Deadline for my Personal Study

Today is our deadline for our final version for our Personal study. I am extremely pleased with the final outcome of this as I believe that I have put a lot of time and detail into it. By completing this task, was extremely helpful with the researching and development of my research journal as Philip Tonkyn inspired me and helped to develop new ideas and techniques. By contacting and emailing the photographer was extremely helpful when writing my personal study.

Personal Study Research

As we only have a few weeks left until we have to hand in our Related Personal study we need to complete:

• Title Page
• Contents Page
• Introduction
• Biography
• Image Analysis 1
• Image Analysis 2
• In the style of...
• Conclusion
• Bibliography

Moving onto Digital

We have now finished doing traditional photography within class although we can still take the opportunity to use our frees to print photos and develop films if needed. When I move on to digital I am going to focus on more close-up photography as I feel that my compositional close-up nature photography looks good as I try to take photos from different angles.

Digital

We have now moved onto the digital section of our A2 photography coursework. I am going to use this lesson time to develop my photoshop skills and take advantage of the Mac suite. Although we did use photoshop last year I want to get to know photoshop and try out some new techniques.

Luckily, I have already taken quite a few digital shoots over the last few months when we first started our coursework so I am going to look over these photos and see what I can to improve and experiment on with photoshop, as well as keeping in mind the techniques used by Philip Tonkyn (the photographer I have chosen for my personal study).

Choosing my traditional finals and problems that I have faced

So far I am very pleased with the progress that I have made, as I am up to date with my research journal and have chosen all four of my traditional finals.

When printing my finals I encountered a small problem with the sunflower photo. Unfortunatly when I printed and developed this photo large, the image appeared too grey eventhough I used 170 magenta. This is a shame as when I printed it 5x7, I really loved the angle and composition of the photo. As a result I changed this particular final, as I want my finals to look professional and I felt by including this very grey photo would not appear well.

Last week of Traditional....

Although our class were not expecting to carry on for another two weeks of traditional photography it was very much an advantage for me. These last two weeks enabled me to make large prints of my four chosen traditional finals.

The following are the photos I am going to chose for my traditional finals:

What I have done so far....

So far during this half-term I have taking 7 traditional shoots and have printed my favourite images.

Experimental photography

Over the summer holidays I experimented with flower photography shooting from different angles to create a different and more interesting view to the photographs. In our traditional lessons during the week I made both positive and negative photographs of the following photo. I believe that this photo is particularly good as a I love the composition, the angle of which the photo was taken and the small depth of field that I had used. I also got to experiment with dodging and burning in the sky. In addition, with this photo we also had to print a low contrast (the original photo) and a high contrast (we had to add 170 magenta), this gave the photo more distinctive tones which I believe looked great in this photo.

My Last Shoot

Last weekend I completed a traditional shoot, I chose the location of the shoot to be close to the river to create a tranquil setting for my photos.

Plan for this weekend

For this weekend shoot I will be carrying on with nature photography. My ideas for photography will be surrounding the influence of photographer Philip Tonkyn. Although I won't be going to Glastonbury I will take photos in Duxford.  I will take a variety of photos and will try and use compositional techniques  such as frame within a frame, different depth of fields etc. I am going to concentrate on more close-ups.

At the end of August I went to Burnham Overy and took landscape photographs. The sky was really dramatic which created a great effect within my photographs. Also the reflection of the sun added to this drama.

Since being back at college I have been experimenting with landscape photography and taking influences from photographer Philip Tonkyn. At the moment in class we are concentrating on traditional photography, although I am still taking digital.

Philip Tonkyn

Before I visited Philip Tonkyn's photography exhibition I got in contact with Philip via email to ask him information on the location and the exhibition. Since visiting his exhibition I have decided to research and have chosen to write about Philip Tonkyn and his work for my Personal Study.

Philip Tonkyn was born and brought up in Glastonbury. He initially studied Sculpture at Somerset College of Art (where the exhibition took place). He has been an artist, illustrator and Art teacher for over forty years. He now uses Photography as a starting points for his artwork, 'creating a vision of a liminal Otherworld where matter and spirit join in the marriage of landscape and light'.

Philip Tonkyn's website: www.philiptonkyn.com

Philip Tonkyn's Exhibition Review

During my holiday in Somerset I visited Philip Tonkyn’s Photography exhibition which took place at the Hothouse, in Somerset College of Arts and Technology in Taunton. From looking at his amazing photography on his website and clicking on ‘News’ I found his exhibition on the following website which happened to be close to where I was going on holiday.

His exhibition was fairly small, but this allowed you to focus on the details of his photos rather than be overwhelmed by a vast amount of photography that you cannot take in.  A significant amount of his work involves the setting of the Glastonbury area especially the Glastonbury Tor, and he takes on showing the Tor in different conditions. I particularly like the colours of Sunset and sunrise setting and the atmosphere it sets of ‘The Avalon Sunset’ and ‘First Light Glastonbury Tor’.

Although most of his photos displayed at the exhibition were of landscapes, he also experimented with photo and created a different outlook to the image. His ‘simulacra series’ are a symmetrical image of a photo which is made up of reflection. His intentions of this series are to create the appearance of ‘spirit’ forms.

The setting of the Exhibition was a formal, but casual as you can relax whilst enjoying the photography. As the exhibition was situated at a college there were events and meetings taking place. Whilst I was visiting, people were visiting the exhibition in their break. I believe that this is a good venue for Philip Tonkyn’s exhibition as his work can be enjoyed by a variety of ages whether the audience expected to see the exhibition or stumbled across it unaware of him or his photography.

Last week for my holiday I went to Somerset where I took the opportunity to photograph the beautiful scenery of the countryside and the Moors of Exmoor. We were partically lucky with the hot weather which was a significant feature in my nature photography.

Here are some of the photos that I took in Somerset.

Some of My Own Wildlife Photography

Adam Burton Landscape Photographer

Adam Burton is an amazing landscape photographer who captures the dramatic colours of the day through as well as sunset and sunrise.

Trey Ratcliff Landscape photographer

When researching landscape photographers I found Trey Ratcliff who is an amazing landscape photographer. I like the dramatic feeling of this images especially shown through certain aspects such as the clouds and the waterfall, as he has created emphasis on these subjects through the composition.

Landscapes

Whilst looking through photographers related to wildlife I noticed that many of these photographers also specialised and had examples of their own landscape photos. Therefore as part of the genre nature I will also experiment taking photos of landscapes of nature and the natural world of Earth.

Heather Edwards - Nature Photographer

When researching nature photographers I came accross Heather Edwards. I really like her photos especially the subject matters of flowers, butterflies etc. I like the use of angles and small depth of field in some of her photos as it allows the viewer to focus on the particular subject matter (e.g the Red Admiral Butterfly).

Bob Perry Wildlife Photographer

From researching and looking a wildlife photographers I came across Bob Perry. I really like all of his photos as they are simple but amazing close-up macro images of wildlife. I like the fine detail and extremely clear focus of his photos and using small depth of field allows you to clearly see this keeping your eyes attracted to the main focus of the image ( in this case the honey bee and the flower). In addition, I love the contrast of the dark colours of the bee next to the vivid purple of the flower. Bob Perry's photos have inspired me to experiment and take photo similar to this.

www.bobperryonline.co.uk

Some of my photos from yesterdays Photography trip to London

Here are some of my photographs which I took during my trip to London at the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea and the Photographers Gallery near Oxford Street in London.

Photography Trip to London

Yesterday, my Photography class and I visited the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea and the Photographers Gallery, which was situated in a side road off of Oxford Street, in London. Both exhibitions were very interesting to see as there was a range of photographers who used different techniques and genres, and they were all very original from one another.

I like David Benjamin Sherry's work, which is being exhibited in the Saatchi Gallery (from the 25th April - 15th July 2012), as he has a very different approach to viewing landscapes. For example he used different colours to reflect his mood. This range of photos was taken as a form of recuperation to recover from the loss of his friend. He changed his original photos to dramatic colours to an 'otherworldly light'. These range of colours where changed at the time of exposure or later during printing 'and the kind of cast depended on his mood.'

Saatchi Gallery website:
            www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk

Researching Photographers

To begin my personal study research I need to research photographers who are an inspiration to the genre of nature photography. I believe by researching photographers will help me to create new ideas and will help to develop my photography skills.

Welcome to my Reflective Journal for A level Photography

This year for my Photography A level I have chosen to photograph and research the genre of Nature. I will also use other nature photographers work to inspire me throughout the course especially those photographers who have photographed wildlife, landscapes, animals, flowers etc. from the natural world of 'Earth'.