Mindmap |
Some of my favourite photos so far... |
These are my favourite photos that I have taken since September 2022. They are types of photos that I enjoy taking, and I hope to take more of. I haven't taken many photos of this genre before, but I am looking forward to explore surrealism in more detail.
Viviane Sassen - Hot Mirror
This is the book 'Hot Mirror' by Viviane Sassen. I have taken some photos of the book that stood out to me, or where I liked the way things were laid out. This book includes colour + black and white photographs of fine art and surrealist photos that Viviane has taken. In this book, it is not always obvious what is being photographed, which is what adds to the mystery and curiosity behind them.
This photo book explores Viviane Sassen's fine art, with underlying aspects of surrealism that have been incorporated in some photographs. Viviane often says that surrealism is one of her biggest influences, as she likes to have otherworldly aspects to her photographs that draw people in. The cover of this photo book is of a tree which covers the entirety of the front cover. The top half of the cover has the tree that is in the shadows, whereas the bottom half is in the light. It has a purple transparent material which goes over the middle of the page, leaving the part that it covers tinted purple. The title of the photo book is not the most noticeable thing in the cover, but plays an equally as important part as the background image. Its title 'Hot Mirror' is written in faint lilac, but becomes a slightly more pigmented in the middle, where the transparent purple material has been placed. Viviane's name is the least noticeable feature of the front cover, with her name being written in very faint big letters. Compared to the inside of the book, I feel like the cover is quite underwhelming. I like the way the purple and the writing is positioned, but maybe a different plant would have suited the book more.
The photograph in this photo book are all very diverse, with each one being unique and individual. Viviane has made it so that the meaning of the photographs aren't obvious when you look at them. Some might not 'make sense' , and some might seem confusing, which is what makes them so interesting to look at. It's interesting to see the way in which she has photographed these photos. She has carefully considered the lighting and positioning of the shadows to add details to the photo. This makes her photos quite aesthetically appealing , and definitely does communicate her intention behind them. There are certain photos in this collection which are very different to the type of photos we'd see in our day to day lives. For example, the sandy dunes with the yellow transparent square floating in the middle. The composition of that photograph is very interesting to me, as it's not the type of photo that I would've thought of taken, so it's nice to see something new. We can't see the shadow from this glass either, which probably means this was edited in some way. Another aspect of this photo book is the way some photos are in colour and some are in black and white.
The layout of the book is probably my favourite part about it. I like how the photos usually don't take up the entire page and that they are placed in the corners, but in a way that is visually pleasing. As we open the first page, we can see the title of the book and Viviane Sassen's name displayed in bold black letters. Just like a mirror, the title is inverted as if we were looking through one. Her name however is the correct way around. If we turn to the following page, this is now reversed, with her name being inverted and the title being legible. We can see that the material of some pages are made of sugar paper, so that we can still see through the other side.
The photograph in this photo book are all very diverse, with each one being unique and individual. Viviane has made it so that the meaning of the photographs aren't obvious when you look at them. Some might not 'make sense' , and some might seem confusing, which is what makes them so interesting to look at. It's interesting to see the way in which she has photographed these photos. She has carefully considered the lighting and positioning of the shadows to add details to the photo. This makes her photos quite aesthetically appealing , and definitely does communicate her intention behind them. There are certain photos in this collection which are very different to the type of photos we'd see in our day to day lives. For example, the sandy dunes with the yellow transparent square floating in the middle. The composition of that photograph is very interesting to me, as it's not the type of photo that I would've thought of taken, so it's nice to see something new. We can't see the shadow from this glass either, which probably means this was edited in some way. Another aspect of this photo book is the way some photos are in colour and some are in black and white.
The layout of the book is probably my favourite part about it. I like how the photos usually don't take up the entire page and that they are placed in the corners, but in a way that is visually pleasing. As we open the first page, we can see the title of the book and Viviane Sassen's name displayed in bold black letters. Just like a mirror, the title is inverted as if we were looking through one. Her name however is the correct way around. If we turn to the following page, this is now reversed, with her name being inverted and the title being legible. We can see that the material of some pages are made of sugar paper, so that we can still see through the other side.
1.
After looking at the photo book 'Hot Mirror' by Viviane Sassen , I was inspired to take some photos of my own. These photos were all taken on my phone when I went out around London. The first four photographs are definitely my favourites out of the eight that I took because of the angle that they were taken at. I enjoy taking photos of tall, towering buildings from outside on the ground floor as it emphasises the grandness of them. They can often make us feel quite small and minor in comparison to them.
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Kidbrooke Dèrive
During this lesson, we went out as a class and walked around Kidbrooke taking photographs. We spent the previous lesson looking at the theory of 'The Dèrive', which talks about 'drifting' through new landscapes and discovering new relations with them, and potentially finding something new. We also talked about psychogeography and the emotional effects that surroundings and locations can have on people. Today we decided that we were going to explore an area we didn't know that well. As we only had 2 hours we went all around Kidbrooke and took photos on the walk. At the end of every road, Sir chose a different person who would decide which road we would walk down next. Compared to the photos that I have previously taken, they're quite different as I wouldn't usually take so many photos in one general location. I also mostly take photos with my phone, but today I brought in a digital camera from home to use during our dèrive. I feel like I prefer taking photos with a digital camera as it allows me to take high quality photos and experiment.
Teju Cole - Blind spot
Teju Cole is a Nigerian-American artist who created the photo book 'blind spot'. Teju woke up one day being completely blind in one eye, and no doctors could figure out what was wrong with him or what was happening. He went to all the doctors and specialists to try understand what was going on, and he had no luck until one doctor told him that he had a rare disease that affected younger people, so he finally got surgery to fix it. Although his eye was now fixed and he could see again, the way he viewed the world was very different, which therefore effected the way his photography turned out. After his recovery, he was intrigued by the phrase 'blind spot' as he felt he related to it. He felt as though the gift of vision is something sacred that should not be taken for granted, and we can see that in his photographs. Teju says that even the things that may not seem that exciting should be appreciated.
After seeing Teju's photographs and his story behind them, it inspired me to go out and take my own photos in response to his: |
Blind Spot response:
Today I went to Greenwich and took photographs in response to Teju Cole's photo book. I took these photos on my digital camera, which I think made them turn out better compared to when I take photographs on my phone. When taking each photo, I thought about why he took these photos and his motivation behind them. This was something that I have never really thought about, so I had to think closely about how I wanted them to turn out. These photos don't really seem that exciting, but as Teju said, it is important to recognise even the simplest things that might not seem that exciting to someone who hasn't heard of Teju's story. I feel like these photographs turned out quite nicely seeing as this was my first attempt at responding to his work. Although they're very simple photos, I like the way they have been framed, and the exposure of the camera makes the photos more appealing. Going through them now, I feel like I should've taken more photos in response to them, so I am planning on going out for a second time and take even more photos.
Greenwich 1 hour Dérive
South London Dérive
Today I decided to take a few hours to travel to a location and make 36 photos on a dérive. Here are the photographs that I took.
I used a Canon bridge camera for the first time.
Edit
I selected the photos that I thought were the best out of the 36 photographs.
To start off, we walked to Kidbrooke station and got a train to London Victoria. We had our cameras and walked to the exit so we could begin taking photographs. Our walk was an hour long, and it began with us walking past Green Park and Buckingham palace. There were many interesting things to photograph, such as unique buildings and random things that caught my attention. We then continued walking through Hyde park and went onto oxford street where we ended our dérive and got a train from bond street back to Kidbrooke.
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Diary Dérive
Jem Southam
Nan Goldin
Nan Goldin
Richard Learoyd
- The three rooms in his gallery are dedicated to landscapes, portraits and still life.
- He is driven to large places that people draw most of their attention to, as he believes that they are the most relevant.
-He doesn't feel like he needs to revisit the places he's already photographed, as he feels like the photos he's already taken are the best he can do.
- Learoyd wants to see if he can create something new based off of his interpretations of these big places.
- He selects and evaluates his work very quickly, although the process of making the photo is quite slow. He describes selecting the right photos is a mental operation.
- He likes to think that he introduces the 'how' to the 'where' in his photographs.
- Learoyd doesn't believe it's possible to start off a body of work with flowers, as he thinks of them as a 'conclusion'.
- He feels as though taking photos of flowers is too much of a natural thing for people to want to do and it immortalises the process of decay.
- Portraiture is a vein running through a lot of contemporary photography
- He is driven to large places that people draw most of their attention to, as he believes that they are the most relevant.
-He doesn't feel like he needs to revisit the places he's already photographed, as he feels like the photos he's already taken are the best he can do.
- Learoyd wants to see if he can create something new based off of his interpretations of these big places.
- He selects and evaluates his work very quickly, although the process of making the photo is quite slow. He describes selecting the right photos is a mental operation.
- He likes to think that he introduces the 'how' to the 'where' in his photographs.
- Learoyd doesn't believe it's possible to start off a body of work with flowers, as he thinks of them as a 'conclusion'.
- He feels as though taking photos of flowers is too much of a natural thing for people to want to do and it immortalises the process of decay.
- Portraiture is a vein running through a lot of contemporary photography
Fred Herzog
One of the first things that caught my attention was the temperature of the colours in them. The tones are far warmer than if he were to retake these photos on a phone.
- Street photography is used to show the realism of the streets.
- Nothing interests him more than everyday reality.
-People are usually more shy when being photographed, so he tends to hide his camera to get the realest side of people.
- "Documented this city in a way no one else did".
- He was captivated by his uncles photo book.
- Body language is the most important aspect of a portrait photo.
- Nothing interests him more than everyday reality.
-People are usually more shy when being photographed, so he tends to hide his camera to get the realest side of people.
- "Documented this city in a way no one else did".
- He was captivated by his uncles photo book.
- Body language is the most important aspect of a portrait photo.
My response:
Twin Lens reflex
The twin lens reflex was the most popular advanced camera before world war 2, and has a far older design than the SLR. Nowadays, not many of these cameras are produced, but the ones that are available are usually 2 1⁄4 ins sq roll-film models. The camera body is separated into two completely separate halves and uses two lenses of the exact same focal length. To form the image on the film, the bottom lens is fitted with a diaphragm and bladed shutter, which reflects the image onto the film.
Today I had a chance to use this camera and see how it functions. I enjoyed seeing how different it is to take photographs on a TLR compared to a SLR.
Today I had a chance to use this camera and see how it functions. I enjoyed seeing how different it is to take photographs on a TLR compared to a SLR.
Peckham 24
Today I decided to go out to the Peckham 24 photography exhibition, as I hadn't been to one in a while. I went in not knowing what to expect. I didn't know who's work would be displayed, so when i was looking around it was interesting to see such a variety of different styles of photography. The room itself wasn't as big as i expected it to be, but each piece of artwork was very unique and individual, so there was always something interesting to be observing.r