Object- practice research pictures

I was taking some pictures for research and I slowed down the shutter speed to make this picture blur. I think that it would be a good idea to have the picture slightly blurred or at least a bit jagged so it's looks like a drunk persons vision.

Object

I decided that I would use harsh lighting to make it uncomfortable for the viewers eyes. Im not promoting drinking and Im trying to show the bad effects of it so I want the whole photo to give off an uneasy and disgusting feel. Almost as if to say that if your drink you will obtain this feeling yourself.

Object

A lot of my research has been leaning towards alcohol rather than drug users. I think I will make the decision to carry my project on with just looking at drinking. I think this way I will be able to make my project more thorough rather than looking at both in my project and them being weakly researched.

Object- Phillip Shannon

I found this photographer, Phillip Shannon, who has taken close up photos of objects.

I like the way in this photo there's the drink in the foreground and then theres the blurred outline in the background of the bottle. I like it because the viewer focuses first on the glass of alcohol and then on the bottle and even though it is blurred you still know what this is. I think this depth within the photo really adds to the photo as whole because there is more for the eye to look at. I think i will use this technique of having depth within my photo and use techniques of blurring, such as in this photo, within my own final photo.

Object- Maciej Dakowicz

I now want to look at photographers and artists that have also looked at the social issue of drinking and taking drugs. I came across the photographer Maciej Dakowicz. Dakowicz took a series of photos called Cardiff after Dark, they were taken over a couple of Friday and Saturday nights and show the effects of drinking after a night out. The effect on the people themselves and the effect of the streets of Cardiff.

This picture shows a group of people lying down in the middle of a road. Something they would never probably do in day to day life under normal circumstance but intoxicated they do this incredible dangerous act and laugh and seem to find it funny.

This picture shows a man who has clearly been in a fight and is now bleeding as a result.

This women has passed out on the floor and is needing help from two policemen.

These pictures show shocking truths of what actually goes on, on the streets of Britain. It has been helpful looking at Dakowicz work because it has given me more ideas, that I can use for my project, of the destructive incidents that can come from drink and drugs to the environment and to the people themselves. Such as lying down in the middle of the road, drunken fights leading to a man with blood all over his top, a passed out women on the floor surrounded by two police trying to help. However the pictures are not of objects they are of the people themselves so I need to find a way of displaying the effects that drinking leaves behind maybe. So maybe the mess in the street after a night out. That has to be cleaned up, the extra police that have to be around at night. Although the police are again people not objects. So just the effects of the place maybe.

I could take pictures of the mess left behind like in the picture above. If this picture didn't have a person in it and just had the bin with the mound of kebab boxes it would be prefect.

Object- Brainstorm associating objects to social issue

I then decided to do a brainstorm on what objects could be associated to drink and drugs.

Object-Social issues Brainstorm

I then thought of some social issues that I was interested in, so i've made a brainstorm. Looking at all the things i've thought of, i've decided to do my project about drink and drugs because it think that this is a social issue that most effects me. As it is a topic that surrounds people of my age and university life.

Object - Dictionary

I have decided to look up what the dictionary definition of object is so I have a clear understanding. I think this is always important even though it may not seem necessary because someone could have a warped idea of what a word means and not even realise it. I wouldn't want to get to the end of my project and then realise I've done it all about the wrong thing.

objectnoun |ˈäbjəkt|1 a material thing that can be seen and touched : he was dragging a large object | small objects such as shells.• Philosophy a thing external to the thinking mind or subject.2 a person or thing to which a specified action or feeling is directed :disease became the object of investigation.• a goal or purpose : the institute was opened with the object of promoting scientific study.• Grammar a noun or noun phrase governed by an active transitive verb or by a preposition.• Computing a data construct that provides a description of something that may be used by a computer (such as a processor, a peripheral, a document, or a data set) and defines its status, its method of operation, and how it interacts with other objects.

The person is the main focus of this picture but as this is a object project I can not have a person in the picture. Instead I could focus on the objects around them and how they have clumsily affected them. At first there will not be clear evidence why the room is trashed but as you look closer there will be hints of evidence such as bottles of drink, packets that have had drugs in them etc.

Im not trying to capture the few hours of fun you have while intoxicated, trying to capture the next day after the person has come to terms with what happened the night before.

 

Trying to depict the bad side of drugs and alcohol so should use dark colours, even some bits could be completely shadowed out like the head above. As we can't use people in the object project I could find a head of a mannequin and if it’s shadowed out you won’t be able to tell its not a real person, or maybe a leg on the floor sticking out of somewhere to make it look like the person has fallen over.

I like the way the camera has shaken so that the edge of the girl is blurred and jagged because that’s how things look sometimes to people under the influence. Im going to try and do this with my photos, I’ll have to ask for help from the tutors as I am not sure how to create this look with large format cameras.

I found this poster and thought maybe I could have a sign in the background on the ‘wall’ saying something like this.  A kind of ironic statement to what im trying to say. The sign represents the attitude of the person, and the persons friends, that I have created that have caused problems due to alcohol. Where it’s funny, applauded and encouraged to be a complete messed and to drink the most. To go out get drunk, sleep with people and not care about your reputation, which is good but at the same time a little sad because you are constantly at a state where you are not thinking properly. It's almost a little sad that you have to get to that state. Also looking behind the psychology of people who depend on alcohol, sometimes get like that because you don’t want to be sad, look towards alcohol/drugs to stop the deeper sadness and loneliness.

Slim Letaief

I decided that as drugs and alcohol was going to be my idea that I would research artists that have used alcohol and drugs in their work. The first artist that i stumbled across was Slim Letaief. I found a picture from his series called 'Their Life'.

The alcohol in this photo looks appetising, it makes the viewer thirsty and want to drink it. Although there is a man in the photo, the focus is clearly the man because his heads chopped off and his food is burry and in the background. The focus is on the hand and the pouring of the drink, the viewer presumes what action is coming next which is drinking the drink. The lighting although black and white has a high contrast and is bright. Enforcing an enjoyable atmosphere. Also the man and surroundings look clean which help to reinforce this inviting atmosphere. It is almost like the man in the photo is inviting the viewer for a drink. This is the opposite of how i want to show alcohol, i want to show the bad side, not the glow feeling you get from sharing a few drinks with friends, the hungover, feeling sick feeling you get instead from drinking too much.

Concept

The object project we are doing has to be about a social issue and we have to get across your opinion on it. Therefore it should be something I care about or something that is effecting me or that i am involved in. Living at halls and being a student people go out and drink often. I therefore instantly thought maybe i could do my project on the social issue drinking, as drinking effects the community. People that are drunk and rowdy at night effect people living in the area with noise or knocking over communal objects such as bins, drinking effects the NHS as people go to hospital with drunk accidents or alcohol poisoning.

Perception

It is clear form the brief that my final photo should represent my opinion on a issue. We had a talk today about how two different people can look at the same photo but perceive it in a different way. "You don't take a photograph, you make it" Ansel Adams. This quote by Adams tells us that the photographer chooses everything that happens in the photo, the angles, the vibrancy of colours, the objects, lighting etc. A photo isn't just chance. So two photographers could therefore photograph the same object and portray two very different meanings from it depending on how they want it to be portrayed. Hence meaning that for my final prints I need to have a clear opinion on the issue I choose and how changing the lighting etc can help me to portray my view. If I am not clear on what my opinion is than i can't expect my viewers to know what im trying to get across.

Ansel Adams

Adam's photos have a very magnificent, romantic quality. They are still life's taken of these impressive environments. 

The light in this photo is generally soft and well exposed. It seems as thought the contrast in brought up while printing. I think that Adams thought highly of this environment. The sky, although being cloudy, is bright, linking with the bright tops of the mountains which draws the viewer in. The river is is in a 's shape' creating a line of beauty which forms a photo that is easy on the viewers eyes. There is a misty quality to the photo that creates mystery. Looking at this environment there are a lot of the trees and high terrain, it would be hard to know what was around. Adams shows this mysterious quality through the mist. Although this still life is shown in an honourable light, there is still darker parts to the picture. The darker, dangerous trees, leading up towards the darker bottom of the mountain. Adams is still letting the viewer know that this is still a dangerous place despite it's beauty. This beauty, mixed with mystery and danger gives the environment a higher respectful quality. This is a very grand photo.

OBJECT

Im now gonna work on my object project. 

Brief: Develop a concept, plan, organise. Construct a still-life of your own using a still-life of your won, using colour film and a large format view camera.

Taking inspiration from the history of art and taking a visual approach, employed in traditional still life construct a photography based upon a current social issue. It is your chance to create your opinion on the matter through the still life.

Inspiration: Current issues or debates surrounding you. Newspapers, radio, internet, television etc.

Something you wish to make a comment on.

Something you feel strongly about.

Your photographic decisions will be crucial, how and why you shot the still life the way you did.