Flight
For component 2, I will be researching and analysing the theme of Flight. When you think of the theme of flight in photography, your mind might astray to birds, flying insects or animals that never touch the ground. But, my interpretation of flight will be about the mechanical beasts in the sky, planes. Their wings spanning for hundreds of feet, their engines roaring through the sky and their wheels lifting and touching down with elegancy on the runway. There are many ways to capture these beautiful moments of avionic history, this can be through bringing old photos to life, visiting aviation museums or being up close and personal in airports / far away from the ground looking up at the humming beauty of the metal bird. Artists I can take inspiration from are listed here:
Mike Kelley - Airportraits
The image to my right invokes a clustered feeling as all the planes are so close to one another. They are defying the laws of physics by hovering motionlessly in the air almost suspended for the photographer. The image could represent a flock of birds moving fluently through the air, each one different and original, but all having the one characteristic they all own. The ability of flight. The most focused point of the image would be the most vibrant planes out the plainly white coloured ones. For instance, my eyes would travel towards the centre green one before traveling to the far red one nearer the bottom but then to the plainly white larger one in the middle. The repetition of this image doesn't really exist due to the fact that each plane has a characteristic none of the other planes acquire. The arrangement of these planes make them almost seem like they could be slicing through the air as one flock of steel birds making slow mechanical movements in one motion either to change direction or to ascend / descend. The image presents a relationship of man and machine quite elegantly in the manner of representing the planes as birds which is a natural being. The people within these said airplanes could be an entrapment in a capsule sent to roam the Earth in the formation of other aluminium entrapments. The most surprising factor of this image is how close these planes are to one another due to the fact that it is not legal to fly these civilian planes this close to one another proving that this image is digital. I most like that none of the planes are similar (colour, placement of engines, location in the picture and depth in the picture) except for the underlying fact that every single one of them can and will take the skies.
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Chris Buff - Warbirds
Here are a few reference images by Chris Buff.
Chris Buff is renowned for his work on home decor, wall art, lifestyle, stationary and tech, but for my research on Chris, I am drawn to his collection "Warbirds". These set of 6 images by Chris Buff show a contrast between airplanes that are stationary and left to rust and the ones that are actively being used and taken care of. Most of the planes are taken from a side view as if the plane has a sentient feeling and is staring off into the distance. The Mustang plane flying towards the camera almost as if it looks like it almost roars at you. Most flight photos taken by Chris Buff have a black and white filter layered on top to give a resonance of an old feeling due to the plane having been made or mass produced in an earlier time period (say 1950s to early 1990s). Photos taken without the black and white layer could also resonate a fresh new feeling and that the planes have been renovated and restored to their former glory but in a more modern time. Most of the photos of the planes on his website have markings and symbols strewn across it probably could present the plane as refurbished due to all those symbols meaning something. They can range from military symbols which can bring the viewer back and remember when the plane was used in that field of work and some of the symbols can be personal decoration of the plane to per-say "claim it" as theirs. The angle and position of the image and where it was taken can also produce a feeling that each plane is a being that is alive. They are pictured in ways you could almost see a person could be pictured. For example, the top right image of the Douglas SBD - 5 Dauntless can be retaken with a person facing the same way as the plane. It'll be as if the plane was humanised in a sort of way. That's how "concious" these images seem to be.
Jeffrey Milestein - AirCraft
Jeffry Milestein's portfolio called "AirCraft" is a series of 36 photographs of different types of aircraft displayed on a completely white background. This can be classified as a documentation of the shape and flight capability of all the aircraft displayed / represented here. My most liked image would be the F-22A Raptor made by LockHead Martin. Due to the fact that most military vehicles, weaponry and aircraft fascinate me on a larger scale than anything else does. The angle in which these six photos have been taken and produced at can present an almost virtually created omnilucent location. It seems as if the background has been completely removed and just the aircraft remains. Personally, the one photo that really resonates with me would be the photograph of the NOAA - ORION because of the way Milestein has angled the picture. It makes it almost feel as if the plane is moving towards you, like a steel gaining an interest in you and moving in for a closer look. The photo really creates a certain feeling of elegancy waving over any viewer to witness such a piece.
Moose Peterson
22Moose Peterson documents his aircraft in various ways including eagle eye views, POV views and up close and personal views. For example, the F-35, F-22 Raptor and the C-130 are all captured from a POV view from the ground up as the planes fly over Peterson. Peterson uses photography to document his plane instead of using it to express and opinion which is most common for photographers to do. No image tells a story, no image represents something, but all images make the planes seem brand new though also used. My most liked image would be the C-130 and not just because its a big cool plane, it's because of the description Peterson had in the paragraph underneath the image. In his words, "The moral, gotta be prepared because often in photography, we didn't see that coming!" Moore Peterson uses different perspectives to present his aircraft, another example can be the 2 Stallion 51s shot from above using either another plane with a camera on it, from inside a helicopter or by using a drone to take photos. The variety of shots and different types of planes that Moose Peterson has taken. For example, the difference in development and availability and cost between the two Stallion 51s and the F-35 / F-22 Raptor is almost unbelievable. Over 50 years of development, a propeller fighter plane made in the 1940s - 1950s turned into a supersonic jet made only a couple years ago but took decades to design. This major difference between these two planes can show the disparity between one fully developed modern fighter jet and a dated 1900s mono-propellor fighter plane.
The Plan
One if my plans for the making day would be to use objects that could look like they could fly but can't fly in the first place. These objects would be positioned in way that
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