Work Record 1

Plans for Shoot

For this shoot, I plan to experiment with the topic option 'circles and curves'. This is because I am still indecisive on what topic I will choose for my final project, between 'writing' and 'circles and curves'. In the next work record I will experiment with the topic 'writing', and hopefully I will be able to decide which topic I continue with for my further work and final project.
The shoot for this blog will be recreating my research photographer's work style (from the exam brief) and see if I can excel in this style of work.

Research
Vivian Maier analysis in 'Discussion of exam paper' blog post.
Maier is one of the recommended photographers in the exam brief for the topic circles and curves, so I decided she would be my research and influence for this experiment.
Vivian Dorothy Maier was an American street photographer. Maier worked as a nanny, pursuing photography during her spare time.

Image bank

All these photos are pieces from my research photographer Vivian Maier. I selected these pieces because they best present her work presenting circles and curves. In the majority of these photos, Maier is capturing herself through reflections, she always appears blank in expression and her clothing appears feminine and motherly; this represents her as authoritative with the expression, but empowers her due to her motherly appearance, most probably due to her being a nanny.
I will attempt to recreate her reflections photos with myself, and also plan to find curves in objects and presenting them in different compositions to represent their curves.

Contact sheet

These are all the raw photos for my circles and curves shoot.

Best Photos
These are my best raw photos for this shoot that I selected.

Photos that require improvement

These photos I believe do not represent my work at its best quality and require a composition change. For the first photo, the shutter speed is at 1/50, aperture at F4.5, and exposure at ISO 200; flash was also used to pick up more detail and help the exposure settings be clearer. My main issue with this photo is the amount of negative space is around and how it lacks any real creativity. The photo is of a glass ball so it does fit with circles and curves, hence why I chose it, but I believe now that is just too simple on its own. I used the rule of thirds composition because I believed that a simple ball centred in a photo with nothing around it would've appeared plain and boring, so the rule of thirds added a bit more uniqueness into it. Unfortunately, the photo is still plain and I feel requires more to reach my personal photo standards. If I were to retake this photo, I would incorporate another object into the photo with the ball so there is less negative space and there's more to focus on in the photo. I could've potentially added more glass balls, or circular objects so there's a juxtaposition of sizing and appearance, this could've represented a society symbolism if I had enough objects to make comparisons.

For the second photo, the shutter speed is at 1/50, aperture at F5, and exposure at ISO 200; flash also being used to capture this photo. This photo has the same issues as the first one; the composition leaves the object appearing boring and plain. The object itself isn't very curved either, which draws the photo even further away from my intentions. I once again used the rule of thirds composition but had the angle tilted slightly so the negative space is decreased; this also added a better eye-catching composition. The lack of curvature draws this further away from the topic itself. If I were to retake, I would once again incorporate another object or more with the bottle so some negative space is removed.

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

My Ideas

My intentions for this shoot was to experiment with the topic circles and curves with the inspiration from photographer Vivian Maier. Maier's work involved curvatures and added real life into the photos; she is always outside and around other people living their lives in her photos, this was an aspect I didn't follow into my recreations. Curvatures in photos create a calming and sometimes sensual atmosphere, Maier's photos always appear relaxed and still in motion. I believe I met these photo intentions, I didn't incorporate the real-life world, but I presented curvatures in different objects and added myself into a few of my photos just like Maier did with hers. I wouldn't say I excelled at this topic though, I could've had better quality with my ideas, and potentially went outside to recreate Maier's work better, but I seem to lack a heavy interest in this style of work.

Reference to best photos

This photo was recreating one of Maier's portrait reflections while presenting the circular/curvatures on the camera and mirror. This I feel was the most direct recreation I made for Maier's work, there is myself captured in the mirror, but the focal point is on my hands and the camera since they represent the most curvatures.

This photo is a closeup of a stretched out slinky, I used this because I felt the constant spiral of a slinky represents circles and curves accurately. The lack of focus in the front area of the spirals creates a suggestion of movement which makes the photo more enticing. 

This photo is a closeup up of the top of a snow globe with bubbles bunched together. The bubbles creating definition and presenting perfect circles, the globe also creating a curve mimicking something similar to the earth.

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

Use of Camera

I used my Nikon D3400 DSLR camera for every photo taken. I felt a tripod wasn't necessary for these photos since I'd be getting close up to the objects and would be experimenting with angles. The camera was set to manual mode, shutter speed at 1/50, aperture varying at F4-6, and exposure at ISO 200; I also used flash since it captured the objects in better quality.

Shoot Process

Since I don't have a studio set up at home, I taped A3 sheets of plain white paper on my dresser to create a white background. I took the photos during the early afternoon so the natural lighting was still bright and similar matching to Maier's outside settings. I found a bunch of different objects that presented circles and curvatures, placed them on the background area and captured them mainly in close-ups to present the curvatures. With the photos including myself, I used my mirror stand and angled it so only myself and the camera can be visible in the mirror frame.

Experimenting
I wanted to test how these photos would appear if I enhanced the colours and vibrancy, as opposed to Maier's original style which is monochrome work.

Firstly, I added an adjustment layer of 'levels' to enhance the exposure appearance, creating a heavier contrast in tone; since the photo originally appears flat in tone.

Secondly, I added an adjustment layer of 'hue/saturation' to develop the colouring in the photo. Initially enhancing the overall saturation and the red and yellow areas of the coins.

I also removed all saturation in the cyan and blue areas, since it is mainly the background and it cancels out the red and yellow areas, weakening them, which I wanted to remove.

This is the photo finished in editing.

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Firstly, I added an adjustment layer of 'levels' to enhance the exposure appearance, creating a heavier contrast in tone; since the photo originally appears flat in tone. This increased the definitions in the petals.

Then, I added an adjustment layer of 'hue/saturation' to enhance the magenta colouring in the petals. This created a higher vibrancy in the photo overall, revealing richer colour in the petals.

This is the photo finished in editing.

Final Pieces

After the experimenting, I decided that following Maier's style of work would better fit the recreation, and that colour was too distracting from the focal point of curves in general. 

Maier's work in simply black and white, but the photos appeared flat in tone and definition. So after turning the photo black and white by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+U, I used an adjustment layer of 'levels' to bring out the white tones lighter and deepen the black tones to create a better contrast and definition.

After doing this, I decided that levels weren't going to bring out specific areas that I wanted, so I used the dodge and burn method. Firstly, creating an adjustment layer of 'curves' with the centre point lifted to increase the white tones overall. I then inverted this by pressing CTRL+I and then added a layer mask that I'll paint over to reveal only in certain places the white tones using a soft brush tool.

Secondly, I added another adjustment layer of 'curves' with the centre point brought down this time to deepen the dark tones in the photo overall. Then once again inverting (CTRL+I) and adding a layer mask to paint overall, darkening places I feel need to be more hidden using a soft brush tool.

Before.

After.

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

My research into Vivian Maier helped me to better understand the effects of circles and curves in photography. They own a calming effect with no real sense of urgency or distortion, the atmosphere always feels completely still. I believe I could potentially excel at circles and curves, and present some abstract styles with the use of body linking with curves.

AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements. 

I believe I met my intentions for circles and curves, the photos presented exactly that of the topic and showed some form of calming expression. These are my final pieces for circles and curves.

Progression

I didn't enjoy this experiment much, I don't seem to own a creative drive towards this topic. I believe it is a beautiful style and can be presented very professionally sometimes, but I don't believe I will be able to do so. I will move onto experimenting with the topic writing and then decide what I believe will best fit my final project.