Unit 12 – stevenson.snaps

Final Evaluation [Unit 12]

My initial idea for Unit 12 was to do macro nature shots as I once again, wanted to somehow incorporate nature into my project. However, after doing some experimentations with macro I realised I wasn’t pleased with many of the outcomes.

I tried with a leaf, cactus and even with live bugs. None of the final images felt right, it seemed to be a lot of hassle and I started to think of other methods to get those final images for the project. I was also worried about time management as that was something I had struggled with a lot over previous units.

After plenty of brainstorming, I came up with the idea of microscopic photography but I first began to experiment with textiles – using my jacket, jeans or some random bits of fabric I managed to get.

Then, I realised how fascinating it was looking at the different types of materials. So, I scrapped my idea of including nature in this and decided to attempt to find as many different fabrics/materials I could and then I would hopefully be left with multiple images varying in colour, material and overall appearance.

When I first began shooting these various fabrics, I kept getting a blue ring around the image and a shimmering effect which – to me, ruined the image. After shooting many images, I was beginning to lose hope as I thought it wouldn’t work out too well. However, after a bit of playing around with the microscope I began to get the hang of it I managed to get the blue ring to disappear.

This gave me a bit more motivation to continue as I was beginning to think this was yet another idea down the drain, so I gathered more materials and tried again.

Once I had gathered enough images, I began editing them in order to make some of the lighting was right as some of the images were too bright or a had a bit of a blue ring to it.

My time management improved drastically this unit and I had everything prepared for hand-in almost a week before giving me plenty of time to edit and touch-up any of the photos before I sent them off to be printed.

I am incredibly happy with how the images turned out, although I believe the quality could have been much better but you do need to take into account that it was shot on an phone camera. Nevertheless, I think this unit was a big success compared to previous units.

Before I mounted my work on the wall, I spent a little while re-arranging the images printed in order to make sure the colours complimented each other rather than some of the colours feeling too clustered or too messy.

Personally, I am incredibly pleased with the final results. I also believe that this is the most successful unit by far; I did various different experimentations to help me figure out which method I preferred, documented it correctly and ensured all my blog posts were all up-to-date.

For the next project I aim to continue this level of productivity throughout unit 13 and I intend to maintain my time management just the same.

Textiles [Experimentations] #2

Unit 12, Unit 12 Experimentations

After I did my previous set of textile experimentations I still wasn’t too pleased with the results, I wanted to get clearer images and also get rid of the blue ring around the photos.

Then I managed to zoom the microscope in a bit more which gave me better results.

They came out somewhat clearer and it removed the blue ring completely and thankfully, the images still have a glowing effect to them.

Textiles [Experimentations]

Unit 12, Unit 12 Experimentations

In my previous blog I had stated that I wanted to experiment with a series of different textiles under the microscope, however I didn’t want to simply have the basic textures/fabrics of everyday clothing. I wanted to find a mixture of different kinds of fabrics in order to gain more of an idea as to what I want my final pieces to look like.

I managed to get ahold of a multitude of different textiles which caught my interest – I had a variety of colours and textures, I had some thinner materials as well as thicker, tougher materials which I knew would be great for experimentations.

There were two pieces of a mesh-like fabric which was incredibly fine and quite see through which I was immediately drawn to as it wasn’t your basic material from a t-shirt or a jacket. The fabric proved to be quite interesting as it had the criss-cross pattern which I thought was pretty nice.

At first I attempted to take photos of these fabrics by themselves against the table surface however, it made the image a bit too dark therefore I used another one of the materials – a bright, white fabric which worked well with the brightly coloured mesh.

I found yet another loose fabric which had a similar look to the mesh ones, however the blue material was a thicker, shimmery material. At first I thought this material was going to be somewhat difficult as the light already added the effect I had issues with previously, however it seemed to come out quite successfully.

These two materials varied the most – the image on the left was a piece of black leather-ish material whereas the image on the right was from a thick, embroided piece of material.

The first image is from a piece of what looked like black denim which was quite thick compared to the other material – stuffing from inside a stuffed animal.

For the second image I had to take several shots as I couldn’t place it directly under the microscope as I couldn’t focus the lens properly, so I had to somewhat hold the microscope above the material whilst trying to take the image. Nevertheless, I am pleased with how these came out.

In my opinion they were more successful than my previous attempt since I now knew what had to be done.

Microscope [Experimentations]

Unit 12, Unit 12 Experimentations

Once I did research and knew I was one hundred percent certain that I wished to continue this route, I began to do some experimentations. I used a microscope and was able to take several photographs using my phone camera.

Some of the images had a blue ring around them, I attempted to get rid of it and succeed in only a handful of images, however I still enjoyed the process. It was quite fun to do – originally I thought it was a very simple process however it did take a while to get the phone in the right position and try to get rid of the blue ring. Especially images like the one above (left); a close up of a piece of paper where the blue showed up with ease because of the white background.

In the image (right) image the blue wasn’t as harsh – however it was still there, which was aggravating as they kept either having the blue ring or almost like a glimmer to it. But I was still happy to get some of the results that I got.

This is one of the images with the better results, there wasn’t much of a blue ring and there wasn’t the shimmering I had previously mentioned. It was a close up of a sticker.

I took these three photos of a purse as it had a mixture of textures – leather, metal and string which gave me multiple images varying in texture making them seem like three different images.

These are two examples of the glimmering effect that started to take place after a while – there’s multiple other images which look similar. At first, I believed it was the fact it was on a metallic surface however I took photos of fabrics such as jeans and hoodies with a similar effect to them.

This was a close up of a food wrapper – it had the blue circle, however it thankfully blended due to the colouring on the packaging.

This was a close up of a logo on a hoodie which is yet another image that had a glimmering effect. For my final piece I am planning on getting several microscopic images of different fabrics/textiles. I’m hoping to have a range of colours going in order.

Microscopic Photography

Unit 12, Unit 12 Research

Microscopic photography wasn’t something I had considered until a week or so ago as I was still uncertain with which route I was going to take with my project.

I knew I wanted to incorporate nature as it is something I will forever find beauty in and find fascinating. But I wasn’t sure how to go about it.

After doing some research on microscopic photography, I discovered a few plant based images that I really liked the look of and immediately became intrigued as to how I could bring that into my project. For example, I found a microscopic photograph of a leaf which I found fascinating.

After doing said research, I decided to attempt to do some experimentations which was quite successful. It did take me a few attempts to get the hang of it was I had to balance my phone camera on the microscope and attempt to get the focus just right but after a while I did get some good shots.

Nature

Unit 12, Unit 12 Research

Nature has always been something I’ve been fascinated by – I love learning more about it and try to make it the focus of all my photography when possible. During the beginning of the project I found it quite a struggle as I didn’t quite know how I was going to incorporate nature into this unit, however I want to showcase the beauty of nature through macro photography.

I had never tried macro up until a few weeks ago, however it definitely helped me realised that is perfect for my project.

Macro photography has always been something I have seen but never even thought about trying to experiment with. It’s always proven to capture some truly beautiful shots such as the ones above, which only lead me to be more intrigued by it.

Although I am well aware that I will likely be unable to capture shots quite like these, I am still determined to capture some good shots. My experimentations so far have proven I will be able to get a series of good shots, I just need to experiment further with different textures and objects in order to do so.

Macro [Experimentation]

Unit 12, Unit 12 Experimentations

As I somewhat had an idea on what I wanted to do for my project, I decided to immediately get onto doing some experimentations in oder to figure out the kind of textures I thought looked best for my project and also to get me used to macro photography – leaving me with a clean and crisp image.

During the beginning I couldn’t get used to the focus, so a few images were out of focus or in some cases, they were too dark but I feel like the experimentations were successful overall.

However, it’s not a disaster if they come out like the image above as personally, I thought it looked quite nice – the focus wasn’t too bad, the image itself is however dark.

This image came out very well, the white background definitely helped make the image less dull and this was one of the image that I felt the focus was best.

I experimented with other objects to try and explore the different textures as well as improve my lighting since a portion of the photos were quite dark or out of focus. However, I quite like this image as it had splash of colour and there was more than one colour.

I plan to continue exploring different textures and methods to help with my experimentations.

The focus wasn’t the best on my last two photos however I was determined to try out a few other objects before calling it quits. I was starting to get the hang of focus, so I tried using a smaller object – a pin and then I tried a plastic wheel.

Evaluation

Unit 12, Unit 12 Research

At the beginning of the unit I wanted to incorporate my passion for animals into my project, however I wasn’t one hundred percent as to how I would execute it.

I was given the idea to attempt something similar to Richard Phibbs’ “Rescue Me” project – photographing the dogs at a local shelter to create a book with information on the dogs, talking about the abuse or mistreatment they received in order to bring awareness to the countless dogs who deserve a home.

Originally there was a shelter I had in mind, however upon calling them I was told I would be unable to go through with my idea due to health and safety reasons, meaning I had to rethink my idea completely. Personally, I believe my time management was poorly executed and I should have attempted to contact the shelter a lot sooner, however I now have some more ideas in mind for the project.

Instead of my original idea, I am going to experiment with some macro photography to see what I can come up with especially as I have always been interested in macro photography. I intend to experiment with a mixture of materials and objects in order to widen my experimentations.

Richard Phibbs

Unit 12, Unit 12 Research

Richard Phibbs is a Canadian photographer who has done several different types of work that varies from advertising, fine art and his own personal work. One piece that caught my attention was his 2016 project ‘Rescue Me‘ which is a book he created where he was a longtime volunteer at Humane Society of New York (HSNY) where we photographed of dogs at the shelter who were up for adoption.

His book includes more than 70 images of these dogs who have survived heartbreaking circumstances, each image had information of said dog filmed with the emotional description of their struggle. Although the book was published by Aperture, the royalties went to HSNY to help benefit them and the dogs that they help.

For example, Little Lowell was discovered by police in a cramped cage on a hot day in May, dehydrated and covered in urine – under all his matted fur he was practically skin and bones, clearly he had been imprisoned for quite some time. One eye had to be removed due to the damage, however he had a long recovery from surgery as he had a severe fungal infection.

Yoko, a two-year-old Italian Greyhound was brought to the HSNY with two broken legs after her owner hadn’t ensured that was was properly nourished, this led to her bones becoming brittle. After 6 months of care, she needed a home where she could be treated delicately and would be protected.

This unit’s theme is ‘Power’ and I want to take it in the animal route. At first I thought about how I can not only incorporate animals into my project, but be able to produce work from it. Therefore I decided looking into how the way animals are photographed can really make a difference – for example, these two images immediately warms people’s hearts as they are both injured or have been injured.

Although not every person is the same, a lot of people nowadays do not want to re-home an injured, disabled or older dog, they wish to have a happy and healthy puppy as it is easier than having to take care for a dog who might need lots of attention and medical care.

It’s the same with advertising – they showcase their injured animals in hopes for people to either adopt or donate, a very common strategy in a lot of different industries.

A reoccurring theme in the Rescue Me book are people willingly giving up their dogs as they are unable to take care of them. It is easily done as so many people love the idea of having a happy, furry companion but never take into consideration the care they need – not just feeding and attention, but they need daily exercise, grooming and sometimes medical care, this then leads to people giving up their dogs as it doesn’t fit into their lifestyle – people think you can simply adopt or purchase a dog, easy…but it is not the case.

Their environment is a huge aspect you need to take into consideration – if you live in a set of flats, it’s not exactly the best idea to buy a large breed of dog, etc. They need room to play and run around, they can’t simply stay inside all the time and be fed and given water, there is a lot of care they need.

During his project, Phibbs found himself attached to one dog in particular – a long haired Chihuahua called Finn. In the end, he ended up adopting him.

Bibliography [Unit 12]

Bibliography, Unit 12, Unit 12 Research

Richardphibbs.com. (2019)
RICHARD PHIBBS. [online]
Available at: http://www.richardphibbs.com/biography/
[Accessed 29 Nov. 2019]

Epstein, E. (2019)
Finding Their Forever Homes. [online]
The Atlantic. Available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2016/11/Rescue-Me-Book-Richard-Phibbs/506495/
[Accessed 29 Nov. 2019]

Google.com. (2020)
macro photography nature – Google Search. [online]
Available at: https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&sxsrf=ACYBGNQPa2CgS_MNW7sIVRbbOtdf01eRYQ:1578328748995&q=macro+photography+nature&chips=q:macro+photography+nature,g_1:close+up:WpUbLMzhmf0%3D&usg=AI4_-kTVyx6aDZkR0nztpKJ8m03QpFTLnw&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjmvLDjtO_mAhX0URUIHdyyDnoQ4lYIMCgD&biw=1385&bih=719&dpr=2#imgrc=kqGK6F2H-dS9GM:
[Accessed 6 Jan. 2020]