PowerPoint
Gallery visits
We went on a visit to the Atlas gallery to see two different exhibitions, the first one was photographs by John Deakin and the second was fresh faced and wild eyes which was an exhibition on work done by students for their final pieces. The third exhibition was by Danny Lyons taken of bikers in the 1960s.
John Deakin
John Deakin's work was mainly taken in Soho and he produced a number of portraits, photographs, collages and art work. He befriended several famous artists and writers who may have helped influence his work to being more mature and given him different inspiration as they were very creative people. Their diversity and like mindedness may of also helped him develop his style of work and changed his sister to wanting to being photographed as she then saw his potential. His photos of Soho reflect a very diverse, young, trendy and creative place filled with a range of different people with all kinds of jobs. I really like Deakin's photographs best as I feel they show a lot of the personality of the people and place through a clear shot. The red walls of the exhibition created an effect of making the collages and painting on it stand out compared to the black and white photos.
Student's Work
The next exhibition was one completed by a range of different students, my three favorites were the series of pictures taken of the different kitchen utensils in use, the follow around film of a man and his life and the series of pictures taken of landscape for travel in Spain. I really liked the kitchen utensils one as I found the images very engaging and liked the contrast of the coloured background, looking at the images they gave a lot of satisfaction as to how neatly whatever was produced by the utensils. I feel part of it links to my own work such as when I experimented with water droplets and the idea of having to have a clear set up to produce a clear image. Another piece of work I really liked was a short film which followed round a man, it was beautifully shot with some very clear and high quality close ups, it was also moving to see how this man lived. I feel part of it links to my work on photographing people in the street in the way of showing a small part of someones life. Lastly I liked the piece of work by Nikolas Ventourakis who captured landscape in a tourism type way, I liked his style of capturing the city as a whole and small parts of it. I feel some of his work could link to work done of photographing London in the way of focusing on small details and the city as a whole.
The next exhibition was one completed by a range of different students, my three favorites were the series of pictures taken of the different kitchen utensils in use, the follow around film of a man and his life and the series of pictures taken of landscape for travel in Spain. I really liked the kitchen utensils one as I found the images very engaging and liked the contrast of the coloured background, looking at the images they gave a lot of satisfaction as to how neatly whatever was produced by the utensils. I feel part of it links to my own work such as when I experimented with water droplets and the idea of having to have a clear set up to produce a clear image. Another piece of work I really liked was a short film which followed round a man, it was beautifully shot with some very clear and high quality close ups, it was also moving to see how this man lived. I feel part of it links to my work on photographing people in the street in the way of showing a small part of someones life. Lastly I liked the piece of work by Nikolas Ventourakis who captured landscape in a tourism type way, I liked his style of capturing the city as a whole and small parts of it. I feel some of his work could link to work done of photographing London in the way of focusing on small details and the city as a whole.
Danny Lyons
Lyon's work provokes a sense of danger and intrigue as the surroundings and the people create a sense of toughness and a new world a lot of people hadn't seen. Details such as the excess of tattoos, biker jackets, motorbikes and gangs of people create intimidation and curiosity, I feel he creates this by using black and white. These photographs show 1960s America to be edgy, tough, focused on young people and their morals as well as the economic decline perhaps leading to people hanging around in gangs as they don't have employment. The effect of the exhibition design is black and white on white which makes the photos stand out more and easier to compare with each other and notice detail. I really liked one image that showed two bikers which captures the essence of the bikers well as they are dressed in biker jackets, and the framing of them looking natural brings out their personalities. Also I like the image of a woman looking down, the black and white is a heavy contrast with her face being highlighted by the light making it seem very mysterious and beautiful. Lastly I liked the image of a group of bikers which then has a reflection in the wing mirror of the motorbike of a biker, it's very cleverly and naturally shot which gives a sense of the atmosphere when the picture was taken.
Summer Work
Here are pictures of a journey I took to California where I visited Yosemite, Sequoia and Monterrey. I documented the journey in photos showing the different landscapes, animals and wildlife I saw. Yosemite and Sequoia are both national parks which hold a great amount of beauty with vast landscapes that are over whelming with wild animals such as bears wondering around. Monterrey is quite a comparison with it being a large seaside town which has lots of seals and sea otters and is famous for it's huge aquarium.
Horst Exhibition
At the beginning of our A2 course we went to visit Horst's exhibition at the V&A, this included a range of photographs which captured the element of time and fashion. He used the art of light, composition and atmospheric illusion which produced such highly commended images that they featured in magazines such as Vogue and House and Garden. There were five main parts to the exhibition which were: Haute Couture, Surrealism, Stage and Screen, Patterns from nature and Fashion in colour.
The image below is from his Haute Couture selection, this was featured in Vogue for Dior. The lighting used in this image creates a complete contrast between the model and her background, the lighter shadows behind her compare to the darker shadows on her skirt which is the main feature that draws you to the image.
The image below is from his Haute Couture selection, this was featured in Vogue for Dior. The lighting used in this image creates a complete contrast between the model and her background, the lighter shadows behind her compare to the darker shadows on her skirt which is the main feature that draws you to the image.
The photograph below fits under the Surrealism section which Horst did, this was one of my favorite images as once again his unique lighting techniques create a distorted image which is subjective to the viewer. His use of contrasting pale and dark is done very cleverly in the image with one side of the image being completely black and the other being completely white. Also the use of pale and dark for the hands is effective as well, especially as they are coming out from the dark half of the image which creates an illusion of not knowing where the hands are coming from.
This photograph comes under the Stage and Screen section, which captures a ballerina getting ready, there were two versions of this picture, this is the real unedited one whereas the other one shows the left hand side of the corset tight on the ballerina's body and not loose. I think this image is very beautiful with the shadows and lighting. The contrast of the left side which is much darker than the light side creates a natural beauty in the image. I also like the naturalness of the draped ribbons on the left hand side showing the ballerina in her natural element and state.
This photo is from the Patterns from Nature part which is a complete optical illusion to the eye. This particular image has created this image by flipping the image in several different ways. I like this image in how it's a closeup of nature but by changing and distorting the shape you lose sight of what the image is actually of.
The last photograph is from a rare collection of Hort's Fashion in Colour pictures which are my personal favorite out of all his images, many featured in top magazines such as Vogue. The main focal point of this picture is the beach ball however the use of lines are very prominent in this picture such as the crossing of the legs, the arm and the shadows caused. This effect ties in with Horst's use of shadows and lighting in many of his images.