My goal as a photographer is to challenge the viewers’ interpretation of my images. This body of work has been created with the intention of deceiving the mind of its viewers’, making them question for a split second how what they are seeing is possible. Even as the creator of these images, I sometimes need to take a second look to allow myself to fully process them.
My passion for photography began at the age of fifteen when I purchased my first DSLR camera on a family trip to Orlando. I learned the fundamentals of photography very quickly, however, I fell into the habit of using my camera on ‘auto mode’ limiting my true potential. I slowly became bored with photography and my interest shifted towards videography. I think that this shift in interest was mainly due to my previous belief that the creative possibilities were greater with videography than photography. I had it in my head that photography was as simple as finding something interesting and releasing the shutter. This ‘point-and-shoot’ mentality hindered my progression as a photographer.
I refound my passion for photography after commencing an Imaging module during my Masters in Emerging Media at DCU. This module challenged me to further develop my knowledge of photography through both research and the process of capturing images. After discovering the work of Erik Johansson and Jordi Koalitic, I gained interest in the concept of creating images that could make even the most experienced of photographers question for a short moment how what they are seeing is possible. I became obsessed with combining multiple photographs to create seemingly impossible, seamless images. It was then that I realised my true potential as a photographer.
I chose to produce images that required more than one exposure to really challenge myself to think about the concept of the final photograph, whilst also forcing myself to be creative and consistent with both lighting and perspective in order to create realistic, yet impossible images.
I constructed these images with the purpose of bringing short moments of joy to those that view them. As human beings, I believe that we cannot help but appreciate something that has fooled our eyes.
The theme of the photographs included in this project relates to the multiple contrasting emotions that my girlfriend experienced during the global pandemic.
Some of these images show her desire to escape from our new way of living.
Other images display her aspirations to try something new and get creative during the pandemic.
All of the images featured in this project are a mashup of photographs taken entirely by me during both November and December lockdowns.
In this video, author Shoshana Zuboff speaks about her book ‘The Age of Surveillance Capitalism’. Zuboff compares surveillance capitalism to market capitlism and industrial capitalism. She talks about how nature is used as a raw material in industrial capitalism by the creation of land that can be sold or purchased, i.e. real estate.
Zuboff states that surveillance capitalism continues this tradition but with a dark twist, it takes private human experience for the market dynamic as a free source of raw material that is translated into behavioural data, these data are then combined with advanced computational abilities to create predictions of our behaviour. Zuboff insists that these predictions are then sold to business customers in a market place that trades in human futures. This was first invented in the context of online targeted advertisements by Google in 2001.
Knowing this information really makes you think twice about posting every single detail of your private life on social media. However, a lot these sites that feed off of our information are important enough for us that we continue using them despite knowing about all the information they collect from us.
FRANCE. Paris. Place de l'Europe. Gare Saint Lazare. 1932.
1. What is the Decisive Moment and who came up with this term?
The decisive moment is a concept that has been made popular by the famous photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, who co-founded Magnum Photos with Robert Capa, David Seymour and George Rodger. It refers to capturing an event that is rare and spontaneous, at just the right moment.
2. Who was Robert Capa and what was he famous for?
Robert Capa was famous for his war photography. He is regarded as one of the greatest photojournalists of the 20th century, and the world’s greatest war photographer. He captured his most famous ‘Dying Loyalist Soldier’ during the Spanish Civil War in 1936. As stated above, Capa co-founded Magnum Photos in 1947.
3. What was the difference in representation of Hiroshima bombing between Western media and Japanese photographers?
The western media focused on the images of the damage done to structures by the bombs and turned a blind eye to images of the pain and suffering that these bombs caused to people. Whereas Japanese photographers captured images of the people who had been killed and injured in the bombings, these images had been suppressed for 7 years while Japan was occupied America.
4. Why, when and by whom was Magnum agency formed?
Magnum Photos was formed in 1947 by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, David Seymour and George Rodger in Paris. It was formed as a photographic cooperative owned by its members (photographers), allowing them to keep copyrights to their own work.
1. How many photographers represented by the agency?
There are 99 photographers represented by Magnum Photos.
2. How many female photographers represented by the agency?
There are 15 female photographers represented by Magnum Photos.
3. How many photographers of colour represented by the agency?
There are 22 photographers of colour represented by Magnum Photos.
4. Choose your favourite Magnum photographer and write a short paragraph about them and why you chose them. Illustrate with image(s).
My favourite Magnum member is the war photographer, Robert Capa. Capa was born in Budapest on October 22, 1913. Capa photographed the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939. It was here he captured an image of a republican soldier at the very moment of his death, this image is now known as ‘The Falling Soldier’. Capa is known as one of the greatest war photographers of the 20th century. He captured many moments from World War II on his 35mm Leica camera. Capa co-founded Magnum Photos in 1947.
I chose Robert Capa as my favourite Magnum photographer due to the remarkable moments of war he has captured. Capa risked his life in order to capture his photos. Capa was killed by a landmine in Vietnam in 1954, while photographing the First Indochina War.
After reading this article by Jayawardane, I became aware of the barriers that African photographers face in photojournalism. One of the main issues that African photographers face in photojournalism is the lack of fair pair. Ethopian-born artist Aida Muluneh states that “when we do get assignments, they want to pay us less because we are from the country; but for a foreign photographer, they will not blink to pay an arm and a leg”. This statement illustrates the difficulty that local African photographers face when trying to make a living from photojournalism.
Jayawardane states that Time magazine’s international photo editor, Alice Gabriner has expressed disappointment with African photographers as they lack “completed bodies of work”. Jawardane also notes that Gabriner has lumped the whole continent together in her statement. Western photojournalists are hired for comissions in African countries seem to produce more scandalous stories than local African photojournalists might, and this does not help towards the growth of these locals.
The shot that nearly killed me: War photographers – a special report
Many of the images displayed in this article by ‘The Guardian’ affected me, but none like the image captured by Greg Marinovich. It appears that Marinovich has captured the exact moment of the death of a man being attacked by ANC combatants in Soweto, Sotuh Africa in 1990. Marinovich states ‘you’re not just a journalist or a human being, you’re a mixture of both, and to try to separate the two is complicated.’ I find this statement extremely powerful as it illustrates how difficult war photography is, it can have a lasting affect on the mental health of photographers. Marinovich states that he was shot three times while working in South Africa and after his fourth injury while working Arghanistan he decided enough was enough and retired from war photography.
Cameron was forty-eight years old when she received her first camera, it was a gift from her daughter and son in law. She received criticism for her unconventional techniques but was also praised for the beauty of her compositions and her belief that photography was an art form.
Cameron had been interested in photography before she received her first camera. She had compiled some albums of photographs and printed some herself too. Cameron printed one of O.G. Rejlander’s negatives and surrounded it with ferns, creating a frame around the image as seen below.
I chose to write about Julia Margaret Cameron due to the dreamy look she achieves in her photos. I think that some of the imperfections, and the soft appearance due to lack of focus creates this dreamy effect. I think that her style of portrait photography is extremely unique and that’s why it stands out so much and appeals to many.
I love the soft focus on the woman and child in the picture above, it draws more attention to the flowers that are in focus in the middle of the image. This photo, like most of Julia Margaret Cameron’s work, has a dreamy feel to it.
Camera obscura is an optical phenomenon that is simple to create but can produce breathtaking results. It occurs when a small hole in a dark room/enclosed space (or a small hole in whatever is covering a window) allows a tight beam of light to enter the room which projects a reversed and inverted image on the other side of the dark room/space. It is also referred to as a pinhole image.
How do Daguerrotypes differ from Henry Fox-Talbot’s photographic process?
In Daguerre’s process the image is exposed directly onto a mirror-polished surface. The daguerreotype had some limitations, the reflective surface of the image could only be viewed from certain angle. The process also only produced a one-of-a-kind image that did allow for printing duplicate images.
In Talbot’s process the image is first exposed onto paper as a negative image produced as a negative image, it is then placed against another coated sheet of paper, producing a positive image. As Talbot’s paper copies where printed from a negative image, many copies could be created from one image. Talbot’s method became the basis of 19th and 20th century photography.
Muybridge is known as a pioneer in photographic studies of motion and in motion-picture projection. He carried out an experiment to prove that a horse lifts all four of their hooves from the ground when galloping. He did this by placing 24 cameras with electric shutters in a row, which would be triggered in sequence, 4 every second capturing images as a horse passed by. These photos were the first source of accurate information regarding the galloping of a horse, but also showed that a camera has the ability to allow humans to see things faster than our own eyes, and to break down the world and dissect motion.
In her novel ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, Margaret Atwood wrote “What I need is perspective. The illusion of depth, created by a frame, the arrangement of shapes on a flat surface. Perspective is necessary. Otherwise there are only two dimensions.” I find this extract from Atwood’s novel extremely powerful. As a student of media, I have learned that it is important for us to look at things from more than one perspective in order to see the full picture.
I propose creating multiple optical illusions and forced perspective images, in order to form a body of work that will challenge the minds of others and illustrate that there is more than one way of looking at things. Forced perspective is a method used in order to make an object/person look smaller, larger, further away, or closer than it actually is. The image above is a great example of forced perspective. The group of people in the photo appear small enough to fit on the hand of the man attempting to blow them away, when in fact they are just much further from the camera than the man and his hand. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, an optical illusion is “something that tricks your eyes and makes you think you see something that is not really there, or see it differently from how it really is.”
Due to the current lockdown in Ireland, I will be restricted to taking photographs within 5 kilometres of my home in North County Dublin until the 2nd of December. It is possible that these restrictions may not be eased in December, so I am planning to complete this project with the assumption of the restrictions in place. I am lucky enough to live between two seaside towns, Balbriggan and Skerries, both of which are within 5 kilometres of my home. I also live less than 1 Kilometre away from the beautiful Ardgillan Castle and Demesne, which will undoubtedly feature in this project.
I will capture these images between the months of November and December 2020. I will then begin to edit these images in December. Some of the Images will only need some minor tweaks in Adobe Lightroom, as they are going to be forced perspective images straight from the camera. The other images will need to be combined/edited in Adobe Photoshop in order to create optical illusions that cannot be created with just a camera. The final project will be ready to be showcased in the new year.
As I mentioned above, I am going to create images using both forced perspective and optical illusions, in order to challenge the perspective of others. I think that these types of images serve as a great metaphor for the need to look at things carefully and not to make assumptions upon first glance. Speaking from my own experience, I believe that people enjoy being fooled by optical illusions, they are usually astonished when they realise that what they thought they were looking at is completely different to what is actually real. I think that now, during the global pandemic, people need something to lift their spirits. I believe that this project will bring joy and a moment to escape to those who view it, even if it is only for a couple of seconds or minutes, these moments of distraction can make all the difference.
I will take the photographs needed for this project using a Nikon D7500 DSLR camera, along with an 18mm-140mm lens. I will capture images of both nature and people within my household in a way that will deceive viewers. I will also use similar methods that Erik Johansson uses to create his optical illusions. I will be using a mixture of colouring methods, depending on what I want to portray with each illusion. Lighting will be vital when it comes to mixing images in Photoshop, I will need to ensure that the lighting conditions in images that are being combined are as close as possible to each other. As mentioned above, due to current restrictions, I will only be able to take photographs within 5 kilometres of my home, I believe that this will not be an issue for me as I am lucky to a have a mix of both seaside towns and countryside all within 5 kilometres of my home.
Ian's Photoblog 