work

1. Experimental
Photography
Jamie Kessel
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Case Study

2. ‘Scotch Tape’ – Wes
Naman

3. Artist and bio: Wes Naman – There is very little about this man on
the internet. But after various Google searches I’ve found that he
was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is globally recognized
due to his ‘scotch tape’ photo collection, which I will go on to analyse
and discuss later on the next slide. He chooses to keep much of his
identity hidden from the public eye, such as images of himself and
personal information. This may be due to him wanting to remained
concealed and mysterious, and even his name may be a false name
which helps to add to his artistic illusion. The long and short of it is
that Naman is a mysterious photographer, and no one really knows
to know anything about him.
Category: Contemporary
The photograph could be seen: Internet Blogs, Google searches, Fine
art Photography magazines, contempary culture magazines.
Techniques used: texture, meaning, high contrast, focal point, fast
shutter speed, artificial light, controlled, medium close up shot

4. Technique: The images are taken from Wes Naman’s most successful and well know album, in which he adopts the
strange technique of covering his subject’s faces with tape in order to achieve obscure and experimental contemporary
artwork. As mentioned previously, he plays with both texture and the element of dimension by distorting the subject's facial
features with tape, and this is a technique he uses consistently throughout the set of images. This in turn produces images with
shock value, which are intended on drawing in the viewer’s eye, and challenges the norms of artistic conventions and agendas.
Fast shutter speeds allow Naman’s subjects appear crisp and in focus, which in turn helps to add to the image’s bold nature. To
add to this, the plain background (which is probably achieved by shooting in a studio) help to create bordering, thus making
the subjects jump out of the image rather than simply merging with the background. The images were quite clearly shot in a
controlled environment rather than a candid one, due to the tape having to be placed in specific patterns on the faces of the
subjects. This is relevant to Naman’s technique as it means he is enabled to set up the subjects specifically how he wants them
to look, rather than simply taking pictures of people while forcibly wrapping tape around their face in public. Having said this
however, Naman could have adopted a more semi-candid style of shots with these images by repeatedly taking photos whilst
attempting to distract them from the fact that they are having their photos taken (which in turn would add an element of
realism to the images). In terms of the lighting in the images, due to the likeliness of the images being shot in a studio, it’s also
likely that these images were shot in artificial light, rather than natural light. This would’ve been important for this group of
images due to their ‘high definition’ nature. What I mean by this is that the attention to facial detail may have been somewhat
disrupted by sunlight shadowing areas of the faces. In terms of the images meaning, it’s not entirely clear (as is often the case
with experimental photography). Naman himself doesn’t leave much in the way of explanation, but as I’ve said before, I think
that he’s intended on challenging the boundaries of what is possible with photography, and add his own contemporary twist to
the art of experimental photography

5. Wolfgang Tillmans–
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Category – Contempary
Bio – Wolfgang Tilmmans is a german contempary experinmental
and fine art photographer. He was born 16th August 1968, in
Remscheid, West Germany, where he spent his childhood observing
the possibilities of shapes, angles and perspective. He was
successful in school, and later went on to become one of the most
distinguished modern experinental photographers in the world due
to this extremely diverse material and styles. He is currently a
member of the Royal Academy of Arts.
This Photograph could be seen in – Internet Blogs, Google searches,
Large scale photography magazines, abstract art galleries.
I will now analyze one of his Photographs.

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Technique: smoke effect
Here Wolfgang Tillmans has used a smoke effect in order to create a very abstract looking final image. He has used a macro
lens to capture the subject up close. A dark room was presumably used to capture the image in a studio, with a controlled
nature. By using flash, the smoke has been captured and has allowed for high contrast against the dark studio. There has
been large amount of post production on this image, with the colours presumably changed around to make the smoke
look black and the background look white. This not only creates a very high level of contrast, but also makes the image
much less perceivable as actually being smoke, and leaves the viewer guessing more as to what the image is. A fast shutter
speed will have been used for this image in order to capture each fine strand of the smoke clearly without it being blurred,
and this works really well in the image, and gives it almost a slightly scientific aesthetic. Not only has the image got high
contrast to it, but there is also a great deal of dynamic range, however it still technically wouldn’t be considered to be
monochrome due to the large green square on the right hand side of the image. This could’ve been done for a number of
different reasons, but one thing that springs to mind is the fact that it could represent nature, but the meaning is left
unclear. The subject of the image (the smoke) obeys the rule of thirds , with the smoke being positioned approximately
over the bottom third of the image, adding to it’s ability to be pleasing to the human eye.

7. Bobby Russel
• Category – Contemporary
• Bio – ‘I first started out on photography a while back in 2006 around Nov,
with too much time on my hands. The birth was quick, but the death was
slow. I wasn't quite sure how it'd work out then, this photography thing,
but passion must be taken at a moderate pace; too much of it and you tire
quickly.
What is photography to me? I guess Kafka said it best - "We photograph
things in order to drive them out of our minds." All my photographs are
created from the vision I had when I pressed the shutter, and every single
one of them is lovingly processed, especially the personal favourites.’ –
This is a direct quote taken from his website bio at
‘http://sidewinding.daportfolio.com/about/’
• This photographer could be seen in: Internet blogs, Internet photography
galleries, Magazines aimed at promoting amateur photography.
• I will now analyze one of his images.
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With this particular image, Russel has adopted a variety of different techniques in order to create a beautiful and
intensely contemporary piece of experimental photography. The subject of the image in a sense is the whole image and
it’s interpretation of the modern day commute, rather than being one particular part of the image. This absence of one
particular subject is achieved by creating an out of focus and motion blurred look using a slow shutter speed. On top of
this, the slow shutter speed creates a very candid, and also busy mood to the image. The fact that we can see the various
subjects moving really helps to bring the image to life. The lighting of the image is presumably completely artificial due
to being shot in a metro, and this in turn gives the image a fairly clinical look, and adds to the high contrast and dynamic
range. The use of no colors (monochrome) could have been chosen for various different reasons, and one interpretation
could be the fact that it’s been used in order to represent the dull nature of a daily commute through the metro, grey
often being a color associated with mundane topics. Russel has utilized leading lines in order to add a sense of dimension
to the image, and it plays with the ‘tunnel illusion’ concept, which again adds life to the image and sets it apart from
more 2D looking images. As well as this, the use of leading lines works in order to create symmetry within the image, as
each leading line works as a sort of reflection of one another (eg. The handrails or steps). To add to all this, the images
aesthetic value is further benefitted through the usage of repetition within the tiles on the wall. The tile’s repetition add
to the clinical look, as they are very geometric shapes with hard edges. This also adds further structure to the image due
to the fact that geometric shapes often work well with the human eye, in order to aid the structure of images. The
vantage point at which the photo has been taken adds a sense of empowerment to the viewer. This is due to the fact
that the subjects are all lower down than the camera itself, thus placing the viewer in a naturally authoritative position.
Another possible interpretation as to why Russel might have chosen this camera angle could be the
http://sidewinding.daportfolio.com/

9. My images: contact sheet 1 (zoom burst)
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10. Chosen image
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11. • What techniques were used?
The zoom burst technique was used to create this image.
• How was the technique used
The technique was used by changing focal length rapidly. An example of this was going
from 18mm and zooming into 55mm. In addition to this, a slow shutter speed was
required in order to create the blurred effect. I used a shutter speed of 1/10th of a
second.
• What are your opinions on the image
The set of images produced work interestingly to create distorted looking images that
are very abstract and aesthetically interesting. They distort the perception of reality in
a very surreal manor. The chosen image I’ve picked stood out to me due to the high
contrast of the subject against the background, creating a mysterious silhouetted
effect in which the subject is left to the imagination of the viewer. The mystery of the
subject and the fact that none of his facial features have been exposed works well to
toy with the viewer’s brain, and this was intended on leaving the viewer feeling
uneasy and unsure about what they are perceiving. I also really liked the use of
leading lines within the image that draw the eye to the subject instantly, and I feel that
I’ve really utilized the surrounding environment in this way. There wasn’t really much
to not like about this image, but one fault I can pick out is that the symmetry is slightly
off. It would have been nice to have the subject centered dead in the middle of the
image, and I feel that this would have perfected the image
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12. My images: contact sheet 2
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13. Chosen image:
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14. • What techniques were used?
For this piece, I have used the double exposure technique.
• How was the technique used
By using Adobe Photoshop, I created two layers with different images on them, and
manipulated their opacity in order to create an overlaid double exposure effect. I also
insured that the backgrounds of both images are white in order to create the illusion
that both versions of the subject are part of the same image, and also to increase the
focus of the subjects against a plain looking background with no distractions.
• What are your opinions on the image
• I feel that this image has a lot of beauty to it. I mean this in a very natural sense.
Everything about the image seems natural and not overly artificial in terms of it’s
aesthetic. Using a female subject I feel helped me to achieve this, and I don’t think
the same effect would have worked if I’d used a male. I also like how the
background of the image has been made completely white by using a studio and
artificial lighting, yet at the same time still seems to remain natural, almost like
something you would expect to see on the advert for some herbal shampoo or a
low fat breakfast cereal targeted at women. The double exposure works
particularly well as it means that more of the subject’s facial features can be
exposed through the use of a side profile shot and a front profile shot. This allows
the viewer of the image to feel more of the subject’s emotion, and was something
I also really like about the image. One thing I didn’t like about the image was that I
feel it could have benefitted from being more vibrant and less washed out. This
was something that was hard to avoid due to having to turn the opacity of each
image down, but by playing more with the color levels I feel like I could have done
a better job at correcting this.
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15. Idea generation

16. Mood board

17. 17

18. What types of experimental photography will you produce?
‘light painting’, Fine art experimental,
What post-production techniques will be required?
What do you intend to do?
I intend to create a set of images that represents my creativity through the medium of experimental photography. These
images I hope will reflect on my personality in some ways, while also reflecting the influence of other photographers I’ve
previously researched. One of my sets of images will be focused around creating ‘light painting’ style images. This will be
done in a studio under dark lighting conditions using a slow shutter speed in order to create a motion blur outline
lighting effect.
Proposal
What equipment is required?

19. What locations are required?
College Studio, drignhouses street
Plan
Time Date Equipment and Subjects
2:47 20/11/2015 Tripod, Swara (subject)
3:30 27/11/2015 Tripod, Ruby (subject) Jordan
(subject)
3:10 15/1/2016 Tripod, ruby (subject), emily
(subject)
3:00 13/11/2015 Tripod, mellors (subject)

20. Contact Sheet
Include contact sheets related
to your project.

21. Developments for final image 1
1: Raw image 2: black and white
The first thing I did for this image was remove the color in
order to evoke emotion and create tone and mood. It leaves
the viewer not knowing whether the image is warm or cool,
and leaves them guessing as to what the image means.

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3: rectangle tool 4: ‘ref-u-gee’ text
Firstly I created a rectangle tool as the base for mt
text. This was achieved using the rectangle tool,
and I used the blending options tool in order to
create a grey color overlay to match with the black
and white aesthetics. I then added the ‘ref-u-gee’
text. This doesn’t necessarily directly symbolize
refugees, but was actually the first word that came
into my head, which prompted me to use it. It
adds to the random and abstract feel of the
image, leaving the viewer slightly confused yet
intrigued.

23. Developments for final image 2
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1: raw image 2: colourising
3: adjusting levels
Here I used Photoshop’s ‘select’ tool to
select a colour range which consisted of the
bright white lights cast. I also used the
feather tool at 10 pixels in order to create a
less rigid and more smooth selection as to
avoid making the selection look unnatural.
After making the selection, I used the levels
tool in order to change the colours of the
light to a bright pink colour, which to me,
make It look more visually pleasing. After
doing all of this, I then proceeded to use the
colour rand tool to make another selection.
This time of the dark studio background of
the image. I played with the levels again in
order to further darken the background,
adding to the contrast and allowing me to
achieve more bold and outstanding lights.

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Final Images

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26. What are your opinions regarding this image?
To me it stands out because it really leaves the viewer thinking about the meaning behind it. This is ironic due to the fact
that the words literally mean nothing, but I think this works in the image’s favour due to the fact that it is meant to be of
an experimental nature. The monochrome adds to the image’s emotive properties, and gives it an almost dark and bleak
feeling to it. I used the figure in front of the subject in order to represent the fact that we are all essentially just pieces of
material, and I think this is a strong part of my image and will provoke lots of thought in the viewers. I also like the fact
that the image is so crisp and well defined, with a very clear focal point. It all looks very professional, and I think the fact
that the subject obeys the rule of thirds really helps with this. One thing I don’t like as much about this image is the fact
that there are no leading lines that follow onto the subject. Leading lines have always been something that has appealed
to me, so I was disappointed by the fact the I couldn’t incorporate them into this image due to the amount of blank
space and the passive nature of the image.