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“He Took me to the Moon and Back”

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I’ve been enjoying taking photos for pleasure during lockdown. Forever snapping the harsh shadows like I’m Fan Ho

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Catch Me If You Can

My final images for the Catch Me If You Can Brief. Just kidding, I don’t even go here anymore. I’m just taking shots and tagging along for the ride at this point! haha

Either way! This was an inter-uni basketball game held at Glasgow Uni Sports Centre, Glasgow vs Stirling

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Vincent’s latest video is up! A little collab with yours truly, with a song I wrote called “Slow Down” 

New Video up on my channel, go check it out fellow photographers :)

Vincent

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Louis in Studio 54 in my first attempt at merging images hahaha dear lord

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Looking at composite photography 

When asked to look at composite images, I immediately thought of a Coldplay’s music video, ‘Up and Up’ because the whole video is made of composites. These are some screenshots from the film. The music video, directed by Vania Heymann and Gal Muggia, was released on May 16, 2016 and would go on to win ‘Best Visual Effects’ at the 2016 MTV Music Awards.  The skill involved here surpasses anything I could dream of doing myself, but I take inspiration from them, and would love to try and emulate something like these

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Seeing the Light

I snapped this shot of my grandfather when he was leaning over in his chair to see a ship that was passing on the water outside. Obvious window lighting, illuminating his profile. I really like the position he's in, with his arm and the fabric of his jacket in focus. 

A portrait of a man I passed while on a hike recently. The sky was overcast and the light was diffused. I get quite flustered when taking people’s portraits, so tend to say thanks and move on even when I’ve still not quite got the shot I want. I wish I had moved over slightly and gotten the second peak in the shot, instead of him standing in front of it. I used my telephoto lens to bring the peaks of Cobbler in closer. 

Andrea in golden light. High contrasted lighting here. The light from outside was harsh but beautiful, and she shadows were strong. I found it difficult to get good shot here, as I found either the highlights or shadows were too blown out. Thank god for shooting in RAW. 

Crisp clean morning light. My friend Beinn posing for me, we hadn’t been awake for very long and I wanted to get him fresh faced and sleepy-eyed - much to his dismay. Using my nice new 1.8 35mm lens, I got a really lovely shallow depth of field. 

My Grandfather once more. My favourite model. Underneath the turning leaves I got him to pose, the light was lovely and soft even though it was a nice bright day. There was a sliver of light coming through from the trees which illuminated his shoulder and side of his face, which I think really adds to the image. 

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John Low

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Who Am I?- Review and Annotation

I really enjoyed the introspection this project allowed me to have. It’s not often in life you’re given the task to look at yourself and figure out how you would like to describe yourself- and be given the creative freedom to do so.

I found myself tossing and turning over some aspects of this brief, for some parts I had too many ideas, and none for others.

Object 

My object was the easiest and clearest one do to. Guitar is a huge part of my life, and is definitely the most valuable ‘object’ I own. I’m lucky that musical ability runs fairly strongly in my family, and I’ve been teaching myself how to play guitar since I was 14; I find it to be the one hobby that I’ve carried with me until now. With this image, I propped my guitar again my living room coffee table, and closed the blinds enough so only slits of harsh morning light would come through. I shot this on my Nikon 5300 with my kit lens. Nothing fancy. I find I’m really drawn to the atmosphere within an image, and also tend to create images with bold lines, shadows or patterns. I like things to look linear and neat if I can. I enjoy the composition of this shot, with the guitar strings and shadows dissecting the hole in the center.

Portrait

I found I had a lot of different concepts when it came to my portrait. My first idea, I shot and decided not to follow though. I changed the idea- I wanted to emulate Jack Vettriano’s painting Baby Bye Bye which I love, I did a shoot for that and decided it wasn’t up to scratch. Slightly disheartened that my grander ideas hadn’t worked out, I settled for taking this shot, and I’m very happy with it. I enjoy the composition and shapes within the image. The triangle on the wall, the shadowy lines across my face, and the recurring themes of red. I feel it holds very true to how I’ve felt a lot this year and last. I used my Nikon 5300 and kit lens again, it gives me a wide enough angle to fit everything I wanted in. I stacked books on top of my trusty coffee table and put my camera on a 10 second timer, and positioned myself. A few attempts later and I achieved this. My one niggle is that the focus is on the sofa just behind me, so although it’s not overly noticeable, my eyes aren’t in perfect focus. Och well, eh?

Location

I found this one to be the most difficult to figure out. I had an idea that worked, but when I changed my self portrait idea, the location would no longer work in a triptych. Of the three images, I feel this is my least strongest. I was reluctant to make my location image quite so simplistic, however I’m still happy with it. Taken out the front window of my grandparent’s house, where I spent my teenage years growing up- even the most amazing view can feel plain when you’ve been looking at it for over a decade. I took my grandfather’s magnifying glass and used it to make the image a little bit more interesting. Trying to get the ferry bang in the middle of the image inside of the magnifier, while keeping the horizon lined up took quite a few attempts.

Overall

I was aware that with this being a triptych I wanted my images to correspond with each other. At first, I was a little frustrated that my original ideas hadn’t really planned out- the visual correlation with the images would have been stronger. With that being said, these images share similar themes. The Object and Location both have the circle in the middle being the main focal point. The Object and Portrait both have light and shadows working in the same direction, creating a similar mood. Finally the primary colours are the overarching link in this triptych. Keeping each image individual felt like a negative to start off with, but in the end I feel happy and pleased that they work on their own and together as a three.

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Clean White 

First proper attempt at taking photos for the clean white brief. I found that I was able to get the right exposure quite quickly, which really hand’t been the case the time before. The background was exposed to f/11 and the model to f/8, and I used a softboft directly in front of the sitter. 

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Who Am I ?

I will do a proper write up on these images soon.

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Broad Horizons, Exhibition

Our class trip to the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh was a wonderful little day out. I’d never been there before, and am looking forward to visiting it again and having more time to take everything in.  There were the works of Robert Mapplethorpe, Diane Arbus, Francesca Woodman on display amongst others.  One portrait that really stood out to me was this:

Self Portrait- Annie Lennox & Allan Martin 

Taken in 2003, this self portrait of Annie Lennox stands tall in the portrait gallery, a big print, hanging in a narrow section of the room, was donated to the gallery in 2011 by Lennox herself. I found that you had to get quite up close and personal to Annie to let someone squeeze by you. 

Lennox is a cultural icon, she has a classic beauty about her and has never been afraid of bending gender norms and adopting androgynous looks. She has received numerous awards, including Grammys, Brits, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award. Alongside her outstanding musical career, Lennox has also been an ardent political and social activist. In 2010 she was awarded an OBE in recognition of her humanitarian work. I’ve adored Annie Lennox for years, and came as quite a pleasant surprise to see this portrait, which was taken in the same shoot as the image used in her 2003 album Bare. 

The image itself is striking. She is staring right at us, almost past us or through us. She presents herself to us in a stoic, statuesque pose while covered in what looks like chalk, amplifying the ‘statuesque’ feel. This is not a black and white photograph, and yet the distinct lack of colour in the shot almost feels intimidating to me. I find two contrasting elements when I look at this image. Firstly she is exposing herself, laying herself ‘bare’. It’s intimate, the lighting is soft and diffused, there are no shadows- she is hiding nothing from us. Talking about Bare Lennox herself wrote:  “The Bare album contains songs that are deeply personal and emotional. In a sense I have ‘exposed’ myself through the work, to reveal aspects of an inner world which are fragile… broken though experience, but not entirely smashed.” On the other hand, while looking at this portrait, I feel slightly intimidated. She exudes a level of calmness and confidence that takes me aback. Her gaze is intense and piercing, and I feel that she is in control of how she is being perceived. To add to this, I feel in this ‘bare’ portrait, she gives us her body, but doesn’t let us into her head.  The only item of colour and identification that she allows us to see is the band of tartan around her neck. Showing us her affiliation with her Scottish heritage, Lennox was born in 1954 and raised in Aberdeen. I find this interesting, of all things to show about herself, she chooses her Scottish Identity. It makes me wonder what I would choose to identify myself if I were to emulate this style of portrait. 

 “A Jewish giant at home with his parents, in the Bronx, N.Y.” - Diane Arbus 1970

In the exhibition, ARTIST ROOMS Self Evidence: there were photographs by Woodman, Arbus and Mapplethorpe. With a particular focus on self-portraiture and representation, the show explores the connections and similarities between these three Americans, each of whom produced bodies of work that were revolutionary, ground-breaking and at times controversial.  I’m choosing to look at Diane Arbus- one of the most influential photographers of the twentieth century. Born in New York City, she was working as a fashion photographer before she began to pursue an artistic career. Arbus made portraits of people from across society, but is best known for her powerful images of people whose situation or choices in life kept them on the margins of society – such as circus and freak show performers, transsexuals, nudists or the mentally handicapped. Her photography is marked by her bold, direct style – people appear exposed with a revealing, often unsettling, honesty. 

Here we see an image of a man standing with his parents in their familiar home. The man is Eddie Caramel, who was born in what became Israel. The Carmels, who were Orthodox Jews, moved to the Bronx when Eddie was a small child so that his mother, Miriam, and father Yitzhak are pictures here looking up at their son, who is Unkempt and unshaven, Eddie, who by this time was so crippled that he wouldn’t stand up without a cane, bends in the direction of his parents. Yitzhak glares at him coldly. Miriam gazes up at him in wonder. The family dynamic is evident in Arbus’s photograph. She has the ability to become a fly on the wall, and tell these peculiar human’s stories from a photo-journalistic perspective. This image was shot using a medium-format Rolleiflex, which offered higher resolution images in a distinctive square format.

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Looking For Light Research

An image can take on completely different moods depending on the the light available. The quality of the light, the amount of available light, its harshness, time of day, temperature and direction all have to be considered.  

This image of Agnes Obel has a soft natural light to it. It looks it could have been taken in the early evening when the sun has lost some of its harshness and elongates shadows. The light is coming from the top right of the image, and I suspect a reflector has been used to fill in a little of the left side of her face. 

Another image I wish to annotate is the album artwork of MØ’s Forever Neverland. (It’s incredibly difficult to find out the photographer behind album artwork images!) I’m really into listening to albums as a whole, and would love to get into album artwork photography. This shot was taken outdoors in the harsh LA mid-day light. There is a reflector to the left, bouncing the light upwards, highlighting her neck and left side. The light would be almost blinding, we can see how bright the sun is with the spectral highlights on her forehead. 

Annie Leibovitz is renowned for her clear, crisp portraits. Here is a good example of this with Jennifer Lawrence. The light feels light and airy, and looks like it coming from a natural window source to the left of the frame. Possible reflector to her right? The shadows are very faint, which makes her look even more porcelain. Having her sit simply, in the middle of the frame is interesting, as I often feel like I need to over complicate a portrait, however this is a really elegant and powerful image. 

Another two images by Annie Leibovitz. I’m not much a royalist, but these images absolutely astound me. Taken in 2007, we see a lavish, yet intimate portrait of the Queen. Window lit portraits, lighting up the queen as she sits regally. in the first image, Leibovitz’ framing makes the queen look so small in her surroundings. The humungous room she sits in feels intimidating, slightly cold and exudes opulence- much like the Queen herself. The colour contrast of the warm wooden floor and the Queen’s dress with the shadowier background is really striking. Her presence feels almost calming, it’s intimate.  Much like the second image, where we see the Queen looking wistfully out the window. once again, she is the main focal point of the picture, but I love that we get to see her surroundings as well. The light is defused from the clouds and comes out soft and natural. The open doors looking out across the grounds serves as a metaphor, I feel, for the fact that the Queen as spent such a vast proportion of her life cooped up, managed by advisors and maintaining a facade. The open space, with her looking into it makes us wonder what is going on in her head. Where is she looking?  Leibovitz’ portraits manage to bring out the intimacy of this regal setting. She humanises Queen Elizabeth, the lighting is soft and the lens is wide angle. I will definitely try to emulate a similar feeling in my window light portrait.

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New Photographer Research 

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Spheres

An exercise in developing out photographic skills. Using different depths of fields, shutter speeds and camera lenses to achieve this.

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We’ve been experimenting with different lighting setups. Here we used a snood to give a halo look on the backdrop, and a softbox as the key light. Also enjoy my beautiful drawings of our setup ❤️