EXPLORING LIGHT: photography and video

P1010554

P1010553

P1010580

P1010918

P1010596F

P1010568F

P1010558F

P1010749 copy

P1010804

P1010755 copy

P1010768 copy

P1010771 copy

P1010808 copy

P1010735 copy

P1010704

P1010723

P1010724

P1010725

P1010693

P1010614

P1010676 copy

P1010672F

P1010634F

P1010604

P1010602F

P1010584F

P1010584

To collect more primary source work exploring light, portraiture and atmosphere, I walked down to the beachfront with two friends and took photos on the way. I chose a day that was especially foggy, and also one when the ferris wheel was operating, as I thought that would be a good opportunity to capture some interesting light effects. My aim with this shoot was both to capture more abstract light flares and long exposure effects that I can overlay in experiments, as well as using natural 'found' light in portraits that show a friendly, candid atmosphere. The image under the red shop light with my two subjects laughing together captures this feeling especially well, and in that particular shot I like the silhouette of the couple in the background, which also echoes this theme of friendship and closeness.

In the black and white shots I used the 'grainy film' effect on my camera, which has a fairly slow shutter speed and a high contrast effect to create these strokes of light and the abstracted style.

In this image, the blurred umbrella on the left is interesting to me - it draws the eye towards the black shape of the figure. To me, the painterly light strokes combined with the umbrella is reminiscent of Gustave Caillebotte's 'Paris Street Rainy Day' and the more impressionistic paintings his inspired.

I like that this black and white style simplifies the colours down to light and dark, and simple forms. Photography is painting with light, and the way that these shots turn busy, colourful street scenes into simple blurred strokes of light and dark like this could be seen as a link to this, and to early photography, the simplicity even reminiscent of the work of Joseph Niépce, who is credited with taking the first ever photograph.

[above: First photograph, View from the Window at Le Gras (Retouched), Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, ca. 1826 - from the Gernsheim Collection, Harry Ransom Centre, http://www.hrc.utexas.edu]

On this trip, I also wanted to collect more video research of light effects, moving light, and shadows. Here are some of the clips I took:

In these I recorded the turning ferris wheel, and the way it casted flickering light through the trees and around figures. The sepia effect picks up the fog well, and the eye follows the figures that walk across the screen. In the coloured one, the flickering light through the trees as the wheel turns is eye-catching, and the neon lights and reflections are picked up well. In the final, grainy film recording I especially like the two figures, and how they interact with one another as they walk, with the left figure nudging the right as they talk together, though their conversation cannot be heard. I love the way the light wraps around the figures, and causes the silhouettes to become more abstracted and thin as they walk away. This effect in cinema typically can be used to create frightening, inhuman silhouettes as body parts become lengthened and abstracted by shadow, but here the friendly relationship takes over the mood, inhibiting the atmosphere from becoming dark or foreboding.

I like this snippet simply because as water got on the camera as it started to rain slightly, the lights took on a kaleidoscope effect as the camera focused and the wheel spun.

This recording stood out to be due to its contrast; the tree is still, a crisp graphic shape in complete black, while the wheel behind is soft, moving, and colourful. I could imagine this as a mixed media piece, with a watercolour wheel, possibly even scanned in and animated, and a paper cutout tree. This idea ties in with the explorations into contrast between soft colour and black silhouettes throughout this project.

CONCLUSIONS:

moving forward, areas of focus are:

- how light can be overlayed for atmosphere - experiments in sketchbook

- friendship, relationships

- incorporating movement or animation

- figures; silhouettes and light

- contrasting colour with black silhouettes

Thinking about a final outcome, I would next like to attempt an animation using the figures that captivated me in the black and white video, and the colourful, foggy ferris wheel scene as a background.