand”.[5]
I also wanted to research Kim Kirkpatrick, as he is described as photographing abandoned industrial sites, which seems like the kind of thing which would interest me. However, the only reliable link I could find was Wikipedia. With his own website no longer being available and most articles being as basic as the information on wiki, I decided there wasn’t enough credible sources to find my research from. Perhaps this is a photographer I can keep in mind for future exercises and see what books/articles/interviews etc I can find, rather than internet searches.
My Work
‘Now look back at your personal archive of photography and try to find a photograph to illustrate one of the aesthetic codes discussed in project 2. Whether or not you had a similar idea when you took the photograph isn’t important; find a photo with a depth of field that ‘fits’ the code you’ve selected. Add a playful word or title that ‘anchors’ the new meaning’.
After looking through my own images I decided on the photo below. The exercise is to take one of your own images at the same depth of field as ‘the code’. All of the research I have done is photographers who use a deep depth of field, meaning the image is mostly in focus. They all seem to be using photography to show the effect of man on the planet too. Although I haven’t photographed anything for this reason in particular, I have photos where I can see a part which wouldn’t be there unless we, the humans, had been there.
Naturally Grown vs Man Made
The reason I chose this image – it has a deep depth of field. A long focal range. Fits the concept of man being a problem in environmental changes. If we had not built roads and houses, how would this scene differ?
Adams and Bazin both showed a purity to their photographs, as in no editing and no filters. We see so much of this in everyday photographs now with social media getting bigger. For this reason I decided not to edit my choice of image either. To me, this image shows something which has grown so well, I did not want to take away from that view, which you could argue the buildings in the scene have. Or, perhaps if you’re a lover of architecture within a scene like this, maybe the building makes it better.
Before taking any photographs for part 2, I did some research around aperture. As this part of the course is focused on only taking photos in AV mode, I wanted to make sure I had some idea what my settings meant before starting. The research can be found here. I made notes in my notebook so I could take this with me whenever I feel the need, to be able to look back if I feel stuck at all. The image I chose was from a collection of images I took for a post uploaded, also about aperture. This time, however, the post shows my practical work rather than research. Which can be found here.
Reflection
Although not necessarily looking forward to a research project, I actually enjoyed this. I found myself consumed when I found Ansel Adams. Reading of his past and how much he put in to getting the perfect images.
Going forward I know I need to look in to other areas for research. I need to expand the resources I use to get a broader range. I enjoy writing, so this time included some photos of my ‘scrapbook’ rather than all text. I think it works well to have some diversity within my course work.
Within the last couple of months I have tried to take more time out to take photographs. Taking on board one of the things my tutor said after the square mile project- “don’t just photograph it once”. I was told to go out and take photos on different occasions. Even going to the same places, because photos develop – the more you visit, the more you see.
Although I didn’t research all of the photographers mentioned, I did 4. I thought that would give me a variety of views and styles to be able to get the idea for the final part of the exercise – ‘ to find a photograph to illustrate one of the aesthetic codes discussed in project 2’.
Dropped out of university to move to Paris and become a painter
Began working in film
Alongside photography, Wenders used photography to capture landscapes
“pictures from the salt of the earth” was a long running project, spanning over 20 years
“Written in the west” was the initial work within this project
Images were captured travelling across the American west for his filming
Wenders went on to travel the globe, capturing images of moments space and time
Has won many awards over the years for his filmmaking [1]
Quotes
“I came across this mysterious little place. It seemed abandoned. Nobody seemed to know what these chairs were doing there. I liked the emptiness of it.” [2]
“Regarding landscape photography she said ‘a view doesn’t make a picture. You make the picture. You have to work to make the picture if it isn’t there’.
‘Just the sheer discipline of looking at the landscape makes you begin to see things, and see how the light affects the landscape’.” [5]
In her documentary – ‘don’t fence me in’, [4] Godwin says of macro photography, it’s like “finding a whole world in a very tiny area”.
Known for his black & white photos of Yosemite National Park
Photographed the ‘American West’ –Region of western states of USA. –13 states included.
Advocate of environmental conservation
One of the founders of the group f/64 –“pure” photography, –sharp focus and “tonal range” [1]
Developed “the zone system” – continued below
Up to aged 25, Adams considered himself a musician (pianist) over a photographer
In 1926, Albert Bender tasked Adams to photograph 18 images of mountains
He worked for the US department of the interior to photograph National parks
In 1928, Adams married Virginia Best (Virginia Best Adams)
He spent weeks at a time in the mountains to capture the perfects images. This later led to him missing the births of both his children.
Key advisor establishing the photography department in the museum of modern art
co founded the centre for creative photography at the university of Arizona
In 1980, Adams was awarded the “presidential medal of freedom”[2]
Applied for funding from Guggenheim Fellowship to continue his work
Created a book, portfolio and many photographs [3]
The photo that made Ansel Adams Famous?
‘Monolith, the face of half dome, Yosemite National Park, 1927’
Taken 10th April, 1927
Iconic Granite Summit – 5,000 feet from the valleys floor
Used a yellow filter first, later explained it would make the image too grey
Used a red filter, which darkened the blue skies to almost black, allowing the emphasis to be on the white snow
Adams considered this “his ‘first really fine photograph,’ a career-changing image that marked his first successful ‘visualisation’ – Adams’s term for carefully determining all elements of a photograph before ever releasing the shutter. Over a decade later he would institutionalise this idea with the zone system, a photographic technique that is still taught in schools today” [4]
- Sarah Gough OCA Blog - 
