Friday, 25 March 2011

Inspiration

I started to look at other campaigns used by charities, for inspiration and to see how they get the message across:


I think this is quite clever but they are definitely using shock tactics to achieve the effect, this isnt unusual though for charity campaigns.



Again, this uses shock but not to get the viewers attention. The attractive naked Jamelia is used to pull in the viewer then as we look closer we see what the campaign is about.



Another fairly shocking image to draw the viewer in to read the information about domestic abuse.

These images got me thinking about how much work goes into an image like this before it is produced into a campaign. Everything must be considered in great detail to make sure it conveys the message with maximum impact.

Another photographer who works in this field is Oliviero Toscani, his anorexia campaign caught my eye when I was researching for the fashion brief. His photographs are very simple but given the models heavily emaciated body, there isnt much need for anything else, she says it all.





It isnt just the Anorexia work that interests me of Toscani's. I find his Benneton work quite inspiring for the way that he produced advertising campaigns and did this by pointing out glimpses of humanity. His work makes the viewer ask questions and ultimately drags us in as we try to work out what the hidden message is. This is certainly one way to get people to notice campaigns and it created the sense that Benetton were reaching out to the individual rather than the masses. It said that they were for everyone human, regardless of race, colour, caste or nationality. The campaigns are innovative in the way that they dont show the clothes which is the reason for the campain, but point out a bigger issue or vision of something that makes us human.







I had a clear idea of what I wanted to achieve and knew that I would photograph people who had been affected by eating disorders, but I needed to research different lighting techniques. I wanted to portray a sense of drama and discomfort so I began researching dramatic lighting setups, here are some of the images that I looked at for their lighting:





Andrzej Dragan is a Polish photographer. Dramatic lighting and post production techniques give his personal portraits an animation. I love this lighting for documentary style images but i dont think its appropriate for this brief.


This lighitng would be effective, i think it would seem appropriate to have areas of extreme shadow to hide parts of the models body as this would work with the concept of people with eating disorders.

Here is another lighting setup with an image of the actual setup below it, I think this would be an interesting setup to try.




Initial Research

It made sense for me to combine the two briefs for FMP (Final Major Project) and the South Africa brief, both in the way of a realistic timescale and also to ensure that i produced the best possible outcome for both.

In a way this has made it more difficult for me in coming up with initial ideas, because i have to satisfy two briefs, the FMP being very open and the South Africa brief being open but the emphasis being on showcasing an aspect of the Northwest in a postive light.

Firstly i thought of producing photographs in Blackpool, with it being a very 'typical' english sea side town and envisioned old couples by the sea eating fish and chips, elderly ladies having tea and cake, candyfloss stands, men in kiss me quick hats etc....

This was inspired by images such as these by Martin Parr:




Although some people think that Martin Parr mocks a certain level of society in these images, i like his matter- of- fact style of photography, although i would have to be careful to portray people in a fairly non-judgemental way.

After looking at this I decided that it was more important to research South African photographers as it would be interesting to see how they see things as this would affect how my work is viewed in Cape Town and I need to see what kind of work is being produced there.

This work is by Joao Silva from the Bang Bang club, a Portugese photojournalist based in South Africa and part of the bang bang club:






Kevin Carter was an award winning South African photojournalist. This is his most famous photograph for which he won the Pulitzer prize. Its truth is still disputed and to this day contraversial.


I also looked at a photographer named Roger Sedres who is based in cape town and works as a photojournalist there, here are a few examples of his work:






It struck me that his work is more contemporary in style than i imagined. I suppose it would be unfair to think that because someone lives in a developing country that their practice would reflect this in quality. I wouldnt say I necessarily like his work but i think it has given me an insight into the type of Photography that is being produced in Cape Town.

Lizane Louw

This is another photojournalist I found, based in Cape Town. Her work is much more in keeping with my photographic style so I found it interesting to look at her work and what she is doing.




The below image I think is really powerful, this has shown me a glimpse of how talented some of the Photographers are in Cape Town, this motivates me more to produce something that will impress people at the exhibition.



Rashaad Staggies' daughter was shot in a police raid, in Bonteheuwel.



The mystery shots that landed Ingrid Jacobs in hospital with two wounds in the stomach was allegedly fired by the police. The incident happened when the police raided a well known tik-den in Safraan Street in Bonteheuwel.
An official attempted murder docket was opened, after it came to light that one of the bystanders filmed the shooting.
Igrid was watching the raid through metal plates serving as a wall when the shots were fired.


The police arrested 10 alleged drug dealers and confiscated illegal substances and money. Six grams of tik with a street value of R2 000 and R1 800 cash was found.
The investigation continues.






Saturday, 8 January 2011

Preparing for the Exhibition

My Exhibition is planned for 27th January at 6pm and now i have permission to hold it in the Atrium in the University centre, and have secured funding for the Frames from Platform 2- Christian Aid, i needed to select and edit my final images.

With some help from Andy i began to edit the images i was definitely going to include, he brought up a few things that i hadnt considered (mainly because i have never done an exhibition before) such as aspect ratio, so after finding out the mount size of the frames i was buying we could put this ratio into Lightroom so that it was cropped correctly for printing. I had been de-saturating my images slightly but have now decided to keep the work contemporary with full saturated colour which shows a true representation of what i saw.

I have now edited and selected my final 12 images which are below:






















Tuesday, 16 November 2010

Iquitos, Peru- Short Film

After arriving back from i attended a 3 day workshop with Platform 2 and decided to set about presenting my photographs and finding a way to show people some of the terrible issues i had been faced with.

I decided to make a Short Film using stills which could be posted to you tube and seen by the general public, i would advertise this on facebook and through Christian Aid and hope that i could show people the poverty and sadness that i had seen.

Whilst at the workshop i started making my movie, and realised this completely tied in with the Photojournalism brief, so i have kept this in mind when producing the video and think it adds to the brief in offering some more back ground information. Although my final Photo Story is on a different topic, this video shows another story and shown in a way that the general public will find it easy to understand.

I needed more information so i could produce my film with the most accurate facts and information as possible, so researched the issues facing the people of Belen which is the Market town in Iquitos, Peru. I had already done my own research by asking local people whilst i visited the town but thought it would be more accurate to back this up further.

I found this video on you tube really interesting as it discussed all of the issues i had come across and showed a programme that was being used to help combat the struggles of these people. The main issues were:

-A huge problem with violence because it is such a poor area
-Malnourished children feeding from waste and catching deseases
-No jobs or healthcare
-Child Sex slaves very common in Iquitos
-Child Abuse





My video is shown below, although the link further down the page takes you to facebook for a higher quality.



This Video can be seen in higher quality at

Sunday, 31 October 2010

Friday, 22 October 2010

The People of Belen Market

One idea that i want to explore is to show the Photo Essay for this brief on the people i photographed in Belen Market in Iquitos.

This was not only the place that affected me most and compelled me to photograph everything, but where i felt most empathy for the people and their situation. Its impossible to compare the different levels of poverty i experienced in Peru, but there was something so significant about the people here and i produced some of my best photography in the short time i was there.