What is the human condition?
The human condition is the characteristics, key events and situations that compose the essentials of human existence, such as birth, growth, emotionality, aspiration, conflict and morality.
Why did I chose it?
I decided to chose companionship because I would like to look more closely into the different relationships between people and how they vary between people.
Examples of companionship photography:
Research out of school:
As part of my research i decided to go to the Tate Modern in London to look for some inspiration.
Duane Michals:
Duane Michals is an American photographer who likes to focus his work on emotion and philosophy. One way he enhances this is through the use of handwritten text that he adds at the bottom of his photographs to add a story to photograph.
His photographs are mostly in black and white and include two people to show their connection.
His photographs are mostly in black and white and include two people to show their connection.
He does not focus his photographs on anyone in particular which can imply that there is no limit, division or gap in the connections between people and companionship.
However, some of Duane's photographs differentiate from the rest. The photograph above for example is made up of multiple photographs taken in a few moments. This photograph is different because the connection between the two men passing each other is not very friendly as they appear to be strangers to each other. This form of human interaction shows a more pedestrian view as they pass each other down a street.
I was inspired by Duane's pictures to take a few darker pictures with the idea of companionship. I think it would have been even better if i took the pictures in a black and white font.
My companionship photographs:
Controlled Assessment:
As part of our controlled assessment we have an artist coming into school for two days to do a workshop with us about art and photography.
Bill Leslie
Bill Leslie focusses his work on the relationship of photographic media and sculptural objects. His photographs are made by taking images of objects which are abstracted by shifts in colour, focus, obtuse angles, theatrical lighting. Therefore reconfiguring the viewers perception
Bill Leslie also likes to work with filmic genres, photographic genres and art on film
Bill Leslie also likes to work with filmic genres, photographic genres and art on film
Photographs:
These are some examples of Bill Leslie's photographs that i have picked out.
9 Objects from Bill Leslie on Vimeo. |
This is an example of one of the sculpture films that Leslie made.
In this video we can se how the shifts in light abstract the shape of the object, with specs of light obscuring the view of the object and therefore reconfiguring the viewers perception. We can also see the use of someones hands to move the object around around. The videos are filmed using high contrast black and white reversal film. |
Workshop:
Videos of the workshop:
The workshop with Bill included us using our phones and taking videos of each other and different camera movements around the room, we then put all of our phones in the centre of the room altogether and played the videos to see the correlations between the different videos. We then started making a model in the middle of the room using some materials that Bill brought with him which included paper, card and wire. We used torches to illuminate the structure we had made because we closed the blinds to make the room darker. Our task was to then take pictures and videos of the process as evidence of our work, which we then projected onto a plain white wall and distorting the projection by standing and putting pieces of paper/card in front of the projector.
Link to the human condition:
Following on from the workshop I decided to interview some of my friends:
Why do we take photographs?
- to capture certain moments in life
- easy way to save a memory
Why do we take photographs?
- to capture certain moments in life
- easy way to save a memory
I then asked them to think of...
A sad memory
A sad memory
A funny memory
Gestures (while they were talking)
Layered photos:
Summer Photography:
Over the course of the summer I took pictures on my phone, camera and disposable camera. I explored how different the pictures look depending on what camera I used.
I continued to use my idea of the human condition as inspiration for my summer photography, focusing on companionship
I continued to use my idea of the human condition as inspiration for my summer photography, focusing on companionship
Olafur Eliasson: In Real Life
Seeing this exhibition at the Tate Modern in London allowed me to think about the human condition in connection with our daily lives, different sections in the exhibition make you think about your senses and the people around you. Linking to the human condition, life in 2019 is all about communication; whether that's through social media or face-to-face. The exhibition makes people consider the details of what they are seeing and how it can connect to our lives.
Catherine Balet:
One of Catherine Balet's projects; 'Strangers In The Light' is showing how interactions with the people around us are distorted by the use of technology. She also uses the idea of overlapping pictures that are different colours to create the image of people being together in a distorted room where faces and objects are distorted by overlapping images.
This is my attempt of creating a photo similar to Balet's 'Moods in a Room' by making a compilation of different companionship pictures that I've taken and overlapping them on top of each other.
Half Term Project:
My half term project is going to consist of making a film of different videos I've taken this term in relation to my theme of companionship. I will edit the videos together using iMovie and adding music in the background to add more emotion to the film. The videos include friends and family as well as myself to show the relationship I have with the people around me as well as footage I have captured of other people portraying the idea of companionship.
Companionship Video:
This is my unfinished version of my companionship video. I will add more videos throughout my project as i take videos outside of school. I think that i've done a good job at editing (as it is my first time editing a video with music) and the transitions between videos fit well with the music.
Photograph Analysis:
In this photograph I can see a set of instructions from Jo on how to prepare a planned meal. I can recognise that there is a particular order to be followed, however it is new to me that 'YOU WILL DO THIS' has been highlighted in the centre of the note. It is a very much naturalistic image as it can be clearly recognised as a note and many people would view this as an everyday occurrence. The use of lines in this image is used in Jo's handwriting to highlight particular words that appear to be important or should be emphasised to follow the order correctly. Additionally, the use of shape and pattern is seen to be used in Jo's handwriting and the use of capital letters makes the note clear and easy to read and well as making the note more of a command. The use of light draws attention to the whole note but also makes the red colour to appear very vibrant. The use of space creates gaps between important parts of the note and highlighting the different sections. There is the assumption that Keith Arnatt has captured this image after viewing the note. Arnatt has used the blank space around the note to create a frame and allow the writing to be in the centre of the image. The photographs is also in focus which makes the writing clear to see. The photograph is 2D, which also reflects the fact that the physical note is in 2D; making it different from real life because if the physical note were to be in front of you, you would be able to touch it and feel as though the instructions were directed at you. The idea that 'YOU WILL DO THIS' has been highlighted in red makes it the focus of the picture and suggests a very stern relationship between Keith and Jo. I would ask Arnatt why he thought that the note was so interesting to be a photograph. The title i would give this could possible be 'YOU WILL DO THIS' as it stands out in the centre of the image. I think that this photograph is about how human interactions can be communicated through messages written on paper where you can't see the person's face and be able to read their emotions. In my view, this photograph is effective because of the highlighted words that put forward the important message of the note. I think that the highlighted words in red is important to this image and can be applied to lots of different situations and the viewers of this photograph can apply it to their own life.
Finished Video:
To finish off my companionship video i replaced some of the older videos that i no longer liked and added new videos in order to get to the end of the section of the song that I had chosen. Again, I edited the videos using iMovie and was able to upload the newly edited video onto my vimeo account so that other people can watch it as well as enabling me to put it up on my weebly website.
WWW: I am happy with the way that my video turned out, I also enjoyed the process of taking videos of friends and being able to make a video to a song of my choice. I think that the transitions of videos work well with the beat of the music and the videos clearly portray my theme of companionship.
EBI: I could incorporate some of my favourite photographs that I had taken at the beginning of the project into the video to make it look more advanced and interesting. I could have also edited the audio of the video by adding voices that i had recorded from other peoples' conversations.
WWW: I am happy with the way that my video turned out, I also enjoyed the process of taking videos of friends and being able to make a video to a song of my choice. I think that the transitions of videos work well with the beat of the music and the videos clearly portray my theme of companionship.
EBI: I could incorporate some of my favourite photographs that I had taken at the beginning of the project into the video to make it look more advanced and interesting. I could have also edited the audio of the video by adding voices that i had recorded from other peoples' conversations.
Companionship video experiment:
I made four different videos experimenting with mirroring, flipping and changing the colour of the video, I will use these videos to project onto a wall with other people in front of it. Having four different videos means that i have multiple opportunities to experiment with different videos and still images.
Projecting:
As I projected my videos onto a wall, I took some pictures of still moments in the video with Scarlet and Bailey on each side of the split screen; reflecting the companionship of which is the main focus of the video playing behind them.
Projection Video:
Photoshop:
This was the process of overlapping the different images.
In order to get a larger image i had to split the picture into 4 parts and print them out as A3 and then put them together on a board.
Finished piece
WWW: I am happy with how it turned out as the layers work well to overlap the colours and patterns that could be seen in the projection
EBI: I could have experimented with lots of different images on a board rather than just one to show different types of companionship between people.
EBI: I could have experimented with lots of different images on a board rather than just one to show different types of companionship between people.
Final Evaluation:
The theme I decided to explore was the human condition with a focus on companionship. My first thoughts were relationships between different people and how it can be portrayed in images. My ideas on this developed after seeing different exhibitions at the Tate Modern in London where one display showed the relationship between characters in an animation which had inspired me to make a video later on. One of the artists that I researched was Duane Michals who I had discovered through doing some research on Pinterest for companionship images. From studying his work I learned about the relationship between people and text, how text at the bottom of the images can show context as well as making it appear as a letter to someone. I also researched Catherine Balet, more specifically her work on 'Strangers in The Light' and how human interactions can be distorted by the use of technology which can relate to my use of video and how my memories have been recorded as part of my project. One of the threshold concepts that I tackled was the idea that photography warps our sense of time; they remind us of things lost. I tackled this through the idea of taking videos and pictures over a course of time, all using the same concept of companionship and then being able to look back on them to see them as memories. I experimented with taking videos of companionship between friends and family while taking pictures alone the way. I then selected the videos that I was most pleased with and edited all the videos together using iMovie with a song in the background. My ideas developed while editing the video as well, I noticed that instead of just keeping the video as it was; I could mirror the video, change the colour and invert it to further convey my idea of companionship as the videos played next to each other. When I was projecting my video I noticed that I could develop my theme of companionship by projecting the video onto two people on each side of the split video whilst moving and interacting with each other, therefore reflecting the companionship shown in the video but in reality. The habits of mind that I exercised the most were collaboration and inquisitiveness. One way that I used collaboration was through working with the people I was taking videos and pictures of as well as working with the two people I had chosen to model in front of my projection and telling them what I wanted them to do and how I wanted them to interact with each other. One way that I was inquisitive was through challenging the typical idea of human interactions being shown through pictures where I chose to use multiple videos in order to convey real life interactions instead of telling two people to stand next to each other with the assumption that they are interacting. I explored the use of videos I had taken to show a more personal side of the friendships that I was capturing. My final outcome was a large image that consisted of 4 pictures that I had chosen from the photoshoot with the projection and two people in front of it. I had merged the 4 images together to make one image which I split into 4 sections which were printed out in A3 and then mounted them together on a board to create a large version of the image. Originally my idea was to keep the video as my final outcome. However, over time I decided that I could develop my ideas further by exploring different ways of presenting it; such as a still image from the video. I think that I have successfully explored the idea of companionship as you can clearly see the relationship between the video in the background and the two people that can be seen at the front. If I had more time I would develop my video further and see how I could link it together with my final image and perhaps refine the final image in photoshop as well as explore different ways of displaying my outcomes. My work is quite personal as it conveys my personal memories of people that are close to me and how I have built up the recordings of my memories and perhaps people in the video that I no longer feel close with. I hope that viewers will be able to see the relationships that are portrayed in the image and how different relationships can be shown.