Aaron Lewis

Aaron Lewis

Proposal

PROJECT THREE: PROPOSAL

      Aims and Objectives:

  For this project I will be exploring the relationship between light and photography by abstracting objects to find out ways in which light changes objects and how we perceive them, so that they are no longer related to their original function.

  Method:

  I would like to create a series of images of four types of food that people commonly eat and photograph each twice. One image will be how aesthetically appealing the object of food is and the second image will change how we perceive the object of food whether it be the reality of the object an abstracted form of the object or a new way of looking at the object.

  Rationale:

  I have chosen to do this for my project because i find the ways in which different light can change the form and meaning of an object to be an interesting area to explore.

  Output:

  I hope to produce 8 images with 4 objects of food photographed twice one image will show the aesthetically appealing the object is and the other will abstract the image to the point where its no longer related to the original function.

Project 3 weekly task

Experimenting with one light source and an object using a candle and a glass.

Aaron Lewis

Aaron Lewis

Aaron Lewis

PROJECT TWO: PROPOSAL REVISED

After doing research on Hiroshi Sugimoto and wanting to do long exposure it was actually a bit impractical to do so I have changed after doing research on Francesca Woodman and Arthur Tress.

Aims and Objectives: 

For this project we are looking at time. I would like to explore both fast shutter and slow shutter to create both a decisive moment and blurred motion in the same image and using this to create a narrative. I hope to combine Francesca Woodman with her grotesque subject matter and Arthur Tress's use of shadows to do this.

Method: 

I would like to create a series of images containing both a decisive moment and blurred motion in the same image. I will do this by self setting the shutter speed and aperture.

  Rationale: 

I have chosen to do this subject matter because I feel that it is more broader to work with and Francesca has inspired me to do more than long exposures of screens, Also I would like to tell a narrative of time without do stop motion or time-lapse.

  Output:

I hope to produce between 4-8 images that will tell a narrative containing both a blurred motion and a decisive moment.

ANALYSIS- Francesca Woodman

Francesca Woodman,Self-deceit, Rome Italy, 1978

Francesca Woodman, Untitled,1978

Francesca Woodman (April 3, 1958 – January 19, 1981) was an American photographer best known for her black and white pictures featuring herself and female models. Many of her photographs show young women who are nude, blurred (due to movement and long exposure times), merging with their surroundings, or whose faces are obscured. Her work continues to be the subject of much critical acclaim and attention, years after she committed suicide at the age of 22.Most of Woodman's prints are 8 by 10 inches (20 by 25 cm) or smaller, which "works to produce an intimate experience between viewer and photograph".

In both of these images the viewer is presented with small images making you get quite up close and personal with the subject matter, Which both of this have a sense of depression and grotesque nature to them, The blurred motion adds to the atmosphere that the series is creating. The use of black and White is clever not only because of the dull nature of the subject but it adds contrast to the gritty surroundings of a crazy persons mind.

I would like to re create the atmosphere that Francesca has created here by using blurred motion and small print to make the sense of grotesque.  

ANALYSIS- Arthur Tress

-Arthur Tress, Shadow with mask

-Arthur Tress, Untitled.

Arthur Tress is a notable American photographer born on November 24, 1940 in Brooklyn, New York. He is well known for his staged surrealism and exposition of the human body.

In this series of shadows, these two photos present the two different ways shadow can be shown either the decisive moment just before she hits the ground or shadow puppetry of a man holding a mask. both of these images are in black and white and have a sense of surrealism. To capture the decisive moment Arthur would have been using a fast shutter speed to capture that moment in time rather than a slower shutter speed to capture the whole moment of the women walking through the puddle.

What I like about these photos is the use of shadow and how well it works to contrast the images so I would like to explore ways in which shadows can be used to show the process of time or shadows captured in time.   

ANALYSIS- Alexey Titarenko 

City of Shadows, 1992-1994

Alexey Viktorovich Titarenko born 1962 in Leningrad, USSR,s a Russian photographer and artist. Titarenko's prints are subtly crafted in the darkroom. Bleaching and toning add depth to his nuanced palette of grays, rendering each print a unique interpretation of his experience and imbuing his work with a personal and emotive visual character. This particular beauty was recently emphasized by the exhibition of his prints.

Alexey uses a technique called Chronophotography which is a antique photographic technique from the Victorian era (beginning about 1867–68), which captures movement in several frames of print. These prints can be subsequently arranged either like animation cels or layered in a single frame. It is a predecessor to cinematography and moving film, involving a series of different cameras, originally created and used for the scientific study of movement.

In this series City of Shadows we can see movement of people going up stairs which create a ghost like effect. What I like about these images is that you get a sense of movement in one photograph so its no like stop motion where you get that jarred movement if you where not on a tripod. I also like the long exposer which is what I would like to explore in this project. 

ANALYSIS- Hiroshi Sugimoto 

-Movie Theatre UA-Playhouse, NYC, 1978, Silver gelatin prints, Size is variable per edition.

- Movie Theatre- Akron, Civic, Ohio, 1980, Silver gelatin prints, Size is variable per edition.

- Movie Theatre, 1978, Silver gelatin prints, size variable per edition.

Hiroshi Sugimoto, Born February 23, 1948 he is a Japanese photographer with a number of series each having a distinct theme and similar attributes. Sugimoto is also deeply influenced by the writings and works of Marcel Duchamp, as well as the Dadist and Surrealist movements as a whole. He has also expressed a great deal of interest in late 20th century modern architecture. Sugimoto has spoken of his work as an expression of ‘time exposed’, or photographs serving as a time capsule for a series of events in time. His work also focuses on transience of life, and the conflict between life and death. His use of an 8×10 large camera format and extremely long exposures have garnered Sugimoto a reputation as a photographer of the highest technical ability. He is equally acclaimed for the conceptual and philosophical aspects of his work.

Hiroshi went around documenting the interior of movie theaters across the United States - invoking a classic procedure borrowed from Conceptual Art. He would open the shutter just before the 'first light' hit the screen and close it after the credits finished rolling and before the house lights came on. Using this method he was able to invert the subject/object relationship of the movie theatre and use the film itself to illuminate the proscenium and interior. The rendering of a blank movie screen carries with it a whole series of alternate implications that are highly relevant to a culture of consumption. 

Project two: proposal

PROJECT TWO: PROPOSAL

  Aims and Objectives:

  For this project we are looking at time, I would like to explore how people/things move, and the patterns or pathways that they leave be hide. Long exposed photos like Hiroshi Sugimoto's Theatre series is fascinating and I would like to try this technique during this project.

  Method:

  I would like to create a series of long exposed images, using the manual setting on my camera to self set the shutter and aperture, I would like to cover a broad subject matter varying from night to daytime photos, so my exposure time will change depending on the light and time of day.

  Rationale:

  I have choose to do this type of photography because Hiroshi Sugimoto's work has inspired me. Taking a broad subject matter at the start I can choose the best images and focus in that area more once I start my first shoot.

  Output:

  I hope to produce between 4-8 photos that will capture the different movement of people or things. At this stage I don't think they will be in any particular order.      

 weekly task Slow shutter showing the motion and a fast shutter

Weekly task, stop motion 100 steps

Aaron Lewis

Aaron Lewis