Sonder

I n t r o d u c t i o nAn Introduction to my project and final

exhibition

The German Word Dasein has been used by Heidegger and numerous other philosophers to refer to raw human existence – the fundamental mode of “being there.” When applied to photography, this everyday-

ness is most revealed by the snapshot. Over time and without our knowledge the snapshot had become one of the most important visual tools and storyboard we have of simply “being” in the world, it has become a form for many to share their lives across platforms that spread the world in sheet of photography and mes-sages. This brief started here, with the word Dasein, looking at the work of photographer Chase Jarvis who used this word to create a project named “Dasein: Invitation to Hang.” It was here that I gain the initial inter-est to look further at photography and our social behaviour, however, after looking more into this I realised that I cannot just copy the work of Chase Jarvis and I need to create something that can stand on its own. It is here where my brief begins, delving more into the social behaviours of the public and common interests in photography.

Any good photographer will know that “On Photography” by Susan Sontag is a must read book, weather just studying photography as an amateur or hobbyist or a professional this book really stands the ground and helps to fully understand just what photography is. I started to read this again, looking through more at the social aspect to photography and I came across this specific statement in the first few pages.

“Recently photography has become almost as widely practiced an amusement as sex and danc-ing – which means that, like every mass art form, photography is not practiced by most people as an art. It is mainly a social rite, a defence against anxiety, and a tool of power.” (Sontag, 2002, p. 8)

Photography has become something where everyone can pick up a camera and shoot, in fact there is an interesting post on just how many people own a camera phone and just when did it start, it relates to some of the most recent disasters in the world such as 9/11 and the London bombings, stating that some images were being taken on phones and small compact cameras more than any disaster since. “Go check out the article from the bibliography (Gaurdian, 2010)”

“Memorializing the achievements of individuals considered as members of the families (as well as other groups) is the earliest popular use of photography. For at least a century, the wedding photo-graph has been as much a part of the ceremony as the prescribed verbal formulas.” (Sontag, 2002, p. 8)

Family events such as wedding, birthdays, holidays each of the common family events and day to day life are now shared globally on the internet through media sites, the craze of Instagram brought with it a trend for people to instantly upload images with a selection of filters to give them different look, just as fashion changes the way we dress so does the way we shoot when using Instagram, the ease of creating images that look more desirable and “vintage” with quick on touch effects brought with it a craze to take more images, this meant that people where sharing more and thus you find out more about their day to day lives. I’m not a scrooge to using sharing sites, I love blogs and I love the idea of sending your images and thoughts around the world, but it is this thought that brought me to the start of the brief. After looking closely at Dasein and what it stood for Chase’s work represented taking the images, go out and shoot you have a camera right there in your pocket, but it was reading through “On Photography” that made me realise that we do all share our work online to millions of people, you can search a name, and see a glimpse or their life without ever

- J a m e s W r i g l e y -

having to meet them or talk and then I realise that this whole understanding of social behaviour is so much more local than I thought, it happens every day, with everyone you pass, this led me to a word which I found through the internet, it may not be a true word but definition was found.

SonderN. The realization that each random passer-by is living a life as vivid and complex as your own – popu-lated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness – an epic story that con-tinues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.

Sonder is a perfect word for my brief, not only does it allow me to take elements from Dasein that I love, but it is a word and meaning of its own, when applied to photography in my view, it’s about the people I meet, the snapshot, the portrait, it is a way to visualize that we don’t know the people around us, that although with media we follow people we don’t know on the internet – through twitter we have access to everyone that owns it, to view their tweets, with Facebook and Google+ we have the ability to view images just like Insta-gram of the daily lives of people. It is here where I want to focus my work, to find out more about the people around me, through my daily life I meet and see people that may only just pass by me, but they pass by me every day, through the same corridors the same faces, my work is about those people, to find out a personal note, Sonder is about each passer-by.

For this Project there are three medias that I want to create, the first being photography based, I am going to photograph Sonder in my own way, I visualize Sonder being not only about the snapshot but about the in-dividual, about those people around you who, the passer-by. This section of my brief will contain snapshots from my own personal daily life, creating a wall of images from my life but with the main focus being on large scale portraits from selected people I meet in my life.

The second stage of my brief uses video and film as my second media, with short interviews with selected people. The video will not be the main subject of this brief but a secondary form, together with the final im-ages I shoot, the work will be advertised and using a commercial background to the work I want to create trailers and other forms of advertising such as to start the blog by the final exhibition.

The final section of this brief is a collaboration of all the images took for the final exhibition and creating a coffee book full of the images, not just the selected large print ones for the exhibition, this book will be a final piece, full of images and only small quotes.

All together this brief will be selected portraits printed in large format, video media such as short interviews and trailers and finally a coffee book designed to hold all the images I’ve taken for this brief.Over the next few pages i will be looking at photographers and researching the final product for this brief, the ending to this brief is a project that will be continued throughout the rest of my career. A project that isn’t just my final major project, I want to stress how that this brief is my representation to the ending of my time through college but also the begining to the many places i will go and the rest of my life.


S o n d e r

N. The realization that each random passer-by is living a life as vivid and complex as your own – populated with their own ambi-tions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness – an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.

H e n r i C a r t i e r - B r e s s o n

The passer-by, we know nothing about people we walk past yet we pass hundreds of people every day, looking at this I wander what photographers think when shooting in

the streets.

“Henri Cartier-Bresson (August 22, 1908 – August 3, 2004) was a French photographer con-sidered to be the father of modern photojournalism. He was an early adopter of 35 mm for-mat, and the master of candid photography. He helped develop the street photography or life re-portage style that has influenced generations of photographers who followed.” (Wikipedia, 2013)

Using the 35mm camera and just walking the streets you can appreciate that Cartier-Bresson saw and shot many people, yet I still find it hard to believe that he found anything out about some the subjects,

I’m not saying that when he shot, there was nothing, no connection, all I mean is that we the viewer know nothing about the image as far as a personal level.

His work is amazing and defiantly to any photography they will know that he is the father of street photog-raphy and documenting an era, but for this project alone I wanted something more personal, something that was fully connected to the meaning of Sonder.

Images from Cartier-Bresson are outstanding, Personally I’m looking at the portraits, the closer shots, the images that create a depth to a person and focus on the individuals, I have added the images that I find most inspiring from Cartier-Bresson’s work and believe him to have captured something true when shooting up close to a subject, my brief includes this personal level, I want to be in the lives of those I meet but the difference between our work is slight, in the fact I don’t want to be documentary with my work. Linking Cartier-Bresson’s work to Sonder in my opinion is an easy link, it allows you to see briefly a life and face you would not see or take the time to look at, I think sometimes we don’t take the time to look at people’s faces, we walk on by and don’t truly understand them, these people who have been captured in time are now the product of inspiration and continue to inspire people who view the images, in some ways it is not Henri Cartier-Bresson who inspires people but the people of the images, it is unlikely that others view this in the same light, however I believe that when we view his work we don’t think of his face, and like with many photographers it isn’t his job to be famous, it was his job to show the images, to spread a message, or share a story. Looking over his work I find that the closer portraits truly inspire me to create work based around the individual rather than the collective group, linking this back to Sonder I explored more into this and see that it isn’t the collective that are your Sonder but the individual.

These images are some of the closer portrait images or images that I believe to be more relative with my work, images that I think connect with my work well and show a more personal side to Cartier-Bresson’s work.


The images I’ve chosen to look at from his work are some of the closer portraits, of only a few subjects, ones that focus on a face, you can see their gestures, what they are doing, yet as said before we know very little about them other than what we see in front of our eye, the images only tell so much and don’t have information about them as individuals. I love street photography and the journalistic approach that Cartier-Bresson took to his work, I feel though that his work although amazing lacks some of what it is that I am looking which is the personal feature and singular image of personas life, his work is an amazing tribute to the photojournalism of Cartier-Bresson but for my particular brief this work isn’t what I am to achieve, it is a good place to start and has given me a good base to work from, looking at how the street portrait is and some of the most famous images of street photography are the helpful in my research, creating portraits that hold some of the personality that I can see in these images.


V i v i a n D o r o t h e a M a i e r


Vivian Dorothea Maier, amateur street photography whose work found from an art collector gained allot of attention because of the nature of her photographs, they contain a very personal view of the world.

“Vivian Dorothea Maier (February 1, 1926 – April 21, 2009) was an American amateur street photographer, who was born in New York City but grew up in France. After returning to the United States, she worked for about forty years as a nanny in Chicago, Illinois. During those years, she took about 100,000 photo-graphs, primarily of people and cityscapes in Chicago, although she traveled and photographed worldwide.Her photographs remained unknown and mostly undeveloped until they were discovered by a local Chicago historian and collector, John Maloof, in 2007. Following Maier’s death, her work began to receive critical ac-claim. Her photographs have been exhibited in the US, England, Germany, Denmark, and Norway, and have appeared in newspapers and magazines in the US, England, Germany, Italy, France and other countries. A book of her photography titled Vivian Maier: Street Photographer was published in 2011.” (Wikipeidia, 2013)

Vivian Maier’s photography has a very personal element to her work, the photographs are all from her personal day to day life, a somewhat catalogue of her life. What I love about her work is that not only does it hold a certain documentary element but her photographs were not for a sale purpose, she did not shoot for a magazine or company of any sort and the work reflects this. There are many images similar to this, its these close portraits and candid photography that not only show you her life but let you see the lives of those around her, such as Sonder explains the passer-by has a life as vivid as your own, so did Vivian, her life was filled with people and places that now, either don’t exist or have changed massively.

Who is this man, where was he going – This whole concept is amazing and I believe that, to a point, if I knew who he was then this image wouldn’t have the same effect as it does now. Vivian’s work has become critically acclaimed now, almost 4 years after her death she has become of the most respected street and documentary photographers.

The work of street photographers is relevant to my work because of the way they would shoot, one of the areas of my work are all about the snap shot, how simply taking an image of your daily life can create work that truly captures a moment. Appling this in today’s age you see this over the internet with apps like Insta-gram, this although used well in some cases can take away the uniqueness of a photographer, the skill and talent has disintegrated.

Vivian Maier’s work hold an extremely personal perspective, not only is the story of her work amazing so is the quality of her images, the portraits and self-shot portraits taken over years and many rolls of film Viv-ian’s work is something that again give such an inspirational view on the average passer-by, if you stop to think about her work, although yes, some of her photography captures friends and family but allot of the work are just people who she passes by, this creates an element relative to Sonder, again we see the connec-tion to the individual, not the collective group, I think that with shots of groups you lose the meaning, there is so much going on, it becomes a shot of many faces lost in a sea of others, this is only my view, however personal shots and the closer portrait holds more detail to me, that using the wide shots and connect closer to Sonder.


Looking through her work I have chosen some of the most important images I find to be related to this project, images that have either connected directly to the work or to Sonder, these are the images that have more of the personal qualities I’m looking for in my work and I have personally taken inspiration from.

The images below are small selection of work from Vivian that I love, work that has the element that I am looking for, inspirational images that hold fea-tures of a personal element, the close portrait of work that show the faces of people that I, you will never meet. This work is perfect for the outcome of my brief, again showing some of the recently found and most famous portraiture work of our time, I love the images by Vivian they each hold a certain unique quality. Take a look at some of the images that I have chosen to be part of my research.

C h r i s C o e k i n

Personally I have a great respect for the snap shot, not only that but the use of the disposable camera. There are so many things that make this camera a useful tool, its ability to create images that have that

film look, you do not need to have any knowledge in photography to shoot with a disposable and above eve-rything it is a camera that is more socially acceptable to shoot with in public, rather than sticking an SLR up to your face the disposable is a more discreet camera that is eligible for everyone.

Chris Coekin’s The Hitcher is a brilliant project that was completely shot with disposable cameras, hitchhik-ing across the UK taking images throughout the journey. (Coekin, 2013, p. Image Below)

“Like a latter day beatnik, Chris Coekin Hitchhiked around the United Kingdom off and on for six years. Us-ing a cheap disposable camera to produce snapshot aes-thetic images as unpredictable as his journey – and a more formal camera for his driver portraits” (Coekin, 2013)

I like the idea of this project, not the hitchhiking but rather the use of disposable cameras, this section of my work connects directly to the Sonder and Dasein, the snap shot is something that runs throughout my work and I think that by creating something with the snap shot I can use this as a filler for my final work.

The plan for this is to hand out disposable cameras and allow people to take images of their daily lives. Printing the images out I want to create a wall of images to show the lives of everyone I meet, these cameras will be given out to pupils and tutors at my college, the idea of this small project is to go in cannon with my final project, the relationship between these two project is to connect the idea of Sonder, the disposable cam-eras represent the snapshot were as the portraits represent the individual.

In Chris Coekin’s The Hitcher not only do you see the disposable images and the snapshots from throughout the trip but portraits where also taken of some of the people met along the trip. This links perfectly to my final project, I will shooting portraits of the people I meet and in many ways ‘The Hitcher’ is a very similar project, the only thing is the concept differs in some areas.


For this project I am shooting creative people, people who have inspired me and people with stories that I never knew due to only seeing and never speaking to them. This idea behind Sonder, to create a database of people I meet in my life is basically the long and short of it.


These portraits are similar in the brief, they are nothing more than the subject, the person who picked them up on their travel through the UK, what I like about these portraits is that there isn’t a major amount if any post processing, the work show clearly who these people are, and you know because of the brief why they have had a portrait taken of them, however coming round again to look at my own work on Sonder, we don’t know who these people are, all we know is that for brief moment is Coekin’s life these people and vice versa effected and helped each other out, then when being dropped off at another point they parted way for a new face to take the role, I find this particular story quiet amazing. The images taken for the portraits hold the story quiet well I think, you have the subject or the driver in this case, the background is the place of pick up and then that’s all we need to know the entire set of images holds many portraits like this and has given me more depth to my work for sure.


P e r s o n a l R e s e a r c h

There are plenty of popular magazines that I take in-spiration from daily. The work ranges from certain

aspects of the magazines, some are very fashion based whilst others are portrait based, a mixed variety of work, over the next few pages I’m going to talk not about the magazines but some of the work I have found through looking in these magazines. The next sets of images over this next chapter are works from many photogra-phers each are referenced and found in the bibliography

at the end of my work.

Starting with certain portraiture work that I can find around the internet I have begun with Clare Shilland, and her work on the photo essay named “Love From Alice” what drew me to her work was the cleanness of the portraits, the style of photography was very similar to what I had in my head when thinking about this project in particular, I love the way that each of the images in some sets are perfectly fitted together, the work and the use of natural day light has really had a good impact on the images, shooting with no extra modifiers other than reflectors maybe the work is using daylight magnificently, again with the theme of this work I have looked at the more simple portrait rather than one that is over processed.


Another thing I like about this set is the use of the two photographs painting the story, one being the portrait the other being the use of a location shot, here it is shot in black and white and used as a feature image alongside the portrait, it works well I think, I have also seen this technique used else wear with two portraits and will be looking more at this particular layout as for a base in my work.

C l a r e S h i l l a n d

Based in London, Clare continues to explore the links between fashion and portraiture in her editorial work for magazine’s such as i-D, French Elle, The Gentlewoman, The Beat and Union. Her most recent commission for Milanese fashion house, Marni, is a moving image piece and soon-to-be-released book, art directed by Dean Langley. Love From, Clare’s ongoing collaboration with stylist Beth Fenton, lives on, so watch this space.


Some photographers are great to be found using magazines, I.D magazine has proven one of the best sources for this and I love this particular photographer

whose portraits hold something completely different, Piczo Photography has some amazing work on both website and Tumblr, I found the work through I.D magazine which led me toward more of the photography. Again I have placed on this page the images that inspired me in particular.


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“Chase Jarvis is well known as a visionary photographer, director, and fine artist with a consistent ambition to break down the barriers between new- and traditional media, fine- and commercial art.

As a photographic master, Chase has won numerous awards from Prix de la Photographie de Paris, The Ad-vertising Photographers of America, The International Photography Awards, and numerous photographic trade magazine throughout the world. Photo District News (PDN) Magazine called Chase one of the top 30 most

influential photographers of the past decade.

Early in his career, Chase dabbled in filmmaking, directing and producing short films (winning recognition at select film festivals across the country), but this passion was resurrected in 2008 when Chase launched the world’s first HDdSLR for Nikon. As literally the first artist in the world with access to this technology, Chase was propelled into the limelight as a new “indie” directorial figurehead armed with these new cameras and others like it, as well as the creative chops that have helped defined a new era of filmmaking. As such, his ca-reer as a Director and Producer of commercials, short films and music videos has exploded in the last 2 years. Whether working on commercial or personal projects, the opportunity to work with some of the best brands of our time–Apple, Starbucks, Nike and others–with multi-platinum artists like Sarah Mclachlan and members

of Pearl Jam–Chase has defined an aesthetic that’s all his own.

In the Fine Art world, Chase has begun work with curators, museums, and foundations, as well as galler-ies in the USA, Europe and Middle East in and around work in mobile photography, “instant” and “live” worlds of creativity, and the interrelation of accessible art and popular culture. His most recent installation at the Ace Hotel NYC during an artist in residency drew international acclaim, as well as attention of curators from MOMA and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. In the lineage of Warhol, Basquiat, and Shepard Fairey, Jarvis has worked to elevate the nature of instant art, community collaboration and sharing of art while

simultaneously democratizing its processes.

Chase is also the creator of 3 books. Seattle 100, Portrait of a City which is the culmination of a 3 year project photographing cultural leaders in Seattle and combining those images with an ethnography of the city he calls home. Another book launched in 2007 titled simply Stevens Pass–the first book of its kind celebrating a single ski area. And last year’s hit book–part of an ‘ecosystem’ combined with an online site and iPhone app–called The Best Camera Is The One That’s With You was released in the Fall 2009 to widespread media acclaim, and was featured on ABC, NBC, CBS, the Discover Channel, Fox, CBC Canada, as well as in The New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times and numerous other media channels in broadcast, print, and online. His iPhone app “Best Camera” completely re-shaped the photo app paradigm as the first app that allowed users to share images via social channels from within the interface of the app – a feature that is now considered req-uisite. Wired Magazine and Macworld both called Best Camera a “Top 20 app of the year” out of more than 300,000 apps online by, and was also highlighted by Apple CMO Phil Schiller in a New York Times feature

article, calling it a “must have” app along with Facebook, ESPN, and CNN.

In addition to his creative pursuits, Chase has many interests. He is a widely sought after presenter and has been a Keynote speaker on 5 continents. His invites include those ranging from Fortune 500 companies, to top universities, to the prestigious TEDx conferences held worldwide. He is an “accidental” social media maven with millions of subscribers, fans, and followers. He is also an entrepreneur–having recently started one of the world’s fastest growing online education companies, creativeLIVE.com, in March 2010–and is a gifted leader,

volunteer, husband and uncle.”

C h a s e J a r v i s


Joey L, photography that inspires me right to my core. I don’t say that lightly either, I genuinely believe that the portraits I have seen by Joey L are truly amazing, the level of work used and the pure skill that

has been used to take these images. Varanasi – Holy men, a personal project from Joey L that along with other portraits from religious cultures across the globe have such power about them, the images are actually amazing and I am huge fan of his work.What I love most is that the portraits is the ability to make you want to see more, you see one and you get a true sense of who they are, there is a brilliant documentary made with Joey L following the making of the photographs made in Varanasi. There are a number of videos explaining some of the shoots that Joey L has shot, with tutorials on using flash and photography light the same way as he does, this was a handy thing to watch, along with that, I also saw Joey L on Creative Live, speaking about business and what was needed to become a good commercial photographer, speaking about some of the work ethics that are needed to shoot, some of the items mentioned where what steps to take and the power of shooting your own personal projects is where you will gain the most attention.

J o e y L

“BIOJoey L. is a Canadian commercial photographer, director and published author based in Brooklyn, New York.A sensitive observer of endangered cultures and traditions, Joey travels the globe creat-ing dramatic portraits while giving the viewer a powerful insight into his subjects’ lives. His photo series range from Brooklyn, New York to Siberut, Indonesia; proof of an artist equally comfortable with the familiar and the exotic.His work is cinematic and contemporary – a fine art portrait approach to subjects once only seen in photojournalistic styles.” (L, 2013)

His portrait images are spectacular, one of the main images that I love are this one of the ‘Holy Men’ project. I want to look at this image and strip it down to the core of what makes this pic-ture look amazing. First of all looking at the image as a whole,

the composition of this picture allows you to see the subject in a natural way, although posed to an extent the subject is standing proud with the background not taking away from what we are looking at but instead adding to the drama of the image, this is

achieved by bringing your subject closer to the camera and distance from the background, giving a smaller depth of field but still keeping it focused to a point where we do not lose too much detail.


Let’s look at the natural image without flash first. The sunlight is from behind which in this photo acts as a the rim lighting (lighting that lights the behind of the subject giving a halo effect) this out-lines the subject and in this image helps to separate him from the background.

With daylight from behind we need to fill in the light at the front, bouncing the light from the back to hit the right hand side of the subject gets rid of the harsh shadows.

After bouncing light from be-hind flash is used to define the shot, from the right hand side using a large defuser as you can see here it lights the face and left shoulder.

B l o g s & B l o g g i n g

T h e S a r t o r i a l i s t

There are some blogs that stand out amongst the rest, some items of inspiration come from Tumblr accounts created to share the work of photographers, graphic designers, illustrator and more. Some blogs are de-

voted to domains and hold purpose, one particular blog that I am large follower is named, ‘The Sartorialist’ this blog is devoted to fashion and owned by Scott Schuman a brilliant photographer.

“Founder/blogger/photographer Scott Schuman began The Sartorialist with the idea of cre-ating a two-way dialogue about the world of fashion and its relationship to daily life.In addition to the blog, Schuman’s work has bee n featured in GQ, Vogue Italia, Vogue Paris, and Interview; for GQ, Schuman shot and edited his own page for over three years.Schuman has appeared in national ad campaigns for The Gap and Verizon, and collaborat-ed with Kiehl’s on an exclusively commissioned product and campaign surrounding Father’s Day.Nespresso, DKNY Jeans, Gant, OVS, Crate & Barrel, and Absolut have all commissioned ad campaigns. Burberry, meanwhile, tapped Schuman to shoot the ground breaking social media-cum-advertising “Art of the Trench” project.In 2009 Penguin published an anthology of his images that has sold well over 100,000 copies to date and been trans-lated into languages from English to Korean. Its limited-run Bespoke Edition sold out in less than three months.His work resides in the permanent collections of the Victoria & Albert Mu-seum and the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography.” (Schuman, 2013)

The images on this blog are perfect for what I want to achieve in my own project, I love how the portraits are o simple yet, capture the purpose perfectly, one of the main features about the work on the blog that I like, is that the images do not require a lot of technical knowledge but have this feature about then where creative com-position is key, having the eye to scout the streets for fashion and shooting in a way that is fluent throughout.

Again I have taken some of the images that I find to be the more interesting of the shots, mixing it up with men and women I find these images are good at looking at the poses of the subject, when shooting on the street the images are candid and little has been done to create the pose, however these photographs are personal, and unique to the subject, specifically asked to shoot, Schuman’s work shows a great way to quickly on the spot create photographs worthy of the blog. I am taking tips from these images in particular for position of models used and the way to shoot without the need for flash and other modifiers, I personally love the cleanness of these shots, and nothing is taken away from the subject which in fashion is more critical.It’s in these photographs that I want to talk more about the set up and shooting of the sets of images on ‘The Sartorialist’. Looking at how camera settings and positioning over my project I will be shooting a number of test shoots before finalizing my idea, I will be creating work that fits within this category.


Although there are allot of blogs that showcase street style I wanted to focus on ‘The Sartorialist’ his images really catch my eye and something that I want to ensure is the ease of taking these images. Sonder is a brief mainly about people that I meet, looking into the lives of people who either inspire me, are funny, friendly, those people who even if for a minute make a difference in my day.Looking at the way that street style photography is shot it is a quick and easy shoot, you can expose quickly and concentrate on composition while using off camera flash and lighting means that you will have to set the shoot up.Understand light is now where my project comes to play, using the minimal amount of equipment to create the images that I want to see.


E x p e r i m e n t a t i o n


My first experimental stage is to use lighting. I want to show my understanding of how lighting works, how I can shoot in the location and studio environment.

For this stage I shot using medium format 120 Film with the Lubitel 116+ the lomography camera. My first shoot I wanted to create an environment where I would be using studio lighting out in the cellar of a shop floor, shooting for Resurrection in Liverpool and indie clothing store, I was using a two light set up, this was to showcase the new clothing range. With two models and woman and man these were my subject for the day, shooting single portraits and both duo shots I was looking at how the light falls onto each subject when interacting with each other and what was best to showcase the clothing, throughout this I had to ensure that the not only camera settings where correct but also the use of lighting meant using diffusers to spread the light giving it a softer look.

This first image was a single shot, I have scanned the images in for the presentation but in my portfolio you will see the printed dark room prints.

Shooting one light set up first to create the balance and then filling in the left to give a more dramatic feel to my images, this first shoot was showcasing the clothing however a time to try out lighting for my Sonder brief. Filling in a harder light source from the right gives the left side a dark harsh shadow but lighting all the body area on the left showing detail in the denim jacket. A basic shot with a basic set up.


This second image is using the same set up, throughout the day the lighting was pretty similar, moving the reflective light (black umbrella) to compensate the shadow when shooting both subjects together, what I mean by this is making sure that the shadows were not hitting the faces of both subjects or interfering with each other. Lighting settings. F/16 at 1/200 – Flash guns set to ½ and ¼ .

These last few images are the last remaining shots from the film that I liked, using diffusers such as umbrel-las creates the soft lighting that can spread across the subject smoothly without the harsh shadows on the face, stopping down slightly in camera to create some more depth and drama to these images you can see that the background is darker and the subjects are kept well exposed. Using the chemical dark room I created prints of these images that can be seen in my portfolio, creating test images throughout the pathway stage and making print pieces that show the use of enlarging equipment I focused more on the digital view of my images, scanning them in a feel like I have more knowledge in Photoshop that I do in the dark room.



After using film I knew that for this brief it was not the way to go, when using film there are too many unknowns, exposure and depth of field. You can’t take the images and look back over them, I am confi-

dent with my skill as a photographer to know that I can shoot film, as proven in the images previously but I do not think for this brief that it’s a good idea when the idea is to take images of people I meet and not stage them too much, as people on the street if I can’t take their picture. Starting this brief with tutors around col-lege I do have lighting at my disposal but I want to use natural lighting for these images, window light and the lighting around the college, not only for continuity but for a more natural effect.

The images above are two digitally shot images using the same lighting layout as previously shown, the difference as obvious is the editing used, the left images black and white, with a slightly vintage look where using a saturation tool and blending a white layer over the top of my images to create the faded look, simi-larly I have done this on the colour image to the right, it is here where I have used the same technique as the black and white but kept the colour and made a slight vibrancy tweak brining the colour out more on these test shot.

I think that over all these test images went well and I have placed thumbnail images of all the images taken, these were primarily for a clothes shoot but prove my knowledge in using studio lighting.


These are my favourite images from the shoot they are the ones that in my opinion worked well the most and created the atmosphere that I wanted to be cre-ated.From a commercial stand point the client in this case – Resurrection wanted a slightly faded Insta-gram feel to the images, obviously without using Instagram, what I tried to achieve was a sharper and cleaner look with the same effects, I think that over all working for a client sways your photography, as a commercial photographer you do not shoot for what you want to shoot you shoot what the client wants you to shoot, you just have a slight creative direction in the choosing of the way your shoot is shot.



Deciding on what style of photography I want to shot was something that needed to be thought through, photography is something that comes in many different styles, not just in what is being shot but in the

way that it is shot. I believe that sometimes there are times for directed photography and natural photog-raphy. What I mean by this is using studio lighting is called for sometimes whereas natural light and using what you have on you can work perfectly well, just as images from the blog ‘The Sartorialist’ uses day light and maybe a flash gun to shoot.As mentioned above I wanted to shoot different styles, looking at studio lighting I already shot in my resur-rection shoot on the pages beforehand, this time I wanted to shoot with the use of natural day light.

All of the images shot on these pages are shot using only the 50mm 1.8 lens the EXIF Data on these images I have listed below the photos, these where shot for a fashion styling blog that wanted a more natural look, one thing that I notice about blogging photographers is that it helps to be able to shoot fast without hassle, using the 50mm 1.8 you can shoot in relatively low light and create a very shallow depth of field.

I really love some of these images, shooting the different outfits it’s easy to relate this photography to my project of Sonder, when shooting images for Sonder I do not want an overly staged shoot, I knew this from the start however using small diffusers or flash guns with reflectors I do not mind however I will be shooting out on the streets with people I meet or if I meet a person for a day I will not have the time to gather equip-ment. Shooting with what equipment I have on me was something that I thought about when starting this brief. I want to show a simple side to people I meet, not have this over complicated photo-shoot, I want to capture the people as they are in that moment and showcase people who I meet that will inspire me or play a part on my life.


These images are part of my test shoot where I have shot using the same methods I want to use in my final brief, I created images using the standard 50mm.18 lens shooting on a very low aperture where my work would look. Shooting for a fashion styling blog, the image where perfect for that, and since my brief is blog based project driven by the story rather than the image I feel that this is perfect for what I want to shoot, I know that these images are standard and focus on clothing but they helped me to understand how I needed to shoot my images before starting on my final pieces.


I a n R u h t e r

Wet Plate Photographer and alchemist

“Life Grants us a series of opportunities and those opportunities come with a price”Ian Ruhter Silver & Light Vimeo

Cutting his teeth in commercial photography shooting snowboarding and skiing, Ian Ruhter was not known. He didn’t get his name out there for shooting what others have shot before, nor did he get his

name for shooting images for great companies. He got his name for redesigning photography, for having a purpose to shoot. Beginning in LA Ian looked up at his window in his apartment and saw the LA sky line framed perfectly, If I could do anything in my life and make one image that big it would be the greatest thing I ever did”. (Ruhter, 2013)

Packing up and taking his life savings, Ian developed a camera unlike anything else; with years of experi-ence shooting wet plate images he started a project based on his passion. When Ian started in photography he was using his hands to create his images and it seemed like overnight that digital came and it all came to an end, changing everything. In the absence of that feeling it sent Ian on a tremendous journey to build a cam-era that no one has built before.

The project isn’t about making actual images or creating the world’s largest camera, it’s about doing some-thing you actually love. Wet plate photography gave Ian the ability to work with his hands again to create the images he shot, to have something tangible to hold and see.

Buying a truck Ian created a camera that shoots large scale wet plate images. The world’s largest mobile camera, standing inside this camera you see the world in such a perfect way, opening the lens this truck fills with light, the image from outside shines straight through. This truck was built and designed to shoot large scale wet plate images, light proofing and opening up the back of this truck with a lens at the front it is unlike anything ever built before, Little is known about the actual design of the camera, not because it is a secret but because of these words alone.

“I’m not withholding information but if I gave you all you needed to know, what lens, what size, what’s this what’s that, where is the fun for you, you need to go out there, you need to create what you want and love or you’re just a sheep like the rest of us” (Jarvis, 2013)

Ian Ruhter didn’t just build a camera to take images, he built a camera to tell a story, traveling around Amer-ica taking these moments, with such inspirational stories of people living in America, the Silver & Light Project has taken Ian through cities and states along the way taking huge scale wet late images. When Ian was younger he suffered with harsh dyslexia which made it hard to communicate as a child

“When I found photography I found my voice” (Ruhter, 2013)

“Each person we meet along the way becomes part of our camera, this camera allows people to have their voice” (Ruhter, 2013)

Traveling they have seen living on the streets, people who have lost everything, lost these they love, stories of these people happy and sad, the truth about American life and those who live it.

‘American Dream’ is a video that features some of these people, a small documentary made by Ian and his team. The stories that this camera has captured, the portraits of people who have a story to tell, stories that touch people and open eyes to a true version of photography, a true story.


Along the way they have had so much support; everywhere they go people want to know what is going on and what it’s for, with help from studios giving them equipment, helping to share the stories of these people. It really puts a perspective on life.

Redesigning the camera was just one step on this journey, the typical wet plate camera doesn’t stop Ian from creating, the plastic camera the Holga has been turned into a wet plate camera, cutting down the plates to fit right in the back of a camera, hand holding a wet plate camera is unheard of and shooting wet late in a Holga is just another step to creating images that are so unlike anything seen before.

Ian Ruhter and his team have an ethic toward photography that is unlike anything else, to say that this truck can’t change or inspire you, I would disagree through watching his videos, and following his blog you can see that there is a real reason for taking these images, and the reality of the situation is that photography is a voice, a way of telling the story, Ian and his journey has only just began, shooting their way across America you can follow them through the, on the internet through social sites and their blog.

Not scaling up his images, Ian is shooting on a 1x1 scale and larger, shooting from the back of a truck that he turned into a camera, telling the stories of America and pouring his life savings onto a project that could ruin him, the truth is, Ian has put everything he has and bet on himself, something that would take the heart of many.

“If you had been searching your whole life for something you love, what would you do to achieve it” (Ruhter, 2013)

My answer. I would try to do anything and pour my heart into what I love, it’s not all about money.

Ian Ruhter, a photographer that has inspired me on so many levels. A photographer that has not only changed photography but built a camera, Creating and modified the way we plate photography can be shot but has given a true meaning back into photography with portraits and stories from people on his journey.

To take an image it costs Ian roughly $500, wet plate imagery isn’t something that can be done cheaply and on this scale it’s something that costs almost triple what it would on a 10x8 scale. The beauty of wet plate imagery is that it is so true to life that you really see the image, standing in the back of the truck is like standing in the back of a huge camera obscurer, the image from outside is reflected into the back of the truck upside down, the skill of taking such an image requires not just skill in image taking, to shoot these huge wet plates you need to be able to pour the collodian over he images before shooting to get and even flow across the whole image, like spreading butter over to much bread, then to manoeuvre the plate focus and shoot correctly ensuring that all the average photography basics are correct but on a 1x1 scale, Ian and his team are shooting images unlike anything else, yes there have been large format cameras, but nothing as mobile and nothing done on a project so inspiring.

In one video, ‘American Dream Ian and his team explain their journey, where they are at now and what they are achieving. In short they are covering ground at this very moment traveling through towns and finding stories from people that really have something to say across America. Using the internet now as a tool to really reach out and connect to fans, or people who want to be involved, it is something when a community can get together and really help out, just like the photography community help Ian with equipment.

From other photographers, to bike shop owners, everyone they have met along the way has helped and became part of his project, shooting portraits is an amazing skill, most photographers don’t realise the skill needed to be a truly brilliant portrait photographer. Shooting in a studio doing family happy times isn’t what I would call true art, or inspiring, but shooting with a reason, for purpose, that is what inspires you to take a first glance and see a portrait, but on closer inspection you realise that it’s so much more. One image in par-ticular touched me where a young man aged no more than 20 was standing with a skate board, its not until


you at this man and you see that he does not have a right foot and shin, no hands and yet still road a skate board semi-professional, some of the stories are truly inspiring and defiantly worth a watch.

“I sometimes get angry and throw a plate when its not working and I look over and realise what am I moan-ing about, he doesn’t have a leg” (Ruhter, 2013)

I chose Ian Ruhter because he is somewhat new to the photography world, not new by experience but new to legend, he has created and redeveloped the working largest mobile camera, not only has he delved into large format but medium format too, with the Holga and small wet plates his work is truly amazing, his images offer an amazing look on life and tell a true story about those he photographs.His work has challenged me to make my work better, not only my images and technique, but, my ethic around my work, to create something that really matters, and so from this I have moved on to create my own projects based on people that influence my life.

I love his work but I love what he has and is doing with it, that there is actually a reason.



V i d e o d e v e l o p m e n t & F i n a l

These two shots are perfect for opening the scene, dark lit and a moody sensation create a serious tone for the video, this fits perfectly with the interview. Opening with the writing of the name of the interviewee and the England your England logo. I love the intros to these videos they create a perfect tone and a good open-ing to the video.

These next two shots are slightly unusual as they create an unusal look to the video, following the subject through home towns and streets to create an atmosphere of an ordinary life. These are defiantly something that I like about this video it give the interview a break and more depth, you see their lives and it creates something that isn’t just an interview.


Mixing the shots with walking and still shots throughout the town and home life it gives the interview a sto-ry and as you see in the next few frames it follows the interview perfectly. Allowing a story to flow through the interview is a brilliant way to create a better and more watchable video, it isn’t just a man sitting there talking about his life you get to see a small insight into his daily goings.

The final shots end the video perfectly giving the story an ending and something to tie it all together, through this interview you hear of how this man was a convict and how he had done some very bad things in his life, stole and fought with people, however that isn’t what the story is about, it’s about the changing of a man to do better with his life, that sometimes it’s the circumstance that create a life for someone, that they don’t have a chose it’s the way they are brought up, I believe that the England your England project has some very powerful interviews with people and they are an outstanding inspiration to my work, on the next page I have explained more about the work of England your England.

Story Shots are the most important in this video, you see at first that this man is a piano tuner and straight away you see that this man has chosen the life of a homeless, the next shots explain and show a more daily routine than you would expect from a piano tuner and the video is used perfectly to create a story with the way it is shot, showing some areas of his life that fit perfectly in time with the audio of the interview.

The final shots end the video perfectly giving the story an ending and something to tie it all together, through this interview you hear of how this man was a convict and how he had done some very bad things in his life, stole and fought with people, however that isn’t what the story is about, it’s about the changing of a man to do better with his life, that sometimes it’s the circumstance that create a life for someone, that they don’t have a chose it’s the way they are brought up, I believe that the England your England project has some very powerful interviews with people and they are an outstanding inspiration to my work, on the next page I have explained more about the work of England your England.

Opening with the name and logo runs throughout the series of videos that are out at the moment, then you see that the overlay of video is used well, you see the two sides to someone at once creating a nice transition between shots, I feel that the way these videos are shot are done in great taste. I personally love the way that the landscapes and wide shots are used to help tell the story, to give more depth to the work, I love that the work in these videos are a story of someone rather than an interview and I love this.

Story Shots are the most important in this video, you see at first that this man is a piano tuner and straight away you see that this man has chosen the life of a homeless, the next shots explain and show a more daily routine than you would expect from a piano tuner and the video is used perfectly to create a story with the way it is shot, showing some areas of his life that fit perfectly in time with the audio of the interview.


F i n a l I m a g e s & V i d e o

My final images are not the main focus of this project, they are an add on just like the video is an add on to the images and so forth, the main subject of this project is the story, the meaning and what I want to

achieve and have achieved so far with this project, it is something that will continue throughout my life and I will always have during my life, I will continue the blog and showcase people I meet and who have inspired me, if it’s the way they dress, what they do with their lived, the stories they have to tell, there are so many things that interest me and inspire me throughout my life, from music and other art to fashion and design.

Below and on this page are the images that I shot for this brief, I do like them and for my final exam the blog has now become live and showcases more images that I did not print due to money, I am happy with the outcome of this project and how the work in this has become something I am proud of. Enjoy these final images.



E v a l u a t i o n

The German Word Dasein has been used by Heidegger and numerous other philosophers to refer to raw hu-man existence – the fundamental mode of “being there.” When applied to photography, this everyday-ness is most revealed by the snapshot. Over time and without our knowledge the snapshot had become one of the most important visual tools and storyboard we have of simply “being” in the world, it has become a form for many to share their lives across platforms that spread the world in sheet of photography and messages. This brief started here, with the word Dasein, looking at the work of photographer Chase Jarvis who used this word to create a project named “Dasein: Invitation to Hang.” It was here that I gain the initial interest to look further at photography and our social behaviour, however, after looking more into this I realised that I cannot just copy the work of Chase Jarvis and I need to create something that can stand on its own. It is here where my brief begins, delving more into the social behaviours of the public and common interests in photography.The opening to my brief, I started to work with the German word Dasein and found that this project would just become something that I would steal, or it felt like copying another project, the work of this brief needed to be something where I could focus my life, tell a story and create work that actually means something to me and would allow other people to be interested.

Sonder came about through searching the internet and finding nothing, trying to find words that would ex-plain what it was I was trying to achieve, after a conversation with my girlfriend, she helped me to find the word I was looking for and so from having nothing I created the project Sonder.

SonderN. The realization that each random passer-by is living a life as vivid and complex as your own – populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness – an epic story that continues in-visibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.My brief started looking through the historical and contextually photographers that inspire me, looking at how they shoot and how they grind their teeth in the photography world, after searching I focused the mean-ing of my brief so that I could then decide on how my images where going to look.

Looking at natural light and directed photo shoots I found that my work was going to have to be a simple yet effective shoot, I wanted something that was a perfect, easy and stunning way to take images, and this led me to look at the blogs that I follow. The images taken are designed to be shot with ease yet looking amaz-ing, I feel that some of these things are for certain when photographing. My brief had to be something where if I saw someone walking down the street I needed to be able to shoot there and then and not have to lug gear around with me all the time.

After wards I focus on the video side of my project, this is where I needed to teach myself everything to do with video I have never shot before, learning everything from scratch I studied the work of other videogra-phers and finding work that inspires me so much.

Finally the outcome of my work, there is no point explaining what I looked at as you will see it through my work, I feel that I need to explain what I wanted share what I could have changed.

My images I feel look good, the design of my work looks good and I also feel that I have created a good blog to show case my work and heavily explained my work, the video to my work could do with improve-ments, since learning everything myself I did not create the best I do not think, using a steady cam would have been better, however from learning everything from scratch I feel that it’s been enough to create a good


job with video.

Any good photographer will know that “On Photography” by Susan Sontag is a must read book, weather just studying photography as an amateur or hobbyist or a professional this book really stands the ground and helps to fully understand just what photography is. I started to read this again, looking through more at the social aspect to photography and I came across this specific statement in the first few pages.“Recently photography has become almost as widely practiced an amusement as sex and dancing – which means that, like every mass art form, photography is not practiced by most people as an art. It is mainly a social rite, a defence against anxiety, and a tool of power.” (Sontag, 2002, p. 8)Photography has become something where everyone can pick up a camera and shoot, in fact there is an interesting post on just how many people own a camera phone and just when did it start, it relates to some of the most recent disasters in the world such as 9/11 and the London bombings, stating that some images were being taken on phones and small compact cameras more than any disaster since. “Go check out the article from the bibliography (Gaurdian, 2010)”“Memorializing the achievements of individuals considered as members of the families (as well as other groups) is the earliest popular use of photography. For at least a century, the wedding photograph has been as much a part of the ceremony as the prescribed verbal formulas.” (Sontag, 2002, p. 8)Family events such as wedding, birthdays, holidays each of the common family events and day to day life are now shared globally on the internet through media sites, the craze of Instagram brought with it a trend for people to instantly upload images with a selection of filters to give them different look, just as fashion changes the way we dress so does the way we shoot when using Instagram, the ease of creating images that look more desirable and “vintage” with quick on touch effects brought with it a craze to take more images, this meant that people where sharing more and thus you find out more about their day to day lives. I’m not a scrooge to using sharing sites, I love blogs and I love the idea of sending your images and thoughts around the world, but it is this thought that brought me to the start of the brief. After looking closely at Dasein and what it stood for Chase’s work represented taking the images, go out and shoot you have a camera right there in your pocket, but it was reading through “On Photography” that made me realise that we do all share our work online to millions of people, you can search a name, and see a glimpse or their life without ever having to meet them or talk and then I realise that this whole understanding of social behaviour is so much more local than I thought, it happens every day, with everyone you pass, this led me to a word which I found through the internet, it may not be a true word but definition was found.

To end this evaluation I want to say that this brief will be something that I will continue throughout my life, its not a focus on the images or the work it’s a focus on the people a data base of people who inspire me, a project of my life and the people around me.

Date post:	27-Mar-2016
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