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. 

Fuji film developed ideas!

Developed idea

My idea has changed for this fuji film brief as i was really struggling to get hold of models that would let me tip a bucket of water over their head! I had a big bag full of polastyreine balls so i thought i would fill up as many glasses and clear containers that i could and place them in different places around the house: stairs, cupboards, table. This was to show an extreme amount of polastyreine! I then wanted to try something different and decided to photograph the memorial graves in Burton to show extreme courage and passion to of given up their lives for their country/meaningful people being remembered.  

I have finished my film and now i'm just waiting to get it developed and see what the final outcome is. I have unfortunatley missed the deadline to send off my images to fuji film but atleast i have some to show.

Jade Birchnall talk

http://jadebirchnallphotography.tumblr.com/#about


We had a talk by Jade Birchnall who used to study photography at Burton College and is now studying photography at Manchester Met university. She prefers to use medium format film cameras so the majority of her work is taken on film. She said she 'found herself' whilst being at uni, her favourite camera, style of photography etc. She is in her last year and is getting prepared for her final show presenting all of her work. 

She is currently doing a series of portrait images of nuns and is attending their nunnery a few times a week to get to know the ladies better and gain a comfortable relationship with them. These are two images i have managed to get off her tumblr website of the series. 

Sister Catherine 

Sister Catherine used to be an professional speed skater! 

• She has also done a series about her Grandmother who is sadly suffering with dementia. She showed us a short video that she had put together with some of the images of her grandmother,brother and things relating to dementia. She went to do a photo shoot of her grandma and secretly recorded the conversation (telling her grandma it was a light reader)and she had selected parts of this playing in the background of the video. 

This is one image from the series showing some notes of what her grandma did in the day so she can be reminded of her week. As Jade was talking about her work it was nice to hear her laughing and having a bit of a joke about how her grandma forgets everything, she knows it's a series condition but there's nothing that can be done about it therefor it was great to see her coping with it in the best way she could. 

• Another set of work that Jade is working on is of elderly people in an old peoples home. She has had many visits to the old peoples home allowing herself and the residents to get comfortable with each other to make the photo shoots a lot easier and relaxed. She was explaining to us how a lot of the residents have dementia like her grandma so they may forget who she is when they first meet her again. She did a set of portraits of a selected few old ladies and gentlemen in a chair in the corner of a room as she was advised to select and area to do the photos so it wouldn't disturb, get in the way or confuse the residents. She realised after these photos were taken all of them looked very unhappy, bored and sad. So she went round again 'capturing the moment' of happy smiling faces so they could put the photos up in the home as a gift from her to say thank you. 

 

Lucia- a brief paragraph about how Jade describes the visit.  

Jade described uni as a great place to be to broaden your experiences, experimenting with different cameras, materials, techniques and finding a style that suits you. She was saying how she is now finding a place to do the end of year final show and it's entirely up to them where this is shown. This is something i'm really looking forward to doing and i can't wait to experiment with different cameras and types of photography.  

Developed Idea

I have chosen the 'weather' idea to do for this assignment. I'm choosing three types of extreme weather: Heavy rain, Scorching heat, Snowfall. 

I am going to  create these images by using a model and props.

Rain: I will get a model to stand outside in an open space, not much going on in the background to create a distraction and i will get someone to slowly tip a bucket of water over their head. This will create a waterfall running down their face which i think will look really good if i can capture the moment just right!

Sun: I'm going to get a model in the studio and create a light drawing just of their face. I want to shine a bright light just on their face to create the sunshine look. 

Snow: I may also use the studio for this one, it will probably work out easier. I will buy a big amount of white feathers and get someone to drop them on top of the model to create a snowfall effect. 

I will use colour film to create the bright vibrant colours from the sun photo shoot. I haven't yet decided how I'm going to present these photos, whether i will keep the negative effect round the edge or not. This is something i will experiment with when my images have been developed. 

Jill Cole Talk

These images are a few from a series that Jill Cole did representing birds, showing how they get captured. She is a photographer we have researched before and i find these images interesting as there different and unique, something that hasn't been done before.

We had a guest talk by Jill Cole. She was explaining her current work on the National Forest, layering photographs from different images in the National Forest. We did an assignment on the National Forest last year so this talk was more aimed at the first years who are currently in progress with this project. I cant find these images on her website or on the internet because she hasn't finished them yet, there are in working progress. 

Neil Craver photographer

I love this style of photography! Under water photography is something I'm really interested to get involved with and experiment with and Neil Craver's work is amazing to look at. I wanted to find images that have been focused on the face of the model as i want to tip a bucket of water of some ones head (extreme rain) and capture their facial expression through the water falling. The models in these images look very graceful and natural in the water environment but i want to create the opposite by getting my model to pull a very exaggerated/surprised/shocked face appearing through the mass of water falling over their face. The colours are very natural which works well due to such a natural environment because if these photos had been over edited it would of ruined the delicate feel of them. 
In the second image the model is overpowered by bubbles covering her face which would represent the extreme weather above the water having a downwards impact under the water e.g heavy rain slamming into the water mixing it up and creating bubbles. My images will have the similar water effect to Craver's work but portrayed in a very different way, rather than the model already being in the water, the water will be added to the model.