MOVIE POSTER

Plan for my poster

Photoshop images

photos to be used for the photoshop project

Photo treatment

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ftGydWF43qIjIrpfiIpZaAQFDeubMSmPpbmxouxRdnA/edit?usp=sharing

photoshop work

 I have decided to show the depth of field on the photos above by blurring and sharpening different areas of the photographs using Photoshop.

MORE PHOTOSHOP WORK

Future Crawley

For my description of the future crawley work i was thinking of doing plant life covering buildings or a car and this idea was from the documentary Life after people which basically talks about what might be left of the world when all population is gone.

Photoshop work

My first photoshop work well..............it's alright..........i think.















HOT KEYS USED
Lasso = L key
Quickmask = Q key
Modify the edge of selection  = Select/Modify/Expand
Turn the selection into a layer= cmd/ctrl J
Move the Layer to another Photo= Move tool =V key drag to another photo
Scale the layer= cmd/ctrl T
Copy the Layer= cmd/ctrl J

Fashion Photography

2. To what degree should an image manipulated to go into a fashion magazine?

I recently watched a documentary called "The September Issue" which basically showed the behind-the-scenes drama that follows editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and her staff during the production of the September 2007 issue of American Vogue magazine. This being a September issue, a lot of criticism had to be made therefore only the best of the best had to go into the magazine. This is because September is the January of fashion where new styles and changes of fashion are made and Vogue magazine is like the makers of fashion in both the fashion and media industry in terms of fashion.

In order to show greatness and glamour of the magazine all the pictures that are taken have to go through quite a lot of manipulation before they are placed in the magazine. First, a theme has to be decided among the team on what should be portrayed in the clothes and the thee for this issue was texture and the photo shoot was to take place in Sienna in Italy and once the photographs are taken the best ones are published in the magazine and off course certain manipulations are made to the pictures to make them magazine worth but there is a point when this goes out of hand and over board.

One of the things I did not understand at first when watching the documentary was why some of the pictures were dropped and not put in the magazine .

The pictures above was one of them and it definitely portrayed the texture theme in the clothes but I guess it was not in contents with the theme for the photo shoot which was the 1920s and I do not think dogs in the 1920s wore lion mane-like neck bracelets but to be honest it was a very creatively manipulated picture and if it were published in the magazine people would feel the same about it or maybe not since I writing this post does not really know a lot about fashion in details.

Sometimes photo shopping an image is good to a certain extent but I think the fashion industry goes over board with this type of software. In this documentary, Sienna Miller was used for the cover but it took plenty of Photoshop work to get the right picture to publish as the cover. They photo-shopped her head from one photo onto the her body but on another photo. It’s not too morally unacceptable because it’s still the same person but it’s not a completely factual version which although one can tell that it is her but it is not really her and it also applies to many other fashion magazines 

Another thing I think is another issue under this matter is the size of the models used in the magazine. I understand that one only looks at clothing but off course you cannot just look at the clothing without noticing who is wearing them. The models are size 0. Almost no normal people are that small. It’s misleading because the viewer gets the idea that they should look that skinny, almost unhealthy. They look like mannequins. The only time they would use plus sized models, is if they were well known e.g. celebrities. That would be only to widen the profile of the magazine for example; the person who was used for the cover of Elle magazine on the left is an A list celebritiy known as  Melissa McCarthy who because of her status in the film industry got to choose what to wear and that is why she chose the coat and this caused a lot of controversy as this did not portray any fashion sense at all as the coat was not fashionable which is unlikely for the plus size models on the cover of Vogue below as they had no choice in a way but to wear what was given to them as any other model does.

At the end of it all an image in a fashion magazine should be manipulated to the highest degree possible enough to lure the audience into looking and admiring the magazine and the clothes in it and in a broad sense, Anna Wintour manipulates the whole vibe of the issue because she chooses what to publish and can arrange it however she likes. I also noticed in the film that she does not hesitate with her decisions which I guess makes her good at what she does because the finished product of the September issue of that magazine really portrayed vogue as it truly is, which is glamorous. 

 

 

Thomas Hoepker biography

Thomas Hoepker is a German photographer who was born on the 10^th June 1936 in Munich, Germany. He worked for a company called Magnum Photos and used to take photographs for the company. Before joining the company, he used to take photographs from the age of 16 and used to sell them in order to finance his education. While in school, he studied art history and archaeology, then worked as a photographer for Münchner Illustrierte and Kristall between 1960 and 1963, reporting from all over the world. He then worked as cameraman and producer of documentary films for German television in 1972, and from 1974 collaborated with his wife, the journalist Eva Windmoeller, first in East Germany and then in New York, where they moved to work as correspondents for Stern in 1976. From 1978 to 1981 Hoepker was director of photography for the American edition of Geo. He joined Stern magazine as a photo-reporter in 1964. Hoepker worked as art director for Stern magazine in Hamburg between 1987 and 1989, when he became a full member of Magnum. Specializing in reportage and stylish colour features, he received the prestigious Kulturpreis of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie in 1968. Among many other awards for his work, he received one in 1999 from the German Ministry of Foreign Aid for Death in a Cornfield, a TV film on Guatemala. Today Hoepker lives in New York. 

He shoots and produces TV documentaries together with his second wife Christine Kruchen. He was president of Magnum Photos from 2003 to 2006. A retrospective exhibition, showing 230 images from fifty years of work, toured Germany and other parts of Europe in 2007. I think one his most common photograph would have to be his 9/11photograph that caused a lot of controversy when it was released to the public. Judging from some of the photographs I have seen by him.

 I have to say his work is indeed colourful and as well show different lifestyles lived by different sorts of people all over the world. I think his other piece of work that is very popular is the set of photos he took of the great Muhammad Ali, who was a great boxer during his time. At the moment he has book called ‘New York’ where he vividly captures the city’s complex spirit in all its many moods while documenting the most recent fifty-plus years of the city’s history. The images from this book range from the early 60s through 9/11, and up to the very present including the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. In this book he also documents a true New York with its diverse inhabitants and the allure of its prominent landmarks and hidden, far-flung corners and conveys a vivid sense of the city’s physical landscape and intricate urban culture. Sincerely speaking I think Thomas Hoepker is not the best photographer whose work I have seen before but I have to say he is good at what he does and he is also good at telling a story in his work.

The journey that Portraiture has taken over its' history.

If am to describe what a portrait is to a person, I would say it is a photograph of a person mainly portraying who they want others to see them but not who they really are and only a few portraits portray a person's true self and usually they are taken without their consent.

I think portraiture is seen in different ways by different photographers and I found Diane Arbus and Tony Vaccaro's view on this form of photography quite interesting which made me change my whole view on portraiture. These two photographers' work changed the way portraits were viewed and taken because if one thinks of it, a portrait is a photograph usually portraying someone's role or looks in the best way which at most times does not show their true self and these two photographers did the opposite. They took portraits that showed people's true character for example: when Diane Arbus was hired by the Martais family in 1969, a wealth family living in New York, they hired her because her work was different from the rest and the pictures she took of the family portrayed them as a much rather normal laid back family but not as wealthy and important as the public portrayed them which is why I find her work unique and different as she portrays the truth in all her work. Unfortunately she later took her own life in 1971 but I think if that did not happen, she would have made a much greater impact on portraiture than the one she had left behind and definitely inspired photographers that came up after her.

The photographs above were taken by Diane Arbus.



Tony Vaccaro on the other hand had a quite similar but different approach to this style of photography. He as well captured the truth about the person but not the lie just to make them look good to the public. He also stated that a picture had to have that special quality describing them but not making them look good. For example with the photograph taken by Eddie Adams entitled 'The Execution' shows a general about to execute a prisoner and judging by this picture the general seems very harsh and merciless but at the end of the day had to do his job and we also do not know the prisoners side of the story, he might have been a ruthless criminal or even innocent and that is where Tony Vaccaro's work comes in as he took a photograph of Picasso, a famous painter and I order to capture his true self he told him that the camera he was using was working and when he portrayed an emotion of disappointment, if that's what one calls it, he took the shot and that way he was able to show someone's true self rather than portraying them as they want or as the public would have wanted to see them. Another thing that indirectly helped him take these photographs was the fact that he took his photographs when he was ready but not when the subject was ready.

 I have to say this work as well as other pieces of work done by different photographers in the sense of portraiture definitely changed that style in so many ways as it showed that there are so many ways one can take a portrait but not by just basing on the same old style where the photograph of the subject has to be taken at their best angle and they to show some kind of power or even portray what they did or what they were known for and with this I have to say that this has changed my whole understanding of this type of photography.

Photojournalism part2(war photography)

Robert Capa/Tony Viccaro(war photojournalists)

• Describe the different circumstances that these photographers experienced as Photojournalists in WW2 
• Find and upload to your blog some work of theirs 

 Robert Capa was a photojournalist who worked with Life magazine who was good at capturing deceive moments during the WW2 where he was sent to capture moments that were taking place during the war. His motto when taking this photographs was "get close, then get closer" and I guess that's what made him stand out in terms of war photography as he captured moments that no other photographer would ever imagine capturing as these photos were taken where the photographer's life was at risk. In order to capture these moments he used a Leica camera which during that time was a major development in terms of media technology since before the invention of such a device, many photographers used slower and heavier camera which would not be of any help to Robert due to what he was capturing. His sense of war was quite different from most people's views if you asked me. He found war romantic and glamorous I think mainly because he was just in and out of the war mainly to just capture its moments but not really be in it and this is also clearly shown in  most of his photographs that he took during WW2. The photographs to me seem to be showing the slight aftermath of the war if I should say or even better, not the core of the war but more or less the aggressive side of the war if you know what I mean although the photos clearly show the war.
                                                                                           

The photograph on the left is one of many which he took during the war and as you can tell it leaves that rather  griping feeling but are not really shocking enough to leave a maybe  negative impression to someone who is not affected by this or maybe it it just me.

Tony Viccaro on the other hand was a soldier that was taking part in the war so his view on the war was way different from Robert's. He used to take photographs while taking part in the war before becoming a photojournalist. Before his work became famous he used to use a camera known as a speed graphic whch was not really helpful now that you look at it.

When you look at this camera, it looks really big and it was not flexible being that he had to carry it with his riffle and also he had to add film into the camera and could only capture two photos before adding new film and that took a while to do so he ended up missing out on the moments that he would have captured so he decided to get an argus (just below the seed graphic) which again was a development in media technology as this camera was faster and easier to use since it was smaller and would take many photographs without changing the film every after a shot. Tony as a soldier in the world
war looked at war as a horrible and sad time and his photographs proved why. Unlike Robert's photographs, his were if I should say showed the real effect or the real sense of the war. His photos showed rather depressing and distressing situations as they were usually of dead soldier or people in despair which I think to me properly showed war in a soldiers eyes rather than a person who worked for a magazine. Most of Tony's photographs were banned because the government felt that the public was not ready to see his pictures as they showed people and soldiers of their own country dying and I guess if I were living in that era and shown the pictures below, I myself would feel as the government thought its public would feel.

In overall I have to say both photographers captured this war as they saw it. Robert Capa saw it as romantic and glamorous so he captured it that way and I guess that is why he took such pictures and als as well as beause he worked for a magazine that the public viewed so I guess he also had to be quite non-explicit about soe of his work whereas Tony Vaccaro captured it as a rather bad and agrressive time and as one can tell his photographs spoke otherwise.

Photojournalism part1

•  
• Photojournalism - Explain what it is

 
Henri Cartier Bresson -

• Why is he famous?
• Why is his work significant in Photojournalism?
• Find and upload to your blog some work of theirs
• What Camera/Technique did he use

Before I begin, to me photojournalism is the act of portraying a message or an event through images or photography but this type of journalism is best portrayed with a piece of writing added to it because an image sends out different messages to different people and if the wrong message is portrayed to the viewers of the image then that would not be the proper use of that form of photography.


Henri Cartier Bresson, who i would like to call a pioneer of photojournalism was born on August 22, 1908 in Chanteloup, France. He is famous for his "deceive moment" photographs that portrayed a lot and how he was able to capture these photographs was by waiting just like a game hunter for his prey as one of the photographers who was reviewing his work said for example in one of his famous photographs of a man jumping over a puddle speaks a lot when basing on the things in the picture for example the man jumping over the puddle shows that Europe( basing on the sign post on the top left corner is going into a time or faze of the unknown(http://erickimphotography.com/blog/2011/08/22/10-things-henri-cartier-bresson-can-teach-you-about-street-photography/) and that also explains why his work is significant in photojournalism.

 In order to take this photos, Henri used a device that was highly developed in that era he was living in. He was using a Leica which was a camera made in Germany in 1925 that allowed people to take photos in a short period of time which as well allowed hm to be able to take the photos that he took and also the view finder of the camera was on the left side which allowed him to see with his right eye therefore able to see what he was about to capture and also plan for it.

Introduction to me

 







Hi my name is Timothy and i guess the only device i use to take photographs is my mobile phone which is an iphone 4 and  in terms of photography am interested in pictures that tell a story or portray a hidden message and that is what i hope to learn as well as develop in his course.