My experience of street photography

We were given a task to re-visit the streets where we had previously photographed and to take portraits of people. When going back to these streets I found it hard to photograph people so I decided to take photos of people moving around. From doing this I came across a particular person that made himself very clear that he did not want his photograph taken, and had told me that I hadnt taken his photograph. From me trying to explain to him that I hadn’t and that I was trying to get shots of people moving about, and that I was using  a pin-hole camera so the images wouldn’t be as clear as a normal lens, and that all that was happening to these images would be that they would appear in my sketchbook and not on the internet. He was still not happy and told me to give him the film, I tried persuading with him further and showed him my student ID, but he still didn’t want to know.  He said that I should’ve used a digital camera so that I could prove I hadn’t taken his photo and could delete anything that he wasn’t happy with, but because I had not he wanted the whole film.  So after trying to persuade him to see that this would be affecting my university work he still didn’t care. So I gave him the film, and he walked off. And there was one pissed off Larissa left.

John Lewis

I work at the John Lewis store in Solihull in the bed linen department. Recently I have been re-designing the display fixtures that we put the duvet covers and pillow cases on. I started putting together bedspreads and pillows that complimented the duvet sets, so when customers are looking at a particular duvet cover they can see what goes together with it. For John Lewis this will create more money for partnership (John Lewis).

One of the managers that direct the store (steering group) came down and really liked how the fixtures were looking and wanted all of the fixtures to look like this, as they told a story. Also she brought the manager directors from High Wickham John Lewis store to have a look. From doing this they are taking my idea back to their store and trying it out. If this wasn’t good enough news my managers are going down to a London meeting and sitting with directors and other managers from other John Lewis stores and putting my ideas forward. So there might be a chance that all the John Lewis stores will be trying my idea out. I never thought from me just playing about with a fixture when the shop was quiet that it would create so much interest.

Film Review – Pecker by John Waters

John Waters’ film ‘Pecker’ explores the pretentions of high art culture and the quirky nature of the townsfolk of Baltimore. Pecker photographs the day to day sights in his town and believes that art is everywhere, even within the act of two rats copulating.

The film successfully points out that one does not need professional skills and equipment to become a photographer, as Pecker uses a camera he found in his mother’s thrift store.

When his work is eventually spotted by Rory (a high-flying Art dealer) he is shot to fame and recognized by the elite New York art circle, who on seeing his prints, describe Pecker’s family as ‘culturally challenged’ and his work is regarded as an exploitative brand of irony.

The audience is made to think about the ethical issues that photographers face. When after being informed that his house has been robbed, Rory urges Pecker to photograph his parent’s despair. In this way Waters is using Rory as a tool to highlight the exploitative nature of photography, but rather than giving the New York art culture what it wants and expects, Pecker instead makes them the subjects of his next show. By subjecting these people to his camera he has also shown their humanity.

Pecker is a successful street photographer because of the way he captures images of those around him, but when considering the role of photography in today’s society I think that someone like Pecker would be faced with more challenges. Because of the advancement in technology, cameras are more accessible than ever before, and this has lead to a public awareness of the increased chance of themselves becoming subjects, a thought which many would be uncomfortable with.

Film Review – Timecode by Mike Figgis

Directed by Mike Figgis, Timecode is an experimental film that is set in the location of a film production company office in Los Angeles. It involves several groups of people who interact with each other during the preparation of the shooting of a new movie. The dialogue is mostly improvised and the screen is divided into four corners, where each corner is telling a different story. Four cameramen filmed four continuous 90 minute takes and by varying the volume of each of the four stories, Figgis successfully manipulates the way in which the audience views the film. By increasing the volume of one of the stories, our attention is automatically drawn to that particular corner. At first the four stories are difficult to follow, but the viewers eventually adapt to this different way of viewing media and allow the volume of the stories to guide them. Figgis is experimenting with the ways in which our attention can be manipulated by media and shows that we are able to adapt to new styles of storytelling. Although the actors can be admired for their ability to improvise for so long in the film, the quality of the acting inevitably suffered. And although Figgis is successful in using sound as a guiding tool for the viewers attention, it took me a long time to effectively follow the separate stories. However, the experimental style of the film has such an inspirational effect that the audience’s concept of storytelling is certainly broadened .

London Underground

When I went down to London I found it quite humorous watching how people act in different environments. For instance when I was on the tube I was crammed in this tiny space with lots of people, and no one says a word to one another. You are physically touching them, inches away from another person’s face, yet everyone just looks at the floor, or out a window at a black wall, and nobody says a thing. I find it funny that should you take this same group of people and put them at a works party they would all happily talk to each other. Or even if they were all at the same funeral they would al talk to each other. It just makes me laugh.

When you hear other countries talk about how the British people act, you just know that they have stood on a tube and thought ‘what the hell is going on here?’

Another thing that makes me laugh is that you will see all these business men and women in smart clothes, speaking in a posh way, and they all have Blackberrys or Iphones and are constantly checking them or are on them talking to someone.  The odd one will have a Starbucks coffee in their hand – there must be a skill involved when running while changing tube trains. But the thing that makes me laugh most is that they might look all posh and well to do, and very important business people, but if you look down to the floor you see these big white trainers that look completely out of place. I could sit all day on the tube just watching people and how they act.

Also how people shout at you to get out of the way if you are standing on the wrong side of an escalator in a tube station. There is a lot of structure and rules for using the tube. I think anyone going down to London should be given a book on how to act when they are there. It should tell you to wear your poshest suit, to remember your Iphone and coffee, to remember their brightest pair of white trainers and don’t forget  to stand on the right hand side of the escalator.

If you do all this you will fit In well in the London underground.

Reflection on my first term

For my first assignment at university, we had to show that we could use film cameras. Before starting university I had never used film cameras before. I had learnt a lot from this module, I learnt how to use film about the different light that is needed to project an image onto a roll of film, I learnt how to develop film, and learnt how to print. Also I had learnt to use different types of film cameras such as a 35mm camera and a mamyi 7 camera.

what I wanted to show you through my photographs  that I had taken, was to show how I felt being dyslexic. I wanted to show how dyslexics feel different and sometimes alone. One of the funniest things was whilst I was doing his assignment I didn’t have any in my dyslexia support in place, so I was struggling at the time. And I think if I went back over this work now with my support in place I would do better on this. I am still happy  though because I passed my first university module and I now know how to use film.

Dyslexic software helps the class.

Earlier last week me and my  group made a mind map plan for assignment one brief it was to help us to be able to write our proposal for assignment one. I thought it would be a good idea to use a piece of my software that I got for my dyslexia that makes my maps and because this would  as a Word document then on my map could be given to the rest of the group to use.

I found this a really good way to write up our proposal as it had each point and different paragraphs we needed to write. I found this very beneficial.

From me using my initiative is my map has now been sent to all my classmates in my year to help them write their proposal as well Paul (my tutor) has now got it on on his computer  so he can keep a record of it and help future pupils with planning  their assignments.

Mind map Assignment 1

Summer Project

The images below are my summer project. We were asked to photograph of a normal day I decided to photograph my grandad. My grandad is an old man living on his own in a flat he’s 79 years old.

When I went to photograph my grandad I soon realised how alone he must feel sometimes as well it allows me to see my grandad in a new light, before this I had never been with my grandad for a full day watching him do his day-to-day things and in a way it’s allowed me to understand him more on why he does certain things.

From looking at my grandad you might think is trampy, smelly, unclean but he’s an old man at the end of the day.

He lived on his own most of his life, never cleaned his house, and cleans his self with disinfectant, you might think this is a bit strange, I do. But this is how he’s chosen to live his life. There are people all around us that live their lifes in different ways on which we might think it’s a bit strange, but who are we to judge. I know deep down it doesn’t matter what I do I know he will always love me so even though there might do things that winds me up and I think it strange, I know I will always love him.

What my grandad does on a day, seven days a week is, gets his porridge washes his face in disinfectant as he believes it kills any germs gets straight into the clothes that never been washed, drives his granny’s scooter down to the local Sainsbury and looks all the deals in the market at this time, then he will have a cup of tea in the supermarket, go home put his scooter into his garage, and then go on the bus and go round all the supermarkets in Solihull and Shirly to see what deals are on. He will only buy one thing from each supermarket if they are lucky! and then to finish off the day he will go back to Sainsbury’s cafe and have a sausage and egg sandwich and a cup of tea. Even though you might feel it is a bit strange, I did, he does this because he can socialise with people and keep himself fit.

Even though he rings at 7 AM in the morning telling us that is not going to live longer than a week, or ring the phone once and put it down the minute you pick it up, so he doesn’t have to pay for the phone bill, or the time that we gave him a mobile and he didn’t stop text in all hours of the night, because he felt that he could get in contact with you any time, any day, I now understand that me and my family are all that he has got.

I know how happy it made him feel when he was helping me out with my photography project, and how proud he was that I was going to university, he wound up the whole of Sainsbury supermarket staff, telling them that his granddaughter is going to university, and even though it was highly embarrassing for me, I know he’s so proud of me. You know what I am proud of him. He might have had a hard life and he might be a pain but I wouldn’t change for the world. So when you look at these images, your first thoughts will be god he lives like a tramp, but I ask you to look past the mess and the filth and to look at that man and to take him for who he is, a kind gentleman who would do anything for his family.

My website- www.larissagrace.co.uk

The website was made in order to showcase my work, and get my images out there to allow my work to become recognized, also this would allow me to broadcast my images to the public. The Internet is used regularly by many famous artists such as Chase Jarvis, Martin Parr and many others. This suggests that websites are beneficial to have as photographers.

I made my website using Adobe Dreamweaver, which allows you to build a XHTML website. Before creating the website, I came up with sketches of layouts I would like to produce. Before moving on with my ideas, I decided that it would be beneficial to observe some popular functioning websites that I liked, such as www.johnlewis.com, www.google.com, www.bbc.co.uk and photographers websites as previously discussed. I created some web comps in Adobe Photoshop. I played around with ideas, varying different backgrounds, headers and colour schemes. Until I was satisfied with an idea that provided the style I was looking for in a website,

I moved onto creating my final plan, deciding on header, footer and menu positions and so on. The process of creating the website in Dreamweaver was complicated however I did some background research, through Adobe Dreamweaver tutorials and many different websites to help. The website when it was created looked exactly how I wanted to, with a simplistic yet smart approach, also providing the public with easy accessibility and usability.

From this website I can carry on uploading my photos which can only help to advertise my work, and promote myself as a photographer in an already competitive world.

Here is my link to my website;

http://www.larissagrace.co.uk

Mike Valente

Mike Valente

Coventry Conversation, Thursday 14^th January

Today Mike Valente came into Coventry University and gave a talk about the work that he does.

Mike Valente is one of the UK’s leading car photographers. He studied at Hornsey College of Art (now called Middlesex University) and got a 3D Design degree. And then joined BBC TV as a trainee scenic designer and subsequently visual effects design assistant.

Then Mike Valente joined an associate company to 20^th century fox and worked as a photographic printer producing pre and postproduction stills for the star wars, blade runner and superman movies amongst many others. His photographic career then moved to him taking picture for International Musician magazine, where he snapped music personalities such as Keith Moon, Les Paul, Link Wray, BB King and Ian Anderson.

As he has took a staff photographer’s role at Haymarket Publishing on What Car? Classic and Sports Car and Autocar

Then he began freelance and worked on many UK and leading international publications both magazines and newspapers, as well to a whole host of car manufactures and ad agencies. Mike now also produces and edits video and stills for many online channels and magazines.

From learning all this about Mike Valente, it was also nice to hear how photography has change, he discussed the old days when after you did a shoot, you took your film to be processed and you and the other photographers would go down to the pub for a couple of hours, whilst waiting for the film to be developed.

He also stated that in the modern era of photography there is considerably less contact with people, and it involves a lot of sitting by a computer editing away on Photoshop, and contacting people through emails, texting and phone calls. Also Valente mentioned that photographers don’t get a lot of money like they used to due to the fact that, you used to have to buy film and developing cost plus labour. Now you get paid for a shoot and editing onto a CD disc.

Furthermore Valente stated that he hasn’t used film for twelve years now, down to the fact that the industry doesn’t want to pay for film costs and digital is the way forward in context to modern photography.

From this talk I have learnt a lot, it’s was really interesting to understand his views of photography, It was great to get some advise on the industry and how things are moving to aid me with my career and hopefully I can continue to learn from inspiring photographers like Mike Valente.