Personal Study Structure.

Introduction

For my Personal Study Structure i have chosen to study Ansel Adams and his influence on modern photography.  I have chosen this area of photography because it fits in with what i have chosen to do throughout the coursework. his influence on my photography is massive because of his early use of film photography. Ansel was an American Photographer born in 1902 and was best known for his black and white photography of the American West. What i hope to learn from Ansel is how he captures his photos to capture full emotion at the time of the photo being taken. I also want to discover his influences as a photographer at the time of his popularity and life.

I like how he uses the best technology at the time to create crisp black and white images of the struggles in western America at the time,  His work involves many portraits but also photographs of the landscape that they occupy. Adams also like to use the black and white film to its fullest, he incorporates gradients and large shadowed areas within his photography artwork.

Image Analysis 1

I have chosen to first do an analysis of this image, I have used this image because i think it portrays more his early style, taken with less complicated devices and it is photography in its purest form,

This photo is a very simple photograph of the canyons in America it is very to the point and descriptive in its layout. I like the the shadow depicts the heights of the canyons this adds depth to the picture and creates a shading effect that almost makes it a 3D effect on the photo,  I like the way the photo progresses from darker tones at the bottom of the photo to the lighter tones at the top of the photo this creates the natural gradient in the photo. I also like how the more detailed part of the photo is in the distance where as the less detailed parts of the photo are are closer, I think this makes you look into the photo a bit more than you normally would if the whole photo was the same.

Recreation 1

This is my recreation of the last photo using the parts that I picked out and liked. This photograph was taken using an Olympus OM101 Film Camera with a Ilford 200 Black & White film, I used the 200 film to gain the darker effect that was found in the photo that I am recreating. I have chosen things like the focal range, photograph colouring and the over all style of the picture. This is the photo that i have created.

For this photo i have tried to create the same gradient effect as found in the photograph before. I have made the dark tones very dark to create the shadowed 3D effect and made the lighter tones lighter to make the lighter tones stand out more against the darker. I like the way the trees are very dark against the grass and the ground and the road I also like how the mountain in the background is very misty and doesn't stand out much within the photograph.

Image Analysis 2

The next image that i want to Analise is one from further into his photography carer, this photo shows his skill as a Portrait photographer.

This photo is a light hearted take on a hard time but it shows a farmer with a good crop happy. I think this photo captures the happiness of the farmer at that time but also shows a similar life that he is living and the effects of poverty with in the country. This is very well done as the photo doesn't actually display that much compared to the last one. As like the last photo (above) this photo is taken In black and white on film it seems to be taken on a sunny day, even though no sun is present you can see a shine on the mans head.

Recreation 2

This is my recreation of the above photograph. I have tried to recreate one of his portrait photographs that was taken from around the middle of his carer. This photograph was taken on a olympus OM101 film camera with an Ilford 400 Black & White film. which works perfectly in the given light.

This photo has been created with a little lighter style than the original photograph,  this was all down to the light in the situation, but also the colour of clothing that the subject was wearing as in the original the subject was wearing darker clothing.

Image Analysis 3

This photo uses more of the water to create reflection and depth within the image. I like the way in the background is more impressive than the foreground but it just sits nicely behind the rest of the picture.

Recreation 3

This is the recreation of the above picture. To take this photograph I used a Olympus OM101 teamed with an expired Fugifilm 200 Film. i used this to create the grainy effect and for the fact that the film is black and white and it requires no software editing, which Ansel wouldn't of had at the time. `I wanted to use the water but only as another aspect in the background of the photograph.  I have also added the two small figures into the photo to add another layer into the picture 

I have created a gradient a gradient for this picture the bottom of the picture is very dark and also very close up where as the top of the photograph is further away and also much brighter than the rest. I think this photograph in keeps with the Ansel originals mainly because of how it is set out and the colouring from the film that i have used, it is also taken from a lower angle with i have also found he seems to use alot throughout his range of photographs 

Conclusion 

To conclude my Personal Study Structure I want to Focus on what I have learnt from Ansel Adams and what he will bring to my photography now and my photography in the future. I want to also communicate the importance of Ansel Adams’ influence on the modern day photography industry as a whole.

I have learnt that it is not the colour of the photo that matters it is the the gradients and progressions that really stand out above the rest, Ansel only had a very small spectrum of grey, blacks and whites to use at the greatest of effects. I have also learnt that shadows play a massive part in the depth of the picture they help to create more of a picture than of one with a smaller and less applied photo source. Throughout my Study I have been interested in finding a connection between Ansel Adams photography from the early 1900’s and the use of photography now in media, Everyday life and Artwork. I feel that maybe the work of Ansel’s cannot be compared to anything of the modern day because of the fact that so much has changed throughout the times everything is different and nothing is done the same now as it was done back when he was in his prime of photography. The use of photography has also changed a great deal, he was doing it for the love of photography and as a way to make money, now photography is used mainly in advertising, another way of gaining money but in a much larger scale  I am not sure weather I would look at his photography and try and find a direct influence to the photography that we see in the modern day but maybe more to see how Ansel’s photography would fit into the photography of today and how would his style of photography fair in todays very competitive market and I think that this style of photography would work very well within todays market, this is because of the bold style that he has created and his simple way of taking photography that is both simple but also very descriptive way of photography. This stye works perfectly in instance such as advertising where the image has to to catchy enough to make you look at it at first then descriptive enough to make you turn around and look again

I also wanted to see how he did things back when he was in his prime in the early 1900’s, I wanted to see how he implied the technology that he had at the time to create the best photography with what he had to use at the time.

In conclusion to my study, I have found that his photography influences me allot more than maybe it does the modern day photography, I think that he influences me because of his extensive use of film photography and he’s continuing experimentation of he photographic devices throughout his carer. He doesn't have a impact on modern day photography because it is not directly comparable to each other.

The Final 3

Camera Shutters

In photography, a shutter is a device that allows light to pass for a determined period of time, for the purpose of exposing photographic film or a light-sensitive electronic sensor to light to capture a permanent image of a scene

This is an interesting extract taken from an old Photography "how to" book, it shows how much the understanding a the technology has changed to even modern day film cameras.

Film Techniques: FISHEYE.

The use of Fisheye is something that I do a lot in my film photography. I like the curves that the lens creates and how it frames the picture as a whole.

This is the camera that i use to create my fisheye photos, it is a very simple Low quality "Lomography" Camera it is made up of a simple convex plastic lens and operates by a manual wind on system.

Other Photographers Using Fisheye.

These are my film Fisheye photos.

Film Techniques: Use of Expired film

Expired film is literally out of date film. most people would discard this film from use, even though it can create the best effects out there, without the use of Tedious computer editing softwares, in fact most people aim to create the Expired effect these days even after the photo has been taken at the best quality.

Here is a small selection of other photographers using this method.

Myself using the expired film technique.

Techniques: Double Exposure

Double exposure is a technique in which a piece of film is exposed twice, to two different images. The resulting photographic image shows the second image superimposed over the first. The technique can be used to create ghostly images or to add people and objects to a scene that were not originally there. It is frequently used in photographic hoaxes.

It is considered easiest to have a manual winding camera for double exposures. On automatic winding cameras, as soon as a picture is taken the film is typically wound to the next frame. Some more advanced automatic winding cameras have the option for multiple exposures but it must be set before making each exposure. Manual winding cameras with a multiple exposure feature can be set to double-expose after making the first exposure.

Since shooting multiple exposures will expose the same frame multiple times, negative exposure compensation must first be set to avoid overexposure. For example, to expose the frame twice with correct exposure, a −1 EV compensation have to be done, and −2 EV for exposing four times. This may not be necessary when photographing a lit subject in two (or more) different positions against a perfectly dark background, as the background area will be essentially unexposed.

Medium to low light is ideal for double exposures. A tripod may not be necessary if combining different scenes in one shot. In some conditions, for example, recording the whole progress of a lunar eclipse in multiple exposures, a stable tripod is essential.

More than two exposures can be combined, with care not to overexpose the film.


Photographers using Double Exposure.

Myself using Double Exposure.