mikaelalai-ardn632

[mikaelalai-ardn632]

SUMMATIVE SUBMISSION

Lingering is a series of conceptual photographs that explore my personal feelings with my sense of self. As time passes and I continue to grow up, there a times in which I have felt like I have no purpose in life. Like a ghost, I feel like I am simply drifting through life. Wandering and not leaving a mark on the world. I wanted my series of images to invoke those emotions of feeling like one just lingers, existing, and hoping that this series could help me to understand and process these emotions better. 

Manipulation both in-camera and in post-production is common in the genre of conceptual photography. Photographers purposely use the manipulation to address and achieve images which may not be possible by just taking a photograph. Lingering is a series of conceptual photographs that has been created to be viewed in an online gallery. The photographs in this series work can be viewed as standalone images while still being part of a series. An online gallery is an accessible way for people to experience art. People can view it from the comfort of their own home, making art available to all people especially to those who do not like leaving their home like myself. I am hoping that my work could help inspire people who also feel like they may not have a sense of purpose. 

I was initially inspired by photographer Chiron Duong and the movement of his images that has become his established photography style.[1] This led to my curiosity and experimentation with the technique of intentional camera movement. Intentional camera movement is a form of in-camera manipulation as it utilises slow shutter speed with camera movement.[2] This technique creates these movement filled, streaky photographs that appear almost like paintings. Photographers such as Aleksandr Babarikin[3] and Andrew S. Gray[4] whose style consists of ICM photography, both cite impressionist paintings as their own inspiration for their work. This has helped to inform my own decisions while experimenting with this technique. For post-production editing, I layered a few of my images over one another. Lowering the opacities of each layer, changing the blend options, and using the paintbrush to paint on highlights, this helped to add more movement and create the ghost like quality of my images. A gestural feeling can be seen through the three photographs, similar to the strokes of a painting. This gestural feeling in a way contradicts the idea of feeling like one has a lack of purpose. Each stroke of a painting has a purpose as it slowly builds up over time to create a piece of art. David Thomas is an artist whose work explores the function of painting, photo painting and installation.[5] In his exhibition Colouring Impermanence[6], the process of his work is just as celebrated as much as the final paintings. Paintings are normally seen as the “final” and “perfect” version of the pieces but the process in getting to that point is just as important. How does one know when to finish a painting? In this way digitally manipulated photographs and paintings are quite similar as there are so many ways in which one can edit a photograph so how do you know when to finish editing?  

Experiencing feelings of purposelessness and wandering are explored through the photographic series Lingering. Inspired by photographers such as Aleksandr Babarikin, Andrew S. Gray and Chiron Duong and their movement filled images. This series uses intentional camera movement and digital manipulation to create painting like photographs and invoke feelings used to help me to understand my sense of self better. 

[1] ‘CHIRON DUONG’, 30 November 2022. https://www.chironduong.com/

[2] Hoiberg, Christian. ‘What Is ICM Photography? (And How to Master It)’. CaptureLandscapes, 18 November 2022. https://www.capturelandscapes.com/icm-photography/. 

[3] Hypebeast. ‘Through the Lens: Aleksandr Babarikin Documents Life Experiences Through Abstraction’, 29 June 2023. https://hypebeast.com/2023/6/aleksandr-babarikin-through-the-lens-spotlight. 

[4] Andrew S Gray, “About”, Andrew S Gray Photography, Accessed 4 October 2024, https://andrewsgray.photography/about  

[5] ‘David Thomas Biography’. Accessed 17 October 2024. https://davidthomasartist.com.au/pages/biography.html 

[6] editor. ‘David Thomas: Colouring Impermanence’. Art Guide Australia, 10 August 2017. https://artguide.com.au/david-thomas-colouring-impermanence/. 

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IMAGE SERIES FEEDBACK FROM PEERS

feedback from my peers about my current work for final submission. This was a very helpful session because people who have no idea about my project and what it is about provided feedback about how my project reads to them. They helped me to recognise gaps in my project that I hadn't considered.

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TEST COMPOSITES 3

With these composite tests I struggled the most as I felt like these images did not fit as well as my other two photoshoots which is why I only have three test composites. Following the other composites I did for the other shoots, I brightened the figure in the images in camera raw and then I painted on highlights using the paintbrush tool. I tried to use the curves adjustment to make each figure blend into the background as I had to mask each one out and place them onto the background.

I added grain and more motion blur in the third image to try make it fit cohesively with the other shoots I did but I still feel like it is too out of place.

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TEST COMPOSITES 2

I once again edited the photographs in camera raw by masking the figures so that the model's shirt appeared more visible. This one was a lot more difficult to do because the figure was very blurry. This was my fault because when I took the photo I put the shutter speed too slow.

I tried to do the technique of image stacking in photoshop, using the image align and image stack tool however this didn't work probably because I think the image stack looks for the clearest, in focus part of each image which obviously I wanted the figure that is running past the camera.

Once again I wanted to just work on some more subtle manipulations as I was already quite happy with this composite. I really liked all of these edits as I thought these all captured that painting like texture which one could question if these were actually taken on a camera or not. I used the paintbrush tool to add some more movement and a cool effect to the shirt of the model. I then used the curve tool to play with exposure levels. I think I ended up making my images feel dark again but I really like it. The 7th image was particularly captivating to me because I used the gradient map to slightly adjust the colour and thought it was cool because it looked like the image was almost printed using a cyanotype.

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TEST COMPOSITES

After my feedback on Friday I knew that I wanted for my final images to all consist of a clear figure and that the colours could be different. With my test composites I tried to make the shirt brighter or to just make the model easier to make him more clear. I used the mask tool on camera raw to achieve this.

I made a test image which combined three of the images I liked from this photoshoot. I then used different blending modes, played with opacities. used the curve tool and the gradient map to subtly manipulate the image. I particularly liked the 2nd and 4th image as they are very similar to each other, but the subtle difference in light makes it hard for me to choose. It was interesting to use the gradient map to change the colours however I think I just like how neutral the colours of the interior are. The idea of me being at home feeling like I have no purpose. Bored, bland, unexceptional, ordinary. In the last image I used the paintbrush tool and painted on the shirt areas to try brighten them more. I quite liked doing this because it feels like it blends in quiet easily with the composites because of the ICM technique.

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WEEK 10 ONE ON ONE FEEDBACK

Look at how to do image stacking on photoshop

Two ways of making images look cohesive in series. Visible character is consistent across the photographs, can have different colour grading. The other option is to have the same colour grading in each photograph.

Brighten the figures in my photos. Make them the focus of the images instead of the location.

Try using the gradient map and curves adjustments to bring out the colours.

example that David did for me

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Feedback about my blog progress from Jennifer. I liked the feedback she gave me about writing more specifically about my images and then reflecting on how they influence the next work that I produce.

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WORK IN PROCESS COMPOSITIONS

These are the compositions that I have been working on. I wanted to have a range of compositions so that I could see which combinations work together and because I struggle with image selection.

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FOREST PHOTOSHOOT NO. 3 CONTACT SHEET

I went back down to the forest for the third time with my model again. These photographs are quite similar to the other ones that I have taken down there but this time I had my model dress in the specific way that I wanted him to so that gumboots wouldn't be shown in the photos. After the three shoots down here I think I finally captured everything that I had imagined the photos to look like in my head

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CURTAIN PHOTOSHOOT CONTACT SHEET

For this shoot I moved to an interior location. I wanted to do an interior shoot because I based this concept on my own feelings of not having a purpose or sense of identity. I don't leave the house so it makes sense to do an interior shoot. Thinking about David's comment about trying to capture these feelings without using a model that was why I took so many photos with the curtain. I tried to capture the movement as it flows. My only concerns with some of these images that it will clash with the exterior shots. Another thing I am worried about is the mixing portrait and landscape photographs. I know that for the context of my series that my photographs would be situated in a photobook so maybe it would work as some photographs would just have a border.

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FOREST MORNING PHOTOSHOOT CONTACT SHEET

As suggested by David, I went back to the forest down at my house but instead of during the afternoon I went in the early morning. This was good to capture the environment in a less warm atmosphere. I still found it hard to photograph without people in it so maybe I will come back with the model again. The only problem I had with this shoot was that the images would become too overexposed when I attempted to do intentional camera movement. The ICM pictures that turned out good I actually really liked because it has a cool affect that almost does look like something over than a photograph.

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BEACH PHOTOSHOOT CONTACT SHEET

As I had planned I went to the beach and did a shoot with my model. I went while the sun was setting so I liked the atmosphere I was able to photograph because it wasn't too "warm" from the sun. I was really happy with these photographs as this was what I had in mind for this whole project when I changed my concept. I mostly focused on taking my photos with intentional camera movement and because of the darkness there is slight noise which I like the effect that the two create together. I particularly liked the photographs in the water, although they are a little dark I can edit the exposure.

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Andrew S. Gray

Andrew S. Gray is a photographer from Northumberland, England. Gray specialises in ICM photography and uses it in collaboration with post-production photoshopping to create abstract, painting-like photographs. Living in Northumberland, Gray is familiar with the countryside and the beach which gives him access to photographing these beautiful landscapes which he enhances with his photoshop skills. Gray developed his style of intentional camera movement photography accidentally as he was photographing using long exposures. His style continued to develop after seeing the work of Valda Bailey who was developing a style of multiple exposures in her paintings which had captivated Gray. Gray is inspired by old English master painters from the 19th century, especially the work of JMW Turner and other impressionist painters. Hence the painting like photographs that is common in the style of ICM photography.  

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Aleksandr Babarikin

Aleksandr Babarikin is a photographer who creates dream-like photographs. His work features a lot of street photography as he tries to photograph the beautiful moments of life. Babarikin names Ernst Haas as one of the photographers that inspire his work. Haas is a prominent photographer who uses the technique of ICM photography. I can see the influence of this in Babarikin’s work as I think he uses this technique to create the movement/streaks in his images to give it the paint stroke effect. The considerations that Babarikin puts into the light, contrast and texture, creates these beautiful photographs that look almost like paintings. Babarikin looks to French Impressionism paintings as inspiration for light, contrast and texture. What I noticed from Babarikin’s work that if you wanted to take photographs using intentional camera movement, the scene you photograph needs to have quite a bit of contrast to create interesting photographs. Obviously there have been photographers whose photographs don’t have as much contrast, but I just think that Aleksandr Babarikin’s are quite interesting, striking and majestical. His work feels full of life.  

Hypebeast. ‘Through the Lens: Aleksandr Babarikin Documents Life Experiences Through Abstraction’, 29 June 2023. https://hypebeast.com/2023/6/aleksandr-babarikin-through-the-lens-spotlight.

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WEEK 9 CLASS ACTIVITY

the group activity where we discussed how this photo is composed and what we would do to take the photograph. It was interesting to find out that the image is compromised of 40 photographs.

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ICM PHOTOGRAPHY

It was suggested to me to have a look at ICM photography because of its picturesque and almost painting like quality. ICM stands for Intentional Camera Movement through this technique the photographer combines slow shutter speed with intentionally moving the camera while taking a photo. Through the technique of ICM, motion is added to the entire image rather than from moving objects and taking a photograph of it just with slow shutter speed or a long exposure. I think this is definitely a technique that I want to experiment with as I have established that I want to take photos and add like a sense of movement to them.  

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WEEK 9 TEST

The images I used to edit this