3 Final Images

I printed out my 3 final images and talked to Sarah about them, also showing her my best images from the lot i had taken at the tattoo convention.
Originally, i had chosen these photographs as my final 3 submission:



However, i revisited the brief and realised that although my first image shows the model's identity with the college ID card, i should focus on a day in the life of a tattoo artist, and choose my 3 final images from the photographs that i took at the convention.
This way, i can show the progression of the tattoos throughout the day as they were all taken at the same venue.

I can use my first image as development work, so i have decided to out this image in instead:

This image has great light and focus on the tattoos which are central to the shot.
You can also see the stencil from which the tattoo is guided by, which shows the progression of the tattoo in stages.
I really like the light shining from the tattoo artist, and the whole image is clean and not overshadowed by any excess materials.

Practitioner Links

In this post i am linking my practitioners work and ideas to show how i have used them in my images.

I first started to look at fashion photography after finding some very good shots in magazines.
I looked at Mario Testino whose photographs that i have put in my sketch book show clean tones and polished finishes. There are very soft colours in his images, and doesn't confuse his work with outside objects, he purely focuses on the model and the context in which he wants to shoot them.
For example, with my images, i would photograph the models in front of a black or white background, to draw focus purely to the tattoos and the clients.

I also found an article on Neeta Madahar in a booklet about the National Media Museum.
I looked at her work and saw that she creates almost cartoon like photographs; the colours used being really bold and string yet theres a sense of softness in her images. Her photographs and her models' poses also reflect the 50's era of tattoos; the pin-ups and the old school style of tattooing, with strong pastel colours.

Annie Leibovitz is a photographer I admired while doing this project, as her photographs are mostly photoshopped and the fakeness of the images can be influenced into how i edit my images.
In photoshop, i can located the tattoos on an image, and then photoshop the highlighted area in the style of Annie Leibovitz; soft edges and an almost animated tone.

Craig Burton was the most predominant practitioner that influenced me as his work directly relates to my style of work.
He focuses directly on the tattoos and fills the frame with his subject.
His work is very rough and ready, and has edgy elements that directly link from Burton's music and tattoo photography to my style of tattoo photography.

I have a book entitled "1000 Tattoos" published by Taschen.
It features many images and text about the history of tattoos.
There are poses in the book that have inspired me to take test shots with my models, and to see how to show off the tattoos in all their glory.

I also looked at the work by film director Christopher Nolan.
I specifically looked at the film "The Dark Knight", to see the contrast between the edgy, dirty production against the colourful characters and costumes.
These screenshots taken from the film personifies in still how i wanted my images to turn out.
The contrast between darkness and light and the colours against the dark tones represent the character's struggle of identity, similar to the identities tattoos give to people; an expression and juxta position of our feelings at different points

Tattoo Survey

I have had a great response from posting out bulletins and asking my college peers to complete my survey to find out what people think about tattoos.
I created the survey online for free so that it was easy to access to a broad range and variety of people.
The results were quite interesting:

3)	Do you think of tattoos as an art form or a cultural expression? Chart Wizard

		Percentage	Responses
art form		13.3	2
cultural expression		13.3	2
both		53.3	8
neither		13.3	2
not sure		6.7	1
Total responses:			15

6)	Do you like tattoos? Chart Wizard

		Percentage	Responses
yes		86.7	13
no		13.3	2
Total responses:			15

This response from people allows me to figure out how to deliver my presentation and images, so that people can view my proposal without any prejudice against the theme or tone of my work.
For example, i wont edit my images to seem darker or edgier, as i want people who don't know much about tattoos to accept them as a part of life, and to appreciate them predominantly as art rather than a part of social culture.

Photojournalism Progress

I think I've done quite well so far in this project, although i have had some struggles with my work.
I have just spent half an hour trying to convert my work onto a DVD from the computers in another room, to come back into the main room and find that i haven't correctly burnt my work onto the DVD
It's frustrating as you want to get everything cleared and all your work completed and into folders, but you're tired from working on the same pieces every day and getting confused with work.
I have most of my work on my college USB stick, yet i have other little pieces on another USB, which gets confusing as you go back and forth between memory sticks to try find your work.
There's still quite a bit of work to get done, but it's a matter of printing things out and then filing them, but it's getting the money and doing each task step by step.
There isn't a lot of work if you think about it but it's the process that you need to do to get the work completed that seem very long-winded and tiring.


I should be on target to complete my work for the deadline, i just need to make a check-list and go through it step by step to make sure everything is completed.

Survey

I have just created an online survey to see the public's opinion on tattoos.

Link: http://FreeOnlineSurveys.com/rendersurvey.asp?sid=gj17vz1j5gy158k696753

please feel free to take part

Progress

So far with this capture project, i have managed to complete quite a number of tasks.
I still have quite a few more things to print out and finish before i hand all my work in this Thursday.
I have to complete my Leonard Freed documentary as when i uploaded it to YouTube i found that the end had not been properly placed together with the images, so the narration had run on for longer than the images had done.
I also need to transfer my GarageBand and iMovie pieces to my memory stick so that i can copy them onto a DVD that i can hand in with my work.

As my print credit is very low, i also need to put money onto my account so that i am able to print out my production schedules and my final images; to a high standard.


COMPLETED:
David Moore Exhibition Review
Photojournalism Group Activity
Photojournalism Code Of Ethics
3D Animation Assignment (Coraline)
History of Photography Timeline
Documentary Film Making Assignment (Life)
Research (At Least Two Practitioners)
All Sketch Books
Storyboards
Proposal
Proposed Budget
Health and Safety
Legal and Ethical Considerations
Signed Permission Sheets


NEED TO COMPLETE:
Mood Slideshow - NEED TO TRANSFER TO DVD
Photojournalism Slideshow - NEED TO EDIT THE END AND TRANSFER TO DVD
Contribution contact evidence - NEED TO PRINT OUT CONTACT EMAILS WITH TATTOO ARTISTS
Final Images - NEED TO PRINT OUT MY IMAGES ON A CONTACT SHEET (6 on A4) AND CHOOSE 3 FINAL IMAGES AND PRINT THOSE OUT OF A4

Hopefully i'll be able to collect all my information and equipment tomorrow and then be able to finalise my folder and production of my Capture folder and work.

Sunday 17th January '10. Tattoo Freeze

I attended the Tattoo Freeze convention yesterday in Telford and thoroughly enjoyed the whole day.
There were many events going on inside the convention; BMX/Skateboard demostrations, Rollergirls vs Rollergirls Derby and a Vintage Car Show as well as the many tattoo artists and trade vendors that were there.

I started off by walking around the stalls that the tattoo artists were situated in. They came from all around the world from England to Poland and even Borneo and New Zealand.
There were 56 artists altogether contributing to the electrical buzz filling the centre.
I took some shots of a variety of people, young guys and older women, and also of the variety of talent there yesterday.

As i received a press pass i was able to go anywhere with the convention.
I managed to gain access to a balcony above the hall where the tattoo artists were working away to gain a birds eye type view of the centre.I was a very good experience and i am glad that i chose this topic for my project.

I was quite disappointed with some of the shots that i had taken though.
If i were to do this professionally i would use better equipment and place the models in a setting that would enhance their tattoos and that would benefit the image; taking out any background images that may disrupt the images.

There were many good examples of tattoos and great poses that the models were sat in for their tattoos to be formed and they would have made great shots if they were sat against a white or black background.

I also met the editor of Skin Deep magazine, Neil Dalleywater, who was there taking professional photographs in a set up booth of people who wanted their tattoos photographed.
If i were to do this project professionally, i would use the set-up Dalleywater was using, to enhance my images.

Overally i enjoyed the day, but felt limited in the way that i couldnt capture the crowd just moving steadily through the stalls, as it was too busy to stand still and take a clear shot down the stalls.
Many people were also getting quite large detailed tattoos, so once you had seen them as you walked round, as you came back they were still sat there.
It would have been interesting to take gradual shots of the tattoo as it progressed to the final stage, but it was too busy and time consuming to do so.

I also wanted to capture emotions and relaxed poses, but the people there seemed to have seen it all before, and many were heavily tattooed, so pain didnt seem an option to them.
Some of the clients didnt talk much to the artist either, so i couldnt capture that customer interaction i believe an artist should have with his subjects.

School Of Saatchi : Feedback

Personally I didn't like School Of Saatchi.

I believe it was more focused on modern contemporary art than r

ejoicing in the talent of some of the other artists, who painted in the style of the realists and painted things as they saw them.

I believe some of the finalists simply put objects together in the hope that they formed a meaning or an abstract way of thinking.

For example; Eugenie Scrase. For the first piece of work they exhibited for Saatchi, she hung a whistle onto a bathroom handle then fixed it to the wall.

When the judges walked around to look at the pieces of art and ask questions about them, Tracey Emin asked about it's meaning and connotations.

"She explains the handle because she likes handles, things you can grab, its physical. The whistle hanging is also at

a "grabbable" distance, she explains."

There is also lipstick on the whistle, to which the judges decided there is all in all a lot of sexual connotations in this work.

I believe the judges put the sexual connotations and rawness into Eugenie's mind as when she was asked if that is what she was aiming for, she simply said yes.

The judges put those ideas into her mind, and i believe that she didnt choose to go in the sexual direction, as to a physical interaction with art.

Eugenie went on to win the competition with this:

And apparently she's meant to be studying at the Slade School of Fine Art.

Believe me, i'm not necessarily one to dismiss modern art, but i only appreciate it when thought and meaning has been put into the work as opposed to finding a tree trunk had fallen onto a fence and asking the owner if i could possibly take this as my work; which Eugenie did.

In my art class, we have to delve into meaning and really search for what it is we want to show in our artwork.

You have to think long and hard and come to a conclusion that is new and fresh to the art scene, as many things have been re-interpreted before.

It makes me angry when a student who studies at art school is chosen to win the competition.

IT gives a horrible distorted view of what art student are actually about. It's not just putting paint to paper, or creating a sculpture from whatever rubbish you find, it'd finding new meanings and creating something to exhibit and for people to enjoy.

As the public said in Hastings, they prefer 'normal' art. I'm not dismissing modern art, but people should really think what art is, and to appreciate art with understanding and to think about why it has been created.

And students, to create something to be proud of, that you've put effort in to create meaning and thought.

Overall, i believe the series displayed art in a disappointing light. There are so many great artists who use skill to form amazing works of creativity, whereas all art seems to be defined today, is as objects that can be thrown today in any structure and labelled as art, using no creative talent or understanding.

School Of Saatchi

Charles Saatchi has launched the careers of Tracey Emin, Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst.
In this new series, he is on the lookout to find the next up and coming contemporary artist.
Although camera-shy Saatchi does not appear in the series, he relies on his panel of judges to feed back to him with their opinions.

The judges are: Tracey Emin - British Artist
Matthew Collings - British Art Critic and Broadcaster
Frank Cohen - Art Collector
& Kate Bush - Curator

They reduce thousands of applicants to just 12, who will exhibit work for Charles Saatchi, who will then choose six to move into the London studio.

Saatchi's six chosen artists are commissioned to produce large-scale pieces of art for the seaside resort of Hastings. They have two weeks and a limited budget to create work that appeals to the general public. For avant-garde contemporary artists this poses a considerable challenge. As they conceive and create their work, the artists receive advice and criticism from controversial Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Creed and art writer Matthew Collings.

There are over 10 weeks of tests to challenge the artists and they have 2 weeks to do their proposal and final piece for Saatchi

The second task given to the artists was to install a piece of art as an outside seaside installation on Hastings beach.

The artists were paired into groups and this resulted in conflict with collaborations and ideas.

The aim of this task was to create an interaction between art and the public.

The locals of Hastings preferred 'normal' art, and nothing too crazy.

At each location in Hastings where the artists were allocated, there were 'Like' and 'Dislike' boxes, in which the public had to vote.

65% of the public liked Matt and Eugenie's rendition of a zoo on a boating lake, having set up cages and fake rocks in the boating lake's islands, it caught the attention of the public for it's bizarre and ghostly interpretation.

Saatchi also preferred this piece to the others.