Portraits, portraits, portraits!

In my previous post I mentioned that I would put out some pictures from the shoot earlier this week. The task we got was the following:
 
1) SELF-PORTRAIT: This task will result in 3-4 photos, and represent a classic photographic approach - to portray yourself!


PORTRAIT OF SOMEONE ELSE - OTHER PERSONS: You go from portraying yourself to portray others. You are free to decide how to perform the mission, but we would like to see two different images.


I had so much fun taking pictures of my brother's girlfriend. She is very pretty and always smiling, but I really wanted to try to bring out other aspects of her. Here are some of the pictures. 

The selection process was tough. I do believe I shot over 500 photos. I might post some more of these pictures from this shoot as soon as I get time to edit them. They are good, and they should therefore be shared with you guys. I had to take pictures of myself too. It was a little unpleasant at first. Personally I feel that I have no control when I have to do a self-portait. I do not know exactly what I am taking picture of. These pictures were not as nice as I had hoped for. Here they are! 

 

My teacher really liked the last picture. I got very good feedback for this photo. People said it was convincing. That it was a credible photo. The other pictures I took were pretty and all, but nothing more. I have to start daring a little more and try out alternative solutions to get it to tell the viewer something - to tell a story. It's so good to receive positive feedback, but also criticism. Both good and bad criticism. I really really appreciate it. As long as it is constructive criticism that gives me something to work on. So it gives me a chance to improve. That's why I'm at school. To learn about techniques and everything, to get guidance and advices, to get inspired, to get an environment and a network, and to be criticized. The same applies to everything I post here on my 'phoblography'. Feel free to comment on the posts and tell me what you think. I want to learn as much as possible, and I am willing to work hard to be the best as I possibly can. Now, enough about that. Let's go on to the next task, which was the following:

2) AUTUMN: A new season is here and with a single image you portray the fall and how our surroundings and we are affected!

Here we were told that there should not be any pictures about leaves and such typical autumn symbols. I had a brainstorming while I had a cup of coffee outside at a cafe in the neighborhood. I thought about all the things that I feel touches the theme of autumn. The weather has changed and it's colder and often raining. The nature is lovely with all the different colors and all, and people have to wear thicker jackets and sweathers etc. - but is there something else going on? I began to think about the bikini season. That it's over, and people can stop with all the stress related to appearance and flat tummies. My idea was to first find a shelf in a store where hair removal products were on sale. I could not find anything that was visually good, but then I came across a small shop that had two full shelves with sunscreen on sale. So this is the result!  

 From a technical point of view the picture is not very good. What I could do in a narrow and small store with bad light and a lot of people trying to get pass me while I was taking pictures, was indeed limited. So I had to be quick, beacuse I was in the way for the customers. If I would have the chance of bringing my own lamps, and if the space would be bigger - I think the result would be better too. But I had to the best I could even though the circumstances was not the best. Anyway, the idea was good, but the result wasn't. You learn as long as you live, I guess. 

Tomorrow's the beginning of a new week with new experiences and new tasks. I am looking forward to the challenges and I am looking forward to take lots of new pictures. Stay tuned for new updates. NEW, NEW, NEW! 

A summary of the two first weeks

Alright. I must be the worst blogger ever! It's been almost two weeks since I wrote something. I have had an incredible rush, but a lot of fun. There is something very special about having to adapt oneself to start studying again after a year on leave. And this is a school that requires something of me, which means I have to work extra hard. However, it is fantastic. That is the way it should be. I simply love it!  

The first week we got several tasks, one of which was to copy or be inspired by an image that already exists. It is of course not possible to copy a picture exactly. (I definitely coudn't do it with the pictures I wanted to use). I chose to try to copy, but with my own twist. One of the pictures I chose was taken by Alex Prager. I'm a big fan of hers. Check out her site! http://www.alexprager.com/ I love what she does with her ​​pictures, and the fact that she uses these strong colors, and that it looks very analog and 'filmish'. Some of her work is partly inspired by Alfred Hitchcock, which is really cool I think. 

I chose a picture that she uses in her image collection called Polyester 2007. Here is her picture.

Here is my picture. 

I used my lovely cousin as a model. I cropped the picture a bit different. I'm a sucker for the Golden Section. Her dress is actually white, but I liked this light green on her. At school I got good feedback from the teacher, who said that he almost liked my picture better than the one I was trying to copy. It was very nice to hear! I was pretty happy with the result myself. It was the first time I had taken pictures in a studio, and I did not know how to set the lights, where I would place the lamps or anything! But after some trials and errors, it all finally worked as I wanted. The day after the shoot, we had our first day of a class called 'Lighting' (Lyssetting in Norwegian). The teacher gave us the tour of the studios, and taught us different things about all the equipment we use in conjunction with the light when have our photoshoots there. I realized pretty quickly that I had made ​​some mistakes, and got answers to some of the things I couldn't figure out the night before. It's cool that I made it happen anyways and that I got some good pictures without really knowing too much in advance. Awesome! Here are some more of the pictures I took that night. 

We had some minor assignments as well, like taking pictures with different lenses - and look at how different it is, even if the subject is the same. I'm not gonna post those pictures. I wanna use the most exciting ones. We have also taken pictures outside, where we have used the environment as reflectors and seen the differences between flat and hard light. It's all about the light, and I'm going to talk a lot about light! For that is what photography is. Light. We also made a camera obscura, which was one of the inventions that led to photography. You can read more about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_obscura Unfortunately I couldn't take any pictures of it, since it was the room we sat that was converted into the Camera Obscura. Therefore, it was very dark.

Another project we did was first to write down our very own plan of a photoshoot. The pictures for this shoot had to be staged. It could be an advertisement, fashion photos, etc. We had to create a picture with a clear idea, and document the work flow by showing a plan. I chose to make a pretend commercial for the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud in Norway (Likestillings- og diskrimineringsombudet). Here is the wesite if you are interested http://www.ldo.no/en/ 

My original idea was something totally different, but unfortunately I was not able to go through with it. Therefore, I decided to go for Plan B. Here is the result with or without text. If you translate the text to English, it says the following: Today's man - must be able to handle all kinds of tools. 

This was not taken in a studio, but in a regular building with multiple offices. The day before this picture was taken, I had just bought my first flash ever (and new camera by the way). I did not know how to use it, but I had read the first pages of the instructions - so therefore I had learned to turn it on and off. But it worked really well! I have always been an anti-flash-photographer, and I've mostly used natural light, but this was just great! I was so happy when I saw the result as well. Earlier the same day as I took the photo, I learned some new tricks in Photoshop at school that I used in this picture. When my fellow students and my teacher first saw this picture, they all began to laugh. It was very funny that they liked it! I was very happy with it too. At the bottom of the picture I put the logo of the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud. Maybe they want to use my photo? I mean the logo is already attached. I think I'll wait a while before I call myself a commercial photographer, but it was a really fun assignment. 

Later this week I had a project where I had to shoot self-portraits and portraits of others. This was the second time I was in the studio, and I felt much more confident this time.

The next post will contain pictures from this portaitshoot. Stay tuned!

 

Getting started!

Alright! Here we go! I must say that I am quite skeptical about this whole blogging thing, and to be honest, I have not read too many blogs. BUT, I have been advised to create a blog where I can share my experiences whilst becoming a full-fledged photographer. I am currently a student, and I am gonna do a lot of projects in the future where I will be experimenting with techniques, genres and styles.

I will write this blog in English, to make it more international. The industry is international and therefore I should reach as many people as possible. My English might not always be perfect. This is not an author blog, but rather a photo blog. And English is not my native language, so bare with me. As the title describes, this is not an art gallery, but rather an attempt to describe my experiments. 

Now that the purpose is explained and all, I can tell you about myself. As mentioned earlier in this post, I am a student. I have not taken pictures for too long, but I've always been interested in the visual arts. As a child, I loved to draw and paint. I still do. My first real camera was bought almost two years ago. At once I knew we belonged together, the camera and I. I love technical stuff, and I love to be creative - so it was just ment to be!

Earlier this year, I was fortunate enough to be accepted at the best school in Oslo (I think it is the best). I had my first day of school this Tuesday and this whole week has been very exciting and educational. I've already learned a lot, but the more I learn, the more I realize how little I actually know. I am very motivated and I'm ready to receive all that I can learn. 

When it comes to photography, I shoot both analog and digital. At school I will learn to develop film on my own, which I'm really looking forward to! Until now, I've delivered film rolls to a photo lab here in the neighborhood. It is quite expensive to do this if you shoot a lot of analog. So it will not only be fun to develop film on my own, but also a lot cheaper. 

There are many exciting things that await me and my career. I will update you as often as I can. So stay tuned!