Select an image by any photographer of your choice and take a photograph in response to it. You can respond in any way you like to the whole image or to just part of it, but you must make explicit in your notes what it is that you’ve responded to. Is it the stylistic device such as John Davies’ high viewpoint, or Chris still Perkins’ juxtapositions?Is it an idea, such as the decisive moment? Is it an approach such as intention – creating a fully authored image rather than discovering th eWorld through the viewfinder?
Add the original photograph together with your response to your learning log. Which of the three types of information discussed by Barrett provides the contacts in this case? Take your time over writing your response because your submit the relevant part of your learning log as part of Assignment Five.
A photograph inspired by another is called ‘homage’ (pronounced the French or English way). This is not the same as Picasso’s famous statement the ‘good artist borrow, great artists steal’: The point of the homage must be apparent within the photograph. Its also the same as ‘appropriation’ Which recontextualises it’s subject to create something new, often in an iconic or humorous way. Instead the homage should share some deep empathy or kinship with the original work. And example is Victor Burgin’s series The Office at Night (1986), based on Edward Hopper’s famous painting of the same name:
‘The hackneyed idea of influence is not at issue here. I am not interested in the question of what one artist may or may not have taken from another. I am referring to the universally Familiar phenomenon on of looking at one image and having another image spontaneously come to mind’.
http://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tate-papers/separateness-things-victor-Burgin [accessed 25/01/18]
You may already have taken some homage photography but you’ve not tried to hide the original inspiration but rather celebrated it. Refer back to your personal archive and add one or two of your learning log logs together with a short caption to provide a context for the shot.
‘ In all of my work in formed by other artists, I enter into dialogue with the places in which particular artist worked, and with the imagery they created there. The artists and their work became something of a guiding spirit to my own journeys in and around those places’.
David Foster
https://www.inside-the-outside.com/everything-seemed-to-be-listening-david-foster/
Exercise 5.2 Homage.
I have chosen to pay recognition to Joel Meyerowitz. I really appreciate his work. I thought about whom to pay homage to but struggled to choose one particular photographer… there are too many that inspire me, therefore, I have selected a photographer from my own personal library after perusing a few books. I initially considered successful female photographers but his work captured my attention. I did also consider Japanese photographers such as Motoyuki Daifu whom I researched previously for the FiP course.
On reading the brief for ‘Homage’ I felt inspired by Joel Meyerowitz as I believe his visual contemplation of the narration to be ocular. I connect with the whole image. His work is considerably inspiring because I personally feel he has good concepts. His work is interesting visually and engaging. I like the way he creates a connection.
On studying images of his I understand the event within the frame in numerous examples of his visuals. Such as this one below. He uses the whole frame and does not focus on one area but on the entire… helping one to connect to the subject matter and visualise the image closely.
I like the light results in his images and particularly his still life photography. I feel in the likelihood of lockdown due to coronavirus the best possibility for me to experiment with taking pictures would be the best proposal. Therefore, I have considered still life and just part of an image which captures my interest is his still life imagery. I like the way he has photographed. There are examples shown below…
Reawakening Morandi Through His Collection of Objects
“I think about photographs as being full, or empty. You picture something in a frame and it’s got lots of accounting going on in it- stones and buildings and trees and air but that’s not what feels a frame you fill the frame with feelings energy discovery and risk and leave him for something else to get in there”
Joel Meyerowitz
Photograph in as pictures. And it is. I think of photography as ideas. And to the pictures substance or ideas or are they just good pictures? I want to have an experience in the world that is a deepening experience, that makes me feel alive and awake and conscious
Joel Meyerowitz
I like the drop drops that add an additional uniqueness without distractions from the subject yet still considering the importance of the whole giving importance to space around the subject. The lighting technique is something I worked on for assignment four. He captures the essence of still life paying attention to the importance of light and compositions. I have considered this carefully as the brief asks me to consider the whole frame or part of it. So I have chosen to concentrate on the subject matter rather than the negative space. The negative space is important in the frame to help give the image subject importance. I feel I needed to consider the importance of engaging and I feel the backdrop is a strong contrast in colour and the edges of the frame with the lighting will be a great exercise to explore ‘Homage’.
Learning Log for 5.2 Homage.
I tried to centre on the subject as part of the frame. The results of the experiment for this exercise can be seen below. The whole image works because of the negative space paying reverence to the subject- part of the whole. Still life has never been my chosen subject honestly but I am considering the importance of learning how to develop techniques for this which is important for self development. I am happy with the results with however, I will continue to practice in the future. My response to the exercise encouraged me to react to images and consider a whole frame. I focused on the importance of this but also on part of too. I noted how images can come to life!
The depiction of subject matter in still life can be dull. However, I responded to the simple yet beautiful compositions of Joel Meyerowitz still life images. The images are simple yet strong. To be clear in my response the reason why I choose his images are orthogonal. I chose to respond to the still life images as they expressed and conveyed to me… skill. There is a skilled eye in making simple images controlled with numerous depiction of Joel’s work being successful visual representations of controlled artistic creativity. I know it can be difficult to master. My intention is to be creative with a concept. The difference between natural manipulation and unnatural or possibly authored images in still life differs from the natural manipulation captured through the viewfinder which one creates.
The image image I have chose to recreate;
This exercise was harder than I had anticipated in terms of getting the colour temperatures right.
Contact Sheets…
Claire Clark 