Martin Schoeller Inspirational Piece's.

Portrait Experiment.

Here I took a photo of Antony in my dark kitchen with a torch behind his head to create this silohette shape.
I then used movement, slow shutter speed and editing tools to perfect my image.
My aim was to create a surreal atmosphere, as if my model were under water.
I edited colours and played with the 'water swirl' tool.
This was originally a 'throw away' picture yet having used my imagination and played around i am unexpectedly very happy with this image.
To me this looks as though I am photographing him underwater from below at night with the torch symbolising the moon above.

Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hummingbirdsandbicycles/

Camden Town Atmosphere.

Passing pubs is a very common thing in Camden and I was determined to capture at least one photograph of a pub making it appear interesting and unusual which suprisingly was harder than I expected.
Peoples preconceptions when they here the word 'pub' are mostly very similar so here I tried my best to use angles, focus and also part of the street to make this one appear more interesting than peoples expectations of a normal english pub.
The unusual brick colour and elephant statue helped dramatically liven up the image.
This is one of my favourite Photo's of the day.
The colours I saw when peering over the bridge appeared unusual and eccentric which really appealed to me and although the girl on board had a very interesting sense of style I waited until the boat had drifted under this large willow tree to capture my picture as by only showing a portion of her it makes the observer more intreeged and the photo all the more interesting. I like the contrast between the dull colour of the murky water and the loud, vibrancy of the boat.


This photo stood out to me as although the shop behind is clearly a more interesting place to view the mannequin appears very appealing and unusually eye catching in my image.





Here I cropped and added a black 'film' like border to this image of the street to make it appear more unusual. The long black border exaggerates the length of the chinese food stand.

To me this image sums up Camden's multi-cultural, bizarre conundrum of stools and gives a parcial sense of the mix of people you would find there.
The few brightly coloured objects stand out perfectly against all the wooden materials and brickwork.

The single mans head adds life to the picture yet doesnt over clutter it which I believe makes this photo successful.

The lighting worked well here revealing the manniquins faces and colours.
I also like the way in which they are lined up giving distance and space to the photograph.

In this quirky, quaint little bookshop, I came across this very harsh 'Crime' sign. As a bookshop is one of the last places you would expect to find crime I like the way this sign makes to think about the story behind photograph. The backround is darker and more mysterious adding a spooky atmosphere which works well with the 'crime' board.
I think people could look at this image in many different ways and the idea that each of the many many books pictured in this photograph tells a different story gives this photo a whole new life of its own.

Photographing People

I know that photgraphing people is where my heart lies in photography.
Though once faced with unknown crowds full of personality and faces it is very hard to chose and capture individuals and their emotions.
Photographing from a distance was a whole new challenge for me and as a first attempt these images are a few examples of the result.





I took many photographs of this pair as the links between them with their matching hats and taste in food really brought out their clearly close friendship.
The archway they are underneath also gives the photograph depth and scale.
The Litter bin and bicycles also nicely clutter yet balance out this image.

This shot was mostly down to luck and I like the comical expression being pulled in the bottom left hand corner.

This photo is one that you have to look at for a while to realise its potential.

With streams of people everywhere, capturing a number of people in one photo yet involving atmosphere and personality is a big, tricky challenge.

I love the idea of each person being on a different journey, with different aims and expectations and each ending up in a different place.

I also love the added touch of the smoker's cloud which gives this image an interesting touch.

This photograph was also in a way down to luck. This bridge is one of the busiest ares in camden and so capturing this one man, looking lonely and solomn was very unexpected.

I like how he is such a small detail in the image yet he gives the photograph a whole new story.

Photographing people is one of my favourite areas of photography and so here, photographing this dog was a more challenging step up for me as a photographer.
From far away the dog looked content yet had a sense of loneliness.
When I approached the dog I was proven wrong and captured this top image along with many others that I believe shows off the happy, bouncy, lively personality that this dog was full of.

This door was one of the first things to capture my imagination in Camden.
The mystery of whats behind it and the interesting green pipe and black wall contrast works well to add intreege to this photograph.
I very much like the full length version, yet when experimenting, I cropped a part of the image which reveals more detail, showing up scratched and markings which don't stand out as much in the top photo.
The scratches add plenty of personality and really give the rough and tumble approach that Camden thrives with.

This is one of my favourite images captured on the trip. Having not experienced photography clothes and buildings before I had to focus on angles and colour a lot more closely.
Having knelt down to capture the height, I am very pleased with the way this turned out.
The punky clothes on the rail caught my eye to be very true to Camden's kooky personality and the stars and graffiti on the building add to give an unusual touch.

Having previously said that bright colours sum up camden's lively attitude I contradict myself here in admitting that I did die down the contrast and brightness of colour. I think this actually enhanced my image to give it a more tough, hardcore edge.

Camden Photo Essays.

Colour version - When comparing the two, I have decided I prefer my colour version better. I see camden as a very bright, inspirational place bursting with life. All the bright colours which i have enhanced through editing really give the true Camden Town atmosphere to my photo essay and I think the black and white version lacks in all the positive emotion and eccentricity that Camden is so famous for. The two Tracks I have chosen are by the same reggae artist called Natty. I have chosen to use reggae as this genre is not native to Britain which gives my essay a more ethinic, multi cultural feel to it. Camden is one of the places in which i have noticed an extraordinary mix of race, and cultural backround and therefore if I used a genre or sound very classic to England this great side to Camden would not be revealed. Also the fast pace rhythm gives the piece attitude and that up beat kick that only Camden Town contains.



Black and White version - For this Black and White essay I chose two much more laid back tracks which express London's more carefree attitude which other countries sometimes lack in. Badly Drawn boy gives a very 'cool' tone to this piece yet doesnt draw attention away from the images depicted.
Having spent more effort and time editing my colour photos this second essay i believe to be the weaker of the two.


As a whole I know both my essays are far too long in length and if i were to repeat them with more time availiable, I would thouroughly cut down the images to the length of one song. I regret spending most of my time editing photos and so when putting the video together finally I ended up with a messy presentation of musical flow and an overwhelmingly long piece.
Camden town is full of distractions and I know that I mostly enjoy taking photos of faces and people. On this trip I found myself getting constantly distracted by crowds and graffiti which in a way was good for me as i experienced a very different side to photography that i would not normally choose.

If I were to return to Camden Town I would like to approach some of the more outrageous characters in the area and try and capture more human emotion and expression.

Having taken practially all photos of objects and buildings I did not get the sense of satisfaction that i do when taking photo's of people. I find it harder to judge how and whether i have caught the feel and mood's of a place than whether I have managed to capture the personality and thoughts of a person in a photograph.
I believe this trip was a great opportunity for me to get out of my 'people' photography comfort zone and explore the many other methods, techniques and of course notice and practice capturing objects as well as people.

Camden Photo Essay - Colour version

Camden Photo Essay - B&W version

Sally Mann Recreations.

Each of these images i have taken, i have highly edited the saturation, softness and tones to resemble the style and signature atmosphere of Sally Mann's famous 'Immediate Famliy' album taken of her 3 younger children.
I have used my cousin's, Loke and Jianna as subjects to stay in touch with the 'family' theme. I have mainly taken photo's of Jianna as Mann's collection is mostly made up of young girls with fewer male images.
Sally used a film camera, yet i used my SLR, editing to create the film-like atmosphere, with shadows and imperfections.
I have also made each and every photograph black and white to again, mimic Mann's spooky atmospheric style.

Sally Mann Recreations.

Conceal & Reveal.

For these images I used a spot light to create a strong separation between light and dark.

The lamp enabled me to carefully reveal certain parts of my subjects face and conceal others in the dark.

I used obsure angles to capture purposely chosen features and certain parts of the face more clearly than others.


Focus played a large role in this 'conceal and reveal' task.
I used the camera's focus to pick out and clearly 'reveal' certain, main features and 'conceal' parts of the face and body that is did not want to appear so promenant in my photograph.



I was sure to keep main facial features such as the eyes, mouth and nose as clear and focused as possible as i believe they reveal a lot about a person.

I found that when unfocusing for certain angles of the face it made the subject appear a lot more mysterious and helped to 'conceal' their personailty and identity.

Here I used the models own hair as a tool in concealing most of his face.

Here I used the camera focus to gain full attention onto the model's eye which I believe is the feature that mostly 'reveals' emotion on the face. The focus also 'conceals' other parts of the face that may distract.

Conceal & Reveal.

The idea behind these images is through the theme of 'Conceal and Reveal'.

Half on the model's face is 'concealed' by another photo, held in his hand. However, the idea is that the photo held by the model 'reveals' a part of their life through another past image.

Crooked Teeth

Whilst passing through Brick Lane in London, a musician caught my eye.

His unique style through music as well as his foreign appearance makes for a great photo. The run down wall and brick structure come together nicely and add to the man's mystique.

Bramble.

I took advantage of an elderly family cat to get up close and personal. The objective being to capture clear, colourful images showing off the beauty of a feline.

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Portrait.

I believe photographing faces and beings when they are oblivious is the most effective way of capturing personality and mood.

Eye to Eye.

I took an unusual opportunity to come face to face with another creature, known for its timid nature.
These photo's were taken through a glass door and i kept zoom to a minimal to optimise chances of a clear take. Crawling towards the animal without scaring it away was a great challenge, but i'm proud of the result.