Project 1: Street Photography
Street Photography is capturing images of life on the streets, it’s candid so unlike photos taken in a studio the photos are more unplanned, however that means that it’s essential to have good observational skills.Street photography is about observing things happening around you and documenting it through photographs. It’s a very wide genre and can include landscapes and portraiture and still life photography. However the main focus is that street photography must not be set up or staged and is an accurate record of what’s happening.
Eric Kim
Eric Kim is a photographer from San Fransisco born on January 31st 1988. He’s an international street photographer based in Los Angeles. He teaches others the beauty of street photography through his blogs and workshops and helps people to find their own style. He has collaborated with big names such as Magnum, Leica and Invisible Photographer Asia, now he currently teaches a university level street photography course. Kim said that it took him a year or two of experimenting with different types of photography before he found his passion for street. He was first interested by landscape photography, flowers and portraiture but something drew him to street photography, he thinks it was because he is fascinated by people and faces. Photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Andre Kertesz and Robert Doisneau inspired his work.
What I particularly like about his work is that instead of only taking really subtle pictures of people, it looks like approaches them so that they know they are having there photo being taken. I think by doing this it creates a better image because you can see their real expressions and almost their reactions to being asked to have their photo taken. I am very much inspired by his style of photos in particular how he does street portraiture. I’m very fascinated by the angle he uses because he uses a very low down one and it makes the picture look longer.
This image by Kim shows presumably a random member of the public going about their day and looking unimpressed by having their photo being taken. I think this image is really effective because it shows quite a natural and relatable expression that most people would have if you held a camera up to their face and started taking photos. The black and white adds to the miserable mood of this image and also makes it look old as by looking at this image it isn’t very clear when it was taken as it could be fairly recent or decades ago. Compared to his other portrait style street photography images, I think this shows the most honest and natural expression as in his other pictures people rather have a straight face or are smiling but in this one, the woman looks angry and unimpressed. This image is quite humorous and I would like to recreate something like this if I were to just randomly go up to someone and take a picture and see how they react.
I also like these style of street photography portraits by Kim because I think it’s interesting how he’s captured close up and personal images of strangers. The black and white images stand out to me because it seems that the models in them always have quite distinctive features which makes every photo look very different despite them being shot in very similar ways. I also like the portraits that are in colour because he’s taken them at quite an unusually low down and unflattering angel. Also, Kim would have had to have considered the time he took these images because the sun is shining directly on their faces with their shadow underneath. Also, I think the colours in the images are really strong and bold and make a change from generic black and white street photography images.
Anna Delany
Anna Delany is a photographer based in New York and New Zealand. Delany photographs street life in it’s truest from and shows what the streets of New York and New Zealand are actually like in certain areas. Her images are all in black and white and she varies her subjects from people to walls of graffiti and buildings. She varies her subject matters from people, to walls of graffitti etc and she generally takes photos landscape as opposed to portrait which is why it’s quite easy to recognise her work. I’m quite inspired by her work and her use of black and white and I think for one of my shoots will take that into consideration. What I like about black and white is that it has the ability to age a photo so it isn’t obvious what year the photo was taken.
These are all examples of Anna Delany’s street photography. These are some of my favourites of hers that I have looked at, I really like her style and feel like I can take inspiration from a lot of her photos. She uses a variety of subject matters from people to graffiti and animals and abandoned places. I think that her images are so effective and work well together because they’re all in black and white and it gives them a dark and dangerous feel. For example the image of the dog really stands out to me because in the photo I think the dog is made to look quite scary because of the angle it’s taken at making it’s head look really big and the black and white, however I think if the image was in colour and it was shot at a different angle the image would have a less intense and more innocent atmosphere. It’s the same with the photos of the men, because it’s in black and white and because of their postures and the angle of the photo, the men look quite intimidating and it gives the photo that dark and less inviting atmosphere. Another one of her photos that really stands out to me is the one with the man who is wearing the American flag underneath his cap standing in front of the important looking building. This image has a feel of patriotism to it and shows what America looks like in this day and age, I think the flag being worn in that way and the piece of architecture behind it works really well.
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Henri Cartier-Bresson, August 22 1908 – August 3 2004, was a French humanist photographer. A humanist photographer is photographic movement made up of photographers whose focus is on human beings in their everyday life. He was considered a master of candid photography and was a pioneer of the style of street photography.
Cartier-Bresson grew up with his family in a middle class neighbourhood in Paris. His parents supported him financially so that he could pursue photography. From 1928-1929, Cartier-Bresson studied art, literature and English at Cambridge university where he became bilingual. Around this time was when there was conscription for the French Army, however Cartier-Bresson’s air squadron placed him under house arrest for hunting without a licence. At this time Cartier-Bresson made friends with Harry Crosby an American expatriate who persuaded the commandant to release him into custody for a few days. This was when Crosby present Cartier-Bresson with his first camera as the pair discovered they both had an interest in photography. Cartier-Bresson returned to France in late 1931 and discovered his relationship with the surrealists. He became inspired by a photograph by photojournalist Martin Munkacsi showing three young African naked boys running into a lake, this image captures freedom, grace and spontaneity. This inspired Cartier-Bresson to stop painting and take photography seriously.
Cartier-Bresson is very famous for being one of the founders of Magnum photos along with Robert Capa, David Seymour, William. Vandivert and George Rodger. Magnum was a cooperative picture agency owned by its members, they would split photo assignments among the members. For example, Cartier-Bresson would be assigned to India and China where he would capture street photography showing what life looked in those countries.
Cartier-Bresson is different from the other two photographers that I researched, this is because his photos were taken in the 40’s and 50’s and he would have used a film camera not digital. Also, he’s a very experienced photographer and has travelled around places scubas India and China as well as Europe so has a lot of different variations of culture that he’s captured. Some of his images show poverty and others show businessmen walking carrying their briefcases which show two opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of class and lifestyle. The image in the top left shows two men sat down and another man leaning out of a window, when put into words this picture sounds very minimalistic and boring but the composition that Cartier-Bresson has used makes this photo very interesting. The men are dressed up in shirts and hats, all looking in different directions and are surrounded by scrap material, it shows what day to day life looked at that time and compared to now there is an evident difference. Another photo of his which stands out to me is the one with the person walking up the stairway with dozens of birds surrounding them flying. I think this photo is really powerful and it’s as if the roles have swapped because it looks as if that stairway should be filled with people, instead that one person who’s gender is hard to identify in this image stands alone surrounded by a flock of birds. I would love to be able to capture a chaotic photo like this, using a fast shutter speed capturing perhaps a flock of birds because they are always found on the street.
These are probably my three favourite street photography images by Cartier-Bresson, they’re all very different and stand out in their own way. The top left image shows three women on the streets of Alicante, Spain. It seems like they are pampering each other as one of them is holding a nail file. I like this image because I think it’s really random as these women could be friends or work together or perhaps they only met that day and I like how you don’t know and can make your on mind up and create a story just from that image. The image next to it is a dark and misty image showing people walking on the streets of Portugal. When I look at this image I imagine that all the people are workers coming home from a day of work judging by their long coats and briefcases. I think the fog and darkness of this image reflects the depressing mood of working a 9-5 job everyday and living the same day over again. The bottom image is probably my favourite out of his work that I have looked at. It shows a group of Muslim women on the slopes of Hari Parbal Hill praying toward the sun rising behind the Himalayas. This image was taken in Srinagar, Kashmir, India and I think its still classed as street photography but it just looks different to other images because this is what day to day street life looks in this area. It’s interesting because you can see the contrast in cultures from looking at this image compared to the first one of the three Spanish ladies.
Shoot 1: Bristol
This was my first shoot for my first idea generation of street photography. Overall I’m really happy with this shoot however the one thing that could be better is that I didn’t completely follow the rules of street photography. Generally, the photos are meant to be unplanned but I asked two people to model for me and took photos of them because I knew i would be able to take some effective candid photos. In some of the images, you can tell that i have asked them to model but in others they look as if they are just random members of the public that I have captured. I took this shoot in Stokes Croft where there is a lot of graffiti and side roads that I thought would work well for this project. I’m going to edit some photos in black and white and some in colour because normally I prefer street photography in black and white but the graffiti in some of the pictures is really vibrant and would be a shame to waste.
These a selection of some of my best and favourite images from my first street photography shoot from this project. I decided to visit the areas of Stokes Croft and Gloucester Road in Bristol because it’s a place filled with graffiti and bright posters which I think brighten up an image. I am very proud of these photos and I am happy that I decided to do a big shoot because it meant I had a lot to edit and work with. Even though street photography is meant to be unplanned and spontaneous and did decided to break that rule and use models but I took candid shots of them so it isn’t like a studio environment where it’s more posed.
Shoot 2: Amsterdam
These images were my examples of street photography shot in Amsterdam. I found it was really easy to capture quality street photographs because Amsterdam is a large city with lots of architecture. I managed to not only capture the city but the people and tourists of Amsterdam. It’s a very scenic place and my images vary from the canals to different buildings and alley ways. I was also very fortunate that the weather was mostly sunny for the duration of my trip which meant the lighting was good and bright as a lot of my images were taken outside. I feel like this shoot is very different my previous one in Bristol, not just because of the surroundings but also because the people in these images are mainly just strangers so it isn’t posed.
These are my final favourite images from my trip to Amsterdam, I had taken hundreds of photos but these are a few of my most effective images that showed the streets of Amsterdam from my point of view. I decided to edit most of my images in black and white because personally, I think street photography images (unless they contain very bright and vibrant colours) look better in black and white but there were a few exceptions. A lot of my favourite images were just ones of the public walking around the streets of Amsterdam completely unaware that they were being photographed, I also like how in a photo you generally can’t tell who’s a tourist and who actually lives there which I think is interesting because it’s as if everyone is the same.
Evaluation:
Overall I have really enjoyed this project and have found more of a love for street photography. I have taken some very successful shoots of Bristol as well as Amsterdam and will struggle to narrow it down to six best images to print off for my final images for this project. I am particularly proud of my Amsterdam photos because I have a lot of images of the public unaware that they were being photographed which created really strong images. One thing that I would consider for the future is to try and have less of a plan with these types of shoots as street photography is meant to be spontaneous and are meant to show locations for what they are truly like instead of being set up. That is one of the few criticisms that I would have for myself about this project, that and not taking as many shoots. I only took one shoot in Bristol and did multiple but merged it as one in Amsterdam because when I do a shoot I take hundreds of images so I felt like I didn’t need to take any more shoots. However, I know that isn’t the attitude to have because I should have visited a lot more locations, at different times, capturing different people to get a strong variety of images.
Final Images from Street Photography Project
Project 2: Proper Bristol Postcard
The Peoples republic of Stokes Croft are running a Postcard competition to produce imagery that truly identifies what Bristol is about. They are looking for images that will help define what Bristol is to the people that live there.
For this postcard, they are looking for images that truly show what Bristol is like as opposed to the stereotypical images of Clifton Suspension Bridge and hot air balloons etc. Bristol is a very arty, diverse and unique city and that is what I want my images to show. I think these images need to show Bristol’s true identity and what someone who lives there see’s from day to day, such as the people on the street, the traffic and the general chaos of the city.
Planning
First shoot:
This was my first shoot for the postcard project, I have quite a mixed variety of images because I didn’t have a very organised plan and didn’t really know what I waned to shoot. I decided to photograph some scenes by the harbour including the graffiti of Wallace and Gromit which is a beloved tv program from Bristol which is seemed appropriate for a Bristol based postcard. I also decided to photograph a man sat on the streets who was presumably homeless as there is a lot of homelessness seen in Bristol, however I did ask his permission out of respect before taking this image to which he responded with “alright if I put my hood up”. The other images were taken just up from the bear pit showing an asian restaurant and more graffiti of Bristol. Overall I am happy with this shoot but I think some photos are a lot stronger than others in showing Bristol. The strongest contenders out of this shoot would probably be the ones with the man sat down and the ones of the Chinese restaurant.
These are my best images from my Bristol postcard shoot, all of these images I think have the potential to win the competition as they all show Bristol in their own way. The first two images are very similar because I liked them both in colour and black and white. I like the colour because of the vibrant red and the lighting on the sign which stands out against the bland dark building, however I also like it in black and white because it looks quite rugged and run down showing Bristol at its not so glamorous. The next photo was also shot in the same location showing people getting out of the car with large bags stepping out into Bristol looking pleased. I like how from the angle that I taken this it shows the people surrounded by graffiti and Bristol culture. The next image shows Wallace and Gromit in graffiti form wearing modern clothing looking completely different to how they normally look. I like this because it combines Bristol’s art and television creations which I think would be suitable for the postcard. The last image shows the homeless man sat on the street which again would be suitable for the postcard as unfortunately, there is a lot of homelessness in Bristol, therefore showing what Bristol is really like.
From previous shoot:
I decided to also include these photos from my previous street photography shoot because I think they show Bristol. These photos were taken around Stokes Croft and the Bearpit where there is a lot of graffiti and side roads which work well in photos. I thought it would be a shame to not use these photos as they work so well and are so fitting for this project. I also have a mixture of some candid and some posed images but I think the more candid ones would be better because I want my photos to show what Bristol and the people of Bristol really look like as opposed to a posed and set up version. However the bottom image of the man standing next to graffiti is an exception because I think this is a strong image and I like the story behind it, basically that man painted the graffiti and I was walking down the stairs with my camera and he saw that I was taking photos and he was really proud of his work and wanted me to photographic next to it and he was really enthusiastic. I also really like the photo above it with the group of people sitting on the steps outside of the homeless centre because it shows how Bristol is about community and trying to help people. Another image I like is the third image with the boy sat by the ‘Welcome to Stokes Croft’ sign. I think it’s effective and stands out because of the bright colours and the boy sat awkwardly next to the sign makes the image quite comical. I think by combining the images from this shoot and the previous shoot I will have some really strong pictures for the competition.
Final 5 images:
These are my final five images that I entered into the competition. I think I have quite a good variation of images which all show the city in its truest form. The first image I wanted to use because I think it’s an effective candid shot of a group of people communicating outside of a homeless centre, it shows how Bristol is about community. I also like the bright colours in the image it makes it seem more positive. The next image I wanted to include because Bristol is well known for it’s art culture, particularly graffiti as it’s home to the likes of Banksy. I took this image in the Bearpit where the walls are filled with bright colours and graffiti, I was lucky enough to catch the graffiti artist in the image in time just as he had finished his painting as he asked me to get a photo of him stood next to it. The next image has a similar theme of graffiti but I liked this image because it shows even when Bristol isn’t in colour it’s still an interesting filled with art and messages like the one written on the wall ‘From a city of openness, imagination and originators- a strategy for Bristol culture’. The next image shows a slightly more dark and negative side of Bristol which is a big issue, homelessness. Despite my first image showing community and people helping each other, it doesn’t change the fact that there are still people on the streets and I want this image to bring awareness of this image. The final image also shows a less glamorous looking version of Bristol. Despite Bristol having some amazing views such as the Harbourside and places like Clifton, he majority of the time its filled with run down looking places such as this and the puddles on the floor also show how Bristol is also home to rainy rubbish weather just like everywhere else in Britain.
Evaluation:
Overall, I would deem this project successful and I have enjoyed working on it and showing my interpretation of Bristol. I have captured a range of images showing Bristol in different ways and showing the good and the bad of the city. I think if we had more time for this project, I’d like to have taken more shoots so I would have a lot more choice in the photos that I entered however I am happy with the images that I have and think they are strong pictures that could win the competition.
Project 3: Environmental Landscape
Environmental landscape photography concerns recording the world around us. It can range from urban scenes and the effect of humanity on the landscape, right the way through to sweeping beach seascapes and the tranquillity of an unaltered natural world. The Environmental landscape image might highlight the concerns of a damaged world or it could celebrate the beauty of spaces around us.
Research- mixed media photography
Idea 1- Painting/screen printing:
This is an example of mixed media photography, these are street/architectural photographs that have been painted or screen printed. I think these look really effective because architectural and street photography images normally don’t have a lot of colour in and can look quite bland but in these examples the photos contain a lot of vibrant colours which completely change the whole photo and creates a very surreal look.
Idea 2- collage/layering
Another idea that appeals to me is printing of an image and making a collage or layering other images and materials over it. I like this idea because even just by layering one material over and image it completely changes and looks abstract. If I were to do this I think I would probably use a portrait because I think they look most effective and I feel like there’s a lot of different things you can do with a portrait. You could simply just use one image but layer different filters over it like the one of the boy on the bottom right where it looks like it’s just one image but there’s different black and white and colour versions layered over the top of it.
Idea 3: Drawing/painting/writing over images
Another idea that I have for this project is to take a portrait, print it out and do a mixture of painting writing and drawing over it. I think this a simple yet effective technique, I think it makes the photo look 3D particularly in the middle photo of the tracing of the girls face, I also like how they have traced it in pink because it adds that needed bit of colour in the image to make it stand out.
Michael Perna
Michael Perna, born and raised in South Florida (Pompano Beach) is an American pop artist/photographer. His work is very 80’s Andy Warhol inspired because of the bright pop art colours he uses. He has been surrounded by tropical colours and the art deco style architecture of Miami and having he has always admired the art trends from the late 80’s and 90’s which is very evident in his work. Creativity and innovation are his two favourite words which is reflected in his work, he considers himself a ‘photo hoarder’ and is always thinking of new ways to inspire.
These images show scenes of New York taken by Perna, I like how he has decided to use really bright colours to brighten up the dull colours of the city. I also like the angles that he uses in the images where the camera is pointing up towards the top of the building because it makes the buildings seem huge and in charge. I think I am going to take a lot of inspiration from Perna’s work as I want to do a shoot in Bristol of buildings and architecture and I will take inspiration not only from the subject matter but the colours and angles that Perna has used. I will also be visiting London so I will be able to capture some impressive architecture images there which will make a bigger link to Perna’s work as both our photos would be of famous cities.
Alma Haser
Alma Hasser born 1989 in the Black Forest, Germany is a photographer, now based in London and on the southeast coast. She is well known for her abstract portraiture which is a result of her creativity and background in fine art. Instead of creating traditional portrait photography, Hasser adds to her photographs by using different paper folding techniques seen in the images above such as weaving and printing out the photo twice and scrunching one up and sticking it back over to create a crinkled effect. She also uses collage and other mixed media to manipulate her portraits which makes her work recognisable. She has won awards for her work including Magneta Foundation’s Bright Spark Award in 2013 for her ‘Cosmic Surgery’ series including the image from the top right of the woman face in an almost kaleidoscope looking shape.
I really like Hasser’s work and like how she has her own style and it’s very easy to recognise her work by the colour and unique mixed media techniques that she uses. Her photo’s are quite simple and minimalistic on their own which is why techniques like scrunching up the paper work so well because it takes a plain photo and gives it a bit more of life and makes it more eye-catching. I’m particularly inspired by that style of her photos because I think it would be quite easy to achieve whilst still looking effective. I will take some portraits of a few different models and experiment with different techniques such as scrunching up paper and weaving etc. However I won’t take photos like Hasser in a studio, instead I’ll take them outside with natural lighting probably against a brick wall.
Marko Dutka
Marko Dutka is a Bristol based photographer who specialises in wedding, portrait, fashion and commercial photography. Dutka had an exhibit running from the 5th September to the 18th November which was called ‘At the Going Down of the Sun’ which was a four year photo project commemorating the century of World War One. It pays tribute to the people who lost their lives over the last 104 years who are remembered at sites in Bristol and Bath.
The reason why I decided to visit this exhibit was because it was some of the work in this exhibit was mixed media as Dutka would include a barcode next to some images where you could hear the story behind the photo. I think this is a really unique and interesting way to incorporate mixed media into your work. I am very inspired by this however I feel it would take a long time to accomplish as after all this project took Dutka 4 years to complete. His photos show light trails from planes as well as war graves all captured in a respectful way that show those who have lost their lives.
Dutka says “I am delighted that the exhibition will be displayed in the Cathedral. Unlike a whitewall exhibition space, the Cathedral provides a contemplative space, it also has a particular context for it is itself a graveyard and site of memorialisation. The opportunity to raise memorials to the “ordinary” people of Bristol within architecture that is dedicated to the ‘great and good’ will be a fitting tribute to their extraordinary sacrifice”.
Experimental Images
Experiment 1: Mod Podge transfer
This is my first experiment for the mixed media project, I am using Mod Podge to transfer an image onto a piece of wood. I didn’t include this idea with my other ones because this is just an experiment and I used an old image because I haven’t taken the photos for my first proper shoot for this project yet. However, I didn’t use any random old image, I chose one that I thought would work well for this experiment.
How it works:
First of all I chose this image from my street photography shoot that I didn’t ever use as a best edit or anything and thought it would be a waste not to use it because it’s a strong and bright image. Then I printed it out in A4 because I wanted to transfer it onto a piece of wood which is slightly bigger than the image. It was between a piece of wood or a mirror that I was going to use but I chose wood because I preferred the end result of it.
When you have your image, you need to get the bottle of Mod Podge that is suitable for the material you’re working on, so for me wood, then get a paint brush and place the image on some newspaper to avoid mess. Then start spreading an even layer of Mod Podge on the top of the image and lay it face down on the wood, it needs to be as flat as possible with no bubbles or creases so it’s a good idea to go over it with something like a credit card to flatten it out. However, as it was my first attempt, it did have a lot of bubbles in it which I couldn’t completely flatten down because of how I laid it down so when doing that step you need to ensure you lay it completely flat.
After that, it needs to be left to dry which doesn’t take long around 30mins – 1 hour and you need to start scrubbing away the paper using a damp sponge and gently running it over the paper. The paper slowly starts to come away making the image more visible, however this takes a few attempts of rubbing the paper off and leaving it to dry until the image will start to show up properly. These images below show the different stages of this process after rubbing down the paper with water and leaving it to dry again.
This is what my mod podge transfer looks like now that it’s finished. I am happy with the outcome and think I chose a good photo to use because street photography images are sometimes meant to look scruffy and this is exaggerated by the accidental rips in the final outcome. Despite having tears and rips in it from where I didn’t lay the image completely flat when sticking it down, I think it still looks good and hasn’t completely ruined it. Even though I do like the outcome of this, I think I still want to experiment and see what other techniques I can use for my final piece.
Shoot Plan:
- I want to take some portraits that I can use so I can create some images inspired by Alma Hasser where I cut out the face of an image and stick it back over the top of the original to create a abstract crinkled effect.
- I will be taking these images outside as I am unable to use the studio for this project.
- I will take these photos against a brick wall or something with texture as opposed to a boring plain white background with no character.
Shoot 1
This was a quick shoot that I took because I needed some portraits to print out for one of my mixed media ideas. This wasn’t a very planned shoot but I only needed a few images of different people to use and I decided to shoot them against a red brick wall because I wanted the background to be reasonably plain because the main focus is the models however I thought a plain white wall would be quite generic and boring. I think there’s quite a lot of things I could do with these photos but my main intention of taking them was to paint/put makeup over them, like I showed in my third idea of my idea generation. However, I could also create a collage and cut out different parts of the models faces and stick them over each other like I showed in my second idea, which is why I’m glad I have photos of boys and girls because they’re features stuck together could create an unusual outcome.
Experiment 2:
These images show an experiment that I did by printing out a portrait twice and using one as a base layer and one to cut out. I cut out the around the face and decided to scrunch it up and then glue on top of the image. The photo that I use to cut up was the edited version which you can see because the colour is slightly different which adds to the effect. This was quite a simple technique that I wanted to test after looking at images where people have done this which I added in my research mood boards.
Expriment 3:
This is another example of a mixed media technique I experimented with. Firstly, I decided to start outlining the main features in this photo with colourful pens and however because obviously the photo is in black and white the colours didn’t show up very strong, so after I finished outlining I wasn’t really satisfied with the outcome which is when I decided to combine another idea along side it. I decided to start making a collage out of the writing of newspapers and sticking it over the models clothes. This experiment was quite improvised which is why the outcome isn’t one of my best but I think it is different to my other pieces and is still part of my experimental stage.
Other rough experiments:
Shoot plan:
- I’m going to take great inspiration from the artist Michael Perna because I’m going to do a shoot where I take architecture/landscape images around Bristol, which I can then edit in black and white and create a screen print from using a bright colour.
- I’m going to shoot in portrait because the it creates the illusion that buildings are bigger than they are and that is a similar style to Perna.
- I will take these photos later on in the day, hopefully when the weather is quite cloudy because I will be shooting from an angle point up toward the sky and I don’t want the sun to make the photos too bright.
- I will shoot a wide range of subject matters so I have lots of options photos that I could use for different mixed media techniques.
Shoot 2
This was my second shoot for the mixed media project where I decided to take building and architecture based photos. I took these images around the backstreets of Broadmead in Bristol where there’s a lot of tall buildings and alleyways. This shoot was taken for my screen printing idea where I am going to edit one of these images in black and white and using a stencil making certain areas of the image a bright and vibrant colour. Not only will I be using these images for that technique but I could also create a collage from these photos by cutting up and sticking parts of buildings to one another. When taking these images I was very much inspired by the artist I researched, Michael Perna’s work and I tried to use some of the same angles that he has used in his work.
Final Outcome
For my final outcome, at first I was going to follow my first idea that I made a mood board of in my research which was the idea of screen printing. However, I’ve decided to not do screen printing as the process is too long and I don’t have the resources available for me to be able to do it. So, instead of doing that process, I am going to do something similar where I print my black and white building images on to coloured card which will create a very similar effect to screen printing.
For this image, I decided to print it on a pink bit of card using the inkjet printer, and then outlining the border of the buildings with newspaper. This was quite a tricky process to try and get the newspaper to be all the same width and for it to outline the buildings evenly. However, I think this is my favourite out of the three images because I like how the dull black and white newspaper contrasts with the vibrant pink building. However, I think if I were to do this again I would spend more time measuring and cutting out the bits of newspaper so it looks more neat and tidy, although I think the messiness adds to it.
This image was taken in London, it’s of the Natural History Museum, I decided to print this image out on orange paper because I thought it would compliment the brick work of the building. I also decided to cut up some pink card and stick it on the empty space of sky in the image to add make it look more busy and so it linked to my other image where I cut up newspaper and stuck it around the border of the building.
This was another one of my pieces from my final three, for this one I decided to print off the same photo twice, once on pink and once on orange. Then, I decided to cut the orange image in half then line it up with the image on the pink and stick it on top. This idea was very much inspired by Alma Hasser as I took inspiration from her work where she would print out the same photo twice, scrunch it up and then stick it back over.
This is my final outcome for the mixed media project. I decided to create a series of images and print them out on coloured card and almost collage over them. I was ver inspired by two artists in particular that I researched, Michael Perna and Alma Hasser. I think my final outcomes are evidently inspired by Perna because of the brightly coloured architecture images, when creating my final piece I took into consideration the colour and angles that he uses. I was also partially inspired by Hasser when it came to finishing off the photos by sticking bits of paper and card over them, in particular the image in the middle of the orange and pink building, as it’s the same photo printed twice but one was cut up and stuck over the other which is the same technique that she uses with her work. I think these images all work well together because they have similar subject matters and I wanted the same kind of colour scheme for them all of pink and orange.
Evaluation:
Overall, I would consider this project successful as I have explored and researched a range of different mixed media techniques and created my own unique final outcome. I am very happy with my final outcome and think it shows a good result of my research and shows how my first attempts have developed and progressed. I was particularly inspired by the artist Michael Perna and I think that is evident by my final outcome. If I were to re do this project, I think I would have liked to have been more experimental and thought more outside of the box with my ideas. One idea that I would have liked to have tried would have been sewing over an image but I did not have enough time to do that as well as my other work.
Evaluation
Bibliography
izzybranton.wordpress.com 