I didn’t like this image cropped or the blue in the background. I filled the space by selecting areas, clicking delete, then OK. This fills the space to create more of the area around it.
I also experimented with AI generative fill, and it created a more realistic look.
I still don’t know if I am going to use more black and white or colour, so I have edited some with both options
I have also experimented cropping this image because I feel like there is too much in one image, however I will see once it is laid out with all the other images.
Colour vs black and white
This is the image I attempted to create, replicating Alec Soth’s. It was difficult to make sure the reflection was in the right place, and not get myself in the frame. I can’t decide if I prefer colour, or black and white.
Alec Soth’s image
I chose to use black and white or not dependant on the emotion. Here my grandmother is looking at an old photo of my grandfather, creating a melancholic mood. I decided to use monochrome to fit this mood.
I photographed other areas around the house, such as the garden where my grandfather used to spend a lot of time in.
I have experimented with AI generative fill in photoshop again with this image because I didn’t like the background and wanted to see if it could create a better composition.
This was the best outcome
Overall, I am happy with my editing for this first shoot. I will take more photos and retake others after learning where I went wrong. Editing these has also inspired me to take photos outside the house, where my grandfather loved, as well as possibly remaking old family photos.
I only ended up with three images from this camera that I felt were good enough to be used in my photobook. I want to make sure I have the best image selection, so I will use most of my images from my digital camera. However I like these images, and the depth they have, as well as the look it gives, relating to my archives. They aren’t the highest quality either, but I don’t think this matters too much because I am attempting to make a nostalgic book, that tells a story and seeks into my grandparents relationship.
For this photoshoot I used my Papershoot camera, which is a digital camera that replicates a film cameras. I used 3 of the different colour settings: black and white, orange tint and blue tint. I wanted to experiment with it so I can create photos that look old, linking with the archived. It is difficult to know the exposures and light because the camera is basic, so there is no way of controlling shutter or aperture. I found some of my images were over-exposed so I adjusted the lighting manually in the room. The viewfinder is closer than the lens, so I had difficulty working out the composition.
Example of over exposure
I pulled the curtains to try and control this but it was still top bright – in my next shoot with this camera I will close the curtains fully
Contact sheet
Selected images – flagging
From my selection:
GREEN – best images
YELLOW – I could use but they aren’t the best compared to my digital images
I have photographed some of the archived photos I might want to use for my photobook. I made sure to use the ones that I will present a change in, and am able to recreate or link with my new images.
Black and Whites
Coloured
France
More coloured (early 2000s)
I want to focus my photobook on the change in my grandmother and grandfathers relationship over time, and how time affects it. These images are around the time my grandfather was diagnosed with cancer, passing away in 2005. Showing the different time periods in the archives presents the change, and how death and time affects people and their image.
Overall, I am not going to use all of these images, however a few of them will work with the images I take, and link.
Alec Soth, born in 1969, is known to be a rather shy individual, who finds it awkward asking people to be in his shoots. This may be the reason why he is led to photograph loners and dreamers. He has collaborated with his seven year old daughter, whilst additionally photographing innovative images of strangers and even landscapes in America.
He chose to predominantly photograph people after planning to study staged photography. Diane Arbus had been a big inspiration for Soth, who captures unique black and white portraits.
Diane Arbus
He became wider known when he won worldwide artist recognition in 2004, for the publication of Sleeping By The Mississippi. This was a self printed book, comprising amazing portrays of landscapes/ interiors whilst he was on road trips along the river in Mississippi. He wanted to present feelings of isolation and neglect.
Photo from Sleeping By The Mississippi
I Know How Furiously Your Heart Is Beating
This is one of Soth’s most recent photobooks that he took the name from a line in the Wallace Stevens’ poem “The Gray Room,”. These images were taken all over the world, and are quite varied due to the fact they are based on a certain place or population.
‘Soth’s portraits and images of his subject’s surroundings involve an enquiry into the extent to which a photographic likeness can depict more than the outer surface of an individual, and perhaps even plumb the depths of something unknowable about both the sitter and the photographer.‘ – mackbooks.co.uk
Soth took around a years break from travelling and photography. When he returned to it, he decided to revisit the basic elements of photography. He moved to photographing people and their interiors, from capturing the epic landscapes of America.
He focused on photographing just interior spaces, even if it meant each image was different.
“my goal was the same: to simply spend time in the presence of another beating heart.” – Alec Soth
Analysis
This is the series of his that I have been inspired by. I want to capture my grandmother in this style. The image above especially caught my eye because he uses depth of field, and his foreground and background to create a unique and intriguing image to many of his others. The vivid colours that link, such as the sage and deep greens, create the overall feeling of the picture, reflecting the woman’s personality.
I think this will be hard to replicate, so I might have to take a different approach, however I will look at Soth’s other images to bring me to that conclusion.
Photoshoot Plan
What? I will still photograph my grandmother but I will focus less on objects, but more her and her in her space. I will photograph her in a few spaces such as the garden, her lounge, her bedroom chair. I might also photograph her looking at the archived images I will include in my photobook.
When? again I will go just after midday to make sure that the light is bright as I am going to attempt to take a photo of her through glass in her chair.
How? I will use my DSLR camera for this shoot because Soth’s images are quite modern. I won’t be able to choose the light with aperture using a film or polaroid camera. I might need to use a tripod depending on the light, and shutter speeds.
HIs portraits can be quite uncanny, placing his subjects alone stood in an open space. I might take some like these to experiment, however I might not use them in my photobook.
I quite like the use of mirrors – It also links with Goldin’s mirror images
Exploring many themes such as, intimacy, AIDS/HIV crisis, LGBTQ, and the opioid epidemic, Nancy Goldin is an American activist photographer. Born in 1953, she has created a lot of popular work, including The Ballad of Sexual Dependency (1986). Documenting the post0Stonewall, gay subculture, the monograph incorporates her family and friends. This included addicts, hustlers, transgenders and prostitutes. Redefining photography, she explored what it could be and do.
Goldin seems to be an outgoing character, standing out from the normal group of photographers in her time. In an interview with The Guardian, they stated that she had a coyote hung in her house. She enjoys the fact that it startles her visitors, explaining, “It likes the light”. The coyote is possibly a metaphor for the ‘most celebrated and controversial photographers of our time’. Goldin doesn’t follow the rules, and typically decides to live on the edge of society.
Material –
From the age of fifteen, she began using polaroid cameras, provided to her by her teacher. She progressed, and started taking monochrome images of her friends in a transgender community in Boston. She also experimented with Cibachrome prints; prints made using a photographic printing process in which colour dyes embedded in the paper are selectively bleached away (destroyed) to form a full-colour image. Her medium then developed to presenting images on slideshows after she moved to New York. These were partnered with music by punk rock venues.
By experimenting with several mediums for her photography, she is able to present her works emotions and story. I like the idea of polaroids and prints because it adds texture, context and the overall look becomes more interesting than just basic digital images.
Goldin – Cibachrome prints
Analysis
This image represents how her images are no the typically ‘perfect’ edit. Although this image is full of strategic techniques, mostly using light, she has kept grain, very dark areas/ over exposed areas, and left the image at a slant. This adds to the documentary style of Goldin’s work. The imperfections in the image are what make it distinctive, and different to other photographers such as Alec Soth who perfects his lighting. In the photo she has used the bright beam of light to illuminate the front of the girl, creating a sharp shadow on her hips. She may be looking at body image in this photo, using the light and shadow to represent how the girl wishes to look, whilst facing the mirror. Goldin has left the photo with room for interpretation. The fact there is a large amount of shadow and dark space means that the window and the girls face are the focal point of the image. This photo is a key representation of how light is one of the most important matters in photography, and I will make sure to use it effectively.
My shoot
For my shoot inspired by Nan Goldin, I am going to try and use her distinctive style of vibrant and black and white images. Although I can’t capture as expressive portraits, I will try to remake her style with what I have.
What? I will take documentary images in the style of Goldin of my grandmother
Why? I want to portray her earlier life with my grandfather compare with now. I want to create images that are interesting, rather than plain/basic photos.
How? I will use my DSLR camera to capture most of the images. I will also bring a film camera and polaroid to get different mediums, adding to the nostalgic sense. I might also bring some studio lighting with me. I could experiment with butterfly, Rembrandt and split face shadow lighting to add intensity to some of the images.
When? I am going to do the shoot just after midday because it is when the light beams through her windows. I want to make sure I have a good amount of natural lighting to light up her face and the room, and possibly use as backlighting.
Link to theme? By exploring her and my grandfathers past I am seeking into their lives. I am now observing the change that time has caused, the death of the grandfather, and my grandmothers present life without him.
In this study I want to explore the change in my grandparents relationship over time, affected by age, new beginnings, and death. This is a personal study for me because it is seeking into my family’s past, however I am excited to learn more about their past and use this to document it. I am going to start my project by finding and photographing archived images/ documentation. Then I will begin photographing my gran in her environment and where she used to love with my grandfather. I also want to remake photos of my mum and gran and compare the two images. I think this photo would be my choice to remake.
I also want to edit the archived images in the style of Carolle Bénitah and Jessa Fairbrother to show the loss and passing of people in the old photos, or focus the image on my gran/ grandad. I want to present my images in the form of a photobook, whether created through blurb, or a handmade book. I want to include polaroids and prints to add to the thickness and give the book more of a story through it.
I am interpreting the theme of seek and observe through this by looking into the story of my family’s past, and observing it in the present day. By seeking into this story I am also learning more about the history of my parents and grandparents. Artists that I have been inspired by so far are Alec Soth, Nan Goldin, Tom Wood and Vanley Burke.
For photographing places, such as my grans house or Beauport where my grandfathers ashes were spread, I want to make sure I have basic images. This means moody lighting for inside, and natural for outside, with no one in the frame. I feel like this could be used as images in between more interesting ones.
For objects I may bring some into the studio, or capture them in my gran’s house as they are. I may need to change the lighting, to make the images more intriguing.
When photographing my gran, I want to make sure the lighting on her face is controlled. I might use split lighting to make a more interesting composition. She has a lot of light coming through her windows, so I will make sure not to over expose images. I will take full body, shoulder and full face images. This gives me a range to work from and decide which compositions are best. I also want to focus on areas like her hands. I find hands have stories in them, due to their textures. I feel I could present emotion and meanings through images of her hands, possibly using macro filters.
For editing I will use Lightroom classic for basic edits, then take them into photoshop for further editing. I may also edit images in real life with a needle and thread for Carolle Bénitah inspired edits.
I have chosen to take this page as inspiration for my project. By collection images of my grandmother in a documentary style, I can present her, and her surrounding space in a way that links to the archived images I will use.
I am going to make shoots in the style of some of the photographers on this page. I will try a few different styles to begin with, and then decide which I like the most.
