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[Final Phase Project]

Title: London’s Sculptures inspiring us

I prepared series of 6 photographs of statues in London. The concept of this project is persuing London cultures fascinating us. Since I came here, I was inspired statues. Therefore I focus on sculptures. I firstly saw sculptures as a stuff and what is important is how do we merely feel from them. But my thought has changed as researching subject matters. Sculptures are not merely stuff, and they contains various background such as wish of sculptors and history. I felt that it’s important to see them under understanding their background and cultures. In terms of technique, I focused on sculptures itself as a portrait to eliminate unnecessary information, so I edited pictures in black and white.

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[Subject matter research]

London’s Eros Statue

“Eros statue”, which is not official name, locates at the southeastern side of Picadilly Circus in London. The official name is “The Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain”. It was made in 1893 to commemorate the philanthropic works and the achievements in school education of Anthony Ashley Cooper. According to the Magazine of Art, “this statue serves freedom for the metropolis from any further additions of the old older of monumental monstrosities”.

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[Attempts (Eros statue in Picadelly Circus)]

Comparison in terms of color effects

I tried to make difference of color by using Lightroom. In final phase project, I’d like to focus on the subject itself. So I tried to vertify which coloration emphasizes the subject more. Because the sculptures are basically black in color, in my opinion, it was better to emphasize the subject with a white background. For final phase, I’d like to make the statue itself clearer by shading.

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[Research]

Leo Caillard

These artworks is a kind of project of “Hipster in Stone” presented by Leo Caillard, photographer. These works were made by combining photography and the skill of photoshop. The concept of this project is what it would be like if ancient Greek sculpture subjects were hipsters. It’s so interesting for me and I’m much impressed. Some people feel Greek sculptures old fashioned comparing with contemporary one. But this artworks made these fashionable by incorporating the theme of hipster. I learned the combination of much different subjects would be creating new values .

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[Research]

David in V&A Museum (replica)

David is the representative sculpture in western art. Michelangelo who is famous for sculptor and painter made it in 1501. Michelangelo had a great impact on the development of western art. This statue represents the nature of hero, so it’s also the symbol of civil liberties. I learned that statues ordinary contains the someone’s wish or will.

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[Practice]

I took two pictures before lockdown in national gallery. I focus on arts in final phase, so I took pictures of artworks with people looking at. I found that the way people appreciate is much different through photographs. I was conscious that these pictures convey the mood and atmosphere of gallery.

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[Research]

Tomas Struth (born in 1954)

He is a contemporary photographer who shoot the complexity of a range of subjects including urban scenes, and portraits. He is so conscious that he is constructing images rather than taking merely photos. I learned how much power black and white picture has from his works. By taking pictures in black and white, I can let people focus on the subjects.

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Pilot Phase Project : Kohei

Title : different emotions from a kind of sculptures

Concept : What we are feeling from arts in London

I have been inspired by lots of arts in London since I came here. Also especially sculptures are so impressed for me because there are no sculptures like above pictures in Asian cultures. Therefore I decided to focus on London’s arts especially sculptures.

In group review class, I found that What people feel from pictures is much different. So I don’t set titles each pictures though I told titles in previous class. Instead, I shoot whole shape of sculptures so that I can represent image I felt though I focused on sculpture’s expressions.

(First one is taken in British museum, the others are taken in V&A museum)

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Pilot Phase Project

Six images for review

I can improve the message from these pictures

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V&A Museum

Through the workshop in V&A museum, I was so interested in sculptures.

Also, I learned technical skills such as adjusting exposure and aperture. I found that small number of aperture is good for focusing on sculptures.

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This is my favorite shoes, Nike airmax 2017 model. In dark room, I took this picture by using flash. Using this technique, I focus on “Airmax” and the logo of Nike. I wanted to represent the strong image of Nike’s brand.

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First one was taken by the smallest number of Aperture. Using this technique, we can strongly focus on the subject. Second one was taken by the largest number of Aperture. Third one was taken by largest number of Shutter speed. Using shutter technique, we can capture a moment of the scene. After this, I’d like to use properly these techniques on my project.

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【Portrait】

I usually take portraits from the front but I took from below this time. It was found that I can change the mood of portraits by taking pictures in front of wallarts. The point of this picture is that I let him meet his gaze with tiger behind.

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I went to Westminster on January 31th and took photographs of the moment of brexit. I felt merrymaking so much but it was precious time for brexiter. I also felt that they are very proud of their own country. Seeing the first picture, it’s like they got the freedom.

It was so hard for me to take pictures because it was very crowded there and I also stood for over two hours straight. Nevertheless, it was an honor to be part of British historical event.

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Classmate Portraits