Introduction to Digital Photography

Hey Stuart. Just wanted to say thanks for a great semester. I have always wanted to take a photography subject but it was never offered at Vic Uni. Your enthusiasm for photography is captivating and the skills/knowledge i have acquired through the experience have inspired me to further develop and explore photography.

First things first..... to buy a decent camera!

Final Folio Reflecting and Presenting

What have i done:

My final Folio was based on two concepts:

• Travel/places.......Escapism
• People/anthropology/pogonology........Beardisms

Escapisms is a set of photographs of places in time where i have escaped.

Beardisms has incorporated the study of pogonology, where i have questioned and taken photographs of random people in melbourne with beards.

Why have i done it?

Throughout my childhood i was brought up in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. I was very restricted with resources, experiences and people. I think this has given me the drive to explore and experiment in life, where i have been travelling and living all around the world for the past 5 years. My interest in travelling, culture and people have been an immense influence on my final folio concepts and have given me the drive to explore with photography, my skills and ideas.

Escapisms is based on places and things i escape to, to feel solitude and hope. I still find myself escaping reality through travel, music, art and people which i have attempted to portray through my photographs. I wanted the photographs to provoke the same emotional response that i received through the first hand experience. To be taken away from ones reality, ones comfort zone to a natural experience. Richard Misrach has influenced my Escapisms photographs. He would attempt to document connections in his photos, eg; landscape with mans relationship, time and weather, human interaction and isolation. I have taken landscape and my connection to it in a naturalist approach. I wanted to capture the essence of the landscape as if you were really there, as if you could smell the mist/leaves, feel the breeze or warmth. This i have found quite a difficult task, though i feel a few on my photographs i have achieved this.

Beardisms is based on my fascination with beards. I am surrounded by people with beards in the music industry and have grown to love them and what they portray. Over history, beards have been ascribed various positive attributes such as: Wisdom, Knowledge, sexual virility, masculinity and social status, which i respond to.

Through my beardisms exploration i tried to portray the characteristics and personality behind the beard, as well as what the beard represents on the subject. I wanted to capture the subject in their natural surroundings and response (similar to how Richard Avedon would attempt to capture the personality of his subjects).

Ari Versluis was quite influential with this concept. His approach was quite anthropological and a form of documentation on social groups and personal identity.

How did i get there?

I hired the University camera every week for 9 weeks. I always manage to get out of the city every couple of weeks, so i took the camera to capture the escapism. I flew to Sydney, drove to Beechworth, Albury, Euroa, Dandenong, various parts of Melbourne and have used previous photographs from my world travels.

The Beardism concept came to me after i convinced my friend to grow a beard. We had a laugh and then thought why not capture the process of growing a beard. With weeks of thought, discussion and photographing, i settled on the pogonology study to answer the questions; why do men grow beards and why i like them.

Where to from now?

I am leaving for Europe in 10 days and plan to document this experience. Initially when i travelled i would take photographs of everything, which i found would restrict my experience (as i was too busy taking photos). I do not take as many photos now, but the ones that i do i believe to be of more value. I prefer to experience things first and then take photo if the appeal is there. I will be going to a music festival with my friends (who have beards) so im sure i can follow on with the pogonology study. My escapisms will continue as well as i visit countries i have not yet visited.

Portraiture photography - Richard Avedon

Richard Avedon did not conform to the standard technique of taking fashion photographs, where models stood emotionless and seemingly indifferent to the camera. Instead, Avedon showed models full of emotion, smiling, laughing, and, many times, in action. He would often prompt the subject to capture the personality and soul of the subject. He utilised a minimalist approach with sheer white background and subject looking squarely at the camera.

Sydney

Some pictures i took in Sydney

Exactitudes

It is definitely the season for beard photography, with winter on its way. Ideally i wanted to take portraits of people with different types of beards that are typical to their styles. For example, the truck driver beard would be handle bar like and full bodied. There are so many types of beards, that you can reflect on the bearers character.

I wanted to label the beards to correspond with its style. Lazy beard, Metal-head beard, Bogan beard, Trendy beard, Workers beard, Mutton Chops beard, Charles Darwin beard......

After presenting this idea to Jenna Corcoran, she pointed me in the direction of Exatitudes.

Ari Versluis is a Rotterdam-based photographer who has an interest in the striking dress codes of various social groups and have systematically documented numerous identities over the past 14years. Exactitudes is a contraction of exact and attitude. Their subjects are placed in an individual framework, with similar poses and a strictly observed dress code.

Their work, one could say is scientific and anthropological, where they capture people attempts to distinguish themselves from others by assuming group identity.

For the period that i have been taking photos of beards the reasoning that i hear for growing the beards is becoming more evident. On a majority, men have said that they have a beard as they are 'lazy' and shaving is a monotonous task that is practiced too often. Although there were the select few who were 'trying' to go the beard without success. I think the manly nature of the beard is not only attractive to women, but in this case, to young adults trying to address and prove their manhood. I was unable to capture the 'attempted' beard, as the subject did not classify it as a beard. That made me question, what draws the line between stubble and beard? Can stubble be classified as a beard?

More updates to come...

Pogonology exploration on Brunswick street

The days that i have taken photographys for the 'Beardisms' concept it has been overcast days. This allowed me to take photos at midday (usually at midday on sunny days the faces become flat with less definition), though the weather did wash out some of my subjects. I used Photoshop to add warm and contrast through a new adjustment layer.

All of my subjects i had stand 2 metres from the wall excpet for two subjects. One older subject was seated at a cafe with people behind him, this became quite distracting to the eye. To bring more attention to the subject i used Photoshop to desaturate the colour from the background.
Using the polygonal lasso tool to select the area and a new adjustment layer for Hue/saturation at about -60 saturation and add slight colour to the subject.

Some Randoms

These are some random photos i have taken.

Some i have experimented with the colours, depth of field and light