Time For Personal Work

Well, seems like ages since I last posted on my blog... but I've not been idle during this time. From April to the end of July I had been working on a number of commission for permanent instillations. Whilst I enjoyed them, the work that was produced doesn't fit with what I normally produce in my own practice so hasn't appeared on here. Also during this time I've got a a studio, its a big step and has taken a bit of time to get ready but I'm not at the point to carry on my work.

Emanations
I've decided to carry on with my initial experimentations of the work thats come to be called Emanations. I think there's something to the project worth persevering with, I love the idea of exploring what it is to be a young adult... the trials and tribulations, the self doubt and exploration... I suppose its the idea of finding the 'Self' that will be. I think as a father it interests me greatly watching my teenage children develop, try on new character traits and shed them just as quickly. But not just that, I enjoy the instances when for brief moments you see the adult they could potentially become...

I think also another element for me is that a portrait is so much more. If done correctly it captures and essence of the individual, I don't pretend to understand what that is and it will probably form a huge part of my final project for Uni in this next academic year, but it is something I strive to achieve. It also raises some interesting questions... is it really there? Can it be seen and understood by people who don't know the subject, but through the shear power of the image can gain an insight into the very being of the subject.... or is it just an expression of what the photographer is trying to say???

All very interesting but these for me are questions that only you as an individual can answer for yourselves... I don't think there is a right or a wrong answer.

Test Shoot
Okay so last week I enlisted my ever suffering daughter to model for me. There were a number of reasons for this, the first and less important is that its was my first shoot in the new studio. I discovered that its a light hungry room as opposed to my dining room which is the opposite. The second reason was to explore some alternative poses, to build on what I had previously done.

I shot these on a 5D mkII, unfortunately I'm low on film so seemed the best option with a two light set up. Also I chose to step away from my normal techniques of textures and decided to just play about a bit to see what the over all effect was. I suppose its a much more typical modelling shoot, but I like the effect and seeing as I'm still so early on with the project there is plenty of room for experimentation.

So here's the images:

From these four images I will shoot again this time on 5x4 and see what I get.... so watch this space.

More Experimentation

Okay, so I decided to also look at what i already had. I decided to instead of using textures and some other techniques to create a painterly feel I would just had colour the image and see what effect it had... here are the results:

This is the original image with the original finish.

This is a 50/50 mix of the old image and new image.

This is the newly re-edited image... completely different technique, simply digitally re-coloured from B&W (one day I might be able to afford coloured film ha ha)

Conclusion:
Well from a B&W original image I like all three effects. To be honest I'm not sure which to go with, I like all three. I think the last image looks harsher, but seems to have more clarity with the second image being a good combination of the best elements of both... I still really like the first...

Oh well its still early on enough in the project to not make a decision yet, I also need to carry on trying new things and see where I get to.

*Don't forget you can follow me on facebook to see what I'm up to day to:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Casey-Carlin-Photography/373978939293052?ref=hl