Locating Unit

For my Live Brief I have chosen to respond to the Tiger Print ‘Capturing Christmas’ brief. I chose this one because I thought it would be a good chance to explore photography more, whilst working on my self-initiated locating brief. I also think it would be easier to manage both projects at the same time if both are digital based, besides it could also help develop ideas, keeping my focus set on photography. The Brief asks you to capture the spirit of christmas in an image. The image must be suitable to use on a range of giftware, Including christmas cards, gift wrap and gift bags. The client for the brief is M&S and the have asked that the image is suitable for commercial use.

After reading the brief I went and researched Marks and Spencer’s existing Christmas products, fortunately the project has been set around Christmas time, making product research easier, along with the added consideration that it is easier to capture Christmas because of all decorations up in preparation for the holidays.  On the left is existing photographic cards available at M&S, I noticed a lot of the images were macro images of food, something to keep in mind when taking my own photographs. On the right is ‘Not on the High Streets’ photographic christmas cards. I think doing this research helped me to understand what I should focus on photographing. 

(Left) Marks And Spencer's  (Right) Not on the Hightstreet 

Locating Unit

After knowing what I wanted to do I set out and took photographs. Knowing that I wanted to look at two main areas of photography. Nature and the silhouettes within it and street photographs, capturing puddles and the reflections they hold.

These are some of the images I like. I edited the original images, removing some areas of colour, exaggerating the contrast. I then started to layer them in Photoshop, experimenting with opacities, allowing various areas to be seen through the top image.

These are some of the multiple exposure images I created. I really like the contrast of the dark lines from the tree silhouettes, and this is something I will carry on to develop. I also like the bits of colour that stand out which I think has been emphasised by desaturating sections of the images.

During my tutorial, Me and Teresa discussed how to improve the images. We decided that in order to develop further I should look as some other areas of photography. Based on my initial research I thought that architecture would be a good area to look at due to the angular shapes and straight lines. I think it would work well to create a contrast, making really striking images.

Locating Unit

For my Locating unit, self-initiated brief, I decided to push my boundaries, step out of my comfort zone and explore more of a digital side to print. After seeing an image of a friend’s photography work where they had layered the same image onto of itself, I decided to look more into a similar style of photography. Through looking in books and researching online, I found that there is a specific style of photography layering different images on top of one another. This 'Double Exposure' photography really appealed to me, and so I decided that this is where I would start for this unit. . Whilst researching I found photography Jon Duenas who has a collection of double exposed images, and whilst the subject is predominantly portraiture, I think this style of photography, just using other subjects would be an interesting and different starting point for my self-initiated unit.

https://uk.pinterest.com/Beckyleanne0473/

The main success of these images I think comes from the contrast between the two images. Having a large focused subject to create a shape, which is then filled and layered with a busier image. These photographs by Dan Mountford really inspired me, especially the one on the left, mostly because the subject of the images is similar to what I would like to explore.

After deciding this, I had to think of what types of images I want to merge and so I took to Pinterest to find any style of images that caught my attention. I found a couple of different things appealed to me. The first was landscapes and nature, mostly because it is an area of photography I have always wanted to explore, but I also thought that it would make a good subject for my busier photographs. The second area that I thought would be interesting is street photography, Using images of straight lines on roads, mixed with the soft blurred edges of puddles. Similar to these I found below.

https://uk.pinterest.com/Beckyleanne0473/