Connecting essay 5- Rut Blees Luxemburg, London landscape

Rut Blees Luxemburg

My Image

Both my image and Luxemburg's focus on nighttime inner city landscape photography and whilst the images are not of a pastiche style they bare some similarities.

In both images urban inner city life is featured with Luxemburg's image featuring an inner city tower block and my image featuring a pub near Trafalgar square.  These images both represent life in a busy city in an effective and engaging way.

The colour scheme of both images is also similar with both images featuring a palette largely comprised of highly saturated red, oranges and yellows (these colours represent the vitality of city life) as well as dark black tones which provide an interesting contrast.  The fact that each of the images features light even though they occur at night time demonstrates the fact that the city never truly sleeps.

These images also have a similar appearance due to the fact that they have been taken in a similar time period and have therefore had access to the same equipment such as editing software.  I implement Photoshop CC 2014 to my image in order to increase it's saturation which I feel has given it a far warmer feeling.

The composition of both images varies with Luxemburg's image featuring a head on image of a tower block providing neat squares a geometric pattern whereas my images is a side on angled image.  Another difference in composition is that my image features people whereas none of Luxemburg's work does, this helps to convey the isolation that some can feel in the city.

If I were to create a pastiche of Luxemburg's work I would focus more on finding true isolation in my images as well as attempting to take more head on images with interesting composition such as geometric patterns or reflection of signs in puddles.

Connecting essay 4- Vivian Meyer, Reflection

Vivian Meyer

My Image

Both myself and Meyer have implemented reflection in our images in order to focus on the photographic medium of self portraiture.

I feel that my image has aesthetic similarities to that of Meyer's work such as the way in which the images are both in black and white and the way in which multiple subject's are visible in the images.  The largest similarity between both pieces is the use of reflection in order to create a self portrait and I find this effect intriguing.

Meyer's work also has a great deal of differences to my work which are largely a result of the fact that our images were taken with different available resources.  Meyer's photography options were limited due to the fact that she was a photographer from the 1900's this meant that her images had to undergo the rigorous process of dark room photography which was both time consuming and expense as she has to rely on film.  On the other hand I as a modern day photographer am free to experiment with a multitude of different techniques such as post shoot editing which is where I was able to add my black and white filter opposed to it occurring in development like Meyer.

If I were to revisit my pastiche of Meyer's work I may look into using a film camera and developing the images in a dark room in order to better grasp the process in which she undertook to achieve her images.  I would also consider attempting to remove my camera from the image through positioning as this is something which she has done.

Connecting essay 3- Richard Avedon, Portraiture

Richard Avedon

My Image

The above images by both myself and Richard Avedom (who specialises in fashion portrait photography) both incorporate similar elements of photography and an therefore be easily discussed.

To begin with both images are similar in their technical methods as both have been shot in a studio under controlled conditions with lights and a backdrop.  These conditions are particularly important for fashion portraiture to avoid any of the pieces being photographed by damaged by the elements.  A controlled studio also provides aseptically pleasing and balanced lighting as well as a varied option of backdrop.

The images have both been edited to give them a black and white high contrast appearance in order to make the faces of the subjects more striking and bold in order to catch the viewer's eye.

Avedon's image employs a gradient effect on the backdrop of the image whereas my image has a solid coloured backdrop, personally I feel that the solid colour used in the images backdrop provides a greater tone of contrast in my image.  The composition of both images is similar as they both feature the images subjects in profile view, profile view images often create a bold and striking appearance as well as an aesthetically pleasing image.  The images however do not contain the same amount's of the subjects face with Alvedon's image portraying the subjects upper torso to top of head and my image merely showing the subjects forehead to chin.  I feel that both images are appealing and feel that the larger image of Avedon is appealing in his style because of the subjects intriguing styling my subject however has the most detailing around the eyes which is why this is where the image focuses.

If I were resist Alvedon's style I may consider look into styling my subjects in a way which is more in keeping with the the high fashion model appearance of Alvedon's work.

Connecting essay 2- Martin Parr, Documentary - Family

Martin Parr- The Last Resort

My Image

I have chosen to discuss and compare the above two images despite their difference due to the fact that they also contain s number of similarities and are both part of the photo genre of documentary photography.

Martin Parr's image has a saturated tone as well as a number of colours which can also be found in my image such as the vast amounts of blue which make up the background of both my image and Parr's as well as the use of red which draws the eye into each image.  I feel that the saturated tone of these images helps to create the idea of an atmosphere of fun due to the fact that both pieces are part of documentary pieces which feature holidays.

Another similarity between both images is the fact that they both document family life on holiday opposed to other holiday groups such as youth and partygoers.  I feel that the focus on family in both images helps to link both pieces together.

The first obvious differences between the work of Parr and myself is the location which both images were taken and the time in which they were taken.  Parr's image's were shot at New Brighton in England between 1983 and 1935 in the middle of summer whereas my images were taken in Orlando, Florida in 2015 on New Years Eve.  This difference between date of photography has created a difference in quality whilst the difference between location has created a difference in image appearance.

The other difference between both images is the socio-economic classes featured in both images.  Martin Parr's work is largely a documentary series featuring working class families in the 1980's however it is also in parts a characicature of these families as many of the images taken are some of the most extreme examples.  My images however feature a more reserved family conducting themselves in a manner more acceptable for the time period.

If I were to further replicate Parr's work I may consider taking photographs at a beach in England in order to gain a more similar subject group as well as to recreate a bit of the aesthetic of Parr's images.  I could also look into finding a camera which is more typical of what would have been available at the time in order to create a similar quality images.

Connecting essay 1- David Hockney, Joiners

David Hockney

My image

The first photograph is the work of the UK artist David Hockney, Hockney's style of photography is referred as on his website as a "photo collage" however this style is more commonly known as a photo joiner.  My image is a photo joiner and has been largely inspired by Hockney's work.

Similarities between the work of myself and Hockney include the principal and aesthetic appearance of the images, this is displayed through the joiner effect present in both images.  The two images are not completely the same however as the technical process varies between images.  In Hockney's image the photos were taken outside and stuck together physically; in my image however the photo's which join together to make the main piece were shot in the studio with regular lighting and controlled conditions also my images were compiled using editing software.

The editing software that I used was Photoshop CC 2014, I feel that the use of photoshop opposed to a more natural method of joining such as glueing the image's down as Hockney does has created a far smoother and cleaner appearance for my image.  I believe however that the more weathered appearance of Hockey's work gives it a far more personal appearance which may make it more appealing to viewers.

The camera angles and final image aesthetic also vary between my image and Hockney's.  My image focuses on the entire body of the seated subject whereas Hockney's work focuses on the subjects head, Hockney also uses a wider variety of camera angles than are  seen in my work as I opted to shoot all of the images head on.  Aesthetic is also similar in the way in which both myself and Hockney have chosen to back our images with a background of single colour (Hockney using black and myself using white) in order to tie the image composition together effectively.

I feel that my image differs from Hockney's in the fact that it has a more surreal and sinister appearance.  Examples of my surreal imagery can be found in the employment of the gas mask which covers half of the subjects face. This appearance was created by photographing the subjects head wearing the gas mask and not wearing the mask and then joining the two halves of the subjects face together.  The use of the gas mask carries connotations of death war time which may unsettle the viewer.  I feel that through choosing to incorporate aspects of surrealism (an area of photography which interests me) I was able to make the joiner style my own and break away slightly from external influences.

I feel that if I were to more closely recreate Hockney's work in the future that exploring the possibility of incorporating physical composition techniques may be something which I should explore further.  If I were to revisit this project I would also like to further experiment with surrealism and perhaps look into the work of Hannah Hock.