pinterest board: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/hopeniamhstacey/reflections/
Reflection in water:
Koo Bohnchang
- Koo Bohnchang, born in Seoul in 1953, graduated from Yonsei University and studied photography at the Hamburg School of Art and Design. Leading the 'constructed photography' trend in the late 1980s, he has played a pivotal role in Korean photography, using myriad of photographic experiments to expand the realm of this art. His work can be seen as an ongoing meditation on the finiteness of existence and is presented with an acute sensitivity, often offering a minimalist oriental aesthetic. I am looking at 2 specific examples of Koo's photography titles, 'oceans' and 'riverrun', both these pieces of work focus on the movement and reflections within water. I wanted to replicate this as his images bring a sense of peace and purity.
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my response:
my favourite photos:
my edits:
In my images I really like that the pictures are in greyscale the simplicity in colours means that it isn't too distracting with different tones of colours. The contrasts of darker shade and lighter shades draws the viewer into looking deeply into the texture
method-
- I opened my image and then began to adjust the brightness/contrast
- After I altered the levels around and finally the exposure
Exibition visits:
Hannah Starkey and Barbara Hepworth
about her- Hannah Starkey is a is a British photographer (born 1971) who specializes in staged settings of women in city environments, based in London. In 2019 she was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society.
her exhibition- I visited Hannah Starkey: In Real Life, in The Hepworth Wakefield. In her exhibition Starkey reveals women in moments of private reflection, alienation or social interaction that might otherwise go unseen: a woman fleetingly fascinated by another woman’s reflection, or the attentive gaze of a mother carrying her child. Meanwhile, the large scale of her images suggests the recording of a monumental event. She is also witness to the powerful presence of women in our cities, from those she encountered growing up in Belfast to women and girls at recent street protests in London.
my favourite parts of her exhibition:
her exhibition- I visited Hannah Starkey: In Real Life, in The Hepworth Wakefield. In her exhibition Starkey reveals women in moments of private reflection, alienation or social interaction that might otherwise go unseen: a woman fleetingly fascinated by another woman’s reflection, or the attentive gaze of a mother carrying her child. Meanwhile, the large scale of her images suggests the recording of a monumental event. She is also witness to the powerful presence of women in our cities, from those she encountered growing up in Belfast to women and girls at recent street protests in London.
my favourite parts of her exhibition:
- In the exhibition I loved the variety of her work for example all her photos are always carefully composed. But they arent all staged Starkey sometimes finds locations then brings women to pose in them; other times she is inspired by a stranger in the street and asks if she can take her photograph. I think this displays the real world and made me have a stronger connection with the images.
- I also like how through all the photos Starkey ensured she would discuss the image with the subject. In addition once she’s taken the images, Starkey always shows them to her subject, and she will only uses shots they love, conscious of what she calls “the camera’s consuming eye”, and of emulating a power dynamic she’s trying to counteract.
- I like how her work is set out in the exhibition there’s a room with pink walls showing Starkey’s first decade of work, a part-yellow room more directly related to politics and a room painted deep red showing recent work. It also includes a mock-up of her studio printouts, some of which include intriguing scrawled notes. This makes each of the photographs in the rooms stand out and I became more focused when consuming the images.
Barbara Hepworth Exhibition:
about her- Barbara Hepworth (10 January 1903 – 20 May 1975) was an English artist and sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism and in particular modern sculpture. Along with artists such as Ben Nicholson and Naum Gabo, Hepworth was a leading figure in the colony of artists who resided in St Ives during the Second World War. Born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, Hepworth studied at Leeds School of Art and the Royal College of Art in the 1920s. She married the sculptor John Skeaping in 1925. In 1931 she fell in love with the painter Ben Nicholson, and in 1933 divorced Skeaping. At this time she was part of a circle of modern artists centred on Hampstead, London, and was one of the founders of the art movement Unit One. At the beginning of the Second World War, Hepworth and Nicholson moved to St. Ives, Cornwall, where she would remain for the rest of her life. Best known as a sculptor, Hepworth also produced drawings – including a series of sketches of operating rooms following the hospitalisation of her daughter in 1944 – and lithographs. She died in a fire at her studio in 1975.
Hepworth’s most celebrated sculptures including the modern abstract carving that launched her career in the 1920s and 1930s, her iconic strung sculptures of the 1940s and 1950s, and large-scale bronze and carved sculptures from later in her career. It revealed how Hepworth’s wide sphere of interests comprising music, dance, science, space exploration, politics and religion, as well as events in her personal life, influenced her work.
favourite part of the exhibition:
Hepworth’s most celebrated sculptures including the modern abstract carving that launched her career in the 1920s and 1930s, her iconic strung sculptures of the 1940s and 1950s, and large-scale bronze and carved sculptures from later in her career. It revealed how Hepworth’s wide sphere of interests comprising music, dance, science, space exploration, politics and religion, as well as events in her personal life, influenced her work.
favourite part of the exhibition:
- I liked how each of the sculptures had variety in colour and size as it made my visit more interesting and compelling.
Water reflections - development 1
Andreas Gurksey
first shoot:
I took these photos with my phone and didn't like how they turned out as they were blurry and I didn't get the clear texture I intended to.
Andreas Gurkseys is a German photographer and professor, his series 'Bangkok' allowed me to focus on aquatic photography. I wanted to go somewhere that I could capture the still nature of the water but also the small ripples and character that the water has as Gursky did, so I went to the River Thames. In 2011 Gursky visited Bangkok and photographed the Chao Phraya River that runs through the city. In his photographs he depicts the fast flowing nature of the river with close up shots that captures the endless mutating ripples of the river.
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favourite photos-
edited photos-
method-
- I opened my image and began to adjust the brightness and contrasts
- I also changed the levels and colour balance to ensure the picture was contrasted and the sole focus was the texture
- Finally I used the Clone Stamp Tool to get rid of the small specs of the photo that didn't blend in with the photo. The Clone Stamp Tool allowed me to cover up the specs so the photo still looked natural but also
Artist and me-
me- artist-
Water reflections - development 2
Roni Hall
Roni Hall (born September 25, 1955) is an American visual artist and writer. The granddaughter of Eastern European immigrants, she was born in New York City, where she lives and works. am inspired by he series 'Still Water', each of her images focuses on a small area of the surface of the river Thames. The colour and texture of these watery surfaces varies dramatically between images: colours range from black to blue and from dark green to khaki-yellow, and in each case the water’s texture is differently augmented by tidal movement and the play of light. The quality of water interests me because of the clarity it has, which is enhanced further through the depth and texture.
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shoot- locations I photographed-
favourite photos unedited:
edited:
I really like the darker and warmer toned images as they almost remind me of supernatural world as the normal is being altered. The edited images also brings the viewers eye to focus on the raw texture which creates a more captivating and memorable image.
method:
- I first opened my chosen image and went to image>adjustments>hue/saturation, I began to alter the hue, saturation and lightness to how I liked.
- Then I went to the colour balance setting and adjusted the red and yellow tones up to mirror how Roni Hall's images turned out.
- Finally I changed the brightness and contrast and raised the contrast to make the image look clean and have lots of texture within it.
Artist and me-
Roni Halls image is very zoomed in on the water in order to focus on the texture, he looks at the ripples and ensured there were contrasting dark shadows and light upon the water. His image has warm tones throughout the water as the main colours are red and brown I tried to recreate this via photoshop as I wasn't able to naturally capture these tones from an unedited photograph.
My image is very clear and not blurry which makes the effect of the texture of the water even more dramatic. Similarly to Roni Hall, I captured the darker shadows contrasting to the parts of the water that the light was directly hitting.
Reflections through puddles - development 3
Rut Blees Luxemburg:
I chose this development next so I could expand my focus to other things so it wasn't too much of the same types of developments.
about her-Rut Blees Luxemburg was born in 1967 she is a German photographer. Blees Luxemburg studied photography at the London College of Communication, she then studied at the University of Westminster in London. Luxemburg is most known for taking photos of urban landscapes at night using a large format camera taking long exposures, exposing the film for several minutes at a time. The only light she uses in her pictures are from the street lights and the surrounding buildings.
What I like about her work- I like her work because of the way she captures strong and unnatural lighting within photographs creating an element of mystery within the photographss. I also like her work because of the different unique and interesting angles such as looking directly down from the tops of buildings, creating unusual perspective and views, making effective pictures that draw you in to find out more. I particularly like the photograph of Cockfosters tube station caught in a reflection of a puddle. The quality of light and clarity of the reflection. |
my first response:
For my first response I only focussed on the reflection in the actual puddle and figuring out how to position/set my camera in order to get a reflection. To do my next response to Blees Luxemburg, I am going to go into Central London in the evening and respond at different tube stations which will follow her successfully executed photos more accurately.
final piece - shoot
final piece:
I decided for my final piece to look at the widespread forms of water rather than Rut Blees Luxemburg's work as I feel it is more captivating and you can create a variety of different images. Also I wanted to combine living subjects into the natural reflections to add even more variety within my final piece.
Nadav Kander:
Nadav Kander’s on-going series, Dark Line – The Thames Estuary, is a personal reflection of the River Thames at its point of connection with the sea, through atmospheric images of its slow-moving dark waters and seemingly infinite horizons. Travelling to the estuary alone over a period of three years, engaging in his process of slow photography, Kander focuses on the cycle of the river, as well as its historical and mystical implications. Immersive, the resulting images explore photography’s ability to encapsulate time and physical borders. This is the series my photos are inspired by especiallly the horizon photographs as they create a dramatic atmosphere.
Nadav Kander’s on-going series, Dark Line – The Thames Estuary, is a personal reflection of the River Thames at its point of connection with the sea, through atmospheric images of its slow-moving dark waters and seemingly infinite horizons. Travelling to the estuary alone over a period of three years, engaging in his process of slow photography, Kander focuses on the cycle of the river, as well as its historical and mystical implications. Immersive, the resulting images explore photography’s ability to encapsulate time and physical borders. This is the series my photos are inspired by especiallly the horizon photographs as they create a dramatic atmosphere.
method:
- I opened the image and a new blank page
- I copied the image three times and then cropped each image into a third
- I put them onto a blank sheet on photoshop and adjusted the size of each third so they were equal
- I went into image>adjustments>contrast/colour balance/levels/brightness/exposure.
Artist and me-
Me- Artists-
conclusion-
Throughout reflections I explored the natural reflections that surround us particularly horizon lines as my final piece. Not only did I take far away shots but I also got an understanding of the texture of water close up by taking images of fast past water with a fast shutter speed. I discovered different artists alone which allowed me to develop my work independently and take full control of the 'reflections' project finding unique inspiration. I also used photoshop very widely to edit and organize my images to achieve different outcomes for the devlopments.
Throughout reflections I explored the natural reflections that surround us particularly horizon lines as my final piece. Not only did I take far away shots but I also got an understanding of the texture of water close up by taking images of fast past water with a fast shutter speed. I discovered different artists alone which allowed me to develop my work independently and take full control of the 'reflections' project finding unique inspiration. I also used photoshop very widely to edit and organize my images to achieve different outcomes for the devlopments.