Externally Set Assignments 2015
The Weather
Weather ideas
Proposal
My first thoughts on weather was to capture images of all different sorts of weather for example; the sun, rain, fog, snow etc. However due to the chance of having all of these different types of images and having pictures that I liked seemed to be a challenge. Everyday the weather turned out to be foggy, misty and horrible with grey skies making all my pictures of the weather seem dull, before taking any images I started my research on Alfred Stieglitz, Sally Man and Brassii who take images of the weather when it’s grey. However when it came to going on an actual photoshoot to take pictures the sun came out and the weather changed meaning I couldn’t take any of the images I originally wanted to. I then came up with the idea to take a time lapse of different days in the same place like a typology. I created three of these using my ipod which were all filmed for different periods of time. One for 14 hours, one for 7 and the last for 5, the reason why I done them for different periods of time is because I wanted them to be random due to the weather always being random.
I thought about the movement of my images and how I could use them to reflect on the weather. Due to the randomness being an important part of my images I thought that I could print them off and cut them out one by one and throw them in the wind, in a river or have something like a snow-globe to make them all appear random relating to weather. This would put them in a random order and also related to the weather due to it being in control of where the images go. I then thought of the element of time, they were all taken in the same position however they all went for a different period of time. As I had all of my images into different piles of separate time lapses, I decided to write how the time on how long it spent to film it. This then creates the idea of time and weather in the sense the pile is actually 14 hours of different weather.
I thought about the movement of my images and how I could use them to reflect on the weather. Due to the randomness being an important part of my images I thought that I could print them off and cut them out one by one and throw them in the wind, in a river or have something like a snow-globe to make them all appear random relating to weather. This would put them in a random order and also related to the weather due to it being in control of where the images go. I then thought of the element of time, they were all taken in the same position however they all went for a different period of time. As I had all of my images into different piles of separate time lapses, I decided to write how the time on how long it spent to film it. This then creates the idea of time and weather in the sense the pile is actually 14 hours of different weather.
Brett Weston
Sally Mann
These images by Sally Mann has a weird vintage feel to them however the question is weather, I feel that these images are related to weather because they simply symbolize the weather or are the effect of the weather. For example when an image is taken of flowers in spring then it gives a clear sign of the weather. I feel like the main focus to her images is the colour and the effect of them to help bring out the mood to the weather.
Alfred Stieglitz
Stieglitz's own work showed great technical mastery of tone and texture which is displayed as he explores atmospherics. When looking at his images he captures the patterns within the sky and the textures on the floor from the effect of the weather.
Brassaï
Brassaï took images during the night means the weather is very limited however the light helps you to see the weather, the images I have picked out are only fog and rain, however all of the images have a different feel to it and also there the elevation in the images which creates a sense of distance.
Photoshoot #1 - Rain
I wanted to try and capture images inspired by Brassai with the aspect of mystery and trying to capture the idea that weather can change the environment.
Mini Typology
As I was walking down the road I saw this image and thought I just had to take it, the bins running down the road continue all the way down giving it a sense of depth, the pavement was a little damp but the sky was shining bright. The next day the scene was completely different so I decided to take another picture standing in the same spot. I then started taking images as often as possible standing in the same position so you could clearly see how each and every day the weather changes no matter where you are. This gave me the idea to create a time lapse as they are still and focused in the same area which is what I wanted to achieve from these pictures. The issue with these image is the fact they were taken on my ipod, this means that the quality isn't the best and also the black lining on the top and bottom of some of them which can only be seen when clicking on the image. For this reason I feel the best way to look at them is in the preview as they all look the same.
Photoshoot #2 - Sky
I feel like these images are effective because the sky is different in every single meaning you can clearly see the fact the weather is never the same and its always changing, however in some of my images the subject takes up too much of the composition so they sky isn't so clear and the picture loses it's meaning focus on the weather. Some of the images I wanted to take away the idea of showing the sky and the obvious meaning of weather, and I wanted to capture the effect of it. For example I have taken a picture of dried up dirt and flowers in blossom pointing towards the sun, this is because you can get the idea that the sun has caused this letting you know that the weather has been hot. There is also an image of a wet path and you can't see much of the sky, despite this you can clearly tell it has been raining simply by capturing the reflections on the pathway.
Photoshoot #3 - Overcast
When taking these images I really wanted to capture the space and the sheer amount of clouds on the day, in order to do this I decided to have something small in the foreground and make sure its from a distance. This meant when looking at the image it wasn't just cloud focused and you had something to get a measurement from. I think that the colour of the clouds along side the deciduous trees are really effective in the first two images as it creates a really mundane feel to it. I wanted to try to take pictures in relation to how the weather makes us feel, for example the dull sky makes us feel down and moody.
Naoya Hatakeyama
Reflections
After looking at Naoya Hatakeyama and her reflections I wanted to try to create a similar feel using images from my first photoshoot. I picked out the images which you could clearly tell what the subject; in example the fence, a tree and two of a building. Cropped them and flipped them. I hoped to get a feel of confusion, so you don't really know what you're looking at - a blended image, though coloured glass, or actually looking at a reflection in a puddle.
Time Lapse
These time lapses came out really well in capturing the weather however the quality of the images are rather bad, this is because they were taken on an iPod, emailed and then uploaded which means a lot of the quality had to be reduced, however you can still clearly see the clouds moving which is exactly what I wanted to capture as you can see the change.
Martin Creed
Martin Creed stacks the same object over and over creating an image with strange shapes and patterns. I could create something similar to this as I have a few thousand pictures meaning I will be able to get the effect that Martin does.
Felix-Gonzalez-Torres
For my initial idea I didn't really know how to present my idea so I went onto pinterest, I searched for artists similar to Martin Creed and Fleix came up, as you can see their images are very similar in the way they stack their images together. I then looked at his work in more detail to see that he had a lot more projects that are in stacks. I then wanted to take the same effect of his images and stack mine the same way he does so people can see the huge amount.
Dan Hays
Rain Drops
I created these images by spraying water on to shiny surfaces, I tested around with the flash to see how the reflections off the water would work and I think that they came out really well. When it came to presenting these images I thought of printing them rather large, and then sticking it over a window, this would have the effect that you're looking out the window in a trance like state as you're looking at all the little details.
First outcome
Presention ideas
For presentation ideas I had a few different ones, first of all I thought of creating loads of little ones in the picture on the right above, then turn that into some kind of wallpaper. Then surround an empty room with these images until you're boxed in them, the effect of this would be that you are then seeing how much the weather changes and that it's all around you. I then thought of using the images to cover some glass or something else like a viewer/window, this would have the feel like you're looking through the window like I did and sharing the same experience. This is because no one else will experience the weather like I did on that day because it's forever changing. You can have a day thats the same temperature but all of the clouds will be different, wind and all sorts that won't be the same. My second idea was to print off every single picture which would mean there was a few thousand. Then throw them up and let the wind take control of how they are laid out, this then implements the idea of chance and how chance can be found in the weather. My final idea was to stack all of my images up into different separate piles taking apart the different videos. Doing this would mean you're not just looking at an image but a period of time, the amount of images in one pile shows time.
Evaluation
Throughout unit 2 I have investigated a range of photographers who have inspired me each in different ways. This allowed me to incorporate each element of a photographer into my work. I researched Brett Weston, Dan Hays, Peter Keetman, Naoya Hatakeyama, Suzanne Derges, Gregory Thielker, Elizabeth Palteryon and Saul Liter. These all have a very different approach on weather mainly focusing on using rain to influence their work. I then wanted to think about what to do with my main images leading me to Martin Creed and Felix Gonzalez Torres giving me presentation ideas and what to actually do with so many pictures. Martin Creed used quantity in a sort of abstract way to create something knew from what the original object was. Where as Felix creates various different patterns, and textures from using a large quantity of objects. He also leaves you in suspense in a few of his images of posters; he has a bulky stack of posters making you wonder if they’re all the same of if on one of them it's different. Following this idea and relating it to weather I wanted to take the suspense effect, when looking at a stack of images taken of the sky you don’t know if all of those are different as the sky is constantly changing or it’s the same picture printed over and over. I wanted to put most of my focus into the idea and meaning rather than having interesting pictures to look at.
My first set of images I wasn’t too happy with, I didn’t feel like they were representing weather, they were more of a cause of weather and the way the images were taken just didn’t really show anything. After doing research on Brassai I wanted to try to create images that had a mysterious and mundane feel to them and I feel like I didn’t quite reach that. In order to get the effect I was going for I would take them in the dark, all of Brassai's’ images are dark with light reflecting off the dark wet floors, however all of my images are taken in broad daylight. Moving on to my mini typology I am really happy with; I like how the images were taken on different days and they all give a different example of weather. I chose not to take a picture everyday because sometimes the scene was busy, people in front of me, construction or cars driving down the road. I felt like all of that would ruin the image so I decided to leave some days out. Doing this meant that the weather changed even more because there were day gaps in between, the 6 images were taken over the course of a month. My third project I feel is one of the better ones, the images taken heavily relied on chance to get the picture I wanted. This meant that during one of my photoshoots I ended up with pictures that looked completely different because the weather began to change. This is something I wanted to try to show through my work how the weather is always different and the effect of the weather, for example I have one images of flowers pointing towards the sun alongside an image of a patch of dirt that’s all dried up. This is clearly showing the effect of the weather which I was inspired by a few artist on Pinterest. The main image that I was inspired by was an image of an ice cream melting by the beach in the hot sun, I felt like it perfectly captured the weather despite it not being obvious. I was also interested in the shapes and patterns that the clouds formed, this was also part of change because the clouds are always moving and forming new shapes. This led me to my next project of overcast skies, the weather was really difficult to take pictures of blue skies like the artists that I actually researched so I decided to take images inspired by Sally Mann. These images were very dark and had a lot of fog, therefore when I saw the grey skies and I knew that exactly what I wanted. I am happy with the outcome that I got from these because the images are all dark and focus heavily on the sky.
After taking these images I wanted to develop them even further, due to the fact I wasn’t happy with my first photoshoot I decided to think of a way to change them. I began looking at different images online and came across an artist called Naoya Hatakeyama. Her images are reflections that are flipped by taking the image upside down. This effect made the reflections looks like the focus of the image as they were the right way up. I thought that I could take this idea and use it with my reflected images. I decided to put my images into Photoshop and try to change them up a bit. My first idea was to crop out the reflection, flip it and blend it back in with its original place. I wasn’t too happy with the way that these images came out and they were rather time consuming so I decided to scrap that idea. I then thought that you could look at the image and think that it’s been photographed a different way. I cropped out the reflection in the puddle in Photoshop and put it into a new layer. When looking at it it looked a lot like looking through a coloured window once it was flipped, I was happy with this effect to the new set of images. I used the same process on the other images however they looked a lot more like a double exposure which was also a cool new approach to images I originally didn’t like.
I wanted to take the concept of change and try to relate it to weather, I started by looking outside my window to see that the clouds were moving really fast which led me to the idea of a time lapse. I began to film a time lapse of the clouds moving for a few hours until it got dark to see how all of the patterns in the clouds change over time. I then continued to create time lapses the following days for a different period of time. I decided to film all of them for a different period of time because I wanted to have the change in time as well as change in the weather. I was really happy with how these turned out because you could clearly see everything change. When I uploaded it to put it on my website the quality was ruined and you couldn’t see all of the detail that clearly. I felt like the time lapses were really personal to me because I have lived in the house for a while, and I have always looked outside the window ever since I was young. So I feel like the time lapses don’t just reflect the weather changing but also me growing up. This is why when it came to presenting it I wanted to show it as a time period. I decided to take my time lapse videos and cut them up frame by frame. My first idea was to present them as a checkerboard having them all random, this would make it so when looking at them as a sequence of images they look like single images and all different like the weather. I then had the idea of stacking them up into piles with the time written below them to help show the difference in time.
Overall I think that my project went rather well in capturing what I wanted, the change in the weather was clearly reflected through my pictures. I was also able to get a variety of different of different patterns and shapes throughout my work. If I was to do this again I would try to take pictures in different locations throughout a longer period of time. This would mean the setting would always be different and the weather would be different.
My first set of images I wasn’t too happy with, I didn’t feel like they were representing weather, they were more of a cause of weather and the way the images were taken just didn’t really show anything. After doing research on Brassai I wanted to try to create images that had a mysterious and mundane feel to them and I feel like I didn’t quite reach that. In order to get the effect I was going for I would take them in the dark, all of Brassai's’ images are dark with light reflecting off the dark wet floors, however all of my images are taken in broad daylight. Moving on to my mini typology I am really happy with; I like how the images were taken on different days and they all give a different example of weather. I chose not to take a picture everyday because sometimes the scene was busy, people in front of me, construction or cars driving down the road. I felt like all of that would ruin the image so I decided to leave some days out. Doing this meant that the weather changed even more because there were day gaps in between, the 6 images were taken over the course of a month. My third project I feel is one of the better ones, the images taken heavily relied on chance to get the picture I wanted. This meant that during one of my photoshoots I ended up with pictures that looked completely different because the weather began to change. This is something I wanted to try to show through my work how the weather is always different and the effect of the weather, for example I have one images of flowers pointing towards the sun alongside an image of a patch of dirt that’s all dried up. This is clearly showing the effect of the weather which I was inspired by a few artist on Pinterest. The main image that I was inspired by was an image of an ice cream melting by the beach in the hot sun, I felt like it perfectly captured the weather despite it not being obvious. I was also interested in the shapes and patterns that the clouds formed, this was also part of change because the clouds are always moving and forming new shapes. This led me to my next project of overcast skies, the weather was really difficult to take pictures of blue skies like the artists that I actually researched so I decided to take images inspired by Sally Mann. These images were very dark and had a lot of fog, therefore when I saw the grey skies and I knew that exactly what I wanted. I am happy with the outcome that I got from these because the images are all dark and focus heavily on the sky.
After taking these images I wanted to develop them even further, due to the fact I wasn’t happy with my first photoshoot I decided to think of a way to change them. I began looking at different images online and came across an artist called Naoya Hatakeyama. Her images are reflections that are flipped by taking the image upside down. This effect made the reflections looks like the focus of the image as they were the right way up. I thought that I could take this idea and use it with my reflected images. I decided to put my images into Photoshop and try to change them up a bit. My first idea was to crop out the reflection, flip it and blend it back in with its original place. I wasn’t too happy with the way that these images came out and they were rather time consuming so I decided to scrap that idea. I then thought that you could look at the image and think that it’s been photographed a different way. I cropped out the reflection in the puddle in Photoshop and put it into a new layer. When looking at it it looked a lot like looking through a coloured window once it was flipped, I was happy with this effect to the new set of images. I used the same process on the other images however they looked a lot more like a double exposure which was also a cool new approach to images I originally didn’t like.
I wanted to take the concept of change and try to relate it to weather, I started by looking outside my window to see that the clouds were moving really fast which led me to the idea of a time lapse. I began to film a time lapse of the clouds moving for a few hours until it got dark to see how all of the patterns in the clouds change over time. I then continued to create time lapses the following days for a different period of time. I decided to film all of them for a different period of time because I wanted to have the change in time as well as change in the weather. I was really happy with how these turned out because you could clearly see everything change. When I uploaded it to put it on my website the quality was ruined and you couldn’t see all of the detail that clearly. I felt like the time lapses were really personal to me because I have lived in the house for a while, and I have always looked outside the window ever since I was young. So I feel like the time lapses don’t just reflect the weather changing but also me growing up. This is why when it came to presenting it I wanted to show it as a time period. I decided to take my time lapse videos and cut them up frame by frame. My first idea was to present them as a checkerboard having them all random, this would make it so when looking at them as a sequence of images they look like single images and all different like the weather. I then had the idea of stacking them up into piles with the time written below them to help show the difference in time.
Overall I think that my project went rather well in capturing what I wanted, the change in the weather was clearly reflected through my pictures. I was also able to get a variety of different of different patterns and shapes throughout my work. If I was to do this again I would try to take pictures in different locations throughout a longer period of time. This would mean the setting would always be different and the weather would be different.