Daisy
"I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious" - Albert Einstein
Contact Sheet:
These are all my attempt shots with my camera, I took them in a several time and environment with different light source.
After adjusting my light source and the shooting environment, I finally took some pictures that I was satisfied with. These two pictures are my final choice, and they are also the two pictures that most closely resemble what I imagined my final shoots would look like. The light source direction is pretty clear, and that is combined with my facial expression and my make-up very well. I also modified the parameters and filters in the post to highlight the vivid, positive, and maybe a bit complicated emotion that I wanted to present through my work. Then, I changed my background to black and white, which helped me to show the contrast between my own emotional world and the real world. However, the one thing that maybe I could improve is to use different colors of light to show different kinds of emotion next time(I only had one color of light while I was taking this set). Overall, I think these pictures mainly met my intention for this unit, and they really did express my ideas and understanding about myself and the portraiture photography.
People’s facial-expression/ emotions express examples:
People’s movements (also could show the emotions) examples:
Colors examples of the environment:
1. Candid Emotions
The photographs can aim to shoot at people’s faces and actions and also capture genuine emotions and interactions between people in public spaces. This could help me to tell a story through the emotional expressions of the subjects that I want to focus on.
2. The rituals of the Hutong life. (Everyday life)
The photos could also focus on documenting the daily routines and rituals of Hutong life. This can include activities such as commuting, shopping, eating, or exercising in public spaces. This concept helps me to pay attention to the habitual actions of people, showcasing both the mundane and the unique aspects of daily life.
3. Cultural Diversity
Highlighting the rich tapestry of cultures present in the Hutong also could be a good concept this time. Hutong is a representative of the Chinese culture so it can clearly express the theme of China life. Which aims to tell a story of inclusivity and the cultural expressions within the Hutong.
This time I will choose the second concept as my theme concept, which will be “Chinese people’s daily life” in Hutong. The concept is very easy to present and the shooting content is very broad.
My emotions presenting examples:
My light-setting examples/ideas:
My make ups examples that could help me to show the emotions:
Adrian Steirn is an Australian photographer and filmmaker. His photography usually includes contexts and words in its lens and pictures. In an interview, he mentioned, “I identify less with a particular style than I do with storytelling. If a photograph tells a great story, it doesn’t matter if it’s fine art, reportage, portraiture or any other genre.” His picture style mostly uses monochrome lenses to shoot, and although this kind of lens technique might lack colors, it can express the emotions in the pictures very well. This style of photo can convey the deep meaning of the photo that the photographer wants to say to the audience. Adrian’s photographs attracted me to their compositions and ideas, and they also inspired me a lot about how to convey emotions through my own pictures. I think there are many kinds of powers inside his pictures created by the main subjects’ movements, eyes, and facial expressions, and that’s why I prefer to shoot like him.
This one picture is the most inspiring one for me, it gives me a bunch of ideas and thoughts. The main subject in this picture is an old Asian man, and he is holding a mirror. His face is reflected through the mirror, and looking at himself (or the photographer) with a serious expression. In this photo, only his face inside the mirror is clear and stays in the focus, and the rest of the space is blurry. So, when you look at this picture, the first thing you can see is the man’s face in the mirror. Because the lights are coming from the left side, which makes the wrinkles on his face very clear, I think the photographer wants to use this focus to show his time and also his rich life experience. The photographer only used white and black in this picture, this could perfectly match his serious face and give the audience a serious feeling about this picture. In my opinion, the photographer used these elements to predict the wisdom and majesty of an elder and also inferred the past of time of humans.
Picture Cite: Adrian Steirn https://www.adriansteirn.com/. (n.d.). https://www.adriansteirn.com/index
Interview Cite: Adrian Steirn | International Photography AwardsTM. (n.d.). https://www.photoawards.com/adrian-steirn/
This time, my project title will be “Inherent. ” I will be more likely to focus on and present on my own emotions or spirit world, so I will be the main subject for this subject. The central idea I want to explore with my photographs is showing humans’ inner world in contrast to our outer world. People all have inner feelings and aspects that are deep inside their hearts, so at least we all have two sides. So this project is not only about showing my own inside through visual expression, it is also an expression of the real myself. I got my inspiration from the photographer Adrian Steirn’s work called A Reflection of Dignity, I really appreciate the idea of letting the model hold the mirror and take shots from the mirror in this piece of work. It’s a very new and creative way to create a portrait photograph. The mirror is also a symbol of reflecting the reality. So I decided I would also use the reflection as well in my creation. I might also only let the area inside the mirror be colorful, and the other area will be black and white. I think this kind of color form can make the theme of “inner reality” more clear, and that can let my audience focus on the part I want to show them. I want them to see my pictures and understand my idea, then think about their own inner feelings and who they really are.
My preview sketch:
Portraiture photography is a type of photography that focuses on the identity, personality, and mood of an individual or group. The photographers usually will focus on the main subject’s face and expressions. Not only shooting other models is portraiture, but selfies, detailed close-ups, abstract style portraitures, or even a still-life all might be counted as portraiture photographs. As long as the pictures reflects the characteristics or identity of the main subject, it will count as a portrait photograph. This type of photography often uses lighting, composition, and background to construct the main idea they want to show to the audience. The goal of portraiture photography is to create an image that conveys the essence of the subject, making it different from other photography styles. A good portrait can effectively show a person’s characteristics, personality, mood, and identity. If you can’t express these all in one picture, a set of photos might be a good choice for you.
Full Contact Sheet:
These pages of photos are all the photos I took on the Hutong trip.
Yellow Contact Sheet:
These are the photos I selected for the yellow contact sheet. Most of them show my basic vision of this trip. Simultaneously, all the pictures’ quality is clear, and some main subjects are suitable and good enough to become a photography work.
Green Contact Sheet:
These photos from my green contact sheet can represent my idea deeply and completely. These photos have the main subjects (people) in them and also include a background that can vividly show people’s daily lives. Otherwise, these pictures are more colorful than the others, the colors in the environment also could show the theme and idea stronger and give the audience richer visual effects.
Red Contact Sheet:
These four pictures are the photographs I chose as my final work. After adjusting the composition and hue, the photos became more colorful and textured, which are more related to the artist I had chosen. We can look through the detailed pictures to find multiple kinds of emotions in people’s daily lives: how their faces reacted, how their movements reacted… People reacted in different ways, and all these parts can infer everybody’s different lifestyles, this is what I want to capture and show to my audience.
My favorite one from this set is that girl standing there and smiling. This picture fits the rule of thirds just right, and it also shows the color contrast in the background. I think this picture is very vivid, and it includes a kind of positive, engaging, and hopeful emotions in it. Not only is the environment full of Chinese traditional style that represents China, but also the girl represents the positive energy of people’s daily lives.
On the upcoming trip to Hutong, my photographs will probably focus on shooting people’s movements and facial expressions with light and composition. My basic concept is ‘Chinese people’s daily lives”. A good light source and great composition could have helped my street photos look better and convey emotions to the audience. I prefer my photos to be ‘alive’ and full of narrative and a high sense of feeling through either people’s face or their body language, these photos should contain a story inside each pic and include more depth. Based on that, I think the color selection is also very necessary for creating great photographs. I would shoot with a color lens, and I might choose high-saturation colors (Like Harry Gruyaert did) or high-contrast colors in my photos to enrich the audience’s visual experience and impress them with my photos. Moreover, I may also blur the background so that it can help me highlight the details and attention of my shooting subjects.
The pictures in the mind map also influenced me a lot, and I aimed to take shots just like these pictures. I think they are a good representation of the Hutong people and their lives.
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