Final Evaluation -

Overall Evaluation Unit One - 

 The artist research that I have conducted has greatly inspired me in the formation of my own portfolio work. Some of the largest inspirations to me include: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Vivian Maier and Aaron Siskind. Bresson’s impact can best be seen in my documentary response series; the decisive moment, a term often employed by Bresson, allowed me to precisely capture images which accurately depicted the action of the moment within an individual frame. Additionally, the nature of the temporal context when Bresson was prevalent meant that his images were black and white which well linked to my theme of documenting the happy and more difficult times in family life. Bresson was a photographer who often depicted societal issues in his work whereas I chose to depict the more intimate issues of family life. Another influential photographer to me was Vivian Maier. Maier became well known, after her death, for documentary photography often depicting working class America but also for her intriguing deadpan self-portraits that were an exploration into a conflicted self-identity. Maier allowed me to experiment with portraiture in intriguing ways that challenged stereotypical pieces. I was able to take self-portraits in the style of Maier by using techniques such as shadow portraits, reflections and other such techniques. Siskind served as an extremely large inspiration in this process due to his abstract images of urban landscapes. Whilst photographing the formal elements Siskind’s work gave me the opportunity to practice with surreal ideas and close-up photographs of the modern landscape that was available to me.

Some of the technical skills that I have developed over the process are within the fields of camera, studio and editing. To begin with, I learnt the functionality of aperture, ISO and shutter speed and how they all work together in unison. I also learnt how to use my DSLR cameras settings. For instance, I learnt how to shoot in different settings so that in the printing process the quality would not be compromised. In relation to studio work I have learnt how to set up soft box lighting, backdrops and how to fire the lights using different channels. For example, the soft box lighting had to be given the correct settings, changed to the right channel to match the firing tool and I also had to calibrate it with my camera which was a new concept. Furthermore, I began using the software Photoshop CC 2014 for the first time at the start of this project. I learnt new techniques from simple tools such as ‘Spot Healing Brush’ to the more difficult ‘Levels’ tool.

Retrospectively looking back at my work I can see the development from an amateur, other than as a hobby, to someone with knowledge in the construction of a photograph. Originally, my knowledge in producing photographs was limited to fully manual settings and a simple understanding of composition such as the grid method.

I have experimented with a variety of techniques during the process of unit one including technical experiments, created using Photoshop, and physical manipulation inspired by photographers such as Dryden Goodwin. These extremes of manipulating photographs allowed me to develop my later photoshoots with more implicit similar techniques. A variety of techniques that I employed included using scissors to cut into images, liquify tools and selective colourisation.

I have discovered that the largest direction that my work has taken, or that I would further like to develop upon, is documentary photography. During the Christmas holiday period I carried a camera around with me at all times, much like Bresson and Maier, to capture the tribulations and ecstasies of everyday life. I use similar ideas as depicted by the two prior mentioned photographers in a modern way to create a timeless nature to the institute of the family. However, I would also like to practice using film cameras and developing my own film in a dark room to further understand the sub-category of documentary photography.

In my opinion, I believe that my most successful areas include documentary, studio portraiture and one of the formal elements of pattern. Documentary in the private sphere of family felt natural to me to depict the working class people in a relatable manner although it would be more difficult to capture strangers who fit into societal sub-categories to display personal opinions due to pragmatics understood by most people. On the other hand, my least successful areas included some of the earliest formal elements such as line and form. Now, after completing the unit one portfolio I believe that my understanding of the formal elements could improve the outcomes currently depicted. Overall, I believe that my project was mainly successful with a few areas for improvement.

Electronic Portfolio -

Portfolio - 

Research Notes: Irving Penn -

Photographer Research -

Irving Penn -

Born: June 16th 1917
Died: October 7th 2009
Place of Birth: Plainfield, New Jersey
Occupation: Photographer

• Penn attended the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art where he studied drawing, painting and graphics.
• He was then offered a position as an associate in Vogue.
• Penn founded his own studio in New York where he began doing advertising photography.
• Penn was well known in photography for his work in fields such as portraits of creative greats, modern still life, photojournalism travel essays and ethnographic images.
• Penn experimented printing his works on various backgrounds such as aluminium.
• Penn is probably best known for his black and white highly contrasted tonal images.

Irving Penn Examples:

This picture is of the great jazz musician Miles Davis. The facial expression implies the creative process that the musician goes through. The stark contrast between tonal areas of negative space.

This photograph is of Pablo Picasso and the mysterious nature links to the mystery around the creative mind. The line cutting across the face gives the impression of shape geometry and cubism linked to the artists own style in Penn's portrait.

This picture of Kennedy shows the president in an atmosphere that is more relaxed and intimate than the formal portraits often commissioned. This picture is very remiscent of the Churchill portrait as photographed by Yousuf Karsh although this particular image is more happy than the serious nature of Churchill.

Research Notes: Annie Leibovitz -

Photographer Research -

Annie Leibovitz -

Born: October 2nd 1949
Died: N/A
Place of Birth: Waterbury, Connecticut, USA
Occupation: Portrait photography
Groups: Portraiture

• Leibovitz is a is a third-generation American whose heritage is that of Romanian Jews.
• She began her photographic journey whilst in Vietnam due to her father being posted there.
• When returning to America in 1970 she worked as a photographer for Rolling Stone magazine.
• The documentary photographers Robert Frank and Henri Cartier-Bresson served as big inspirations for Leibovitz.

Annie Leibovitz Examples:

This picture depicts Meryl Streep who is an actor and thus the painted mask symbolises the many malleable faces that she employs.

This picture is powerful and moody depicting our long reigning monarch. The subject is composed to conform to the grid method. The photograph is reminiscent of the powerful art portraits of monarch's featured in The National Portrait Gallery.

This final picture is part of the celebrity and Disney crossover series in which Leibovitz depicts celebrities as heroes and villains from famous Disney films.

Research Notes: Alec Soth -

Photographer Research -

Alec Soth -

Born: 1969
Died: N/A
Place of Birth: Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Occupation: Photographer
Group: Magnum Photos

• Soth's work had been referred to as cinematographic and almost like a fantasy.
• He is a member of Magnum Photos.
• His work features the ordinary people and everyday objects.
• Soth has said that he wants his work to display a "narrative arc and storytelling".
• Soth has photographed for many publications within the field of newspapers and magazines.
• Soth founded the publishing company 'Little Brown Mushroom' where he published people who work in a similar narrative way to himself.

Alec Soth Examples:

This image is part of the series "Sleeping by the Mississippi" with the subject of the image being an apt fan of aviation. The muted colours are like that of a polaroid picture which are often associated with intimacy between friends and family photography. Soth, therefore, creates an individual narrative and shares intimate nature with his subjects.

This photograph depicts convicts completing rehabilitation and work in Kentucky. The parallelism between the convicts and the holy cross could be considered a juxtaposition as often crimes are considered sins. The image also depicts a repentant nature implicitly. The narrative is open and could unravel in many ways and therefore keeps the audience intrigued.

This final image is variant from the other two. This photograph is from the series "Songbook" which is a black and white series. The work features stark contrasts between youth and aged and their cultures in my opinion.

Research Notes: Jeff Koons -

Photographer Research -

Jeff Koons -

Born: January 21st 1955
Died: N/A
Place of Birth: York, Pennsylvania, USA
Occupation: Artist

• Koons is an artist known for his work in the popular culture theme.
• He was born to an interior decorator and a seamstress who inspired his work in banal objects becoming contemporary art.
• He was a huge fan of Salvador Dali.
• Koons became well known in the 1980s after setting up a Soho-like studio in New York.
• Since 1979 Koons produced the series "The Pre-New, The New and The Equlibrium" series involving ordinary objects.
• Other series were titled "Statuary", "Luxury and Degradation", "Banality"  and "Celebration".

Jeff Koons Examples:

This first image is from the series "Luxury and Degradation" and depicts a decanter made from a metal either steel or silver. Metal is well known for being retrieved by working class manual labourers in mines which shows the journey from degradation to luxury.

This photograph is taken at the exhibition of "Celebration" which depicts average objects developed in a surreal manner. Koons was often inspired by Dali and therefore employed surreal techniques. Surrealism is known for changing the size, shape, context, and or texture of work etc.

This final picture is from the series "Equilibrium" which was inspired by a Nobel-prize winning physicist.

Research Notes: Richard Avedon -

Photographer Research -

Richard Avedon -

Born: May 15th 1923
Died: October 1st 2004
Place of Birth: San Antonio, Texas, USA
Occupation: Fashion and portrait photographer
Groups: Portraiture
Camera Used: Kodak Box Brownie, later large format 8x10

• Avedon was born to a Jewish Russian father and a mother who together owned a retail and dress-manufacturing company.
• Avedon's interest in photography began at an early age of 12 when he joined a Young Men's Hebrew Association Camera Club.
• His first works were focused on his sister who served as his muse. She was distanced from reality due to her schizophrenia which significantly influenced Avedon to depict tragic beauty in most of his later works.
• In 1944 Avedon worked as an advertising photographer for a department store.
• In 1946 set up his own studio and began using his work in cohesion with Vogue and Life.
• Avedon was breaking from the mould of fashion photographers and pioneered work full of emotions and began shooting outdoors.
• In the 1960s Avedon broke into new fields of photography and began photographing public sector workers and then patients in mental hospitals.
• Avedon was commissioned by Mitchell A. Wilder to photograph people out in the west for a Texan museum; this was the 'In The American West' project.

Richard Avedon Examples:

This image is a striking stereotype of Vogue as photographer by Avedon. The outdoors photoshoot was pioneered by Avedon and dramatic poses were often the significant subject of the image. The depth of field draws focus directly onto the subject and the clothing. The stark black and white tonal differences also establish the significance of the clothing.

This image, within the series of 'In The American West' is, to me, a study of masculinity. The clothing resembles a manual labourer of the temporal time period and the spatial context of America specifically in the west. The father appears in a masculine stance but the child s completely trusting the father. The border on the image given the impression of a polaroid which therefore gives the impression of intimacy which is directly contrasted to the deadpan facial expression.

This photograph depicts the stereotypes and archetypes of western America. The laws support the handling of guns and therefore accurately depicts Texas which conforms to the idea that it was a commission.