Introduction
For this task I am going to capture people that dont work in the normal working environment which is in the office by a computer, I wanted to capture the other side of the community that work on there feet interacting with other people. For this task I then intended to visit markets and stalls. At first I went to the extreme side of working on the street, I decided to take photos of homeless people who begged on the street and didn't have a real job. I then moved to public service such as Police officers and dustbin men. I then looked at the people who sold food and other objects on the street, I like this subject as it was very photogenic and enjoyable to photograph as the subjects where more willing to be photographed.
My First Response
For this shoot I was setting out to try and capture some people that live and work on the street. I tried to capture how they work and survive on the street. I walked around south bank, I went to the market and around the tube stations where many homeless people stay. I think some of them came out quite well but I would need to get a better shot of the persons face. Therefore next time I go out to take some photos I will ask them if I can take a photo of them and then set up a shot where I can see there face clearly and face on. I would like to use film as I like the grainy effect that is shown in the work of Don McCullin etc. I will also bring my DSLR as a digital copy would be good and I can do some test shots without wasting film.
Contact Sheet
How I edited the photos for this task
I used Adobe Photoshop to edit these photo, I changed the photos into black and white to give a cleaner look. I then used Brightness and Contrast to get the right look for the photo giving it more contrast and adjusting the brightness to get the best look. I then sometimes used Levels to adjust the brightness and shadows.
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Response 2
For my next response I am going to go out and shoot a roll of film, I am still going to shoot street performers and people who work on the streets. However I am only going to use a prime lens which has a fixed focal length, I am going to shoot one roll with only a 50mm lens this will make me get closer to my subject and this will create more interaction between me and the subject that I am shooting. I will then go out again and use a 135mm lens this lens has a higher focal length and it will create a different effect to the 50mm. The quote below has given me inspiration to try and get close to my subjects and capture there expressions as my first response shows that I did not get close enough to my subject as I had a zoom lens. Therefore I am going to use a prime lens and this will force me to get close to my subjects and I cannot stand back and zoom into there faces, instead I will have to walk up to them and make a connection and
South Bank
I went to south bank to take photos of several street performers, I had to ask to take photos of them and give them some change in return they let me take some photos of them, I tried to take some close up photos that would show who they really are and try and portray the hard life that they live. I used a fixed focal length of 50mm this made me have to get close to my subject. I wanted to use film because I like the effect that it gives, it also matches with the homeless as it is an old method of taking photos and it has become redundant like the homeless. The image to the left is a contact sheet of some of the photos I took by south bank. I did not include all of them as I need to rescan some of them as the lamp on the scanner was not adjusted accordingly to the films exposure. therefore some of them came out over exposed.
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These photos came out quite well but I think I will move back to digital as my first roll of film that I used got exposed as when I wound the film back up the film ripped and the back door of the camera opened and I lost all my shoots. Therefore I don't think I will be using film again. Although I did capture some wonderful photos such as the photos of the homeless men, I think these are some very powerful shots that capture the struggle they face in the cold winter days.
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Riot photographers
These are a few photos taken of police officers, these officers don't have usual jobs as they work on the street and face dangers everyday, they have to enforce the law and deal with people that no one should have to deal with. These photos are very powerful as it captures there office very well. It shows them facing riots, they have to wear a lot of protection during these riots as they are on the other end of the riots. These photos influenced me to attend the teachers march and capture the police force attending and protecting the march. I like the photos below as they are well framed and the colour correction really brings out the fire and the bold and protective uniform.
Teacher March
This is the contact sheet of some of the photos I took on the teacher protest, I used a scanner to scan the negatives that I developed at school into a digital format. Some of the photo where not scanned correctly so I have not put them on the contact sheet. As I was using a low film speed some of the photos have a lot of motion blur which corrupts the image. So when I go out again with a film camera I will make sure to use a faster film speed so I don't get motion blur. However some of the photos came out quite well.
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I think some of these photos came out pretty good, I feel that some of them are linked to William Kleins work such as the photo to the left as they show the same technique and they look similar. I think the photos could of been improved by using a faster film speed and adjusting the scanner when I scanned the film onto the computer as the lamp was too bright causing the photos to come out white and all bleached out. The framing of the photo has a lot of negative space and as I was using a low aperture the background is very blurry, this makes the photos subject stand out and gives the audience a clear understanding of the photo.
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William Klein |
Barcelona
These are some photos that I took on my visit to Barcelona that relate to my curatorship task. There where lots of street performers and market sellers, this gave me practice before I went to London's Smith Fields Meat Market. Although there was a language barrier I was still able to get close to my subject and capture them showing how much passion they have for there field of work. Such as the street performers they showed a lot of passion for there music this made the audience feel comfortable and therefore they made more money. I think these are the best photos I captured, as they where very energetic and where comfortable with me taking photos of them.
London Smith Fields Meat Market
I got inspiration to take photos of the meat market from photos by Mark Jackson & Huw Davies. They both took fantastic photos for the meat market shown to the left. They captured some wonderful photos of the working men that sold meat and other food at the market. They "caught the last tube to Liverpool St and spent the night there taking photographs, before heading into work next morning.” Therefore I am going to travel down to the market in the late hours of the day to capture the men and women setting up for the morning market. I am not going to use film as it can create problems and I would like to work on the images the later on as the place and environment that I was in will still be fresh in my mind this will give me inspiration for editing and choosing photos to upload.
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Slideshow of images by Mark Jackson and Huw Davies |
Contact sheet
These are the photos that I took when I went to the Smith Fields meat market, I think some of them are pretty good however I would like to go back and ask them if it would be ok for me to take a few portrait shots of them. This would allow me to get closer and achieve the effect that I want. I think that I went too early and I should of gone when they where selling instead of when they where setting up. I would also like to get closer to the butchers so I can get a good portrait shot. In response to this work I am going to visit my local butcher and fish mongers to ask for portrait photos.
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Black and White edit
These are the black and white edits of the photos I took in the meat market, I think using black and white brings out lots of the texture and the shadows. Also it shows how there is a lot of life that has been drained out like in the photo where the colour has been drained out, and in the pigs and other animals that have been cut up.
Colour edits
These are some of the colour re-edits, I think some of them look pretty good as they show all the blood and gore of the market. They give more detail into the type of place the meat market is. All the men and women who work there wear white coats which gives contrast to all the meat hanging up on hooks and meat displayed in the counter. The men who actually cut the meat get covered in blood and it is easily seen because of there white coats.
Rob Cartwright-Street Photographer
Rob Cartwright is a photographer based in London he mainly does corporate events and wedding photography. However I found the photo to the left which is of a fish market in London. He has used a slow shutter speed to show the movement of the public which contrasts with the sellers as they don't appear to move as much. I like how the photo is in black and white which a white dominant feel. It creates a happier feel. I like how it is black and white as it doesn't draw your attention away from the movement of the environment how busy it is.
I also love the photo of the "Lad" selling flowers in Columbia road as the photo shows a strong "Man" which you don't usually see holding and selling bright pink flowers. I also love the squashed colours as it brings out the shadows and the vibrance of the pink flowers. |
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Columbia Road
These are a set of photos that i have taken at Columbia road flower market, I walked around trying to get interesting photos that i could use for animating them in adobe aftereffects. I also wanted to capture the environment that the market seller where working in. This is what i am wanting to look at rather than the workers themselves. I like the photos that I have edited as they show a good range of colours and I like the squashed out blacks as it gives a nice look to the overall shadows and highlights. The photos also have very mild colour correction to give it a look which I thought represented the market environment.
Animating Photos
I came across this video on reddit, I decide to try and animate some of my photos from the meat market. I thought it looked amazing as the audience could move through the picture, and feel like they are in the environment this would be interesting as the audience who probably have "normal" jobs. This effect will allow them to experience what it is like to be in there "office".
Example work
This is an example of the work that can be made using this process, I really like this video as it shows the power of the process and how it can really make the audience feel like they are there. It has been made very well with smooth motion of the camera and the clean movement between the frames. I think this would make a very nice final piece using the photos I have taken in the market and turning them into 3D space and moving objects around to create a sense of being inside the picture.
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Expedition Grand Canyon from Maia Media on Vimeo. |
Test 1
This is my first test, I learnt from this test that the video was too long and it should only be around 10 seconds. To make this I have to cut of the different objects in photoshop and then animated it in after effects. To improve this effect I will need to shorten the timeline and make the movements more noticeable. This has shown me that you need to fail to succeed.
Test 2
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This is my second test, I think it has come out pretty well. It looks like the audience is moving into the market. I love how the audience gets in touch with the photos. I will want to carry on using this effect with other photos and create a longer sequence of several clips. I think this effect can be used to give the user a feel for the environment that the photos where taken in. I would like do this effect with several different types of markets like a fish market and a flower market as they all have very different people and product. Also the layout of the market will also be different and I think that all the clips put together will make an striking and vivid final piece.
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Process
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This the process of me creating one of the 3D moving images, It shows me creating the image from the importing to adobe photoshop to cut the layer out of the image and trying to rebuild the background to the best of my ability. So when the camera moves you don't just see white behind the moving part of the image. It shows how I move the layers in adobe premier pro.
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Fish and revisiting the meat market
This is the contact sheet of the fish market and when I revisited the meat market.I got to the fish market at 5 AM and it was live with lots of people buying and selling fish, it was fairly noisy and the atmosphere was very exciting. After visiting the fish market I decided to go back to the meat market, it was getting light at this moment. So when I got to the market the butchers where packing up all the meat and there where very little customers around. I would like to go to the market when it is in its prime.
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Gifs
I think this gif could be improved if you could not see the loop. I like the smooth movement of the man which was done using the puppet warp tool in aftereffects. I think it would of come out better if there was something in the foreground which was blurred out so it gave the subject some perspective. |
Marcus Lyon Tuna Market (artist)
This photo has wonderful lighting and I love the steam in the background. The photo has been well framed as he has got in close to the subject so you can see his facial expression and the scene behind him. It captures the differences in our cultures and how we treat food and animals differently. I love the the black and white as it gives a lot more contrast and tone to the photo I also think that it suit the environment that the photograph was taken in. I take inspiration from this photo to get closer to my subject and so to create a more interesting scene and so you get the real feel for the place and the people that work and buy products from these places.
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Fruit and Veg market
These are a set of photos taken at a fruit and vegetable market, they didn't turn out as well as i hoped as it was dark and there was a lot of motion blur, I think a flash would be very useful in this situation. The market wasn't very busy as so there was not a lot of interaction that I could take photos of. Although the atmosphere that the market seller worked in was very interesting, there where lots of men driving fork lifts carrying tons and tons of vegetables.
Cinemagrap's
I came across this gif on the internet and I loved the idea. There is a still picture with one part of it containing slight movement. It was very similar to the gifs that I have been making before. Next time I go to a market I will take a picture of a scene with a slower shutter speed to capture some motion blur, I will make sure that no one is in front of the section that I want to the movement of the gif to occur. I will then Film a video of someone moving or cutting some meat. I will then go onto after effects and cut out the moving person so he is the only thing moving in the scene. I will then import it into photo shop where I will use the slow shutter speed photo to layer underneath the movement of the person. I will then export it as a gif.
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Trial 1 Trial 2
These are some tests I made when I was testing out the technique. The first trail didn't come out very well as I did not cut out the hand extremely well and you can see his face and the monitor. The second one is a lot better and it looks a lot cleaner. I think i am going to use this technique for my final piece.
Process
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This is the process of me creating a cinemagraph, it shows how i turn a video into a perfect loop and then turning it into a gif or video. In this video I am turning it into a video because i was making my final piece and to display it i needed a video format rather than a gif. Although the process to make a gif is exactly the same but you would just need to drag the exported video into photoshop and save for web and devices. This process can be quite hard as you need to find a subject that doesn't have nay movement behind them over wise the loop will show other people moving in the background and it wont look as good. therefore I couldn't make the videos in very busy places and I was only able to loop certain parts as people where walking behind my subject.
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Romain Laurent
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/05/new-absurd-animated-portraits-by-romain-laurent/
Final piece
I want to record a few videos of people working in a market and then turn them into Cinemagraph's. I would then like to display them in a circular fashion so it makes the audience feel like they are a part of the market, I would then add some audio that I record in the market and play it in the background.
Plan 1
This is the plan that I have made for my final piece, I want to make the user feel that he is actually in the environment that I have recorded and documented. I like how it immerses the audience with surrounding videos, I think that including audio will also make the user feel like they are at the market with the sellers and other buyers. I would like to display the monitors at eye level so the perspective is not distorted from when I film it to when it is being observed. I would also like to take a photo of the sign of the market and then display it above the entrance to the "Digital Market". However I wont be able to
Plan 2
Displaying the gif's as part of a stall would be interesting as it would give the audience a feel of what it is like to stand by and stall and the interaction that in involved. I like this idea because it displays the work in a different way to what people are used to seeing.
Artists that use audio in there work
This is Susan Hillers work, Witness it is a bunch of speakers hanging from a ceiling and all playing different story's of alien sightings. I would like to add audio into my piece as it would create a total sense of being in the market.
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Mock Final Piece
These are two gifs that show what i am planning to do. they show a subject that is the only thing in the frame moving. I like the idea of this as many people don't give them much attention and act as they aren't there. I also wanted to capture the environment that these people work in. I have done this by taking a single moment in time for the environment and then layered it o
Draft Final Piece
This is a draft final piece, it shows what the 4 monitors will show. They will all be linked up so they show the same market at the same time, this is because each monitor will have a video from each market, they will cycle through the 4 markets. The audio I will use is recorded from the market, it will be played in the background changing as the markets change. The videos below are the wrong resolution as I made a mistake when I was exporting them from Adobe Premier Pro, for my final piece I will change this and make sure they are the correct resolution. As I need to cycle through the markets I had to turn the gif's into videos so they can be displayed. However I can still turn them into gifs to upload to my website.
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