Documentary Image Bank -

Photo-Documentary - 

Photo-Documentary : Photography that documents significant moments within society or in an individuals life.

Robert Frank:

Frank had a series called 'The Americans' published in the late 1950s. Frank himself was Swiss but decided to document the American lifestyle. The work is in the style of Street Documentary. 

Corey Arnold: 

Arnold documents his life through photography focusing mostly on his occupation as an alaskan fisherman who spends most of his life at sea on a crab fishing boat. Arnold also is part of film documentary on the Discovery Channel titled 'Deadliest Catch'. Therefore, it is interesting that Arnold continues to document his life in photographs rather than relying on film.  

Low Key Lighting Straight Images / Work Diary -

Straight Images - 

I like this image as the the low key lighting is known for hiding segments of the face but somehow elves deeper into the concept of identity. The central focal point is the light reflection on the eye of the subject. The negative space surrounding the face gives the impression of isolation. The stark contrasts between light and dark tonal areas helps to emphasise contours of the face. 

This second photograph is another of my favourites as I enjoy the side composition of the subject rather than being central. With this piece I intended to study perceptions of youth in society. The right sided weight of the image gives the impression of being parted from the norm, implied as deviant from the norm of society, and the lack of lighting on the eyes, supposedly the window to the soul, gives the impression of ambiguity and that the individual serves almost as a figurehead for all youths. 

This is my final favourite of the low key lighting series as it doesn't explicitly study identity or the hiding of identity. The shadows create an idea of battling light and dark and the hand is often referred to as displaying identity through fingerprints. This image was created to replicate the ideas of Macbeth in which Lady Macbeth asks why her hands will never be clean of her sins. The idea is that low key lighting can help display ideas of light and dark. 

Low Key Lighting Contact Sheet -

Portraits - 
All of these images were taken in the studio on a Canon EOS 450D. Using the mono-block with a snoot placed on the end to create a modelling light I used the settings of ISO: 200, shutter speed of 1/125 and an f/stop value of f/16.

Low Key Lighting Image Bank -

Portraits - 

Irving Penn : 
Penn is an interesting artist who studies identity through his portraiture; Penn does this through a technique known as low key lighting that evokes a sense of mystery and other such emotions.  I especially like the second image as some would say that it is not necessarily identity, however, in my opinion I believe it is identity as it is the hand of Miles Davis, a trumpet jazz musician, playing a trumpet chord. As a result I strongly hold the belief that it is an example of portraiture in the study of identity even though arguably it can be said that portraiture is when a face is present in the image.

Low Key Lighting Setup -

Portraits - 

Low Key Lighting : is a style of lighting used in photography, it makes parts of the image appear dark whilst the others lighter. (This is also known as the chiaroscuro effect).

Low Key Lighting Set-up :
This set-up usually consists of a three-point lighting.
Key Light
Fill Light
Back light
Snoot
Honeycomb
Reflector Dish

Honeycomb : 
The honeycomb is a tight grid structure which is fixed to the end of a light to make a concentrated beam of light. (the reflector dish also does this to a greater extent).

Reflector Dish :
The reflector dish reflects light in order to create a more concentrated beam of light.

Snoot :

A snoot is a tube that fits over a flashlight used to control the direction and radius of the beam of light.

Portraiture Straight Images / Work Diary -

Portraiture - 

Thomas Ruff

The above images are in the style of the portrait artist Thomas Ruff who focused on deadpan expressions with contrasting vibrant backdrops.  I like these images as the composition and colour are reminiscent of the photographer Thomas Ruff. I am pleased with the visual outcome although I believe that it could be improved using a variety of background colours. These images were taken in a studio using the settings 1/125 shutter speed, ISO 200 and f/22 on fully maul settings using manual focus. I believe my attempt was reasonably successful in acquiring a pastiche of the photographer who served as inspiration. The images replicate the passport style size of pictures, the deadpan expression and the vibrant highly saturated backgrounds. 

Richard Avedon -

The above images were taken in the style of Richard Avedon's series focusing on the 'American West'. I like this image as it demonstrates the basic composition used by the photographer Richard Avedon. Avedon also often included props relating to his subjects and thus I included the prop of a camera to obscure the identity of the subject and show how photography takes on a large role in their lifestyle. This image is successful due to the use of vignette, highly contrasted black and white through levels and the central composition of the subject. However, I think that during editing I have made these images too dark and if I was to improve upon them I would adjust the contrast in Photoshop. 

Progression - 

To improve from my current Thomas Ruff inspired final outcomes I would retake the bottom left hand image as the subject does not conform to the same composition and facial expressions as the other three.    To improve my second series inspired by Richard Avedon I would not edit the final images as much as I have. The final images vignette is too far in and shrouded the subject of the image. 

Portraiture Contact Sheet -

Portraits - 

Portraiture Image Bank Continued -

Portraiture -  

Annie Leibovitz:
Annie Leibovitz photographs mostly famous faces such as Anne Hathaway and Adele and also does photography for publicity such as the first image feature below. Leibovitz did the publicity photography for 'Les Miserables'. Leibovitz work focuses significantly on the use of light and the saturation of colour. As a photographer I find Leibovitz's work to be fascinating through the use of the formal elements such as colour within her portraits.

Thomas Ruff: 
Ruff employs a deadpan appearance within his portraiture that are reminiscent of a passport photo. It could be argued that Ruff defies gender norms by giving female subjects a blue background whilst male subjects are given pink. Ruff, unlike a few of the other photographers featured here, focuses on ordinary people rather than the lifestyles of the rich and famous celebrities. Thomas Ruff is sometimes questioned as a photographer due to his style that is considered controversial.

David Lachapelle:
Lachapelle is an extremely controversial photographer often focusing on extreme circumstances of the nude human form. Lachapelle is also a celebrity photographer who uses bold colours and out of the ordinary ideas whilst studying the human form and identity; working with celebrities regularly, Lachapelle, provides an interpretation of a famous face that the public may not be familiar with.

Alec Soth:
Alec Soth studies identity through his portraiture with some of his books being entitled 'Broken Days', 'Dog Days Bogota' and 'Sleeping by the Mississippi'. Most of Soth's works study regional identity and appear almost like a polaroid picture due to the hue and saturation of the colours; as a result Soth's works evoke an almost nostalgic feeling in the audience.

Richard Avedon:
Avedon is a portrait photographer who focuses mainly in the black and white genre. The three images below are featured in a series entitled 'In the American West'. Like Soth, Richard Avedon studies regional identity, specifically in this series, and evokes a series of questions within an audience. The black and white appears to have been used to exaggerate the forms of the human body in the portraiture but could also symbolise something more deeply about how skin colour is irrelevant.

Portraiture Image Bank -

Portrait - 

Portrait - A painting, drawing, photograph often focusing on an individual.

Portraiture - The art of painting or taking photographs.

My interpretation of portraiture - Any form of image documenting a person or something representative of that person.

Matthieu Bourel:

Matthieu Bourel uses pre-existing photographs which he then dissects to reveal the underneath layers to evoke a sense even unity even in diversity. Most of Bourel's portraiture features vintage period famous actors and actresses well known to the public which he then manipulates.

Dan Mountford: 

Dan Mountford uses the medium of photography but focuses on a technique referred to as 'Double Exposure'. 

Joiners Straight Images / Work Diary -

Joiners -  
The below images were taken by me using a Canon EOS 450D and edited using Photoshop CC 2014. These images study personal identity and the distortion of identity within individuals minds. For instance, the gas mask symbolises the need to protect oneself from the poisonous nature of society in influencing who we are and how we are composed in our individual identities.

Joiners Landscape -
All of these images were taken using a Canon EOS 450D and were edited in Photoshop CC 2014. In today's session I chose to focus on the man made landscapes of the concrete jungle father than the natural landscapes. This is partly because I still wanted to include my identity of the local area of which is predominantly man made. Of the below images the top is my favourite due to the surreal nature of the photograph whilst the bottom is my least favourite for the joiners subject as it simply appears like a panoramic photograph. The middle image of the three is my second favourite as the light in each section of the joiner varies and is evidence of gamut range.

Progression - 

To improve from this extra shoot I would create another small series under both studio and landscape. Also, I would also increase the 'Brightness/ Contrast' in editing to make the images lighter. The second studio image could have been more revolutionary as I used one base image and added a few simple layers over.