Fuji Film final images

These are my final images for the fuji assignment. I changed my idea loads for this assignment as i found it difficult to get into and as i developed my research my ideas changed (as always with me!) I left it too long to take my images as i was doing another assignment along side this one and i struggled to manage my time for the fuji film. Eventually i got hold of a film camera and decided to go to the memorial gardens in Burton and photograph the graves showing an extreme lack of respect and dedication to of fought for the country and to of lost their lives for others. If i'm honest i did this because it was a last minute thing and i really needed to get the images done but they have worked out as decent images in the end. I know i could of done better for this assignment but i am happy with these 4 final photos as they show exactly what i wanted and they are good quality. Black and white film have definitely added to the eere grave yard effect which i really like, colour film wouldnt of created the same atmosphere or worked half as well. I experimented with angles and composition more than anything whilst taking these images as i struggled to get many different photos as the graves are all very similar. I could see these images being used in a museum/tourist book as there very historical old style photographs. This was not intentional but has worked too my advantage! 

Invention of photography essay

The first permanent black and white photograph was produced by the French inventor Joseph Nicephore Niepce in 1826. The first type of photograph done was called ‘daguerreotype’. This technology produced a positive image onto a polished metal plate but before this in the pre photographic age public and personal history was recorded by painters. With the invention of photography in place people then begun to rely on photographers to capture their images but in this early stage it took up to 8 hours to produce one image. Although Joseph Nicephore Niepce played a big part in contributing to the invention of photography it was also down to the help of Louis Dagurre who created the primary reliable process for photographic development, hence the name ‘daguerreotype’. For the invention of photography both inventors worked hand in hand experimenting with silver compunds depending on the Johann Heinrich Schultz discovery in 1724. Earlier this experiment had been proven, and what had been discovered was when a silver and chalk mixture was produced it darkens when exposed to light. Unfortunatley Niepce died in 1833 and Dagurre had to continue on his own experimenting with the development of the ‘daguerreotype’ in 1839.

Photography has been around since the ancient times when images were produced on a wall by a pinhole camera, this began to improve in the 16^th century. Henry Talbot introduced chemicals into photography by soaking images in silver iodide and developed in salt solution. In 1854 in France portrait photgraphy came increasingly popular, colour photography still hadnt been introduced by this time and black and white was still the only type of photography about. Black and white photography has always been significant and always will be due to the detail of shadows, facial features and emotions in the eyes. The effect that black and white photography creates is near enough impossible to be shown in colour photography as black and white brings out the natural beauty and scenes of memorable moments which is hard in itself to capture. As black and white photgraphs were the first ones we saw and the only ones we had to visualise what the past looked like. This was the starting point for movies and films, without the invention of black and white photography we would not have any of this now.

The first autochrome colour plate was invented by the French Lumiere brothers entered the marked in 1907. This was based on a ‘screen plate’ filter made of dyed dots of potato starch, and was the only colour film on the market for a while. In 1932 German Agfa put colour photography on the market also, ‘Agfocolour’. In 1935, American Kodak introduced the first modern ‘integrated tri-pack’, colour film, Kodachrome, based on three coloured emulsions. The majority of colour films, except Kodachrome, are based in the Agfocolour Neue Technology. In 1963 instant colour film was produced by polaroid. Colour photography is a type of photography that used media capable of presenting colours which are traditionally produced chemically during the photographic processing phase. Black and white (monochrome) photography records only a single channel of luminance (brightness) and uses media capable only showing shades of grey. Light sensitive chemicals or electronic sensors record colour information at the same time as processing an image, exposure. The colour captured is an immitation of how the human eye sees colour, its split into 3 channels of information, one dominated by red another by green and the other by blue. The recorded information is then used to produce the origional colours mixing a bit of each together to create the coloured image.

The first digital camera was built in 1975 by Steven Sasson, who was an engineer at Eastman Kodak. However, the camera was not very practical. The camera recorded black and white images to a cassette tape, and had a resolution of just 0.01 megapixels and took about 23 seconds to capture an image. The first ‘true’ digital camera (which recorded images as computerized files) was the Fuji DS-1P, produced in 1988. This was never released in America and there is no evidence that it was ever released in Japan. The first commercially available digital camera was the 1990 Dycam Model 1.

Pros and cons of digital photography

The invention of digital photography has benifitted us a lot in this day in age as its all about modern everything. Although we wouldn’t have any of what we have now in photography if it hadnt been for the time and effort put in by the inventors in the early ages. Even now things are still developing and modernising and being created, this will always continue and who knows what might have been invented in 50 years time! There are many pros and cons related to digital photography as there is with anything in life. Some people would find everything about digital easier and not as much effort as once you’ve taken the photo its there for you to edit or not however you want, theres no developing and wondering whether you will even have any images on your film. You can also see the image once you’ve taken it on the screen infront of you so you can then edit your settings and positioning if it isnt what you want. You could shoot a whole film on a film camera and end up with a completely black film, its sometimes trial and error with film cameras depending on how you set it up. Its always advisable to set up your film camera by your digital camera, this is only posisble for us now as digital is around but back in the early ages you didn’t have the opportunity to do this, it was 100% trial and error. I find the process of creating an image from a negative or roll of film very rewarding (when it works). Its something you’ve helped to create and developed it and making it your own, watching the image develop infront of you is fastenating. This isnt for everyone though as some people may feel its too much effort and a long process just for a few photos, each to their own.

The effects that can be created by film is also fastenating, you can create grainy images, sharp, polaroid, under water etc. The list goes on! Also an effect I think is really nice is being able to scan in a negative and use the negatives, you can scratch into them or manipulate them how you like then develop it as an image using the same chemical process. One of the main put offs from film is the cost, it can be quite an expensive process. This is more so if the film doesn’t work out how you want as you have to buy the film and the film paper and it can all add up. I still feel that film photography is something everyone should try to experiment with  and see if its for them. Its also near enough impossible if you havent got acess to a dark room with all the proper chemicals needed, its harder now to create your own dark room and try and get hold of the chemicals that could work out very expensive.

Its hard to compare whether digital is more popular than film but looking at magazines, documentaries on t.v, films etc it seems that digital possibly is. I think it’s the sence of control that you have when using a digital camera that is more appealing to many people and photographers. If you’re a busy photographer on a shoot its easier and better to be able to see exactly what your creating so you don’t feel like it’s a waste of time if the film hasn’t worked out how you want it too. Its a lot easier to see the photos your creating infront of you and edit if necessary on the settings whilst on the shoot. Digital is getting more advanced each and every day, you can  create so many styles of photography on a digital camera its fantastic! Using slow and fast shutter speed, changing the apature etc, all sorts can be changed. I think that the world would be a very different place if digital photography hadnt been invented as we would be lacking in a lot of technology such as t.v, film etc. I think that technology will keep on developing and advancing and there will be some crazy things created in the future, from black and white images printed onto metal plates to black and white photography to colour film to digital…a big step already so what more is to come in the future?

first black and white image

first colour image

Ansel Adams essay

Ansel Easton Adams, February 20th 1902 - April 22nd 1984. Ansel Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist who specialised in black and white photography, being best known for his landscape images of the 'American West'. In his 60 year career he has created some inspiring and influential images that have made an impact on a large number of people.

Ansel Adams has influenced me a lot as my talents in photography have grown, his work is so beautiful and i could look at his work all day. The use of black and white constantly creates an eere effect to his images but in a very atmospheric interesting way. The way he has used film creates a slight grainy effect to some of his images which works in partnership with the black and white to create a striking photograph. All of these landscape photos from the American West are taken on a large format camera therefor there suited to be very big bold photos, this is an effect i really love when an image is so strong!

This is one of my favourite images taken by Ansel Adams. I love the simplicity of the tree and rocks but put together creates a really beautiful image. The tree is where your eyes are immediatly drawn to but then you see the huge empty mass of space behind it, this really puts you in the image and makes you feel like your there stood taking the photo. It makes you want to stand on the rocks and see whats behind them! I also feel that the shadow of the tree on the rocks and ground creates a whole other image within this image. The black and white is quite light and not heavily contrasted which really makes the shadow stand out, this wouldnt of been as noticable if the brightness and contrast had been edited a lot.

As we all know Ansel Adams is known for his landscape photography, his work influenced me into wanting to take more images of landscapes and specialise in this more. His work shows how he has travelled around to get the best images he can from the best countries, cities, towns etc. His work reminds me slightly of documentary images as i can imagine them being on a t.v programme such as 'Planet Earth' showing the amazing places in the world that a lot of people probably wont get the opportunity to visit. Because he was an environmentalist it was inevitable that his work would be heavily focused on everything to do with the environment but he has captured unbelievable beautiful landscapes and scenes.

This image here for example is what i would count as a sight that not many people would get the opportunity to see. As he was stood there he so professionally captured the right moment when the waves came crashing over the rocks creating a foamy bath. The contrast of the white bubbles and waves against the dark black rocks works really well as it makes the bubbles stand out. The mist behind has been perfectly captured too, that is something that really makes this image what it is as thats the detailed effect waves make when they crash against something. Not something thats always seen! As i look at this photo i can feel the mist moisture on my face and i can hear the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks, this is something i feel is so important in an image as it makes you feel like your there. Its something i cant explain when i look at his images they just take my breath away, im so passionate about his work.

This is an image i have just come across and i thought it was fantastic! The turtle is happily swimming along and Ansel has managed to capture this just right with the arms both mirroring eachother as it effortlessly glides along. It's interesting to see a difference in his work, to see something slightly different to landscapes. Although he has still got a landscape effect in this image with the empty space of sea behind the turtle making the turtle really stand out especially the peircing black eyes. The eyes are the first thing your eyes are drawn too, it looks like he's swimming towards the camera to have a good look at what it is. 

Although Ansel Adams influences me a lot and i love to look at his work, i havent done that many landscape images myself. I have an open mind about what i photograph for each assignment and i havent specialised in anything yet. I have similarly used film and black and white like him and i have photographed nature in different shapes and forms. His work too me is more inspiring and such a beauty to look at, it makes me smile when im down as it makes me feel like im there in the photograph. This is the main reason why i find his work so amazing as i feel like im there when im looking at the photos, i can feel everything that i can see. Fantastic photographer!

write and fold over task

For this task we had to 'write and fold over' similar to the game consequences. There was 5 different things we had to answer to then create an image out of those words.


1. Write down the name of a colour - RED
2. Write down the name of an object - JELLY BABIES
3. Write down the name of a random word - CLOCK
4. Write down the line of your favourite lyrics - ''DONT WORRY ABOUT A THING BECAUSE EVERY LITTLE THING IS GONNA BE ALRIGHT''
5. Write down a number - 5

This is my final image that i created from all 5 of the 'write and fold over' questions. I tried to link in the words and images with eachother so the photo flowed and didnt look like i had just dumped a load of words and photos together. The name of a random word was clock, so i decided to make this the background of the image to layer everything else on top of. The name of an object was jelly babies and the number was 5, so for this i thought it would be a good idea to link the two together and have 5 jelly babies in the image. I just layerd them on top of the clock and played around with the capacity so you could still see the clock under the jelly babies. The line of my song was 'Dont worry about a thing, because every little thing is gonna be alright' and the colour was red so again i wanted to tie the two together and had the lyrics in the colour red. This was just a small task so im not too bothered about the fact i've used images off the internet as i had to do it in a rush and didnt have enough time to take my own photos anyway!

Snowflake task

We had to make snowflakes out of paper and photograph them in unusual places. We could make large snowflakes or small snowflakes! This task was set because Marie had done a project for herself where she had taken a photo a day with a different snowflake in a different unusual place. I found them quite hard to make as it was all fiddley cutting out small bits if paper to create the pretty snowflake shape. I went outside with Charl and we put our snowflakes in puddles and photographed them after we had taken our own photo, i stuck mine to the back of a students mo-ped. I then edited my photo in 'picnik' and added a few different filters to it to give it the old fashioned look, then i put it in a film strip style with the black strip across the top and bottom of the image. This was just a bit of experimentation as i didnt really know what to do with the photo after i had taken it.

Martin Parr research - Common Sense

I actually don't really like Martin Parr's work but he is an extremely famous photographer who works within a very wide spread style of photography. This series is called Common Sense which is one of the best series of work i think he has done, it shows normal every day things happening and he has photographed them exactly how they are. We are being asked to research a different photographer each week and take photos in the same style as his work. These images all have quite an old fashioned vintage look to them and they don't look like they've been edited that much. His work is fairly simple and is taken in quite a documented style, showing everyday things. For example on the bottom image of the smile you can see lipstick smudges on her teeth, this is exactly how the photo was taken and for this series it's clear he did'nt want to edit out small things such as this. It shows very realisticly how he see's things and how photos are taken but can be edited so much changing the image into something completely different. The image of the pigeons to me is quite boring, theres nothing special or exciting going on other than pigeons eating seeds off the floor but by Parr putting this image within this series it somehow creates something more interesting as it's showing something normal happening and exactly how he is seeing it. 

These are some photos i took trying to capture images in the same style as Martin Parr. I find them quite boring as he doesn't edit his photos very much so i did the same thing with mine. I just took photos of things that weren't that interesting, every day things that were out and about on my journey. I found this quite difficult because i was constantly tempted to re-create photos Parr had done not realising i was doing this. He likes to document things going on around him, people watching aswell seems to be something he works with a lot. Theres a whole series of images called 'Benidorm' where he's just photographed all sorts of things relating to Benidorm, the food, people, sun, beach etc.
Martin Parr isnt someone who i would choose to look at for inspiration unless we were asked to re-create something similar to his work. Not to say i find his work rubbish i just dont find his style my favourite, i feel it's quite bland and i like a bit more excitement in my work.

John Myers talk

We had a talk by John Myers who is now an ex photographer. He went to Newcastle University and used to shoot with a 4x5 wooden brass Gandolfi film camera. In the lecture he talked alot about other photographers that influenced him to create his work in the 1970's. He explained how these photographers made him see portrait images like they were 'in a box'. The subject was in the middle of the space making it the main part of the image. August Sander, Diane Arbus and Lewis Hine are 3 photographers that influenced him for some of his images. He was explaing how he took hundreds of photos before he was happy with any of them! All of his work is highly influenced by other photographers, he likes to create work of the similar style but not the same. He also said that he never uses flash when he takes images, he likes natural light or the simple lights around the subjects. He showed us a series of portraits, t.v shots and 'boring' landscape images.
Landcape photographer influences: T.H O'Sullivan, C.E Watkins.

These are a few examples of John's work from each series of images: Portraiture, T.v , landscape. My favourite images out of these are the portrait ones as they are more interesting and have a lot more going on in the photo. The one that draws my attention to it most is with the little boy sat on the bed, as it's taken in his bedroom is gives us a feel of his personality as it's in his space. To be honest i dont know whether its a boy or a girl? I also like the other portrait because the girl is being hidden quite a lot by her coat, the only thing you can see properly is her face and legs. To me this shows the girl is quite shy and must of felt a bit nervous having her photo taken as she is also stood quite awkwardly. The top image and bottom image arent really that interesting too me, i dont really get the point of why he has taken them. It definitely gives them more of an effect in black and white as it makes them slightly more interesting as they seem older.