PHOTOGRAPHY

Project One

For our very first project we were asked to research and look at a an artist that we are interested in. I have to produce a photograph that emulates or parodies the work of my chosen artist/photographer. Here are a few artists that I looked in to.

Artists that inspire and influence. 

WILLIAM EGGLESTON

Artist Bio:- 

Native Southerner William Eggleston's photographs monumentalize everyday subject matter, such as motel rooms and store fronts, in eccentric, refined compositions. Each detail is important, potentially carrying beauty and mystery. The main catalyst for New American Colour Photography, Eggleston is largely credited with legitimizing colour photography (especially with the dye transfer process) as a fine art form. Teaching himself from books of prints. He began photographing his environment in the 1950s, but turned to color, then used largely only commercially, in the late 19603 Egglestons 1976 'Colour Photographs' show at the Museum of Modern Art was ground breaking for its sticking, saturated colour but also for his observational style, often deemed democratic.  

I became a very big fan of William Egglestons work ever since I came across it. In a way his work is very urban and cultural. He is simply capturing everyday scenes with a slight difference and they are very bold photographs. Although the frame is simple he catches quite a lot of detail throughout. The angles and textures add a lot to the images and I think its good how selective he is with what he wants in the frame even though some are staged. Each image makes you feel and emotion and makes you question why he chose to take that picture. What I enjoy mostly about his work is his use of bold colour. I think that makes a huge impact on the images, which is what makes them so interesting to look at. For me the images all most make me want to be in the image. He influences my work greatly and will continue to do so in the future. 

William Eggleston - Tricycle in Memphis - 1970

This is one of my favourite images by Eggleston. Again although its very simple, for me it has alot of meaning behind and has a lot of detail in if you look carefully. Firstly its a low angle, almost like a snake view making the tricycle appear bigger than what it is. In this image I see a childhood. The size of the bike shows the the joy and fun you feel when that age. Childhood memories might be missed and it suggests that when you are a child you feel a sense of pride and joy over things like this tricycle. Over all I enjoy every aspect of this image from the angles, colours and even the symmetry. 

MY WORK
Work influenced by William Eggleston..

MARTIN PARR

  

Artist Bio:-

Martin Parr was born in Epsom, Surrey, UK. He got into photography because of his grandfather who was an amateur photographer. His early works in 1970 are exclusively black and white photographs. After that in 1980 he then went on to colour film. Martin Parr has created an international reputation and is best known for his projects that take a critical look at aspects of modern life. His photographs offer us the opportunity to see the world from his unique perspective. These projects mainly focus on simple ans suburban life in England. At first glance, his photographs seem exaggerated or even grotesque. The motifs he chooses are strange, the colours are garnish and the perspectives are unusual. Parr's term for the overwhelming power of published images is "propaganda". But at the same time they show us in a penetrating way how we live, how we present ourselves to others, and what we value.

What I enjoy mostly about Martin Parrs work is the British Culture film his images show. Similar to William Eggleston who he was also inspired by, he captures simple everyday scenes of various things from beaches, sports ect. I have decided to look more into his food series: British Food. The bright colours throughout his images makes everything stand out so much more, and almost makes normal food look highly appetizing. I like the way it shows our British culture to the world, and it makes me feel like I'm part of his work. In most recent days food photography has become very popular on social networking sites like Instagram and Facebook. Picturing food could be seen as a new Social Art. Below are some images that I have taken using my iPhone 5.

MY WORK
Work influenced by Martin Parr..

This is my favourite image of mine that I have taken. I call it 'Chocolate Fantasy'. For this project I only wanted to take images of food that people would find interesting and appetising. I used my iPhone 5 to take this image which is 8 mega-pixels and still captures beautiful images. I wanted to capture the food well, but also get some detail in the background, so viewers could imagine where the photo has been taken. I took the picture at a restaurant called 'Tinsel Town', which is like a remake of an American diner. The image alone looked very detailed and bold to me, but I wanted to add something different. So I decided to add an filter/edit on my image. The edits that chose made the photo look dream like and stands out more with the light leaks that I added. I did this to make it look much more appetising and I think I did well to show this. 

Similar Images..

For all of my images I wanted to show something much more appetizing then what the actual image looked liked before. For all these picture I have used different edits and filters, I have even combined more than one together. I used these to make the images more bold and colourful and they defiantly stand out more after the edits. My iPhone automatically focuses on parts that I want it to and I think it works well. I try to get as much detail in the background of a picture, rather then just the main object that you see at first. 

PRINTMAKING

Accumulate and Disperse

Artist Statement.

For this project I simply looked into the words accumulate and disperse and created my own assumptions of what they mean to me personally. Most things we accumulate in life are for a purpose, so I decided to look at how another species, birds accumulate things for themselves in their natural habitat. Birds build up nests for themselves with a range of different materials and the nest itself could be seen as a collage, sculpture and a mixed media type of art. I wanted to show this through my work building up layers with different types of prints and materials worked in on top. Feathers were also a huge interest to me as they are very delicate, complex structures on their own. So I wanted to show the use of them slightly more than the other materials. I also wanted to look at the contrast of colours whilst experimenting with my prints as I think it’s important to work with different techniques to show different things.

Artists that inspire and influence.

LILY PANG

Artist Bio:-

Lily Pang is an artist that does illustration, original paintings, printmaking and develops art products such as laptop skins, art pendants, magnets and stationary. She aims to beautify your surroundings with useful functions.

 Although she uses most of her work for various different objects, I find her bright prints interesting enough on there own. She tends to look at nature and natural forms a lot which I like and will hopefully use within my own work. The main thing that attracted me to her work mostly is the bright colours. Its very eye catching and makes you question the pieces of art more. She has used an exaggerated contrast of colours that I think work very well. There is an obvious build up from these lino prints that add to the vivid effect of colours. You can see behind the flower piece that other colours are coming through. Her work defiantly Influences mine and I will experiment with colours throughout my work, also looking how colour compares to black and white prints.

JOHN DOUGLAS PIPER

Artist Bio:-

John Douglas Pier studied Drawing at the Wimbledon School of Art and then went on to pursue a BA in product and furniture design and Kingston University, a field in which he subsequently worked for more than a decade. But his true passion is Drawing. He pays close attention to the crafting of a line and of an object, so central to John's creative education and work, lends itself particularly well to the highly exacting medium of dry-point etching. He states, this is an unhurried process developed in the 15th-century and most suitable for the artists trained in drawing. John's dry-point etchings focus on the theme of British wildlife, on the flora and fauna native to out isles, and he has a delightful touch when capturing the pose and poise of his subjects.

As my project is relatively based around the nature and lifestyle of birds it was good for me to look into the work of John Douglas as his work focuses on British wildlife. John's work defiantly shows off his drawing skills well in his pieces and I feel that etchings are the best way to show that, as a form of printmaking. His work has a huge amount of detail to it which I'm attracted to. They almost just look like drawings themselves. The fact that they are done with black ink only, still makes them stand out just like colour prints because there is so much detail. After looking at Johns work, I will attempt to create etchings and mono prints that capture a lot of detail.

DRAWING

Journey Project

Artist Statement.

[insert here when completed]

For this project I am looking at Journeys and I have chosen to look in particular into a journey that I take every week which is from Leicester to Birmingham and back, by car.

ABOUT MY JOURNEY

Driving Directions

Via:- M6 and M69

43.9 Miles

54 Minutes 

Est. Fuel cost: £8.89


MOTORWAY PHOTOGRAPHS

When on the motorway the journeys are very long and I pass a lot of interesting things each time. I travel at different times of the day, sometimes its dark, sometimes there's a sunset it varies. Although its dangerous, sometimes whilst driving I take some images of the roads in front and to the side of me. When I have a passenger its much more easier. I wanted the audience to see the road from my point of view. I wanted to show how busy it gets at times and also everything around me. I have been taken this journey since September and I now know the route there and back off by heart.

DRAWING

Here I have decided to research some artist that inspire and influence me in my journey project. I have looked at a wide range and these are the artist I feel that relate to my work.

ZOLITA SVERDLOVE

STEPHAN WILTSHIRE

EDWARD WAITE

ROBERT ELLIS

DAVE WEST

WAYNE THIEBAUD

EDWARD BURTYNSKY

DRAWING

EARLY DEVELOPMENTS & EXPERIMENTATION

With the images I have taken and found, I decided to experiment and work on different small pieces such as collages, drawings and mixed media. Later on in my work I hope to develop these ideas further and create more.