Proposal
My theme for my year 10 personal project is reflections. After doing some initial research on this theme, I have discovered the work of Tom Hussey. Hussey does reflection photography, he takes a photo of a old man/woman looking in a mirror, and then manipulates the image so the old person looking in the mirror sees a younger version of themselves. A good example of this is an old man looking in the mirror and seeing a young solider (the man used to fight in the war). I would like to try to achieve a similar image and I am planning on taking photographs of my family and combining them with old photographs. I will use my Grandad as the model since he is the oldest person in my family, also I have a photo of him when he was younger that is easy for him to recreate.
This month I am going on a trip to London to view the Radical Eye Exhibition at the Tate Modern. Whilst in London am planning on taking photos of reflections in buildings, puddles, car windows and in the themes. Since I am in London when it goes dark, I will have a chance to take reflection photos of the light s of London, street lights, car lights and Big Ben. I also like taking photos of reflections in buildings which i perfect for a city photoshoot.
I have chosen reflections for my project because I am interested in water photography. Also there are many lakes where I live which will give me more opportunities to take the photos I want.
This month I am going on a trip to London to view the Radical Eye Exhibition at the Tate Modern. Whilst in London am planning on taking photos of reflections in buildings, puddles, car windows and in the themes. Since I am in London when it goes dark, I will have a chance to take reflection photos of the light s of London, street lights, car lights and Big Ben. I also like taking photos of reflections in buildings which i perfect for a city photoshoot.
I have chosen reflections for my project because I am interested in water photography. Also there are many lakes where I live which will give me more opportunities to take the photos I want.
Mindmap
Inspirations-These are not my photos
London Trip
London photos evaluation
Here are a few photos I took in London. I really like the photographs. The clouds were nice on the day of the trip which resulted in more beautiful reflections, they were fluffy clouds which contrasted well with the blue sky. It had rained earlier that day so the ground was covered in puddles so I could take the photos I wanted. We passed by many windows which increased the opportunity to take a good photo. For most of my photos the settings on my camera were f5.6, ISO 200 and on automatic.Overall it was a mixed bag of images, some were good, some were bad and other weren't reflections. Out of the reflection photos I took in London, I think they were good for my standard.
Media City
Media city photos evaluation
The media city photoshoot went a lot better than the London photoshoot, I took a few photos that I am really happy with. I think that after the slightly unsuccessful London trip I learnt from my mistakes and managed to improve. When I went to Media City I stayed until nightfall so I got some slow shutter speed photos of the BBC building and the bridge that lit up. I did not have a tripod with me so i and to keep still for 20 seconds so the image is slightly blurred. In Media City the shapes of some of the buildings are really strange which resulted in unique photos. In Media City, everywhere you look is either water or glass which meant there was a lot of opportunity for reflections
Media City photo evaluation
I really like this photo because of the lighting, I like how the sun is just behind the houses which turns a few of the buildings to silhouettes. You can tell that this photo was taken in the evening because of the colour in the sky and water. By looking at the whole image the photo is sharp enough to enjoy however it could be sharper in the water area. The dominant lines in this image are the plane trails and the vertical lines of the buildings. No objects are repeated in the image so this does not make a pattern. The foreground of this image is the water, the middle ground of the picture is the buildings and the background is the sun. There is a lot of contrast in the photo between the lights and the dark's. The yellowish colour is a significant feature in the image because it has a lot of contrast from the blacks in the photograph. The image is well balanced, the bridge is on the thirds and the buildings are on the second half of the image. I think the photo might be a bit under exposed near the bottom of the picture, whereas the top half is overexposed.
I really like the composition of this photo because the pillar on the bridge is on the third and the buildings are on the second half of the image. The picture is grainy and noisy, but enough to enjoy. All the lights are coming from the left of the photo and gradually comes into the photograph, the light is a soft evening light which is not being reflected except the light that is coming out from under the bridge. The cables that support the bridge are all parallel to each other which creates a pattern. If I could touch the surface of this photograph I think it would fell warm on the left and cool on the right. There are a lot of tones in this photo like the blues, oranges and blacks, also there is a mixed contrast throughout the whole image. I love the colours this picture has.
Artist Research
Tom Hussey
Tom Hussey is a photographer who takes photos of elderly men or women looking in a mirror and seeing a younger version of themselves. He does this by manipulating an image by taking a photo of the old man or woman looking in a mirror then taking another photo of the younger person looking in the mirror. Then a final photo of just the mirror and the background. He then goes into Photoshop and merges them together to make the effective picture. Like I said in the proposal, I could create a photo of my own using the style of Tom Hussey with my Granddad.
Tom Hussey is an American photographer, he worked with advertising and lifestyle photography.
Tom Hussey is an American photographer, he worked with advertising and lifestyle photography.
My work in Tom Hussey's style
Evaluation
I really like my Tom Hussey style photo, everything is nicely framed and composed. The image is not in focus in the correct places but in enough focus to enjoy. When I took the photo, the lighting wasn't very good so increased the ISO however that made it grainy and noisy. It was at midday with direct natural light. The dominant lines in the pictures is the mirrors border and the door frame. No lines are repeated so there is no pattern. The shape of my Granddads face relates to face black and white photo because that is a photo of my Grandad when he was younger which has been scanned. There is some negative space in the mirror around the top middle of the photo. There is not that many tones or contrast to the image. I didn't have a tripod at the time of taking this photo so I had to keep really still so the photo without grandad would not be different to the one with him. The composition of the picture is good with everything on the thirds. From what I can see the exposure is right, its not too bright or too dark. Overall I am happy with this photo and I would enjoy doing this style of photography again in the future.
Photoshop
First I had to put both the photos onto two separate layers, so I can merge them together later. I also applied a layer mask to the picture of Granddad a younger person (I didn't unlink them).
I erased the background off the younger picture of Granddad using the layer mask with a soft brush.
Finally I merged the two layers together and cropped the image to create my final piece in the style of Tom Hussey.
Gavin Hammond
Gavin Hammond is a photographer located in London. He waits until it rains then goes off and wanders around London taking reflections in puddles. Some of this photos he takes are upside down which is unusual appearance. Afterwards he adds a filter to his photos and a bit of vignetting. The purple colour makes this style of photo stand out from any other photo you would normally see. Here are a few of Gavin Hammond's photos.
Evaluation
I have chosen this photo to evaluate because I like the composition of the image. I like how the double yellow lines are on the third and they lead off the picture. I also like how the ground is sprinkled with white marks, I think it gives the image ore texture. The picture is in focus and sharp in the correct places. The light is coming directly from above which suggests he could have used a portable flash and vignetted the corners of the photo. The dominant lines in the image are the double yellow lines because they are the boldest and largest lines in the picture. They are also repeated which adds a pattern to the photo. If I could touch the surface of the picture I think I would feel a grainy or gritty texture.