Project 1
Exercise 4.1: Daylight
"Taking the photography of Mann, Atget or Schmidt or a photographer of your own choosing as your starting point, shoot a number of photographs exploring the quality of natural light. The exercise should be done in manual mode and the important thing is to observe the light, not just photograph it. In your learning log, and using the descriptions above as your starting point, try to describe the quality of the light in your photographs in own words."
Research
Sally Mann
Sally Mann is an American photographer, known for photographing her family in black and white, later moving on to shoot landscapes. Her photos centre around childhood innocence, featuring her children playing but also showing vulnerability. Later on in her career, Mann started to focus more on the subject of eluding to death and decay.
When thinking about the way that Mann uses light in her photos, she uses a lot of contrast - deep blacks with light whites, often photographing in the late afternoon sun. In a lot of her work, she clearly shows the focal point with the use of brighter lighting focused on one area of the image.
For me, a lot of Mann's work is quite haunting and can be slightly uncomfortable to look at. She is able to cross over the line with her images and touch on creating new emotions with her viewers.
Michael Schmidt
Michael Schmidt was a German born photographer who preferred to photograph in black and white believing that this neutralised his images, allowing the viewer to have an unbiased opinion of his work from someone that is not emotionally distracted because of colour. Schmidt photographed the streets, buildings and people of Berlin in a diffused neutral light at midday when the sun is usually at its highest peak, without noticeable shadows, again wanting no distractions for the viewer from mood effects.
Eugene Atget
Eugene Atget was a French photographer, known for his documentation of the streets of Paris. In his early career he sought out the flatness of the midday light, much like Schmidt, for the impartial quality it gave his photos. As his career progressed, the way Atget photographed his images changed and he began to shoot early in the mornings and used light and deep shadows to create a mood throughout his images.
Mann, S. (1990) Last Night. [Online image] Available from: https://www.sallymann.com/new-gallery-1/ox4zbl2qayaolf5lf2pk00qop9ixtm [Accessed 11th March 2020]
Mann, S. (2009) Proud Flesh. [Online image] Available from: https://www.sallymann.com/proud-flesh/5wop2y17j294z0460c3f0xl8tpqofs [Accessed 11th March 2020]
ASX. 2010. Thoughts about my way of working. [Online]
Available from: https://americansuburbx.com/2010/10/michael-schmidt-thoughts-about-my-way-of-working-1979.html. [Accessed 11th March 2020]
Atget, E. 1903. Versailles. [Online] Available from:https://www.moma.org/collection/works/40818?artist_id=229&locale=en&page=7&sov_referrer=artist. [Accessed 27th March 2020
Atget, E. 1925. Parc de Sceuax. [Online] Available from:https://www.moma.org/collection/works/40710?artist_id=229&locale=it&page=26&sov_referrer=artist. Accessed 27th March 2020
Response to the brief
Looking at the photographers work above helped me to understand that light looks different throughout the day. I wanted to be able to focus on one type of light in particular to start to understand how to photograph it, especially in manual mode as being in complete control of the camera is still very new to me.
I had to be able to fit this exercise in around working full time, so decided to go out at around 4:30pm once I had got in from work. This would be typically classed as the 'golden hour' for this time of year, which is often the time Sally Mann would choose to shoot. I was happy to photograph at this time as I have never intentionally been out to shoot during the 'golden hour' and wanted to explore how this effects natural light. I have been working with a 70-300mm lens that I have had for around 6 months now but not really had the chance to use it a lot and thought this would be a nice opportunity to take it out with me.
Below are my images.
ISO 200 ~ 70mm ~ f/4.0 ~ 1/2500sec
ISO 200 ~ 120mm ~ f/4.2 ~ 1/400sec
I live right next to the River Thames in Kent which allows me to see some beautiful sunsets over the Queen Elizabeth Bridge. I stayed close to home for this exercise as quite often, on a nice day the sun creates some beautiful colours around the area.
What I noticed whilst trying to decide what to shoot, was how the natural sunlight in this late March afternoon created so much beauty. Contrast and golden reflections on objects and cars and how the whole area seemed as if it was under an orangey haze. These were all tings that I had never really thought much about until I lifted my cameras viewfinder to my eye. The two shots above demonstrate that golden reflection.
ISO 200 ~ 70mm ~ f/8.0 ~ 1/500sec
ISO 200 ~ 70mm ~ f/8.0 ~ 1/3200sec
The two shots above display a lot of contrast, especially the one on the right. The daylight here is creating long soft shadows which give the image dimension.
ISO 200 ~ 120mm ~ f/4.2 ~ 1/500sec
ISO 200 ~ 70mm ~ f/8.0 ~ 1/1250sec
The image on the left of the rivers tide coming in displays soft pinks and oranges reflected in the waves creating an almost shine effect. The image on the right demonstrates a golden hue where the sun is setting, making the whole frame glow.
ISO 200 ~ 70mm ~ f/4.0 ~ 1/400sec
ISO 200 ~ 70mm ~ f/4.0 ~ 1/2500sec
The shot on the left here is lightly contrasted with a softness in colouring. The right hand shot is almost in silhouette except for a small light flare working its way diagonally across the frame.
ISO 200 ~ 70mm ~ f/8.0 ~ 1/160
ISO 200 ~ 70mm ~ f/4.0 ~ 1/4000sec
The two shots above are complete opposites of one another. On the left the whole frame is lit with a golden hue that reflects on the green leaves giving them a yellowy glow. The shot on the right is in silhouette with the sunlight gently illuminating the shape of the tree in the centre.
Reflection
Once again, I have learnt an awful lot undertaking this exercise. I navigated my way through shooting this exercise working with the light meter on my camera. I never thought I would get my head around being in full manual mode but it is a lot clearer now.
Having to think about daylight has allowed me to see how quickly it can change the aesthetics of an image in a short period of time. In each of my images from this exercise, the light is slightly different depending on the time I took the photo.