Andy Warhol

I recently remembered the work of Andy Warhol. and his film 'Sleep', where he filmed a man sleeping for 6 hours. That is all the film consists of, it simply observes the man as he sleeps, his facial and body expressions.
I find this fascinating, and I can certainly relate to it with my work in the way my photographs observe people's fears and anxieties when confronted with darkness.





I am really quite captivated with this films, and I find it quite interesting to just observe what the people's facial expressions are.




Again Warhol did something simlar in another film, but this time he filmed for 35 minutes the reaction of a man receiving oral sex, which is seen in the still below.

Here, Warhol has really invaded a private space, and observed someone at a very intimate time. By doing this he is clearly able to get the raw reaction from the man, it is honest and completley open.




The still below is of a film where a man is eating for 45 minutes.



It is the honesty in Warhol's images that I particualrly like. The way he simply observes peoples reactions to various things that they are doing.
This is certainly something that I want to experiment with.

Second group crits

In the second group crit that I had earlier today, I took in my latest work of the illuminated faces. I showed everyone a selection of about ten images from across the two shoots and I was given feedback.
There seemed to be a general liking to my idea. and particularly with a couple of the images, people said that they sensed the fear and discomfort of the model in the shot. This seemed good, and gave me confidence that I was going in the right direction.
One of the things that Dave and Sarah picked up on were that the technical aspects to the images were not quite right. They told me that the images were too dark, and that I needed to get my exposures better. I tend to agree with them on this, and even though I want the images to be quite dark in appearence, I should shoot them at the correct exposure initially and edit them later in photoshop. I will certainly have to get a more powerful torch now so that I can have more light in my images.

Fifth shoot

For my next shoot I again used the exact same set up as before, in the still life studio, photographed on a D200 and set at f4.0 at 1.5 seconds.



One of the problems I found with this shoot and with the last was that keeping my images fully sharp was difficult. I didn't want to increase my ISO because it would make the images too grainy and noisy, and so I needed my model to keep really still, which at times was difficult.

Once again I tried a variety of positions and angles of both the camera and of the torch, and I feel that overall these images look a little better than the ones previous.






The photograph in particular I really like. I think the right amount of body has been left in shot; just the top of the neck. This was aided by that fact he was wearing a dark t-shirt, which is something to bear in mind for the future.
Again it is the same for the image below, but this time the facial expression works very well. There is a clear show of fear on his face and a real sense that he is looking around in the dark for something that has caught his attention.



Something that I need to consider is getting a more powerful torch so that I can better expose the faces of my models. However I will need to look carefully for one that has a blue tint like the one already have, as the blue gives a really great cold look, that I think adds to the feeling of the images.

Fourth shoot

I finally got round to doing my new shoot the other day, and I got some really interesting results.
I chose to set up in the still life studio in college, so that I had a large amount of room to work with, and I cleared a big section so that all the camera was pointing at was the black wall. I set up my camera a few feet away from the wall and did a few test shots, to get my exposures right before my model arrived.

I was shooting on f4.0 at 1.5 seconds.




I shot a multitude of images, and by just moving my camera around slightly I could position my models face is different places in the frame. I also got her to look around in different directions, whilst I told her to look uncomfortable and anxious.
In some of the images she looks more exposed that others, and that's because the epicentre of the torch was more directly on her face.





I think the images certainly have a spooky feel to them, and you can see the expression on her face is one of discomfort. I think it would leave the viewer wondering what she is looking at.



With this one above I chose to crop her out of the frame almost entirely, and just to have her eyes in shot and looking upwards to create tension within the image.



I don't like this one so much as the light surrounding her is too distracting and it draws you away from what I wanted to focus on; the facial expression.
I suppose that in post production on photoshop I could get rid of this and darken the background.



Although this photograph isn't what I'm looking for due the face being out of view, I still quite like how the shoulders are in shot, as it seems to make the person seem more real.



Although there are some issues with these shots, I think that they are a very good starting for me. I need to experiment a little more, and perhaps look to see how I can get more out of my model, more reaction and expression. I am going to try and shoot again in a few days with a new model, so I will see how it goes then.

Experimenting

I got hold of a small torch and last night I quickly had a play around with lighting things and photographing them.
It was surprisingly difficult and was very hard to see what I was shooting. For most of the time I had to just rely on luck and see what I got.



I did a few just lighting up objects at first, but I then moved on and used a test model.



I was shooting on about f4.0 with a shutter speed of 2 or 3 seconds and I was barley getting any light. When I was photographing with a model I had to avoid directly pointing the torch at them as it gave a really bright glare, and instead I had to have the bright spot of the torch just out of the frame, and the outer rim of light illuminating the person.



Although the images are dark I do really like the way they look; quite scary and yet mysterious.
These are just some little test shots, but they have given me an insight into how to proceed when I do my next shoot, and I need to figure out how to get more light and how to direct it better.

New ideas...

Okay, so considering the amount I have moved throughout this brief, I think I've finally come up with an idea and theme.

I want to illuminate people's fear's and anxieties, by shining a spotlight on them in a dark room and photographing it.

The illumination idea has certainly been influenced from the works of Bill Henson and DiCorcia, and I think that it is a fantastic technique when there is need to focus upon people's facial expressions and emotions.
I'm quite excited with this new idea and it will be an interesting style in which to photograph.

I think that the dark can be really unsettling and especially with a spotlight on you, it can make the whole experience worse. I really want to focus upon people's reactions to this darkness, and how their facial expressions will show their discomfort.

These are my sketch ideas for the next shoot:

The heads series

The work of Phillip Lorca Dicorcia and his 'heads' series really remind me of the illumination my Bill Henson.

For the series DiCorcia used spotlights and strobes to pick out walking pedestrians on the streets to illuminate and single them out. He did this to give a dramatic feel to their facial expressions.



I really like this series, as it seems like such a simple idea, just simply spotlighting someone and then capturing their facial expressions. They work really well also in singling the person out, as I feel drawn particularly to them and their faces, not the other people on the street.



This image is really good.
You would almost expect this to be set up, and the man to be putting that expression on purposely, however because it is authentic it makes the photograph so much better, and DiCorcia has captured a really genuine moment.




Although much different to that of Bill Henson's work, there are still some close similarities. They both spotlight a key moment, or rather a mundane moment, but when it is lit it becomes more dramatic.



I'm really excited by coming across both of these artists and it is inspiring me to move forward with the project and take influence from them both. The next step it to figure out what I am going to shoot and how I am going to do it.

Next steps/Bill Henson

So where do I go from here?

I think I need to go back to my research and really focus on what it is I want to show, what my idea is.

I came across the work of Bill Henson from looking at the Victoria and Albert exhibition book Twilight. Throughout his career he has produced images that show an extraordinary illumination that have a real sense of drama and the supernatural to them. A lot of his work has been made at the twilight hour, like the two photographs below.





However it is in these works that I am mostly interested in with Henson, these photographs that are enveloped in darkness, giving illumination to only certain parts of his subjects.



I particularly like the image above, and it is perhaps one of my favorites by him. The photograph is so minimal, as given predominantly a dark image, with only two hands lit up. I really like how we are only able to see what he has given light to in the frame, how we are unaware of anything else that may be happening, it really makes me think of the unknown.




This is something that really interests me, the unknown, where we can only see what is given light so, and everything else we are unknowing of.
Could I perhaps use this to develop into a theme?
Could I construct a narrative in which the viewer can only interpret through what is given light to?



I really like the photograph below, where all we get to see is half of the persons face. What I find so interesting is when I consider what they are looking at, why do they have that blank, somewhat shocked expression on their face. It really leaves it open to interpretation, the way he has photographed it and the colours on the face he has used are really a way of making the image seem colder, darker and more eerie for me.

Thoughts...

As I have stated I've hit a wall with my project, an.d before I carry on and it's too late I need to think about what it is I want to show.

The other night I discussed my ideas with one of my housemates, and we tried to pull out ideas for a new direction. We talked about how people in the group crits felt discomfort towards my earlier images, and it made them think of someone coming towards them, perhaps a murderer or stalker, and that it made them feel anxious or scared. I decided that I liked this idea of making someone feel unsettled or unnerved and anxious and so it could be a direction to go on in.

Seminar presentation

For my unit 303 presentation, I decided to make a powerpoint of the research I had used to date, talking about my inspirations and ideas, and then going on to look at my images so far.

The presentation went quite well, and I certainly feel that I am getting better with talking in front of groups of people about my ideas. I was told that my images looked quite good, and the stylistic approach was good, and that I just needed to work on my theme a lot more.

Interim exhibition

For the interim exhibition deadline I put forward two images from my second and third shoot; in my opinion the best ones from them.

For the first image it wasn't difficult to edit down from the shoot and choose it, as for me it stood out the most and worked the best. The light looks really good, and it manages to illuminate the right amount in the image, giving just enough to capture the creeping figure.




This is the second image that I selected for the interim, and it was a little more difficult to edit down and choose. I didn't want another image from my second shoot and my first shoot wasn't good enough, so I chose to use a photograph from my third shoot.

The one below I feel works the best from that shoot, as the darkness holds most of the image, and directs the viewer to the figure on top of the hill.



Since putting these two images together on the steel board, I've realized that they don't work together as a series, due to the fact they seem to just copy each other. I've also realized that my work still does not really have a set theme or idea and so I feel that I need to move on from these images, using them as a stepping stone to where I am going to go next.

Third shoot

So after the group critiques I decided to go and shoot for the third time, and really try to make these images quite unnerving and expand on the idea of the unknown.
Once again I used car headlights as my light source and positioned them behind a hill, creating a silhouette of anything that was on top of it when photographed from the other side.

The images below are ones where I had the sky at the top of the frame and had darkness taking up most of the image.

This next set of images are ones where the sky and model are central to the frame.


And finally this set of images are ones where I was closer in to my model.

The shoot itself went quite well without any hitches, and I like the way that the images look. The light is really strong and the orange glow works well with the surrounding darkness, however I think it is these aesthetic qualities that I like more, rather than the ideas and theme in the photographs.




The photographs like the one above seem to me that they only work as single images, and that it is difficult to get them into a series. The problem is that they would all look very similar, and essentially just be re-makes of one another.





This image above is my favorite from the shoot and I like the composition that I have used here where the darkness takes up the majority of the frame. I like the lighting and colours that have come about from the headlights mixing with sky, however I don't think it communicates fear and anxiety to me, or really looks at the idea of the unknown.

I'm finding it hard to say that these images don't work for the brief as I like the way that they look, however It's clear to me now that I need to figure out what my theme is and focus on that rather than the stylistics of an image.

Tim Simmons

In the group critiques I was told to look at photographer Tim Simmons who work seems to be quite relevant to what I am doing currently. Although i'm not greatly interested in heavy manipulation to images, and the way that some of these look, there are certainly aspects of these photographs that I like.




In particular I really like this image below, as it really works along the lines of showing the supernatural, there is an eerie and uncomfortable feel to it.





An important thing about these images is that they contain no models and yet they still manage to create the effect that I am looking for, and so it could be interesting to play around with this, and just use locations and lighting to create a sense of the unknown.