Hands

August Landmesser (?) in Nazi Germany refusing to salute

This photo was taken in Nazi Germany of a man suggested to be August Landmesser, who is shown to be refusing the Nazi salute wshich Hitler used to generate power and intimidation from. Him refusing, which could end with him being killed, makes this a very powerful image of independence and defiance. The message of this photograph is to stand by our own morals and respect those who are in our life, which Landmesser was doing here for his Jewish wife.

The photograph being in black and white shows how old the image is, and creates a darker mood which links to the era it was taken in due to the amount of death from it, August could be included. Because everyone around him is doing the salute, and him being in the center of the image, it makes him very distinct in the crowd and is breaking the pattern of everyone around him. This spontaneous act could of inspired many others to do the same, to be different or now in the future.

1968 Olympic Black Power Salute

On October 16th 1968 African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised a black-gloved fist during the US national anthem. This photograph was taken by John Dominis who had been to six Olympic Games in his life, and this image was his most captivating and most famous one. Because the image was taken in black and white, the message of Black Lives Matter and the two athletes also claimed their medals shoe less with black socks to represent Black poverty. The photograph was taken of a planned action, but a spontaneous shot which well captures the defiance and protest which happened that day. The photograph makes me feel for the Black community and I am glad more people are standing up to racism and discrimination, especially people who can get representation off the media to spread awareness of this issue. He did this salute peacefully and respectfully, which is a very powerful message that we should be peaceful and respectful to one another, no matter what race or skin colour we have.

Mood Board:Interesting/Inspiring Pictures of Hands

My Ideas:

I want a contrast of texture with hands and either a surface or object. Many contrasting colours, for example a pale hand with a black or darker background/object. I want the position to show off the knuckles so it looks more jagged, if with soft hands I go for a softer position then it will further contrast the rougher background/object.

I have changed my idea from my original plan (the photos which inspire me) to this one which I have presented as when I was outside shooting I saw more interesting ideas/shoots (and it was also more manageable).

My First Hand Shoot:

I am keeping seven photos, mainly because I like the angles and the ideas of the photographs. Some I do not like because they are not fully focused on the hands because they are showing too much background. I will re shoot some of my photos because I like the idea but the angles and quality could be better, I may also find new people to shoot so I can see what textures and size of hands look better. I want to experiment more with the positions of the hands and see how they look in different environments and lighting. I like the close ups of the hands, I especially like the second, fifth, sixth, ninth and fourteenth images on the contact sheet. I prefer when the fingers are raised instead of being on a flat surface. I think the quality of the images could be a bit better.

My Second Hand Shoot:

I am keeping 12 photos, I especially like the lighting and angles I used as they vary which makes different feelings an emotions. My personal favorite is the pale hand in the darkness, the hand with the moss and the hand on the silver pole. I will try and capture different environments, from nature to industrial. I will also try different lighting to see what I prefer as I think either a very dark image or a very sunny image could be good.

My Third Shoot:

I like the hands with smoother objects and a blurry background, I think it looks better with a darker material as it looks very suitable with the dark green leaves. I may try with more rough objects for my next shoot to compare what texture I want to do for all my projects. If I do prefer the rougher objects then I will continue with this choice through my next projects.

My Fourth Shoot:

Although I like some of the shoots, the lighting needs to be improved as the lighting is more focused on the background than the hands. I want to try and stay away from walls and instead focus on poles.

EBI: To improve my next project, I'm going to get the saturation to be more focused on the hand rather than the background. Therefore the lighting will be better and have a better tone. I may try an experimental shoot because I am not currently enjoying my idea, although a good idea. I might try doing hands in front of a face, as I have been inspired by Klavdia Balampanidou's photograph called 'From Hand to Mouth'.

Experimental Shoot: Ideas

Klavdia's photograph, although I would do the lighting differently (perhaps darker so the texture of hands is more visible), I think the image has a good full focus on the hands. The red nail polish immediately brings attention to the eye and the position of the hands is interesting. I may change the position to be more jagged if I do decide to do this idea going forward. If I cant find someone with nail polish I will try a different method of attracting the attention to the view by either using Photoshop, using a different shape or including some sort of message.

Experimental Shoot:

I do like the second photo especially as she looks lie she has been silenced and it gives a more trapped feeling whilst all the others seem more anonymous and give the impressions of a hacker. Whilst I may try this shoot again I am going to stick with my original idea for the next shoot, but I may come back to this idea. I like how in focus and cold the hands look in the first and fourth image (on the contact sheet)

My Fifth Shoot:

I love the quality of the images I have chosen, some of them I want to re shoot because some are blurry, but most have good quality and the idea of the positions are very good. My favorite photo is the close up of the finger pressing the button, it has good quality, the idea is clear and the lighting is quite good. The background being blurry shows how the hand is the subject. The photos with the fire hydrant are blurry and I dont like the positions with them included, it seems very messy.

I may try and re shoot some of these photos for better quality or better light exposure, which may increase the level of detail with the hand texture.