Like Stain on Red Dirt
Interview
The Images
This image interests my due to the use of shadows in it and lines. The shadows placement itself is interesting due to it being in the corner of a house or a room, most would usually just have a shadow cascade onto a flat surface to see the shadow clearly in the photo. The lines of in the image contrast the figure too, with the person's shadow not having any straight lines which is in juxtaposition to the lines of the door, step and corner. `By this image and some others from the book I can tell that Juan Orrantia is interested in shadows but predominantly colour, which reading into the book Like Stains on Red Dirt is explored in both a historical context and photographical context, as he ventures into his emotions with the history of South Africa. I think that his main aims were to project his surroundings and how he interacts with it, capturing his normal and everyday family life, with the shadow maybe being his wife and the walls being of his house. The image itself gives a sense of freedom and expression due to the person's pose. The image on face value doesn't give much to do with its meaning, background and purpose, however, once paired with the other photos in the book a sense of family life becomes ever-present over the span of looking at the images as a collective.
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1. What kind of a photographer do you think that he is judging by these images.
Juan Orrantia seems to be a photographer who cares a lot about composition. This is due to many of the photos including natural shadows that come into his house, with his family being in them. On top of this he cares a lot about colour with him using synthetic light to create an interesting contrast between the shadows as mentioned before and the colours included in them, he used cellophane to create this effect.
2. What do you think his main themes were?
I think his main themes were to represent his life through colours and composition. Many of the photos include his family members, also many of the photos are inside his house and local area. Due to this each photo has a sense of intimacy that can't be synthetically made.
3. What was he trying to capture?
Similarly to the last question, I feel as though he wanted to just capture his normal life and how he moves through it. This, as before, is due to them being of family and his surroundings.
4. When you view these images what sense do you gain from his surroundings?
When I view these images I feel a sense of warmth and intimacy. This is due to a lot of the colours and tones in the images which gives off this emotion, and I feel as though this is represented in his surroundings too.
5. Do these images tell you anything about the place in which they were made? If so what do they reveal?
A lot of the images seem to be in places that are known to him. For example, some of the images are in his house, and once read into, some of the other images are in local parks and also of road-trips that him and his family have been on. However, the images do not specify where he lives and so on, so with further inspection, it becomes known that he isn't living in his home country and that it is foreign to him. At face value, the images reveal his local surrounds, but once the knowledge of him being in South Africa has come to light, it adds another layer onto the images, one that shows maybe he is uncomfortable with venturing to far from his home. Or maybe even another outlook, that he enjoys his own surroundings too much to venture out.
Juan Orrantia seems to be a photographer who cares a lot about composition. This is due to many of the photos including natural shadows that come into his house, with his family being in them. On top of this he cares a lot about colour with him using synthetic light to create an interesting contrast between the shadows as mentioned before and the colours included in them, he used cellophane to create this effect.
2. What do you think his main themes were?
I think his main themes were to represent his life through colours and composition. Many of the photos include his family members, also many of the photos are inside his house and local area. Due to this each photo has a sense of intimacy that can't be synthetically made.
3. What was he trying to capture?
Similarly to the last question, I feel as though he wanted to just capture his normal life and how he moves through it. This, as before, is due to them being of family and his surroundings.
4. When you view these images what sense do you gain from his surroundings?
When I view these images I feel a sense of warmth and intimacy. This is due to a lot of the colours and tones in the images which gives off this emotion, and I feel as though this is represented in his surroundings too.
5. Do these images tell you anything about the place in which they were made? If so what do they reveal?
A lot of the images seem to be in places that are known to him. For example, some of the images are in his house, and once read into, some of the other images are in local parks and also of road-trips that him and his family have been on. However, the images do not specify where he lives and so on, so with further inspection, it becomes known that he isn't living in his home country and that it is foreign to him. At face value, the images reveal his local surrounds, but once the knowledge of him being in South Africa has come to light, it adds another layer onto the images, one that shows maybe he is uncomfortable with venturing to far from his home. Or maybe even another outlook, that he enjoys his own surroundings too much to venture out.
Photoshoot
The task that was given for this photoshoot was to use keywords and think about them whilst taking the photos. The words were made on a post-it note and are words that describe how the photos that i have taken so far could be described. Having this in mind whilst taking the photos on this photoshoot helped me focus a lot more on what i actually wanted to take photos of, rather than me straying away from what the real focus of my photoshoot is, which i found happening a lot with some past photoshoots. For this specific photoshoot i wanted to focus a lot more on street photography and the inclusion of people in it because with a lot of my past sessions i found myself being uncomfortable with this and also actively trying to not include people into my photos, which for me made the images lack something to make them more interesting. Some of these words however are just common in my photography anyway, for instance my interest in buildings, lines and shaped, so I feel as though i could've used better words to follow my theme rather than just stay in my comfort zone.
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With these specific photos I feel as though they represent the task the best. With the words above in mind, each of the words or all relate to the images, and I also focused more on what I wanted to which was to take photos of people in everyday settings. On top of this, I didn't just take photos of people, I found interesting objects, compositions and architecture. However, what I do believe next time I could improve upon is the use of colour and framing. With many of the photos with people as the main subject, I felt uncomfortable and rushed the images, this caused for many of them to be either out of focus or not framed correctly. Colour could also be improved upon as many of the images feel flat and too bright. An example of this would be the image of the cafe with the two people across from each other, I should've edited it to turn down the exposure and also increased contrast to make the colours stand out more, similarly with the first image.
Luke Saxon
Luke Saxon is a British photographer who mainly takes his photos in the north of England, where he's from. The photos usually represent the North of England and his outlook towards it, however, still maintaining a sense of non-bias too. As well as the photos' focus point being his outlook towards England, he compliments this with colourful aspects of them making his images stand out and almost seem as though they aren't actually images produced by cameras. In his three projects so far each of them follow the route of being based in the north about the north, however such works as The Same But Different and Bags For Life add another layer, one of culture and the similarities and differences between them, as well as a critique of plastic use and more specifically where they are dumped. This is in contrast to True North where he attempts to project the North for what it is.
Interview
Task:
Growing up in London do you think this has strongly effected your photography? Or has other people/places influenced the direction it has moved towards?
I think that London has affected my photography in a specific way. When I first started to be interested in photography and going out into London to take photos I used the architecture to just document the city itself, without really expressing my outlook towards the city or where I lived. Then I started to dislike doing this and tried to search for different ways to document it and my daily life rather than just taking photos in known areas, I moved towards focusing on smaller details in these areas.
The use of the everyday come across very prominently in your work, almost painstingesque. Is your photography your sole background or do you have other art influences?
I enjoy photography the most, however both music and cinema are influences. Music more so due to the atmosphere can create with small, layered details a song can have a moving, emotional impact on people due to intricate and well placed sounds. This is what I want to try and mimic in my photography, focusing on details and also creating an atmosphere wether intentional or not. And cinema as it also creates an atmosphere, similarly to photography a way a camera is positioned, framed and a shot is composed can create vast differences in impact on people.
What inspires you to shoot?
Inspiration for me comes from escaping my normal routine of life and act as if I am just an observer in the areas in which I take photograph. Rather than getting caught up in the cycle of life and not stopping to think and look.
Let's touch on a subject that I'm positive has never been discussed before: do you prefer shooting on film or digital?
I prefer digital due to the convenience of it. However with film I do like the more physical nature of it than with digital.
Do you feel your images capture London as it really is? Or are they coming more from your own personal perspective?
I think that I mix the two depending on how I feel when I go out to take photographs. However, I now lean towards my perspective and how I move through the city, rather than presenting London at face value.
What's happening next?
I would like to experiment more with video, as a way of setting an atmosphere of creating a feeling due to me thinking that it does this in a more potent way than photography. On top of this, I would like to see how different cameras and lenses change my way of working with photography, and ultimately the final outcome, the images.
Task:
Growing up in London do you think this has strongly effected your photography? Or has other people/places influenced the direction it has moved towards?
I think that London has affected my photography in a specific way. When I first started to be interested in photography and going out into London to take photos I used the architecture to just document the city itself, without really expressing my outlook towards the city or where I lived. Then I started to dislike doing this and tried to search for different ways to document it and my daily life rather than just taking photos in known areas, I moved towards focusing on smaller details in these areas.
The use of the everyday come across very prominently in your work, almost painstingesque. Is your photography your sole background or do you have other art influences?
I enjoy photography the most, however both music and cinema are influences. Music more so due to the atmosphere can create with small, layered details a song can have a moving, emotional impact on people due to intricate and well placed sounds. This is what I want to try and mimic in my photography, focusing on details and also creating an atmosphere wether intentional or not. And cinema as it also creates an atmosphere, similarly to photography a way a camera is positioned, framed and a shot is composed can create vast differences in impact on people.
What inspires you to shoot?
Inspiration for me comes from escaping my normal routine of life and act as if I am just an observer in the areas in which I take photograph. Rather than getting caught up in the cycle of life and not stopping to think and look.
Let's touch on a subject that I'm positive has never been discussed before: do you prefer shooting on film or digital?
I prefer digital due to the convenience of it. However with film I do like the more physical nature of it than with digital.
Do you feel your images capture London as it really is? Or are they coming more from your own personal perspective?
I think that I mix the two depending on how I feel when I go out to take photographs. However, I now lean towards my perspective and how I move through the city, rather than presenting London at face value.
What's happening next?
I would like to experiment more with video, as a way of setting an atmosphere of creating a feeling due to me thinking that it does this in a more potent way than photography. On top of this, I would like to see how different cameras and lenses change my way of working with photography, and ultimately the final outcome, the images.
Photoshoot
I believe there has been a change in focus from what i want to take photos of, and have a subjects. Before i enjoyed taking photos of more architecture and city scapes, whereas now i prefer to follow the guidelines of street photography more,. For example, taking photos of people in these spaces now. I plan to develop this more by using an emphasis on colour and taking more photos of people, as i am still not used to it yet.