Statement of Intent
Theme
The theme of my photography is going to be texture, I am going to look at lots of different types of textures, for example, trees, leaves, fruit and metal. My pictures will contain natural and artificial textures. To present my work I have created my own Photography website using the website creator called Weebly, there are a lot of tools that I can use to make my website look professional, organised and easy to navigate. It is very easy for me to upload images either in galleries or alone, I can also add titles to say what is next. The ability to add text boxes is useful as I will be able to do a 'Best and Worst' for my galleries.
Research
I am going to begin by researching photographers that focus on texture. After looking at multiple texture photographers including Edward Weston, Roe Ethridge and Imogen Cunningham I have decided to focus on Edward Weston because of his ability to capture the details and intricate patterns within textures. While doing more research and viewing his images I can see the methods he used and take inspiration. The use of infinity curves almost makes the object in the centre of the image look like it is levitating. Due to Edward Weston's photographs being in black and white it puts emphasis on the shadows, lines and details that would be difficult to notice in a coloured picture.
Initial thoughts
My initial thoughts when I chose this theme were of natural textures like fruit, vegetables, trees, grass and other natural things. But as I've thought about it more I realised that I can combine natural and artificial textures in one image, this could be in a classroom or outside. An example of the two textures together in a picture outside is a car driving on a road with grass and trees surrounding it.
Equipment
To show progression through my work I will upload all of the photographs I take on the Canon DSLR camera provided by the school, and some of my own images I take out of school using my mobile phone camera. I will take some of these images and modify them on Photoshop which I will showcase on my weebly website. I plan to take a wide range of photographs sticking to the theme of texture and improve over time. I have 3 months to produce my Website of work towards the production of my final piece. I aim to complete my initial research within the 3 week and start photographing by the 4th week in order to give me the time I need to show progression.
Experiments
I would like to experiment with the different settings and functions on the manual DSLR camera, for example, aperture, exposure, shutter speed, ISO, white balance etcetera. I will also experiment with different filters and photograph settings on the camera application. When using photoshop I will try to be creative and not over edit my photos.
Progression
As my project progresses I will use text boxes throughout my website to show what I think my best and worst images are for each gallery. This will help me improve my images as I can see where I didn't do as well. I will also present my work to my peers and ask for feedback on how I can make my work better. I will also watch tutorials and demonstrations to help me develop my skills in Photoshop.
What I hope to learn
By the end of Year 11 I hope to learn how to use photoshop on an intermediate level. I would also like to take photographs to the best of my ability.
Research
Edward Weston
Composition
The first thing that catches my attention is that it is in black and white, the impact this has is that it intensifies the texture of the cabbage and enhances the contrast. From the solid black background we can infer that the photographer, Edward Weston, used an infinity curve so there are no visible lines behind the cabbage. You can tell this image was taken in a studio as it has no natural lighting illuminating the cabbage. Due to the background being black with no imperfections, it creates the illusion that the cabbage is floating. Personally, my eye is drawn to the middle of the cabbage as it is dark and has a lot of intriguing lines. As this image was taken in a studio, Edward Weston used an artificial light on the right side of the vegetable. This makes it so some of the cabbage is lit up and others are not lit up. The leading lines on on this vegetable are quite fascinating as it takes your centre of attention all around the vegetable. The photographer, Edward Weston, could have applied a black and white filter after the image was captured or used a black and white camera.
Context
"Edward Weston, an American photographer was born in Highland Park, Illinois. Weston began to make photographs in Chicago parks in 1902, and his works were first exhibited in 1903 at the Art Institute of Chicago. Three years later he moved to California and opened a portrait studio in a Los Angeles suburb. The Western landscape soon became his principal subject matter. In the 1930s, Weston and several other photographers, including Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, and Willard van Dyke, formed the f/64 group, which greatly influenced the aesthetics of American photography. In 1937, Weston received the first Guggenheim Fellowship awarded to a photographer, which freed him from earning a living as a portraitist. The works for which he is famous–sharp, stark, brilliantly printed images of sand dunes, nudes, vegetables, rock formations, trees, cacti, shells, water, and human faces are among the finest of 20th-century photographs; their influence on modern art remains inestimable."
Connection
Edward Weston is relevant because he was a famous photographer that captured images of fruit and vegetables. He is connected because we have also taken pictures of fruit and vegetables in our photography lessons. Edward Weston is a good photographer to research and study about as he is a good inspiration for photographers.
Comment
I personally like Edward Weston's images as he was a fantastic photographer and took excellent images that relate to what we do in Photography.
Edward Weston
Context
I chose this image because it was similar to the previous one and it was captured by the same photographer (Edward Weston).
Composition
This is another photograph captured by the famous photographer Edward Weston. The focus of this photograph is a lettuce leaf which takes up the vast majority of the image. One thing that is different about this image to the previous one is the angle of the light that is shining on the cabbage leaf. One similarity between the two images is that they are both in black and white. From the black background we can infer that the photographer, Edward Weston, utilised and infinity curve, but there are a few lighter lines in the top left corner of the image, this could suggest that the photographer did not use an infinity curve and just had a dark background instead. We can see that the light is positioned above the cabbage leaf as it illuminates the part directly at the top and gets darker as you go down. My eyes are personally drawn to part that is lit up as it is bright and stands out.
Connection
Edward Weston is relevant because he was a famous photographer that captured images of fruit and vegetables. He is connected because we have also taken pictures of fruit and vegetables in our photography lessons. Edward Weston is a good photographer to research and study about as he is a good inspiration for photographers.
Comment
I personally like Edward Weston's images as he was a fantastic photographer and took excellent images that relate to what we do in Photography.
Sandra Bartocha
Composition
Sandra Bartocha thought about the foreground, middleground and background while capturing this photograph. In the foreground in the lower right corner, there is an oak tree with bright green ferns directly in front of it. The contrast between the green and orange ferns make this part of the photograph stand out and seizes your attention. In the middleground there is a combination of oak and birch trees and an abundance of orange ferns with a few green ones mixed with them. In the background I can see a grey colour with a bit of mist which displays the deep depth of field. Starting in the bottom right to the top left corner there is a leading line of trees which concludes at a vanishing point where you can just see dark trees and shadows. From the lone oak tree in the foreground, it is evident that the photographer thought about the rule of thirds before capturing the image. The photograph has been intentionally cropped to remove the top of the trees, this creates the feeling that the viewer of the image is in the image looking forward at eye level.
Context
"Sandra Bartocha is a German freelance photographer who specializes in nature and travel photography. "In 2007 she became a full-time photographer and was elected vice president of the GDT (German Association of Wildlife Photographers). Since 2008 she is the chief editor of the magazine “GDT Forum Naturfotografie”." - information from xritephoto.com
Connections
Sandra Bartocha's photography is linked to what we will be doing in GCSE Photography as we will be going on a trip to a location in the Peak District. When we are there we will take pictures that are very similar to Sandra's landscape images, these photographs will include trees, leaves, water, rocks and more. I will take inspiration from Sandra Bartocha and many more lanscape and texture photographers when I capture my own photographs.
Comment
In my opinion, Sandra Bartocha is an excellent photographer but I personally prefer photographs with more colour and more of an interesting focal point. The use of camera lenses makes the lighting look soft and makes the image look like a painting.
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Mood Board
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Mind Map
Shoot One
For my first shoot I'm going to familiarise myself with the camera settings.
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Shoot Two
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Shoot Three
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Shoot Four
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Shoot Five
For this shoot I'll be going to a location called Padley Gorge in the Peak District.
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Photoshop Developments
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Experimenting with geometric shape edits to stretch my outcomes
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Tutorial used:
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Final Gallery
Evaluation
The main theme was texture. I took many images of natural and man made textures such as trees, leaves, fruit, vegetables, metals, cars and more. This theme allowed me to be creative and find new textures to take photographs of. I thought the theme was good because I was able to take pictures of fascinating textures and things that I like, for example, cars.
In photography I enjoyed using Photoshop as well as taking photographs at location shoots. Padley Gorge was a great location to take images and it was also fun to edit and manipulate them on Photoshop.
Creating and designing a website using weebly.com was just one new skill I learnt during GCSE Photography. Before I started photography I didn't know how to use a manual camera and the settings on it, some of the settings and features we looked at were white balance, ISO and exposure. I knew how to use Photoshop before I began doing photography but I refined my skills and learnt new ways to edit my images.
I would like to further develop my skills on Photoshop, make my edits looks more real and make them more complex and advanced. For a later project I would like to experiment in taking different types of images instead of focusing on just texture.
During this project I did some research on two photographers, Edward Weston and Sandra Bartocha. I looked at these photographers because it is relevant to my work as they are both texture photographers. I used their work as inspiration and an example for my own.
I learnt how to use different software, such as weebly.com and Photoshop to help me create a professional looking portfolio of work. My ability to take good photos improved the more shoots we did.
In my opinion the most successful part of my project was photoshop as I made progress and learned new ways to edit my photographs.
I didn't encounter many problems I can think of but one problem I encountered was not having enough photographs, which I solved by doing another shoot and taking more.
I refined my photography skills by taking photographs and improving each shoot by utilising new settings and features on the cameras. This meant that my more recent images are much better than images from my first shoot.
If I was given the opportunity to do this project again I would like a lot more pictures on each shoot.