Portraiture: The Final Eight

So these were the eight I felt were the strongest out of all the images I took over the two shoots. Although there was the hiccup with the original model, I’m so pleased with these. I want to become a professional portrait photographer so this assignment has given me ideas when it comes to poses, editing, lighting in the studio and ideas for camera settings and which lens to use. I would love to do another assignment similar to this one in future, maybe next year but I would try to go out of my comfort zone and do something I’m not familiar with just to try and boost my confidence a little bit, I’m still very defiant and certain that I’m not the best.

Portraiture: Gaussian Blur

I was introduced to a filter called Gaussian Blur in CS5, which allows selected areas to be blurred out. I thought this was perfect for this situation, as I couldn’t find any way to help these backdrops. I tried levels, curves, brightness/contrast, pretty much everything I could think of. This tool made my life so much easier and it will be used by me in futures, particularly if I do any more portrait work.

Portraiture: Studio Shots

These are my shots from my studio shoot. I went with a mixture of backdrops just to see what results I could come up with, and my camera settings were 1/125 and f5.6, with an ISO of 100. My problem is the backdrops. I don’t think I lit them properly and that has resulted in the white backdrop looking grey, and there are creases in the black backdrop. I needed to find some editing techniques to use to help get rid of this.

Portraiture: Location Shots

These are the edits from my location shoot. I had a hiccup with this shoot. I was basically let down last minute by one of my friends, so I had to get my boyfriend to stand in for her. Luckily, he was amazing to work with and I got some gorgeous shots of him. I went with a mixture of both monochrome and colour and a different variety of shots. I just wanted to have a mixture and I’m very pleased with how they have turned out.

Portraiture: Chosen Location

I knew this was the location I wanted for the outdoor part of this assignment. This place is so beautiful, I felt very lucky to be able to visit there. I wanted to use somewhere different that nobody else would have thought of, I wanted my work to hopefully stand out. My location choice was Basingwerk Abbey in Holywell.

 

 

 

Basingwerk Abbey was probably founded in 1131 by Ranulf, earl of Chester, as a ‘daughter’ of Savigny Abbey in western Normandy. In 1147, however, the Savigniac order merged with the Cistercians, and in 1157 Basingwerk was affiliated with Buildwas in Shropshire, also a former Savigniac house. Much of the plan at Basingwerk follows the standard Cistercian layout, similar to that at Valle Crucis. The monastery was probably on this site by 1157, but may have originally been founded three miles south along the coast, at a place then known as Basingwerk, and, as often happened, brought its name with it to the present site.During the 13th-century Welsh wars, Basingwerk’s sympathies lay with the English; the abbey provided a chaplain for Flint Castle. It apparently suffered little, and by the later 15th century had become quite prosperous, owning extensive estates and entertaining numerous visitors in some style. It was dissolved in 1536, and the remains passed to the Mostyns of Talacre.

Only a little of the 12th-century walling apparently survives, around the cloister and in the east range. Much of the fabric visible today, including the church, dates from the early 13th-century, when the buildings were generally refurbished and extended. The church had seven bays in the nave and two south side chapels in each transept. To its south in the adjoining east range, lay the sacristy, and beyond this the chapter house, which was provided with a vaulted eastward extension which still survives; beside this lay the parlour. To its south the novices’ lodgings or ‘monk’s day room was upgraded, and a warming house added to the end of the range in the 15th century. The entire upper floor would have contained the monk’s upper dormitory, with direct access to the choir of the church via a night stair. 

On the south side of the cloister, the impressive frater or dining-hall dates from a little later in the 13th century. It was provided with handsome lancet windows at its south end, a pulpit, from which readings were given during meals, and a serving hatch, connecting to its kitchens next door. West of the cloister, little survives of the lay brothers accommodations. This range was probably adapted other uses as the lay brethren became harder to recruit. A detached range of buildings south-east of the main complex has been considerably altered by recent use as a farmhouse, but may occupy the site of an original monastic infirmary.

 

Information found here: http://www.castlewales.com/basing.html

Portraiture: Rankin

I hadn’t heard of this photographer either, but his work does resemble David Bailey slightly. I think I was attracted to this guys work because again he works in monochrome. It seems to be a popular choice within photographers. He also shoots a lot more in colour but his portraits looks incredibly natural. I would love to be able to photograph my work like he does. Most of the portraits I do don’t feel natural, as the model is either shy or embarrassed to be in front of the camera. I hope to master the technique of making people feel comfortable as I progress further with my work.

 

Synonymous with compelling portraiture, Rankin’s lens captures, creates and unveils icons.

Rankin made his name in publishing, founding the seminal monthly magazine Dazed & Confused with Jefferson Hack in 1992. It provided a platform for innovation for emerging stylists, designers, photographers and writers. The magazine went on to forge a distinctive mark in the arts and publishing spheres, and developed a cult status forming and moulding trends, and bringing some of the brightest lights in fashion to the foreground.

Rankin has created landmark editorial and advertising campaigns. His body of work features some of the most celebrated publications, biggest brands and pioneering charities, including Nike, Swatch, Dove, Pantene, Diageo, Women’s Aid, and Breakthrough Breast Cancer. He has shot covers for Elle, German Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, Esquire, GQ, Rolling Stone and Wonderland. His work has always endeavoured to question social norms and ideas of beauty and, in late 2000, Rankin published the heteroclite quarterly Rank, an experimental anti-fashion magazine celebrating the unconventional.

In 2001, Jefferson and Rankin launched AnOther Magazine. With a focus on fashion, originality, and distinction. In response to the expanding menswear market, in 2005 AnOther Man was introduced, combining intelligent editorial with groundbreaking design and style. More recently, the Dazed Group has established itself as an online authority, via AnOthermag.com, Dazeddigital.com and Dazedtv.com. Rankin celebrated Dazed & Confused’s 20th anniversary, shooting 20 front covers of Dazed favourites and 20 inside covers of the next generation of talent, for the December 2011 issue.

Tapping into the consciousness of the 90s and 00s with his intimate approach and playful sense of humour, Rankin became known for his portraiture of bands, artists, supermodels and politicians. Having photographed everyone from the Queen of England to the Queen of Pop, Rankin is often seen as a celebrity photographer. However, his plethora of campaigns and projects featuring ‘real women’ marked him out as a genuinely passionate portrait photographer, no matter who the subject. Always pursuing personal projects which push his limits, high impact charity projects, and groundbreaking commercial campaigns, Rankin has stood out for his creative fearlessness. His first major worldwide and award-winning campaign – Dove’s ‘Real Women’ – epitomised his approach: to reveal the honesty of the connection and collaborative process between photographer and subject. Personal or commercial, Rankin’s images have become part of contemporary iconography, evidence of his frankness and passion for all aspects of modern culture, and its representation in the photographed image.

Rankin has published over 30 books, is regularly exhibited in galleries around the world, as well as his own London gallery. His museum-scale exhibition ‘Show Off’ opened at NRW Dusseldorf in September 2012, pulling in over 30,000 visitors in 3 months.

In the last few years, he has frequently turned his hand to studies of photography through TV presenting. Working with the BBC, he has featured in a number of seminal documentaries – ‘The Seven Photographs that Changed Fashion’, ‘South Africa in Pictures’, ‘Shooting the Stars’, ‘The Life Magazine Photographers’ and most recently, an in-depth documentary into the modern approach to death in, ‘Alive: In the Face of Death’.
His affiliation with charities has seen Rankin travel the world, creating powerful campaigns both as a photographer and a director. With Oxfam, he visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya, and in 2011 hosted an Oxglam exhibition, featuring work from some of the world’s most talented emerging young photographers, and raising money for the charity. 2013 sees a planned trip to Jordan and Lebanon with Oxfam.

In 2009, Rankin undertook the biggest project of his career – Rankin Live, a mammoth, interactive spectacle and exhibition. Always interested in the democratisation of the image, and also a keen advocate of the amazing digital advances of the photographic industry, Rankin Live was the culmination of the accessibility and speed of modern photography. Rankin proved that everyone can look like a magazine cover star as, for 7 straight weeks, he photographed people off the street, one every 15 minutes – retouching, printing and hanging the image within half an hour of the shutter being fired. Rankin photographed over 1600 Londoners, before then taking Rankin Live on tour in Mexico and New York. 

In 2011, Rankin Film Productions was born. Rankin developed a taste for film
directing music videos, commercials, and short films with co-director Chris Cottam between 2002 and 2009, including their debut feature film, The Lives of Saints. Written by Toni Grisoni (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), it won the grand jury prize at the Salento International Film Festival. Since 2009, Rankin has continued to direct independently on both commercial and personal projects. Taking on the new role of Executive Producer, Rankin recently founded Collabor8te, in association with The Bureau and Dazed TV. Collabor8te calls on scriptwriters and directors to submit their ideas for narrative film, promising to turn a selection of these dreams into a reality, producing them, featuring them on Dazed TV, and running them on the international film festival circuit.

In November 2011, Rankin returned to magazine publishing with a fresh offering – The Hunger. A biannual fashion, culture and lifestyle magazine, The Hunger and its associated Hunger TV website – a video-based digital platform featuring in-depth interviews, fashion films, blogs, updates, and previews – marked Rankin’s return to the fashion world with an understanding that the future is not only printed but digital too. 

Rankin lives in London with his wife, Tuuli, and son, Lyle.

 

 

 

 

Information found at: http://rankin.co.uk/biography/

Images found at: http://rankin.co.uk/portraits/

 

Portraiture: Steve McCurry

Someone else I came across during my research is Steve McCurry. I haven’t heard of this photographer before so it was really interesting to find out more about him. He believes that capturing the emotion of the person is the most important part of portraiture and I thought this was really powerful. It shows that it doesn’t matter if the shot is completely perfect or not, as long as you can capture the essence and emotion of a person then a photograph can become amazing.

Steve McCurry has been one of the most iconic voices in contemporary photography for more than thirty years, with scores of magazine and book covers, over a dozen books, and countless exhibitions around the world to his name.

Born in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; McCurry studied film at Pennsylvania State University, before going on to work for a local newspaper. After several years of freelance work, McCurry made his first of what would become many trips to India. Traveling with little more than a bag of clothes and another of film, he made his way across the subcontinent, exploring the country with his camera.

It was after several months of travel that he found himself crossing the border into Pakistan. There, he met a group of refugees from Afghanistan, who smuggled him across the border into their country, just as the Russian Invasion was closing the country to all western journalists. Emerging in traditional dress, with full beard and weather-worn features after weeks embedded with the Mujahideen, McCurry brought the world the first images of the conflict in Afghanistan, putting a human face to the issue on every masthead.

Since then, McCurry has gone on to create stunning images over six continents and countless countries. His work spans conflicts, vanishing cultures, ancient traditions and contemporary culture alike – yet always retains the human element that made his celebrated image of the Afghan Girl such a powerful image.

McCurry has been recognized with some of the most prestigious awards in the industry, including the Robert Capa Gold Medal, National Press Photographers Award, and an unprecedented four first prize awards from the World Press Photo contest, to name a few.

INDIA-10209NF, Boy participating in the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi is covered with red powder during the exuberant celebration. This festival marks the birthday of Lord Ganesh. Ganesh, or Ganpati as he is sometimes called, is one of the most popular deities in the region. He is worshiped by both Shaivites and Vaishnavites. Even Buddhists and Jains have respect for Ganesh. He is considered to be an avatar of both Shiva and Vishnu., Mumbai (Bombay), India, 1996In the midst of the festival of Ganesh in Bombay, as people young and old processed from their neighborhoods to the sea, McCurry interrupted a youngster with a request to make his picture. The boy consented, and one reads in his eyes the vulnerability of his acceptance. We see a fragment of festive time, a stilled moment extracted from a noisy, exuberant parade. Yet the boy, framed on the one side by three aggressive slashes of red upon the light face of a pillar; the shadow form of another person at his other side; and the central anchor of his intensely questioning eyes. -Anthony Bannon Phaidon, 55, Portraits, South Southeast, Iconic Images, final book_iconic

Guide, Gulmarg, Kashmir, India, 1999

TIBET-10009, Monk at Jokhang temple, Lhasa, Tibet, 2000’There was something about his face,’ McCurry has said of this monk at the Jokhang temple in Lhasa, Tibet. There was some ‘ancient feeling, some kind of ancient truth there. I have never seen a face quite like his.’ He looks with intensity into McCurry’s camera, deeply aware of the transience of the moment.”The lines of time trace a deep personal history across this old monk’s face. It seems as though his has been a life of enquiry, a quest for a truth, on a higher level. He looks into the lens of the camera with a searching gaze. That is what attracted McCurry, as he visited the Jokhang Temple on his photographic pilgrimage through Tibet, sketching with his camera the various pathways to the Buddha. – Phaidon 55Magnum Photos, NYC31836, MCS2000009 K001Phaidon, 55, Looking East, The Path to Buddha, Iconic Images, final print_milan, final book_iconic

Sharbat Gula, Afghan girl, refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan, 1984, NYC15001, MCS1985002 K001 Her eyes have captivated the world since she appeared on our cover in 1985. Now we can tell her story. Afghan Girl: Found National Geographic, April 2002

 

Information found at: http://stevemccurry.com/biography 

Images found at: http://stevemccurry.com/galleries/portraits

Portraiture: David Bailey

Before going ahead with this assignment, I wanted to take inspiration from famous portraiture photographers. My favourite, without a doubt is and has always been David Bailey. I have been following his work since I was in college, and I love his portraits. I want to try working in monochrome as most of his work uses this, and it focuses more on the models and brings out the detail on the person he photographs. This is something I would like to experiment with myself since I tend to just work in colour.

 

David Bailey was born in London in 1938, and is widely considered to be one of the greatest photographers. Bailey’s background was modest, and he even speaks of wearing shoes made from cardboard during his childhood.

Early Interest in Photography

Bailey’s interest in the arts may have begun from a very early age as a result of his constant trips to the cinema. His mother would take the family to the cinema almost every night because it was cheaper than heating the home. He also liked to take pictures using an old Brownie camera his mother had. The Second World War broke out the year after he was born, and Bailey and his family continued to live in London during the Blitz. 

Bailey’s Education

Bailey was far from being an outstanding pupil. His attendance at school during his most formative years was continually disrupted by the German bombing campaign. On top of that, Bailey was later diagnosed with dyslexia, a condition that was unknown at the time. Dyslexia sufferers were usually regarded as low intelligence students, and they were often ignored by their teachers. 

Legally, he had to stay in school until he was 15, and he quit immediately after reaching that age. He then spent three years in a variety of dead end jobs. In 1956, he was drafted into the Royal Air Force under the compulsory National Service legislation, and he was sent to Singapore in 1957. During this period, he expanded his interest in photography and invested in a high-end Rolleiflex camera.

Career as a Photographer

By the time his National Service duty came to an end in 1958, Bailey had decided he wanted to be a professional photographer. He wanted to enroll in the London College of Printing, but his application was turned down because of his poor academic record.

In 1959, Bailey managed to land a job with John French, a leading fashion and portrait photographer at the time. The following year, he got a contract job with the British edition of Vogue magazine and began building a substantial reputation as a freelancer.

The Swinging Sixties

Bailey’s arrival on the photographic scene coincided with the cultural revolution that became known as The Swinging Sixties. There was an explosive growth in interest among the general public in fashion and celebrity. The world of pop music was undergoing profound change, and the world saw its first ever supermodel, Jean Shrimpton, whose fame was partly attributable to the striking images Bailey produced of her. 

Bailey became as famous as the stars and celebrities he photographed. He moved in the same circles as the leading actors and actresses of the period and was personal friends with members of the Royal Family as well asmany of the top names in show business and cinema.

His Box of Pin-Ups, a set of prints released in 1964, shows clearly the world he moved in. It featured portraits of Mick Jagger, Shrimpton, The Beatles, Andy Warhol, the notorious Kray Twins, and many other famous faces.

David Bailey Today

Bailey still works as a photographer and has also directed documentaries, commercials, and dramas. He has developed an interest in painting and has had his works exhibited. In 2001, he was made a CBE, which is a class of the Order of the British Empire, for his service to the arts.

by David Bailey,photograph,May 1965

Images found through Google Search

Information found here: http://famous-photographers.com/david-bailey/

 

ARD506 Portrait Assignment

The Design Directions brief includes a range of assignments. They intend to provide you with conceptual work, in which you develop the idea of your image and capture it with a camera, and reactive work, where you respond to the images presented to you in real time. In some cases, you must communicate your ideas BEFORE you produce the images. In others you most communicate your intentions.

Portrait

Produce a mini portfolio of a subject. Produce four images at a location that best represents your subject and an environment that they feel most comfortable in. Produce four images in a controlled lighting situation as studio type portraits. The aim is to capture the spirit of the person through formal and informal portraiture.