Color Portraits- My Work in Progress (2nd Set)

Color Portraits- My Work in Progress

Shizuka Yokomizo- Photographer Research

 Shizuka Yokomizo is a photographer from Japan that concentrates her work on the experience and reactions between photographer and subject. While looking at her work at first, I saw that the photos are very plain and almost "mug shot" feeling because of the plain pose of her subjects, but as I looked more into her work, I learned that she was going for this very direct connection. From 1998 to 2000, she worked on a series called Stranger where she anonymously left a letter for people telling them that she would be back by their house at a certain point to photograph them through the window. She did explain that this was all voluntary and that you could signal your pass on the efforts through closing your curtains. It is an interesting series of photos because it shows what people wear and are doing at that exact moment in time. It makes the viewer fell as if they should maybe not be peeking at these people through the window like the artist forces us to do. I also like how the artist uses the window pane and frame to frame the photo. The high contrast of the window frame gives a great contrast, forcing you to look inside at the figure, rather than at the actual window.

Blog Prompt #7 Reply

Pay close attention to the types and number of photographic portraits you see in one day. Where did you see them? How do you think that the content of the portrait changes based on the context in which you see the image (news, Facebook, magazine, advertisement, television, Youtube, etc)? In other words, what is the difference between the portraits you see on Facebook vs. those on the news? What is the difference between the “viewpoint” of the photographer in each situation? What is the difference between their “intents”?

I believe that our generation is exposed to way more photos in a day than any other generation older than us. This is do to the mass amounts of social networking going on as well as the increase in technology. We are on the same level of exposure as other generations while watching the news or TV, but it is Facebook that sets us well above the older generations. When I think about how many photos I see in a day, it is insane. Facebook alone, can feed your mind with a ton of portraits, even down to the display photo by everyone's names. There is a large separation though between photos we see on these networks and the photos that we see in commercials and the news. Facebook photos are much more casual, candid, and impromptu. They are often times photos of friends, couples and families instead of the ideal, edited and smoothed faces that we see on television, in magazines and advertisements. The viewpoint of the photographer is often much different in personal Facebook photos as well. The most common viewpoint is when we see people holding their point and shoot cameras out in front of them and photographing themselves and the people next to them. These cameras have allowed us to not even need another person to photograph us. The intents behind these different types of photos vary too. The ones we see on Facebook are far more relaxed, fun and casual, while professional portraits are more thought out, lit well and planned. All in all, a photograph, no matter what type is interesting to look at...at least for me anyways!

Blog Prompt #6 Reply

In your opinion, when is it beneficial, ethical, or appropriate to digitally alter photographic portraits? When do you think it is inappropriate or ethically wrong?

This is a great question that I face everyday, while editing for my photography business. I am very big into senior portraits, family portraits, and child portraits. In family and child portraits, I don't have to ask myself this question very often, but during the editing process of senior photos, I question this debate all the time. With this age group of kids I am working on, blemishes and not-so-perfect complexion is so common! For many of my seniors, I don't feel so bad smoothing their skin or doing spot healing on their face, because they ask me to. Girls especially, are so self conscious about the smallest bump on their face and are constantly asking me to fix it, but guys not so much. I have shot for seniors in the past that haven't mentioned their skin and when I get to Photoshop, I have to ask myself if they will be offended by me softening their skin or not. Also, sometimes it isn't the question of whether I should or not, but more the question of "How much is TOO much?" I have looked at many photographers' work online and notice that they doctor up people way too much in the editing process giving the feel that their seniors faces are porcelain. This is just not my style because I like to keep it real looking too. Another issue that some photographers may come across is whether it is appropriate to heal a scar, beauty mark, or birthmark from someone's body. Just because we may see a birthmark as distracting in a photo, the subject may not. We have to remember as artists that we are trying to capture the REAL person in our photos and not what we think is ideal!

Blog Prompt #5 Reply

Give your thoughts on one or both of the following quotes...

“Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face, the beauty of the earth and skies that man has inherited, and the wealth and confusion man has created. It is a major force in explaining man to man.” ~Edward Steichen




“I just think it's important to be direct and honest with people about why you're photographing them and what you're doing. After all, you are taking some of their soul.” ~Mary Ellen Mark


Steichen's quote is very true in my opinion. With the different types of photographs in the world, we are all shooting for different things. Nature photographers seek the challenge of conveying beauty and awe, while portrait photographers are more looking for emotion and a story behind the face. Portraits where the subject's eyes are just locked on the lens seem to cause a deep connection with the viewer. The viewer of the portrait is instantly forced to read that person's eyes and guess what that person is feeling, thinking or trying to convey with their glare.

On the other hand, I disagree with Mark's quote to a certain extent. I do believe that most people should be notified if you are taking a photo of them. There are two different "whys" to why you are taking the photos though. The reason as to where it will be published or where their picture will be used should be discussed with the subject. But the purpose you are trying to get out of the subject, or the intent of the photograph should stay in your mind. Say you are trying to capture the grumpy and down feeling of an old man, you probably won't go up to the guy and say "Hey! You look like a grumpy old bump on a log which is exactly what I am aiming for...can I take your photo?" Some things should just rest silent in the mind of the artist.

Assignment 2 (0) Portrait Recreation

British Vogue by Nick Knight

For this assignment, we were instructed to find a portrait photographer that we are inspired by and recreate one of their portraits in our own way. I decided to recreate a portrait by Nick Knight who is a fashion photographer because I really appreciated his use for soft, diffused lighting.

Portrait Recreation by Sam Stawara

The way that I executed this type of portrait was first by finding a subject. My roommate was not too thrilled to pose for a portrait, but I was eventually able to get her to agree to the challenge. We studied Knight's figure in his portrait and positioned my subject accordingly. She was lit with two lamps from my apartment which unfortunately cast more shadows than I was looking for. I played around with bouncing light as well as diffusing it with a white sheet. After shooting around for a bit, we were able to get a pretty good replication of the original photo. I then imported the image into photoshop where I worked on softening my subject to match the softness and smoothness of Knight's subject. I tried to stay away from over softening and blurring my subject to keep it my own piece. Overall, I am pretty happy with my recreation, although I would be much happier, had I been able to use my studio lighting that I have back home at my parents home. It is much more diffused and larger than just a nightstand lamp which would have allowed me to light my subject and the surrounding area. I would like to continue my education in portraits, because that is the area I would like to continue my concentration in.

Assignment 1: Explore

We were assigned to choose our favorite and most effective of our shots for this assignment to share on our blog. Here are three of the twelve final images we needed to get.

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Set 20: Color in Motion Photo

"Dancing Droplets" by Sam Stawara

Written Statements Part 1:


Composition
I decided to frame this photo with a diagonal composition to really enhance the dynamic feel of it. I have a habit of tiltiing my camera. I am glad that I did on this photo though, because I feel it would be way too linear if I were to shoot with the horizon line straight. I also bent down a bit so that I could see the water rise, rather than shooting down on it. Another part of the photo that I aimed to get was the black area of the sewer grate. I really like how it creeps in out of the corner to balance out the rest of the dark areas in the photo. It also helps because it gives a dark background for the water droplets to rest upon, giving them much more dimension.


Concept/Aboutness/Idea
The idea and concept I was trying to convey while shooting this photo, was a moment in time. I wanted to capture something that we don't always get to see with our naked eye. I have always had a love for shooting water with a fast shutter speed because it almost gives an "ice-like" quality to the photo. I wanted the idea of the photo to be about stopping motion.


Method
My method is kind of explained above in the composition section as well. I did bend down to get closer and lower to my subject. I wanted to make sure that I shot this in high levels of warm light, so this photo was taken around sunset sort of in the evening. I didn't really have to sketch this photo out or anything because I was just walking around and taking photos and came across this cool fountain by Pizza Pi in East Lansing.


Motivations
My goal with this photo relates closely to any sports photographer's work in the sense that it is capturing a subject at high speed. My photos are most obviously different from these types of photos too though because of the fact that my subject is water droplets and not athletes. There isn't really any larger work relating to my photo other than the message of beauty. I want my viewers to see the beauty of water in all forms, but in this case, droplet form.


Written Statements Part 2:


Interpretation
Others interpreted my image just how I would want them to. They felt the playfulness of the stop action and liked the composition.


Evaluation
The only thing that wasn't really working in the image that I got critiqued on was possibly playing around with the color. As much as I appreciate constructive criticism, I feel like I want to ignore this one lol. I really like the warmish, yet sort of cool colors I get from this photo.


Extension
I would LOVE to use this photo as a jumping off for a series of stop motion water. I would continue this more with colored water, splashing water, running water and so on. Hopefully I will have an opportunity in the future part of this class to take the idea and run with it!

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Set 5: High Contrast Lighting Photo

"Blue is Knot Bold" by Sam Stawara

Written Statements Part 1:


Composition
Like all my photos, I decided to shoot this with a diagonal composition so that it had an elongated and looking down feel to it. I also really liked the visual tension between the rope going up and to the left and the fence post going up and to the right. I wanted to also put a bunch of emphasis on the strength of the knot.


Concept/Aboutness/Idea
I feel like my image is about the strength and pattern of a knot. This idea is supported in my composition of the visual tension as I mentioned above. The high contrast lighting really adds to it too, because it makes it so much more of a bold statement. 


Method
This photo was shot moments after my fountain shot, so there wasn't really much planning behind it because of the fact that it was just something I walked up upon. My method was to shoot experimentally at it to see which angle I liked best. This was all natural lighting that took place in the evening giving it that nice warm glow on the right side.


Motivations
There was nothing that really inspired me to shoot this, but my goal was to have that quick fall off of light as well as depth of field to give you that stretched out and elongated feel. My intention, I feel, was executed well through the photograph.


Context
This photo doesn't really relate to any photographs that I have seen in the past, but I know there are a lot of artists out there that take simple things you see everyday in the world and photograph them close up so that you as the viewer, are forced to examine it and appreciate it up close. The only idea that I can really see this photo standing for outside of the art of photography is strength. That is why I like the idea of the knot so much, because it looks strong and bold with that blue color.


Written Statements Part 2:


Interpretation
Others interpreted my image, pretty much how I wanted them to.


Evaluation
The class really liked the use of color contrast as well as lighting contrast. They also liked the shallow depth of field as well as the diagonal composition. I did have a suggestion from a fellow classmate to fix the hot spot on the highlighted part of the rope so I did that for the final critique. Other than that though, everyone thought it was pretty successful.


Extension
I could use this photo as a jumping off for another project, by photographing different types of knots with different color strings. Some monochromatic, while others use different types of colors and strings. That would make a cool series :)

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Set 6: Backlit Photo

"Bold Bottle" by Sam Stawara

Composition

I decided to give this a bit of a diagonal composition because the vertical framing was too plain. I wanted to be sure to pull the edge of the cap almost to the edge of the frame to really fill the frame and draw the viewer in.

Concept/Aboutness/Idea

My idea and concept behind this photo was to go with a more commercial feel with the high key background and black line glass shot. Only difference is that if this was a commercial photo, they would really make sure that you could read the brand name. I wanted it to feel refreshing at the same time.

Method

My method for this photo was to actually light this bottle with my nightstand lamp. I took the lamp down and off of my night stand and reversed the shade on it. After doing so, I turned the lamp on and covered it with a white t-shirt of mine to diffuse the light. I set the bottle about a foot away from my newly created light and started to shoot. I made sure to use a quick enough shutter speed so that the front of the bottle was not exposed.

Motivations

My motivation behind this photo came from past lighting assignments I did at LCC. We had to do a white line and black line glass photo assignment and I really enjoyed working with colored glass. I felt like doing this same type of thing for a backlit shot would be cool because it wouldn't leave me with a black silhouette, but instead, an awesome glow feel.

Context

My work doesn't really relate to any other artists that I know of. I'm sure there are other artists that like to photograph lit glass, but I don't really know of any.

Written Statements Part 2

Interpretation

Others really liked this photo and interpreted it as I had planned. I remember hearing a lot of "commercial photography" comments. I am thinking that it was the high key background that really gave it that feel because one classmate said that they could see it in an ad in a magazine.

Evaluation

Based on critique, people really liked how I kept the silhouette of the cap. They also liked how the edges of the glass faded off to black lines. They also liked the gradation between the green and the white in the blown out area of the glass. A couple constructive critiques I got were to get rid of the color cast in the white background as well as playing with the fall off of light in the corners.

Extension

Like my other photos, I could see a series coming out of this photo. Shooting different colored glasses with different colored backgrounds and different lighting angles would be interesting to play around with. Possible theme for a final series.

Blog Prompt #4 Reply

“If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn't need to lug around a camera.” ~Lewis Hine

Do you agree or disagree with this quote? Why? Describe situations when photographic images reveal “the story” (as compared to words). Describe situations when words reveal “the story” (as compared to images).

I totally disagree with this quote! I feel that photos make stories just that much better because of the fact that so many people are so visual. For example, this is why people take cameras on vacation. It's just not the same saying, "Our hotel had this beautiful view over the ocean". Showing the view with a photograph just proves HOW beautiful it was. A situation where words can reveal a story though instead of just the photograph alone is when emotion is involved. This is where you may wish to explain your photo so that words can help back up the photo. Either way, I love to talk and take photos so I would be lost without either! :)

Blog Prompt #3 Reply

“Photography deals exquisitely with appearances, but nothing is what it appears to be.” ~Duane Michals. Do you agree or disagree with this quote? Why?

I disagree with this quote, because there are often times that a photo can be very representative of it's environment. Although this may not be very visually pleasing to a viewer's eye, it is a form or style of photography. For example, crime scene photography is very accurate to what it appears to be, because it has to. The more accurate the better.

Color Photo Assignment #0

"Broccoli Forest" by Sam Stawara

For this assignment, we were instructed to recreate a photo "in our own way" using the same lighting and composition, but with an entirely different content or idea. We were given two photos to choose from and I chose to recreate a photo by Richard Misrach called Hawaii XV. I read up on Misrach and found that a majority of his work is based on his fascination of landscapes. I also found more photos from his Hawaii collection that are just like this one. I noticed the similarities of night time photography as well as the harsh flash light that is used in a few of his Hawaii photos. I duplicated this same type of lighting in my photo with the shadows and all. It took me a while to decide how I was going to duplicate the look of the trees and suddenly thought of broccoli. From there, I just went with it to recreate a forest looking environment. I named my photo, "Broccoli Forest". The composition, color and lighting are all very similar to Misrach's Hawaii XV which is exactly what I was looking for for this assignment. I have included a copy of Misrach's work so that they can be easily compared.

"Hawaii XV" by Richard Misrach

Blog Prompt #2 Reply

What does the word "photograph" mean to you? 

To me, a photograph is a way to capture a moment in time for our eyes and minds to remember while that moment quickly fades away. It is a physical representation of what our eyes saw at that exact moment so that we can remember it for the rest of its existence. 

Blog Prompt #1 Reply

Imagine a world without photographs. Describe what this world would be like. Being someone that has always had a love for photographs, I cannot picture the world without! Photographs help us look back upon moments in order to help us remember the events visually. Without these visual aids, we would quickly lose the sight of these good and bad times in our life. History books wouldn't be the same, childhood memories would be much less clear. But although it is hard for someone my age to imagine a world without photographs, it is probably much easier for someone that is much older. Photographs are very new to the history of the world. Before their existence, the world had to rely on verbal and written recollections of the past. My opinion is that although this did work, photography has made memory recalls just that much better! Not to mention the endless possibilities of the art aspect of photography.