Visual Response: Idea/Concept
After studying Joan Foncuberta’s Sputnik series and Mishka Henner's reappropriation of Robert Frank’s The Americans; I have decided to respond to the truth and objectivity context by correlating the subject depictions of Foncuberta with Henner’s photographic recontextualization, utilising post-production techniques to modify and recontextualise the interpretation portrayed on the original to appear truthful. The photographs will act as evidence from the multiple layers of post-production, blocking the original subject depiction; disguised beneath the superimposed layers of aesthetics. I will utilise post-production as the persuasive tactic for the evidence, like the Colin Powell’s pre-war UN presentation & the Active Citizens to construct a pseudoword upon the trace of the real - the orthodox indexical representations.
In the astonishing discovery of the Spitzer Space Telescope, a dwarf star 39ly away, the Trappist-1 was located with seven planets orbiting, three of them positioned in the habitable zone, possible to host life form from the oceans of water. I began to research further into the phenomenon when I discovered that there were no visual representations of the planets and or the star, only illustrative artists interpretations based upon scientific factual information. I wanted to create a visual insight, never formally seen before to emphasise the evidence features of the photographs - symbolising the realism of the context to deceive the viewer. It allowed me to question how I could portray the recontextualised photographs as evidence - I understood I would have to utilise post-production modifications, but I had to consider the subjects presented in the composition to formulate symbolistic features of space to lure in the viewer. If the original photograph doesn’t represent considerations or features associated typically to space and the preconceived discovery of the Trappist-1, the deceptive features presented will not align with the context to deceive the viewer - I must consider what I am presenting as evidence and how the post-production will dismantle the depiction to the basic fundamental features. As Joan Foncuberta presents the viewer with a wide-range of photographic evidence depicting both literal and conceptual representations featuring: portrait, location, documentary, vernacular and medical imagery all accounting and emphasising to the realism of the event. I must consider what I should include in the photograph and how I should be composed, in reference to the context, to successfully deceive the viewers. I’ve had several ideas on what photographic subjects I should include for the post-production; chewing gum on the pavement - when the white balance is decreased and the shadows are increased the chewing gum appears like white stars against a black background. Also, back in Barnsley, I have discovered several old pit-stacks that when the subject is isolated from the background, the pit-stack is recontextualised on a blank canvas appearing as planets; the chewing gum photographs will stabilise the context of the project, relating visually to space atmosphere increasing the credibility of the pit-stacks relevance in the series when the evidence is aligned together, emphasising the significance of the photographs presented. I have begun to experiment with the representation of chewing gum and it’s visual relations with the depiction of stars, seen below, utilising post-production techniques to increase the density of the black background from the white balance and shadows, highlighting the white splats of chewing gum as stars. I was extremely pleased with the results and believe they communicate the context of the essay and the overall discovery of the Trappst-1 effectively, although I do believe I should take more photographs of the chewing gum positioned closer and further from the subject to obtain different results in perspectives, emphasising the scale and quantity of space. On the contact sheet from the initial minor test shoot, displayed below, I noticed that the chewing gum can only be presented as stars if the photograph appears vertical to the subject, positioned directly above the pavement as an aerial view; considering the perspective of the telescope and duplicating the realism of the forgery - presenting the stars as direct forms in front of the camera. Also, to assist with the post-production and presentation of the subject, I decreased the exposure compensation manually on the Fuji Xpro1 to photograph the pavement as underexposed as possible, preserving detail in the chewing gum while relating visually to the atmosphere of space. I will continue photographing chewing gum on the pavement with the scale consideration for the outcome of the representation while analysing everyday banal objects and perceptions into recognisable symbolistic features accounting towards the deceptive information for the Trappist-1 discovery.
Artist's concept appeared on the cover of the journal Nature on Feb. 23, 2017.Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Artist's concept shows what each of the TRAPPIST-1 planets may look like, based on available data about their sizes, masses and orbital distances.Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Photograph of evidence brainstorm in the notebook.
Below, I have presented photographs from the initial test shoot depicting pavements tattooed with chewing gum to recontextualise the aesthetics, applying deceptive features and superimposed hoaxes to visually relate directly to the context of the project.
Contact sheet for the initial test shoot
Original Photograph of decaying tile.
Post-Produced Version of decaying tile.
I simply opened the original file in Adobe Photoshop, opened the ‘White Balance’ window, increased the whites and decreased the blacks to highlight the white features of the photograph to create a spotlight to the viewer. After that, I subtly increased the contrast to enable the white to heavily contrast the black, preserving its detail and formulating effective evidence accounting towards the discovery of the Trappist-1. Although the post-production techniques I have utilised are simple, they still transform the photograph, reappropriating and recontextualising the subject depiction corresponding to the artist's ideologies of the ideal and the intentions; symbolising the overall effect of post-production when applied to a photograph.