Some of my favourite photographers...

Whilst on the ND course for 2 years, i looked at many great photographers, from ones that sadly aren't with us anymore and left a legacy behind, to modern photographers that have still got a legacy to create.

Firstly im going to start with Alexander Rodchenko, his work i first looked at back at school when i started out my passion for photography. Rodchenko was russian and he didn't only create great photography, but also he was an artist, a sculpture and a graphic designer. Many peolpe refer to him as one of the founders of the Constructivist movement and Russian design. A statement to which i agree with.

Rodchenko was impressed by the Photomontage, and in 1924 he started shooting his own photographs creating his very first Photomontage named "About this" influenced by one of Mayakovsky's poems, a collaboration continued right through till 1928. creating many stricking portraits...

Mayakovsky seated

Mayakovskys standing.

Some other examples of his work :)

Balconies

1925

To the Demonstration

1928

Working with an Orchestra

1933

Dianne Arbus, was an american documentary photographer. Her work has featured in many major exhibitions and she is well known amongst the photographic world. I have found a short biography about Arbus which i found interesting and useful...

http://gerbis.net/publications/arbus.html

Child with a toy grenade in Central Park

N.Y.C 1962

Man at a parade on fifth avenue

N.Y.C 1969

a Jewish giant at home with his parents in the Bronx

N.Y.C 1970

Mexican Dwarf in his hotel room

N.Y.C 1970

Was Arbus taking these images to laugh at the people in them?

John Londei, was one of my biggest influences, his work "Shutting up shop" a 17 year project on how small family owned traditional shops where being shut down, something that reflects the society we live in today, was my main inspriration for my FMP Project (hopefully something to continue on with) on the closure of Working Mens Clubs...

Off Licence, Islington, London

Umbrella Shop, New Oxford Street, London

Button Shop, london

Art Shop, Covent garden, london

Matt :) x

Differnt types of lighting...

Here is a really good post on different types of lighting... it gives examples and explanations!

digital-photography-school.com/9-lighting-types-to-harness-improve-your-photography

Lighting around the college...

As a photographer, we are trained to look at light in a different way then other people. And by doing this learn how to use all the light we have to the best of our ability!

The following images where taken in the wednesday

afternoons session with Andy Farrington... we where send out in group of 3 and told to take pictures of each other under different types of lighting around the college. There was so many different types of lighting but we only had 2 hours to do it in.

Here are some examples from the exercise...

1/125, f4.0

InfaRed Lighting (darkroom).

The next image was taken using the natural lighting we had around us. The light source was coming from the big windows, we stood the model opposite the window.

1/125, f4.0

(Daylight)

We then made our way to the lift (the one on the right without the camera has a better light in it, the ceiling acts as abit like a diffuser)

1/125, f2.8

(Fluorescent)

Into the studio and we used some different types of lighting, this image was lit by attaching a soft box onto one of the lights and placing it at a 45o from the model.

1/125, f5.6

This image was lit in the same way as the one above, only a strobe light was added, and we placed the model nearer to the window. I think the end result is better as the lighting in the image has a natural feel to it.

1/125, f8.0

Matt :) x

Photographing Glass...

Well i have just sat down in one of the mac rooms, looking out of the window onto the terraces of Blackburn! After a session on lighting glass! (we used Andy's massive collection of aftershave bottles with the odd perfume in there as well...) Me, Russ, Emily and Britney went out with our cameras and a bottle, trying to light the bottle using natural lighting, we of corse went straight to the secret staircase and after removing the dead flies from the window ledge placed the bottle as we wanted it...

Once we had made our way down the secret staircase we went into the entrance of the UCBC Building, here there is alot of natural light coming in from the windows which made it perfect

Our cameras where set on AV mode, which means aperture priority, this is where the camera sorts out the shutter speed for you leaving you to worry about the ISO which we had on 400 and the aperture which i had set to 5.6.

Matt :) x

Individual Task...

In johns class today, we where set an individual task, Me

Russ and Bekah all went on a little walk round the wonderful streets of blackburn... (even though we went as a 3some we did our own indivual work)

We where told to go out and photograph an object, it could be anything we wanted as long as it was an object lit by either Window, Strobe or Fluorescent lighting... this sounded easier then it actually was... our cameras had to be set at an ISO of 400 and manually focused... to help us understand the features.

i was struggling to think of something to photograph, as Blackburn isnt the most exciting place on the planet. I was actually quite pleased with the end results. I ended up with 3 images! (below).

When we got back i imported the images into my lightroom catalouge, i made some basic adjustments to the image and then exported them into photoshop.

Matt :) x

An Introduction about myself!

My names Matt Just, or Matthew Just to some... I started out my journey at Wellfield High School in Leyland where i did photography as a GCSE, then moving onto do an ND course at Blackburn College, this course lasted for 2 years and even though i don't yet have a clear view of where i would like my photography to go int the future, this was defiantly when i started to think about the type of photography i would like to explore in more depth. I am now studying a foundation degree at UCBC at Blackburn College, this course is run by the absolutely fantastic John and Richard (brownie points in the bag there eyyy?)

I mainly prefer documentary photography, with my first proper piece of work shot at the towns local bus company depot, one of the longest family owned public bus services in the country and still has some of its traditional ways that make it such a big part of the town!

For my final major project, i photographed many WMC's (working mens clubs) in the east lancs area, this was the project i feel that made my love for documentary photography even bigger! Just talking to the peolpe who day in day out run these clubs, with even the bigger more popular clubs struggling to get by makes you think about the damage caused by cheap pubs/clubs! And the affects this has on local communities!

and.....

I have also photographed some of the landscapes and local foods in lancashire, taking my camera and some very unsutible footware up Pendle Hill in he middle of our 'summer' and to various local food stalls/shops in the county.

Food...

These images are just the surface of the work i have completed on my ND course, i prefer strong black and white images. I hope over the next 2 years i develop my studio skills, photographing more models in and out of the studio and developing the skills i have already learnt since my journey into photography began. Thankyou for taking time to read my blog and ill keep posting :) so make sure you all keep reading ;)

Matt Just

x