Using the Pentax 645Z

Week [Camera Research Notes]

Pentax 645Z Medium-Format Camera

After falling in love with the Pentax 654Z medium-format camera from the production shoots I had been carrying out so far this term, I thought it would be beneficial for my project if I did some research about the camera. Since I intended on using this camera for all my future production shoots for the project, it seemed only right to learn more about the mechanics and functions of this camera. Here are some notes from the research about the camera this week:

Main Features and Specifications
Camera Weight: 1.47kg (camera body alone)
Pixel Sensor: 51.4 million pixels (25 x more quality than Full HD 1080p)
LCD Screen: 3.2 inches
Native ISO Sensitivity: 100-204,800
Continous Shooting Speed: 3fps
Focus System: 27-point Auto-Focus
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Sensor Size: CMOS 44x33mm 
Resolution: 8256 x 6192
Metering System: RGB
Storage: x 2 SD card slots

Personal Notes/Tips
- Best for shooting landscape and macro photography, use of tripod will give best results.
- Going above ISO 1600 produces much more grainy images for handheld shots
- Camera meters in a similar way to DSLR's and can under expose details with small apertures. 
- It is weatherproof and water sealed so can withstand some outdoor conditions
- HDR settings and the fast frame rate of the camera will make it easier to properly expose all details within my images than camera bracketing



My First Impressions of the Pentax 645Z

One of the best things about using the Pentax 645Z is that it slows me down. I stopped to think about what I was shooting. how long to exposure my photographsand made sure that my tripod was perfectly positioned for symmetrical compositions.

Of course, I could  do all of this with any digital camera, but there is something about the size, the shape, the cost and the operations of the 645Z that encourages me to get the perfect images of the highest quality with its 51.4-million-pixel sensor. As you would expect with medium-format camera sensors, the image quality is incredible!  Although, photographs captured at higher ISO settings could benefit from a reduction in size to help reduce image noise.

Yet, for the feeling that it was something new with the fact that I had never used a medium-format camera before, it had a sense of familiarity. The buttons, dials and on-screen menus are all logically placed, and although the size and shape of the camera can seem intimidating as the analogue Hasselblad or the Linhof Technika. Essentially, the 645Z handles very much like a big DSLR.

Information Sources:
- http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.uk/en/medium-format-digital/PENTAX-645-Z.html
- http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/reviews/dslrs/pentax-pentax-645z
- https://photographylife.com/reviews/pentax-645z/

TO DO LIST 25th May

Week 5
- Reading Annotations

Week 7
- Brutalist Photographers for R&R

Week 9
- Add Owen Hatherly Reading Notes

Week 10
- Competition R&R
- Brutal London book

4 MORE REFLECTIONS

LDN

Screen Notes

This week, Nathan Miller's documentary LDN dropped on his YouTube channel. In the director's own words, LDN "“LDN hasn’t just been shot in studios and shows, I’m spending time with artists, and so foreign viewers will get a close-up look at what it means to be British: tower blocks, Morleys, sitting on the back of buses, and so on. I’m in the field with those taking part.”
http://www.sbtv.co.uk/news/movie-news/see-first-trailer-ldn-documentary-londons-music-scene/
I decided to watch his documentary as it focused on themes relating to my project such as London, grime music and tower blocks, plus it also features photographers such as Vicky Grout and Courtney Francis, who are photographers that I have done research about earlier this term and follow on my personal Instagram account. 
http://www.sbtv.co.uk/news/movie-news/see-first-trailer-ldn-documentary-londons-music-scene/
Here are the notes I made whilst watching the documentary:

- From the estates of Brixton Hill to the main stage, YouTube has propelled rap group 67 into the forefront in the emerging London drill scene.

- Channels such as SBTV. GRM Daily and LinkUp TV, grime is a lot more accessible than in this day and age. Artists no longer have to sell their mixtapes on the street or perform at raves. The internet has provided a platform that has made grime music explode across the world, allowing more artists to be heard and creating a bigger following for the genre.

- Being there at right time at the right place is a saying that grime music can relate to it how it has become such as successful genre that is breaking into the mainstream.

- DJ Semtex believes J Hus is a unique artist amongst members of the grime scene. The way he fuses African dialect and ways of singing with rap, the way he invents his own slang, his image etc.

- Vicky Grout is one of the the scene's most respected photographers, having shot many of the UKs finest artists, from Skepta to Wiley and everyone in between. One of the DSLR cameras she uses for her work is a Canon EOS 5D.
I got my first camera when I was 11, just a little bridge camera, and I would just take photos of friends and random shit as I didn't really know what I was doing. Then, when I was like 13/14 I found my parents family holiday camera, it was a compact film camera that you point and shoot, and I took it with me everywhere and started shooting at shows I was going to, candids of friends or whatever. From there, I started out doing very casual work, just documenting what I was doing and it was really just for myself. I'd put my work on a blog like Flickr or Instagram as something to look back on for myself. 
Grime is what I would shoot as these were the raves I was going to and I think both myself and the genre progressed further in unison. I never set out to document grime, it was more like: Go to this rave, take some photos and getting feedback from people and developing my style.

- There's a lot of negative energy behind grime but it depends on how you channel it. You can feed of people's negative energy and make something positive.

- According to Morgan Keyz, a veteran grime music video director "Giggs made UK rap and grime the cool thing to do, he totally changed the face of grime and the entire sound."

- Although grime is related to gang culture and there is beef between certain MCs, if the music is right, it doesn't matter where you come from and what endz you rep.

- Para-phrasing Youngs Teflon "Grime is a success story. Nothing became something. The scene has become positive through its role models. People of the younger generation are seeing the people around them going through the same struggles as they are and being a success. Kids want to be the next Stormzy, the next Anthony Joshua, the next Raheem Sterling as they are people that are coming from the environment we grew up in and succeeding in what they do, gaining credibility, respect and money. In my day, the role models were the gangsters in our local areas. They were the people who were respected and making money. But now, as you get older you don't have to be a gangsta to be respected and make money."

- The newfound fans of the emerging sounds of London have created an economy, allowing for many artists to thrive and establish a career as musicians. The sounds coming from London are true, honest and show appreciation to the cultural heritage. New artists are creating songs daily, but the beauty in the climate is that it only takes one hit and great execution to change the lives of the artists and the people around them.

Week 5 Production Planning

Week 5 [Production Development Notes]

The Exhibition of My Creative Project

From this week's close discussion I had with Mehaul during the workshop and practical session, we discussed where I was with my project so far and also the exhibition stage of the module. Since I had requested funding for my project (mainly for the printing and framing of the final images of my project) I discussed with Mehaul how I wanted to exhibit my project as 12, A3-sized, framed photographs as if they were to be displayed in a gallery-like setting of different Brutalist buildings, shoot with an asymmetrical composition. However, Mehaul suggested that I should look into presenting my project as a 'zine' as this would mean I could exhibit all my locations I had carried shoots out at and research I had done into symmetry and Brutalist architecture into a small photo-book. I really liked this idea because I had been worrying about how I would present my creative project to an audience and if choosing a gallery-styled projection of my project would convey it to its full potential. Here are some notes I made about my research on zines.

Issues with Gallery-Style Exhibition
1. Project would need a more clear-cut and direct focus.
In order for my project to be unique and engaging, I would need a message to convey with my photographs e.g. Photograph Brutalist buildings due to be demolished and portray in a beautiful way. This would mean I would have to limit my focus of my final images to 2-3 different Brutalist buildings in order for my audience to clearly interpret and engage with my project.
2. Expensive
Printing, framing and mounting is a lot more costly than simply printing out a small magazine
3. Can only be viewed in one setting
Displaying my project in a gallery setting as 12 large, framed and mounted photographs means my audience could only view my project in one particular setting

By choosing to exhibit my photography project as a photo-book in the form of a zine:
- I could print multiple copies and the same price as framing and mounting 12 images. 
- I could have more than 12 images to exhibit as the final result of my project, meaning I could share a lot more of the photographs I had shot over the year, rather than focus on two particular locations.
- It would be a lot more accessible for audiences
- Would require a lot more time designated to the post-production process of the project.

What are Zines?
In order to understand the exhibition platform I had chosen for my project, I did more research into zines in regards to what they are and how I could present my project as one. Here is some of the research I did online about them.

Research Source 1:
Renstrom, E. (2016) Why photo Zines are more important than ever. Available at: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/why-photo-zines-are-more-important-than-ever (Accessed: 1 March 2017).

Even though paper and ink may seem unnecessary these days, we're living in a golden age of the page.

Common Sense(s) is a show currently on display at the Center for Photography at Woodstock, New York, that features a compilation of photo-zines and related ephemera by over 50 artists. Juan Madrid, a previous VICE contributor and staffer at the Center, co-curated the impressive display with artist Carlos Loret De Mola. At a time when people can get all their news and scroll through a zillion photos before they're out of bed, what's the point of putting a printed object out? Finding communities and people who are like-minded make me feel a little less insane about the fight for printed matter so I asked Juan and Carlos a couple of questions about the show and their own thoughts about the final fate of print.

What is a Zine?
Carlos:  Independent artist publishing has been experiencing an explosion of activity over the last decade. Within that activity, the "photozine" has emerged as a platform for lens-based artists to publish their work with a raw and experimental urgency that more traditional forms of independent publishing lack.

What do zines mean to you?Juan: They're a lot of different things. In creating them, they're a way of making something that doesn't have to hold the same weight as a fully-fledged photobook—they can be a way of exploring more experimental ideas quickly or act as sketches or drafts of something bigger.

Carlos: We use the term zine in a very contemporary manner that respects its roots but also attempts to explore its current state. The process relies on its independent, artist-made nature. Zines tend to connect the artist more directly with its intended audience, as opposed to a trade publication or a bespoke edition where the imprint of the publisher or gallery or other institution bodes heavily in that connection.


Do you think it's worth it to create them?
Carlos: All zine artists value the look and feel of these very tangible paper-based publications that they imbue with immediacy, intimacy, fervor, and transgression. They are eminently accessible objects with often challenging content. They can be instantly experienced by anyone anywhere at anytime without a monitor screen or a rechargeable battery. Yeah, they're totally worth creating!

Why do you think there's a resurgence of people dedicated to making them?
Carlos: I'm not sure I would call it a resurgence. Steady, increased accessibility to digital printing technologies has definitely expanded the field of practitioners over the last several years. More artists are experimenting with the potential of independent publishing today than ever before and the zine platform has its own unique appeal. Even very established artists as varied as photographer superstar Gregory Crewdson and narcissistic pop super genius Kanye West are using the zine form to distribute their distinct ideas.

Week 9 - Research Notes Competitions and Mehaul reading

https://www.lrb.co.uk/v34/n05/will-self/it-hits-in-the-gut
Check your desktop for reading PDF Micheal emailed

http://www.bjpbreakthrough.com/how-to-enter/
http://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/31126/1/what-s-next-for-the-uk-grime-scene

Week 7 - Research Notes Music & Architecture

http://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/30607/1/the-brutal-musical-legacy-of-jg-ballard

http://www.archdaily.com/771142/what-can-music-videos-teach-us-about-architecture

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=vGMOkKomFsYC&pg=PA161&lpg=PA161&dq=grime+music+brutalist+architecture&source=bl&ots=5oSDOsldLi&sig=r6VbIt1LEyI_sOkevwKzTJv0-Fg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj_h_KNlM7SAhWHL8AKHT6YCzsQ6AEIUDAJ#v=onepage&q=grime%20music%20brutalist%20architecture&f=false

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=pYG5eRoSTJwC&pg=PA88&lpg=PA88&dq=grime+music+brutalist+architecture&source=bl&ots=uyj8O9vSGQ&sig=oty0vfmzh5Ci7f9s7u571-o0HVA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjw4amQmM7SAhUjLsAKHbK1CzM4ChDoAQg2MAc#v=onepage&q=grime%20music%20brutalist%20architecture&f=false

https://www.grafik.net/category/feature/concrete-crush



http://fuckyeahbrutalism.tumblr.com/

freeprints.co.uk

week 5 research

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/06/t-magazine/design/brutalist-architecture-revival.html?_r=0

https://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Brutalist-architecture.pdf

http://www.huckmagazine.com/art-and-culture/brutalist-architecture/