Self Evaluation

Sean Warman

Professional Frameworks 2, Self-evaluation report.

Professional frameworks 2 (Editorial Assignment), has been for me one of the most challenging assignments so far. On the module I have been faces with numerous setbacks ranging from technical aspects to family bereavement that I have had to work around.

Initially when receiving the brief, I had a good idea as to what I wanted to do, and felt that I could achieve it in the time permitted. The first idea was to visit my local art café, and photograph the customers there with their finished work and get a testament from them as to why they likes the café, and if they were a returning customer, what it was that made them want to return.

The Café idea seemed strong at first, however what it came to doing the work the practicality of doing my work at that location became an issue due too poor lighting and space to photograph. From this it lead me to re think my initial idea to something that could incorporate a number of cafes into one set of editorial images.

The project is about the demise of the café industry through large chains like Starbucks and Costa. The Extended captions for the images are the people’s reasons for going to the smaller non chained cafés as opposed to the larger companies. Many captions were to do with the more personal service and preferable food quality.

The project over all has been fairly successful and after many attempts I did get the photos I wanted and the captions that fit well with each image, if I was to undertake a commission like this in the future, I would want portable studio lighting as this would give me more control over my final images.    

Captions

Extended Captions

P1

 Has gone to the café all her life. Likes the food and the atmosphere.

P2

 Is at the café for the first time with her friend, likes the food and music.

P3

 Been going to the café since he moved to Manchester. Tried it out once, liked the food and atmosphere and comes back regularly

P4

 Was out with friends but prefers the hand made sandwiches to the ready made packet sandwiches from chain coffee shops.

P5

 “likes the Pizza”

P6

 Prefers the quiet more personal service of a small café compared to the loudness of café nero

P7

 Out on a walk and wanted some good filling food, (not local)

P8

  “the Café makes the best full English you will ever taste”

P9

 “big companies over price their coffee, it tastes just as good here”

P10

”nice place to sit and talk with friends”

P11

”what she said”

P12

”im not a big fan of coffee, but the food and company here is good”

P13

”it’s nice to go somewhere where the people are welcoming and know you. Feels much more personal”

Final images B&W

i have chosen to use black and white for my final images, as i feel it makes them stand out better, also it makes any thing in the background that the cafe may have had up stay in the background, rather than being a distraction.

obviously all people involved in the work have had to sign the model release form

 

Proposal

Project proposal

For my editorial assignment I am going to undertake the task of finding out about café culture, and if the big corporate chains such as Starbucks and Costa Coffee are slowly bringing an inevitable end to the small coffee houses and cafes.

From research I found that people visiting cafes now want something a little more different and a more personal experience this is interesting as companies like Starbucks do create different products and interesting coffees, but it’s the smaller coffee shops that have that personal experience. This is what I will be hitting on with my extended captions, asking the model being photographed, what it is that makes them choose the small coffee shop over a big company such as Starbucks.

 The model will receive a model release form like this.

Model Release Form

Photographer Sean Warman

Email Address   s.warman@edu.salford.ac.uk

Model’s name............................................................................................................................

Model’s email address (Optional)...........................................................................................................

Date…………………….

By signing this release I hereby give the Photographer my permission to license the Images, and to use the Images in any Media for any Educational purpose (excluding anything unlawful) Images will not be used for advertising, promotion, marketing and packaging for any product or service. I agree that the Images may be combined with other images, text and graphics, and cropped, altered or modified.

I agree that I have no rights to the Images, and all rights to the Images belong to the Photographer. I acknowledge and agree that I have no further right to additional Consideration or accounting, and that I will make no further claim for any reason to Photographer. I acknowledge and agree that this release is binding, and I agree that this release is irrevocable.

Do not hesitate to email me if you want a copy of the photograph taken of you today. Your time and support for my project is gratefully received.

And on the back their testimony will be written for use as an extended caption.

The end body of work will be placed in a local newspaper and Café Culture magazine, other possible placed for the work could be local information leaflets and using black and white imagery will have more graphical punch and won’t cause printing issues for any medium due to the contrast and brightness being adjusted to look best as a black and white photograph. 

Caf'é culture

http://www.cafeculturemagazine.co.uk/

http://www.cafeculturemagazine.co.uk/about/index.shtml

The rise of café culture across the UK has been exceptional in recent years, and it’s not just the well known high street coffee chains that have made a name for themselves.

In towns and cities across the land, you will find plenty of innovative independents specialising in anything from ice cream to freshly-made smoothies, or coffee cocktails. Welcome to the world of Café Culture!

You don’t have to be a coffee connoisseur to indulge, although there’s no doubt that in the UK, these days, we increasingly recognise a good cup of coffee when we’re served one. In addition to the widening availability of barista-made espressos and cappuccinos, local cafés and coffee shops have become the destination stop for the serving of plenty of other types of tempting café fayre.

For one thing, our busier, constantly ‘on the go’ lifestyles means that when we do stop off for refreshment, we’re after likely to want something ‘different’, of high quality - perhaps a treat or a tasty light bite, or something healthy that be eaten in, or taken away.

It is these aspects of UK coffee culture which Café Culture, the magazine, addresses and advises on in order to encourage outlets to thrive in a profitable and vibrant manner.

Cafe industry images

as with the other images, the models all received model release forms. 

i feel these images are far more successful, due to the better control of lighting, and placing the subject nect to the wall, rather than using the main body of the cafe as the backdrop.

change of idea

in stead of focusing just on one cafe, i have decided to look at the cafe culture as a whole
from this i will hope to point out about how large chains such as starbucks and cafe nero, are making the smaller cafes co out of demise.

the project will be called the death of the cafe.

1st shoot at local art cafe

unfortunately, my first shoot had been less than successful with me not being able to get the images i wanted to achieve.

I got the people who i photographed to sign model release forms.

Model Release Form

Photographer Sean Warman

Email Address   s.warman@edu.salford.ac.uk

Model’s name............................................................................................................................

Model’s email address (Optional)...........................................................................................................

Date…………………….

By signing this release I hereby give the Photographer my permission to license the Images, and to use the Images in any Media for any Educational purpose (excluding anything unlawful) Images will not be used for advertising, promotion, marketing and packaging for any product or service. I agree that the Images may be combined with other images, text and graphics, and cropped, altered or modified.

I agree that I have no rights to the Images, and all rights to the Images belong to the Photographer. I acknowledge and agree that I have no further right to additional Consideration or accounting, and that I will make no further claim for any reason to Photographer. I acknowledge and agree that this release is binding, and I agree that this release is irrevocable.

Do not hesitate to email me if you want a copy of the photograph taken of you today. Your time and support for my project is gratefully received. 

Henri Cartier-Bresson

The decisive moment i feel is important in all photography shoots, even editorial, especially when you want to catch what the person is doing. often a photo that does not feel staged can come out better, then a photo that does feel staged.

http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=MAGO31_10_VForm&ERID=24KL53ZMYN


The Decisive moment
http://www.photo-seminars.com/Fame/bresson.htm

Regarded as one of the greatest photographers of his time, Henri Cartier-Bresson was a shy Frenchman who elevated "snap shooting" to the level of a refined and disciplined art. His sharp-shooter’s ability to catch "the decisive moment," his precise eye for design, his self-effacing methods of work, and his literate comments about the theory and practice of photography made him a legendary figure among contemporary photojournalists.

Mangnum Photography

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/photography/8874329/Magnum-Contact-Sheets-The-Symposium.html

magnum photographers work is protected so that their artwork cannot be changed by a magazine, unless explicitly given permission by the photographer and magnum.

Magnum Contact Sheets: The Symposium

A one day event addressing the selection and sequencing of photographs.

Image 1 of 2

Contact sheet showing tanks in Beijing by Magnum photographer Stuart Franklin Photo: STUART FRANKLIN/MAGNUM PHOTOS

2:59PM GMT 07 Nov 2011

A landmark new book, Magnum Contact Sheets presents an unparalleled wealth of unpublished material, revealing the story behind many iconic and historical images of modern times taken by the world’s most celebrated photographers. The book shows their creative process and also acts, in the words of Martin Parr, as an ‘epitaph to the contact sheet’ as it marks the end of the analog era as we move to a digital generation.

Magnum Contact Sheets presents, for the first time, the very best contact sheets created by Magnum photographers. Contact sheets tell the truth behind a photograph. They unveil its process, and provide its back story. Was it the outcome of what a photographer had in mind from the outset? Did it emerge from a diligently worked sequence, or was the right shot down to pure serendipity a matter of being in the right place at the right time?

This seminal publication provides the reader with a depth of understanding and a critical analysis of the story behind a photograph, the process of editing it, and the places and ways in which the selected photographs were used. For anyone with a deep appreciation of photography and a desire to understand what goes into creating iconic work, Magnum Contact Sheets will be regarded as the definitive volume.

Magnum Contact Sheets: The Symposium is held in conjunction with the Photography Department of London College of Communication. This one day event will discuss and address topics and issues raised by the book; in particular the foreword written by Kristen Lubben, Associate Curator of the International Center of Photography, New York. The Symposium will be introduced by Sophie Wright, Cultural Director atMagnum Photos.

Speakers include:

Simon Baker, Photography Curator at Tate Martin Barnes, Senior Curator, Photographs, V&A David Campany, artist, writer & critic and Reader in Photography at the University of Westminster, London Zelda Cheatle, partner of The Tosca Photography Fund David Hurn, Magnum photographer and founder of the School of Documentary Photography in Newport Francis Hodgson, writer & photography critic Sean O'Hagan, photography writer, The Guardian Colin Jacobson, author and former picture editor Peter Marlow, Magnum photographer Andrew Sanigar, Commissioning Editor at Thames & Hudson

 

Local Newspapers

Newspapers tell stories, and need editorial photographs to help them, as well as stories, local newspapers often have sections about things that happen locally and whats on, often the images shown help to tell that story, this is editorial photography.








 

Information leaflets research

travel and information leaflets often have information in  them and photographs about the place that trt to tell a story or some of the information about the place or product.

Portrait photography

Info on portrait photography
http://photo.net/learn/portraits/

If you don't have or can't create a photo studio, concentrate on environmental portraiture. Show the subject and also his surroundings. These tend to work best if you can enlarge the final image to at least 11x14 inches. In any smaller photo, the subject's face is simply too small. Taking photos that will enlarge well is a whole art by itself. Your allies in this endeavor will be a low ISO setting, prime (rather than zoom) lenses, a tripod, and at least a mid-range digital SLR.

There are two elements to a photo studio for portrait photography. One is a controlled background. You want to focus attention on your subject and avoid distracting elements in the frame. Probably the best portraits aren't taken against a gray seamless paper roll. On the other hand, you are unlikely to screw up and leave something distracting in the frame if you confine yourself to using seamless paper or other monochromatic backgrounds. You don't have to build a special room to have a controlled background. There are all kinds of clever portable backdrops and backdrop supports that you can buy or build. If you absolutely cannot control the background, the standard way to cheat is to use a long fast lens, e.g., 300/2.8. Fast telephoto lenses have very little depth of field. Your subject's eyes and nose will be sharp. Everything else that might have been distracting will be blurred into blobs of color.

The second element of a portrait studio is controlled lighting. With lights on stands or hanging from the ceiling, you get to pick the angle at which light will strike your subject. With umbrellas and other diffusion equipment, you get to pick the harshness of the shadows on your subject (see out studio photography primer). There are some pretty reasonable portable flash kits consisting of a couple of lights, light stands, and umbrellas. These cost $500-1000 and take 20 minutes or so to set up on location. If you don't have the money, time, or muscles to bring a light package to a project, the standard way to cheat is to park your subject next to a large window and put a white reflecting card on the other side. Don't forget the tripod, because you'll probably be forced to use slow shutter speeds.

Duane Michaels Research

Short Biography of Duane Michals as found on www.artfact.com

(b McKeesport, PA, 18 Feb 1932). American photographer. He had no formal training but recognized his photographic aptitude when he took his first pictures as a tourist in the USSR in 1958. By 1960 he was earning his living through commercial work, including portraiture and fashion photography. In 1964, weary of the demands of photographing people, Michals responded to Eugène Atget’s pictures of depopulated Paris with his own views of empty New York shop interiors, which seemed to him like stage sets waiting to be animated. In 1966 he began to produce sequences depicting enigmatic encounters in a static setting as if in the frames of a film (pubd in Sequences , New York, 1970). These were inspired by the erotically charged domestic dramas painted by Balthus, whose canvas The Street (1933; New York, MOMA) served as the model for Michals’s first staged photograph. In order to accommodate the increasing elaboration of his narratives and often metaphysical themes, Michals began to write on the surfaces of such photographs as Private Acts.

Gillian Wearing

As Am looking at peoples opinions, i thought it would be a good idea to look at Gillian wearing 

Biography of Gillian Wearing off the Tate.
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/gillian-wearing-obe-2648/text-artist-biography
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/gillian-wearing-obe-2648

Artist biography

English photographer and video artist. Wearing has described her working method as ‘editing life'. By using photography and video to record the confessions of ordinary people, her work explores the disparities between public and private life, between individual and collective experience. Wearing has cited the influence of English fly-on-the-wall documentaries, such as Michael Apted's 7-up and the 1970s documentary The Family. Signs that Say What You Want Them to Say and Not Signs that Say What Someone Else Wants You to Say (1992–3), made shortly after her graduation from Goldsmiths College in 1990, was produced by approaching people on London streets, asking them to write something on a card and then photographing them as they displayed it. Private lives were given a sudden and revealingly painful exposure: a policeman holds a card reading ‘Help!'. With the introduction of video and more in-depth interviewing of her subjects, Wearing began to use adult actors lip-synching the recorded confessions of children, and subjects, solicited from advertisements placed in newspapers, making confessions while wearing masks. The introduction of actors signalled an increasingly dramatic element in her work and a shift away from the use of documentary techniques. The 1999 video I Love You used actors to explore the theme of strong private emotion spilling out into a semi-public domain. The scene of a drunken woman repeatedly screaming ‘I love you' is played out a number of times, the reaction of her three friends differing each time. Wearing won the Turner Prize in 1997.

Bibliography
M. Paley, ed.: Signs that Say What You Want Them to Say and Not Signs that Say What Someone Else Wants You to Say (London, 1997)
Turner Prize 1997 (exh. cat by V. Button; London, Tate, 1997)
R. Ferguson and others: Gillian Wearing (London, 1998)

notes from lectures

The editorial industry (research notes and stories)

Brief is to produces a series of images with an underlining narrative
Research gives a deeper understanding of the topic or subject.

With research you can get an understanding as to how to get access to places, who to talk to ect. Are there any protocols that need to be followed.

Find out the kind of clothing that would be appropriate to wear

Notes and archive
Tradition or digital ( duplicate copies)

Getting people's correct names contact details ect.

Metadata

Maybe photograph the person in the way that they want the self to be seen. As well as the way that you want them for the project. Helps to build up professional relationships

Contact sheets

Proof prints- important

Magnum contact sheets

Initial proposal

my initial plan is to visit my local art cafe and photograph people there with their finished work and get a testament off them as to why they visit that art cafe, put these together to as series of images that could be together in a booklet or magazine.

Andy Warhol

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/andy-warhol-2121

American painter, film-maker and author. Born in Pittsburgh, originally named Warhola. Studied pictorial design at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, 1945-9. Moved to New York in 1949 and worked as a commercial artist; awarded the Art Directors' Club Medal for his shoe advertisements 1957. First one-man exhibition of drawings at the Hugo Gallery, New York, in 1952, and published six books of reproductions of his own drawings 1954-9. Interested in American popular art, film stars, etc. and in silkscreen and other reproductive processes. Began in 1960 to make paintings based on newspaper title pages, advertisements and other mass-produced images, and from 1962 to use silkscreen for the largely mechanical production by himself and assistants of series of easel paintings of 'Campbell's Soup Cans', 'Coca-Cola Bottles', portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Elvis Presley, Jackie Kennedy, and later also car crashes, the electric chair, flowers and so on, sometimes with rows of repeated images. Shot his first film in 1963 and became increasingly active as an experimental film-maker, the films made by him and Warhol Films Factory Inc. including Sleep 1963, Chelsea Girls 1966,Lonesome Cowboys 1968 and Trash 1970. Has written 'a' A Novel 1968 and The Philosophy of Andy Warhol 1975.