Zemni Photography Blog

Photography projects, inspiration and research by Linda Mayoux

Michael Tsegaye Rough Notes

Author: lindamayoux

  • Michael Tsegaye Rough Notes

    Michael Tsegaye, Ethiopia,  portfolio website

    Born in 1975, Michael Tsegaye lives and works in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He received his diploma in painting from Addis Ababa University’s School of Fine Arts and Design in 2002, but soon gave up painting after he developed an allergy to oil paint. He subsequently found his real passion in photography and has made of it not only a profession, but a way of expressing a very particular voice.

    “As a photographer I try as much as possible to escape being pigeonholed. I place myself among my peers (photographers and painters) across the world. While the spirit of my culture — its traditions in music, poetry and literature — informs my photography, my goal is that of any artist: to understand my life and standpoint in the 21st century, and express these through art.”

    Future memories chronicles the urbanization of various neighborhoods in Addis Ababa.

    Chasms of the soul  images are of gravestones in Ethiopia. When a person dies, his or her relatives place a photograph onto the tombstone and also inscribe a short history of the deceased. Thinking about the family’s photographs, and the idea of memorials and loss, I am struck by the personal sense of damage that these images—and the air that falls about them—evoke. As a result of time, those buried continue to experience a second death: the gradual deterioration of their entombed identity.

    Ethiopia at work 10 years ago it was said that it took a full day for the average farmer to walk to the closest road. This prevented farmers from communicating with neighbours or engaging in independent small-scale market activity with each other. But in the Wollo region of Ethiopia, I came across a new market that was created by the building of a road that was still under construction. (2008)

    Working Girls ll Commercial sex workers who live in Sebategna, a busy neighborhood in Addis Abeba close to the central bus station and Merkato (the largest open-air market in Africa). (2009) Black and White chiaroscuro.

    North Road  Impressions of northern Ethiopia along the road that leads from Addis Abeba to Wello, Tigrai, Gonder, and Gojjam. (2008) Full saturated colour.

    Ankober (2007) Misty atmospheric Black and White

    Arenguade (2011) Semi-abstract patchwork images of Ethiopian fields taken from a plane. Colour.

    Afar (2011) Erta Ale active volcano in Eastern Ethiopia Danakil depression. Black and white textures and rock formations.

  • Andreas Gursky

    Andreas Gursky (born January 15, 1955) is a German photographer and Professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany. Gursky shares a studio with Laurenz Berges, Thomas Ruff and Axel Hutte on the Hansaallee, in Düsseldorf. The building, a former electricity station, was transformed into an artists studio and living quarters, in 2001, by architects Herzog & de Meuron, of Tate Modern fame. In 2010-11, the architects worked again on the building, designing a gallery in the basement.

    He is known for his large format architecture and landscape colour photographs, often employing a high point of view. Before the 1990s, Gursky did not digitally manipulate his images. In the years since, Gursky has been frank about his reliance on computers to edit and enhance his pictures, creating an art of spaces larger than the subjects photographed.

    The perspective in many of Gursky’s photographs is drawn from an elevated vantage point. This position enables the viewer to encounter scenes, encompassing both centre and periphery, which are ordinarily beyond reach. Visually, Gursky is drawn to large, anonymous, man-made spaces—high-rise facades at night, office lobbies, stock exchanges, the interiors of big box retailers (See his print 99 Cent II Diptychon).

    Gursky’s style is enigmatic and deadpan. There is little to no explanation or manipulation on the works. His photography is straightforward.

    Gursky’s Dance Valley festival photograph, taken near Amsterdam in 1995, depicts attendees facing a DJ stand in a large arena, beneath strobe lighting effects. The pouring smoke resembles a human hand, holding the crowd in stasis. After completing the print, Gursky explained the only music he now listens to is the anonymous, beat-heavy style known as Trance, as its symmetry and simplicity echoes his own work—while playing towards a deeper, more visceral emotion.

    The photograph 99 Cent (1999) was taken at a 99 Cents Only store on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, and depicts its interior as a stretched horizontal composition of parallel shelves, intersected by vertical white columns, in which the abundance of “neatly labeled packets are transformed into fields of colour, generated by endless arrays of identical products, reflecting off the shiny ceiling” (Wyatt Mason).

    The Rhine II (1999), depicts a stretch of the river Rhine outside Düsseldorf, immediately legible as a view of a straight stretch of water, but also as an abstract configuration of horizontal bands of colour of varying widths.]

    In his six-part series Ocean I-VI (2009-2010), Gursky used high-definition satellite photographs which he augmented from various picture sources on the Internet.

     

     

  • Paul Seawright

    Paul Seawright is best known for his ‘late photography’ of battle-sites and minefields. He often uses vintage technology and a much older approaches to conflict photography. But rather than reportage, his images are made for museum-going audiences and gallery patrons by people who call themselves ‘artists’.

    website

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    If it is too explicit it becomes journalistic. If it is too ambiguous, it becomes meaningless…The constriction of meaning is done by the person looking at it. The artist has to leave space for that’

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    ‘Paul Seawright, Voice Our Concern Artist’s Lecture 2010’ is a 40 minute illustrated artists lecture by the artist photographer Paul Seawright given in the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) in November 2010. Paul talks about the use of photography in conflict situations as often being unreliable and how his work as a photographic artist is a response to this. He presents photographs from the Crimean war and discusses the influence of photographer Paul Graham on his work. He describes the difference between photo journalism and art in the context of artists defining their subjects and in the construction of meaning. He goes on to discuss and present examples of his Sectarian Murder Work series. This Voice Our Concern lecture was a joint project organised by IMMA and Amnesty International Ireland.

    The Forest 2001

    17 photographs of desolate roadside lay-bys, ditches and car parks shot at night and lit by what we assume to be streetlights. By day they would probably be ordinary, but at night with the lighting they take on a sinister tone (like images we are used to seeing in detective TV series). ‘Because there is such a division between what we can see and what we cannot see (the fall off of the light does not allow for much penetration into the forest edge) what belongs there (the trees, underbrush and roadside curbs) and what doesn’t belong there (us), these are photographs that place the viewer into the shoes of the vulnerable’ (Paul Seawright’s website)

    Hidden (2002)

    In 2002 Seawright was commissioned by the Imperial War Museum London to undertake a war art commission in Afghanistan.In spite of the climate in which they were made, have a cool, Becher-like objectivity to them. Tension is created by concealing as much as is revealed in the photographs and their caption. Through unorthodox framing, selective focusing in places, and at times seemingly banal viewpoints, there is a palpable sense of unease in this landscape that is strewn with concealed lethal hazards. For example another image shows recently dug up mines – done by hand because they cannot be identified with mine detectors against the rest of the iron in the land., as well as America’s most wanted outlaw, who would take a further nine years to track down. His photograph of shells in Afghanistan explicitly echoes Fenton’s famous image from the Crimea.

    For some of the main images and reviews (eg John Stathatos) see: http://www.paulseawright.com/hidden/

    Invisible Cities 2007   

    after Italo Calvino book.

    Seawright travelled to major cities in sub-Saharan Africa, exploring communities on the edge of conurbations, both geographically and socially. Comprises varied photographs, some of which are recognisable as landscape pictures, or environmental portraiture. None of the titles of the photographs refer to specific locations or people, which emphasises the indistinct nature and anonymity of these places and their inhabitants.

    Bridge (2006) the road bridge, presumably an interchange of major roads on the edge of the city, cleanly divides the frame in two. A yellow bus heads along the road towards the city from, we suppose, the sanctuary of the suburbs, taking children to school or their parents to work. The sky is empty and bleak, echoed by the detritus that sprawls below, shielded by the flyover from the view of the bus’s passengers.

    Things Left Unsaid

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    Biography

    Paul Seawright is Professor of Photography and Head of Belfast School of Art at the University of Ulster. His photographic work is held in many museum collections including The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Tate, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, International Centre of Photography New York, Arts Councils of Ireland, England and N.Ireland, UK Government Collection and the Museum of Contemporary Art Rome. They have also been exhibited in Spain, France, Germany, Korea, Japan and China.  In 2003 he represented Wales at the Venice Biennale of Art and in 1997 won the Irish Museum of Modern Art/Glen Dimplex Prize. He is represented by the Kerlin Gallery Dublin.

  • Stock Photography

    A key aim in this module was investigation of the differing requirements of major stock image libraries and landscape photography libraries and then submitting relevant images and starting to get concrete professional and audience feedback on my work.

    Stock Photography outlets

    • Shutterstock: a good place to start because they give good support materials and useful technical feedback. On You Tube many contributors make most of their income from Shutterstock because of volume of sales
    • iStock Photo (part of Getty Images): photos, illustrations, video. Take 45% commission.
    • Pond5
    • Alamy
    • Dreamstime
    • Adobe Stock (took over Fotofolia)
    • Smugmug Pro can make good money. Make own website and pricing.
    • Foap: amateur phone Ap where you can sell direct from your phone
    • Clashot: sell photos through an Ap you set your own price 50-80$
    • Snapwire
    • EyeEm

    Shutterstock

    I identified Shutterstock as the best place to start because You Tube contributors said Shutterstock was easy to use and very good at giving technical support and feed back.

    Copyright issues
    https://www.shutterstock.com/blog/learn-how-to-protect-your-content-in-our-shuttertalk-live-workshop
    Illustration
    https://www.shutterstock.com/blog/shuttertalk-live-presents-editorial-illustrations-and-vectors-101
    What sells best
    Preparing for upload
    https://www.shutterstock.com/blog/learn-how-to-prepare-for-your-first-photo-submission-in-our-shuttertalk-live-workshop
    Metadata Keywords
    Addressing reasons for rejection
    Shutterstock Technical Guidelines

    Inspect all images at 100% resolution

    1) For Commercial Stock: trademark issues (send as editorial)
    • no brand names
    • no IPP
    • keywords should not contain trademarks
    • no isolated pictures of single buildings and avoid landmark modern buildings
    2) Noise
    • filmgrain
    • compression artefacts
    • posterisation
    • check skies and shadows
    3) Composition/Concept
    • what is concept? what could it be used for?
    • arrangement not optimal. leading lines, rule of thirds. use in-camera grid
    • distracting elements
    • horizon line crooked
    • negative space so customers can insert text
    • shoot from different angles
    4) Focus
    • Focus a bit too soft. try single and continuous focus
    • Camera shake: stabilise yourself against a tree, elbows in and don’t breathe
    • avoid zoom lens or move closer
    5) Exposure
    • under or over-exposed – use histogram and correct
    • not good lighting
    • avoid midday, ‘golden hours’ 1 hour before or after sun
    If rejected
    • look at on-line resources
    • use critique section on forums
    • sometimes they do make an error
    • make correction and re-submit

    So I started to develop a quite diverse portfolio – following You Tube advice not to specialise at this stage or narrow my stylistic options. Before selecting images and places to work on I did a search of the Shutterstock image library to see which subjects, places and styles were over-represented and for which places and styles I could fill a market gap that was in line with subjects and styles that appeal to me. There were few images for all the places I selected, and the images that did exist were overwhelmingly high/over-saturation high over-sharpness images. Many of which I find very ‘over the top’ – but was not sure if images were that way because they were what the market wanted or whether other types of image might be successful also.

    See Shutterstock Experience

    The general advice from You Tube contributors with long experience of stock photography with similar tastes/social aims to my own is to develop a range of different types of image and style. This means that the numbers of people discovering your images will be much larger, encouraging them to then look at your whole portfolio. This also serves to test a number of different market and types of user. Then once something sells, to produce more of that style/subject matter and develop a number of niche markets. This is a different approach from higher end professional photography portfolio sales where it is important to have a more distinctive ‘voice’.

    My Shutterstock portfolio includes:

    • Lake District (48 images in colour and monochrome processed in Lightroom and/or Viveza)
    • Norfolk: Burnham Overy Staithe (34 colour images processed in Lightroom, including abstract seascapes)
    • Suffolk: Orford Marshes (10 colour, monochrome and split tone images processed in Lightroom and/or Silver FX)
    • Norfolk: Hunstanton (39 ‘English seaside on a cold New Year’ colour images processed in Lightroom) and Norfolk: Cromer (5 colour images including 2 that were substantially processed in Lightroom to correct lighting and perspective, and 2 ‘nostalgic sea-side images in Analog Pro)
    • Cambridge: River Cam (17 abstract and 17 semi-abstract images and 18 ‘Abstract reflections’ that I aim to develop further together with more ‘Edgelands’ images as part of Assignment 4 ‘Cambridge Chronicles’
    • Suffolk: Aldeburgh (28 high colour images of Aldeburgh Carnival 2016 around ideas of ‘Englishness’ and ‘English Holiday’ ‘English seaside’ and quirkiness processed in Lightroom only) that I intend to revisit as part of work on ‘English seaside nostalgia’ together with:
    • Suffolk: Orford Quay (16 ‘Brexit’/’British’ images processed in Lightroom that will form part of Assignment 5 ‘A Very British Day Out’ together with photos of National Trust’s Orford Ness for which I need a professional photographer’s license to publish)

    My experience so far has been broadly positive – good resources database on areas like intellectual and privacy rights, technical tutorials and quick and helpful response to some queries I had. I have learned a lot technically. and the experience has taught me a lot so far. Most of my 220 images were accepted when submitted first time (having consulted all their documentation first). The main reasons for rejection have been because of issues like titling, editorial vs commercial categorisation or keywording. Only 3 have so far been terminally rejected on jpg quality issues, but even these I think I plan to re-submit as more artistic creations using NikFX.

    Sales have been less successful. Shutterstock is generally considered by You Tube contributors to give highest income because of volume of sales rather than percentage of price. But in order to make substantial income you need to have around 2-3,000 images and constantly have a drip of new images going on. I have so far sold two images for the huge total of USc50! The first download was someone local in Isleham, Suffolk and the second someone in Korea.

    The first two images are suitable for backgrounds, rather than editorial. They are also desaturated and different from the overwhelming majority of highly sharpened and highly saturated tourist images. Possibly this distinctive style is one of the ‘niches’ where I may eventually choose to focus. Particularly as I enjoy the experience of taking and processing these types of landscape image and would like to develop my photographic as well as software processing skills.

    Carnival image

    A third image accepted after two months (showing that images are not necessarily lost) was

    Adobe Stock

    https://www.creativelive.com/blog/photographers-guide-earning-money-adobe-stock/

    https://theblog.adobe.com/contributor-spotlight-anne-bracker/

    Why You Might Consider Becoming an Adobe Stock Contributor

  • Taking Portraits

    If you have access to the relevant equipment, imagine that you have been asked by a client to take a fairly formal portrait photograph – for example a graduation portrait. (Commercial photographers take hundreds of these in a day at graduation ceremonies.)

    The main point of this exercise is to get to grips with studio lighting so experiment with your lighting effects and make notes in
    your learning log or blog.

    The next two projects return to a historical theme but also give you the opportunity to explore different styles of portrait photography for yourself.

    Keep an eye on the composition too, though. Remember some ‘rules’ for general portraiture:
    • When you’re composing an image, generally keep the eyes in the top third of the image unless you specifically require a different effect.
    • Don’t be afraid to come in close or go out to include background.
    • Remember the rule of thirds and frame the subject to be the point of attention.
    (Look on the internet to remind yourself about the rule of thirds and its application to photographic composition if you need to. This is a rule taken straight from classical art.)

    If you haven’t got the necessary equipment to attempt the practical exercise, contact a local photographic studio and ask if you can spend some time there watching how they work. If you explain that you’re a student on a degree level photography course they may be only too happy to show you what they know – and you’ll get some inside information on the merits and demerits of various types of equipment. This would be a valuable experience even if you do have your own studio lighting.

  • Experimental Photography: Photoscreen

  • Experimental Photography: Solarplate

    Topaz Travel to Tortuga

  • Experimental Photography: Cyanotype

  • Experimental Photography: Collage

  • Experimental Photography: Scanning