Still Life Nude Using Gels

Still life, according to a recent visit to the Media Museum in Bradford, is meant to signify death and birth. A bit of a general statement but in essence that is what it was all about. Not sure whether I actually agreed with the sentiment but in the spirit of their view I decided to stick to the premise and do a still life that showed this. 

I wanted to do something a bit different though and being a great fan of the fine art nude, I decided to try and incorporate that into a still life. There was an image I had already come across that seemed to fit the bill and chose this to try and emulate.

The lily, in the meaning of flowers, is meant to signify remorse. I liked the idea of this and to keep to the birth/death theme, placing the flowers on a woman’s belly was fitting as it is where life begins and the fleeting life of a lily for death and remorse.

Bob Carlos Clarke. Available from: http://static.picassomio.com/images/art/pm-32559-large.jpg

My first task was to get a model. I put a casting call out to Pure storm and was lucky enough to get a response from a great model.

We arranged to shoot yesterday at my home as doing nude shoots at college is now not allowed.

Restrictions of a home shoot made it difficult to say the least. In college we have height issues in the studio and this is even worse at my home. Added to that is the further restriction of room around the subject.

My interpretation.

I did a couple of other versions. The initial assignment from college was to use gels but I also did a few with out. I also did a black and white conversion and out of all three I think I prefer the black and white version. Not really a surprise as it is my favourite type of image.

 

Worthington Reservoir

Still in the process of looking for a location for the background on my Fuji Competition image, I visited Worthington Reservoir to get some landscapes done. The light wasn't very good but time is running out and shots need to be taken. I took my Digital Nikon, Canon film and that piece of **** from the stores. In a lot of instances I have shot the same scene on all three cameras to again see the difference in the end results.

I like the above image but for once I think the rule of get as low as possible with a landscape, may well have not been the best option here. On reflection I think I would have liked a higher angle for more contrast on the cross beams.

This was shot from underneath and I really like the reflections in the water.

My favourite shot of the day. This was with ND filters up to 6 stops at f29. I have cropped it to a panoramic after trying both. I also prefer black and white conversion.

Open Eye Gallery Liverpool

A few weeks ago we visited the Tate in Liverpool for the Glam Exhibition. While there we also tried to see the Open Eye Gallery. Unfortunately it was closed while they were installing the latest works to be exhibited. Well yesterday I went back and it was finally open. There are two artist on show. Edith Tudor-Hart and Mishka Henner.

The Mishka Henner exhibition is in two parts. The first is a number of images where the artist has taken satellite imagery and made huge prints of cattle farms and oil fields living side by side in Texas. His aim was to show the effects these industries have on the landscape. The second part of his work brings together  a selection of work that questions the photobook form and examines the relationship between photographer and this form of media. He has taken Robert Frank's book, Les Americains and digitally altered some of the images.

Canal Street, by Mishka Henner 2012

An image that will stimulate debate between Yvette and I. Is this photography or an artist using photography. I don’t believe it is “photography”, it is a photograph but it is a photograph taken by someone else then digitally altered. The process of photography, for me requires the photographer to take the image not to use someone else’s work. It can be argued that it is art, however. This image has sparked debate in the wider photography community. The relevance, in today’s digital world of the ownership of a photograph. Once a piece of work is published and out there for the world to see, is it then perfectly alright for someone to appropriate that work, alter it and then call it their own.

Edit Tudor-Hart's work was more to my taste. A great selection of her work that documents a wide time scale of her working life. From her early days in Vienna to her time in the UK. A social documentary photographer that used her life experience and political views to shape her work.

: Gee Street, Finsbury 1936. Edith Tudor-Hart

Great shot showing the social deprivation of London in 1936. Clearly shows the times and the policy or practice of people to have large families at the time. Knowing that infant mortality was reasonably high for the times, families tended to over compensate by having large amounts of children. However, in some instances this would lead to extra burdens on the families and poverty. Socially the evidence shows that wealthier families had fewer children but due to the healthier life styles their children survived. This image shows the poverty and hard life the lower classes endured at this time. Edith Tudor-Hart made many of these images. Her politics coming through her work. A communist that had escaped persecution from Vienna in 1933, she fled to London. She did a lot of commissioned editorial work and her work was used to support political campaigns. Right through to the 1950’s her work concentrated on social care and children with special needs and disabilities. All her work reflects her own beliefs and life experience with her own son suffering from schizophrenia. She was instrumental in setting up the Cambridge spy ring which worked and spied for the Soviet Union. This was not dissimilar to the Muslims of today, accepting British hospitality and sanctuary while also working against their adoptive state.

Perfume Advert & Lens Flare

After doing the perfume advert a few weeks ago and not being completely happy with it, I revisited the examples I had drawn down. I liked the lens flare effect of the one below and decided to emulate it in the studio while we were working on hair lights.

Looking at the image it would appear that most if not all of the effect is done post production in Photoshop. I wanted to try and replicate it though as much in camera as possible.

As you can see the end result was not as I had hoped for so concluded that the only way of getting the desired effect was to enhance it in Photoshop.

Finished Image.

Think I actually prefer my version to the advert above and my next move will be to re-shoot with a female model and work on a new perfume advert with this technique

Spinney Wood

We are now on to colour film. I went to Spinney Wood to shoot with two cameras. The intention was to compare directly the difference between regular 35mm colour film and transparency that has been cross processed. Still waiting to process the transparency but I like this image so much I printed it out already. Obviously to put on here I have scanned the print. I also did a little bit of digital enhancing with curves.

Fuji Competition

A digital version of what I want to try and do on film. So so so much easier digital I think.

I shot a perfume bottle in the studio as part of shooting products/shiny items but I also wanted to play with it a bit and make a perfume advert. Not a professional in Photoshop so  tried only to do something pretty basic. I looked at a few examples (below)

While my image is nowhere near as good as these, for a first attempt I quite like it.