Evaluation

At the beginning of this project we were told the exam theme was covert and obscured. We then made a massive mindmap in a group to help us gather as many ideas for what theme inside this could be, photographers for inspiration, locations to take the photographs and synonyms of the exam theme to help get us started. Next we were given a number of different briefs to choose from, for example city life, family and life and collections/obsessions. I chose to go with the family and life brief as I enjoy photographing people and felt that I had a lot of ideas for it as it inspired me the most. For my first film shoot I came up with four ideas; objects in obscure places, stalking people, hidden identity and my cats point of view. I then experimented with a few of these in the darkroom using techniques such as sandwiched negatives, stencilling and layering with handmade negatives. From this I decided I wanted to develop the hidden identity theme for my final outcome, this reflects the exam theme well because the persons identity will be obscured.

The two photographers that inspired my work the most are Anton Corbijn and Mario Corea. Anton Corbijn's sandwiched negatives prints made for the Travis album cover inspired my own sandwiched negative prints as he used a close up picture and distant picture of each band member viewed from the front. Since the exam theme is covert and obscure and my own is hidden identity I decided to try the same idea but of the back of my subject so that their identity is not shown. Mario Corea inspired the second half of my outcome that is a collage. I liked the way he used photographs in the background and then painted around them/on top of them to make a powerful effect that makes the work stand out. I used a similar technique within my collage but not as heavy on the paint as him as I wanted each collage to represent the person.

Anton Corbjin:

Mario Corea:

The experiment that influenced me most was the sandwiching negatives technique as I found if really effective and I enjoyed producing them and finding different pictures that work well together. 

I really enjoyed this project as there were so many possibilities and ways the exam theme could be interpreted. I also enjoyed it as I got to try out a lot of techniques in the darkroom and I feel ive learnt a lot from it. I think the exam theme was fairly easy as it gave you a broad range of ideas and techniques to choose from. I'm pretty sure I will be happy with my final outcome as my experiments so far have been successful. 

Sandwiched negatives experiments

These are my best sandwiched negative prints so far:

I really like this print and will be taking it forward in the exam. To improve it I need to add a filter to add more contrast as the image is very grey at the moment. I could also crop the image slightly to cut out the doors on the side.

This print wasn't as successful as some parts are over exposed and others under exposed making it hard to find a solution. I will not be taking this forward for my exam. 

This print is a test strip but I found it worked a lot better than the actual print itself. To improve this I also need to add a filter to make the image more powerful.

I like this print but I feel it is lacking compared to the two previous prints that I want to take forward, because of this I will not be developing this idea anymore.

Mixed media collage development

This is one of my developed collage ideas for one of my subjects:

I chose three images to photocopy that work together well and then placed them on the page so that they overlap each other slightly. I added green acrylic paint around the edges of the photos and added some numbers I cut out from a newspaper. To improve this I could use the original prints as the paint effect will look a lot better and I will also use the subjects favourite colour to represent them.

Final film shoot

These are some of my best prints so far:

To improve them all I need to add a filter for more contrast.

Digital Photoshoot

These photographs were taken in Cornwall of my family using my Digital SLR Nikon D3100 camera:

Hidden Identity moodboard

Exam Review

The exam brief theme is 'Covert and Obscure' but my chosen starting point within that was 'Life'. I followed these two themes when taking my first roll of film and digital photo shoot. My four original ideas when taking the film were spying on someone from a far on there daily life, objects in obscure places, my cats point of view on daily life and hidden identity. I feel that the hidden identity theme has the most potential but this could also incorporate spying on someone on the daily life. This way both the exam theme and my chosen starter point theme will be met.

At the beginning of the project I looked at the four different ideas stated in the paragraph above, from this I decided on taking the hidden identity theme forward. I then began to experiemtn with different techniques that could portray this theme well, such as blocking out the subjects face, painting on the developer to obscure the image and sandwiched negatives that merges two photographs together. After doing some research on other peoples double exposures and sandwiched negatives I came across Anton Corbijn and I decided I would try taking a close up photograph and a distant photograph of someone from behind to merge together. As he has done a similar piece but with two photographs taken of people from the front.

My favourite and most successful experiment is the sandwiched negatives technique as it gives the image depth and captures your attention as there are two images to look at. 

I feel the least successful experiment was the handmade negatives as you are very limited with what you can do as there is only a small space to use and once you get something that looks good developing it further is not easy. For example using a handmade negative with another negative, it is hard to get the handmade negative to show up on the print unless something like salt is used, that doesn't let much light through, it doesn't work very well.

The experiments and techniques I would like to develop further are sandwiched negatives, collage, combination prints and painting on the developer. For my final prints I would like to use black and white film.

The artist that is currently inspiring me the most is Anton Corbijn and his sandwiched negative prints made for the Travis album cover. I have also looked at Sigmar Polke and Mario Corea's work which I really like and would possibly like to combine some of their techniques into my work. 

In the two weeks before the exam I want to play around in the darkroom with my favourite experiments to develop them and try and come up with some imaginative ideas for my final prints. I would also like to create some more collages using my new prints to help me decide what technique I want to take forward.

Mixed Media Collage

These are my mixed media collages:

Here I ripped up two different pictures and mixed some of the pieces to gether to make this background. before I stuck these down I covered the paper with black chalk once I stuck them down I then added the red chalk lines in between.

The two images below were inspired by Mario Corea:

For this one I ripped out to images of different people stuck them onto the page and then painted around them with blue acrylic paint.

Here I used black chalk and blue acrylic paint to split the image into two sides.

Finally for this idea I decided to use a similar idea I used for the previous collage experiments. By cutting a picture into squares and then painting in the gaps to add colour and depth.

I really like these collage ideas and I want to develop them further to use within my final outcome. To improve these I could make the materials, colours and techniques relate to the person in the image to reveal a bit of there identity to get the viewer thinking.

Collage

These are my first collage experiments:

Here I cut out a square of paper which I stuck over the subjects head to hide his identity and then drew a question mark in red pen on it.

Next I cut up a picture into stripes and rearranged them to muddle up and obscure the image so you cannot see his identity.

Finally I cut up two different pictures of different people, into different sized squares and then mixed them together to create this effect.

Overall I feel these images are lacking the wow factor and could be improved by adding in colour and different materials as they are currently very dull and boring.

Mario Corea Analysis

This collage is by Mario Corea a fine artist and architect from Barcelona, Spain. He was born in 1939 in Rosario where he grew up and studied architecture. In 1964 he moved to Boston where he got a Master of Architecture in Urban Design degree. He is currently both his professional practice in architecture and his academic career by doing lectures and workshops across the world. The name of this piece is 'The Ballad of Love' one of the 35th Street series made in 2003. I have chosen to analyse this piece as I find it really inspiring and want to create something similar as it seems to have a obscure effect which fits in well with my theme. 

I have looked at his architecture website and his Behance portfolio to find out more about him and this work. I believe the theme of this piece of artwork is urban lifestyle as the background shows images of buildings and the rest of his work seems to portray the same theme. The composition of the work also makes it look like a face from a far because of the eye and paint, which could be suggesting a hidden identity of the location.

He uses different images to make up a collage on a piece of cardboard which he then paints over/around with acrylic paint to build up a powerful effect with subtle detail within it. He uses typography within the collage aswell to give the viewer a hint of what the images is about, for example the title of the image above is incorporated within the work. He has used black paint around the edges of the artwork possibly to suggest there is a darkside to the subject or to give a border to it so the centre stands out more. This draws all the viewers attention to the eye and typography which are surrounded by black. The world love is in red so that it stands out well as it is the only splash of colour within the artwork and because red is normally associated with love.

When I first saw this piece the thing that stood out to me most was the eye as it is the centre of the page and looks like its looking out at you which draws you in. I think the overall composition of the piece is very bold and I love that when you look at it more closely you see the more subtle detail within the background, such as the buildings. The only thing I would say I dislike is that you cant see much of the images in the background and I think it would be nice if you could see a bit more. However I find this work really inspiring and would like to create some collages with similar techniques to fit my covert and obscure theme.

Here is my attempt at creating a similar effect:

Here is another example of his work:

Further Film Experiments

The piece of photographic paper was moved slightly whilst it was being exposed to get this effect:

I like this experiment and would possibly like to develop it in the future, by trying it with different photographs.

Sandwiched negatives:

This is my favourite technique so far and I would like to develop it further. I feel it relates to the exam theme, covert and obscure, really well as sandwiching the negatives obscures some parts of each image and brings out others.

Reversal:

To improve this image i would add glass on top of the paper when exposing it to light as some of it is a bit blurry. Also I would like to try it using the original photographs so the whole image is reversed, unlike this image where I used the dodging and burning image below.

Painted on developer:

I think this technique is effective as it helps to give more of a meaning to the image.

Dodging and buring:

This is one of my favourite photographs so far but I think it is a bit to plain a simple and I want to create something more exciting.

Review

For the first photoshoot my 4 ideas were objects in obscure places, spying on people, my cats point of view and hidden identity. My favourite idea that I want to develop was the hidden identity theme as it seemed to work the best and I feel it has the most potential.

From all the experiments I have done so far, my favourite is the sandwiched negative technique.

 

I looked at Anton Corbijn's photographs of Travis, he has used double exposure or sandwiched negatives to create these images. Each image is made from a close up shot and distant shot of each band members face. I would like to try something similar but since my theme is hidden identity I would take the pictures either from behind or with the face being covered.

Man Ray and Juergen Teller Analysis

This photograph is by Man Ray a Photographer/painter from America, taken in 1929. He was born in 1890 and died in 1976 aged 86. He was most well known for his experimental photography that pushed the modern boundaries at that time. The subject of this photograph is Elizabeth Lee Miller an American photographer born in 1907 and died in 1977 aged 70. She started out as a successful fashion model in New York before moving to Paris where she was taught by Man Ray to become a fashion and fine art photographer. 

The size of the photograph makes it more personal as it is fairly small, which draws the viewer into the image. It is a close up portrait shot of the side of Elizabeth Lee Miller’s face. The arrangement of the picture is pleasing as she is in the centre of the photograph and the background is plain so all attention is focused on her.

This photograph has been planned out which makes it seem quite forced. The image has been solarized, by Man Ray, in the dark room to achieve this effect. 

I feel this photograph has a very cold mood to it as it is a very grey and flat image.

This photograph was taken by Juergen Teller, a famous fashion Photographer from Germany. He was born in 1964 and moved to London in 1986 aged 22 where he started his career. His work has been featured in many magazines such as 'The Face', 'Vogue', 'Another Magazine' and 'Self Service'. This photograph was taken for Self Service magazine in 2010 of Kate Moss at her house in Gloucestershire.

It is a fairly distant view of Kate Moss laying in a wheel barrow. All the colours in the image are natural, earthy colours except from the blue wall that is behind Kate Moss. This bright colour along with the lines on the wall, that add texture, make her stand out more.

Juergen Teller uses two Contax G2 cameras with flashes to capture different aspects of the subject, this means the image is less posed as the model doesn't know where to look. 

I really like this photograph as it has a nice composition and the natural colours along with the bold blue background work well together.

Sigmar Polke Analysis

Sigmar Polke was a German painter and photographer from 13 February 1941- 10 June 2010. He was a self taught artist that experimented with lots of different styles, materials and techniques to create his work. New York Observer said 'Polke used his camera like a sketchbook; and he treated his photos like paintings, experimenting with, altering or deliberately bungling the development process to create unusual visual effects. Most of his prints are creased and stained. Everything seems unfinished—not in the sense of lacking anything, but in the sense of still being in play'. 

The artist has used different textures and patterns within the image to add more depth and meaning to it. For example in the bottom right hand corner there is a dotted print on the background with what seems to silhouettes of people on top of it, this makes the work more exciting and have a better effect.

The photograph has been planned out as it has many different sections and images within the page, the artist must have composed them in a certain way. The artist has used an SLR film camera to take the photographs and then used the darkroom to print them onto the page. He has used multiple exposures and lots of different techniques to build up layers to the image such as combination prints, painting on developer and photograms. 

I really like this piece of photography as it has so much going on it really draws the viewer in as it makes you want to look at all the little details to try and find out what the artwork is about. It is also really interesting as i'd love to know how he made it. The only thing i dislike about it is that some parts seem to be over exposed and some parts seem to have no relevance to each other. However I would like to try out some combination prints and this has inspired me to try making  a photo montage or collage.

Film experiments

Negative Sandwiching:

Handmade Negatives:

This negative was made using Vaseline.

This negative was made using salt.

For these two images below I used the salt negative along with an image from my film:

Stencils: