location scouting and theory craft

Spent the day location scouting for places we can apply the pre Raphael-ite paintings I've chosen to attempt to replicate for the picbod# module and i've come away with a degree of success. Not as much as i was hoping for, but then again, there's only so much you can do in late winter when your relying on greenery. I also have had the question of colour or black and white come up and i need to address that a.s.a.p.

Firstly, here are the images im going to try and modernise...


(info i'll fill out in a few on each image)

These images have in part been chosen because i think they best suit the model i have for them and in part because there locations are easily replaceable. But also because the clothing all has one simple characteristic, it flows. Tomorrow i will find an outfit to use for this, as its Rosie it'll probably end up being tie dye or hippyish to look at, but long and flowing. 

Ive whacked on my flickr account (which you can get to on the right) the location shots ive taken for these images and now i just need to prey the weather holds out for me so i can get these images done in time. 

I've whacked a colour one on there and some black and white ones. Something i want to talk through with jonathan tomorrow is whether he thinks i should go digital+colour+professional printing. Colour film+professional printing or monochrome film and print myself. I've found a few places who's quality seem good enough and their lead times are around 48hrs. So no real pressure there. 

Im still passing masonry, but instead of breeze-blocks im down to rubble. 

In Depth, The Tom hunter tribute project.

For the picbod# module, i wanted to study my relationship with my partner. However, for various reasons im at a point now where im getting very close to breaking point and im still not happy with the images we have created. A major problem for me is my composition in the images, they dont feel striking enough or dont explore the environment correctly. They say it takes a photographer 4 years to find their eye for such problems and if thats the case ive still got a little over 2 years still to go before i find mine. However i've only got 2 weeks left to produce and prepare an image and turn it into a digital and analogue artefact that can be submitted to the gallery show titled picturing the body.

I also have to consider cost and manufacturing time. If i want to make a book for example, i'd need to submit it for printing by mid week at the latest. For top quality digital prints i have 1 week before i need to submit images to a professional print company and i also need to factor in cost. So, being realistic im limited to two options. Either digital prints like above, or shoot on medium format film and do the printing myself. I can say now without any worry i'll be doing the latter. There is a freedom when you make your own prints. You have so much control on tone and contrast at such a late stage that a lot of developing can still be done to the work.

Think im getting ahead of myself? Me too. Should probably tell you my idea whilst were here......

I, in a panicked state decided to go back over the past 12 months and look at the photographers i've met or spoken to and the work i'd done in my own time as well as whilst at university. I was very concerned about my composition and post production and wanted to address both issues. As i flicked through my notes i came across Tom Hunter. For those not familiar with Tom's work go here...

toms work is brilliant and i enjoy it for many reasons. However for the inspiration tied to this module we only need to reference one image. This is Tom's version of 'the lady in the lake' a highly famous pre-raphaelite painting. He used the image as the basis of his composition and then brought it into his own neighbourhood. He used modern clothing and didn't fear to leave in the original skyline.

I considered this... Could i apply the same basic framework and find some paintings that i feel could also be used to represent my partner in some way? Could we pick a few paintings and have a go at replicating them ourselves, in my style. Not Toms, to give the work at least a flavour of originality?


We had a good look though quite a few genre's of painters and movements and have settled on 4-5 images as our start point. Im not promising i'll stick to them, more that they will form the basis of a simple exploratory shoot this afternoon when the sun's a bit lower in the sky. I also know i wont get the final images today. That will have to wait till wednesday, as i dont have a medium format camera here right now and i want a bit more control over what my model's wearing than just the clothes she'll turn up in. But the really important part of this is that, with maybe 4-5 days to spare i finally have an idea im happy with. I now know what im doing and what im working towards. I know that im going to shoot these images and that im going to make them work. They will then be a series of 3-4 prints, that i will develop and print myself and frame ready for the exhibition. I need to do a fair amount more in my sketchbook and ive written some critical essays on the photographer's i've looked at to this point that need tweaking and then sticking in, but i feel for the first time like ive got this under control. Which is nice... trust me.

picbod# catch-up; Building the frame

Whilst still in exile i continued to try and work through my motivational black hole and tried to find some inspiration.

When i become lost of directionless i try to take a few steps back and have a go at something i wouldn't usually consider. A few weeks beforehand we as a group had visited painter Paul Wrights studio and done some work on illustrating and drawing. I had a look through his work as i quite like his style and decided that his work would be my start point. I knew pretty much straight away that this was a dead lead. It would be something to help pass the time and keep my sketchbook ticking over but would have very little bearing on my final piece.

I found a few portraits that Paul had talked about in depth in a talk last year where he multiplied himself in his portraits. He explained that he was trying to form a triangle in the portrait to the left and that he had become increasingly interested with how people viewed his work and how the work viewed them. This is why the Paul on the right is looking directly at you and something struck me about it. It made me honest in a way, the gaze had caught me and i felt i was dragged into it a bit.
I decided i'd have a go at the double portrait idea myself and began by shooting myself in around 30 different poses slouched over the couch in my living room. I tried to build a picture from the various poses of me and at the time i was not really fussed about my scruffy appearance or that the camera maybe a stop out of slightly out of focus. I didn't really care about the lighting either, all that was important to me at the time was that i was continuing to take pictures. (The cat was just good timing, not planned)

pic: 1
pic: 2
pic: 3
contact sheet (mini)


Here's what I came up with, it was a fun exercise but i'm aware nothing more will ever come of it. I've included one page of the contact sheet to give you an idea of the poses i was going for and so you can fill in the blanks so to speak. Would be interesting to see what Paul thought about it, maybe i'll get the chance to ask him one day.

During this week and any week i feel lost my reading focused on people such as William Eggleston and around Gus Van Saint and Zach Braff films. Im consuming literature and movies at an alarming rate at the moment, however its all pretty scatter bombed until i finally decide on a direction to push this project forward.