Ryan Williams's Blogger: 2010

Tuesday 9 November 2010

Individual study research Nick knight

Photographer Nick Knight

Alexander McQueen

Devon, 1997

I really like Nick Knights work because of how unusual it is and its serial. This photograph above is a great photograph because it stands out with the pin going through the girls head and then you look at her eye and one is in a different colour. I also love the style of his work and how the fashion works with the hair. I think the crop makes this image stand out to even if it's not something I would do but it works really well with this photograph.

Arena homme Plus

Beasting, Spring / Summer 2007

This shot I chosen I think is a great shot because of the three arms and then one torso. What also helps is the white background and then the dirty animal look they have going on. I really like the idea of this photograph because it reminds me of someone taped and is aggressive and i feel the photographer captured that emotion.

Yohji Yamamoto

Susie Smoking, 1988

This is another great image because i love the colours in the back ground and how the lady is sort of relaxed but looks slightly depressed and the hole atmospheric look it gives. Again i think the crop is something that makes this image stand out and has made me think more about how i crop my photographs

Research for individual study

Photographer - Ralph Morse

Space Flight Helmet Research
1956
Gelatin Silver
by Ralph Morse
© Time Inc.

One of Ralph morse quotes :

"PHOTOGRAPHY IS MORE THAN ART. IN PHOTOJOURNALISM, IT'S KNOWLEDGE" Ralph Morse

Ralph Morse was in my eyes one of the most important photographers and has been to some of the best events during the 20th Century. Ralph Morse photographed some of the most widely seen pictures of World War II, the space program, and sports events. During his thirty years at LIFE Magazine, Morse covered every type of assignment from science to theatre, and he was the senior staff photographer at the time it ceased publication.

Jackie Robinson Rounds Third
Subway Series, New York 1955
Gelatin Silver
by Ralph Morse
© Time Inc.

Ralph Morse was the only civilian photographer photographing the surrender of the German armies for the entire world to see.

Ralph Morse Assigned to the space program during its infancy, he spent fifteen years using inventive photography to explain the astronauts and the space flights to LIFE's readers.

RADAR ECHOES ABSORBED IN ANACHOIC CHAMBER WITH ICBM MODEL
1968
Gelatin Silver
by Ralph Morse
© Time Inc.

Wednesday 3 November 2010

My 8 chosen images. for photoj.

Thia boxing photographs taken on canon eos 40d

This photograph is of my teacher who is just to the left of the photograph and he is kicking the kicking pad.

This photograph was taken at 1/250 per second so his kicking is really fast and you can tell by the pads that the kicks are really powerful which I was after in this photograph and feel captured that. With Phil who is the person on the left I tried to catch his face impression he used when getting kicked up on.

I shot this at the thia boxing club in southport were I train and they have really helped me with this photojournalism project and when I have needed to take photographs they have arranged a time an day out of their schedule which I am really grateful for. After this shoot I come strait home and couldn't wait to edit the photographs and what I really like about this image is the texture and highlights. Also thought it's a lot better in black and white because you sort of get a feeling in the club that it's an old but also respected place and thats what I tried to capture in this photograph.

All though I said I liked this photograph in black and white I do really like it in colour too as you can see the hard work that goes in to the kicks and also you can get more of a feeling of power so I thought I would also show you the same photograph I had taken but in colour.

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Another photographer I have taken where I wanted to show the expression in the face.

This image agin was taken at the club and here phil is kicking the pad for a certain time and it starts to hurt after a wile. I think in his case it was for 2minutes constantly kicking on his left leg. I really like this photograph as I have captured the face when he kicks the pad and also the detail and the lines in his face. When shown to kick and punch it the Thia boxing club you are shown to breath just before you make contact with the pad or punch bag and thats what I captured here. Just has he shouted or made a sound I had taken the photograph. The exposure time I chosen for this shot was 250 at f-stop of 5.6.

I chosen black and white because I think for the photojournalism project it would soot it down to the ground and also think it looks much better in black and white.

Here it is in colour

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With this photograph I wanted to show how powerful the kicks can be when used. This was taken when he was asked to kick consistently for 2minutes with his right leg and i do this but for only a minute and trust me it hurts.

Muay Thia boxing Research

There are not that many records to the twentieth century Thai history. the Knowledge of Muay Thia boxing has been passed down as a tradition, because of this and because of how long the tradition has been going for makes this really difficult to be positive on the facts. Muay Thia was originally for peace and self-defence as in Thailand it has been an important thing for the thai people and for the Thai military. Thai soldiers have studied martial arts since the early years. Muay Thai earns kids and adults money for its competitors and fights and start to get learnt from 4 years of age. During the times between 1234 to1377. Muay Thai boxing became a means of art and self defence in many ways. The thia people started learning Muay Thia from 4 upwards and started fighting and entering in to competitions at the age of 6. 50 miles north of Bangkok is the ancient city of Ayuthaya and was once the great city of Thailand’s capital for over 500 years. Here a platoon of elite guards was formed to protect the king. Officers were highly skilled in Muay Thai boxing. As well as its continued use as a practical fighting technique Muay Thai became a sport where spectators went to watch for entertainment.

The Ayuthaya are from the Art of Muay Kaad Chuek in Thia land aka Muay Thia. That is the use of unrefined hemp wrappings to protect the fingers and wrists. A length of around 20 metres was enough to bind hand. The use of Muay Kaad Chuek quickly spread, as a bound fist is tougher, stronger and better protected against injury than an unbound one. It is said that before a contest fighters immersed their fists in water. This would cause the binding to harden when it dried, making it capable of producing serious injury. Some people go further and claim that fighters dipped their hands in glue and ground glass. Such a contest would certainly have made a gory sight! To this day an annual Muay Kaad Chuek contest with Laos is held in Nong Khai near the NE border with Laos, on the Thai side of the Mekong River. A Muay Kaad Chuek contest with Burma is staged in the Mae Sot, western Thailand, during the Sonkran (Thai New Year) festivities (April 12-14). Boxers fight until knockout. If both competitors remain standing at the end of the bout a match is declared a draw.

This infomation is from http://www.horizonmuaythai.com/history.html#muay_thai_origins
i am looking for the history of muay thia because i want to understand what i am photographing and also to try and capture photographs that people can relate to.

Tuesday 22 June 2010

Researching different poses for future shots.

This was found on google images when searching poses. just thought this might come in handy some time.

This is another one a put together but i found all the images on google an then made a contact sheet in photoshop.

This is a interesting pose and i love how you are drawn to this photograph and i want to do something like this in a future shoot. I think because this poses looks really hard and is unusual it makes the photo work and i am looking forward to playing round.

Sunday 20 June 2010

Inspiration, ideas and problems.

For a few mouths now I have wanted to photograph something different but I couldn’t decide on what my idea was going to be based around. I have been looking for props to mage a good seen. I have been thinking about doing an army set or something with a gas mask and at the moment the idea with a gas mask sounds promising. I had lots of ideas but like most ideas at the day of the shoot the idea seems to be completely different and it doesn’t happen as it was planed out to be. One of the problems I seem to be faced with is when looking back at my work I begin to think “why are my photographs the all the same”. I feel that I do have some great work but sometimes I don’t get any recognition from it. It's making me think about how I can promote my work even to the extent of getting a job as a photographer assistant. I sometimes think my work isn’t going anywhere and I need to make a difference. When I say my work looks the same I mean it in two ways, firstly it could be I have similar work to this in other projects when photographing a models. Secondly I feel I need to shine and try different techniques and when I do then my earlier work want be the same.

Being a dyslexic makes it hard for me to explain and talk about my work and because of that I try to explain through my images.

I am always hard on my self every time I take a photographs because I want everything to go well and also I want the right shot the first time I press the shutter. I don’t want to edit my photographs too much and to me that’s the different between a photographer to a pro photographer.

I was in the library having a 1 to 1 tutorial with Katy and we were going through a photography journal and I said to Katy " you can tell the difference with great photographers work to just a photographer” at the time I didn’t think she would have understood what I meant, I don’t think anyone would understand what I mean.

This is a photograph I found on the internet. I went on to google and searched "kids in gas masks" there was lots of people in gas masks and this one caught my eye. This photograph is serial and very different to my photography. I want my next shoot to jump out and grab peoples attention. Gas masks aunt the most pleasant thing to look at and are quite ugly looking and I want to do something fine art with this.

Photographer :Vee Speers

This was found on google images and yes it wasn't what I was looking for but what a great shot! This photograph has made me think about using other props and not just the gas mask.

Another great shot. Photographer is unknown. I found this on google images when searching gas masks but again I love this image. The lighting is good and the composition to me is a bit out. Personally if I was in the photographers shoes I would shot this so you would have the full body in shot and the light looking up at her to get more contrast and mood to the image. Another thing I like about it is the serial look about it. I think because this women is in a gas mask and you cant see her face people would be attracted to this image and it makes you want to look at it more. This shot represents military fashion with female nudity.

More images below that I found relevant to the next shoot.

This photograph above I really like because of the moody background and just fine art look about it. I think again the gas mask makes this image work and i am defiantly gonna keep this photograph as a reference to my future work

What I like about this photograph is that its in colour and on a location. I might start thinking about going to a location with my model and also use different colours as back grounds. Am not to sure about my model being naked as it is my girlfriend but might do some as a personal project. This images given me some ideas for when I do this shoot.

This photograph looks really cartoon looking and I would really like to do something like this in the future. I have a photo in mined that I want to do and its to get a head shot of the model in the gas mask side on and capture the greens of the mask and make the model really pail white. I am really looking forwards to this shoot.

Saturday 12 June 2010

Work Based Learning (E-mails sent and replays)

Fashion Photographers

Tracer Ital

Make up Artists

Hila Karmand

Ryan Williams May 28 at 3:48pm

Hi Hila

I have been looking at your work and i think your photography is great. I am a photography student studying at blackburn university and for one of my units ii need to get a opportunity to work along side a fashion photographer for my work base learning and i noticed you are based in london. would it be possible to meet up sometime so i could show you my work and see if i could help you in anyway.

Thank you.

Regards

Ryan

Hila Karmand May 28 at 4:53pm

hi ryan,

Hope your well.. Im so sorry to disappoint ou but i am not a fashion photographer but a make up artist.. I know a few fashion photographers that may be able to help you... Sarah Louise Johnson. Tracer Ital. Squiz Hamilton. Daniel Thomas... hope it helps x x

Fashion Photographer

MARI SARAI

Hello Mari

I have been looking at your work a lot over the past year and your photography is great. I am studying photography at blackburn university and for one of my units i need to get a opportunity to work along side a fashion photographer for my work base learning. i was researching and noticed that you are working in london am i right? would it be possible to meet up sometime so i could show you my work and see if i could help you in anyway. It would be a great opportunity for me to see you work so i can gain experience and learn what i have to do to make it big as a photographer. it would be a pleasure and a honour to watch how you go about photographing and organizing your work. Please get back in contact with me, it would me most appreciated.

Thank you,

Regards, Ryan

Fashion Photographer

Sarah Louise Johnson

Portrait Photographer

To Ryan Williams (me)

Hi Jody.

I am a Photography student at blackburn university in England and i really like your work. I cant stop looking at your portraits on the web. they are fantastic. Can i ask you what camera you use to get that effect with your portraits? I was also going to ask if you have ever had students come to you for work experience and if so then can i work along side you next year? It would be a life changing experience because i want to do my best in the photography world and doing work experience with you i feel i could get better and learn from your experience.

Regards

ryan

From Jody Ake

Hello ryan

Thank you for the nice email. To quickly answer you questions. My images look the way they do for a few reasons. I use a hundred year old 8x10 camera and even older lens. I also work in the historical wet collodion process. all of these factors and more contribute to the final look of the image.

I rarely have students or interns. Mostly because my day to day activity is hard to predict. At the moment I am in new york but in the fall i could be moving to oregon. If you find your self in either place let me know.

best

Jody

Commercial/Social Photographer

Philip Lee Harvey

Fashion Photographer

Squiz Hamilton