My final chosen strand is the Slava Semeniuta, reflection in puddles. I chose this strand because I liked the photographer's idea of catching "cosmic" colours in every day life. Semeniuta captures primarily neon colours in his works however his 'Wet Neon' project involves him taking pictures of puddles which aren't usually neon colours. I tried to recreate his work on the reflections of puddles. In total I took 159 pictures of reflections in puddles primarily in North London and decided to choose 6 out of the 159 to submit for my final piece.
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Another Photographer I looked at to help me with my puddle reflections was American Chris Carr who takes pictures of puddles upside down. I like Carr's pictures as his approach and angle create a disturbed picture as the subject is slightly twisted. Carr says the pictures in his "Puddles Reflections" 'seem to merge two worlds into another'. I can relate to Carr's project because I took a lot of pictures like his, apart from the upside down factor, and they set the standards for a puddle reflection picture.
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Neon colours are a recurring theme in Semeniuta's work as he 'loves everything that looks cosmic'. He takes pictures of normal themes yet with neon colours creating a striking effect. He likes to turn his subjects into "cosmic creatures" as seen in some of his work on the side. Although his work on puddles doesn't involve these 'out of this world creatures', I think his pictures present his ideas of cosmic things on the street you walk on. He says "they come in different shapes, bends and combinations" which I tried to recreate in my work. I tried to combine the idea of different shapes and bends into my work yet possibly adding a different kind of reflection with a clear image in the puddle.
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My first image involves the reflection of a kebab shop sign in a puddle on Alexandra Park Road. When I saw this reflection walking along the pavement I immediately thought it was perfect for my strand and trying to adjust Semeniuta's normal representation of puddles with a clear image of a sign. Although saying this, I still had my regrets about it being valid, you could say, for the collection I was to shoot and what I was basing all my images on. I obviously proceeded to take the photos so I could decide whether it would make the cut or not. Once I had decided to use it I chose the image from the ones I shot and edited it in photoshop cropping out the open space and increasing the brightness and contrast trying to mould it into a more Semeniuta-like picture. My edits enhanced the colours adding an effect of depth in the puddle and intensified the colour.
This picture is good in the sense of its vibrance and colourfulness however it would've been better if the shot was closer up. |
My second image came late on in my second shoot. This image was taken on Tetherdown Road and is another representation of a clear image in a puddle. Being skeptical again of my actual representation of Wet Neon, the selection of this image took some thinking as I didn't want possibly multiple images that wouldn't look like something the Photographer wouldn't shoot himself. Thus, the image was selected as I thought it captivated my side of the project. I continued in photoshop and I did the same as the last image increasing both the brightness and the contrast. I also made the colour balance slightly cyan with the colour balance tool forming this cold vs hot theme from the water on the ground and the red of the light.
The image could have better composition of the number plate but I like the distance of the shot as the concrete gives it a negative and rough feel. |
For this picture, it is a slightly further away shot than the others as I wanted to capture all of the reflections on the road. This was taken on Fortis Green and I had taken many shots of this picture as the traffic lights also added a different colour to the image however they didn't come out aswell as the dominant red lights. This picture is my representation of the bend of light and how it combined with the water in the ground to make it seem long. Semeniuta said himself he is massively interested in Sci-Fi and distorted things so I thought this picture was good in that sense. I edited this picture decreasing the brightness and increasing the contrast to emphasise the light and distortion. I cropped out the out of focus cars and part of the road getting rid of that open space. I edited this photo twice as the first time around I didn't like how bright it was and the crop wasn't to my desire so I re-edited it making it darker and cropping different parts out.
The idea and concept for this image is well thought out but the execution isn't right coming from multiple factors. |
The fourth of my six images was hard to get as I was in the middle of Pages Lane's road. I only had a couple of shots of this picture but I was able to get the shot I wanted. Although saying this, when editing in photoshop I realised I cut out the "look", on the road, out of the picture which would have made the picture a lot better. I edited it by cropping out the rubbish on the floor, decreasing the brightness and increasing the contrast giving the yellow bulb a more orange and intensified look.
This image has bold conflicting colours and conveys an opposite effect however if I had taken slightly more care with my position of the shot, the whole picture would be 10X greater. |
This picture is the closest I got to recreating a picture that looked like Semeniuta's. I needed atleast one clear representation of Wet Neon. This small defect in the road of Woodland Rise was ideal. The range and colour of the image are almost identical to Semeniuta's apart from the fact that it's surrounded by black apart from one glimmer of light on the right. But I like this. I like how it's all dark and evil from the red and black yet theres a hopeful shine on the right. This was done when I brightened the image, it was revealed that there was more red behind the black and the white got stronger creating that Semeniuta look.
The picture portrays Semeniuta in many factors but the colours are a lacking factor and would have made the picture much more bold. |
My final picture came across me when I was walking home from my final shoot through Muswell Hill outside the Everyman cinema. I only noticed the puddle because of the McDonalds advert that was reflected in it but as I crossed the road, the sign came before me and was placed perfectly for a stunning shot. I still took pictures of the initial McDonalds advert however it was of a nasty-looking chicken wrap and the whole image didn't look right. But the Everyman sign was perfect in my eyes. I edited it by making it brighter, increasing the contrast and cropping the blank space out. This image is my personal favourite.
The image is so strong in its own sense but doesn't capture Semeniuta at all so is possibly not the right image for this task. |