Contextual Influences in Art & Design- Painting 2 Photography - STEVE.

Looking on at how photography was invented, I had looked at such people as Henry Fox Talbot, Nicephore Niepce, Louis Daguerre and Nadar. 
Niepce was a french inventor who first invented photography, and is most known for producing the worlds first photograph which was of a roof. 

He used a non-lens contact-printing also known as the "heliographic process", but it was destroyed later, the earliest surviving example is from 1825. He used a camera obscure to produce the image on a sheet the size of 20.25 cm. He exposed the paper for 8 hours, which is why sun light illuminates the buildings on both sides. 

Next came Talbot, he created his own photography process called the calotype process. He has been noted as one of the people who has made major contributions to the development of photography. His work led to the creation of the photoglyphic engraving process.

Daguerre was a French artist and was recognized for his invention of the daguerreotype of process of photography, each photograph was a unique image on a highly polished, silver-plated sheet of copper. It was from then on that photography started to be used as a medium for artistic expression. 

In 1839 Talbot invented the negative/positive process which was used a lot in modern photography, he refers to it as photogenic drawings. Nadar started taking photographs in 1853, but first started ariel photography in 1858, and he introduced and pioneered the use of artificial lighting in photographs. 

I used imovie to create this small animation, which I think has my own personal aspect of student life.

Part of task 3 - using a gaussian effect

I have used a Gaussian effect on this image, to make the

 main subject of the photo stand out, and draw you into the image, 

it almost looks like it has a tilt shift effect, although there isn't

 enough going on in the image for this effect to be fulfilled.

part of task 4 - vignette and gaussian effect.

I tried creating a vignette effect on photoshop on my images,

 I think it has worked quite well and gives a nice effect and draws your 

eye into the composition of the image.

task 1 assignment - tom - ARTIST RESEARCH - documentary photography

RICHARD AVEDON.
Richard was one of the best photographers of his time, and he was a world wide fashion photographer, and also worked on documentary photography. He became the lead photographer at vogue magazine photographing the covers etc.. He started to show interest in documentary photography, by doing shoots at mental hospitals, fall of the berlin wall, protesters from the vietnam war. He was then drawn to the working people and made a documentary book called 'In the American West' featuring people who worked as minters, oil field workers, unemployed drifters, and teenagers who were growing up in the West, all still wearing their working clothes, soiled in dirt and oil (personally I think it adds more effect to his pictures and gives a more natural and realistic view on the subject). Avedon also captured photographs of his fathers last 7 years of his life which were all portraits of his face, watching him as he ages.

task 1 assignment - tom - ARTIST RESEARCH - documentary photography

examples of artists work 
Jim Goldberg- Best known for video installations, photography books, creating photo collages and including text within his images (which is written mostly by his subjects) 
He published a book in 1985 called 'Rich and Poor' where he photographed people in their own homes and asked them to write a comment (handwritten) about their lives to co-opperate with the image. His book was seen as one of the greatest photobooks of the 20th century. Another book published by him was 'The Nursing Home Series' which were also combined with a picture and a written comment from the nursing home residents who were captured in the image. The portraits of the individuals and groups of people are all from different social classes, and were asked to write their impression of the image on the actual photograph. The pictures express power and happiness, myths and class and reveal a more individual and private portrayal of the character. 

                                               "To me life seems so messed up but littel by littel                                                                                                  I am trying to over come that. Because it is hard being a woman and to accept me as I am," 1978.

  "MY DREAM IS TO GO TO EUROPE"

"My name is Judy and I am 11 years old. I like the picture. My mom looks like she angry. I don't like the way I look because I look pregnat. My favorite thing is to play with boys," 1979

"This picture says that we are a very emotional & tight family, like the three Musketteers." ... "Poverty sucks but it brings us closer together," 1979.

"People are envious of my wealth. I can't help having been born with money. I try to ignore the hurt and hide it all away where I don't have to deal with it. I can't escape being a Zellerbach," 1983.

What are the images about? 
In his documentary images he tries to capture the lifestyle of the subject. By using them as the main subject and then going on to asking them to write a handwritten note about their personal feelings. This creates the image and makes it have its own unique touch and story. All his pictures have a theme of distraught;abused;hurt;life goals - this reflects through both the picture and the text to create a more strong theme and all off his subjects are dealing with similar lifestyles and situations.
What the images look like
All the images are in black and white and have used natural lighting. All are portraits of people, and in are portrait instead of landscape. The colouring of the photos aren't extremely vivid, but its hard to capture a vivid image without a lot of contrast and without using bright colours. 
How where the images made?
His images were created by a film camera and being developed. And also made by Jim Goldberg asking the subjects for their handwritten comments on the picture itself. 
What format are the photographs displayed in?
A published book - "Rich And Poor" 
Do the photos have a common theme?

rich and poor is the common theme. The photos give a more realistic image by using dead pan, instead of studio, so the subjects are being caught in their own environment which relates back to the theme 'rich and poor'. The theme is a focused investigation into one project. 

Bibliography  

http://www.photonet.org.uk/index.php?pxid=956

http://todayspictures.slate.com/richpoor/

http://www.magnumphotos.com/c.aspx?VP=XSpecific_MAG.BookDetail_VPage&pid=2K7O3R151ZH9

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Goldberg#Artistic_career