My Proposal

My idea for competition is to produce some portraits of someone performing martial arts moves. I want to capture the action involved, so will use fast shutter speeds to freeze the movement, with the surrounding elements (dirt or sand on the floor) being disrupted. This is inspired by the photographic work of Clifton Li.

 I want to explore this theme because of the movement and the control that is required for both subject and photographer should have to achieve results for a perfect martial arts photo. This photo from Li is a prime example of control with both subject and photographer. I say that in this photo it shows the subject has control because the subject knows what he’s doing. I say this because of the pose he had struck.
The photo also shows the photographer is in control because of the quality of the photo, that the photographer knows what to set the camera on and the exact moment when to take the photo.

I would also like to experiment with the Martial artist using the props used within their practice: weapons such as swords, nun chucks, staffs and any other. If I do experiment with this, I would like the person to stand still and only have the object and the person’s arm moving in order to create an interesting motion blur. This would be carried out in a private indoor environment due to the nature of using such props. I am particularly interested in using weapons as it is a form of control used within the meditation and is a reality of martial arts.

I think by working with weapons in my photos make the motion blur more effective. I say this because I think by seeing the motion of a person performing with a weapon is more effective then using body parts because by using a weapon you can be able to see how the subject is using the weapon and how the lines will come out. I also think its good practice for multi exposure.

Further to this theme I would like to experiment with photographing a range of fighting stances various locations and studio shoots.  I am also very interested in created silhouette shots like in the work of Umberto Salvgnin, where the viewer can focus upon the shapes of the people that are created through their moves.

I want to make a photo like Salvgnin because of the way she uses a fast shutters and the way she used her surrounding as an advantage.

I was also thinking of using multi-layer techniques in my work, inspired by that of Stephanie Jung when presenting the final image emphasising the feel of motion in the photograph. This is something that I have used previously within my work which I think is effective.

This is an example of her work of overlay work. I like this work because of the way the two photos layering over each other to compose another photo. This is one way of making an overlay photo.

These are some examples of what type of work I will be producing in this unit. With the influence I had gained from other artist.

This photo shows a style of multi layer where all the photos are different but layered on top. I am going to use this technique; this is because of the three photos overlay on top of ach other creates a natural motion in the photo. I am going to use this technique because I think this technique is effective and I will use it to produce some of my photos.

I was going to make photos like this by using Li’s technique to capture the photo and I will be editing the photo by using Jung’s multi layering technique.

This is another style where the photograph is the same but the opacity is lowered and the photos are moved aside on each layer. Jung inspired this technique because of the way the photo is pulled aside. This is a classic technique for me because I had used this technique a lot in my past work.

For this unit I am going to try and use this technique as minimal as possible because I have used this technique so much I cannot gain anything by using it again.