Patrick Rochon Analysis

Patrick began light painting in 1992 he then joined up with friends to form a multimedia group and built costumes of light and went on to perform in on a big screen. Patrick uses a digital camera and normally does these in dark rooms.

Link to the Picture


Patrick uses light painting to his advantage and in my option every photograph of his tells the audience a little story.
The model in this print has a slightly evil smirk on her face almost like she's planning something.In her hands she hold a while musky item it could be foam of some sort or maybe as it resembles it could be a dove.
For this image i would say he has used a blue light and shone it on the upper angle of the model making the audience focus on her face.

He uses a range of light sources to produce this effect with his models, This particular photograph was taken using 24 cameras on a 360 ring in a completely dark room.The detail he has paid attention to in this print is amazing. the contrasting blues and purples work really well together its almost like a bucket of lilac paint has been chucked all over these models.The peaceful look in the main models face conveys feelings of relaxation or peacefulness which again links into the colours used as the colour blue connotates calmness and as a cold colour it could also connotate lack of warmth.The arm reaching out of her could suggest movement in the picture as well it could signify the place in which her arm was at first.

Andre Kertez and Edward Weston Peppar Comparasion

The first artwork is made by Edward Weston Pepper it is called Pepper.Weston was born in Chicago and moved to California when he was 21. He knew he wanted to be a photographer from an early age, and initially his work was typical of the soft focus pictorial ism which was a effect that made the image look slightly blurred it was used mainly in the 19th and 20th century. Hhowever he soon abandoned that style and went on to be one of the foremost champions of highly detailed photographic images. Unfortunately in 1947 he was diagnosed with the Parkinson's disease and died shortly in 1958 during that time he stopped photography and focused on the printing on his early prints which measured over 1,000. 

The second Artwork is produced by Andre Kertez however he was a Hungarian born photographer His first encounters with magazine photography inspired him to learn photography. He was well known for his photographic composition and photo essay- which is a series of images that tell a story. Andre travelled a lot  which made his career split into 4 periods called the Hungarian period, the French period, the American period and, toward the end of his life, the International period. 

Edward Weston's theme seems to be quite natural and organic objects. this object pictured is actually a pepper but it is difficult to see because of the way it is positioned, first looking at the image i thought it was a swan because of the smoothness and neck alike stem, similarly it resembles a human with the position being the back. I think side lighting has been used in this piece as only sections of the right side have speckles of light reflected on them and below this whole object there is a small shadow caused by this direction of lighting.

This differs from Andres work as the theme is completely different as I've mentioned Edward focuses on the natural and organic objects Andres has pictured a fork which is classed as a everyday object and this image is a lot more contrasty compared to Edwards,This photograph has a lot more rough texture compared to Edwards smoothness you can really see the detail in the fork which connotates about the rough texture.

Both artworks have a close up shot of the objects within there frames this is a good effect because it lets us analyse the composition of the objects as well as the texture.

In Edwards piece the pepper is placed in the centre of the frame and because if its size it takes up the whole of the frame in comparison to Andre piece the fork is placed on top of the bowl in the frame this however has a good effect on the overall shadow.

In Edwards piece because side lighting was used the piece remains one tone, Andres piece however is a lot more contrasty with different shades of grey,white and blacks this makes it more interesting to look at and to analyse.

Because of the irregular shape of the pepper in Edwards photography i would say that maybe he found this odd looking paper in the bag and his imagination started flowing and he decided to photograph it using simple lighting and a bland background, Andre's photograph however i believe was more planned because of his very neat shadowing and how every object is perfect with no faults on it for example the bowl or plate has no cracks or chips.

Since Andre's photograph is by far more contrasty i would say in the darkroom he set his filters to a high number  to really get the detail shown and on the other hand i would say Edward turned of his filters maybe to link into his 'natural' theme.

Both photographs capture a slightly calm and relaxed sort of mood because of the simple use of lighting and objects also because of the colour being black and white which normally connotates the feeling of gloomy or a dull feeling it doesn't strike me as something that's going to lighten my mood. I think both photographers artwork are in a way complete opposites despite the similarity in the moods. Edward's photography i think was trying to show the naturalism of the objects he chose he did this throughout the processing of the photograph as i believe he didn't use any filters to boost contrast in his piece.

 Andre however seemed to embrace the technology in his photography and really use all of it to his advantage by experimenting with light in a position which creates a shadow and producing a really contrasting photography in result.

David Bailey Analysis

David Bailey was born on 2nd January 1938. He began his career working as an assistant at the john French Studio he then went on to photograph for john Cole's studio five then later on he as contracted to be a photographer for well selling magazine vogue.

This is a portrait photography of American actor/film director Jack Nicholson. Jack Nicholson was famous for his line in the movie 'the shining' which was 'Heres Johnny' in this photograph his facial expressions look like he was reacting this phrase. 

The shining was a horror movie written by Stephen king about a family that  heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father (Jack Nicholson) into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future. So this photo could be trying to portray the character he played in this movie. 

The fact that one side of his face is lighten could suggest this is the good in him and the darker side is intact the darker side of him after he changes into this violent person with his facial expressions looking close to a scream swell he could potential be screaming out as this transformation happens.

This is taken in a portrait way making the figure centred, this close up gives us a facial point as-well as we can see the whole face and facial expressions.The way the background is all white gives us a more focus on the model but to do this and still have a dark and light side of the model there must have been in a white studio with a variety of lights shining on the face of Jack.

The way Jack Nicholson's facial expressions are i would say this was planned, However this photography was potentially taken in the 60's where no digital cameras were made so it was taken using a film camera which means David bailey had to make sure he got plenty of snaps of Jack Nicholson and everything was exactly right especially the lighting.

The mood of this piece creates fear in the person analysing it because of the expression on the models face as-well as the way the lighting is positioned. I think the artist David Bailey was trying to show the personality of the character Jack Nicholson played though still image using only facial expressions and lighting.

Light mood board

1, 2- David Bailey
3, 4 - Patrick Rochon
5, 6 - Mario Testino
7, 8 - Janne Parviainen

Linking to the work of others

Picasso - Light painting 'centaur'

Picasso was a Spanish man born in 1881-1973, In this picture he sort of resembles a cave man because of the surrounding and the way he is standing implies this. This could also be implied from that he has drawn a bull like character i would say to do this he put his SLR camera on a very very slow shutter speed and with a laser pen or a led light he drew this character using the continuous line technique as well the room would also have to have been quite dark linking into this cave idea.

David Baliey - The Rolling Stones

David Bailey was a Englishman born in 1938, He is described to mostly take pictures of celebrities bench why this is a picture of 'the rolling stones'. This picture was taken in a studio and he has particularly shone a light on their faces as this is the lightest medium he has also put a lot of focus on the faces of the singers this is a good effect.

Andre Kertesz - The Fork 1928

Andre Kertesz was a Hungarian artist born in the years 1894-1985, This picture of a fork says so much more than its appearance a fork is a everyday item something we use everyday. The tone as well are excellent in this picture there is also a strong contrast between the light and darker tones.

Edgar Martins - from the 'Diminishing Present' project (2003/2005)

Edgar Martins is a Portuguese photographer but he works in Britain he was born in 1977, This is a quite natural photograph as all the light present is in fact natural light and also light from the street light this gives the photo a more realistic look to it.

Light project introduction brief

My understanding of this brief is that we will be exploring light in different ways and seeing what it does to a particular photo we will be combining this with still life,portrait, night time photography and painting and after experimenting we will need to have a final piece mounted and evaluated.

Evaluation

My Evaluation


The theme for this project was called contextual studies its aim was to give us an insight into photography and help us get used to experimenting with SLR cameras. To come up with ideas for this piece I produced a mind map, which helped me evaluate my ideas and choose which one is most interesting.

For my final prints I created a series of signs photographed and then added a figure in front of the signs and processed them again and then I did a A3 print with just this idea on and mounted them all together. Overall I'm pleased with the way my prints have turned out they have a slight urban look to them.

It was quite time lengthy to make my prints, I had to get the exposure time for the A3 print just right (as I had to nearly triple the time of what it would be normally) also because I was placing two negatives in the same negative carrier the light dimmed a lot and it was difficult to see where to put the photographic paper as well as that I was using tracing paper it was a bit too experimental with all the materials I was using.

Although the technique was complicated, I enjoyed experimenting with all the different materials I used and seeing which worked well and which didn't.

My final prints are road signs and a figure of a girl in front of some of them, they link into the theme of everyday because road signs are things that we see everyday and perhaps we don't always acknowledge them but they are always there. My initial ideas were to have 3 projects one road signs one figurative photographs and one footwear but because of time and experience with the camera, I decided to narrow it down to one also the 3 ideas didn't really support each other as well ass the 2 did.

If I could go back I would organize my time more efficiently and maybe do the three ideas and link them all together by doing a mounted sheet and placing all these images on there.

For some inspirational research I looked at two photographers one named Sharon Elphick who created college like photographs of signs and the other being Richard Renault, the artist who inspired me the most was Sharon Elphick because her everyday signs all jazzed up and bright in colour made me do the opposite and maybe convey how we would see the signs- because they are black and white we wouldn't acknowledge them that's what the figure in the image relates to as well because she is kind of blacked out you wouldn't really acknowledge her.

Overall enjoyed the project and in the future I would like to see what other techniques are possible to do with a SLR camera.