Developing Practice

Breakdown of Brief:

Week 1: Self Portrait Vs Selfie

Although I had few ideas for my self portrait , I thought of reflecting back to my old self (taken from my Nikon D3400) to how I am now with the (b&w filtered) selfie.

Looking back at the me from few years ago to the me from now, I can sense the self growth I now have compared to back then - although the filter has no link to me using it to conceal my persona, I just thought it would be experimental to use and play with filters as I thought about “how could I contrast the two images?”

Differences between self portrait and selfie:

Coming back to the task, personally a portrait is an image where you think about the concept, think about how you Will deliver your message through your photographs/shoot. Selfie on the other hand is an image where you'd want to capture how you look at the moment, perhaps want it as a memory to look back on some day and even use it for the “gram”.

The Reference:

This idea about self reflection came from listening to
Answer : Love Myself by BTS - even though the song
doesn't have a music video, I managed to find a live
concert (on YouTube) where they performed songs from
their Love Yourself album in 2018 including
Answer : Love Myself.

Video - Answer: Love Myself concert

Credit - babykook (YouTube)

Though the song is a gratitude from the members to their
fans (ARMY) in showing reasons that they can also love
themselves just of much as the members are telling their
fans to love themselves (through their songs in general).
BTS has always inspired me when it comes to art pieces
or in this case, self love, self growth and self reflection-
and therefore, I thought of referring to them as my
reference image.

Week 2: Human Behaviour - Street Photography

<left: Sogong-dong, Seoul, Korea> <middle: Near Seoul, Korea> <right: Seoul, Korea> His photographs are only named with the areas he has been in South Korea.

I picked Han Youngsoo as my Classic street photographer because not only he is quite less known to most people, his message matches the description of ‘street photography’ as well as the theme we are focusing on-Human Behaviour. I believe its a perfect match as he captured the profound growth of people of Seoul mould into a new environment post-war.

Few of My Response:

I picked Ann Lee as my Contemporary street photographer as her style is minimalistic and less contrasty which makes me want to reflect on life and see it in a light, less chaotic manner and very subtly.

In terms of Human Behaviour, the style is the complete opposite in contrast with Han Youngsoo's photojournalistic style/nature - Ann's way of presenting Human Behaviour is through capturing everyday life of her and those around her, in an aesthetic way.

<left, middle, right: Name of work unknown - found these on her Instagram page>

Few of My Responses:

As Lee’s photographs are high saturated, I thought about recreating the similar aesthetic - which was fun to edit as I usually edit my images a bit darker but through this response, I realised that I like this type of aesthetic and it will be beautiful to include this type of aesthetic again someday in my future projects.

Week 3: Architectural Photography

What is Architectural Photography?

Typically a series of photographs revolving around buildings. In simple words, architectural photography are photographs of architectural surroundings of buildings that transcends to decades / years.

<left: Paris Hotel de ville, 1871> <middle: Church of St Gervais, 1897-1903> <right: Coin Rue de Sein, 1910>

Few of my Responses for Classical Architecture:

I took these photographs in April when I went back home to Nepal for a short visit and thought I’d revive these photographs again as I’m linking my work to a classical architectural photographer. Initially I was planning to visit Soho and take pictures of the Soho Square (park) as that’s one of the historical/classic piece I first thought of while researching on Atget.

I was thinking of how could I really make my response intimate and personal in order for me to mimic / recreate classical architectural - then these photographs popped in my mind as the place we went to were once a royal residence temple filled courtyard called Bhaktapur Durbar (bh-a-k-a-ta-pu-r)

The concept of time is what I can say, combines my response to Atget as like him, I captured these remains of very ancient architects that managed to still impress people with the hidden details/designs attached onto these buildings

<left: L'Arbre Blanc Residential Tower, date not known> <middle: Chandigarh, 2010> <right: Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, date not known>

Few of My Responses for Contemporary Architecture:

I liked how the buildings overlay each other <specifically the image on the left> and how despite having balconies, everyone sort of look down upon each other due to how the architect of the apartments were made - the tight space makes the building look claustrophobic too.

On the other hand, the rest of the images have a lighter impact as they look abstract in terms aesthetic and less sophisticated despite its modernised form.

Week 4&5 - Built Environment

Built Environment 1- Battersea Power Station:

My Work:

Initially, working on this theme was a bit confusing but eventually once I put more thoughts onto how I could present a piece linking to ‘built environment’, I came up with these candid shots:

This has to be one of my favourite location shoot as I collaborated with a fellow classmate and we went to Battersea Power Station. Though there were minor delay in reaching there, it felt like we reached at the perfect time - when the sun was setting, in simple words : the classic golden hour (as you can see on the images at the top left and middle left)

Regarding Referencing and Researches, I didn't do any as I spontaneously took these images and figured out what I wanted to capture on the day of the shoot.

Built Environment 2 - Day out with Animation Students:

My Work:

This week, we collaborated with the Animation Students for the first time - luckily I knew few students fro the course so it didn’t take us much time to form a group.

Coming back to the theme, we as a group first went to the Excel Centre <middle images> where I captured the modern environment in two perspectives - one higher <as I was in the cable car> and one from a normal view <I took this using a zoom lens>.

Next, we went to Canary Wharf <left and right images> - at this point I wasn’t sure how I could contrast the images, so I thought about experimenting with fast/low exposure settings. I did this by managing to blur out people passing by either walking or on the boat - which took time to get the correct exposures etc but in the end I got the images I wanted.

Regarding Referencing and Researches, once again I didn't do any as I spontaneously took these images and figured out what I wanted to capture on the day of the shoot.

Week 6 - Environment

My Work:

This week marked our first time making a series of photographs that speaks for itself <a narrative>

As I was not in during the lecture for this task, I decided to use images that I took while on a day out collaboration with the Animation Students to the Excel Centre for the first time.

It might not be too clear at first glance, but I realised that the details from the middle and the last <right> images all appear on the first <left side> image’s frame- which makes I look like I zoomed in on the details.

References Only:

<left: Steve McCurry - Aarti Ceremony, Varanasi, India - 2019>

<middle: George Steinmetz - Vulgamore Family Farm, Scott City, Kanasas> <right: Aaron Huey - New York City, 2020>

Week 7 / 8 - Nature + day out with Animation Student

My Work:

During this second week of collaboration with the animation students, we went to the Barbican Centre <left> and Crossrail Garden in Cary Wharf <right>.

I decided to use one of my photograph that I took during a collaboration shoot with my college classmate <middle> as I thought this would be a nice way of including my previous work as it suits with the sub theme I’m exploring: Modernism and Nature Co-Existing.

As mentioned previously, this sub theme is a mixture of man-made naturally existing. I personally view this as a harmony more than a hidden war or a ‘clash’ because man must have a fingerprint somewhere with all the intelligence bestowed. Although it might contrast with nature very opposingly, it can still blend to make the most complete art.

References Only:

<left: Philip Slotte - 'Sorunda' >

<middle: Natassa Triantafillou - 'The Soloist' >

<right: Christos Zoumides - 'Ode to Light' >

Week 9 - Diary

My Work <final>:

In this final theme, I chose humans to be my main subject as this is how I usually see them on a daily basis.

Taken on different days and different environments, I decided to combine these archieves and presenting them on my perspective on people as I believe that humans are the most lively to capture; their frames, their way of standing admits the chaos and even walking - some look busier and others filled more with layers.

Human Photography is the most enriching as it documents us about how we really are, what our eyes catch but cannot process, the completes.