Part 2: Project 3 | A night portrait 2.9 (Weegee research)

Hi all

Thought I’d get a little research post up. Hoping to prove I am getting some work done and am on working towards the end of project 3. I have yet to post the work from project 3 yet, I’m about to embark on the last task and then it will be, hence then this research post. Anyway, for exercise 2.9 A night portrait. The task is as the title says, a night portrait.

So the aim of the task is to take 3 full body portraits at night, via three different means. Increased ISO, long exposure and flash. For this task we were recommended to research Weegee’s photos and this is what this post is for.

Weegee or Arthur Fellig was an American photographer and photojournalist from New York during the 1930s and 1940s. He found and developed his signature style by following around the emergency services to capture photos of the crime, injury and death. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weegee

There is a link in the FIP textbook Part 2, project 3, exercise 2.9 a night portrait, page 80. However, the link did not work for me, I think It has something to do with my internet provider as it came up with an error page and the Talk Talk logo. So, I took to google and also Pinterest for the my research of Weegee imagery.

 source: https://joeinct.tumblr.com/post/156963744482/hauntedbystorytelling-weegee-kttv-announcer

 source: https://fansinaflashbulb.wordpress.com/2017/09/29/weegee-does-coffee/

 source: https://ngpopgun.wordpress.com/2012/02/17/naked-weegee-naked-weegee-naked-weegee/

Yes, Weegee specialised in street photography revolving around emergency service call outs, but as this is a portrait project, I wanted to look more at his portraiture shots that I was seeing on Pinterest. When it comes to portrait I love them in black and white. There is something so timeless and classic about black and white. It gives this timeless, story telling feel to it, a sense of nostalgia, much like photos shot on film its self does also.

My thoughts for this project as of right now are, I would like to edit this small set of night portrait photos in black and white. Photos in black and white are something I very rarely do or try and would like to give a go. I think editing in black and white will work especially well with shots taken using flash, having said that I have no idea how well they will come out otherwise. Either way, it’ll be fun to play around and experiment with black and white photography as well as night time portraiture.

Now all I need to do is arrange a date and time with my model and get shooting!

Thanks for reading

 

Georgia