Sidra Saeedzada
Photography
Daniella Zalcman
Moodboard
I created a moodboard on identity and another moodboard on work similar to Daniella Zalcman to show the different ways street photography could be taken using the double exposure. However bringing them together, they all have something similar about them. Most of the images taken by photographers are in colour. Same as the black and white images they have all look similar to each other.
Artist Analysis
For identity I chose to focus my work of identity on Daniella Zalcman, who is a Vietnamese- American photographer. Her work is based on the streets of Paris and New York, where she focuses on the western colonization. She is the founder and director of Women Photograph, which is an organisation based on women having a voice. With her recent project in 2017 on signs of identity, she has won the Arnold Newman Prize. Daniella Zalcman's series of photography on Signs of your Identity has the focus of the identity of where people live and the people themselves and the reality they live in. Daniella Zalcman's work is based on the identity of the surroundings of where people live. The images that she focused her work on signs of identity is when she overlaps images of the survivors with the sites and memories of their boarding schools experiences. With the double exposure images she took images of streets in London and New York and doubled exposure them one above the other, as it represents the aspects of home to Daniella Zalcman. Her project called Sunday Soldiers show British soldiers as she wants to make it clear that the World War II is still something that people have to think about and reflect too. She took photos of young men wearing the uniform of their fathers and grandfathers of the times where they were part of the battle for their countries. World War II reenactors are looking to commemorate the deadliest war of the human history, the camera used to take these images were twin-lens reflex camera.
Another project she worked was called Native Mascot where she takes images of Native American themed mascots in Ohio, where she spent a week taking images, where there are the most highest concentration native mascotry in the country to photographing teenagers who call themselves Redskins, Indians, Chieftains and Braves. Daniella Zalcman's other project of echosights where two or more photographers create shots and edited composite images. Her work on Isle of Eigg, 15 miles off the west coast of Scotland, a pitchstone wall rises out of the sea. The work taken on the people of Uganda who call themselves the Kuchus was criminalising homosexual activity in 2013, as she returned to Uganda to continue documenting the countries sexuality population. Her work shot from 2011-2015 attempt to research the roots of homophobia and other legislation, it was to particularly focus on the western colonialism. The work that Daniella Zalcman works on is the identity of different religions, cultures and people such as ones that worked in war or people that were homeless.
Photo-shoot plan
Contact sheet
For the contact sheet, I put all the images together and chosen out the ones that I am planning on editing and decide on the ones that I will not be editing. Underneath the images that I am not editing I annotated them to reason why I haven't done anything to them. I think that the contact sheet is something useful in photography because it shows the viewer the overall images before anything is done to them. It is also something understanding for myself because it tells me what has been done wrong and what has been done right. The contact sheet also shows the images when it is raw and once edited they ae the developed images. I took a range of images some in light and some in the dark. I chose to take some images like this because I want to show that I have created images similar to Daniella Zalcman, but I have also created some photos different to what she has accomplished. I think that when it comes to editing the photos I want to try and give the images a double exposure but make it also seem something natural. Taking the images and creating a contact sheet is something useful for both viewer and myself.
Photo-shoot edits
For the photo-shoot edits, I used similar techniques to most of them, for example I double exposed all of them however some of the images I have changed to black & white, the photos taken are buildings around the area of London. Double exposing the images make the photographs look unrealistic, which is what Daniella Zalcman has achieved. However the images taken for the photo shoot is not telling us the identity of London so, for my redraft my plan is to go to areas of London where photos would describe the identity of where we live. I think that the lighting coming from the building makes the photographs more developed. When editing the images I thought about how to make them surreal but natural at the same time, so I didn't use certain amount of techniques such as the burn tool because it would make the photographs look edited but the overall goal is to make them not look edited. I am hoping that the redrafted images turn out to be more fascinating and unrealistic. So far, my favorite photos are taken are ones that show tourist attractions in London such as the London Bridge, also the photos taken where the buildings around the area of houses with the light shown from the inside.
2ND PHOTO-SHOOT
For my second photo-shoot I have created a contact sheet with all the raw images and a photo-shoot with all edited photographs. I have also created process logs showing my developments when editing the images including further developments.
Contact Sheet II
In the contact sheet I have collected all my photos and created a whole page showing the original and undeveloped photographs, I have done this to give the viewer an understanding of what the photographs look like before anything has been done to them. I think that the contact sheet is useful as it give a view of which photos I choose on editing and the photographs that I plan on not adding changes to, this is because the photographs that I don't choose are either not taken in the style of the chosen artist or not suitable for the editing techniques that are required for Daniella Zalcman
Developments
For my photo-shoot redraft I captured images of the popular area in London where you could find places like London Bridge and interesting landmarks. During the editing I tried to use technique that I hadn't yet used in the original photo-shoot such as the burning tool, where I can darken certain parts of the photo. I attempted to take more images in black and white, however I think that the photos with colour had a better result because in photography I enjoy working with colour. I think that the redraft images are more developed than the first photoshoot as I have thought about the mood of identity and the landmarks around London. In the redraft I have edited more photos in black & white showing the comparison of the same image, with or without colour. I think that the photos in colour had a better result because the photo itself is brighter and more fascinating. The photos I took, link with the photographer I have chosen as they relate the identity and famous landmarks, with this, the double exposure is also something Daniella Zalcman has included.
Process Log
The process log shows the many ways a photograph could be edited. For example in this process log it shows the tool used to double expose an image and copy it. The process log gives the viewer an understanding of how each step of editing is completed to get its end result. In the first process log you can see the first step to edit the image and to double expose it, as it also shows the technique used to create the photograph.
For the second process log, that I have created I made it clear, on the next part of editing the photograph, such as making the photograph black and white and changing the opacity and the amount of contrast used in the image, using the black and white tool, it makes the image different compared to the other one. This shows a difference with the work that Daniella Zalcman has created because her photos use colour.
For the final process log I have used the burn tool to darken some parts of the photograph to make it more natural and unrealistic at the same time. Compared to the other process log, this would have been the final step into editing one of the images, unlike the burn tool another way to erasing the darkness of the added on burn tool, is called the dodge tool where you can use a brighter brush to change the darkness to more brighter, this makes the process log is useful for the viewer.
Further developments
For my further development I created more images in black and white showing that even though I have linked my work to my chosen artist I have created a few selections of my work being adapted and edited in a different way compared to Daniella Zalcman.
Doing this shows the viewer that I am developing my work and seeing all different techniques and. bringing them into the artist work even though the artist does not use such tool. This also shows that I am linking to other previous artist work I have done in the past. For the further developments I have taken out a few images from my redraft work and used some similar techniques related to the artist I focused on but also used other techniques from previous artists.
