Monday, 5 March 2018

Work Record One: (Uta Barth Inspired)

Work Record One

Plans For shoot:
For this shoot, I will take out of focus images. I will use a Nikon D7200 for with an 18-55 lens, and I will have the camera on manual focus so that I am able to take out of focus images. I'm going to travel to the industrial area of Harlow to take my photographs as they are busy during the day and if the weather permits I will get glare, which my chosen photographer uses.

My inspiration for this shoot is Uta Barth and her familiarly nostalgic photography. She takes out of focus images that distort the shot enough so that we're able to see the outlines of the shapes but we're unable to distinguish the people or the place.  

Image Bank:
Image result for uta barth
Image result for uta barthRelated imageImage result for uta barth

Contact Sheet:

Images that need improvement:
D725896:
When I took this shoot it was bitterly cold and the wind was extremely strong, this meant that the sun was blinding until it moved behind the clouds. I was using a Nikon D7200 with an 18-55mm lens. The settings I was using were the manual focus so that I was able to blur the image deliberately, f/4 so that I would have a shallow depth of field and a higher chance that I would get lens flare circles (below) which are a regular occurrence in Uta Barth's work that I liked. I was using an ISO of 200, which was low enough that it was unlikely that the shots would turn out grainy. The reason the shot was so dark as I was experimenting with the camera settings and as I was changing the exposure I moved it to 1/5000 as it was very bright outside, however, this proved to be too dark for these conditions so I adjusted it while I was there.
Image result for lens flare circle
(example of camera glare)

D725924:
I dislike the framing for this image as the post box takes up too much of the shot. I was trying to mimic Uta Barth's technique where only an arm or a face is in focus in the foreground, however, I had moved too far behind the post box. I was able to change this as I was looking through the shots as I was taking them and adjusted the framing accordingly.

D725945:
I was in a moving car while I was taking this shot sitting in rolling traffic. I wasn't worried that the shot would turn out blurry as I had the camera on a shutter speed of 1/640. The reason I don't like this shot is the framing again. I wanted to capture the brake lights of the car in front as I liked the blurred effect the lights created, and in this shot I have the camera angled too high and they aren't in the frame. 

My Best Images:


This is the blurred view of the Harlow Industrial Estate behind the Pinnacles, however only I know what the real image looked like. Everyone else has to look at this memory through this fuzzy jumble of shapes and lighting. I like this image because this is how I see memories in my minds eye, they're blurry and out of focus for all those who weren't present. However, for those who were there this blurry image is all that's needed to stir the memory of the bitter East winds that plagued us.  





I specifically like this image over the image before as the framing is different and consequently so is the meaning. In the first image I've captured the building and the lights and if the shot was in focus I would consider it well framed, as it shows a place at a certain period of time, which is the basic nature of photographs and before them paintings. In spite of this, it isn't my favorite shot of the two. This is because it's trying to tell a story of that place at that time which isn't what Uta Barth does, in my opinion.  
She takes photographs of memories as I see them, blurry snapshots that whip the person back into that place at that time and yet still manages to keep the memory personal as the blurred shot is unrecognizable to anyone else but still relays the emotions associated with that environment.

 This is what I feel I have achieved with the second image as it portrays being stuck in traffic, a unique and frustrating situation only experienced by those driving during rush hour or other peak congestion times. I like this image as it's not about the place or the time it was taken, it's about the situation itself and the emotions you go through when being stuck in traffic. For me what I feel when I look at this image is the bottom of your stomach drop beneath you when you realise that you've reached the point when it's no longer rolling traffic and your just sitting there waiting helplessly and indefinitely. 

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

My favourite images I took on this shoot are the ones of the car in front of us in the traffic. I feel like this image I have recreated the same emotional effect that Uta Barth creates with her images, it is a completely foreign image to everyone and yet you can feel the precise emotions that are associated with traffic: anger, frustration and impatience. Even though only me and my father were there when I took the photograph, I feel everyone can relate to it. 

AO2Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

I chose an 18-55mm lens, I specifically chose the industrial estate as  the setting as it was bright and busy, which meant I would get good reflections off of the car roofs and I like the layout of the street.
I switched the camera to manual focus and unfocused the camera, this would give me the same effect that Uta Barth has in her images. As I was working I fluctuated the camera settings by lowering or raising the F-stop. By changing the F-stop I was changing the depth, I noticed that when I made the depth of field shorter I captured better camera glare that at a longer F-stop. This experimentation allowed me to find the best F-stop for camera glare and consequently improved the images that followed this discovery.  

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

My initial idea was to simply take photographs of the industrial estate and to shoot while I was there. Despite this, when I got back in the car to go home I didn't put the camera away, instead I sat in the front seat with the camera on my lap. It just so happened that going home we got stuck in traffic, providing the perfect opportunity to take photographs of traffic and the break lights on the back of cars. I chose to do this as it was one of the things Uta Barth did and I wanted to experiment further with her style. 

To improve this shoot I will go and take photographs in her style but following the theme of Juxtaposition. To do this I will take photographs of urban and natural settings in Uta Barth's style to show a comparison of nature and how humans have encroached on nature. 



Computer Experiments:

To improve my images I opened them in photoshop.I shoot in RAW files as I like the freedom it gives me when it comes to adjusting and editing my images.   
  
  I didn't change the temperature of the image as I liked how warm it was. I raised the exposure as I wanted to brighten the image, I also brightened the shadows and lowered the white to ensure the image wasn't too light so that the details can be seen. 
I also lowered the clarity to further distort the image. 

I used the same process for all of the images, only varying slightly from image to image. 


A04:Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements. 


Edited images:





I feel I have responded well to the given theme and evaluated and chosen a theme that best suits my style and my interests in photography. This shoot's strength comes from the research I completed before I shot in Uta Barth's style, and because of this the end result was the one I'd envisioned at the beginning.

For my next shoot I would like to delve deeper into the style of Bokeh and experiment further with the effects that it creates in another shoot.   

Juxtaposition:
To relate this shoot to the theme of juxtaposition I used Uta Barth's style of Bokeh and merged it with the perfect reminder of mortality: the skull. 

Images:
Here is a sample of the images that I'd like to make in my final outcome. I used layers and the background eraser tool to remove the rest of the image and keep the Uta Barth inspired image inside the skull. 

I like this juxtaposition of the light's inside the skull as light is generalised as a symbol for life and skulls symbolise death. 

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