Reflection
Throughout this section of work I will be focusing on the the different styles of reflection focusing on how a photographer can use the idea of reflection and creates pieces of work that link to many different sub genres of work, for example taking the idea of reflection and going deeper into the different types of reflection for example, personal or mirror distortion. My Pinterest examples below take on this concept focusing on many different types of reflection and are also images that really inspire me and something I will be testing out through my many responses.
GUIDO GUTIERREZ RUIZ
Toronto, Canada born and raised photographer Guido Gutierrez Ruiz is unlike the ordinary photographer. Instead of using either a digital or film camera, he decides to capture every moment on his Google Smartphone. Ruiz takes a passion in using his phone to represent how you do not need an expensive camera to make their own creations but instead use what is available to them. Knowing this, Ruiz does not use photoshop to edit his images, the only thing he uses is whatever instagram has to offer for editing pictures as he likes to document each city he goes to around the world and post them on his instagram (@guigurui) which he started in 2013 and has continued to use to this day. With his work, he focuses on capturing reflections through puddles on the ground as he states "they reveal a magical image of a parallel world".
RAYMOND GEHMAN
Raymond Gehman is a National Geographic photographer who has been photographing with the society them for 25 years. Since his fourth grade career day when a National Geographic photographer came into his school, he has had a passion to become a photographer. His work depicts that of the natural world where he is given long stretched period of time assignments to capture the mystical nature in different countries. I took inspiration from specifically his work where he would capture nature and the reflection of it in lakes and sea's creating beautiful wide landscape images.
Saul Leiter
The American Photographer Saul Leiter, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and studied to become a Rabbi. It was when he was 12 years old that he had received his first camera and by the age of 23, traveled to New York as an artist leaving his theology school. He originally was a photographer and painter at the New York school of photography in the 1940's and 1950's then cemented his work as a fashion photography.
This piece is very effective as it focuses on uses reflection as a way of understanding either a persons feelings, lifestyle, or past. For example, in this image is a women facing glass with different items behind it such as candles and different cabinets. Now as an audience that does not have any background information, you can understand that these items may portray some sort of love to her as her expression is blunt in distraught as they may give her memories of her younger life or memories of a person who has passed away. Using a reflection is clever as it allows the photographer to get both her and the items in one image. As inspiration, I want to experiment with capturing reflections of peoples face expression to unpick any messages about them.
First Response:
Reflection : Three Strands
To start off my theme of reflection, I went on a school trip to New York city and captured the humongous buildings through reflections of huge lakes, and small puddles. I also captured people through windows, and glass balls while also taking a different approach of taking a reflection of people's lives. Lastly, I captured images of the contrasting nature through small puddles and large lakes.
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Original Images
Reflection of Buildings
For my first image I went to Central Park in New York and came across a large lake with a landscape of multiple buildings in the background reflecting in the water. Although this was not accurately like Ruiz's work as he would use puddles, it still worked very effectively. This is based of my composition. Taking Ruiz's work as inspiration, I wanted to capture a very wide shot to get in most of the buildings. Doing so, I captured multiple buildings getting the reflection of all of them as well. As there was white skies I kept my shutter speed quick so not a lot of light was exposed to the lense but I also edited the sky on Photoshop to give it that gentle touch of purples and yellows to the sky and lake, even though Ruiz had it in his images without using Photoshop, I was really inspired by it and wanted to add it to my images. I also cropped this image to keep in the most important buildings as too many buildings would have taken the effectiveness away. To further improve I would need to come back on a day which is not too gloomy and pale as it was February. Shooting this in the summer with the sunshine would have brought more of a range of textures that would really bring the image to life.
For this piece I went close by to Central Park in New York city and I decided to look at reflections through puddles like Ruiz does, however I looked at it at an above view whereas Ruiz goes down to the level of the puddle. I decided to blur everything apart from the reflection as I wanted it to stand out the most as I feel as though the rest of the image may distract the main part. I believe this worked well as I clearly had the building in shot and focused using a lower aperture number to create a shallow depth of field so the building was more in focus compared to the background. The photo was also a wider image so I cropped it to put all the attention on the puddle. To further improve I would need to find a larger puddle with so I can get more of the building in so there is more to view and it would be more effective to see more buildings at once. Next I want to look at capturing reflections of people through windows and mirrors but also taking reflection at people's lives.
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Original Images
Reflection of Nature
For this image I headed out to Central park in New York and focused on capturing reflections of nature. Doing so, I captured two trees with nature surrounding it, with the reflection of it in a lake. I decided to blur the lake as I wanted to create a separation between the lake and the land as to say they are two different worlds. I combined Gehman's use of reflection of nature with my ideas of blurring the water to create an effective image as the trees are clearly in focus while the water seems as though it is not, fulfilling my intentions of two separate areas. The composition is done well as I wanted to focus on the two main trees in front of me without taking away the focus of them so using Photoshop I cropped the image. However what did not work to my favour was the weather as the clouds give off strong white colours making the tips of the top of the tree seem blurry. Having a blue sky would have brought more life to the image also so to further improve I would need to come on a less gloomy day.
In this image, I went up to the One World Trade Center in New York and captured the sun around midday with the reflection in the sea. This image worked the best due to the composition, weather, and the link to Gehman's work. Just like the image I analysed of Gehman's piece, this correspond with it as the image gives a sense of continuum as I intended it to be. The sea is surrounded by different lands around New York but at the end is left with the Sea and the continuum of it which worked effectively. I was also very lucky that the sun was out on this day as it was the most important part to getting a strong reflection. I played to my luck and although with a glass screen in front of me, I clearly got everything in shot making sure i was using a high aperture number so I had a large depth of field so the glass was not in focus and the background was. The vibrancy of the sun created a sense of life to the image which I also helped to create by adding more vibrance and saturation to the image on Photoshop specifically on the sea and the lower part of the sky to get the strong yellows. There is a combination of strong vibrant colours of blues and yellows but also the strong white from the sun and the dark blacks from the land which created strong and sharp colour differences making the image more effective. However, the one flaw was the glass as my white jumper is slightly in the shot on the right so to further improve I would need to try not get in the image by using a tripod and a timer.
Reflection of People
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In this piece I went on a subway in New York and captured the reflection of a person through glass. This image worked very well as I managed to get a clear image of the persons reflection and emotion. Having it composed in such a way meant that I captured it at a low angle so the body language was also seen. Reflecting on my inspiration of Leiter's work, the image without background information can reveal ideas to the audience of such that links the persons life to the subway. He may be acknowledging past memories with a loved one on the subway, or reliving the journey on his favorite subway as a kid. This is represented mainly through his facial expression. He seems as though he is very slightly smiling while looking at himself presenting a sense of internal happiness as he is not showing all the happiness externally through his smile. However, to improve I would need to make it seem more obvious as to what the meaning behind him looking at the reflection of himself is. As further development, I want to look at using a reflection to portray their younger self's while having their current self as the foreground of the image.
For this piece, I went into the gallery of,,,,, in New York and decided to take a different approach of reflections of people. This time I wanted to take a reflection of peoples lives and the struggles they had to go through. I came across a book called 'Women are heros' which looked at an artist called JR who traveled to Sierra Leone, Liberia, Sudan, Kenya, Brazil, India, and Cambodia to share women's powerful stories and what they had to go through. After receiving their story he would capture an image of them and place it using a large canvas in the area of where the women are from. Although it is not my work, I wanted to document it as from where I am from, stories like the ones in the book do not really happen so I felt as though it needed to be shared. Through my developments I do want to try and capture stories and use it as a reflection of their lives to give them the power they need.
Second Response:
New York vs London
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For my second response I came back to London and wanted to compare New York and London through the use of reflection and differences each city portrayed for me. Doing so I captured different locations looking at reflection of nature and reflection of people.
Reflection of Buildings:
When capturing reflections of buildings in both cities I came across many differences. Firstly, with New York I was able to take images of lakes resulting in clear reflections of the buildings I was trying to capture. However, with London at the moment, due to the strong winds that have been occurring due to different storms, the lakes were constantly moving very strong so the small waves of the water meant that I could not see the reflections of the buildings clear enough. This meant that I would need to go into Photoshop and edit the lake to make it darker so the building stands out more. Another difference is the amount of buildings that I could have captured to achieve the reflection. But instead to capture clear reflections, I would find smaller puddles and capture the reflection through it as it was the only clear part of water. New York is known for it's normality for having large buildings. Comparing this to London, there is not large amounts of tall buildings, only really in central London, which meant that there was less of a variety of buildings to capture. Knowing this meant that my New York images were more effective and linked more to my artist research as I wanted to focus on wide angle shots with multiple buildings in the shot. As a result, I believe New York is a better city at the moment to capture reflections of buildings due to the weather that occurs in the city.
LONDON
For this set of images, I went into London going into two separate ares; Hyde park and the River Thames. Originally I wanted to capture a reflection at the river at Hyde park and the River Thames however due to the push backs I had to deal with because of the strong winds which made the water move vigorously, I was not able to get a clear reflection so I decided to capture a small puddle in Hyde Park also. What worked well with the rivers was the composition. I chose strong vantage points which were on bridges which allowed me to be high enough to the whole building with the whole river. It was a fairly bright day with subtle dark clouds going past so I used a shutter speed of 1/160 as it was not very dark or very light. I used too low of an aperture (f/8) to get a shallow depth of field as I really wanted to capture the river with more focus as you could barely see the reflection however as a result in the image on the left, the building is not as clear as it could be, so when I captured the image on the right I used a larger aperture number to create a large depth of field resulting in the river and the building being in focus. When it came to my image of the puddle, considering the mistakes I made previously, I made sure my aperture was high so both the reflection and the image was in focus. I believe I chose a good angle looking at it straight on and perfectly in line with each so it looks as though the building is carrying on. To improve my images, I would need to come on a day where there is less wind so I can create clear reflections on a wider scale with rivers instead of puddles.
NEW YORK
Reflection of Nature
When it came to capturing reflections of nature, being in London was much more beneficial than being in New York. The main reason of this is because of the amounts of nature that each city provides. London has much more nature than New York as it has many more parks, trees, wildlife, which I believe is due to it's size. Knowing this meant that it was more of a struggle to find this sense of nature in New York as you only really have Central Park which provides, which I know is massive, but when you compare the amount of parks there are in London due to how big the city is then you will realise there is more opportunities to achieve this. Because of this, I wanted to capture similar types of photos although there was many more options for me to take in London, I decided to take photos of the sun and the trees. Due to the problems with wind in London, I had to capture a smaller scale image with a puddle instead of a lake in New York which meant that although there was less nature in New York, I had the use of large amounts of water to my advantage to capture a more wide shot image. However, luckily when it came to the sun you did not need clear water to see the reflection so I did shoot a reflection a river clearly despite the winds. In comparison to New York, due to me being in the tallest building in the city (One World Trade Center) I was able to capture a very wide/high angle shot getting a nice long reflection of the sun in the water. Overall, there was more nature in London but because of the higher amounts of rivers that surround New York and due to the weather, I was able to achieve more effective images.
LONDON
With my reflection of nature images, I also went to Hyde park due to the river and amount of nature it supplied me with. Knowing this, I captured an image with a sunset reflected on a river, and trees reflected into a puddle. I believe these images were more successful than the building images due to the fact that I was able to get clear reflections of what I was intending to achieve. With the sun, even though the river was not calm and was moving a lot, as it was the sun I was still able to get a reflection of it directly in the middle of the river due to my composition which worked effectively. It was very bright and light so I used a very quick shutter speed and a low ISO 100 so the image was not completely bright and over exposed. I wanted both the river and the scenery to be in focus so I used I high aperture number to create a large depth of field which overall worked very well. With my next image I was very limited because of the unclear river and there was not a lot of puddles but I still managed to capture an effective reflection of the tree again directly in the middle as I was trying to get all three trees in the reflection. Although there was not a lot of water it still seems as though the tree is carrying on in a parallel universe. I again wanted both the river and the scenery to be in focus so I used I high aperture number to create a large depth of field which overall worked very well. The sun was not facing the camera so I did not need to use a quick shutter so instead I used a moderate one of 1/80, however I do believe the sky is too white so to further improve I would need to use a quicker shutter speed. I would also need to find a better angle to capture the river in the first image more so to improve I would use a higher vantage point to capture my image. In my next development, I want to look at using mirrors to capture reflections to bring two contrasting landscapes and combining it into one.
NEW YORK
Third Response:
Reflection in Mirrors
Cody Smith
Nevada-born photographer Cody William Smith takes a different stance to the most common landscape ideas; focusing on capturing the unique landscape and combining light and nature with the use of a mirror to present an alternate view of the setting. The intentions of the photographer, as he states, is to ‘draw new connections between familiar forms’ using the mirrors as a focal point to create a completely new scene in the same setting.
Smith states that ‘To look (or photograph) in one direction, is to ignore another’. Knowing this, from both examples below from his series ‘A Moments Reflection’ he captures California using a mirror to explore different forms of land that we tend to miss. Both images are very effective in very similar ways. The way the images are composed portray a sense of comparison. He places the mirrors carefully to capture the difference in locations that are right next to each other. For example, in both images you get a strong contrast in either light and darkness in the left image, and emptiness and fullness in the right image. He cleverly does this to educate the audience exactly what the whole surroundings look like. Taking the image without the mirror would make you think everything in the landscape is dark mountains or full of forests. This contrasts makes the audience consider what else the area has to uncover. The use of the mirror is also significant by the way it seems as though there are two different worlds in one image. As shown in Ruiz's world, he gives a sense of an alternate dimension through the use of people and buildings which is similarly done by Smith except with nature. I also really like the use of angles Smith uses, with the contrast of high and low angles which also could resemble the contrast he creates in his work. I am most inspired from his use of combining two different landscapes in one image, so for my work I want to combine two complete opposite areas and create that strong contrast that Smith does.
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River Thames
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For these two images I decided to go into Central London near the Tate Gallery and go to the tides by the river Thames. Doing so I captured two strong images, one of St Pauls Cathedral and one of the, For both images I took a high angle approach as I wanted to create the sense of it being on a beach and if I was to capture the surroundings also then the effect will be lost as of a result of the many buildings London presents. This technique was used carefully as a reciprocal to my inspiration of Smith. Although Smith would combine different angles, I felt the effect of just sand in the background made the image more confusing and created this combination of opposite landscapes giving an understanding to the audience as to what was in the whole surroundings. The day was very cloudy and grey so I used a slower shutter speed to expose more light to the lense which I did well. I also wanted just the mirror in focus for the right image as it was just sand so having it blurred would add more focus to the mirror while the audience would still clearly identify that it is sand, so I used a lower aperture number to get a shallow depth of field to blur the background. However, the left image also had the green wall behind it so I wanted the whole image clear to the audience so I used a higher aperture number to create a larger depth of field so everything was in focus. to attract most of the attention to it, so I used a lower aperture number to get a shallow depth of field to blur the background. To improve my images, I need to experiment with using different angles and try find areas where I can capture the whole surroundings still keeping the effect of confusion as to why the two landscapes are in the same image.
For these two images I was also in London near the Tate Gallery, one by the tides and the other on the pavement. The images also brought a sense of complete opposites in areas contrasting (pavement vs tree) and (rocks vs buildings). I carefully composed my image by using high angles above the mirror so nothing else was involved to ruin the sense of opposition. I managed to use the mirror as the focal point of the image placing the mirror in the middle creating a rule of thirds so the two outer sections differed completely to the middle section. For the pavement image, I chose this specific floor due to the colours and shapes. Having it mostly red and in formation of small squares added to the effect of contrast as the mirror portrays randomly places branches from the trees which are also in straight lines almost which are different the pavement. With the right image, The surroundings are very dull and dark which contrasts to the very bright sky and building in the mirror which overall creates a greater sense new scenery in the same place. I wanted just the mirror in focus for the right image as it very close up so you would still be able to see the pavement while giving the most attention to the mirror, so I uses a smaller aperture to create a shallow depth of field and a less in focus background. For the right image instead, I wanted the rocks clearly visible so the audience understands the background. So I used a higher aperture number to create a larger depth of field so everything was in focus. The sky became more brighter at this time so I used a quicker shutter speed so less light was exposed to the lense. However the sky was still too bright so to further improve I would need to use an even quicker shutter speed so the mirror is not too bright. For my next response, I want to look into using reflections of people instead of landscapes.
Fourth Response
Mirror Reflection: Human
For my fourth response, I decided to move away from reflection of landscapes and look more into reflection of people. Doing so I found an image on google that really inspired me. However, I could not find the artist who took the images and therefore could not find images to compare it to and similar artists did not capture their images in this exact way that I really like. What I like about the image is how it takes a simple to make photo but adds meaning to it through the way it's composed. For example, the photographer uses a small frame so everything is closed in so you know less about the person holding the mirror. Then all of a sudden with the use of the mirror, you see a new person who as an audience you know nothing about which then makes you question who he is ? Why he is staring directly in the girls eyes? How he relates to her? The image is also only in focus with the mans eyes which represents importance of his presence but why. All of these pieces put together creates such an effective image and has really inspired me to create my own.
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Original Images
For my images I used a white backdrop and captured one person holding a piece of broken glass by their eye while capturing another person through the mirror. This image worked very well by the way is was composed and how it relates to the photographer I researched. Firstly I decided to use the same person holding the mirror with two different people in the reflection to represent her connection to both of them (sons) which as an audience makes you think who they are. I composed the image so the glass was covering her eyes so her identity was lost creating this idea that the two men are something to do with her identity. I used a lower aperture number so the depth of field was more shallow so the women was out of focus and just the man was in focus which created a good effect as all the focus is on who the man is. I wanted to make the images black and white as it adds a sense of gloominess and horror to the image creating an effect of why is this happening. I believe it resembled the artist I looked at very well as overall it makes the audience want to know more. To improve I could use a different background that has meaning to the person holding the mirror. Next I want to look at capturing peoples lives over a space of time.
Reflection of Lifespan
Annie Wang
The Taiwan born photographer Annie Wang is a documentation photographer who created a series called ‘The Mother As A Creator‘. The series looks at documenting the growth of her child which is an on going project that has been happening for 17 years now. She focuses on expressing the fact that "The Mother not only creates a life but also creates continually a continuous and fluid matrix of experience between Mother and Child.” What I like about this line of work is showing a growth of a human, expressing the different changes that occur with the human body and how these changes may effect someones life. Although I am inspired by the genre of work, I want to look more into looking at the growth of a person in one image rather than documenting their whole life in separate images. Knowing this, I want to capture the growth of either a persons whole body or just their face looking at intricate details of changes that have occurred in their life. This then links to reflection as you are looking at the reflection of someones lifespan and how they have grown up to be who they are today.
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Original Images
For these images I decided to take my inspiration and create an image using photos of two different people from different ages in their life and combing the images together into one going from youngest on the left to how they currently are now. For both people this a 18 year lifespan showing their development as a human from a baby to a young adult. These images work very well as they clearly show a development of a person a period of time clearly identifying the changes in facial features. I wanted to use small slices of each face rather than multiple images as I wanted to make it seem as close to one face as possible that's why I only used 5 images so the face does not stretch out too far but still keeping that effect of development. When capturing each image it was hard to not get good lighting so I decided to use flash and with Photoshop I edited any reflections there was and made the images more brighter. I believe my first image was better due to how it was composed, the alignment of the faces and there is a much clearer growth. So to improve I would need to use images that clearly show a change of age and when editing it together, find better ways to align them next to each other.