Aidan Richardson

The brief for “Home” was to produce six photos that connoted the feeling or  idea of a home. The idea of home, and our interpretation of it, was creatively left completely up to us, which was fantastic for me as I got to really take hold of the project and take it in interesting directions.

For my original idea I wanted to take photos of my hometown, the place I grew up because at the time it seemed like the only place I could relate to home. However after living in Lincoln for the past university year, I get to call this place my home too. When I was trying to think of ideas that I could present as my interpretation of home, I struggled to find items or scenery back at my hometown because its not a very scenic place. Therefore I got the opportunity to use the streets of Lincoln and the Cathedral grounds because it really is one of the most scenic city’s that you can visit. Walking around Lincoln I decided to focus on the Cathedral, when I was roaming around with my friend at night, they had turned on all the night lights which made all the photos a lot more artistic and vibrant.

Below is my first photo of the Lincoln Cathedral –

 

 

The reason why I edited it the way I did in Photoshop was because you see a lot of photos of the Lincoln City on the internet so when I took this I had every intention of turning it into a kind of sketch like photo. What I like most about how it turned out is the shading in the sky, makes it seem really effective and also I like how vibrant the blue in archway is and how it stands out. The way I interpret this as Home is that the place, even though its very old Cathedral and you would think it would be locked off, you can roam around it like the couple are as if it your own. Just like you would in your home.

For my next I wanted to include my friend so the shot didn’t seem so ordinary and simple. The main focus on this photo was actually the grass and the lamppost, editing it in Lightroom I wanted to add a bit of warmth so it seems like it was coming from the light and it had made the grass light up a little bit more. Having the Cathedral in the background was completely intentional because it symbolizes a person who might not be the most attractive but has a glowing personality.

 

In this photo I wanted the viewers to interpret the photo as the girl in photo does, that shes seeing a symbol as such for Lincoln, the Cathedral. Everybody knows that the Cathedral is the biggest landmark for Lincoln and many people associate it with their home when taking about where they live. I know I did.

 

 

This photo is a bit different to my Cathedral shots because it is my own decoration in my bedroom back at home in Chesterfield. This wall was kind of my project to fill because we had just moved to this house and it was the first time my mum had let me design my own bedroom. As I wanted to be careful to what I put up on my wall, I had looked around many vintage stores and found the clock which you can see in the photo. I used Lightroom for this one and using the adjustment tool to focus on the clock as the subject, I want it to look more vintage by adding a warmer tone and for the other decorations I added clarity and upped the exposure to enhance the colours in the wave wallpaper.

 

This photo I really enjoyed taking because it came out a lot better than I had anticipated. The main focus is of course the little wooden Buddha, I loved how you can distinguish the different colours of wood when I thought it might struggle on camera. The reason this reminded me of home is because I had it for almost 9 years, I brought it back from a holiday I went on and kept  it since and it seemed to be the only ornament that managed to survived the past years, so I kept it safe on my shelves. Before I edited this in Lightroom it really didn’t look much, now using adjustment tool I could select just the subject and enhance it separating it from the background also using the adjustment brush on the background I was able to darken it making the subject the focal point of the photo.

 

 

The next photo is one of my favourites because the colour in this are just insane! I’ve told about this place by a lot of friends and it really was amazing to see and this photo isn’t the only piece of art their. The whole building is covered in this vibrant colours and art which makes you feel like even the darkest places in Lincoln have a little of bit of light and colour, which it really does. Going to this place made me appreciate Lincoln much more as a home because its a lot more artistic and interesting than I thought it would be when I first moved here. When I took the photo it wasn’t as vibrant as it is now, I used Lightroom from that and by using the adjustment brush I  was able to focus the vibrant, clarity and exposure on the graffiti itself, making it stand out a lot more than what it does in person.

 

 

For the first three photos I didn’t want to edit them as much because I wanted to keep them as raw as possible so you get more a real feel towards the photo whereas in the final three I had edited them a fair just to show you, the viewers the capabilities of editing suites like Photoshop and Lightroom. Both being used to help distinguish the subjects are the main focal point.

The first part of the brief was to take four portrait photos of a single subject, paying careful attention to the use lighting, framing, aperture, ISO and other technical elements that might construct the photograph.  I enjoyed this project because it meant I had full creative control over the images I produced, and it meant I could experiment with other styles of photography that I was perhaps not familiar with before. For my first Portraiture I decided to begin with my self portrait photo. When making this I really didn’t know how to go about it because I never liked having my photo taken. I wanted it to seem natural so to help me I got my brother to come in to either make me laugh, smile or annoyed. luckily he managed to make me laugh a few times and smile so I picked the best out of the bad bunch and came up with this:

Self Portrait -1

 

When I was told that apart of the brief was to take portrait photo of  someone familiar, that being family or friend. I decided to ask my brother if he would be willing to let me take photos of him. I found it best to do this at his work place because they have a studio in their hair dressing salon that I could use to my advantage. With them having professional lighting it helped massively to get a really clear photograph of my brother.

Portrait -2

I really liked how this photo turned because it looks really clear and fresh, with help from the lighting that i used. I wanted to keep this one at a mid close up so you can focus on the features as much as possible. Also having the blank background puts all focus onto my brother.

For my stranger one I decided to go down the road from my brothers hair dressing salon to a boutique shop that sells vintage clothes. My brother mentioned that they had some very photogenic people in there that would help create a fun image. When I went I met a girl called Portia who instantly decided to help me out back at the studio I was working in. When we got there I wanted her to feel relaxed so I could get some neutral photos that seemed as natural as they come! Luckily Portia was very confident and a lot of fun to work with. I managed to snap these shots whilst we was having a bit of a joke around.

Stranger Portrait -3

 

As you can see the photo above, Portia my choice of stranger looks annoyed as such but she was simply telling my about a story and I caught her off guard. However I think it looks really effective. Having the lights in shot I thought made my stranger images very effective in that they seem more natural and less plastic like most of the models on the front of magazines nowadays.

Stranger Portrait -4

 

For my Final photo I decided to carry on with my stranger Portia but have her in a different environment. I wanted to take her to a cafe that I knew was quite chilled out in Nottingham so we could get some day to day like images. This one I have chosen, I thought was quite intimidating because I wanted her to be on her phone, minding her own business and me to be someone who has annoyed and or bothered her. This tends to be the reaction that you get from most teenagers because they don’t give themselves a chance to have a breather from today’s technology and have a normal conversation with someone who might be right next to them.

Portrait 5 – Cafe

 

 

 

 

The brief was to take three photos that fit within the theme of “student life”, and then insert them into a tryptic piece. So I thought that every body would be just doing the standard junk that might be in peoples room and bins. I wanted to do something that had a bit more meaning towards myself and that’s why I picked the three photos below. Each of the photos are 1 month apart, in my eyes it has a representation of progression. I am coming towards the end of my first University year and to feel more accomplished I had my tattoo finished. The tattoo doesn’t have any sentimental meaning other than that I managed to finish something I never thought I would be able to get into in the first place.

 

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Appropriation, the act of taking (something) for your own use, basically without the owner’s permission. In the world of photography, the topic of appropriation is a touchy one. Some argue that appropriating another artist or photographer’s work is stealing, whilst others would argue that appropriation is an acceptable, and sometimes necessary method of giving an image new context and meaning. Appropriated images can often tend to be of a crude; this is usually done to emphasise the specific message the image might be trying to portray. Also to create a lasting impression on the viewer. I believe that appropriation is an encouraged type of art form, depending on the context that it is used. For example, a female modelling magazines might feature advertisements with a thin, beautiful female subject, suggesting to readers that this is what you must look like. An effective appropriation of an advertisement such as this could be to replace the original model with a one who might be larger in build without polished, perfect good looks. Appropriations like i believe should be encouraged because they can sometimes be a good influence. I’ve made  some of my own appropriated images that I think address world wide issues that perhaps need to be looked at more closely by the mass media.

In this image, I look at the repetitive unwanted behaviour of Facebook’s privacy settings. and how much of our personal information is actually available to the public. I searched google for this image of a woman listening in on man talking in another room, clearly something personal otherwise she wouldn’t be sneaking. I placed the logos over her eyes because they say you can sometimes only recognise a person by looking into their eyes. Well covering them up makes you feel like it could be anyone listening in or looking into your private life. I thought the image has given an important message to the Facebook members out there, that you might not be living a private  life as much as you wish.