Taking Black and White Portraits...

These are my photo's before using Photoshop to change any elements. The first one was taken using manual focus and second one was taken using auto focus.

I chose these two photo's out of the six I took because i thought they had the best focus, lighting and they looked the most natural. Our objective in this lesson, inspired by famous photographer, Andy Gotts,  was to capture our models personality, and thier natural reaction.

I learnt a lot from this lesson:

• How to correctly light a photo, using a studio light, and a blank peice of white paper to reflect light. We played around with the placement of our light sources, which often improved the quality of the photo and seemed to airbrush features on a person's face (e.g dark circles under eyes) if you held it underneath the person's face.  
• That the model is not in charge of the photo, the photographer is. Ultimately, as a photographer, you are in charge of what you produce, therefore you instruct the model. 
• In order to get natural reactions, I told jokes (in order to get my model to laugh naturally) and we experimented with throwing things at / around the model. My peers and I found both methods effective, and captured a lot more than our models simply smiling on command. I'm trying to step away from the typical "selfie" image in our photo's during this photography course and experiment. 
• I found that in order to both look proffessional and focus on my model, if the background is one singular colour. I chose black as it was accessable and I thought, as the model was wearing white already, it would contrast the colours nicely. 

Model: Annaleigh Gailbraith

This is a photo by Richard Billingham:

(I do not think the photo has been manipulated)

Settings:

- The setting on this photo shows a possibly outdated house (clearly uncared for) as you can see a wide range of objects in the room. An example would be the deckchair the man pictured is sat on; it's quite random and does not go well witht the cabinate / shelves in the background. I think the alcohol in the background could suggest a reason for this. Perhaps the owners do not care about presentation?   It would explain the art located on the walls that looks misplaced and untidy.

- I cannot see any religious symbols in the room so perhaps he is an athiest.

- I think this photo was taken in the 80/90's due to the furniture litering the room, if that is not the case then it could be the fact that it's outdated.

- It could be taken in Britain as there is a mug in the background (intended for tea or coffee but the can of alcohol next to it suggests otherwise). A message of this photo could be what alcahol can do to a person, how it effects peoples way of living.

Costumes:

- The man in the photo is wearing a jacket / blazer which, in my opinion, doesn't seem to add up considering what he's doing to the cat and the state of the house.

- Perhaps the reason he's wearing formal attire is because he's come home from a day at work. the reason he may be acting the way he does in the photo is because he could be angered by something.

Expressions and mood:

- This man looks angry and irritated, clearly by the cat. It appears the cat has tried to bite or scratch him and he's relatiated by pushing it off (causing the cat jump). It's quite an extreme reaction, potentially infulenced by alcohol.

- Despite the quite dull background, the mood of this photo is quite the opposite, shocking people who come across it and allowing them to react with a range of emotions.

- "I would suggest this is quite a natural feeling photo, it doesn't appear at all staged - even the camera angle is slanted." This was a comment made when I began the course. Since then, I have looked over the photo and my analysis and can see that many of the photos from "Rays A Laugh" are possibly staged to make a point, just inspired by real events.

Lighting:

- As you can see, towards the right of this photo, this moment was captured under natural lighting from the window.

- Perhaps a far fetched interpretation, but the natural lighting could demonstrate that this is a natural occurance, not just a manipulated / staged photo and that it has a real meaning. the lighting of the photo still creates a dark atmosphere which hints to the viewer of the photograph that there is a dark meaning behind this image, reflecting the tone.

Props:

- There are no props in this photo as such, but some objects in the background include:

1. A deckchair
2. Can of alcohol
3. Flask on the table

Andy Gotts - Biography

Andy Gotts is a very famous photographer, known for his black and white portraits  of celebrities such as Daniel Craig, Chris Martin and Helena Bonham Carter. I think anyone who is  on social media has come across at least one of his photo's in thier time on the web.  

Early life: Andy Gotts was born in Norfolk. His education included attending Norfolk College of Arts and Technology,  University of Wolverhampton, London College of Printing and De Montford University. 

He first started out because he wanted to raise money / awareness for diabetes, so that the money would go towards research. Today, acaording to research, he has maneged to raise 3 million poinds for charity, just with his photo's. 

Ever since the 1990's he has had his photo's published world wide in many magazines, including: 

- French Vogue

- Italian Vogue 

- Vanity Fair

Andy Gotts was taken on a roller-coaster like journey from day one, when director and actor David Hoffman recommended Brad Pitt. Once Andy had done a photo shoot with Brad (which was only meant to last 10 minutes but due to their genuine friendship it lasted over half an hour), Brad then suggested George Clooney, whom then suggested Julia Robberts, and she suggested Susan Sarandon and it went from there!

Andy Gotts is most known for his coffee table book called Degrees. This was inspired by Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. He started ot by writing to a total of 300 actors asking him to take their pictures. Just ONE actor, Joss Ackland, got back to him and granted him permission. From there, after the shoot, Joss then suggested he should photograph Greta Sacchi, who'd appeared a movie with him. That was all it took; from there he proceeded, different people refering him to other individuals until he had enough photo's for a book. 

I think Andy captures people in different lights than your average photographer, displaying thier personality and playing with elements such as contrast to get his point across. That's what makes his work so appealing.

He has photographed Daniel Craig in this medium shot portrait, showing a bold personality (bold contrast) and a dramatic side.  I think he's been displayed this way due to Craig's most famous role, James Bond. The background is blank, putting the focus on Craig, which enhances the dramatic effect and contrasts with the black clothing he wears.

Here he has captured Helena Bonham Carter's personality in this portrait, demonstrating that she goes for bold roles (the contrast is bold) and roles that are very crazy and theatrical (hense the jokers hat) which I think makes the photo stand out from average portraits.  I think everthing is very bare (even no clothes) in the photo to emphasise the main focus from the main focus, which is the face. Her theatrical image and outgoing side is portrayed in this photo even more by her eyes being wide open, like she is well aware of the fact she is this person, staring right into your eyes, embracing her craziness by wearing the jokers hat.

MISE EN SCENE
 - Settings
 - Costumes
 - Expressions
 - Lighting
 - Props

(This is a low angle shot.)


The setting of this photo is by the window because then I would have natural light for the photo. the window is in our school, displaying the grounds, but from this photo you would not know this.


Costumes in this photo would be the school uniform, a hint, I suppose as to where the photo may be have been taken. this includes as school tie, blazer and shirt in this photo.


The model has a very neutral, natural expression in this photo as she looks out into the distance. Some of her face has been covered slightly by her hair, but no to the extent that someone could not see the expression on her face. I think this adds to the natural theme of my photo (natural lighting, natural expression, natural hair placement etc.)


The light source in this photo is coming from the right, a natural light from out of the window. I liked this lighting because the windows were very large, allowing me to capture all the features visible in the photo. I think it also highlighted her face and defined the focus.


There is no prop in this photo.