This photograph is one that I wasn’t entirely pleased with as I didn’t feel that the tones in the image were deep enough. Because many of Olivia Parker’s images have a ‘Film noir’ appearance, I found that this picture from my shoot didn’t appear as striking or bold as I would have liked. There is too much white in this image from the flash of the camera for it too look balanced in tone.
Olivia Parker experiments
AO1- Edward Weston Research
Edward Weston was born March 24th 1886, in Highland Park, Illinois. He spent the majority of his childhood in Chicago where he attended Oakland Grammar School. He began photographing at the age of sixteen after receiving a camera as a gift from his father. Weston’s first photographs captured parks of Chicago and his Aunts farm. In 1906, following the publication of his first photograph in camera and darkroom, Weston moved to California.
Weston focuses part of his work on close up still life photography. This is the area of his work that I have experimented with. His particular focus is on vegetables or natural forms such as flowers or objects of nature.
AO1- Ansel Adams Research
Ansel Adams was born on February 20, 1902, in San Francisco, California. Adams rose to prominence as a photographer of the American West, particularly Yosemite National Park, using his work to promote conservation of wilderness areas. His iconic black-and-white images helped to establish photography among the fine arts. He died in Monterey, California, on April 22, 1984.
I experimented with Adams’ technique of using the macro function on the SLR and also tried to incorporate his black and white style. However, i enjoyed developing my experiments by also using colour.
He focuses very much on wildlife and nature in his work, a topic of which I am also very interested in using as a possible theme for my final idea.
A01- Olivia Parker Research
By Olivia Parker
Olivia Parker began her career as a painter, and became involved in photography in 1970. Mostly self-taught, she began working in her studio, constructing images to be photographed. Her first book, Signs of Life, featured simple images seen with keen insight: a perfect white orchid, a pair of ballet slippers, pea pods sitting on a counter. In Eggshells, four cracked white shells rest on a white counter, perfectly lit exposing their vulnerability; in Moon Snails, rows of snails are lined in a box, taking on the appearance of eyes staring out of a cabinet drawer.
Through my research on Parker’s work, I began to think about how I could possibly experiment with and incorporate her technique into some of my initial ideas. I was interested in her strange extensions of reality and abstract “colorful projections of dreams”.
Mind map
Mind map for close up images
“Close up” Photography
“Some photographers have chosen to study objects in detail using Close up photographic techniques. Striking images have been created by isolating details which might otherwise have remained unnoticed. Examples can be seen in the work of Ernst Haas, Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. Investigate this approach and make a personal response, making reference to appropriate examples.”
Photography A2 Exam 