Considering that photography will be a large part of this publication I thought that I should look into some photographs I admire and decided on a certain look in my pictures. I studied photography in 6th form and haven't really revisited it since! All I have done I the odd film here and there. The question is do I take film pictures or do I keep it simple and use digital? I do know that if I use film there is a chance the photos won't come out properly and it costs a lot..you have to wait a while too. If I use digital I can put them onto photoshop and, at the end of the day, achieve a look similar to film. So I am going to look into portrait photography.
Cecil Beaton
Beaton's photos have been taken so well. They are crisp and (especially on film) to be able to get such a transition from the background and the person is very difficult. Thats something i want to do with my photos. I want the background to be blacked out complelty. Not so blacked out so it runs into the page. When I look at these photos I feel that they make the person have importance. Of course Beaton only photographed famous people but their shot in such a way that makes then seem of a higher class to you. In some ways that isn't what I want with my photographs as I want the first years to feel on the same level. Thats why I want to add some humour into them.
Eve Arnold
One thing you notice in these photos compared to Cecil Beaton's is there are not as personal. They subject is not looking into the lens. This makes the photograph seem more like its been taken at random. They don't seem staged like Beaton's. You can tell from Beaton's that the subject is posing for the camera. I am defiantly going to have my photos in black and white. When there is a black background it works so well. And if you have the contrast & saturation perect it looks divine.
Irving Penn
The top photograph is sensational. If you click on it you can get a big size as I was lucky on google. Look at the example above with the woman smoking a cigarette. The background is so white. How did he do this? This was taken in the days when film was all photographers had. There was no photoshop to crop out the background. I wouldn't know where to start with this. Unless it had been optimised by someone random in the decade I can't think of any explanation to how he took this. The photos arn't quite right for my book. They are too deep, they contain a lot of emotion and seem quite serious.
