Transformation - projected photography (LO1, LO2)
1/50s, f/2.8, ISO 100, zoom lens 24-70mm f/2.8S
Thinking about the project Transformation I wanted to explore the idea of portraying a message onto a subject and experiment with a portrait photography. Then, by a coincidence, I noticed a projector in my son’s room and created this idea of projected photography. During my research I found the art work by Lee Kirby very inspirational.
Research on artist’s work
Lee Kirby
Lee Kirby is a British photographer who bases his work around, as he says, 'a bit of everything'. Kirby mainly works around fashion and portrait photography.
He went on to study fine art painting at university in Norwich. German artist Gerhard Richter has played a massive part in the inspiration behind Pro-ject. After finishing a Fine Art degree Kirby started to study photography. In his photography project called 'Pro-Ject'. Kirby also uses slow shutter speed and what looks like city landscapes.
Gerhard Richter (born 1932)
is a German visual artist. Richter has produced abstract as well as photorealistic paintings, and also photographs and glass pieces. He is widely regarded as one of the most important contemporary German artists and several of his works have set record prices at auction.
Richter said: “I blur things so that they do not look artistic or craftsmanlike but technological, smooth and perfect. I blur things to make all the parts a closer fit.”
My work
In my case I wanted to create portraits using a projected photography on a subject. At the same time my aim was to play with light and how it can change/transform the subject. It is about playing with light which I find creative with endless possibilities. I am using only photographs taken by me (for projected photographs ). All the selected images have been thought through and have some connection with the subject/model. Click to enlarge the images.
Project “Lights in my head”
Project “Looking back”
Conclusion
It was an interesting project to work on. The challenge was to work with the right exposure as working with projector you need a darker room otherwise you won’t see the projected picture on the backdrop. At the same time I needed enough light to capture a portrait of a model. My aim was not to produce blurry images with slow shutter speed (but inspired by Lee Kirby I will try it next time) so I was mostly shooting at 1/50s. That was just about fine for my camera Nikon Z6. Also my model had only a certain amount of patience:) I will definitely come back to this project in future and will develop it more with using meaningful photographs and playing with slow shutter speed.
Source: internet; school course materials; www.leekirbyphotography.exposure.co/project
