final prints

I’m pretty happy with the way my prints turned out. I managed to resolve the darkness issue with the ones I mentioned earlier, and I managed to print another one. For the last print I chose the press up photo because the contrasty look matches the others well and I was struggling to get the right framing with the resting phase photos. I decided on 14 photos because having an odd number would have meant that I would have had a photo on its own on a page which wouldn’t look balanced.

I chose the photos I’ve presented because I think they show an all-round view of the gym and the range of body shots and close ups make it more personal, as well as portraying the seriousness of the atmosphere during a session. I think this seriousness is best represented in the photos of Jonny doing the bench press and the deadlift. To improve this feeling I could have taken some photos of people using the punch bag because it would have added to the range of photos and visually complemented the others.

My favourite photo is of Garry doing the preacher curl because the light has really softened his arm but still provided a decent amount of definition. I also really like the shine on the dumbbell which was vital to balance the tones within the photo. I think I have shown through my photographs that I have researched this area of portraiture photography and that I have applied what I have learnt into producing the photos. The most influential bit of research was of Yousuf Karsh which benefited my photos and this one in particular which I explained earlier, but also the Karl Shaw visit which really gave me a greater understanding of the ways the lights can be used.

One of the things I wished I’d done was to stick with the 6x4.5 format rather than go to 7.5x8.5 which I thought would been the better option. Although I think the photos do look better in the 7.5x8.5 it did leave me with fewer options and left me unable to do some of the photos I wanted to do.

first few days of printing

I spent four days in the darkroom and I’ve produced these images so far. I am reasonably happy with what I’ve managed to produce. I’ve grouped the ones that I’m most happy with in terms of the quality of the print at the top of the page and the ones that need to be redone at the bottom.

I’ve made 13 so far, so I still have room for a few more. I’m planning on making more of Jonny, possibly of him during the rest phase/when he’s finished or the press up one if they are in reasonable focus.

The bottom three images all have the same problem which is the greyness of the skin. I can resolve this by using a zero or zero zero filter which will lighten the lighter parts of the photograph.

Just got the negs back

Been and done contact sheets of my negs and I think I’m quite happy with how the photos have come out so far. There’s only one blank gap within the whole series which is much better than my previous attempts with film so I’m feeling confident. The only thing to do now is to start printing.

I’m going to go ahead with the 9.5x12 BnW gloss paper for the actual prints because I think that it will provide a better contrasty look than warm tone.

Photos with dots will progress to the printing stage.

last day of shooting

This is the last day of shooting and there’s only me and Garry left to do. I made a bit of a mistake in that I forgot to ask Garry to take the practice photos of me doing the exercises but I did remember to ask him to take the photos on the Bronica thankfully. To be honest I only think there are 2 or 3 photos I could potentially use as one of my final 10-15 from today but I will have to wait and see.

My favourites are the preacher curl, barbell curl and the wide grip pull up photos.

day 2 of shooting

Day 2 has gone well. Same troubles as yesterday and its even colder today in the garage so the hoodies are on. I’ve reshot the bench press photo and I really like it, especially the drop off of light as you look down the photo. I ended up lowering the position of the camera and the light which in the end was a good idea. Some of the others have come out nice as well like the deadlift and the wrap ties photo.

I don’t think there’s anything I particularly want to try again tomorrow so I will see what else I can come up with.