Some other examples from the course handout (p96) included:
Victor Burgin:
“There can never be any question of “just looking”: vision is structured in such a way that the look will always -already entrain a history of the subject”.
Bill Brandt:
“Instead of photographing what I saw, I photographed what the camera was seeing. I interfered very little, and the lens produced anatomical images and shapes which my eyes had never observed”.
David Bailey:
“In photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the ordinary”.

German born Bill Brandt gained a fresh perspective on photography by using methods such as a wide-angled lens when photographing nudes, which allowed him to “see like a mouse, a fish or a fly” (Fig.5)

Fig.5

During my research into night time photography I came across an American photographer/cinematographer, Daniel Marker-Moore, who also works with animation, motion graphics and commercials.
He creates images using a method called “Time slice” which produces unique and creative works (Fig 11-13).
The images are created by combining slices of anywhere between 20 and 120 shots, all taken over a period of time.
” Time Slice is an image built from the photos of a timelapse. Each slice is a photograph taken at a different point in time, usually a few minutes after the previous slice. All the Time Slice images are unique, made from a different number of images, over a different amount of time. My process involves a great deal of exploration and experimentation by mixing time in various ways. When I can I visit a location numerous times until my vision is captured. The most recent addition to the series is Time Slice videos that blends the original time-lapse and sometimes animation inside the formed slice” (Daniel Marker-Moore)

A video explaining Daniels Time slice method is available at: https://www.danorst.com/time-slice-bts

Fig.11 Daniel Marker-Moore. London’s Elizabeth fig Tower (Big Ben)
Time Slice: 118 photos over 1 hour 36 minutes

Fig 12 Daniel Marker Moore. Downtown Chicago and the Chicago River
Time Slice: 52 photos over 12 hours 14 minutes

Fig.13 Daniel Marker Moore. LA from above Griffith Park Observatory
Time Slice: 52 photos over 2 hours 15 minutes

I liked the idea of slicing images together to create something unique but wanted to use this in a different way. I was fascinated by the colour variations when testing the white balance settings on my camera in a previous exercise, and wondered what I would produce if I used the same slice method but on images taken with different white balance settings rather than over time.

I tested it with the previous images and was quite surprised at the results (Img.1-2).
Using different sized slices gave varied results and comparing the two images, I preferred image 1 which has the stronger colour variations.

Gallery of the images used for the slices:

Img.1

Img.2

I decided to use an apple as my subject for this exercise and used one that had a red and yellow skin as I thought this might make a more interesting final image, once the slices have been combined.

A google search for Apple brought back quite a few different images (Fig.14) but they were mainly red apples against a plain background.

Fig.14

My camera has several WB settings:

1. 3 Auto settings: Reduce warm colours, normal or keep warm colours
2. Auto Natural Light
3. Incandescent
4. Fluorescent
5. Direct Sunlight
6. Flash
7. Cloudy
8. Shade

It has other customisable options but I wanted any colour manipulation to be default rather than something I had customised. It is easy to move between the settings, so I should be able to get 10 shots all with a different white balance. As with my test shots, I am expecting some of them to look similar.

I used a variety of lighting including natural daylight, halogen and incandescent lights.
In my first attempt I felt that the highlights and shadows were a little bit harsh.

Lighting set up

I placed a diffuser between the apple and the main light source coming from below, to even out and soften the light and thus produced a more appealing image.

I wanted to experiment a bit more and wondered what difference it would make if I used an item that was more opaque or translucent.

So I used a dried chestnut tree leaf and kept the lighting and camera settings the same.
There was more variation in both colour and texture when using the leaf as some of the light is being seen through it.

A google search for dried chestnut leaf (Fig.15) mainly produced images in which the shape of the leaf was prominent, with a mix of leaves still on the tree, green, red and brown.

Fig.15

I wasn’t completely happy with the effect I was getting so decided to wait till it was dark and I could eliminate all natural light. I also changed the position of the apple and the leaf slightly.

I applied the slice method on the final two sets of images (Img. 3-4).

Img.3

Img.4

Describe how your photograph or representation differs from your Google Images source images of the same subject

The apple image is quite like the Google images, but not, all at the same time.
The leaf image is very different from the Google images and looks more abstract.

Both images are of something natural that has been captured using technology without any intention of showing them in their natural state. They remind me a bit of Andy Warhol’s pop art posters (Fig.16) although this didn’t come to mind until I finished the exercise.

Fig.16 Andy Warhol

Bibliography

https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/bill-brandt-working-methods

Figure 2
At: https://www.artimage.org.uk/17852/john-davies/mt–fuji–fuji-city-810–japan–2008
[Accessed 03/12/2019]

Figure 3
At: https://pro.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?
[Accessed 03/12/2019]

Figure 4
At: https://matadornetwork.com/read/epic-views-mount-fuji/
[Accessed 03/12/2019]

Figure 5
At: https://www.houkgallery.com/exhibitions/bill-brandt-the-nude-a-centenary-exhibition
[Accessed 05/12/2019]

Figures 11-13
At: https://www.danorst.com/time-slice
[Accessed 09/12/2019]