Environmental Portraits - Jonathan Bielaski

Week Five - Hockney Joiner

In the early 1980s, David Hockney began to produce photo collages, which he then named "joiners" first using Polaroid prints shortly followed by 35mm, commercially processed colour prints. Using Polaroid snaps or photolab-prints of a single subject, Hockney arranged a mixture of images to make a composite image. Because the photographs are taken from different perspectives and at slightly different times, the result is work that has an link with Cubism, something that Hockney aimed to relate—discussing the way human vision works. 

I took a range of photos at the Moat Shed near Wem and then used indesign to arrange all the images together.

Contact Sheets

Shape and Form

Shape

These masterpieces have been created by photographer Jasper James. He is a China based photographer working in Shanghai and Beijing. His photography ranges from portrait,travel and interior. Both of these photos are part of a collection entitled 'City Silhouette'. 

Form

3D Photography

Week Four - Shooting in the style of Cartier Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson (August 22, 1908 – August 3, 2004) was a French photographer and was considered the master of candid photography, and was an early user of 35 mm film. He helped develop street photography and his work has influenced many photographers. 

When Henri Cartier-Bresson would shoot on the streets, he would stay as low-key and unobtrusive as he could. I even read that he would cover his chrome Leica in black tape and even sometimes with a hankerchief to make it less noticeable when he was out shooting. Most of the images that he captured his subjects were oblivious of the camera, and thus truly candid.

Bresson applied geometry to his images poetically. If you look at the composition of his images he integrated vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines, curves, shadows, triangles, circles, and squares to his advantage. He also paid particular attention to how he framed the image.

Bresson was a master at taking photos of children in their natural playful state, children are great subjects to shoot when it comes to street photography. Most don’t mind being in front of the camera, and often ignore it. Therefore you are able to capture their true behaviour playful, curious, and often mischievous.

Contact Sheets

Space

This photo was shot by Steve Priebe. This proves that people in photos make a far more interesting shot than if they were not they were not there. Remove the man with the surfboard and you just end up with another shot of a sunset. 

This image taken by Ian Sanderson is entitled 'Dawn Sculler'. The kayaker in this photograph creates a strong focal point for the eyes to be drawn to, there's a clear path of where he's been and enough negative space within the rest of the frame to allow the eyes a place to rest and ultimately be drawn back to the kayaker.

The above image by Brian Matiash is part of a collection of minimalistic, black and white images around Staten Island. This is also a great example of successfully breaking the “rule” of photography about not placing your horizons in the center. Sometimes the composition of the image, the leading lines and the free space within the frame make the image.

I took this photo on Whixall Moss and love the reflection of the sticks and the sky in the reflection in the water.

Another photo taken on Whixall Moss, i really like the colours and how the bench shines and stands out in the photo whilst the colour of the dog allows it to slightly merge into the background.

Camera Sim

Slightly blur the toy wind mill

Blur the background & freeze all movement

Keep everything in focus

Add caption

Camera Settings

Shutter Speed

This image taken by Diego Diaz is an example of a fast shutter speed. By using a very fast shutter speed you can capture some stunning free motion. 

This photo was taken by Jim Poet. A very slow shutter speed can be used for interesting abstract effects such as making water appear misty and smooth.

I took this photo to demonstrate a fast shutter speed. This allows to capture lots of detail, including the water particles coming off the shaking dog.

Iso

The image to the left has been taken with 100 ISO and the right with 3200 ISO. 100 ISO is generally accepted as ‘normal’ and will give you lovely crisp shots with little noise/grain.

I took the images and then used photoshop to create a comparison between the two different ISOs. The top image was taken using ISO 6400 and the bottom with ISO 1600.

Photo Analyis

Week Three - Repetition

Marilyn Diptych

Warhol used Monroe, one of the most popular and iconic woman to have lived as a product, a product that still sells now. This image has been created technically and is representational, it is clear it is Marilyn Monroe. Although it is a likeness it isn't a true reproduction but it does represent the face of Monroe. True colour isn't a significant factor in defining an iconic image. By using shape and tone to define the image the colour becomes incidental.

Campbell's Soup Cans

Andy Warhol was a colourist, he liked to explore colour. The second print of the image is the true colours of the soup can and the others are explorations of what colours the can could be. Colour is the only change to all the prints and it doesn't distort the image at all, the subject is still clear.

Warhol's Calf

I took this image and used photoshop to posterise into the style of Andy Warhol. I changed the tint of each photo in inimate to Warhols style of pop art. You can still see the image is a calf in a field but the colours are completely untrue to nature.

Contact Sheet

Colour

The Wave

This two-dimensional artwork by Andrew Vernon entitled ''The Wave'' is a beautiful example of still photography. The curved line of the glass shows the outline of the glass demonstrating the concept of shape. Contract is illustrated between the white background and the red wine as well as the changes in the colour of the wine.

Das gebaute Bild

This still life photograph is part of a series entitled ''Das gebaute Bild'' (The Constructive Picture). He uses a bright background in order to allow the  object to stand out. For this series he uses every day normal objects in order to make the most impact when shown outside their normal context. To create the colourful background he uses simple construction sheets in different colours. Unlike most photographers he doesn't rely on photoshop to create his off-kilter images but instead creates each image by using carefully hung threads. Lohoff only uses photoshop to change the contrast and uses a process that allow hands to look more wax like/painted.

The photographer A Sot captured this still life photo by burning half a box of matches until he was happy with the outcome. This image draws your eye to the flame as the rest of the background is black. The flame is in the shape of a butterfly.

This image uses bright and bold contrasting primary colours. The idea behind this image is the covering of the horizon.

 This image also uses bright and bold contrasting primary colours, it includes different textures, the roughness of the blue tarp and the smoothness of the blue sky with the white fluffy clouds.

This image was captured at Whixall Marina. The still water allows you to see the clear reflections of the colourful boats.