'The Automobile Society' Project

Porsche Cayenne

Mitsubishi Evo

Range Rover

Lynsey Addario- War Photographer

Born on the 13^th of November 1973 in Connecticut, USA, Lynsey Addario grew up with a passion towards photography. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1995 with a B.A degree in International Relations. However, Addario is currently based in London, England where she pursues a career of a photojournalist, photographing for three major organisations  ‘The New York Times’, ‘National Geographic’, and ‘Time Magazine’. In 1996 she moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina to commence her photojournalistic career with the Buenos Aires Herald. It was only a year later when Addario decided to return to New York, USA. Keeping in mind Addario had no previous experience in photojournalism during her work period in Argentina; she solely focused on conflict and humanitarian issues. A year later, 1997, the photojournalist worked as a freelancer for Associated Press, and this lasted for three years. During this time period, she went to Havana, Cuba where she began a project to show “influence of capitalism on young Cubans.”

 With the start of a new decade (2000), the young photojournalist decided to cross all the way to the other side of the world; a completely different environment where she can experience a new life style in the diverse New Delhi, India. Throughout her eight-month experience there, she visited Afghanistan to “document life and oppression under the Taliban.” In addition to this, Addario travelled to Pakistan and Nepal to cover general press photographs. In 2001, she moved to Mexico City for a short time frame, where she worked for New York Times, however shortly after September 11^th events, the photographer moved back to South Asia to deepen her Afghan coverage. This time though, Addario went to Afghanistan with a new objective, she was more interested in “women’s education issues there.” After settling in Southern Asia for two years, it was time for the American photojournalist to move to Istanbul. Her duty however was to cover the Iraqi war; a zone she settled in for seven months. And in 2004, she settled in Darfur, Sudan and focused on refugee camps around the country. Sudan being a great central location, gave Addario the opportunity to aim her focus on issues such as women rights in neighbouring countries like Saudi Arabia, in addition to other primary issues in Turkey, Libya, South Africa and Lebanon.

 Addario’s projects included the ‘Veiled Rebellion’, which is a photo essay that investigated the daily routine life of women in Afghanistan. Another project was called ‘Maternal Mortality’ which took place in Sierra Leone. A third project was named ‘Talibanistan’ which as the name refers to; the Taliban in Afghanistan. ‘Battle Company is Out There’ which documented two different sides of the war in Afghanistan and the Taliban in Pakistan. And finally a project that was devoted to the tragedy that took place during the Iraqi war. Her dedication and passion to the field of photojournalism lead her to winning many awards over the years. The ICP Infinity Award in 2002, Fuji Award in 2005, MacArthur Fellowship Award in 2009 in addition to Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad in Magazines and Books. During the same year she also obtained an award while being part of the New York Times team; Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. A year later, in 2010, Addario made it onto Oprah Winfrey’s list called: Power of Bearing Witness. She was also entitled to Getty Images Grant for Editorial Photography, and finally attained several awards in the Pictures of the Year International Contest.

I am personally very impressed with Lynsey Addario’s photograph selection. To begin with, I am very fond of the diversity of her images, whether in the far East or the far West; Addario manages to portray her thoughts clearly through the use of her photographic talents. I realised she manages to follow a certain pathway when capturing the images; they tend to be close ups of her target, whether it’s a person, place or even an object. The young photojournalist focuses on including children in her images, which of course strengthens the definition of the photograph instantly. In addition, I am intrigued with Addario’s methodology of focusing on two main issues: conflict and humanitarian matters. For instance, she visited Iraq and Afghanistan to visually inform the rest of the world about the catastrophic wars that took place there. In contrast she went to Sudan to cover refugee stories, Africa to exhibit sexual abuses towards women, and Saudi Arabia to illustrate abandoned women’s rights. This multiplicity of photographs that the young American photographer has captured through her life span have without doubt influenced my view on the world; now I believe that a picture tells a thousand words.

Citations:

·      "Lynsey Addario." National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2013. <http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photographers/photographer-lynsey-addario/>.

·       "Lynsey Addario, Photographer." Lynsey Addario, Photographer. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2013. <http://www.lynseyaddario.com/>.

Air Brushing&Slimming- Photoshop

Photograph 1

Photograph 2

Elements of Composition

Color:

Shallow Depth of Field:

Frog View:

Space:

Symmetry:

We Are Family

Diane Arbus

Short Biography:

Diane Arbus was an American Photographer that was born on March 14th 1923 in New York. She learned photography from her husband. It was only in the mid 1960's when Arbus became a well known photographer. She committed suicide in 1971.

What kind of photography did Diane Arbus do?

Arbus's photography was unique as it focused on "societies marginal characters." She fancied the theory of photographing different people in New York, specifically the minor and less important groups of society. For example in 1962 she photographed a "skinny seven year old boy" at Central Park, however this image was different to others as the boy had a fake grenade in his hand. This made the boy a curiosity to her and the only way to analysing him was by photographing him.

Larry Clark

Short Biography:

Lawrence Clark was born on January 19th 1943 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is an American film director, photographer, writer and film producer.

What is Larry Clarks Tulsa project about?

Clark has always been fascinated by the subject of young teenagers who use illegal drug substances and are engaged in underage sex and violence. Therefore in 1971, when he published his book (Tulsa), it was revolved and based on his own youth friends whom were drug users. This book was published in black and white.

Nan Goldin

 Short Biography:

Nan Goldin is an American photographer born on September 12th 1953 in Washington D.C. She escaped home when she was 13 years old and ever since joined a group of youth who were involved in drugs, sex and violence.

What is the title of Nan Goldin's most known work?

Having accompanied the same group of people for years, Goldin decided in the late 1970's that it was time to document her photographs on them. In 1981, Goldin published a slideshow and a book called ' The Ballad of Sexual Dependancy' and it solely focused on that ring of people she lived with and their daily unusual acts.

Nobuyoshi Araki

Biography

Nobuyoshi Araki is a Japanese photographer born on May 25th 1940 in Tokyo. He studied photography at Chiba University, Tokyo, where he met his wife Yoko Araki. During their honeymoon, Araki took photographs of his wife, and later published a book named ' Sentimental Journey'. His wife died in 1990.

What is Araki's photography and philosophy about now?

Araki's main topics in photography include 'Self and Life', 'Sex', 'Death' and 'Modern Tokyo Scene'. "I only shoot what I want to remember" is his inspirational philosophy. He debates that in order to remember a certain time period in life, one has to capture that moment. Therefore, it didn't matter whether the moment was of happiness or sadness. This is why for example, Araki produced a book on his wife's death and funeral, because to him this was a moment in life which had to be remembered.

Richard Billingham

Biography

Richard Billingham is an English photographer born on September 25th 1970 in Birmingham.

What is Richard Billingham's work about?

Billingham's photography varied, however his most crucial photo book which grabbed people's attention was called ' Rays A Laugh'. This photo book told the story of his parents through the use of photographs. It documented the life of his "alcoholic" father and his "obese" mother who was covered with tattoos.

Do you think photographers tend to prey on vulnerable people?

I personally believe that photographers do tend to target vulnerable people when capturing a photograph. This is because people who seem to be exposed to harm, whether physical or mental, can add uniqueness and depth of meaning to the photograph. This is exactly what photographers aim for, because the more vulnerable the person in the photograph is, the greater the importance of the image.

Exposure Assessment

Shallow Depth of Field

Great Depth of Field

Slow Shutter Speed

Fast Shutter Speed

Panning

The Automobile Society-Proposal

“One has to go back a while to recall a time when cars were simply means of transportation. In those days, they were just considered automobiles. Today, cars are extensions of their owners. They make statements about the character and status of their owners,” published Ebony Magazine in an article named ‘Celebrities and Their Favorite Cars’ in November 1987.

Whether manufactured in Germany, Britain or even Japan, each car is characterised with unique specifications. The luxurious German cars, the reliable Japanese cars and the strong built British cars, are all qualifications that distinguish not only the automobile, however, the owner of the vehicle as well, in our present day.

I propose exhibiting the unique specifications of different brand cars through the use of photography. By using German (Porsche), Japanese (Mitsubishi) and British (Range Rover) cars to photograph both exterior and interior components, this would entitle me to verify the differences between the brands and their owners.

There are several reasons behind choosing cars as the main subject of the project. Initially, I have always been a fan of cars, this is partially due to the fact that I was born and raised in a country where cars are a symbolic tool, which define their owner. This of course causes a spark in society, which leads people to buy luxury cars in order to sustain a level of visible wealth to others. A second reason would partially be because cars are a vital piece of technology that have transformed our present form of transportation to be of ease and efficiency. Therefore, I find it important to reflect upon all mechanisms of a car through the use of photographs, to show how significant they are to our modern society.

The target area that my photographs will be taken at is my uncle’s house in Castleknock, Dublin 15. As mentioned previously, only three cars will be used for the photo-shoot, each from a different country manufacturer. This project will commence at the beginning of November and will last for approximately five months, hence till the beginning of April. Our teacher, Dragana Jurisic, initially allocated the five months time frame to us. The advantage of having five months to work on the photo-shoot is the fact that winter and spring will be two seasons witnessed during the time frame; therefore the variety of natural color/light that could be used while photographing is instantly increased.

In order to complete my end project, certain methods and gadgets will need to be obtained and carried out throughout the photo-shoot. At first, I will be using the same smartphone camera for each photograph; that is an HTC One 4 Ultra Pixel camera, along with a 12X Zoom Lens. The photo-shoot will take place under different weather conditions such as, daylight, nighttime, rain and clouds etc. This will give a sense of diversity in the photographs color and tone. I intend to keep a constant rhythm within my photographs, where each one is a close up of the object being captured. This will give a depth of detail to each component.  Once all photographs are taken, postproduction software’s will be used to edit the photographs, such as Snapseed and Photoshop.

As mentioned previously, I will aim at showing the distinctions between the three different cars by taking a range of exterior and interior photographs, such as the steering wheel, dashboard, gages, wheels and exhaust pipes etc. This project will definitely influence me into adapting new methods of capturing a photograph. To conclude, the outcome of the project is to demonstrate that no social separation should be regarded due to a type of vehicle, as at the end of the day, a cars core purpose is to deliver from point A to point B.

Citation(s):

• ·       "Ebony." Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2013.