Unit Two Project Proposal - Light and Shade
For my Unit Two 'Exam Unit' project, I have chosen the stimuli 'Light and Shade'. I had chosen this stimuli as I am inspired and interested in the way light creates a variety of emotions depending on the area and it's scene. I had been inspired by this from the recent turning of spring appearing and how my the sunlight uplifts mine and others around me moods. From this inspiration, I had researched a few artists which have further inspired me in this subject, this is Daido Moriyama, Israel Arino and Marta Bevacqua.
Daido Moriyama is a Japanese photographer which involves his interests of landscapes and his interests for society to come as one and portray these environments into what reality is. Moriyama does not only observe the scene around him, but he views it like he is an alien and is unknown of what the landscape means. He explored with both digital and film photography but originally began with film photography as it created a grainy, over contrasted effect. However, when transferring over to digital photography he found intrigued to have full control on how the image is captured and can be reflected upon in the moment which continuously inspires him. Moriyama's work relates to my idea as he observes the environment and leaves it up to the viewer to decide what they think of it and how he has communicated this through his images. His work also features an extreme projection of light and shade in his images which I would like to experiment with in my own work. I will be taking my photographs on a point and shoot digital camera just like Moriyama to achieve the same grainy style he captures within his images.
Israel Arino is a photographer from Barcelona interested in the natural landscape of the world around him; as he quotes "All my projects, have been conceived with the desire that the image contains and express the invisible. As when you don’t see what you are looking, or as what you don’t able to say when you are talking." His work is used to explore the environment around him and portrays this by allowing the camera to grasp the full scene around him. As he explores the scenes within his images, he uses a combination of landscape and portrait compositions which can capture all elements of nature (land, sky, river) to express the beauty that we sometimes miss. Arino's work relates to my idea as he displays the beauty of the world and allows the viewer to analyse the moment with the room to lead their imagination. I want to do the same with my work and allow the viewer to place themselves into my images. Arino's photographs capture the scene as how it is and I want to follow suit with the intention to show off how our emotions are effected by the different scenes.
Marta Bevacqua is an Italian photographer, currently based in Paris, which explores the essence of portrait photography and the beauty within our imperfections and her dreamy images blue the lines between editorial photography and art. Bevacqua's work is created with a small kit of a the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV camera and extra lenses of the Sigma Art 50mm f/1.4 and the Sigma Art 35mm f/1.4 but this is all she needs, she explains her creating process as she "just mix up all I have in mind and my pictures come out,". Bevacqua's work relates to my idea as she explores the beauty and emotions within things, even when we least expect. She creates this understanding of beauty within her photographs by the exposure creating dramatic shadows and bright highlights which I want to follow and explore with in my own photos.
For my techniques and processes within my project, I want to explore the use of my compact camera, the Samsung ES57 and the abilities it has as such a small compact camera. I bought this second hand with the expectations for it to do very limited, but I found it can adjust the aperture, shutter speed and ISO within the settings, it can also change the filter to add hues to your images with presets and adjustable settings. It can also change images to black and white which is what I want to do with my photographs rather than doing this through post processing and losing pixels. I want to use this feature to find creative ways in adjusting the contrast and using dramatic lighting and shadows to follow Moriyama's photography style as I believe it to show a new way of looking into the world. I will be exploring composition within my photographs by exploring how shapes form and how contrasts of lights create a diversion of attention within one photo. I will also be trying to capture landscapes in different angles that are not normally shot in and how this affects how the images/series of images are perceived differently. I find this would be interesting to explore as I want to differ from regular landscape photography styles. I will be using natural day light for my shoot as they will be shot outside, however I may explore lowkey lighting from shadowed areas or dark areas which may change the way the photograph captures the moment. For postproduction, I will be using Adobe Photoshop 2023 for editing and scaling my images to produce the final image. I will not be changing much about my photographs as I want them to be as raw as possible, but I will be experimenting with the levels of exposure if I believe an image needs adjusting. I will also scale my images to straighten them if I find it suits this, but I would like to experiment with off scale images as well as I find this to create a familiar feeling to the landscape but it is only slightly unusual which creates an unease affect to the image. Moriyama does this within some of his photographs which I find to be really unique and creates a new way to visually view an image.
Within my project, I am exploring the themes of emotions connected to a variety of landscapes, what this means and do we need to care for our surroundings more. I had been inspired by my surroundings and landscapes more recently as I have been on walks around my town and fields with my family most Sundays and I always love a good trip to any city in the UK. Doing these little activities every so often has allowed me to view the world with a clear view in which I noticed a lot of things I never used to. Little things like the texture of the soil, stickers which represent the political climate on lampposts, the way trees hold up and the fence falling apart. Little things which represent so much about an area really counts into what we have done and is this right for our planet?
From finding the understanding of my idea, I had also been inspired by the current political themes which majorly affect our planet. The president of the United States, Joe Biden, has given the green light to the Willow project to take place, which is an oil development project by ConocoPhillips to drill into up to 250 oil wells in Alaska which will emit 239 million metric tons of carbon emissions to the atmosphere. This will inevitably lead to a mass change in the climate. Petitions were raised to have this rediscussed but it was not strong enough for this to happen and is now going ahead. For our planet, this means mass extinction between animals like polar bears, penguins and others and obviously our planet will experience the glaciers melting, natural disasters will happen often and unheard of temperatures will occur. This will destroy our planet as we know it.
From these influences, I will research into these further through secondary research like researching through websites, social media and more which will give me a basic understanding of the topic. To further my understanding and receive multiple views of the topic, I will listen/watch podcasts and videos, research books and even try to contact photographers.
To prepare for my final exam, I am planning my shoots, research and taking shoots in a planned time frame. Doing this will help organise my project while allowing me to experiment with my work. For this, I am planning to do a shoot every Sunday/Monday which allows me time to plan and spend a few hours shooting. I also have time on a Monday as I am only at college for half of the day which allows me time to shoot. Throughout the week I analyse and edit these photographs during my lessons and in my own time. By the end of the week I then do some research for my next shoot. By the time it comes to the exam period, I would have then required plenty of photographs and research to create my final piece.
To explore my creativity through my work, I will need to critique and critically review my work to strongly explore my topic. To explore my topic fully, I am going to review my shoots with the intention on always finding something to improve on while acknowledging my strengths. This will be reviewed from my contact sheets with why some images work and others don't, to then review my successful images post editing. I am reflecting on quality, formal elements, composition and overall meaning of the image. To progress even further in my reflection, I will be asking my peers and family on feedback of my shoots. This will give me a different perspective other than my own and will allow me to explore different subjects based on what the feedback was. I will be doing a peer critique around three times throughout my project to explore the development of different opinions.
