Final pieces

From the theme of Power and Dynamism. I have looked at various types of power, including movement such as looking at car movements and people moving. Also I have covered light power, for example using the natural sunlight to create patterned shadows on people to gain this effect. I really found this type of experiment successful as the patterns are very prominent. 

Fernand Fonssagrives

For this shoot I used the natural light outside so that I could create a pattern over the models face. To create the patterns, I used kitchen appliances such as baking trays and colanders. The thing which was most challenging was holding the camera and holding the object up in certain positions. I missjudged the light and over exposed it resulting in some of the images turning out very bright and so the shadows did not show up. I wanted to take the pictures in an outside setting as I wanted to use natural sunlight, which is linked to power and dynamism. 

To develop this picture. I firstly adjusted the levels into Photoshop. Then I changed it into black and white and then adjusted with the colour filter options to make it darker, to make the pattern across her face more prominent. 

For this picture I developed it into Photoshop by adjusting the levels and adding a lens flare. This gave the picture a more warm feeling and increasing the contrast of the picture allowed the line patterns on her face to become more prominent which I really like. I particular like how the lines are formed across her face, and that she is the main focus point. I also like how the background is blurred creating a greater depth of field and to more emphasis on the main subject.

Artist Research

Fernand Fonssagrives

Born in France (1910 - 2003) is revered as one of the earliest and greatest practitioners of 'beauty photography' in the 1940's.  His most memorable work traces the unique partnership he had with his first wife, model Lisa Fonssagrives. Lisa was in fact responsible for Fonssagrives picking up a camera - she gave him a Rollieflex, after his own dance career ended due to a diving injury; "It became," he said, "part of my body." His father a sculptor and a musician mother, Fonssagrives was encouraged to do the things he most loved: science, art, sports, gymnastics and dance. He moved to America aged 18 to continue his studies, and returned to Europe at 21 for military service. His later pictures featured female nudes with patterns of light on their skin.

My Rodchenko photoshoot, inspired me to look into other artists who use patterns to reflective various shapes onto the body. I found Rodchenko's photo shoot successful as I liked how the spots were displayed on her body. I am going to do another photo shoot based on Fonssagrives style photos and also experiment with different shapes and patterns to create different reflections. 

Lois Greenfield

LOIS GREENFIELD

Lois Greenfield (born April 18, 1949) An American photographer best known for her unique approach to photographing the human form in motion. Born in NYC, in which she attended Hunter College Elementary School, the Fieldstone School and Brandeis University. She then majored in Anthropology expecting to become an ethnographic filmmaker but she  became a photojournalist for local Boston newspapers. During the mid 1970's, her career path changed when she was assigned to shoot a dress rehearsal for a dance concert. She has since specialised in photographing dancers not in performance, but in her photo studio as part of her exploration of the expressive potential of movement. She has created countless classic images for the word's most well known dance companies such as Alvin Ailey, Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Bill T Jones/ Arnie Zane and American Ballet Theatre.

In order to explore my theme of power, I intend to go down the route of looking at movement. For this shoot I took pictures of people dancing in mid-action. The dancing represents power and movement and also the pictures are also candid. They knew I was taking the pictures but they are obliviously to the fact I was there, which I liked as the photos are more in a natural state and are real. 

Artist copy

For this shoot, I wanted to focus on the flow of the material in the air; how it effortlessly is thrown in the air and falls differently each time. I wanted to capture the movement of this and also the dancer in mid-action. I decided to take the pictures mainly portrait to get the whole of the material in. The colour blue was used to stand out against the black on the model.

Cyanotype

Cyanotype

Cyanotype is a photographic printing process that produces a cyan-blue print. Engineers used the process well into the 20th century as a simple and low-cost process to produce copies of drawings, referred to as blueprints. The process uses two chemicals: ammonium iron citrate and potassium ferricyanide.
Attempt 1

Aleksander Mikhailovich Rodchenko

Aleksander Mikhailovich Rodchenko, 5th December 1891- 3rd 1956. He was a Russian artist, sculptor, photographer and graphic designer. He was one of the founders of constructivism and Russian design, married to the artist Varvara Stepanova. ''Rodchenko was one of the most versatile constructivist and productivist artists to emerge after the Russian revolution.'' He worked as a painter and graphic designer before turning to photomontage and photography. His photography socially engaged, formally innovative and opposed to a painterly aesthetic. Concerned with the need for analytical -documentary photo series, he often shot his subjects from ''odd'' angles; usually high above or from below. This was done to initially ''shock'' the viewer and to postpone recognition. He wrote ''one has to take several different shots of a subject, from different points of view and in different situations, as if one examined it in the round rather than looked through the same key hole again and again.''

Contact Sheet

I felt like this photoshoot was very successful as my main focus was to capture the reflective elements demonstrated on Rodchenko's original piece. To achieve this, I used a spotted baking tray and made sure the sunlight was shining onto the model to gain the spotty reflection on the models face/body.

I have developed this photos in particular as I really liked how the reflection effect was gained. Firstly to start with I altered the levels creating more tone and depth within the photo. The I used the warming photo filter to give the photo a sepia/black and white colour on top. This made the photo look nostalgic and really made the spot reflections stand out.