Date: 12/02/18
Idea: The main idea that I have for my first shoot is to find various different landscapes and photograph them at different times of day. For example, taking a picture of Harlow town centre during the day when it is filled with people and is busy, and then taking the same image again at night, when it is empty and dark. This shows a clear juxtaposition in time of day. In the editing process, I may layer the images to create a double exposure effect which will enhance the contrast and theme of juxtaposition within the image. I also decided to experiment with taking photographs of juxtaposition in landscape, for example a natural landscape with an urban landscape contrasting each other. Both of these ideas have inspired my first shoot for juxtaposition.
Research Influence
A lot of the images from my first shoot I hope to be based on the work of Frank Gohlke, in particular his 'aftermath' series. His images feature a contrast of urban landscape and natural landscape, which is something that I aim to capture in my images as this is a part of juxtaposition that I am most interested in. During a career spanning nearly five decades, Gohlke has photographed grain elevators in the American midwest; the aftermath of a 1979 tornado in his hometown of Wichita Falls, Texas; changes in the land around Mount St. Helens during the decade following its 1980 eruption; agriculture in central France; and the wild apple forests of Kazakhstan. This inspired his 'aftermath' series which is something that I am aiming to base my juxtaposition photography on.
Image Bank
Contact Sheets
Best Images
Improvement Required Images
There were two images that I selected that needed improvement for a variety of reasons. The first image that I selected I decided needed improvement because looking back on this image, the shutter speed was set too high, letting too much light into the image. Addditionally to this, I did not frame the picture correctly and half of my window is visible in the shot, which looks distracting due to the shutter speed being set at 10 seconds. If I was to improve on this image, I would change the shutter speed setting and make sure that there was good lighting to make the image the best that it can be and would also frame it correctly to create the best possible image.
The second image I selected that needed improvement because I did not have my camera set on the correct ISO, meaning that the image came out too dark and was not able to show the full image composition, therefore I am not able to show the full image and the juxtaposition present in the image. If I was to improve on this image, I would set the correct ISO to the image, the image would have the correct lighting but would also be sharper and more in focus, creating a better final image overall.
AO3: This image was taken at two different points in the day in my garden. This was one of the ideas that I had, which was to take a picture of the same point at two different times of day to show a clear juxtaposition and contrast of both time and landscape. I felt as though this image came out well, as I am able to clearly tell what time of day both images were taken. However, if I was able to improve on this image, I would keep the tripod in the same place and leave the camera zoom on the same position, as the night image came out slightly differently to the day image due to the position of the camera being different.
AO3: This particular image was taken in a graveyard near my house. I felt that this was an interesting image as not only were the flowers away from a grave, which is a typical place for them, but they were artificial flowers and contrasted from the other real flowers in the graveyard. In the editing process, I decided to contrast the black and white with the yellow from the flowers to again, demonstrate the juxtaposition within the image but to also accentuate the artificial yellow colour of the flowers.
AO3: This image, similarly to the image above, was also taken in a graveyard but this image shows a different kind of juxtaposition. I felt that this was an interesting image and tried to capture it in the best way possible due to the fact that this graveyard has gravestones that date back to the late 1700s, and the building that overshadows the graveyard was built in the 21st century. This shows a juxtaposition between urban landscape and natural landscape but also shows a juxtaposition between old and new.
AO3: This image was taken just outside the graveyard where the previous pictures had been taken, but I thought that this was an interesting image for juxtaposition as at the top of the image, there is a tree that appears to be a few hundred years old, and has likely been there since the building of the church. However, in the far distance of the image you are able to see houses, buildings from the town and a modern day street lamp. This shows both a juxtaposition between urban landscape and natural landscape but also shows a juxtaposition between old and new.
AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.
The main idea that I had and the main reason for choosing juxtaposition was that I felt that throughout Harlow, there are various different places, both natural landscape and urban landscape, that present my view of Juxtaposition in a way that I am able to photograph. In this particular shoot, I decided to experiment with a contrast between day and night by shooting in one location in the day, and then doing a follow up shoot in the same location to show the difference in time of day and difference in lighting. I felt as though this was a good idea, but when shooting, I leaned more towards the juxtaposition between natural and urban landscape and objects that contrasted the landscape as when shooting, I came across various different objects that did not belong within the landscape or that contrasted the typical nature of the landscape. I therefore felt that this was something that I could use within my work for the title Juxtaposition. For the day and night shoots, I aimed to follow Frank Gohlke's style closely, as his representation of Juxtaposition was a representation I was most interested in and was what I felt to be the closest relation to Juxtaposition.
The images that I retrieved from my time exploring Harlow and the theme of Juxtaposition turned out well and I felt that overall, I captured it well. However, due to the fact that this was my first shoot on Juxtaposition, I felt as though I could have improved on a few things to make the shoot stronger. For example, I feel as though I could have focused heavier on the day and night juxtaposition, rather than the contrasting landscape juxtaposition. If I was to improve on this shoot, I would take more pictures that show the contrast between day and night, and how the landscape changes depending on time of day.
AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.
For all of the above images, I used a CANON EOS 1300D. I feel as though I am now more confident about shooting in manual mode as I know how to control aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings to be able to capture different images such as my image of my garden at night to show juxtaposition. For most of these images, the flash was not on as I was able to change my shutter speed to let the right amount of light into the image naturally.
In order to improve on the images that I took, I decided to import them into Photoshop in order to enhance them and improve on their composition and the way that they have been shot. In order to do this, I decided to change the levels and use both the healing tool and the burn and dodge tool to accentuate my images and improve on them. I also adjusted the contrast and saturation of the images to allow them to fit in with the style of my photos, which reflect the style of Frank Gohlke and in some photos, Henri Cartier-Bresson. Additionally to this, I used the layering and blending tools to be able to create the image of day and night, which helped me to show a clear juxtaposition.
The screen grabs that I have selected show how I used Photoshop to create juxtaposition images. To do use this, I used the Curves tool and the levels tool, gradually adjusting the colour sliders to get the clear contrast effect. With most of the images, I edited in colour for most of my images, adjusting the contrast and brightness of the image to create the best images for juxtaposition. However, I did use the black and white tool in some of my images to create a clear juxtaposition between the landscape and the object within the images.
Photoshop Process
The artist research that I did was extremely helpful in the fact that I was able to gain an understanding of the different artists and their different styles. Knowing about their style and about any movements they may have been involved in helps me to interpret their work and understand what they were thinking when they took a certain image, and also helps me to recreate these images in my style. Researching various images that they have created helps me to try and recreate these images and then shooting my own images in their style. For example, my research on Frank Gohlke and Henri Cartier-Bresson, and researching the images of these photographers helped me to understand juxtaposition and what types of images I could create, still linking to their style but also reflecting my own style in the process. Additionally to this, I was able to get a better understanding of juxtaposition photography and how you can use this type of photography to capture different aspects of the composition. I feel as though I did relate to the photographer as my images are heavily influenced by Frank Gohlke. However, in order to improve I could have experimented more with his style to create an improved look on my images.
AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.
Overall, I think that I have produced a good series of images inspired by my research and image bank for my first preparatory shoot for juxtaposition. The final images produced were changed by developing the contrast, saturation and using the healing tool and blending or layering images to create an interesting effect onto my juxtaposition photography. I think if I was to improve on this, I would try and take more photographs, as this would help me to have more of a variety of images to choose from when selecting my best images to edit and choose as my final images.
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