Evaluation

Evaluation

I think this has been the most enjoyable section of the course so far because it’s allowed me to revisit some of the sub-themes like ‘Food’ that I did a year ago in my A-level, so when I saw the brief I was feeling optimistic. However there’s the pressure of trying to work to a similar level or emulate the work of some of the most famous photographer and painters like Edward Weston and Irving Penn.

Despite being happy and optimistic about the latest theme I was struggling to think of a place to start which would allow me to flow from idea to idea. I eventually started by photographing my fridge and decided to use a Canon 5DII, with a 100mm canon and a 24-105mm Lens, which I would end up using for all my photos. This was a good idea because I took my photos in a few different locations so the portability was a helpful factor. I’m pretty happy with the way my work has flowed this time but I wish I could have spent a bit more time shooting because I was starting to find a subject that I was having success with and I’m sure it had potential to produce some really good work.

I don’t really think that the photographer research has inspired me to shoot in a specific way or with a certain object setup this time round. I think it’s taught me the different ways that you can shoot a still life photo, for example the Christian Coigny research which has taught me that still life photography can be done outside the studio as he’s used a room itself as the subject which clearly wasn’t the studio. So it’s expanded my thinking which has allowed me to shoot more creatively which is one of the most important things in the industry. My most successful pictures were from my final shoot. My favourite picture was of the cupboard in the studio at work which was done a few hours before I had to hand the camera back in. I chose it because it’s one of the more unique images I’ve taken during this section of work and it shows some of my ability when it comes to composition and lighting.

One of the hardest things about this section was the times scale because it was during the time were I was working hard with my contextual and professional studies, making it hard to get a good amount of work done in the four weeks I set my self. The best part of this section was doing one of the genres I loved the most, and having the freedom to use almost any equipment I want which put me within my comfort zone so I could produce some quality work will confidence. If I was  to do this section again I would like to do some more traditional style still life, so I can say I had covered more bases and there’s always the potential that I could have found something that’s better than what I’ve produced now. Even though there were other opportunities in this theme I’m happy with the outcomes that I’ve produced and the final print.

Image for Printing

All the potential images for printing

All the potential images for printing

 

Now I’m half way through the third week of still life I have to decide what my best picture is and send it to print. I think my best picture is the one at the top done at work. I’ve decided on it because it’s completely different to what I thought as still life at the start so it shows how much I’ve learnt. From a technical point of view it’s one of my best because it’s evenly lit throughout, all the points of interests are focused correctly and the camera was positioned to get an even perspective. My inspiration for this picture was the paintings by Juan Sánchez Cotán and the framing he uses.

Cupboards at work

Cupboards at work

I’m really happy with my second cupboard shoot.  I continued the framing and perspective idea in this shoot but I’m particularly happy with the light which is a fundamental part of this photo’s success. To do this I used window light which has come from the right, but I also had a large reflector angling more of the window light directly into cupboard.

Because I did these photos in the studio at work there were some things lying around including a big bowl of pebbles so I decided it would rude not to. I’m pretty happy with the outcome. I did this by shining the modelling light on the side of the stones to get the strong contrast I wanted. I also used a large aperture to blur out the edge of the table and also bit of burning in the processing stage. Even though I like it, this composition has probably been photographed thousands of times so I won’t be using this as my final print.

I now feel that I’ve taken enough pictures to decide what I want to print and present for the hand in, so I will compare my photos and make decision.

Cupboards

Cupboards

After completing three food shoots I have decided that I want to explore other areas of still life. I chose to use cupboards because it links in to my first shoot, and I liked how I could use the edges of the fridge to frame the photo which I can do in this cupboard section.

I don’t think this has been a great start to this new section of work because I only managed to get two images from thirty photos, and the ones that have turned out aren’t the best. Out of the two, the first one is better because it’s tidier. It’s not a great explanation but the composition of the bottom one is a bit messy so it’s hard to see what’s in the cupboard, making it look ugly.

The main positive from this shoot is the framing. I managed to get the boarder equal all round and the camera central to cupboard to try and get the prefect perspective. These points will be taken into my next shoot 

Potential images for printing

Potential images for printing

 For this section I have grouped my best images so far to so I can decide whether they are good enough to be printed and where I will go from here in terms of photographing.

I am happy with the outcomes I have so far. They are well within the boundaries of still life and shown a degree of ability. Now I have a good base I want to expand and do something different that  I haven’t seen before because all I’ve do so far is food. I haven’t done much of the framing that I said I would do, so I will definitely do that this time round. I was thinking of photographing the cupboards in my house because the boarders are a dark brown which would contrast nicely with the white inside creating a nice frame.

I think this new idea is a good direction to take because it takes my work away from the commercial side of photography which will allow me to be a bit more creative.

Peppers

Peppers

After photographing my fridge I wanted to continue the theme of food so I chose peppers. I decided on peppers because I had recently been looking at some of the work of Edward Weston which is always great to look at because of his use of light which he uses to exaggerate the shape or texture of an object, but also because there was a lot of them in the fridge.

I think I was reasonably successful in my attempt to work in his style because I managed to uses the light to bring out the shape of the peppers but all of my results lacked the contrast that his pictures had. If I was to do this shoot again I would have to use a more intense light so the shadows would be more dominant, giving it a look that resembles Edward’s work.