Multiple Imagery - Straight Images

Ben Heine

Ben Heine was born on 12 June 1983.  He is a Belgian multi-disciplinary artist who started as a painter and political cartoonist, who became more famous for his 'pencil versus camera' work which is his most widely published work.  He studied as a painter and sculptor at Hastings but considers himself self taught in drawing and photography.  I have picked Heine as I really like his 'pencil versus camera' work and I think it is a brilliant idea, one that I would really like to try if I ever get the chance to.

This is one of his pieces created by combining a photo of a mountain in Cape Verde and a drawing of a erupting volcano that forms the world map.  I really like the imaginativeness of this piece and the two pieces line up perfectly.  The photo has a great sense of depth to it with the car in the foreground and the massive mountain dominating the background.  The drawing in the photo also displays tone really effectively through the shading.

I really like this piece as it has a really nice contrast between the two mediums and the way he has added some quirky things into the drawing part of it like his finger tip being cut off and the writing.  The photo displays both tonal contrast, the white paper and the dogs head, as well as contrast between colours, the gold and black fur and the green grass (bottom right) and the dog's black fur.

I find this piece fantastic as both the photograph of Heine and the drawing show form well and have a sense of depth to them.  I really like the way he has set this up so it is quite literally 'pencil versus camera' and makes it seem like he has just finished drawing the 'other' him at the same time as the 'other' is taking a photograph of him.  The photo also has contrast between the actual him in colour and his black and white counter part.

Firstly, I must say how great this piece is and how taking inspiration from one of the greatest games of all time is a fantastic idea and that Heine has implemented it amazingly well, by taking a photo of some buildings on a cliff and adding in the drawing of part of a Tetris game using blocks of buildings with a nice added touch of little people standing on some of the blocks.  The photo contains a few of the formal elements such as depth; his hand compared to the size of the buildings and colour; the different buildings as well as the sea, sky and cliff.

Ben Heine's work has inspired me to pay more attention to the detail so that I get the photo that I want.  I am inspired by the way his 'pencil versus camera' work, although I think some of the drawings are edited into the photo afterwards, I know that some are actually part of the original photo and the level of detail is still almost perfect, while at the same time having some creative fun.

In summary Ben Heine plays around with his work a lot and in appearance would seem not to take it very seriously and with a lot of his 'camera versus pencil' work he takes the photos first, looks back through them, creates a drawing to match then photos it separately and edits it in.  His work demonstrates that you don't always have to accept what is there at that point in time, you can change it yourself if you want.

Charles Austin (HighVerbalFan)

Austin is a photographer who does everything from close-ups of nature to portraiture and concept photography to just random photos he decided to take at things like Comic Con.  A lot of his photos portray colour well with some of them showing repetition, form, shape and reflection.  I would really like to try something like one of his 'head shot' concepts.

I really like this photo as all the focus is on the butterfly as the foreground and background are both blurred.  I also like the fact that all the little details are visible on the butterfly, this photo clearly shows colour with the green background and the bright, vibrant pink flowers dominating the foreground.

I think the concept behind this is pretty good with the writing behind the women saying to replace fear with curiosity and then the women next to it seeming to be quite curious holding her own camera.  The photo displays clear contrast between the white text and the black outline/highlighting?.

I find this photo really interesting Austin has titled it 'A Creative Mess' or 'Head shot' which I think is fairly appropriate with an old style analogue camera as the gun and a series of photos presumably memories/thoughts splattered over the wall.  The photo shows colour, through the person's hoodie and the various photographs, as well as showing contrast both with the lighting, dark edges; light around the subject area and through some of the photos not the wall.

This photo is like a portrait with a twist as it is of the women reflection rather than being directly of her.  I might not go as far as to say it is interesting but it catches the eye due to the fact that it is different.  The photo shows colour, mainly through the blue sky, as well as quite clearly showing reflection through over two thirds of the frame.

If there is anything to learn from Austin's work it's to try to think outside the box while maintaining simplicity within the frame and retaining an attention to detail.  Austin would also be fantastic inspiration for people looking to try conceptual photography as he has some amazing concept photographs in his collection that look fairly simple to replicate.  Austin's work has inspired my work making me look for more unusual angles to take photos from these two photos from my work kind of mimic the last photo above where the reflection is visible and only a small part of the subject being reflected.

In summary Austin is an 'amateur' photographer would takes photographs of things he likes but also happens to appeal to a wide spread audience of other people which started off his fan base now consisting of tens of thousands of people.  He later on then started experiment with more conceptual ideas.

Connecting Essay 2

The photo I have found from the internet below is of some leaves on a tree depicting autumn colours.  It portrays several formal elements like colour, depth and to a limited extent form.  There is also some strong contrast between the leaves that have turned or are turning red and the leaves that are still green.

The photograph of my own that I have chosen below is of some leaves on a tree depicting autumn colours.  It contains several formal elements including colour, depth and to a very limited extent form although this isn't particularly obvious.  It does have some contrast between the bright yellow/orange leaves and the black/brown of the tree trunk and branches and the small patches of green leaves.

The two photos are related through their theme which is fairly obviously autumn colours, but also the formal elements that they demonstrate especially that of colour as the colour in each is fairly bright and vibrant.

Connecting Essay 1

This first photo I found on the internet it is a portrait of a women's face that is in black and white except for her eye which is a bright unnatural blue.  It displays strong contrast between the black background/her hair and her skin and the iris of her eye.  It also shows line through her hair going across her face and form with the shadows on one side and the other side being lighter.

The photograph that I myself have taken is of some flowers which I have edited so only two of the flowers are in colour and the rest is in black & white.  My photo portrays colour, tone, form and depth fairly well.  This photo had some contrast before editing between the flowers and the leaves but this has been enhanced through the editing, so it now has quite high contrast between the bright pinky-purple flowers and the black & white of the rest of the photo.

The two images are related through there contrast both involving colour and tone but also through the formal elements that they contain being colour, tone, form and depth to an extent.  But at the same time they are kind of polar opposites as my photo contains all natural things and the one I found consists only of man-made objects.

Walk 2, Autumn Colours - Straight Images

Walk 2, Journey - Straight Images

Contrast - Image Bank

The above pictures all show contrast in a number of ways, through a variety of formal elements like colour, tone and texture in the case of the sand dune (smooth and bumpy), but some of them show contrast in a more conceptual way like the m&m in the coffee beans.  the coffee beans are natural where as the m&m is a mass produced man-made product, the two are pretty much polar opposites.  I think that the last one is the best one and I really like the contrast between the water droplets and the black and white petals of the flower.

Contrast - Definition

Dictionary Definition:
- Differences in colour, tone, or shape that contribute to the visual effect of a design or image.

Describing Words:
- Inverse, Comparison, Diversity, Opposite, Variation, Reverse, Imbalance, Colour

This first two images use tone and/or colour to create contrast between different aspects of the image.

This one uses two very bright, vibrant colours to create contrast.

This one is quite simple but does have strong contrast as it utilises two strips across the image that have been inverted.

Walk 1, Journey - Straight Images

Walk 1, Autumn Colours - Straight Images

Contrast - Edits