Art Movement: Futurism

Lorenzo


The shows the use of a slow shutter speed blurs the people and the lamp posts. Thus creating into big bright rays of light. The photograph denotes a man looking into the distance and his body fading out . This could connote maybe the man looking and maybe reminiscing from a time before that was not good for him. Another connotation that could be made from this picture is maybe a person looking at a loved one that maybe has passed away and they could be seen as a supernatural person. The faded technique is very apparent in this photo as the lights are blurred and in the photo. The setting of a Italian little city that is known for its long bright lampposts enhances the faded person to a point where we can see a ray of light going through him. I believe he did it in this setting to give the faded man a appropriate setting to show the viewer maybe a sadness if the photo connotes the loss of a lost one. I believe the setting Lorenzo used is 1/8 shutter speed to get a clear photo for the background and be able to detect the persons figure and be able to see some facial features as well. He would have needed a tripod to get the background so clear that the rays coming from the lamp posts are not too big but are still circles of light. However the people that are down the street are not as visible thus meaning they must be on a lower shutter speed  to the main model.

Steve Price

This photo uses the slow shutter technique to make the flowing water going down the cascade turn into a milky image. The photo connotes a water stream that is a pale white colour that has been created through the way of the slow shutter, by draining the blue colour and stretching the white spray that created when the water hits the rocks. This embraces the nature and associates its self to futurism as it embraces nature and a slow shutter technique. The technique he also used custom settings to make the photo possible.  He must have used a tripod to get that crisp clear detail. If it had slightly moved then the detail will be lost. I believe gives a futurist theme to one off natures in my opinion coolest ways of nature, a cascade. and this expands and enhances the beauty and changes the liquid into a vapour looking cloud.

Recreating

I plan to recreate this at night in the city. The location for this I want to have lights in the background to enhances the faded model. I want the location to be a dark midnight setting in the city to enhance a bright objects with bright lights. I chose to go to the top of the Cheesegraiter car park in town at 9 o'clock at night and i took my tripod and took some photos using multiple settings.

I changed my ISO to 400 to allow my picture to be visible but also seem dark and in keeping with the theme. I kept changing my shutter speed to give myself that blur effect. I used a self timer for 5 seconds and when it was going to take the photo i moved from point to point to get that blur effect. The photos i preferred was the photos where i walked at a moderate pace to get that slight blur. Another method i did was the use of my Iphone's torch to make rays of light. I wanted to do rays of light to give my own little twist on this recreation to make it urban futurist. I realised that when i used the torch my body became nearly invisible and just left a solo ray of light which i liked but was not completely what i wanted. I took around 25 photos and was there for about 1hr and a half just changing the settings and changing the movements.

My last photo i took was my favourite one and the one i wanted to use and edit. I like this photo so much because my figure is clearly seen but however my body is faded because at the time this photo was taken i was walking away, it gets me slightly turning to my left. I also liked this photo as the lights in the building behind are bright and vivd and i belived i could enhance my figure and the lights. I believe it is linked to the photo I'm trying to recreate and gives a urban style top it which I like a lot.

After taking my photos and choosing my one I wanted to edit. I wanted to give my own twist on my recreation to enhance the lights in the building. I watched a video on how to use the Splash technique in photoshop to put certain parts of my photo in black and white and the other parts in my photo in colour. I was told using a video I found on the internet to add a black white layer on top of my background and use my eraser tool to get rid of the black and white filter on these certain parts. I chose to do this on the building to make the lights stand out and become a main feature in my photo. Also I erased the model so there figure stands out and is more clear. I this also to enhance the meaning that the buildings in the world are important and light up the world that can be seen as boring, hence the black and white which can connote a bland world, and how we are fading into the boring setting.

Completed Futurism Recreation

Futurism

Futurism is related to the movement of the photograph. this includes the shutter speed.

Fast shutter speed example

Futurism

• emotive 
• untraditional, and unconventional 
• founder - Poet Marinetti
• city life
• used mostly on cars and planes
• against past photography 

Theme recreating

Art Movement: Postmodernism

Sherrie Levine

• American photographer who is known for recreations of other photographers work.
• produces cultural images with narrow context to them.
  
   The photo shows a silhouette of what seems to be victorian man from a side view. what denotes inside the silhouette of the man is a woman looking into the distance and looking quite high class. this photo could connote the mans feelings about this person, maybe the person in the silhouette could be a loved one that has died. or maybe some that he adores now. The fact that there is no background connotes that maybe the man is only thinking about this one person. This could bring awareness to loss as during the Postmodern period war was very prominent at the time so it could be related.

Barbara Kruger

• An American conceptual photographer which consists of a black and white photo. with a bold red and white caption overlaid onto it.

The photo denotes a young man looking towards the viewer in a serious and slightly vulnerable. However it connotes a mental disorder he may have. The photo also denotes two photos of the same person but with two different expressions however one of the expressions is faded this could connotes alternate personalities could be linked with bipolar or depression. This is backed up with the caption mentioning mental disorder. The photo also denotes a black and white background this could connote a dark depressing time this could again link to the caption to do with mental disorders.

Recreation

Firstly I took my photos with my DSLR Camera in my own home. I used the 5 second timer setting on my camera so I had time to make sure I had a appropriate pose. I took about 10 photos to give myself a good amount of options. I chose the setting to be in my hallway as it was the only place in my house that has a plain white wall that I could sit in front off, which I was trying to recreate. I posed the way the model in the picture posed to hopefully make it better to recreate.

Secondly I used photoshop to edit and help recreate my photo. firstly I cropped out one photo I took to later put over my over photo. I used the quick selection tool to achieve this. After cropping myself out of the photo I moved the photo to the second photo that I was going to use as the background. I used the free transform feature to put the cropped photo on top of my background. After I changed the opacity of the cropped photo to 30 so it will get the blurred two person theme. The opacity was 30 so you could see the photo underneath and the photo overlayed. Thirdly I changed the filter of the photo to black and white as that was in the photo I was trying to recreate. I achieved this by using the HDR black and white with low contrast filter to enhance the photo and also have black and white. I chose the low contrast as it darkens the bottom of the photo which was in the creation.

Thirdly I needed to add the iconic red block text in my recreation. Firstly I added a rectangle and then filled it in with a bright solid red. After, I inserted white bold italic text in the Franklin font and wrote the following words I had to write in order to recreate the photo. I duplicated this 5 times increasing the length of the last two to fit the required words. I repeated the process 5 times. Lastly I added a solid red rectangle and moved it to the sides cutting off some the rectangles so it became a thing red line. I did this horizontally and vertically after I duplicated both for the parallel sides.

This is my completed recreation

Postmodernism

Definition - post means after, modern is recent, ism means movement.
I think it means a recent style movement

Actual definition:

•  A 20th century style which represents the moving on form modernism. it specialises in art and architecture. challenging common beliefs and common values that society believed in. 
• Massive movement
• The 60's Big moment in history
• Challenging society
• Everything is a version of something else (a copy)
• Photographs reference other text is a way to create meaning
• Meaning has something to do with society. 
• Simulacrum - simulating something that happened before as a way to create a new meaning

Intellectuality - one text references another text.

Homage - one text references another text as a mark of respect.

Parody - one text references another text in a comedic way.

Ideology - I view or opinion we all recognise.

Deconstruction - breaking down a photo, finding out what it means.

Cindy sherman - simulating how we saw women in the 40's and 50's.

4 portrait photographers

4 portrait photographers
Jerry Avenham
Mark Seliger
Cindy Sherman
David Bailey



Jerry Avenham

• the lighting in this picture makes the subjects skin more clearer as it is slightly bright around the black shirt.
• The lighting is mostly focused on his arms as his pose is the main part of the photo.
• The position the subject is in is rarely seen on portrait photos this makes the photo interesting to the viewer.

Mark seliger

• The lighting in this picture is on directed onto one half of the subjects face thus making the other half of the subjects face to not be visible.
•  The subject is showing a sort of confused but serious emotion.
• The black and white and half light element shows the subject as being dramatic and serious also highlighting half of the subjects features which would incise the viewer.

Cindy Sherman

• Because the background of this is a dark colour it makes the clothing of the subject brighter and more detailed.
• The subject has got an unusual face that is pulling a unsual expression this is the trademark of this photograpgher.
• Because of the subjects make up her face is the first thing a new viewer would see because of her tone and her expression. 
  

David Bailey

• The subjects postion shows a postion of strength and masculinity. I believe his is posed like this because of his film character James Bond that everyone knows him as.
• The black & white shows Craig's pale white eyes and they look like they are looking straight at you.
• The expression on the subjects face is a serious sort of pout that is the subjects trademark face.
  

Art Movement: Surrealism

Facts:

• surrealism - 'surreal' - not real - 'ism' - movement
• abstract
• fantasy
• unique
• wild
• the movement began in the 1920s and was founded by Andre Breton
• the pictures can be seen as unnerving 
• surrealism came from dadaism and dada
• dada means 'nothing'
• exploration of the unconventional 

Artists:

Giorgio De chirico

Salvador Mali

Max Ernst

Man Ray

Andre Kertesz

Erik Johansson 

The image above could show that the couple could be at the beach together, which denotes as tranquil and relaxing. However the swimming pool section on the right denotes the deep end of a pool which ennote the couples feelings mentally like with maybe stress and being in the 'deep end of life' feeling like there under water. Also the light at the end of the picture denotes a light that is used in swimming pools that they are walking to together, i believe it connotes the end of the stress and feeling under water, this could be shown by them walking towards it. Thomas Barbey is the creator of this photo and i think is creating a visual representation of perhaps a mental feeling that many people can relate to feeling like problems are drowning them. I can also denote that the colour is black and white this could connote the tone of the photo as being depressing, however this black and white enhances the light at the end of the swimming pool thus connoting that the light could connote hope and that is why they are walking towards it.  

The image on the right denotes a man in a buisness suit walking up stairs that are in  a unnatural shape and seem to carry on for ever. I believe the picture denotes a business man confused with his career and doesn't know where to go so is going round in circles. this may relate to many men in work. the square could show the job ladder. This photo by Erik Johansson confuses me with the shape of the staircase which is not normal. Also the man is confused which i believe Erik wants to do. I can denote that the Erik Johansson used a tool to brighten up the top centre of the staircase and the clouds above it. I can connotes with that it may mean that the centre with the most brightness could resemble the height of the job ladder as it is seen as maybe 'heavenly' with the light connotes. Also the setting of this object is set in the middle of what seems to be a desert this could denote with the fact that his job loop is his and only his thus meaning that only himself can get to the top and get out of this loop.

Recreating:

I have decided to recreate this photo as it interests me as it has inside meanings of personal confusion. I know that I would have to be in a area where it is secluded and has a prominent skyline with the sun beaming down or if not I would use photoshop and add a bight layer at the top of the picture, I do know a location around where I live where the setting can be used to recreate this picture. I would need a person who could be my business man who is standing on the unusual object. Also I would have to edit my setting using photoshop to make it brighter and enhance the colours. I would probably have to make the saturation warmer by I tiny bit aswell to brighten it up also. The main object and the attraction of the photo I would have to maybe find a singular stairway and duplicate the layers and use free transform the layers into a odd shape. Also I would have brighten one side of the object to show the sun brightening up the side and with the other side I would darken by using the paint tool and increasing the opacity of it to make it look like a shadow. 

















What Did I Do:
I used a cannon camera to take the photos I needed. to recreate this photo. Firstly I found a location to use as my background. I had made sure that the sky was clear and that the clouds are visible. I took around 20 photos that day all mostly similar. I ultimately choose this photo below as I believed it showed the background very well and is bright enough with large clouds in a large number. I believed this picture was very good me to put my unusual object on.

Secondly I needed a male model in a work attire so I choose to use myself as a model. I achieved this by using the self timing feature on my Canon camera. I set it for 10 seconds so I could get myself into position. I set the camera on a park bench and flipped my screen to see if I was in a good position. Once I set the camera in the good position I  set the timer and rushed on top a seesaw as I believed I could cut my self out of it well to put on my object. I took several attempts at this but I chose the one below as I believe my positioning is what is needed.

For my unusual object I planned to find a stone staircase but unfortunately I couldn't find one that I believed was good enough. However I had an idea that if I use a picture with a wall with a pretty pattern on it, it would fit well. In town I found a wall that I believed I could crop and move as unusual object. I took around 15 photos of either stairs or walls but I believed this picture below was the better one to edit.  

Editing

The initial idea for my editing was, the fact that I was gonna use the wall and duplicate four times and flip two of them to give inside effect that I was trying to recreate but with a different style. I was going to cut myself out and shrink me and put myself on top of my object when my object was done. However a technical issue with photoshop at the time made me not able to use photoshop. However I used an app on my phone called Photoshop Mix which meant I could mix layers with my hands which I intended to do. Firstly I set my background as the landscape of the field. Secondly I cut out a rectangle shape out of the wall I took a photo off. After doing that I duplicated that photo for times and flipped two of them. I then put all the in front of the background. I moved them into a square shape and making the shape smaller to make it look like its in the picture. Thirdly I cropped myself out of the photo I took, I had to zoom in to cut out all the edges of the background on the photo. I then secondly I shrank and put myself on top of the object and made sure I was fully on the object. Lastly I put a dramatic warm filter on the photo as the photo I tried to recreate had a warm sense to it so I used this filter.

Evaluation

I believe the photo I created is very similar to the photo I wanted to recreate. The main problem had is the stairs but however my replacement I think is good and is keeping with what I was trying to recreate. The position of my model I believe connotes a business man at the top of his career seeing what he would do now and not wanting to go down the object which represents a downward career spiral which he does not wanna do. I believe my attempt was good and linked to the photo I was going to recreate.