Test Shoot – Four

For my fourth test shoot, I decided to go back to the original style of portraits which I shot in test shoot two as well as using David again as a model as I feel his look looks reminiscent of 60s/70s. Planning a shoot, I decided to get some inspiration from photographers / fashion campaigns which used location and clothing to create a vintage aesthetic. First I looked back on research which I did focusing on Gavin Watson who focused on his skinhead friends during the 70’s which was exactly the same style of candid portraits which I wanted to create within my own shoot. Alongside researching Watson’s images, I decided to take inspiration from Burberry’s Christmas 2018 campaign which focused on Matt Smith within an old-style café. The Burberry campaign was a crucial influence within my shoot as it gave me some idea of where I wanted some of my images to be located. Wanting a relaxed, natural feeling within the portraits as seen in Watson’s work was another reason to use David as a model as we are comfortable with each other meaning we could work efficiently, and he knew what results I wanted to achieve. I decided to base my shoot in a traditional pie & mash shops which would work well alongside David’s clothing to create an old-fashioned effect. I specifically waned to include the tiles on the wall within the frame as I particularly liked the reflections within the tiles behind David.

As for camera used (film or digital etc) I decided to use my Nikon F2 35mm slr as I didn’t want to be noticed taking photos within the shop so the waist level viewfinder on the camera (similar to the ones found on 120 film cameras such as the Bronica SQ-B or Mamiya RZ67) meant I could shoot the images I needed without it seem obvious that I was taking photos. As I was wary of whether or not I was allowed to shoot in there I found the waist level viewfinder a great advantage over using other cameras. Another advantage of using 35mm film cameras over digital or medium/large format film cameras is that in my experience people usually are less suspicious of what you are doing, they are more compact than medium format meaning you can be more discreet while shooting and often the shutter sound is quitter than I have found on digital cameras. Alongside my F2, I decided to use a 50mm f/1.4 lens as I wanted the flexibility which the large aperture gives in lowlight situations such as in the shop. As for film, I chose to use Ilford HP5 as I am familiar with the film and the kind of results, I would be able to achieve, specifically with the large grain working well with the vintage theme. However, HP5 is a 400 speed film and the shop was fairly low lit meaning I had to push the film to 800 ISO so I would be able to shoot a shutter speed faster than 1/60s reducing shutter shake. Pushing the film wasn’t too difficult, I only had to compensate the underexposure on the film by over developing by 13 minutes rather than 6.30 minutes in Ilfosol 3. Ilfosol 3 isn’t the recommended film to use when pushing HP5 as it can exaggerate the grain and developing time but in my case I wasn’t to concerned with either of these factors but in future I would probably use a developer which is specialised at pushing such as Ilford DD-X or XTOL.

After developing and scanning the film, I was pleased with most of the shots on the roll, most specifically the shots within the pie & mash shop, which I thought I would while taking the shots. I was cautious with how the pushed HP5 would perform but I it seems to have held up quite well; there is some grain in the frame which lacks detail, but I am not too concerned with this. One thing I have noticed after scanning was that when zoomed in the scans would be slightly pixelated even at a high-resolution scan. I researched into this and according to a few photography forums, flatbed scanners can sometimes perform poorly with HP5 due to the grain structure. As of this, I’m probably going to print the final photos in the darkroom as I am fine with grain but don’t want any unwanted pixilation when looked closely at the final print. I am pleased with the relaxed portraits from the shoot, most notably the portrait of David in the mirror shot in a vintage store which reminded me of the style of photography from mid 20^th century, such as Andre Kertesz or Bill Brandt.

Test Shoot – Three

After test shoot three which I focused on producing a set of straight-forward portraits which incorporated the union jack within the frame to draw the theme of nationality within the final images. For test shoot three, I originally planned to produce another set of portraits in a similar theme as the ones before but when I arrived at the subjects house, we went to his bedroom to decide on what clothes to use for the shots but I was instantly attracted to how messy his room was. There was guitar leads and endless amounts of jackets/trainers on the bed and floor which I wanted to use in the frame. I wanted to capture the mood/feeling within his room rather than a constructed scene which was present within test shoot three. I wanted to capture the scene before the shoot, the environment that my friend actually lived in rather than one which I created for him. Through the images, I wanted to the viewer to feel as if they are intimate with the scene, actually viewing experiencing how the subject lives and how their environment effects their identity. I wanted to use the notion of how the bedroom’s state can reflect the subject and also the feeling which I felt within the room. After developing and scanning the film, I appreciated my choice in focusing the shoot on my friend’s bedroom rather than my original plan to use the union jack backdrop again, as the use of location greatly reflects the subject’s personality and also his laid-back approach to life in general. Subconsciously, I think the decision to create snapshot style portraits came from looking through Gavin Watson’s work and also other photography books which used a lowkey photography approach.

For this shoot, I chose to use a medium format film camera as I wanted more detail than 35mm and I also wanted the slowed down approach which 120 has. I chose to use a Bronica SQ-B rather than another medium format camera such as the Mamiya 7 or Mamiya RZ67 as I have used the Bronica many times in previous work and also confident with how to operate the camera. As for lens, as I wanted to get as much of the bedroom scene within the frame, I decided to use a 40mm wide angle lens which would roughly work out as a 20mm lens on a 35mm frame camera. I’ve used the lens in the past and I really like how it captures an image as lens distortion us limited. I chose to use Ilford FP4 as my film due to the low ISO meaning I could achieve minimal grain within the areas which lacked detail and the film also has a clean, subtle contrast which I personally like over other films such as Ilford HP5. As for camera settings, the low ISO meant that I would be using slow shutter speeds around lower apertures such as f/4 and f/5.6. I chose to use a slower shutter speed than necessary as I wanted to use a smaller aperture to get as much in the scene as possible without the subject creating unwanted blur in the frame. For most of the shots, I decided to shoot at f/5.6 at 1/8^th of a second which worked well for the scene I was photographing. Towards the end of the roll, I decided to use a slow shutter speed, such as one or two seconds, to create intentional blur within the subject, created a link to the chaotic environment which he was laying in.

I’m pleased with the results which I got from this shoot; the contrast between the contrasted aspects of test shoot two and the free approach to test shoot three meant I enjoyed the unpredictability of the shoot. I’ve found through doing the shoot that I want to further use the contrast between shooting constructed scenes and snapshot style within my Identity project. I have also thought about what kind of images I want to use as my final four / six and how I want to present them. I quite like the idea of using both straight forward portraits and behind-the-scenes shots alongside each other.

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Portraits from Interview Workshop

Test Shoot Two

After spending some time researching a wide range of photographers, I realised that one key theme within each photographer’s work was the notion of nationality and also belonging. For instance, Vanley Burke focused on the Birmingham community which he grew up in, Gavin Watson on his childhood skinhead friends and Platon’s depiction of his home country Greece through his ‘Going Home: Greece’ series. I began planning on what direction to take my Identity project in, first thinking about a way in which I could portray myself by photographing others, as seen in Watsons work. This idea led to thinking about my own nationality and what being British meant to me, which linked well with the political situation which the UK is in at the moment with the recent general election and also Brexit. During the general election, I discovered that most of my friends held completely different political views from my own, which I found interesting as I presumed that they would hold a similar view. I wanted to interpret this within my project, which led me to plan two shoots each one focusing on one person and how they believe perceive the political climate which we are currently in and also how important being British is to them. 

Linking the test shoots back to the research I conducted on David Bailey and Terence Donovan, I wanted to create a 1960’s aesthetic within the shots. I began looking back through iconic swinging sixties portraits by Bailey, Donovan and Duffy which led me to the idea to use a union jack as a backdrop which would be a straightforward way to create the link between the subject and their nationality. For the shoot with David, I decided to plan a more constructed set of photographs which would allow me to spend more time considering compositions and lighting. When I turned up for the shoot, David was already dressed in mod-style clothing which I thought looked great and would work well with the 60s aesthetic. Throughout the shoot little was changed apart from David changing various shirts and jackets. For the second part of the shoot I used my mate Dan as the main subject and to delve into the notion of how the subject’s local area could influence their political views, I photographed Dan around his local area. 

For the two shoots I used 35mm Ilford XP2 film shot using an 80mm lens. I chose to shoot 35mm film (rather than 120 or digital) during the shoots as I wanted there to be grain within the frame, adding to the vintage aesthetic. Adding to this, I also wanted to have the ability to print in the darkroom if I wanted to. After developing the XP2 film I realised that the roll was expired by two years and I was unaware of how the film was stored; this meant I wasn’t sure on what kinds of effects the scanned film would have. After scanning, I realised that the film had a large amount of grain caused by the roll not being in date which I’m not sure has caused too much grain. In future shoots I’m going to check that the film using is in date and if not, compensate for any sensitivity which may have been lost. The 80mm lens was useful in preventing distortions within the subjects’ faces and also prevented any unwanted space within the frame. These scans were used with an Epson v700 flatbed scanner which is fine for online and small prints but to get better results I am going to scan some of my favourite photos with a drum scanner to get as much information from the 35mm negative as possible.

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Test Shoot 1 – David Bailey inspired

After researching into David Bailey’s 1960s work, I decided to practise lighting within the studio to become more comfortable with how to successfully light within studio portraits. To create a Bailey style, I chose to use a white backdrop for the images, which causes the effect of the subject appearing stuck on within the final photo. As for the lighting setup, I chose to keep it simple at first and then gradually through more test shoots make the lighting more intricate. I booked out two flashes and a Canon 5D MKIII as I wanted to see straight away what my results would be rather than shooting with film. While setting up the studio lighting, I placed a 50cm x 50cm soft box on each flash unit which created a short lighting effect, while still being broader than using the flash directly without a soft box.

I placed one flash unit behind the sitter, shooting towards the white backdrop which would act as a means of making the background completely white behind the sitter. I placed the other flash in front of the sitter, slightly higher than their face to create a Rembrandt effect within their faces. I set the camera settings to iso 100, shutter speed 1/125s, aperture f/8 and setting the flash to 6 in power. The low iso meant I could reduce any possible noise in the final image, the 1/125 shutter speed is to sync with the flash and the aperture was used to get the right exposure. Through the shoot, I gradually moved the flash in front of the sitter to achieve various lighting on their face. I found my favourite lighting was considered ‘short’ due to only one part of the subject’s face being lit while the other is dark.

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