Edward

Social issue:

The rise of the gig economy has brought previously unimaginable services such as package delivery and takeout to our finger tips. These service has become so widespread and easy to use, we often take these services as granted, forget that its not just an app but rather real people are working tirelessly to get your food or package delivered. This is a group of workers that are often overlooked in society, they are not employees of these tech giants but rather independent contractors. This means they do not enjoy social security, benefits, health care and etc provided to an employee. They have to pay for everything themselves even though they are in all sense employees of the firm. They are a group that is marginalized in society and lacks the proper recognition that they deserve.

Statement of intent:

The title of my project will be 《Helmets》. For this project  I want to focus on delivery drivers of the gig economy. This is a group in society that is marginalized and not given the full recognition they deserve. As I talked about before, it is their hard work that prop up the modern comfort that we enjoy so much. Yet, we often forget these are real people behind the helmets and uniforms that deliver our packages and foods. They are not just robots but people with their own dreams, their own sorrow and happiness. Through my set of focusing on this group of marginalized workers, I want to bring attention to them, and make the viewer more aware of their hard work and working conditions of being treated as a contractor. I want my audience to feel empathy toward this group of workers, and realize that there are real people with their own stories behind the helmets. I want to take this set through a black and white filter so I will look at black and white portraits that focus on a social issue for inspiration.

Inspiring artist: Jiehai Long

Jiehai Long is a portrait photographer based in China. His work mostly focuses around revaling poverty and a lack of  education resources in rural parts of China. His work has been widely praised as some of the best portraits focusing on social issues in China.

This is one of his most famous works. I really like his black and white style so I will use his work as inspiration for this set.

Create and Critique:

Plan

For my shoot, I wish to capture this group of marginalized workers in their day-to-day work. Above, I have drawn some possible scenes from which I could shoot. I will follow a package delivery person in my compound and take portraits of him during his work. I intend to take a few photos of him delivering packages, riding his tricycle, and a further few close-up shots. I will also go on the streets and take a few there.

In total, I took 59 photos

Here is the contact sheet: Portrait Set 2 contact sheet

Selection process (Blue and Green):

My selection process for the blues went like this: any photos that were visually striking or exhibited important features of portraiture or had elements of storytelling were selected. This meant any photo that satisfies just one of these criteria will be selected as a blue. Of course, photos that met more than one of these criteria were more than welcomed in the blue selection. My Blue selection process was not to pick the most perfect shoot but rather photos that had the right criteria to be a good photo, narrowing the field for my eventual green and red selection. My green selection, on the other hand, is much more critical and selective. My green photos had to satisfy two of the criteria above. For example, a green photo would have to be visually striking as well as have elements of storytelling. Photos that did not meet this were not selected as green ones.

Final Red selection:

Red selection+ critique:

I picked my red ones based on how well the photos fit my vision and if they met all three standards of visually striking, exhibited important features of portraiture, and had elements of storytelling. Of course, there was more than three that met the three critierias. So the eventual selection came down to how well the image conveyed my vision and intent.

The idea behind my set is to reveal and bring attention to the story of these marginalized workers. I think my photos achieve that goal quite well. First of all, each of my photos exhibits coherent and effective composition. For example, my third photo places the subject in the middle while placing two delivery tricycles on the sides. Such a composition naturally directs the viewer’s attention to the middle and to the focus of the work, while also revealing a deeper story behind the photo and adding to the story and depth of the photo in general. Directing the viewer’s attention is another area I succeeded in. For example, in my second photo, the eyes of the subject are the only bright spot in a mostly dark area. This immediately directs the viewer’s attention to the delivery driver and his physical appearance. This adds to the storytelling by demonstrating the humanness of the subject which ties into my vision of bringing attention to this group of people. My experience in this series has also taught me how to create a more lively image to better convey a story. For example, my first image captured the moment that a delivery driver is handling two heavy packages. The story within these images described earlier fits with my vision quite well. In addition, these scenes from my photo can be spotted in real life. These workers we interact with every single day, so it is fair to say my audience can connect and understand the story behind these photos quite well. Further, the inclusion of not just close-ups but actions as well creates a livelier image and conveys the story of their hard work more easily. I have also utilized the techniques I learned from previous projects such as shooting in black and white from abstraction and portrait techniques from my set 1. Overall, the composition, story, and structure of these photos are effective and well utilized.

My favorite one:

This photo is probably my favorite one because it has all the elements for a portrait to succeed. This photo reveals the labor-intensive work of a delivery driver. It reminds us that people who deliver our packages are not just robots, but real people. This is a side of their work that we don’t often see, a part of their work that we take for granted. And it fits nicely into my vision of telling the story of this marginalized group of people. First of all, the composition of the photo is divided into three different areas. The delivery driver, the tricycle, and the background. The background, situated up top, is blurred which allows viewers to focus more on the subject and adjust the tricycle. The bottom of the photo is comprised of the subject and the tricycle. The inclusion of a tricycle adds depth, story, and explanation to the photo. The tricycle tells us that the subject works in package delivery. Then we come to the subject himself. Even though this is a portrait, the subject is captured in the middle of an action. This brings life into the photo, making it more vivid and lively. Again, this also adds to the story and the message behind the photo. Overall I really like this photo because it is a representation of portraits that can still work without adhering to the normal rules, and how its elements add to its storytelling bit.

Artist: Patrick Rochon

Who is Patrick Rochon?

Photographer Patrick Rochon began Light Painting in 1992. Patrick Rochon is known for his visionary light painting portraits as well as his work in the automotive world and his live light painting performances. He has used light painting photography beyond its limits and produced some beautiful work. Patrick currently lives in Montreal Canada working light painting imagery.

What is his intent/message?

Patrik Rochon’s photos often reveal a thousand faces of the “subject”. Patrick’s use of light painting aims to transform a face completely, into something completely different. His intent or message with light painting is for viewers to discover an invisible limitless world that can be imagined and created. He believes there is no single angle you must view a person or character with. Each angle is unique, and each person can be viewed from a different perspective. He wishes through his use of original, colorful, intimate, and magical lighting painting, viewers can see the different personalities of people and their characters. He also intends to reveal  “a thousand faces of the subject”, reflecting this deep down urge to express people’s personalities and that there is no restriction on what one’s character can be. He has also commented that “light painting reveals the hidden sides of personalities, from monsters to beauty”.His use of light painting ties into this theme of character. He often uses light painting as a tool to express and build on personalities. He famously stated, “Light evokes emotions”. As we can see, Patrick’s purpose or message with his photos is to use light paintings to evoke emotions and reveal each unique personality.

What is his style?

Patrick Rochon’s style heavily incorporates bright colors and light trails in his shoots. His photos always put the subject in the focus of the photo and make the subject a prominent element in itself. For example, in his photos, the model is usually half-naked and not dressed in too flamboyant clothing. This helps the viewer to focus on the subject’s faces and the subsequent light painting more effectively. This intention of avoiding distraction is also reflected in his use of mono-color backgrounds. The background in his photos is mostly black, with exceptions being rare. Furthermore, his style heavily utilizes light paintings. In his photos, the light paintings come in all different shapes and forms and in all colors. This bravery to experiment with very unique light painting is hallmark of his photos.

Why I choose him as my artist?

I chose Patrick Rochon because I feel both his theme and style tie a lot into what I want to do for my projects. Similar to him, I also want to reveal personalities and characters in my photos. More importantly, it is his use of light painting that led to me choosing him as my inspiring artist. These images have inspired me in the type of light paintings I will do. His techniques on this matter are something I can learn from and help me achieve a better result. Overall, I feel Patrick’s photos have really given me inspiration on how I can shoot my own portraits, and I have learned valuable techniques from him.

Most favorite:

What is the subject of the photo:

The subject of this photo is a female model and aims to show her sculpting looks through the use of colorful and distinct Light paintings.

Critique of techniques and style:

This photo employs various techniques to create a coherent, intriguing and beautiful image. Firstly, the photo is taken at a slightly lower perspective from the eye level of the subject. This slight deviation from the normal flat perspective adds a character of arrogance to the subject. This is especially true since her eyes in the photo are looking down into the camera due to this angle. Secondly, this photo employs a distinct pattern in the form of a streak of light painting to add to the shoot. The light painting gave the photo depth and texture, which it would have lacked without it. This incorporation of depth and texture to the shot made it much more interesting and allowed what would have been a normal portrait to be transformed into something more. Further, the light painting creates shapes and lines that are crucial to the success of a photo. The light painting forms a line that centers the photo and makes sure viewers focus on the subject, not elsewhere. This is helped by the black background. Furthermore, the almost bubble-like shape of the light painting surrounds the subject and captures all the area that is in focus. The color of the light painting is also very unique as it is not a single color. The use of an orange hue and purple is really just better than a single color light painting. This adds texture and makes the light painting more independent of the subject. I think why this photo became my favorite is because of how it balanced light painting with the character itself. The light painting wasn’t intrusive, but it still added to the visual effect of the photo and made it so much more interesting. It struck a good balance between light painting and portraiture.

Meaning/Intent:

In my interpretation, the intent of this photo is to convey the standards of beauty. The subject is a very pretty female model. Yet, she is enclosed around a circle of light. In my opinion, this photo is demonstrating the modern societal standard of beauty and how it traps individuals within. The model in the photo is pretty and self-confident, even a little arrogant. However, she is trapped by the circle of light that represent beauty standards and cannot escape. She can only look through the border separating what society deems as beautiful and what society deems as not. The author wants this photo to convey a feeling of beauty. Yet, the mood of that beauty is almost reflective. The author wants us to discover beauty, but he also wants us to think about that beauty. The use of lighting painting is really how the author has conveyed his message.

Least favorite:

What is the subject of the photo:

The subject of this photo is a male model and it aims to capture his personality through the use of light paintings

Critique of techniques and style:

The photo mostly uses techniques such as framing, light painting, and color. These techniques work fine together, but I feel the light painting is too messy to coherently ties this technique together. The framing of this photo is vertical and the subject takes a central position. However, the subject takes up too much space leaving the photo feeling a little cramped. The light painting is unique, however, it covers a too large portion of the subject’s face. This makes the photo feel messy and not well connected. I think the photo is still a very unique and interesting take on light painting, however, it was simply used too much and lacks the elegance in the previous photo. That is why I feel this is my least favorite photo.

Meaning/Intent:

In my interpretation, this photo is expressing how men are taught to not reveal their emotions. The cold color tone of his body and background contrasted with the vibrant light painting that covers the face of the subject conveys the message of how people are told to not talk about their emotions.

What is Portraiture?

Portraiture is a style of photography that emphasizes portraying people, both physical appearances and their identity, story, and emotions. It is a style of photography that puts people, and the story of the subjects at the core of the photos. Portraiture often looks less for the absolute beauty of a shoot and more toward the story behind the curtain, the emotions, and the identities behind the photo. In portraiture, you are working less for elements of photography to interact in a way that presents a visually appealing photo, but more for a photo that describes a person, and who they are. Similar to abstract photography, there are no hard rules in portraiture, the only guidelines are the story you are trying to tell. Portraits also put a heavy emphasis on using photography techniques such as posing, lighting, and framing to not only reveal the physical appearance of the subject but also connect the viewer with the story behind the photo. As Yousuf Karsh once said, “A good photographic portrait is one where the subject no longer appears a stranger.” In portraiture, you can use any possible technique like abstraction, focus, lines and shapes, anything that you wish to employ. But the end goal is to tell a storing. Portraits through revealing the physical appearance of the characters in the photos also reveal their expressions, their emotion, and their story. When you are taking a portrait you’re trying not just to take a photo but telling the story of the person in the photo. A normal photo looks to reveal beauty, an abstract photo looks to express the author, and a portrait is telling the story of the subject. Once you defined portraits from this perspective, Selfies and partial close up can all be considered portraits if they reveal a story about the person in the photo. Because in our definition, the portrait is not just a photo that as accurately describes the physical appearance of a person, rather, it’s a style of photography that values both describing the appearance of one and their characteristics, identity, and story. This is why even more abstract representations of a subject such as blurred portraits and portraits that don’t even have a person in them can still be considered portraits. They are portraits as long as they seek to connect a set of characteristics, identities, and stories of the subject with the viewers.

Diane Arbus

Diane Arbus’ work is a perfect example of how portraiture aims at connecting the story of the subject to the viewers of the photo. Her work is largely aimed at portraying the individuals on the margins of society, those who do not enjoy the same luxury as we do. Her photo brilliantly utilizes a black and white style as well as setting to stir emotions and provoke thought in the viewers. The story behind her photos such as this one is incredibly powerful and revealing. In this photo, the setting of a poor neighborhood and the focus on an uncle Sam forces viewers to confront poverty in the united states. Thus, as we see here, good portraits are incredibly powerful at allowing viewers to connect to a story and making social issues more real.

Patrick Rochon

Patrick Rochon’s work is a good example of utilizing creative elements of photography to enhance and produce a stunning portrait. His use of light painting enhances his series of portraits focusing on the hidden sides of personalities. In his own words, “Portrait is the real pleasure of light painting, it reveals the hidden sides of personalities, from monsters to beauty”. Lightpainting adds a layer of intrigue to his photos and allows him to express personalities more effectively.

Mind map(Updated):

https://isbeijing.padlet.org/edwardzeng1/t6wtcc6e29x6avg

Social issue/Identity concept:

In my mind map, I realized I had a lot of interests, personalities, and sides of me that I rarely express to others. That is why for this project, I’m focusing on the identity concept of suppressed expressions. Under our modern capitalist and highly competitive society, many of us are forced to give up our passions and suppress our expressions. I want my photographs/portraits to bring light to this problem.

Inspiring images:

Mood Board(Updated):

https://isbeijing.padlet.org/edwardzeng1/1bnu6anieve0o5mj

Statement of Intent:

The title of the project will be 《Anything》, For this project, I’m focusing on the identity concept of suppressed expressions. Under our modern capitalist and highly competitive society, many of us are forced to give up our passions and suppress our expressions. I want my photographs/portraits to bring light to this problem and use light painting to show the side of ourselves that we often don’t express. Through the use of the technique of Light painting, I want my audience to feel that anything is possible, and any side of us can be expressed. light doesn’t have restrictions, the only restriction of light painting is our imagination, and through that I want people to forget restrictions and show their creativity. Light painting also enhances portraits and adds a layer of storytelling by itself. I will get inspiration and develop my ideas by looking for photographs that incorporate the technique of light painting and portraiture and also photographs that focus on one’s expression such as Patrick Rochon’s photographs. In his photos, he also uses light painting to add to his series of portraits visually and use it as a tool for storytelling.

CREATE and CRITIQUE

Plan

I shot in total 31 photos

Here is the full contact sheet: Portrait set 1 contact sheet

Selection process(Blue and Green):

Selecting my blue ones was quite easy. Any photo that exhibited the incorporation of techniques crucial to my vision such as light painting and portraiture was selected. However, I made sure my blue selection was only photos that used these techniques effectively. For my blue selection, I also had the criteria that it had to be at least either visually appealing, unique or tells a story. My blue photos were not necessarily the most perfect shoots, not all of them were in focus, and some of them had small defects here and there, but they all had a wow factor such as those criteria mentioned previously. In conclusion, my blue selection was not looking for the most perfect photos but rather photos that fit my vision and had potential despite some of their small flaws. My green selection, however, is more critical and selective. My green photos had to be both visually appealing without significant flaws while also telling some sort of story that fit my vision for my set. They not only needed the wow factor but to be without major defects. A good photo that is visually appealing and fits my vision but is out of focus, for example, would not be selected.

Final Red selection:

Red selection process+explanation:

My red photos are the best of the best. Not only do they demonstrate the desired techniques I want to have in my photos, but they also represent my interpretation of my artist and his style and are the closest of anything to my vision. They don’t have significant flaws or just no flaws at all. They are also visually intriguing and appealing. More importantly, they tell a story that others simply can’t. Each of these photos exhibits these characteristics and that is why they are my three red photos.

My Idea behind my series of images is to tell a story with light painting. More specifically, to reveal suppressed emotions or feelings through a portrait. For example, my second image tells the story of my love for space and the cosmos. It’s a hobby that is becoming too time-consuming that I simply cannot afford anymore. So through constructing a photo of me gazing at the stars, it tells such a story of my suppressed hobbies. These images are all very strong thanks to their use of light painting which is unique and creates a wow factor while also telling a story. To do this, I’ve learned how to do light paintings and learned to apply them in my house’s theater. Thanks to my work with abstraction, I utilized the lesson I learned by shooting in low-light situations for that project. Something that I need to develop further is to have a more variety of settings and poses, constraints of the pandemic have made this hard to achieve. For my next set, I want to focus my portrait on other people rather than just myself. I want to develop the storytelling aspect of my photos more, and the stories of others. I will probably not do light painting again due to the extreme limitation it puts on my settings and where I can shoot, so the photos from this set and the next can’t really have a comparison and quote on quote “improvement”. However, I will incorporate lessons I learned from this set such as focusing on the subject and etc.

EdedRed ones:

My favorite photo out of the entire set has to be the third one in these photos. The use of contrasting tone within this shot is just fabulous. A large part of the photo is pitch black, but just enough is correctly lit up. The use of a reflective shape at the bottom of the shot intends to direct the viewer’s sightline down from the main focus of the light painting. Of course, the light painting is the main attraction, people will automatically focus on the circle of light above my head, then the reflective shape draws their attention down which helps viewers to look at the light and shadows of my silhouette. Furthermore, my editing gave the photo a warmer tone in terms of color, which is a more soothing and less intrusive tone. Allowing viewers to appreciate the photo for longer. I also intentionally left my face dark and unseen to create mystery and a sense of darkness in the photo. The photo also fit in with my vision quite nicely, revealing a suppressed emotion. The contrast between the darkness, warm tone, and lighting is meant to reveal that despite my life being generally warm and comfortable I still find darkness around me. The light circle above my head represents hope and happiness and the warm tone suggests that I’m in a hospitable environment. Yet, the presence of darkness in the background, around my body, and especially covering my face symbolizes that I am still lost. I still don’t know what I want to be in life, what I want to do, and more importantly, the darkness represents my fear of growing up. I think most audiences when they see this picture of someone surrounded by darkness they can infer it’s about a lack of identity and fear. All in all, the technique and unique story telling behind the photo is why this is my favorite.

Vision:

Street

My vision is to find beauty all around us, the street, the road, anywhere and anyone can have value to a photo. I want my audience to realize that beauty doesn’t necessarily lie in far away beautiful places but lie in the normal life that we live, anyone can be the main character. After seeing my photos, I want my audience to find more beauty in their normal life and the people around them. I will take this set of photos in the style of Allen Schaller. I was particularly inspired by his photo such as the one above which combined street photography with abstract photography.

Artist

Total: 70 photos

Blue photos: Photography Link to a Onedrive folder with the photos

Explanation: All of these blue photos exhibited something unique and interesting that captures the attention of a viewer. They are mostly in line with the vision I set out with and exhibited the main techniques I wanted to use such as black and white images, abstraction, and use of line. They also mostly fit the style of Harry Callahan, however, their quality is somewhat inconsistent.

Green photos contact sheet: Should be on DX

If not on this one drive as well Photography

Red photos critiques: On DX