Postscript to 'Looking for brothers & sisters'

Studio Assignment - multiple exposure

Thanks Jeremy - you were a great model! 

Location Portfolio - Kings X 8 photos - daytime images

I visited Kings X 4 times & each time photographed a few people. It took a long time as I struck up a conversation each time & learnt a bit about their lives. Belinda wanted me to reveal all (or some) of what I learnt about them but I am reticent to do that as I respect them & what they told me I think was in confidence. I haven't made that decision yet - the High Court is such a public place. Also even though Silvia says it is important to give their names in documentaries, I am even not sure whether to do that because of each one of their situations. Many or most are possibly at the lowest ebb in their lives. Advice here would be appreciated. I would be happy to give the stories here on the blog, but not so happy at the High Court.

eg The 2 girls in front of the Coca-Cola sign describe themselves as 'working girls'. It was  7.30am & they had just finished working all night. One has told her mother that she is a dancer & the other told her mother that she is a bar maid. I would hate it if someone who knew someone who knew someone, & then somehow got it back to their mothers about their real occupations.

I  will be re-working the images after getting some advice from Belinda.

Small Products Assignment - 2 more

On September 30, I posted 4 photos of Small products. These are the 2 remaining shots.

Preparation methods - Final Assignment

STATEMENT OF RATIONALE & INTENTION:

I have decided to do a children's book for the final assignment, directed to my grandchildren and about an adventure that they go on. It will be presented in a long fanned book rather than a 'turn the page' book. Presented in this way, all the pages will be visible at once. It will sit on a longish table/shelf. It will be based on the smaller story I did & posted  on the blog on 16 September, called 'Illustrated story". I won't include all the images here (it is 17 pages long!) - just 2 more in addition to what I blogged earlier.

Aquilla Helicopter

Poem 'Nasty" by Dallas Bland

Life passes

through foggy glass

stained

poisoned

All the time to waste away

the strength to bleed life from my face

and camouflage amongst the waste 

and morbid deeds consuming faith

burnt foliage post Sept South Coast fires

4 beach images

4 Small products

POEM 'Fairy' by Rachel Cuthbert

Barely five feet tall

Her skin was translucent and bright

The lithe, nubile body flew effortlessly through the air

Her white gauzy wings sparkled under the full moon.

Dressed in a shredded pink chiffon gown centuries old

Her dream like appearance disguised the malice behind her wide, black glistening eyes.

The smirk on her full lips confused you

as she bared her razor sharp claws.

All your senses were so affected by her 

otherworldly beauty you never saw

the fatal blow coming, until it was too late.

Testing portable flashes with fill in portraits/groups

Illustrated story -children's stories are corny!

Location portfolio - Kings X

Having sent out photos via mail or email, I received a reply from this chap - his name is 'Animal'. I had a 3 page letter back from him. Interesting chap from reports on the web - has spent a deal of his life in jail, was a founding member of the Kings Cross Bikers, but some years ago he decided to become a do-gooder & supplies presents at Christmastime to the underprivileged & he raised money for cancer. He has an OAM.

Studio Assignment - portrait No 1

I cropped this photo a bit, not that I thought it needed it but because it fitted in with what the assignment asked for. Any more cropping would have taken away from the portrait I think.

As for the multiple exposure exercise I have yet to think of an idea.

Studio Assignment - Small Products Ideas

Products:

I am thinking that I shall photograph black & white crockery. I cased DJs & they have various patterns that appeal to me.

1st items are a teapot, 2x cups & saucers & a teabag collector - all white with black spots

Next hopefully will be a black & white stripe dinner set.

Not sure after that.

Backgrounds - I may incorporate:

Matchstick blind blackish mat

Some black & white materials/tea towel 

Perhaps some red & white material

Some red straw or cord ribbon.

Baby Alannah, born 9/9/9

Bungendore photoshoot

Braidwood photoshoot

Note: we visited Stephen Best, a fantastic photography printer.

Stephen Best (Macquarie Editions)
23 Elrington Street
BRAIDWOOD NSW 2622
t: (02) 4842 2976 m: 0403 079 145

PROPOSAL FOR THE FINAL PORTFOLIO – LOCATION

PROPOSAL FOR THE FINAL PORTFOLIO – LOCATION

 

After visiting Garema Place and Queanbeyan and plucking up enough courage to place myself in a more difficult situation, I decided to try my hand at Kings Cross and Bondi Beach.

I hit Kings Cross in the afternoon. Light was not good, but then I realised that Darlinghurst Road would seldom have good light. Over the weekend I visited it three times although there were not many subjects each time, but some were definitely interesting. At Kings Cross I would like to capture the different types of people that frequent the place from quite ‘well-to’do’ to the unfortunate down and out ones as well as the 'characters'. At least in some of the photos I want to show that the location was in fact the Cross. I don’t intend doing any night shots due to safety even though it comes alive at night.

Kings Cross is a place that I used to walk through twice daily on my way to and from school (Elizabeth Bay) so it is a drawcard for me. A place from my past. Likewise with Bondi Beach – the surf beach I frequented in my youth.

At Bondi Beach it was a totally different type of place to photograph. All sorts of sporting activities were taking place & being mid-winter, not much of that was surfing even for the hearty ones. There also I would like to capture different types of people that frequent the place – and of course show that it is Bondi Beach.

I might consider doing black and white but probably will stick with the colour.

I intend to take most if not all the photos with my 16-35mm lens as it is my favourite lens. This means that I shall have to get up close to the subjects. I often like foregrounds to be emphasied and backgrounds to be squashed to get detail of the immediate surrounds. On the whole I want detail throughout the photos. These are not places that would benefit from throwing the backgrounds out of focus (I think at this stage).

 

 

 

 

Fill-in flash test

No Flash & -2 stops on flash unit.

Yates poem 'The Second Coming'

Queanbeyan Photos

HEROS and HEROS

J & D at Qbn

Garema Place, 18 Aug 09

Skin Holes

Vanity Fair Exhibition

 Q1: HOW DOES THE SUBJECTS’ BODY LANGUAGE ETC INFLUENCE WHAT WE READ OF THEIR PERSONALITY?

 Sergei Eisenstein 1930

Photographer: Barre

 This photo was taken in Paris just prior to the Russian film director Eisenstein’s departure to America where he worked also as a film director.  He looks like a larger than life character, but in this photo, as he looks straight into the camera, I feel that we are looking into his soul & that he is fed up. To me it certainly doesn’t look as if he is optimistic about his future in America.

Helen Mirrin 1995

Photographer: Snowdon

Taken while Mirrin is applying make-up for a stage show, she is looking quite business like. There is no deep emotion in the photo –this is just part of her daily routine. It does not appear to be a staged photo, though I’m sure it is. Perhaps she is reciting some of her lines.

 

Q2: COMPARE THE PHOTOGRAPHIC STRATIGUES (LIGHTING ETC) IN THE 2 ERAS.

 The lighting in the 1930 Barre photo does not seem too old fashioned. He has used several sources of lighting. Eisenstein is lit from the left mainly, but there is also a secondary light on his right hand and perhaps fill-in reflector lighting on his face. It looks as if he is in a theatre setting backstage. This is a real life setting for his line of work  – it is not especially illuminated to highlight it. The black and white photograph is not huge in keeping with the technology available at that time.

 In Lord Snowden’s photograph, it appears that the lighting comes from the stage lights around the mirror although most of the light shines on the right side of her fact (in the mirror). The whole of the dressing room is quite brightly lit so there is a lot of detail of what is behind her (stage clothes) & her make-up in front of her. Snowdon has made sure that everything in the photo is reasonably neutral in colour except Mirrin herself and this directs the observer to look at her. The 3^rd image – a mirror image of the mirror image comes from another mirror at right angles to the other mirrors. It is a large very colourful image very akin to most portraits in Vanity Fair in the 1990s. 

 Q3: HOW DOES THE PHOTOGRAPHER CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY?

Barre has taken the photo in what looks like the backstage of a theatre or film studio. Eisenstein being a film director fits into this scene very comfortably.  Snowden likewise has photographed Mirrin in her place of work – the theatre. Certainly Snowdon’s choice of lighting reflects the natural dressing room lighting. The double reflection adds to thoughts about Mirrin playing a number of different characters as an actor.

Q4: IS PORTRAITURE OF ‘CELEBRITIES’ TRUTHFUL IN ANY WAY, OR IS IT JUST PORTRAYING THE ‘CHARACHER’ OR ‘MASK’ THEY INHABIT?

Celebrities want the public to notice them. They are actors. So the characters that the portray is part of the who they are. They dress up (or undress) to be photographed and so to be noticed. They throw their bodies into all sorts of positions to get photographed in order to startle the public in ‘Look at me’ clothes & positions etc.

So I think that these portraits are not 100% truthful, but they are partially truthful.

 

 

 

 

The Collodion Process

The Collodion Process

Up until 1851, when Frederick Scott Archer, an English engraver and sculptor, introduced the Collodion Process, photographs lacked definition and were very grainy. In most photographic processes they also lacked the ability to produce multiple copies. In 1847 the albumin in egg whites was the best available method of binding the silver salts – often to glass in order to make a ‘negative’. In 1851, Archer started using ‘collodion’, which was nitrocellulose (guncotton) dissolved in either ether or alcohol. Collodian is a clear liquid-gel, used from the mid 1800s until at lease the 1980s as a medical liquid bandage.

In photography, this was used by painting the collodion/silver salt on glass (as a support). This had several advantages such as graininess was decreased; clarity was increased; and if the collodion/silver salt mixture was used wet, the exposure time was decreased. However this wet method required a portable darkroom (pulled by a horse of course!) if photographs were taken away from the studio. The dry collodion/silver salt coating on glass had very little light sensitivity so was rarely used as exposure times were too long. The size of the paper prints were still restricted by the size of the glass plate.

This process was used until approximately 1890.

 

REFERENCES

Leggat, Robert; ‘The Collodion Method’, 2001 http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/history/collodio.htm

Davenport, Alma; ‘The History of photography, an Overview’ p19

Rosenblum, Naomi; ‘History of Photograohy’ 3^rd Ed pp 32-34

PHOTO: http://expositions.bnf.fr/legray/images/3/025.jpg

Olympe Aguado, Self Portrait with His Brother Onésipe, 1853, collodion print, 250 x178 mm, (© Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des Estampes et de la photographie)