Typing in 'Richard Westlake' and 'Richard Westlake Photography'
Tuesday 23 February 2010
Johnathon Winstone
Portrait Photographer produced a portrait project on riders and had bikes in the exhibition
My Portrait Photos
As I have outlined my portraits won't be over produced and I will try to use natural lighting where possible and this will be my approach to the project and the portraiture. These shots are not for the project but experimental portraits.
Monday 22 February 2010
Bruce Davidson
Bruce Davidson is a street photographer. He has produced a number of great protraits from his project, subway. The underground in New York was known for being a dangerous place in the era which he took these photos. In the book he writes about his approach where he would wear layers of clothes to look bulky. He carried a lot of equipment also. He would carry a portfolio with him to show members of the public what he was doing should they question him and offer to send them a print, although sometimes he would not even mention it to his subject even though from looking at some of the shots he has used flash.
Andrew Shaylor
This photographer produced a book on the hells angels named 'Hells Angels Motorcycle Club'. The book includes a series of portraits shot on white backgrounds, some head and shoulder shots and some full body. The portraits are broken up by some more candid shots of the group socialising. This book is similar to how I aim to present my work.
Saturday 20 February 2010
Paul Strand Tailor's Apprentice
Paul Strand's image here shows the style of portrait I intend to take. Without the Tailor title you would not obviously realise the model is a tailor's apprentice. I want to take the riders away from their bikes. Maybe just a helmet if they wear one? Maybe gloves hanging out of the pocket?
New Lens
Having shot with my canon AE-1 with the 50mm Lens i found fantastic results from the speed of it which generates the small depth of field, it requires my to ensure my focus is very precise especially shooting on f1.8. Because of the joys I have recieved from this lens I have decided buy the same lens to fit my canon 400d SLR. When shooting on film I was finding it frustrating to wait for the film process and also the cost. The digital images don't return damaged like the negatives have done and they're obviously easier to put onto my blog from digital. The lens is 50mm f1.8-22. I will use this for the portraiture approach in this project.
Lets Gets
Situated in the alps Les Gets is one of the locations on the world cup Down Hill Biking tour. In summer lots of keen amateurs along with professionals and teams come out to this area to ride the trails. The portes du soleil is the region and similar to most other ski towns where in winter it is full of skiing and boarding and in summer full of cyclists. I took a day off cycling when I was there last summer and took some photos around Les Gets, wandering around town I noticed many expensive bikes with even young teenagers having bikes worth over £3000.
Friday 19 February 2010
Thursday 18 February 2010
BMX Culture -Not My Words
"I’ve written about the bmx perspective before, and I realize that it is not only unique to those on 20″ (24, 26) wheels. Skateboarding, mountain-biking, and other, more “traditional” outdoor activities (hiking, rock-climbing), also come from the idea of taking your environment and finding a way to adapt it to your activity.
What’s interesting about bmx and skateboarding is that so often, we’re looking at man-made objects to adapt in our quest for the perfect spot, be it a 3 foot bank to wall, or an abandoned building with an olympic-size pool - more on that one for another time… So often, the exploration is as good as the session. It was true when I was 16, and could throw my bike in my truck to venture to far-away spots, and it is still true today, when I see footage or photos of unique set-ups or abandoned junkyards full of vintage autos. Not always bicycle-related, but still conjure the same feelings of finding or creating something unexpected.
And that’s what I’m getting at - I think that so many of us who were (are) riders have that exploration built-into us, and it continues to permeate what we do. Be it as literal as my friend Scott, who shoots photos of his own “urban exploration” to beautiful results, or my friend Kevin, searching for the next perfect part for the hot-rod he’s building, or Phil and I talking about crazy boat trips up the Missouri or Kaw rivers. For me, it all revolves around some kind of creative outlet; building, photography, bikes, art, collecting, etc., and I know I’m not unique in this.
Funny that little bikes can open so many opportunities and perspectives for a lifetime."
I found this write up here
Research on Fixie
From my research thus far into fixie riders and the culture they seem to have created their own generic trend. Tattoos, check shirts and hats. From a riding point of view their tricks are hugely limited by having a fixed wheel bike. I compare this to using my old canon camera, within a day of getting the film processed and scanned in to the computer hairline scratches have already appeared and i have so much more flexability and control on my SLR. So now I will look into having the right tools for the job. Fixie riders often ride in skate parks now along with the streets and BMX bikes are much better suited to this environment.
Canon AE-1 Fixie Photos
The Prime Lens I was shooting with gave me a really nice low depth of field. I will keep shooting with this along with my SLR
Wednesday 17 February 2010
Bike Photographer
This site is quite recognisable as Southbank in London. A BMXer is riding in the park with the photographer lined up to take a shot. I have left out the BMX to keep the shot simple which is my approach to this project. My Art direction is one of simplicity.
Tuesday 16 February 2010
Monday 15 February 2010
Friday 12 February 2010
Tuesday 9 February 2010
Saturday 6 February 2010
Wednesday 3 February 2010
Canon AE-1
This week I will take some portraits on a canon AE-1. I found a 50mm f1.8 lens for this camera and have loaded it with a colour film so aim to take a few shots of people experimenting with composition. I will not shoot in a studio with minimalistic set up in the images. I aim to have the results up on this blog next week.
Tuesday 2 February 2010
Bicycles as an accessory | Fashion over Function
Having been involved with bicycled my whole teenage life I found it was certainly important to have the right kit on my bike. Luckily the fashionable kit tended to be the most expensive and best performing so it wasn't comparible to having pink fluffy dice hanging from your rear view mirror in your car to impress folk. My worst fail was spending £40 on gold quick releases for my wheels yet looking at my bike now it is certainly very fashionable with an obvious pink front tyre. The bicycle culture, aswell and cycling, is about a social group. I feel there is a heirarchy although each genre of rider claims they are the better group. Fixie riders being currently at the top with racing road bike riders at the bottom yet on very similar bikes. Through this project I am looking into the social aspects of bicycles i.e tattoos and having the right kit on your bike. Should you wear a helmet?
Philip Lorca DiCorcia
I have always enjoyed looking at the work of Lorca DiCorcia, I think it's the way which he uses light and the people he uses as models which I find entertaining. I took interest in this photographer when I was told that when he granted money from the Guggenheim foundation to take images he used it to pay prostitutes and drug users to pose for him and then titled the images by the amount he paid them for the image. I find this facinating.
Luca Sage
In 2004 he graduated from Brighton University.I like the style of his portraiture, he seems to use natural lighting on location so inside he tends to stand the models by a window and make them a feature of the shot as shown above.
David Ellison | Labour: Power to your elbow
David Ellison is only 3 years older than me and was featured in the Autumn 2009 edition of the seesaw online magazine. What I like about his imagery is the simplicity of the images and, similar to the images in the taylor wessing exhibition, hold very powerful emotions. The models tend not to be looking at the lens and with their body either perpendicular or at 45 degrees to the camera. The models are all workers so are shot in their work wear such as a butcher and a coal miner with black stained skin. Another interesting thing he has done is have the image of head of shoulders positioned alongside their function as a worked, for example the butcher is pictured alongside his wellies. The Coal miner is pictured alongside his hands holding coal.
I find this piece of work a very interesting display of portraiture and a nice and similar approach to what I want from this project.
Monday 1 February 2010
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