lilydh123

[lilydh123]

Final Commentary:

I feel I learnt so much this year throughout my creative journey. The workshops we did for assignment 1 taught me lots of new skills and exposed me to techniques I had never tried before and things I didn’t even know my camera could do. They were informative, but also allowed me to make mistakes along the way and learn from them. Both assignment 1 and 2 got me to think about telling my photographic story, my position and how I see things through my lens  due to what my daily life looks like. Telling a story through the art of photography is not something I had experimented with much prior to this class, or at least being able to create a photo series that worked together. In the past I mostly just shot random things for fun without thinking too much about genre or what message I was trying to convey. I enjoyed having an excuse to use my camera every week through semester 2, as in the past I had to try and fit in taking photos around my schedule and this class allowed for me to always have my camera with me and have a reason to be taking photos. I feel I have a much better and closer relationship with my camera now, but am aware that I still have so much to learn and so much to improve on. Over the summer, my camera will not be getting a holiday, I am going to make sure to be practicing my photography throughout the break, so next year I can hopefully come back even better. I also really liked the blog aspect of these assignments, as it actually got me to think about what I was shooting, encouraged me to comment on my own photos and analyse other photographers work. Can’t wait to see what’s in store for 2023! :) 

[lilydh123]

Here is my edited photoshoot from week 10. This week was not my best work, I felt a bit lost for ideas. Wasn’t too sure how to expand on my idea and improve the series I was producing. I am wanting to create a strong visual story and through imagery show different ways people can be on the move and the range of ways people get from a to b. I went back to the train station for this shoot and tried to get some more shots playing around with shutter speed. Most of them turned out to be quite similar from the last series of images I captured at the train station. I tried to get a couple of shots through the train window like some of the photos from various photographers that have inspired me have taken, but I only ended up with two, as too many people kept looking at the camera when I tried to shoot them and I was going for candid shots, so the other ones didn’t work out and I started to feel invasive sitting there for ages trying to get them. I may potentially end up using some of these shots for my final images, but I hope to be more successful in terms of creativity when doing my next shoot.

[lilydh123]

Once

This is from photographer Nick Turpin’s Night Bus series. I love this collection of images. The colours in them along with the fog and rain captured on the window is very effective and creates another level of interest to the shots. Once again I love how everyone is all doing something so different and off in their own little worlds. The effect from the window gives the people in the images a nice glow and makes them almost look as though they have been painted. These types of shots are something I would like to try to achieve, however it may not be doable as it would feel a bit unsafe sitting at the bus stop at night with a camera while waiting to get shots like this. 

[lilydh123]

This example of a photobook called, Passengers by Dagmar Keller & Martin Wittwer from Germany was super inspirational for my work. I really like the reflective element they used. Looking at the people through the window of a bus or train, while they remain slightly obscure, I found to be really effective. I like the way the windows frame their faces and due to the unclearness of some of the faces because of smudges, rain or something else on the window, a sense of mystery is created. These shots appear very moody and a lot of the people in the images don't necessarily look very happy. Sometimes on a bus or train people are simply lost in their thoughts as it may be the only time one has to have an excuse to just sit and do nothing. Transport can be a place to unwind at the end of a day, brace yourself for the day ahead, or even a place of excitement as one could be on a journey to somewhere new and exciting. Transportation provides opportunities for change, growth, movement and a chance to explore a new place. These particular shots had quite a cold and icy feel to them and definitely have the ability to evoke a strong mood in the viewer. 

[lilydh123]

This was a term I was unfamiliar with before my week 10 class which my teacher introduced me to. I found this article very informative and can see this term connecting well to my series. “Psychogeographers idolise the flâneur, a figure conceived in 19th-century France by Charles Baudelaire and popularised in academia by Walter Benjamin in the 20th century. A romantic stroller, the flâneur wandered about the streets, with no clear purpose other than to wander.” This was really interesting to me and as I am trying to capture people on the move for my series, the idea around wandering is very interconnected to my work. I consider myself a people watcher and find watching people on their journeys very intriguing as it causes me to wonder where they are headed, what's going through their head, or where they have been all day. Some people walk with a strong intention, looking as though they are on a mission to get to their next destination as soon as possible, however others look like they are in no hurry at all and have all the time in the world and are just purely wandering. Public transport or just different forms of transportation (people on the move) is mainly what I am trying to capture, but if I can incorporate elements of the idea around pyhchogeography, I think that would be really cool and potentially enhance my overall visual story. 

[lilydh123]

I found this series really cool and it reminded me of the Humans of New York series creates by Brandon Stanton. https://www.humansofnewyork.com This series captures and reveals the stories of various individuals in New York City. Mike’s series felt a lot closer to home to me. His series is called Humans of Queen Street so I am assuming the New York series was his inspiration. His shots are very effective and he has clearly asked for permission from a lot of the  photographers in order to get their photo, as in a lot of them the people are posing or at least aware that the photo is being taken of them. This is different from my series where most of the people are unaware, I am wanting to get a more candid vibe throughout my shots. His use of aperture and composition is very strong throughout the series. I also like how he has used both black & white as well as some with colour. His series captures the real diversity and variety of individuals that make up AUCKLAND CITY. It's multicultural nature is extremely evident, making for a beautifully interesting series. 

[lilydh123]

“It’s a great social equaliser … From the moving train above ground, we see glimpses of the city, and as the train moves into the tunnels, sterile fluorescent light reaches into the stony gloom and we, trapped inside, all hang on together.” - This quote is from Bruce Davidson and I thought it was a beautifully accurate representation of the act of catching public transport. The subways in NYC are full of so much rich history, personality and have an unpredictably inviting nature that I wish I could experience. The fact that so many people from so many walks of life all come together to hop on the same bus or train, I think is quite a remarkable thing. This is what I am trying to capture through my own lens. The process of catching the bus or train in Auckland city is very different to NYC, but I want to tell a similar story. Just with a different flavour.  

[lilydh123]

I found these small tips very handy. It is quite a scary thing to shoot street photography as you never know what someone’s reaction is going to be. Public transport is even more challenging due to the intimacy. Buses and trains are enclosed spaces where it is very difficult to take a picture of a person without their knowledge. You do feel like you are invading someone’s personal space and a lot of the time it can feel wrong. That’s why it’s important to shoot at the bus stop, train platform etc... as well as you run less risk of being noticed or it being obvious who or what you are photographing if you are going for more of a candid type shot. These tips got me thinking about new ways I could attempt my public transport shots and helped me to curate a plan for my next shoot. 

[lilydh123]

In class last week, we experimented with making our own photobooks in Adobe LightroomClassic. I personally didn't have a series of images that I felt connected well enough to create one so I will attempt this process later once I feel I have a more full body of work. I found this video very informative in terms of how to create a strong photographic story. What I am learning this year is it’s not just about one singular image creating a story, but being able to create a series of photos that all work together to create a story is extremely important and crucial for our tasks this year. These photobooks were great examples of ways to relate your photos to each other in order to form a strong body of work. 

[lilydh123]

Yuki Kihara was week 9′s photographer of the week. Although her work is very different from what I am doing for my shoots, I still find her images inspirational and helpful. Her conscious choices with colour throughout this series is so effective and strong. Most of her shots have been clearly staged which is where the differences really show, as all of the shots I have taken for my assignment have been candid. I love her work. They are a beautiful representation of elements of Samoan culture and have she has used so many photographic techniques in order to achieve such lovely images. 

[lilydh123]

Here is my week 9 shoot. By now I’m really trying to fully focus on the public transport life style by playing round with reflection, composition framing using the shapes and colours from the bus stops to create interesting backdrops that allow for the people to pop. I am wanting to capture the moods and expressions of people as they wait for their form of transportation, as I feel this helps convey the mood of the shot. What I gathered from the people I photographed in this shoot, is that most of them look bored, fed up or just off in their own world, either staring off into space or glaring at their phone screens, scrolling through streams of content in the hope that something will save them and cure them from the boredom of waiting for a bus. I understand this feeling only too well as I have to bus to and from uni every day and the wait can feel like a lifetime some days. I enjoyed sitting and photographing such different looking people. While doing this I was wondering to myself where they had been all day. The office? A studio? A meeting? School? Uni? Each person is on their own journey and this relates to the concept of life itself. 

[lilydh123]

Week 8′s photoshoot. Mostly was trying to capture public transport based street photography. I really like capturing candid shots of people as they go about their day. I also love the rainbow bus stops on K road and wanted to experiment with taking shots of them lit up at night. Was pretty quiet out on the streets at the time I was out at night which meant I didn’t get as many shots as I would’ve liked to, but am quite happy with how they came out. The last shots were just me playing round with lighting and shadow and just enjoying shooting all the different things and types of people that make up Tāmaki Makaurau. 

[lilydh123]

This series of images on The Guardian was captivating to me and clearly resembled strong elements of the message and theme I am focusing on with aspects of my photography for assignment 2. These shots are moody, real and capture the common need to travel on public transport from a range different people. Such different people from so many walks of life all coming together for a common need. I love how all these shots are taken from outside the bus which I feels captures the invasiveness of street photography. I also love the light reflecting off the windows in some of the shots. It adds another level and dimension to the photos. 

[lilydh123]

Kassel Photobook festival

https://koheikawatani.com/#sy

My first chosen photobook is from the 2020 phonebook dummy awards called, Tofu-Knife by Kohei Kawatani. I found this work unique, abstract and quite quirky. A lot of this work focused on colour and texture and was made to challenge the viewer. Although quite weird and different from quite a lot of the work I have explored previously,  enjoyed the fact that the images caused me to sometimes question what I was seeing which made the viewing experience intriguing. I was not always even sure what the intentions were behind some of the photos, which allowed me to interpret the content in my own way. I found the Salty Yogurt (2021) series and the Tofu-Knife (2019) to be the most capturing. I really liked the overlaying element used in these shots. It gave the work depth and added to the quirkiness of the content. 

https://fotobookfestival.org/portfolio-item/fotobookfestival-kassel-2011/

My second chosen photobook is Fotobook 4 (02-05 June, 2011) This phonebook incorporates work from a range of artists - each being very different from the next. I chose this one because of the range and variation that is embedded into this work. The first series focuses on light and reflection, shows different ways you can play around with light - eg, natural light, staged light, artificial, planned or accidental light. The next series appears to be a doco series revealing how individuals each respond to the environment they are in. All the other images in this phonebook are from different series that all have included strong photographic techniques - eg, texture, black and white strong contrasts, people depicted in a raw and natural state, photographed, as they are in the moment which I feel relates well the genre of street photography. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3R5Tlgh2Mo

My third chosen photobook is from the 2022 dummy awards called, Shadow over Shadow by Victor Casemiro. First of all I loved how this phonebook was shown. The artist created a whole video dedicated to the presentation of this book, which tied in with the theme of the photographic story beautifully - from the music, dim lighting, attire the gentleman who was flicking through the pages is wearing, and his stance at the end, smoking his cigarette as the book closes is all perfectly consciously planned in order to enhance the virtual experience. The shots in this phonebook are quite moody, dark and unglamorous. They perfectly depict the darkness of some corners of life. 

[lilydh123]

Loved this short film. It was funny, touching, had beautiful cinematography and I just overall really enjoyed it. 

- Moody lighting, black and white, vintage, mysterious feel created

- Lots of cuts between different shot types 

- Slow pan, extreme shots at start 

- Low shots of cars to show the shots from the point of view of the kids - this helped us to get thinking about how we want to convey our story, what point of view we are choosing to come from 

- Extreme close ups of girl holding ring. Goes between her being in focus and then out and this technique is also repeated with the ring

- The sequence of shots with the mirror would also make a strong still image series 

- Timelapse at start of cars and people coming and going from the carpark - cuts between this and mid shot of two boys in a car

- Cuts from mid shots of boys and girl sitting in the cars and then extreme shots of both the cars 

- Timelapse shows time passing - allows time for the kids left behind in the parking lot to bond and hang out as they are bored while they wait 

- Cuts from close up of girl leaving in car and boy standing in parking lot and then of them smiling at each other to show the connection developed 

- Film finishes on an establishing shot of the boy left in the carpark and the one car left behind

[lilydh123]

Here is week 8′s in class workshop. Here we were focusing on using the hour glass technique (extreme close up, close up, mid shot, extreme shot). We were also thinking about lighting, focus, framing and perspective. I mostly was still focusing on focal length and a bit of framing and composition as well. I took all of these on the same lens (18-55mm) and mostly similar settings, occasionally adjusting shutter and aperture. Always 100-200 ISO. 

[lilydh123]

This was week 7′s workshop. I was not on campus for this week as I was sick so I just asked someone what they did in class and once they had filled me in, I caught up over the break. For this workshop, we had to capture various series of images in different locations using establishing shots, mid shots, close ups and extreme close ups. For this shoot I used my 18-55mm lens to capture the establishing and mid shots and then used my 70-300mm to capture the close ups and extreme close ups. I felt really lucky to have both these lenses to experiment with as it gave me the chance to plat around with a range of focal points. The first set were shot up Owairaka mountain on a moody, cloudy and gloomy day and the second lot were captured in Albert Park on a more sunny, bright day.