My Photographic Mentor: Weegee

Arthur Fellig, better known as Weegee, was a renowned photographer who was active during the 1930s and 40s. He is most known for his photographs that depict the harsh reality of life on New York’s Lower East Side, from disturbing images of murder scenes to children playing happily in the street. His signature photos were taken in stark black and white using very basic photo equipment, often having a very eerie but enticingly real feeling about them. Weegee achieved his mystifying photographs by following Manhattan’s police and fire department around while they dealt with emergencies, photographing the scene of the crime or the commotion that was occurring. This often resulted in haunting  images such as this one, intended to offer insight into the grimy, grotesque side of Manhattan often were often glossed over or went ignored. This unflinching desire to portray reality in his photographs is what made Weegee a true photographic mentor.

Weegee was very much a self made man. He immigrated to New York from Ukraine with his family in 1909 and was forced to work odd jobs to make ends meet. He worked several different jobs in the field of photography, such as assisting a commercial photographer and working in the dark room for Acme Newspictures, before deciding to become a freelance photographer (Amber Online). Doing this gave him a lot more freedom to shoot pictures that meant something to him and depicted stories that he was passionate about. Weegee described his job in very basic terms : “What I did simply was this: I went down to Manhattan Police Headquarters and for two years I worked without a police card or any kind of credentials. When a story came over a police teletype, I would go to it. The idea was I sold the pictures to the newspapers. And naturally, I picked a story that meant something.” (Wikipedia). In order to create his art, Weegee used a Speed Graphic press camera that had a preset aperture, shutter speed and focus distance. He had a darkroom set up in the trunk of his car that he would use to quickly develop his newsworthy photos before rushing them to newspapers such as The New York Post. Even his pseudonym, Weegee, is something that he invented. Though there is much dispute about how it came to be, one of the common stories is that he gave himself this nickname, a phonetic spelling of Ouija, due to his uncanny ability to arrive at crime scenes even before the authorities, almost like a sixth sense (The J. Paul Getty Museum).  Weegee was a self taught photographer who created his own legacy all by himself, which is what makes him such an incredible mentor and inspiration.

     One of the things that made Weegee such an acclaimed photographer was his ability to depict things as they were, instead of distorting things to make them look prettier or more meaningful. Many of his photos, such as the one shown aside, are extremely gritty and morbid depictions of New York street life. In the area that Weegee was active, however, that was what everyday life looked like to the people living there. His photos also display a sense of compassion for the Lower East Side and the raw emotion that was constantly present there, like in the photo Lovers at the Movies (shown below). Weegee devoted a large portion of his career to studying death. In his words, he was “spellbound by the mystery of murder” (Encyclopedia Britannica). Because he would follow New York’s emergency services around, he was able to take photos of crime scenes almost immediately after the incident had occurred. These images very often very graphic and disturbing, conveying a strong sense of unease. To add to this feeling, Weegee’s photos were usually very high contrast, rule breaking and shot at night, adding to the chaotic sentiment of the photos.

     Weegee’s photos all conveyed a very important meaning, which was exposing New York’s true colours during his era. Because his photos were featured in prominent newspapers and tabloids, he was able to show his work and his subject matter to the masses, thereby making a statement about privileged, high society Manhattan versus the realer, unkempt and scruffy Manhattan. This can be seen in his photo The Critic, shown aside. You can see the two “high society” ladies focusing on only the camera and the way they will appear, while an obviously lower class onlooker sneers at them, mocking their vanity. It was with photos like this that Weegee was able to get his message about society’s flaws out there where not only could everyone see it, but nobody could avoid it. Whether he was shooting gruesome murder scenes or famous celebrities – such as Marilyn Monroe– Weegee’s work always demonstrated his passion and devotion to his subject matter and his message.

Though Weegee was an active photographer almost 80 years ago now, his legacy endures still today. His photos are remembered for their strong, deeply meaningful messages and ability to captivate the viewer and force them to see the meaning behind them. In Naked City, Weegee’s first photography book, William McCleery said about the photographer: “He will take his camera and ride off in search of new evidence that his city, even in her most drunken and disorderly and pathetic moments, is beautiful.” His iconic work is still remembered and admired today, and this is what truly makes him a photographic mentor.

This photo was taken with the intent of replicating Weegee's signature style. Since he was very captivated by death and usually shot scenes of murders just after they occurred, I decided to capture a photo of someone who has just committed a murder. To put my own twist on it, I decided to take the photo from the point of view of the murderer instead of from the onlookers who have discovered the dead person. The idea that I was trying to express was that this person has just stabbed someone and escaped from the scene of the crime and is now trying to dispose of all the evidence, maybe in a public bathroom or something like that. I shot the photo in black and white and made it very high contrast to imitate Weegee's style. The broken tap and the fact that it is shot on an angle without any balance adds to the photo the chaos that he was so well known for capturing. This photo was shot with an aperture of f5.6 and a shutter speed of 1/100

References:

Rigby, Graeme. "Weegee." Amber Online. N.p., 25 Oct. 2008. Web. 29 May 2013. <http://www.amber-online.com/people/52>.

"Weegee." Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 29 May 2013. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1257491/Weegee>.

"Weegee." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weegee>.

"Weegee." The J. Paul Getty Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2013. <http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=1887>.

"Weegee's World." International Center of Photography. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2013. <http://museum.icp.org/museum/collections/special/weegee/>.

Weegee. Naked City. New York: Da Capo Press, 19751945. Print.

SILK SCREENING

The final component of our alternative process was to create something that was marketable, so I decided to learn how to silk screen and make some nifty t-shirts. This proved to be a lot harder and more complicated that I originally thought, but in the end it was lots of fun. 

The first step of this project was to choose an image. I decided to choose this picture of someone (me) lying on a hammock taken from their point of view, because I think that is one of the most peaceful things in the world. If everybody spent less time being serious and more time lying on hammocks, the world would definitely be a better place. It is so calming and sometimes also very enlightening if you are dealing with a lot of negative junk, and I really wanted the image to evoke that feeling so that I could share it with everyone else. To transform this image into the final product, I had to go through a lot of steps. First, I used photoshop to make the image black and white and then posterize it. Doing this makes the image into blocks of colour, making it easier to transfer onto a shirt. I made the image into three different shades (black, white and gray) and then made two copies of the photo that were either just black and white or just black and gray. I then changed the contrast on the two photos so they were both black and white only, but varying parts of the photo were black. Next I printed the pictures onto clear acetate in order to transfer them onto the silk. In order for this to work you need to have a piece of silk stretched across a wooden frame and covered in light sensitive emulsion. I placed the acetate printouts onto a light table and placed my silk canvas over top of them, then turned on the light table for 20 minutes so that the emulsion was exposed and the images were transferred onto the canvas. The parts of the image that were black prevented the part of the silk they were underneath from being exposed, so afterwards when the canvas was rinsed, that part of the emulsion would rinse off and the silk would show through. 

This then allowed me to use the canvas as a stencil to print onto my shirt. I put the first picture on the canvas down on my shirt and used fabric ink and a roller to roll ink over top of it. The areas where the silk showed through transferred the ink through them, so that part ended up being coloured. Once the first layer had dried I printed the second picture on the canvas with different silk patches over top of the first one in another colour, filling in some of the white and making the print on the t-shirt two different colours. I did this on two different t-shirts, using a variety of cool colours to evoke a feeling of relaxation and summer. I think that the finished product is pretty cool and I am glad that I went through this whole process :)

 My original photo
aperture f4.5 and shutter speed 1/30

 The posterized versions

Alternative Process II - Photogram

For the second portion of our alternative processes assignment, I decided to make a photogram. A photogram is made by placing different objects on top of a piece of photo paper and using an enlarger to expose the paper. The result is that the uncovered parts of the paper turn black and the parts of the paper that were covered with objects are unexposed or partially unexposed. I thought that this process was pretty easy in theory but also sort of difficult because it required me to find ways to make all these different textures and objects cohesive and meaningful, as opposed to just being a bunch of shapes on a page. Here is what I ended up with :

The theme that I was trying to represent with this is the chaos that surrounds human life and how we interpret and respond to it. I cut out a stencil of the human body that showed (or attempted to show) the brain and the nervous system and placed it right in the middle of the page, making it the focal point of the image. I used several objects of varying textures and thicknesses to surround the body and create different patterns and values all around it. Some of the objects I used were copper wire, pillow stuffing, dead leaves and clear plastic, among other things. I waved the plastic over different areas of the image while exposing the paper for 10 seconds to create different tonal values in the background, instead of having it be all black. Once this was all done I put the photo paper through the developer, stop and fix,  and the exposed parts of the photo became black or gray while the covered parts stayed white.

I think that this turned out pretty cool. I think that the wire did a pretty good job of representing the feeling of chaos that I was going for, and the way that the body looks like it is just drifting in the midst of everything else. Sometimes this is the way I feel in my life, but all in all I think things are pretty good :)

Alternative Processes Take 1

This is my most recent project, which is called an acrylic gel lift. Our current assignment is to use three different alternative photography processes to create three different works of art, and this is my first go at it. Basically, an acrylic gel lift is made by taping a photocopy of a photo down flat and then painting tons of thin layers of white acrylic gel over top of it. The annoying part is each layer has to dry before the next one is added, so the process takes a really long time. The gel dries clear, and once you have built up enough layers - I used about 20 -   there will be a stretchy layer of plastic stuff on top of the photo. Then, you take the photo off of the surface it is attached to and place it in a try of water so that the paper becomes wet. This allows you to rub off all of the paper layer, leaving just the acrylic gel behind with a transfer of the image on it. The overall effect is super cool. I decided to add some colour into my otherwise black and white gel transfer to add just a little more interest to it. My image is a picture of a river near my grandma's house, so I decided to add some blue paint to the water area of the photo and some green to the trees and plants. To do this, I mixed a tiny bit of each colour acrylic paint into the acrylic gel and added another layer of tinted gel over the the area that I wanted the colour to transfer to on top of all the other layers. Once the paper was all rubbed off and the image was dry, the result was pretty cool. I decided to make what was originally the back of the photo the front, because the colours on that side were not as strong or streaky and the colour just shone through. I really like the way it looks when it is held up against the light, so I think I will probably use it as a window covering or something, that way it will catch the light and look super pretty. This project was very different and fun, and I am excited to try out some more alternative processes.

Photo was taken with aperture f4.5 and shutter speed 1/100, with a Nikon D3100 camera and 18-55mm lens.

FIELD TRIP

Here are some more pictures from our field trip that I really enjoyed :)

Photojournalism

This week, we had to shoot a photojournalism assignment while on our field trip to this year's OCAD Grad Exhibit. We had to take a photo that somehow told a story about our day, and this was my final result. This picture was taken with a Nikon D3100 camera and 18-55mm lens, with an aperture of f8 and shutter speed of 1/125

  I really love this photo a lot. I met this man on Queen Street and asked him if I could take a picture to document a topic that I feel really strongly about, which is the way that society regards homeless people. A huge percent of the population looks down on the homeless and acts as if they are always at fault for their misfortune, when that is often not the case at all. A common myth in regards to homelessness is that the majority homeless people are schizophrenic and therefore dangerous, or lazy and unwilling to find a job. Both of these are not true. In fact, only 6% of the homeless population in Toronto is reported to suffer from schizophrenia, and 26% of Canadian families with employed family members do not make enough money to be able to afford a proper home. The most common reason for homelessness is lack of ability to pay rent, which is true for 53% of the homeless population, while reasons such as drug and alcohol abuse are only about 8%. People automatically assume that any money the homeless receive from begging they will use negatively, and use that as an excuse to not give them anything. I think, however, that if you have the opportunity to help someone out and it will cost you literally a few dollars, then there is no reason that you shouldn't take it. It could help them out in a huge way, and will have little to no impact on your life. A large population of the Canadian homeless do not have access to basic human necessities and consequently die from conditions such as lack of food or extreme heat/cold. Many of them also suffer from various affective disorders such as bipolar disorder and are simply not getting the amount of help they need from mental health institutions, preventing them from being fully functional members of society. To them, just a few dollars could make a big difference.

     The man in this photo was incredibly kind, and I was so glad he let me take a picture of him. He was super funny and told me that he charges $50 per photo, but I did not have that much money so we had to compromise a little bit. However, he was very nice about it and as soon as I saw the picture I knew that it was the one I was going to use for this assignment. I love the honesty of his sign, that he wants people to know that he is a good person who has just fallen on hard times and not a bad person attempting to take advantage of people. It is kind of hard to see, but there is also a little note on the sign that reads "Hoodie was gift!!", which I also love. It makes me so so happy to know that there are people in the world who are so abundantly kind to others, and also inspires me to better myself in that way too. 

   I can definitely see this photo on the front of the Toronto Star, as I think that this issue is one that people need to be made aware of. As a society, we should be working supporting these people who are being denied basic human rights and working to abolish homelessness altogether. Instead, however, we are ignoring them and pretending that they don't exist, as if that will make the problem go away. I think that this shameful behaviour needs to stop now, and we as a society just need to focus on helping to solve this problem instead of stupidly hoping it will fix itself. This picture conveys this message perfectly to me, and I hope that others can look at it and see the meaning behind it too.

Breaking the Rules?!

This assignment took me approximately 10 years to shoot, because I had absolutely no clue how to make it interesting. The idea was to break all the rules of composition but create captivating, dynamic photos at the same time, which I found incredibly hard to do. When it came to what subject matter I wanted to photograph, I hit a massive wall and could not think of one idea. So, to fix this problem, I just started carrying my camera around with me over the weekend and taking pictures of things that I thought were interesting or exciting. After many, many attempts, here is what I ended up with. All pictures were shot with a Nikon D3100 and a 18-55mm lens.

aperture f5.6, shutter speed 1/13

This first picture is of a fish that I found in my basement that I did not know existed but apparently has been in our house for a long time, so I thought it would be appropriate to document the experience. This photo breaks the rules for a couple of reasons. The very front of the fish's head, the subject of the photo, is right in the middle of the image instead of a rule of thirds position, and it's not even in focus. Both of these things are breaking some of the key rules of composition, but somehow with the rest of the fish's body and the background being in focus, it seems to work. Additionally, the rock and the plant on the left side of the photo and lack of anything on the right throw off the balance and make the photo appear as though it is very heavy on one side. The glass of the tank on the right side of the photo shows the reflection of the rest of the tank, which makes the picture look kind of awkward and out of the ordinary, but still very dynamic. Even though the fish is in captivity, the vantage point of the photo makes it look like he's breaking out of the tank and trying to get free, whereas if it was taken from a different angle it would look pretty ordinary and boring. The colours on the fish's body as well as the bright rocks at the bottom of the tank make the photo lively and intriguing, and the blurriness of the fish's head makes the photo a little bit different and more interesting to look at.

aperture f3.5, shutter speed 1/60

This second picture is of a tiny patch of grass I drove by over the weekend that I thought was really beautiful, so I decided to stop and take some pictures. I literally found it in between a bunch of houses and it looked so abrupt and out of place, since there were no other signs of flowers or anything else surrounding it. This is a sign that spring is finally upon us, and some early flowers like these ones are finally starting to come up, which makes me so so happy. I really hate winter  and spring has been taking such a long time to get here this year that I was convinced it was never going to happen, but when I saw this beautiful area in the middle of nowhere that was so naturally beautiful and serene, it brightened my day very much. This particular area had so many flowers in bloom already that it looked really incredible among the rest of the barren trees and ground. This lovely trick of nature proves that even out of nothing, some of the most beautiful things can grow.
      This photo breaks the rules in that it doesn't really have a main subject that draws your eye in right away. The bright blue colour of the flowers stands out from the other earthy tones in the photo, and so your eyes follow them towards the back of the picture, with the flowers becoming increasingly dense along the way. That technically makes them the subject, but when you first look at the image there is not one area that you would automatically look at first. The trees are all over the place in no apparent sequence or pattern, which according to basic rules of photography, is a bad thing. I think, however, that in this picture it just seems to work. After all, nature doesn't grow according to the elements and principles of design. If there was yet another subject added to the photo then it would detract from the flowers and the point of the image would no longer be about the natural beauty of nature, but instead the image would not really have a meaning at all.

Aperture f7.1, shutter speed 1/6

This final photo was taken at the yoga studio where I work. I really love yoga and all the positive aspects it brings to my life, and getting to spend time with all the other people there who share this feeling makes me feel so incredible. This studio is really gorgeous full of knick knacks that I have always loved; they make it such an inviting space that I can really connect to and enjoy spending time in. This table in particular has a jumble of things sitting on it that I really like and jumped at the opportunity to photograph. For example, there are 4 different statues of Buddha in this picture alone, which represent different things like wisdom and peaceful intentions. There are also some potted plants, as well as a wooden sculpture that reads "inspire", which is a really beautiful word. The whole area gives off a very positive vibe. This photo is rule breaking in many ways. Firstly, this picture has no balance. Everything is arranged on the table at random, with the left side looking a lot heavier than the right. Many of the objects on the table also sort of blend into each other, creating different mergers all over the place. The left side of the photo is also somewhat engulfed in shadows, which makes it appear much darker than the rest of the photo and adds to its imbalance. To top it all off, the photo is not taken straight on but instead on a slant, which creates the illusion that everything is going to fall out of the picture. All of these things together work to make this photo harmoniously disheveled. This is kind of representative of life, which is just a jumble of  occurrences that all culminate to develop your character and ultimately shape you into the person you are. If everything in the image were perfectly neat and pristine, then the image would lose its meaning and would just become a picture of a boring old table. 

My Take on Surrealism

This assignment required us to create a photo that mimicked surrealism. We had to layer a bunch of different photos on top of each other and use photoshop to blend them all together. After lots of experimentation, this was the result.

     This photo represents the temptation of evil, and the human desire to get away from it. To do this, I photographed my friend Vanessa crawling on the ground in various positions across the camera's viewfinder. I used a tripod to take these pictures in order to ensure that the background would never change and the photo would be as seamless as possible. I also took a picture of a devil's head to represent evil, which I would then cut out and paste into the photo. All of these pictures were taken with a Nikon D3100 DSLR camera and a 18-55mm lens, with an aperture of f4 and a shutter speed of 1/60.
     Once I had all the pictures, I moved them all into photoshop and began the process of blending them together. I used one photo of Vanessa as the picture background, and the rest of her clones were then added in over top of that. To make the picture seamless, I used the eraser tool to remove everything in the additional layers except for her body, and then dragged them into the original photo and arranged them in a straight line. It was super tedious having to erase the entire background of all the additional layers to make the final product not look choppy. To add the final devil's head I again used the eraser tool to remove the background, changed the opacity so that it was almost transparent, and positioned the head where I wanted it in the final picture. I then desaturated every layer to make them all black and white, and compressed the picture into a jpeg.
     This picture mimics surrealism in that it looks like it does't exist; it is impossible for one person to be in 5 different places at once. The devil's head is also unexpected and out of the ordinary, which adds to the surreal aspect. I really enjoyed shooting this assignment because I got to be super imaginative and also use photoshop to experiment and create an image that you wouldn't see in real life. Overall, this was a really good time :)

Mixed Lighting!!!

For this project we were supposed to experiment with using two different types of light in one picture. I thought that this was going to be pretty difficult from the beginning (hence why I saved it for last) and, as it turns out, I was right. I struggled a lot with trying to find creative ways of incorporating different kinds of light into a picture; I wanted to do more than just have a subject standing next to a window. To accomplish this task I used a lot of natural light coming from the sun because I think natural light is so pretty and always makes people look great (but it was pretty hard to find sunny days to do this with all the gross weather this week). All pictures were taken with a Nikon D3100 camera and an 18-55mm lens.

1/125, f5.6

This picture was taken using the school's ambient lighting (which is fluorescent and kind of gross by itself) as well as sunlight shining into the building from a skylight in the Devil's Pit. I wanted the natural light to soften the harshness of the overhead lights and make Jenna look super blissful and almost angelic, which I think worked pretty well. The light shines down the crown of her head and hair in a very serene way.

1/40, f4.5

To shoot this picture, I used natural light coming in from the atrium windows as well as one spotlight illuminating the right side of Jenna's face. I like how the light is angled in a way so that it just barely casts light onto her face, but enhances her hair and silhouette in a very pretty way. I also like how the background is slightly blurred, drawing more attention to the subject. 

1/125, f5.6

This final picture was also taken in the atrium, and uses the natural light shining into the building through the high windows as well as a flashlight shining directly at Jenna's face. When we were walking around the school trying to find good locations to take pictures, I found this area that had tons of natural light shining down onto it and wanted to use it to my advantage. I had Jenna sit right underneath where the light was filtering in and angle her face upwards a bit, catching the light really nicely and creating very strong shadows along her jawline. I added the flashlight in to reduce some of the harsher shadows on her face and make her face brighter.

Renaissance Mashup

                

             The Renaissance was an incredible period in history where culture, especially literature and art, flourished beautifully. Some of the world’s most renowned paintings, such as the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, were created during this time. The European Renaissance began in Italy during the fourteenth century and spanned to the seventeenth century, leading into Early Modern Europe. The term Renaissance literally means “rebirth” in French, which is an accurate way to describe the flowering of culture that occurred during this time period. In terms of art, during this time paintings began to become more realistic, with artists using new perspective techniques to capture three dimensions and bring more life to their artwork. The human body began to be depicted more proportionally accurate than it was in previous times. Painters such as Leonardo da Vinci also experimented with light and darkness to enhance paintings. Sculpture also became a lot more realistic during the Renaissance, with new dynamic poses and subject matter. Among other aspects of culture that developed during this time were music, politics, philosophy and poetry.

The artist who painted the portrait I used for this assignment is named Sandro Botticelli. He is an Italian painter who was active during the European Renaissance. One of his most famous works is The Birth of Venus, which depicts the goddess Venus standing on a seashell. When I think of the Renaissance that is one of the first pictures that comes to mind, so to me Botticelli is one of the people who defined the Renaissance. Many of Botticelli’s paintings were influenced by gothic realism, which was characterized by more animated/realistic poses and facial expressions and a lot of ornamental detailing. His work is very representative of the grace that transcended into many early Renaissance paintings. For a long time after his death, Botticelli was essentially unknown. It wasn't until the nineteenth century that he was rediscovered, causing some of his artwork to become world renowned. Most of his paintings depict his own family members or religious figures, as well as people from Greek and Roman mythology. Another fact about Botticelli that I thought was pretty neat is that he is one of the artists who helped paint the Sistine Chapel, which, in my opinion, is one of the greatest masterpieces in the entire world.

                The portrait I chose to recreate is called Portrait of a Young Woman and was painted by Botticelli in 1480. What makes this painting so interesting to me is that it is thought to be a portrait of Simonetta Vespucci, who was an Italian noblewoman during the Renaissance, believed to be the most beautiful woman of her era. There is a story that Botticelli was deeply in love with Simonetta, but she never returned the sentiment. She is also thought to be the model for a vast number of his paintings, including The Birth of Venus. For his entire life he was tormented by this unrequited love, to the point where he asked to be buried at her feet when he died. This request was eventually granted when he died; Botticelli is buried in Florence at the feet of Simonetta Vespucci. I love when works of art have stories behind them; I think they make them so much more interesting to analyze and gives you the ability to imagine what the artist was thinking when they created it. One think that I especially like about the Renaissance was the fashions that women wore; I am completely entranced by the beautiful dresses and elaborate hair. One of the reasons that I chose this portrait was because it showcases those aspects of the Renaissance so nicely. The subject has the most beautiful hair in the world, with tons of braids and waves cascading everywhere. I love the light that is shining on her face from the back of the picture, casting the left side of her face in soft, gentle shadows. She looks so elegant and proper, a perfect depiction of the Renaissance. I knew that the painting was going to be kind of difficult to recreate, but I am very happy with the end result.

               

                  My version of Portrait of a Young Woman was taken with a Nikon D3100 DSLR camera and a 18.55mm lens. To recreate the lighting in the original painting, I used a softbox positioned directly in front of Olivia to illuminate the entire picture and a smaller light coming from the back left corner of the photo to illuminate the right half of her face, just like in the painting. This caused the side of her face that is facing the camera to be cast in subtle shadows that soften the facial features a bit and make the photo look more Renaissancey, just like in the original painting. I used a shutter speed of 1/13 and an aperture of f14 to achieve this photo. Once I had the right lighting I used photoshop to paste Olivia's face onto Portrait of a Young Woman and adjusted the colouring of her head so it blended into the painting seamlessly. Finally, I added a film grain filter to make the photograph look more like a painting. I think that Olivia looks very elegant and serene, just like the woman in the original painting. Though this project was definitely one of the most challenging in the studio lighting unit, I am extremely happy with the end result :)

Painting With Light 2.0

This was another photo I took using painting with light techniques. When I took this I was just starting the assignment and was still learning how to do painting with light. I was just experimenting with spelling words in the air and I really like Harry Potter, so this was the final result :)

Painting With Light

Out of all the assignments we've done so far this year, painting with light has definitely been my favourite. There is a lot of really cool stuff you can do to manipulate the light and make super cool designs or exposures. I had lots of fun trying out different things. Here are some of the pictures I took: All are taken with a Nikon D3100 DSLR and a 18.55mm lens.

When I was taking these photos I was playing around with the idea of making light ugly. Since it's usually used to make things prettier and more pleasant, I wanted to experiment and change it up a bit. To do this I used a flashlight to create an image of someone being hanged (which is not a very nice thing) and someone vomiting into a garbage can. Very lovely. I first painted the subject with white light to illuminate their bodies, and then I ran into the picture behind them (while getting someone to hold down bulb) and drew in designs with the red flashlight. Both were shot with an aperture of f25 and the shutter speed set to bulb.

When shooting this next set of pictures I experiment with painting with light onto the same subject in several different positions. I wanted to be able to document movement across the photo, because I think that has the potential to look super cool.

To shoot the first picture I used an aperture of f25 and a shutter speed of 20 seconds. I had Jenna stand straight up and shone white light on her for 5 seconds, painting light over her entire body. I then turned the light, got her to bend over so her body was on a slant (like she was falling), and shone the light on her for 5 more seconds. I then turned the light off again and then got her to lean against the counter, shining the light on her for a final time. The final product was a photo that documented her in the process of falling over. For the second picture I used the same method, but I got Jenna to stand at the back of the room and take a couple steps forward and to the left each time, making it look like there are a bunch of clones of her standing  in line. Overall, I think the results are super cool :)

Proper Studio Lighting

I really like the way that this assignment turned out. My original intent was to capture a feeling of grace and serenity by taking pictures of Jenna with soft, gentle lighting. All the pictures were taken with a Nikon D3100 camera with a 18-55mm lens, and for the first picture I used an aperture of 4.5 and a shutter speed of 1/50. To shoot this photo I used the softbox as a main to illuminate the entire picture, another smaller light as a fill light shining on the left side of her face, and a reflector on the right side of her face to reflect the fill light back onto her, eliminating some of the shadows and adding light to her face. I like Jenna's serene expression and the way that the right side of her face is cast in gentle shadows, making it look peaceful and not too harsh or dark. I also really like the semi-profile angle. To shoot the second photo I had an aperture of 3.5 and a shutter speed of 1/60. I used just one light, and it was a softbox shining on the left side of her face. I really like that most of her face is in shadows, and the filtered light of the softbox subtly illuminates her face just a little bit. The overall softness of the picture gives off a very calm vibe. The The last photo was shot with an aperture of 7.1 and a shutter speed of 1/6. I positioned the main light 45 degrees away from her face and used a hair light directly behind her to add more depth to the photo. I love the way it makes her hair look; she stands out from the bland background and almost glows. Overall, I really enjoyed the first studio lighting assignment and I am happy with the results. 

My Name in Shapes

I really enjoyed this project and thought it was a great way to start off the digital photography portion of the course. I wanted to get a combination of both organic nature-y shapes and man made shapes to spell out my name, so I took pictures of stuff that I found outside, like trees and leaves, as well as pictures of objects like bikes and payphones. Once I took all my pictures I uploaded all of them and used photoshop to adjust the brightness or contrast and to change all the pictures to black and white. Finally, I added a border to each picture to make them stand out from each other and make it easier to read. Overall, I am happy with the result, except for the "r" in Stuart which didn't really turn out too well because of the lack of contrast. Other than that though, I like the way it turned out and I think it looks pretty cool.

Alex Prager

Alex Prager is a really cool contemporary American photographer. Her photographic style is really unique and unconventional due to her use of bright colours and over the top settings/subjects. A lot of her photos contain dark humourous themes, which are often inspired by true events. Many of her photos also incorporate clothing and objects from past decades, especially the 1960s. She cites Alfred Hitchcock as one of her biggest inspirations, saying that "[He] shows you dark and heavy subjects, but in an intense and beautiful way. You keep on looking, because you want to stay in his world. I take subjects that would be hard to look at if you showed them as they actually are, and I treat the, in a playful, soft-edged way." I think that she accomplishes this in a way that gives her work a beautiful, otherworldly quality Here is her website, and below are some of her pictures.

all photos retrieved here