Tag: Fine Art Photography

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AGM64 Photography Research Project Stage 2 Posts

AGM64 Group Tutorial 5 May 2021

The scheduled session for the afternoon was a set of 1:1 tutorials with the course leader, Fergus Heron. What actually transpired was an inpromptu group tutorial as myself and my four other classmates were able to attend the full session from 2 pm to 5 pm. This was a wonderful opportunity to finally see and discuss our work in person rather than on a screen.

The feedback I received was very encouraging. The following is a summary for my reference and to indicate how to make further progress in forging the work for this module and my final submission pieces.

These were thought to be too ‘fussy’ and detailed. I personally like these, but I could try to simplify the configurations.

These images were thought of as too ‘literal’. Going forwards, I could experiment with this technique using different subjects.

This image was also deemed to have too much detail. However, I liked the comment from two of my classmates as to how it looked like nerve pathways and streaks of lightening. My own opinion on this piece, is that it would need to be printed on large scale to ‘open up’ the spaces between.

Other images that were considered were the Invisible Trees body of work submitted for AGM62 Photography Research Project: Stage 1. Fergus reiterated how this image has a different ‘feel’ compared to the other five pieces.

One thought was to break down the images further. By pairing these two, it shows the same tree from the opposing 180 angle. This could play on the ‘positive/negative’ aspect.

This one was also considered ‘a bit too much’. Simplify?

The image that had the most impact on the group was this one:

The play on positive/negative was received well and it was thought this configuration and concept could go further.

I will be looking at some of the images I’ve already taken that have similar aspects to the original.

These elements are trees that have an interesting presence with a blue sky background. One comment was that the clouds on the other images were distracting. I think they add a particular atmosphere to these images, but then I love looking at cloud patterns.

One artistic reference to which Fergus pointed out had similarities to this image is George Stubbs’ Whistlejacket. It is a study of a horse, but with no background details. I think this name is quite suited for this image.

There were clear lines of further developments and refining that I could follow. My next line of action will be to continue exploring this particular technique and taking it further.

After processing the group’s feedback, I completed the following configuration. I had started this before the day’s session and didn’t show it to the group.

I’ve named this piece Stag.

References

The National Gallery, L., 2021. George Stubbs | Whistlejacket | NG6569 | National Gallery, London. [online] Nationalgallery.org.uk. Available at: <https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/george-stubbs-whistlejacket&gt; [Accessed 7 May 2021].

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AGM64 Photography Research Project Stage 2 Posts

AGM64 Test Prints 26 April 2021

At this stage of the project, I wanted to get a better idea of how my experiments would look when printed. To do this, I created the following images and sent an order to Spectrum Photographic. The images were all to be printed on Hahnemühle German Etching 310 fine art paper.

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AGM64 Photography Research Project Stage 2 Posts

AGM64 Positive Negative Experiment 24 April 2021

While revisiting the images taken on 17 April, I saw a potential line of enquiry.

I was quite taken with this image of a dead Hawthorn. It has a very dramatic structure.

As is my current process, I converted this image to Black & White.

What I realised is that by adjusting the Blue channel in the Black & White mode, I could change the background from white to black.

I then made a negative of each image using the Curve function.

Next, I arranged the images as below using Adobe Photoshop.

Again, this plays with the concepts of photography: postive/negative, reflections and the mirror.

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AGM64 Photography Research Project Stage 2 Posts

AGM64 Bushy Park 23 April 2021

With the feedback from my 1:1 tutorial starting to process, I made a visit to Bushy Park with the intention of changing my subject focus.

With the concept of Sensitive Chaos: Patterns From Nature, I revisited two areas of within Woodland Gardens in Bushy Park that I had photographed many times before.

The first was the Longford River. I was thinking of how the trees are reflected in the water and whether a similar mirror/reversal/reflection could be worked on.

I then went to Hornbeam Avenue. This overarching line of trees is one of my favourite locations in the park. It creates a natural ‘cathedral’. Intially, I tried an interval timer shoot of 50 x 1 second. I hand-held the camera, aiming upwards. The downside of this is that you can’t see the images while the camera is doing this. I have a feeling it was due to me having a high RAW file setting. After this, I experiemented with taking multiple shots from slightly different angles, also upwards.

What I was trying to get were the gaps showing the trees ‘crown shyness’. This is a natural phenomenon where trees leave spaces between branches so they don’t crowd each other out.

I then made an initial square cropped Black & White conversion.

I then created a mirrored grid, this time leaving a gap between the images. This was in response to Fergus’ comment during our 1:1 tutorial on the 21 April in regards to making the fine art substrate a visual/textural feature of each piece of work.

Having completed this, I then took one of the images of the Longford River and gave it the same treatment.

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AGM64 Photography Research Project Stage 2 Posts

AGM64 Bushy Park 19 March 2021

At this stage of the course, I was focusing on other modules and being distracted by life in general. While awaiting for this module to commence, I took a visit to Bushy Park on 19 March where it was a treat to see signs of new life. Also, it was interesting seeing how the light and conditions were changing with the move from winter to spring.

The other challenge I set myself was to solely use the 85mm lens.

My first observation was of these trees and the cloud behind. I took a sequence of images going from left to right.

What struck me about these images was the texture of the clourds in combingation with the the branches and catkins.

When editing these images later in the day, I initially tried a Black & White conversion.

In then coverted other images and created the following triptych.

I then walked through the Woodland Gardens. The sunlight was beautifully playing with the newly sprouting leaves on a plant I would usually just pass by.

I also challenged myself to take the following close-up. I was quite taken aback by the details I captured.

Also in abundance were the cherry blossoms.

To see what would happen, I selected the following image then made a Black & White version which was cropped 1:1.

I then created a mirrored & quartered version.

Am quite liking this particular effect. I will certainly be trying a test print on Fine Art paper of this image.

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AGM64 Photography Research Project Stage 2 Posts

AGM64 Hawthorn Experiment 11 February 2021

While waiting for the module to officially start, I took the following shots. The plan was to try out some closer photographs of two of the Hawthorns I had captured previously then experiment with the resulting images.

I initially selected the following image, which I then edited in Adobe Camera Raw.

I then made a quartered mirror image using the edited version in Adobe Photoshop.

Interesting, but will need further experimentation.

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AGM62 Photography Research Project Stage 1

AGM62 Test Prints Review 14 January 2021

The test prints from Spectrum Photographic were received on 14 January 2021. All images were taken using my smartphone.

I was very pleased with the results. Each image has characteristics and details that have been brought out by using the Hahnemühle German Etching 310 fine art paper.

One thing I did notice was a very thin white line running down the middle of this image.

What I had not checked closely enough was when the two mirror images were aligned exactly. This is a reminder to take a bit more care when combining images and zoom in to ensure this doesn’t occur in future. I’ve now updated the file so this the images are totally flush.

I was also quite pleased with the resulting print of this image. Again, the texture of the paper really adds to the ‘depth’ of the finished print.

I also took some close up shots so I would have a record of these details.

This is how the vignetted image looks printed on the Hahnemühle German Etching 310 fine art paper. What I really liked was how the paper became part of the image further, emulating a Japanese print. This is the effect I was hoping for.

Finally, this is the image that was printed on the Hahnemühle Bamboo 290gsm.

It’s smoother and has a warmer tone than the German Etching. I do prefer this and it was useful having these two examples to compare. In future, I would like to try a test print on all of the different Hahnemühle papers using the same image. This would help guage the best substrate.

One aspect that did pique my interest was how the close up images appeared on screen.

This could have a couple of implications for future developments. Firstly, if the PG show is solely online, would I take photographs of the prints printed on specific paper then use the images rather than the digital image?

Secondly, could I create montages, print them then re-photograph these prints in a different way to create further work?

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