Images I entered into competitions

This image was taken on top of the Tor in Avalon, Glastonbury. Showing the vast British landscape and the infamous British weather.

 My inspiration for this image was that I wanted to try and photograph something different, with a story attached to it.

 The colours of this image represent the British flag although the blue is only slightly visible at the top of the flower bed. The colours make this image striking and the main focus is on the flowers themselves and the contrasting colours.

I think that this image is very serine, with the waterfall in the background and the sun shining off the lake. It also has a natural feel to it which I want to try and include in my images.

Artists statement

I am interested in photography because it is a way of getting my ideas cross through a different medium. I enjoy working with people and the landscape, I think that they are both quite different subjects to work with and I like to challenge myself to do new things and experiment with new subjects. Out of the two subject choices I prefer to work with Landscapes as they can be easier to work with. I think that landscapes can be photographed in a documentary style and artistically, which is what I like to experiment with.

I am also interested in learning about underwater photography as I want to go into it as a practice. I think that the idea of photographing subjects in a way that can create the illusion of another world is interesting, as a photographer I want to learn how to manipulate the lighting and how the water creates different textures for example shooting a model in a long dress, the water can make the model seem like she is floating in space. I also want to shoot the coral reefs to show how pollution has changed and damaged them; I want to show animals in their natural habitat that people wouldn’t normally get to see.

As a photographer I am confident in my ideas and want to show them to people. I am confident with working with landscapes and want to try working at events to challenge myself more, in the way of working with people and doing something different.

Fashion Photography

Fashion photography started in the 1839. It consists of  images that promote the clothing the model is wearing, usually shown in a way that catches the viewers eye showing a beautiful woman in a desirable  way. The first fashion photos which were published in Harper's Bazaar, shot in black and white film they exude the ideals of the time of desirable women and clothes.

 Nancy Beaton, Shooting Star for the Galaxy Ball, 1929, Cecil Beaton

The more modern day fashion photography is slightly different to the older images, they have a quirky edge to them and are seen as more contemporary. For example David Lachapelle's work is seen as slightly obscene in some ways but his work can also be seen as pushing the boundaries.

Burning Down The House, Alexander Mcqueen and Isabella Blow, David Lachapelle

There are a few difficulties when it comes to fashion photography, if it is outside you have to take into account the weather and the space needed for the shoot. You would also need to hire a few people to help you if you were to do a large shoot, this can take up time that may be restricted to a certain amount. The upside from working in fashion photography is that you get to work a vast amount of different people everyday, and you get the chance to have your images printed in magazines such as i-D and Vogue. This can also lead to making a large amount of money and the ability to work in different environments and places.

Final Images for work based learning

These are the final chosen images that I used for my work based learning project. I think that these images work well as a set as they stay true to my idea of showing a different view of the garage that I was working with. They were happy with the outcome and chose 2 of my finals, which I then printed and framed.
I was looking into the way that man and machine work together in a documentary style, I also wanted to show a behind the scenes view of the garage that people wouldn't normally get a chance to see.

Underwater Photography

Underwater photography is self explanitary, due to the fact that it is literally taking photos underwater of a given subject. Underwater photography can be used to document wild life in their natural habitat, it can also document environmental causes like what damage pollution is doing to the reefs and things such as global warming.

This genre of photography can also be used in fashion and portraiture, throw taking images of people and showing clothing in a new way that is different to the normal way of photographing people. This is shown through how the images have an other worldly feel about them, with the subject seeming to be in suspense in their own world, at one with the see. The use of reflections also distorts the subject giving the images an abstract feeling.
http://www.peterdemulder.com/index_flash.cfm  This is an example of a photographer that I have discovered recently, he has done a mix of fashion and abstract images.

The downside of choosing this genre is that it is technically challenging and you have to be fully aware of what the subject is doing and their surroundings. You also have to have a very clear idea of what you want to achieve from the shoot, you also have to be able to prepare for the shoot to not go as planned due to weather or the wrong equipment or not being able to use the space needed like with any shoot.
The upside is that you can create a range of punchy unique images that can be hard to recreate, making it stand out against the usual fashion images.

Landscape Photography

"Referring to landscape photography, photographer Ansel Adams stated, "A good photograph is knowing where to stand." Landscape photography attempts to capture a moment in nature and reveal something special and spectacular about it."
(http://www.ehow.com/facts_6772585_definition-landscape-photography.html)

This is the definition of landscape photography taken from the ehow website, stating that landscape photography "attempts to state a moment in nature" to then show something "special and spectacular" about it. Landscape photography has changed over the years from the traditional Ansel Adams black and white film images to the dead-pan aesthetic of Bernd and Hilla Bercher.

Winding Towers, Belgium, Germany, Bernd and Hilla Bercher, 1971-91 Silver Gelatin Print

Landscape imagery has recently taken on a documentary role of showing man taking back the land and the affects that nature has on it, for example Robert Polidori's work shows the aftermath of disasters, one of his recent works being that of the floods in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina hit.

5417 Marigny Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, March 2006

Although still in a digital age, with landscape becoming more commercial, there is a still a use for wide format film cameras that can capture vast landscapes that normal people wouldn't normally get to see. Landscapes can still be produced digitally with post production, making it easier to document changes in the landscape and events that happen over time.

Although this genre of photography is becoming more commercial in the way that the focus of the public is more on the environment and how we are affecting it, it is still an art form in it's own way. This can be seen by the way that people are still making images using large film cameras to produce well printed images, that can be shown in a gallery. The downside of this is that the image itself costs alot to make and may not create alot of profit from it or interest in the themes behind the image.

The original idealist landscape is dieing out do to how much the land has changed and how much technology has developed. Film isn't as strong as it used to be, making it harder people using film to make a profit and get their images seen. There is also the time aspect in that the change in weather and access to the land due to restrictions if the land is privately owned can stop the photographer from getting the image that they want to achieve.

Interview with Tim Gundry

Me: What made you go into photography as a practice?

Tim: I was already working as a freelancer doing marketing consulting, web design and copyrighting. And I got the chance to some photography work for the charity that I was working with, because they said that they needed some photos done. Increasingly I just started doing more and more photography as part of what I was doing, which made me decide to go study it and do more of it.

M: You do some landscape photos; do you prefer landscape to portrait?

 T: Absolutely, I am an unashamed landscape photographer I’ve always been interested in going out into landscape and photographing, I’m more comfortable photographing places than faces.

M: I want to try and do that, I’m still unsure what specialty I want to do I’m more into landscape and the idea of teaching people about the landscape. Obviously as soon as you say photography people think wedding photographer or commercial photographer. And it’s that landscape doesn’t have to be large prints it can be commercial as well.

M: So you prefer working with landscape rather than people?

T: Yes, places rather than faces. It’s much more about your experience and relationship with the landscape. So it’s much more personal to me than working with people.

M: Do you prefer film or digital?

T: Difficult one, most of my stuff has been done on film purely because the film camera I that I’ve got is better optically, so I’ve got better sharpness from working in medium format with a good quality lens. And I’ve then scanned the negatives and that’s given me better results. The problem is it is much more time consuming and much more expensive having to buy the film and get it processed and then get it scanned, whereas just shooting digitally it does make it much quicker.

M: So if you wanted to do your own project and you had a certain amount of money to use, you could go out and do more film?

T: Yes, if money was no object and I had a lot more time on my hands I would work solely in film probably because I quite like the process.

M: How do you make yourself stand out as a photographer? How do you advertise yourself? Because there are so many photographers out there and trying to get a client is a bit harder than it used to be.

T: I have website by having a network of contacts really, I mean that’s the thing. I haven’t had to do a lot of marketing because work has come through contacts. I did some product shots for people and they said “we know someone that’s doing a book can you do martial arts photography?” I knew someone else that led me onto someone else; I’ve kind of got work through networking. Through business really.

So I don’t think I particularly stand out as a freelance photographer, I think I’ve just built up the connections and done a good job.

M: Have you had your own exhibition and how expensive was it?

T: Yes I have had my own exhibition and it was hideously expensive.

M: Was it a small room or a big space?

T: It was a relatively small space, in the guild hall in Looe. But it was very expensive to set up, very expensive to do. Getting all of the prints printed and mounted, in some cases framed, actually hiring the space for the evening as well, it was hundreds of pounds. I probably spent about £700 on it, and I didn’t sell £700 worth of prints.

M: So do you have to price lower than what you think it is, but it might be a little bit more is you  have 2 people going for the same print ?

T: You’ve got to sort of price it for the market really, and I knew it was a local exhibition so it’s that sort of market where people pay £30 £40 for a print; it’s not going to be hundreds of pounds. That’s the nature of that kind of circle unfortunately.

M: So if you wanted to do a really big print but obviously you had to pay a bit more out of your own pocket, how would you try to sell it to get a bit of profit? So if you printed it for £30 and you wanted to sell it, and the person only wanted to pay 20, how would you get them to pay a little bit more?

T: I’m not salesperson so I price the work at what I think it is worth. People either pay it or they don’t. If someone says they only want to pay £20 I say well you can’t afford it. I wouldn’t ever get into bartering and haggling; because I think that cheapens it, it then turns you into sort of a market stall trader trying to get the best price for it. The work is what it is, it’s the value you decide based on how much it’s cost you to produce it, your time. It’s value artistically and that’s the price if people don’t want to buy it people don’t want to buy it.

M:Because you work as a freelancer does that mean you’re more open to do different things other than landscape?

T: What I was talking about there was art photography. As a freelance photographer it’s a different business. Pricing in freelance photography is completely different, that kind of depends on what people are prepared to pay.

M: With weddings they do a whole package they do whole packages don’t they.

T: Wedding photography is one thing, doing publicity type photography is something else. I often do local work for instance a holiday cottage might say to me they want their interiors photographed but they only want to spend £100, which I’ll say do you want to do it? I have to think normally I charge £200 a day; can I do the job in the morning? Probably not, but £100 is better than nothing so I’ll probably do it.

5 year plan - what happens next

Next year I will be doing my final year of my foundation degree, I will hope to have had a bit more experience with working with people outside of college and a better confidence in my own work. I will hopefully go abroad to somewhere I haven't been before in the summer to produce more photos for my portfolio.

The year after that I will be doing my BA top up in which I will be participating in the London show that we get to do. I would like to have a final definition of my area of photography that I want to go into as a professional practice, whether that be commercial landscapes to get the money and connections up to become a professional landscape photographer, or become a freelancer so that I can work in different areas if I am still unsure of what area I want to go into.

After that year I will hopefully be going back to china for a month or two once I have the money, to explore the parts that I didn't get a chance to go to and to re-visit the places I went to when I was in school. I will come back to try and find work as a commercial photographer or an assistant so that I can get into photography as a professional practice, I will also show my photos from China on my blog to be seen and hopefully gain interest.

The following year I want to be working as a photographer full time, working with a range of different clients that will take me to different places. I will hopefully have had my own showing of work in a small local exhibition of some sort. I will work on my own ideas outside of doing client based work so that I am generating work for myself even if there isn't any out there.

In the 5th year, I will be thinking about moving to Bristol depending on how my work is going. It will be easier for me to get to clients further up the country and I will be able to work closer to London as I want to be able to exhibit my work there one day. Moving to Bristol can also create a broader client base.

First photograph

The first photograph was taken in 1826 by Joseph Nicephore Niepce, titled View From a Window at Le Gras

He made the image by exposing a bitumen-coated plate in a camera obscura for several hours on his windowsill.
A camera obscura is a darkened room or chamber in which the image of an object is received through a small opening or lens, and focused in natural colour onto a facing surface.

Model Release form

This is an example of a model release form that I will use when I am working with people and doing things like portraiture.

This form is an example of a property release form should I need to take pictures of a specific building or property.

Why photography ?

I first started to get into photography properly just before I went to Truro college to do my National Diploma in photography. I initially wanted to do 4 A levels one of them being photography, but didn't quite get the grades needed to do 2 of the A levels, which lead to the course leader of photography asking me whether I would like to do the ND instead. I chose to do it as I am a very visual person and thought that it would be an interesting subject to study. I learnt about the history of photography, how to process my own film, aperture, shutter speed, ISO and lots of studio and editing techniques.

I got my first digital camera just before I went away to China in 2007 and after using it while I was over there, found that I could using my camera was the best way to document my time there. I didn't want to leave, wishing that I had taken more photos while I was there.

I first started drawing when I was 12 or 13, just doing doodles in notebooks to then go onto sheets of A4. After that I would look at different books and the web for inspiration, my favorite book is the street sketchbook, in which I found the illustrator Guy McKinley who inspired some of my first drawings.

Untitled, Guy McKinley

Through drawing I found photography, I used images as inspiration. I found that I had an interest in the images that I would use, thinking that I could incorporate my drawings into photography making unique images like collage and images with different layers.

When I first started to learn about photography, I was mainly interested in doing portraiture and doing fashion shoots. This changed after I learnt more about film and that I liked being outside more than in a studio and I liked to take pictures of the normal and mundane, but in a different and unique way. I found that landscape images could be slightly abstract and not the normal picture-postcard images.
I have started to get a further interest in landscape photography, through finding out about the Urban explorers or Urbexs and photographers such as Sylvain Margaine.

Saint Vincent's Church, Holland, Forbidden Places, Sylvain Margaine

By finding these photographers and this branch of photographer, I have come to understand that photographer can be used to document things that would otherwise be forgotten or left behind for nature to reclaim. It can also be seen as an art form, creating unique images that provoke thought and feeling with the viewer being able to relate to the subject in the photo. Becoming an Urbex can be a challenge in itself as you have to have a certain ability to get to places that have been abandoned and may not be easily accessible. An example of this is the 'Holy Grail' that is Chernobyl and Pripyat. Pripyat was once a town full of families and people who worked at the nuclear power station in Chernobyl, after the disaster at the plant in 1986 in which the Pripyat and Chernobyl were evacuated, is now mostly deserted with a small amount of people still living there regardless of the dangers of radiation poisoning. Although the threat of radiation is still apparent, it isn't as damaging as it would have been a few years ago. Robert Polidori is one of the many photographers that have been to Chernobyl and Pripyat to document  the aftermath of the disaster, his images are thought provoking with a sense of shock about them.

Gymnasium school #5, City of Pripyat, Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Ukraine, 2001, Robert Polidori

In the future I want to go to Chernobyl to document the aftermath of the disaster myself, so that I can experience how the disaster has affected the people left behind and to see how the buildings have been left behind. I am unsure as to what I want to specialize in, so I will work in different areas so that I can understand my strengths and weaknesses better. I also want to go back to China to expand my portfolio and experience the culture again.