Published Book Research

Today I went down to the college library to do some research on published photography books.

I tried to find books with photography of a similar theme to my work so I could look at how they where laid and what style of paper was used. This would then give me idea of how to lay my work out, although in my head I already have slight plan.

The 1st book I looked at was called 'The Polaroid Book' by Barbara Hitchcock and Steve Crist. 

In existence for over 50 years, the Polaroid Corporation's photography collection is the greatest collection of Polaroid images in the world. Begun by Polaroid founder Edwin Land and photographer Ansel Adams, the collection now includes images by hundreds of photographers throughout the world and contains important pieces by artists such as David Hockney, Helmut Newton, and Robert Rauschenberg. The Polaroid Book pays tribute to a medium that defies the digital age and remains a favourite among artists today; for it's quirky look and instantly gratifying one of a kind images.
I noticed this book instantly because of its front cover, this is what it looked like.. 

This book cover really caught my eye as the cover art to the album my work is themed and related to is a polaroid picture.
I thought that pictures in this book may have that grungy film effect that I want my pictures to have. I do also like this front cover though and how 8 different pictures have been used to create a frame on the cover with the title centre in the middle. 

This is what the page layout of the book looked like.. 

I really like the layout of this, how both pictures are the same size. This is something similar to how I'm planning to layout my book. Although I do think that the white frame around the edge of the pictures are too big, I do understand as the pages need to be larger as not all the images in this book are the same size.

This book also had a introduction page. This is not something I'm planning to include in my book. 

This is the second book that I looked at called Uncommon Places by Stephen Shore

I like the layout in this book and how all of the images are similar size's. I also like the boarder of the page around the image, and the selected completely blank pages. These help to space the book out or to keep things separate. I also like how well the book title ties in with the style of the work.

Disposable Camera Contact Sheet

For this assignment we had to use a range of at least 3 different cameras to show experimentation and variation. One of the camera types that I used was a disposable camera. This camera had 27 exposures on it.
Here is the contact sheet of the images that I took using that camera.

I'm really not one bit pleased with how these images have came out. I had much higher expectations. All of these are blurred and unfocused, one is over exposed and you cant even tell what another one is supposed to be. Although I do think that if I had all of my images back there would have been some good shots in there.
When I went to collet my images I was expecting 27 images, instead I only have 5. I am really frustrated about this as I found out from looking at the film strip that the wind up in the disposable camera hadn't been working meaning that there is loads of film that hasn't had an exposure on it and a section of film that has had loads of over exposures on it.
Here are some pictures of the strip of film to show that the disposable camera hasn't worked properly, although the strip of film is ripped and slightly damaged.

This was me when I got it back as I was very frustrated and ripped it. I was very frustrated that non of my images had come trough and the fact that I wouldn't be able to re take any of them as all the photoshoots where done separately and I just took the camera along to each of them.

This has made a massive dent on my plans as I have to produce 35 images for this assignment sing at least 3 different cameras. I was expecting 27 images to be able to pick and choose from and I have 5 what I would say unusable pictures. From all the different photoshoots that I did should still be able to produce 35 images but this will mean that not as much experimentation has been used.

Compton - PhotoShoot

For the song Compton I wasn't planning to take any pictures. I changed my mind as I needed to get my number of pictures up to be able to fill my book.

From this song I have took the quotes... 

'Compton, Compton, ain't no city quite like mine' 

and also.. 

'I pass the blunt then pass the torch of corse thats my decision'

For these pictures I had different thoughts. My initial idea for the quote 'Compton, Compton, ain't no city quite like mine' was to have my model Holly in the studio posing like the statue in Rio. I was then going to hand manipulate this picture and draw a city sky line into the background. Although I thought this was a good idea, I knew that this would be very time consuming and that for this assignment our final images needed to be in sooner than they normally do and so this idea went out the window. I decided to still do something similar, but slightly more simple. 

I decided to take pictures of my models fists in the studio and that later on photoshop I would edit the word Compton across her knuckles to look like a tattoo. 

I took these photos in the studio only using my digital camera. 

Here is the contact sheet of the few images that I took for this.  

I didn't take many pictures on this shoot as I didn't feel the need to. The pictures that I was taking where not difficult shots, so I didn't need to take as many pictures to get that one perfect shot. I like these images I think that they will work well with the idea that I have for them. I prefer the landscape images to the portrait one as there is less t-shirt in the picture. My favourite out of all the images is the _MG_4197.JPG, this is because you can't see my models chin in the picture. I also like the contrast of the black top with the white background. 

For the quote 'I pass the blunt then pass the torch of corse thats my decision' I decided to do something also quote simple and self explanatory from the quote. This would be a picture of someone passing a blunt and a torch (lighter) to go with it. 

For these pictures I had to use props. I had to use;

-A lighter 

-And a cigarette rolled to look like a joint.

To take these pictures I used my iPhone camera.

Here is the contact sheet of the pictures I took..

I'm pleased with the way these images have turned out, I like the dark background against the contrast of flash on my models skin. I wanted to try and get the flame in this picture, so that it looked like it was just about to be sparked. 

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Real - PhotoShoot

For the song real I'm planning to take pictures to go with the quotes...

'I do what I wanna do

I say what I wanna say

when I feel, and I...'

and also,  'I promise that I know you very well

Your eyes never lie even if they tell'

I've decided to make these images softer than all of the previous one's. I thought this because we've seen all the gangster stuff with the guns and drugs, but you need to be able to see that there is still a soft side to everyone in life.

My plan for the 1st quote is to take pictures of my model Holly applying make-up in the mirror. She may be up to something she may be up to nothing but she will appear confident and mischievous. 

My plan for this picture was to create two pictures in one. I soon realised that I needed to create 35 images, and so if I did this the image would count as one. So I am creating two pictures for the second quote. The 1st picture will be a close up portrait of my model Holly's eyes staring straight down the camera, the second image will then be very similar to the previous, but in this picture her eyes will have moved. She will no longer be staring straight down the lens but will now be looking away at the floor. Her eyes will look sad, and the eye contact that she was making will now be broken.

I took these pictures on my digital camera, iPhone camera, Webcam and also a disposable camera. 

Here are the contact sheets of the images that I took... 

Camera Contact Sheet.

WebCam Contact Sheet.

These are the contact sheets of pictures I was taking to go with the quote 'I do what I wan do...'
I'm pleased with the way these images came out. Here are the rest of the images I took that day.

Camera Contact Sheet.

iPhone Contact Sheet.

These pictures where taken to go with the quote 'eyes never lie'. I managed to get so many pictures taken on my phone because I could use the burst/continuous setting so I could try and capture that eye movement that I was trying to achieve, I am more likely to capture the eyes in the perfect place using these settings than I would using my digital camera. 

Sing about me, I'm dying of Thirst - PhotoShoot

For the song 'Sing about me, I'm dying of Thirst' I'm planning to take pictures to go with the quote...

 'And outside became pitch black A demon glued to my back whispering 

"Get em" I got em, and I ain't give a fuck'

and 'Judging her past and shit 

Well it's completely my future'

My original plan for the 1st quote was to take pictures of my model Holly on location at night. I wanted these pictures to be dark to add to the thrill and the scariness of the pictures. I wanted to take these pictures from a low angle and have a street light up in the background of the picture. This plan ended up changing as at night it gets far to cold. I decided that it would be easier and warmer to take these pictures in the studio. Once these pictures have been taken my plan is to hand manipulate them and to add symbols to my models skin to look like tattoos and also am going to black out her eyes, I think that this will give the demon effect.  

I took these pictures only on my digital camera and on my iPhone. 

Here are the contact sheets of all the images that I took... 

Camera Contact Sheet. 

I quite like the lighting in these photos. I used a grey backdrop as I thought that this may make my images appear slightly darker. I wanted them to be dark, but not underexposed. I didn't take loads of images on this photoshoot as it was not a full studio session and these where just taken quickly when the studio was unavailable. Out of the pictures I took these are my favourites... 

I wish the lighting wasn't as bright on my models face in this picture, but apart from that I am pleased with this. I like her animalistic pose and the strong eye contact with the camera. 

I really like the lighting in this picture and how my model almost looks like a silhouette. Again I also like her animalistic pose, this is slightly unusual and one with blacked out eyes will look demonised. 

iPhone Contact Sheet. 

I feel with these pictures I experimented more with different poses and angles. The lighting in these images isn't as good as the lighting in the previous images that where taken on my digital camera. This is because my iPhone camera wasn't connected to the studio lighting meaning there was no flash when taking the pictures. 

m.A.A.d city - PhotoShoot

For the song m.A.A.d city I was planning to create pictures to go with the quotes...

'Cocaine laced in marijuana'

and 'Cocaine, weed nigga's been mixing this shit since the 80's'

As well as these quotes I also ended up adding in some more. The extra ones that I added are..

'Imagine if your first blunt had you foaming at the mouth'

'and they wonder why I rarely smoke now'

and also 'Where your grandma stay, huh, mu nigga? - This m.A.A.d city I run, my nigga'

I decided to add in these extra quotes to get the number of pictures up in by book. I felt that if I didn't do this I would find it hard to meet my target of 35 images.
Also because all these photos are from the same song they all tie in together. I won't have to do another photo-shoot to add these extra quotes they will just tie in nicely. 

I took pictures for this photoshoot on my digital camera, my camera phone and also on a disposable camera. Here are the contact sheets of all the images that I took for this shoot..

Camera Contact Sheet. 

With these pictures I feel that I experimented with the different layouts well. I tried to create the same scene multiple times in different ways so that from a distance they may look the same but when you look closely you can see that they are all different. 

Out of all the pictures that I took on my camera these are my favourite... 

I really like this picture I like the detail thats on the build and how you can clearly see the 'cocaine' that has been placed on top. I think that this picture would work really well with the quote..
'Cocaine laced in marijuana'

Although this image doesn't seem as relevant to the quotes as the rest of the pictures I really want to try and use it in my book. I don't know why but I like all the different colours and textures within this picture and also it's rarity. It's not very often you see a picture of an ashtray like this. Also I think it fits in with the grungy style theme too. 

I also really like this picture as you can see everything thats going on within it. You can see the 'laced joint' in the background, as well as some lined up cocaine and the credit cared used to do this. You can  also see the bag of weed and the grinder used for this, as well as an alcoholic drink and half a knuckle duster.
I think that all these items placed together set off a theme and a mood.

iPhone Contact Sheet. 

Out of the few pictures that I took on my camera phone these are my favourite... 

I really like how striking and eye catching this picture is. Straight away your eyes are drawn to looking straight at this bold image. The darkness of the knuckleduster against the light background really stands out. I also like the reflection of it in the mirror. 

I like the reflection in this image and how is has made 4 lines to appear as 8. I also really like how only the lines and the drink are in focus and all the background is blurred. 

I really like this picture and the detail thats on the grinder. I think that this picture would look really good cropped into a square so that there is non of the unfocused background in the background. 

Unfortunately I do not yet have any of the contact sheets from the pictures taken on my disposable camera. I will upload them as soon as I have them. 

To create these pictures I had to use multiple props these included; 

- A mirror ( as a table base)
- A cradler
- A grinder
- A knuckleduster
- A credit card
- A ashtray
- A glass of whiskey
- Kingsize rizla
- Salt ( the fake cocaine )
- Oregano ( the fake cannabis )
- And also a baggy

I do wish that I had also added a rolled up note of money either a £10 or £20 note. This would then look like it was being used to sniff the lines of 'cocaine' but this is something I know now for if I am ever likely to do a shoot like this again in the future. 

Good Kid - PhotoShoot

Although my original plan was to do no quotes for this song, I knew that I needed to get the number of my pictures up. Other plans where also a bit taboo at this stage, so I knew I had nothing to loose and only something to gain by selecting a couple more quotes.
The quotes from this song that I am using to take pictures to go with are...

'All I see in this room 20 Xaines and these 'shrooms'

and also 'Grown-up candy for pain'

I thought that these two quotes would work well with the theme of my book as it's all a bit grungy and speaks a lot about different drugs. 

For this photoshoot I raided my medical box at home and took out individual tablets of different shapes and sizes. The problem was with this was that they where all completely white, and clearly looked like your standard paracetamol tablets. I worked around this by then colouring them in with different coloured Sharpies to make them all different. 

After I also experimented with pitting them in a button bag (baggy) to make them look like this is what they had been purchased in. 

I was quite disappointed that I didn't have anything I could use that looked like 'shrooms in the house. I feel that this would have made the picture complete to the quote. 

I took pictures of these on my iPhone and also on a disposable camera. I was planning to use my digital camera also, but when I pulled it out of it's case I realised that the last time I had used it I left it turned on and put it back in the bag. Silly me. So instead of taking pictures with this camera I had to put it back on charge. 

Here is the contact sheet of all the different images that I took... 

I feel that when taking these pictures I experimented quite bit with the different layouts of the tablets when taking these pictures. I also experimented with the flash, and a couple of lenses that I had for my phone camera, and also different photo shapes, such as square rectangle ect. I used A3 craft paper to create a studio look layout so that there wasn't any distractions in the background. I wanted these pictures to be all about the pills. 

Out of all the pictures I took these are my favourite... 

1. I like the colours in this picture, stands out well from the background,
Think this picture was taken slightly too close-up as I think you can tell that the 'pills' have been coloured in.

2. Again I like the colours in this picture, all the different coloured 'pills' and then the black circular frame on the white background. I also like the fisheye effect in this picture although needs cropping to get my fingers out the background on the right. 

3. I like the texture that the 'baggy' brings to this picture. I also like how it creates this white on white effect with a bold red line running trough the top. This then coordinates nicely with the red and white pill that is in the bag along with the different coloured tablets. 

I think that either of these pictures will go well with the quotes that I have chosen. Especially pictures 2 & 3 as I think that they are much better and less plain than picture 1. 

In a way I think it's good that I didn't get chance to take any pictures of these on my digital camera, as this will produce better quality images than what my camera phone could, meaning that it would have been even more clear that these pills where coloured in and fake. 

I do not have the contact sheets of the pictures that I took on the disposable camera as I am still waiting to get my images back. I will upload these once I have them.