Helen Saunders

Saunders uses photoshop to manipulate her images to make a boring normal world look so much more interesting and powerful. Within the talk she showed us images she had produced of actual places but made to look eary and dark.

I love this image that is from Saunder's set called "constructed cities - digital photographic collage".
Saunders uses photoshop to create these amazing images. She uses different layers and takes alot of images and then groups them together using layers. In this image she shot the fence,the bridge and the far distance of the houses and then layered them together. I think the image works so well because there are alot of shapes involved within it. The fence also frames the image perfectly and gives the image a urban feel.

Saunders showed us work she had done comissioned, I didnt like it along with my peers we thought the images were too maipulated and obvious that they were. For example the image bellow is too busy and got too much going on within it which is too much for me to look at.

I didnt enjoy this talk as much as I have done with alot of the other guest speakers and I didnt come out of it feeling inspired at all.

Jill Cole

I loved Jill Cole's guest talk. I came out of it very inspired. She spoke about her project called "Birds" in great detail and it was obvious to me that she was very proud and passionate about her images.

Her project "Birds" was produced over 18 months and the images were shot on British military land they show birds that have been captured for conservation research. The birds were caught within a thin net held up by two metal poles either side.

Cole focuses on things she herself believes in and then portrays her beliefs within her images but in an obscure way.

Within Cole's images the focal point is always the bird, this helps me as a viewer as the background is blurred which helps me focus on the details of the net and the bird.

I love the image to the right because of the contrast of the sky and the bird. The images make me have different feelings... I feel sorry for the bird that is stook in the net but yet I love the effect that has because the image really makes you think.

Ali Lomas inspired images

I thought I would shoot images of my friend in the style of Ali Lomas - using different walls as backdrops the following images are my favourites.

I shot this image against my models kitchen wall. It is origanally a peachy orange colour but I have edited it to create a softer look. Just like Lomas' images the model is the focal point of my image. Whilst styling my model I delibertatly chose clothes that would stand out within my soft images. I chose the cherry red crop top and the american themed shorts. I believe the clothing contrasts really well with the models skin tone and also the wall behind her.

I used the same techniques on this image as I did with the first but I decided to use a wooden gate outside with a concrete floor because I wanted the image to have alot of texture.

The models facail expression and her composition also add effect to the image.  

Ali Lomas

I really enjoyed Ali Lomas' guest talk because she spoke so casually to us. I think because she is a local photographer it helped me feel like I related to her. She showed us some of her images and explained the thought process and developing processes of them all. When I got home from the talk I immediatly went onto her website to find out more about her and her work I found these three beautiful images which have become some of my favourite images I have seen. 

She spoke about how she built her success and about the privilages  she has had whilst working in the photography industry and how she approached them.

I love this image because it is so simple yet it works so effectivly. Lomas' image are all very similar in the fact the model is always the focal point to the image and there background is usually a wall, this reminded me of my own work as I like to shoot fashion styke images against different coloured walls to create interesting backdrops. I feel the backdrop being the wallpaper delivers an interesting texture to the image as it is patterned, alot of her images are of a similar style

Most of Lomas' images are nutural colours - baby pinks, whites and browns. The tone she uses in her images looks very soft and natural.

I love the image to the right as there is a contrast between innorcence and corruption. The image itself is very beautiful and natural. The lavender flowers and the model are beautiful but the focal point is the ciggarette in the models hand.

Suki Chan

I wasn't present for this talk but I have taken a look at Chan's website to find out about her and her work.

I found a set of images on Chan's website titled "Story of rice". I read that the images show a collection of poems,slogans,proverbs and drawings from many people of different ages,cultures and societies of their different perception of rice. These slogans and so on are then are shown in a large scale in neon lights by video projections. They were shot in different areas including a former petrol tank, a cinema in Chinatown, London and included a floor installation constructed with various rice flours and grains in China.

I think the idea behind these images are great. Taking a simple topic such as rice and portraying what the food means to many people to produce art showing those feelings towards it.

I love the neon lights images because the are shot on dark backgrounds which contrast and work so well with the lights making them the focal point. The images show alot of energy and thought within them.

My favourite image is the one to the right > which was shot in an old cinema in Chinatown. The focal point is deffinately the colourrful chinese writing in the background and I also like how the post in the center of the image breaks up the image.

I am sad that I missed this talk as I would of loved to hear Chan's thought process behind this project and how she feels about her finish prints.

Ian Shipley

Ian Shipley is an entrepreneur aswell as a successful photographer.
I found his talk very interesting as he spke about how he has been an entrepreneur for a long time and he spoke about how his success has built up throughout the years. He is also from Burton and his creation of Violent Veg which are humorous images where Vegetables come to life which are shown on greeting cards and calenders. He was telling us to try and think for ourselves and to always set goals in life. The talk didn't influence me too much as I already know my goals and know I need to work hard to acheive them.

Rutt Blees Luxemburg

I thought Luxemburg was a great guest speaker because she had so much to say about how her ideas developed into the images she showed us. She told us about each image individually. She really interested me as an aspiring photographer and impressed me with the fact her images have been used by various musical artist such as the streets and Bloc party.

She decided to show her images using a slide project which I thought was a better way to show all of the detailing in the images.

 The images she showed us had a luminous effect to them as she shot them all at night. I veiw the image to the left as eary because there is no presence of human life around it looks silent and lonely.

 She told us that she shot these images in places in London that people usually don't take images in. She created a set of images in which she shot images at the top of buildings. The images give the feeling of the adrenaline\ exhileration you feel while looking off the edge of a tall building.

The image to the left is her most successful and is also my favourite image in the set. The effect she was trying to achieve is show in this image and I also see it as abstract as there are many shapes within the image. Because the image is mostly all one colour the focal point for me are the red cars which stand out. Lines are used a lot in her images.

I will deffinately be looking at Luxemburg's work to influence me own in the future as she inspired me alot in the talk.

Street Assignment - Final thoughts 2

BUSKER

 These are my final images from the Street assignment. I decided to shoot images of my friend playing guitar. I love these images and I am very proud of how they have come out. The images show a lonliness because he is on his own and there is nothing going on in the background.
My favourite image is the middle image because the way I have manipulated it looks like an old style photograph.

Julian Germain

I really enjoyed this talk because I found it relevant to me at the time because we were doing the "Making a book" assignment and for the assignment I am doing my book about portraiture.
His biggest work were group projects he did. Although I don't really find his photographs that interesting I still appreciate that he took the time to come and speak to us and I also like his ideas for shoots.

After researching Julian Germain I found he did a portrait project about generation this influenced my ideas for my own portrait project.

Studio Output

Studio Output are a team of artist working in every medium. Based within two studios in London and Nottingham.
They work doing websites, Advertising and Editorials. They have worked for such clients as Radio 1, Gio-Goi and Playstation to name a few.
I find their work very influecial and interesting to look at. I think they give an effective outlook on advertising leaving the viewer captured to the designs they have.

 The images bellow are from the Radio 1xtra launch campaign. I love the clours withing the images.

One minuite Sculptures

The class was given a day task to create interesting image using our bodies. We had to work in groups and half the group were the models and the other half were the photographers. i worked as one of the photographers for this task.

We walked around Burton finding interesting places to shoot our one minuite sculpture. We used placed such as phone boxes, doorways and passage ways etc...

Daniel Stier

I really enjoyed this talk. Daniel Stier was a very friendly man. He seemed nervous at the start but I couldn't blame his as he was standing in front of a lot of teenage faces. Once he got talking about his career and images he seemed to loosen up.

I found his photographs really interesting.

As well as being a renowned advertising photographer he has also taken portraits for various famous people such as Boy George,Helen Mirren and Amy Winehouse to name a few.

He has also done editorials for various magazines such as British Vogue, Dazed and GQ.

Daniel Stier showed us many of his photographs.

Whithin Stier's talk he told us he worked on the Sonia Bravia advert which interested me because thats the line of work I want to go into. The image below is a photograph Stier took for Sony.

The video below is the vinished Sony advert. Stier told us about how they managed to create the advert. He said they had to keep moving the clay bunnies an inch every shot which made me realise the lengths you have to go through to create a knock out advert that will make people interested in the product.

Ed Swinden

As we are currently working on a street photography assignment I found Ed Swinden's talk relevant and interesting.

I didn't really get any inspiration from him though which I was disapointed about after a really inspirational talk from Jon Burgerman.

Swinden focused mainly on his street photography work. He told us about how he would wait for ages to get the right sunlight and setting to produce his images that were shot in Manchester

Whilst giving his talk Swindon seemed very nervous and the talk seemed really rushed through.



John Burgerman.

J o n   B u r g e r m a n

The Video above is Jon Burgerman at AOL headquaters in America.

John Burgerman came into college on October 6th to give us a talk. I found his talk very interesting and inspirational.  Jon Burgerman studied graphic design at university. I like his work because it is bright and fun to look at.Whilst Jon Burgerman was giving his talk he expressed hiself very well and he was excentric about his work. He was also very friendly and funny and he wore a "Burger man" jumper.After he had visited my college assignments started influenced by Jon Burgerman's style of doodles/cartoons.The Graphic design class began to draw on their classroom white board in the same style as Jon Burgerman.

The image below is an example of Jon Burgerman's work as you can see there is alont to look at within the image and I like that.

Lost and found

In week two we were given a day assignment to go to somehwere in Burton that we hadnt been before and take a picture of an object with someones body part in the image too.

I found the assignment a little hard as I couldnt think of an interesting object to photograph but after some thought I decided to use my jewlery that I wear everyday.

I placed my Jewlery onto a bollard and I used my friend Vikki's legs to be in the image as the body part.

I edited my image in only one way - cropping. I cropped my image into a square because  I felt the image looked better that way.

I think I could have done more to establish a good effective idea and I feel if the assignment was longer I would have deffinately come up with more ideas and done alot more research.

Capture a cup - Evaluation

When I first recieved the assignment brief I thought "wow! this is going to be hard!" but after I had thought about it I realised that the assignment was a great chance for me to be creative and produce effective images.

I feel like I could have produced more effective images if the assignment had been longer that two days.

I really enjoyed viewing all of my classmates images and seeing how creative everyone were with their ideas.

The feedback I have had on my images has been positive.I really enjoyed this assignment and if I had to do it again I would have done more research and tried to create more effective images.

All in all I am happy with the outcome of this assignment.

My final favourite images

 This is my favourite image from my three final images because I think it is the most interesting. I shot this image in the studio on the worktop. I placed the cups in various random places and I feel the set out of the image is very interesting, also the mirror adds to the effect.

 I like this image because of the repitition of it.  I think the cups add an effect to the image and also the curve in the heater adds to it. I produced this image when I was walking around college trying to find an interesting place to take a good effective image. I believe the cups break up the image because of the colours included in the cups.
I like this image because the cups remind me of flower pots which links in with the backdrop of the image which shows a flower bed. I feel the colours in the image match and go nicely together. Most of the colours in the image a nuetral but the flowers stand out as they are bright orange. I think after some editing this image will look better