Exercise 5.1 – The distance between us.
For this exercise It is asked that we use our camera as a measuring device. This doesn’t refer to the distance scale on the focus ring. It rather means find a subject that I have empathy with and take a sequence of shots to ‘explore the distance between you’. I will then add the sequence to my learning log and indicate which is my selected best shot.
For this exercise I decided to explore distance in a different way. I took some images of my dad playing with my son, showing the distance in age. My son has just turned one and my dad is seventy three. They were playing peekaboo with the bucket. The first image especially has a lot of noise but I love the expression on both of their faces and the affection it shows.
Exercise 5.2 – Homage.
“Good artists don’t borrow they steal” – Picasso.
For this exercise I have to select an image by a photographer of my choice and take a photo in response to it. I can respond in anyway that I like to the whole image or to just part of it. I will add the original image with my responding image. This is known as homage – a responding image of an inspired image from another photographer.
The photographer I have decided to choose for this exercise is Edward Weston. A 20th century American photographer who as born in 1886. Weston is well known for taking photography out of the vintage age. He takes images of everday objects that are carefully composed and sharply focused, these are usually created in black and white. The images that made me want to focus my exercise on Weston were the close ups that he has taken, as O’Hagan, S (2010) explained, they become abstract and start looking like something outside of subject matter. Weston also joined the f/64 group – a group that was named after the smallest aperture in a large format camera. He was in this group alongside other famous photographer such as, Ansel Adams.
The image I have chosen is Edward Weston close up of a mushroom. I chose this image because I get the abstract feel from it, although there are elements which make you think that it is a mushroom the angle in which he has photographed it allows the mind to wander and think of what else it might be.
For this exercise I took some images just on my Samsung 8+ phone. I was up at my stables and saw this huge mushroom which was partially decayed but parts of it were still standing proud, I found it really interesting so decided to take some shots.
The image above is my image in response to Edward Weston’s mushroom image. I have not copied his style completely. I decided to keep my image in colour still it isn’t as abstract as his, mine you can tell 100% what it is whereas, with Weston’s it is not as clear. The two images below are just some extra photographs I took; one more abstract and the other of the decayed area.
O’Hagan, S (2010) Edward Weston: the greatest American photographer of his generation? https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/aug/18/edward-weston-photography (Date accessed: 28/12/2019).
Exercise 5.3 – Looking at photography.
For this exercise I have to revisit the Henri Cartier – Bresson’s photograph Behind the gate Saint – Lazare. I need to observe this photo and see whether there are certain elements of the image that jump out to me, an area which my eye keeps returning too. If there is, what information does this point contain? As a result of this I will write my ‘personal voice’ response to this image.
On first glance of this image by Henri Cartier Bresson I mostly focused my attention on the man jumping the puddle purely because this is what it is famous for, that ‘indecisive moment’. This exercise made me look deeper into the image and I found that areas I found my eyes mostly attracted to are the ripples formed by the ladder. It made me visualise the man running along each slat individually and that is what caused the ripple effect. I am also drawn to the hoops/tubing that is also in the water. I like the way that this compliments the same shapes as the ripples being circular and oval. Upon further investigated on the image I can also see a poster of some sort above showing an image of a ballet dancer. The shape she is creating with her body sticks to the same concept as the ripples and the hoops in the water, she is curved and creating a ‘C’ shape with her body which interestingly matches the half hoop appearing below in the water. These are all interesting details that I actually missed when I first glanced at this photo in Part three of this module. This has taught me to look further into images as what we see in first instance might not be the whole picture and there are other interesting aspects hidden with the image. In my opinion because the man jumping in the photograph is just a focus point on a first look its hard to see beyond his. I tested this with my family I showed the image to three family members asking them what drew their attention and they all said of course, the man jumping the puddle.
Heather Wade OCA Blog 