Process for Task 2

In Task 1, I previously posted few sketches on my ideas for the different settings/timing/places I want to have my pictures taken to better portray the significance in my object (the butterfly necklace). Likewise for Task 2, I did a rough sketch on my ideal place i would want to show as my fascinating world, with props included and body movement needed to further portray it as my idea of “fascination”.

My ideal place, somewhere that is significant to me would be the famous Vivocity Rooftop.

My idea was to capture it at a night setting, or when the dusk sets in. And that was hard to achieve due to the fact that there is barely any light around the area so i decided to also include a prop in – the fairy lights. The reason being, it could also further give meaning to the story behind it – the magical place i feel like it is once the night comes. I brought a book along in it to show how i spend my time there when dusk falls and night lingers. Books to me is a symbolism of peace and imagination – you get lost in it. And when i’m at the rooftop, that’s where i feel at peace. That’s where i feel like the night wasn’t so bad to get yourself lost in.

I borrowed a canon 80d dslr from a friend for this, she helped to take the pictures after i directed her on the lighting and changing the focus and shutter speed. At first i wanted an attempt of bokeh shots because it was the lights from across the sea that drew me there at night in the first place – the view.

I actually loved it even though we couldn’t capture much lights there. The bokeh was showing and that’s one of the qualities i wanted to produce in order to show how fascinating this whole place is. And that was just an aspect of it.

I had to keep adjusting and readjusting, with the help of my friend too we found a somewhat right shutter speed of around 100-400 for my pictures to turn out the way it would. But I also had to keep changing the ISO more to improve the focus on the subject matter in some pictures, which is me.

I hope the pictures will bring out to life how and why the place actually fascinates me and why it is so significant to me.

August 29, 2017September 5, 2017

Process for Task 1

I formulate all my ideas first in my own sketchbook since I know what I have in mind and I won’t forget to bring them to life (taking the pictures, knowing when and where). My object of significance here: my butterfly necklace that I barely take out.

EXPLORATION:

So for the 1st idea, I had to wait for the sun to set for that perfect lighting for my picture, and for the shadows to be produced at that timing. The 1st picture below is the original picture. I wanted more contrast on the shadows to produce the cool dark tone, but at the same time I also wanted more contrast on the sunrays coming through. Hence the edit I did in the 2nd picture below.

The main idea here was to show my subject matter, which is really small since it’s the butterfly necklace that i wanted to show – that is significant to me. So I tried moving myself and directing the one taking the photo for me to move as I go. It was important for me to test out mid-range shots and close-up shots so as to have the focus on my subject matter. All these is done using iPhone 7Plus. I wanted the light from outside to reflect on my white-gold butterfly to make viewers see that that is my focal point, hence having to keep shifting to get the right lighting at the right spot, like the picture below.

For the 2nd idea pictures, it was hard to get the light towards the direction I wanted it to. Because the sun was already fully setting and there wasn’t much light rays coming in so I have to make do with whatever daylight there is. For example in the picture below, I couldn’t get enough light in so I had to ensure my lighting exposure was a little higher to take another shot. However I liked how this shot turned out because of the shadows present and at least there was a tint of light, a slight warmness added to it. It sets the low but slightly hopeful mood that I want it to in the picture.

I guess the problem with having a small object at hand is how to show it well as the main subject matter. I tried to test it out with different body postures and angles like the one below and was only happy with the shots taken for the 1st and last one.

For the 1st one, I loved it because I managed to blur out the background but at least it shows my character in there with the far-away gaze looking at my glowing butterfly necklace. The light was more focused onto the necklace too which was what I wanted – to portray it as something of high importance (the fact that it is also made of pure gold) and purity, childhood, hope.

Same goes for the last picture. It was the gaze I aimed for, and the clearer limelight on my butterfly pendant dangling on the necklace. But this time I am looking towards the camera, intentionally, to tell the viewers that “look, this is something important to me. Look at it. Look at the way I look at it – I long for it.”

I didn’t like my second shot due to the way it was taken. The framing wasn’t right, and it wasn’t a good vantage point. It was really bad as the focus wasn’t on the necklace but instead it was on my dress and my awkward pose. Initially I had an imagination in mind to look like I’m laying restlessly and longing but I realised that the wide-shot wasn’t good for it. So I decided to change it up abit through my posture and mainly by manipulating my subject distance.

Reflecting back to doing all these and the processes, it took alot of thinking and imagining, to portray the story of my own to the audience. It definitely took alot of directing if you are not the one behind the camera. This is hard because you need to give a clear direction and explanation to the person behind the camera so that she/he can help to get the shot you really want. I am happy with how it turned out after a few tries. I hope I get to portray my story well through these pictures.

August 29, 2017August 30, 2017

Artist Reference – Research for Task 1 and 2

FOR TASK 1

NAN GOLDIN

“Untitled Variety #71, 1983 ”

Nan Goldin is an American photographer known for her deeply personal and candid portraiture. Goldin’s images act as a visual autobiography documenting herself and those closest to her, and in most of her works, she focuses on the LGBT community.

I used her as a reference as I was inspired by the film photography she does and the way she could capture emotions well in her films. The colours in her photos and the lack of lighting. It sets the right mood and tone on all the topics she touches on – love, fluid sexuality, glamour, beauty, death, intoxication and pain. Goldin’s photographs feature her life and those in it. And this is what i love about it, the way she documents topics such as beauty, pain, love and such. She stated that “My work has been about making a record of my life that no one can revise. I photograph myself in times of trouble or change in order to find the ground to stand on in the change. I was coming out of a melancholic phase. ”

“Self Portrait writing in my diary”, Boston 1989

Looking into the picture above, I admire the way she could portray such a melancholic mood using her body posture which is very important here. The lighting is also a key point to the way her film photos turned out. She said she was “coming out of her melancholic phase”. It is well portrayed here in her body posture – she may be lying down but her upper body onwards rises, her head is tilted up, she’s looking out. It’s darker on the other side of the picture but she’s inclining more towards the light by looking out towards it. Thus it could perhaps suggest the idea of “looking up” and “hope”. Hence coming out of her sad moments while jotting it down in her diary.

That itself inspired me to take the pictures i take. I do not have a film camera to produce such shots but i do want to focus on the melancholic phase, the nostalgia that is present – I wanted to show that that itself is part of my story and I wanted people to see it visually. I figured that even the smallest object I have picked out, a butterfly necklace I have been wearing for the longest time now, that is significant to me, could also allow me to portray the way i feel about it and what it symbolises through the use of of light in my pictures and also the importance of body posture and facial expression. All of that elevates the photo by giving it a meaning, a symbolism, it helps to give off the mood I intend on portraying.

Another artist (female too) that I would like to touch on is Sally Mann.

SALLY MANN

Sally Mann is an American photographer known for her intimate black-and-white portraits of her family and for her documentation of the landscape of the American South. Her images appear antique due to her interest in early photographic technology. She experiments on bromide printing process to achieve that ‘old’ effect in her photos.

I was pulled into her photography works because of her portraits of girls captured in ephereal moments between childhood innocence and womanly sophistication. I loved her works produced in one of her photography book called “At Twelve: Portraits of Young Women (1988)”. (some of her works from it as seen below)

1. “Untitled, At Twelve Series (Lisa and her Tab)”

2. “Untitled, At Twelve Series (Juliet in the Chair)”

She has the ability to capture them beautifully, portraying something dark – sad but moving. Something purely female. I also like how her photos involve those young girls – it gives a sort of story behind young girls. An image of a child with a dark story. And I would want that image to stick as my inspiration for my photography works as the object I am relating it to has a story to tell behind my childhood. It would make a perfect reference.

“Candy Cigarrette, 1989”

I would also want to reference a huge inspiration of mine. Alessio Albi

Most of his works focuses on the looking-away gaze, expression & emotios and lighting too. I am just a huge fan of his works.

FOR TASK 2

WOLFGANG TILLMANS

“Louisiana, 1996”

I referenced to Wolfgang Tillmans as I was intrigued by Tillman’s diaristic photography, large-scale abstraction, and commissioned magazine work. “I want the pictures to be working in both directions,” the artist has said. “I accept that they speak about me, and yet at the same time, I want and expect them to function in terms of the viewer and their experience.”
That is exactly what i would want to portray in my photos. I want the viewer to interpret what they want to from the picture of “my world”, give their own thoughts but at the same time see it as the way i do, to step in my shoes and see how the place fascinates me.

“In the back”, 2010

In the photo above, I like how Tillman experimented in dark room and played with the shadows and warm light to capture this image – it’s dark and gloomy but at the same time the bright yellow light from outside tries to overpower the darkness inside hence it makes you feel warm and cozy.

I used this especially as a reference to play with the lights and shadows at the place i took my pictures at, as i chose to take it when sun sets and during night time. Thus this specific work of his plays an important part to how my pictures turn out.

I was also inspired by this photographer i found on instagram.

His works inspired me in terms of getting the vibrancy, colours that just makes me feel like joy, and all the lights and bokeh in dark surroundings, which i was planning to use in my photos.