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Union: Editing – George Blake

For my shoots they will be characterised as either Blurred or Candid in terms of how they where photographed. As mentioned in the previous post, what constitutes either category is the following:

Blurred images being inspired by my impressionist artist study, Kyohyun Nam. What classifies to this, is that the subject of the image is either motion blurred or intentionally distorted by me.

Candid images being inspired by my social realist artist study Robert LeBlanc. What classifies to this, is that subject of image is photographed regularly within an environment. This will attribute to strangers I photograph, peers who are the subjects of my images or landscapes around the Island.

Examples of experimentation with my shoots can be found in shoots such as photoshoot Room 1, were I made variants to my already edited images to produce an interesting contrast from black and white to coloured (this is exampled within my magazine construction post where I show my arranging of images). Another example can also be found on my magazine construction post where I had taken a grainy black and white image of myself and experimented with it to produce work, inspired by my artist studies of collaging and montaging. Other examples include the creating of ‘advertisements’ out of some of my images where I experimented with the arrangement of text and images, this also is applicable to the front cover, the music section of the magazine too, also Is an example of experimentation within my project as I had to select and arrange what I thought would make an interesting collage of vinyl covers. Furthermore, experimentation is what led me to be able to produce my remade vinyl cover as by trying out different tools on the app – snapseed – I was then able to create an image which I find resembles it well.

Manifesto:

For these images I primarily shot on a fairly slow shutter speed to be able to produce the blur effect of my images, for ones taken in my room It averaged at around 1”6 With an F-stop of F11 and automatic ISO. These images will fit into the category of Blurred.

Before:

Editing:

For these images I applied the same process, with the only difference between them deciding the colour via white balance and temperature.

For the basic edits I made minor adjustments to the contrast and brightness, sharpening and minor tonal editing to add some depth. Once this was done then added a grainy film filter and then made my colour with the white balance and temperature.

After:

Manifesto:

For the outdoor shoot at the car park, the shutter speed for these images fluctuated between 0”5 – 1/60, with the average being around 1”, with an F-stop changing between 4.5 – 6.3 with an automatic ISO also. The aim for this shoot was to create images inspired by my impressionist artist study but also make my own take on his methods through both still backgrounds on some photographs. This shoot is apart of the Blurred category.

Before:

Editing:

For these images I applied all the same settings, due to the constant same source of lighting in all the images. Choosing black and white, I found this really brought out the detail of the photoshops with the blur as it makes it more interesting to look at and depict what is going on.

After:

Before:

Manifesto – These images fit inside to the Candid category.

Editing:

Little editing was done to these as with my camera, it has pre-built in filters, with this one being the ‘Toy’ filter. Other minor adjustments came with cropping.

After:

Manifesto:

With these images having been unintentionally glitched, they created a unique distorted image which mixed with the grainy texture of the vintage digital camera I took them on. This shoot is apart of the Candid category.

Before:

Editing:

Through Snap-seed, I added onto the glitched effects through altering their white balance and temperature making them more rich in colour.

After:

Manifesto:

For this shoot, I wanted to continue with the same theme of fashion with the balaclava and merge that with depictions of youth culture. Within this I did it at a variety of locations at St Ouens Bay. Using a Shutter speed varying from between 30″ – 1/200 for images within this shoot I aimed to try and create a variety of image types with both long and short exposures. This shoot applies to both Blurred and Candid categories.

Black and white images:

Before:

Editing:

For these images, I made a it so that the camera flash was still prevalent despite being converted into black and white. To do so I made the image portions of the image less brighter and increased the contrast to create that shadowy depth that can be found with flash photos.

After:

Before:

Editing:

Adjusting the image to have a more warm and vintage grainy look, I did this through he basic settings.

From that, I was then able to convert it into black and white with some grain and then adjust its tint and temperature through the white balance to recreate the yellow of the original photograph.

After:

Manifesto:

This small additional shoot counts towards the Candid category due to it falling under the social realist style of images I am inspired by. These images are collected from across my shoots where I would additionally get some photographs of the suns rise and fall.

Before:

Editing:

After:

Manifesto:

With this photoshoot being a large one around town, I edited a lot of images that were in the same style with the same settings to simplify the process and to create a matching aesthetic between images. This shoot is primarily in the Candid category with some Blurred category images.

Before:

Editing:

Adjusting the base layers of the image, I was able to add more depth to the subjects within the composition such as the mirror, barber and background objects. Making the image warmer, this was to create a soft blend to the lighter colours such as beige and white but also to add some contrast to darker colours such as the bookshelf and mirror.

After this, I then added a grain filter to add a vintage aesthetic to the image. This I found worked well to outline the barber in the foreground too from the background.

Adding some more warmth through the white balance, I feel this added to it again to create outlines of the subjects.

with other images taken within the same lighting conditions, as well as me wanting to create them to fit the same style, I then applied this to some other photos.

After:

As a result they turned out like this:

Before:

Editing:

With the project centred around union, i thought I’d include some Union street images in my project. Due to the image being fairly oversaturated I aimed to distort the brightness to make it have that old digital camera effect.

adding a warmer temperature through white balance this was to create a more richer nostalgia aesthetic.

From this I then applied these settings to the other Union Street signs I photographed.

After:

Before:

Editing:

With these images all being of buildings and monuments around town, framed in the same way, I applied the same edits across them.

Adjusting the images with the base settings I was then able to add a vintage film filter which added grain and low saturation the images.

after:

Before:

Editing:

For these Images I applied the following settings to create a more warmer overall appearance.

By then applying a grain filter, This helped to create a stronger contrast between the silhouettes of the subjects in the images against the strong sources of natural sunlight which produced shadows to further add some depth to the image.

After:

Black and white images of people around town:

Before:

Editing:

For these Images I applied the following settings to create more of a tonal contrast between the dark and light areas within the images. With a lot of natural light and shadows being casted within the images, I aimed to heighten their presence through the contrast and ambiance.

After:

Manifesto:

With this photoshoot, my attempts were to create the ‘Never Enough’ Album cover by Daniel Caesar. With the original inspiration being a blurry photograph made with a long shutter-speed on what I believe to be a vintage digital camera, this image falls into the category of Blurred. For this image in particular, I set my camera’s shutter-speed to around 1/30.

Inspiration Image:

Before:

Editing:

With this image in particular requiring a lot of editing to match the original, once I had made the initial edits, I had to repeatedly darken it through an exposure brush to replicate the original image.

Here was when I repeatedly used the exposure brush to darken certain areas ensuring to keep it as accurate to the inspiration image.

After:

Manifesto:

These images are classed as Candid. For these images, I wanted to replicate this image aesthetic of another musician, Malcolm Todd. Although not attempting to recreate his album cover, I did like the colour, texture and tone of his work.

Before:

Editing:

After:

Manifesto:

These images fall into the category of Candid. Taken in my room, I wanted to create a bright and contrasting atmosphere within these images, so in order to do this I relied on my camera flash instead of my room light, this shoot is to focus on how music can represent identity and unite people through what they enjoy.

Before:

Editing:

After:

Manifesto:

These images fall into both categories of Candid and Blurred. For these images I wanted to incorporate some more blurred images, However i did make use of some candid photographs to contribute to other parts of my project such as landscapes and self-portraits to reflect identity. These images were taken on a shutter-speed ranging from 1/30 and 1/50 to 1/200 to 1/250.

Before:

Editing:

For these images I wanted to bring more of a focus into the reflection of the sunglasses so I aimed to achieve this through the following settings to bring darken it some more. By increasing the warmth too, this was to add more vibrancy to the rest of the images I applied these settings to.

Adding a grain filter too, this was to hopefully add some sharpness to define out my reflection more whilst also creating a vintage aesthetic.

After:

Before:

Editing:

Through these settings, the aim was to try and create images that had a cold, distorted texture. To achieve this I used contrast and saturation to bring out the images colour.

By then adding a grain filter which contained highlights of blue this was to give the images a cooler toned aesthetic.

After:

Union: Manifesto – George Blake

For my Photoshoots, I will base how I create my images on the basis of my 2 chosen art movements of Impressionism and Social Realism and the artists I have studied, associated them, with their individual styles. To simply define the images in a photoshoot I will fit them into either a Blurred or Candid Category.

With the Blurred category being any images featuring:

  • motion-blur
  • long shutter-speed
  • direct inspiration from chosen artist – Kyohyun Nam. – e.g. subject focus.

With the Candid category being any images featuring:

  • clear image clarity
  • short shutter-speed
  • documentative imagery – e.g. not focused on a certain individual person but instead environments and the many people within them.
  • direct Inspiration from chosen artist – Robert LeBlanc. – e.g. subject focus.

Union: Photoshoot/contact sheet – George Blake

For the amount of Images I took, I find it will be to much of an investment of my time to sort through, rate and flag my images. It is for these reasons, I wish to only display my collection of images I produced into their allocated photoshoots to show the extent of my work.

Due to the images being intentionally blurry it is hard to assess which are either good or bad, with the majority of the images being ones that I would or wouldn’t use. For this reason I will instead just display my contact sheet images.

Due to the extent of images I took, and the Same factors of the images above, I chose these depending on what I thought looked unique and did not seem too similar to each other in appearance.

For my social realist images, I took these images in town, capturing the different environments and people as well as using a variety of camera angles and techniques to produce, what I find some interesting images. A small inclusion into this was some blurry photographs such as the intended ones above.

For these images, I decided to produce a mix of impressionist and social realist inspired images with both blurry and sharp outcomes. With the aim for these images to be turned into magazine pages, a mix of image types would create an impressive composition and show a variety in the mise-en-scene of the magazine.

Along side other images I produced that explored more-so into the fashion aspects of what union can define, I wanted to produce images about another subject I found can unite people, Music. With this shoot, It primarily focuses on music and how it can define identity, another subject I chose to explore Union’s definitions.

This shoot was also made to explore music, as within this shoot I chose to take pictures at Noirmont to recreate an album cover. However I also took some more photos to cover identity and fashion as spare images I could implement into my work.

Taking some photos down at the harbour, I wanted to produce some more blurred images as I felt I had become distracted by doing fashion-inspired social realist photos and wanted to bring a balance with some more work inspired by impressionism.

Union: planning + Statement of intent – George Blake

For my project, I want my work to focus on presenting the theme of ‘union‘ through a blend of Impressionism and social realism inspired images. Although different, similarities can be found between the 2 ‘Isms’ with that being of documenting an experience: Whether it be a memory such as with Impressionism or a point in time like with social realism.

I also wish to take on some creative influence from my artist studies into collaging and montaging and create some images inspired by artists I have studied in those topics.

Outlined structure:

For my project, I want to present the theme of ‘union’ through the subject-matter of Youth culture, identity and fashion. With photography being a way to present creativity and identity, I want to show this through images of things I associate to or present myself through things that inter-cross with each other, such as with clothes, music, etc. With the art movements of Impressionism and social realism, being my chosen studies, I will create images, inspired by how my artist studies created their takes on both movements. From the Impressionist paintings that inspired the blurred images from Kyohyun Nam and to the skate culture of LA that started Robert LeBlanc’s photography career of environmental documentation. With the subject of Identity being able to be expressed through many outlets, such as with fashion and music, these can unite people like the youth for example, to associate their identities through trends and styles.

It is from this I find that focusing on Youth, identity and fashion, I can create what will be an interesting synopsis of what ‘union’ can define. Another source of inspiration for this project comes fashion and Skate magazine brands such as Carhart WIP. In their magazine series, they offer a good example of what I’d like to replicate in my own work: combining artistic elements of both ‘isms’, they provide a voice to young artists and hobbyists to express their own experiences whilst also incorporating other topics I have mentioned: identity and youth culture. By presenting my work in a magazine I feel this will be a good way to form an organised representation of the Identity, Fashion choices and youth culture I align myself with. Through this I find I will be able to effectively depict the theme of ‘Union’ in my own way.

Carhartt WIP Magazine:

Other Magazine influences:

skate/fashion brands –

e.g. – Always Do What You Should Do, Palace, HUF, Supreme, Vans, Adidas, etc.

Looking at these magazines, I will aim to create images, inspired from how they are taken, edited and organized on a page to create an effective magazine layout which will look good when presented. For my photoshoots I wish to photograph in areas usually associated with youth culture such as car parks, outdoors, bedrooms, cars, etc. Taking from other sources of inspiration such as music albums, I wish to incorporate this into it as well through recreating album covers or featuring them within my work.

With magazine pages I have looked at for inspiration having varying design aesthetics and contrasting colours, I wish to incorporate this into my work.

1st Artist Studies:

To create the affect of my impressionist artist study’s images, when taking photographs of myself, I will have assistance by someone who will shake the camera for me, whilst I have the images set on a timer. For other images where I am not needed to have a blur effect on the images, I will use a timer to take images. The same applies for social realist images I wish to include myself in.

2nd Artist Studies:

For these style of images, I will produce regular portrait shots and alter them through editing with photoshop to create or replicate a piece of work that is inspired by their work. Other aspects from the influence of collaging and montaging will come from image placement.

Union – Research and analysis

What is union?

Union is the act of joining two or more things together to form a single entity. The end goal of union is to often achieve strength, harmony, or a shared purpose that may be difficult to attain individually. There are two main types of union:

  • Personal union – two people may come together in marriage, representing the union of their lives and combining them into one.
  • Social union – signifies mutual cooperation, where individuals or groups work together for collective benefits. Social union focuses on emphasising commonalities over differences from people who may share a similar belief, value or goal.

Symbolism of unity:

The idea of union often symbolises harmony and peace, strength through togetherness and the formation of a single entity from multiple parts.

The etymology behind union:

The word “union” comes from the Latin word “unionem” which means “oneness, unity or a single entity”.

Initially, the term “union” referred to the state of being united or combined into one. However, over time, the definition expanded to describe specific forms of unity such as political unions or labour unions. Despite this, the root idea of the word has remained consistent throughout its history, and is known as the concept of oneness and joining.

Mood board of union in photography:

Mind map of union:

Art movements & ‘isms’:

In order for me to gain a deeper understanding on the theme union, I decided to research some of the most known art movements for union throughout history. They refer to styles or trends in art that are defined by specific approaches or ideologies.

  1. Renaissance (14th – 17th century)

This movement focused on realism, perspective and human anatomy. Artists aimed for realistic depictions of the human form and everyday life using careful observation, as well as using light and shadow to create depth and volume in their work. Some key artists featured in the movement are Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelango and Raphael.

2. Baroque (17th – 18th century)

This movement was involved with emotional art with strong contrasts of light and shadow. It has been described as “grand” and “dramatic”. Some key artists featured in this movement are Caravaggio, Rembrandt and Peter Paul Rubens.

3. Romanticism (18th – 19th century)

This movement was focused on emphasising emotions, nature and individualism. Artists such as Fransisco Goya depicted the power and beauty of nature and often portrayed it as overwhelming or spiritual.

4. Fauvism (Early 20th century)

This movement primarily focused on bold and vibrant colours and simplified forms to convey emotions rather than to accurately represent reality. A key artist from this movement is Henri Matisse – leader of the movement.

5. Pop Art (1950s – 1970s)

Mainly celebrated popular culture, mass media and consumerism using imagery from advertising and celebrities. It aimed to blur the boundaries between “high” art and “low” culture, making art more accessible and reflective of contemporary life. Artists used bright, flat and vibrant colours to mimic the aesthetic of advertisements. The most famous artists from this movement are Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.

Other examples of isms:

I decided to research the following 3 “isms” in more depth and detail as I am most intrigued by the concepts behind them. I would like to touch on these three, as well as the isms I listed previously, in my project of union as I understand that they provide cultural and historical contexts, and they will help ground my project within a broader historical framework. I can also engage with the philosophical ideas that shaped artistic movements, which I think is an important element within this project because it will also allow the viewer of my work to think critically about how specific concepts influence artistic choices as well as cultural narratives.

Minimalism (Mid 20th century – present):

Minimalism in photography is an artistic approach that focuses on simplicity and clarity within an image. It emphasises the idea of “less is more”, and aims to create powerful imagery with minimal components such as space, colour and shapes. The ,main goal of minimalism is to evoke emotions in the image by highlighting a subject and convey a sense of tranquility. Some key principles of minimalist photography are

  • simplicity – reducing visual clutter to keep the image pretty empty and only including a few key elements.
  • negative space – helps isolate the subject which enhances its visual impact.
  • use of lines and geometry – the use of clean and geometric lines add a structure to the image and excentuate the minimalist aesthetic.

Some famous minimalist photographers:

  • Michael Kenna – known for his minimalist black and white landscapes with haunting compositions that create a strong contrast and add a dramatic mood to his work.
  • Edward Weston – captured organic forms and natural objects in a minimalist style with dull settings in order to emphasise the objects.
  • Fan Ho – celebrated for geometric urban photography in Hong Kong.

Expressionism (Early 20th century – present):

Expressionism is an artistic movement in photography where the photographer seeks to convey emotional experiences and subjective perceptions rather than depicting objective reality. Rooted in the broader Expressionist art movement in the early 20th century, this approach focuses on using photography as a medium to express mood, intensity and personal interpretation for the viewer to engage with. The origin of expressionism emerged in Germany in the 1900s, influencing the art and literature in response to rapid urbanisation and the anxieties of modern life. It aims to emphasise personal and emotional depth by manipulating light, composition and perspective.

Some key characteristics of expressionist photography are listed below:

  • emotional intensity – artists convey loneliness and existential fear through their images
  • experimental techniques – double exposure, photomontage and unconventional cropping enhance emotional depth as well as ambiguity
  • symbolism and metaphor – expressionist photography often uses things like broken mirrors, decaying structures or dark landscapes to represent their personal psychological states.

Conceptualism (1960s – present):

Conceptualism in photography is where the idea behind the photograph takes precedence over its aesthetic. In this specific style, the photograph by the artist will serve as a means of conveying an intellectual message, rather than being an aesthetically pleasing image. This concept challenges traditional notions of representation, instead, it focuses on how thoughts and feelings are communicated to the viewer through the image.

Some core ideas of conceptual photography:

  • The meaning or emotions behind the image outweigh the visual appliance – encouraging the viewer to interact with with the image deeper
  • Photographers often use symbolism or staged scenes to express abstract ideas or emotions
  • The process of creating the photograph is often just as significant as the final image itself

UNION: Mood Board & Mind Map

Union:

According to Oxford Languages the definition of union is the following:

  1. action of joining together or the fact of being joined together, especially in a political context.
  2. a society or association formed by people with a common interest or purpose.

Synonyms For Union:

Joining, Uniting, Merging, Association, Combine, Mixture, Blending, alliance, group, club, society, partnership, combine, pairing, wedding, marriage, protests, agreement.

Antonyms Of Union:

Seperation, Parting, Divorce, Discord, Conflict, Rivalry, Isolation, Disintegration, Division.

Initial Mood Board

Above is my initial mood board, I commenced with finding images which show Union. I was looking for images which showed connection, culture, relationships, groups and identity, when selecting which photos to use in my mood board I carefully chose photographs which had symbols of union, like holding hands and crowds / protests and images which aesthetically just appealed to me. This mood board is a good starting point for my project as it helps me decifer which category of union I want to choose narrowing it down to a smaller group of ideas. From this mood board I will go on to find a main focus point and create a more specific mood board, targeted to the theme of choice, gathering more inspiration.

Mind Map

Once I had completed my initial mood board, I then went onto making a mind map which was narrowed down to 3 sections, narrowing down my choices from the initial mood board. The three sections which I branched out to when making my mind map was: Relationships, Cultural Union and Fashion & Identity. These 3 topics stood out to me when looking at photographs of all kinds of union in the initial mood board. Relationships was one of my first ideas when I initially found out the theme was union, it sprung to mind quick because relationships wether they are friends, family, teams or a romantic relationship, they are appparent and clear aspects which show unity and fit in perfectly with the theme of union. Even though relationships is an interesting path to go down, I want to focus on something more abstract and experimental, challenging views and provoking thoughts. So the other two themes under the category of union which stuck out to me were Fashion & Identity and Cultural union, these categories stood out more to me, as I could explore how fashion can be used for self expression including cultural backgrounds and etc. In conclusion, I have decided to combine both Culutural Union with Fashion & Identity because I think that they perfectly blend, showing how cultural expression can be shown in fashion and how they both work together to showcase a persons identity and unity in the world.

Final Mood Board

Above is my final mood board, this mood board is focused on fashion & identity as well as cultural union. In the centre of the mood board, in big, I have 2 main images which are what style and theme this project will mainly consist of. These two photos are taken by photographers: Hassan Hajjaj and Omar Victor Diop, these two photographers are a huge inspiration for this project and I will take my own images inspired by them. In this mood board you can also see cultural patterns, I have included this in my mood board as an idea of what patterned clothing the models could wear or for any shots of just the cultural pattern. I also have included photos of modern, streetwear clothing because I could show the difference between the past and present or even blend both of the cultural clothing pieces with modern clothing pieces, blending culture with modern fashion showing off diversity and unity. In conclusion my mood board is a great visual representation of my ideas and inspirations of how fashion can join with cultural influences, allowing people to express their identity.

Research on types of isms

cubism

Cubism is a movement that was originated by artists such as Pablo Picasso. It presents photos in unique and abstract ways by breaking objects down into geometric shapes. Cubism is able to show multiple perspectives where it is able to give many viewpoints to the photo giving the viewer an opportunity to interpret the images in the way they think is correct for them. The movement steers away from realistic views and creates images you wouldn’t be able to capture without further disfigurement and so it mostly focusses on shape and structure. Cubism was mainly famous within art however it can also be used in photography in many ways. You can take a singular photo and edit in at a later time using apps such as photoshop or you can take your images in fragmented sections and put the images together in a printed form of multiple images. This would be a collage or montage idea where multiple images are placed down together in a way that isn’t exactly neat to create the effect of fragmentation. photographers such as David Hockney has taken on this cubism approach where he creating collages of multiple photographs that reflected a cubist approach. Within photography, using the camera to create this effect can be very helpful. For example, using multiple exposure can be used to overlap images to show different angles within a single frame to create the fragmented view. Using reflections can also be a key feature of cubism within photography by using mirrors windows or water to create images that show more than one view of the same object.

suprematism

Suprematism was a movement discovered by Kazimir Malevich. The focus is mainly on geometric shapes shown above. (Lines, circles, squares). Suprematism was not a movement that focussed on a traditional focusses of art and photography like objects or people they mostly focussed on abstract forms of photography. One obvious theme in this move,ent was the use of bold and primary colours which can be used to grab someone’s attention and draw the viewer the images. Suprematism is usually referred to the ‘Zero-point’ meaning: representing the void, a state of pure abstraction beyond visual representation. Like Cubism, suprematism is usually associated with art and not generally photography, however there are ways that you can like suprematism with photography. You can frame your images in ways that create compositions between certain shapes the image if framed correctly. The images need to be fairly simple and not overly confusing (eg too many shapes in one image) the use of blank spaces are important so that the images does not become too full or confusing. Using different colours within the photographs will link to the idea that suprematism using bold primary colours. The colours could work to repose the certain strong emotions through the photograph making the viewer feel more attached to the image as they may feel a certain way towards it. Ways to use suprematism through photography’s is to seek out geometric shapes in your usual day so that it becomes more of a natural occurrence and still links to suprematism.

Dadaism

Dadaism was a movement that originated in the early 20th century. Influence for the Dadaism movement was from World War I. Dadaism rejected the usual ideas of art forms where it enhanced ideas on Chas and non traditional art normalities. The movement focusses on random ideas of art where unusual pieces are made from different techniques. This movement had its own influence on photography as well, it was popular as it was a movement that drove away from traditional pieces of art and representations. Rearrangement and disfigurement of images to create the final images is important in Dadaism as it ultimately ends up creating surreal and absurd effects. Dadaism also uses a secondary approach where they take already existing photos from sources such as magazines or newspapers and experiments with them in ways that create unusual but interesting outcomes. Ways to incorporate Dadaism into photography’s is by taking a usual photo yourself or an already existing photograph and then creating a collage effect by cutting up the image into pieces and then rearranging them again. Of you wanted to take more of a digital approach, you can take the image and then edit it on apps such as photoshop where you can copy and paste parts of the images and rearrange it that way.

surrealism

surrealism focuses on dream like imagery where the photograph would show something that wouldn’t be an everyday occurrence. Surrealism was influenced by Sigmund Freud theories and understandings of the unconscious mind wher he explored the meanings of dreams and thoughts that are in people’s head and ultimately down to the unconscious are cannot be controlled. Surrealism works to challenge the boundaries between dreams and realities creating images that may come across as disturbing to the viewer and overall creating engagement and interest. Juxtaposition within this movement is importantly when artists link unexpected objects together which make an unsettling sense towards the image. Incorporating surrealism into photography can occur in many ways. For example, combining scenes with object that would be unusual. Photograph an ordinary object in an unusual setting to create a sense of confusion to the viewer. As shown in the mood board above, the images that link with surrealism don’t involve pop colours like a movement such as suprematism. Instead it focuses more on black and white or low light settings. If the images involved bright colours and objects that it wouldn’t provide the sense of unsettlement as well as it does with the dark and dull theme. Symbolism in surrealism is also important. For example, in the image above, there is an image of an eye. Using an eye in an image it’s important for creating different symbolisms and metaphors as it can suggest deeper or psychological meanings to the images. When creating your own images that link to surrealism, the setting is very important as some environments will work better than others. For example, something like an empty forest would create a more unsettling feel than a busy restaurant.

expressionism

Expressionism is an art movement that originated in the early 20th century. Its aim is to portray emotional experiences of the photographer or the subject rather than just taking images of the natural world. This meant that these photos were able to have deeper meanings and be more engaging. The movement of expressionism include moving away from straightforward photos of reality to a different approach where the viewer is able to have more of their own interpretation where the photographer’s feelings and thoughts played a crucial role.

Unions in photography

Definition in dictionary:

UNION
noun: union; plural noun: unions; noun: the Union

  1. the action of joining together or the fact of being joined together, especially in a political context.“he was opposed to closer political or economic union with Europe”
    Similar: unification uniting joining merging merger fusion fusing

Examples of some types of unions that could be used in photography:

Elaboration on points on the mind map:

Human relationships: This type of union would be examples of connections between other people. this could be holding hands, family moments and groups of friends. To involve this in a photoshoot you could take portrait images of certain subjects together or get in the moment shoots of people interacting together naturally.

Historical Unions: This type of union would be examples of historical buildings, objects or places. This can be used in a photoshoot by focussing on one historical movement and capturing photographs of everything that relates to this moment of time. For example taking photoshoots of the castles around jersey.

Unions between opposites: This type of union shows how opposites are united together and paired together. for examples light and dark are seen as a pair as they are the opposite of each other. This can be used in photography by creating juxtaposing images of both sides of the opposing words and showing how they are able to work together though being complete opposites.

Old and New: This type of union is similar to the opposites as old and new are opposite to each other. This shoot would focus on factors such as buildings where you can photograph old buildings compared to new buildings. This shoot could also be applied to people where you can photograph old photographs and compare them with the person being older in a newer photograph.

Natural Unions: This type of union is a relationship with nature such as plants of animals. This can also be applied to the relationship between human and nature and how the interact.

Union Mind Map – Coco Moore

Ism I am considering to study:

  • Social realism
  • Symbolism
  • Emotionalism
  • Humanism

UNION – definition, ideas and mood board

the action of joining together or the fact of being joined together, especially in a political context.

synonyms to Union:

  • abutment
  • accord
  • agglutination
  • agreement
  • amalgam
  • amalgamation
  • blend
  • centralization
  • combination
  • commixture
  • compound
  • concatenation
  • conciliation
  • concord
  • concurrence
  • confluence
  • congregation
  • conjunction
  • consolidation
  • correlation
  • coupling
  • fusion
  • harmony
  • hookup
  • incorporation
  • intercourse
  • joint
  • junction
  • juncture
  • meeting
  • merging
  • mixture
  • seam
  • symbiosis
  • synthesis
  • tie up
  • tie-in
  • unanimity
  • unification
  • unison
  • uniting
  • unity

Using these synonyms I may be able to formulate different ideas. Just from reading this, I’m already thinking about team sports from the word ‘connection’, as well as items that work well together like certain foods, the environment/ecosystem working together, family and relationships.

Mood Board:

Above I created a mood board with a few Ideas I’m having to do with union. I used a few Ideas given from the exam paper and a few of my own to create it.

Using binary opposites can often be very helpful in generating ideas for a photographic project as it provides a framework.