Word themes
Sonder
Sonder means the realization that every single person around you lives there own complex individual lives, for this shoot I want to try and capture people living within there own lives in the moment and try and capture the complexity of there own emotions.
In these initial two shoots for this project I was searching for my word theme to carry through the rest of the project. The word that I found for this shoot was sonder. In this shoot I wanted to try and use a range of different street photography techniques such as shooting from the hip as well as using different medias such as black and white and coloured film.
Lanscape layers-Andreas Gursky
In this task I wanted to try and emulate the work of Andreas Ghursky- Andreas Ghursky is a German born photographer who takes photographs primarily from an elevated vantage point which not only allows the viewer to see both the centre of an image and the periphery. As well as this in the photo below is one of the few times in which Ghursky igitaly manipulated his images by removing the buildings in the background which completely changes the image into a platonic body of water traversing a landscape devoid of human life.
I think what I did well in this shoot was to get on a higher vantage point for the photos which in turn enabled me to get closer to the work of Andreas Ghursky especially for the last image as if I had been lower down I would not have been able to capture all the static homes below the mountain and the sand dunes as all that would have been seen is the mountain itself.
However if I had managed to capture some images in a different media as well, as I only took photos in black and white film so if I had a larger range of of media such as digital or coloured film it may have made the shoot more diverse and interesting.
However if I had managed to capture some images in a different media as well, as I only took photos in black and white film so if I had a larger range of of media such as digital or coloured film it may have made the shoot more diverse and interesting.
Word theme development
Sonder
For my development I chose to develop the word sonder as I find it one of the most interesting and mind boggling concepts within life purely because of the sheer size of humanity and everysingle person has their own extremely complex life with problems and emotions just as complex as anyone else, which makes the ability to capture the slightest bit of insight into their life even more interesting.
Research tasks
Research 1- Mark Cohen shooting from the hip
Mark Cohen is a photographer from a working class background in Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania and made his way in photography by shooting in this area and other working class areas around him. What made Mark Cohen interesting however was his technique of “shooting from the hip” as well as getting extraordinarily close to his subjects. His intentions in his shots are to capture people in the street in the most transitory way which allow him to take photos before the subjects realise and freeze up resulting in photos that are full of life.
Mark Cohen is a photographer from a working class background in Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania and made his way in photography by shooting in this area and other working class areas around him. What made Mark Cohen interesting however was his technique of “shooting from the hip” as well as getting extraordinarily close to his subjects. His intentions in his shots are to capture people in the street in the most transitory way which allow him to take photos before the subjects realise and freeze up resulting in photos that are full of life.
Development 1
In this first shoot for my word theme sonder, I wanted to try and get an establishing understanding of street photography as well as try various different forms of street photography. For example, I attempted shooting from the hip, shooting from the top of a bus as well as standard street photography looking through the viewfinder.
Research 2- Garry winogrand - A street photographer from new york city who lived from 1928 to 1984 was a street photogropher who transformed how street photogrpahy was done. Previously street photography had been a form of photography in which the photographer simply viewed the subject however garry winogrand changed that to one in whic he participated with the subject and was surrounded by them without them ever knowing he was taking a photo of them. As well as this he was known for being able to take his photos extrfemely quickly. Finally he did not spend time framing his photographs he simply shot them as quickly as he could in great numbers as for him quality meant quantity.
In this first shoot for my word theme sonder i began to grasp the difficulty behind street photography and the skill that is required to anticipate and frame a photograph before it may even have come to fruition. As well as this I also began to assimilate a better understanding of the word sonder itself as it does not have to be direct images of peoplr but also the wyas in which they live that can divulge sonderous emotion in people.
Development 2
In this shoot for sonder I wanted to try and capture people in midst of doing something and therefore being completley oblivious to the camera. I did this in order to fit into the theme of sonder more as it is meant to demonstrate the complexity of other peoples everyday lives. As well as this I wanted to attempt a different form of street photography influenced by Henri Cariteir Bresson and his creation of "A decisive moment".
Research 3- Henry Cartier Bresson was a photographer born August 22nd, 1908 who is perhaps the man with the greatest influence on modern photojournalism ever. He was born into a wealthy family with a dad who loved painting which was go his largest influences in learning how to take a photo was by studying photos and as a result developed his philosophy and love for geometry which can be seen in his photo of a cyclist speeding down a street. This also leads onto the next point of Henri Cartier Bresson's unique style of street photography which was he would find a spot he found interesting and would wait for his subject to walk into the shot and then suddenly take it known as snapshot photography .
A man jumps from a wooden ladder A man rides his bike through Var apartments ,
Paris, France 1932 France 1932
Paris, France 1932 France 1932
For the second development of my word theme sonder, I wanted to improve my street photography skills and focus on the technique of Henri-Cartier Bresson by waiting in a particular spot for a decisive moment. I think this was quite effective, especially in the tube photograph in which I captured people in the exact moment they were facing each other to the point it looked like they were looking at each other.
Development 3
For this development of my word theme sonder I wanted to try and capture not just a singular moment but rather a series of two or more images of the same person taken from the same place to get more than just a singular moment in time,instead an event to allow the audience to try and see deeper into someone's life resulting in a more sonderous effect.
Paul graham
Paul graham is a british fine art photographer birn in 1956. One of his most famous pieces of work was published in 1983 and was named A1;the greath north road. In this series of photograpghs he travelled along the great north raod taking photos of people and places along the way. This piece of work by Paul Graham directly correclates to my word theme of sonder as it highlights the deoth of which there are thousands of people and places people mught drive past everyday without ever taking time to notice and realize the people and life that is there.
Paul graham A1: The Great North Road
However another interesting piece of work that Paul Graham did called the present , and is the piece of work of his that I will try to emulate in some way to try and capture a series of moments to show a more complete picture of a scene.
Paul graham first response
In this task I was attempting to emulate the work of paul graham and his work of taking to consecutaive shots capturing a moment in time of a specific person. This in turn relates to sonder as it attempts to show an insight to a moment in a persons life and there complexity.
Paul Graham 2nd Response
For this second development in response to the work of Paul Graham, I wanted to try and make the movement of the people in the frame more obvious than in the previous shoot as well as capture more than one person's movement in the series. It was quite effective as I managed to get the movement of several figures within the two photos, especially the two moving in opposite directions on the crossing.
Developmnet 4
In my 4th development for my word theme sonder I wanted to try a more emotional approach to the word sonder and to try and get a still image of someone thorugh a window rather than walking on a street to see if I could see more emotion on the subjects faces as well as creating a sublliminal effect through the window of peering into someones life.
Nick Turpin
On The Night Bus
Originally titled ‘Through a Glass Darkly” this series of London commuters travelling home to the suburbs from the financial district of London, was shot over three winters.
Long lenses were used to achieve an intimate portrait of the cities workers returning home, capturing them in a kind of no mans land between work and home where they are, perhaps for a brief period, themselves.
Originally titled ‘Through a Glass Darkly” this series of London commuters travelling home to the suburbs from the financial district of London, was shot over three winters.
Long lenses were used to achieve an intimate portrait of the cities workers returning home, capturing them in a kind of no mans land between work and home where they are, perhaps for a brief period, themselves.
First response
I think in my first attempt I managed to capture the essence of Nick Turpin's images quite well in the sense of capturing a person alone at night on the bus regardless of whether or not people are near them. However, If I had managed to get closer to the subjects isolating them further as well as taking more photos.
Film response
In this film response to the work of Nick Turpin I took my film out at night to try and caputure peoples emotions travelling home from work at night or going put to try and get an insight into a number of different types of people at night. I also chose to do a film response as it can add more depth and emotion to the images as well as making them feel nostalgic and therefore more sonderous.
After contemplation of both shoots with regards to the work of Nick Turpin I decided that although unclear the black and white film shoots delivered the word sonder in a much stronger light as I felt they really cptured the essence of the word with the fact that they are so messy and unclear similarly to human life and that emotions and the things that people experience are oftern clouded and the judgement is blurry. Overall I very much enjoyed both responses to Nick Turpin and found the style of photography easier than other ones throughout my word theme yet just as emotive.
Development 5
For my 5th development of my word theme sonder I wanted to do something similar to the work of Nick Turpin following the theme of peering through windows into peoples lives, however this time I chose to do it during the day to try and capture a different type of subject going about there day. As well as this I wanted to go to a wealthy area to try and see if the type of person and emotion captured changes depending on the wealth of an area and person.
Saul Leiter
Saul Lieter and American born photographer born on December 3rd 1923 which he spent a lifelong career photographing his East village neighbourhood. In the 1940s he chose to start shooting in colour well before other photographers adopted the medium. In his work he often takes photos using reflection and layering which is pivotal in his work of creating more than one world in his images. This in turn relates to my word theme of Sonder as it shows the multiple unseen layers in a persons life.
Saul Leiter response
In review of my Saul Leiter response I began to understand the difficulty of shooting through windows in trying to create multiple layers in my images. However in the few images seen above I do think that when the images are taken well they produce a very effective sonderous tone in which it truly does feel as though the viewer is peering through a window into the lives and emotions of the subjects.
Saul Leiter 2nd response
In this second shoot in response to the work of Saul Leiter I wanted to develop my abilities of shooting in reflections. I think it went quite well and as a result the images proved to portray the sonder effect better, for example in the photo directly above the number of reflections is very good as it shows two different groups of people in various places in the image.
Development 6
Nacho Ormaechea
Nacho Ormaecheas serieis of photogrpahs called street memories which each photo is intended to create a rection within the spectator's. As well as this keeping the people within his photos highilights my word theme sonder as it further accentuates the sense of ambiguity as well as the lack of understanding of other peoples lives and what goes on in them.
First response
In this firts response to the work of Nacho ormaechea I chose to use black and white images of the welsh countryside taken on film as the background. I chose this as it lent a more sonderous feel to the images as well as increasing the sense of ambiguity.
Upon reflection of this shoot and first respons to the work of Nacho Ormochea I realised multiple things about how to create interesting images in this style.The most important of these being the shape that the figure in the images is in. For example of the figure is hunched over it leads to a much more boring image with far less of the landscape being visible and threfore the effect is less powerful. Another thing I realised in this shoot is that a black and white landscape does not work particularly well as it is unclear what it is and only really works in a sweeping landscape image and cannot be isolated so much as it looses its feel and power.
Colour response
This colour response to Nacho Ormochea was very effective in giving a more interesting insight into what could be in people's minds. I think it was more effective as the landscapes were much clearer than that of the black and white. as well as this the fact that the background images were taken on film juxtaposes nicely with the digital images of the people- this develops the homely sense of the word sonder as it appears that the places they wish they were are old and simpler.
Development of Nacho Ormochea
For my final piece of my word theme sonder I wanted to try and incorporate a number of different techniques as well as media's within my image to create a truly sonderous feel. This can be seen in my final piece as it uses film, digital and digitizing images from a viewfinder.
7th Development
Rephotography
Richard Prince
In this rephotograph called untitled(cowboy)taken by Richard Prince we see what appears to be a relatively close shot of a cowboy riding through a desert. However because it is a rephotograph the original image appears to be taken from considerably further away capturing more of the landscape and making the photo perhaps more overwhelming of the vast openness. On the other hand what Richard Prince has done was was taken a closer cropped version of a phot from a Marlboro man shoot and then claimed this new photo as his which went on to become the first rephotograph to sell for a million dollars.
ViewMaster
For my rephotography images I chose to use a 3-dimensional Viewmaster, I chose this as it enabled me to use images that were much older and with a much more interesting effect whcich could appear more sonderous. As well as this i thought that the rephotograohed images would incorporate well with the Nacho Ormochea style of photography and furthre enhance the peering into tomeones life and the complexity of such, as the contrast between modern landscapes with vintage images of people would fit my word theme.
1st attempt
In my first attempt at creating my own view master reel for my word theme sonder, I chose to print my images on acetate for my images to be see-through and visible through the view master goggles. However, an unforeseen problem I encountered was once the images had been printed and made much smaller they came out very pixelated.
After reviewing my first attempt at creating a view master real I have decided that for a second attempt I will try and recreate it but this time take images on slide film from as close up as possible. I am going to do this so that the film develops as a posotive in order to place the images directly in to the view master slots the obtaining a much clearer image.
8th Development
In this development of my word theme sonder, I wanted to maintain the use of rephotography but align it with my photography alongside it. As well as this I want to try and make my images in the similar stylized way that the images taken through the viewmaster were.
1st attempt
For my first attempt at a trio of images. I wanted to make a physical version of the my previous work through the viewmaster alongside my own images. I did this by printing 3 images large onto acetate and then proceeded to slot them into holes I had cut out into black card. I think the finla visula effect is quite effective on the physical version of the image,as well as demonstrating my word sonder through a creative median and combining it with my own development of understanding street photography.
2nd attempt
In this image, I chose to diverge from the Nacho Ormochea style as well as trying to introduce a new shape to the image unlike the ones seen through the view master. I think the new shape was not particularly effective and did not particularly chnage the image. However, I do find the contast between the modernity of the centre image and the antiquity of the side images does enhance the sonderous effect of the image.
3rd attempt
The two images below are an insight into the photoshop process that took place to create one of the images. What followed was the colouring in of the black as well as editing each individual photo to look how I wanted them.
In my opinion, the image below is the epitome of the word sonder. The image on the far left is taken through the view master and is of the cowboys in the Grand Canyon in the 70s. The image on the far right is taken once again through the view master and then edited and is of two Swedish men in Geneva in the 60s, finally, the image in the middle was taken on a digital camera of a busy crossing in Soho, London taken in 2022 using street photography techniques I have developed throughout my Word Theme. The reason the trio of images below embodies sonder is the fact that it truly demonstrates how everybody regardless of where they are on the planet when they were alive and their various living circumstances and cultures, all lead complex individual lives and that their hardships and difficulties are unique to them in there own ways.
Final Piece
For my final attempt at creating a trio of 2 rephotographed images alongside one of my images, I decided to use two images from Egypt in the 50s specifically working people along the Nile, then for the image that was mine in the middle I chose one that I took of a woman rushing very hurriedly through busy Covent Garden. I think this threesome of images is very sonderous as it compares working people on two different continents and clearly illustrates the complexity of human nature. As well as this for this particular edit, I chose to weave the idea of Nacho Ormochea into the images to try and further enhance the sondersous effect as if the people within the images wished they were somewhere calmer and more relaxed.