ABSURDThe aim of Absurd photography is to be as creative and whacky as you possibly can.
It's not unusual to be unusual- the whole point is capturing what would be out of the ordinary and putting it in a frame.
These were my first attempt at absurd images without the resources I wanted therefore they didn't turn out as I hoped. In school, it's a lot harder to get really amazing images as it's all just more or less the same thing repeated and there's a limited amount of experimentation you can do.
To improve, I could have been more creative and explored more out of my comfort zone. I feel more confident taking images out of school as there are a range of different whacky things which I can do. In an honesty, I don't really think any of the images went particularly well but the best out of this set would probably be the second image on the first column. There's a sense of variety a you've got the black and silver mask which compliments the model's chocolate skin tone with a lighter hand which seems to appear out of nowhere on his neck; the blue t-shirt also makes the image stand out a whole lot more and give it a bit of liveliness. Also, the fact that there's a random hand strangling this 'person' / thing makes it a whole lot weirder as you can't really see who it is. This is why I chose to take the image from this angle as it's in the attacker's point of view which leaves a bit of mystery for the viewer. This was my second shoot which I also didn't hugely like as I think they could have turned out so much more better. I think it's very easy to get carried away with Absurd and snap very random things rather than actual Absurd as there's a slight misconception at times therefore I'm not largely impressed with these.
To improve next time, I think I will plan more in advance and take the images more thoroughly and think before I actually take the image. I feel as if these are all over the place however did kind of fit the theme. Successful imagesI feel that these images were the most successful out of the set I had taken due to the framing, composition and tones within the image. As I was still experimenting with the whole idea of absurd images when I took these, I didn't really know what I was doing so just went along with whatever popped into my head hence why there isn't much meaning or purpose to the photos.
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DAVID SHRIGLEY
I specifically liked this image of Shrigley's as the composition of it is really well thought out and works nicely with the image as a whole. In particular, I like that his work provokes emotion and may even enrage his viewers by creating pieces which involve showing the anomalies of everyday life and adding meaning to it, in a sense. Making him seem almost like a conundrum. His images are also humorous in the way that he presents them. The two colours used are generally used to present life and death, and, he has approached the image like so which shows that despite him fearing the paradoxes of everyday life, he still follows by them. I find his approach very clever as he has chosen the white colour to represent life and black to death however there's a body like shape which is coloured black to maybe to leave us asking if life actually death? Some of his work may not make sense at first but there is always a hidden meaning in them, whether something foolish or significant.
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Again, this image tackles the paradoxes of everyday life.. Being Shrigley, of course there is an ironic twist to the context of this image. Funnily enough, the caption being ''Aim high'' whilst showing an image of darts, which to win you must hit the middle of the board which is very humorous for his viewers.. Of course, there is a deeper meaning to this- like all of his other work, one of them possibly being that no matter what happens you should aim high.. Just like it reads.
This may be to increase spirits of people who view his work or just even to show what his mentality is like. |
I didn't particularly like these images because they weren't my type of absurd but the kind of stuff I like is really complex and requires really good equipment and props.
I seem to not know what to do when it comes to taking the photos despite my ideas which I can't actually do due to the lack of resources.
To improve, I will just do really simple basic images and hope they turn out better.
I seem to not know what to do when it comes to taking the photos despite my ideas which I can't actually do due to the lack of resources.
To improve, I will just do really simple basic images and hope they turn out better.
Successful images
Gilbert Garcin
I really find Gilbert's work amusing because they're incredibly well composed with really interesting concepts. The black and white tone adds definition to his work highlighting the structure of each image. Particularly, I enjoy that he makes really simple things look harder than it is. I would like to experiment based on his work as it's really grabbing. He illustrates the use of everyday life in unusual ways, almost like David Shrigley. I've gathered that I prefer work which exemplifies life in independent, unconventional ways which both Garcin and Shrigley present.
The way that he frames his work really makes the image stand out as a whole.
Garcin, again, has composed this piece carefully making the viewer really attached as it's so strangely amusing. The black and white tone does really work with this image as it makes them more sharp whereas if he used colours in this, it would just be distracting and less formal. Repeating what I said above, the concept of his images are really great and this image is so simple yet powerful.
These images didn't go particularly as I planned. Originally, I wanted to do a mockery of 'Adam and Eve' however this proved to be more difficult than I expected. I think if I had planned more in advance and used more efficient equipment this shoot would have turned out better. I aim to do this shoot again with more advanced ideas and objects. I think a few things did go well such as the oddness of two people being in a bath with tomatoes and flowers and them dying by eating the tomato. Also, if I had various different settings rather than just one
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////Film planning:
I have tried and experimented with many images and don't feel like it satisfies what I intend to do therefore I will be making a short, still life, speechless film. I would like this to be in black and white as I'm going for quite an eerie, unnatural theme with hints of purity. I will take short 3-5 second videos for each short and combine them all together in the end by editing it. For most of the film, I would like to shoot in quite natural places such as Greenwich Park, Green Park etc however I also want to shoot in the underground foot path in Greenwich and maybe a cemetery. ////
Below are some images of what kind of scenes I would like to capture:
I have tried and experimented with many images and don't feel like it satisfies what I intend to do therefore I will be making a short, still life, speechless film. I would like this to be in black and white as I'm going for quite an eerie, unnatural theme with hints of purity. I will take short 3-5 second videos for each short and combine them all together in the end by editing it. For most of the film, I would like to shoot in quite natural places such as Greenwich Park, Green Park etc however I also want to shoot in the underground foot path in Greenwich and maybe a cemetery. ////
Below are some images of what kind of scenes I would like to capture:
WHAT I PLAN TO DO NEXT:
As I had to improvise with the time I had, I decided to change the plot of my film: I looked at the photos above aiming for some of my shots to look like that then suddenly it will turn quite dark.
So there will be a wedding, the bride with no sign of a groom and these devil like creatures will sort of come to collect the lady supposedly getting married. I also thought of making the film back to front when I'm done, too so it that extra bit weirder.
I will use the forrest like area of the school to achieve this ethereal theme.
As I had to improvise with the time I had, I decided to change the plot of my film: I looked at the photos above aiming for some of my shots to look like that then suddenly it will turn quite dark.
So there will be a wedding, the bride with no sign of a groom and these devil like creatures will sort of come to collect the lady supposedly getting married. I also thought of making the film back to front when I'm done, too so it that extra bit weirder.
I will use the forrest like area of the school to achieve this ethereal theme.
photog film from nicky pandey on Vimeo. |
This is one of my final pieces, which admittedly didn't go how I anticipated although it isn't ridiculously bad for a first ever video.
The whole plot kind of got lost as I was filming so it doesn't really make much sense however will make sense to those who really want to see. I think I will re do the whole thing when I next have the chance because the original concept is really great however being put under a time limit and not having exactly the right props or background which I wanted proved it difficult to make it how I'd hoped. Throughout the process, I realised that my idea of absurd was really different to other people's and many artists I looked at weren't really appealing to me so I came up with this idea alone which is probably why I couldn't make it great as I didn't have anything really to link with or get ideas from. I felt Pinterest did play a big part into my understanding of Absurd and there were many great images there which I enjoyed and had ideas inspired by but never got round to doing them.. Other than absurd, I was looking into the theme of it being ethereal and really natural seeming. As this was the first time I experimented with film, I learned many different things such as how to use iMovie, and uploading to Vimeo in order to get the film onto this site. iMovie was really simple to work with and seemingly easy for someone who had never used it before. As another individual viewing this film, I would question what the purpose of the film was. |