The mood board below shows some more specific targets and ideas that I would be focusing on for my final project. The specific styles I would be focusing on would be the different movements of people in one frame.

The mind map below, separated into three layers,  shows the brainstorming process for the focus of my final set of photos.

Frank Machalowski：

Frank Machalowski, a German photographic artist who majors on the city and the countryside type of photography, is known for his work that explores themes of urban life, architecture, and the interplay between light and shadow. His style typically combines elements of documentary photography and unique composition, capturing the beauty of urban urban environments. In the series above, Machaowski focuses on the movement of people, targeting to communicate the passage of time. Frank Machalowski aims to emphasize the connection between people and time by using a long exposure time to capture the movement of people. The four photographs above come from Frank Machalowski’s ‘Monster’ series, which targets the blurred movement of crowds of people. In this series, he uses multiple exposures of the buildings photographed from several positions on one frame. The different positions and fields of view distorts the structures, creating a vibrating effect of the subject. Moreover, the crowds of people also show evident contrast with the background behind them. When the shade of the crowd of people appears to be dark, the background is bright, and when the background is dark, the crowd of people would be lighter. This contrast between the background and the subject guides the viewer’s attention towards the central idea of the photograph.

Specifically for the first photograph, Frank Machalowski took the shot from a high level above the ground. He turned his camera settings into a very low shutter speed and then left the camera sitting still. In this photograph, the main focus of the photo would be the passing crowd of people. The light-shaded crowd contrasts boldly with the dark background, which helps catch the viewers attention and drag their view towards the subject (moving crowd of people) in the photograph. Furthermore, the pathway that the crowd is moving to creates strong leading lines that lead the viewer’s eye through the frame.

Jim and Betsy Wilson:

Jim and Betsy Wilson are two photographers that specialize in photographing landscapes, wildlife, and natural habitats. Their work often showcases the intricate details of the natural world, emphasizing the beauty and fragility of ecosystems. In this specific photo series, they worked together and experimented with long-exposure time and multi-flash to express the movement of people. The main message of this photo series emphasizes the movement of people. They set up a camera and changes the camera settings into a lower shutter speed. Then, they would have the model move around with different postures in order to have the effect of multiple movements in one shot. This technique creates a sense of movement, which makes the audience feel like the model in the photo is moving. The shots of different postures overlap and has a lower opacity, creating a ghostly effect.  The two photographers utilizes a contrast between the subject and the black background to highlight the different positions of the model. The lighting of the photos are two lights placed on the left and right sides of the model to create a contour with the shades of the subject.

Specifically, the multiple layers overlapping in the fourth photo creates a ghostly effect, adding a sense of depth and dimensionality to the photograph. The stark contrast between the dark background and the ethereal white figures creates a dramatic chiaroscuro effect, emphasizing the play of light and shadow. Additionally, the repeated, undulating forms of the different postured models figures creates a rhythmic visual pattern. The models’ movements put together creates a visual effect of the model gradually reaching out with her arm to the top left corner of the frame.

Citations:

Monster by Frank Machalowski

Long Exposure

https://www.letscapturethemoment.com/photo-fun/motion-photography/long-exposure-multi-flash/nggallery/thumbnails

I am deeply inspired by Nick Fancher’s ‘This is water’ photo series, where he focused on the reflection of people’s faces and the ripples of water. The photos’ center of attention is focused on the details of water ripples and the facial features of different people. The water ripples on top of the faces create an underwater effect, adding texture to the appearance of the photos. The bold contrast of black and white shades evidently illustrates the photo’s texture.

For my final photos, I chose three, each referring to a different age group with a diverse identity. My photographs aim to evoke a sense of self-reflection, making the viewers reflect on their identity. By arranging the photos from youngest to oldest, the message of the passage of time is displayed. The message of the passage of time is displayed by arranging the photos from youngest to oldest, which allows the audience reflect on the different stages in their lives. Expanding specifically on the photo in the middle, the bubbles and the water ripples appear to cover the subject’s eyes, demonstrating a unique composition and juxtaposition. This corresponds with the intended theme, representing the process of finding identity and promoting further reflection within the viewers.

To successfully reach the intent that I want, I first printed out portraits of different people that I took. Before printing the photos, I photoshopped them to convert the background into black, making the subject stand out more. Then, I placed the portraits in a tray of water. When shooting the photos, I used a light angled at 45 degrees to clearly capture the water ripples’ shades. The photos were then photoshopped and cropped to make the subject fill the entire frame, which allows the audience’s attention to be focused on the major elements of the photos. While taking the photos, I used a higher ISO and faster shutter speed. This was to ensure that the photos would not be blurred and that the water ripples could be captured clearly as I took the photos in the studio with the lights closed. Some areas of improvement to focus on would be to add plastic covers to the photographs to prevent the paper from soaking. Since the photos were printed with no protective covers, the paper were fragile in water, resulting in some pieces of paper floating in the tray of water.