Truth, Fantasy or Fiction: Dictionary Definitions
Truth: The idea or state of being true.
Fantasy: The idea of imagining impossible or improbable definitions
Fiction: Something untrue.
Fantasy: The idea of imagining impossible or improbable definitions
Fiction: Something untrue.
In context of photography these meanings can be combined, twisted and pushed to their limits of validity. i aim to explore each of these titles in my work, reaching a final idea and developing on this to reach a desired outcome.
Pinterest mood-board:
Whilst searching for inspiration i created a 'pinterest' account and began adding photos to my 'Truth, Fantasy or Fiction mood-board.
Each image was found by typing in words i found relevant to the title. Words like 'surreal, supernatural, documentary, abstract and reality were among some of my searchers when creating this mood-board.
The outcome was a combination of photographic styles, ranging from documentation of people and landscapes to surreal, photoshopped images.
The mood board created by me has a great balance of fantasy, fiction and truth within it, capturing potential ideas within it.
Each image was found by typing in words i found relevant to the title. Words like 'surreal, supernatural, documentary, abstract and reality were among some of my searchers when creating this mood-board.
The outcome was a combination of photographic styles, ranging from documentation of people and landscapes to surreal, photoshopped images.
The mood board created by me has a great balance of fantasy, fiction and truth within it, capturing potential ideas within it.
This image stood out the most to me. The creator of this composition used a flatbed scanner to produce this warped image. The juxtaposition between truth and fantasy is evident in this image adding an extremely twisted element to the image. whilst the top of the image is in its original state, the lower part of the image has been completely transformed by the combination of bright colours combined with an abnormal stretching of the horses legs.
It makes an extremely normal photo become something rather absurd. This "glitch" technique is something i can potentially take on in my work, distorting an otherwise normal photograph which is documenting a moment in time and turning it into an abstract work of art. The outcome will essentially be blurring the lines between what is truth and what is fantasy. |
Absurd:
Erwin wurm:
Inspired by Erwin worm's technique of 'one minute sculptures, i produced by own versions, capturing the simplistic yet intriguing art produced through my camera. Erwin is an Austrian artist renowned for his '1 minute sculptures' . An idea in which a person is meant to stay in any position, holding an object for one minute becoming a work of art for that minute. The idea is aimed to change the common perception on what art is, he challenges the view that sculptures are permanent objects which people come to see by showing visitors of an exhibition can become the artwork. This idea links Fantasy and truth together as his fantasy of temporary sculptures formed from everyday objects and visitors of his exhibition becomes reality. The temporary reality of his sculptures is also what gives the work this strong element of fantasy. Nothing in this exhibition is permanent. Viewers of his work leave the exhibition having had to take in what they saw for a minute at a time as quickly as possible. |
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Initial Ideas:
To start the task off i began to brainstorm ideas which i could potentially use when creating my own one minute sculptures.
Edits
I'm really pleased with the outcome of these edits. i believe that by taking out any background 'distraction' from the photograph, an abstract and simplistic style is achieved my the use of the studio lighting and backdrop. Taking out any other subject matter within the composition allows for an 'ordered disorder'. By this i mean the unusual contents (disorder) of the image is normalised (ordered) by the studio atmosphere within the image.
One Minute Sculptures:
ONEMINUTESCULPTURE from George Bennett on Vimeo.
As a developed response of the one minute sculptures of Erwin Wurm i created a series of video clips documenting a number of one minute sculptures similar to that of Erwin Wurm's style.
Images in response to the word "hide":
Absurd extension - Romain Laurent, GIFS
Laurent is a New york based photographer who specialises in Gifs or what she calls "Loop Portraits".
My Gif:
Glitch:
Glitch art takes temporary faults, pixelations, interruptions and glitches, turning them into visually gripping pieces, questioning the forms and traditions of art using unusual digital techniques. The idea is that visual artefacts and distortion from data corruption can look even better than the original piece.
Methods:
- Text edit
- Audacity
Text edit glitch:
This first method is using the text edit function on the apple mac computer.
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Audacity:
- In order to create this effect i opened audacity and pressed file - "import" - "rawdata".
- I had to ensure the file was in in Bit-map (.bmp) form not jpeg(.jpg) in order for the glitch effect to work.
- This will open up this part of the program shown below.
- I then set all the necessary setting on this section before continuing.
- The image will open up as if you have just imported an audio file.
- From here i loaded the echo effect onto my file and then exported it as shown.
My audacity glitch images:
These images were created using the 'echo' effect on the audacity programme.
Before:
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After:
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Related Artists: Natalia Stuyk
Described as "experiments with stretched sound & 3D animation" by Natalia, this video is an example of glitch art in the form of moving image.
Natalia is a video artist based in Hackney, East London that has made a style for herself involving glitch based gifs and videos on her vimeo and tumblr accounts. This work is closely linked to the glitch work i have produced as it involves this 'fantasy' idea of a distorted reality. |
UUUU from Natalia Stuyk on Vimeo. |
My Personal work: The Unusuals
This is an example of some abstract moving image i created myself using a torch light, some VHS footage of woodland, a water bottle, a chain and some cloth with different patterns and textures on it. Using different effects on the premiere pro programme as well as layering of video and opacity changes i created this video for a personal project of mine i call "The Unusuals".
When producing this video i was extremely interested in this field of art and photography as i am now, the concept was to take on simple materials and lighting methods and turn them into something extraordinary through layering editing and experimentation with light.
When producing this video i was extremely interested in this field of art and photography as i am now, the concept was to take on simple materials and lighting methods and turn them into something extraordinary through layering editing and experimentation with light.
Micro Macro:
Man Ray: Dust Breeding
Dust breeding is a composition made by man ray using his friend, Marcel Duchamp's large glass that had collected over a years worth of dust on it after he had been in New York. Taken with a two-hour exposure, the image shows great detail and texture within this complex arrangement of matter layered upon the glass. At first view, the photograph looks like an aerial image of a set of roads within a desert. It's as if there is a miniature world within this photograph. The work of man ray in this composition has led me to find mini environments within the surrounding of my local area, London. This idea is furthered by modern photographers using a process called 'Tilt Shift', through the use of special tilt shift lenses of on photoshop in order to make 'truth' look like 'fantasy' by making normal sized landscapes look miniature. |
Tilt Shift:
My Tilt Shift Work:
Slinkachu:
Slinkachu's work is very relevant to my title 'Truth,Fantasy and fiction' because he is contrasting truth - the surrounding landscape, with fiction - the miniature models. Slinkachu uses miniature people and objects with life sized objects and surroundings to make the viewer challenge their idea of perspective, showing a fiction life, on a smaller scale.
Micro-Macro Response:
Development:
These are the edited versions of the images i chose to develop from the above contact sheet, responding to the work of Slinkachu. In the second image i twisted the idea of using these miniature people and making them interact with life sized objects. Instead i staged a scene with these figures, i drew out the shape of the body of two of them to make it look like two women are mourning over the outlines of two bodies, essentially constructing a small crime scene, a theme i hope to touch upon later.
After altering the shape of the graph in the 'curves' tool on photoshop, i altered the contrast and vibrance of the image, drawing focus to the foreground of the image and making colours stronger. |
Video:
Micro-Macro Murder from George Bennett on Vimeo.
Gallery Visit: The Photographers Gallery
Saul Leiter:
Saul Leiter's (1923-2013) work was being exhibited at the gallery when i visited, an artist with extreme relevance to the exam title's "Truth" section as its social documentary photography taken in the streets of new york.
Saul Leiter is only just beginning to acquire recognition for his spearhead role in the early days of colour street photography. After moving to New York intent on becoming a painter, which he continued alongside with his photography. Saul ended up working for magazines such as Elle and British Vogue and became known for his fashion photography.
As early as 1946, Leiter was using Kodachrome colour slide film for his shots.
The exhibition showcased his photography in the streets of new york, both colour and black and white photographs. His technique of taking photos is similar to that of Gary Winogrand in the sense that the subjects of the street photography have no idea that they are being photographed.
Saul's work inspired me when i visited the exhibition as he is an extremely unique street photographer, documenting 'truth' in a raw manner.
Saul Leiter's (1923-2013) work was being exhibited at the gallery when i visited, an artist with extreme relevance to the exam title's "Truth" section as its social documentary photography taken in the streets of new york.
Saul Leiter is only just beginning to acquire recognition for his spearhead role in the early days of colour street photography. After moving to New York intent on becoming a painter, which he continued alongside with his photography. Saul ended up working for magazines such as Elle and British Vogue and became known for his fashion photography.
As early as 1946, Leiter was using Kodachrome colour slide film for his shots.
The exhibition showcased his photography in the streets of new york, both colour and black and white photographs. His technique of taking photos is similar to that of Gary Winogrand in the sense that the subjects of the street photography have no idea that they are being photographed.
Saul's work inspired me when i visited the exhibition as he is an extremely unique street photographer, documenting 'truth' in a raw manner.
Performing for the camera: Tate Modern
The idea behind this exhibition is to deal with the relationship between performance and photography. The curator took on the idea that we all perform for the camera in some way in everyday life as well as the idea of photographers documenting actual performance.
The director of photography and international art curated the exhibition. He aimed to show how the photographers documented each performance and what techniques were used in the process. The curator aimed to show a balance between photography being used to document and performance and photographers taking that a step further by making their own work from the performance. Each artist shown demonstrates how photographers can potentially have many different roles in a performance
The exhibition challenged the idea of what performance really is in photography, as well as how everyone is performing for the camera in some way when being photographed, whether they're performing for themselves, other people or simply the camera. The exhibition is strongly related to my title 'Truth, Fantasy and Fiction' as it explores the truth behind how photographers documented scenes and situations. As well this the exhibition explores the fantasy and fiction nature of certain images.
The exhibition challenged the idea of what performance really is in photography, as well as how everyone is performing for the camera in some way when being photographed, whether they're performing for themselves, other people or simply the camera. The exhibition is strongly related to my title 'Truth, Fantasy and Fiction' as it explores the truth behind how photographers documented scenes and situations. As well this the exhibition explores the fantasy and fiction nature of certain images.
Featured Artists:
Francesca Woodman:
Aaron Siskind:
Siskind is an American photographer, closely linked with the abstract expressionist movement of post world war II America.
Siskind's work at the Tate captures the human body in an abstract manner, suspended in the air in un-natural positions.
Siskind captures his subjects using a fast shutter speed capturing these rapid performances. He uses a high contrast with his images and crops the image so the sole focus is the people suspended in the air surrounded by the negative space of the grey skies. This contrast outlines slight details on the subjects bodies as well as their silhouettes. This series of images is a performance in itself, each subject gliding through the air in a unique manner as if they have been paused in the moment.
Beginning his career as a documentary photographer, Aaron Siskind turned away from representation and instead towards abstraction in the 1940s. Using his camera to capture the graphic patterns, shapes, and forms he observed around him. This series is no different from that as he captures the elegance of the human body in mid air
Siskind's work at the Tate captures the human body in an abstract manner, suspended in the air in un-natural positions.
Siskind captures his subjects using a fast shutter speed capturing these rapid performances. He uses a high contrast with his images and crops the image so the sole focus is the people suspended in the air surrounded by the negative space of the grey skies. This contrast outlines slight details on the subjects bodies as well as their silhouettes. This series of images is a performance in itself, each subject gliding through the air in a unique manner as if they have been paused in the moment.
Beginning his career as a documentary photographer, Aaron Siskind turned away from representation and instead towards abstraction in the 1940s. Using his camera to capture the graphic patterns, shapes, and forms he observed around him. This series is no different from that as he captures the elegance of the human body in mid air
Yves Klein & Shunk-Kender:
Unposed truth:
Paul Graham:
"Beyond caring" is a photo book produced by Graham documenting Britain's working class citizens during the 1980's, highlighting the inefficient service of the exhausted unemployment and social security offices within the country.
The 1980's was a time of extremely high unemployment, reaching over 3 million unemployed in 1984 (Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22070491). The jobless were the working class whose jobs in manufacturing industry had been lost whilst the country was under control of Margaret thatcher, the prime minister of that period. Using photography as a medium to convey the crisis, capturing the moment from a raw and objective point of view, leaving each photograph to be interpreted in their own way by the viewers. Each image was taken without the subjects knowledge, a technique which allows for each image to be true to the situation he witnessed as he took the photograph. Subject in the photograph were unable to react to the photograph being taken, each facial expression and show of body language is completely true to the depressing and dull atmosphere within the room. Paul Graham didn’t get official permission to take photographs in unemployment offices. He went in anyway with a camera at hip level or placed on a bench or chair to document this event. |
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Sophie Calle:
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"Suite Venitienne", a photo series created by Sophie Calle was taken when she first moved to Paris, France. whilst living there she became Isolated and lonely. She claims to sought comfort by following people around the city, photographing their moves through the urban landscape.
Establishing rules and following them is restful. If you follow someone, you don’t have to wonder where you’re going to eat. They take you to their restaurant. The choice is made for you.” Her work is a natural extension of this odd philosophy. She demonstrates an alarming expertise in following people whilst being un-noticed. |
Sophie Calle Response:
In response to Calle's work, i began following my mum as she took my dogs for a walk through the woods. As i did this i took photographs of others within the area remaining un-noticed as i followed them around the park. I also did this as i was on the London underground coming home from a gallery.
The Three Strands:
1st Strand: Glitch, creating a fantasy image.
The idea behind this strand is to take the idea of glitch i have explored in the earlier stages of this exam unit and develop it taking on the concept of performing for the camera inspired by the Tate Modern exhibition i visited. This will essentially twist the idea of performing for the camera, altering the concept. Performing for the camera was all about the idea of dealing with the relationship between performance and photography. One aspect was through documentary photography and how the photographers Harry Shunk and Janos Kender documented a performance. The images showed how the photographers documented each performance and what they got out of it. Their perspective in a particular series named "Anthropomé trie de l'é poque bleue" documented a performance by first taking a wide angle photograph with the audience in the foreground, they then zoomed in slightly on the subject in a second photograph and finally they isolated a single subject in the last photo.
I intend on taking on this method of documenting a performance in my own way.
In order to show development on a subject i have previously explored (Graffiti), i will document artists producing some graffiti art using the methods they used to document my subject. From here i will take on the idea of glitch as i have done in the earlier segment of my exam unit, twisting the concepts of truth and fantasy together as i glitch the documentation.
I intend on taking on this method of documenting a performance in my own way.
In order to show development on a subject i have previously explored (Graffiti), i will document artists producing some graffiti art using the methods they used to document my subject. From here i will take on the idea of glitch as i have done in the earlier segment of my exam unit, twisting the concepts of truth and fantasy together as i glitch the documentation.
This is the contact sheet for the shoot i did of these graffiti artists inspired by shunk-kender's style of documentation, one refused to let me photograph him painting so the following images are just of the other two.
I then applied the audacity glitch effect to the images after converting them to bitmap format.
I then applied the audacity glitch effect to the images after converting them to bitmap format.
Before:
The Edits: After
2nd Strand: Youngsters, documenting the lives of young people (Truth)
This Strand is inspired by the 'Performing For The Camera' exhibition and Nick Knights "Yungsters" video.
"Yungsters" was made to celebrate the project, Nick Knight and film director Rei Nadal co-directed the exclusive fashion film inspired by the clothes. Nadal captures the life of the young people the clothes are created for out in the real world, which is juxtaposed against Knight's idealised vision of the collections in the fashion studio. The Result is a split-screen video contrasting shots of studio footage with directed poses of the models and moving image of the models living their lives normally wearing the garments.
"Yungsters" was made to celebrate the project, Nick Knight and film director Rei Nadal co-directed the exclusive fashion film inspired by the clothes. Nadal captures the life of the young people the clothes are created for out in the real world, which is juxtaposed against Knight's idealised vision of the collections in the fashion studio. The Result is a split-screen video contrasting shots of studio footage with directed poses of the models and moving image of the models living their lives normally wearing the garments.
Nick Knight Response Development:
My response to this was to use some footage i had taken documenting the lives of two different young people i have encountered to film, the video is a split-screened production in which the footage of the different people are playing in parallel to one another. The video responds to Nick Knights's idea of documenting young people using the split screen style of video as well as the idea of the subjects performing for the camera, a concept i was inspired by whilst at the Tate modern. Knight documents the young people in the video wearing clothing made by designers collaborating with him for the video. He goes on to film them in the clothes in a studio environment as well as skating, smoking and tattooing one another.
My video features two creatives, each in a different way. One of the subjects is a photographer whilst the other is a graffiti artist. I loved the idea of the parallel playing videos, a great method of contrasting between two different ideas.
My video features two creatives, each in a different way. One of the subjects is a photographer whilst the other is a graffiti artist. I loved the idea of the parallel playing videos, a great method of contrasting between two different ideas.
youngsters from George Bennett on Vimeo.
3rd Strand: Documented Fantasy
Gregory Crewdson: Documented Fantasy strand
Gregory Crewdson was born on September 26th, 1962 in Brooklyn, New York. At 10 years old his father took him to a Diane Arbus exhibition, which he refers to as ‘an early aesthetic memory’ that informed his decision to become a photographer.
Gregory is a New York born photographer famous for his use of film techniques to take photographs, spending prolonged periods of time to perfect a particular photographer. The scenes each tell their own unique story. Crewdson is best known for his elaborately staged scenes depicting American suburbia. He creates surreal situations in American neighbourhoods and homes that have a cinematic, dream-like quality through his use of extreme precision, building elaborate sets to take pictures of extraordinary narrative detail. His intention is to create a create such a dramatic and carefully thought through situation gives power and meaning to an otherwise bland suburban area. He causes viewers to question what life in these areas is like and wether his images have any validity to the lives of many within these places. Crewdson has previously said that his fathers job (Psychoanalyst) has played an extremely important role in his photography he has spoken of how his fathers office shaped his interest in the idea of the uncanny and preoccupation with revealing secrets in everyday life. The process of constructing these elaborate images takes on a movie production scale: he uses large cranes, sets and real neighbourhoods. Crewdson pays great attention to detail, using artificial lights to create a false impression of twilight, or using extra lighting and effects such as dry ice to enhance a naturally occurring mist present in the air. These settings, are the backdrop to the mysterious people that inhabit his pictures. His pictures show that there is deeper meaning behind what is initially scene behind the middle class suburbia of America. |
His work can end up being sinister and foreboding, or absurd and comical. The pictures are like freeze frames in a film, incomplete sentences giving insight into what is potentially a small section of a story, an extremely unique method which grips the viewer in making them try and de-cypher the storyline using the visual discourse of the photograph with little hint of the preceding events or of events yet to happen.
Crewdson has said "the limitation of a photograph in terms of narrative capacity... is to have an image that is frozen in time, where there is no before or after" essentially saying that a lack of information is not a restriction but an advantage when producing images. Crewdson's work is very closely related to the truth, fantasy and fiction title as he is essentially documenting fantasy and fiction in a style that makes it look like truth. It seems as if he is capturing a moment in time in which a story is unravelling although he has simply staged the whole event. I believe Crewdson manipulates his photographs to such a colossal extent as he wants to restore some order in everyday life. Living in the modern world is chaotic and often uncontrollable. As a person with such an analytical mind, Crewdson aims to create a feeling of order in his life through these manufactured images formed from the depths of his mind. He treats his process of creating fiction situations as a form of therapy, a way he can escape the reality of the western world and form his own within american suburbia. Every image is formed the way a dream is. The mind picks up select parts of everyday life and morphs it into a new reality based on the reality you know. Gregory is inspired by moments in everyday life and even his mood reflects his imagery. He has previously mentioned in interviews that, unknowingly, when he was going through a divorce his work took a grotesque turn. |
Underground: Anthony Asquith
The 3rd man: Orson Welles
The 3rd Man is a British Film Noir well known for its gripping cinematography. Set in postwar Vienna, Austria, the film starts with Holly Martins, a writer of pulp Westerns, who arrives penniless as a guest of his childhood friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles), only to find him dead. Martins develops a conspiracy theory after learning of a "third man" present at the time of Harry's death.
The plot of Underground by Anthony Asquith couldn't be any more different. The silent film set within the London Underground, is about a porter and an electrician falling in love with a shop girl. Although, there are cinematic parallels, with Orson Welle's "The 3rd man" and Anthony Asquith's "Underground". Both films create beauty within industrial locations, the 3rd man shows the tranquility of the Vienna underground tunnels through the use of dramatic scenes, artificial fog and directional lighting creating glistening walls, magnificent detail and enormous shadows. These cinematic techniques exacerbate the thrilling shoot-out within the tunnels.
Underground uses the film noir style of cinema alongside orchestral music to create energy within the scenes and show the beauty of the London underground in the 1920's, a relatively new addition to London.
Both of these Fiction films are inspiring to modern day cinema and photography, the early stages of film are the foundations of much of todays work.
The techniques used are something i want to use in the development of my work i want to explore the functionality of these photographic styles in a modern environment applying it to create a dramatic scene.
Flow diagram of strand development:
Film Noir: Development 1
The Film noir movement is evident for its use of low key lighting and high contrast creating unbalanced composition. The main focus in this sort of film is dramatisation of locations to create thrilling visuals.
Starting in the late 1920's and influenced by the german expressionist movement's use of "Chiaruscuro" (Bold composition created through strong contrast of light and dark ,chaotic geometric scenery and absurd story lines involving madness, betrayal and emotion. Film noir took on these concepts and created a new movement. Chaotic urban and domestic landscapes were used in combination with thrilling story lines depicting crime, murder and mystery producing these amazing visuals.
The Black and white film used exaggerated the idea of mystery in the film. Details and textures were harder to take in ad the viewer, silhouettes were sharp and menacing. Fog would be looming in the foreground of each outdoor scene clouding the vision of the camera. The unknown was forever lurking in these films, effectively dramatising scenes.
Works produced in the film noir movement are also extremely similar in many aspects to Crewdson's work. Both styles of image use shadows, lighting and sinister moods to create powerful and thought provoking imagery.
Film noir is extremely well known for this style of cinematography.
The idea that a landscape shot is telling a story is something i'm extremely inspired by and would like to produce myself.
This is essentially a documentation of fantasy.
The dilemmas raised in film noir are stimulated by the world at the time. Many German expressionist artists moved to america in the wake of the nazi regime and the great depression had just begun. Times were hard, crime was rife throughout america and global disorder was looming. Film noir themes of crime and mystery strongly reflected the current situation of the world. The tense and dramatic imagery created was a result of all of this, dark alleys, misty railway platforms and shadows lurking were symbolic of the mystery in the world at the time, the fear of the unknown.
Starting in the late 1920's and influenced by the german expressionist movement's use of "Chiaruscuro" (Bold composition created through strong contrast of light and dark ,chaotic geometric scenery and absurd story lines involving madness, betrayal and emotion. Film noir took on these concepts and created a new movement. Chaotic urban and domestic landscapes were used in combination with thrilling story lines depicting crime, murder and mystery producing these amazing visuals.
The Black and white film used exaggerated the idea of mystery in the film. Details and textures were harder to take in ad the viewer, silhouettes were sharp and menacing. Fog would be looming in the foreground of each outdoor scene clouding the vision of the camera. The unknown was forever lurking in these films, effectively dramatising scenes.
Works produced in the film noir movement are also extremely similar in many aspects to Crewdson's work. Both styles of image use shadows, lighting and sinister moods to create powerful and thought provoking imagery.
Film noir is extremely well known for this style of cinematography.
The idea that a landscape shot is telling a story is something i'm extremely inspired by and would like to produce myself.
This is essentially a documentation of fantasy.
The dilemmas raised in film noir are stimulated by the world at the time. Many German expressionist artists moved to america in the wake of the nazi regime and the great depression had just begun. Times were hard, crime was rife throughout america and global disorder was looming. Film noir themes of crime and mystery strongly reflected the current situation of the world. The tense and dramatic imagery created was a result of all of this, dark alleys, misty railway platforms and shadows lurking were symbolic of the mystery in the world at the time, the fear of the unknown.
Film Noir Development Response:
Using a number of images which i have taken at different shoots each with different qualities fit for film noir (Shadows, directional lighting, silhouettes, varying brightness and depth of field) i edited each image to suit the film noir style of images to each create a fiction situation out of a documented image.
In order to change these raw, colour images into a film noir style, i took all the saturation out of the images on photoshop, increased the contrast and lowered the brightness using the levels and curves functions on photoshop. I did this in order to exaggerate the shadowing and directional lighting of some images as well as bringing out silhouettes more.
In order to change these raw, colour images into a film noir style, i took all the saturation out of the images on photoshop, increased the contrast and lowered the brightness using the levels and curves functions on photoshop. I did this in order to exaggerate the shadowing and directional lighting of some images as well as bringing out silhouettes more.
Edits:
For me Film noir is all about the 'Mise en scène' of a set, the underlying tones of the German Expressionist movement combined with the high contrast of the light and dark in a scene creates these cinematic atmospheres. The contrast, shadows and mist within scenes create tense and dramatic imagery, the unknown is always present in film noir.
In response to this style i edited a series of images which i saw fit this style of imagery. After completely de-saturating them in photoshop i began editing them using the levels, curves, and contrast functions on photoshop aiming to replicate the high contrast black and white film used during the film noir movement.
This is the result.
In response to this style i edited a series of images which i saw fit this style of imagery. After completely de-saturating them in photoshop i began editing them using the levels, curves, and contrast functions on photoshop aiming to replicate the high contrast black and white film used during the film noir movement.
This is the result.
My aim in this response is to create dramatic scenes using film techniques such as controlled lighting, props, location and actors. This will create stories for my work. The type of scene i will replicate will be from a poignant memory i can recreate or replicate crime and thriller scenes. I will take inspiration for Crewdson's work as well as the film noir movement scene.
By creating a mise-en-scene in each photograph i will create dark atmospheres and tell a segment of what looks to be a complex story.
My intention is to replicate a murder scene in a bathroom within my house. ill use red food colouring,flour and golden syrup to replicate blood and use my hands and feet to make blood prints all over the room. I may create a fake dead body wrapped up in a bin bag and place this within the blood covered bath or i may use an actor to fake the dead body.
Other work that may benefit my progression in this direction:
The Third Man - Orson Wells
Underground(1928) - A British silent drama by Anthony Asquith. (The scene in lots road power station).
By creating a mise-en-scene in each photograph i will create dark atmospheres and tell a segment of what looks to be a complex story.
My intention is to replicate a murder scene in a bathroom within my house. ill use red food colouring,flour and golden syrup to replicate blood and use my hands and feet to make blood prints all over the room. I may create a fake dead body wrapped up in a bin bag and place this within the blood covered bath or i may use an actor to fake the dead body.
Other work that may benefit my progression in this direction:
The Third Man - Orson Wells
Underground(1928) - A British silent drama by Anthony Asquith. (The scene in lots road power station).
Pinterest mood board for crime scene ideas:
Development 2: The Crime scene
Upon self-evaluation of this shoot, i realised it was a lot hard than i thought to have a good balance of light and dark when shooting. I had already turned off the main lights in the room, although a lot of natural was still shining through the window which reflected on the tiles of the wall upon which i had added the fake blood. As well as this i had lit a number of candles in the room attempting to add a gentle glow throughout the room, this didn't work due to the overpowering sunlight from the window.
Film noir style edits: Development 3
I attempted a film noir style shot for this shoot, this involved taking away any saturation in the image and changing the levels, increasing contrast and decreasing the brightness of the image. i decided to use this image as you could see me slightly n the reflection of the glass on the right hand side of the image. A common feature in film noir style images is reflections and silhouettes so i felt adding this helped to make the photo more true to the movement.
After producing this image i soon realised there was a downside to producing film noir style images. The lack of colour takes away a massive amount of a photos quality and the high contrast can remove textures and details in a photographs. Its for these reasons i am going to choose not to edit my photos in black and white in my next developments, although i will use elements of the film noir movement to develop my work.
These Include:
After producing this image i soon realised there was a downside to producing film noir style images. The lack of colour takes away a massive amount of a photos quality and the high contrast can remove textures and details in a photographs. Its for these reasons i am going to choose not to edit my photos in black and white in my next developments, although i will use elements of the film noir movement to develop my work.
These Include:
- The dramatic scenes created through use of high contrast and lighting.
- The idea that you are documenting fantasy or fiction as truth (Relation to the title Truth, Fantasy and Fiction).
HDR Photography: Development 4
HDR photography was also a big inspiration for this shoot as well. I found that HDR style photography was extremely similar to Crewdson's work as well as the cinematic style of film noir with the large dynamic of illumination, detail and shadowing all within the one composition, something that is never seen all together in such detail and contrast through the human eye.
I decided to use HDR as a technique to apply to my images as i can achieve lighting quality similar to that of a professional setup, saving me money and lots of time setting up equipment.
I decided to use HDR as a technique to apply to my images as i can achieve lighting quality similar to that of a professional setup, saving me money and lots of time setting up equipment.
Crewdson and HDR photography comparison: Development 5
I have found that i can achieve a similar effect in terms of lighting, shadowing, high contrast and vibrant colours similar to that of Crewdson's work, through producing HDR images. The fact that i can use HDR instead of Crewdson's techniques means i don't have to arrive at chosen locations with a large amount of studio lights ranging in colour and intensity to create the artificial atmospheres featured in his work.
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The HDR edit:
Using the HDR method i formed this image from the merging of 3 other images, all of different shutter speeds with the same exposure. HDR photography or 'High Dynamic Range' photography is used to create a greater dynamic of contrast and luminosity, preserving shadowing and giving better detail. The Process involves using 3 images of different shutter speed and merging them using the HDR function on photoshop.
My intention with this shoot was to take on Crewdson's concept of creating an 'unfinished sentence', staging a scene to make the viewer construct a situation in their head, Whilst combining the mysterious aspects of film noir crime dramas.
Using a mixture of Red food colouring, purple food colouring, golden syrup, maple syrup, flour and water i made some fake blood for this scene. The idea was to create a section of a murder. This part is when the victim was first attacked. i used my hand to make some scraping marks in the blood to make it look as if the victim was stabbed multiple times, splattering blood all over the surrounding area, to then be dragged out of the bath by their legs. I felt that i had created an accurate portrayal of this.
I have controlled a scene in which nobody would think that anyone had control over when looking at it. Every little detail was added by myself from the splattered blood to the hand marks in the trail of blood. Each section of this photo has been carefully planned and executed for the most aesthetic outcome
In my experience Film Noir and Gregory Crewdson's photographic scenes always have a dark and mysterious twist to them. I tried to respond to this with an even darker theme to my image. Everything done by Gregory Crewdson and artists in film noir had an underlying intention, i aimed to respond to this. My future shoots wont involve
The shapes and textures produced by the splattering of the blood give a chilling mood to the composition. The dark colour of the blood could imply that time has passed before the 'crime scene' has been seen by anybody. Hand prints and scraping marks in the blood stained bath imply there was a struggle before the victim was dragged out of the bath. The high contrast mixed with the low light gives a strongly grotesque look to the surrounding walls and bath.
Using a mixture of Red food colouring, purple food colouring, golden syrup, maple syrup, flour and water i made some fake blood for this scene. The idea was to create a section of a murder. This part is when the victim was first attacked. i used my hand to make some scraping marks in the blood to make it look as if the victim was stabbed multiple times, splattering blood all over the surrounding area, to then be dragged out of the bath by their legs. I felt that i had created an accurate portrayal of this.
I have controlled a scene in which nobody would think that anyone had control over when looking at it. Every little detail was added by myself from the splattered blood to the hand marks in the trail of blood. Each section of this photo has been carefully planned and executed for the most aesthetic outcome
In my experience Film Noir and Gregory Crewdson's photographic scenes always have a dark and mysterious twist to them. I tried to respond to this with an even darker theme to my image. Everything done by Gregory Crewdson and artists in film noir had an underlying intention, i aimed to respond to this. My future shoots wont involve
The shapes and textures produced by the splattering of the blood give a chilling mood to the composition. The dark colour of the blood could imply that time has passed before the 'crime scene' has been seen by anybody. Hand prints and scraping marks in the blood stained bath imply there was a struggle before the victim was dragged out of the bath. The high contrast mixed with the low light gives a strongly grotesque look to the surrounding walls and bath.
Development 6: Hall
Hall from George Bennett on Vimeo.
As i turned on the hallway lights in my house i noticed one light flickered, i figured if i took all the other bulbs out and waited until it was getting darker outside i could create quite an eerie scene which i could possibly develop on. The flickering like made me think i could create a second photographic scene with this almost frightening feel to it creating a second dark untold story. So i decided to film the vision i had when looking at that flickering bulb.
This is a development to the murder scene inspired by Crewdson's staging of events, using the idea of scenes having a sinister twist to them.
I initially wanted to explore what i could do with this video in terms of producing an image related to it, every time i look at it i feel like theres an idea there. Unfortunately the light is now fixed so i cant do anything with this shot.
This is a development to the murder scene inspired by Crewdson's staging of events, using the idea of scenes having a sinister twist to them.
I initially wanted to explore what i could do with this video in terms of producing an image related to it, every time i look at it i feel like theres an idea there. Unfortunately the light is now fixed so i cant do anything with this shot.
Development 7 : Abandoned places, untold stories
To respond to Gregory Crewdson's and Film noir work again, i took on the idea of location and lighting. Crewdson is known to 'hunt' for locations to take his photographs they have ranged from abandoned places to whole roads. As well as this he is known to use a large amount of flood lights and studio lights to create the perfect level of contrast and shadowing, a dynamic range of photographic components in his work. Film noir is often set in industrial areas during the night ranging from warehouses to abandoned places. For this series i wanted to photograph a location with lots of texture and and visual 'chaos'. An abandoned place like this is perfect, with decaying man made structures and overgrown wildlife such as plants, the scenery is rather chaotic with a contrast of texture. Furthermore, abandoned buildings always have a rather eerie mood to them, mystery and the unknown if forever present. walking around these places you ask your self the questions why its still here? does anyone live here? what what is used for? The are questions that cant be answered in producing photographs of the area, although they stimulate thought when looking back at the images.
I also wanted to document the scenes during the night so i could apply a long exposure photograph to the situation creating this 'twilight' effect to the images, i couldn't use HDR due to time constraints at the time.
I also wanted to document the scenes during the night so i could apply a long exposure photograph to the situation creating this 'twilight' effect to the images, i couldn't use HDR due to time constraints at the time.
The Edits:
Mist: Development 8
An extremely common theme in all of Crewdson's work, film noir and HDR photography is mist. Mist is often seen in photos signifying an eerie mood to a photograph or that its early morning in the location. This adds an element of mystery and isolation to photographs. As well as this mist can make an image look 'cold' as mist is often found in cold weather, this gives a dark connotation to a photograph. I decided that after this shoot i would experiment with adding a mist effect to one of my images using photoshop.
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My response:
I soon realised that an artificial version of fog is not as effective as the real thing, for this reason i will not progress my work in this direction due to the fake look of this fog. i tried to apply the effect as well as possible for the most natural look. i tried multiple times as i attempted the application of the 'fog' although this did not help. This is a learning curve as i realised i cannot artificially add certain effects which can only properly be acquired through large amount of funding alongside a team creating the set.
Development 9, Artist: William Eggleston
William Eggleston is a massively influential american photographer and one of the leaders in the early stages of colour landscape photography.
His work is related to the title as its part of the "Truth" section, documenting rural and urban american landscapes.
He pays great attention to detail with shapes, colours and textures within a given scenery, something i'm inspired by and intent on doing.
In my work i aim to collaborate the cinematic styles of photography shown in Gregory Crewdson's photos as well as film noir, with the beautiful vibrant colours shown by Eggleston's landscape of what are normally seen as bland, lifeless industrial areas. This will consist of taking out the factor of having people within the images and using similar techniques as Crewdson and film noir, whilst using a similar subject matter as Eggleston and the 'New Topographics' movement.
His work is related to the title as its part of the "Truth" section, documenting rural and urban american landscapes.
He pays great attention to detail with shapes, colours and textures within a given scenery, something i'm inspired by and intent on doing.
In my work i aim to collaborate the cinematic styles of photography shown in Gregory Crewdson's photos as well as film noir, with the beautiful vibrant colours shown by Eggleston's landscape of what are normally seen as bland, lifeless industrial areas. This will consist of taking out the factor of having people within the images and using similar techniques as Crewdson and film noir, whilst using a similar subject matter as Eggleston and the 'New Topographics' movement.
Development 10:
After exploring some potential directions for this "documented fantasy" development including abandoned locations, HDR photography and the film noir style. i've decided that i'm going to pursue the HDR style of photography, producing singular photographs from a shoot in which i took multiple photographs.
As a further development, my plan is to take on the ideas of HDR photographs as well as the tranquil landscapes similar to Eggleston and Crewdson. My first line of action is to think of a location to shoot these HDR photos for the shoot.
For this shoot i want to find an urban area thats empty to use for the HDR photos.
For these reasons i chose a local trackside, a perfect subject.
As a further development, my plan is to take on the ideas of HDR photographs as well as the tranquil landscapes similar to Eggleston and Crewdson. My first line of action is to think of a location to shoot these HDR photos for the shoot.
For this shoot i want to find an urban area thats empty to use for the HDR photos.
For these reasons i chose a local trackside, a perfect subject.
To produce a 'final piece' for this shoot i merged three images to form a HDR photograph. i merged 3 of the same image, each only differing in shutter speed. After merging them
Development 11, Artists: New Topographics landscape photography
Robert Adams:
Frank Gohlke:
Stephen Shore:
A lot of photography is about escape, many images are surreal or not what viewers normally see. New Topographics is different to this. Often photographers in this movement simply documented urban, suburban and industrial landscapes mainly through the use of black and white film although, artists like Stephen Shore used mainly colour film in their work. For me, new topographics is all about taking ambiguous landscape photographs with veracity and authenticity to the location documented. Each photo has attention and affection to the landscape surrounding it, seeing beauty in these urban areas often ignored by many.
The landscape work at the time influenced by Ansel Adams and Edward Weston caused many of the new topographics photographers to stray away from the normal style of landscape photography. Many photographers from the new topographics movement felt photographers at the time were no longer responding to the world anymore, instead they were responding to an ideal of photographic excellence, a false reality.
My personal work in this unit had taken on inspiration from the striking and dramatic scenes from the Film Noir movement, the manipulation of reality and formation of a story using cinematic techniques by Gregory Crewdson, the tranquility of the desolate landscapes documented by William Eggleston and the use of high dynamic range to better the detail of the photos. New Topographics fits perfectly into my work. The use of industrial locations combined with creating beauty out of otherwise bland landscapes is what has drawn me to this style of landscape photography. Every photo is raw and there is no surreal element to the imagery. The photographers find a landscape that is not flawless but also one that is not beyond our reach living within urban areas. My own photography differs in subject matter as the majority of new topographics work is taken in western America whilst mine is simply all in London. This means that the industrial landscapes i document are not surrounded by dry isolate land, instead the surroundings are either concrete or overgrown land.
The landscape work at the time influenced by Ansel Adams and Edward Weston caused many of the new topographics photographers to stray away from the normal style of landscape photography. Many photographers from the new topographics movement felt photographers at the time were no longer responding to the world anymore, instead they were responding to an ideal of photographic excellence, a false reality.
My personal work in this unit had taken on inspiration from the striking and dramatic scenes from the Film Noir movement, the manipulation of reality and formation of a story using cinematic techniques by Gregory Crewdson, the tranquility of the desolate landscapes documented by William Eggleston and the use of high dynamic range to better the detail of the photos. New Topographics fits perfectly into my work. The use of industrial locations combined with creating beauty out of otherwise bland landscapes is what has drawn me to this style of landscape photography. Every photo is raw and there is no surreal element to the imagery. The photographers find a landscape that is not flawless but also one that is not beyond our reach living within urban areas. My own photography differs in subject matter as the majority of new topographics work is taken in western America whilst mine is simply all in London. This means that the industrial landscapes i document are not surrounded by dry isolate land, instead the surroundings are either concrete or overgrown land.
Development 13 : Refinement
In order to refine my work i am going to create a response to these photos, relating them to the theme i have created using new locations similar to locations i have visited before as a second response. Taking on valuable techniques and ideas behind the photos of photographers and movements i have researched.
Response:
In Response to these images i produced two edits. I went out to Hornsey looking to photograph the industrial landscape in response to the above photographs using the concepts and techniques learnt from my developments.
FINISH THIS + ADD CONTACT SHEETS*****
FINISH THIS + ADD CONTACT SHEETS*****
The edits:
Creating the final pieces:
The Final Piece: "Unfamiliar Places"
A very clear theme i have been intent on sticking with throughout my work in this unit is the idea of focusing on a very small number of images rather than editing a series. In previous units i have had a number of final pieces with the intention of the individual images complementing one another, this time i have taken inspiration from a number of artists and movements to create a select number of well edited images i have taken lots of time to perfect individually drawing lots of focus and development to these images.
This idea is evident in my final works.
I intended on creating these images so they had a cinematic style to them. Each image is like a scene from a dramatic film using industrial urban areas for locations. inspired by HDR photography ( 2 of the images are HDR), Gregory Crewdson, film noir and the new topographics industrial landscape photography. Every photo is a response to the contrast of chaos, order and disorder in the urban environment. We are surrounded by man-made, ordered infrastructure of the urban environment, when combined the landscape becomes disordered and intimidating at times. This is often seen in contrast to the natural disorder of the natural world, surviving by living around the man-mad world. The randomness of the world is seen in these images, the 'unknown' seen in the photos is metaphorical of this.
Each Photograph follows one another as you go down the series. The series starts in mid-day, as the day progresses and the surroundings get darker the location for each photograph changes, finally finishing in an abandoned industrial site by the side of some train tracks as the first train runs past, shown in the image as a strike of light racing past the lens of the camera.
Each image complements the other, the underlying cinematic style doesn't change; each photo is vibrant in colour, high in contrast, strong in detail and similar in location style. Each photo raises questions in the viewers head, it stimulates analysis, trying to understand the aesthetic of each photo.
This idea is evident in my final works.
I intended on creating these images so they had a cinematic style to them. Each image is like a scene from a dramatic film using industrial urban areas for locations. inspired by HDR photography ( 2 of the images are HDR), Gregory Crewdson, film noir and the new topographics industrial landscape photography. Every photo is a response to the contrast of chaos, order and disorder in the urban environment. We are surrounded by man-made, ordered infrastructure of the urban environment, when combined the landscape becomes disordered and intimidating at times. This is often seen in contrast to the natural disorder of the natural world, surviving by living around the man-mad world. The randomness of the world is seen in these images, the 'unknown' seen in the photos is metaphorical of this.
Each Photograph follows one another as you go down the series. The series starts in mid-day, as the day progresses and the surroundings get darker the location for each photograph changes, finally finishing in an abandoned industrial site by the side of some train tracks as the first train runs past, shown in the image as a strike of light racing past the lens of the camera.
Each image complements the other, the underlying cinematic style doesn't change; each photo is vibrant in colour, high in contrast, strong in detail and similar in location style. Each photo raises questions in the viewers head, it stimulates analysis, trying to understand the aesthetic of each photo.
Artist and me:
In this final piece, I emulated Crewdsons use of a car as a subject in order to have an effective use of the directional lighting present. This creates a mysterious mood to the photograph due the presence of the car underneath that lamp in such dimly lit surroundings. The lamp emphasises the shadowing of the car as well as the curb giving an effective contrast between light and dark. The shadow produced by the lamp shining on the curb of the road almost looks like the shadow of a person behind the vehicle, an added feature in my photo which i prefer in comparison to Crewdson's, adding to the mystery of the image.
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In this photograph, I made use of Egglestons subject matter, train tracks.
Eggleston and my own photo also make use of the vanishing point of the track, leading into the unknown, separating the images into two section; the known and the unknown. This related to the title as 'truth' and 'fantasy' are combined in this photograph like Egglestons' photo. The framing of each image is different although the themes are strongly related: Lines, texture, perspective, depth of field and subject matter. |
These two images share a number of similarities. Both mine and Robert Adams image feature isolated petrol stations being the central focus. The emptiness of each photograph is one one the keys things noticed in both.
The powerful overhead lighting illuminates only a section of each photo leaving lots of negative space, the surroundings are unknown to the viewer. Order is restored in these images, framing was carefully chosen so that these geometric structures were isolated from any other part of the landscape (Except adams having a mountain in the background), this is effective in bringing detail to the foreground. |
Conclusion:
I began my developments by looking at 'Glitch(Fantasy),'Youngsters(Truth) and 'Documented Fantasy'. All 3 completely different to one another. It was only after investigating all 3 that i realised the path i wanted to truly go down in terms of my strands. I realised that i wanted to spend prolonged periods of time on my final pieces, editing them to the best of my ability, sharing the experience Gregory Crewdson and many different set makes and editors creating film noir. I explored why photographers I researched did what they did, what their influences were and how they went about producing their work, every-time inspiring myself to go out and respond to this using the techniques and ideas i had gained from them, each time bettering my work.
If i were to title my work in relation to the title "Truth, Fantasy and Fiction" I would class my work as truth with elements of fantasy. i initially called it 'documented fantasy' although it slowly took a more 'genuine' turn in terms of what exactly what my photos were. The hint of Gregory Crewdson's style means the work cant be classed purely as truth. In the final piece i am taking truth (the landcscapes) and turning them into a fantasy, each photo looks like a scene from a film and the large amount of editing turns them in to hyper-saturated, detailed and vibrant photographs. The mood of each photograph being quite unusual, there is beauty in each photo but also a sinisterness and a darkness. Any art is open to open to perception although its undeniable they are tranquil landscapes photographed and edited in a unique manner.
If i were to title my work in relation to the title "Truth, Fantasy and Fiction" I would class my work as truth with elements of fantasy. i initially called it 'documented fantasy' although it slowly took a more 'genuine' turn in terms of what exactly what my photos were. The hint of Gregory Crewdson's style means the work cant be classed purely as truth. In the final piece i am taking truth (the landcscapes) and turning them into a fantasy, each photo looks like a scene from a film and the large amount of editing turns them in to hyper-saturated, detailed and vibrant photographs. The mood of each photograph being quite unusual, there is beauty in each photo but also a sinisterness and a darkness. Any art is open to open to perception although its undeniable they are tranquil landscapes photographed and edited in a unique manner.