Nisha Haq Photography > The Kiss 0.2

It's been a while since I did a post on my work. This piece of work is a GIF and I've only experimented with creating these only on a few occasions. Though they look rather simple there is quite a lot of work involved! I made 'The Kiss 0.2' for a short project at uni (BA Photography at Southampton Solent University) to do with time. I was thinking of a few ideas and thought I'd revisit a shoot I did this Jan. 'Kiss Me Kay' (Jan 2011) are stills from a video I made. I was experimenting with time lapse and the subtle differences in each frame in a kiss, a simple act with so  many expressions. For my current time project I wanted to have a slightly different twist but fundamentally have the same basis for the idea. This time I shot outside against a fountain background which was also on a time loop for when the water would shoot out. I also used a tripod so all the shots can be level. Thinking about when to shoot and wait for the fountain all involved calculating correct timing and using a very fast shutter. I shot on continuous shoot mode and as it was outside I could shoot at a fast shutter at a low ISO so more detail. 

To create the image I first resized all the images to 600 pixel width and saved the images again using Fastzone Photo Resizer software I downloaded for free from the internet. This meant I had low risk of Photoshop CS2 crashing due to uploading a lot large images. I then edited the first photo and saved the actions I did to it to apply the action to other photos easily. I added contrast, a few colour filters, soft Gaussian blur and used the sharpen image filter. I opened all the photos I wanted to use one by one and replayed my 'The Kiss' action 26 times. Now all my images were ready to use. I then created a Photoshop document to create my gif. This involved opening all the edited images and simple placing the images on top of each other. I opened the 'animation' window, the tool to use to create gifs. I then selected all the layers and chose the option 'Make frames from layers' from the small arrow on the right of the 'animation' window. I then selected all the frames and chose 0.2 second delay from each frame to the next. To save as a gif I selected 'Save for Web' and chose GIF format, not JPEG.

Here's the image I created: Tell me what you think? Being relatively new at creating GIFs I'm quite happy how it turned out.

Kiss Me Kay (January 2011)

M.A.S.H

Photograph of the Day > Life Adjustment Center by Ryan McGinley

Today I said to myself that I was going to sit down and properly focus on my Photography coursework but I just couldn't resist reading my daily feed of Homotography and what do I see?... this beautiful monochrome photograph of a naked man with an alligator in a studio. How wonderful!

This is shot by the talented photographer, Ryan McGinley who has shot the likes of Kate Moss, Ellen Page, M.I.A, Tilda Swinton, Michael Cera, Casey Affleck, Seth Rogen, James McAvoy amongst many others. I only had just discovered his work today and what a lovely surprise. I must admit there's a lot of full frontal nudity in his projects which I'm still debating whether I find appealing however, nudity aside his creativity and vast imagination has produced spectacular art pieces.

This series of photos features many different animals with nude 'humans' and are shot in the forest and the studio. It gives an 'Adam & Eve'-esque feel to these photos with very interesting angles and motions. Also the way he captures the animals expressions is amazing.

I chose this particular photo as this was the image that captured my attention. The interaction between the male model and the baby alligator is surreal, serene and spectacular. (< like my alliteration there?!) :D

Beautifully shot!

This also reminded me of Helmut Newton's infamous photograph with a female model being eaten by an crocodile. (See my feature on Helmut Newton here)

Helmut Newton

Crocodile, 1980

Ryan McGinley Photography

Sources: Homotography  /  Ryan McGinley

(C) Ryan McGinley

Wes (Gator), 2010

M.A.S.H

Nisha Haq Photography > Kiss With a Fist shoot

It's been a while since I posted a fashion/conceptual shoot. I've been doing quite a lot of shoots recently, just haven't gotten round to posting it yet or editing it even! There's soo many photos to sift through!

Thought I'd get the older shoots posted out of the way. :) In Nov 2010 I did a projection studio shoot with Jessica Croker and Charlie Conway. I had the idea of projecting light with typography on some Powerpoint point slides. The concept derived from an editorial in Vogue Paris, May 2009 issue called 'Game Girl' featuring my favourite model Daria Werbowy photographed by the incredible duo Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin. She plays a sexy kick ass fighter and throws ninja-esque moves on guys. I love the passion in her actions and the way Inez and Vindooh captures it. The idea of 'sexing' up violence is quite interesting especially as the roles are reversed.

Here's my mood board and research page for this shoot:

I developed this fashion fighting idea whilst listening to Kiss with a Fist (see video here) by Florence and the Machine. I really liked the lyrics:

You hit me once

I hit you back

You gave a kick

I gave a slap

You smashed a plate over my head

Then I set fire to our bed

A kick to the teeth is good for some

A kiss with a fist is better then none

I projected some of these lyrics on Jessica and Charlie in my college studio and created something like this: I added brushes of paint splatter in Photoshop.

More coming soon. Check out my Facebook and Flickr :D

M.A.S.H

André Ziehe by Costas Avgoulis

Love this editorial of André Ziehe by Costas Avgoulis for Gamos magazine; styling, hair & makeup by Panos Pitsilidis. I like the graphic design element and the Christian symbolism. Very interesting and creative! :D

source: Homotography  /  Andre Ziehe @ models.com

Photograph of the Day > Stewart Shining

I'm not sure who the model is but I love this photograph. The shallow depth of field, pose and setting is a wonderful combination. To me this represents strength, beauty and a strange calmness. His face is relaxed despite his arms being tense from hanging on and I like how his feet are positioned. Our eyes read the photo following the barrier and after we admire his looks we realize this is set in a city (probably New York). The reason I've said strange calmness is that it is hard to find serenity in busy cities and to stop and look at something unusual is refreshing.

source: Homotography

See more: http://stewartshining.com/

Nisha Haq Photography > Gustav Klimt - The Kiss recreation

Hi everyone!

I've been fairly lazy with posts for the past few days however been busy with edits and new projects and photo shoots! I've finally edited my modern interpretation of Gustav Klimt's 'The Kiss' image. For my A2 photography class assignment we had to recreate an iconic image and originally I was going to choose Steve McCurry's 'Afghan Girl' however after realizing many people were using that image as their original source of inspiration thought I'd try something completely different and choose this beautiful painting. (scroll to bottom of post to read an excerpt from my essay on why I chose this iconic image (c) Nisha Haq) Part of my 'Intimacy' project.

This was quite a fun shoot to do and I chose lovely real life couple: Lauhren Jones & Dan Ecclestone. Very kind of them to agree to this and they look adorable together here! Dan even carried a ladder to Lauhren's bedroom (she lives round the corner from me) so I could get a high above angle to shoot down. Also they were great to work with despite my often confusing direction (trying to recreate the poses in the image) they grasped the concept very quickly and got right into it which is always the right attitude to work with. Thanks guys!

Photography, Post-Processing: Nisha Haq

Models: Lauhren Jones & Dan Ecclestone

Taken: 25 Nov 2010

Location: Lauhren's bedroom

Camera: Canon EOS Kiss x4

Software: Photoshop CS2

(c) Nisha Haq

It was rather a pain to edit this considering the original image was messy with objects and unnecessary things in the picture. There was a lot of cloning and airbrushing done but I eventually got there. I realize this image isn't perfect and there could be extra Photoshopping done however as a first go I believe its ok. What do you think? Check out the before & after photo effects:

(c) Nisha Haq

Gustav Klimt's - The Kiss

Here's an excerpt from my essay for part 1 of our photography project: 'Why The Kiss is such an iconic Image':

For this project I have decided to create a modernised version of Gustav Klimt’s, ‘The Kiss’ painted in 1907-08 which is one of the most beautiful oil paintings I have seen. It’s one of Klimt’s most recognizable pieces and is the pinnacle of his ‘Gold Period’. I later saw a very iconic image by Annie Leibovitz of John Lennon and Yoko Ono on the front cover of Rolling Stone, Jan 1981 issue which reminded me of ‘The Kiss’ as the bodies were in similar shapes however Leibovitz cleverly and artistically reversed the gender roles. These two images shows intimacy, sensuality and emotion captured never before and I’m captivated by the raw beauty and how the two are very different but share similarities as well. By selecting two very famous images, one a painting the other a photograph shall give me the freedom, creative burst and the best aspects of different art mediums yet also a challenge to recreate a 21st century interpretation in my own style...

... Why choose ‘The Kiss’? There are many great aspects in this painting, one noticeably being the vibrant gold leaf he used with the oil paints and distinctive symbols and colourful flowers. This image features in my mother’s bedroom and I always find it fascinating to look at every time I walk in. The pure intimacy of the moment and how Klimt manages to paint all the small details from her shoulders hunched in from ‘breathing’ him in and embracing his sensual touch to his hands passionately grasping her jaw and head. Her feet peeping out of the elaborately decorated dress is a wonderful touch to the painting and adds character and a greater story. This theme of intimacy follows on nicely from my previous Exposed project where I explored themes of voyeurism and desire. This project will be about the softer side in a relationship and the way people connect and interact with each other.

What are your views on my new Intimacy project? Get regular updates on this project at Flickr > Intimacy Project

Nisha

Self-Portrait Photography III > My Veil Shoot

Following on from 'Self-Portrait Photography I featuring Lara Jade' and 'Self-Portrait Photography II featuring Josefine Jönsson' where I'm researching artists and experimenting for my graphics project 'Who Am I?', I've decided to take some more conceptual self-portraits of my own. Self-portraits are one of the best ways to practice and get started in any photography involving people and portraiture. You are in control of you own expressions, angle, pose, lighting, so ultimately the photograph is all yours. Seeing Lara Jade's self-portraits from such an early age inspired me to get shooting and be creative with portraits. I believe creative self-portraits shouldn't be 'how pretty I can look' without any meaning to it, there should always be a story and self-portraits in particular, as you're conveying yourself through a photograph. I've been trying to 'shock' and show people that I'm not afraid to purposefully taking an ugly photograph of me if the concept is more important than outer beauty. I've posted some pretty dark photos on Facebook and DeviantArt and some of my friends have called me scary, freaky etc which is the reaction I want to get!

This shoot is the most explicit to date and with fashion magazines revealing bodies more and more and suggestive poses now; nudity is very much accepted as part of art especially in Europe.

Apparently this reminds my mother of 'The Way We Were' album cover by Barbra Streisand.

The theme for this shoot was to show a juxtaposition of two sides of me. Exploring sexuality & faith. I'm from an Islamic background however my close family don't practice Islam as my brother and mother are Atheist; me on the other hand, I'm finding my spirituality and believe there is God somewhere. I've currently decided to settle on calling myself a 'spiritual agnostic' however this is most likely to change as I explore further. 

The veil is in reference to Islam where women wear hijabs to cover themselves up; the meaning of hijab is modesty, privacy, and morality. Of course I wanted to contrast the meaning of a hijab with explicitly. I believe all women should have the right to feel sexy, regardless of religion, status, colour etc.I wanted to take these shots in black/white to create deep shadows and a more mysterious effect which wouldn't look as good in colour.

Inspiration for this shoot: 

Tiiu Kuik Photographed by Daemian Smith & Christine Suarez

Hakan Photography

Tracey Emin

Herring & Herring for Zink Mag

M.A.S.H

Photograph of the Day > Unfathomable Depths by Ibai Acevedo

I love this photograph by Ibai Acevedo. I love the blackness and navy colours and the white shining light behind her. The shadows and light works amazingly and I love the fact it's underwater photography which I admire even more. It's as if God is shining a light upon her, but that's just my interpretation. 

Source: http://iconolo.gy/archive/unfathomable-depths-ibai-acevedo/1566

Check out her Flickr Photostream / Blog

Check out more from this shoot.

Artist of the Week + Q&A > Reka Agnes Koti

Have only recently come across this great photographer, Reka Koti and her images are captivating, dream like yet mysterious. I had featured her for 'Photograph of the Day > Disoriented by Reka Agnes Koti' which received quite a lot of hits. Goes to show how amazing her photography is! I love how her images always contains conceptual content and mixes up her style from colourful 'folk' inspired fashion  to dark double exposed black/white lomography shots. She uses great technique and always draws the viewer in which I particularly like about her unique work. I like how non-conventional take to photography and she isn't concerned about solely taking a pretty picture, there is depth and a lovely cryptic element. I'm in awe from her work and have also decided to feature her as a photographer research for my Photography A Level at college. It ties in wonderfully to my black/white project I'm doing at the moment.

It's also great to hear what she has to say about her work. I managed to email her some questions which she kindly answered. Thank you!

1. Firstly, how did you get into photography? Has it always been an interest in your life?
I became interested about and started to learn photography two years ago, simply because I wanted it to be a part of my life.

2. How long have you been doing photography? What inspired you to initially shoot?
I was interested in portraiture photography from the beginning. Maybe because it is intimate honest and personal.

3. Did you get any formal training or are you self-taught?
I worked as an assistant of a well –know Hungarian fashion photographer and also attended a formal training on the technical bases of photography.

4. What equipment do you often use?
I use a canon 40 d a Diana f+ and tons of natural lighting.

5. How would you describe your photographic style?
Dreamy, intimate a bit melancholic and always spontaneous.

6. What would you say inspires you the most? What are your influences in photography?
Mainly everything, music, films, dreams, everyday scenes and mostly the person in front of my camera.

7. I love your lomography shots. What inspired you to get into lomography?
A friend of my started to talk about lomography, I liked it, so I tried.

8. Do you prefer black/white photography or colour and your reason?
I wouldn’t say I prefer B&W, but it certainly gives a certain mood to a picture, that is more valid in some cases than using colours

9. Lastly, any advice on aspiring photographers, like myself?
Just be brave, practice as much as you can, listen to the objective criticism, but mostly just listen to your on heart and mind.

Check out her sites:

Myspace  / tumblr  / Facebook

Check out my favourite shots from her flickr photostream below: