Photoshoot: Bevu

Product Photography: Cookie Dough

My friend Jessica is just starting off her new company, Mmm Cookie Dough and I took some pictures of some of her products. I haven't done much product photography before, and it was an improv-studio with A4 sheets for backdrop and some desk lamps for lighting. It worked out well in the end. I also used my flash, which again, I didn't have much experience using in a non-nightclub environment. So here are some shots

Final Project idea

In the end I decided to go with the ring road project. I had a more clear rough idea of what I wanted to do with this one. With the other I would have had to work with a choreographer and have rehearsals and so on. I would rather do something simpler but of high quality than try to do something complicated that wouldn't reach the full potential because of lack of time. So the first step was to go around the Ring Road and find the perfect space. As I mentioned in previous posts, first I would need to find the specific space and then plan the rest - the actual video to go with it. The trip around the ring road was surprisingly pleasing. We were following it without keeping to the pedestrian paths, but making our own way cutting trough car parks, jumping over fences and so on. Not the safest way, but it was very enjoyable. This process was best described by Guy Debord when describing psychogeography as "a whole toy box full of playful, inventive strategies for exploring cities...just about anything that takes pedestrians off their predictable paths and jolts them into a new awareness of the urban landscape". And this is exactly what we did, we ignored the paths that were dictates to us, and made our own. Found few interesting and potential spaces and photographed them.

I will use the location of the first picture. It is after all the first one that made me think about this project and first captured my attention few years back. What I like most about it is that it is a space that hasn't been specifically designed to have a meaning or a certain aesthetic, it is a space that was constructed as part of the ring road. In a sense it seem natural. It is man made, but not designed. It feels like a break from all the architecture and buildings that have specific designs and require us to analyze them for their aesthetic and design value. Coventry has a big variety of designs as it has been almost fully rebuilt after the Blitz, therefore most of the buildings are lest thank 80 years old. So having a space that doesn't enforce a certain aesthetic on the people who pass through it feels like a 'breath of fresh air'. Guy Bebord also described Psychogeorgraphy as "the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals". This describes how I experience this certain space as an individual. What I aim to achieve through this project, is to share this experience with the public, and maybe make them think more about the spaces that are so easily taken for granted. The point of art is to first of all rationalize a thought and a feeling that a certain place brings to mind, then externalize it and share it with the public, in hope that they get it and if not adhere to it, at least think about it and appreciate such places more.

Pitchfork Disney - performance

Last week I filmed and photographed Pitchfork Disney, a very odd and dark theatre piece. It was quite chalenging because of the low light, but it was easier to photograph than other ones as the lights didn't change throughout the piece, so I didn't have to change the settings on the camera before every shot.

ONE.THREE by Fish Bowl - Dance Performance

This week I had a dance piece to film and photograph as well. Quie prowd of my turnaround. Pictures were published on the same day as the performance and the video the next day. I love photographing dance pieces because of the lighting. And the center piece of this peticular performance was the light. Maddy who produed the piece is doing light design for her degree show, so this was the main piece and she has another 6 to do, so emphasizing the use of light in these pictures was crucial. I think I was successful in doing it. She is very happy with the pictures which is all that matters

"Unpublished by Alex" theatre piece

This week I filmed and photographed this piece. I also produced all the videos that were used within it. It has been the biggest challenge I had when it comes to production; there were 18 videos that had to be filmed and produced in 10 different locations. For some of them Rolandos, who wrote the script, shot already in Cyprus and I had to edit them in as well. The problem with that footage was that it was shot in MTS format, so I had to use Premiere Pro to edit it, and Final Cut Pro to edit what I filmed. It was the hardest when I had to use footage that I filmed and that he gave me as the weren't compatible so I had to do a lot of exporting and importing again. I also struggled with exporting in Premiere Pro, as some of the videos only worked on MAC and he had PC so I had to go back and forth a lot. We first started shooting in Deceember 11 and we finished everything 4 days before the show! It was very stressful at times as I had tight deadlines and also other things to do alongside it (like my MA!!!) but it was a great learning experience and I can say I had my first public screening!

Photography Documentary

For the module Information Societies we had to choose between writing an essay as a response to a quote, or producing a piece that would fit assessment criteria. I wnted to write about the role of the photographer in the digital age, but I couldn't find much literature about this. This is a subject I am interested in as this is what I wish to do as a career, film and photography for performing arts, and I've already started. But it is quite a niche subject and I didn't know how to go around getting into it. Therefore I interviewed few people that I found appropriate. Here it is!

Turda Salt Mine

The Turda Salt Mine

An interesting and somewhat futuristic experience. The place looked like footage from a 60's tv programme which tried to imagine how the future would look.

I loved photographic it because of the contrast between darkness and bright light.

Tauseni, Cluj

This is the village where I spent most of my childhood in. Going there and seeing neighbours again after 14 years was truly beautiful. It made me go back in time, especially because I was travelling with a friend as well, and I was trying to share the experience with him. Living life at its most basic form, with no other games but the ones we made up.

The first few pictures are taken at a land art monument build by my uncle Alexandru Chira (1949-2011). Its name roughly translates to "Signs of rain and rainbow"; each of the components has a story and a use i.e. the 'memory mirror' - when you look at yourself in it the second time you will see how you looked the first time you were there. And oddly enough it works, as I remember exactly how I looked, who I was with and how I was dressed up the first time I was there, and I was only about 5. It's probably the fact that you are told this will happen that makes you remember it, but nevertheless it worked for me.

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