Mapplethorpe Studio - Straight Images

Mapplethorpe Location - Straight Images

Michael Bosanko

Michael Bosanko has been capturing light since 2004,  he discovered light painting by accident when he took a photo and part of the scene was formed by the moon, but camera shake had caused it to create a streak.  His curiosity caused him to take the camera handheld and try to write his partner's name using only the moon light.  I find this highly interesting and would love to give this a go within my own work if I get the chance.

I find this one quite interesting with the slight comical value to it. I find the way it has been constructed is really effective and the use of different colours for each 'person' which kinda splits the image into 'good & bad', the 'good' guy dead in the boot and the 'bad' guy burying him.

I find this photo really interesting with the light drawing of the stegosaurus in a scene that does kinda look like it could be pre-historic, which adds to the general feel of the photo.  It shows colour through the light trails and the sky as well as line through the light trails used to draw the dinosuar.

This photo is just completely comical, a skeleton standing there pissing luminous green up a post.  There is just enough in the scene to hint at the background and surrounding while the light from the 'light graffiti' clearly shows the surroundings of the figure.  The photo has strong contrast between the two colours used as well as between the bright vibrant light trails and the dark foreground/background.

This photo is probably one of the best by Bosanko it takes a classic and iconic game PAC MAN which everyone knows and loves and inserts it into a real life location.  I think the way in which it is constructed and the way pac-man and the ghost are made makes it look pretty realistic.  The photo shows colour through the light drawing and the different colours used as well as contrast between the light drawing itself and the abandoned look and feel of the building/location.

One thing to learn from Bosanko's work is to not be afraid to work a bit to achieve the look you want in your photographs or to find out how to make a particular thing work and to use your imagination to it's fullest to think of new and exciting ideas or to adapt other people's ideas into your own style with it's own distinctive flair.  Looking back upon my work I have done something similar to this using the screensaver on a mac:

This photo links to Bosanko's work as it uses bright and vibrant colours to 'draw' across the still image using a long exposure on my camera, it is not quite the same as there is no distinguished subject matter in my photo either made by the light or not.

In summary Bosanko's most acknowledged area of work was stumbled upon by accident proving that you don't have to be a professional with lots of experience and expensive equipment to take good quality photos that stand out from the rest even if you don't completely know what to do within a particular area.

Studio Contrast 2 - Work Diary

When we went into the studio to shoot contrast a second time I found it difficult to take a lot of pictures as we had already done the shoot once before, it was difficult to think of new ideas to photograph.  The fact that there was a girl and a boy in the group did help slightly giving an obvious contrast in gender.

This one has several contrasts the main two being the difference in gender and the two people facial expressions and stances but there is also contrast between their clothing and the white background and the fact that one is wearing a hat and sunglasses while the other is not.

This one also shows a contrast in gender but there are also several other layers of contrast including the fact that one is facing the camera and one is not.  Another contrast is the difference in hats one wearing a 'badass' beanie and the other a classy top hat.

If I was to do another contrast shoot in the studio I would do some better research into the topic in a attempt to gain more inspiration and look at more pictures of contrast to try and get some inspiration from other people's work.

Studio Contrast 2 - Straight Images

My Best Photography (so far)

Location Contrast 2 - Work Diary

For this I looked at the contrast between things in the light and things in the shade and found some more conceptual contrasts like the contrast between nature and man-made and other similar things.

This photo shows the contrast between the grass and the path but there is also contrast between their lighter and darker counterparts due to the lighting.

This photo show more of a conceptual contrast between the plant and the building behind it.  The plant is naturally made while the building isn't and was built there by humans.  The way the leaves of the plant almost frame the building behind it adds to the effect, enhancing the contrast slightly.

To improve I might look more into the contrast between natural and man-made as well as develop the light and shade contrasts as I feel some of these photographs look pretty good with the different exposure levels within the same picture.

Location Contrast - Work diary

For this I had to find things that contrasted, I tried to think of things that had more of a conceptual contrast as well as things with an obviously visible contrast.  To start of with it was a little difficult finding conceptual things but the more I walked around the more I noticed them.

This photo shows contrast between colour/tones as the persons hair is quite bright blonde and the hood of his jacket is black.

This one is slightly more conceptual as it is the contrast between open and closed doors something people generally see everyday but never really think about it.

If I was to shoot contrast again on location I might look at the contrast between things in the light and things in shade as well as try to find some more conceptually contrasting things.

Multiple Imagery - Work Diary

This was fairly simple after I had decided what to take the photos of in this case my feet.  I walked around and took photos of my feet on different types of ground like grass, brick, paving slabs and carpet and then edited them together into a 3 by 3 grid, I also took pictures of objects from different angles and drain covers.

This is one of my multiple imagery pieces after I have edited it shows the same bench just from several different angles.

This is another one of my edited multiple imagery featuring different drain covers because why not?  I thought it might be slightly different to what other people would normally think of doing.

If I was to shoot for multiple imagery again I might look at other things like parts of building or sections of peoples faces or random objects which I find around the place.

Multiple Imagery - Image Bank

All of these images show multiple imagery, it involves taking a series of photos of the same or similar things and putting them together with little or no attempt at reconstruction.  It provides a semi weird view of the things that the photos are of as this is not how you would normally see something.  The last one is pretty cool as if you look closer it actually provides a sense of time almost as it is photos of a pocket watch and the time differs in the last photo when compare to the rest.  I think that the first multiple imagery is the best out of these six and could have a deeper meaning; by providing a broken and fragmented view of the girl it could be trying ti imply that she is broken/fragment emotionally and/or physically.

Walk 2 - Work Diary

For this walk we had the same objectives as the first one them being autumn colours, back of heads and sense of a journey although we took a slightly different route than last time.  I managed to pay more equal attention to all three of them although the sense of journey photos did lack a bit I took more than on the first walk.

I think this photo is good as it shows the autumn colours against the white sky creating quite drastic contrast between the two and emphasises the colour of the leaves and trees.

This photo almost wraps all three objectives into one photo as you can see the path curving out of frame to an unknown location and the autumn colours of the tree and leaves over the persons shoulder and then it is obviously a back of head photo.

If I was to do another walk I might try to find some more unusually places to take photos of things and again try to pay equal attention to all of the objectives as well as possibly try to take more photo that contain all of the objectives.

Walk 1 - Work Diary

I really enjoyed this shoot as we got to go out of the college grounds to take photos, and there were lots of different photo opportunities rather than the same places each time.  For this we had three things to take photos of (Autumn colours, sense of a journey and back of heads) instead of the usually one which did make things a bit difficult as I had a tendency to focus more on one of them than all three.

This is a photo I took of autumn colours I think it is really effective as the lighting highlights some of the colours and leaves while others are kept in the dark by the shadows on either side.

This photo is one I took for back of heads I think the lighting coming from the front is quite effective giving the person a kind of aura and then the lens glare adds to the general feel of the photo.

If I was to do another walk with multiple thing to shoot I would try to pay equal attention to all of them instead of just one so that I end up with some good pictures for all rather than lots of one thing and next to none of another.

Mapplethorpe - Image Bank

Robert Mapplethorpe is most famous for his black and white portraiture and all of his work utilises the entire frame really well even when his compositions differ from the norm there is no wasted space.

Print Techniques - Soft Focus

Studio Contrast - Work Diary

When we first went into the studio to shoot contrast I wasn't really sure what to take photographs of as we were inside and there was not as many options as when shooting on location, although it became easier further into the session to find contrasts between the people I was in the studio with.

I think this is one of the better photographs that I took the contrast is between the bright red background and Kier's dark clothing, as there is visibly a very dramatic contrast.

This is another of the photograph that I took during this session the contrast being between Kier having his hair up and Jess having her hair down as well as the contrast between their clothing, white and black.

If I was to shoot contrast in the studio again I may try to capture contrasts in peoples emotions not just their appearances.

Studio Contrast - Straight Images

Computer Experiments

Mezzotint

Posterize

Colour Sketch

Face Swap

Photo in a photo