Comparison of Poltis and David Wilson

Both of these people are modern day, black and white photographers. Wilson looks at landscapes, rust, emotion of space in mainly Wales or Britain etc where as Poltis looks at architecture, abandoned places, graffiti in America, England etc.

Both of these artists could link as Wilson looks at loneliness and abandoned things in a different context where you have to think about it and the hidden message such as rust, decay where as Poltis is more obvious such as houses, locations.

Both of their styles believe in strong compositions, I think Poltis more than Wilson as he looks at close ups and the documentation of life as he has interests in so many themes where as Wilsons photos look at the emotion of space with landscapes and little composition. This makes the photo look more lonely, deserted etc. Even though Wilsons images are black and white, exposure is really important to him as in black and white cloudy/stormy weather can look really dynamic and harsh. The weather is also like pathetic fallacy, the weather can make the mood of a picture and what it is trying to portray/give out to the audience.

Poltis focusses on many things with the world, he considers weather when appropriate but mainly focuses on the composition and depth of field in a image. The structure of his photos are really important to him too as they can give a unique impression and be eye catching as their different. Depending if it's a close up or mid close up his angles and structure of a photo are thought about to create a filled up composition.

I think with Poltis, he could improve on his techniques with the weather, sometimes it's appropriate for a certain image but a lot of the landscape images have plain white weather whereas Wilson always thinks about the weather. Wilson could improve his images by thinking of angles as some of his images are taken at a normal eye view but a photo of he has taken is of a group of birds flying away but I think if it was taken maybe at a low angle it would make the photo even more thrilling and energetic. Unless the photo is meant to give off a relaxed feel showing the independant of birds and how the world is at their feet. But because of the weather behind it and the vignette style, to me it comes across not that way.

Paul Poltis shoot

For my final piece Poltis was a artist I found who I was inspired by as he looks at emotion of space, black and white etc. This shoot was perfect as I took it during the bad weather to give a sad, lonely atmosphere to the image. I used levels on Photoshop to portray this as I could really darken certain parts of the photo and also lighten parts of the photo instead of using the contrast button.

To capture these images I had to look at aperture and shutter as when my setting was to under exposed or over exposed I couldn't capture the movement of the water and the image was either too bright or too dark (shown in sketch book). I was quite lucky that the raindrops were quite consistence but I had to look at my shutter and use a fast shutter 1/30th of a second as rain is quick.

 

 

 

Another experimentation to my final piece

As I did a shoot beforehand using the gorgeous sunset with the vibrant and deep colours I finally found a day where the sky was bleak, cold yet still quite powerful. Here are some of the images -

Again, a lot of these images were experimenting with different exposures for different settings to get the right amount of contrast with the sky. I never have looked at sky as a important factor but now focussing on it I have realised how cruical it is as it literally does create the whole effect/mood of a image. It adds to the story of what you are trying to get across to the audience.

By this I mean with a sunset like my last shoot/exerpimentation a sunset has connotations of love, summer, happy, joyful, romantic, holidays, relaxation etc which would be great if you were advertising for a romantic holiday or a type of fashion clothing/brand. But these images are more suttle and have connotations of loss, maybe depression, loneliness, fear, maybe a light at the end of the tunnel.

More experiments to my final piece

One evening there was a gorgeous sunset and the sky was incredible and I wanted to snap shot it just to get some experimentation for my final piece. I over exposed the images by controlling my shutter and under exposed them so I could later photoshop them. My under exposed images where the sky is really dynamic but the field is dark the exposure was set to 1/30th of a second with an ISO on 125. The over exposed images in contrast to these were the same ISO setting butt the exposure time was 1/2 of a second.

 

The photoshop edit:

 

The first image is slightly better than the second, it's really difficult trying to make sure that your images are the same as you need a tripod and your experimenting with shutter. I tried out loads of different shutter speeds, from 1/30 of a sec, 1/8th of a sec and 1/25th of a sec to get the best images but also so I knew what to work with and could later anyalsis the images. As much as these images don't fully go with my theme of cold, deserted places and the loss of something feeling lonely I thought it was a great way to trial a mini shoot to further my knowledge and development.

Paul Poltis

Paul Poltis is a Black and white photographer. His interests are Urban, Architectural, Nude, Night, Ghost towns and abandoned places, Grafitti, New York photography. I am particularly interested in the ghost towns and abandoned places to follow my theme.



I feel this photo is appropiate for my final piece as I am looking at techniques of the camera with under exposing and over exposing to create a really dynamic image. I love this photo as the sky really makes the mood of this picture even though its in black & white. The house looks abandoned, desserted and old showing a old house but holds a lot of memories if you went inside. The choice of using black and white drains all the colour and life out of the photo and makes the image really contrasting with the the rusty old parts of wood on the house to the white extended part of the house. This photo would have been taken on a tripod with a digital camera, Poltis would have taken a under exposed image and over exposed image so he could photoshop them to create the perfect image.



I chose this as I think it's really interesting and tells a huge story. The story could be its a house which has caught on fire and has decaded been left or the house is being re-done and modernised. I love the way the angle of this photograph portrays this as it's looking down making everything look small and lost, it also looks quite scary as it looks like you could easily fall. The black and white effect makes everything look lifeless and more emotional to what the story could be, it captures the shadows down the stairs and the contrast of the light through the door to the floor. If it was taken in colour it wouldn't have the same effect as it would look more joyful and a normal house being decorated.

Final piece experimentation

As I decided to focus on my David Wilson shoot I am expanding on it by looking at the weather to create a mood such as clouds and grey skys as it will make the picture look more appealing and eye catching. I will control this by shutter speed and ISO.

Here are a few examples here..

Final Pieces

These are my final pieces of my coursework which I'm really proud of. I haven't thought about doing photoshop layering. I always wondered how photographers got such stunning photos but this is how!

I had to experiment a lot such as different techniques by over exposing the photo and under exposing then rubbing it out on Photoshop.

Some photos in particular I would change it by using the straightening tool for example this photo:

 

I straightened the top image and cropped it, I done this as it makes the sky look more dramatic and the grass to stand out. I also lightened the grass as it really was a contrast to the sky and made it stand out.

 

Here..

 

In this photo you can tell I lightened the grass and the horse to make it stand out more and I also changed the saturation to make it more colourful and vibrant. There was a printer fault as well which made it look darker so I had to bring the brightness up.

 

 

 

I trialled out black and white too but it didn't make as a good effect. I think these photos apply to my theme really well as it the setting and the landscape wide angle is very lonely and lost. The colours of the sky look like a tornado or a storm is about to appear and linking the weather with a mood this would be anger, upset, lost.

 

 



 

Ansel Adams 2

As we've had a winter patch I thought it would be great to experiment with a shoot I did back in September of foot steps. I firstly took photos of converse shoes and walking away, but this seemed more experimental. I would of liked to have got footsteps in sand but that would have been hard so I took advantage of what I did have which was snow. I really like these images as they look lonely because it's showing we did have people here, it's the past. These images resemble Ansel Adams photos of the long road which looks lost and deprived.

Elizabeth Carmel 2

 

 

 

I was pleased with these photos, they were taken on a sunny day which caused the shadows to be really sharp, the third photo reminds me of a jungle/safari which was quite nice as it looks so desserted it reflects my theme. My ISO for these photos were 100, it makes the photo seem really sharp and my f.stop ranging from 7.1 to 8 and my aperture was was about 4.8.

My second photo I edited in photoshop blurring it out as I think you can see the objects and what it is but at the same time makes it more mysterious. I like the contrasting colours of the sky at the top of the picture against the gate being dark.

Final piece ideas

Trying to think of final piece ideas are always hard for me as I was unsure whether to come up with a whole brand new concept or to develop something. A lot of thinking with my teacher we came up with to experiment with my David Wilson shoot and widen my ideas. The shoot I did was great with the composition and mood but to make it even better I could focus on the weather as the weather is just white which shows it over exposed so my teacher has taught me how to capture the weather with the right technique (ISO or Shutter Speed) but also how to get the scenary at the right exposure by photoshop.

These are some examples of my teachers pictures. The first two images are obviously capturing the colours in the sky but the garden is dark so in the picture underneath she has taken it so the garden is bright but the sky is white so...





Using photoshop - layering and rubbing out this is her final image. I think it's fantastic as I never knew you could do this as I always wondered how. It's widening my photoshop knowledge and developing my technique.

A way with words..

Lonely Life

Lonely on the land I walk,
Lonely cross the sea I sail,
Lonely air of beach I stroll –
This lonely life doth take its toll.

- Mark R Slaughter

 

 

 

After a breakup, there is a great feeling of loneliness that overcomes us. For so long, we felt that we were a part of something bigger than ourselves. Suddenly we are left with the realization that we no longer have another to lean on. The loneliness is overwhelming. We have become used to having someone with us all the time. We probably made all our decisions together. To suddenly be alone after intense togetherness is a very lonely feeling.

-CC BY 3.0

 

 

 

 

Jenn Ackerman 2

Jenn Ackerman 1

Jenn Ackerman was my inspiration for these images. I wanted to look at people in distress, working, as it looks much more natural. This is taken in my schools kitchen but the black and white effect looks great as the kitchen is classic black and white metal.

I tried out different angles and used depth of field as I thought I could get some nice shots. I think my third image makes them look trapped and like a prision like ... images. Im proud that I used the depth of field in this image as it makes certain parts of the photo stand out and make the people who are blurred in the background seem not important and question us who see it, what is happening?

David Wilson vs Ansel Adams

Looking through artists to inspire for my work the differences between David Wilson and Ansel Adams are really interesting.

David Wilsons photos are usually based in his hometown, Wales in black and white. Wales is what seems to inspire Wilsons photography like it's telling a story about Wales and maybe to attract tourism to see that parts of Wales is a beautiful place. I can see that his passion is too explore the coast and countryside during the autumn/winter/early spring times. His photography is very modern with modern techniques, sometimes some of his photos can look quite fake and not natural such as the sky or edit to his photos but I do love that some of his photos are pure landscapes yet they look desserted. His photos are really thought about as it's not just the place where the picture is taken at it's the weather capturing the clouds and the reflections on the water which adds to the mood and tone of the photo which is pathetic fallacy.

Ansel Adams on the other hand doesn't celebrate one specific place it's to celebrate the arts and natural environment. His passion is to inspire people with the world around us and encourage self expression which I think is great as we should appreciate the world around us and see the beautiful interesting parts. His photos are very natrual and the same as Wilson, weather is very important in his work to create a mood. His photos are edited such as using the Dodge and Burn but it creates a lovely effect. Some of his photos can look historical with the sepia effect but mostly modern.

Documentation

Documentaries on mental illnesses are always interesting to watch as they show you the history of what it was like years ago to now and what happened. This helps my knowledge of how it is conveyed from years ago to now as it all links up with how it is portrayed through photographs.

One documentary I watched was called A History Of The Madhouse it showed that years ago they didn't care much about the patients feelings and thoughts and diagnosed everybody as mentally ill even if they had something small wrong. They were up for all types of experimentation without worrying about the consequences.

Favim

http://favim.com/image/182268/







These were a couple inspirational photos I found on the website Flavim. They are photos which focus on lighting and weather, it grabs your attention instantly. These are great for my David Wilson shoots, even though David Wilson doesn't look at lighting he looks at decay and rust and deserted/lonely objects so using this as my theme but expanding onto weather using ISO or Shutter Speed would make my image more eye catching.