SUMMER 2022: CREATIVE USE OF LIGHT
This summer you should research an artist of your choice and evaluate a single image in detail. You have practised this recently in the assessment. Choose an artist and image(s) that interest you. It is important to be genuinely curious.
RESEARCH
Research is important. You need to discover some reliable information about your chosen artist/photographer. You must not copy and paste the information. This is called plagiarism. When you copy somebody's work you cannot claim it as your own. Secondly, you must choose what is relevant to your project. How would you describe the artist/photographer's practice? What equipment do they use? What is the concept or idea behind their work? What experiences of theirs are relevant to the work? It is good practice to read a few different articles. Make some notes or bullet points and then write about them in your own words.
Research Example
She plays with light and movement to emulate the life running through her subject
-- Candice Pires
Light fascinates photographer Ming Smith. As the quotation above points out, her fascination is with the combination of light and movement. I wanted to find out how she creates the movement in her photographs. The faces and figures in her images are quite difficult to distinguish. She achieves this through her use of motion blur and long shutter speeds. Most of the light in her photographs appears artificial; it could be a street light or a domestic light bulb or an urban neon light. Capturing static portraits doesn't seem to be the most important thing for this photographer. She was more interested in capturing the everyday life of black people in their environment. The 'movement' of everyday life has been captured and it is this 'movement' that I find the most engaging. These images have made me realise that I can be abstract in my approach to capturing light.
I found an article in the Guardian newspaper and discovered that Smith uses a small Leica camera. She prefers slow shutter speeds and no flash. It is more important for her to photograph what she sees on the street rather than studio set ups or conventional portraiture. I suppose the photographs that she takes could be classed as a form of street photography.
I found an article in the Guardian newspaper and discovered that Smith uses a small Leica camera. She prefers slow shutter speeds and no flash. It is more important for her to photograph what she sees on the street rather than studio set ups or conventional portraiture. I suppose the photographs that she takes could be classed as a form of street photography.
Example Image Analysis
This image is my favourite of Ming Smith's images. Although the face is not clear I can tell that it is a middle-aged/elderly gentleman and that he is sitting down, apparently surrounded by light sources. I like the fact that the image is in black and white with very few grey mid tones. I can see that there is a mirror and the reflection duplicates some of the light sources. The figure is at the centre of the image and the light looks very subdued apart from the lamps on the table. I am sure that this image was taken with a slow shutter speed with means that the image is not particularly well-focused and that a lot of movement and blur has been captured. I like the fact that the man's glasses have also reflected the light too. The way in which this image has been framed makes me think that the photographer's aim was to capture the person surrounded by light. It also illustrates the fact that the photographer was fascinated more by light and 'the moment' rather than capturing an image which was perfectly composed and focused. It has a sort of ghostly feel as the over-exposed light has made the image appear soft.
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EXPERIMENTATION
Take a series of 20 photographs as a response to your chosen artist. Don't need to simply copy their work. Think about an element of the work that interests you. Think about how your artist has explored the creative use of light. Will you photograph in colour or black and white. Think carefully about how you will compose your images. Will you edit your image after you have shot it?
REVIEW AND REFINE
Choose a selection of your images to refine. This means that you will need to look at the images, write a few comments about what improvements you need to make and then make those improvements. Take another set of images and make the improvements that you have written about.
PRESENTATION
Present these images as a set and evaluate them. Your final set of images should be ones that you would like to present in a gallery or exhibition.