Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle events or environments both significant and relevant to history and historical events as well as everyday life.
Source: Wikipedia
The photographer may want to document their community to show others how they view their community or represent them in the way they are rather than some prejudice views. Also some may argue that his photograph may link to street photography because he takes photos of random people around his area which he may have familiar relationships with. All of his subjects are people within his area and community whom he has made an effort to create a relationship/bond for them to be comfortable to be able to take a photo with. The reason why it's important for him to take photos of his community is because it allows him to portray his community who others may perceive in a different point of view. His community is an area in the US known as "Queens", this area is known for being ghetto, violent and aggressive. Dawoud Bey wants others to get to know what the people are actually like outside of these stereotypes.
We were suppose to take photos using shadows, angles and to focus on the composition. We were recently looking at the work of Dauwood Bey who took photos of his community, I find his work interesting in the way he portrays his community in a nicer community, who are disregarded as uncivilised people. and we were suppose to use his work as inspiration as ours. I also found the task quite fun and interesting, I liked the idea of using shadows and background new and amusing. I also like taking photos outside as it allows us to use the background more and to play around with natural light and shadows. I feel that I need to improve by focusing on whats going on in the background and to look at the composition. I would like to take more photos of images in black and white because i've never tried to edit a photo and black and white so it will be a new skill for me. And for this project, I have ideas of taking photos in black and white mainly inspired by the works of Dauwood Bey. If I was given more time, I would try to use the natural lighting a lot more and try to in-cooprate shadows more in my work.
took photos of my friends who are within the same community as me, I was unable to use a camera so I used a phone to take these photographs. One thing which I like about these photos is the grouped photos, you are able to see the difference between the people among them. Furthermore, if I was given more time I would like to take more photos of larger groups of people as I enjoy taking photos of groups. I would also like to take photos in different areas to make the photographs more interesting.
I chose Niall McDiarmids video as I like how he explains and describes the photograph. I also liked how he didn't edit the image and that he left it original and didn't crop it. He approaches the subject in a interesting way by taking 3 snap shots and chooses which one he prefers. I think they look for colour and positioning of the person who has been photographed.
I chose Adama Jolloh because she explains in detail on how she documents her photograph and how she feels. I found the fact she feels close and connected to her work and that she wants everyone to see it showing her confidence interesting. She approaches her subject where she takes photos of anything, where it could be day-to-day or she takes photo of her community or maybe people from her parents town. I feel like she looks for things where people can connect and enjoy the photographs.
The reason why i've chosen Liz Johnson Artur is because she revolves her photos like a library. what I find interesting is that she thinks of her galleries as books with her photos as the chapters, i believe this is unique as the metaphor is interesting.
Photograph a person from your community
I took a photograph of one of my peers called Zak, me and Zak have been friends since year seven so we've built a bond to be comfortable enough to take a photo of one another. I used my phone to take these photos however I would rather want to use a camera since it takes better quality photos. One thing which I like most about these photographs are that they look more natural and not forced, for instance in one of the photos it looks as if zak is having a conversation and is un aware of the camera. Furthermore, the lighting looks very nice on a few of photos. If I was given more time, one improvement I would make is take photos of additional people so I could include my community even more.
I think this is the most effective photograph out of the 12 as I took her in motion which was one of the main tasks and one thing which doesn't work so well is the lighting of the pictures taking indoors because, some of the pictures, the lighting looks imbalanced where one side is bright whilst the other is dark. I believe if others looked at the photos the first thing which will catch most people's attention is the movement of the subject (Sophie) and how it looks as if she's walking up the stairs due to the positioning and body language of her indicating her going up the stairs. I feel like one skill which i've taken from this task is that portraits don't necessarily need to have the persons face directly towards the camera and another skill which i've also kind of achieved from this task is the ability to take photos without it coming out unnatural or stiff. I chose to create this because I wanted to manipulate the photo as if she's walking. One thing i've learnt is the skill to be able to take photos without it seeming stiff and unnatural as the photo will come out displeasing to view.
We first go on to photoshop. After, we hover over the image
We then hover over "Adjustments" and on the right hand side we press "Black & White" to convert the image into black & white.
Tyler MitchellI believe the most effective subject in this photograph is the shadows and how it's used to make one side of the photo dark and the other light. I think if others saw this photo for the first time, their instant reaction would be directed to the colour. Because Tyler Mitchell's work consists of loads of colour, which was influenced from his visit to Cuba. One thing which is worth to remember from this photograph is the composition of the figure, it's interesting how the person is lying and the shadow figure has overlap him.
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Inspired by Tyler Mitchell
We had a task to take photographs inspired from Tyler Mitchell, it had to be a series of images using the light and shadow of the day, we also have to think about how the image is composed and framed and the activity of the subject matter.
One thing which is effective about this photograph is how the sunlight create shadows in specific areas to create new shapes. One interesting element about this photograph is how the light only covered his back, this caused a change of colour on his coat to yellowish black and his hair too brown. I think peoples attention will be caught to the location and the trees and buildings around him. One thing which I think is worth to remember from this photograph is how i've used the lighting and shadows to make the photo more inquisitive. One thing whilst i've learnt from this task is the use of shadows and lighting but, one thing which I could of improved on is the framing and composition.
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Interesting
black people
engaged in an activity
non stereotypical images of black youth
fashion
props
greenery or plain vibrant colours
colours
black people
engaged in an activity
non stereotypical images of black youth
fashion
props
greenery or plain vibrant colours
colours
I feel like the most effective subject in this photograph is the use of props and vibrant colour used all around the main subject (Ishaq).
Autumn Extended Project
We were given a task to use our "Documenting Communities" project create a body work of theme. We were given 5 weeks and 5 subjects to complete.
For week 1 we must: Take a selection of at least 6 photographs of our location
For week 2 we must: A type of photoshoot that you would like to create using preliminary photographs
For week3 we must: Provide evidence of our initial research
For week 4 we must: Take a photograph of the people within our photographs
For week 5 we must: Provide evidence of the photographs that were taken
For week 1 we must: Take a selection of at least 6 photographs of our location
For week 2 we must: A type of photoshoot that you would like to create using preliminary photographs
For week3 we must: Provide evidence of our initial research
For week 4 we must: Take a photograph of the people within our photographs
For week 5 we must: Provide evidence of the photographs that were taken
Week 1:
For week 1, we were given the task to take 6 photographs of our location
Final piece: Evidence
In the end I chose to use these 10 images and made 5 zines where I used A3 paper and printed the pictures double sided.
Steps to making a zine:
My first draft:
So my first idea was to lay it out on a table in a sort of specific lay out which at first I thought was a good idea but as I got further inspiration from pinterest, I developed my thoughts and lay out design and made zines.
My improvised version of a zine:
I printed the photos which I decided to use for my final piece on an A3 paper double sided, where one photo is on one side and the other on the other side. I then decided to make it in to a zine so its a doubled sided zine where once u open it up u see both the photos. I used 10 photos to make 5 zines as it's double sided
My final piece:
Throughout year 10, we did many photoshoots and learnt many different photography processes that have further developed and refined my skills throughout this term. I feel that I could further develop my images by creating a more imaginative photographs of my work. My work is mainly inspired by the works of Tyler Mitchell, I researched his work of taking pictures from head/torso and the use of props and bright colours and applied it to my own work. My original idea was to make a zine with pictures inside narrating a story but, I then further refined it by making a double sided A3 zine with a different image on each side. I utilised my understanding of Tyler Mitchells key aspects of the way he photographs by applying it to my final piece and chose specific photographs which link to his work. One way which I feel that I could review and further progress my final piece is by altering the lay out strategy of my final piece or possibly choose another design. Furthermore, one of Tyler Mitchells asset skills in terms of photography was he would use bright colour and sometimes even nature, the use of those two made me feel a sense of comfort and happiness and I then later applied those 2 to my own photographs. The way I presented my work was I lined up my zines in order and used a white background so un important things don't interfere with my final piece, I also tried to put one of my zines closer to the camera and the rest went up in a diagonal order to give a depth of field effect as the further one is less in focus in contrast to the one in-front. In the final zines, some of the photographs have become distorted by the folds in the zine and they are now a series of shapes and colours so they look like abstractions of the original portraits. My work is highly inspired and encouraged through the work of Tyler Mitchells photographs who takes photos of his community and the focus of the photograph is mainly one person taken from a head/torso level and uses a high range of bright colours. I chose to document my society and community, within my personal community are images of friends in school, what I'd like to show, hopefully through the colour and composition I can show the hopefully the hope, a sense of comfort, friendship and bonding, and the connections between people within the school community. Hopefully my photographs will depict that the community of the students in school are different to what media sometimes depicts them as, and that they can be seen as separate to what is said about teenagers at school. I purposefully chose to add a bit of nature and colour to my photographs as it gives a sense of hope and delight to those who view the photographs.
My statement:
I chose to document my society and community, within my personal community are images of friends in school, what I'd like to show, hopefully through the colour and composition I can show the hopefully the hope, a sense of comfort, friendship and bonding, and the connections between people within the school community. Hopefully my photographs will depict that the community of the students in school are different to what media sometimes depicts them as, and that they can be seen as separate to what is said about teenagers at school. I purposefully chose to add a bit of nature and colour to my photographs as it gives a sense of hope and delight to those who view the photographs.
Documenting Places
Nick Meyer's images reflect an area and place which is quiet and peaceful. One similar thing that they share in common is that the photographs give a sense of peace and tranquility . I believe that majority of his work and photographs represent his area/place in that nature is dominant in society and that us humans pay very little attention to it and that we should take care and focus. The images are isolated as none of them consists of a human except the first one and gradually becomes to zero. I feel as thought these images tell a story as thought nature is slowly dying as humans start build houses, use vast amount of electricity etc.
One thing which Zoe Leonards photographs all have in common is that they are all photographs of shop fronts. A difference between these photographs are that these shop fronts have different genres of what they sell, for instance one of them sell clothes where as the other is about migration, tax etc. The shop fronts have loads of vibrant and bright colours however, some of the photos are in black and white making it look as if it is dull and consists of very few or negative colour. Documenting a series of shop fronts does give an insight of what may be happening in a community, for example a shopfront which is all graffitied, broken, dusty etc. Could imply that the city is ghetto or that it is a city with low living standards of quality of life. In contrast to a shopfront where the shop is designer and is well presented could present the city as if it has a good quality of life and high standards with a posh area. The photographer was perhaps trying to document the city and standards of life in different city and areas and how others live and what shop is the most popular for the people of that community. The images make me feel uncomfortable to look at, as some of the shop fronts look messy through the window, for example the clothes/material that the bottom right images is trying to display looks unorganised and the top left image, the wrappers or posters are all torn up. One thing I would like to ask the photographer is what they wanted to represent and the meaning in their photographs of these shopfronts.
Evaluation:
- Describe the experiments you have carried out with different media, materials, techniques and processes and explain the decisions you made about how to refine and develop your work.
- How did you develop your investigation? How has it become more sophisticated over time? What changed along the way?
- Which Habits of Mind have you exercised the most? What have you found most challenging about working like an artist/photographer? How did you change along the way?
The theme I explored was shop fronts, my initial thoughts on them was the concept was unique. Whilst taking and changing the shape of the shop fronts, my ideas changed, as all my shop front had a window which I chose to cut out with a scalpel. My inspiration of these photographs came from Zoe Leonard who is famous for taking photographs of different shopfronts. I discovered of her work through my teacher. What i've learnt from researching her work is that all her photo could have possible meanings of what she is trying to represent. The threshold concept that my work has tackled is threshold c0ncept one. I did this by using the same genre of a food shop, for instance, my photo of "Mr chippys" and "zenith" are both the same genre. My experiment of this 3D sculpture work included me using scalpels, camera, mount board, box, black backdrop, scissors, sellotape etc. First I went around my community near blackheath and greenwich and decided I would take photos of the same genre which was a food shop and used my research of Zoe Leonards work of shopfronts. I proceeded to take around 12 photos with a camera and chose only 5 which I would use for my 3d sculpture. I then proceeded to print them and used glue and stuck them to a mount board and then I used a scalpel to make a unique shape for each 0f my photograph. I then chose to cut one window in each photograph so when I placed my 3D sculpture, the layout would make it possible to see the photograph behind through the cut window. After I used the scalpel to make a triangular shape to make a stand for all my photographs for them to be able to stand and I used sellotape so it stuck on to it. After I made a couple layout so I could make a 3D sculpture. But I decided to use a box in some of the 3D sculpture to help make the smaller ones be more visible.