Shaped By War: Photographs by Don McCullin at the Imperial War Museum 'The Review'

Where do I start 'absolutely fantastic' and even if you don't have an interest in photography I'd definitely suggest for all to go and view the exceptional, shocking and deep emotional war photographs of Don McCullin. Although my main interest in photography has not been of a documentary nature, after viewing McCullin's work, who is recognised as one of the greatest British war photographer's, I can appreciate the necessity of why the world is needed to be documented and recorded to show the very nature of the reality of what the average person does not see! Due to society not being as it is now photography and news articles where the main resource in which this hidden truth could be shared with the rest of the world. Through the eyes of Don McCullin, the production of his images takes us on many journeys, showing in great detail of the suffering and destruction caused by wars over the last 50 years.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/feb/07/don-mccullin-shaped-war-review

This is one of the most famous images of Don McCullin

Shell-shocked US marine, Hue, Vietnam, February 1968. Photograph: Don McCullin

Although the camera is directly in front of the marine you can see from his gaze that he is looking straight through and beyond the camera. A gaze of horror at the reality of combat which lies ahead of him. The utter shock that in minutes could be the last gasp of air that he will ever breath although knowing full well his job is morally sacrificing himself for the freedom of his country from their enemies. The shot is perfectly composed within the frame and masterly developed from the negative, given great attention to detail (i.e burning of the hands to depict a true resemblance of his hands / features) in the darkroom.

Places Inspiration

Although I already have some ideas bubbling around in my head in regards to locations of where I wish to photograph, I still feel that I still need to take into consideration the places within the location. Also another factor I need to think about is from what kind of viewpoint will depict my photographs in the way I wish my audience to see and gain from them?

I have been looking at the photographic works of Andrew Paul Brooks who in 2008 did a sequence of images to portray hidden places throughout Manchester. 'Behind Reality: Hidden Manchester' was exhibited at the Urbis of Manchester from late December 2008.

http://www.artinliverpool.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/hidden-mancs-1.jpg

I particularly like the above photograph, Brooks has used a viewpoint so that the audience is looking over and beyond Manchester from the shadows within a hidden location. This viewpoint adds drama and mystery to an overall aesthetically pleasing, atmospheric piece of photography

http://www.culture24.org.uk/asset_arena/6/50/65056/v0_master.jpg

It is the bright bold colours which instantly attract you to the above photograph. Not 100% sure but I believe that it is possible that to achieve such a dramatical effect in regards to exceptional highlights and dark tones through the use of HDR software

To view more pictures in regards to Brooks' 'Hidden Manchester' please go to the below link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/content/image_galleries/021208_hidden_manchester_gallery.shtml?1

Below are some inspiring images from a memorable photographic artist Edward Weston. His landscapes are of a very simplistic nature and compositionally perfect within his frame

http://www.edward-weston.com/images/Edward_Weston_Original/SURF,%20POINT%20LOBOS,%2034.jpg

http://www.edward-weston.com/edward_weston_clouds_trees_water_12.htm

http://www.edward-weston.com/edward_weston_clouds_trees_water_11.htm

Types of Portraiture- Corporate and Candid

Corporate Portraits

A corporate portrait is associated with a person or peoples' representing a respected position within a working business. The portrait should display a great insight into the person being photographed, what the business is about and also give a great perception to the intended client.

A great example of some powerful political portraits are from Platon's 'Portraits of Power'. A detailed description about the shoot is detailed on the below website;

http://www.newyorker.com/online/multimedia/2009/12/07/091207_audioslideshow_platon

All of Platon's images convey a strong aesthetic, displaying a distinctive use of the large format camera. The high majority of his sitters have been photographed from a low viewpoint thus giving the audience a feel of their authority and power!

When I think of strong portraits from the past my thoughts lure towards the works of August Sander (1876-1964) whose methods of portraiture have been described in a way to document and categorise humanity. I feel that there is a definite cross over between corporate and environmental portraiture within the majority of his images.

Candid Portraits

Are simply portraits of people who are completely unaware that you are taking a photograph of them, I'd say its very much like being a stalker in some weird kind of way, like the papparazi!

A great example of a photographer who is well known for just taking random photographs of people on the streets is Joel Meyerowitz, he greats himself as a street photographer on the below documentary, a very informative insight into his personal hints and tips on how to blend in on the streets and take fantastic street portrait photographs without hopefully the photographed not feeling threatened by your presence -

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://img.youtube.com/vi/5Qjym5uliDw/0.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bestonlinemedia.com/videos/streetphotography/&usg=__xikquSgf3mM8C1IbUabINXrvEyU=&h=360&w=480&sz=13&hl=en&start=6&sig2=L5VIUrqHGyb4XMu82QZ5Ig&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=QyPWDMk2gs7f1M:&tbnh=97&tbnw=129&prev=/images%3Fq%3Djoel%2Bmeyerowitz%2Bcandid%2Bportraits%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=0m3wS4aUIIWoOMCijdwH

Types of Portraiture- Fine Art & Environmental Portraits

There are many different types of portraits within photography and within our 'People' brief we are asked to experiment and produce portraits of four different sub genre styles of portraits: Fine Art Portrait, Environmental Portrait, Corporate Portrait and Candid Portraits.

Fine Art Portraits

A fine art portrait is when the photographer is in full control of lighting and directing of the sitter, being able to show his artistic talents through the skilled use of lighting and background conditions of his/her choice. A great example of a fine art portrait photographer is Horst P Horst, whose photographic work still today inspires us up and coming photographers of the future. His mastery of lighting and printing techniques made it possible for him to produce some memorable images which were published by his employer in the magazine 'Vogue'. Although Horst died in 1999 his work will always be remembered as a huge importance within the history of photography.

www.horstphorst.com

Another more modern photographer who takes Fine Art Portraits is the American photographer Jody Ake. Although I say modern he prefers to use a very old style photographic technique, in fact it is actually just short of 150yrs old, invented in 1851 by Frederick Scot Archer and is called the Wet Collodion process. This is where a glass plate is coated in collodion and the plate is then exposed to capture a image whilst wet. Further detailed guidance into the collodion process can be seen on this informative website

http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/pointsofview/videos/collodion/index.html

http://www.jodyake.com/portraits.html#l

Ake's portraits are very distinctive due to the old style photographic process that he uses, his prints all have beautiful artistic borders due the way in which the print has been produced from the glass negative. A very old school approach . . . this giving an air of authenticity to his modern day portrait masterpieces.

Environmental Portraits

An environmental portrait is when the photographer considers the surrounding of the sitter to be of equal importance to the person whom is being photographed and quite possibly the most important aspect is defining that person by their surrounding environment. A fine example of a master of environmental portraits is Arnold Newman.

It was in 1942 that Newman had conceptualized the basic philosophy of his future work, "to take pictures of people in their natural surroundings with a little stronger feeling about not just setting it up." In 1946 he worked on assignments for Alexey Brodovitch, and Harper's Bazaar and Life were his major clients. He took some of his most famous portraits at this time, including one of Igor Stravinksy sitting at his piano, which ironically Brodovitch, in one of the most noted gaffes in photo history, rejected.

http://www.masters-of-photography.com/N/newman/newman_articles4.html

Jackson Pollock, Long Island, NY, 1949

Frank Stella, New York, NY, 1967

Portrait of Man Ray, New York, NY, 1960

Marc Chagall, New York, NY, 1942

“We do not take pictures with our cameras, but with our hearts and minds.

-Arnold Newman

Salvador Dali, New York, NY, 1951

Woody Allen, New York, NY, 1996

Alfred Krupp, Essen, Germany, 1963

All of the above images photographed by Arnold Newman were sourced from the internet;

http://www.arnoldnewmanarchive.com/

http://www.luminous-lint.com/app/photographer/Arnold__Newman/C/

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/85768354/Arnold-Newman-Collection

Another modern photographer who idealizes in taking environmental portraits, mainly of well known public figures and celebrities is Harry Borden,

"As a photographer the qualities that you bring to a portrait are multi-faceted. It is about observing people, composition and light: these are all the things that make a great photograph as well as creating a rapport with the individual" Harry Borden states in an interview with The British Journal of Photography

http://www.bjp-online.com/public/showPage.html?page=94876

Michael Hutchence 1997

by Harry Borden (b.1965),

gelatin silver photograph

Colour Calibration *WORKSHOP*

Certainly not the easiest of things is understanding about colour space in regards to digital aspects of photography, in fact after today's lecture with Mr Farrington it made me realise just how important 'algebra' actually is in being able to explain the things that most of us throughout our life times will never grasp!

So here is what I believe to be true in what I now know in regards to Colour Space although please bear in mind this will be a very brief explanation as the depth of being able to understand everything in regards to this one subject I feel you'd have to be a specialised expect!

Gamut Diagram - A gamut is the colour field which can be created by a certain digital system, such as DSLRs, scanners and printers.

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.firefly-editions.com/firefly/images/gamuts.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.firefly-editions.com/firefly/ffScanningServices.shtml&usg=__oxiZa38mdz2xL-GDYQzzzCUD-Fw=&h=331&w=400&sz=40&hl=en&start=18&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=qvmO1sXmhGBkqM:&tbnh=103&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgamut%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

There are three types of colour space formats which are:

1. sRGB (This colour space type should be used when uploading photographs to the web)
2. Adobe RGB
3. Prophoto RGB (This colour space type should be used for ultimate printing)

To understand the differences in colour quality of the three types of colour spaces in regards to uploading to the web we where asked to photograph our model George setting our DSLRs to capture images in both RAW and J-PEG formats, firstly shooting with colour space sRGB then with colour space Adobe RGB which are the only two options in regards to colour space set ups available on my Canon D50.

We then uploaded our photographs into Lightroom however before importing via 'External Editing' set the settings to view them in both RAW and J-PEG formats.

Then via the use of Adobe Photoshop we saved x2 of the images shot via sRGB as a Prophoto.jpeg and AdobeRGB.jpeg. We saved a further image which was shot via Adobe RGB as a sRGB.jpeg.

Please refer to my flickr account http://www.flickr.com/photos/43546527@N06/ and view the set titled 'Colour Workshop' to see the differences of colour quality.

I plan to go through this process again after photographing an object showing a vast majority of colours to which the difference will be a little more dramatic, therefore watch this space for further testing within the near future!