Genesis – Sebastiao Salgado

Back in July, I visited the Genesis photography exhibition by Sebastiao Salgado. 2013 seems to have been my year of favouring monotone images, possibly all starting from the Ansel Adams exhibition I went to see at the end of 2012 so going to see Genesis seemed to fit into my current preferences very well.

The exhibition showed a mixture of landscapes, nature and portraiture and is the culmination of 8 years of work photographing pristine environments. The exhibition was split into 5 sections Sanctuaries, Planet South, Africa, Amazonia and Pantanal, and Northern Spaces.

As mentioned, all the images are displayed in Black and White and it is quite quickly noticeable that they have almost all been produced with a very high contrast feel. Initially, this production style was impressively impactful and very striking, however, as I progressed the the huge number of images on display it lost its edge and even started to become a distraction and possibly a bit of an irritation.

I’m not sure if it was completely down to the production style but I also started to crave some colour. This feeling was at its strongest when viewing images of the people in remote regions such as workers from Africa draped in robes that my brain was telling me were full of colour. In contrast to this though, I found the majority of landscape and nature images really satisfying.

Of all the images on display, the image that really stuck in my mind was possibly one of the simplest on display. The image was titled “A leopard (Panthera pardus) in the Barab Riber Valley, Damaraland” taken in Namibia in 2005. It was presented in a landscape orientation with the leopard placed on the lower third drinking from a pool of water. Due to the pool being made of rocks in what appeared an almost perfect cicle, it appeared man made. The leopards reflection can be seen in the water but everything else is completely black.

The detail that I felt really makes the image is the creeping posture of the leopard and its stare being straight into the camera. This made it feel like there is a direct communication from the leopard to the photographer. However, I couldn’t decide if the message was some agreement to let each other get on with there business, a warning that this is the leopards territory or fear of what lay in the dark.

Reflecting back on the exhibition overall leaves me a little disappointed because it is the production of the images that has stuck with me, not the images themselves. Having seen other exhibitions all in black and white I felt that it wasn’t this choice that was the issue but the contrast. I feel that producing such a large body of work would have benefited from a larger variation.

Assignment 1 Contrasts – Tutor Feedback

I’ve recently started getting all my posts together for submission and found that I hadn’t posted the tutor feed back for assignment 1.

The original assignment can be found here.

Overall Comments

Well done for completing the first unit, Ian. You have started working at a nice pace, and if you can keep this up, you will find the course will run very smoothly for you.

Assessment potential

Formal Assessment: You may want to get credit for your hard work and achievements with the OCA by formally submitting your work for assessment at the end of the module. More and more people are taking the idea of lifelong learning seriously by submitting their work for assessment but it is entirely up to you. We are just as keen to support you whether you study for pleasure or to gain qualifications.  Please consider whether you want to put your work forward for assessment and let me know your decision when you submit assignment 2.  I can then give you feedback on how well your work meets the assessment requirements.

Feedback on assignment

Elements to consider with your assignments:

This assignment asks you to produce pairs of images that work together to illustrate a theme of contrast. You are asked to identify subjects which bring out the essential differences between the two. Ideally, by placing the images side by side the visual message should become clear.

Your assignment in connection with the above points

Producing a pair of contrasting images is particularly challenging as a first assignment, since it requires you to think on so many more layers than just the lessons given. It is however, a very good opportunity to really think about the content of a picture, and its visual strength. Having been given a title to work with, it becomes the subject, and the task then becomes one of making an interesting picture while still communicating the adjective. In addition you are asked to produce pairs of images that contrast with each other. You have produced a good variety of images here, thinking about the subject theme in each case. I particularly like your reflective comments on this process and the thought processes behind your investigations. How can we make something appear big or small in the frame? Choosing to position the baby’s foot in the hand of its mother was a good idea. This gives us some idea of perspective – particularly when you are photographing at such a close range and filling a large percentage of the frame with the subject. Converting to black and white in this instance also helps to remind us of the shape of the area we are looking at. This picture could have also been used to demonstrate large and small in one picture. Adding the reflection of the castle to add volume to the shot was another good idea. In this situation it is good to try and move beyond what we understand to be true and start to think about what we can make appear true. Think about trying to demonstrate diagonal, for instance, in the same way. How could you do this? The diagonal lines are clearly visible in your picture, but how do we go about ensuring that it is these lines that we look at, rather than the number of vertical and horizontal lines that are also apparent? In this case the challenge is to photograph from an angle that enhances your point – or choose a subject that makes the task easier for you (assignment two will offer more help on this point).

The assignment also asks us to consider this work in pairs. This is where the task starts to get even more tricky. Once you place two images side by side we automatically start seeing differences. The hard part is to limit these differences down so that we are left with an understanding of the meaning of the image, or the way it should be read. By having one of the pair coloured and one of the pair monochrome we are adding to the range of contrasts between the two. By choosing very different subject matter in each case we are making it harder to see the message. If we ask the question, “what is the difference between a white peacock and an old fashioned typewriter?” you start to see what I mean. You could come up with any number of answers to this point and the message of white and black becomes unclear. The typewriter/ telephone arrangement is a lovely strong picture and converting to black and white adds authenticity to the subject. However, even on its own the most obvious thing that comes to mind is not its colour but its age.

With very little going on in the frame, your picture for pointed, on the other hand, gives a very clear message. I can see where you are coming from with the corresponding image to illustrate ‘blunt’. Although I don’t think this is a particularly strong example for ‘two in one’ this image is worth considering. Imagine if the corresponding image for this picture involved a couple of people involved in a real (or apparently real) sword fight. If these two images were positioned side by side, wouldn’t it give a strong message of pointed and blunt? In terms of pairs of contrasting images I like your images for transparent and opaque. In these shots there are more similarities between the two shots and because of this the right difference becomes a little more obvious.

Moving back to think about the shots as individuals there are some nice clear shots in the set; the picture for ‘many’ is nice and strong and the ‘still’ and ‘moving’ shots also work very well.

All of your pictures are composed nicely, are cropped appropriately and taken from an appropriate vantage point. All show a good level of technical ability.

Summary/ Pointers for future work

With this assignment you have started to explore visual language. Contrast, as a subject, has proved to be very interesting in this respect. It has given you the opportunity to appreciate the subtle differences in communicating a word in a picture. For future projects you will need to carry this information forward and take time to consider how well the photograph will communicate to its audience without the aid of text. You will also need to pay attention to the way that images work together as a unit.

Learning Logs

The purpose of a learning log is to help you to reflect on your own work and also give you the opportunity to explore, investigate and reflect on the work of other photographers. You have started working very well on this task and I look forward to seeing this progressing.

Assignment 5 – Illustration and Narrative

The objective of assignment 5 is to produce a series of images that illustrate a story for a magazine, including a cover illustration and several pages inside. In previous posts, I’ve shown the planning and image selection stages of this assignment.

For this part of the assignment, I will show the images that I’ve selected and the captions intended to go with the images and then finally, show the images as part of pages for the magazine and how it would be organised. This will allow me to discuss how I see the images relating to each other and show there relative sizes.

Images

Illustration – Front Cover

This image is using two symbols to illustrate the purpose of the magazine. The largest symbol is the classic black car with the silver trim and the white walled tires. This is something I feel is immediately recognisable as an old 1950’s style car even though we are only presented with a small amount of the car in the image.

Although this is the largest symbol, I don’t think it is the most predominant symbol of the image. This would be the two reflections of the red car. This is obviously a car from a different era and I feel the juxtaposition of these two cars together illustrates the show very well. In addition to the two cars, there is evidence of people in the image, a key part of the narrative I was hoping to achieve.

Welcome to the Show – Page 1

Entrants to the show are welcomed with each car being photographed on arrival.

Owners prepare there vehicles, getting everything right before the judging begins.

Having the welcome arch as the first image of the series seemed like a great introduction. It clearly shows what the event is and has a car arriving. The colour of the car was intentionally chosen to relate back to the red car of the cover image.

As mentioned previously, including people in the narrative was an important aspect so I felt it was important to have a strong image of a person on the first page. This image shows a car owner preparing his car and there is colour relationships to both the other image on this page, through the yellows, and again back to the cover image with the black cars.

Things to see and do – Page 2

The show has stalls selling all kinds of parts for different vehicles.

Merchandise isn’t restricted to car parts. These classic key rings covered many of the car makes at the show.

These two images are intended to work as a pair. The man looking at the car parts tells the story of how attendants to the show can do more than look at cars. In the background of this image, we can see the key rings which are then shown in detail.

No classic car show is complete without representation for the Mini Owners Club for people to enjoy!

These DMC Delorean’s are great examples of 1980’s Classics.

With these two images, I wanted to introduce a bit more of the show and what is happening. The choice of cars is also intended to give a subtle message about the progression through time of car manufacturing. The cover photo was showing detail of a car from the 1950’s and a modern day car. Here, we have the mini which was introduced in the late 1950’s and has been popular since and then the Delorean’s which are a well known car from the 1980’s from the film ‘Back to the Future’.

Small Details, new and old

The major manufacturers were all represented.

Again, these two images are intended to be viewed as a pair using just a single caption. Having been given the context of the show with the images on the previous page, I wanted to focus in on some smaller detail. Using these two images, they show this detail but also show new vs old.

The Farm Car Cart was an interesting blend of many different vehicles. Starting life as a 1930’s Ford, it suffered bomb damage during the war. To bring it back to a useful function, the body was removed
and the remains were merged with a 1895 horse cart.
In 2010, the car was rediscovered after having been abandoned since approximately 1953 and restored using any parts, from any industry, that would do the job. Top speed is 45 mph and 8 people can be carried in the rear.

These three images continue, and go further, with the idea of showing and giving more details.

The bigger picture – Page 4

Classics from all the different eras were on display for everyone to enjoy.

Although the show is mainly about the cars, other vehicles were on display such as this collection of war time utility vehicles.

This final page was intended to show the larger environment, maintain the narrative of peoples involvement in the show and also hint that there are additional things happening. The first image show more classic cars of different types and subtly includes people walking amongst them or having a get together. From the research I had done, I wanted to capture this kind of image which included people but I didn’t want the people to distract to much from the cars.

In the last image, a similar style has been used but vehicles, other than cars, are introduced. I deliberately left the introduction of other vehicles until the end of the narrative so that it brought the story of the car show to an end but also hinted that there could be more to see at the show.

Layout

The pages below show how I would take the images, organise them into there pages and show there relative sizes.

Front Page

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Reflection

The first thing that comes to mind when reflecting on this assignment is that I approached a stranger and asked if I could photograph them whilst they were performing a task seemingly unrelated to me. Although this doesn’t really relate to the assignments objectives, to have done this, is something I’m quite proud of.

Throughout this course, I think my ability to plan and prepare for capturing images has improved and with this assignment it proved especially useful. Photographing at an event meant that I could not go back and capture that ‘critical moment’ because it would have gone. Also, at an event, there are photographic opportunities everywhere. Some obvious and some not so. The plan helped me stay focused on what it was I needed to capture to meet the objective.  However, having too detailed or rigid a plan could be restrictive.

Having a plan wasn’t the only preparation that proved useful. Before going to the event, considering the types of images I wanted to take meant I had the correct equipment with me. As I had wanted to take long exposure images, I would have been stuck without a tripod, or if I hadn’t considered the fact that there could be strong contrasting light and busy back grounds I may not have taken my flash.

Coming home with a varied selection of images to choose from put me in a good position to be able to build the narrative I had imagined. However, putting it all together into the magazine format wasn’t easy. There were images that I had an emotional attachment to, because I liked the idea of the image or the image itself, but for some of them, they simply didn’t fit. I felt that I had enough images to be able to double the number of images I finally included but I think this would have defeated one of the goals of the assignment. Although the putting together the article wasn’t easy, it was still a fun and interesting exercise to carry out and I enjoyed thinking about how a larger number of images could be put together.

From this assignment, it has shown me that it takes practise to put everything together that I’ve covered on the course. As I progress, I can feel things becoming more instinctive. Using the idea’s from part 2, Elements of Design, is something that comes to me much easier now and is a great aid in trying to find an image. Also, I think I am much more aware of lighting scenario’s following part 4. Colour is something, however, that I think will need a lot more work. It seems like colour is a very complex area in the art of photography that could take a life time to master.