Tom & Tony Intervention

 Research

Neomie Goudal

I really like these because it gives an illusion of what could be in the photograph or what might be. I like how there's water and wooden panels to match the wooden panels on the inside of the building, that's what makes it more realistic and eye catching. 

Corrine Silva

I don't really like these ones as much as I like the first ones I researched. I think Naomi's are much more effective and look a lot more picturesque. These ones I just don't really know why they've been done and the point in them. I do like how in the second image, the picture in the billboard lines up with the actual landscape in the background. 

Site Specific

We looked at 'site specific' in our lesson and had to think of spaces we could insert our own image. I came up with the idea of photographing a not very nice looking building or doorway, photographing a nice looking door (like Harvey Nichols) and placing it over the top. 

I like it because it catches your attention, you wouldn't expect to see that doorway there because of the run down looking area. 

I like these because I haven't seen people do this before and it's quite different. I like how at first glance they look like they're meant to be there but when you look closely you can see they've been edited. Especially on the second image, you can see the door a bit stretched and misshaped from where I've edited it on photoshop. 

When I showed this work to someone else, they didn't even notice the doors that I had photoshopped onto the buildings. 

Michael Hughes

I got my idea from looking at Michael Hughes and his idea of putting souvenirs over the top of different famous areas/landmarks. I practised this by printing off some images and taking them to the place they are and trying to frame the image exactly over the top to make it look like the real thing. 

At first it was difficult to arrange them perfectly because of the wind which is why I didn't get a lot, but I'm going to practise more and try to improve my framing and composition. 

I like this idea because it can show how an area may or may not have changed over time. For example, I printed a photograph of the statue of a lion and placed it exactly over where it is and it doesn't look any different in the photograph than it does in person. But if I was to print a vintage picture of a street in Leeds and placed it over to photograph you would get an understanding of how much things can change over time.

Camera settings:

I think these are the best ones I've done so far, they fit the best into the scenes I've chosen. I like it's snowing in the one with the canal when it's not in the time i'm there. I find it interesting to see things how they were before on top of what they're like now. Also, the train station is a little different in the photograph i'm holding up. There's different screens and a different ticket machine. I never saw the train station when it looked like that so it was interesting for me to look and see how it used to look.


These are some of the photographs that went wrong:

The images I printed off weren't properly to the scale I needed them to be. The lines didn't fit and they were printed too small. So in future I think I should print out maybe a couple of different images of the same thing and at different sizes so then I can see which one would fit the best. This way I would end up with more images that I'm happy with that have actually worked properly.

Proposal

I really enjoyed the physical side of the tasks we did. Doing the practise tasks really helped me with my decision. I preferred physically taking something out and taking a photograph, especially the ones I did. I was inspired to do these by looking at Michael Hughes' work with souvenirs.  I liked how you can create nearly anything you want or make it really quirky. 

For my final pieces I would like to continue with my idea of having photographs held up in front of places and re-photographing. One of my ideas is to find images of places I haven't been before, print pictures and find them in the specific areas. This is something I've never done or tried in photography before but something I've always looked at as fascinating and always wanted to attempt it myself.

I have an idea for this project. I want to print out pictures of animal heads and photograph them over human bodies and vice versa. I think this would add humour to the assignment instead of having something serious or boring. 

Practise shoot

This was a small practise shoot I did to see how it would work and what I could do next time to improve it. It didn't work that well because of the lighting inside, I think it would work a lot better outside with natural lighting. Also, because his clothes were so dark you can't really tell there's a person there so I think I should try and make him wear roughly the same colour t shirt as the animal in the image. 

I tried different lighting the images. I tried natural lighting, dark with the curtains shut and bright lighting with the light facing onto the model. The last one worked the best out of all the lighting I tried. You can see the model and the photograph well but I think the animal photograph needs to be printed a little smaller so I can align it better with the shoulders of the model. 

Camera settings:

Practise shoot 2

For this shoot, I printed out the same animal picture lots of times in different sizes because I was having trouble getting the head to look like it fit on the body. So when I found the right size, I printed out all the animal heads roughly the same size so I know they would fit. 

These ones worked a lot better after finding the exact right size, it makes them work well when they look like the size of an actual head.

Camera settings:

After those images, I decided I would try cut around the animal head so there's no background to see how that would look. 

I actually prefer them a lot more like this rather than having a background in the image that doesn't fit with the scenery I'm taking the photograph in. I think they work so much better than the previous ones I did and I think I will carry on doing them like this from now on. Doing them cut out makes them look more like a head and looks more realistic. 

We did a session with these photographs where we gave each other feedback on our images, the images above are the ones I used to get feedback on as they were my most recent and I thought the best from what I've done so far. 

What people liked about my images:

- My idea

- It's cute 

- The images I've printed fit well on the person

- Has humour and is quirky

- The ones that are cut out are a lot better than the square ones from before

What people thought I could change/improve:

- Could maybe draw the animals

- Could make the animals represent the persons personality 

- Different backgrounds

- Photograph random people instead of posing for the picture

- Hand in image maybe not working

After reading the feedback I had a think about what more I could do with the assignment now. I agree with the person that said I should try different background so I was thinking about what backgrounds I could use and how they could fit in with the animal head or the person I'm with.

These are some of the ideas I have for the background to fit with the animal head:

Cat head - inside a house (pet)
Rabbit head - in a field with burrows
Dog head - pet shop/dogs trust
Cow/sheep head - field with cows/sheep
Pig head - farm
Squirrel head - park/near trees

Doing this would actually give the image of the animal head some meaning and it would match the background it's in instead of having them taken in random places like a classroom without thinking about it. This would make the photograph more interesting and people would actually notice that the head fits and it would draw more attention.

Plan for final outcome

I think  I would like to have 3/4 final images for this assignment, I want them to be funny but still have their own meaning. I would like to pursue the idea of having the animal head fit with the background I've taken it in e.g. a dogs head at a pet shop.

Location shoot

I planned a shoot on location so I could make the animal heads fit with the background more. I did a cat at a pet shop, a squirrel in a park near trees and a dog in a park.

I think these are better than my previous shoots just because they have more of a meaning with them being on location instead of just a classroom. The things that I think went wrong are the fact that I got to my locations when it was getting dark so I didn't really get the chance to take many test shots. I think they would have looked a lot better if I had chance to properly set up the camera and not kind of rush with them to get them done before it got dark.

I wanted to have them so the image was fully focused and have no differential focus.

Camera settings:

Feedback from class crit session

Positives - what is working well with the project?

• the heads fit well with the lines
• find it good how the head match up with the bodies
• find it funny
• location fits subject
• the background allows the overall image to appear more effective as it gives it more of a narrative and creates a stronger look as well as allowing the background to contrast with the foreground with the shades and colours

Negatives - which areas of the project need developing?

• could use a variety of different people'
• depth of field
• need better relationship between head, body and site
• could do a clearer cut on the paper to allow them to be placed on people easier and make colours brighter
• maybe use crazier animals
• better backgrounds

Advice for completing the project

• take more images
• different animals, not typical pets
• use sites for heads or use hands but in street photography

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After reading the feedback from people in the class, I want to:

- Try different animals in street photography

- Change the depth of field when taking my photographs

- Use better backgrounds

So for my next shoot, I want to try these things to develop and improve my work and images. I'd like to take their advise and make the animals a little more crazy instead of using the typical pet animal heads. 

Maybe trying to use a panda head sitting on a street bench reading a newspaper or a giraffe head sitting in a cafe having a hot chocolate. I think trying this will make me decide on which I prefer shooting and which I prefer visually. I also think this will add more humour into my work. People already said they think it's funny, but I think it will be more if I used more animal heads doing human activities (eating/drinking/reading the newspaper/working on a laptop/playing the guitar)