Tattoo Studio

Well I'm done and dusted with the independent blog for now. I enjoyed this project and feel I have learnt quite a lot from it. I have always enjoyed projects involving people and this project was very different to the Irish one where I took the time to get to know my subjects first. Just goes to show that both methods can be used: to photograph relative strangers and also get to know your subject's personality before photographing them. I was pleased with the final outcome of the project and felt that I had pretty much achieved what I intended to.

My next project will be about the Irish again though I am not sure what form it will take. I will take my experiences from this project forward in order to apply them to future projects: experiences such as working in a more controlled environment for one, challenging myself more with the subject matter for another and not being phased by potential problems that might be encountered in a project. Having encountered and overcome all these issues, I feel confident that I will be able to bring this learnt experience to my next project in order to create an interesting and unique piece of work.

Tattoo Studio

Here are the photos for the last session. Considering I hadn't expected to get so many subjects, I think they came out quite well.

I created a PDF file and sent it off to Blurb. I only used them as I had a free voucher from the Street Photography Project to use - I never trust a company that has no contact number if there are any problems. Ebay is another such company. After double and triple checking everything... twice I felt confident it was all ok. I had a few problems with sending off the PDF using their template as for some reason it wouldn't accept it, so eventually after constantly trying, I ending up emailing them. I received no reply even though they promised to respond within 3 hours. I didn't want to risk not getting the book back in time so ended up downloading the templates again and re-importing the images and text. What a pain! 

Anyway, got the book back a few days ago and apart from one or two images which I will have to mess around with again before producing a paperback version of the book for the tattoo studio, it looks pretty good. I hope that Louis, Beany and Gary at the studio and all those who participated will like it. I am glad that I chose black and white format as I reckon that it works really well. Oh well, back to the grindstone...

 

Tattoo Studio

Saturday 23rd April

Went to the studio for the last time today, with the intention of interviewing a couple more clients as I already have twelve. Even though there were just two tattoo artists working that day, I ended up photographing another six! This was not really my intention as it means more work for me but hey, you can't look a gift horse in the mouth. I really need to get the book sent off asap. I have the book set up as PDF already, with the subjects I have previously photographed but now have another group to add. Still, I hope it will all come together in the end.

I have actually really enjoyed this project and met some really interesting people through it. As I did with the last book I made at the Irish Centre, I will send everyone who participated a photocopy of the book and a print of their photo. Just a case of juggling the projects now in order of which needs to be handed in first!

Tattoo Studio

I haven’t been on the blog for a while as I have been trying to get work done for all the projects. God will I be glad when this term is over! I feel like I am drowning but I know I will get it done – I have to!

I am due back at the studio next Saturday. I have seen my tutor and decided to stick with the black and white portraits. I do feel that they work and they were part of my original plan, besides I haven’t time to experiment with backgrounds for over a dozen photographs. If this was a long-term project I would probably take the time to experiment more to see which image worked better but my present workload means that I cannot fulfil all my intentions. I do feel that I have done my best and though some photos are stronger than others, they will balance out as a whole project.

This weekend, I photographed a wedding, something that I have said I would never do. I was kind of coerced into it and felt obliged even though I hadn’t seen the bride since she was seven years old! My brother also took photos so the onus wasn’t entirely on me and I got some nice shots so I am sure the newlyweds will be happy. They have to be as gold nuggets were not exchanged!!

Tattoo Studio

I have been messing with the backgrounds for the photos but not been too successful as yet. 

I will persevere though to see if the idea is worth pursuing. I might just decide to do a couple of them with backgrounds, if they work out, and the rest in black and white. I will have quite a few subjects for the book anyway, I already have 12 subjects and I have just arranged with Louis to return to the studio on the 23rd April for the last session. I know it is a little late in the day but I have to work round his busy schedule and want to make one last visit so that I can perhaps interview him and I might as well see if there are any more potential subjects lurking in the studio. I have messed around with the black and white versions and though not totally finished, have enclosed them to see which works better.  

© Andrea Percival

Tattoo Studio

Spent all weekend photographing streets, people, walls and anything else that I could be bothered photographing. I really did not feel motivated at all – I feel like I am working on so many things that I don’t know whether I am coming or going. I have taken loads of photographs, some are ok, some are not. I am juggling projects in order of importance, ie deadlines. It is driving me nuts! I know I will get there though, it just feels like I’m not at the moment. 

Rant over…

I can’t decide how I want the finished photographs to look. I have three choices: as shot with a neutral background; black and white or with a background behind it as I originally planned. Another student has been really helpful and told me how to effectively use the blending tool in Photoshop to create a more realistic background. I tried this and this was the result. I know that the background is a bit naff but it was the first one I find. It kind of worked though, not too fake... 

I photographed several plain backgrounds in order to place them behind the subject. I realise that I don’t want to over complicate things by using a background such as Bernard Clarke uses (see earlier post on Tattoo Studio). I need to start with a more straightforward style background and ensure that the proportions of both subject and background fit. I had a go and here are the results. I will work on them more to ensure they look realistic.

Photoshop

Have been getting Digital Photography magazine every month (Christmas pressie) and it comes with a CD each week on Teach Yourself Photoshop. Had let them pile up but decided to check them out this weekend and they are actually quite good! One was on Black and White made easy and though I am aware that creating a digital black and white from a colour image will never be as good as using an analogue camera, it did give me some ideas with which to experiment. I was aware of quite a few of the options available in Photoshop but also learned some new methods so will put them into practice.

Tattoo Studio

Still not sure what format my final images are going to take: I have enclosed the contact sheet for the black and white versions, as I do really like them. 

Have experimented a little with the blending mode in Photoshop but definitely need to work harder on that aspect if my images are going to work. I have actually been looking at YouTube for videos on how to use the tool effectively, though some of the videos are pretty crap so I have to weed out the good from the bad and mediocre. I have also bought the Tom Ang book: Digital Photographer’s Handbook, which is a really good reference book.

I still have one more session at the Tattoo Studio. I intend to perhaps interview Louis in this last session and hopefully make a video of the studio interior. I am still not sure what the final format will be, though I am tending towards a book only. I had hoped to show the project on my website but am not sure this will happen now. I will show it at a later stage though, once I can breathe again!

Barnardos Project

The Barnardos Exhibition opened today! It was at Wheatsheaf library and will run for three weeks. It was attended by around fifty or so people including all the kids whose photos we took. It was great to see the project come together and all the photos finally on display. It has been an interesting process and has given me great insight into working a team project. It has been hard but very worthwhile and I am so glad that I participated. I was really pleased as five of my photos were used in the exhibition out of the ten on display, and I only photographed five children in the group anyway. Some of the photos that I took are shown below.

 

Jack

Aaron

Lee

Louis

© Andrea Percival

 

Saturday 19th March

Spent the day in the studio today. It is a long day, but whilst I am waiting for potential clients, I get on with other work for the course. It was pretty good day for subjects, managed to photograph about half a dozen people, one of whom coincidentally happened to be an old friend of mine that I hadn’t seen in about three years! Consequently she was confident in front of the camera and I got some really nice (if not slightly wacky!) images of her. I had asked Gary who worked there, if he would be able to ask around to see if he could find any potential subjects who had previously been tattooed at the studio. As mentioned previously in the blog, it is quite difficult to manage to get the intended shots from some people when they are not ‘natural models’. By that I mean that they are not totally confident in front of the camera. I myself hate being in front of the camera so am not the best subject. Unfortunately, the people he had in mind, did not turn up. If I had more time, I would probably attempt to get more subjects who could really pose in front of the camera and would not mind being photographed for longer than five minutes, I am sure that I would then achieve the photographs that I want. I cannot just get anyone in who has a tattoo as the project is about the Middleton studio and the photos that I have taken are fine for that purpose. I will however, as suggested by my tutor, experiment with different backgrounds and using black and white as well to see which images work best as a cohesive group. 

 

Barnardos Project

What an exhausting week I’ve had this week! I knew that the project was due for exhibition in late March, but wasn’t sure of the exact date. I was made aware of this date last Tuesday – it is this coming Monday! Out of the ten kids that we were supposed to be photographing, we had only done six. The problem had been arranging available locations as all the kids had different aspirations, therefore different locations had to be found, a task that proved somewhat of a nightmare. Anyway, I found myself at a hairdressers on Wednesday, The Hilton Hotel on Friday and also Long Legs later in the day.

The shoot with Aaron was at a local hairdressers. He’s very fashion conscious and we wanted to show him in an environment to represent this visually. The initial idea was to put him on a catwalk with models, but his wheelchair might have made this difficult to achieve in a short space of time. He loved being at the hairdressers and had so much gel in his hair by the end of the night that his mother would have had a nightmare getting it all out before school the next day! I took some photos of him sat on a leather chair looking cool, surrounded by hair products. I was pleased with the photos and did not need to make any adjustments with them at all.

The shoot the following day took place at the Hilton hotel with Jack, who yearned for independence. We set up on The Cloud Bar on the 23rd floor and sat Jack in a corner with a computer and a drink in order to replicate a bachelor pad. He came with his parents and was pretty loath to leave at the end of the shoot! He obviously loved the location but I surmise it was more a case of avoiding having to return to school afterwards! The location was incredible and we completed the shoot pretty quickly.

Julian, the curator at See Gallery and coordinator of the project, asked if I wanted to attend the next shoot which was going to be at Long Legs in central Manchester as it was going to be shot by a professional photographer, Andy Farrington. A lecturer at Blackburn, I am sure he is known to staff at Preston. I would not have wanted to attempt this shoot anyway, as I knew it to be a lap dancing club and was not familiar with the layout so wasn’t sure if I would be confident enough. I was however, keen to watch a professional at work. The location was really nice, and we were able to set up in the VIP lounge. The interior was very contemporary and the staff really friendly and accommodating. Andy had an assistant called Neil, one of his second year students and between them they set up the lighting really quickly. The kit was tungsten rather than flash, which has inspired me to be more experimental with my tungsten kit. The lighting was set up before Dan, the subject of this shoot arrived. We had originally decided on this shoot as Dan loved the ladies and though nineteen, his parents were initially consulted and gave the go ahead. It was however decided that this particular shoot would not be representative of Barnardos but would be used for a future project. The experience however was really useful and the use of strobe lights and smoke machines to create a sultry atmosphere was something that I will consider using myself for future shoots. I do want to practice photographing in such locations - maintaining the dark atmosphere whilst enhancing the subject. His shots looked stunning and having checked out his website, he is obviously good at what he does. His website is http://www.andrewfphotography.com/ or http://andrewfphoto.deviantart.com/. Dan loved his experience at the club and I am glad that I attended the shoot. Afterwards, myself and Julian the curator, went through the photographs to get an idea of possible final images. That decision however will be made once Jackie, the other curator at the Gallery has looked at the images herself.

Vivian Maier

There has been much hype about this photographer, even some suggestions that the whole episode is too good to be true and in fact a hoax. Regardless, I will give a little background and show some of her photos, as they are really good and worth sharing.

The story is that a former estate agent called John Maloof, from Chicago paid $400 for a box of old negatives in an auction, hoping they might be useful for a book he was writing on Chicago's history. The contents of that box have resulted in a commitment to unravelling Maier's story, a task which has so far taken four years.

Maier was born in 1926 and died in 2009. She never married or had children, nor seemingly, any close friends. People who knew her recall a reclusive, eccentric individual, who spoke in a thick French accent and always wore a heavy overcoat and hat. Her legacy is the 100,000 negatives that are the result of a lifetime of street photography. Her photos give an amazing insight into the way of life in the 1950s and 60s. Her subject matter veers from humanist portraiture and street life, to abstract.

Maloof and the curators of Vivian Maier Photography are sorting through the negatives and some 12,000 negatives are in the public spotlight with her work being compared to legendary street photographers such as Brassai and Cartier-Bresson. Her work is currently on display at the Chicago Cultural Centre and the exhibition is entitled 'Finding Vivian Maier: Chicago Street Photographer'. 

© Vivian Maier

 

Inspiration

Found a couple of books in the library entitled: National Portrait Gallery Photographic Portrait Prize, Editions 2007 and 2009, of which I have included some of the portraits that I particulalry liked.

© Edward Tyler - Jamie Robert - Architect, 2009

© David A Knight - Alyssa, 2008

© Colin Pantell - Sofa portrait 3, 2006

© David Graham - Scott, 2008

© Izajeano Latif - Female boxer No 3, 2009

© Guy Martin - Cossack cadets, 2006

© Harry Borden - untitled, 2006

© Koos Breukel - Lucien Freud on his bed with Eli, 2008

© Lluis Artus - Group of friends at Barceloneta Beach, 2009

© Louise Maher - Niamh Aged 11, 2007

© Meta Scheltes - To love, 2008

Michal Chelbin - Stas sentenced for murder - Juvenile prison Russia, 2009

© Michal Chelbin - 'Black eye' Ukraine 2006

© Michelle Sank - Janine from Reality Crossings, 2007

Billy and Hells - Sophia, 2008

Billy and Hells

© Billy and Hells

My favourite portrait was Sophia by Billy and Hells. I found their website which is http://www.billyundhells.de/Seiten/Pictures.html so that you can see their work for yourself. It was actually the cover image – Sophia that attracted me to the books in the first place.