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Lancashire Telegraph

Features editor
John Anson
t: 01254 298262
e: janson@nqnw.co.uk

What's on
Vicky Cosgrove
t: 01254 298209
e: vicky.cosgrove@nqnw.co.uk

Jess Screen Test

Jess has a very quirky and colourful look. And here eyes are large and intense. This is reflected in her screen test, as when she looks at the camera you are drawn in by the intensity. Though she has an intensity in her eyes there is also a shyness when she looks away. I have noticed that quite a lot of the women arranged themselves in the screen tests. Jess does this by adjusting her beret.

Tash Screen Test

Tash is very sociable person so it was interesting to see how she reacted being on her own in a room in front of the camera. I have to admit the footage did make me laugh as she looks moody and bored. Though I think her mannerisms look great on camera and the way she adjusts herself looks great too.

Thom Screen Test

Thom’s screen test for me is fascinating. You can see he is thinking about what he is going to do. He is very fidgety yet he also poses by adjusting his clothing and hand gestures. He is totally aware of himself and though this may seem contrived it makes fascinating viewing.

Tyson Screen Test

With Tyson’s screen test he constantly avoids eye contact with the camera. Every time he finds himself looking at the camera he averts his gaze and looks at his surroundings. Although he does this he remains relaxed in his composure. Yet he occasionally heavy gulps so he may have been nervous though his exterior looks relaxed.

Andy Screen Test

I feel that Andy tried his best to zone out in his screen test. He seemed to be wanting not to react to his environment. Though after a while he couldn’t help but fidget and his eyes start to wander. Even though this be a very still screen test, I feel it is important to have a varied output. I wouldn’t want people to act up too much to the camera as the whole point is for them to represent themselves in that time period.

Roxy Screen Test

Roxy is someone who intrigues me and so to see her in this screen test just makes me more intrigued. Her look is stunning against the background as well as her shy behaviour and movement. When she takes down her hair I was in heaven as a visual person. The way she arranges herself is fantastic to watch. I will definitely work with her again.

Lucy Screen Test

As I know Lucy very well as a friend and as a model I was very interested to see how she behaved. She arrived early with a vending machine coffee and took that in with her in the screen test.
Lucy’s image for me is intersesting and that is why I use her in a lot of my photographic work. Because of her skin tone and hair colour she really stands out and this is no different in the screen test. She starts looking straight ahead drinking her coffee, though as the screen test moves on she bites her nails and starts looking round the room more.

Leanne Screen Test

The first thing I noticed with Leanne was how her striped top was very reminiscent of Andy Warhol’s style. I don’t know if this was intentional? For her screen test Leanne decided she was going to listen to her ipod. Though this may have been a comfort tool in the screen test environment she was in, it didn’t manage to distract her from being in front of the camera.

Harriet Screen Test

Harriet was the second model to arrive. You can clearly see she is nervous as she nearly laughs. Harriet like Nik wanted to use props, hers were a scarf and lipstick. I must admit after doing Harriets stills I was worried she would look terrified as she was very intense in her portraits. Though gradually she relaxes you can see her thinking about when she wants to use her chosen props. I particulary liked how she used her lipstick, this was because all women apply lipstick in a different way. Also I noticed that using the lipstick brought confidence in her body language.

Nik Screen Test

Nik was the first model to arrive at his assigned slot at 5pm, once he had his still portraits done we began the screen test. Nik decided to use accessories as props throughout his screen test. From doing this I feel it shows that Nik used the props to act out how he wanted to be seen in the time period he was filmed. And though some may think this is contrived on his part, to me it represents how we can all be when we use accessories to change our image and therefore our character. We all behave differently when we dress a certain way and Nik's behaviour depicts this in the screen test.

Background Music for the Exhibition.

I think it is very important to enhance the feeling of the exhibition by having a well thought out track list.
For me I would like music associated with Warhol like Lou Reed and Velvet underground.












And of course some Bowie.

CROWD POSTER - 2

Crowd Poster

Photo booth - final display.

I have driven myself mad on how to display this piece of work. My ideas have ranged from a traditional print framed and mounted, made into a jigsaw and placed amongst my living room scene, finally I have decided to have the image printed and mounted onto 5mm foam board, sized 20 x 16. This will be produced by Farnell photographic Lab. I will then place the piece onto a music stand that I will borrow from stores.

Photo booth individual strips.

Printing technique

For this project i wish to stick to what i have learnt in the darkroom, and i shall be printing my final images (which i am yet to select) on 20x16 Ilford fibre base warm-tone paper with a gloss finish using conventional hand printing techniques. I have never used this paper before and i am looking forward to doing so, as i have many good things about this specific paper. there are a few differences witch i shall have to take into consideration whilst printing. the main concern for this paper is that it needs longer time in the stop, and fix chemicals, this type of paper also needs to be washed for a considerable amount of time (approx. 20/30 mins) unlike the resin coated paper that am familiar with. this is all because of the fact that the paper isn't simply coated with a light sensitive layer, it has it deep in its fibrous weaves, which means everything needs to be done for longer so that the chemicals/water run through all of the paper.

Photo Booth Portraits That Stood out.

I have singled out these images as I feel sometimes as a photographer that you have to see the bigger picture. I am always looking at my creations in different formats so that I have an accurate way of then developing them. I feel sometimes I am over analytical, though I don't wish to be complacent.

Final Portraits - Digital.

Here are the final portraits that were photographed digitally. The lighting and position of the model remained the same as in the screen tests. I wanted to see the still and the moving. The models were not told how to pose all that I did was move round them to get different portrait angles. I also photographed with my canon 35mm with kodak colour film. I have pushed the 2 films used so it will be interesting to see the difference when they arrive back from Farnell photographic laboratory.

Exhibtion Location

After considering the various possible locations around Preston, we have chosen to use a room in the New Britannia Inn on Heatley Street. We have chosen this location as it is close to the University campus and Preston town centre and will therefore be easy to find. The room itself if of a good size and will give the three of us plenty of room to exhibit our work along with allowing visitors room to look around.
After consulting the tutors we have chosen Monday the 13th of December to hold our exhibition, and it will be held between 7 and 10pm. Having now set our exhibition date in stone, we can now develop our posters and invitations fully with these details on and distribute them both on the internet and around Preston.

Constructing my space for the exhibition - Preston's Carboot

Costing for the shoot.

Models x 10 - £40 p/h

Studio/lighting 5 hrs - £400

35 mm Film x 2 - £2.00

Videographer - £50 p/h


Total = £1052.

These costs are based on the following:

Studio hire in Manchester
Model hire Forums on the internet.
Freelance Videographer Websites
The film cost is real.

My thoughts after the shoot.

I have just got home and started to upload the digital side of the shoot.
I am very pleased with the results so far and throughout the shoot I remained on schedule.
Though I am pleased I have to admit some of the models were better than others, with regards to performance. Though in a way the images are still a representation of them, though I will be choosing which ones represent them in the exhibition. So my control will be a factor.
More than anything I found this shoot inspiring and it has made me look at how I want to develop as a photographer. By this I mean by using moving image alongside stills.
I did have a sneaky peek at some of the screen tests in between models arriving and I can definately see where I can develop this idea and after the exhibition I will be having a really good think on how to develop this idea and how I can style it so it will have a bigger impact and also have my own aesthetic stamp on it.

West Yorkshire Attempt Two - Huddersfield.

Having had to abandon our attempts of exploring the Penine roads due to bad visibility once, we chose to try again; this time we focused on visiting Huddersfield. I chose to do this as up to now, the areas that I have documented have been rather large and I wanted to look at a location that was smaller and see what the difference would be in terms of the visuals of the light pollution glow.

The image above shows how I had some difficulty in finding a suitable place of which to photograph the Huddersfield shot. After driving some distance, the only place of any use was this view. I feel that this shows why it is best to be at the highest point overlooking an area, as the hills in front of the camera restrict how much of the sky i could capture. We tried to travel up the roads on the right of this image, but they were lined with houses and therefore gave no real view across the town. if these hills were not resricting the view, I would be able to get much more of the sky into the frame, but unfortunatly i cannot move mountains.

The images above and below are the best examples that I could manage from this location without including much of the hills in the foreground. I was persistant with working with this location as I really like the area of blue glow that is present towards the right of the image. I have no idea what the origin of this light is within Huddersfield, but I feel that it again helps to create and image that will be different to those of the other locations. I feel that once cropped the image below would be more suitable for the final selection of images.

The Shoot Ideas and Prep.

It's the night before the shoot and I have been preparing all afternoon.
List of things to remember:

Canon 35mm camera
Nikon D300 SLR
SB-600 Flashgun
Makeup
Accessories
2 rolls of kodak colour film
laptop

Also I will be picking up the following from stores with Hussain at 4:30pm tomorrow:

Dedo light kit
HD video camera
Tripod
Video display screen
Studio key

I am excited and aprehensive with regards to the shoot as I have to run on time with regards to the models. Though things could go wrong this hopefully will help me learn how to troubleshoot and develope as a photographer in the time frame I have assigned myself.

Next Shoot - Bolton.

I have chosen to return back home to Manchester for a few days to give me a number of nights to go out and photograph a selection of locations.
Unlike the Manchester and Preston shoots, I had no real idea prior to going out with the camera as to a specific location that would be successful; so in someways me and my dad just went out in the car and explored areas of the Penines close to built up areas to try and find suitable viewpoints.
Our first thought was to ascend the hilly roads in the area close to Oldham as this would take us across towards Sheffield and Huddersfield. However, when we were rising up away from Oldham we couldnt help but notice the view that we were leaving behind us; another amazing view over Manchester like that found from Winter Hill. Obviously I could not photograph this scene again as although it would be from a different angle it would essentially be the same as the images I had already captured. However, Winter Hill is situated close to Bolton, another large built up area, but one that I couldnt properly photograph that site. With this new location near Oldham being on the other side of the area however, it gave me the option of documenting Bolton, and thus I chose to do so. Below are a few of the images taken from this location;

This first image was one that I took with the idea in my mind of having the images the same as those which went before; featureless other than the sky. Yes, this does the job which had intended but I then felt there was something more that could be done.

Unlike any of the other images that I have taken at other locations, I have purposefully chosen to include a man made structure within the frame; the TV mast located on the top of Winter Hill. I chose to do this as I feel that although it is only a very small part of the frame it does add an interesting focal point that would be noticed by the viewer, but will not take away from the original meaning of the images.

This image is another that features the TV mast, however unlike the previous example i have chosen to zoom out and thus make the mast smaller within the frame and allow for more of the sky and clouds to be shown. I feel that once cropped, this image would be the most suitable of all those taken depicting Bolton; I feel that it will stand out next to the other images within the exhibition because of the subtle inclusion of the mast of lights.

After shooting this series of images, we continued over the hills towards West Yorkshire, however the weather conditions deteriorated and mist began to form which obstructed my view. Because of this we had to abandon our photographing for the evening.

Although I did not achieve what I had originally set out to achieve on this evening by photographing one of the Yorkshire areas, I feel that the evening was successful as it allowed me to document an area that I had not thought was possible before; and managed to take an image that I feel will be a strong example for the final exhibition.

The models

Here are the models that have confirmed a time slot for the shoot via my warhol shoot facebook page. I have taken these images from their facebook profiles. I think that this is interesting as in this day and age your profile picture represents you. It will be interesting to look at how they look after the photo shoot and screen tests.

Exhibition ideas.

After some thought and talks, we have finally decided to have the exhibition at the New Britannia Inn. the room which we are going to use is of medium size, yet it is cosy. this i am happy with as i feel it shall create more atmosphere as the room shall seam fuller than it actually is, with any given ammount of people. this space shall be split into three areas, not being split litterally, but in terms of the work being displayed, this i feel shall create a nice flow around the space. for my own work i shal have the largest wall, wich runs the full length of the room. this shall allow me to hang my prints in a conventional manner. so my images shall be mounted and framed. in terms of frames i shall simply hire out the plain black frames from sue and the darkroom at university. as for the mounting of my images, i shall do this myself. this i feel i should do myself as it is a key skill to learn, and is currently something i need to improve on.

My images

Firstly i would like to say that these images showed are simply quick scans off a conventional flatbed scanner, and do the negatives themselves any justice, i simply scanned them quickly as i wish for the final prints themselves to do the talking as so to speak.

Image 1

This image was taken from the top of the Preston bus station which allowed me to get the desired view from up high needed to emphasise such an aesthetic. But this also created some problems. I have been to this location several times photographing other things, but until now I had never photographed overlooking the structure. And I had forgotten how the architecture of this building had curved sides. This made positioning the camera fairly tricky. So for this image I had to be very careful and precise with my preparation and setup of the camera equipment. Because of the fact I was using a large format camera, the use of a tripod is essential. And so I had to figure out a way to arrange the legs of my tripod, so that I could position the camera in such a way that overlooks the bus station sides and holds the camera steady and safely. This process proved even harder than imagined as on the morning the conditions were very cold and icy. This meant that the legs of the tripod where susceptible to slipping and moving, meaning that I had to be even more careful and cautious whilst changing the plane of focus, setting the focal point and inserting the dark slide. There were times where I thought that the camera could possibly fall over the side of the bus station, so I had to pay extra attention to the tripod head, and making sure that all of the movements were securely fixed and had now play. But despite all this, I did manage relatively easily, and it allowed me to really slow down my practice and concentrate.

The image itself I feel is successful to what I wished to achieve. And I feel that the tilt and shift focusing technique has created a very unique image, again something which I wished to create, as I feel that this image will be totally different to everyone else’s work, and in this image I have changed the plane of focus so that it falls horizontal, running through the frame, and falling pin sharp on the lettering on the floor where it says “look right”. Due to the nature of the x-ray film used, there is a relatively high level of contrast, with a lot of mid tones not being present, but I feel this down side to such film is boosted as the snowy conditions gives the image some lovely areas of highlight detail, increasing the tonal range to this specific shot, making the image more pleasing than if the snow wasn’t present. So overall I feel this image to be a very strong one, and one of which I look forward to displaying in the exhibition.

Image 2

This image was taken from the top of the multi-storey car park next to the Preston train station, overlooking the back of the fisher gate shopping centre. Fortunately for me, the icy conditions weren’t such a problem, as the ice had already melted as the sun was shining on what was a beautifully clear day. So the camera set up wasn’t an issue. Again for this frame, I used the tilt and shift capabilities of the camera to alter the plane of focus in such a manner that allowed me to run this plane of focus horizontally through the frame, focusing along the shop front with anything before or after this line of focus, falling nicely out of focus, again giving the image the miniature aesthetic that I want. As previously stated the film I have used doesn’t have a very broad range of tones, but in this instance this has been helped, not by areas of snow, but by the reflections of the strong sunlight of various cars and vehicles in the shopping centre car park, giving my image some areas with highlight detail which make the image more optically pleasing overall. This image also has a very pleasing composition which conforms to the rule of thirds. Also I like the way I have metered for this image. The shadowed area in the bottom left of the frame acts like lens vignette, drawing your eyes towards the middle of the frame, to the mid tone and highlight areas recorded in the sunshine, also the way in which the cars are parked act as leading lines towards the horizontal focal line of the image. As with my first image, I feel that I have managed to create an image with my desired aesthetics and creating a very strong image.

Image 3

This image was taken on top of the Shudehill bus station in the heart of Manchester overlooking the Arndale shopping centre, as with my images in Preston, the conditions were cold, snowy and icy, but again, fortunately for me , this didn’t prove to be a problem. Unlike the Preston bus station, the sides of this bus station itself where simple in design, which allowed me to set up the camera orientation with ease. This location gave me the ability to get a great view over as busy location in the heart of one of Britain’s main cities. One key difference to this particular image is in the manner I have manipulated the plane of focus. As up until this image I have changed the focal plane so that it runs horizontal through the frame, but it is clear that in this image I have done the opposite and have moved the camera plates in such a way that makes the focal plane shift into a vertical line down/up the frame. And I have then focused on corner of the “technics” audio shop, so that anything to the left or right of the frame falls out of focus. Despite the fact that I have manipulated the camera in a different way, the same miniature affect is created. This is emphasised by the cameras location over its subjects. As with my first image, the element of snow adds to the image, giving a more pleasing and varied range of tones, also adding some festivity to the image, especially at this particular time of year with Christmas approaching. I also feel that this image has a strong composition, as the tram lines act as natural leading lines to the miniature portrayed. So overall I again believe I have set out what I wished to do and in the process have created a very strong image, and one of which I can’t wait to see hung on a wall at the exhibition.

Image 4

Unfortunately i do not have a scan of this image as the negative was over developed and the negative is to dense to scan. i shall take a photograph of a small print of it at a future date.

This image again like the previous one discussed was also taken in the Manchester city center, but was taken a few minutes’ walk from the previous location; the location for this particular image was taken in the northern quarter from the top of a multi story car park. Again my choice of such a location was purely based on the ability to gain such a perspective that would allow me to create my desired miniature aesthetic. This vantage point over looked a busy cross road, where many people passed on their day to day routines. But the one particular detail of this location that struck me was the fact that upon setting up the camera and tripod, I noticed that there was an adult shop, of which had a person smoking a cigarette at the door. And so from this I wished to act fast and try to miniaturize this character. I did this by again utilizing the full capabilities of such a camera to change the plane of focus, so that it ran through the frame on a horizontal line. After doing so I loaded the film holder into the back of the camera, removed the dark slide from it and waited patiently for several minutes for other people to walk past this shop. This image I feel, like a couple of others in this series of work, has been made stronger by the presence of snow, this has given more highlight areas to the frame, giving the overall image a much nicer tonal range making it a much stronger image. I also really like how the Christmas decoration on the lamppost on the left of the frame is pin sharp in focus, giving a more festive feel to the image, making it more relevant to the current time period which we are in at this time of year. Again I feel I have clearly captured what I wished to, proving my technical skills, this clearly showing my development and improvement of methodologies and technical skill.

Image 5

For this image I returned to Preston and to a location of which I hadn’t previously thought about going to for this project, this being the multistory car park alongside the Preston market area, next to the city center. And from this elevated position, I overlooked the ring road and the zebra crossing which is by the fish market. This gave me a great view of an often busy location. So for this image I again proceeded to shift the plane of focus in a vertical manner, and made the focus pin sharp on the area of the crossing at the lower part of the frame. This means that I would have to simply wait patiently for a person, or group of people to fall into this area of focus. Unfortunately on this day there wasn’t any snow around as it had already melted, giving my image a low tonal range with a high contrast. Despite the lack of snow, the ice was still present, this didn’t affect the set up of the camera so much, but just slowed I down in general on this particular day, as I didn’t wish to slip and potentially break the camera or any of the equipment I was using. Overall I again feel I have made a very strong image.

Image 6

Again this image was taken from the same location as the previous image discussed, it was just taken from the other side of it, overlooking the pedestrian subway, which runs parallel to a slip road off the ring road. This I felt was a lovely location, again one of which I hadn’t thought of until on the day. With this image I decided to revert back to my more favored method of shifting the focal plane in a horizontal line, this of which I ensured was focused just below the sign in the middle of the frame, where the railings begin. I did this to ensure that I could release the cameras shutter once my subject has moved in this area. Like with the other images, I set my focal point to which I remain focused on myself as I wait for someone or something to come along. For this image I had to wait for some considerable time for a subject to fall into place. I really like the composition of this image and I’m really glad how it came out.

Image 7

For this image I decided to detach myself away from the urban landscape and see how this aesthetic would fair in a less dense environment, so I then headed for Winkley square. And for this image I decided to set up the camera under a tree in a secluded spot, somewhere were I wouldn’t get noticed. As for this image I was pretty much photographing at the level as my subjects. So I had the disadvantage of being spotted and my location being revealed and having a non natural image. But fortunately I was not spotted until I had already taken the image and was packing the camera equipment away. So for this image I used a horizontal line of focus to pre focus on the park bench, after doing so I simply waited for people to interact with this space to make my image. This image I feel is one of the most simple of this body of work. But as the saying goes, “sometimes less is more” and I really do feel that this is the case for this frame. The overall contrast and tonal range is somewhat let down by the absence of snow. But this is a down side to this type of film. But never the less I believe to have yet again produced a strong image that I am looking forward to printing.

Image 8

I then proceeded to continue with my images of the less urban in Preston’s Avenham Park. For this image I waited for someone to walk along the bridge in the middle of the Japanese gardens. The fact that this is still under maintenance and has several tools and items strewn across it didn’t deter me as I knew I could simply leave such details to be faded out of focus by my extreme uses of tilt and shift. This I decided to photograph in portrait format as I feel that this gave a much more pleasing composition. I photographed this from a slightly elevated position that overlooks the whole garden. This helped to emphasise on the focal plane, rendering my subject into a miniature.

Image 9

This image was taken from the old railway bridge that goes over the river alongside the Avenham and Miller parks. This gave me a lovely view of the pathway that runs parallel to the river and also the tree row. So following on from these natural lines I decided to use a vertical line of focus which would run along this path. This path is home to many different people; dog walkers, cyclists and runners. But as I waited to take the shot I heard a little snappy dog that reminded me of my own personal pet. And so with my focal point set and the image already in my head, I waited for the right moment to document such a character and its owners, and from this I captured a lovely scene, with great natural leading lines, composition and detail.

Again as i stated clearly at the beginning of this post, these are merely low quality scans that have then been inverted in photoshop, with some slight contrast changes. but these will simply give a brief look to the final prints