Badgers Blog

 

For this task I had to ‘appropriate’ (take (something) for one’s own use, typically without the owner’s permission) and edit it to create it my own. I was able to be quite controversial in this assignment, and was in fact encouraged to do so, which I enjoyed, particularly with the image of Pope Francis.

The image of the duck was one I took myself, I spent a couple of days finding something I could photograph then change to look different or out of place in post production, and found a duck from the student night called ‘Quack’. I placed it in front of my computer gaming keyboard and mouse to initially make it look out of place, then added in some ‘clip art’ looking waves onto the bottom of the image. This picture actually makes me feel uncomfortable, and I wouldn’t necessarily say I liked the picture, probably because of the association of water being dangerous to computers etc, but consider it more thought provoking due to how random and odd the image is.

The second image of Henry VIII is one I enjoyed making. Upon the initial reading of the brief for this assignment I immediately had the idea of taking an old victorian monarch and applying some modern day ‘swag’ to him/her. After choosing Henry and finding my image, I proceeded to use Photoshop to add some shutter shades, and cut out some graffiti of his name. Looking hilariously out of place, the graffiti is something that nobody would ever associate with the era that the monarch comes from, which provokes thought and also enjoyment.

Finally the third image of Pope Francis is definitely my favourite. I enjoy controversial images such as this one, and I was inspired by street artist Banksy with this piece. Banksy creates quite controversial images, often centred around war or conflict, a personal favourite of mine being a dove wearing a bullet proof vest and hat.

 

 

For this assignment I struggled for quite a while with an idea of what I could do. I asked my class mates what their ideas were but nothing was really inspiring me for this project. So, unsure of what to do, I began just taking my camera out with me whenever I could and just taking pictures. I was taking random photographs of household objects such as keys and door handles, when I had the thought of trying to spell the word ‘home’ by framing parts of our kitchen in such a way that depicted the letters of the word. This took some creativity, and once I had experimented with what light I had to play with, I began looking for what I could use to create each letter. The first image, or the ‘H’ of ‘home’ came to mind pretty quickly. I enjoy the fact that the middle part of the letter is missing, almost causing a viewer to think about what the hidden word might be in these pictures, without giving too much away. I really enjoyed showing this set of images to people I knew to see if they saw the word ‘home’ or if they simply thought they were random images. A few noticed the spelling, and most kicked themselves when I explained afterwards what I had done.

I enjoy the second image as although the in is overflowing and messy, it creates a sort of irregular circle which I used as my letter ‘o’. the different colours and reflections from the harsh ceiling lights are aesthetically pleasing, and create a very contrasting brightness to the otherwise grey images above and below it.

The third image is probably the most imaginative of the four. I struggled to think of a natural ‘m’ to take a picture of, without creating it myself by laying out items, it took a fair amount of pacing around the room before the lines on the radiator caught my eye. I enjoy how creative it is and think it works well as the ‘m’ of the word.

I had a similar issue with finding myself an ‘e’. Almost using the criss crosses of a tea towel, I noticed the Spotify sticker on the fridge. Slicing it down the middle, I created a white ‘e’ with the outline of the logo against the grey sticker.

After I had my four images, I used Lightroom to experiment with how I presented the four images as a word. After trying out multiple templates, I decided that vertically was the best way to portray them, so as to make the fact that they spell out a word that little bit less obvious.

 

 

 

Obviously the brief for this assignment details that we must include six images in our submission, so I decided to include two of the pictures I took while trying to come up with ideas, as I think it shows the steps I made and the journey I took in coming to my final idea.

I thoroughly enjoy the lighting on both of these images, the metallic surfaces of the keyhole and keychain both reflect away from the camera, leaving an array of colours on the surfaces captured.

 

Joe’s Photography Tryptic

 

 

Peg photo – Initially tried to get a sharper edge on this picture, I didn’t have much light to play with in the shot I chose, but I actually liked the blurred edge, I feel it works well with the shadow cast. Appreciate it the same way you can appreciate a shallow depth of field picture.

Football stickers – I know we weren’t supposed to buy anything but these were six pence per packet so me and some friends bought loads just for the hell of it. I threw them across the desk and that was how they landed.  I did make a backdrop for all three pictures, but after shooting I found I preferred the higher angle closer shots, particularly for the first two images.

The plastic can holder I found on the floor in town, I thought the translucency would have a nice effect on low light levels, letting some through and reflecting some to give a shiny feel to it.