* Mark Tweedie *
Mark is a pinhole camera photographer who creates his own camera’s to feel the passion and craftsmanship that making these camera’s bring. He prefers to create photographs that are in a series rather than them being an individual piece. “I find complexity detracts from the image-making process” was said by Tweedie and shows his extreme interest and love for what he does; Mark’s hard-work clearly pays off by the incredible photos he produces and presents to everyone.
VISUAL:
The focus of the photos appear to be partically mixed. Some focus is on the background but then a new focus is introducted to look like a shadow which focus’ on that too.
The light is mood and contrasting. The shadows appear darker whilst the highlights such as the sky is brighter and white.
Lines appear to be mainly straight and thick and some show an outline whilst some indicate a diredction.
There isn’t much repetittion in the images apart from the trees in the ‘A Face In The Forest’ where the trees almost create a pattern.
The shapes are rounded and curved with little sharp edges and corners. They flow into one another and combine with other shapes like rectangles.
The tone is very contrasting due to the photos being in black and white, the darker area’s feature in the shadows whilst the lighter area’s are highlights.
The images are all cropped to be square with no framing and some feature the rule of thirds like the third image where the road is centralised with two symmetric almost sides either side.
CONTEXTUAL:
Historical: Place in time? We are unsure of the time these photos were exactly taken but we can see and gather from the black and white outcome that their a more vintage ‘aged’ series of images and reflect no local/national/global events and they’re simply just shadows in the environment, possibly indicating the topic of ‘fading’ or ‘lost’ but nothing global.
Biographical: We know that the photographer is more of a creative man who like’s the enjoyment from what he does. He enjoys complexity so the way these photos are crafted with the feint shadow almost evokes his advanced skills and knowledge to create these.
Psychological: When view the images, I feel deep emotion and a connection to them like they’re my own or reintroduce a feeling from the past. They almost imply a depressed, sad feeling and attachment again from the deep ‘lost’ topic they seem to be taken in. A theory of mind such as sad, emotional, torn and isolation reveal when looking at the images.
Theoretical: To understand the images, there may be a cultural reference from the detachment and isolation that’s provided and show how when culture’s were in need of help and company. I see no political reference but a philosophical reference to where emotion and reality is introduced and hits you straight away with a powerful message of loss.
TECHNICAL:
Lighting: daylight with no studio lights or reflectors, just the natural available light from being outdoors.
Aperture: The aperture from a pin hole camera is extremely small without a lens at all. The depth of field for the camera is infinite due to a perfect image being recorded no matter what distance
Shutter Speed: This varies with this type of camera. The longer the exposure to light, the darker the light exposed area’s will turn and the opposite for a small amount of time. You can create a motion blur by moving around due to the time the camera needs to take a ‘photo’
ISO: High contrast and tone, slow speed and sensitivity = lower number, quieter image
White Balance: Black and white, no colour, cold
CONCEPTUAL:
The photos come across as simple black and white image’s with an added touch of the blur from either a person or a body part. The image’s seem quite spooky and relate to no other artist i’ve seen other than other pin hole photographers due to the black and white hue with the blur. The photographer’s influence seem’s to have been just nature and the world around him, allowing him to step outside anywhere and mainly have a pretty good outcome.
I have learnt from exploring and analysing this/these image’s, the they are a series of beautiful artwork that take time and effort to create and a lot of practice and skill behind you to allow the accuracy that this photographer creates.
Nancy Breslin
Nancy is a pinhole photographer who does more than just photos from a plastic camera with a small aperture. She is also a fine art photographer and a writer. Like Mark Tweedie, Nancy experiments with exposure to light with her pinhole photos, some for a short amount of time and some for hours.
VISUAL:
Focus is sharper on items that aren’t a human being and closer to the camera.
Light is deep with highlights from white items and the day light from the time of day the image was taken.
Line’s are curved, thin and outline the key items in the photo such as the crockery and food/drink items.
Repetition is only created from the motion blur from the people moving whilst the photo is being created.
Shape’s include mainly circular, oval and rectangle making it quite geometric and create a set.
The form is three dimensional and tonal from the black and white effect. The shadows show the realistic items and make them not look flat and fake.
The space seem’s to be quite natural and deep as the background gets further away it almost seems to create a one point perspective image as it fades away.
The texture would be smooth from the photo paper and feels softer than normal paper but rougher than say velvet.
The tone is deep from the black and white outcome with darker area’s in the shadows and lighter area’s where the light naturally hits and on whiter items.
The photo’s have a realistic formation with a slight rule of thirds where the person is either in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd section with the building / environment in the other 2.
CONTEXTUAL:
Historical: The image’s simply display a meal at a local coffee shops lets say, with a friend and some afternoon tea. All tool’s used is just the pinhole camera with the natural light from the outside coming through windows, combined with indoor ceiling lights etc. The history of the photograph doesn’t seem old although the black and white effect might evoke that.
Biographical: We know that Nancy is quite similar to Mark to where they both like to experiment with light exposure and depth of field etc. There isn’t much reverence from that image to the photo’s below, however it may just be a time out with someone Nancy knows and she got a inkling to take a shot that capture’s that moment in itself, especially with the pinhole effect and the movement blur from the realistic, natural movement from the people.
Psychological: I feel almost happy in a way when viewing these photos, which is weird as they seem similar to Mark’s however they gave me the opposite feel. These seem natural and realistic with a natural movement to get up or pick something up and create a sense where i feel like i’m the one sat in the camera’s position experiencing the moment for myself.
Theoretical: I don’t immediately get any theories from this photo where cultural and political reference’s take place, however some aesthetic appear’s from the whole set up and spacing of the image’s to the point where you can see almost everything in the photo clearly.
TECHNICAL:
Lighting: indoor lighting with some additional outdoor light from windows. No studio lights just the camera.
Aperture: The aperture from a pin hole camera is extremely small without a lens at all. The depth of field for the camera is infinite due to a perfect image being recorded no matter what distance
Shutter Speed: This varies with this type of camera. The longer the exposure to light, the darker the light exposed area’s will turn and the opposite for a small amount of time. You can create a motion blur by moving around due to the time the camera needs to take a ‘photo’, Nancy has used a long exposure due to being inside with little natural light, so she is able to create this realistic, clear motion blur from the person moving
ISO: High contrast and tone, slow speed and sensitivity = lower number, quieter image like Mark’s.
White Balance: Black and white, no colour, seem’s warm although black and white creates a cold feel.
CONCEPTUAL:
I haven’t seem image’s like this with the natural coffee shop environment, as most photographs have a setting that’s planned and positioned to where it would look best, whilst these photographs don’t have that and feature the real situation with items that aren’t perfectly straight and even and slightly off balanced.
I have learnt from exploring these image’s that no matter where you are, you can create a cool image or set of image’s that capture the situation exactly. With a bit of practice and skill, you are able to capture the movement like it’s a video and keep that to remember the moments.
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