Context on the Bechers

'Moved' by the architecture 

1958 1st images 6x9 linhoff

Siegen, Germany - autobiographical

Mining industry through family connections

Rhur region, France and Wales 1965

1972 - USA, industrial regions of Pennsylvania

Heavy industries were their subjects

Shape, form and structure

"Objects that can be compared as a historical thread"

"We wanted to keep them" - emotional attachment

"Photography" - way of keeping

"Doomed to disappear" Bernd realised they were doomed to disappear and he felt it needed recording

Classification - varieties of types

Form of presentation - typology - examining the type

In the work no.1 bare a resemblance to no.9 in the typology 

Equipment:

Telephoto lens - distortion

600 mm 2x7tripods to avoid vibration

Difficult to shoot in the winter (bare trees)

Used fog to obscure the fussy background.

Long exposure, large format, small apertures, sharp depth of field and shot on cloudy days, f32 or f45 with a 20 second exposures "lovely moment capturing the exposure times"

Composition - central and similar details. Horizon below 3/4 mark.

Format: 30x40

60x50cm prints

Gibbs Reflection on final shoot

What happened?

I took a Pentax k1000 film camera, loaded with hp5 film. I chose specifically hp5 film instead of fp4 because it has more grain, I thought this would add well to the idea of being dark, mundane and gloomy. During lesson, I walked around southend with the intention to go behind shops and photograph them. The idea was to take Gohlke's idea of photographing the backs of billboards showing the reality behind a brand and do it with a slightly different approach. The shoot only took me about an hour, I spent only a short amount of time because I was tasked with shooting, processing and printing in only about three hours. Processing went well, however because I didn't have a lot of time to print, I found that my photographs turned out quite soft, what I could have done is used a contrast filter to make the blacks a little blacker and the whites a little whiter. 

How I feel it went

I'm not completely satisfied with the outcome of my final images, if I had more time I would have gone to london and done the same thing, what I found was a bit of an issue was the back of all the shops all looked very similar, with bins and broken glass on the floor. Another thing I could have done to emphasise the dark look was put a pair of tights over the camera lens, this would have given the photograph a very grainy effect, this would have made my work slightly resemble nakahira's work.

Conclusion

Overall I'm happy with the result however I do feel there's room for improvement. I think what I should have done is been a bit more experimental with the shoot and the printing, one example would be the tights idea. With the printing I could have used a filter to up the contrast on the photograph, I could have burnt in places which are a lil overexposed from the sun, or another experimental idea would have been to scratch the film adding to the gloomy effect.

Takuma Nakahira: secondary research

What I found when researching Nakahira's work and himself I found that he was very well known for being very articulate when talking about his art and others. I found that he was an editor for a magazine called 'The New Left' in 1963. Working here, he met photographer Shomei Tomastu. Through this meeting, Nakahira found his passion for photography. Through Tomatsu he met a range of other respected photographers. With them, they created the magazine 'Provoke' which is still a leading magazine today. 

                 Something I saw a lot when researching was the articles emphasising how influential and respected he is as a photographer and artist. The ASX website described him as a 'legend'. I think what made Nakahira so successful was that he was not only a good artist but he was a very interesting character. Nakahira was described by the American suburb x as "An essayist and photography critic, a political activist, a photographer who talked too much, a photographer who lost his memory, a photographer who forgot his mother tongue, a legend…" 

Frank Gohlke: primary research

For my primary research I decided to draw up a questionnaire, and ask people I know, what they thought of Gohlke's work. My first question was 'Do you think this work is different at all from traditional landscape photography' to which the answers of this question surprised me very much. A common response was simply 'not really' the only slight difference was that all of his work was in black and white and 'that's not always used in landscape photography'. I feel the reason for this common response to his work in that it's not that different from what people are used to, is because he did this work 40 years ago and therefore, I can imagine, at his time it was never done before but now that he has influenced a lot of photographers and people have a lot more access to photography his work has become the thing he specifically set out to try and not to be, generic.

                  I then asked what people thought the purpose was for his work, to which I got a few responses saying it was fine art and was done to be hung up at a gallery. Other responses were that it looked as though it could have been used for documentation purposes, which I guess both of these responses would be correct, his work is hung in galleries and it was done to document man made constructs.

Frank Gohlke: secondary research

There is something peculiar about the way we attribute the clarity of some photographs to the world itself. I try to reinforce that paradox by making photographs that convince the viewer that those revelations, that order, that potential for meaning, are coming from the world and not the photograph.
— Frank Gohlke, 1979

This is a quote I found from Gohlke. What I think he means by this is that he's not content with how landscape photography was at the time done, it was more about the beauty of the photograph instead of what is in the photograph, what, I feel, he means that is that his photos are very unedited and are more about what the photograph is of and less about the photograph itself.

"Gohlke is unusual among photographers for his willingness and ability to articulate his ideas verbally as well visually."

Quote from placesjournel.org

This quote illustrates why Gohlke is such a successful photographer. He is able to not only photograph what he finds beautiful, he's able to talk about and explain why it's so artistically beautiful. 

Plan of final shoot

For my final shoot I will use a lot of my inspiration from Frank Gohlke in that he chose to photograph the back of billboards, I've decided to walk round to the back of shops and photograph that scene, I hope it will have a similar effect to Gohlke's work in that my concept shows reality lying behind what brands are making up and trying to sell. It will also set my work aside from traditional generic landscape photographs.

For this shoot I have decided to use a film camera because I feel it will do better in achieving a mundane look through the use of grain. I've chosen to buy hp5 ilford black and white film for it is better for 

grain than fp4.

I will use a shutter speed of 1/125

Aperture of f8

And set my ISO to 200

Plan of random landscape shoot

The random task I have been set is 'places men urinate having left the pub'

My plan for this shoot is to go to small alleyways next to pubs, and photograph where I feel men would urinate, I want a dark and gloomy effect, to do this I think I might underexposed the images slightly, giving the images more blacks.

I will use my nikon d3100 

It is a sunny day so I would normally set my white balence to sunny however, because I'm going to dark places, I shall set it to shady.

My shutter will be set at 1/250

Aperture at f8

ISO 100

Because I am shooting these images on digital, I am able to achieve that mundane look I want on photoshop if I am not satisfied with the unedited version. I only aim to spend about an hour on this shoot.

Frank Gohlke

PMy initial response to Gohlke's photography was to notice they are mostly landscape photographs of mundane man made constructs, to then wonder what the meaning was for doing this. I feel it is to document what we are doing to natural landscapes and potentially ruining them by urbanisation and suburbanisation. The reason Gohlke began shooting photographs like these was because no one had done it before, and him and nine other artists felt the same way in that they were bored of the generic, beautiful landscape photography and decided to do the complete oposite.

             I feel the meaning or purpose would be to be exhibited in galleries, this is because it is clear this work is personal work. He has chosen to take these photographs because he wants to, not to be paid to do so. The work would be successful in galleries in that it makes the viewer think about what it means, my impression is that it reveals reality behind a made up lifestyle by the brand on the front of the billboard.

New topography

Group of photographers in 1975 who were bored of generic commercial work, so what they did was put on a huge exhibition exploring man made contemporary landscapes. Frank gohlke and Stephen Gill. The context and purpose was to explore their own passion for photography and come up with their own concepts. The way they did this was by taking billboards with glamorous adverts on the front and turned that idea around, and decided to photograph the back of them, then named the photographs after the brand the billboard was advertising. I feel it was an analogy for reality in that companies try to sell to you a better way of living whereas the mundane other side shows what life is really like. Or it could be that the front of the board shows the glamorous product and then the back shows what it's like making them.

Reflection on land scape shoot

What happened? 

We were set a random task to take pictures of 'places where men urinate after having left the pub'. I went out for an hour and shot several photographs using my nikon d3100 camera. It was quite a good day to go for a shoot for it was quite a sunny day, giving me the option to set the White balence to 'direct sunlight' and used a small appetite and a fast shutter speed.

How I felt it went?

I felt it was was quite difficult to document places in which people urinate after having gone to the pub and keep it in a landscape format, I feel I was limited to the photographs I was able to take because I did not have a wide angle lens which would have made the images more appropriate for landscape photography. I haven't yet put the images on the computer and edited them, once I do I will do another reflection.

What was bad?

I took a few photos in dark corners, the issue I found with that was because it was so bright there was a huge contrast with the bright areas and the dark areas making those images a little underexposed however the ones shot in sunlight were fine.

My conclusion

Overall I feel the shoot was successful in that the photographs came out with the mundane feel I was looking for, however what I would do next time is maybe instead use a film camera instead of my dslr, because I feel, using hp5 film will give the photographs a natural grainy effect, giving it a more dark and gloomy feel.

Ethics

Ethics in the context of photography, involves things like is it or is it not ethically correct to photograph a specific something. The pros for using photoshop  to touch up photographs taken specifically for advertising or front covers, would be that it is incredibly helpful with raising awareness of how one brand's product is better than another's. However I understand the argument for it being unethical to change the way someone looks with the purpose to sell, it creates unrealistic expectations for the way people look.

 This photo was edited by a photographer working for the times,  it shows OJ Simpson edited to appear with much darker skin than what he has in the unedited version. The controversy this caused was because the public put this editing down to racism, however the photographer explains that it was only used to make the subject more sinister and intimidating which is understanding considering what he was being prosecuted for doing, murdering his wife.

 This is another incredibly controversial photograph, it's quite clear why. This photographer, Kevin Carter, sat waiting, for hours, for the perfect photo of a vulture waiting for this helpless child to die to eat him. it's considered unethical by a lot because he, instead of choosing to immediately help this child, he chose to take advantage of the situation and photograph it. However the argument for the photograph is that it raised a lot of awareness about the poverty and starvation going on in Africa but also made people talk about it, so in a way by documenting this tragedy, he's gotten more people involved in the issues with Africa. 

Takuma Nakahira

My initial reaction to Nakahira's body of work 'fire and water' was to notice the amount of grain used in his photographs. I imagine the reason as to why this is done is to achieve a decayed feel to the scene, the places in which he has chosen to shoot his photographs appear to have been taken in what looks like a torn place, be it by war, the sea or fire. In his images of the sea it could be representing, through the sea crashing againg concrete or man made constructs, attempting to 'reclaim culture' a quote from the international journal of photography, a forlorn hope than realistic expectation. Meaning it represents how people, in life, are constantly trying to achieve something they want, however the want is never ending, once achieved there's just another thing afterwards we want more. 

              The meaning or purpose of these I feel would be suited for only fine art purposes. I can't imagine these images being in newspapers or magazines. These images would probably be exhibited and shown to the public. It doesn't seem to be commercial photography as it does not have a clear product it is trying to advertise. 

               The grainy effect you see on the photographs has probably been done by a special filter however another method could be used by simply putting women's tights over the camera lens to create a similar but not as good effect. This use of visual language gives the photograph the dark and gloomy effect it has

            

Fashion photography job research

Fashion photography highlights clothing and other fashion products in exciting and memorable ways. Fashion photographers work closely with models and fashion designers to conceptualize and shoot photos that showcase fashions as effectively as possible. Fashion photographers may be employed by fashion magazines, catalogs, advertising agencies or fashion houses. They may also be self employed.

             To study fashion photography at a university level, the qualifications required are a foundation diploma in art and design or two passes at a level. And three passes at gcse level. 

The university of art london asks for applicant to demonstrate '  

Student Selection Criteria

What We Look For

The course team seeks to recruit students who can demonstrate:

• An ability to communicate ideas visually
• a commitment to and knowledge of critical debate around the body and its representation
• An ability to cope with the academic demands of the course
• A commitment to self-motivated study
• An interest in the fashion imaging industry
• A portfolio showcasing photographic imagery indicating an appreciation of contemporary fashion image making'