SAM TAYLOR-WOOD JOHNSON RESEARCH / SEQUENCES OF DECAY

Sam Taylor - Johnson was born in London in 1967 and is splitting her time between London and Los Angeles. At the age of 16, she enrolled in an art college in Hastings, later moving back to London to attend Goldsmiths College. She was originally a sculpture, but began working in photography, film and video in the early 1990s. Sam Taylor Wood has had many group and solo exhibitions including the Venice Biennale in 1997, where she won the Illy Cafe Prize for Most Promising Young Artist and was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1998. Sam Taylor Johnson is regarded as one of the most important female contemporary artists and her work combines elements of the still life and moving image. 

Sam Taylor Johnson's 'Still Life' 2001 was one of the classical still life but described as an 'Updated in this exquisite, simple meditation on morality and beauty. This addition of a supermarket peach and a Bic pen prompts questions about modern attempts at immortality.

HAROLD EDGERTON RESEARCH / SEQUENCES OF MOVEMENT

Harold Eugene Edgerton was born on April 6, 1903 and he died January 4, 1990 aged 86. He was a Professor of Electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of technology. Here is largely credited with transforming the stroboscope from an obscure laboratory instrument into a common device. He also was deeply involved with the development of sonar and deep sea photography, And his equipment was used by Jacques Cousteau in searches for shipwrecks and even the Loch Ness monster. Edgerton was born in Fremont, Nebraska, he is the son of Mary Nettie Coe And Frank Eugene Edgerton, A descendent of Richard Edgerton, One of the founders of Norwich, Connecticut And they descendant of Gov William Bradford (1592-1657) of the Plymouth Colony and a passenger on the MayflowerNow. His father was a lawyer, journalist, author and orator and served as the assistant attorney general of Nebraska from 1911 to 1950. Edgerton grew up in Aurora, Nebraska but he also spent some of his childhood years in Washington DC and Lincoln, Nebraska. 

In 1937 Edgerton became a known photographer who used stroboscopic equipment, in particular, multiple studio electronic flash units, to produce these stunning photographs, many of which appeared in Life Magazine. When taking multi flash photographs this strobe light equipment could use flash up 120 times a second. Edgerton was a pioneer in using short duration electronic flash and fast events photography, subsequently using this technique to capture images of balloons at different stages of the bursting, a bullet during its impact on an apple, or using multiflash to track the motion of a devil stick, for example. Edgerton is equally recognised for his visual aesthetic, many of the striking images he created in illuminating phenomena that occurred to fast for the naked eye adorn art museums worldwide. His high-speed stroboscopic short film Quicker'n a Wink won an Oscar in 1940. 

Edgerton remained active throughout his later years and was seen on the MIT campus many times after his official retirement. Unfortunately he died suddenly in January 4, 1990 at the age of 86 and is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Milk Drop Coronet, 1934
20 x 16 inches
Gelatin silver print

I really like the simplicity of Edgerton's Photographs, for example this famous Milk Drop photograph. The splash of the milk has create a sticking shape as the droplets have risen in the air but almost looks semetrical all the way round making the image look very unique. I also think that this photograph looks as if it follows a certain art design/movement. 

The image below is my take on of the Milk Drop instead we just used a bowl of water and dropped an apple into it to created the big splash. We used a massive set up for this shoot with a large DSLR camera with a large zoom lens also with infrared triggers to set of the flash when the apple goes through it. The camera is set on a 10 second exposure time so that the camera doesn't miss the shot. The room is pitch black so when the flash goes off the camera only captures the moment when the splash happens. 

CHAOS FILM /MARTIN HENSON

Martin Henson was born in 1952 in a place called Adel Mill Farm in West Yorkshire, here he was brought up with all his family. He now lives in a place called Otley a small market town in Wharfedale that is also in West Yorkshire. Because he works from home he has himself a digital darkroom and he does all his processing and printing of images in there. He had his first camera brought when he was 12 years old and it was a Kodak 120 roll film. It was a baker light box camera, with a fixed lens and leaf shutter. It took large negatives and he described it as a 'hit and miss quality' camera, however, it got him started photography. 

He said that his 'first claim to fame' was when he won first prize in the Leeds show and it gave him inspiration to enter more competitions. He said that he's won various competitions over the years but mainly in black and white. Martin Henson had pictures published in nearly every popular photo magazine on the market. He first started in black and white developing and printing, slowly moving to colour, however, he was always drawn back to monochrome as the preferred medium and he said that black and white looks 'simple but effective, dramatic not garnish, and for landscape can't be beaten'. All the pictures on his website were taken over the last few years and he decided to launch his website to show the area around where he lives. 90% of the pictures were taken within a 25 mile radius of where he lives and he intended to shoot lots more and make this website one of the biggest monochrome only landscape websites in the UK. 

'Whilst trekking the hills, dales and moors I have become more aware of the landscape we live in. We don't own it nor do we dictate to it, nature will do what it has to in the most spectacular ways, I am humbled by its power and beauty, I have witnessed amazing light shows, wondrous cloud formations, nature living in complete harmony equipped to cope with the elements, we as humans feel powerful in this technological age but out there we are just another part of life's cycle a gain of sand in a vast arena. I try to capture this sense of power and scale in my images not as the camera sees it but my own interpretation through inspiration on being a witness to events I have been privileged to see.



IVY STUDY

I really like how the edges of the photograph has got a bit of vignette, I think it makes the centre of the image look highlighted and more illuminated. You can really see the detail and the texture in the leafs. The leafs look almost like satin fabric and I like all the small little lines on the leaves.

HOLY LEAFS

I like the vignette on the photograph and I also really like how shiny the holy leaves are. I also think that the aperture on the photograph creates a very elegant look. You can see the texture in the leaves from all the small lines showing definition in the leaves. 

ROSE

I like how to main focus of the photograph is the flower and having the flower in the foreground to be a different colour to the background leaves makes the flower look more bold and centred. The vignette in the photo also make the flower look a lot more highlighted and spotlighted.

FLOWER STUDY

I really like how your eye gets attracted to the centre of the photo. The photograph also has a vignette making the flower look more emphasised. In addition, having the aperture being quite low makes smaller areas in focus being able to fully focus on the flowers and blur out the background. 

CHAOS DIGITAL /MARTIN ROEMERS RESEARCH

Martin Roemers was born in August 21st, 1962 in Oldehove, Netherlands. He is a Dutch photographer and artist. He studied at the aki ACADEMY of Visual Arts in Enschede, the Netherlands and graduated in 1991. For many years, he has worked on long-term projects that result in exhibitions and books such as Relics of the cold War, Kabul and The Eyes of War. His latest project is Metropolis, an exploration of the world's megacities. Martin Roemers' work has been exhibited throughout Europe, America, Asia and Australia. His work is represented in prominent public, corporate and private collections, among them the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Ford Foundation in New York and The Museum and The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas. Martin Roemers has written two books, one in 2007 called Final Days of Production and another in 2012 called Martin Roemers: The Eyes of War. This book was about him taking portrait photographs of thousands of people who had lost their eyesight as children or young soldiers during the Second World War. This book features around 40 portraits of war victims from Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ukraine and Russia. 

Martin Roemers, (2014), Piccadilly Circus, City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.martinroemers.com/work.php?serie_dir=02Metropolis:%20AFRICA,%20AMERICAS,%20EUROPE&nr=2 [Accessed 30 November 2017].

METROPOLIS: AFRICA, AMERICAS, EUROPE

This collection of work was taken with a long exposure from elevated positions so that he could get a perspective looking down and to at the scenery. Martin Roemers created these photographs using a large-format analogue cameras and film. The images that he has created has the movement blurred but all the images are in focus. 'Just over a century ago 13% of the worlds population lived in urban centres, the United Nations predicts that by the year 2050, close to six billion people - 75% of the global population - are expected to be concentrated in cities. The UN has also designated that 28 of these cities now meet their threshold of what constitutes a 'megacity' defined as urban areas with more than 10 million inhabitants. 

Globally, one in eight urban residents now live in a megacity and by 2030 it is predicted that there will be forty-one of these over-loaded metropolitan centres around the world. Martin Roemers has been fascinated by the vibrant energy and mix of cultures living amidst this chaos, inspiring him to create Metropolis (2007-2015), a collection of 85 photographs in which he portraits 22 megacities across five continents.'

Martin Roemers, (2014), Victoria Embankment, City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.martinroemers.com/work.php?serie_dir=02Metropolis:%20AFRICA,%20AMERICAS,%20EUROPE&nr=0 [Accessed 30 November 2017].

This is a piece of his work that was taken at Victoria Embankment in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom and was created in 2014. I really like how the slow shutter speed make the people looked blurred. I also love how the people are blurred but the background and buildings are in focus. This collection of his work consists mostly of slow shutter speed shots to show how populated these 'megacities' are.

Martin Roemers, (2014), Camden High Street, Camden Town, London, United Kingdom [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.martinroemers.com/work.php?serie_dir=02Metropolis:%20AFRICA,%20AMERICAS,%20EUROPE&nr=3 [Accessed 30 November 2017].

This was taken in Camden High Street in Camden Town, London, United Kingdom and was created in 2014. I really like the position and composition of this shot because you have all the shops to the side of the image then all the out of focus blurred people in the lower part of the photo. I also really like how much colour is in the photograph because it makes it look bold and bright. The shops themselves are old and unique in colour but the different colour of clothing on the people add to the colour.

Martin Roemers, (2015), Jardins du Trocadero, XVIe Arrondissement, Paris, France [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.martinroemers.com/work.php?serie_dir=02Metropolis:%20AFRICA,%20AMERICAS,%20EUROPE&nr=4 [Accessed 30 November 2017].

This photo was taken in Jardins du Trocadero, XVIe Arrondissement in Paris, France. He create this shot in 2015 to go along with the rest of his Metropolis collection.

ANALYSING A STUDENTS WORK

FIRSTLY, LIST 5 WORDS TO DESCRIBE THAT WORK?
The work is very colourful and intense. All the different colours make the image look very bold and bright making the image look very creative and interesting. The light trails also make the image look very unique.

WHAT IS THE MEDIUM OF THE WORK?
The medium of the work is a portrait digital pigment print.

WHAT KIND OF SHAPES OR FORM CAN YOU FIND?
I can see lots of lines from the light trails. 

WHICH TECHNIQUES HAVE THEY USED?
They have used layering in photoshop to layer the light trails photo over the top of the portrait photo. Also I can see the use of rule of thirds in the photo because you naturally look in one of the golden sections. 

HOW DOES THE WORK MAKE YOU FEEL?
The work gives off a happy and uplifting atmosphere from the rich and vivid colours. 

MULTIPLICITY

Using photoshop I created both these images of multiplying/cloning the subject person. I shot these images set up in camera RAW but didn't adjust the image until they all were layered so that I could make them all the layered images look the same. 

When I went out to take the pictures, I made sure that I had an interesting background so that there was something interesting behind the subject. I shot the images with a tripod so that the frame was the same the whole time. I got the subject to change their position and move along the frame once I had focused and taken the photo. Once all the photos were taken, I then imported them into my computer and opened the into camera RAW. However, I didn't adjust any of the photos until they were altogether and I could adjust them all to still look the same. Once they were all opened into Photoshop I copied the second photo onto the first photo. 

So once all the images were opened up in Photoshop, I then copied one of the other images with the person in a different place and layered the image. I added a mask layer and erased part of the top layer to reveal the person below.

 

HYPERLAPSE

When you open photoshop, go to the file menu and open the first image in your sequence. At the bottom of the dialogue box, click on the image sequence box. Having your files numbered consecutively it will help a lot. After choosing the first image and clicking on the sequence box, clicking open will import the images into Photoshop as a time-lapse video file. If there are gaps in the sequence, then there will be segments of the time-lapse video with a black screen. 

After opening the image, a box will pop up asking you to select a frame rate. If you click the dropdown arrow will reveal a number of options. Usually stick to 24 fps for the cinematic look however, the frame rate can be changed later on in the editing process so this step isn't majorly important. 

Opening the image sequence in Photoshop will create a video layer, which is indicated by the filmstrip icon on the layer thumbnail. In order to see the video clip, go to window menu and select timeline. In the timeline, you can customise the duration of the video clip, watch a preview, or even add still images, complete with transitions. 

After making all the video edits or even if you make no changes at all, you need to export the time-lapse video. To export the video, go to file, export, render video.