Laura El Tantawy
Beyond Here Is Nothing
Beyond Here Is Nothing from Laura El-Tantawy on Vimeo.
Beyond here is nothing is about the journey of home and memories and how it is portrayed. This project started as an exploration of her childhood and growing up but became more of a documentation of Egypt as it redefined itself. The initial aim of the photos was probably at first just of what was around her and what she can see. Interesting though is that all the photos were taken on an iPhone and that itself is interesting as the photos are of a quality that would of thought to be taken by a camera, so the portrayal that the phone photos gives is more of a personal touch as phones are used to communicate in your life. I think the photographer wants to share the difference of culture she lived in. During the time she was there it was very dangerous with the protest against the government and the people that are being killed because of it. Her photos drew me in because of the foggy nature they have and not showing everything clearly. Her photos showed the life in Egypt and what was there and using it to relate to her own life in Egypt. The presentation of the book is very unique as it would fold out and it was sort of like revealing the layers of her story. Her photos if displayed at an exhibition would most likely be enlarged but have some sort of fabric over part of the frame to keep the fogginess and layering that the book has.
these photographs are based on the premise of identity and what my identity is, which we got the premise from Laura El Tantawy who really put foward her identity with her photos.
These photos are meant to represent my school life and what I think of it and even looking back at it some I do understand why I took the photo but others I am doubting why I took them and that might be due to the fact I was taking photos I am not used to. But some of the photos are interesting wIth composition and subject as they seem like photos a]that are too simple but are actually never taken.
First Zine
These photographs are ones that my whole class has taken and it was given to us in a set to which we could choose which photos to use and that is most of the reason behind my title coalition as it is a coalition of our photos. With my layout I am pretty happy with it as the photos do flow quite well making it more easily readable to those who don't study photography and with the blank pages it allows the reader the chance to absorb what they have looked at. There is full bleed on the print as the website shrimpzine even if on it fill the whole page it will still have it. Also none of the photos have been cropped in any way these are the exact same as we were given. With the colour it varies as it is dark at first then gets a bit lighter but then ends on a darker scale this scale, even though I did it unknowingly it works quite well with the flow of images and it means there is also a peak where it starts low goes to the peak and back to low similar to a song where it has its peak and then goes down for the end.
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This also plays into the sequencing of the photos as the main premise was just the flow of images as then to makes it easy to read.
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Black Light Project
The black light project was started by Keld Helmer-petersen who is known for colour photographs but has publishes multiple black and white images and was inspired by Albert Renger-Patzsch with his work on The world is beautiful.
These are the unedited photos I have taken around the black light project and just tried to find lines that intertwine or just stand out to find some boldness from it
Edited
The edited photos have made photos that I originally would of discarded a whole new perspective and boldness, there are some images that do just freak you out and it is odd as you can see the texture of the image which gives a feeling that is very hard to explain. And ones that I originally would of used I would now discard as the don't fit the same after the edit. With the edit it shows all types of lines in it with thick and straight or thin and wobbly with all the intertwining lines it gives it a surreal perspective like it is a different dimension.
Photoshoot of an Unusual Place
This photoshoot was taken around the premise of things that move or interest you but I am not the type of photographer that take photos that move me, so I went with interest but there wasn't really anything that interest me so I went with my instinct as that is probably the only thing that made me interested in taking the photos so I chose the location on instinct and the photos on instinct. Some of the photos turned out really interesting when following my instinct but there are others that didn't follow as well and I guess that is what I think of the outside world there are some things that draw people in and the same thing might not draw different people in but something completely different and this photoshoot only interested me in the instinct of taking the photos at a location you would usually not take photos at.
First Draft Zine Make
This is a 8 page zine made from a template
Images used
First draft order (left to right)
First draft order (left to right)
Actual zine
This first draft zine has many problems with that the orientation of the images are wrong and because of that it only goes in the correct order when portrait when it is supposed to be landscape and you flip up also the making of the zine was scrappy not precise with the folding and cutting so on the next try I will fix the orientation and take more time on the making.
Second draft order
Second zine
With this second zine all the photos are the right way round and the new order flows better and has easier and more noticeable relation when looking through the book, this technique of making small zines is very useful when you don't have a large amount of photos but if you did have a large amount of photos you would have a very difficult time putting together a book which is why you would most likely use a different technique.
A Bigger Zine
This is the binding method to which I will bind my new zine. This zine is longer than my previous zines with 36 pages.
With this zine I am giving it the title of 'Flip either way' as this is one subject matter that I thought of with no matter which way you flip through the zine it has its order to it with when you flip through one way half the images are upright and the others are upside down and when you flip through it the other way it is the images that were upside down are now upright and the upright images are upside down hence flip either way has it gives it 2 different perspectives on very similar photos. Some of these photos are edited while others are not so you can compare the subjects in each individual photo together while also and the fact you get 2 perspectives is meant to encourage multiple ways of interpretation of the comparison of subject matter in the photos. Each image is in A5 size and equal so it gives each image the chance to be compared to the one next to it without to much eye movement and if you look at the space where the two photos connect you can look at both images with no eye movement which allow the person to look at both simultaneously so they can compare them easier and better as you are not looking back and forth just at the 2 images. The sequence of these images was done so you get multiple different types of images where they could be edited or not or re photos of photos each different subject matter can be compared together. There are spaces of just one photo and that is for the person to just focus on one subject matter instead of 2 to thoroughly look at one. With the style of the book it is very simple with no fold outs and extra pieces of smaller paper just a simple flip through of photos. With this book and how it works there are technically 2 covers and both are just of an image with different subjects. The material I used was just normal paper and folded it and then stitched it together. If I were to redo it I would probably try to do a better job at stitching and the folding of the paper a it looks kind of messy.
Photography and Text
Raised by Wolves
Max Pinckers
The 4th Wall
He is using text in his book like it is an actual. book to read or a newspaper similar to the paper with the zoomed in text relating to some way the photos after and the photos of the pages of the book which is extremely difficult to read on the video will have some relation to life in India. The zoomed in text is quite unusual as all of the text is not in the book but it is legible as makes sense but the meaning behind them is different as there seems to be some dialogue from people and it seems like they are all from a newspaper as the way of writing sounds journalistic and descriptive. With the text and images working together it creates a fiction that is perceived as reality as some of the ext is clearly fiction while others do step into the world of reality that combination makes the clearly fictional text more plausible and the images bring the further with them relating to the text and the images some are his and some are found but the flow of the book makes it all seem like his work which works with tandem with the text and creates a sort of documentary. The text itself is filled with literary techniques and by them selves with no context or photos relating to it the techniques used make it very confusing. The paper he is using is news print and it quite fragile paper and thin easily crumples and folded and gives it more of the feeling of a newspaper. With the images some double bleed while others have multiple on one page making it seem more like a newspaper as they have stuff similar to it.
Storytelling through photos
We were given a set of photos and had to write about the place genre and intention behind each one and try to see the story the behind them. we then given them by themselves and had to create a sequence and with the photos having some sort of overlay or double exposure they have many things in common and makes it interesting to find the repetition.
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Scarti
Scarti is the word used for scrap and the photos in this book are the misprints that have happened from another book one of the photographers involved with the original book put the scraps aside instead of destroying them without anyone's knowledge and after his death they were discovered, the people who found it where immediately excited to make a book with them as they tell a story in their own right.
For me I can't leave a photo to chance as then to me it would feel like I didn't make it and trying to take credit for that is something I don't do. If I do find something that has happened by chance I would most likely destroy it as it is not in the image in my head that I want. |
Photos
When we were taking photos the way I was asking my model to perform was through example really I performed it first and they copied, I also only focused on smaller parts of the body mainly hands and feet. I tried to keep the background as plain as possible but sometimes due to the size of the object it is hard to find an unoccupied wall in the art department that fits. I used a multitude of props to mainly keep it interesting and creative to find random props in the storage room and using hands and feet to interact in different ways, sometimes I also tried to adapt the to surrounding things to make it more creative. Even tough the images are dark it emphasises the light that can bee seen more clearly.
New set
These photos are a refinement of the first set where I more thought into the props and where it was taken as this time we moved the props to one location outside and did it all there to make it easier to mix them as well. When instructing my model it was very easy as I did it through example sometimes and just moved the props around my self to get it how I want it. This set is much more in depth with how I could create these type of photos. My focus for this photo shoot was mainly on the props and what I could do with it to manipulate the body. With doing it outside with fabric there was the possibility that the fabric could fly away. It was fun working with the model that was chosen for me as when I was being their model I could draw ideas from what I was doing for them. I used rope fabric cd test tube and an apron and I used them separately and together to see what could be done. If to improve on this i would like to have more variety of props to mix and match to see.