So today I began to do my research for my new assignment FAMILY.

Bill, our tutor introduced us to an artist by the name of Richard Billingham.

He is renowned for his fly on the wall documentary style photographing and videography of his family.

Richard Billingham (born 25 September 1970) was born in Birmingham UK, about an hour away from me. He studied at Bournville College of Art as a painter. He stumbled across what he is now famous for by taking numerous photographs of his family in action to then select just one single image to paint for his assignment. When showing his tutor the images, his tutor told him he was done, that ALL of these images were his final piece of work and needed to do no more AND THAT WAS THAT!
He went on to to take CANDID PHOTOGRAPHY of his family which finally became a book called RAYS A LAUGH (his fathers name being Ray)

I found after looking at his images, my first impressions of his parents were that they were alcoholic, selfish people with poor hygiene. Once viewing one of my favourite videos the FISH TANK I looked at tem from a totally different light. The dynamics and essence he captured through his photos and films is unique. The close up shots, almost following where you would be looking naturally if you were there are unique. 
You become for the duration of the move, a part of his family.

His family became totally oblivious to his filming and photographing after some time and I think this is what created the unique natural shots that he captured.

Dad Ray & cat!

Liz

RAY & LIZ

BILLINGHAM THEN WENT ON TO EXPLORE LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY.

Yesterday I was given an assignment as part of our  Visual Recording unit based on FAMILY

As part of this assignment I have to research and examine the meaning of family of family in the modern context. Asking myself:
What do families consist of, immediate family, extended family?
What types of families are out there...blended. typical 2:4, lone parent etc etc?

I will also research some well known photographers who have used their family as their subject, explore their techniques and researched how they capture the essence of their relationshi with each family member and the dynamics of the family on a hole. I feel that if I do this it will lead me to produce great photographs.....which leads me to the next art of the assignment.

I need to 'fill my boot' with images of my beautiful family in acton. preferably no posed shots, more photojournalism/documentry style instead.

Wish me luck and I will keep posted with my prgress

TTFN X

I came across a nice piece of work on the net based on Andy Warhol and his self portraits.

I think he is a very unique artist, which is obviously why he is known worldwide for his work.
Below are the 12 portraits featured in this post
I love the way each image has captured his personality in different ways, almost like representing the different sides of is personality. I will take this into account whilst experimenting with my own self portraits.

Self portrait

Self portrait

Self portrait

Self portrait

Bernard Gotfryd 1980s

Nancy Schiff 1981

Self portrait 1979

WeeGee 1965

Texture: Cookie...I love my GF choc chip cookies
Texture & Pattern: My snake Ang has a lovely red black and yellow pattern and Ive managed to catch the texture of his skin too!
Pattern & Colour: In my retro pop bottles, taken in one of my fave sweety shops on the Albert Dock. I love Jelly Beans
Form & Tone/Value: My pregnant belly!
Line & Colour: My lips, I love wearing bright lipsticks
Shape: Me and my girls, one of my favourite places with my favourite people in the whole wide world!!!

Colour adds richness and character to everything. It has the capability to trigger different types of emotions in humans, male and female in different ways. It helps the world go round ( red means stop, green means go)
Learning how colour works together and how it affects us as humans will help create feeling in our images.
So this post is about my findings on how colour can be used and manipulated to help produce an awesome image!

I created this image when I noticed my reflection in my microwave window. I grabbed my phone and seized the moment. I was originally gazing out of the window so I tried to capture the same 'thinking' pose.
I love the way the mesh on the inside of the microwaves window has created texture in the image and the blue tones picked up are a great representation of the cold winters day outside.