WR1

Plans for Shoot

For my first shoot into this project, I will be looking into the photographer Richard Billingham, who was recommended in the exam paper, and create my own shoot inspired by his work on the portfolio 'Black Country', and see where this will influence me for my final pieces.

Research

Richard Billingham

Billingham is a British photographer who in the portfolio 'Black Country' captures his childhood neighbourhood Cradley Heath in an eerie setting. He used the streetlights on the neighbourhood roads to capture areas with an artificial colouring. I further analysed Billingham's work in the blog post 'Photographer Research - Richard Billingham'. From research and analysis into Billingham's work, it was clear that he used shutter speed techniques to create his photos' light intensity and blur, so I will be taking that into account when recreating my own personal photos of Billingham's work.

Image bank

These are a few of Richard Billingham's pieces in the portfolio 'Black Country'. 

Contact sheet

These are all the photos I took for this shoot.

Best Photos

These are the best selected photos from this shoot.

Photos that require improvement

These two photos in my shoot were near the beginning of my shoot and I was still experimenting with the exposure settings to see roughly what was best to recreate Billingham's work. The first photo the shutter speed was 1sec, aperture F9, and exposure ISO3200. The issue with these settings is that the shutter speed is set for too long, the lens captured too much light into the photo and it removed the eerie appearance like Billingham's work. Once I made the shutter speed faster this issue was resolved and it appeared less exposed, giving more dark areas to the photo. Another issue with this photo was the composition, there is firstly too much empty space above the sign and the angling is also crooked, making the photo appear sloppy. I also resolved this by using my tripod and taking more time to better position my camera. For the second photo the shutter speed was 1sec, aperture F9, and exposure ISO3200. The issue with this photo was the shutter speed being too long, this was an experimenting photo so there are photos before and after this that had a better exposure setting. Due to the long shutter speed, too much light got into the photo and it has revealed too much of the surroundings, not creating an eerie atmosphere like Billingham's.

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

My Ideas

My intentions for this first shoot was to research into the recommended photographer Richard Billingham and then recreate his work to begin my influence into artificial lighting. From my research I learnt that Billingham used exposure manipulation to create his harsh lighting and vibrant hues, this helped me to recreate his work. When creating my own shoot, I took this information and varied my exposure to experiment and perfect my method in this street photography. Billingham's work was a symbolism of nostalgia in a bittersweet reality for his rough childhood, presenting his childhood streets in an eerie and mysterious atmosphere. I feel I was successful in my recreation to Billingham's work as I was able to experiment a lot and therefore perfect the method for each photo.

Reference to best photos

I selected this photo because I feel the harsh orange hue in the street light is a good recreation of Billingham’s work. For this photo the shutter speed was 1/2sec, this is what created the harsh glow and vibrancy of colour from the street light. The orange hue creates a mysterious and eerie atmosphere, similar to Billingham's work. The areas that were highlighted from the light are flattering and creates an effective frame to the photo.

I selected this photo because I feel it represents the warn down symbolism of council estates. The trolley left carelessly at a pole shows the lack of care that these type of streets are given, similar to the streets Billingham represented. Another quality of Billingham's work was that he never really presented the light source itself, which this photo also recreates. The shutter speed for this photo was 1/4sec, the lighting was still relatively dull because the light source was further away from the frame. The camera setting was still able to create a strong orange hue that highlights the trolley bars.

I selected this photo because I feel it had a strong orange hue that creates a mysterious and almost dangerous atmosphere. The shutter speed for this photo was 1/3sec, because the light source was so close to the lens the camera was able to capture a lot of light to create a vibrant light on the road. Similar to Billingham's work, the light source is undirectly presented.

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

Shoot Process/Use of Camera

For this shoot, I walked around my estate at night and captured areas involving streetlights that I found intriguing. Each composition/area I would take multiple photos of with different exposure settings to see what would look best. I used my Nikon D3400 camera and tripod to capture these photos. The ISO typically stayed at ISO3200 with the photos since this sensitivity appeared best, the aperture varied from F8-11 in all the photos I captured, it would depend on the shutter speed setting. What I experimented with most was the shutter speed of the photos, varying from 1/10-2secs, it doesn't appear to be much but even a fraction of a second change would dramatically change the photos at points.

Experimenting

Some photos I feel lacked strong enough hues, so using Photoshop I enhanced the hue and saturation in some photos. It is not specified if Billingham used any photo enhancements for his photos, but I feel it could create a stronger effect for a few of mine.

Firstly, I pressed CTRL+J to create a copy of the original photo so I can go back it if needed.

 Next, I added an adjustment layer of curves, to brighten the photo slightly, this would reveal more potential areas of colour.

 This is the before and after of adding the adjustment layer.

 Then, I added another adjustment layer of hue/saturation to increase the colour saturation and slightly darken the colour to deepen the colour appearance.

 This is the before and after of adding the second adjustment layer.

 These are all the layers used to create the photo.

This is the before and after the editing process.

Overall, I feel for some photos being edited may be necessary, but it may take away the authenticity of the photos effect, and so the editing isn't necessary depending on the effect you intend for the photo.

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

From my research, I have been able to practice and perfect my method in streetlight photography with the use of exposure manipulation. I was able to take multiple different shots with different settings and this helped me to learn what would look best for streetlight photos. Billingham's work helped me to learn more varied camera techniques and better perfect my exposure settings for photos.

AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements. 

Progression

Overall, I feel Billingham's streetlight photography is a strong presentation of artificial lighting, it shows the strength artificial light has to create powerful atmospheres and almost stories. I feel I should, however, move onto portraiture involving artificial lighting to see what inspires me more for my personal presentation. In my next shoot, I will be looking at the other recommended photographer Bettina von Zwehl and recreate her work.

Photographer Research - Richard Billingham

Richard Billingham

Billingham is a British photographer who in his portfolio 'Black Country' captures his childhood neighbourhood Cradley Heath in an eerie setting. He used the streetlights on the neighbourhood roads to capture areas with an artificial colouring. The streets are empty and the use of lighting somehow creates a sense as if someone is there.

This photo captures a dreary area of pavement, with a vintage small car parked next to an industrial appearing building. The street light appears to source from the top left area of the photo, out of frame, this positioning creates a large shadow on the wall adjacent to the building. The photo at first glance appears to be set at night, a dark timing in the day, but something that doesn't draw much attention is the sky just above, which is actually still a rather bright blue, possibly set at dusk. The sky appears so out of place to the lighting set below it, this would be due to how the effect of the harsh yellow hue contrasts with the blue hue. This presenting a contrast to natural and artificial light. The car is positioned to be the punctum of the photo, however the yellow hue appears to distract that attention and grabs the most attention. The car being old and small suggests a vintage aesthetic or symbolism to Billingham's time, and since these photos capture Billingham's childhood neighbourhood this could easily be the intention. The building behind and next to the car appears warn down and damaged, with there appearing to be burn marks or stains in the top right corner, and cracks present in the building on the left. This further suggests a nostalgic symbolism back to Billingham's childhood. This little area could be a place Billingham would spend time with friends, or simply meet-up point; there is a clear suggestion of significance to this area for Billingham. However, the harsh lighting and unpleasant yellow hue creates a mysterious, eerie atmosphere to the photo, suggesting that this nostalgic area has now be tainted, or broken down for Billingham. The car is parked in an area possibly significant to Billingham, symbolising something getting in the way of him accessing his memories and childhood happiness. The intensity of the light is possible created by Billingham using a longer shutter speed on his camera for the lens to capture more light for longer, this would also explain the slight blur to the photo when it comes to details.

This photo presents an empty road with a broken wall bordering off an area of tall grass and trees. It is clear by the light rays that a lamp post is positioned in the top left corner. Like the last photo, it appears Billingham has used a long shutter speed to capture the lighting in such a harsh presence, this is also clearly shown in the movement presented by the tree on the left and the blurry appearance to the grass. Once again the sky appears to be set at a different time compared to the time the road appears to be set, because the dull blue is still rather bright and the yellow light is making the rest of the area appear as though it is late at night, when no one is out and the world goes to sleep; this further presenting the contrast in natural and artificial light effects. The brick wall is broken on one side, where it appears warn down and as if it has eroded gradually; this once again presenting a nostalgia of what once was but not it is old and damaged. This symbolism could also symbolise memory for Billingham, the erosion of the wall presents Billingham's childhood memories slowly disappearing more and more to him as time goes on. 

This photo presents an entrance way into what appears to be a small car park for the residents of this street. There is a light positioned above the photo on the left, there also a light source behind the tree to the right, that seems to be a lamp post also, but could possibly be the sun setting. The time set in this photo appears to be dusk, but the car park appears too dark to be set at such a time, this presenting an unusual contrast to the lighting in the photo. The colouring in this photo is a harsh warm orange hue, most prominent on the brick wall to the right of the photo. Billingham seems to have captured this lighting so harshly by setting his camera shutter speed to a relatively long time to capture light in the photo for longer. This is further suggested by the slight blur of motion shown on the tree branch to the middle right of the photo; suggesting the camera captured the branch's movement. The area appears old and warn down, conveyed by the discoloured fencing and warn down pavement; there also being possible pieces of litter in the far background of the photo. Once again, it appears as though Billingham is trying to present how times have changed, and how his childhood neighbourhood has now aged, losing it's purity and memories as it wears down and is no longer taken care of. Billingham's childhood was difficult since growing up with an alcoholic farther and 'poverty-stricken', it's possible these areas of childhood have always been tattered and warn down, making this nostalgic symbolism more bitter-sweet. Billingham did document his father's alcoholism in another portfolio which lets more insight into his childhood, which helps to better understand the symbolism in these photos.

This photo presents a largely grown tree in an area of green in between a road and path. The hue in this photo is a yellowish green that appears luminous in the centre of the photo. The sky appears to be in motion due to the blur in the photo and the strokes of clouds suggesting a direction of movement. The light source appears to be produced behind the left of the tree as the ground is the brightest there. The amount of blur in the photo and the intensity of the streetlights suggests Billingham has used a long shutter speed to collect a stronger light source. It feels as though this tree holds significance to Billingham, since these are the streets of his childhood, it would seem this is somewhere Billingham would spend a lot of time as a child, possibly playing with friends or family. The size of the tree appears abnormally large, suggesting it hasn't been kept to, and it was possibly a lot smaller when he was a child. This further could symbolise growing up, as Billingham grew up and got bigger, so did the tree.

Overall…

I find Billingham's work to be a tribute of memory and nostalgia, personally these streets remind me of my own streets growing up, so this photos hold a more personal emotion to them. I feel this personal reminder will be the same for many other people, and that's what Billingham wanted, photos that would bring a nostalgia for many people who shared a similar childhood to him. However, this nostalgia is very bitter-sweet for many as living a 'poverty-stricken' life in council estates and having homes with issues can be conflicting memories. From analysing Billingham's work, it is clear that he uses shutter speed effects to create these intensely lit photos, which is evident in the abnormal lighting and visuals of motion and blur in his photos. From this analysis I will be able to better recreate Billingham's work, using his techniques and take into account his personal feeling for these photos to influence mine.

Large, H (2019), "'I hope people will be moved and it makes them think a bit': Black Country film-marker talks Bafta-nominated Ray and Liz", [https://www.expressandstar.com/entertainment/sandwell-entertainment/2019/02/09/i-hope-people-will-be-moved-and-it-makes-them-think-a-bit-black-country-film-marker-talks-bafta-nominated-ray-and-liz-ahead-of-its-release/], (accessed: 11/02/2020)

After Recreation...

After research into Billingham's work, I learnt his camera techniques used to create his photos involved slow shutter speeds and a sensitive ISO; this was evident in the harsh amount of light captured in his photos, and the slight blur with certain areas in the photos. With this information I feel I was able to successfully recreate Billingham's work. I took multiple photos that varied in shutter speed settings, just so I could find the perfect settings for each composition. I found the yellow toned lights were much more effective in creating an eerie atmosphere to a photo, whereas the LED lights made the photos appear to sterile and clear. As you can see with my photo (right) and Billingham's photo (left) I was able to recreate the harsh yellow/orange hue from streetlights to reveal the streets. A similar aspect of our photos also is the fact that Billingham's photos were located at his childhood neighbourhood, a council estate town with rather warn down areas, my photos are the same in this aspect as they are located at an area I grew up in that is also a council estate with rather warn down areas. The one feature I was unable to recreate is the odd contrast between the street and the sky. Billingham's photos had the sky set to a dusk lighting, but the street appeared as though it was at a different time. I was unable to do this since it was rather dark already during this shoot in the sky, I was also unsure how I would so this with my camera.

Image Bank

Illustrated Discussion of Exam Paper

01 Artificial Lighting
Photographers use artificial lighting to illuminate their subject in various ways and for different reasons. For her series Alina, Bettina von Zwehl used randomly fired flash lighting to create a feeling of intensity and an element of surprise in her portraits. Walead Beshty used a darkroom enlarger to make abstract colour photograms of folded paper sculptures. In the project The Black Country by Richard Billingham, urban environments appear mysterious when illuminated with streetlights. Investigate appropriate sources and produce your own response to artificial lighting.

Definition

Artificial 
Adjective - made or produced by human beings rather than occurring naturally, especially as a copy of something natural.
Illuminate
Verb - Light up.
Darkroom Enlarger
An enlarger is a specialised transparency projector used to produce photographic prints from film or glass negatives, or from transparencies.
Abstract

Adjective - relating to or denoting art that does not attempt to represent external reality, but rather seeks to achieve its effect using shapes, colours, and textures

Verb - extract or remove (something).

Photograms
A photogram is a photographic image made without a camera. It involves placing things on the surface of a light sensitive material and then exposing them to light.
Fired Flash
Continuous flashing deliberately/intentionally.
Urban
Adjective - in, relating to, or characteristic of a town or city.

Approaches & Techniques

• Painting with light (shutter-speed manipulation).
• Studio lighting (softboxes, snoots, etc).
• Photo manipulation (Photoshop).
• Physical experimentation (torches, flashlights, etc).
• Manipulating nature light (shadows, flames, etc).

Mind Map

Mood Board

This mood board presents photos from the photographers Bettina von Zwehl (top) and Richard Billingham (bottom). Zwehl's photos are in a sense candid portraits of women sat in a certain positioning in a white atmosphere. The photos are candid because the flash used to create an intense lighting was fired randomly so it captured the subjects when they weren't expecting it and were presenting a candid expression. Billingham's photos present a dark and mysterious atmosphere due to their dark setting and the lighting being a harsh yellow hue, creating an eerie setting. The locations photographed also appear to lack a substance and meaning to them, making the photos feel all the more dark because they lack a meaning.

06 Staged or Candid

Photographers can choose to record subjects candidly or in staged settings. Holly Andres often poses models for the camera to create a sense of drama and mystery. In his early documentary photographs Stanley Kubrick observed people busy in their work environments or relaxing at home amongst their belongings. Thomas Demand has constructed life-size paper recreations of interiors for his photographic compositions. Laura Letinsky recorded the remains of meal times exactly as she found them. Investigate appropriate sources and produce your own response to Staged or Candid.

Mind Map

Mood Board

This mood board presents photos from photographers Holly Andre (top) and Stanley Kubrick (bottom).

My Exam Paper Decision...

Once analysing the paper and the options available for this exam, I very quickly decided to choose 01 Artificial Lighting and experiment with that topic. I decided this because I felt this was something that would challenge my skills in photography the furthest I've ever challenged them. Other topics such as 06 Staged or Candid intrigued me but I realised they were things I've experimented with before and wanted something to be challenged on. There were also topics such as 07Signs that I felt didn't excite or inspire me, I felt there wasn't much I could enjoy and experiment with from the topic. With artificial lighting I feel I can get very experimental and creative, I have already thought of many ideas and considered many possibilities for my final pieces. I feel this topic is the next step in my success in my photography abilities.