Evaluation

Overall I am pleased with my final image as it shows that there are two sides to me because of the fact that I am standing there, and then there is my shadow, representing the other side to me.
During the assignment I had self portraits on a 35mm and a large format camera I didn’t develop the self portrait I had on the large format camera because after looking through all my photos I decided that the ones on the 35mm format camera would look more effective as a self portrait as in my opinion they are the more interesting shots that I would be a able incorporate a text into.
I did some test strips for both of my photos that I did a print of, and decided on the exposure time. I did two prints of the photos that I thought were interesting, and then I decided on using the photo that had my shadow in it which in my opinion was a more interesting shot than my other one.
I think that all most of my photos that I got were good; however some of them were out of focus and some of them were over exposed. If we were to go out and shot again I would make sure that I set the aperture right and make sure it’s all in focus. But overall i am pleased with final double-page spread.

The Two Sides Of Me

Research into photographers work

Cindy Sherman:

Cindy Sherman was born on 19th January 1954, all of photographs are with her in them as she is representing the role of women and the role of artists. Sherman began by studying painting until one day she had had enough and came to the conclusion that she could just use a camera and put her time into an idea. During her time studying photography she met Charles Clough and together they formed Hallwalls an independant artists space where people could show their work.

In 1967 Cindy decided to move to New York and this is where she began taking photographs of herself which were then know as Untitled Film Stills. In her photographs she is dressed in wigs, hats, dresses and clothes that a very much unlike her own playing the roles of characters.

People often mistake her photographs as self portraits, however they are not as she is not portraying an actual person, she is portraying different characters such as: the housewife, the prostitute, the woman in distress, the woman in tears, the dancer, the actress and the malleable. For a photograph to be seen as a self portrait the artist has to portray a specific, actual person.

In 1981 Sherman was aksed to do a centerfold for the magazine Artforum. Sherman submitted a series of images where she was in a pink robe which was rejected by the magazine's editor who said that the photos might be misunderstood.

Sherman then went on to change her style as it was seen to be the disasters and fairy tales series and for the first time in her career she did not photograph herself in her images. From 1985 - 1989 her images were seen as more ugly than her earlier work, often dressing to look scary and deformed. In 1992 Sherman captured a series of photographs which are reffered to as "Sex pictures" in which she used dolls and prosthetic body parts both male and female, these photographs are meant to shock. Sherman continued to work in this way and continued to experiment with the dolls in the place of herself in the photographs for a while.

Cristina Nunez:

Cristina Nunez was born in Spain in 1962 and has been taking self portraits since 1988 to form a self therapy, to explore her creative identity and to raise her self esteem. She believes that the best therapy is to convey difficult emotions into art. she is a self taught portrait photographer, her photographs have been used in magazines around the world.

She started her work on self portraits in 1988 after 5 years of heroin addiction, it was a need to express difficult emotions. She uses her own method: the self portrait experience to explore reltionships and personal identity. Cristina teaches her method to inspire others in Prisons, Mental Health Centres, Art Academies, Companies and Schools. Her main goal is social activism.

Altogether she has published 14 books, her latest book is called 'Someone to love' it is the first in a 2 part series where she talks about her childhood and addiction to heroin and her journey to becoming who she is today, the second part of the series is all about her method and how it helped her get through it all, her books are there to help others who are in the same situation as she once was and help them find themselves as she did.

Research into photographic equipment

35mm Camera Format:

The film size for this camera is 35mm, the camera is affordable at about £100, and it is quite small so therefore  very portable to go round and take pictures of anything you see, you don't have to spend ages setting up. On the film you can get 36 shots which is quite good. Here is a photo taken with a 35mm Camera >>

The only thing is that the quality of the photographs arent that great, but still good. This camera format is perfect for Photojournalism, Family pictures and Sport.

The basic 35mm SLR camera consists of the body and the lense. The lense contains two rings, a focusing ring and an aperture ring.

Studio!

Medium Camera Format:

There are a lot of different film sizes for this camera, 120 film: 6x4.5cm, 6x6cm, 6x7cm, 6x9cm, 6x12cm, 6x17cm, 6x24cm. The camera isnt that cheep and is quite expensive. The camera is not very portable if you are walking from place to place, if you had a car to get to your locations then it would be a lot easier. On the film you can get 16-3 shots per roll depending on the film size. Here is a photograph taken on a Medium Format Camera <<

The quality of the photographs from this camera are of a good quality and the camera is perfect for studio work such as fashion and portraiture, it is also good for landscape work, but then again you will have to get there by car if you can.

Another advantage to Medium Format Cameras is their interchangeable parts such as Lenses, Winding mechanisms, Viewfinders and Camera backs. This makes it easier for the Photographer to compare the difference between the lenses and see which looks better without having to move from the position they have set up in to use a different camera altogether, also this means that they wont have to take as much equipment with them.

Large Camera Format:

The two sizes for a Large Camera Format are 5"x4" and 10"x8". The cameras themselves are very expensive and you can only get 2 sheets per dark slide which are also expensive, the camera isn't very protable either unless you have a car, however the photographs that this camera produces are of excellent quality! Here is a photograph taken by a Large Camera Format >>

Large Camera Formats are perfect for studio work such as, Advertising, Pack-shots, Food and Fine art, they also take amazing Landscape photographs as seen in this example.

Usually when you load each sheet by hand into the film holder you must do so in a darkroom or else you will ruin them. You can now buy film already packaged into sleves that you can use in broad daylight with a polaroid holder these are called "Readyload" or "Quickload" and cost more because of the convenience for the photographer as they don't have to load them themselves the day before a shoot.

Darkroom!

Enlargers:

An enlarger is used to produce photographic prints from film or glass negatives.

The enlarger is what is used to make the photographs that you have shot larger and different sizes, it allows you to make different sizes images from the same developed photograph. There is an enlarger head half way down the column which rises up and down, and when you adjust the height, you change the size of the image. An enlarger helps to improve your photographic composition.

Enlarger Timers:

Enlarger timers are connected to the light on the enlarger and it depends on the exposure that you have decided is best for your photograph from your test strips as to how long to set the f-stop for for your final print.