The Art of Seeing

Francesca Woodman

Francesca Woodman was a american photographer very well known for her black and white self portraits. Despite her short career as she committed suicide at the age of 22. very surprisingly Francesca actually released over 800 untitled photographs. Inspired by Surrealism and Conceptual Art, her work often featured symbolic motifs such as birds,mirrors and skulls. The artist's is compared with Hans Bellmer and Man Ray. Woodman was also known for using long shutter speed and used double exposure in her images. the blurred image created a sense of movement and urgency and asked questions such as ''Am I in the picture'', '' Am I getting in or out of the image'' and ''Could I be a ghost''

Pogus Caeser

Who Is He?

Pogus Caeser is a photographer from the West Indies,

but was raised in Birmingham. In 2018 Caeser. was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Birmingham City University for his outstanding contribution to the visual arts. He began his career as a pointillist painter and then later began his photographic career. He is so successful that some of his work has been

What Did He Capture?

Caeser captured harrowing images of the Handsworth fires, he also took portraits of celebrity's such as Jay Z, Stevie Wonder and Lionel Ritchie, This is what he thought when he was taking the images of these people.

"In 2006 he was performing in Birmingham. I knew a few people at the concert venue, they allowed me access to where Jay-Z would be waiting. He saw me but said nothing - however I believe he gave me the shot I was looking for. Using HP5 film allows me to achieve the grain I desire from the print."

"In 1989 while working at Central TV, I had the honour of directing inserts for a Stevie Wonder video. Usually filming after midnight over three days, I was able to spend a considerable amount of time in his company. Observing and listening to Wonder, I amazed that this living legend was sitting and drinking tea/coffee a few feet away from me. Oh how his fingers danced over the piano keys!"

"When you have the opportunity to meet someone like Lionel Richie, take your film camera and work quick. I also wanted to capture an alternative image of this musical icon!"

Project Proposal

The theme I have chosen is Covid-19 and the powerful movement of Anti Racism. I have chosen both of these topics as I feel they need to be spoken about as no one really mentions how important these topics are, I thought of this idea after the harrowing death of George Floyd. The idea came to me while I was in lockdown, as I really wanted to do something for the movement and want to make a change for the better. The purpose for me to base my assignment on this very powerful movement was to let other students or any of my family members to speak out and if they have an opinion they should speak up about how they really feel about Covid-19 and how they really feel about Racism. I will record my process by taking my photographs and providing annotations with the image explaining my feelings and by reading in between the lines by captioning every photo with a word or a phrase which describes what I want to say to people but don’t as I don’t want to cause arguments or discussions. I will post on my instagram if I feel it is a great and successful assignment and will share with family and friends to see what they think about my views on the movement and on covid-19. I will review my work by showing my tutor and by showing my cousin who is a photographer. I will evaluate my work by writing a conclusion at the end about what I thought went well and if I done this assignment again how would I improve I will also show family members to see what they think of my work.

sHOOT PLAN

FINAL IMAGES

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3JFv4gqem0

I've linked this song by Raksu called Who Am I (Black Lives Matter) as I feel it really reflects what is going on the world as it's such a heartbreaking but powerful song and if you haven't heard it I ask you to have a listen as its such a great song linked with the BLM movement and I really feel other artists should mention BLM into their songs as it is such a sensitive subject but you have to talk about this issue because if you won't who will?

Context-

This photograph shows a graffiti statement about Black Lives Matter. It is very current based on racism, brutality and ill-treatment of Black people around the world in particular America. Anyone who knows about the George Floyd incident would know why it's been imprinted on the wall and its purpose. The black and white effect ties in with the theme of mourning as well as the inequality between the black and white race. ​ I shot with the aperture wide open to let not just the graffiti in focus but the background as well and I made these choices so my photos would be in better quality and would be in full focus. The shutter speed I used was 1/60th of a second to create a fast shutter speed to freeze the frame of the image and to add a stronger effect I used the filter of Monochrome.

Composition-

The composition of this image is a repetition of bricks. In the background, they seem to be the makeup of the wall behind the subject. The subject is displaying the symbol which is her arm and fist which represents the Black Lives Matter movement. ​ I used the shutter speed of 1/60th of a second and the aperture which I used was fast as I wanted to keep the background and the subject in focus. The lighting is a bit like Rembrandt's effect as one side of her face is dark and one side of her face is light

Composition-

The photograph is in a rectangular format, the man is placed in the centre of the rectangular frame so he takes the viewer's full attention. You can see the quiet environment behind him which adds more effect as we are all dealing with Coronavirus which adds more dramatic effects such as the deserted high street shown behind him which was once a vibrant, buzzing shopping area filled with lots of noise, music and laughter. ​ I used the shutter speed of 1/60th of a second as I wanted a clear, focus and effective photo of the subject and I used an aperture which was wide to include the subject and the background ​ I also found using live view mode on the camera much more straightforward as it just made taking photos much simpler than using the mode dial to change the settings to portrait or landscape ​

Comment-

I like this because it is a very candid image and the background and subject is in focus and its a portrait which is my favourite camera mode to shoot in. I actually used the filter of monochrome but I don't really like shooting in monochrome as some pictures should have colour. I don't like this image because if it was in colour it would have been more effective as the colour she is wearing is black so it could maybe symbolise she is a powerful,formal and mysterious woman

Context-

This graffiti represents the logo of the legendary NHS who have worked extremely hard during the lockdown to save lives. It's unusual acronym is now seen in a heart which suggests love and gratitude for these key workers during very sad and low times in life. ​ I used Auto mode and had the camera on Portrait mode which made it easier to soften tones and colours in the image and it kept in focus for when I was taking the image and I used the shutter speed of 1/1125th

Content-

This image shows the City Centre as a lockdown environment as people are keeping 2-metre distance and no one is gathering up together so they are obeying the rule of Wash Hands, Cover Face and Make Space and it is usually strange to keep space or to wear a face-covering but we have been told that this is the 'New Normal'. I used a deep aperture and a fast shutter as the whole image is in focus

Comment-

I like in this image the subject is shown as very lonely and the subject is avoiding to look at the camera as he is in his busy work routine. I don't like this image as he doesn't really want me to take a photograph so he is avoiding by not looking at the camera and looking in a different direction.

Composition-

This image is in a square format and the path in the image is the composition of leading lines as the path is leading us to the water fountain and by the shops. But you can also see the lighting in the image is fantastic as it is not too bright but it is not too dark it is a perfect in-focus image and you can also see an isolated custard factory as people are not out and about as they want to stay home to save lives. The shutter I used was a fast as I wanted to freeze the moment and the aperture used was a deep as I wanted to soften tones and colours

Evaluation

What Went Well? The images I took and the way I controlled the camera and the camera settings also how I controlled the mode dial and the aperture, shutter and ISO. I also found using different picture styles and changing the white balance settings from cloudy to auto really helped,so did going to drive mode and instead of shooting in single I changed to continuous as I could get more images by a click of the shutter button. I also believe the amount of time I spent to take photos, get artist research and to do the work at home on my laptop after college really helped me as well. Also to access Wix from home was much more straightforward.

What Didn't Go So Well? I should have taken notes before I went out to take images as I was struggling with the final images write up, I struggled to remember what settings I used and I feel I didn't focus on getting images with my artist research. I wanted to focus on getting more information instead of getting images and making my pages colourful and fancy. Because I feel Wix is all about the information never about getting images off the internet and I wanted to improve my photography skills more.

If I Was To Do This Project Again What Would I Change and What Could Be Improved I would spend more time jazzing up the Wix blog, I would also use different settings on the mode dial and would scroll the command dial to change the aperture and shutter speed. I should have used the time more wisely and I didn't have support for 8 days so next time I will probably have someone there to support me. I also need to explore Digbeth more by getting a bigger picture and understanding of Digbeth and Birmingham in general.