Marja Pirilä
Marja Pirilä graduated in 1986 from the Department of Photography at the University of Art and Design, Helsinki and with an MSc from the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences/ biology at the University of Helsinki. Fine art photographer Marja Pirilä´s extensive production with a range of different projects has always a focus on light and its power to entrance. Pirilä has specialised in the camera obscura technique since the 1990s and is known for the dreamlike photographs with merging of interior and exterior worlds. Her inside/outside collection forms not only a person’s living environment but also to constitute an excursion into the mental landscape: reflections of memories, reveries, fears and dreams.
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Response 1
For my first response i projected an upside down forest onto the walls of my living room. I then set up self timers and photographed myself in front of the backdrop. I found that the projected image did not come out very well on the white shutter nor the green walls, my EBI is that next time i would do it in a different location. As Marja Pirilä did i would still like the photos to be set in a busy and homely room which shows life. The photos clearly depicts the inside of a house with outside being projected onto the walls which is what i wanted to recreate. Another WWW is that the poses should all be natural and comfortable like in Marja Pirilä’s photos. I then further edited my photos so that the forest was darker and showed up more distinctly and i edited the close up photos so they overlapped each other on one photo.
Response 2
For my second response, i moved locations so that the projected images would appear better. I also used different images with more colours. This time i used someone else as a model so that i could capture different angles. Inside and outside is clearly shown through the photos as well as the inspiration of Marja Pirilä. Next time (EBI) i would like to incorporate a bed into my photos (using a bedroom) like Marja Pirilä does (As she uses lots of beds in her photos). My EBI for these photos is that the projection of the landscapes are not upside down.
Susan Hiller - Homage to M.Duchamp
Susan Hiller was born in 1940 and grew up in and around Cleveland, Ohio until 1952 when her family moved to South Florida where she attended local schools and Coral Gables High School. Susan Hiller has been based mainly in London since the early 1960’s. After several exhibitions of her paintings and a series of collaborative ‘group investigations’, in the early 1980’s she began to make innovative use of audio and visual technology. Her groundbreaking installations, multi-screen videos and audio works have achieved international recognition and are widely acknowledged to be a major influence on younger British artists. Each of Susan Hiller’s works is based on specific cultural artifacts from our society, which she uses as basic materials. With a practice extending over 40 years, Susan Hiller is considered one of the most influential artists of her generation. This selection of work captures peoples auras, to me showing the inside of them through outside colors and camera.
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The origination of Aura Photography and How it works
Aura photography was born out of Kirlian photography, named after Soviet inventor Semyon Kirlian. And Kirlian photography is essentially when you electrify an object and photograph the electrical discharge. The position of the color matters as well. If the colors show up on the left side of the image, it’s an outward energy. If it’s on the right, it’s their interior energy. Colors above the head reflect their present energy,” Watts says. “If I see white streaks, I call them angel lines. I consider angel lines direct messages from the planet. And usually these lines tend to be white, which is associated with clarity. Aura photography became popular in the 1970s, when interest surged in crystal healing, energy healing, and new age subculture. During this time, scientist Guy Coggins adapted the techniques developed in Kirlian photography to craft his own camera system. This camera, the AuraCam 3000, used an algorithm developed by Coggins and his team of clairvoyants to transform electrical input into the bright colors of aura photos. Coggins has since created the AuraCam 6000, the model often used by aura photographers today. I will not be using this camera as it is very expensive, instead i will be recreating the auras using photoshop. I will ask each model which of the adjectives to the left they would use to describes themselfs and use that as a base of which colours i will need for their aura.
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Responce 1
For my first responce i have created two different aura images showing the inside of a person outside their body in a photo. My WWW is that i like how prominent and bright the colours are just like Susan Hiller"s images. My EBI is that next time i would rather it just be a head shot of the person, and for the aura to cover the whole image and for the photo to be more abstract. Also next time i would like to create a collage of photos with a large group of people.
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Response 2
For my second response i recreated the aura photos on photoshop with different models. I let them work out their colours from the list of descriptions, i took their headshots which showed their personality and edited them on photoshop overlaying their colours and using field blur to give it the blurry effect. My WWW is that i like these two photos better as the colours are edited better and more natural. My EBI is that i still want to do a bit piece with lots of people and the auras need to be more of a circular shape around the head.
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Craig Whitehead
Born in England, 1988 Craig Whitehead has been focusing on street photography since 2016, he has captured the world around him. He is often drawn to anonymity and obscured faces. Finding faces distract from the focus of the image (the composition, colour or gesture and rarely the person). These are photographs with people, but not of people. Nothing you see is posed or altered beyond general colour, exposure and cropping. “Street photography should not be a lie” - Craig Whitehead. Being obsessed with color, Craig Whitehead tries to always incorporate it into his photography. The separation of the people and the photographer creates and inside and an outside scene which is expressed. |
Similar Artists
Nick Turpin
Originally titled ‘Through a Glass Darkly” this series of London commuters travelling home to the suburbs from the financial district of London, was shot over three winters. Long lenses were used to achieve an intimate portrait of the cities workers returning home, capturing them in a kind of no mans land between work and home where they are, perhaps for a brief period, themselves. The series was published in November 2017 by Hoxton Mini Press
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Stephen Calcutt
Stephens unique form of street photography is a consequence of frequenting bus stops and shelters around the City of Birmingham. Graffiti can be great art, however he feels the graffiti scratched into the plexiglass windows of the bus stop feels like a violation. He has yet to see any of these etchings that look great in their own right. The graffiti etched and scrawled in the bus stop windows seem to be expressions of frustration, anger, love or hate. However, unlike its cousin the more colourful graffiti that is emblazoned across the walls of buildings and is often seen as art, it is very mundane. He feels a windows full potential as a clear barrier between yourself and the elements are compromised when the view beyond obscured, distorted and blurred by the scratches. Stephen uses the graffiti etched in windows as a lens.
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Response 1
This lesson i responded to the work of three artists: Craig Whitehead, Nick Turpin and Stephen Calcutt. I sprayed water onto a window from different directions to give it a natural look and positioned my model on the other side of the door. I then used a fast shutter speed and a medium F stop number to capture the silhouette of my model on the other side of the glass. The misty and water glass gave a divide between the inside and outside environments. My WWW is that i love how the picture to the right turned out, the movement of the water droplets are very natural and you can see both inside and outside. However my EBI is that the silhouette of the person is very faint and the glass is not foggy like Craig Whitehead or Nick Turpin’s images. As well as this the reflections of the cars take up a lot of the image and the model is posing and it is not very natural. Next time i would like to go into public, use rain and at night capture people on public transport or in shops through fogged up windows.
Development - Inside/outside - Projections
David Hockney - Projection Exhibition
This exhibition was the same theme of my developments: projections. Hockneys work was projected onto the walls of a large room as he spoke about it and his work came to life. He showed work which related to one of our past topics: fragments. Lots of his work showed the outside world like roads and swimming pools projected inside, i like how this is similar to inside/outside. This exhibition really showed me lots of opportunities for projection s in the future and inspired me for some of my work.
Developing: Moving on from my strands, i had to pick only one artist and idea to continue then further develop. For me, the artist and idea that stood out to me was the projections by Marja Pirilä. I am going got continue using her and other similar artists as inspiration.
Marja Pirilä - Development 1
Marja Pirilä graduated in 1986 from the Department of Photography at the University of Art and Design, Helsinki and with an MSc from the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences/ biology at the University of Helsinki. Fine art photographer Marja Pirilä´s extensive production with a range of different projects has always a focus on light and its power to entrance. Pirilä specialises in the camera obscura technique since the 1990s and is known for the dreamlike photographs with merging of interior and exterior worlds. Her inside/outside collection forms not only a person’s living environment but also to constitute an excursion into the mental landscape: reflections of memories, reveries, fears and dreams.
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Response 3
For my third response to Marja Pirilä I used forest images and projected them into a background with two people who are having a conversation and interacting with each other. My WWW for this response is that the models look very natural and as if the camera is not there as well as this, this time the forest projected is upside down just like Marja Pirilä. My EBI is that I still would like to try in a bedroom with the projections and also use my own photos to project. After uploading my images, i went through them and found the best few. Then i edited them on photoshop so that he projection of the trees were more prominent and darker, i used the burn tool for this.
Editing my photos
Developing: Moving on from simple projections i would like to now project something with more meaning. For example another person, this will mean i want to use the inspiration of Karman Verdi and Johanna Reich.
Karman Verdi - Development 2
COVID-19 induced isolated living has been a cause of deep emotional and psychological response for most of us. While it has impacted professional and personal life, for those requiring to step out, with no possibility of a ‘work-from-home’ situation, it has been exceptionally hard. How does one remotely interact with people, orchestrate a physical space for capturing image? Russian artist and photographer, Karman Verdi, used this condition as an opportunity to channelise his creativity to produce images in a unique format! He took contributions of images from people and then almost created a ‘performance’ act by projecting and superimposing these within his space. |
Response 1
For my first response I photographed a model. I then photoshopped this photo so that it was only the model on a white background. Then I projected this image and got a different model to stand as if they were having a conversation. Lastly, I photographed this and edited it so that the two people were more similar and the background was darker. For my first response I was happy with the outcome, my WWW is that the projection and the model look as though they are interacting. My EBI is that next time I would do it in a living environment, also the projection is a too light which creates a big contrast and a dark image.
Response 2
For my second response, at home, I did I in two stages. First I photographed one model, on the background we are going to be using for the second shoot, in natural poses as if she was having a conversation with someone. Then I hung up a white sheet, as the projection was all distorted without a flat background, and projected the photos onto it. Lastly I photographed a second model having a conversation with the projection. My WWW is that it is more natural than the last response, the models look as though they are interacting and the projection fits well with the background. My EBI is that next time I would like to capture two people doing some normal tasks as though they are eating or cooking or cleaning like Karman Verdi. After the photoshoot i went through the pictures i captured and found the best few, i the edited them on photoshop. I made the brightness lower, and cropped them, i also used the burn tool to darken the projections.
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Artist and Me
Developing: To continue with projections i am projecting my own images. Using natural landscapes to contrast with the model.
Development 3
Surfs Up
Responce 1
The contrasts between the surfers which are blurred and the rest of the image which is in focus or vice versa. Moves on from the inside outside theme and the projection theme however continues with the blur which I have been used in the past for other responses in my project. The development is quite a detour from my normal projections for this ESA however practicing the photography on the surfers and them photoshopping them which relates to my project was very beneficial and I learnt a lot in the process. I learnt about sports mode, and how to use a large zoom lens. Then when photoshopping I tried different techniques to edit the water. My WWW is that the photos have motion yet are crisp and i really enjoyed this response. My EBI is that i want to project these images which i captured.
Pintrest Inspiration
The inspiration for this response suggested to me that i should photograph the waves and the coast then project it onto my model. I used a plain blank wall which my model stood in front of, then projected the images one by one and asked her to look forward then left then right.
Response 2
For my second response I projected my water images onto a plane background with my model, I took photos from different angles and with different images. The water projecting on my models face was very effective and created texture. My WWW is that I like how the surf photos with lots of movement contrasted the stillness of my model, also the contrast with the blue skies on the wall and the models face with the waves on her body and neck in some photos show the calmness versus chaos. My EBI is that I want to experiment with different poses and movement in the model and with a larger projection. Also i feel like it is a development backwards as i completed work like this (projection of the outside world inside) in past responses, for example with the work of Marja Pirilä. However one of my EBI’s from my past work was to project some of my own images, i completed this as i took the coastal images.
Response 3
This response I fuffilled my EBI and used different poses and movement. Also I used a larger background and had my projector further away meaning a larger images projected. My WWW for this response is It was a fun shoot which I liked the contrast of my models hair and the water, the difference in colour stood out. My EBI is that I work the photos on a iPhone so they are grainy and not as good quality as my other photos. I then put my images into a contact sheet so I have variation of how I present my images and the contrast of the background make the blue of the water stand out.
Developing: To continue the projections i now wanted to distort my models face using projections, pintrest inspired and in black and white.
Development 4
Pintrest Inspired
From Pinterest (all different sources and artists), together these images distort the models face and body using other body parts of the face, this is similar to the work of Johanna Reich who I focused on before. These photos being in black and white contrast my previous work with lots of colour being one of the focuses.
Response 1 - Eyes
Eyes are very individual and show you a lot about a person, so projecting my models eyes onto her creates a very uneasy sense of her identity coming out. To me Inside/Outside can be shown through your identity of you shown outside physically onto you. I took lots of close up pictures of my models eye, chose the one most in focus, and put many of that photo onto a slideshow and projected it. My WWW is that Insid/Outside is presented very differently here to the rest of my projected and the outcome was very moving to me. My EBI is the that next time I would want to cut out the eye and layer lots of cut out eyes on top of each other so that there were no harsh boarders overlapping each other. I would also experiment with the hands more in the poses to frame the face.
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To edit my picture I cropped it so that there was no white border, and made it black and white. Although I love the colour of my models eyes I believe that the black and white suggest a contrast from the rest of my photos and show that you don't always know the inside of a person as they may not show you or you see it.
Response 2 - Scream
For this response I wanted to recreate the emotion I see all over Pinterest, something quite different to what my photos in the past have been: a model standing in front of the camera, this time I would be anger and sadness show through the lens of the camera. I did two photoshoots, first the model screaming into the camera and second those first images projected with the model both recreating the screaming and also standing contrasting the emotion with happiness and similes or dullness. My WWW is that the photos were very different to what I have done before however I like the and the sequence of photos from them. My EBI is that next time I would possible use two models to contrast the first screaming model or use a different location for the second photoshoot.
Response 3 - Fast shutter speed VS slow shutter speed
For my third response I wanted to recreate the first eyes I projected however cut them out and made a collage so there are no white boarders on the photos, also I wanted to experiment with slow shutter speed settings. At first it took me a while to get the settings right which resulted in lots of too dark pictures. I then experimented with different hand poses indifferent body language the model was giving off. The slow shutter speed pictures I took where when I set the camera up on a tripod and zoomed in then as the picture was being taken I zoomed out and back in, I also did this visa versa with zoomed out then back in and out. The eyes were very prominent and gave a movement effect in the slow shutter speed pictures. My WWW is that I like the cutting out of the eyes and how the iris and colours is projected on the model. However, my EBI is that I would want to make the pictures lighter and possible make the slow shutter speed pictures with the model moving as well as the zooming in and out.
Light Box Projections
Response 3.1
The photos I took, I then printed out my images and captured them through a light box.
The first response resulted in very dark images of only some of the face appearing, the fragment of face which did appear when photographed was very mysterious. I then edited my photos on photoshop with different colour gradients, the different colours changed the tones of the photos creating a sequence of four photos. My WWW is that the images look vintage and the grainy feel show aging and add definition o the phot My EBI is that the eye's did not show up when projected.
The first response resulted in very dark images of only some of the face appearing, the fragment of face which did appear when photographed was very mysterious. I then edited my photos on photoshop with different colour gradients, the different colours changed the tones of the photos creating a sequence of four photos. My WWW is that the images look vintage and the grainy feel show aging and add definition o the phot My EBI is that the eye's did not show up when projected.
Response 3.2
For this response I projected my images through the light box instead of photographing them on top of the light box. This tecniques gave a lighter and faded effect to the photos, as well as capturing them on a camera with film effect it made the photos look older and more rustic. I experimented with different colour filters, my favourite being the dark blue. My EBI is that some of the photos came out to saturated and some the dull, it was hard to find a balance with lighting, colour filters and the light box settings. My WWW is that I like the different photos with different colours and the projection meant I could also experiment with objects and people in front of the image.
Developing: Moving on from Pintrest, I would like to develop by projecting someone who is gone, possibly a younger self or a person who has passed away. Also i would like to start focusing on close ups on possibly one person so no confusing backgrounds.
Johanna Reich - Development 5
Johanna Reich projects images of other people onto her models, specifically celebrities, to me this shows what the inside of people crave that they look like. The media and photoshop make unrealistic expectations for people to fit into. For me I am going to be projecting people's younger self onto them to show their old innocence versus their new maturity. |
Response 1
Projected photos
For my first response i photographed my model with pictures of her younger self projected onto her. This showed the person who she used to be projected onto her, depicting how she has changed. My WWW is that i like the story behind the pictures and how in some photos you can clearly see a person being projected. Then my EBI is that i would like to use different settings and edit my photos so that they can be darker and more contrast.
Response 2
For my second response i added more colour and took more pictures, i used different lightings and settings. My WWW is that i like the colours of the projected pictures and how they contrast the model. My EBI is that next time i would like to make the younger pictures more distinct. And on a different background. I then edited the pictures to make the the projected images more vibrant and one of them in black and white to enhance the eye specifically.
Response 3
For my third response i used the projections of the younger pictures again, but this time i did them on a dark, plain black background. I captured a selection of 15 photos and edited the best two of them so that the projection was more prominent and in black and white. My WWW is that the outcome is very simple but effective, my EBI is that i want there to be more emotion in the model.
Artist and Me
Developing: As well as editing my photos of photoshop i would like to expand their creativity and work on physical projections or changing the photos by hand. Merging the work of all my previous artists to create my own inspired work.
Physical Inside/Outside - Development 6
Response 1
Using a light box and coloured acrylic paper i created grainy and dated images of my photographed images from development 5. My WWW is this is a new technique and good to experiment the colour created different affects in the photos. However my EBI is that there is not too much to the photos and there was paint on the acrylic boards meaning some on the photos. Next time i would like to use the light box to further project my photos.
Response 2
First i printed my image onto clear paper, then put this photo on the light box which resulted in the image being projected onto the white screen. My model stood in front and recreated the look, this created a mysterious effect. I also took some images with a slow shutter speed, the contrast of my model moving and the still image meant movement versus stillness creating two different scenes. To me this shows inside outside as is depicts the same person at two different times with different emotions. After this i edited the image on photoshop to make it darker and crop it. My WWW is that i love how it looks like a painting and the different shadows created all contrast each other As well as this this outcome ties together both the work of Johanna Reich and Karman Verdi making a link between both of them. My EBI is that next time i would make a better link of the projected image and the real person.
To edit my photo with the blur technique i used before i first duplicated the layer, then used the motion tool. and erased the areas which i didn't want to be blurred on the uppermost layers.
To further edit my photo, from development 5, i used a lot of blurring. I used motion blur, I duplicated the layer then used motion blur and used the eraser tool to delete the tool for the face. I then tried using the blur tool from different directions. I really like this effect however when i uploaded it to weebly the photo came out more pixely and worse quality. This however actually makes the images look like a painting which i like.
Final Piece
My final piece consists of the photos i took in development 5, they show the inside of a person (their past self) projected into their face. The eyes and the mouth are from images of the models younger self. Them being off centred suggest how she has changed thought her life and the identity of her past self doesn't fit her anymore. My WWW is that i believe it shows Inside/Outside and it is developed over a period of time. My EBI is that i wish i had created a third image or a second image which was not just edited differently but also a different photo. When i edited my final piece, i created blurring and movement to show the fading away of who she once was. Inside/Outside is shown through the projections which i have matured throughout my projected. Throughout my project i have learnt new techniques through using the light box and on photoshop. I have experimented with photographing in different locations, for example in beaches. I have really Inside/Outside and my final piece shows depth and understanding.