Some more photos

Made 280 cupcakes last weekend with my best friend for her school fundraiser. 

We used her school kitchen (they have 6 ovens) and took camera. Heaps of fun... Next time I shoot food will bring some more props to accessorize the food with and will buy a mono pod and self timer/cable realease. Heaps of fun was had and of course taste testing was required...

Here is a crane I took at the lake several months ago he just wanted to have his photo taken...

emporer golden moth

Something a bit different to try for practice, Emporer Golden Moth  a Whimsy orginal. Modeled by me Thanks for helping me Matt :). I liked this composition using tule on the floor and material, a grey backdrop soft diffuse lighting.

Lets see more practicing, what have I learnt... check the magnifier flip up on waist level finder, practice with still life, for my focussing I'll try that thanks Geoff, move in closer to the model to not get so much head room. Getting faster at loading and developing film now.  

Emporer Golden Moth

Third year exhibition

Last night went to see third years exhibition- amazing work a lot of planning was involved. Thanks for your inspiration, and talent. It was great to see so many diverse styles, as well as talk to the artists about their work. Thank you :). 

photo update

Happy with artist shots, nice rembrant lighting, on his face. Eyes are a little soft though pleanty of head and feet room. (Hopefully the shots I have taken with a cable release will turn out sharper. Printed up a photo for artist to say thanks, In today to develop more film and hopefully print up a shot of the wearable art, to say thanks to the artist who leant me emperor golden moth outfit.

 

Thoughts on art

Today reading about "cubism and fashion photographers who use multiple images in their work", (Time Life: 1972, 130). 

I thought this photo was really amazing. The photographer took this shot by "projecting the side image on screen and then adjusting it and taking another image from his camera over the top" (Time life, 1972,130) I'd love to try an image like this with a data projector.

Mel Sokolsky Double image 1963 

in Time Life: 1972, 131

More reflections on studio practice.

Reflections 

• Must be flexible prepare for the unexpected and factor this in to the timing and preparation of the shoot.

• Today more practice- reshot head and shoulders with 150 mm lens, back up plan two in place so instead of artist that had been arranged, I reshot with another model. Thank you heaps... :)

•  Didn't end up using the photo frame in this shot as had to rethink and redesign posing of different subject. 

• This image will be contrasty, but with diffuse lighting. Main light 1/20- 1/30 of sec at apeture f8 side light probably too much contrast although the lighting is fairly diffuse, and not too shadowy.  1/8 sec side light ratio 1 to 6 too much contrast but have metered this wrong as was metering away from the model instead of facing the model and grey card. The lighting didn't look too contrasty with the diffuse light. Lit the background for this shot, so it would seperate model from the background.  Though it will be dark zone 2 and I should have had it lighter and moved the light closer to it.  Moved model closer to camera and further away from background.  This time made sure not as much head space with the shoot and moved the camera position to get head and shoulders not head to waist.  Used her hands to frame her face instead of a photo frame. All in all more learning and coping with the unexpected, note to self always have a back up plan and give self more time to factor this in.
  

More Practice and research

•  Friday 12th- practiced some more,- setting up lighting, metering using a grey card and adjusting lighting with my subject. Thanks for being so patient with me as I learn.. :)   This time I used a cable release in the hope of getting my shots sharper. 

• I found that by giving myself heaps of room to do the shoot, I was able to light the background separately.  Having them sit forward a meter or two also helped to "eliminate the shadows from the main light (Lewinski and Magnus 54)."  

• I practised some more - giving enough head room etc and metering each part of the subject and background so as to get my tones right. Ie: background zone 4  main light zone 5 side light zone 3 so it will be a bit of a contrasty image which is what I wanted with the background not too dark. 

• Thinking about props for the next shoot, even though its a head and shoulders shot, I might use a frame, like the photo in Lewinski and Magnus (1982) where the model is looking through the frame- to give it more of a "modernist approach to the photograph" as well as "framing the subject" ((25, 98).  I'm keen to try a number of different styles and lighting, so as to widen my range as a photographer, and not be locked into one specific style or way of doing things. This doesn't show the individual style or personality of the model, and doesn't really extend me as a photographer either (Lewinski and Magnus 1982,). I think using a frame as a prop will suit my subject too as he is again an artist. It will show him looking through a window maybe showing how one is framing themselves, identifying ones self with ones art maybe? Looking outwards as well as inwards etc...So many meanings can be taken from using props with a photograph. The models expression is key too as this can affect the entire "mood" of the photograph.

Bibliography: Lewinski, J, Magnus, M, 1982, The book of portrait photography: A practical guide to creative techniques. Dorling Kindersley Ltd. London

zeltsman approach to posing

Reese my teacher gave me this great website last yearhttp://jzportraits.home.att.net/and I thought I'd revist it and use it in the posing of my subjects, back to the drawing board for the posing for the guys. I tried the photo shoot with my artist yesterday but I'm not sure about the posing of him, seemed a little awkward so may reshoot, and try some of these poses, starting from the feet and working my way up, so that the subject is front on but looking at ease, also will have to get further back to make sure I have enough head room, for the subject may require longer focal length for lens or using a smaller apeture to give greater depth of field. Will see how the prints turn out and will revisit viewing distance x magnification ratio.

More reflections on studio portfolio

More thinking about conceptual ideas in my studio portfolio, have decided to reshoot some more for my own development and practice, so I organised a model today who was a visual artist to be photographed with a drawing in progress I wanted to have him studying it. I metered the main light reflector and background. Main 5.6 at f/160 side f5.6 at 1/16 and background 5.6 at f 13 so my background will be darker hopefully zone 3 background main light zone 5 and side lit more rembrant style lighting. 

I wanted to have the subject a little contrasty to show the light and dark sides of ones self, but also to give a sense of being engrossed in what he was doing assessing and reflecting on his artwork. The shots that I am happy with are David and his saxaphone this conveys emotion a thinking about life and playing his music.  I was thinking today about the different types of artists we have visual, dramatic, musical and wearable artist to name a few and the way that art evokes emotion and meaning, and thought that I will reshoot my alter ego as well as I want to try using more interesting props and design as well as showing a different side of me to use this shot as showing a freedom an escape from reality and an emerging sense of self.  Dressing up as a butterfly with a wearable textile art outfit will represent me as being beyond reality. I'll use fairly soft directional lighting for this one to represent freedom and the light that a butterfly basks in.  Saxman with saxaphone, can be playing his saxaphone thinking about the realites of life as he plays, the visual artist may be questioning reality and emotions and how best to portray them and the lovely woman with eyes is within reality. I feel a bit better about this concept as it links the pictures together, and is more cohesive. To me this semester has been one big learning curve. Thanks to everyone who has helped me and been so patient with me as I grow and learn.

Artist Statement for Studio Portfolio

Artistic Statements

Constraints of Childhood

To be a child in today's world means restrictions, being told you can do this you can't do that, must finish your dinner or no desert and so on.....  So what does a child do? They revolt. The only power a child has is in their person so that means they can say yes or no or do things physically because they are "made" to do other things. My idea was to capture this rebellion. The essence of the true child that says I will do as I please with the power I have. That means facial expressions. Whether I smile or frown it is their choice. The photographer may flatter or bribe them, but it may make no difference whatsoever.  

Sax Man

The 21st man faces many challenges in todays society.  External pressures economic and political pressures family and work must be juggled in smaller and smaller amounts of time.  Music is one outlet or distraction from these pressures, a chance to express himself and  to enjoy playing music.   This picture shows a man playing a Saxophone , but you can see he is not fully focused on his music or the enjoyment that it should bring.  Still pre occupied with the reality of life while he plays and so the music begins to suffer.

Bat Girl

My inspiration for Bat Girl, was when I was a child I used to play superheroes, and would climb ladders and trees and watch people from heights. Although these days I find it a little harder to climb ladders and trees. Wearing a mask reminds me of the many faces of my life: wife, mother worker photography student I take off one mask/ role and put another on. Its all about finding your balance....

To see the world through your eyes...

Women have many choices.  Who am I? can be expressed through fashion, make up, body image to name a few. I am drawn to this portrait because I believe  that ones eyes are the "windows to ones soul", to quote an old adage and my teacher. They say so much about a person their expressive qualities and beauty is what I wanted to show. In each of the above portraits a focus on the eyes has been my goal as they have been the most important parts of the portraits. 

Self Evalauation: 

So many things to think about in this portfolio: Learning to load and develop using medium format cameras, manual focussing- getting the photo sharp and focussed, using depth of field, tonal range, choice of colours of the subject and background allowing enough head room for the subject having seamless backgrounds for the full length shot with no dirty backgrounds, having good interactions with the subjects :) setting up everything before hand and packing away. Lots to think about, plan for and learn from. Hopefully next time I'll be faster more familiar with the equipment, and also in my planning and execution to get prints that are more creative and that I am happier with. I am saving up for a light meter and this will help me to have better exposure as I'll be able to meter more accurately, main light readings side readings and backgrounds. This portfolio I felt stretched me technically and am hoping that the more I practice the better I'll become with the medium format cameras as they are fun to shoot with.

The Child hood portrait I feel has captured the essence of the child and his constraints. I wanted fairly soft diffuse lighting for this one as he is a toddler I didn't want to make him too hot and also flood him out with light.

In the bat girl portrait my mask was also quite reflective a trait I didn't realise until after the shoot, although the mask does emphasise the eyes outline a little. The photograph I have used was the only one that didn't have to many spectral highlights that needed to be spotted out. 

The portrait of the woman and eyes is well lit with good separation of tones from the background, In the sax man photo the eyes are sharp and the tones are good.  The photo of David jnr I think might have been better had he been wearing a different outfit, but these are the best of the ones that I shot, with the time and resources I had available. 

  

Studio Portfolio

For this portfolio, I had originally wanted to take family photos for my wall, of each family member, to have two white and two black shots, but I also wanted the full length shots of people on seamless backgrounds.   After taking a roll of my kids on the floor with different backgrounds you could see the separation so I thought maybe I'd use the seamless paper backdrops instead. I looked at Sage photography website and loved the shot of the little girl in the fairy dress.So this made me think of using grey and black as my backdrops to give a little mystery and a haloed effect and so I ended up using these to pose the rest of my subjects on.

I use fairly dark colours so that they would all look uniform and have a mixture of rembrandt side lit shots and hollywood style. This meant using more lights and reflectors to light my subjects and the backgrounds. 

I started shooting my little Girl Grace first shot, I used a chair to pose her on and the background was a little distracting.   The shutter speed was too slow for a quick moving child, so the next reshoot I took of Grace used a faster shutter speed, but she was too close to the background, and a piece of fluff from her jacket was in her hair so had to reshoot her again. This time we tried a full body portrait of Grace but didn't think about the seamless background so in my shots you could see the horizon. So the next shots of the kids were on pull down paper backdrops so that the horizon was seamless. 

I looked at Richardsons work cited in Wilson she has used models with black clothes against black backdrops and the clothes tend to blend into the background. 

The shot of David with his saxophone, does this although there is still detail in the blacks. 

Grace's portrait head and shoulders used a 150 mm lens and the style is rembrandt lighting  against the black background. Her hair was covering her face and eyes weren't as open as I would have liked so I found another female model and took shots of her with her large expressive eyes made sure her hair was fixed just right.   She wasn't so close to the background and the lights were above and to the right to light her in Hollywood style.  I used a reflector to bounce more light into her face, as I was using 100 speed film instead of 400. I checked the focussing distance away from my subject focussed in on the subjects eyes and asked Belinda to use an incident light meter this time on either side of my subjects face at 5.6 at 125 for the main light reading.  I bracketed one stop over and under to make sure the exposure was right. This shoot was far less stressful than the other ones were as I had set up my lights before hand was able to move them as needed and then was just able to meter the model, who was lovely thank you!! I have learn't from working with kids that there is a very short time span to which they will sit and wait for you so everything has to be set up before hand lots of hands on deck to amuse and work the kids and then hopefully you get a good shot, as well as thinking about a really high shutter speed as kids move quickly. This was another thing I had to factor in when shooting with David Junior.  I was shooting with 100 speed film as there was no 400 speed to be had, so more lights lots of reflectors and a fairly shallow depth of field was needed as a result. 

For my alter ego shot I wanted to dress up as a super hero because I tend to take on lots of different roles in my life as "Super Mum".   The shot of me on the ladder epitomizes the lady who wears many masks in her day to day life, but who really has many roles to play. As for her true identity, I guess thats an ongoing question?