Talking to Ants
This was the first portfolio I previewed on Stephen Gill's website and I was attracted to the range of materials and shapes of objects, insects and plants. I selected these 4 specific photographs because I like the dominant detail of the objects such as the broken ruler, I also like the range of colours in the bottom left and it is really hard to tell what the photograph is because there are many objects overlapping. I like top right photograph because it was hard to tell whether it was just shadows because the feather looking shadows almost looks like shadows of trees or leaves behind the camera. I realised it must be through a microscope as I saw the ant in the corner. I also like the first page because the background image is sort of mundane and simple but the objects on top makes it interesting. |
Outside In
While having a look at his portfolios, I really liked 'Outside In' because the photographs were really abstract though they are objects on top of a regular scenery photograph. I highlighted 4 photographs that particularly attracted to me because I really like the different layers of colours and objects. I couldn't tell what the objects are or how there are colours, it is definitely an experimental depiction of materials. I really like the top corner photograph because it is the cover of the portfolio on the website and because of how abstract it looks, I clicked on the portfolio in particular to find out what the photograph is. I also like the 2nd and 3rd photograph because of the hints of orange and purple colour. I can see a guy climbing in the 2nd image, the orange objects give an illusion of a fire or some sort of disaster which correlates to the background. |
Coexistence
I really like this portfolio because I couldn't tell what the photograph was and how the photographer captured or created these photographs. They remind me of scientific laboratory experiments, scans or under microscopes because it looks like particles of a specific object or chemical, They are really abstract and a very post modern approach to capturing or depicting materialistic photography. In relation to the question, I seek to discover different approaches of capturing photographing materials from different photographers. It is interesting to see how Stephen Gill produce these photographs that make us question or wonder what it is of or how he made it. |
Hackney Flowers
When I first thought of materials, I had visual ideas similar to Stephen Gill's Hackney Flowers. Before beginning artistic research, I already had ideas in mind of what I can do in this journey of component 2. One idea being materials on top of my original mundane photographs. I first thought of adding materials into the scanner alongside with my photographs. I also wanted to somewhat incorporate portraiture into materials but never saw a photograph that merged the two together. As seen on the side, Stephen Gill's work includes some portraiture yet with a twist of materials on top, metaphorically emphasising aspects of the photograph. Such as the bottom left that makes it look like the man in yellow is holding a gun. I really like his way of including materials on top of his photographs because it definitely makes the photograph appear dramatically materialistic and you can notice the surface area and details of the materials he uses. |