photography as data : first images

For my first shoot I took portraits of three family groups, my stepdad and his daughter, my friend and her father and my brother, mother and myself. The images didn't turn out too well as they were taken at night with just normal room lighting and no controlled lighting. This gave the photo's a bad white balance and undesirable shadows. However, as a first shoot, they were enough for me to play around with to try and get an understanding of techniques that Ulric Collette used in his Genetic Portraits series.

These are the most successful images from my first shoot. They are of me and my brother. I feel like they worked the best out of my families shots as there were similarities between the facial structures which meant they were quite easy to match up. These images could definitely be improved by using a studio for consistent lighting and by also making sure the camera is parallel to the face for each shot, which I found was a big factor in the other images not being successful to match.

I first merged the photos together using photoshop and just adjusting the opacity of the layered image a few times. Although this technique didn't apply the same technique as Collette, I still feel that it shows the genetic similarities quite well. At each stage, the facial differences aren't too obvious, but when you jump from the first to last images they do appear quite drastic.

I then mimicked Collette's technique and did a straight half and half comparison. I think it turned out reasonably well in terms of showing genetic similarities. However, the problems mentioned earlier really bring the image down and distracting from what the image is trying to communicate. I also think that my photoshop technique to merge to put the images together really needs to be sharpened in order to pull off this technique as it is really visible to see where the images are joint.

Daughter/Father using Collette's half and half technique

Overall, I think as a first shoot it went okay..ish. It definitely showed the factors that I have to carefully control in order to pull off Collete's technique. The images definitely show genetic similarities between family members, which is what I want to explore.

Contact Sheet:

photography as data : photographic precedents

My first precedent is Ulric Collette's Genetic Portraits series. His series started in 2008 when he was experimenting with an image of his son and himself for a different project. He had taken a portrait of his son and pieced it together with a portrait of himself. He seamlessly joined the pictures together using photoshop and found it interesting how his son resembled him so much. From here, the series grew and Collette has been photographing families through to now.

Daughter/Father

Mother/Daughter

Ulric Collette, Genetic Portraits, 200-2012

I found these two images especially interesting as the daughter strongly resembles both her mother and father in both images. To me, this suggests that it is easier to find similarities in genetics rather than the differences.

Collette's images are so successful because of how he has so perfectly executed each image; the faces match up seamlessly which allows for viewers to not be distracted by the fact that it is two faces, enabling comparison between the features to be done easily. Collette achieved this by using a studio to control each image's lighting to ensure it was the same for each shot. He then meticulously joined the photo's together paying close attention to details such as hair lines, hair colour and finding where the faces joined up best.

This technique will be useful for my project as it is an exact example of what I proposed to do. It uses photography as data to record information on family genetic similarities and differences, exploring how they change between family members.

Here is the complete series of Ulric Collette's Genetic Portraits

photography as data : initial proposal

For this project, I am interested in looking at genetics within families, comparing facial features with other family members. In this, photography will be used to document how genetics play a part in an individuals make up, while comparing that makeup to other family members to see how genetic strings can be similar or different.

I will do this by photographing various family members. I will then photoshop their images together, putting two families members faces together. This will allow for us to compare the facial structures, seeing where they are alike or not.

This is based on Ulric Collette's Genetic Portraits series where he too combines family members faces. However, I want to develop this concept further into the idea of photography as data. I am unsure as to how exactly to do this. I think I will play with documenting traits in the side of the photos, or maybe categorising similar features together in separate images.

photographic fiction : evaluation

“Disposable Me” turned out alright, but it is not exactly what I had initially envisioned. I feel like I have only sort of portrayed the coffee cup’s feelings or created empathy towards it. However I think that the series blends well together and tells a narrative well.

For this project I found it easy to think of ways in which I could personify the disposable coffee cup, however in practice it turned out a bit more difficult. After basing the series of Spike Jonze’s ad “Lamp”, I can see how important audio is to establish the mood of the video. I also found it difficult to manipulate the colours of the image to give cooler tones and feelings to them as when I did this it looked obviously changed and not natural. Another challenge I faced was capturing the whole lifecycle of the cup- I had proposed to start the series from the very start of the journey, at the manufacturers or suppliers, but once I got there to shoot, the company showed me their staff coffee cups and then let me know that they didn’t have any of their sale stock “in at the moment”. I had to rework the project, starting the series from inside a cafe instead.

From this project I learnt how photographs can be used to create a story and manipulate how people feel. It gave me a greater appreciation for photography and understanding of how film was created from it.

If I could have done anything differently for this project it would to have been more organised so that when I went to the suppliers I could have found another one to explore instead of having to change my project.

photographic fiction : final series "Disposable Me"

photographic fiction: third shoot

I'm really not happy with my third shoot. After organising to go to Packaging Products to get images for my first photograph in the series - of where the cups start off from - all they had were their cups in their staff room and none stocked to display. From here, my proposal has to change a bit as I am not showing the whole product lifecycle of disposable cups, rather just their journey from the cafe to the consumer. 

However, in this, I am reasonably happy with the images I got of someone actually having the coffee and showing it get thrown away.