Exam
Identity
Jack Reed
My personal essay will be focusing on the theme of Identity. I have chosen to focus on this form of photography for many reasons. The first reason is that I chose this is because, a lot of my photography projects are focused on architecture or simple objects, while identity gives me a chance to experience and improve my skills when taking portraits and working with other people when taking photographs . The theme of identity gives me a lot of creative freedom when it comes to picking photographers to take inspiration from, I can choose from a wide range or effects or techniques used to make or edit my photographs. Another reason why I picked the theme of identity was because of what is happening in the world. Covid-19 changed everything, there were travel restrictions and parts of entire countries were locked away from the public. Choosing an idea that gives me the freedom to use the people around me gives me the freedom to always take photographs as there’s subjects in photography that were not assessable at the time, such as; land scape and architecture as most of the UK had to stay inside unless it was seen “essential” to the government.
The project will be focused on two very different types of portrait photography. One part will be focusing on the very classic and traditional style of Rory Lewis who focuses on taking photographs of celebrities and making them look like normal people who have weaknesses. Most people look at those celebrities like they are superheroes but Lewis looks at them like actual people and you can see that in his work. Another photographer that I will study and inspiration of is Lasse Holie, her work is the complete opposite of Rory Lewis. Her work is bold and bright and is extremely original. She uses traditional and digital painting methods to make her photographs truly unique.
Quick summary and Examples of work by these photographers.
Rory Lewis
Rory Lewis is a British photographer known for his celebrity portrait photography. Lewis's inspirations include the works of the artists Hans Holbein the younger, Caravaggio, Titian and Thomas Lawrence and the German Expressionist movement of the 1920s.
In 2012, Lewis held his first exhibition, Keeping Abreast, at the Bluecoat Gallery in Liverpool. Held in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support, the collection featured unseen portraits.
David Warner portrait by Lewis, Nov. 2013In 2013, his portrait of actor David Warner was acquired by the National Portrait Gallery, London. The portrait was Warner's first sitting since Cecil Beaton photographed him in the mid-1960s. featured portraits of Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen,
Ian McShane, Emma Rigby, Beth Tweddle, Craig Charles, General Sir Nick Houghton and Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson.
Lasse Holie
Lasse Hoile is a Danish artist, photographer and film-maker. He has collaborated with musician Steven Wilson and his projects Porcupine Tree and Blackfield. He has also designed live visuals for the US progressive metal band Dream Theatre. In the mid-1990s he was the vocalist for Danish death metal band, Panzer Christ.
Hoile started working as an editor and producing short films in 1993. Five years later in 1998, he took up photography as a hobby. Since then, he has worked on documentaries, commercials, and short films. Hoile directed videos and creating a number of album sleeves for Porcupine Tree following the release of In Absentia in 2002. Later in 2005, he directed the recording of Porcupine Tree's first live performance DVD, Arriving somewhere..., which took place at Park West, Chicago. He directed Porcupine Tree's music videos "Fear of a Blank Planet", and has also worked on covert art for Steven Wilson's solo work. Hoile designed the cover art for Porcupine Tree's most recent studio album, The Incident, released in September 2009. He composed and directed the music video for the album's single, "Time Flies", which was the featured "Video of the Week" on iTunes USA (October19–25, 2009).
My own work
Rory Lewis
I started my own work focusing on the style of Rory Lewis because, his techniques and photo style is simple but effective. His photographs are striking and almost shocking as he mikes these “invincible” celebrities look human. He never uses advanced techniques or a large amount of Photoshop as these photographs speak for themselves.
When starting to do my own work I focused on the human element of the photographs rather than just making sure I’m using a fancy technique or camera settings, I made sure the subjects look human and now invincible.
In my opinion the first batch of photographs did come out at a high quality some are lacking quality but that can all be fixed in Photoshop. Half of the images were done by using studio lighting and a professional back drop and the other half were made using a "homemade studio" only about half from the homemade studio came out at a good enough quality to use but the ones I can use are almost as good as the studio lit photographs.
How I used Photoshop to improve my work
How did these edits turn out?
In my opinion I think I did a good job when choosing an editing style for my Rory Lewis inspired photographs. I think the black and white style worked very well for the type of atmosphere I was trying to create for these photographs.
These edits only use the black and white and the brightness/contrast tools in Photoshop so the edits didn’t take any time away from working on the rest of the project.
My own work
Lasse Holie
When I started working on my work in the style of Lasse Holie I started by focusing on the body paint aspect because, in my opinion that work is the most appealing and looks the best when compared to the rest of the rest of her work.
When taking the photographs poses or facial expressions were not my main concern. My main concern was how the neon paint would look in the camera and if the photos were going to be a waste of time or not. The photos actually came out to a good standard and gave me the chance to use Photoshop and other edits software to edit to make them look the part.
How some the photos came out
As you can see some of these photographs did come out to be a really good quality.
I used a camera with a really low ISO so the photographs didn’t come out overexposed and this also makes sure that the back background stays as black as possible. One of the most difficult things about taking these pictures is trying to get the right environment to take these photographs. The room would have to be pitch black and not a single big of natural light can be in the room otherwise the body paint won’t work properly.
Working with traditional paint
A lot of Holies work is based with using traditional paints to make her work stand out among the other portrait photographers. These images usually standout and have a unique look about them. I will try to get the same feeling when making my own photographs.
When I was painting on these photographs the hardest part of it was to not get the paint to look too similar from picture to picture so I had to rotate what colours I would use constantly. But overall think the images came out to a very good standard.
Conclusion
Overall I think this project is successful. I completed everything that I set out to achieve, I have become an overall better portrait photographer, and I challenged my photography skills alongside my Photoshop skills to complete a project that is successful and cohesive.
Jack Reed
My personal essay will be focusing on the theme of Identity. I have chosen to focus on this form of photography for many reasons. The first reason is that I chose this is because, a lot of my photography projects are focused on architecture or simple objects, while identity gives me a chance to experience and improve my skills when taking portraits and working with other people when taking photographs . The theme of identity gives me a lot of creative freedom when it comes to picking photographers to take inspiration from, I can choose from a wide range or effects or techniques used to make or edit my photographs. Another reason why I picked the theme of identity was because of what is happening in the world. Covid-19 changed everything, there were travel restrictions and parts of entire countries were locked away from the public. Choosing an idea that gives me the freedom to use the people around me gives me the freedom to always take photographs as there’s subjects in photography that were not assessable at the time, such as; land scape and architecture as most of the UK had to stay inside unless it was seen “essential” to the government.
The project will be focused on two very different types of portrait photography. One part will be focusing on the very classic and traditional style of Rory Lewis who focuses on taking photographs of celebrities and making them look like normal people who have weaknesses. Most people look at those celebrities like they are superheroes but Lewis looks at them like actual people and you can see that in his work. Another photographer that I will study and inspiration of is Lasse Holie, her work is the complete opposite of Rory Lewis. Her work is bold and bright and is extremely original. She uses traditional and digital painting methods to make her photographs truly unique.
Quick summary and Examples of work by these photographers.
Rory Lewis
Rory Lewis is a British photographer known for his celebrity portrait photography. Lewis's inspirations include the works of the artists Hans Holbein the younger, Caravaggio, Titian and Thomas Lawrence and the German Expressionist movement of the 1920s.
In 2012, Lewis held his first exhibition, Keeping Abreast, at the Bluecoat Gallery in Liverpool. Held in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support, the collection featured unseen portraits.
David Warner portrait by Lewis, Nov. 2013In 2013, his portrait of actor David Warner was acquired by the National Portrait Gallery, London. The portrait was Warner's first sitting since Cecil Beaton photographed him in the mid-1960s. featured portraits of Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen,
Ian McShane, Emma Rigby, Beth Tweddle, Craig Charles, General Sir Nick Houghton and Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson.
Lasse Holie
Lasse Hoile is a Danish artist, photographer and film-maker. He has collaborated with musician Steven Wilson and his projects Porcupine Tree and Blackfield. He has also designed live visuals for the US progressive metal band Dream Theatre. In the mid-1990s he was the vocalist for Danish death metal band, Panzer Christ.
Hoile started working as an editor and producing short films in 1993. Five years later in 1998, he took up photography as a hobby. Since then, he has worked on documentaries, commercials, and short films. Hoile directed videos and creating a number of album sleeves for Porcupine Tree following the release of In Absentia in 2002. Later in 2005, he directed the recording of Porcupine Tree's first live performance DVD, Arriving somewhere..., which took place at Park West, Chicago. He directed Porcupine Tree's music videos "Fear of a Blank Planet", and has also worked on covert art for Steven Wilson's solo work. Hoile designed the cover art for Porcupine Tree's most recent studio album, The Incident, released in September 2009. He composed and directed the music video for the album's single, "Time Flies", which was the featured "Video of the Week" on iTunes USA (October19–25, 2009).
My own work
Rory Lewis
I started my own work focusing on the style of Rory Lewis because, his techniques and photo style is simple but effective. His photographs are striking and almost shocking as he mikes these “invincible” celebrities look human. He never uses advanced techniques or a large amount of Photoshop as these photographs speak for themselves.
When starting to do my own work I focused on the human element of the photographs rather than just making sure I’m using a fancy technique or camera settings, I made sure the subjects look human and now invincible.
In my opinion the first batch of photographs did come out at a high quality some are lacking quality but that can all be fixed in Photoshop. Half of the images were done by using studio lighting and a professional back drop and the other half were made using a "homemade studio" only about half from the homemade studio came out at a good enough quality to use but the ones I can use are almost as good as the studio lit photographs.
How I used Photoshop to improve my work
How did these edits turn out?
In my opinion I think I did a good job when choosing an editing style for my Rory Lewis inspired photographs. I think the black and white style worked very well for the type of atmosphere I was trying to create for these photographs.
These edits only use the black and white and the brightness/contrast tools in Photoshop so the edits didn’t take any time away from working on the rest of the project.
My own work
Lasse Holie
When I started working on my work in the style of Lasse Holie I started by focusing on the body paint aspect because, in my opinion that work is the most appealing and looks the best when compared to the rest of the rest of her work.
When taking the photographs poses or facial expressions were not my main concern. My main concern was how the neon paint would look in the camera and if the photos were going to be a waste of time or not. The photos actually came out to a good standard and gave me the chance to use Photoshop and other edits software to edit to make them look the part.
How some the photos came out
As you can see some of these photographs did come out to be a really good quality.
I used a camera with a really low ISO so the photographs didn’t come out overexposed and this also makes sure that the back background stays as black as possible. One of the most difficult things about taking these pictures is trying to get the right environment to take these photographs. The room would have to be pitch black and not a single big of natural light can be in the room otherwise the body paint won’t work properly.
Working with traditional paint
A lot of Holies work is based with using traditional paints to make her work stand out among the other portrait photographers. These images usually standout and have a unique look about them. I will try to get the same feeling when making my own photographs.
When I was painting on these photographs the hardest part of it was to not get the paint to look too similar from picture to picture so I had to rotate what colours I would use constantly. But overall think the images came out to a very good standard.
Conclusion
Overall I think this project is successful. I completed everything that I set out to achieve, I have become an overall better portrait photographer, and I challenged my photography skills alongside my Photoshop skills to complete a project that is successful and cohesive.