What’s in a picture? a concept

By Shay Hatchard

Shay Hatchard

Conceptual photography ‘illustrates an idea', as defined by the website of Tate Modern - one of the most prestigious art and photography galleries in the world. Since the invention of the photographic camera, such style has been taken and altered to stage false realities, concepts and ideas. One of the very first photographs of this kind surfaced as early back 1840 with Hippolyte Bayard's Self Portrait of a Drowned Man' (as seen right) but the term was not chronically used until the 1960's as the Conceptual Art movement truly saw mediums introduced such as video art. Whilst this theme is not in any way limited to portraiture alone, the foundations of my personal investigation are built upon this. I question our culture, people and their hearts in a time in which is it difficult to take time to reflect. In a digital age of new image, how our characters are portrayed and played out is so integral. A storybook with us at the helm, we are often scared of critics before we have even begun, leading us as an unpublished manuscript.It is in opposition to a concept that fascinates me. Emotion is at the heart of any art, the wish to create something authentic and raw. If we capture moments we can tell better, realer stories than our words ever can. The photography of people cries for continual experimentation & questions my heart grows keen to answer.What are the rudiments of portraiture? How do contrasting mediums derive emotion? Why do we behave to art in the ways we do? When do we feel appeased with the product?A cinematic and grand scale was needed from this project, with first call of inspiration being derived from popular blogger and ‘Instagrammer’ Brandon Woelfel. The first thematic medium being ‘Light’, and the use of it in modern portraiture, it seemed essential to explore his signature editing style & creation of ‘cold light’; a blueish drab, in relation to white balance. Woelfel’s portfolio offers a continuous theme of illustrating brighter and more vibrant colours, perhaps playing on this idea of escapism in his work.The contrast has been increased in the image (above) and the burning of the darker areas has allowed for emphasis on the shadows, creating a lighter and drearier image. Implied lines guide the viewer's eyes, with the bridge's lines

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working in parallel to the couple. The trees branches have crawled also towards the focal point due to Woelfel not directing his models to stand completely central regarding the road, but rather to allow the best use of space regarding the location. He has further used a larger aperture to allow both natural and artificial light to filter well; with the foreground being in sharp focus, and the background blurred to define depth of field further. The lights appear brighter than the rest of the image, and over exposure has been used in place to not lose the figures photographed but therefore there may have been an issue with light sensitivity. These would have had to be thought out all periodically as the shutter speed would have been fast, and taken from positioning on a tripod - there is no evidence of motion blur to suggest otherwise, and the photo is still well lit.I feel an instant connection to this photograph. As humans, intimate connections are essential to our existence and are what we all aspire to. Woelfel has made love out to be something light and dreamlike, commenting on this Romeo and Juliet perfection we would all crave our own relationships to be. Exploring physical manipulation would advance the project, with this traditional method differentiating from modern takes on programmes such as Photoshop. Kalen Holloman, designer behind the artwork of popular musician The Weeknd’s album ‘Beauty Behind the Madness’ was a large influence – with his piece shredding his face apart by hand; a technique prided by Holloman to keep a sense of authenticity and a ‘one take’ nature. This, combined with use of studio settings to replicate and adapt the monochrome contrast used in the original would be challenging. Holloman himself describes the vision as being 'a sort of vintage Italian horror look' and how he wished for the images to have 'a timeless feel', crediting that they resonate with him the most. The original backdrop to the photograph was a set of bushes, which were eased out to give a simple contrast of monochrome. It is truly a defining cultural piece of recent music and is an exciting accompaniment. Yet despite it's simple and raw look, it is highly likely that the development process of the image was perhaps more difficult. The use of flash is evident in the bounce of the subject's face, and it is mildly overexposed in high contrast - more than likely to rid of the aforementioned ‘bushes’ Holloman speaks of. The monochrome highly adds to the grittiness aimed for, whilst it still fits

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into an epic and grandeur bracket. Lines are an obvious accompaniment, due to it being made up of several cut outs keeping to the signature collaging style, with the slight spacing between them creating definition to lead us to the models’ most prominent features - his recognisable hair even being layered at one point. The photographer has also been seen to use a larger aperture to allow the natural light as well as artificial light of the flash; with a clear sense of over exposure & use of ISO 400. There is slight grain & a sense of fuzziness to the final image, but it is unclear if it from a later edit or down to the use of a higher ISO. Holloman illustrates that the series of photographs taken at this point were taken at night, and the white balance having seen an affect using the flash to illuminate the subject's face.Following from this urban theme, there was need to look further into ‘street photography’. There are a vast and uncountable amount of street photographers that inspire me, but upon research I saw striking similarities and familiarities with the way Joel Meyerowitz captures people in real life situations. As an early advocate of colour photography (mid-60’s), Meyerowitz was instrumental in changing the attitude toward the use of colour photography from one of resistance to nearly universal acceptance.Meyerowitz has found a good balance with colour and light in this work; light being directional and seeming to cover the photo, with slight emphasis on the cloud cover and sunlight on one side of the subject's face. There is a high contrast to the photo, most apparent in the highlights and use of colour in the background of the photo - where depth of field has been used effectively enough for clarity, but the woman is the central focal point. This is seen in the foreground too - where what seems to be somebody else's head has appeared in the right-hand corner. This use of colour gives connotations of a much more vibrant and fun city in relation to the pained expression of the woman. The background also seems to show some sort of construction taking place, and the lines on the road due to that seem to lead us around the image - if the depth of field had not already done that enough, in Meyerowitz's use of a rule of thirds. Due to this, a small aperture has been used for minimal light to enter the lens, so the result is not overexposed, and the depth is clear and focused. A fast shutter speed will

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have allowed for a quick exposure time to capture a subject that was moving with next to no motion blur throughout the picture - with an effect of it being a 'frozen' moment in time. These three inspirations spawned initial exploratory shoots to consider how we approach portraiture. This included taking basic and standard elements of modern photography – such as light, use of physical manipulation, black and whites, the contrast of colour, self-portraiture, and film for a take on editorial work. Throughout the project, my ideas have begun to culminate towards a final piece, with a set of trial and error processes. Each of my shoots for the project have been very different in style and technique, yet the concept has grown in terms of understanding the various techniques behind creating good images. Having a period of exploration has allowed me to funnel each of these ideas, taking what works, and beginning to refine an individual style. When I had begun my project, I was happy mostly to establish a theme and idea in ‘Light’ besides a coherent body of work yet. From previous projects, I am already choosing to be more experimental with my choices and refinements in terms of editing and establishment of ideas. I have always preferred having a deeper contrast to my final images, especially in situations like this shoot where I wished to lose the entire surrounding to make light work my focal point. My edits have allowed to create an interesting set of images that work well together - however, refining my camera settings prior to the photograph even being taken more so, would have made it more accessible without it becoming too dark and sometimes being affected by the noise of ISO. The editing process was most important in creating work that was like Woelfel's, with the raising of shadows giving the image more of a vintage glow and a gold richness that emphasised the fairy lights. Whereas with my Holloman inspired shoot, I was able to focus on my use of a studio setting and the lighting in such conditions whereas my previous shoot had been in a dark bedroom with emphasis on small fairy lights. I have seen from previous bodies of work how am I understanding more so of how to manipulate

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the light pre and post shoot to really rebalance the contrast in my photographs that is fitting of my own style. Though Holloman shot outside, I believed better results to recreate the deep black would be recorded from a studio shoot, a hypothesis that seemed correct almost immediately. I was able to work on this contrast that saw shadowing due to the room only being lit on the left and created more of an emphasis on the subject and allowed me to fade the surroundings, perhaps not as effectively as Holloman, but in a way that would work to create a fitting image. With this shoot, I took my photography outdoors for the first time in the Meyerowtiz-esque shoot. From previous attempts in recent projects with location shooting, I took on board the lessons I had learnt and made conscious efforts to refine these - shooting in a different part of the day, and refining my pre-shoot camera settings, as well as becoming better at changing them due to natural effects.  These small tweaks, as well as a focus on colour and grain in my edits, has further enhanced my photography skills as well as establish a more solid ground on my own style. Though the subjects in my photographs were perhaps more self-aware of the camera's presence due to this being a pre-planned shoot, I still believe I have done an effective job on capturing the organic nature that is so prevalent in Meyerowitz's work. I can see his work and perhaps use of film camera heavily influencing where I go in later shoots as I return to street photography and more lifestyle work beyond this shoot.Though I have at this point explored various elements of photography, I wished to step away from the digital to focus on traditional experimental methods to see the impact and variety it would have on my work. It has become so accessible for photographs to be 'perfect' with the evolution of digital and mobile photography, that many artists wish to revert to these traditional styles to recapture their own style and authenticity. As I geared towards my final piece, I wanted to build upon three of the thematic ideas I'd explored so far and use what I have learned throughout the project to deliver a stronger and more refined effort. The first of these went back to 'Colour', and the emphasis and definition that stronger colours and contrast can bring to the work. It is such a key element in photography, as it is so important in telling stories & it can be used to communicate on an emotional level.

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The aperture remained low at about f5.3, creating a slightly shallower depth of field. The ISO managed to stay consistent due to the cover of bushes on location, averaging at around ISO 100, assisted by the change in shutter speed ranging from 1/25 to 1/150. This allowed the subject to feel quite illuminated in what was a darker location but on quite a bright and sunny day. Though it is apparent I'm developing a style to my portraits with the subjective set up and edits, I would like to differentiate and explore other ways to make my work interesting and changing.As I often do, I edited this selection of images on popular app VSCO. From the original image, I layered it in a Chromatic filter; lowering the exposure and the contrast; raising the temperature and the skin tone; and also adding grain and clarity to the image. Overall, it has impacted in a much more dramatic and sharper shot for our final image with colour being much more of the focus tonally. I feel giving the image a sense of warmth that was lost in the original adds to my exploration - the style is very similar to the previous shoot completed prior to this, and compliments my personal style growing.Building on from a previous shoot exploring fashion and disposable photography, I was inspired by the grainy elements and how colours appeared on negatives. Using my DSLR, I wanted to set out to re-create parts of this and make dreary night-time photography. I found taking almost deliberately 'bad' photos interesting.Unlike previous shoots, I did not edit any of my final images, to keep a raw feel. This would impact the photographs so much more than edits or filters would. Blur can create visual contrast, toning down the busy feeling of an image. It also adds dimension to an image that might otherwise feel flat - shrouding it with grain and a mystery element. The little artificial light that does reach the images compliments the architecture and Georgian structure to the city of Bath, in perhaps more of a subtle way than larger scale shoots of more iconic locations like the Abbey.It was a deliberate intention to achieve grain and high noise rates in these images, as I wanted to give off the aesthetic of grubbiness or similarities to expired film. To achieve this, I just used settings I would have used in the daylight - such as IOS 100, and f5.6 - and shot in low light conditions. I didn't use

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a flash for any of the final images, as it provided too much clarity and detail for what I was trying to achieve. I discovered that although I wanted to shake up things, photo shoots that have a lot of thought and set up behind them provide images that I find more beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. To round my exploration off, I wanted to play once more with a fundamental feature of any photograph: light. From positioning, shaping, and manipulating light, the importance is so apparent. With it determining tone, mood and atmosphere, I wanted to look at how to control and manipulate it to get the best vibrancy of colour - another large focus of my project; creating style.For my shoot, I wished to use the latest installations at Tate Modern and the British Museum to offer an alternative and interesting backdrop to my portraits. I wanted to use the vibrant colours of the Tate as well as the open skyline that I knew would highlight the model significantly. Unlike the shoot prior to this, I would need to spend a lot longer adjusting my camera settings to allow for photos with the best clarity and use of the colours available.From the original image, I layered it in a V2 filter; saturating the image and draining it of its brighter colours to provide a bleaker and grainier finish. This was effective in defining the model more clearly and differentiating between the focal point and the backdrop of the image. Though the gallery had much more accessibility to natural light than I have previously worked with, I still initially found my images to be coming out darkened. However, I still consistently shot at ISO 100 and f5.6 which seemed to deliver better results based on my change in stance in reflection of the windows. The aperture helped to create a focal point but in a simple way, deterring from background noise. To conclude my project, all of my refinements and findings would neatly culminate into a final piece that would compliment my research and understanding of the project – and the various approaches to modern portraiture; including the way we take and see photographs. From development stages and using an exploratory method, I have acquired skills that allow me to truly understand the work of portraiture in a way that I had not done before undergoing the investigation.

BibliographyThere are no sources in the current document.

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/c/conceptual-photography

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http://www.complex.com/style/2015/08/kalen-hollomon-design-the-weeknd-beauty-behind-the-madness-album-cover-interview

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