Light and Shadow ~

 

I wanted to experiment with lanscape and a subject/model. I experimented with colour and B&W, I used interesting glass colour boxes to experiment with how the images might look, some images are warmer and some are colder.

I liked these images, the idea of the surreal with the reality in these images, with the blue glass against the actual scene.

 

These are a few photographs I took as used black and white on the images to bring out the shadows stronger. I really liked the way these looked as the shadows are very sharp against the water.

 

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Who’s Who?

 

 

I experimented with an idea I had in both colour and B&W. I thought of perhaps using the back of somebody that i didnt know, in interesting backgrounds, creating evoking images, that are rather mysterious as it might make the audience wonder what the person actually looks like or what they are doing & looking at, which is something I wanted to portray.

When looking to photograph people, looking for interesting charatcers that caught my eye, these are a few photographs I took around campus of different people who caught my eye, trying to think about the background as well as the actual subject. Some of these images are raw and in the moment and some of them I staged. I used colour for these images as I prefer the way this looks, bringing out the colour in the people’s clothes and tone.

I liked these images in front of the blue wall as it goes well with his dark green jumper. I also liked the actual subject, especially due to these being quite raw and in the moment, with his laughing and reactions.

This girl caught my eye with her hair and what she was wearing, with the different amounts of colour, she was an interesting person and was happy to take photographs. I decided to use a plain white background with some texture to truly show the colours of her clothes, making them become more striking.

This girl also caught my eye, and i decided to use a yellow/orange toned background as I believe it went well with her clothing, which was black and white, bringing warmer tones out.

This girl was an interesting person and caught my eye. I decided to place her in front of this green, earth-based background as i believe the colour of her hair and the was it was styled (two braids) went well. I also believe that her blue jumper and checkered coat was a nice touch.

 

I am happy with how these photographs turned out, as it was my first real time experiementing with people I dont know, building my confidence up.

When I was experimenting with light and shadow, I looked and saw some interesting light coming from the a wall, where the sunlight was hitting it and decided to ask whether I could take photographs of my friend in front of it, looking into the ways shadows can be created on the face. I experimented with the model looking into the camera, to the side and I also took some photographs in the moment, which I liked to do as my model was laughing, it created a personal moment in time.

I experimented with these images in both black and white….

And colour….

I liked these images in both black and white and colour and I am happy with how they turned out.

Kalpesh Lathigra was born in London, England in 1971 and has a postgraduate Diploma in Photojournalism.

 

Kalpesh Lathigra has worked in the UK newspaper as a photojournalist for over six years.

 

In 2000, he began to work on long-time projects and “started thinking about non-linear narratives and using different camera formats.

 

He often looks for places he is drawn to, like the land, its “raw beauty, the people, their resilience.”

 

He started long term projects in 2004, and he began to confront the fact there was “no way of making objective documentary work, and came to the realization that the work was flawed. The photographs I made were the result of trying to understand the nature of faith and how to translate this visually”

 

He found that moving to America was the best idea for him due to him feeling the need of “belonging” and this appears to have progressed to his work.

 

He also takes photographs of communities throughout America.

 

I find that the colour is one thing I find interesting throughout his work, each with a specific striking colour like red or white, and they also involve quite blue, clear skies. The images are raw, with the subjects looking directly into the camera, looking as if they were in the middle of doing some kind of subject and it is obvious that this photographer wanted to show what they were doing as well as the subject. I find this photographer rather inspiring due to the interesting backgrounds with the interesting subjects. It is clear to see that the subject has a story, ready to be told.

 

Bruce Davidson was born in September 5, 1933., in Oak Park, IL.

He is an American photographer and has been a member of the Magnum Photos agency since 1958.

 

His photographs have been widely exhibited and published.

He is known mainly for photographing different communities and individuals who are supposedly known as “outsiders”

 

His work is lacking moral judgement, he is known as an explorer as he, during the 1980s, went to ride on the New York subway system, which was covered in trash and graffiti.

 

He began taking photographs at the age of 10, and he actually built a darkroom in his mother’s home. He was heavily influenced by Henri Cartier-Bresson and went along to redefine the genre photojournalism.

Something interesting and influential within Bruce Davidson’s work is despite all of his images being shot in black and white, each image is different, showing different people in different areas and situations.

 

One image I find extremely inspirational is “Girl holding Kitten” taken in 1960, he apparently found this girl by accident, walking in the streets of London. There was a great deal of mystery to her.

“I didn’t know where she had come from, and I didn’t get her name, but there was something about that face – the hopefulness, positivity and openness to life – it was the new face of Britain.”

The photograph was taken with a normal 50mm lens and a wide aperture.

“I used the Ilford film, called HPS – hyper-sensitive film – which I loved, although it is probably no longer made. I loved that grainy texture; she has the feeling of a statue. I still feel close to this picture. I wonder what that young girl is doing now. She must be lurking around London someplace, or she may not be alive, you never know.”

I believe that this image is quite interesting and inspiring to me due to the idea that this young girl looks vulnerable in the big city, with the essence of mystery surrounding her.

I enjoy this photographers way of working with the subjects, whether they are standing, looking at the camera, looking at someone/something else or doing something, with the backgrounds being just as interesting as the subjects, the range around the images that are taken are never considered “boring” as there is always a story behind each image, each subject.

When I was looking into ideas on what to do for light and shadow, I wanted to combine the idea of using landscapes and people, so I decided to use a model and go to different locations to combine the both and add the element of shadow with the light. I experimented with both colour and black & white and decided that I prefer black & white when it came to the imagery.

 

I especially liked this location area due to the background matching with the movie type atmosphere that I wanted to create, with the forest and dark shadows being quite mysterious, I made it so that my model was looking away, but also experimented with looking into the camera, breaking the forth wall.

I used many different location areas and tried a lot of techniques, along with trying landscape and portrait style photographs.

I liked the idea of having the landscape lit with light and the model in the shadow, making the idea quite rare, as opposed to lighting up the model, making the images look even more mysterious.

I am happy with how my images turned out, as I was mainly experimenting with my images, but I do believe that it would be quite hard to print these, as they would be quite dark, however, I still liked my idea that I had and think that went very well.

George Mayer

 

 

George Mayer is a photographer, designer and artist. He was born in Nizhyn Tagil, Russia in 1985.

In 2005, this photographer took photography up professionally. He currently works in fashion photography and commercial photography.

Till 2007 he was working as an interior designer.

 

Since 2009, he has been working with many brands, modeling agencies and magazines. His photographs can be recognized on music CD’s and books.

 

He works primarily in the studio, with black and white imagery. He does branch out of this, however, the images that I have taken great inspiration from are his work on the human body, with shadows consuming the body, with light reaching a specific part of the body, whether that is a hand, the face, an eye, etc.

These photographs are formed very well, with line, and symmetry. Showing the contrast between black and white, with the black parts against the white, or the white part of the image on top of the black backgrounds. Geometric shapes can also be seen through these images, such as, circles, triangles, semi-circles etc.

 

These minimalistic pictures are taken extremely well, with only parts of the model being seen, concluding that these images are taken with controlled lighting.

 

I am inspired by these images and the way the minimalism is shown, with specific parts of the body being shown, which is something I wanted to emulate in my work.

 

When taking my own images, I used two models to experiment and used controlled lighting in a dark area. I simply used a torch and covered part of the light so that only specific parts of the models are being shown, I tried to keep the facial expressions on the models quite neutral yet stern as it was quite a dark image, the idea of what is in the darkness and I believe this worked really well. I also decided to work close to the face, showing the actual detail.

 

I am really pleased with how these images turned out.

CARL KLEINER

 

Carl Kleiner was born in 1983, from Sweden.

 

He works in still-life photography and uses all sorts of materials throughout his work.

 

Carl Kleiner has worked for brands such as: Calvin Klein, Nike, Google, Apple, IKEA, H&M etc. He works for commissioned work, editorial pieces, food, and still life, film and does his own personal work.

 

He studied for a year and then had the opportunity to work as an assistant for Vincent Skoglund.

 

 

He works in minimalism, by using simple background, with pastel colours surrounding and makes these backgrounds look so they match the subjects he is photographing, which makes the images he creates pleasing to the eye. He usually works in a “birds eye view”, from up above. He works in a studio with controlled lighting. He uses everyday items in his work and makes them look extremely interesting.

 

He uses everyday objects, drawing the audience in, but uses them in a rather surreal way due to lighting and placement.

I found Carl Kleiner’s work extremely fascinating, he combines colour and line in both his background and subjects, really thinking about his images, and where to place the everyday objects.

 

Furthermore, he doesn’t just use the same placements and colours, experimenting with all colours, angles and subjects.

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Something that I wanted to form in my Everyday Geometry final images was combining Ralph Steiner and Carl Kleiner’s ways of working.

 

For instance, I enjoy the colour in Carl Kleiner’s images, the pastel backgrounds, the way that is created to match the subjects within the image, but also the way that he experiments with colours and subject matters, however, I also liked the way Ralph Steiner fills the frame with his subject, which is also something I would like to experiment with.

For these images, I decided to experiment with all kinds of fruit, both cut up and whole as they both have different kinds of texture, geometric shape and I tried to capture this. When cutting the fruit, such as the kiwi or lemons, i tried to cut them into geometric shapes such as triangles and circles.

I used different background colours such as blue, green, white and yellow to try and match the fruit that was placed on top.

 

I tried to place the fruit in a particular way to match up the lines and experiement.

I furthermore also like the way that in some of my images, the negative space in-between the fruit is symmetrical and lined as a shape, such as diamonds or triangles. However, i tried to fit the framing as much as i possibly could in a few of these images but i also experiemented with taking them further away. I used artifical lighting on these images to control the way the light hits the fruit, showing the detail in each one. I am very happy with how these images turned out, being inspired by both Ralph Steiner and Carl Kleiner.

 

 

 

 

Michael Bodiam

This photographer is a London based photographer and his work ranges from uncluttered and clinical still life photography to observational landscapes. He works mainly in formal composition, strong color, and geometric form to bring out the uncluttered still life in an interesting way.

 

I enjoy the way that line is created here, so that each object within the photograph has a meaning and a way to relate to the colour used which is something I want to create in my Everyday Geometry final images or perhaps, just experiment with. This photographer works well with line and colour and creates extremely pleasing to the eye photographs.

These colours are rather neutral, created by not using massive amounts of contrast within studio lighting.

 

 

 

Ralph Steiner

This photographer is an American photographer, 1899–1986, who was a photographer and filmmaker best known for his experimental films and photographs of the American landscape.

 

He had a big interest in graphic patterns, abstract compositions, and advertising and worked as a commercial photographer during the 1920s and 1930s.

These photographs are extremely well created, with strong shadows, strong black and white images. I enjoy the way the image has been created so much so that the objects that you see in the image fill the whole frame, which is defintley something I want to take away with my Everyday Geometry.

Ruth Bernhard

 

Ruth Bernhard was born in Germany, 1905—2006.

She began her career in commercial photography and during her lifetime, Ruth Bernhard shot almost exclusively in black-and-white.

 

I find Ruth Bernhard’s work extremely compelling, evoking a lot of interest and attention due to the shadows. She works with the human body and objects. Something that I have been looking at is her work with shadows, coming up with ideas that other people haven’t, by using everyday objects to create strong shadows, which adds something different and something I wanted to experiment with in everyday geometry.

 

For my work based upon Ruth Bernhard’s work, I used controlled lighting and fruit. I thought that fruit has a lot of interesting shapes and it appeals to many. I decided to experiment with where to put my fruit, placing them in different ways with different angles, and different parts of the shadows. I decided to use carrots and plums to use for shadows as they both have different colours I wanted to experiment with, the plums being darker and the carrots being brighter.

I found that the plums brought out better shadows due to the shape, whereas the carrots were a little harder to work with, getting the lighting right especially but I am happy with my results.

 

I wanted to use colour in my work which is different to this photographers work due to them purely working in black and white, but I thought that the colours in the fruit were interesting and striking and I wanted to work in colour for my Everyday Geometry as a whole.