Identity
IDENTITY
The topic I have decided to explore for my A-level personal study is ‘Identity’. My strength as a photographer is the ability to use my DSLR Lumix camera at an advanced technical level, to develop work in Photoshop and to be adventurous with my planning. This project will stretch all of these qualities. I am a creative photographer who is always looking for opportunities to work in an unusual style that will grab the viewer’s eye.
The study will allow me to explore through photography some related topics such as personality, interests and self expression. My aim is to research photographers who specialise in these fields, analyse their work and use their techniques and their work as inspiration which I will hopefully use in my photography. Photographers I will look at include Ralph Eugene Meatyard
Ralph Eugene Meatyard was born in Norman, Illinois and raised in the nearby town of bloomington, illinois. Meatyard's work was shown and collected by major museums, published in important art magazines, and regarded by his peers as among the most original and disturbing imagery ever created with a camera.
I was drawn to Meatyards photography through the use in his photographs of props, location, light and composition. His photography is best known for people wearing a range of disturbing masks which evoke emotions more typically associated with horror films.
I have taken inspiration from many of his images. His use of composition, colour, monochrome is fascinating. Studying his work carefully has allowed me to creatively develop my own personal study.
Richard Burbridge began a career in photography in the early 1990s and moved to new york in 1993, where he is still based. His first contribution to I-d was a picture of an exploding firework, and he has gone on to shoot numerous I-d covers. Richard collects old scientific and optical devices and his interest in science is often reflected in his photography. Primarily a studio photographer, richard also shoots a variety of subjects. He is currently working on a portrait exhibition.
My initial research focused on the area of cosplay where more and more adults are dressing up for a range of events like house parties, comic & film con events and even cinema visits. More and more effort is going into the costumes and as a result they want to be photographed and more importantly they want the photograph to convey emotion to the viewer.
As a result of this research I began to think of other topics which link to costume and disguise. I quickly realised that this topic has endless potential. Superhero costumes was literally one small area of focus and there was opportunity to research costume & disguise in everyday life. Everyone wears some sort of a costume to work and then of course there a weekly events where people are either in costume or disguise. Sometimes people are in disguise for very personal reasons such as shame or embarrassment.
This project offers me the chance to work on my portrait skills in terms of using the camera, lighting and being creative. My initial thoughts is that I will mainly focus on poses in the studio and on location. I will look at using a range of shot types depending on the type of photograph I am aiming for and I will be looking at using aperture to control depth of field and shutter speed to experiment with giving the portrait a motion effect. The composition of photograph is important as will the focus point, what exactly do I want to be in focus. It may well be the whole person or it may well be a section of a mask for example.
I will explore a range of photographers and their work relating to costume and masks. I will analyse their work and explain what I think is good about their photography. I will use their work to inspire me and I hope to evidence this throughout my project.
I created many portraits for my costume, identity and disguise page and I have explored many creative approaches during my personal study
To achieve the way my pictures look I explored in depth photoshop and then processed my work subtly using Photoshop. Afterwards adding some effects such as curves and levels in order to make the pictures look more surreal and serious and did this with most of my images up until I started the pictures in colour.
My photographs in colour in colour are some of my favourites as they have the most character to them, for example there is one where a friend of mine poses facing away from the camera and towards the light I had setup and once took I edited it in photoshop with a little auto contrast to adjust the brightness of the picture and then add levels to make the light on his face more dominant than the black background.
The work produced by Richard Vantielcke was very useful to my studies
He is a master of Light and shadow photography.
Richard vantielcke is a french photographer from paris who photographic work focuses on the use of light and shadow and night photography to sublimate the everyday, by giving it a touch of mystery, strangeness, and weirdness.
Image breakdown
Rankin was another photographer who was integral to the success of my work.
My website displays a collection of images I took using the shutter priority tool on my camera. These pictures show the use of light trail photography being used in ways that allow me too mask peoples faces, not only this but the use of light trails in my photography allows me to explore new techniques in photography, for example I plan on taking my camera to a busy road and capturing the lights of cars that go past and maybe include the use of firework sparklers so I can capture not only the trails they leave but also the sparks that fly off of them when waved around.
An early part of my work was to visit the Brazillica festival in Liverpool. I knew that there would be many opportunities to explore the theme of Identity at this festival. I was not disappointed. I worked there for more than 5 hours, taking hundreds of photographs that I then developed over the following weeks. Referring back to the photographers I have studied, I subtly incorporated elements of their work and style into my own.
The Brazilica festival took place from the 14th to the 16th of July 2017 and began at Abercromby Square At 8pm and the route traveled along Oxford Street and past Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral before travelling down Hope Street and afterward down Hardman Street and on to Bold Street before it moved through Church Street and finished down in Williamson Square.
I took pictures of the festival as it was both setting up and moving down its route and during the entire thing I couldn’t stop smiling, not because just I was happy but because everyone their was happy and having a good time.
In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed working on my personal study. I feel that I have developed creatively and technically as a photographer. My understanding of the DSLR camera, Photoshop CS5 and knowledge of other photographers ha increased greatly.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Links Of Photographers sites:
John Rankin:- www.rankin.co.uk/home
Ralph Eugene Meatyard:- https://fraenkelgallery.com/artists/ralph-eugene-meatyard
Richard Burbridge:-
https://www.artandcommerce.com/artists/photographers/Richard-Burbridge/bio
Richard Vantielcke:- https://www.ludimaginary.net/en/photographer-richard-vantielcke
The topic I have decided to explore for my A-level personal study is ‘Identity’. My strength as a photographer is the ability to use my DSLR Lumix camera at an advanced technical level, to develop work in Photoshop and to be adventurous with my planning. This project will stretch all of these qualities. I am a creative photographer who is always looking for opportunities to work in an unusual style that will grab the viewer’s eye.
The study will allow me to explore through photography some related topics such as personality, interests and self expression. My aim is to research photographers who specialise in these fields, analyse their work and use their techniques and their work as inspiration which I will hopefully use in my photography. Photographers I will look at include Ralph Eugene Meatyard
Ralph Eugene Meatyard was born in Norman, Illinois and raised in the nearby town of bloomington, illinois. Meatyard's work was shown and collected by major museums, published in important art magazines, and regarded by his peers as among the most original and disturbing imagery ever created with a camera.
I was drawn to Meatyards photography through the use in his photographs of props, location, light and composition. His photography is best known for people wearing a range of disturbing masks which evoke emotions more typically associated with horror films.
I have taken inspiration from many of his images. His use of composition, colour, monochrome is fascinating. Studying his work carefully has allowed me to creatively develop my own personal study.
Richard Burbridge began a career in photography in the early 1990s and moved to new york in 1993, where he is still based. His first contribution to I-d was a picture of an exploding firework, and he has gone on to shoot numerous I-d covers. Richard collects old scientific and optical devices and his interest in science is often reflected in his photography. Primarily a studio photographer, richard also shoots a variety of subjects. He is currently working on a portrait exhibition.
My initial research focused on the area of cosplay where more and more adults are dressing up for a range of events like house parties, comic & film con events and even cinema visits. More and more effort is going into the costumes and as a result they want to be photographed and more importantly they want the photograph to convey emotion to the viewer.
As a result of this research I began to think of other topics which link to costume and disguise. I quickly realised that this topic has endless potential. Superhero costumes was literally one small area of focus and there was opportunity to research costume & disguise in everyday life. Everyone wears some sort of a costume to work and then of course there a weekly events where people are either in costume or disguise. Sometimes people are in disguise for very personal reasons such as shame or embarrassment.
This project offers me the chance to work on my portrait skills in terms of using the camera, lighting and being creative. My initial thoughts is that I will mainly focus on poses in the studio and on location. I will look at using a range of shot types depending on the type of photograph I am aiming for and I will be looking at using aperture to control depth of field and shutter speed to experiment with giving the portrait a motion effect. The composition of photograph is important as will the focus point, what exactly do I want to be in focus. It may well be the whole person or it may well be a section of a mask for example.
I will explore a range of photographers and their work relating to costume and masks. I will analyse their work and explain what I think is good about their photography. I will use their work to inspire me and I hope to evidence this throughout my project.
I created many portraits for my costume, identity and disguise page and I have explored many creative approaches during my personal study
To achieve the way my pictures look I explored in depth photoshop and then processed my work subtly using Photoshop. Afterwards adding some effects such as curves and levels in order to make the pictures look more surreal and serious and did this with most of my images up until I started the pictures in colour.
My photographs in colour in colour are some of my favourites as they have the most character to them, for example there is one where a friend of mine poses facing away from the camera and towards the light I had setup and once took I edited it in photoshop with a little auto contrast to adjust the brightness of the picture and then add levels to make the light on his face more dominant than the black background.
The work produced by Richard Vantielcke was very useful to my studies
He is a master of Light and shadow photography.
Richard vantielcke is a french photographer from paris who photographic work focuses on the use of light and shadow and night photography to sublimate the everyday, by giving it a touch of mystery, strangeness, and weirdness.
Image breakdown
Rankin was another photographer who was integral to the success of my work.
My website displays a collection of images I took using the shutter priority tool on my camera. These pictures show the use of light trail photography being used in ways that allow me too mask peoples faces, not only this but the use of light trails in my photography allows me to explore new techniques in photography, for example I plan on taking my camera to a busy road and capturing the lights of cars that go past and maybe include the use of firework sparklers so I can capture not only the trails they leave but also the sparks that fly off of them when waved around.
An early part of my work was to visit the Brazillica festival in Liverpool. I knew that there would be many opportunities to explore the theme of Identity at this festival. I was not disappointed. I worked there for more than 5 hours, taking hundreds of photographs that I then developed over the following weeks. Referring back to the photographers I have studied, I subtly incorporated elements of their work and style into my own.
The Brazilica festival took place from the 14th to the 16th of July 2017 and began at Abercromby Square At 8pm and the route traveled along Oxford Street and past Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral before travelling down Hope Street and afterward down Hardman Street and on to Bold Street before it moved through Church Street and finished down in Williamson Square.
I took pictures of the festival as it was both setting up and moving down its route and during the entire thing I couldn’t stop smiling, not because just I was happy but because everyone their was happy and having a good time.
In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed working on my personal study. I feel that I have developed creatively and technically as a photographer. My understanding of the DSLR camera, Photoshop CS5 and knowledge of other photographers ha increased greatly.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Links Of Photographers sites:
John Rankin:- www.rankin.co.uk/home
Ralph Eugene Meatyard:- https://fraenkelgallery.com/artists/ralph-eugene-meatyard
Richard Burbridge:-
https://www.artandcommerce.com/artists/photographers/Richard-Burbridge/bio
Richard Vantielcke:- https://www.ludimaginary.net/en/photographer-richard-vantielcke
THE TOPIC I HAVE DECIDED TO EXPLORE FOR MY A-LEVEL PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT IS "IDENTITY". My strength as a photographer is the ability to use my DSLR lumic camera at an advanced technical level, to develop work in photoshop and the be adventurous with my planning. this project will stretch all of htese qualities. i am a creative photographer who is always looking for opportunities to work in an unusual style thaT WILL grab the viewers eye
IDENTITY CAN RELATE TO MYSELF, FRIENDS AND STRANGERS. THIS WILL ALLOW ME TO EXPLORE THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHY SOME RELATED TOPICS SUCH AS PERSONALITY, INTERESTS AND SELF EXPRESSION. MY AIM IS TO RESEARCH PHOTOGRAPHERS WHO SPECIALISE IN THESE FIELDS, ANALYSE THEIR WORK AND USE THEIR TECHNIQUES AND THEIR WORK AS INSPIRATION WHICH I WILL HOPEFULLY USE IN MY PHOTOGRAPHY.
IDENTITY CAN RELATE TO MYSELF, FRIENDS AND STRANGERS. THIS WILL ALLOW ME TO EXPLORE THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHY SOME RELATED TOPICS SUCH AS PERSONALITY, INTERESTS AND SELF EXPRESSION. MY AIM IS TO RESEARCH PHOTOGRAPHERS WHO SPECIALISE IN THESE FIELDS, ANALYSE THEIR WORK AND USE THEIR TECHNIQUES AND THEIR WORK AS INSPIRATION WHICH I WILL HOPEFULLY USE IN MY PHOTOGRAPHY.
Ralph Eugene Meatyard
RALPH EUGENE MEATYARD WAS BORN IN NORMAN, ILLINOIS AND RAISED IN THE NEARBY TOWN OF BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS. MEATYARD'S WORK WAS SHOWN AND COLLECTED BY MAJOR MUSEUMS, PUBLISHED IN IMPORTANT ART MAGAZINES, AND REGARDED BY HIS PEERS AS AMONG THE MOST ORIGINAL AND DISTURBING IMAGERY EVER CREATED WITH A CAMERA.
I was drawn to meatyards's photography through the use in his photographs of props, Location, light and composition. His photography is best known for people wearing a range of disturbing masks which evoke emotions more typically associated with horror films. |
My Favourite Photograph
This image of one of Ralph Eugene Meatyards pictures stands out to me over some of his other work as their seems to be a level of emotion in the image, more in particularly boredom and maybe sadness among the group of people in the image.
Richard Burbridge
Richard Burbridge began a career in photography in the early 1990s and moved to New York in 1993, where he is still based. His first contribution to i-D was a picture of an exploding firework, and he has gone on to shoot numerous i-D covers. Richard collects old scientific and optical devices and his interest in science is often reflected in his photography. Primarily a studio photographer, Richard also shoots a variety of subjects. He is currently working on a portrait exhibition.
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My initial research focused on the area of cosplay where more and more adults are dressing up for a range of events like house parties, Comic & Film Con events and even cinema visits. More and more effort is going into the costumes and as a result they want to be photographed and more importantly they want the photograph to convey emotion to the viewer.
As a result of this research I began to think of other topics which link to costume and disguise. I quickly realised that this topic has endless potential. Superhero costumes was literally one small area of focus and there was opportunity to research costume & disguise in every day life. Everyone wears some sort of a costume to work and then of course there a weekly events where people are either in costume or disguise. sometimes people are in disguise for very personal reasons such as shame or embarrassment.
This project offers me the chance to work on my portrait skills in terms of using the camera, lighting and being creative. my initial thoughts is that I will mainly focus on poses in the studio and on location. I will look at using a range of shot types depending on the type of photograph I am aiming for and I will be looking at using aperture to control depth of field and shutter speed to experiment with giving the portrait a motion effect. the composition of photograph is important as will the focus point, what exactly do I want to be in focus. It may well be the whole person or it may well be a section of a mask for example.
I will explore a range of photographers and their work relating to costume and masks. I will analyse their work and explain what I think is good about their photography. I will use their work to inspire me and I hope to evidence this throughout my project.
the first photographer i will be researching is Ralph eugene meatyard.
As a result of this research I began to think of other topics which link to costume and disguise. I quickly realised that this topic has endless potential. Superhero costumes was literally one small area of focus and there was opportunity to research costume & disguise in every day life. Everyone wears some sort of a costume to work and then of course there a weekly events where people are either in costume or disguise. sometimes people are in disguise for very personal reasons such as shame or embarrassment.
This project offers me the chance to work on my portrait skills in terms of using the camera, lighting and being creative. my initial thoughts is that I will mainly focus on poses in the studio and on location. I will look at using a range of shot types depending on the type of photograph I am aiming for and I will be looking at using aperture to control depth of field and shutter speed to experiment with giving the portrait a motion effect. the composition of photograph is important as will the focus point, what exactly do I want to be in focus. It may well be the whole person or it may well be a section of a mask for example.
I will explore a range of photographers and their work relating to costume and masks. I will analyse their work and explain what I think is good about their photography. I will use their work to inspire me and I hope to evidence this throughout my project.
the first photographer i will be researching is Ralph eugene meatyard.
Initial Thoughts
My initial thoughts on the costume and mask topic is that no matter the topic i love completing work in my photography but this topic in particular appeals to me as it features some use of shadows and light. this topic for me works for me and this is because of how much work can be done on this topic and i know this because i have already been working on images based on this topic already.
Black and White Portraiture
Photoshop Developments of prior images
i created These portraits for my Costume, identity and disguise page and they consist of around 15 pictures all together 10 in black and white and 5 edited in natural colour.
to achieve the way my pictures look i went into photoshop and got to work on making the pictures black and white and afterward added some effects such as curves and levels in order to make the pictures look more surreal and serious and did this with most of my images up until i started the pictures in colour.
the 5 pictures i have in colour are some of my favourites as they have the most character to them, for example there is one where a friend of mine poses facing away from the camera and towards the light i had setup and once took i edited it in photoshop with a little auto contrast to adjust the brightness of the picture and then add levels to make the light on his face more dominant than the black background.
to achieve the way my pictures look i went into photoshop and got to work on making the pictures black and white and afterward added some effects such as curves and levels in order to make the pictures look more surreal and serious and did this with most of my images up until i started the pictures in colour.
the 5 pictures i have in colour are some of my favourites as they have the most character to them, for example there is one where a friend of mine poses facing away from the camera and towards the light i had setup and once took i edited it in photoshop with a little auto contrast to adjust the brightness of the picture and then add levels to make the light on his face more dominant than the black background.
How Masks are Used in Photography
This is a collection of images i have researched on the internet and i have screen shotted the first 4 rows of images as these are particularly interesting to me as they each show masks in their own interesting way for example on the first row there is what looks to be a man wearing a cowboy hat a scarf and a war type gas mask.
Initial Research
Shadows in Masked portraits
What I did
what i did for my shadows in portraits work is i started with a selection of images of different people wearing different masks suchas the wolf mask, the skull mask and the regular black mask and edited them in different ways too make them look interesting.
Firstly i started off with the original image
Secondly i Made some minor improvements to the image that will make it look better after further editing.
This is what the image looked like after the first minor improvements
This is the type of style i will be adding to this image and i have chosen this as it has a bright and clear contrast along with an interesting pattern.
This is the levels and pattern style i will be putting on the image and after this is completed the image will be finished.
After all the steps were completed i was very pleased with how the image came out.
Photoshoot 1 - Skulls
Photoshoot 2 - Incognito
Photoshoot 3 - Wolves
Anonymous Photographer's Research
Ralph Eugene Meatyard Masking with Light and Shadow photography
Ralph Eugene meatyard was born in Norman, Illinois and raised in the nearby town of Bloomington, Illinois. Meatyard's work was shown and collected by major museums, published in important art magazines, and regarded by his peers as among the most original and disturbing imagery ever created with a camera.
Image Breakdown
Richard Vantielcke
Light and shadow photography
Richard Vantielcke is a french photographer from paris who photographic work focuses on the use of light and shadow and night photography to sublimate the everyday, by giving it a touch of mystery, strangeness, and weirdness.
Image Breakdown
John Rankin
Photography Research
Disguising people and faces with light
above are a collection of images i took using the shutter priority tool on my camera. these pictures show the use of light trail photography being used in ways that allow me too mask peoples faces, not only this but the use of light trails in my photography allows me to explore new techniques in photography, for example i plan on taking my camera to a busy road and capturing the lights of cars that go past and maybe include the use of firework sparklers so i can capture not only the trails they leave but also the sparks that fly off of them when waved around.
Disguising faces with shadows and light
IDENTITY - An Autobiographical Study
Research
this is a collection of images i have researched and shown based upon work i will be doing. this particular type of photography is called product photography and is mainly focused on personal items and products that are available to anyone.
this part of my site is going to be showing some of best work from each topic i have done for my personal study. This work will be mostly based around the work i did at the brazilica festival last summer and what pictures i like most from the event.
My Final Presentation Of Work - Brazilica Festival 2017
This is some of my work from the brazilica festival last year and within contains a mix of both edited and unedited images i took from the day.
in this set of images i am going to be showing off my work from the brazilica festival last year this will contain all the groups of dancers models and drummers from the event and the costumes and makeup they wore.
in this set of images i am going to be showing off my work from the brazilica festival last year this will contain all the groups of dancers models and drummers from the event and the costumes and makeup they wore.