Mark Hancox

 

Mark Hancox is a photographer who is known for taking pictures of birds. His interests lie within birds, owls, wildlife etc. He captures them still or captures the movement of the wildlife as well. His photos are taken with digital photography which makes his photos look really sharp and dense. His photos are taken all year round and he mainly focusses on shutter and depth of field. Hancox also considers the background such as with this photo to the right (>) he doesn't just think of the movement of the squirrel but also the reflection  of the squirrel in the water. This would need to consider what time of the day
is best to catch a sensitive shadow. The aperture
and exposure is thought about too so it collects
all the colours together making it really lively and vivid.

This is one of Hancox images and I really like this one as it looks at movement of the birds which I will be portraying. I think the story of this image is freedom and independance. The way he has angled this photo being a portrait and using the bird in the centre of the image shows how he is small and is about to fly off and take on the world. Another thing I could take into consideration would be using depth of field, if I can take close up of the birds without them flying off using depth of field with my camera I can really focus on the main attention which is the bird moving. The colours really compliment each other well in this photo with the blues and greens as they are so vibrant. Something which could be different in this image is Hancox could show the movement of the bird as it flys off using a quick shutter. As the bird is blue it would create a flash of colour making the photo seem really strong.

Sidaway and Loreiau Comparrison

Both of these artists are very similar yet quite different. Loreiau looks at documentary style photography such as the daily life of people, capturing problems or movement in different countries where as Sidaway is fine art based as she looks at more landscapes, buildings, textures which may have a story behind them. Her photos tend to give a particular mood or atmosphere particularly relaxing, cheerful etc.

Like Sidaway, Loreiau believes in strong composition as part of the making of a good photograph. This really links to my final piece as composition is strong and vital to make the perfect piece. They both are modern day artists using digital photography and Photoshop for example to create their final images. I think they both use composition to the best of their advantage. Sidaway could crop some of her photos as sometimes their is a empty space of composition which draws you to that part. Loreaiu on the other hand takes hundreds of images and some are full with composition and some are very simple with hardly any. They just document what's currently happening.

Loreiaus photos have to be more thought about but as he is documenting parts of a particular place it doesn't have to be structured. The elements where he would need to think about is when he's capturing movement to lean it on something or to actually carry a tripod around so he can capture the movement sharply/clearly. Loreiau obviously has a plan of what he wants and is interested in but it's more easier to do I think, on the other hand Sidaway has to get the right composition and perfect image to create a beautiful layer, what needs to be thought about are the places in Bristol or where ever she is that will be relevant to her, the structure, what can she do with these images in the future and if she has found a place for her photos such as a bridge, what else is there in that spot can she think about such as the aperture of the weather etc to make sure the photo is well structured.

They both have taken photos in Bristol which have been really inspiring to me in their different elements. Loreiau was great as I could link my work to the movement around Bristol by capturing images of cyclists, buildings, famous Bristol features but I could use the story behind it from Sidaway such as the ideas, concepts, beliefs and the mood I wanted to give off.

Bruce Montagne

When researching about close up photography for textures this was a website I found with some useful tips:

http://www.cgtextures.com/content.php?action=tutorial&name=shootingtextures

Burce Montagne has taken images in the northern United States and Canada. His interests and hobbies are always developing his knowledge and improving to take the best images by travelling and focusing on landscape, wildlife and texture photography. This photographer is relevant to me for my final piece as he looks at different types of textures which is a important layer to me when creating my final piece.

He quotes - "I find concentrating on textures often brings order to the visual chaos inherent in wild places.
To heighten my awareness, I force myself to slow down so I can focus on the rhythms within the landscape. It may be the lines in birch bark or the stones on a beach that catch my eye. This approach helps me to reveal the essence of my surroundings"

"Making beautiful images has never been enough for me. Nature has stories to tell. They spring from the things I see and the events I witness. They may be told by beach stones, a baby fox, the boreal forest or a family of sandhill cranes. I slow my pace to uncover them using my camera like a writer uses a pen."

 

Both of these images have a way of rhythm to them either landscape or portrait. They have a very light pink natural tone to them which will give a nice effect when layering if wanting a natural subtle photo as the opacity on Photoshop will change this nicely. When taking photos of textures structure is really important to think about and the rule of thirds, as you may want the texture to the side so it can be a side piece on a layer or it could be a creative composition such as Montagnes second image. The right exposure must be done so the texture isn't too dark or light and sometimes depth of field could be useful as it could focus on a certain aspect of the photo which you may want to naturally highlight through the layers or on it's own.

Jerome Lorieau

Born in Nantes in 1971, Jerome Lorieau is a French photographer who lives in Bristol. Expressing himself between documentary and street photography, his work focus on long
term projects because of the human aspect, but also to have better insight and understanding of a situation over time. Photography is what allows him to explore the cultural and sociological aspects of life in order to understand the relationship between the people, their traditions/habits/cultures and their environment. This photographer could relate to my work as I am looking at street life of Bristol and the documentation of day to day life so I can use Rebecca Sidaway to create a collection of photos. Lorieau also looks at the movement of people, water, boats which links with my style really well.

I really love this photo from Lorieau. It uses the elements of which Sidaway uses by using layering of two images onto Photoshop and he has changed the opacity so it isn't obvious, it's quite faded. I think this image can inspire me for my shoot because of the use of colour. Loreiau has thought about the composition by capturing the colours of the building but also the sky. The exposure is at the right setting as the image seems more adverse. I could use this as inspiration for my shoot of looking at landscapes for one of my layers to look at the composition as I want my images to have a creative composition with lots going on and not empty parts.

As I was searching through Lorieaus pictures to find inspiration he has lots of topics and thumbails of places he has taken photos of and I found a Bristol link with lots of photos he has taken around Bristol. I am really glad I have found this as now I can look see the types of shots around Bristol which look most effective by shops, restaurants, buildings, the water front etc. This photo I have chosen because it's quite a unique photo as it is looking into a cafe capturing the daily life of people working or pleasure but also he captures the reflection side of the movement of people and a cyclist. This was a priority to me to capture this but also looking at this type of shot I think it works by using a over exposed image for the landscape and a under exposed image for the movement. I will experiment with this as a different type of layering because as I have always looked at horror the under exposed parts can look mysterious, anonymous and scary.

Film Noir inspiration

https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&authuser=0&q=film%20noir%20fashion&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.46226182,d.ZWU&biw=1366&bih=592&wrapid=tlif136796141849110&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=iw&ei=V2-JUeb5NOiY1AWJlYGoCA

When I focussed on Film Noir I looked at the time period, fashion, trends etc. The link to this website shows film noir fashions and trends. It was really interesting to learn from it and see what I could bring to my movement project such as fashion, cards, cigarettes etc.

Bristol inspiration

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/bristol/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_8118000/8118365.stm

Green upon the flooded Avon shone the after-storm-wet-sky
Quick the struggling withy branches let the leaves of autumn fly
And a star shone over Bristol, wonderfully far and high.
Ringers in an oil-lit belfry - Bitton? Kelston? who shall say? -
Smoothly practicing a plain course, caverned out the dying day
As their melancholy music flooded up and ebbed away,
Then all Somerset was around me and I saw the clippers ride,
High above the moonlit houses, triple-masted on the tide,
By the tall embattled church-towers of Bristol waterside.
And an undersong to branches dripping into pools and wells
Out of multitudes of elm trees over leagues of hill and dells
Was the mathematic pattern of a plain course on the bells.

Rebecca Sidaway 2 (development)

 

Developing from my last shoot I realised that personally to me I think structure makes a photo and makes it seem more unique than others.

With this shoot I looked at close up objects, more movement and also using the rule of thirds such as not focussing in the middle but looking at the sides and corners of objects.

With this photo (below) I used a train from Temple meads, the suspension bridge and a picture of a wood arch with bushes and trees in the background. But at the bottom of the picture where the platform is and wood/bushes it was a lot of empty composition which wasn't needed so I cropped it to see how it went.

 

The image now cropped