Portrait of a Cyclist

Portraits of a Cyclist

Specialist Production

BA Applied Media

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BA Applied Media

Specialist Production – Proposal

Portraits of a Cyclist

Jason Hoole-Jackson

Photography in terms of portraits have influenced how we think and view class, race, identity, cultural identity and gender.

For my Specialist Production I propose to produce a series of portraits of cyclist. Cycling is part of my daily life and is very personal to me, be it taking part in the activity itself or discussing various issues about it.

I have throughout my life taken part in various activities. Running, swimming, rugby, however none of these seem to have such a diverse base of different cultures within them or had such an influence on my day to day life as cycling has. Photographic portraits have also become part of my daily routine be it be frequently posting ‘selfies’ on face book of me doing something bike oriented such as turbo training

My aim is to endeavor to capture the subject’s passion for cycling and the relationship between them and their bike. If you cycle as much as I and other enthusiasts, a bond is formed between you and the bicycle. You could say humanizing it, strange but true for most of us. It is something I have also wanted to do and ideas for the content came from seeing other cyclist as I tour the countryside on my bicycle.

                                                             

Or friends and family enjoying themselves in the hobbies they love too.

So the idea is to combine both of these to produce portrait photographs for the final exhibition.

I am what has been described (rather cruelly I feel) in the tabloid press as a MAMIL. A middle aged man in lycra and a menace to society if you believe some articles. But if you look closely there is a wide diversity of people who ride bikes, and varying cultures who don’t all see eye to eye.

It is these riders and the lycra clad cyclist whose portraits I would like capture and then produce into a series of photographs for the exhibition. I will also include an online blog diary as well as a website to promote the work and document my progress. 

Research will include studying sports portrait photographers such as Walter Loose who has spent most of his career photographing the world’s most famous sports stars. It will also include acclaimed portrait photographers such as Philip Halsman and his series ‘Jump’, Julius Born and his ‘Texan portraits’ and Andy Hughes’ ‘Grom’. These will not be the only areas of research others will be included in a diary and work book as I carry out more research. I will also look at less successful portrait projects. For example the American Olympic Team for the 2012 games, which were widely criticized and met with derision when unveiled to the American public.

Contextually it will link into my dissertation where my research into the early portraits and how these were exclusive to the very rich and nobility until the invention of the camera.

With rapid advances in the technology surrounding photography including the likes of collodion process, (this leading to a gelatin based silver bromide emulsion applied to a glass plate) would revolutionise the medium within its very short lifetime, eventually leading to the process of roll film being developed by George Eastman and his production of a mass produced camera the Kodak Box Brownie. With this, photography became a more accessible form of portraiture to the populous.

I will also link into my dissertation and how the digital age has opened up a whole new audience. With digital cameras now incorporated in most of our phones and gadgets, a whole new army of amateur portrait photographers are uploading their pictures to the web on social networking sites such as face-book for all to see. How there are also the hidden camera’s that capture our portrait wherever we go, it is inescapable and relentless. These images are recorded minute by minute and give a wide view of portrait photography through all walks of life. How these images are then taken and manipulated and distorted by the media depending on how they want to portray the person in the story.

I have decided that the portraits will be shot using a large format Camera using colour film. This is because I want to be able to print them for exhibition as large as I can. This idea comes from looking at the old masters portraits hanging in our stately homes and castles as its something that I have always wanted to try and by using large format it will also give me the quality at these sizes I require. I will also be photographing the persons riding their bikes, which will require me to shoot digitally allowing me to compare analogue with digital.

The equipment that I will use is the colleges, Shen Hou 5x4 large format camera with a 150mm lens and my 5D mark 2 using a variety of telephoto and fixed lenses for the action shots.

The challenges involved include approaching strangers to ask them if they would mind taking part and posing for a portrait. Then the conflict between people I know within the cycling community on why I have chosen one over another for the portraits, more so with retail outlets I use. The technical challenges associated with using a large format camera, including carrying it, if the location is a long distance from transport, setting it up and the time it takes to take the picture loading and developing the dark slides.

Primarily this is a portrait project but by wanting to shoot in 5 x 4 format so I can get the sizes I want and comparing it to the large portrait paintings from history I want them to become, works of photographic art as well.

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Proposal Presentation

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The first go with the Large format Camera B&W film

Josh 5 x 4 - 30/5.6

I want to get the whole bike plus the person for the portraits and a very shallow depth of field making the whichever background out of focus so the rider is focused on and not the background. Nice wide angle on these sets of photos. Need to get slightly less foreground and a bit more of the background above the head and centre the subject more 

Josh 5 x 4 - 15/5.6

This pictures have been taken with a large format camera - developed in the collage dark room The film was taken from the dark slides and placed in the tank holder (not easy in complete darkness) and then placed in the light proof tank, for a 5 x 4 film used 40ml of developer and 280mm of water at 20 degrees celcius  this is poured into the tank and the lid put on then agitated for 5 mins (which causes the silver iodide of the film or paper emulsion to darken if it has been exposed to light). Once done the developer is poured away and 320 ml of the stop chemical poured into the tank and left for 30 secs (this prevents the developer from developing the film further) then poured back to its container and 320 ml of fix added and agitated for 5 mins (which removes the undeveloped silver iodide from the emulsion) which stops the film from reacting any further to light) and washed for 20 mins in plain water to get rid of residual chemicals then removed from the tank and dried in the heaters. 

Once dry they were scanned into the computer using an Epson scanner on professional setting, B&W negative setting , 48 bit colour at 1200 pix resolution, chose original and tick unsharp mask, preview select area to scan and scanned in.

When scanned I examined the picture for any work that may be needed on the photo and then edited out as much dust and scratches as I could in photoshop.  If you look at the area around the bike it gives a slightly blurred effect almost a shift and tilt effect which makes the face of the subject stand out more drawing the viewer more to that area. At the time I of taking the picture I didn't notice that I had not quite done up the lens at the bottom which gave the effect serendipity(a happy accident) you may say, the only problem is replicating it

Once finished with the large format it was always my intention to use a digital DSLR this will give me alternatives if the the large format doesn't work out with timescales and other problems that may arise .These first pictures are taken on a Cannon 5D Mark2 50mm prime lens. I will be using a 50 mm lens throughout this series of portraits to have a consistent finish to all the portraits taken.

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Josh

Portrait and close up was one idea but this does has not produce the type of portrait I wish to achieve and idea that I first came up with will try a few more like this just to see. To close to background in this one so did not get the shallow depth of field required 

Also will try some close ups to see how they look as I go through the process of deciding which will be best to achieve the desired outcome for the project

If I were to do it this way a sharp background does work 

The BMX helmet does not work done up would look better undone

looks ok but more of an editorial feel for a magazine than the idea in the presentation that I set out to achieve but will do a few more as it keeps subjects interested and they also sellable to the person

A few action shots just to get an idea what BMX is all about not for the specialist production but all helps in engaging with the subject so that both photographer and the person are comfortable with each other, plus nearly everyone asked wanted action shots as well

Looks so much better with the helmet undone good background with the red door goes with the green bike again though not the idea I was looking for 

Sideways stance again more magazine editorial shot

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Lewis

Err the I'm a little teapot look got to check the pose when shooting this doesn't work well background to close and in focus

Portrait ok but still trying to find the right pose and background at present photograph 

Covering the face is not what I am looking for takes away the main purpose of the photograph 

Nice relaxed picture and portrait but sitting down doesn't work as idea for project though  

Better pose, background to sharp and portrait at this point I am thinking landscape would be best  for the exhibition pictures. 

All these portraits have been taken using the 5D Mk 2 with a 50mm lens

5 x 4

Note the dust and scratches left on this one to demonstrate a developing problem and to many to completely eradicate from the picture if I am to print at A1 plus then may need to rethink how I am going to take the photos and switch to a more capable DSLR

I decided at this point I would read up about the latest DSLR having decided I was buying a new camera anyway and started looking and decided on the Nikon D800E reasons why are described here. The D800E DSLR, which will give me a big enough file size for a A1 print without losing definition in the quality of the print. it also has it's low pass filter removed from its software. The advantage is a very sharp image for portraits, which is what I was looking for in my photographs (low pass filter is used in the camera to extremely very slight blur on the pixels so Moire does not occur) This effect could happen if you had a slightly patterned background say a curtain but with the correct and meticulous setting up this can be avoided.

Moire lining effect that you would see if you took a picture of a TV screen.

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Julian

Day out with the Go Pro bike easy to carry when cycling just to capture the moment while out all other portraits will be arranged and I will meet the subjects on location it is to much to take the DSLR on a ride if I see the right person out while I am riding will ask them if they are ok for portraits take their details and give them one of my cards. This makes it more formal and I am not in too much of a hurry then and the photographers can be set up properly.

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The Early Birds

A little group of cyclist that go out early mornings so they have most of the day free then to spend with their families unlike myself who struggles to get out of bed  and never make it out earlier than 9:30am!

Me setting up the large format 5 X 4 on location a decent tripod is essential

Ryan

Richard

Phil

All three of these pictures are beginning to show the style of picture that I am trying to achieve the one of Ryan closest to what I am looking for good formal pose with blurred background focusing on the subject of person and bike

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New Nikon D800E 50mm f1:8 prime lens

Trying out different poses to find the one that will be best for the exhibition and what I am trying to portray

Phil

Richard

Phil and Richard a bit to relaxed

Ryan

This is close to where I am aiming for sharp focus on the subject with slightly out of focus background will need to open the aperture even further to F1.8 on the 50mm lens

Phil Again

As you can see beginning to establish the pose and portrait I am aiming for as in my presentation and the early cyclist portraits

After this shoot had a discussion with Andy after he had seen some of the pictures I had taken while out cycling of just the bikes I ride and whether I should just take pictures of peoples bikes to get the personality across without them in it. Also because we had visited the exhibition space and they may look better in the gallery as it was more of an art type space. Will try after my next shoot at Dales

Also had a meeting with Marcus who suggested just going with portraits on some research I had done which would look more formal will try this on the Dales shoot

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Dales

 An incredibly windy day so was unable to use large format

This shoot was the last to try out portraits just to make sure it didn't work for me also last chance to practice with people I know before I go and photograph people I don't know

Bit relaxed needs to be more posed and formal background in focus and getting them to look straight int the camera lens  

Right pose just got the background in focus need to open aperture more

Good background for further shoots in the future not involved in the project good contrast between white background, grass gravel and subject

Team Photo for fun a group always likes this when together

This is where I went with the suggestion from Marcus and just focused on the riders 

Good portraits but don't fulfil my presentation idea good for the future background not great on these. Change the area for the white background which worked much better could made the subject in the cycling jersey more striking 

Three quarter length shot looks good 

Close up works well too

Again does not  fulfil my ideas from the presentation but really like these types of shots for future projects 

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The Green Machine

These are pictures taken as the idea Andy and myself had to take the rider out of the portrait and just photograph the bike

I also then added clothing to give more of the personality of the rider without them being there

This angle I love I believe it adds a certain personality to the bike itself but in the end it wasn't satisfactory for myself as I wanted them to be portraits so after discussions with Sue and Andy went back to original plan to do the portraits

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Sorting out and selecting for Exhibition and workbook

It was here I realised that I didn't have any female cyclist yet

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Dave 

This is the shoot where I found exactly what I was looking for in and the ideas really came together 

Not quiet there bike to side on

This is the picture quality and composition that I want with the background slightly out of focus 

Great pose now now needs to be landscape

Again perfect idea of the pose I am looking for all of them ideal for the bike they are with very strong poses on all of them 

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The Track

Trey

Unknown 

A lesson in remembering to write down names when given to you

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Sam

These are not to bad but didn't really work for me for the series needs the glasses of to be able to see his face just wasn't getting it right today so rearranged for another day 

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These set of Portraits taken at Perranporth airfield during a race day

Kym

A good set of Kym but background not the best people and equipment in the way but as I didn't know Kym at the time and she had just finished a race didn't want to impose to much by making her move to a more suitable location need to be more confident in asking people to pose and move 

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Nicola

Nicola had just won the race and races for Plymouth University so I thought it would be a good idea to approach her and ask if she would pose for me and also moved to the airfield where they had just raced to get the picture in context which would be an improvement on where I took the pictures of Kym

Great pose and set up but slightly still out of context in the grass 

Moved to the runway itself really works well back ground fading to horizon with shallow depth of field 

These have worked really and are exactly what I am looking for in my portraits sharp subject with out of focus background using the very shallow depth of field 

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Penny

Happy with the technique to produce the pictures I want just a matter of choice for the exhibition

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Heidi

Riding a fixed wheel I was keen to find the right setting for the shoot a carpark in Redruth was ideal I not only used the style of pose for the project but experimented with some new ideas that worked really well for future projects 

Light caught on subject well don't like the wall shadow in picture does't quite work

Good poses with the bike slightly of set thinking of using this one for the business card to have something slightly different to showcase my work also thinking of using four images for business cards

Really pleased with this light is perfect not to much sun and slightly overcast definite  choice for the exhibition

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Andy

One of the best shots everything working background and subject pose for a bike like this unfortunately misses deadline for printing before exhibition will use for the front of the booklet

Likes being seen!!!

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Edwina

Idea and planing is really paying off now straight set up just have to adjust for light 

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Sophie

Some good posing by Sophie my daughter who insisted on being involved

Composition works well framed in the gateway

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Lisa

Because Lisa is a triathlete works well at Sithians Lake also for once liked the glasses on as it was such a bright and looked better in this one without the helmet on 

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 Sam shoot 2

Unhappy with the first shoot went for another go today 22-4-14 with much better results 

This is where a helmet and glasses don't work especially on a grey day so asked Sam to remove them 

This is much better can see all his features 

Action shots that did get used for a report on facebook but not for the project will use one in the booklet  

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First layout of the booklet for the exhibition 

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Tony

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The Choice of final pictures for the Gallery

For the gallery pictures I wanted some bold and stand out portraits that the viewer could focus first on the bike drawing them up to the person 

Choice of two for David 

I chose this one a better angle and closer for the gallery

This one was fine but just two much of the white van in the background

Nicola I had a little more choice

The grass adds a good contrast but context it being a road racing bike was wrong

These to are ok but and great a smile but need a bit less of a smile for the final picture

This one has the feel and look I want for the gallery so I will choose this one for a gallery print

Great photo shoot with Heidi a natural lots of fantastic pictures four were taken for the actual look that I wanted for my project

Both very good but I think the shadow from the wall gives to much contrast between the light and dark areas 

Both great pictures Heidi pose is what I am looking for and the light is even and neutral hood up works really well green background offers a good contrast to the white top and red bike

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I ordered the prints from Spectrum Photographic Ltd the same printing lab that I used for My FdA final exhibition prints sized for an A1, C Type prints on Lustre paper very good services and all you need to know and easy to navigate to upload photos for printing 

Putting in the sizes to find the price (blanked out)

Checking file sizes is made easy on their site

Technical details for formatting and colour space for the print to work

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Prints 

Prints received from Spectrum

 Framed and ready for the exhibition

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Alternative Portraits to the ones exhibited

Although I was very happy with the prints I may have changed Nicola and David with his laid back bike for these two one of Dave's other images and the one of Andy

This one of Dave because it became more striking the more I looked at it and when printed in A3 looked even better with the black on white and strong pose it will be at the printers for future exhibitions 

 

This one of Andy was taken to late to be printed for the exhibition which is a shame as I think this photo more than any of them encompasses everything I want to achieve from this project this again will be printed for future exhibitions 

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Why

As explained in my presentation and proposal I wanted to explore through portraits, the different types (tribes if you like) of cyclists my love of all things cycling. What most of you will have noticed by now the only captions are the name of the person or notes on poses and picture quality. I have deliberately left any description of the subject to let the person viewing the pictures to make up their own minds of the type of cyclist they are viewing

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Conclusion

When deciding on my specialist production a number of thoughts came to mind, how when I first started my studies I had shied away from portraits finding it awkward to approach people to ask them to pose for me concentrating on landscapes instead.  As my experience grew through my studies and a number of the projects had to be portrait based I began to enjoy meeting and photographing people and I began to realize that I enjoyed this genre of photography. So based on this revelation and my growing fascination with how portraits are used in the media and everyday life from the selfie to the formal family photographs I decided for my final project that it would be portrait based.

Also having written my dissertation based on portraits in the media and how they could be used out of context to distort the truth also had an influence on the choice to produce a body of work that would be all about portraits. This time however on how they have can be used to a positive effect and enlighten and inform on a subject that the viewer may not know a great deal about.

For this final specialist production I had a clear idea of what I wanted to achieve with my cycling portraits. Cyclists and their bike from different parts of the cycling community and as large as print I could get from the resources available, time and the space in the gallery.

In my proposal and presentation I said that I would like to use 5x4 large format camera with colour film if time and resources allowed. I started off by using the 5x4 with black and white film to see if it was possible to finish the project within in the timescale alongside this I would use a DSLR as a back up. The first worked out well as pictures but it was becoming apparent that the time taken to take the photos, develop, scan and edit wasn't going to be possible before the deadline. Also with colour I would have to send them away to be developed taking more time and editing dust and scratches was difficult and I couldn't eradicate them all making it impossible to print them at the size and quality I wanted. After discussions with Andy and Sue I decided to use a DSLR for the rest of the project occasional using the large format for experience. One thing I did find was how much the people I photographed loved the large format showing real interest and really got involved in the whole process of taking the picture, which was refreshing. It maybe a longer term project over a few years as people find it more engaging and I will have more time to produce good quality negatives and prints Once I had made the decision to use digital for the rest project.

Once I had made the decision to switch to digital I needed to sort out which camera to use that would at least give me a chance to produce a file size that I could print at least A1.

As I was in the process of buying a new camera I decided on a Nikon D800E as it would give me the file size and quality to produce large sized prints.

Then it was just a case finding which composition and pose would work best for the portraits I was trying to achieve.

My first attempts were a variety of poses in portraits and landscape format, close up or more open.  It became obvious although I kept trying portrait format that landscape worked much better and by opening the aperture I could get a shallow depth of field giving a soft focus background which meant the focus was all on the cyclist, this seemed to work well.

At this point we visited the gallery and for some reason I got worried that my pictures wouldn’t work in the space.

I then decided to speak to Marcus and Andy asking their advice, Andy did suggest that I just take photos of the bikes without the owner which could work and Marcus suggested close ups of just the rider, he also gave me some good tips on getting the background out of focus but keeping the subject in focus.

I tried both ideas and got thoroughly confused on which way to go but talking with Sue came to the conclusion that I should go back to the original concept and photograph like the old Victorian ones I like so much, coming full circle on the project.  This was a relief and let me relax just to take the photographs I wanted to.

The composition that I settled on was landscape format with the person behind the bike facing straight into the camera with background blurred.  This worked so well and results got better as I got further into the project.  It was also at this point I realized I hadn’t any female pictures.  I had to be very accurate with the focusing on the subject as with such a wide aperture it could easily get everything out of focus with a lot of effort, patients and skill.  I managed to produce the pictures I desired.

I wanted to make sure the prints would arrive two weeks before the exhibition so I had time to frame them and order more if anything went wrong.

I chose three pictures, Nicola, Dave and Heidi for quality, composition, pose and that they were all different types of riders at A1.  They were correctly sized and put into the right colour space for the printing lab Adobe RGB.  I chose spectrum photographic labs as I had used them before and the quality and service had been excellent.  A1 was as large as I could go to with the size of the space in the gallery the file sizes could have gone a bit larger. 

Once I had the prints back I chose a white mount with black frames, which set all the prints off well. Overall the pictures worked really well as a series and I was so pleased with the way they looked in the frames and in the gallery. I would have liked to get a bit more variety within the series some disabled riders and a wider range of ethnic minorities but with limited time it has not been possible. I am planning to carry this project beyond the course and to make a book finding more interesting cyclist to photograph.

I was also very pleased with the booklet I produced and it worked well to show pictures I could not show at the gallery and help promote me as a photographer. I had great feedback at the exhibition preview and interest from people to have their photos done with their choice of bikes.

Although it took a while and roundabout way to get where I wanted to with the portraits I am extremely proud of the finished work which looked fantastic in the gallery and in my portfolio.

So after all the years of studying that leads you to your final project the specialist production, which if you told me at the start of my journey on the course would be a series of work about portraits I may have raised an eyebrow and looked surprised but now I wouldn’t have it any other way.