Saturday, 3 November 2012

ITAP Lecture 6

NARRATIVE & STRUCTURE
During our sixth ITAP lecture we covered the areas of Narrative and Structure. Animation and film were used as an example of this. However, I would like to explore this subject further and examine it in depth from the perspective of a photographer. Two principles I have chosen to write about are ‘Developing Stories’ and ‘Developing Characters’.
Developing Stories
Story is a set of events and a simple way to deliver a message across. Narrative is very important in photography as it helps to create a powerful image. The concept of telling a story can be about everything, personal, emotional or a physical journey. Each photographer has different values, observations and experiences in life, therefore the interpretations and essence of the same subject would be various from each perspective. Creators try to convey their own, individual and unique understanding of the image and connect with the audience. Meaningful pieces of art/photograph enable us to open the door to our imagination which allows the image tells us its story and engage and stimulate the hearts and minds of the recipient. Importance of the message can be in metaphorical, abstraction, documentary form and any other form created in our mind. It is not necessary to create a set of photographs or collage to tell a story. In photography it is possible to achieve this within one frame. In portraiture getting close to the person gives a more intimate view and makes the message more powerful. As an example I have attached photographs of the same person taken many years apart by Steve McCurry. It is the first image I have ever seen taken by this photographer and it inspired my passion towards this documentary.


Before taking the photo each photographer should ask themselves questions:
-Who is it for?
-What is my purpose or intention?
-What emotions do I want to capture?
-What is my message?
-How do I want to approach the composition?
-How do i achieve it technically and visually?


Developing Character

There are clear rules and definition of how to develop characters within a movie, it is either the ‘Hero’ or ‘Villain’. Unfortunately or fortunately we cannot apply the same rules in photography. However in both cases it is vital that characters show emotions which can relate to the viewer. When taking photographs they need to capture the emotional moment of the character. This will result in an emotional response from the audience who empathises with emotion. The aspects worth taking into consideration when developing our character are body language, facial expression, activity, location, background, people within the composition etc.

Dorothea Lange

Dorothea Lange


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Thursday, 25 October 2012

ITAP Lecture 5

DESIGN PROCESS
 This week ITAP lecture was about the importance of the design process when creating visual messages and building communication with the audience.
The first principle I want to talk about is Legibility.
Legibility is the degree  to which individual characters in the text are understandable and recognizable based on their appearance.



  It is very easy to lose meaning and purpose of our aim if we don’t follow some rules. First of all is to recognise the audience and choose appropriate style. In writing or text and image that includes: typeface, font size, clear image, composition, paragraphs, colour, spacing, alignment, layout of the image and text on the page and additional content together, all the above must be suitable for presented image to communicate the right message. There are other rules when creating magazine layouts: columns, margins, headlines, sub headlines etc. It is good to ask ourselves a question: Does it connect with the target audience? We must decide on the level of legibility depending on the purpose and the audience. It is also used in commercial visual communication such as maps, signs, instructions etc. Each project has a different purpose for instance informative, instructing, persuasive or convincing. If our goal is to clearly inform the target group and enable them to gain information the above rules can help to maintain final outlook. Whereas when we use words overlapping the image it might be illegible.


 I think is very important to make my blog legible and for that reason I have used bigger font size , a clear typeface, chosen colours of font and background.

Tone of voice
Tone of voice must be taken into consideration when we aim to communicate visually with a target audience. Very often, apart from the image, we also apply text which more distinctively emphasises the message we are sending. We do not always appreciate that Typography is everywhere. It is a huge part of advertising, publishing, packaging etc.


It is particularly chosen for certain groups of people create the right impression and reaction, for instance to buy the advertised product.
We can find Ideal connection of text and image in the ‘Sex has consequences’ advertisement for The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. Tony Arefin is a graphic designer who cleverly works with typography and very often combines it with photography. The theme of the campaign is to encourage teenagers to have safe sex. He uses very strong quotes and picks out words highlighting the  valuable meaning for the theme. He accentuates the words even more using strong red colour which is a very emotionally intense and stimulates people to make a quick decision but also indicates danger.



Paula Scher is a graphic designer who uses historical design for the contemporary audience. 

 






Rihanna's latest album cover


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Wednesday, 17 October 2012

ITAP Lecture 4


IDEAS & UNDERSTANDING
Research
In order to create a piece of art it is very important to prepare ourselves for a certain subject and this requires research. Research is a way of investigation to establish facts/principles or collect information on the subject we work on. It is a search for knowledge, to analyze data and understand a topic or issue. When we pose the question, in order to be able to answer it, we need to look at the query in depth, to research, to explore, study and examine the facts surrounding us. Research can be done in a variety of ways like books, the internet, libraries, interviews etc. There are also different types of research, primary and secondary. It is very important to direct our message to a target audience and try to engage visually.
Primary research- basically an artist, photographer, graphic designer, illustrator or animator have to start from scratch (i.e. taking photographs, conducting interviews and asking questions)
Secondary research- is all necessary data available from other organisations (collecting information to reinforce, influence our work)
Research is essential for me as a photographer. When I plan an outdoor photo shoot for instance, I always research the basics such as location and weather for that day and more advanced preparation like getting to know the model. Also to know the project itself and find the way to express myself creatively in relation to knowledge about historical and contemporary artists.
During our magazine project I have researched other photographers work, food photography, how to create interesting composition, food magazine layouts, structure for writing a review or various techniques for post production. It has accompanied me for the whole time and provided me with a broader picture of how to present my ideas.
This leads us to visual research which in that case allows us to find out what and how something has been done in the past. Research throughout the visual practice of collecting, studying and exploring a theme will contribute to understanding of the subject but also to the final outcome. This is from where we should look to acquire our inspiration.

Inspiration
Each person can be inspired by someone or something. We are individuals and everyone is different. We need to find what inspires us and how we can relate our surrounding environment to our work or use relevant research for ourselves and connect it with our work. There are many methods of recording things, collection, observation, drawings of images, behaviour, text, personal staff, feelings. These need to be recorded, the data  processed and the ideas developed to find the visual language to communicate them.
Personally I am inspired by looking at work of other photographers, their overall work, project and analysing it. I find personal blogs very helpful providing insight as to the artists and the inspiration for their ideas and how i can learn from it. It enables me to practice alternative and new styles and techniques to try to find my own route. I am particularly interested in documentary photography I think partially due to the fact that I am a very emotional person. I use my eyes, heart and mind to see and feel everything around me. I find it fascinating to watch people and take photographs of what they do. I don’t have to talk to them or communicate with them directly. Documentary photography gives me a safe distance, a quiet time but an emotional outcome. I think having a RVJ is necessary to create your own bank of ideas. I am not very good at drawing so tend to use photographs instead and develop my ideas from these.





 Bill Brandt was one of the  leading British photographers of the 20th century. His work is notable for its splendid use of contrast and densely printed images. Brand created a personal photographic language and individual style which was original, experimental and involved deeper investigation.




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