Video Storytelling: Timed Practice One

 In this timed practice we all chose an emotion and shot footage for 30 minutes with a partner showing that emotion.  As the teacher I did not shoot this however I created a video with stock footage as we spent 30 minutes editing.  I edited on clipchamp.  I added music from the free music archive, I used crossfades and added titles and credits 

This is the video I created - I added this to Youtube and so this easy to view and publicly available.  This was a nice quick edit, I obviously did not shoot this but I did think about the shots and I like teh shots with miovement and moving from close up to long shots works well.  I enjoyed this short exercise. 

Introduction: Video Storytelling Project

 Over the next three weeks I will be working on my video storytelling project.  In this project I can choose to make an Explainer video, A Day in the Life Video or an Event Video.  We looked at examples in class of all three types of video and after this I began to think of ideas about what I would like to make for this project.  The project could be filmed on any device and needed to be doable in the time given with the shooting and editing.   

I started by brainstorming and making a mindmap Lucidspark

Explainer Video Ideas

After completing this and thinking about my ideas, and considering time available and what I need to do in terms of filming and editing, I have chosen to do 'Making a Monkey'.  I like this as it links to a project I did in the first term which was making sequential monkey images.  I can plan and storyboard this easily and although I will need lots of different shots. The set up at home should not be too complicated and I can reshoot and take many shots so I should have lots of choices when I edit this together.  My next post will be the planning of the shoot.  

Photography Project: Curation, Quality Control & Finalising Images

 My next step was to curate my images, I needed to find the best 10 images that would be consistent for my Neonate Tarot Collection.  

To curate the images I went through every image and first narrowed this down to around 25 images that were the correct light, did not have any flaws and were composed as I envisioned them for the project.  I wrote the image file numbers for all the images down:

The Fool: 1251/1268

The Star:1278/1268

The Moon: 1291/1290

The Devil: 1321/1320

High Priestess; 1339/1355/1360

Death: 1404/1399/1394/1378

The Lovers: 1425/1415/1451/1455

The Magician: 1464/1474

The Wheel of Fortune: 1522/1508/1505/1523

The Hanged Man: 1503/1564

After narrowing the images ,down I uploaded a set for each card to make a final decision and then I began quality control.  Here is an example of what I did for all images.  

I opened Photoshop and opened the images. I chose the one to work on in this case 'The Star'

I then unlocked and duplicated the background to make a new layer in the layers panel.

I wanted to even out the dark backdrop shade and ensure the bright areas were bright and the dark, dark, so I went to 'Image' in the top menu, then 'Adjustments' and then 'Curves'.

On this panel, I can adjust the image gently and subtly by just moving the line carefully in the dialog box

After this adjustment, I needed to get rid of a small spot of light that had come through in the corner of the image. To do this, I went to the tools panel on the left-hand side and right-clicked on the clone stamp tool.  I then took the tool into the image and pressed Alt and clicked where I wanted to clone from, and then went to the corner and gently clicked over it to clone the black over the error.

The image was now consistent, clean, and the contrast was correct.  I now wanted to make this into a round-sided Tarot Card, so I began by going to to tools panel and clicking on the Rectangle Tool

I then drew the rectangle onto the image.  I went to the tools control in the top menu and used fill and just filled this blue and checked that the stroke was transparent.  I then gently pulled the edge down in one corner to create my curved corners. 

Now I just needed to move the layer over the top of this layer in the layers panel and then I clicked on the layer and in the drop down box clicked on 'Create Clipping Mask'  I now have an image with rounded edges.  

My last stage is to finalise the image.  I have mocked one up in my previous post.  Now I will show this process.  I will now just add the Text layers to create the card. I click on 'T' in the tools panel and then click on the image. In the text tools in the top menu, I change the font to 'Harrington' and Type in the title of the card. I also changed the colour to white. The size of the font is 400pts. This is only because my image was very large, and I did not resize it as I wanted to see the original size while I was adjusting. I will now merge down the image before saving.

The image was now ready to save as a jpeg file in my final images ready for my portfolio on my website.  I click on 'File', 'Save as a Copy', and choose jpeg.  I will also save them as a psd in case I need to go back and adjust again for any reason. 

This is my final image of 'The Star'

I will now follow this process for my other nine images, and they will now be ready for my final portfolio

Photo Project Shoot: Neonate Tarot

 My ideas for this photoshoot were to create ten of the twenty two major acana of the tarot cards.  My idea was using baby heads as this was a portrait project so I had purchased a bag of baby heads.

For the shoot, I set up a light box with a black backdrop This meant that I could arrange the heads in different ways, but the light and backdrop would keep the photographs consistent.  I had drawn the different set-ups, and I had ideas about how I would execute each one.  I also used felt, blu-tack, sticky tape, a needle and strong thread and scissors.  The shoot took several hours due to the nature of the set-ups, and the heads are very small, so it was quite fiddly to put them together.

I then shot each set-up using ISO 100, F4 and would adjust exposure compensation as I went along. I shot in black and white and really wanted to bring out the contrasting shades and tones.  I shot a few in colour just to see what these looked like.  I took around 350 shots in total. 

I then uploaded these to my desktop and completed the contact sheets on Photoshop, this means there are 12 sets of contact sheets, so I will add some here, but all the contact sheets can be found on this link: Neonate Contact Sheets

My first shots were of card 0 - 'The Fool'.  These shots were the simplest as they just included one head and the jester's ruff.  The fool doesn't know anything; he is a new beginning and is guided by intuition.  The fool is the beginning of a new journey. He is optimism and hope but can be foolish and make rash or spontaneous decisions. 

This shot was taken on F5 with a fairly slow shutter at 1/50, ISO 100 and slightly underexposed at 0.7, I underexposed slightly to bring out the black backdrop.  The slow shutter was okay as it was a fairly still shot. I did not use a tripod for these; however, as they were tabletop, I could balance my elbows on the table to keep static. I believe this shot came out exactly as I had hoped, it is kind of haunting, and the contrast of the black backdrop and baby face worked well. 

This shot is of XV - 'The Devil'.  The Devil is about being seduced by the material world, luxuries and pleasures.  It is also about over-indulgence and being trapped by fear, perhaps in a cycle of addiction to these things.  

This shot was taken on F4 nd at 1/80, ISO 100 and with a -2 exposure compensation.  Again, I underexposed the shot to bring out the blacks.  This shot really does work well for me as the devil looks pensive and downwards, suggesting where he has come from. This shot is very consistent with my first of 'The Fool'. 

The next shot I will share here is VI - 'The Lovers'.  The Lovers is about relationships and what needs to be sacrificed for a relationship, and often in this card, the snake may appear as in The Garden of Eden to show temptation.  This card is also ruled by Gemini, which is why I chose to show the two heads, like the twins, in this image. It is about finding a soulmate, but it could be about finding a reflection, and perhaps not liking what you become when looking at yourself through their eyes. 

In this shot, again fairly consistent with the other shots F4.5, ISO 100 and Shutter 1/80. This time the shot was exposure compensation -1.3 underexposed.  This double image I really enjoyed taking as head below, is not a reflection but a real head, but it looks like a reflection.  The face is slightly darker and in the shadows, and again, there is something strange and ethereal about it.

The next shot is I - 'The Magician'.  The Magician is the next step from the fool, and here the Magician is often at the crossroads, as this is where we make choices, or he points above and below.  The magician is about using our own abilities and resources and finding our way.  The magician, of course, cannot be trusted; he may lead you down the wrong path. 

Originally, in this image, I thought about adding arms to the head as they were in my original drawings in teh ideas post.  However, when creating this, instead, I added a shining orb that dangled from the head, the magician's magic ball.  Below this, I added an additional head, and this juxtaposition of the two heads above and below really balanced this image.  Here, the settings are again consistent and underexposed by -2.7, and the high contrast here does really work with the head at the top of the image, almost looking divine and beautific.

I will share one more in this post - I cannot share all ten here (I will be adding all of these to my final website portfolio).  The next image I would like to share is XII - Death'.  This was challenging as I did not want to add a scythe or skull, but give that impression of death. Death actually means in the tarot not usually physical death, but the end of something important, so it could be a job, a relationship or something else that has life-changing effects.  It is the end and then rebirth, change and transformation.  So it is a major upheaval and change, but not necessarily bad. 

Again similar setting and underexposing by -2.  In this image, the mass of heads closer to the camera causes a slight blur in the foreground, but this works well; the bodies (or heads, in this case) are buried right here, within you, below you.  The main head at the top of the image is wearing a black cap similar to what was once worn by Judges in the UK when passing a death sentence. 

Judge wearing the Black Cap

The last image I will show is just one of the examples in colour, I shot a few in colour just to see how they looked and felt.

The same setting were used, here just -1 underexposure.  The colours are vibrant and the red jesters' ruff really stands out and complements the red lips of the baby lips.  The purple string does not really work, and if I had shot in colour throughout, I would have changed this to black.  The head below is darker and duller, and this again works at the bottom of the 'wheel', this set-up is for X - 'The Wheel of Fortune'

My next steps will now be looking at curating the best 10 shots, and I may play with creating the tarot cards. Something like this..

Reading a Photograph: Alexander Rodchenko

 Alexander Rodchenko (Russian, 1891–1956).  Rodchenko announced, “I reduced painting to its logical conclusion and exhibited three canvases: red, blue and yellow. I affirmed: It’s all over.” (Nouril, 2016) The death of painting in 1921, as it was to him, heralded a new age of the constructivist movement, and this included his work in photography.  His photography 'allowed him to easily experiment with the composition of images. He framed the world from new points of view—from above, below, and at other unexpected, sharp angles—encouraging the viewer to see familiar things in new ways.' (Nouril, 2016)

Portrait of Mother by Alexander Rodchenko (1924)

What?

What is in the photograph, and what are your first impressions?

This is a portrait of a Mother, it could be Rodchenko's own Mother, as it seems to state in the title.  In this image, the woman's life-worn face fills the frame.  She looks tired, perhaps rubbing her eyes.  Not only can we see her face, but also her weathered hands and the gold ring she wears on her little finger.  Perhaps this is her wedding ring or her own mother's ring, but now it is hers, as a remembrance. She seems to be wearing a large black hat and a smart coat, perhaps made of fur.  It seems to be winter, cold and fresh.  The woman's face is concentrated, perhaps she is trying to see properly or read something, and she is taking her glasses off or putting them on. What is most important is everything about this woman, this frame is her.

Who?

Who is in the photograph? How do you feel when looking at the people in this image? 

Do you feel part of the image, or do you feel you are just looking on? 

As discussed about the woman is his Mother or perhaps a representative of all Mothers.  This close-up uses a high angle just above the subject. What does this suggest?  It could be that the photographer was just taller and caught this shot as he tilted the camera down, or it was intentional and he was 'looking down' upon the Mother.  Also, Mother herself is looking down, so the whole suggestion of the shot is looking downwards.  Looking down suggests sadness, dejection, weariness or, as I suggested previously, concentration/tiredness.  I don't feel part of this image, I feel I am looking into a private moment.  I am a voyeur; I am glimpsing a moment that would have been lost to time without this image.

When?

When was this image taken?

What does that mean in terms of historical information?

This image was taken in 1921, this was a period between to first and Second World Wars, and art was flourishing.  The Constructivists in Russia, Dadaism, Surrealism and the avant-garde, through Europe, Rodchenko, 'On a trip to Paris in 1925 he bought a handheld camera, which allowed him to easily experiment with the composition of images.' (Nouril, 2016) A new wave of art and experimentation had begun, and Rodchenko really experimented with his camera, and he often used geometric patterns, and even with people, there was a constructivist mindset.  The Constructivist manifesto stated, 'The material formation of the object is to be substituted for its aesthetic combination. The object is to be treated as a whole and thus will be of no discernible ‘style’ but simply a product of an industrial order like a car, an aeroplane and such like. Constructivism is a purely technical mastery and organisation of materials.' (Tate, 2017) These images are the product of the industrial and technological revolution.  Now, as images are just pixels, materiality has gone and as Baudrillard, what really does exist anymore? 

Why?

Why did Rodchenko take this image?

Why is the photograph important?

It is unclear why Rodchenko took this image, but he was experimenting with the camera, and this close-up really shows that he was trying to get to the heart of what the camera could reveal in a person's face.  Rodchenko did believe that photography was art and had surpassed painting. 'The Russian formalists, including Viktor Shklovsky, who was photographed with Rodchenko, called [one of their]  techniques ostranenie - or making strange.'  (Raine, 2008) The idea was that you take something familiar and then you defamiliarise it through the photographic technique. her is an example below with Pioneer with a Trumpet, look at the unfamiliar angle and we see the pattern of the man's face and the trumpet from below.  Again, like the image of 'Mother', the face fills the frame.  

Alexander Rodchenko, Pioneer with Trumpet, 1930

How?

How has the image been taken? 

What technical points can you discuss? 

How has your view changed after researching the image?

What do you now understand the image to mean? 

As discussed, the image was taken from a high angle, and the face filled the frame. High contrast of the black hat and white skin, making the details all the more poignant and drawing the viewer's attention to the eyes, darkened and worn. Rodchenko may have used a Debrie Sept camera and also a Leica  camera. The Debrie Camera, imported from Paris, included a Zeiss lens, and Rodchenko would also have used a tripod and imported film stock. 

Alexander Rodchenko is an interesting figure in Photography and after relative freedom for a while a change in the Soviet State, his work came under scrutiny for being too Western and avant-garde, and as times changed, 'Rodchenko’s output was used repeatedly to make a state-sanctioned Soviet reality visible. In the wake of this, other official commissions began to arrive, from photograph albums of Civil War heroes or further examples of Soviet prowess, from parades and gymnastic displays to parachute jumps. The state needed Rodchenko after all,' (Lowe, 2023) 

Conclusion 

Rodchenko created great photography, and without him and his way of seeing, photography would be missing a seminal and important figure who was admired by other photographers around the world.  The state-sanctioned images may have changed his output, but in photographic terms, he was one of the greats who led the way for so many others. 

References

Raine, C. (2008). Craig Raine on the Russian avant-gardist photographer, Alexander Rodchenko. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/jan/26/photography [Accessed 27 Apr. 2025].

Lowe, P. (2023). Aleksandr Rodchenko’s Photography: Seeing Things Differently. [online] Izba Arts. Available at: https://www.izbaarts.com/aleksandr-rodchenkos-photography-seeing-things-differently/ [Accessed 27 Apr. 2025].

Nouril, K. (2016). Aleksandr Rodchenko | MoMA. [online] The Museum of Modern Art. Available at: https://www.moma.org/artists/4975-aleksandr-rodchenko [Accessed 27 Apr. 2025].

Tate (2017). Constructivism. [online] Tate. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/c/constructivism [Accessed 27 Apr. 2025].

Reading a Photograph: Robert Frank

 As part of the photography brief, we are reading a photograph, for the class task we are looking at Robert Frank's Trolley from 1955.

Trolley, New Orleans (1955) Robert Frank 

What?

What is in the photograph, and what are your first impressions?

This is an image of a 'trolley' or bus with the people of New Orleans.  The bus is segregated, so the black people are at the black and the white people are at the front of the bus. The framing of the image is very effective as it is split into thirds.  The bottom third is just the blank side of the bus, and at the top, there is a thin sliver of the side of the bus which almost gives the impression of a cinema with the lines below and above.  The most important and largest third is in the middle and directly at the viewer's eye line. Each person is then framed again in the windows, and they stare back out at the photographer/us, now from history.  Each person with their own story. The older well-dressed lady at the front, her handbag sitting on her knees and sits straight and looks out at the view. In the next frame is a boy and a young toddler who is crying.  The boy, dressed quite smartly, holds onto the frame and looks directly at the photographer.  In the third frame, a man wearing what looks like work clothes leans on the frame and again seems to catch the photographer, and now looks directly at the viewer. The fourth frame is an older woman again, quite well dressed, looking back, perhaps she is going to work or shopping and taking the bus.  The final third with the upper windows shows reflections of the outside and silhouettes of the people within, creating an impressionist film strip along the top of the image.

Who?

Who is in the photograph? How do you feel when looking at the people in this image? 

As above the people in the image are just the ordinary people of New Orleans, the people look like they are just living their lives as it was in 1955.

Do you feel part of the image, or do you feel you are just looking on? 

I do feel part of the image, the image draws you in and I could imagine beimng on the bus.  I imagine that it is a hot day, there is hardly a breeze and the trolley is hot and sticky and it is going to be a long ride in a cramped and noisy bus.  The smell is of sweat and dust, I can imagine being in this different world.  This frame is a long way from my own life however the social issues still exist and this image was before I was born, but I can imagine this time and this image is an important historical document that transports me back and helps me to understand.

When?  When was this image taken? What does that mean in terms of historical information?

This image clearly shows segregation on the buses and 'In 1958, [Robert Frank] wrote: “With these photographs, I have attempted to show a cross-section of the American population. My effort was to express it simply and without confusion.”' (Reed, 2020).  This is a historical document and through Franks seminal book The Americans (1958) first published in France and then a year later in the United States,  American life can be seen from a different viewpoint, it is a social commentary and Frank not coming from America, he was a Swiss-Jewish immigrant,  has the advantage of seeing it from an outsiders point of view. Frank took eight hundred rolls of film to capture American life, and 'His elliptical, off-kilter style was controversial, as was his innovative treatment of his subject matter, which revealed a profound sense of alienation in American life.' (The Museum of Modern Art, 2025).  This sense of alienation really refelects Franks feeling from the outside he is an alien in a foreign land and like my impression of the image, I feel like I am inside it, I can imagine it but it is another world, a world I have never lived in, but I am also a product of that history. 

Why? Why did Robert Frank take this image? Why is the photograph important?

Frank took this image and all the other images for The Americans (1958) to express what he saw as American life at the time.  His images were unusually shot, framed and composed differently; they were not just straight shots of buildings, landscapes, people, they took a different perspective.  This shot that has been flattened almost to make it look like a postcard, the trolley fills the frame and using the frames within the frame create individual stories, not only is there segregation, but each individual is highlighted by their own frame and through this they become more human, more individual to the viewer. LadyKflo states;  'The trolley car punctuates each square window with white bars on each side, as if to say that whiteness organized this system and keeps it in place.' (Katherine, 2022) I don't believe that this statement is really the truth, I don't believe the white bars were about a system, I think the bus had what we window frames and actually Frank through these frames did highlight individuality, even through the segregated bus. 

How? How has the image been taken? What technical points can you discuss? 

This image was taken as a snapshot as the bus was moving, hence the blurred windows and moving reflection in the upper third of the shot.  The flat 2D frame and separation into three follows photographic rules and creates a shot that fills the frame and uses frames within the frame to create a really masterful shot that has stood the test of time, as we are still talking about this shot 70 years later. 

How has your view changed after researching the image? What do you now understand the image to mean? 

I think it is interesting that now we look at this through the lens of history.  At the time when it was published, it was probably not understood or appreciated, Jno Cook states; 'It was little understood and appreciated at first, and it took ten years before its influence was recognized'  (ASX, 2009).  Viewpoints change through time, and how we see certainly changes.  We all now have a more sophisticated understanding of the image only because we are bombarded by them.  Photography at this time was still young, and these images were experimental and strange to people.  Now they have become important historical documents. Frank also stated of his images, 'My photographs are not planned or composed in advance and I do not anticipate that the on-looker will share my viewpoint. However, I feel that if my photograph leaves an image on his mind—something has been accomplished.' (amer4127, 2012).  Frank wanted others to take whatever they could from his images. he was a recorder but as he said, he did not plan this; he just took what he saw in his own way.  Frank was a pioneer in the photographic field, he discovered new perspectives, new ways of seeing that he shared with us.

Conclusion 

This image is a seminal image from Robert Frank's collection in The Americans. The image now still has impact and stands up as art and a historical document.  As we look into the eyes of the people here on the bus, we can imagine being within the frame, at a different time and with different attitudes and perspectives. Times have changed, but we still have many issues still with racism in America, which is why Black Lives Matter is so important.  We are in a better world, in some ways, but we still have an awful lot of work to do.

References

Reed, R. (2020). Robert Frank. Trolley: New Orleans. MoMA One on One Series. Photographs by Robert Frank. Text by Lucy Gallun. 9781633451193 - photo-eye. [online] Photoeye.com. Available at: https://www.photoeye.com/bookstore/citation/DT894?modal=%23booktease-modal [Accessed 22 Apr. 2025].

Reed, R. (2020). Robert Frank. Trolley: New Orleans. MoMA One on One Series. Photographs by Robert Frank. Text by Lucy Gallun. 9781633451193 - photo-eye. [online] Photoeye.com. Available at: https://www.photoeye.com/bookstore/citation/DT894?modal=%23booktease-modal [Accessed 22 Apr. 2025].

the Guardian. (2024). ‘It changed 20th-century art’: revisiting Robert Frank’s The Americans – in pictures. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2024/nov/20/robert-frank-the-americans-in-pictures-photo-book [Accessed 22 Apr. 2025].

The Museum of Modern Art. (2025). Robert Frank. Trolley--New Orleans. 1955 | MoMA. [online] Available at: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/54484 [Accessed 22 Apr. 2025].

Katherine, L. (2022). Trolley New Orleans by Robert Frank, 1955 - LadyKflo. [online] Ladykflo.com. Available at: https://ladykflo.com/trolley-new-orleans-by-robert-frank-1955/ [Accessed 22 Apr. 2025].

ASX, E. @ J.C. (2009). Robert Frank: Dissecting the American Image (1986). [online] AMERICAN SUBURB X. Available at: https://americansuburbx.com/2009/01/theory-robert-frank-dissecting-american.html [Accessed 22 Apr. 2025].

amer4127 (2012). A Statement by Robert Frank (1958). [online] AMERICAN SUBURB X. Available at: https://americansuburbx.com/2012/07/robert-frank-a-statement-1958.html [Accessed 22 Apr. 2025].

Photography Project: Initial Ideas

 I have begun to consider ideas for my photography project this term, and so I have two ideas that I would like to explore.  The first idea comes from an exhibition I visited in London of The Face Magazine.  This was a culture magazine that ran between 1980 and 2004, it celebrated the work of 83 photographers.  Some of the photographers' work I knew really well and the images it featured are now iconic images in pop culture. The people it featured could be ordinary people in clubs or the streets and fashion models, musicians and movie stars. (Siddell, V. 2025)

The Face Magazine: Culture Shift Exhibition 20th February to 18th May 2025

The imagery is all portrait-based, so this is great as it adheres with the brief, and I could look at some great photographers' work.  I want to start by looking at the work of Ellen von Unwerth, some of which was featured in the exhibition.  Unwerth uses staged images however, she is very much waiting to see what will happen, what is unexpected so the shots she gets are surprising, glamorous and unusual. Here are two early images of Britney Spears from Unwerth.

Britney Spears (circa 2003) By Ellen Von Unwerth

Unwerth always has glamour in her images; even when they are dirty and grimy, the women are made up exquisitely.  In the first image here, the frame is filled with Britney. The use of the rule of thirds is clear with her to one side and the bend of her elbow creating shape in the image.  She looks directly at the viewer here, challenging the viewer to stare right back. The use of black and white and the lighting create great contrasts in this image.  The second image is from the top down but uses the body as a leading line as Britney is stretched out on the back seat of a car. The contrast of the dark interior and her white body, clothes and hair again work well with the light and contrast.  The elbows and legs bent create the triangular shapes that make the image really work, and this time, she looks away, and it looks as if we are walking in on a private moment. The third image is completely different, with a different look and style.  Here, she looks up, her neck lengthening her body, which is exposed through the design of her dress.  The long string of pearls draws attention to the bareness of her body.  Here, the background is blurred/overexposed, and she is in motion, so it looks like a snapshot.  

The reason I looked at these images is for my own ideas. I would like to perhaps do a series of self-portraits that look like they should be the front cover of a magazine or an album cover.  The shoot could be the series of images from that shoot, like the ones here. Or like the Mapplethorpe images of Patti Smith 

Robert Mapplethorpe, Bob Heimall, Arista Records, Album cover for Patti Smith, Horses 1975

In my second idea, this came to me in a kind of vision, so I ordered a bulk load of doll heads - unsure exactly of how I would need these...

Then it started to come to me that I wanted to create a set of 10 of the major arcana in Tarot, and I had some initial drawings of those ideas 

The doll's head will be mounted on a black backboard, and then I would place this inside a light box to photograph each 'portrait'. This could be quite creative with the heads, and I like the idea of using the tarot cards as a basis.  I think this would need exploring more, but again, I find myself back to Hans Bellmer and his deconstructed dolls.  I like this image with all the pieces; it reminds me that we are just parts that can be easily deconstructed.  The dolls Bellmer created were both beautiful and terrifying.  So strange and deformed; 'These transformations of the doll's body offered an alternative to the image of the ideal body and psyche popularized in German fascist propaganda of the 1930s.' (MOMA, 2024)

Hans Bellmer, Plate from La Poupée, 1936

I like the strangeness of this idea and would like to see how these would turn out - it would be quite a lot of work, one on each one, but it is doable in the time (I think).  I like the black and white shot I took of the heads and want to do more.  I will test this out further before making a final decision on the project 

References

MOMA (2024). Hans Bellmer. Plate from La Poupée. 1936. [online] The Museum of Modern Art. Available at: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/92611 [Accessed 12 Apr. 2025].

Siddell, V. (2025). The Face Magazine, Culture Shift. First ed. National Portrait Gallery.

Photography Project: Studio Portraits

 Yesterday we went to the photographic studio to take studio portraits. In the studio we used continuous lighting with a four light set up.  We took black and white and colour photographs and we used a black backdrop and a white backdrop.

We used the model Billie and a variety of poses for different composition.  Once I complete the shoot I created contact sheet on Photoshop.

We started with a high key set up on a white background.  The model was wearing colourful clothes and this should have been bright and sharp images. The first image I has chosen to show is this medium shot below

In this image the F-Stop is F4.5 so the aperture is wide open and the image should be clear and sharp.  With the lighting here the shutter is only 1/80 which is quite slow and actually the image is soft and really more light was needed to make this much sharper. I could have improved this image by over exposing slightly and this would have also increased the shutter speed or I could have added extra physical lighting or changed the ISO to 800 (however this would have added more noise, so not a good solution). 

We looked at lots of poses prior to the shoot and this shot by David Bailey has some similar ideas 

It is also a medium shot and uses rule of thirds, Bailey's image uses natural light and the hallway to frame the model.  In my shot there is a clean white background and the colour lifts the image to make it bright and clean.  In Baileys shot the domestic environment is more low key and the black and white changes the mood and feel of the image with the woman alone in the house.  My own image is very much like a classic fashion shot, the model's identity is unimportant.  Baileys shot is obviously far more compelling.   

The next shots I chose were these two sitting poses one in black and white and one in colour - this is partially so I can decide which works better as a shot and to think about the sharpness and lighting in the shots.  

The setting were exactly the same and again these images are soft and the shutter speed slow.  The exposure compensation is overexposing slightly and I think this really needed to be slightly less over exposed and more light added through physical lighting or I needed to be closer to the model to ensure that the shutter speed was higher.  I preferred the black and white but this does need work as I explained here. 

I looked at these shots by Bailey and the sitting pose here uses the bend of the leg and the arm to create the triangle shapes that really make this shot work.  The image is sharp and if my shot over less over exposed and had deeper shades and tones it would have looked more like this in terms of the look of the image. 
 

The next photograph was a seated pose on a box, this pose worked quite well and filled the frame with the triangular shapes and rule of thirds.

On the photograph the shutter was a little slow at 1/30 but there is no blur but it is a little soft.  It is slightly overexposed at +1 exposure compensation but overall this is okay - I would have changed the settings slightly to ensure the shutter speed was higher if I did this again  - I could have changed to Shutter priority.

The image above has some similarities in poses in the  seated position with her hand touching her hair and similar shapes to fill the frame 

The last one I will share here is another seated position , I liked the elegance of this pose, again a little soft but the positioning of the models arms and legs worked well to create a rule of thirds low key shot

The setting here are again a slow shutter making the image softer than I would like.  It was on -2 exposure compensation to ensure the blacks came out black and the shot was low key.  The high contrast of black and white is good and works well here.

Similar idea in this pose however this one is grey shades so the contrast is less stark but the full body shot with the legs taking centre stage and rule of thirds is what we were aiming for in our own shot. 

Reflection

As I was teaching, again I was just doing test shots so these all need adjustments and in a real shoot I would taken far more images and adjusted the setting further to ensure crisper cleaner shots overall. There is a good mixture of poses and low and high key shots here and as a practice it is satisfactory.  In my own work I will be taking far more time and care over the process as this will ensure better shots.