Project Proposal
In the duration of this module I had come to my second project for Photography Assignments. My second project was based on the theme of narrative photography. In our daily lives everyone is in constant contact with narratives in one way or anther. My part in this assignment is to create a series of 8 images that present a narrative to my audience.
The brief suggests many different forms/genres of photography that are available to shoot for this assignment.
Developing ideas that will then lead me to produce a set of 8 images with my chosen genre and narrative.
For this assignment, my preliminary idea is to capture documentary images and broaden my base by looking into the fashion photography genre. Looking at photographers such as Mike Brodie and Kitra Cahana to look into the documentary idea. Researching these photographers will allow me to grow understanding and ideas to aid me in my progression within the project.
As a final outcome I wish the images to be both aesthetically pleasing and portray a narrative to the chosen audience.
Though out this project I will mind-map and explore a few ideas to come to a conclusion of what I would prefer to create for this narrative project.
My initial thoughts for capturing my images were to work in a digital format documenting the life of a traveler or a student with different narratives. Using a digital camera to create a selection of macro shots.
Development into the project will now include:
The brief suggests many different forms/genres of photography that are available to shoot for this assignment.
Developing ideas that will then lead me to produce a set of 8 images with my chosen genre and narrative.
For this assignment, my preliminary idea is to capture documentary images and broaden my base by looking into the fashion photography genre. Looking at photographers such as Mike Brodie and Kitra Cahana to look into the documentary idea. Researching these photographers will allow me to grow understanding and ideas to aid me in my progression within the project.
As a final outcome I wish the images to be both aesthetically pleasing and portray a narrative to the chosen audience.
Though out this project I will mind-map and explore a few ideas to come to a conclusion of what I would prefer to create for this narrative project.
My initial thoughts for capturing my images were to work in a digital format documenting the life of a traveler or a student with different narratives. Using a digital camera to create a selection of macro shots.
Development into the project will now include:
- Research into the ideas
- Expand on subject area
- Photographic development
What is Narrative Photography?
The word narrative is formally defined as the account of connected event that produce a story.
Photography is known as the practice of capturing photographs.
Putting the words together to create narrative photography. Narrative photography is an idea base that photographers use to depict a single story to their chosen audience. Being able to portray a narrative in images is a skill that induces the artist’s photographs with much more meaning and depth.
Photography is known as the practice of capturing photographs.
Putting the words together to create narrative photography. Narrative photography is an idea base that photographers use to depict a single story to their chosen audience. Being able to portray a narrative in images is a skill that induces the artist’s photographs with much more meaning and depth.
Moodboard/Research
As the project had come to a start I had begun to collectively put together my ideas and research together in moodboard form.
I have created moodboards that look at different types of narrative photography, which will aid and allow me to progress towards an outcome that engages the audience within the image.
I have created moodboards that look at different types of narrative photography, which will aid and allow me to progress towards an outcome that engages the audience within the image.
Fashion
Documentary
Macro Photography
Sequence Narrative images- preferred
Whilst researching I had come to realise that I personally preferred the sequenced images in comparison to individual images. When looking at the images below I realised I was swaying towards the idea of creating my 8 image in a format such as the images below.
Idea Update
When contemplating ideas for this particular project I had been hesitant to move forward with any particular idea. However whilst conducting visual research I have come across many ideas that with aid my project in its progression. Initially when considering ideas I had come to a conclusion that I would prefer to photograph in a classical British pub, being a traditional aspect. I wanted to capture the coming of ages with the narrative of traditions and memories. The idea consisted of shooting close macro shots of all aspects of the pub and then working towards narrowing images down to the final 8. However as the project has continued to progress and as I have conducted more visual research and mind-maps I understand that my interests lay else where within the project.
Looking at the mood boards that I have created I have still wanted to stick to the documentary field of photography for this project however looking at it in a different form and vision.
Currently at this stage within the project I am considering working with the idea of food and the homeless. I want my images to be vague enough for an audience to engage and be considerate to the topic. I wish for my title to be more realistic and relate to my idea therefore I have plans to name my work ‘Unseen homeless’
In the visual research I had come across different shots and various ways of presenting photographs, taking this into consideration I will plan to present my work in a creative however clean and crisp perspective. I am continuously working towards the idea of creating macro photography… however I will now be combining this with the idea of sequenced photography as shown in the images that I preferred.
Within the project I will continue with the idea to shoot this project in a digital format. Allowing me to test and refine my photographic skills. Again at the start of the project I had broadened my search and began to look at various other genres of photography, yet I derived back to the initial idea that I based this project on.
Looking at the mood boards that I have created I have still wanted to stick to the documentary field of photography for this project however looking at it in a different form and vision.
Currently at this stage within the project I am considering working with the idea of food and the homeless. I want my images to be vague enough for an audience to engage and be considerate to the topic. I wish for my title to be more realistic and relate to my idea therefore I have plans to name my work ‘Unseen homeless’
In the visual research I had come across different shots and various ways of presenting photographs, taking this into consideration I will plan to present my work in a creative however clean and crisp perspective. I am continuously working towards the idea of creating macro photography… however I will now be combining this with the idea of sequenced photography as shown in the images that I preferred.
Within the project I will continue with the idea to shoot this project in a digital format. Allowing me to test and refine my photographic skills. Again at the start of the project I had broadened my search and began to look at various other genres of photography, yet I derived back to the initial idea that I based this project on.
Practitioner Research - Mike Brodie - Photographer
Mike Brodie, photographer born in the year of 1985. Brodie is also well known as the Polaroid kid as this use to be his graffiti tag when younger. Brodie is a well-known American documentary photographer from Arizona who is known for his risk taking photography to draw amazing and riveting photographs.
This is a documentary image that has been taken by Brodie. Immediately you are able to see what the image is conveying, what seems to be a woman in a risk orientated situation. The subject of the image is on the side ladder of a train carriage in a different destination in comparison to being in Britain. From this image it is difficult to understand the situation and what the subject seems to be archiving. When first looking at the image your eyes are drawn to the subject of the image. However shortly your eyes divert to the left side of the image, which has been blurred. The way in which the left side has been distorted suggests that this is an outcome of motion blur and panning as the remainder of the image is in focus. Brodie captured a realistic depiction of what is occurring within the image; it portrays the realistic feel of how you would feel if you yourself were the photographer for this image. Brodie has captured the true essence of documentary photography within this image.
The image is based as a colour photograph, having high levels of colour, tone, contacts and vibrancy draws your attention into the image more so than any other factor. Shapes are a key component of this image as the panning and motion blur equal to a mass production of lines on the left side of the image dominating it.
Able to understand that this image has been shot outdoors where the only lighting would have been the ambient lighting which is visible and again another dominating factor of this image.
For this project I felt that Brodie is inspirational as his work inspired me and his colour in the image are those that I would want my photographs to depict.
The image is based as a colour photograph, having high levels of colour, tone, contacts and vibrancy draws your attention into the image more so than any other factor. Shapes are a key component of this image as the panning and motion blur equal to a mass production of lines on the left side of the image dominating it.
Able to understand that this image has been shot outdoors where the only lighting would have been the ambient lighting which is visible and again another dominating factor of this image.
For this project I felt that Brodie is inspirational as his work inspired me and his colour in the image are those that I would want my photographs to depict.
Practitioner Research - Kitra Cahana - Photographer
Kitra Cahana was born in 1987, and has become to be an inspirational female photographer. She works as a freelance documentary photographer and videographer and was a key inspiration for this assignment. She has a B.A. in philosophy from McGill University and a M.A. in Visual and Media anthropology from the Freie Universitat in Berlin.
This is an image that has been photographers by a female documentary photographer named Kitra Cahana. In this image you are able to see that there is a lot happening as the image seems to be based around the idea of what seems to me to remind me of a crucifixion. However when looking in closer detail I am able to see that there are bottles of beer and candles around the subject which is laying on the floor in the mites of all that is being created.
When looking at the image I understand that parts of the image have been distorted and manipulated as the image as a whole is dark and there are the main aspects that have made the photograph brighter. Again the lighting has an aspect of natural light however the ISO would have been pushed significantly higher than 400 to capture this particular image.
The colour in the image is very dull however it adds to the image impacting the mood and depiction of the image towards the audience, which has a powerful impact. As this brings the audience closer to the image, there are high levels of contrast and vibrancy in the images, which is another factor that draws the audience in to the image.
The image seems to have been digitally produced, it does not show evidence of other forms of light being used such as portable lighting/digital additional lighting.
The presence of the images is vibrant which is what I want my images to depict to the audience.
I picked this image and this photographer as I linked back to me strongly as Cahana is a female photographer that has worked her way up in the industry. The image has a strong presence giving information alongside the main body of presence.
When looking at the image I understand that parts of the image have been distorted and manipulated as the image as a whole is dark and there are the main aspects that have made the photograph brighter. Again the lighting has an aspect of natural light however the ISO would have been pushed significantly higher than 400 to capture this particular image.
The colour in the image is very dull however it adds to the image impacting the mood and depiction of the image towards the audience, which has a powerful impact. As this brings the audience closer to the image, there are high levels of contrast and vibrancy in the images, which is another factor that draws the audience in to the image.
The image seems to have been digitally produced, it does not show evidence of other forms of light being used such as portable lighting/digital additional lighting.
The presence of the images is vibrant which is what I want my images to depict to the audience.
I picked this image and this photographer as I linked back to me strongly as Cahana is a female photographer that has worked her way up in the industry. The image has a strong presence giving information alongside the main body of presence.
Idea Update
The idea had continued to progress well I have researched photographer to gain more if an understanding as to how I would want my images to visually look and be presented.
Recently I had finalised my idea for this assignment to be a photographic shoot that related back to the idea of homeless people and the struggle they feel when they see how others abuse food. Over eating and throwing food away what remains, when the homeless have to beg and scavenge for food?
I did this in various ways; I wanted to have more of a direct approach, which I will work towards and prepare for. I have looked at different ways of presenting my images as I want them to be clean and crisp. Having a nice white boarder on each image but suggesting that they be one image shown in a sequence. I am considering presenting my images such as the one below.
Recently I had finalised my idea for this assignment to be a photographic shoot that related back to the idea of homeless people and the struggle they feel when they see how others abuse food. Over eating and throwing food away what remains, when the homeless have to beg and scavenge for food?
I did this in various ways; I wanted to have more of a direct approach, which I will work towards and prepare for. I have looked at different ways of presenting my images as I want them to be clean and crisp. Having a nice white boarder on each image but suggesting that they be one image shown in a sequence. I am considering presenting my images such as the one below.
Shoot Set-up plan
Keynotes about how I will shoot my final images:
- Digital camera - Canon 5D Mark iii
- Macro lens
- 50mm
- Portable flash light - camera based
- Indoor shoot
- Majority use of ambient lighting
- Manual setting based lens - manual focus
- Manual setting based images - camera settings
- Raw photographing - then converted into JPEG - phase one capture one
- Minimal after work
- Minimal artificial lighting
- Majority ambient lighting based photographs - close to natural light settings
- Thought and precise
- Multiple takes
Actual Shoot Set-up
When photographing my final images the pace of the shoot was slow and time consuming as I continuously kept changing the angle of the camera and moving various ways to get the shot that I had wanted, this continued until I was happy with the outcomes of the images that I had taken.
The majority of the eight photographs concluded with a similar set up as I was continuously chaining the way I photographed and the location changed a few times, as the diagram shows. The objects would be situated where the diagrammed person is and the camera directly opposite however I was un able to depict the movement that I had conducted until I had captured the shot which was needed.
I had ended up shooting two different forms of images both documentary to conclude the images I had done this on location and been constantly moving to get a right angle for my shots, therefore there is not a diagram for this.
The majority of the eight photographs concluded with a similar set up as I was continuously chaining the way I photographed and the location changed a few times, as the diagram shows. The objects would be situated where the diagrammed person is and the camera directly opposite however I was un able to depict the movement that I had conducted until I had captured the shot which was needed.
I had ended up shooting two different forms of images both documentary to conclude the images I had done this on location and been constantly moving to get a right angle for my shots, therefore there is not a diagram for this.
Contact sheet
Once the initial planning was complete for my final images, the next process was to begin photographing. After all the images has been taken the next procedure was converting them into a contact sheet, allowing me to view the images clearly and pick from there, pick which I favoured.
As you can see all images were taking in the same locations within the home environment and in the apartment of an known source. All the images had been taken digitally on a canon 5D camera as I felt this best suited the dramatic needs of the shoot, as I wanted the images to be of high quality as it was continuously based on photographing the scene until I was happy with the images. Using a digital camera would have permitted me to use an additional flashgun however this is not an additional factor I wanted within my images. Therefore I had attempted to use a additional light source which would power as a tourch, this would allow me to show the feel of the image as more of a cold look and it would allow me to explain how I felt the light would add to an to the image of looking at what the homeless would think. Therefore the light would represent the looking in of the homeless.
All photographs were initially taken in a RAW format then converted into JPEG without loosing the resolution therefore the image names ending in JPEG format. When taking these distinctive photographs no issue as such as halted the process.
- expansion within photographic outcome evaluation-
As you can see all images were taking in the same locations within the home environment and in the apartment of an known source. All the images had been taken digitally on a canon 5D camera as I felt this best suited the dramatic needs of the shoot, as I wanted the images to be of high quality as it was continuously based on photographing the scene until I was happy with the images. Using a digital camera would have permitted me to use an additional flashgun however this is not an additional factor I wanted within my images. Therefore I had attempted to use a additional light source which would power as a tourch, this would allow me to show the feel of the image as more of a cold look and it would allow me to explain how I felt the light would add to an to the image of looking at what the homeless would think. Therefore the light would represent the looking in of the homeless.
All photographs were initially taken in a RAW format then converted into JPEG without loosing the resolution therefore the image names ending in JPEG format. When taking these distinctive photographs no issue as such as halted the process.
- expansion within photographic outcome evaluation-
Narrowed Down Images
Final Images - Unedited
Final Outcome - ‘The Unseen Homeless’
Group Evaluation notes
Positive notes:
- Title is good
- Disturbing but in a good way
- Quality could be better
- Not a fan of the choice of topic
- If empathised on one topic too much could look too fake