Photographer Research - Joel Robison

Biography

Joel Robison is a 27 year old teacher who has a great passion for photography. He's a conceptual portrait photographer living in Cranbrook, British Columbia Canada. He enjoys creating whimsical worlds where size, scale, movement and function don't play by the rules that we all know. Joel has done all kinds of different projects within his photography. He's done a four 365 days project, two 52 weeks, as well as side projects like "inspired by Disney", "Peaceful food", and a collaborative project with Coca-Cola.

Why I've chosen him 

Joel's photographs immediately caught my attention when I decided to approach my project in a surrealist way. I wanted to look for someone who used books like I have in a post that was inspired by a library photograph I captured. Joel Robison has created some excellent pictures containing books and endless amounts of creativity. I included some of my favourite images in my research log which will also be featured below. The effects in his pictures look slightly vintage which is what I like; there's never any increased saturation levels. He is one of my favourite surrealist photographers as his work has been inspiring for my project.

This is one of my favourite photographs of Joel's because it looks very intriguing. The ripped paper coming out from the book and blending into the body of the models is an extremely clever effect. Someone could interpret this image as a person losing themselves in a book. It's a very simple meaning but also one that is effective when you look at this picture because it's as though he is becoming part of the book he is reading. This will hopefully inspire future shoots of mine as Joel has encouraged me to take some photographs that link with books.

This photograph of Joel's caught my eyes instantly. The formal element depth stands out dramatically in this piece as you are able to see way into the distance. I assume that Joel has originally just taken an ordinary picture of this scenery and then edited in him sitting on the swing. This piece is extremely surreal because it comes across as though the swing is hanging from the sky. Him looking out to the distance demonstrates his train of thought, and he has surrounded himself with a tranquil setting to perhaps clear his mind. He is holding a bottle of coke, which is one of many images featured in his coca cola portfolio. Joel was looking for a way to parlay his passion for photography into a career when a call from Coca-Cola brought things into focus. The offer was for him to tag along, camera in tow, to 89 countries with the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour. This photograph is part of the collection he accumulated when he agreed to this opportunity with Coca-Cola.

I really admire this photograph of Joel's because its one that really inspires me when it comes to doing a photography shoot. I'd like to attempt something similar to this by having someone look as though they're walking up perhaps some aero bubbles. Having the balloons that Joel is travelling on in the foreground of the picture, blurred out, is extremely effective because it doesn't just leave the frame empty. The balloons surrounding the sides of the frame works well with the overall image because it completes it. Joel's editing could be classed as perfect. Every image looks as though it's realistic and it's difficult to tell that it's all been edited in photoshop.

This second version of Joel's book photography inspires me the most. Joel has originally just been photographed sitting in the middle of the field looking at nothing. The book has been edited into this picture to make it look as though he's reading an oversized story. I like the setting that Joel is chilling in because he looks like a very outdoors type of person in this image. I've already looked at this style of photograph in shoot 6 where I shot a picture of someone reading an oversized book. I will now hopefully develop these ideas after looking at Joel's work. 

How he has influenced me

I originally decided to approach surrealist photography with the theme of books because I admired the idea of shrinking people to be as small as books or perhaps even smaller. They broaden your imagination and have the ability to take you to another world, I felt that making these larger than the person would exaggerate how much imagination truly exists in them. After deciding this approach I found Joel's photography which then only inspired me even more. He's mainly influenced me through making me want to attempt photographs in the style that he has, because a lot of his work contains the book theme; it links perfectly with my ideas. Below are the two photographs containing books that Joel Robison inspired me to create.

Summary

Overall, Joel's conceptual portrait talent has had a large effect on my ideas of photography and so far I have found much interest in studying his work. His style appeals to me as a photographer because every image is fun and filled with imagination. He's became really successful for himself which is another attribute of his that is really inspiring.

Straight Images - Shoot 9

Print Techniques

Selective Colour

Repetition

Black and White

Duotone

Photojoiner

Soft Focus

Work Diary - Shoot 8

Evaluation

For shoot 8, I got a train into London to look at city photography. From shoot 1-6 and shoot 7, I really enjoyed looking at the sky when it was white, along with blue and cloudy sky, and depth. Therefore, whilst I was in London I took an assortment of pictures of The London eye with all the clouds behind it and the summery sky. I also took some others on the bridge and a flag above the water. These photographs demonstrated light, shadows and depth again. All of my images were successful because my surroundings were extremely photogenic. I enjoyed shooting in a different location to the college campus or my home town, it was a fresh experience and gave me much more interesting photographs. It has inspired me to perhaps do my photograph exam on location and visit a place like Southend or London again or even just a whole different location in general. I like unique places where I can find things to photograph that I wouldn't find anywhere else but that place.

This was one of my most favourite images from this shoot because I liked the contrast in the photograph. In one half there is part of the London Eye and in the other half there is nothing but sky and clouds. This is also behind the London Eye, making the landscape style effective. There is only a thin amount of space to fill in each half of the frame which was more effective than a square image perhaps. My original photograph of this was cropped to create this contrasting photograph and I am very please with its outcome. It follows on from my shoot where I took pictures of flowers in front of the sky, because instead of flowers in this one there is the London Eye. I admired this theme of the different coloured sky which is why I applied it in this photograph.

This was a photograph that I captured at Liverpool train station in London. I went up to a higher platform to  allow more of my surroundings to be in the frame of my picture. I centred myself in the middle so that each side of my photograph was even and I feel that it was a very successful outcome. This is another example of depth photography (something that I really admire) and it represents the presence of people exceptionally well. I took this image to convey evidence of travel and journey which links with me being in London, somewhere out of my home town.

Progression

For shoot 9, I am going to The National Portrait Gallery and Victoria and Albert Museum for my art trip. On this art trip I will be looking for depth photography because often in art galleries there is a row of arches with an assortment of exits on each side into different rooms. This will be effective in my photography because hopefully art will be on show in some of them to give the pictures some attraction as well as depth. Depth is an interesting formal element for me as it allows lots of the frame to be filled with large rooms and places. It's something I found in this project that I enjoy shooting, and the examples below are photographs of the depth style I'd like to take.

Straight Images - Shoot 8

Work Diary - Shoot 2

Evaluation

For shoot 2, I done half of it at home and then half of it in college in the studio. I wanted to look at photographs that would portray evidence of light. I used a crystal that I've had for years, and took my home photographs by allowing the sunlight to reflect all of the colours of the spectrum. In the studio at college, I then used a torch to shine on the crystal, which meant that lots of blue tones and blue lights were reflected off of it because the room that I was shooting in was extremely dark. I preferred the photographs that I took at my house because the sunlight conveyed more rainbow colours rather than blues and greens like the torch. There was a wider variety of tones with the sunlight and I felt that the reflections were more evident in the home photographs, even though they wasn't taken with a professional camera. I will be improving these home shots by taking the exact same style of photo with the same composition, but just capturing the images in better quality.

This for me was the most successful photograph of the session. It's one that I took at home, where I sat it on the window sill and let the sunlight create an exaggeration in the colours of the spectrum. I edited in the black background because I believe this is a much better contrast between the surface and the crystal. If I left the background an ivory shade it would not focus the attention on the crystal as well as it does in this image. The main formal elements in this picture are colour, shape and pattern, all contributing to it's successful outcome. 

This was a photograph that I took in the photography studio. In this studio, lack of colours was projected from my crystal because of the dark surroundinds and this is an example of how dark my outcomes actually were without being photoshopped. The torch that I shon on the crystal really didn't do it any justice when you compare it to the pictures I was able to capture at home. I produced more successful pictures than this in the studio, but it was this one that conveyed the lack of photographic quality found in my studio shoot.

Progression

To progress my project, in the next shoot I will be looking at the sky if it is a sunny day as this is what I wanted to do after shoot 1. I want to focus on the clouds and perhaps create a multiple imagery if possible. I may want to look at colours against the blue sky, and will therefore find some bright flowers to hold up against it. I also want to look at contrasting colours being symbols for different weather conditions. I enjoyed looking at weather in photography through colours of the sky and I feel white skies portray a colder weather condition and a blue sky portrays a warmer condition.

Work Diary - Shoot 6

Evaluation

During this shoot, I found that I was lost for inspiration when it came to ordinary photographs. I mentioned in my progression last lesson that I wanted to look at some surreal photography that could be linked to my evidence project. I therefore decided to recreate one of the images I included in that progression, of a girl looking up at an enlarged book placed in the forest. I feel that my interpretation of it was successful and I really liked how it came together as a concluded piece in the end. Unfortunately I was only able to create one surreal piece as I didn't have any props for my individual shoots. On the other hand, I've purchased myself my own camera now and will therefore be able to do a lot more shoots at home which will enable me to collect more photogenic and good quality photographs, as I'm not just restricted to using the facilities at college. The reason I looked at surreal photography is because it is something I'd like to explore in more depth further down my project. It may be something I stick to in future shoots because it interests me the most. The photograph below is a demonstration of evidence of knowledge/education/a bookworm/an open mind.

I took three separate pictures to create this piece. I took a variety of angles in the forest along with angles of the book and believe that the images I chose work perfectly together. It was my first time creating a photograph like this, but I feel my editing was accurate as could be. It isn't obvious that the book has been placed there, neither the girl, which means this piece looks natural and therefore was a successful attempt at photomontage photography. There's a decreased saturation level in this image which conveys a more vintage approach, compared to a brightly coloured photograph.

Progression

For the next shoot, I have taken some photographs from my holiday which I will use to cover this lesson as our class is not in on Thursday. I chose to include these photographs because they are evidence of a holiday, and the summer season is clearly portrayed in them. These photos will follow on from my starting point of looking at the weather. However, in progressing my surreal photographs, I have posted an influential post on the types of photos that inspire me and that I'd also like to attempt in a future shoot. I want to look at a pile of books falling into someones hand, sweets exploding out of a packet and also shrinking people to look like the borrowers in abnormal surroundings. There is evidence behind each of these ideas that I will explain in a future work diary and blog post. Some pictures that inspire me for this shoot are displayed below.