Ziyah Gafic
Exploring the work of Ziyah Gafic...
Ziyah Gafic a Bosnian photojournalist who takes photos of Muslim communities. He has travelled to many different countries to pursue his journey. He has covered many stories over 50 different countries and has won multiple awards. Gafic has also wrote numerous monographs including "Quest for Identity" and "Heartland". His work relates to identity as he works with many Muslim communities.
Gafic pictures many different objects which are rusted and old. This represents the life in the violent Muslim communities. His photo style is minimalistic and he lays his objects in simple compositions. He also uses a metal background to have a more unique background instead of just normal plain background.
Gafic uses highkey lighting which he uses artificial lighting to make his images clearer. Many of the objects that he takes photos of are old worn out objects such as an old medication package, a bottle, a lighter and keys.
These objects represent the identity and daily life of these muslim communities. During the Bosnian war, Gafic didnt want to take photos of the war as it was too personal. Instead, he focused on small objects. These images have deeper meanings as the objects might have been something someone last carried before they unfortunately passed.
I will take images of old objects around my household. Preferably objects with significant meaning to them.
I am inspired by Ziyah Gafic and his images where he takes photos of old objects from the Bosnian War.
My plan is to take photos of old objects in simple compositions in a similar style to Ziyah Gafic
There won't be a setting, just a metal background (tinfoil, ect.).
The lighting will be High-key, artificial lighting
The style will be the objects laid in simple but various compositions.
The camera angle will be directly on top of the subjects of the images (birds eye view).
The main challenge of the images is to make the compositions simple but still visually pleasing to the eye.
Overall the shoot went well as i got many different compositions and the images were clear and detailed.
Contact Sheet - RAW images
In these images i used a DSLR camera to take photos of objects that are used in construction and other things like a chisel, pliers, stapler and a hammer. ,
These images were taken with a DSLR Camera using artificial light.
Developments - Experimenting with colour look up
In these developments I have added sharpening and noise to better define the outlines of the objects. This gave the sharpness of the images like in Gafic's work. These objects represent my childhood, a hammer, collecting cards, toy car and other things. I used a light from one of my phones to illuminate the objects and used my other phone to take photos of the compositions. I have taken many different compositions. i have edited these by adding sharpness to better the quality of my pictures. I have also used soft warming filters to make the images more vibrant and colourful.
EXPERIMENTING WITH THE HEALING TOOL
EXPERIMENTING WITH BLACK AND WHITE
In these images I used a black and white filter to take away the colour of the raw images. I have also increased the contrast and brightness. In These experiments i collected many different images to use in my exploration of 'Identity'. an example of one is a pair of pliers paired together with a file used for wood.
EXPERIMENTING WITH COMPOSITION
CONTACT SHEET - REDRAFT SHOOT
In these images I took photos of many different objects laid on top of tin foil. This gives a similar background to the one used in Gafic's Images.
I have also used a studio light to light up the scene and brighten up my images. This style of photography explores the unique, yet impactful effect of Gafic's work.
This reflects Gafic's work as i have used high-key
lighting and a tin foil background to mimic Gafic's background.
Process logs - experimenting with brightness and contrast
EXPERIMENTING WITH BRIGHTNESS AND CONTRAST
FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS WITH BLACK AND WHITE
Experimenting with mirroring
Experimenting with series
This is a piece by Ziyah Gafic called 'Quest for Identity - Items recovered from mass graves in Bosnia and Herzegovina' which is a group of 7 archival pigment prints. I have selected this particular piece as I'm interested in exploring the idea of series and grouping my images together to make a sequence of images. I though this would create a powerful message, rather than having one single object, creating impact through a series.
Process Log
I have used the crop tool to increase the size of the workspace so that there is a white border around the image
I have then zoomed out so the image is smaller and then I have used the crop tool again to make the workspace even bigger to fit 4 other images around
Finally I have copy and pasted 3 more images into the extra workspace to create a series with my work. This puts a white border around the images.