Brief 3
“Grott”
For this task, I wanted to produce three images all relating to the theme of ‘portrait photography’. To achieve this I will use a combination of elements I have gained an understanding of during the course of my workshops, combined with my own ideas of what I am looking to accomplish through the use of portrait photography. This will include aspects such as appearance, important themes and styles, experimenting with different forms of software (for example, Photoshop and mobile edits) to improve my images once they have been taken.
I explored portrait photography as my main subject area of choice in relation to my inspirations, as well as location photography, focussing on scenery such as graffiti and old abandoned buildings to follow the characteristics of what I wanted to achieve in terms of style. My main influence for portrait photography will be night club and detailed close up portraits; considering nightlife and examining the darker look and feel that is conveyed through the images produced in these certain situations of time and place.
Zun Lee:
I took influence from Zun Lee’s work due to his simplistic approach to where and who he decides to capture in his portrait photography. I like the switch from colour to grey scale as well as the positioning and use of different shots used within all his work. The fact that some specific shots in his collection of street photography appear grainy and out of focus only made his work stand out more in my opinion, simply because the pictures of people he takes and the variety of locations he works with fit the style and approach he is trying to convey. Here are a few examples of his work that influenced my portrait photography.
Lee Jeffries:
In relation to Lee Jeffries work, his black and white colour scheme as well as his mid to close up shot style of his subjects was the perfect example of how I envisioned my original images to end up looking. His attention to detail made me think about my own work in relation to how I wanted them to look, especially in how he frames and positions his subjects, opting for a simplistic shoulder and upwards way of margining his work to properly allow all the attention from the audience to be fully focused on the face and the backdrop of the picture because of the place setting. I really liked how most of his imagery was comprised of basic black backgrounds, purposely to add more attention to the quality of the character in the photograph. In my own work, I decided to replicate this way of positioning but using more complex backdrops to add more character and depth of field to the image especially in relation to the theme I was trying to get across. Here are some images I took influence from.
Antwan Duncan:
I took influence from Antwan’s work simply because of his style, context and reach. Antwan appeals to a much younger audience and is very specific with his photography, specialising in nightlife portraits and scenery. I like his work because of his mixture of styles; some of his work can be seen as planned detailed portrait photography where as other pieces can be or look like real time group photographs or single images representing the nightlife setting. His random and spontaneous approach to portrait/nightlife photography replicates the style I wanted to emulate within my own pictures. I liked the idea of capturing a photo that looks unplanned because of the raw expressions and reactions that can be given off by the subjects, especially when placing them in a “nightlife” place setting. I really like Antwan’s work and have tried to imitate his style and approach to photography within my own portrait images, but using a much more specific theme behind my images. Here are a few pieces of his work that I’ve taken influence from.
Process:
Upon producing my three images I liked the idea of being able to take a person and placing them in an anonymous situation. For example, if somebody were to be unfamiliar with the individual in the shot, the person can be characterised and prejudged simply through their appearance. This is primarily shown in the photograph of my friend (Jake) through the way he held his posture, however, found naturally from the third subject that already knew how to position himself, as well as how they both dressed and also the backdrop used; rundown, unknown locations with graffiti. I believe that the images produced were effective as they perfectly presented us as subjects in the way I intended. My portrait photography didn’t focus on the quality of the pictures or the attractive scenery, but was created with the intention to gain a (usually negative) reaction and opinion of the characters in the pictures, despite the fact that a viewer would have no previous knowledge of the individual’s characteristics. My objective was to create images with negative rather than positive connotations and I feel as though this is successfully accomplished in my three images.
Final portrait images:
Evaluation:
Portrait photography is my favourite type of photography, simply cause of the scenery and the characters you can find when exploring this side of imagery. I really enjoyed taking these images and relating them all to a theme of my choice. I believe that my images sum up my definition of “Grott” in that of urban nightlife and music culture and I believe that that through my camera techniques and skills learned whilst researching and finding influences for my work, this paticular style and theme of photography has been represented perfectly to my own definition. I think that my use of colour and positioning/framing work particularly well with my style of portrait photography and representation of a specific theme has been shown prominently through the clothes, brands and backdrop/backgrounds used throughout my images. My only negative opinion on my work is that more pictures couldn’t be included within this collection. I did find approaching random people challenging for the use of them in my picture but luckily a teenager named Tyler allowed my to photography him whilst he was with his friends. I really enjoyed exploring my own personal theme and relating my images back to subject areas of my own choice. Through going out, being creative and learning/improving my photography skills, I want to research this type of photography further and take it on as a possible hobby or consider taking the subject next year. I know my work is successful in relating to my subject area of choice, but also believe is a good representation of photography as a whole.
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