Deconstruction or a different way to shoot a sunflower...

Sunflower

Flowers are a constant source of inspiration for me. Whether in the wild or the studio there are numerous varieties, colours and shapes. Of course all have been photographed before and so the challenge I find is to try and take pictures that have something different about them. A new angle or way of seeing something.

Planning my show FLORA last year I wanted to include sunflowers because their vibrancy and colour. Their deep yellow stands out on any wall. But how to do this when so many other excellent pictures already exist? 

Setting up a light in the studio and then placing thick perspex on top and over that a sheet of tissue paper meant that I reduced the glare. I had already raided the kitchen for some sunflower seeds. I carefully dissected the yellow petals from the centre of the flower and arranged them on the tissue paper, scattering the sunflower seeds on top. Switch on the light and shoot away. 

The overlay of leaves produced deeper and lighter yellows. The seeds on top barred the light but they are clearly not the proper sunflower head. I allowed any natural flaw in the leaves to remain rather than edit them out as some might have done. I felt that it helped retain some of the truth of the original flower.

I did this several times over a couple of days and ended with well over two hundred shots of which I post produced about thirty, one of which is shown here.

At the time of writing FLORA is still in SALT Architects gallery in Beverley because of lockdown. Although the office is not open currently you are welcome to peer through the window and see it :-)

My influences - Francesca Woodman

Francesca Woodman - Self Portrait

It is never a happy occurrence to know that someone died too young. Sadly Francesca Woodman was only 22 when she jumped from a window in New York. She left behind some 10,000 negatives and around 800 prints. Her parents now manage her estate and much of her work has still not been seen.

Having found photography whilst at High School she quickly developed her own style. Much of her work involved herself or friends, mostly women, in isolated situations. They are often naked which increases their appearance of vulnerability, a key feature of her pictures, although some also seem a form of celebration. The long exposures which became a part of her trademark, blur the movement and can provide an unsettling experience which makes the viewer question the events they are seeing. Almost all of her work is in black and white.

She had little acclaim during her life and it is said that a combination of the industry rejection of her work coupled with a failed relationship led to her death. Her work is now critically acclaimed however and seen as a statement, in part, of her vulnerability and as a major contribution to the developing view of women in society. Certainly the surreal influences that she acknowledged from photographers such as Man Ray and the Gothic and Surrealist movements are notably present in her work. She is also known to have admired the work of Deborah Turbeville, a fashion photographer whose work was dark and dreamy and far more feminine than her more edgy and erotic counterparts such as Helmut Newton.

Since her death books, articles and worldwide exhibitions have abounded and a critically acclaimed film "The Woodmans" released in 2010. (  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zqNUdtCwkU ).

Many museums and galleries now have prints of her work (including my local gallery The Ferens in Hull) and to me they are always immediately recognisable. You can see some of her work at Tate Online ( https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/francesca-woodman-10512 ) or Art Net ( http://www.artnet.com/artists/francesca-woodman/ ).

There are a number of books available too and I recommend Francesca Woodman by Chris Townend published through Phaidon although the new hardback version at £360.32 seems a bit steep even for such a comprehensive tome. The softback version is a more manageable £35.00.

Paris - Paul Almasy

In the blooming of post-war Paris, finding its feet after conflict, occupation and hardship philosophy and culture blossomed. Into this world stepped Hungarian photographer Paul Almasy. Taking his camera onto the streets he captured the vibrancy and work-a-day of this European hub synonymous with romance, intrigue and life itself. The pavements proved a great place to capture small pieces of lives that grew into an evocative picture of the fifties and sixties.

This recently published book of photographs from the era underline Almasy's important place among the chroniclers of this great city. Although not the first to present a pictorial record of Paris these pictures are evocative and meaningful.

Published by teNues Media ( https://books-teneues.com/ ) I paid £12.50 for a hardback version on Amazon, although I note that following other recent reviews the price has almost doubled today so look around.

Incidental pictures

Sometimes you have no idea what you will see. This is what makes wandering with a camera such fun. It also teaches any photographer to not only look but to see. Looking can uncover potential but seeing how you can create a photograph from it is another skill altogether.

This photo was taken five years ago during a visit to my brother and sister-in-law in Cardiff. We went for a walk around the Cardiff Bay area, a location much improved over recent years with the erection of a barrier, the inclusion of a marina and wildlife spaces as well as the usual luxury apartments and trendy eateries and coffee bars.

The sun was shining and it was the perfect day for photography buy it was while strolling past a metal fence that I noticed the reflections on the stone. Of course as soon as I moved to take the shot the sun dimmed and the reflection disappeared. Luckily it re-appeared a few minutes later and I got this shot. Abstract in nature and of no particular place it draws the eye at least partly because of the regular lines in the top of the picture and the more chaotic wriggles in the lower half.

A lucky observation? Maybe, but if I hadn't been seeing as well as just looking I would probably have missed it.... This is what makes incidental pictures such fun. The fact you have been able to create something from a moment that is fleeting.

You an orchestra you a bomb

This blog is both a review of Cig Harvey's third collection from 2017 and a recommendation and introduction for her wider work. 

Scanning the photographs in this book it may seem a strange and incoherent mishmash of pictures. From some super focussed pictures: a bird apparently being released by an open hand to the less focussed glove puppet dog eating leaves. From the picture of her daughter standing looking from the broken rear window of a Wagoneer to the seemingly jumbled trees which harbour a dark, slight figure, hardly seen. But it is a triumph of Picasso's words "It took me four years to paint a Raphael but a lifetime to paint like a child." Here is the secret to the photographers art. The less obvious is as important. The small things have stature. Creating atmosphere is as important as giving clarity. Mystery is to be solved. The obvious may need to be better understood.

Here is a book of family, of affirmation and of life....and almost, death. It was produced after a serious collision that left the photographer badly injured, unable to speak and facing a long recovery. 

Over the last four years or so Cig Harvey has become a muse and major influence in how I look at photography. I had come across Harvey before I saw this book, I had seen some pictures in a magazine and then followed her up on the internet where I found an illustrated interview with her on You Tube. A more recent interview is now online and is listed below. 

A British photographer who has lived in the US for some years now (via Barcelona and Bermuda) she is thoughtful, imaginative, experimental and clearly has huge talent. Colour is important to her but she is skilled in using black and white to drive emotion. She clearly wants people to be provoked into thinking and looking beyond the picture that you see as her books affirm and her narrative style lays out the challenges both for photographers looking for inspiration and her viewers.

She has been awarded several prestigious awards in the USA and is represented by several large galleries, including Huxley Parlour in London.

Her books are Schilt Publishing and Gallery in Maine and are often limited editions which makes them very expensive. Her prints from the gallery well over £2000. This book is currently out of print. ( www.schiltpublishing.com ) 

I bought mine via ebay for a reasonable sum :-)

IMRC lecture series - Cig Harvey :- https://vimeo.com/362177565 

Photographs from this book :- https://www.cigharvey.com/youanorchestrayouabomb

Post production

This picture was taken whilst driving through Holderness on my way to Sunk Island in late August 2018. The smoke caught my eye and the road leading to it curved nicely in the direction the smoke was drifting The trees either side of the bend provided a good balance to the emptiness on the right of the picture. The smoke echoed the cloud cover that day too.

The first edit was in colour and I cropped more closely (16:9) into the trees and smoke whilst darkening the exposure slightly, increasing the white so that the clouds would gain more definition and slightly saturating the colour. I also did a straightforward black and white conversion from the original without a crop or changing the exposure or contrast. This was later printed and shown in the Ferens Open.

When I recently revisited the photograph (lockdown gives plenty of time to look at improving older photos when you can't travel for new ones) I decided to see if I could enhance. The second mono photograph has been considerably sharpened (using Topaz) and I also applied a diagonal graduated filter in Lightroom starting at the top right hand corner. You can see the darker sky where I have increased the contrast and again darkened the exposure.

Whether or not it is an improvement is up to you to judge. As Ansel Adams once said " The negative is comparable to the composers score and the print to its performance. Each performance differs in subtle ways."

Quartered

Sometimes you see something when you are not expecting it. One aspect of photography which has alwasy interested is composition. How do you make a picture interesting as well as capturing an image that people understand. I quite like to try and make people look twice.

I was visiting Yorkshire Sculpture Park with my friend Alina. We had already done two galleries in Leeds and then travelled via Wakefiled and the Hepworth so it was time for a coffee before we made as much of the park as we could. 

I found myself alone at the table for a minute and realise that the central pillar of the window alonside the half closed blinds would provide a picture that was neatly quartered if I produced a square crop. The bend in the path led the eye towards the central point and the writing on the window identified the exact spot.

Later when I processed the picture I tried both mono and colour but the mono won as the strength of the sun had drained most of the colour away and left it looking insipid.  

I still like this picture for exactly the reasons I took it and, despite the fact Alina is not in it, it reminds me of the visits we made that day. She returned to live and work in Romania shortly afterwards.