Favourite Films - A Scanner Darkly

The films mentioned on this blog will be my favourites due to how visually stunning the film is and not because I like the story, but with A Scanner Darkly it is actually both. This film is one of my favourite films in my collection because of so many reasons, the story is very clever, how the film was made and the fact it is just one of the most visually weird yet entertaining films I have seen in a long time. I am not going to go into detail about the film as this is not a film review blog; I will just run through why I think this is such a visually stunning film and how it was achieved.

Lately I have been looking more into mixed media collaboration, such as model making and photography, illustration and graphic design and many more. This film is no exception; it is a collaboration of film, photography, illustration and animation and with all these different creative industries coming together we have this fantastic eye-catching film. The whole film was shot over six weeks, and then handed over the animators who spent the next fifteen months on it.

What I really like about the film is how they have combined both film and animation to create a film that is aimed at the older generation not an animation aimed at kids. The film has many subplots and the story itself has a few twists and turns throughout. The film is based on a book that goes by the same name and I have not got round to reading the book as of yet but the film and book are defiantly both worth a look at. This film, a few illustrators and a few photographers out there have started to make me think about doing collaborations with some of the other courses at the Arts University College of Bournemouth and see what we get.

New Illustrators - Benjamin Gudel

Benjamin Gudel is the first illustrator to appear on this blog and the first of many to come over the next few months. Gudel is an illustrator and comic artist whose work is dynamic, striking and expressive, that have a grind, cult film and contemporary edge to them.

I really like Benjamin Gudels work because of these reasons and has influenced me to look into grind house, cult film posters and other movie styles for some insight for the photography ideas I have running through my mind. His work has also boosted my love for illustration and I have a new fondness for graphic novels and comic books as inspiration too.

http://www.guedel.biz/

New Photographers - Masashi Asada

This is Masashi Asadas photography series called Asada Family. The photographs in this series are all family portraits of Masashi's mother, father and two brothers. What Asada has done to make the family portraits more interesting from the ones everyone else takes is that he has put them in situations that would not be associated with his family. Such as being fire fighters, then rugby players and also sushi chefs. Due to Asadas style of portrait photography it makes the viewer question how true the photograph can be. If you saw just the sushi chefs photograph you could see this being believable because his family could own a sushi restaurant. When shown next to the fire fighters photograph this then makes you question your last thoughts. The series has this feel good feel to it, you like how close the family are to each other, you like how the portraits are different to everyday standard boring family portraits but this series also questions how true a photograph can really be. As all these photographs on their own can seem real and true family portraits but when in a series that has the family doing many different activities you start to question how true a photograph really is. This is why I like this series and feel that it has much greater depth that other family portraits you see.

http://www.asadamasashi.com/

Favourite Photographers - Philip-Lorca diCorcia

This is one of the photographs from the series Streetwork by Philip-Lorca diCorcia. In this series diCorcia wanted to capture the unexpected citizens of a busy, packed and bustling city without them knowing there was a photographer and a camera in sight. Philip-Lorca managed this by setting up a wireless remote flash kit and then waited for subjects he felt was best suited for his series. Thanks to this technique diCorcia manages to get these candid photographs of people that walked the busy streets of a large city without having them become aware of the camera, as we all know when people know there is a camera around they are never their true selves.

What I like about this series is that due to the style of the photographs and how they were taken, diCorcia has captures the many people that walk down the same hectic, full of activity and lively walkway every day but each subject seems alone, isolated and disconnect from everyone else around them. This then shows the life of people that live and work in a demanding large city.

Favourite Magazines - F2 Freelance Photographer

Magazines and journals are some of the best sources to find inspiration, learn new techniques and find out where the industry is going. One of my favourite magazines for this is F2 Freelance Photographer; it has a great selection of interviews with people from all over the industry. From new to old photographers, publishers to clients and everything in-between. Each interview and article are all great to read and are very helpful, you learn what photographers are using, what to do and what not to do. With each article there is always a top tips section which does exactly what it says on the tin. This section mainly sums up the key tips, adds one or two extra notes and overall gives you great ideas and understandings on the freelance industry.

If you get a chance to buy one of these magazines I suggest you do as there is so much to learn from this bi-monthly magazine.

http://www.f2freelancephotographer.com/

New Photographers - Sam O'Hare

This is Sam O'Hares stop motion film called The Sandpit. O'Hare over 5 days and 2 evenings photographed everyday life of New York City, from the helicopter tours to the workmen at the docks, from the yoga trainers under a bridge to people meeting for coffee. This stop motion video is visually stunning, beautiful, a great documentation of everyday life in a busy well known city and just a joy to watch. As said before Sam O'Hare spent 5 days in several locations using a digital camera to capture the hustle and bustle of city life. He took an astonishing 35,000 photographs to create this masterpiece and during post production added a tilt shift affect to every photograph.

What I really like about his work is it has this toy town feel to it thanks to the angle, height and distance O'Hare shot the photos from and then created this stop frame film. I do not have a lot of words that can describe his work but for me it is just a feel good film that is beautiful, elegant and just breath taking to watch. Its a great way to photograph and present a documentary look at the world.