Final Project - Final Photographs

“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever... it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.”  American Photographer Aaron Siskind states that photography has many aspects to its fine arts reputation as it gives us a sense of being. Photography is our very own gratification that we can construct and modify to create a perspective and perceive it to the world. The power of photography defines the timing, morality and memory of the moment with one capture which will imprint into the human mind forever and I completely agree with him. However, war photojournalism is a subject matter which is hardly ever discussed as it is important and iconic to modern day society. The digital age we live in today has effected society as historic photographs aren’t cherished enough. Technology has significantly enhanced from Robert Capa’s Black and White era to the ‘Selfie’ generation which has changed the perception of photography forever. The purpose of combat photojournalism is not to showcase or glorify violence and suffering with graphic imagery for the sake of shock value and ratings. War photography allows us as a society to see the consequences of our military engagements. We need to see the consequences of our decisions to go to war, or to abstain from war, that we may make an informed decision as to whether the necessity of that military engagement is worth the suffering and death that follows. Additionally, we cannot allow ourselves to be lulled into the convenient attitude that war is something that happens "Over there" and go about our day. We who are not "Over there" fighting a war are still responsible for our government and the choices that it makes because we can't see the conflict first hand, we have photojournalists that send us combat imagery. That also doesn't mean that war photography is always meant to prevent or halt war though it's a philosophical debate that doesn't belong in the photography section, sometimes a war may be justified to continue even with full knowledge of the suffering that follows, depending on situation. It may even lead a nation to engage in a war, if they see atrocities committed by another country that they simply cannot abide. Regardless, combat photography shows us that our military conflicts have consequences, that real people suffer sometimes terribly and that everyone involved is human. My objective for this whole war theme was to replicate the advantages and disadvantages of war. Many people believe that war is a memory which has destroyed the nation, in fact its more than that. The official definition of war is “a state of armed conflict between different countries or different groups within a country.” However, to me, War is a gratification that we should cherish and desire as these violent memories and actions only make us stronger, together we should remember the good and bad doings as it is one of the main reasons why we have what we got today. These photographs depict toy soldiers stuck into the grass, with digital manipulation used to replicate the war periods. I have chosen these photographs as my final photographs because it has the features and admiration of being the most similar to relating to the theme of war. These photographs were taken in Primrose Hill where the grass can be manipulated into a war battlefield. The composition of the photograph is really effective as it portrays the depth of field. The depth has managed to capture the detail of the main focus. The camera angle and position is well positioned as the perspective is manipulated into thinking that this photograph was taken in a historic time period where combat is placed. Additionally, I have edited these photographs on Adobe Photoshop by changing the effects such as using grayscale and sepia to create a historic and ancient ambience in the photographs. I have also used the tilt-shift effect to create a diorama illusion in some of these photographs. These effects help to establish the detail, tone and texture of the photograph as well as building a illusion to fabricate a reality. Moreover, the lighting in this photograph is really effective as the bright exposure captures the dark shadows and highlights. This helps to establish the depressing and dark mood which depicts the violence and conflict in this photograph. In hindsight, I believe I could have improved this photograph by using a different prop. This means I could have used a more technical and realistic toy soldier to play a part in this photograph, just like David Levinthal who uses realistic toys to create intriguing scenes. The project came out of my desire to capture how our society is evolved around social media, rather than focusing on the aggression and violence around the world. We are so consumed by social media that we create a hyper reality to live in, which is built upon deception conceive into a utopian realm that doesn’t exist. Conflict is increasing significantly and will only become a superior problem.

Final Project - Photographs

Here are some of the photographs I will be editing on Adobe Photoshop for my final project. I have decided to place the toy soldiers in a environment where nature is portrayed. I arranged the soldiers in a bush/grass to make it look as if the soldiers were in a forest which is known as a combat location. I will not be editing all these photographs as the criteria only requires 6-8 final photographs, however I decided to take as many photographs as possible so I have many options to pick from.

Final Project Title

I have decided to name my final project "Fabricated Reality". The juxtaposition between the two terms compliments each other. I wanted to create a scenario where the skit's are based on true events but in fact, the objects in the photographs are fake. The diorama effect would create a illusion where the events look as real as possible. Furthermore, it is also discussed that our reality is considered to be fabricated. Social media is a form of fabricated that people consider their reality, when in fact it is really a fake realm filled with self-constructed identities which don't exist. This relates to war photography as no one actually cares about the events that happened in the past. People are so consumed by the digital age that they believe everything is acceptable, however conflict is rising and increasing dramatically that violence will become a neutral aspect in life. War is not a common attitude in life. If anything, I decided to name my project "Fabricated Reality" to persuade people to gain realism and come into the real world where violence and conflict is prevailing. 

Aims/Objectives for Final Project

My aim was to capture the essence of violence portrayed through a fabrication of skits. Creating a narrative with miniature faking, outlines the concept of war and its environment would create a captivating, visually compelling and intense journey for the viewer. I wanted to adapt to the combat surroundings and build the atmosphere around nature so the photographs become an aberration compilation. The photograph would develop a selective focus prospect due to the change of aperture. The aim was not to create a balanced compilation, instead I wanted to involve tilt-shift which the highlights the approach of movement, as well as using the depth of field to my advantage by intersecting the point beneath the lens which increases the width and depth.

• Use the depth of field to create a selective focus in my photographs
• Use tilt-shift photography to create a miniature faking
• Use a diorama effect to create a illusion 
• To make sure the viewer doesn't understand the photographs straight away and builds many opinions and perspectives about it
• Build a emotional connection with the viewer as they gain sympathy due to the purpose behind the photograph
• Challenge societies's norms and values with the issue of the digital age as war photography isn't seen as iconic and important in today's generation 
• Examine how society looks at conflict
• To create a controversial meanings behind the photographs 
• Replicate David Levinthal's ideology and technique in miniature faking
• To create a realistic reality within the skits

David Levinthal - Reading his photographs

David Levinthal 'War Games'

David Levinthal, a central figure in the history of American postmodern photography, has staged uncanny tableaux using toys and miniature dioramas for nearly 40 years. Mounted to celebrate the Corcoran Gallery's acquisition of a major, career-spanning body of work, this publication features the artist’s photography on the subject of war.

Levinthal’s combat-related tableaux constitute a remarkable critique of the ways society experiences conflict through its portrayal. His groundbreaking project "Hitler Moves East" (1975–77), a series of imagined scenes from World War II’s Russian front, first established his reputation, becoming a touchstone for the iconoclastic generation of American photographers that includes artists like Cindy Sherman and Richard Prince. 

"Wild West"(1987–89), Levinthal’s best-known body of work, explores the American frontier and the American Indian Wars, filtered through the lens of Hollywood westerns and late-20th-century advertising. "Mein Kampf" (1993–94) luridly re-enacts Adolf Hitler’s theatrical rallies as well as horrifying scenes from the Holocaust. Levinthal’s "I.E.D."(2008) echoes contemporary news imagery of our military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Levinthal has based his 'War Games' photography series on the deeply disturbing scenes of Adolf Hitler's horrifying Holocaust scenes. He has gathered his emotions and placed it into his photography by re-creating scenarios from the Holocaust. This photograph portrays the blood, sweat and tears in the conflict. The gore blood dripping from the exhausted soldier's head reveals how violent and brutal these periods were. Levinthal has captured a intense close-up shot to gain a selective focus for the viewer. The depth of field builds the attention on the soldier as he is the main subject of the photograph. Levinthal is showing us what the soldier is thinking as we are put into his perspective, our mindset has been automatically altered as we feel sympathy for the subject. As you can clearly see, Levinthal has blurred everything expect the dry blood mixed with dirt and pain. This could be to challenge how society examines conflict and violence which is a effective theme in today's generation as we are consumed by the digital age.  

This photograph portrays another true event which occurred during the World War 2. Levinthal has increased the exposure and offset to create a historical ambience within this photograph. His effect reveals the violence and conflict portrayed throughout this photograph. The soldier's falling reminds me of Robert Capa's falling soldier photograph which is iconic to war photography. The proximity that is a hallmark of Levinthal’s pictures allows us to see the plastic seams of his subjects, even as it provides a kind of detachment from the uncomfortable subject matter. That sense of a game dissipates with the Holocaust images. After all, toy companies don’t make death camp action figures, forcing Levinthal to repurpose ordinary dolls to stand in for concentration camp victims. Here, there’s no point of reference to connect us to the familiar; the images have a somber reality that belies their surreality. The sense of play — of war unfolding as a game — is only one way in which Levinthal’s images work. The earliest pictures in the exhibition show a sequence in which the artist unwraps a box of World War II soldiers and sets them up on a table. “War Games” also references pop-cultural representations of conflict — from first-person-shooter video games to Westerns and war movies to documentary photographs of actual war by photographers such as Robert Capa. Levinthal uses a shorthand vocabulary of what war looks like to question our unquestioned assumptions.