Final pieces

Franco Fontana

Evaluation

These two pieces are my absolute favourites among my Franco Fontana inspired work and coincidentally or not they are the two I took last. I took these shots while on holiday on a narrow boat in Wales so they were actually taken whilst moving along the canal. The landscape was so serene and I love the idea that these images could have never come to fruition if I hadn't had the perspective from the canal. It also helped that this was also such a sunny day so the colour of the landscape felt so lush and picturesque, this is appropriate for Fontana's style because many of his shots were taken in Italy under expansive, clear blue sky. 

In this first piece I am absolutely enamoured by the freshly harvested lush green fields rolling up to these little outbuildings. These buildings seperate this green colour from the vibrancy of the blue sky. The angle of this shot makes the buildings look like the little toy houses from the train sets my grandfather used to have. Furthermore the fact that the vibrant green grass has the lines in it from where it has been cut is very reminiscent of Fontana's work's abstract quallity. 

In the second piece I have captured four well defined sections of land, separated by hedgerow, this definitely reminds me of how Fontana often has his shots sectioned of by colour to make a colour blocking effect. I love how the hedgerow in the background ducks in and out of the horizon and the jhill rises and falls. In the foreground the abundance of cute little cows again have the appearance of little toys. 

Franco Fontana is an artist I have known of for quite some time, in fact I used his work during my induction project, howevor that definately does not live up to this time around, I am very happy with the work I have managed to create. I think for next time I would try to find a larger variety of landscape, perhaps even look at an urban landscape such as Fontana has done. 

Nicholas Goodden 

Evaluation

I went into this project very narrow minded about what Colour selection photography can be, I have only ever seen the typical landmark shots that many photographers including Nicholas Gooden create and so I started off recreating these. Howevor during the time doing this project I developed my own take on it, rather than selecting a singular colour in a shot I went about highlighting the most vibrant parts of an urban landscape.  This project turned into me walking around a city I have always called home and looking at it in a new way. I ended up developing an eye for the most beautiful colourful parts of an on the whole pretty grey city.

In this first piece I stumbled upon a back alley on Manchester's northern quarter full of very cool graffiti, so this is what I selected to pop out of the monochrome shot. I love this piece I think it captures a beauty in a thing that is often looked down on in an urban environment. 

In this second piece I took this shot of the entrance to the Arndales parking structure. I think the yellow and red primary colours and bold lines of this image lend it an abstract quality that is especially striking. Its also interesting that something so mundane as a a parking structure  has such a vibrant appearance.

In hindsight I would have liked to develop this project by sourcing from other areas or cities. 

Elizaveta Porodina

Evaluation

The immense task of recreating such an accredited photographer's art definitely hit me with some significant force. Howevor, I tried my best to produce some self portraits that could at least hold a flame to Porodina's work. Admittedly I am unsure whether I have managed it, but I think I have done well despite the lack of professional set designers, stylists makeup designers and assistants that I am sure Porodina was equipped with. I love a lot of these self-portraits, I think theres a lot if visceral beauty in the movement and colour I have been able to create. 

This first piece is an especially good one, I  love the blurred movement captured using a slow shutter speed combined with the saturated orange and pink colour. Despite the face blur there is still a well defined silhouette of my face and shoulders. I also like how the shiny reflection of my earrings has also blurred to appear as a flash of light on the image. 

This second piece is actually two shots layered. The top layer has been warped using the puppet warp tool on Photoshop. This distortion creates a mystical quality to the piece, perhaps like the reflection of a person in a pool of water or a distorted mirror. This is further emphasised by the pose, my hand is out towards the camera as if trying to grasp at something. 

Tyler Spangler

Evaluation

Throughout this project I learnt a huge amount about the ways in which photoshop can be used, I learnt how to use new tools such as Distort or the Lasso tool. I am very pleased with all of the pieces I have been able to create with these new skills, I think they effectively mimic Spangler's quirky style of design. I had a lot of fun with this work and I think that comes out in theimages created. This style is not something I was familiar with before I set out to do this project and was therefore a little hesitant going into it but I definitely had a good time with it in the end.

This first piece is an ode to the snappy quotes Spangler often uses in his work, the quote 'I am who I am' is ambiguous in meaning so that it can be interpreted in many ways. Behind this saying is the bright lilac outline of a person with a singular eye, this is very similar to Spangler's work in that it has a surreal element to it, the eye knows it is a person although this silhouette does not have all of the characteristics of the typical person. The dream-like quality to this image is further leaned into when I added this hypnotic monochrome background. 

This second piece is my personal favourite, I think its clever in its simplicity. The face of a man in a suit has been replaced by the pattern of turquoise pool water. This is a technique that is used a lot in Spangler's work, the strategic replacement of a person's face with something you wouldn't usually see serving as a face, such as another body part or in this case a new texture. To add another fun element I added a bright pink shadow behind the person. The two colours of turquoise and pink add interest against a plain black background and monochrome suit. 

Evaluation

The work I created inspired by Andrea Aravelo may be some of my favourite work I have ever done. It was such an enjoyable experience working with fruit and flowers in the sun, that this joy may have translated into the pieces I produced. I love that these still-life images look photoshopped but aren't.  The trick using the mirror was an idea that turned out to be very effective. I am also very fond of how clean and seamless the subjects of these images are, this makes them look almost professional. 

This first piece shows three tulips at different stages of bloom accompanied by a rich green background, I created said background by propping a large piece of card up at a 45 degree angle with a tripod so that it reflects down into the mirror but the sunlight is still able to shine on the tulips. At the right hand top corner there is a semi circle of lighter green, this appeared because the sun on the mirror was  reflecting onto the card and then back again. Originally this piece had the background i put behind the mirror in three corners showing but I was able to fix this by using the Patch tool on Photoshop. I'm very happy that I managed to get all the flowers in focus whilst also having their reflections clearly shown. I love this piece. 

This second piece is quite similar conceptually, the green background is the same and so is the mirror. However, what makes this photo special is the subject of the peach. This peach was cut in half to show the pit and the yellow flesh inside. I love how it simultaneously likes the peach is floating and balancing on another peach.