Illustrated Project Proposal

My personal investigation is:

to look into portraiture, I would like to look at people of different ages for this. Although I will look at doing this in both studio environments and also non studio environments.

Background:

I would like to focus on portraiture of different aged people, I would like to make the area I am in a key part of this project as I am going to France and Switzerland and they can be quite pretty places. I am also going to go to Brighton in England and also Camden and Brick Lane in London, these are very different places, and I think it will create a nice effect rather than making the background separate from the subject.

I'd like to begin this subject by taking photographs in London of people my age, Camden and Brick Lane are very popular areas for young adults as they have shops and markets that appeal to people my age. I would like to take some photographs before my next lesson because that way I can spend my time editing photographs rather than taking them during the lesson as I don't have photoshop at home.

Photographers research: 

I will look at artists that I have previously looked at a lot during AS, like Alec Soth, I will also look at photographers that I haven't researched much like Martin Parr.

I'm also going to look at photographers that aren't as well known like George Muncey who posts his photography on instagram, I absolutely love his photography because he focuses on people like I want to do. 

Most of the photographers I am looking at are still taking photographs now, the photos aren't old, the oldest photographs that I have looked at are Martin Parrs photo's, they were taken in the 1980's, but other than the fashion, you probably wouldn't know that.

I want to look at photographers that have taken photographs of nice places as well because a lot of my photographs will include pretty backgrounds like the Alps in France, or the beach in Brighton, even London has some very pretty places.

Illustrations: 

Whilst I was researching photographers, I came across these photographs.

This is a photograph called Joshua by Alec Soth, I really like this photograph because the background is just as interesting as the subject of the photograph, it gives us an idea of where he is or who he is whereas if the photograph was just of him in a black background, we wouldn't have much of an idea. The man in this photograph is in a prison, this is in contrast to the words 'preacher man' on his collar, which shows that he may see himself as religious, however he has broken the law and ended up in prison, we don't know that he has committed a crime that hurt someone or if it's a form of ironic humour. The photo shows a lot but it also brings a lot of questions with it. 

This is another photograph by Alec Soth from the same series, called Sleeping by the Mississippi. The photo shows a woman smiling at the camera holding a framed photograph of what she believes to be an angel, Mississippi is in the bible belt of america and a lot of the people there are christian. I find this photo is very interesting because of the colours it uses, the frame and the photograph are very bright in contrast to the muted colours of the background and the subject. In this photograph I would definitely say that the Photograph is the Punctum as it is probably the thing that draws you in the most.

This photograph, by Alec Soth, is of a man who seems to be asleep on a rock, I like this photograph because of the colours in it, they are quite muted and I think that it looks really nice, I want to look into doing photographs that are dark like this but I think that I would need to use a tripod because the aperture would have to be higher than I would usually use.

This photograph is by Martin Parr and it is looking at elderly people on their holidays, I like Martin Parr's photography because he takes photographs of all ages, however in this photo the background isn't as focused on, although I won't always have a nice background for my photographs, I would like to have backgrounds on most of my shoots, no matter if its alps or just a forest background.

This is another photograph by Martin Parr, it shows two young children eating ice-cream at the beach, I really like this photograph because it shows the background of the scene as well as the subjects in the foreground, the two children aren't focusing on the camera meaning that they are probably showing their true emotion, rather than just smiling or frowning for the camera. I like how this photograph has quite muted colours, except for the red which shouts out at you. I would really like to explore this type of photography as he uses film cameras for his photographs.

I really like the background for this photograph, it is like a dull mirror, I think it creates a really nice effect where it reflects the colour but not necessarily the shape much, creating a really nice range of golds and whites. This photograph is by Annie Leibovitz. I like a lot of her work, especially the covers for Cyndi Lauper's albums 'She's So Unusual' and 'True Colours'.

This photograph is by David Lachapelle, I think that it works really well and he obviously takes the background into account because if he had shot this in a studio then it wouldn't work well at all, a plain background isn't what you want with a photograph like this. The fact that there is so much going on in the photograph sometimes affects a photo badly because you can't focus on one thing, however this works very well because she is definitely more in focus than the rest of the photo and this means you are still drawn to her rather than the other people in the background. I prefer muted colours over the saturation in this photograph, however I do like how busy this photograph is, it makes it more interesting to look at.

The photographer for this image is George Muncey, he primarily uses film cameras although he does use a lot of different formats like DSLR cameras and even his iPhone, I really like his photography because he looks into the youth of London, and captures the beauty of London as well as the people that grew up there. I would like to try and take photographs like these for my shoots, the subjects of these photographs are a similar age to me so I would be able to get photographs of people like this. In this particular photo he has focused on the foreground and kept the background blurry, however the majority of his photographs keep the background in focus, because the place they are is just as important to the photo as the person in it.

This photograph is another of George Muncey's, it shows a boy sitting on the floor of an exhibition, I really like this photograph because it would be a great photo without the art behind him, however this tells us where the photograph was taken so we know more about what is happening, for me the punctum is definitely the art on the wall in this image, I really like that we can see the whole body of the boy, instead of just his head and torso like many of George's other photographs.

This photograph is also by George Muncey, it is of a man sitting on a train, I think this image is a candid photo because the man isn't looking at the camera, he probably doesn't know it is being taken. I also love the framing for the photograph, personally I don't take many photographs where the subject is in the middle because I think that it looks better when the subject is off to the side, however in this photo I think it looks really good, the one thing that attracts my eye is probably the no smoking sign on the train window.

Photographic Techniques: 

I would like to try out film photography as I've never worked with film before but I like the effect it has on photographs when compared to DSLR photographs. I also think it would be interesting to look at how exposure changes photographs on film cameras.

I would also like to try and make more gifs as my first go didn't turn out perfectly because I obviously didn't keep the camera still, though it was on a tripod.