Eugène Atget

Who was he?

Eugène Atget was a French Photographer that was widely known for his photographs of the Capital city of France (His hometown) Paris. He started his work in the late 1880s and his work supported art students and architect. Furthermore Eugene started his photography using a large format camera with a wide lense so he could fully capture the essence of the Capital city in detail.

MoodBoard Of His Work

Why did I choose him for my artist reference?

I chose Eugène as his style reminds me of the way pictures were around the time my grandad was growing up. I am aiming to re create this style making my images as close to the original images as possible. Even though his photography is more closely linked to everyday life and the precise architecture of the streets of Paris I believe I can still incorporate parts of his work into my own. I can also branch off his work with the layout of my own images as I can compare my present pictures with those taken in the past and look for any similarities and differences

Below is also a hyperlink that takes you to the MoMA sight where more pieces of his work are visible alongside more background knowledge of him.

https://www.moma.org/artists/229-eugene-atget

Image Analysis

Technical:

The shutter speed used seems to be quite high and quick because of the dark shadow effect that is visible around the outsides of the images. The ISO seems to be relatively low as the image is taken during high levels of light. This contrast of different lighting creates an eerie feeling to the images. This is further emphasised by the lack of people in the image as the street seems to be very desolate

Visual: This seems to be the end of a street leading up to a bank or a building of interest such as a cathedral. The reflection of the light off the

Contextual:

Conceptual:

How Do I Interpretate Origin?

My own interpretation of Origin is in regard to my own beginning. To me the word origin signifies the start of many different subjects

During my project I would like to further my knowledge and photography skills by obtaining a set of images that reflects exactly what it is I am studying. This is going to be through looking back at my family heritage specifically looking at the ancestors in my grandfathers family. This connotes to the project word Origin, as it is focusing on my own origin and how my family together as one has formed today. During this idea I would like to lay out and draw family trees and take pictures of the networks. Essentially then hoping to find out more information about my ancestors and then visiting old sites that hold sentimental value to my family. Another idea i would like to put into action with my findings is posing as my ancestors around buildings to resemble what life would of been like at the time of them being alive. This matters to me as my grandad himself has dementia and is therefore unable to communicate with me about anything to do with his past. I know from prior conversations many years ago however, that we was in Jersey during the time of the occupation and i would really like to get a sense of how that impacted not only his life but my family as a whole. I intend to begin my study this weekend of the 7th of march hopefully looking to visit graveyards and old sites for a photoshoot that summarises my ancestors lives

I would then like to further this idea yet again by posing as my family members in images and re creating them. For my final set of images I will display them in a photobook side by side and write a caption below with certain key points from the photographs for example when they were taken and where also including who’s in the pictures

Lebohang Kganye

A Bit About Her

Lebohang Kganye – is 36 from Johannesburg, South Africa and is interested in self portraiture. Her work is focused mainly on personal history and also collective history of her culture. Looking further back into her family archive. She does this by making creative structures and going to certain locations where her family once was and using certain camera techniques such as double exposure. She treats her work as more of living memories of those close to her. She is further able to attempt to receive a clearer perspective of what life was like for her ancestors. By combining her photography skills with her creative art skills that she learnt after receiving her Master in Fine arts. This allowed her to unite these two talents and make pieces of work that connect to form a strong relationship

Why Am I Studying Her?

Her images connote to a past generation. This is an idea I would like to follow and link my interpretation of the word origin. I believe that her images hold a deeper meaning and show the connection that she has with her past and how she understands the importance of certain movements that have led her to be able to freely live her life.

Below is a hyperlink that goes to her website which can further show the work that goes into her images and the design and format of them.

https://www.lebohangkganye.co.za

Image Analysis

Technical:

Lighting: She uses artificial lighting that is positioned behind the camera so shadows around her are visible. There is a good contrast between the designs that she has made and the shadows because of the colours being black and white.

Looks to also be using a higher aperture with either an automatic ISO or an ISO like 200 as they are shooting in the light. The temperature seems to be quite warm as the light has more of a warm tone

Visual: There are visible cardboard cut outs which were made from the original pictures of her late family. She seems to of placed herself in these images to almost put herself back in touch with her late ancestors. The images are in colour but contain an imagery of black and white. Also the photo gives off more of a cold town with a white light being placed on the roof. This is visible through the shadows created around each cut out

Contextual: The people that have been cut out are the people of her past family. Lebohang is really interested on the life of her past and how people at that time lived. Her work aims to celebrate those who can usually be forgotten through imagery that captures their hard work through the years.

Conceptual: This contemporary piece of work connotes to a deeper meaning than just an image. It aims to produce images that are more of a reflection on a certain time period almost to freeze it in place is that it will never be forgotten and how things in life should not be taken for granted

The definition of Origin: the point or place where something begins, arises, or is derived.

Origin can be perceived as multiple different things, however as my interpretation of origin is aiming to be looking back along my family history and look at my own origin.

Another idea might be looking back and finding out the history and heritage behind important structures such as my house

Mood board

In class in a group of three of us we went through different ideas and created a mind map which helped us all start to develop our ideas and create different aspects and perspectives of the word.

Planning my photoshoot over half term

Beforehand, I would like to conduct some research to get a deeper understanding of my own origin.

I have found old records of my ancestors from their experiences in the war and also where they lived and how they make up me today. Here below are some of the records of my grandfather when we has at school:

In the bottom left my grandads name is visible from when he went to the school Victoria College. These records shows that he attended the school and also that he was sports captain and also part of the first XI for Cricket.

During half term I am aiming to get a photoshoot done that is tailored to not just him but his parents as well. From my own research as well i have found the old house that he used to live at and also the graveyard of which his parents are buried and where he is planned to be buried.

In St Clements Graveyard, both my Great grandparents are buried and i would like to visit this plot to look more into the heritage and the connection between my family that is the reason i am here today,

What would I like to achieve during this photoshoot?

During this photoshoot my main aim is to capture the essence of how their life was and how that has had a direct impact on who i am and also how im not just directly connected to one of these people but more how i have a little piece of all of them together which makes me different to how they were but also so closely related.

Aiming to capture images of old houses that they stayed in and graveyards also hoping to feature registration cards and those who i cannot photography hopefully aiming to obtain information of them that I can turn into a small paragraph to hopefully look into sitting next to the image when displaying it and telling more of a story