Evaluation for Ruud Baan Responses

I choose Rudd Baan's work to create a response to as his work is energetic, colourful, interesting and fun. In addition to this, most of his work consists of one of the four elements of fire, water, air and earth.

http://stephanieasphotographyexam.blogspot.com/2014/03/ruud-baan.html

As shown in my two responses to Ruud Baan, I tried to create the same interesting, energetic, colourful and fun feeling as in Ruud Baan. I did this through Photoshop, I experimented with different blur tools, layers, etc. I believe my responses are very good as I believe I portrayed the same interesting, colourful and energetic feeling with my own personal twist to my response too.

http://stephanieasphotographyexam.blogspot.com/2014/05/ruud-baan-response.html

http://stephanieasphotographyexam.blogspot.com/2014/05/ruud-baan-response-2.html

Ruud Baan Response 2

In my second Ruud Baan response, I wanted to demonstrate water as in the response I was re creating. Again, I added a black layer for the background used the marquee tool around the figure to rub out the layer so the figure stands out. In addition to this, I also used the magic wand tool around the water in the Ruud Baan photograph I am re creating and dragged this on to my photograph as demonstrated in the below photographs.

I used the "Divide" layer effect, this made the purple water a grabbed from Ruud Baan's original photograph to green water which I found interesting and different. In addition to this, it blended in with the background and made the photograph stand out. I like my response and believe it is a very good response as the figure captured the pose of the model in Ruud Baans work and the black layer with the green water makes the figure stand out and it looks like the figure is trying to dodge the green water.

Ruud Baan Response

In my response to Ruud Baan, I captured the movement of the element water by getting the figure to jump in a puddle. I asked the figure to create the same stance as the model in the Ruud Baan photograph I am re creating. As shown in the 3 below photographs, I added a black layer as the background is distracting and by adding a black background, the focus is more on the action shot. After this, I used a marquee tool around the figure and the puddle to rub out the black layer and, again, make the focus more on the figure.

Once I rubbed out the layer on the figure and the puddle, I still felt the photograph was dull and boring, therefore, to make the photograph more interesting, I went on Filter > Distort > Twirl on Photoshop as it makes the photograph more interesting and eye catching. In addition to this, I added a Gausian blur

Ruud Baan Response Contact Sheets

I tried to do a response to various Ruud Baan photographs, a lot of which to demonstrate the element water. I did 3 different photo shoots in one day, each with different background, themes and outfits. Most of these shoots I got the figure to just demonstrate the body language of the figure I was re creating in Ruud Baan's photograph so that I could later Photoshop as Ruud Baan's work is very dramatic and emphasized and to capture this I would have to use Photoshop. Therefore, I only asked the figure to copy the model in Ruud Baan's photographs body language.

Best Dorothea Lange Response 2

In my second Dorothea Lange best  response, I transformed the picture to a black and white to make an accurate response to Dorothea Lange's work and to re create the emotion of sadness and desperation in the Great Depression times not only through the figures facial expression but also through the colours. In addition to this, I captured natural lighting on the figures face. I like how I captured how the natural light hits half of the figures face showing contrast between the light and dark lighting. 

Dorothea Lange Response

I chose this picture as a best Dorothea Lange response as I believe it is a good response to the Dorothea Lange photograph I was re creating. The figure is doing a similar pose as the model in Dorothea Lange's photograph. I was trying to capture the same story Lange portrayed of a little boy who is forced at a young age to work hard and help out in the farm, however, he has other aspirations and dreams outside of farm life. I did this shoot in a field as Dorothea Lange's photograph captures farm life in the background and asked the figure in my photograph to do the imitate the same pose as the model in Dorothea Lange's work and asked him to think of his dreams of what he wants to be of in the future however, he can't because he is forced to work in a farm. I believe I captured this using different angles and showing the background of a field, in addition, the figure is presenting the same emotion in Lange's photograph.

Furthermore, I transformed my response in black and white using Photoshop and additionally used curves to demonstrate contrast. This is a response to all four of the element, earth, water, fire and air as Dorothea Lange demonstrates in her body of work the effect it has on having too much or too little of any of these elements.

In this response, it shows the land background of a field (demonstrating earth) where many people in the depression era would work in, on a farm in very hot conditions (demonstrating fire through the effect of too much heat ) and lack water (demonstrating the effect of little water). In addition to this, the wind would not help in these conditions as they were very strong. (demonstrating effect of too much air)

Dorothea Lange Response Contact Sheets

In my Dorothea Lange photo shoot which I have previously taken for my AS Photography task, I tried different backgrounds and experimented with a variety of angels to try and capture the emotion the figure is portraying. I asked the model to demonstrate sadness as Dorothea Lange captured in her photographs the Great Depression and how the elements effected people. In addition to this, I wanted the model to wear simple clothing in this shoot as the figures in Dorothea Lange's photographs could not afford nice clothing during the Great Depression time.

In my second photo shoot, I tried to re create one of Dorothea Lange's famous photograph of the young boy who is forced to work under hard conditions in a farm and you can tell in his face when he is looking at a distance that he does not want to be working and wants to live his American dream or possibly in school having an education. I took these pictures in a field background to show land and got the figure to demonstrate the same pose as the model in Lange's photograph. I captured this through different angles.

Response To Andy Goldsworthy

I tried to re create Andy Goldsworthy spiral rock work on the beach for my response. In my original Andy Goldsworthy response, I put together rocks I found on the beach in size order in a spiral shape just like Andy Goldsworthy did when he produced one of his most famous land art work. In addition, I drew on the rocks to produce a similar and interesting black and white spiral, however, this is not very clear therefore, I want to Photoshop a bolder black spiral on to the rocks, furthermore, Photoshop sand in the background as Andy's photo is taken on the beach and mine is on concrete floor. By doing this, I got a picture of sand from the internet and dragged it to my original picture as shown in the above Photoshop image.

Before and after Photoshop.

Édouard Boubat Best Response

As demonstrated in the bottom photograph, I tried to re create Édouard Boubat's famous photograph of the young boy listening peacefully and humbly to a shell against his ear. However, I used other props such as, the flower and the rock to show other elements of Earth.

The above photograph is the best response I took in the style of Édouard Boubat's young boy listening to a shell. I believe that the model is capturing the humble and peaceful look demonstrated in the little boys face in Édouard Boubat's photograph. In addition, I used a rock instead of a shell to interpret different elements of Earth. Moreover, I took this image from a side angle to capture the natural lighting in the figures face and cropped the photograph to try and get rid of the logos and keep the picture simple and focused on the figure. Furthermore, I transformed the picture to black and white to create an accurate Édouard Boubat response.

Édouard Boubat Response Contact Sheets

In my Édouard Boubat response which I have previously taken for my AS Photography task, I tried to re create the photograph of the little boy with his ear against a shell. However, I used different props as shown in the photo shoot, such as, a flower and a rock in response to the "Earth" theme, in addition, I wanted to create an accurate response to Boubat's work, therefore, I photographed the figure against a black background. The reason why I am using these pictures again is because I wanted to do a portrait to response to one elements rather than a landscape and believed that this was the perfect response to Earth.

Evaluation for Typology Demonstrating the Destruction of Water

I created a typology demonstrating the effects and the destruction water can have. In my typology, it is evident that water can have a dramatic impact on not only objects and good, but also to people's lives. The pictures in the typology were taken 2 months after the floods in Madeira and it clearly shows that people's possessions and lives were ruined for a long period of time and not just temporary and I wanted to demonstrate this in my typology.

http://stephanieasphotographyexam.blogspot.com/2014/04/typology-demonstrating-destruction-of.html

Typology Demonstrating the Destruction of Water

I produced a typology demonstrating the destruction the floods in Madeira created as shown in the above photographs. It is evident from these photographs that the floods caused a lot of damage and in fact, did ruin a lot of people's lives and some actually became homeless due to the water demolishing there house and everything within it. It's crazy how powerful this element can be when the weather is not great. The floods were a shock to every one and everybody who lives and has been to Madeira as Madeira is typically very sunny, therefore, when the floods happened and destroyed many peoples homes, it was a shock to all the locals.

I produced a black border for this typology as it symbolises 'darkness' which, for many, and especially the people who's homes got destroyed, was a dark time in their lives. As shown in the image on the right, I created this typology response to water on Photo Shop, doing an extended crop and then adding layers of shocking photographs from this period.

'Water' Contact Sheet

I tried to capture reflections of water to demonstrate the beauty of water and to get a "summer holiday beach/pool" feel to my water response. In contrast to my other shoot which demonstrates the destruction of water and the impact in can make. This is shown in the pictures of ruined and destroyed houses in Madeira I took during the floods shown in the second screen shot of my contact sheets.

Demonstrating the Destruction of Fire -Video

I created a video demonstrating the destruction of fire. As the video continues, you can slowly see the destruction the fire creates on the couch and gradually start to notice the burns and the ashes from the fire.

'Fire' Response

For my fire response, I grabbed a picture I liked from our WeSC photo shoot from our portraiture work and then I added one of my bonfire photographs on top and started to experiment with different layers as shown in the below pictures.

This is my favourite layer blender which is 'Lighten', I rubbed out the moon on the models head as I think it was distracting. I chose this photograph as a final because I believe that the fire looks very convincing as the audience can see the flames coming from the fire and I believe it goes really well with the photograph I chose for the reason that I feel the wind swept hair of the model adds to the dramatic effect and I like how the model does not look effected by the fire, symbolizing that she is a strong and powerful person.

Evaluation for 'Bonfire'

Once I produced my first Idris Khan response using air, I got inspired to do a similar thing, however, using fire works. The reason why I wanted to do this was because I had a variation off different fire works, however, they were dull as they were separate. Therefore, I decided to layer each firework to combine the variations of different colours and sizes to make it a more interesting response. However, it is not an Idris Khan response as it is not in black and white, the reason why I did not transform this image in black and white is because it would loose the fun as the colours would no longer be visible which is the reason why I kept it in colour.

http://stephanieasphotographyexam.blogspot.com/2014/03/fire.html

Bonfire

In my best 'fire' response, I layered together 3 different photographs of bonfire as shown below. Each bonfire are different colours and shapes. The reason why I layered these three bonfires together was because each fire work separately was boring and not attention grabbing. Therefore, I layered these bonfire's together in one photo to grab the audiences attention, mixing a nice variation of colours and sizes.

'Fire' Contact Sheets

In these fire contact sheets, I have a variety of different responses to fire from, the beauty, simplicity usefulness of fire showing bonfire, fireworks, candles and cooking to the destruction of fire. For this, I photographed a burning house and a burning sofa which we decided to burn after we got new sofa's and I saw this as a perfect opportunity to demonstrate the destruction of fire.

Evaluation for First 'Air' Photo Shoot/Response

Whilst I was doing my Air mood board, I got inspired by the top left photograph of the little boy jumping in the air holding a lot of bright and colourful balloons. 

http://stephanieasphotographyexam.blogspot.com/2014/03/air-mood-board.html

This then inspired me for my first photo shoot where I tried to re create this image and demonstrate air through jumping in the air.

http://stephanieasphotographyexam.blogspot.com/2014/03/photo-shoot-1-air-contact-sheets.html

I then looked at the artist Idris Khan and felt inspired to create a similar response, however, instead of showing movement I wanted to show the different emotions of a stereotypical teenager. Therefore, I went for 3 completely different pictures demonstrating different emotions. The reason why I decided to do this is due to the fact that the balloons are for celebrating a 13th birthday which is the first year of teenage life.

http://stephanieasphotographyexam.blogspot.com/2014/03/idris-khan.html

http://stephanieasphotographyexam.blogspot.com/2014/03/idris-khan-response-using-air.html

Idris Khan Response Using Air

In my Idris Khan response, I used 3 different images (shown below) to layer on top of each other to create an Idris Khan response. To demonstrate the element 'Air' I used balloons. The balloons I photographed were 'Happy 13th Birthday' balloons, which is the beginning of teenage years. The reason why I used the 3 photos shown below is to show the different emotions of a stereotypical teenager. The first picture being 'moody', the middle picture showing celebration and excitement for being a teenager and the third image showing happiness and joy.

As shown in the below picture, I layered the 3 photographs, one on top of another to create a Idris Khan response, in addition, I added black and white as a majority of Kahn's work is in black and white, and finally, I added curves to produce contrast.

                                                                                                     

  

Response to Air Contact Sheets

In this shoot, I tried to capture 'air' through balloons as balloons have got air/helium in them. In addition, I tried to demonstrate air through jumping in the air which I also captured in some photographs. I used "Happy 13th Balloons" and I wanted the model to demonstrate different emotions of becoming a teenager.I also co operated 'Earth' in this photo shoot with a field as a background. The reason why I used this background for this shoot is because I feels it adds a mystery and strangeness to the photographs.

Édouard Boubat

Édouard Boubat, was a French photographer born on September 13th, 1923 in Paris. Édouard went to school at Ecole Estienne and studied to become a photo-engraver. When he returned to Paris in 1946, Édouard sold his six-volume dictionary to pay for his first camera. Boubat took his first photograph in 1946 and was awarded the Kodak Prize the following year. Boubat loved to see the world through his camera and was curios about the human spirit and when he took his portraits he described himself as a constant foreigner entering people's lives. Jacques Prévert (French poet) described Boubat as 'a poet with a camera' and his photographs were know to reveal his poetic nature. 

I like the work of Édouard Boubat as each one of his portrait photographs tells a story. I chose Édouard Boubat as in most of his photography work he contains at least one of the elements, such as, air, water and earth. Édouard Boubat's work reminds me of  Dorothea Lange's work as they both photograph in black and white and demonstrate a story behind each one of their photos.

I like this Édouard Boubat photograph. As the viewer is instantly drawn in to the figures peaceful expression and the way it strikingly contrasts between the harsh monochrome background. One of the obvious props in the photograph is the shell which is against the figures ear. This could suggest that Boubat wanted to represent children as peaceful and free when they are connected with nature which is reinforced by the boy's expression and how close the shell is to his face. 

Dorothea Lange

Dorothea Lange was born May 26, 1895 – October 11, 1965 was an 

powerful American documentary photographer and photojournalist, well known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration. Lange's work opened the eyes of many on the impact of the Great Depression and prejudiced the advance of documentary photography.

Dorothea Lange uses all 4 elements in her work as she demonstrates lands, fire is portrayed through the hot sun which people had to work through, at this time there was hardy any water demonstrating the necessity of water and air is shown through  the wind blowing the soil which destroyed the crops. She demonstrates the effects of too much or too little of any of these elements.

This is my favourite Dorothea Lange photograph as I believe it tells a story of a little boy who is forced at a young age to work hard and help out in the farm, however, he has other aspirations and dreams outside of farm life. As an audience, the reason why I get this story from this image is because in the background you can notice farmers and farm land and in the foreground, the little boy figure is looking out in the distance with his back towards the land clearly tired and I get the message that he does not want to continue farming for the rest of his life and is dreaming of his 'American dream' someday.