Final developments/selection

These are my final selection of photographs that I am using in my exam. Below I will discuss why I have chosen these along with the quotes that I have gathered from Oliver on each topic, these are brief quotes summarising his view on these.

'I fear a life in a cage.'
This is my final development for the topic 'Adventure.' For this, I looked back at my first attempt of this and discovered I preferred the aspect of the abnormal eye within the magnifying glass. With a discussion from my teacher, we decided to make this the surrealist aspect of the photograph instead of purposely making him smaller in the composition. I went back to the same location as my other experiments and placed Oliver lying down within the tall grass. I then got down to eye level with Oliver. This shows the grass in and around his face making it more realistic than my previous attempts as before I used photoshop to paste him in to the composition over the top of the grass. Now, this is more believable as he is in and amongst the grass. Like before, I took a separate picture of Oliver's eye in the same place as the background photograph, this is so the lighting is not dramatically different so that it was easy for me to edit. I cut and pasted the eye within the magnifying glass and used the eraser and dis guarded the excess around the magnifying glass so that the eye fit in perfectly. I then used the hue and saturation tool on Photoshop so enhance the colours of the grass and the sky. This is so that it gives off a more positive and uplifting feel to reflect Oliver's love of adventure.

'Animals are my siblings of the earth.'
For my final development for Oliver's love of animals, I re shot this however making a small change of making sure Oliver does not have a shirt on, this is to make him look more animal like so that he seems to relate more to an animal making him represent their nature. Another addition to this composition was the collar. As I didn't feel a shirt was necessary, there was then nothing to clip the lead onto. This is where I then wanted to place a collar around his neck to attach the lead on to like a normal dog would have. After this I then used the same technique as previous in Photoshop, with using the same photograph I took of my dog Alfie. I changed the brightness and contrast so that it made the photograph slightly brighter (this is also why I used the white backdrop) and more vibrant to compliment the happy and excited expression Oliver has, knowing he is acting as an animal.

'My favourite sentences are unspoken.'
This is my final piece for Oliver's love of reading. My last development showed my experiment with trying the saying 'eat, sleep, breathe.' Once I had tried this, I did not feel it came across that way. The attempts seemed too simple and too similar as a set of 3. I then thought of possibly bringing all 3 of them together. Once in the photo shoot I wanted to try a different angle for more variety within my work. I felt the topic of 'breathe' would be too difficult with this angle, therefore I have based this composition, mainly on the sleep and eat. In this composition, I am peering over Oliver's shoulder and we see a slight glance of a blanket which insinuates the relaxation of reading. As I peer over, you see the open book Oliver is appearing to read, then in his right hand he is holding a fork. To which I have placed a book on the fork as if he was about to eat it. Reflecting on this composition, I found deeper meaning to this that is relevant to Oliver. He seems to enjoy reading to gain knowledge and to keep the brain active and imaginative. This is then almost as if reading the book in the composition is showing a comparison to eating a book, like reading is the same and eating and absorbing the information. I now feel happy with this composition in using this for my final piece.

'I always wanted to be a fawn.'
This is my final development for the topic 'Mythology.' From my previous development, I have made a few changes to come to this final photograph. My previous attempt, I found that the background photograph was too dull, the time of day and angle did not seem to work in my favour, therefore I went back on a day where it was very sunny. This time, instead of photo shopping Oliver into the photograph, I made him stand in the base photograph as I did on my initial first photograph. This photograph shows the natural light shining onto the leaves. I made it so Oliver was to the left of the composition so that it gave me some space for me to then place the book into the composition. Once I did this, I realised from my experiments that the book never seemed to look like it belonged in the grass, so once I placed the book where I wanted in the composition, I took the eraser tool and changed the opacity very low and gently rubbed out the bottom making it look like the book is embedded in the leaves. Instantly I found this an improvement from my previous experiments. Once this was completed, my teacher felt there was still something missing even though it was improved. We then agreed that we could make it look old using a sepia filter. Firstly, I changed the image to be black and white and then added the sepia filter. I then added noise to the photograph to make it seem grainy and create an old style. We felt that this then reflected the mythological aspect considering Oliver is dressed as a mythological person. The meaning has now been enhanced by using this effect, almost looking realistic as if Oliver was meant to be a mythological person.

'The concept is terrifying and instructional.'
This is the topic 'Obesity.' Originally, I kept this composition within the studio so that I could clearly edit this to make it clear that Oliver was obese. Considering I had a few compositions shot in the studio, I felt that this particular one can be taken out from the studio and out on location so that it could fully show the message of this topic.
I took Oliver to a McDonald's, to which he brought a Mcflurry. I then wanted to place him outside so that I could get the logo in my composition, as if we shot this inside it would not be clear as to where we are and what the message was. Oliver is in the front of the composition with the logo and restaurant in the background, this shows a slight depth of field making Oliver the core subject so when I went on to edit him, this was the first thing that the audience would take attention to. I used the same liquify tool on Photo shop to make Oliver look abnormally large. The way he is leaning against a table could show that he cannot physically fit into the seats, or that he is in a rush to eat the Mcflurry as if his craving is too strong. Also the use of the brand McDonald's introduces Oliver's reasoning behind why he dislikes child obesity. These fast food chains are the main source and cause of how child obesity occurs by having too much of a good thing. The quote that Oliver has given me for this topic will then complete this composition in explaining the reasoning behind this photograph.

'Black is so not my colour.'
This composition for Seasonal Affective Disorder is one I had not altered much from my experiments. I was pretty pleased with my latest development of this as I experimented with different positions of Oliver on the cloud. I chose this particular positioning of Oliver as I believe it is the most realistic. You can see fully the expression of Oliver's face making it clear that he is genuinely fearful of the darkness below. I have also cropped the original photograph so that you could see Oliver as a more prominent subject in this composition. I also did not want there to be too much negative and unwanted space created by the sky which is why I chose to crop this photograph. The last amendment I made was I extended the gradient so that there is more of the darkness at the bottom, this was to make it look more daunting to Oliver that there is a larger depth of darkness.

'The bonus of having a brain.'
This composition I have created for the topic 'creativity.' I have chosen a completely new composition compared to my experiments. I was not satisfied with how my experiments were coming out, I felt that these were too similar to the composition of nude art therefore my teacher and I came up with a new composition idea to experiment with. I took a base photograph of Oliver's hands being displayed. I then shot a photograph of a paintbrush and used Photo shop to make it look like the ends of the paintbrushes are coming out from his fingers. I felt that some colour was needed as they all looked the same, so a variety of colour seemed to brighten up the composition expressing the creativity. This composition shows that the art is part of Oliver and is somewhat attached to the art and the creative side of him. 

'Sleeping is a waste of time.'
This development is for the composition of 'sleepless.' Looking back, I felt the lighting was one of the main components to this composition. I found it difficult to get the right lighting. Taking inspiration from the photographer Robison, I used a lamp in previous experiments however this became difficult as I had to turn the ISO up to 1600 causing a grainy effect on my photographs which I felt ruined the quality. I really wanted to still incorporate this style to this composition. For this new composition, I used a torch instead of a lamp. Oliver looks very tired and is holding his eyes open with his hands. The torch is shone directly on Oliver's face causing his surroundings to be dark and his face becomes illuminated. This represents the fact that even though it is dark outside and is very late, Oliver is still seeming to be awake and not wanting to sleep. I was pleased with the quality that these had turned out but lastly I turned the contrast up so that it enhanced Oliver's features to then produce the final photograph.

'It astonishes me in a way art has never done before.'
Here we have two photographs that I have produced for this topic. Due to Oliver not being comfortable with the original (the bottom of the two) photograph being displayed for public viewing, which is understandable, I created another alternative composition for my final piece.
Discussion with my teachers led to me using both. We felt that my original photograph was still the better of the experiments and we did not want it not to be part of my final piece. Therefore, this photograph will be used for examination for the moderator. I will then replace it with the new composition I created. As both of these compositions are similar, I am happy that the new composition will then still link with the topic and the change will not be drastic.
 

From my final selection, my main influence was the photographer Joel Robison. Robison inspired my surrealist take on my own work. For example, I took the lighting from a couple of his pieces to work and experiment with on the topic of 'sleepless.' Also the aspect of elements being abnormally large or small which I incorporated with the topic of 'Seasonal Affective Disorder.'
My main aim was to create a quirky and fun style to my work as it not only is taken from Robison, yet it reflects Oliver's personality. Oliver has been committed and willing about this project and has shown great fun in being my model, this then reflects through to my photography within this project.