'Traces of Human Nature' Photography Evaluation

'Traces of the Human Nature' Project Evaluation

I feel this photography project has really interested me the whole way through and I like the way it developed further than I initially planned. I began with the intention of focusing on traces that people are not aware they leave but this was simply going to be a documentation set of images. However through experimentation I developed this further adding more meaning to it. I now like how my work looks ascetically but also the meaning it has. It shows you the negative impact we can have on our planet and also shows us that however much we try and control what we leave behind in terms of memories when we die there is always a certain amount of negativity we leave through things like mass consumerism and mass wastage. I feel like these left over plates were the best option as my final set because it gave a more focused outcome and also help create a nice metaphor where by the plates represent our pure planet and then all the leftover and rubbish upon show you how humans taint this planet.

Ascetically I decided after further tutorials and research that my images would work with as lot of brash and bright colours along the lines of Richard Billingham and William Eggleston. I feel this would help bring out the harsh reality of the pictures and create more of an impact on the viewer. I feel if they were black and white or even muted tones then they wouldn't have said the message properly either because they would have become more like works of art just to be looked at which I don't want. I wanted them to have this Billingham harsh documentation reality about them.

There were a few things I would change and developed further given the circumstances which would be that firstly I felt with more time I could have produced a better variety of finals. I did my last shoot over two days in the canteen at lunch to try and gain some variety in textures and colours of food and leftovers however I feel like they did begin to look a bit too similar. To avoid this I could have spanned across even more lunch times and days given me much more variety however because of time constraints this wasn't a possibility at the time. However if I did it again I think I might look into better and different locations for example I could ask at other places that sell food about taking pictures of the leftover plates. This would have given me more variety not only in look but also in meaning because it would be different sets of people were as mine is only student leftovers. I feel like if I had time to develop it finding new locations would be the way forward. I also wish I had a chance to re-print my work ready to exhibit because even though I made the colours the right brightness and saturation on screen once printed them seemed to be a bit duller than I intended but due to lack of funds I could not re-print. Also if I had the time and money I feel like I would have made my one larger print a A2 instead so that the two squares (one made of the 4 and one single) would be the same size exactly as intended. I got confused with sizing when planning it and then I didn't have the funds available to pay for an A2 print so I have had to make it different sizes which still works but doesn't flow as nicely on the eye.

Overall this project has really interested me letting me take a reflection on the world around me this time rather than myself. I also feel like I have managed to produce something which is successful to the theme and also creates a good meaning. I would like to have the time to develop this further in the future.

Traces Photography - Exhibition Layout and Printing

I decided on my 5 favourites from the final shoot which was made a lot easier by my evaluation of each image and the impact it had. Now that I had my final 5 chosen I experimented on Photoshop with how I could lay them out in the exhibition space. Here are my layout ideas:

1) This layout was my first idea because it was one of the ways I thought of to try and keep symmetry in my layout however I feel like all the different directions of the cutlery create a bit too much chaos even if I have tried to make it symmetrical.

 2) Here I have used that same symmetrical layout but this time I have shuffled a few of the images around so that the lines of the cutlery are as symmetrical as possible so there is much less chaos now. I like this a lot more than the first however I still feel it is very plain and doesn't make as much of an impact as I would like.

 3) I really like this layout a lot more because keeping it in squares is much more pleasing to the eye. It also makes a bigger impact because I would have 4 A4 prints to make the smaller square and then one large A3 print to be next to catching peoples attention. I would love to do this layout however because of limited exhibition space for the whole class to use I feel like mine wouldn't be displayed because it would simply take up too much room.

 4) This layout still makes an impact using squares and a larger print however it uses the space of the wall vertically rather than horzintally which means it wont take up too much room allowing other people to have plenty of space for their work too. I feel like at the moent this is the layout I would like to do in the exxhbition but I wont know for sure until I speak to the curators and find out what kind of space I have to work with.

 Ideally I would like to do layout 4 as it made an impact without taking up too much space however I am still concerned that this wont work in the space as I am still waiting to find out from the curators what area I have. If this layout isn't feasible then I would change it to layout 2 to keep it simple however I hope it doesn't come to this.

I will be going to the print room tomorrow to have my finals printed and I have made the decision this time to have them printed on glossy paper mainly because I want them to be as bold and brash as possible and I feel like the shimmer of this glossy paper will enhance that even further.

I then realised I needed a title to put with my pieces in the exhibition. So far I have been referring to them as Traces however because this name is in the project title for everyone I decided I needed something more in depth. I re-read over a lot of the words in previous posts to see what my main theme was and I seemed to keep mentioning in my final images how I love the way the plate is pure but then we leave all these leftovers which are unintentional traces. I do not want to title each picture however if I need to I would just refer to them as plate 1 through to 5. I would rather keep it up to the audience to read into each image themselves but by calling it 'Traces of Human Nature' which at least gives them a aspect to approach it from without giving too much away. They are then free to have whatever reaction they want to these neglected traces.

Photography Traces Final Photo Shoot and Edits

For my final photo shoot I decided in the end after more research and another tutorial that I was going to take a much more documentation approach to this using techniques like brash contrasting colours and closed in compositions to make more of an impact on the viewer and make them stronger as a set. After looking back through I decided the best subject matter for this that worked well in this manner the first time I tried it was the food leftovers on the plates. This led me to decided that I will do my finals based in the canteen taking pictures of peoples leftovers on their plates. This will show the traces they leave behind but also hopefully make the viewer reflect on the way we act and live our lives leaving so much waste behind. It also is nice to be doing it in the university canteen because then it gives a  relevant reflection back to the students when presented in our exhibition space also on campus. I like the idea that these dirty plates could also be a metaphor for the amount of rubbish that we produce everyday not only externally but the amount of rubbish produced in our bodies too. I decided that this shoot would take time because it was simply a case of chance depending on how many people eat in the canteen as to weather I was going to be able to get many decent shots. Therefore I planned to take my final images over two different days both in lunchtime hours when the canteen is at its busiest. This would also allow me to get more of a variety of plates with varying foods and variety of colours. Here is the contact sheet from my first day shooting:

And then here is my contact sheet from my second day of shooting:

Next I reviewed all these images and chose my favourites from each set of plates and edited them to give me a feel of how they worked and in my head I was then beginning to build up an idea of what images I could use for my final and which images would work well together. Here are my favourites edited:

 With this image I used a very shallow depth of field to make your eye focus into the pepper packet as this is the rubbish left on the plate and therefore this is helping to create the meaning/metaphor I am trying to go for with this work. I have also tried to compose it in a way which is simplistic and almost quite beautiful at first which then shocks the audience when they notice that they are actually looking at someone's leftovers. I  think enhancing the colours has worked really well in post because it has made it even more eye catching and bold and also by increasing the contrast it allows you to pick up on a lot more detail such as the specks of pepper on the plate. I am really happy with this image.

With this image I took a much more overhead angle on it as I like the basic but observational feel that it gave to it. It made it much more obvious that this was a documentary styled image and in a way reminded me of when police take pictures of evidence from a straight above angle, very plain and simple. I feel like this image was harder to make eye catching because there was a bit less colour on this plate which is why I put my focus much more on the composition and framing of it which works well. However I said I wanted to have challenging features on the plate too to help add to my meaning and unfortunately this plate did not have anything else on it other than the leftover food. I like this image but I am not sure it works in this set.

In this picture I really like the textures created by the gravy and the food and I feel like it adds more interest to this piece. Other than that I am not sure weather I like this piece or not because even though I did my best to enhance the colours in post I found that the murky colour of the gravy made this very hard to do without it becoming too unrealistic. This is as far as I could push it which is a shame because I love the fact that it is just a large pile of vegetables left over which was probably the most natural food on the plate which again gives an interesting reflection about this person. I am still unsure as to weather this will work with in my set because it hasn't got any unexpected or challenging elements on the plate other than the left over food again.

In this case it wasn't a plate left it was a bowl so I had to try and take a different approach to photographing it because I found that if I tried a more closed in frame like the others there was so little left that it was just a very dull image. Instead I chose this as my final of the bowl because it was taken again from a very documentation angle but from further away  which allowed you to see all the mess that this person left on the try around the bowl. I had to enhance the colours a lot in this image so that you could actually see the liquid that was left in the bowl and I do really like how there is just a tiny puddle left on the spoon. The only problem with this image is that it will fit into my final set of image because the rest are plates. It may stand out a little too much.

I really love this image because there was so much left on the plate that it really gave me a lot to work with especially with all the different colours and textures that are present. I have composed it so that the main focus is on the half eaten potato and then you just get this lovely coloured lettuce around it. I also think having the fork disappearing into the food works nicely because it emphasises how much this person really did leave behind. I feel like the enhancing of the colour and contrast have worked well to draw the eye in and also to add more detail like the tiny specks of peeper sat on the potato. Even thought this has no challenging features on/in it I like it because it still shows a message about us and how some people can leave some much behind and waste it like this.

 I really liked the composition of this image however unfortunately when I took it someone was blocking the light which has made it look much darker. I have tired to enhance the brightness and colours in post production but I could only do so much whilst trying to keep it at least looking realistic. The reason why I like the composition is because it has some food in the foreground and background which is out of focused due to a shallow depth of field and then its the bunched up tissue in the centre of the late which is the point of focus. I like this because your eye is instantly drawn to this rubbish and then you start to see all the other unsettling leftovers and rubbish on the plate. I feel like this would work well with in the set in terms of meaning however ascetically it may not fit in because it is noticeably quite dull/dark compared to a lot of the others.

In this image I feel like the colour is the element which works really well because I have enhanced it in post to make it brighter and more saturated so that it is a harsh pallet however I feel like it isnt so over done that it seems unrealistic. I think that I have the balance of brightness and saturation just right. I like here how the plate was very clean and white too which meant that the food and objects stand out on it even more. It almost creates a stronger metaphor because the plate  is the pure element and then the food taints and spoils it representing humans effect on the planet in terms of mass consumption and mass waste we produce. I like this image a lot because visually it is very pleasing but when thought into a lot deeper it has a good meaning to it and would work well with in my set.

 I liked this image myself because when I was taking it I could spot a hair on the plate which I thought would work really well by giving the audience a visually challenging and disturbing aspect in and amongst the leftovers. However it was really hard to make this tiny little hair stand out and since I didn't have a macro lens so I couldn't get in as close as I would have liked to it either. So this is the best shot I managed to capture which does have the hair in it just under the handle of the knife however it is such a tiny detail that I don't know how noticeable it would be to outside viewers who may not be as aware of what they are looking for. Because I am not sure if this tiny detail makes a big enough impact I have not decided weather I will use it with in my final set of not because other than that detail it is a rather plain image.

 This image is very eye catching because of the colours in it which I also enhanced a lot to make them even brighter and more vibrant. I feel like this helps add messier feel to an already very messy plate which works well with in my meaning. I feel like having the rubbish scattered all over this plate as opposed to leftovers again helps to add more meaning to this set because it shows you how big we are as consumerists but also how much waste we produce too which taints our planet in the same way this plate is tainted. Having a very closed in frame here helps too because it means that there is no escape from the chaos on the plate and as a viewer you are forced to look at this almost uncomfortable image. I like this piece and I feel like it would work really nicely in my set.

This image is very interesting for me visually however I don't know how well it works in my set of images because there isn't really a disturbing or visually challenging element to it it apart from the leftover food. I like it visually because the composition works having the knife and fork coming in from two different directions both leading your eye towards the food. I also really like the bold red colours on this plate and by enhancing them in post I've managed to make them even more eye catching. However I don't think I would use this in my final set because it doesn't have a message as strong as some of the other images and it is a little bit too pleasing for the eye which I didn't actually want to do.

This image is probably one of my favourites from this shoot because it has a lot going on which helps to add meaning and also to challenge the viewer.  I feel like it it has all these different elements of litter and rubbish in it through the bunched up tissue and the pepper packet but I also love how it has this massive Starbucks branded coffee cup in the very back which links back to this whole idea of consumerism and waste production really well. Now beside all the meaning hidden with in this image it also works well visually because I have again as in all the photos enhanced the brightness/contrast and the saturation of the colours. It has worked very successfully here because the beans really catch your eye and draw you in but you can also spot tiny little details like the specks of pepper. Also the plate is so white in some places but so tainted in others that it is adding to the metaphor of this work even more. I think I will defiantly be using this with in my final set.

 This image works well in terms of the meaning however there isn't nothing very visually interesting which would draw a viewers eye in to it. I think this is because the plate is so crowded with cutlery and tissue that you cant actually see many of the food leftovers. The amount of cutlery and tissue links  back to one of my themes of mass consumption but it goes a little bit too far away from my original concept of leftovers/traces because on this plate you cant really see anything properly. Therefore I don't think I will be using this as part of the finals.

 This image is very visually striking because its got that mass of bright yellow sweet corn right at the front pulling your eye in. I enhanced that even further in post to make it brighter and more saturated which has also added more contrast between this bright yellow sweetcorn and the murky dull looking gravy which is covering the majority of the plate. I feel like this image is hard to look at because there is so many disturbing things going on like this excess amount of gravy and the bright unnatural looking sweetcorn. Also there is rubbish dumped on the plate too which helps challenge the viewer further. I think this chaos helps to put across the  message I want to about the nasty traces we can leave behind metaphorically and in reality. I like this image even though it is unsettling and it would work well with in my finals.

I like the bareness of this image and I think it is a good contrast to a lot of the other images however because there is so little in it it was very hard to compose and work with. Also there wasn't a lot I could do with it in post production either beside brighten it up. I have also noticed now I have blown it up bigger that is is slightly out of focus anyway which makes it very hard to look at. Also it doesn't really link as well as the others to my theme/concept so I think I wont be using this in my finals.

 This image has a lot of food left over and it has created a lot of visually interesting textures and shapes to draw you in however it is also a bit gruesome to look at because it was someone's dinner and it doesn't look too appetising the way its been left. I like that in one sense it is visually beautiful for a split second till you become aware of what your looking at then it starts to disturb you more than anything. I would have like this image to be in my final set however I have so many I like and because this one doesn't have anything challenging in it other than food It isn't as metaphorically strong as the others and therefore I probably wont use it.

This image works well metaphorically with my meaning but also visually which is good. I feel like it the lack of food leftovers but the traces that it was there work in my favour because they show the mass consumerism of people and then the rubbish scattered on the plate shows the mass waste we can produce. I think visually it works well too because  have enhanced the colours so that the nice bright orange stains of the beans draw your eye in and then the lines of the cutlery then lead you to keep looking at the rubbish piled up. I feel like this is one of my successful image and would work well in the finals.

This image is a lot more barren compared t some of the others because there isn't actually any objects left on the plate but instead just the traces of this gravy sauce like substance. I feel like the traces links well to the overall project theme of this unit but the bareness maybe doesn't link in to my specific theme as well so it may not work as well. I did try and make it more visually interesting in post through enhancing the brightness and saturation of colours but this still hasn't made it look any less barren so I am not sure it I will use it as a final.

I feel like this shoot had some varying rates of success however I am very happy with the amount of nice images I managed to capture and I feel like through reviewing each of my favourites once edited it has allowed me to narrow down the images towards the most successful for my finals. I have also narrowed down my theme further to actually begin looking deeper at a metaphor in a lot of these images which is about mass consumerism and mass waste. The second metaphor I also came up with is how the white of the plate represents the planet and then the stains and food which taint it also represents the negative impact we can have on the planet through this consumerist and wasteful ways. Next I must pick my 5 finals that will be exhibited and choose how I will print them and how they will be presented.

Photography Traces - Sam Taylor-Wood style VS Richard Billingham style

In my tutorial it was made apparent which I agree with that I have very two opposed styles with in this series so far. One style was very dark and composed artistically and one was very brash and documentation styled. To help me better understand these very different styles I decided to look into the two very opposing artist references she gave me:

1) Sam Taylor-Wood

Sam Taylor-Wood is a artist who works across a variety of mediums but mainly film and photography. I have looked into her suspended series of photos previously and I really liked these however this time it was suggested that I look at her still life video works as these were in a similar style to some of my photo experiments:


I can see how my work relates to hers in terms of style. She has created a still life piece which has deliberately been set up to reference old artistic paintings and then she has used these old set ups to create a film about decay which makes a really nice message about how everything decays over time. I feel like this style works in her favour to add more to her piece however I am not sure what is added to my work in the images where I have referenced this particular style other than making the audience aware that its art/photography which in my opinion for this topic is not a good thing. I feel like it just cheapens my images by making these references because there is no solid rooting to them unlike Taylor-Wood.


2) Richard Billingham

Billingham is primarily a Photographer who is best known for his photo book in particular 'Rays a Laugh'. I really enjoy this set of images and have looked into it before to help my own works progress. I am very interested in his style and also in the very obvouse and basic way he creates his images. Here are some from 'Rays a Laugh':

I feel like these pictures are showing the real truth behind his family and I feel like he really revealed everything he possibly could through these images. I feel like this style links to the style I attempted in the canteen in terms of colour and in composition because I too made the colours bright and kept the compositions basic and straight to the point. I feel like it works well in his and my work by having these bright brash colours because it makes the image jump out at the viewer even more catching their attention. I feel like his compositions aren't always but can be very closed frames for example with these two above he has framed in very close to the subjects only getting in what was necessary to make the statement he wanted to about the subjects. This is what I need to do more of when I am capturing my left over food images as it will make them much stronger and they will have a bigger impact.

After doing some extra research and finding more inspiration I have decided that I still defiantly prefer my brash colourful images that I took in the canteen much more than the dark muted coffee shop/litter images. I will progress further by taking more images in the canteen in this bright way but now after looking into Billingham's work I have decided I will compose them in a very basic way but cropped in a very small frame to show only what is necessary. I will tie all the images together by focusing specifically on left over food on plates.

Traces Photography - Evaluating my Test Shoots

I had yet another tutorial with my tutor to assess my Traces Photography work so far. I had my three shoots to show her because I myself couldn't decided which images worked better as there were two very opposing styles to my work. After reviewing the three shoots with my tutor she also pointed out that my sets of work have two very different and distinctive styles.

My first style is very recognisable particularly in these images:

These images are much darker and low key composed in a very artistic way which my tutor said almost references classical still life paintings reminding her of some still life work by Sam Taylor-Wood. To help me understand this reference further I will look into her work again as I have already researched her in the past but I do understand the point my tutor has made. I feel like when taking these styled images in the cafe and out on the streets I in my mind was being very compositionally aware and was trying to create some graceful images but then my other style was in the canteen when I was being much less aware of how beautiful I wanted the image to look and instead I was just document the leftovers themselves and use this as a reflection on human nature.
This image was one of my tutors and my favourites done in a very opposing and brash style compared to before:

 I really loved the bright contrasting colours in these images and how it really makes it stand out. my tutor said these photos reference the styles and colours used by Williams Eggleston who I have already researched for this topic and then Richard Billingham who I researched for my previous portrait topic. I agree with her and I have always admired there use of colour in there style and thats why I am much more interested in sticking to this much more brash documentary styled work with in a way has more meaning to it as well because its making a comment on human nature and the leftovers we leave behind through life. i feel like I could really make an impact with a set of 5 images of leftover food on plates framing them in this very close up style with these overly bold colours. My tutor agreed and has made the suggestion that my finals will look much better and make much more of an impact if I get them printed at a very large size such as A3 which I will consider once I have my finals done.

I am now planning to complete a final photoshoot which will be much more focused in the canteen focusing on leftover food and rubbish but particularly on plates taken in a very documentation style. I want to try and confront the viewer by having visual challenges in my images which my tutor has said works very well such as the lollipop stick in the image above.

Experimental Film - 'Step by Step' Treatment and Story

Experimental Film Idea – ‘Step by Step’ by Billie Williams

‘In this story we follow a family of shoes who all live on a shoe rack together. Each different pair has its own memories and its own experiences so they will all be anthropomorphized. There will be three mains pairs and we will follow these one by one. The first two pairs will be a very girly pair of trainers which will be represented a being a middle aged female in its thoughts and feelings and will been show enjoying the sun outside. Another pair will be a really old tatty pair of running shoes which will be represented as an older male figure who again loves to be out in the sun running around. The final pair will be a pair of wellington boots who will be represented as a younger male who loves being out in the rain splashing in puddles. We will also show them all communicating through movements and expressions mimicking a family on the shoe rack. The disruption to their life happen when it turns too sunny for the wellington boots and he keeps getting left behind. Then he gets moved into a cupboard by himself where he peeks out each day hoping for them to come back. Eventually when he’s given up hope he finally gets moved back out the cupboard and onto the shoe rack. When he gets there he is greeted by two extra pairs of new young wellington boots. When then see them all outside together running in the puddles having fun.’

Treatment Programme title: ‘Step by Step’ Duration: 5:00 minutes Genre: Children’s Short Experimental Film (Part real footage/Part animation)

Outline Production: It is all about creating anthropomorphized shoes through real footage and part animation which express the feelings and memories of the shoes owners. This shows the link between peoples possessions and there connections and memories to them. Target Audience: Children and young adults however it shares a message that could be interpreted by older people too. Visual Elements: Lighting – Bright daytime lighting for the happy moments with a gold tone. Blue dark light for the sad scenes. Camera Movement – Variety of camera shots but primarily low angles to just get the shoes in shots. Editing – Fast paced for the happy scenes then slower pace for the sad scenes. Setting – Family home. Needs a shoe rack in the hallway and a storage cupboard nearby. The outside locations will take place at the parks in Farnham. Actors – Need 3 actors (old male, young male and old female) however their bodies will never really be in shot. Props – The s pairs of shoes and shoe rack. Costume – No specific costumes because as I said the actors bodies won’t ever be featured. Audio Elements: Effects – Won’t ever have specific talking as shoes will communicate through expression. Maybe background noise of laughter etc when shoes are outside. Music  - Need a very light hearted soundtrack to suit a young audience. It needs to change pace with the emotions of the film. Requirements and Resources: Camera, tripod, sound equipment, On set Lighting and coloured gels/diffusers. Constraints and Contingency: Need certain weather types for some scenes.

Experimental Film - Anthropomorphism Research

Anthropomorphism is a key element of my Experimental film idea therefore I wanted to gain more insight into what this term actually means and how it can be interpreted. Here is a definition I found:

'Anthropomorphism, the interpretation of nonhuman things or events in terms of human characteristics, as when one senses malice in a computer or hears human voices in the wind.'

(http://www.britannica.com/topic/anthropomorphism)

I interpret this to mean that anything that isn't a human gets given a human characteristic which I want to take a step further in my idea by making an inanimate have thoughts, feelings and memories. I want to choose objects which have a lot of potential for this and things we interact with on a regular basis. 

Now I am looking into why we personify objects in this way:

'Traditional explanations of why people anthropomorphize may be divided into two sorts. One view, held by the Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711–76) among others, is that it is done for an intellectual reason: in order to explain an unfamiliar and mysterious world by using the model that humans know best, namely themselves...The second explanation, given by Sigmund Fraud (1856–1939) and others, is that people anthropomorphize for an emotional reason: to make a hostile or indifferent world seem more familiar and therefore less threatening...'

(http://www.britannica.com/topic/anthropomorphism)

The second reason to anthropomorphize objects appeals to me more as this is linked to memories a lot more. I like the idea that humans anthropomorphize objects to help them understand new items and worlds. I feel like this has encouraged me to create another world with my objects so that it makes it familiar to us but at the same time gives you a reason to anthropomorphize because your trying to understand these objects and their world.

Experimental Film Pitch Initial Idea - Missing Objects

As I am currently doing a similar theme of memories for my photography project and really enjoying the idea of traces I want to relate my experimental film to this too. the reason I am enjoying my photography so much is because I am getting to observe what people leave behind and its actually really interesting working out what there like from these objects which they leave or loose. This is why I am thinking that my experimental film could be all about lost items and to make it even more exciting I could feature these items being personified, having feeling and then tell a story about that object. I think it would be really fun because we will have to find really creative ways of showing a story through objects but also its practical as well because it probably means I wont need very many actors at all.

For this idea I decided to look firstly for inspiration on YouTube and Vimeo to see if this had be done before and how:

Disney Pixar Short Film - The Blue Umbrella, Director- Saschka Unseld (2013)

Blue Umbrella - Short Film Pixar 2013 from nguyenhainam2601 on Vimeo.

I really like this video because it tells a really sweet love story just through the umbrellas. The umbrellas are personified and anthropomorphous with animated eyes being put on them which helps show emotion although I still feel without these you would know the emotions because the lighting seems to reflect the emotions too as well as the music playing a strong part in it. What I also really like about this piece is there is no talking which just lets you as the viewer interpret what is happening and what would be said. I will take inspiration from this piece in the way it tells the story in such a strong way however mine wont be animated and  will actually be real recorded footage although I could experiment with adding animation elements to footage.


Lloyds Bank 250th Anniversary Advert, Director- Ben Tollett (2015)


This advert inspires because it is very powerful and does this by having the same symbol of the horse used through out time in many different ways. I obviously for my piece wouldn't use anything like animals but I could take objects and try and make a statement about them by having repetition like in this advert. I found that this advert was showing the many different uses of the horse through out years so if I pick one significant objects I could try and show a similar message about this object. I am inspired by the impact this advert makes in such a short amount of time.


Betty's, Created by Bexie Bush (2010)
Betty's by Bexie Bush from Bexie Bush on Vimeo.

This is a much more basic use of stop start animation in a hair salon but I really like the way it uses such unique objects to make it really personalized. It is all about this old fashioned hair salon so she uses audio from the place and combines it with the objects almost as if they are talking and reenacting the audio. I think this could be a process which might work for my anthropomorphism piece.

All these videos have given me a lot of inspiration to make a story involving anthropomorphism using the techniques I have observed.

Reflections Photography - Traces Experimental Shoot 1 (Canteen)

For my last traces experiment I went to the canteen t see if I could get pictures of peoples left over food and lunches. It was slightly more difficult then I thought because a lot of people cleared up there left overs and also I went just after lunch so it wasn't as busy as I had hoped it would be. Here are my contacts from the shoot:

There was varying rates of success when trying to capture images in the canteen but here are some of my edits. I have deliberately over saturated a lot of the colours to make it vibrant like a lot of the photographers I researched did:

Canteen Traces 1-

 I really like this image because I found one single can on the floor as soon as I walked in to the canteen and it made an instant visual impact  and I assumed it cant have been there for long. My only problem was that it was in quite a dark section of the canteen and so I had to do a lot to it in post production to make it look this vibrant and bright. I am worried that all this editing in post production has caused the quality of the image to be worse. However I am liking this image because of the contrast between the really dark floor and the right coloured can.


Canteen Traces 2-

 I like this image because of the golden colours which attract your eyes in to the cup of beer and the empty wrapper. These are both very vibrant and then you ave them sitting on this white table with white chairs behind which is making them stand out even more from the background. I also feel like this image has a lot of character because it is two very distinctive items that have been left there so simply. All I am worried about with this image is that it is slightly out of focus on the empty wrapper but I think this is because I was rushing to take the photo so quickly before any one moved it.


Canteen Traces 3-

 This image I found also had a lot of character because again it was a rather strange selection of products to be left in such a way on the table. I like the fact that there is three balls of tin foil next to three crisps which seems like a really nice coincidence. I also think the bold colours again work really well against the white table but this time there is a black wall behind which again actually fits the scene really well because the red of the cup still stands out. I have chosen a low angle to take this image at which I think works well to make a nice composition here.


Canteen Traces 4-

 I was lucky enough to find a very messy seating area at the back where a lot of different litter and left overs had been left. I decided to start by taking a long shot of the main area to see if it worked. I think it does in some way for example I really like the way it looks across the two tables from a low angle with a shallow depth of field so everything in the background is blurring. However it is a very busy image with a lot going on in it.


Canteen traces 5-

 I chose to take a close up of this section of the messy table because I like the primary colours of red and blue both being in the same place and also the texture created by these scrunched up balls. I think the colours look even better now that I have saturated them to make it even more vibrant in post production. I also think by putting the contrast up I have made the texture even more visible on the paper too. My problem however with this image is I am not sure if it has much personality to it especially to an  outside audience who wont necessarily recognize this food packaging from our canteen.


Canteen Traces 6-

I really like this image and I am glad that I managed to take such a close up of the leftovers on this plate because this is what I originally intended to be photographing in the canteen. I think that editing it in post production to have really bold vibrant colours was a good idea because now the food stands out well and really contrasts with the bright white of the plate and the napkin. I feel a little bit of personality is injected into this image by the fact that there is a lollipop stick on the plate as well as the napkin. If I were to capture more of these image though I would be able to try out many different shots and angles however I think this shot works for this plate.

Overall I found that I managed to capture some really successful images with a lot of personality in the canteen despite the fact that it wasn't very busy. I think if I went back at a busier time I could find a lot more to take pictures of.

Reflection Photography- Traces Experimental shoot 1 (Litter)

For this shoot I walked round the local area looking at litter to take photos of to represent the negative traces people can leave. Here is my contact sheet of all the photos I took:

This shoot was quite difficult because of the rain which was ruining a lot of things tat were left behind by people however I did manage to find some interesting things to take pictures of and here are my favourite edits:

Traces 1-
 Cigarettes are a very common item to see on the ground when it comes to littering because most people don't even consider it to be litter. This is why I tried to create this rather sad image out of this one cigarette to represent the negativity about it. I did this by having a very blue tone to the image which I enhanced in post production. I also thought about composition in terms of the rule of thirds to gain peoples attention.


Traces 2-

 This image was really hard to capture because I found this lipstick tissue under shelter outside a shop so there was not much light. I did the best I could with what I had and I even tried to enhance it in post production but this meant I just lost quality. I tried to zoom in through cropping slightly though so that the main focus would be on the red lipstick mark which is following the rule of thirds.


Traces 3-

 This one isn't of litter however it really interested me that as I was standing outside a shop you could see the wet footprints of the people who had walked in. I liked this because again it was only a temporary trace that I was going to immortalise. I photographed this image in a fairly simplistic way and I tried not to do anything to fancy in post production because I really wanted the audiences attention to just be on the meaning behind this image. I like how the lines of the cobble stones are really pleasing to the eye and this helps draw you in to the foot print.


Traces 4-

 I really like this image because I managed to get some really nice lighting on the coffee cup from a car that had pulled up with its lights on. it gave it a really nice orange glow and this also gave me the extra light I needed to capture a bright enough image anyway. I am however concerned that because the coffee cup is so dark it blends into the background and the wall meaning that it isn't the centre of attention in this photo. I may have needed to find a way to light up the coffee cup even further if I wanted to make this image more successful.


Traces 5-

 This abandoned basket in the car park made a really interesting subject matter for me because it was almost like because that person didn't need it any more they just dumped it there. I also really like the lines and patterns that are created by it and this image to me shows a nice opposition between natural and the man made. I think it really shows the negativity of human nature when it comes to littering and things like this.


Traces 6-

 I like this image and how lovely and bright it is. I even saturated the colours the same as a lot of photographer's I researched. I wanted to grab people attention by having it bright and then people once they observe will actually start to notice that it is a negative thing that I am photographing. I am not sure if this bottle is the best way to do this though as it is less a case of littering and more a case of lost property however it still fits the theme of traces nicely.


Traces 7-

This is probably my favourite image from this shoot just because I love the sadness of it but also it has a certain amount of beauty to it too through the rain drops forming on the bottle and the little white flowers surrounding it. I chose an image of the bottle that was a bit more of a close up because I wanted you to be able to see all these elements that I had liked when I was there looking at it. Also I find that glass is always something really precious to find because it is so fragile is usually ends up broken.

I feel like this shoot was much harder to do because it was outside in many different locations and I was struggling to keep trying to set up my camera and get a good image in the rain each time. I feel like if I continue with this idea I will need to maybe pick some days when the weather is a bit better.

Reflections Photography - Traces Experimental Shoot 1 (cafe)

I went to a cafe as planned and sat and waited for people to leave their tables and then I photographed the traces they had left. Here are the contacts from this experiment:

This shoot was successful because I got some nice images however because I was on a limited time scale there was only so long I could wait in the cafe/coffee shop for so I didn't capture as many images as I might have liked. However if I choose this location for my finals I would make sure I had plenty of time to take many more images. Here are some edits of my favourite images from this experiment:

Table 1 Traces 1-

 I like this photo because it keeps enough in the frame to show you a lot of personality of who was once there especially through the empty wrappers left in the cup. Yet the frame is closed in enough on the table and just this that it almost isolates us from the rest of the coffee shop giving us time to reflect as an audience on this just being a single trace left in time which I have immortalised by capturing. I really like the composition I have created however I am slightly unhappy about the lighting because I feel like it is majority in shadows and this makes the cups seem very dull. I think it would have been more visually striking if the cups seemed a much brighter white against the background with more contrast. I did edit it in post production to saturate the colours and make it brighter however it only seemed to take away the actual quality of it.


Table 1 Traces 2-

 With this image I have tried to focus in even further on the characteristic of the empty wrappers in the cup. I have made it so that these are nicely in focus close up in the foreground and then using a shallow depth of field I have made everything else in the background out of focus such as the spoon on the table. I did try it the other way around having the spoon  and focus and the foreground out but that had very little character or detail to it which is why I chose this. I feel as well that the lighting in this image is much more successful and I was able to on post production make the whites even whiter which makes it more visually striking.


Table 2 Traces-

 This image I feel is less visually striking because there is some much going on in the frame that your eye never gets time to focus on any details. I struggled to find a way to reduce the composition and focus on one element without losing quality in post production by cropping and unfortunately I didn't take any close ups of this table as I had limited time before it got cleaned away. I have cropped it slightly to try and reduce the number of distractions in the background and surroundings but it still doesn't have that same sense of isolation as the previous images had.


Table 3 Traces 1-

Again I feel like its the composition of this piece which has made it successful because it is framed so tightly in a way which leaves it distraction free and isolates the table. I have furthered that feeling in post production by plying with the contrast so that the background of the table seemed a lot darker with these really white cups grabbing your attention. I had the plate in the foreground of this shot as I like the details of the crumbs and felt like this added character. I also like the way the you can just see over the rim of the coffee cups to the leftovers inside.

Table 3 Traces 2-

 In this image I took a more above angle to how this would impact the image. I still really like it as it has the characteristics of the crumbs and the detailing of the coffee left in the cup but it doesn't work as successfully in terms of the composition now the angle has changed. This high angle makes it much more confusing to work out the details and I find my eye doesn't flow around the frame as easy because it seems too tilted.


Table 4 Traces 1-

 I like this image but I feel like there are may be too much happening in the frame which doest allow you to have time to absorb any details. I think that also because you can see the edges of the table quite clearly and other things in the background this prevents us from getting the sense of isolation which worked so well in some of the previous images. Also because again I took a high up angle I have ruined the lighting slightly because I was blocking it which means instead of these stark white cups they again seem grey. I have done my best to resolve this in post production but I think this is just a mistake I will have to learn from.


Table 4 Traces 2-

 I like this image slightly more than the last because it is much more of a close up which means that I have managed to capture this moment isolated in time a bit more successfully. I again took a high up angle but I think it serves more of a purpose because I am trying to observe what is left in the bottom of the sups which I think adds an interesting detail to this image. Again though I have a problem with the lighting as I think I was blocking it out meaning that there are too many shadows for my liking.


Table 5 Traces 1-

 With this image I wanted to see what kind of atmosphere I could capture with an extreme close up of the cup. I like this image because you get to see the detailing of the coffee foam left in the cup ad the spilt coffee on the plate which all adds character and describes the person who left it. It is also well isolated and fairly free from distraction but I worry that this makes it look too simplistic especially in terms of composition because I have kept it fairly straight forward. I am in two minds about this image because I really like it but I don't know if it works well as part of this project because its a bit more unique to the others.


Table 5 Traces 2-

 With this image I went for another close up but one that is a bit more interesting in terms of composition because I kept the majority of the image the black of the tray then had a few details to add character. One detail is the used and stained sugar sachet and the the other is the dirty spoon which is creeping into frame. I like these details being very discrete but visible however it I am still unsure as to weather I like the fact it is so bare or not.


Table 5 Traces 3-

 I like this image to table 5 the most out of all these edits because I feel it much more in keeping with the style that I have been going for through my other images. It is a small slice of the scene on the table but this is nice because it gives our eyes a lot to look at but still has the sense of distance and isolation. I am particularly keen on this composition because the coffee foam left in the cup is where the point of focus is and then because I used such a shallow depth of field everything else is out of focus. I think this is a very unique focus point and I like it.


Table 6 outside Traces 1-

 As I was leaving the coffee shop I spotted a table which had coffee spilt over it which I thought was really interesting because the rain had made it run. I took photos of it which at the time I wasn't sure about but looking back I really like them and I also really like how the rain has created a really nice texture for which the smooth coffee sits next to. I find this image a lot of fun.


Table 6 outside Traces 2-

Again I really like the textures in this image but this is even more of an abstract feel to it because its even more close up. I like the colours as well because its this very murky brown sat on top of a really striking black/blue colour. It makes a good contrast between the two surfaces and hopefully this creates a pleasing image. My only concern is the focus of this image isn't exactly where I wanted it to be on the actually centre of the coffee splatter.

Overall I feel this shoot has helped me to gain a better understanding of how I can improve if I were to try this again and also it showed me which skills I need to improve on. I really enjoyed this shoot though and I found it really interesting and I think it was rather successful.