Friday, July 30, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Competition
Remember a couple of posts ago, when I was talking about my entry into a competition and I said "Unless it is the rare case that an artist will select the winning pictures"?
Surprisingly, that turned out to be the case. And I won the camera!
When asked to judge this competition, I agreed with caution. I'm aware how opinionated the staff at Photo and Video can be and know an undertaking like this is always going to be dangerous. Everyone has an opinion, an aesthetic bias or even some kind of technical criteria on which to evaluate photographs.
Having said all this, it is with great enthusiasm I judge Andy Tan's entry, "Me and the Milkyway," winner of P&V's grand prize. For me, Andy's photograph is a perfect example of what I love about still photography. It is personal and intimate in vision, hints at a broad range of human emotions, and makes me think about the infinite possibilities of the world (and universe?) we live in. In short, the photo affects me. It makes me feel very human.
Congratulations Andy!
It can be hard to organise the ideas that I put into a finished picture. Often I'm not sure what they are. I had a look at the other post below, I mostly talked about the physical process that I used to make the photo, mainly because they're far easier to talk about, and I stayed away from the mental processes. The first night I was out taking photos I had a voice recorder with me, using it to keep myself company, and at one point when I turned my attention to the sky I ran out of intelligible words to describe what I saw. There are many experiences which can make a person feel very small, and I had such an experience. Trying to cram this feeling into an image seemed like an impossible task, so I did what I often do - I approached the subject with a little light-hearted humour.
Here stands a traveller, on Earth, though whether he is an Earthling himself or from another place remains ambiguous. The photo, in my head, sits in an album of travel photographs, and they're all captioned. There's a pride in this collection of interesting places, and each addition brings some satisfaction. This character is a curious fellow. Of course, I can stare at this photo and ponder many different possible meanings, for instance yesterday I was thinking about how we are nothing but visitors even in the places we call home, for we live for such a short time compared to 'our' planet. Would that make every photo a travel photo, then? Perhaps a snapshot from this life to carry into his next.
Anyway, the prize - An Olympus E-P1!
I have been walking around university this week with it and it's fantastic. The last time I used an Olympus digital camera was in 2004, when I would often borrow one from my school, I took that one everywhere (even on holiday). For some reason other digital cameras never seemed as entertaining to use. This new camera has a familiar feeling. I'm starting to wonder if using an Olympus digital camera is an emotional experience.
Surprisingly, that turned out to be the case. And I won the camera!
When asked to judge this competition, I agreed with caution. I'm aware how opinionated the staff at Photo and Video can be and know an undertaking like this is always going to be dangerous. Everyone has an opinion, an aesthetic bias or even some kind of technical criteria on which to evaluate photographs.
Having said all this, it is with great enthusiasm I judge Andy Tan's entry, "Me and the Milkyway," winner of P&V's grand prize. For me, Andy's photograph is a perfect example of what I love about still photography. It is personal and intimate in vision, hints at a broad range of human emotions, and makes me think about the infinite possibilities of the world (and universe?) we live in. In short, the photo affects me. It makes me feel very human.
Congratulations Andy!
It can be hard to organise the ideas that I put into a finished picture. Often I'm not sure what they are. I had a look at the other post below, I mostly talked about the physical process that I used to make the photo, mainly because they're far easier to talk about, and I stayed away from the mental processes. The first night I was out taking photos I had a voice recorder with me, using it to keep myself company, and at one point when I turned my attention to the sky I ran out of intelligible words to describe what I saw. There are many experiences which can make a person feel very small, and I had such an experience. Trying to cram this feeling into an image seemed like an impossible task, so I did what I often do - I approached the subject with a little light-hearted humour.
Here stands a traveller, on Earth, though whether he is an Earthling himself or from another place remains ambiguous. The photo, in my head, sits in an album of travel photographs, and they're all captioned. There's a pride in this collection of interesting places, and each addition brings some satisfaction. This character is a curious fellow. Of course, I can stare at this photo and ponder many different possible meanings, for instance yesterday I was thinking about how we are nothing but visitors even in the places we call home, for we live for such a short time compared to 'our' planet. Would that make every photo a travel photo, then? Perhaps a snapshot from this life to carry into his next.
Anyway, the prize - An Olympus E-P1!
I have been walking around university this week with it and it's fantastic. The last time I used an Olympus digital camera was in 2004, when I would often borrow one from my school, I took that one everywhere (even on holiday). For some reason other digital cameras never seemed as entertaining to use. This new camera has a familiar feeling. I'm starting to wonder if using an Olympus digital camera is an emotional experience.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Flat-Profile
Semester two of university has started and I am busy again. I'm enjoying it, so far. My grades from last semester were quite good and that has made me wonder how well I'll be able to do if I try a little harder, so that's what I'm going to do. I'll actually read the textbooks this time.
It is coming up to a year since I had my graduating exhibition at the Design & Arts College. At the end of this month I'm in a group exhibition at the South Christchurch Library, I've entered two pictures which I have already featured here. Hopefully it will go well and somebody will buy the prints, which have been priced very moderately.
I have had another film from my flat-profile series processed, it's been a while since I last went shooting. Here are the results:
In other news, I've seen some of my photos popping up around the university campus, which has been nice. The Sinnerman poster is getting heaps of distribution and attention. For the first time, I have a photo on both the front and back of Canta Magazine.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Competition
I've been outside experimenting.
There's a night-themed competition at my local photo lab and they're giving away a neat wee camera, and I'd like to win it, but I'm not sure if I agree with the opinions of New Zealand photographers/judges (especially the photojournalists), because I suspect they might be drawn to the brighter, tackier and perhaps shallower photographs. So I doubt that I am going to get anything for my efforts. Unless it is the rare case that an artist will select the winning pictures. I did have the opportunity to show off a little though! One of the constraints was that competitors are not allowed to use flash or strobe light. Things like torches or car headlights were perfectly fine, though.
In these two photographs I had my Mum helping, she would light-paint me with a torch while I posed, and then I would step out of the frame and leave the camera to photograph the sky for a while. In the first photo below a car drove back and forth (we were in a very remote place too), and lit up the scene a little, which was nice, but I was still standing there and couldn't keep still enough as it drove past. Those two lights in the background are small flame-torches that I added for a little ambience.
Here I was flashed with car headlights, and then I took off my blazer, and was flashed again.
This is the photo that I entered in the competition. There's room for improvement, and I'd like to have another try one day. I am not as sharp as I would like to be, one of the drawbacks when you're using a flashlight to light a scene, if I went back I'd use a strobe instead. I'd also like to try pushing the film, because the lens I used it not quite as fast as would be useful (I was shooting Portra 800).
It feels to be like a bit of a travel photo, and it kind of was, because I was some distance out of town. I played with this a little bit, and added a caption, written on a clear film with black ink, which I put between the negative and the scanner glass.
I have a flat-profile lined up to shoot tomorrow, which is the last day of the semester break before I go back to university on Monday. At the moment I'm trying to get myself organised while I still can!
There's a night-themed competition at my local photo lab and they're giving away a neat wee camera, and I'd like to win it, but I'm not sure if I agree with the opinions of New Zealand photographers/judges (especially the photojournalists), because I suspect they might be drawn to the brighter, tackier and perhaps shallower photographs. So I doubt that I am going to get anything for my efforts. Unless it is the rare case that an artist will select the winning pictures. I did have the opportunity to show off a little though! One of the constraints was that competitors are not allowed to use flash or strobe light. Things like torches or car headlights were perfectly fine, though.
In these two photographs I had my Mum helping, she would light-paint me with a torch while I posed, and then I would step out of the frame and leave the camera to photograph the sky for a while. In the first photo below a car drove back and forth (we were in a very remote place too), and lit up the scene a little, which was nice, but I was still standing there and couldn't keep still enough as it drove past. Those two lights in the background are small flame-torches that I added for a little ambience.
Here I was flashed with car headlights, and then I took off my blazer, and was flashed again.
This is the photo that I entered in the competition. There's room for improvement, and I'd like to have another try one day. I am not as sharp as I would like to be, one of the drawbacks when you're using a flashlight to light a scene, if I went back I'd use a strobe instead. I'd also like to try pushing the film, because the lens I used it not quite as fast as would be useful (I was shooting Portra 800).
It feels to be like a bit of a travel photo, and it kind of was, because I was some distance out of town. I played with this a little bit, and added a caption, written on a clear film with black ink, which I put between the negative and the scanner glass.
I have a flat-profile lined up to shoot tomorrow, which is the last day of the semester break before I go back to university on Monday. At the moment I'm trying to get myself organised while I still can!
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