Research

Photographer Research Project - Martin Amis

UK scene

The British Seaside, United Kingdom. Scenic. 2005

Seaside02. United Kingdom. People. 2006

Seaside03. United Kingdom. People. 2006

Seaside10. United Kingdom. People. 2006

Untitled. United Kingdom. People. 2005

Untitled. United Kingdom. Scenic. 2005

Home. United Kingdom. People. 2005

England02. United Kingdom. People. 2006

Seaside05. United Kingdom. Animal, Pet. 2006

Seaside14. United Kingdom. Macro. 2006

Stills/Scenery

Goal, United Kingdom. Scenic. 2005

Coney Fog. United Kingdom. Scenic. 2006

Coney Island Lifeguard. United Kingdom. Scenic. 2006

Sea02. United Kingdom. Scenic. 2006

USA. United States. Scenic. 2006

Garage. United States. Urban, Industrial. 200

Playground. United States. Urban, Industrial. 2006

Maltese Court. Malta. Urban, Industrial. 2007

Shoe sale. Malta. Urban, Industrial.2007

Kent. United Kingdom. Scenic. 2007

England07. United Kingdom. Urban, Industrial. 2006

Goal. United Kingdom. Urban, Industrial. 2006

Source: 

http://www.lifeshots.co.uk/menu.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lifeshots/with/94927629/
http://jpgmag.com/people/lifeshots/collections

Image of the Photographer:

Mr. Amis seems to keep his personal information private, I sent him an email asking some questions about himself. He has yet to reply. I hope this unfortunate scenario does not dock me marks for researching an underground photographer.

Background: Born in 1973 in suburban England, he is an amateur photographer and is unknown of. After going through a variety of careers, including composing film music, teaching special needs and design. He started photography in his late 20's. His photography is in style of documenting things. Currently he is based in South-East England. Due to his under profile, a more wider known person named "Martin Amis" a novelist, is represented on the internet. They are in no way related.

Schooling: He does not have any professional schooling in photography. He first started shooting photographs on his visit in New York City in 2002. He first tried to emulate the photos on Leicas the great black and white street photographer by firing off shots from the hip. Even now, he still often uses this technique to grab quick unexpected photos. He sees Martin Parr as an inspiration and "also love the work of American photographers Alec Soth, Joel Sternfeld and Mitch Epstein and the 'in-the-face' style of street photographers William Klein and Bruce Gilden." In other words, his inspiration is his own education.

Awards: Martin Amis has several awards, these are the following:

PX3 Paris Photo Award 2007
Runner-up Documentary
Racing Seen

Flash Forward
Emerging Photographers 2006
Racing Seen

PDN Photo Annual 2006
Winner
LifeShots.co.uk (His username)

Jen Bakan Gallery
Hey HotShot!
Summer 2005

Escapes Travel Photography Award
2004 Winner

Southwest Photography Awards
2004 Region Winner

Equipment used: Martin Amis has vaguely commented that he used the Sony Digicam. Looking through the digicam products, i have found that he uses something a regular everyday person would use. They are portable and easy to take photos with. Evidence show that he uses these light portable cameras to highly expensive bulky cameras with customizable lense because it gives him the opportunity to take quicks shots of people without them knowing.

Source: http://www.londonart.co.uk/sales/artistofthwk.asp?ArtistID=1129

How he does it: The digicam is a digital camera. He just points and shoots at interesting looking people from the hip so they don't notice the camera. He enjoys taking photos of quirky characters, but also is drawn to the quiet still scenes, with a person in sight. Images that tell a story in abstract. I assume he uses photoshop from the way some of the colours of his photos have special tints, contrast, and vibrance to them. Mostly all modern photographers touch up their images with photoshop.

Interpretation

I believe the photos of Martin Amis is that he captures moments of life. As in, the photos of garbage, trashed areas and dirty environment all represents that life has been there. That people have effected the environment leaving a trail. He also captures moments of life by taking photos of regular people. They don't know that they're being photographed and are snapped shotted of their true everyday expressions, no fake smiles or fake expressions. That's art right there.

Martin Amis is really great at capturing moments in life. Trapping time in a piece of photo. He's strong in capturing the emotions of people. You can really tell what the subject of the photo is feeling, or what feelings the photo gives off. The photographs he takes are all interesting and beautiful. They're beautiful because the colours are so vibrant and gives off a mood. They're interesting because you see the whole photo. This is done by using the rule of thirds. My eyes pan across and look at each different points sub-consciously without me even thinking of it.

Mr. Amis's photos give off an amateur vibe. This could be viewed both a positive, and a negative. It has that unprofessional feeling, which is interesting to say the least.  But sucking at something is the first step of being good at something.

All of Martin Amis's photo capture the essence of a persons expression, how they are feeling. These are for photos with people as the subject. His scenic photos capture the calm nature of the environments. The photos all seem to show that the presence of life was there. Like for example, the Shoe Sale photo. No person is in it, but you know that the building has history of wear and tear from the flaky paint chips. The shoes piled on the shelf shows that there's children in the vicinity, but not in the photo. It gives indirect context.

My take

Good ol' Ben is excited to go home. Quiet and a nice kid. Always calm.

Couple of fellow having a conversation with someone off camera.

Lydia, helping out students at the gym, giving them the "Right to play" 

A nice walk with Craig as we have a conversation. All while the sun sets.

Just a student walking home, seems so nervous of me, Arjan, and Matt that he started walking on the grass to avoid us. You can see his uncertainty.

Photography student Izzy going through her everyday photography course. Blocking the world out by listening to something, possibly music.

Comrade Marco is out for a smoke. Gives us a greeting and offering us some sort of cigarette. We declined.

A pedestrian waiting at the cross walk. Just trying to get by life in this cold weather.

Victoria and TJ observes something off to a distance. It seems they're not looking at the same thing. 

Image Manipulation

Erik Johanssen's Research Recap


His name is Erik Johanssen, he's a Swedish photographer and a retoucher that is based in Berlin, Germany. He works on commissioned projects and also works on street illusions. He views photography as a way to capture ideas. His inspiration comes from his daily environment. Even though his photo's may contain over hundreds of layers, they seem as though it was a captured one shot. His goal is to make his manipulated photos look as realistic as possible.




Some of his work

I like this photo because it looks as if the girl is painting an ocean. I would think the process of this being made was taking a photo of the ocean and then a photo of a girl painting the photo, or something similar of that action. I also like the blue is highlighted, while everything else is grey.

I admire the manipulation of the photo in this one. I enjoy the looking as though the dirt ground is a water fall. It was also well positioned for the man to look down as if the there was a gap. The photographer must have a creative mind to make something unique like this. It's pretty cool  to see what a skilled photoshopper can create.

This is scary how realistic it is, yet i know it is fake. This must have consumed a lot of time to create such an art. It is creative how instead of the vase being broken, it is the arm that is broken. The role is reversed. The way the broken pieces are coloured like skin also helps with the illusion of this being real.