Book Review: Behind the Image by Anna Fox and Natasha Caruana

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Basics-Creative-Photography-03-Research/dp/2940411662

This book started with finding out how photographers work and what informs them. It talked about this all being part of the research process, as well as finding out why they are passionate about what they do.

It then goes on to describe the research process in detail, with planning including thinking about the audience, funding proposals, where to look to do research and it had ideas such as using local libraries, galleries and podcasts as well as other internet research. It reminds us that we may take photos as part of the process, it is not always the finished product. It likens a photo story to an essay, which is quite interesting.

The final chapters mention evaluations and then talks about ethical issues such as the need for model releases. They also mention keeping a reflective journal to help with the process.

Nikon club Photo Search and Exhibition - Oct

I went to KK for the Photo Search run by Nikon. This was lots of fun - groups of 3 were given 35 cryptic clues to solve and each member had to take a photo of the answer. The weather sucked, it rained which was nice from a temperature point of view, but not good from a having to put your camera away all the time point of view! We had 3 hours.....it was pretty exhausting! We decided to do the clues backwards to keep away from the crowds. We arrived back at base pretty exhausted but were given lunch which was a nice touch. We then downloaded all the images....and waited a few days for the results.

The opening of the Nikon Sabah exhibition was later that day, which was great to see. Club members around Sabah had images depicting various places and the wildlife that lives there. It was a rare opportunity to actually look at images in this way, normally I only have the internet to look at! I also got to talk to a few of the photographers with work on display.

Part 1: Analyse an Essay

For this exercise, we looked at the essay “Understanding a Photograph,” written by John Berger in 1972.

 

First, a sentence to summarise each paragraph:

Para 1: Is photography considered a fine art?

Para 2 : Not many museums hold photographs, making photography more accessible to the public.

Para 3: Works of art are valuable property.

Para 4: Images are infinitely reproducible, and therefore have no property value.

Para 5: A photo shows a message about the event it records.

Para 6: Why did the photographer choose THAT moment to record?

Para 7: Differences between photography and painting – painting involves arranging things.

Para 8: What gives the photo meaning may depend on the observer’s understanding of the background.

Para 9: The moment the shutter is pressed is what is recorded.

Para 10: Painting interprets the world in a different way, photography has no language of its own.

Para 11: Choosing the moment to preserve within a continuum.

Para 12: What is present and what is absent are both important in a photo.

Para 13: The message may be very simple.

Para 14: Photos are a view of reality that may be used against us.

 

Summarising his paper into one sentence: Photography is unique, and shouldn’t be judged in the same way as painting, sculpture and other fine arts.

 

John Berger is known for his socio-political stance. How is that reflected in his argument?

He makes reference to social class, and ‘nobility’ owning works of art, and of this being out of reach to the general public. At the end, he also talks about using photography as a weapon, which could be seen as political.

 

Are you convinced by Berger’s argument? If not, why not?

Not really, but the main reasons are to do with the fact that the article is 40 years old and the digital age has changed things considerably. Museums and galleries also seem to have more photography now, and it seems to be taken as a form of art. There is also a lot more digital manipulation, and this can be seen as unreal, in the same way potentially as painting might be seen. I also disagree that photography has no value as it is easily reproducible, again this is not always true, many images can be sold at auction for a high value.

 

What is your opinion of Berger’s writing style?

At first, I found the essay quite hard to read as it was a bit old fashioned. Some concepts have changed so much today that from that aspect it was also quite hard to read. It also requires a fair amount of concentration and reading through in order to get the overall message.

Part 1: Research and Analyse

For this exercise we were given 4 photographs to choose from in order to research the photo and then make an analysis of it, in a similar way to how we looked at our own photograph.
 

I chose the image of the ‘Afghan Girl’ by Steve McCurry, as this is an image I have seen as part of an exhibition of his work from Muslim countries at the Islamic Arts Museum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a few years ago. The image was printed in a large format as you walked into the exhibition, and made you stop and look more closely. I also bought a set of Steve McCurry postcards many years ago, and put this one on my wall at boarding school. I also remember seeing the National Geographic documentary about them trying to find her again.

The first impressions of this photo are that I am drawn to her piercing green eyes, and the rich colours of her clothing and the background. The non-descript look on her face both hides and shows emotion. The colours under her ripped scarf are the same as the background, making her fit well into the environment.

Steve McCurry was on a photo shoot for National Geographic, documenting the lives of orphaned refugees from Afghanistan who had crossed in to Pakistan. It was during the Soviet War in Afghanistan, and her parents were killed in the fighting, prompting her grandparents to take her and her brother to Pakistan. He was telling the story of their plight, and went to a tent village where they lived to do this. This photo was taken in the school. When he saw the girl, she was extremely shy and so he photographed her classmates first and then approached her. He knew once he started he had a limited time as people in this situation get bored easily.

The shoot was planned in that he was on assignment, but on this kind of assignment I am not sure how much you can predict the images you will capture. To take the shot, he used a Nikon FM2 with a 105mm f2.5 lens. He used Kodachrome colour slide film. It was taken in December 1984, at the Nasir Bagh refugee camp in Pakistan.

The photo is well and evenly lit, there seem to be no shadows on the face. The colours are rich and clear. The photographers intent was to capture the lives of refugees from Afghanistan. This lady has only been photographed twice in her life, at this time and then when the National Geographic team returned in 2002 to try and find her. Steve McCurry has a lot of images in his collection in the same style, cropped portrait focusing mainly on the eyes.

There is a lot of information about this image and the story of the girl’s plight. There is also a lot of information about how the image was taken, and there was a documentary about how National Geographic found her in 2002.

The image was successful, one report says that the editor developed the film and then contacted Steve McCurry to report that they had a good photo. The image then made the cover in June 1985, then later the cover of National Geographic’s 100 Best Pictures. The image has also been used by Amnesty International to symbolise the refugee problem. When the team returned to find the girl in 2002, she was given funding so that her children could go to school, which is something she desperately wanted for them.

Links:

http://uk.phaidon.com/agenda/photography/events/2011/september/07/revealed-the-true-story-behind-the-afghan-mona-lisa/

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2002/04/afghan-girl/index-text

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/03/0311_020312_sharbat.html

http://www.changesinlongitude.com/steve-mccurry-afghan-girl-cover-photo/

http://www.lomography.com/magazine/lifestyle/2011/03/01/influential-photographs-afghan-girl-1984-by-steve-mccurry

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/steve-mccurry-photographing-the-essential-soul-2013387.html

Speedlight Workshop

At the beginning of September, I went to a Nikon Club workshop about using a speedlight. I have had mine for years, and have used it very occassionally for events, but have never really realised the full potential and decided a workshop was the best way to learn. I also enjoy the time spent with other local photographers anyway.

We learnt about all the settings I have been too scared to try, and about how to use the flash remotely triggered by the on-camera flash. We were able to use 5 flashguns to light photos as we each had one, which was tricky but lots of fun. It was so hard as we didn't have anything except our hands to hold the flashguns, and trying to hold them evenly when different people were in control was almost impossible! We had the chance to be models and pose, then direct shots and show everyone else where to hold their flashes!

Nikon Club Walkabout - Tanjung Aru Beach

I joined the Nikon Club walkabout in Kota Kinabalu on the 1st September, where club members get together and have models available to shoot. It is a great way to get to know people, especially as you usually meet people going to the workshop the next day if there is one. The models they had were a bit more experienced than the ones in Tawau, and a few portrait photographers were asking them to pose in certain ways. The main challenge is to get your shot whilst in amongst a large group of people all trying to do the same thing! The session was cut short as the storm clouds rolled in, although as we soon found out the beach didn't get rain but the town certainly did!

 This shot is ok but I needed the speedlight to add a little more light to her face as the scene was backlit.

 Here I did use the speedlight, but it needs less power. :)

 This father and son walked along as I was trying to inch my way in among the other photographers......

 It was hard to get the front spot, but I liked the unevenness of this image.

 This would be better if the horizon was straight, and the sea lower than the head line.

 This is what a typical shoot looks like!

 Just as we thought it was going to rain, this lady was persuaded to pose for us!

The storm!

Part 1: Analyse a photograph

For this we were asked to analyse one of our own photographs, following a 10 part structure. It has to be an image we were happy with and we then wrote around 500 words about it.

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My first impressions when I look at this photo is of an English summer, and I am drawn to the golden colour of the cliff on th right hand side. The contrast between that and the blue of the sea and sky reminds me of home and the changes between seasons that I miss in Borneo. I am also drawn to the lines just off the centre of the picture.

The genre of the photo is landscape, a British beach scene. It fits the genre without question, although there are people in the distance they are most definitely not the subject of the photo.

The photo was taken as part of a project for the OCA landscape course, looking at different levels of the horizon. Whilst doing the shoot, I was also taking photos in order to have shots of the area to look at as I live abroad. I wanted shots that showed the contrast between the sky and sand.

As I was walking along  the beach taking shots of varying horizon lines, I saw the log in the distance and decided that I wanted to use it in some shots. I liked the shape of the log and the way the colour almost blended with the colour of the sand. There are people in the shot but they are far in the distance and only just visible.

The photograph was semi-planned – I had the shoot planned for the landscape module, but along the way I was looking for different viewpoints and shots in order to show people the beach when I went back overseas. I was conscious that I wanted something to show the colours, although I was not out shooting at golden hour due to availability of transport. The horizon line is placed using the rule of thirds, in the lower third of the image.

The shot was taken on a Nikon d90, at 18mm as I wanted as wide an angle as possible. I used an aperture of  f11 to show a little more detail in the shot, and a shutter speed of 1/640s as the sun was quite bright in the scene. The ISO was 200, the lowest I could set on the camera as it was a brightly lit scene. I knelt down to get a slightly different perspective and to help get the log where I wanted it.

I took it in a style to show the strong colours, although a deeper blue in the sky would have better shown this.

The intent of the photographer in this case was to take an image to use to show others and for her to remember the place. During the shoot I was using and challenging the rule of thirds, and in this case think it works. Post processing involved a slight change in levels and sharpening.

I believe the image works for the purposes I took it for. Of course, images are subjective and others may not think that it is successful!

Analysing the image helped me look at it in depth and think a lot about it. I had to look closely and think about the decisions I took at the time. Using the structure helped me to organise my thoughts more clearly and gave me a chance to critique my work in detail.

Book Review: Context and Narrative by Maria Short

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Basics-Creative-Photography-02-Narrative/dp/2940411409/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346054453&sr=8-1#_

This book starts with a reminder that all photos are about the past in general. They are sometimes the only reminder we have of people and there are so many ways to use photos, such as using photos to tell stories and altered realities. They discuss the importance of context in photography.

There are many projects along the way, about developing ideas for example. Lots of images are used to illustrate what they are talking about, and case studies illustrate the main ideas of each chapter.

Consideration is given about who will view images, and how this affects what and how we shoot.

Narrative is then considered, how to ensure continuity and how to decide on how to present a story. Text is the last section, using text on or with images in order to tell a story or advertise a product.

Part 1:Write a Caption

The first caption was about the SUBJECT of the photo:

A young green turtle swimming around Pom Pom Island in the Celebes Sea, Sabah. Green sea turtles are drawn to the sea grass which forms a major part of their diet. Pom Pom Island has lost a lot of coral to bomb fishing, but the conservation group TRACC are working on coral replanting, attracting more marine life back to the island.

The second was a caption about the photographic elements of the image:

The angle the turtle is taken at indicates that the photographer must have been swimming alongside, and the all important eyes are clear in the image, despite the front not being the main focus. There is evidence of other marine life in the background, and of the deep sea being ahead, adding an element of mystery to the image.

Part 1: Describe a Photograph

I was out taking underwater photos of fish when I found 3 turtles at various parts of my swim. I wanted to swim with them and document them with both photo and video as they are amazing creatures to watch and I wanted to share the experience with my family. I have always been fascinated with turtles and the water around Pom Pom Island in the Celebes Sea has a lot of them. I wanted to take photos so you could see that I was swimming with them rather than being in front and getting the turtle head on as this may frighten them. I was almost swimming above this young green turtle when I took the photo. I have only taken photos of turtles once before, the other times I have seen them I have not had a camera with me. The first time I was pretty happy with the images but feel this time was better as I knew more about what to expect. The other thing I was noticing as I shot was that there is some more coral now and a lot more fish, this is an area where bomb fishing has killed lots of coral but replanting has meant the fish are coming back. Turtles like the area as there is grass for them to feed on and they also nest on the island. I used my Nikon coolpix underwater digital camera as this is waterproof to 10m.. I used it in the special underwater mode, then changed the levels slightly in photoshop elements 8 until I felt the turtle was the correct colour as I remembered it. The water was quite shallow and we were mainly over sand rather than a large coral reef. I also had to be quite mindful of what direction I was taking photos in as looking in some directions meant the light was terrible due to the angle of the sun on the water. I also had to swim pretty fast to keep up – turtle chasing is definitely a good form of aerobic exercise!

Assignment 1 - Final Version

The industrial estate, looking across the car park.

f20, 60s

The park, showing the way to go.

f7.1, 60s

The park from another angle.
f16, 60s

The arrow shows the way.

f20, 60s

The basketball court

f22, 60s

 
The shadow of the tree
f16, 60s

Traces of life in the industrial estate
f22, 60s

The barrier is finally open to the new part of the estate.

f22, 60s

Life but scarcely evident - the roundabout near Phase 5

f22, 60s

My street

f22, 60s

Security protect Phase 3

f20, 60s

The new furniture store stocks up.

f22, 60s

The entrance

f22, 60s

The roundabout at the entrance.

f22, 60s

The tree I like looking at.

f18, 60s

-          I did 8 night shoots and one day shoot in total for this project, and also spent some time driving around in the day thinking about shots and deciding what I wanted. I settled on the idea of night shots, and tried a few versions. I originally wanted to take the photos at twilight but this is so short in Borneo that it would have taken many more shoots over a long period of time to complete the assignment. I walked for some shoots and took my car for others (as I realised that for safety, if there was a power cut I would have more chance of getting home with my car!). A tripod was used for all night shoots, and I used my Lumix Gx-1 with a 14mm lens for all shoots. I took my time working out where to be for the shot, and also took some that I hadn’t thought of as I saw them.

-          For post-processing, I simply changed levels, then for some cleaned them with the spot healing brush or clone stamp tool, before adding unsharp mask. Two shots were not straight and so I used rotate to straighten them – I did attempt to take new shots but this was unsuccessful. I used Photoshop Elements 8.

-          I chose to use colour files as it seemed more relevant to the subject which is a current one – in the digital age, colour is more common and I like the effect of night long exposures more in colour. I have put them into a word file as requested by my tutor, but have also included a link to the larger processed files in dropbox if needed.

-          I have used web size files (72dpi, 500 px wide) to add to the word document as this is a size that can be looked at online easily and they will allow the word document to be attached more easily. I took the shots at a resolution of 4592x3448 px, 180dpi. This is the maximum resolution of my camera, and I wanted the file size to be large so I could do more with it if needed without losing too much quality. I used jpg files as I find this easier to deal with space wise – I use RAW occasionally if I feel I will need more control in post-processing. I use adobe sRGB colour space, to be honest as I was advised to a long time ago but I cannot remember the rationale.

-          After much thought, I decided to put the portfolio in shoot date order, with the post-processed shot before the original where each is on the same page for ease of comparison. I will also be putting the processed photos on my blog so they can be looked at together.

-          The finished portfolio is almost what I expected, but I am still a little unhappy with the lack of people in my shots. A few shots I had were almost added that had people, but they did not fit with the overall theme of the portfolio. I think the overall look is successful, although I feel like I could have re-shot some that have too much flare – this was more difficult to correct in post than I thought it would be. Some I did reshoot, but I was still not happy. I also think I should have experimented more with 10 second shot intervals with more shots before settling on 60 seconds. I am glad I challenged myself to stick to the 14mm lens and a relatively new camera though. I think if I reshoot, I will try to get more evidence of people living in my area, by being clearer about including traffic trails. I do feel, though, that the lights in all shots convey a sense of my neighbourhood being occupied.

Assignment 1 - Eighth Night Shoot

 The entrance to the estate. f22 60s

 Looking over to the furniture store on the industrial estate f22 60s

 Another try f22 60s

 The roundabout f22 60s

 I saw an interesting shot involving a hut, but with a 14mm lens it was impossible. The moon was full so it burnt out, I still like the trees though. f7.1 60s

 I love this tree, I always look at it when I drive past, the shape and the light catch my eye. f18 60s

The same tree from a different angle. f18, 60s

This time I finally got to shoot one of the 'Bandar Sri Indah' signs, a shot I wanted to give a sense of the entrance to the estate where I live. I also went to get shots of the tree I always look at when I am driving down to my road, the way it is lit always catches me eye at night and the shape of it during the day. My shadow is in the last photo, I tried to walk far enough away each time I tried the shot, but then decided that the tripod would be in there anyway, and it gives a sense of a person being there.

Assignment 1 - Seventh Night Shoot

Monday night I got brave and headed for Phase 3, and luckily the dogs were nowhere to be found. I set up my tripod to take the shot I wanted of the BSI sign, but as there is no light falling on it and no manual focus, it was impossible despite me trying several things to try and overcome this. I got quite frustrated, but then walked around and found a few alternative views. As you can see, there were no car lights in the first shot - not due to lack of cars, but the cars going round the roundabout I was standing on the wrong way! The last shot was taken on the way back to my car, from the middle of the road :) and turned out to be my favourite of the night, the unexpected shot.
I still need one of a BSI sign - I will either bring a torch to shine or venture out to the other sign although for safety I need another person.....

Assignment 1 - Sixth Night Shoot

I went back out last Saturday night and didn't stay out long as again I was walking and had the fear of power cut! Gin I am trying to decide what to do with the flare from the lights, I need to try and photoshop one image. The other thing I could do it go back to shorter exposures....

Assignment 1 - Fifth Night Shoot

So tonight I started with the market and then the industrial estate before venturing on the road to Phase 5. The market shoot was better than last week, I had a few more ideas although some were still a bit weirdly lit. The industrial estate was creepy, not so well lit but I did manage a few shots.
Then I decided to go for a drive around to Phase 3, but there is still security and I want to look around in the day first. I saw a cool sign but there was a pack of 5 stray dogs who started running with my car and barking - they managed to follow me for a while and it was too scary to get out of the car! But I will try again for that shot!

Surveying the scene. f22, 60s.

Interesting screen for people to watch TV3 as they eat......f22, 60s.

Makan.......f22, 60s.

Still unhappy with the lights but I like the composition. f22, 60s.

Finally a car drove past! f22, 60s.

A closer up shot than last week. f22, 60s.

The road to phase 5 - the first time I have seen the gate open. f22, 60s.

Wasteland. f22, 60s.

Wasteland 2. f22, 60s. As I was taking this, there was a dog howling and frogs making heaps of noise....

A car surprised me by coming past, as you can see the road is quite bumpy hence the light trail! f22, 60s.

I still want to try over by Indah Regency for a shoot, and maybe more around phase 1, I need to do another day drive to check a few things out. The eco park is not very exciting at night so don't think I will include that!