During the course of unit 2 and all of the research I have done on photographers, I feel I have progressed massively, all the photographers that I have studied have influenced both component 2 and my exam shoot massively, often the themes and ideas that I have been influenced to use are a continuation from component 2 on to my exam shoot like the themes of music and art etc. I have also accumulated many techniques through the research of photographers.
I studied lots of different photographers; Gosha Rubchinskiy, Tom Wood, Simon Wheatley, Don McCullin, Martin Parr, Mazzer, Derek Ridgers, Watson, Berger, Bradellterman, Kesa, Dittmer, Ruppert, Menke, Constantine, McEnery, Friedrichs, Knorr and Ricdon and Marsden. All of these Photographers have helped to form my images, I have taken a lot of influence from their style, technique and content. Most of the photographers shoot a particular genre of culture for example; skinheads.
My research on the photographer Kesa, showed me the importance of live music, as the photographers images are raw and gritty and within the moment and time, this therefore lead me to shoot pictures of my band practicing and performing together and then another shoot of them in a recording studio playing, this influenced me further to take pictures of anything related to live music in London for example music venues and buskers on the streets. Therefore Kesa's work really helped to fuel some of my ideas, I also tried to shoot the topic as raw and gritty as possible, this helped with the aesthetic of live music.
Derek Ridgers work made me understand the importance of portraiture, this helped to develop my shooting technically, it opened my eyes to what I could take pictures of for example in component 2 I took lots of portraits, in the studio I dedicated a whole shoot to deadpan shots of people, despite Ridgers generally taking images of people outside, this also made me try to always have a main subject in my shots valuing the diversity in depth and aesthetic it adds to the image, with multiple parts to see within one image. This then further influenced my exam shoot as I took more portraits in the style of Ridgers for example I shot a punk and a rasta in camden, Watson also greatly attributed to the choice of shooting these subjects, my overall aesthetic and broadened understanding has been improved from the likes of these photographers.
My choice to shoot a subject matter like technology for component 2 was an active decision to try and capture a massive part of youth culture within modern day life, however technology for me is not particularly an interest, it's not on my subjective vision, however in doing this, by going out of my comfort of shooting things which really interest me, I think it's greatly helped to vary my overall shooting style and ability, as for my exam shoot I went to London and shot things which really interested me, despite this because of the influence from component 2, I had a more broadened idea of personal opinion and my topic of youth culture, therefore I tried to photograph all things that were relevant to my topic as opposed to things which just interest me.
Don McCulin has been a massive influence to my photography, his subject matter and ideas about what photography is and can be, one of the biggest influences form his work is just a photo of his friends who were part of a gang in London standing in a house on different levels in the frame, because of his title of a personal opinions photographer, it taught me the significance of photographing one's friends because often your friends are the ones who share the same interests, the same influences and idioms that you possess therefore having a perfect reflection of youth culture as you see it. There is a direct link between his work and mine in component 2 as I do lots of shoots which consist of my friends, in environments that are both relevant to us, partaking in the same habits and routines that we normally do, for example in the shoots of my band, in my friends room, out skating etc.
The work of Simon Wheatley helped me a lot with the understanding that it is important to also go out of the way to find out and report on relevant things within personal opinions that are not prominent in the artists own life, for example Wheatley made a series on the lives of youth in South London, getting to know and understand the group and the habits of the origin and people very well, this therefore influenced me because his type of photography is so challenging and adventurous, this inspired me to go out of my way and shoot things that I would report on as an outsider. This influenced my shoot on art and music in college, because I went out of my way to find out and go somewhere where I had never ventured before, having to ask permission to take pictures of all these students who knew their subject and course inside out, his work was definitely relevant in helping me think outside the box and report on peoples lives. This is also furthered me onto my exam shoot, in which I went to London and took pictures of people that interested me because of the subcultures they were apart of, despite influence form Ridgers in taking these pictures, I had to go out of my way to ask permission and report on their lives, this is definitely an idea that I have taken from Wheatley.
In terms of technique or aesthetic, I took most influence in aesthete through my photographers as there was not a great deal of technical ability to learn, apart from formal elements and certain components such as line or tone that the photographers have specifically focused on during shots, however each photographer generally varies formal elements each time unless they just do dead pan portraiture each time for example. So overall I was influenced by all different types of aspects focused on during each shot. One thing that sticks out from all the photographers I have researched, is that often because they are quite old photographers and all personal opinion meaning they want an authentic reflection in their work, it often means they shoot with film camera's and in black and white, black and white was definitely something I used and took form their work as I think it often really helps to accentuate the type of theme your doing if it's of a time that is not so much relevant now, or if it's just quite colourless anyway.
I feel that overall I have successfully achieved all the different parts of the exam paper that has been asked of me, I chose to shoot personal opinions because I was most interested by the topic and felt that it was the most relevant in my life. I developed my ideas on what I could do for personal opinions eventually into the field of youth culture, this is something that greatly interests me and I felt that it was current and relatable even in what the exam asks of me as the learner. For personal opinions, it states that you need to be able to convey opinions, feelings and ideas to the observer of your work, I find that I have achieved this effectively and given forth all my views on each element of youth culture that I have shot, studied and focused on, to make an eclectic mix of photography, developing and changing my style and content throughout continual shooting and research. In the question it's self it talks about the photographer Martin Parr and how he observes the british way of life out of the three examples of photographers given, I found that this was the one most relevant to me and in a way I have focused on youth culture that is mostly exclusive to the United Kingdom therefore clearly showing influence form Parr. In terms of success, I think my weaknesses may have been the fact that I picked quite a narrow select topic of youth culture, but even with this I feel like I have been successful in showing how much I can vary my ideas and themes, for example I took pictures in the studio and learnt how to use a soft box for helping the lighting and improving my overall shoot, I took pictures outside, with subjects and pastimes etc. But overall I believe I have successfully conveyed my personal opinions through the topic that I have chose.
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