Reflecting Upon HolyMedium : Photography
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Artist Inspiration
Drew Butler is known for his breathtaking photos of his native country and street life. He was born in Toronto, Canada and it is where he takes a majority of his pictures. In 2013 he realized his passion of photography when working. Golf courses were beautiful to him and as he worked within them he started to take pictures of scenery that he admired. It was his first step to becoming a professional photographer and is still his passion to this day.
Now the artist lives in Banff, Canada surrounded by nature and mountains. The cold is often an appearance within his province and is why he takes pictures of the snow. Butler uses natural lighting to capture his subjects, having a dislike for "superficial lighting." The candid shots are always prominent in his works. This is evident within Golf #265 as he doesn't use a filter nor special lighting to enhance certain features. Instead, the photographer uses natural lighting to his advantage in hopes to allow viewers the feeling of being there in the moment. Most of Butler's works take on natural beauty within places he visits. When he is outside of Canada, he's at Chicago. It's where he takes a majority of his cityscape pictures. The liveliness of the people paired with the city's forefront is inspiration enough for him to pick up his camera. When he does so he focuses on locations that won't need superficial lighting to highlight certain aspects of the image. This technique results in either a picture full of clarity or one with prominent shadows. However, both outcomes have a subject in focus and easily viewable. |
Planning
Following the planned locations, I decided to plan themes for the majority of the process. All destinations were to be close by in order to ensure a good self management. As previously mentioned, a rainy setting at night time was the ideal plan. This was strengthened with further objectives such as: No flash, a decent amount of exposure and water theme.
I wasn't entirely sure how positioning worked and hadn't thought about it until I continued to look at Drew Butler's works. His pieces are all shot from varying distances and angles, so that was something I wanted to plan for |
In order to begin the process I needed to establish what I wanted to do. I was struggling to choose which picture to use as an inspiration. In addition, I had to keep in mind that I often worked during the day so night time photos were my most obvious choice. After it rained for a few days off and on I decided to follow in Butler's steps and use that to my advantage. Seeing the lights flit between puddles and glimmer upon roads, it was easy to determine which work would be the inspiration piece.
Before choosing the piece, I had made sketches and plans on different photographs that revolved around water and rain. I wanted to see if composition would play a role within the planning phase and tried to study it. My locations were the park, downtown, lake and anywhere outside. With each destination they all had their own features that would correlate to Butler's image. The park has a small river and a bridge that overlooked it. From there I would either focus entirely on the bridge, the water or both. This was a decision that I saved for later when experimenting. Downtown had a lake but I wanted to focus on the puddles within the roads and sidewalk. Those pockets of water would reflect the buildings or nearby structures like Butler had down. |
Experimentation and Process
Extra Collection
Outside Home & Puddles Collection
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So as to focus on my themes, I set out with an iphone as a camera and previous sketches as reference. My first location was the park, that is where the bridge was. It was hard to take candid pictures as the lighting was too poor. Instead I experimented with the exposure to see if it would make a difference. Low exposure caused the area to become more dim, yet it allowed me to focus on one area which was helpful. High exposure only made the image too bright and as a result would make some photographs seem like it were taken during the day.
The next locations were downtown and outside in front of my house. In the city there wasn't much to capture as some puddles were either too brightly lighten or were to dimmed. In addition, it was difficult to find areas with a good amount of water. This resulted in me taking pictures of the droplets from within my car. Butler had done the same with previous pieces and if I couldn't find a good reflective spot, it was a back up plan. However, that never came to use as the final destination proved to be the best reference to the inspiration piece. Outside my house on the road, there were holes that had filled with water. When standing in a certain direction and angle, a reflection of nearby structures could be made out. It wasn't until a few pictures in that I realized that my positioning mattered. After the realization, the rest of the pictures afterward were improved. Across the street a church resides in the neighborhood and in the middle of the road it could be made out of the water. Due to the extreme lighting of the building, no edits were needed to capture its essence. Upon reviewing the pictures I noticed how well the reflection had turned out and made my way to take more of the building. Eventually I was able to choose a piece that I felt correlated to Butler's photograph the most. The mood of the piece is solemn and with the added shadows paired with the sparse highlights, it reinforced the message. As the puddle is the only subject that is focused, it allow viewers to peer into it. This reveals the church within the waters which expands on the title, "Reflecting Upon Holy." |
Reflection
Photography isn't something that I am accustomed to so this project proved to be challenging. It wasn't until I started experimenting that I realized how much of an effect positioning and lighting played a role in every picture. Standing from afar as opposed to close will focus on a subject as a whole instead of solely. Sunlight is different from lamp lights or any superficial lighting which can change the coloring of highlights and shadows.
The theme of reflecting within oneself was inspired by Butler's ability to capture candid pictures. Taking photos of subjects without tampering their natural features will represent the truth within a person. I was able to achieve this by taking pictures that didn't use flashlights and more. However, if I were to do this project again, I would take pictures during the day instead of the night. The daylight provides more natural lighting and would have corresponded nicely with Butler's photographs. In addition, I would try to find a softer lighting for the subjects as the darkness seems to be a tad too harsh. Despite the contrast of lighting being prominent and slightly distracting, I liked how some of the images turned out.
The theme of reflecting within oneself was inspired by Butler's ability to capture candid pictures. Taking photos of subjects without tampering their natural features will represent the truth within a person. I was able to achieve this by taking pictures that didn't use flashlights and more. However, if I were to do this project again, I would take pictures during the day instead of the night. The daylight provides more natural lighting and would have corresponded nicely with Butler's photographs. In addition, I would try to find a softer lighting for the subjects as the darkness seems to be a tad too harsh. Despite the contrast of lighting being prominent and slightly distracting, I liked how some of the images turned out.
Compare and Contrast
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ACT Responses
1. Clearly explain and describe how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
Butler focuses on truthful poses and shots of unaffected subjects. Anything that hasn't been tampered with, with tuning and more, are his style. Due to it being his style, it caused my work to follow suit by not flashing lights on subjects. In addition, I couldn't change the saturation, highlights and more in order to make the photo more enjoyable to view.
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Drew Butler's approach on candid shots are regarded as truth instead of false beauty. He believes that images come to life when supported by natural aspects, especially lighting.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Whilst researching my inspiration I have concluded that natural images are only supported by natural lighting. Any other lights would change the outcome of the image and in turn tamper the meaning of it.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my research was reflection and truth. This led to looking upon oneself more than a first glance. In order to achieve this I looked for artists that focused upon water as subjects and truth. With these ideas they led me to believe that Drew Butler was the closest match to my ideas and I was able to further strengthen my theme as I researched his works.
5. What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
I inferred that using natural lighting will enhance the focus of a subject as a whole. This would allow the piece to be grounded and centered with truthful themes. These were all based upon Butler's idea of candid shots to capture honesty and is why I guessed that the lighting would play a role.
Butler focuses on truthful poses and shots of unaffected subjects. Anything that hasn't been tampered with, with tuning and more, are his style. Due to it being his style, it caused my work to follow suit by not flashing lights on subjects. In addition, I couldn't change the saturation, highlights and more in order to make the photo more enjoyable to view.
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Drew Butler's approach on candid shots are regarded as truth instead of false beauty. He believes that images come to life when supported by natural aspects, especially lighting.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Whilst researching my inspiration I have concluded that natural images are only supported by natural lighting. Any other lights would change the outcome of the image and in turn tamper the meaning of it.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my research was reflection and truth. This led to looking upon oneself more than a first glance. In order to achieve this I looked for artists that focused upon water as subjects and truth. With these ideas they led me to believe that Drew Butler was the closest match to my ideas and I was able to further strengthen my theme as I researched his works.
5. What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
I inferred that using natural lighting will enhance the focus of a subject as a whole. This would allow the piece to be grounded and centered with truthful themes. These were all based upon Butler's idea of candid shots to capture honesty and is why I guessed that the lighting would play a role.
Bibliography
Butler, D. (n.d.). Life & Times. Retrieved November 12, 2020, from https://www.drewbutlerphoto.com/
Coelho, A. (2019, January 09). #carryuswithyou: Banff, Alberta with Drew Butler. Retrieved November 12, 2020, from https://www.monteandcoe.com/blogs/journal/banffwithdrewbutler
Coelho, A. (2019, January 09). #carryuswithyou: Banff, Alberta with Drew Butler. Retrieved November 12, 2020, from https://www.monteandcoe.com/blogs/journal/banffwithdrewbutler