Towati Photography

2009-01-17T14:01:00.000-08:00

"My Shiny Place"

Another self p, this was inspired by the surreal work of Ione Rucquoi. Rucquoi is inspired by her environment, and the animals and plants that surround her, hence the bird theme.

I thought as a bird, I would probaby be a magpie, because I am attracted to shiny things and stock lots of 'junk' everywhere.

The original photograph is fairly old, it's a pretty poor layer manipulation, but I recently added fairydust, and I really like the effect!

2009-01-07T06:21:00.000-08:00

"Beyond the Moon"

And now, I introduce you to another member of my family; my Grandad. Both he and my Grandma have been down to visit for my 18th, Christmas and New Year.Grandad is by far the most genuine person I know. You see what you get. If you don't like it, that's you're problem. He is also one of the funniest and one of the most caring.
This is a candid photograph I took in a cafe in Totnes, blended with a photograph of clouds and a picture of a street in London. I wanted this portrait to have a grungey feel to it, like the early work of one of my favourite photographers Annie Lebowitz.

I used digital manipulation in this image, it includes 3 photographs in total, the portrait, clouds and a street scene. The photographs are layered, softly erased and shown at varying level settings and opacities.

I also chose to use some grunge brushes from deviant art around the edges of the photograph, to give it a typhical Lebowitz finish.

2009-01-07T06:12:00.000-08:00

"Doodlerooni"

This is a portrait of my loverly maytee Juan. We spent a photography lesson painting his arm with acrylics and peeling off the layers to make it look all manky!
I wanted to try a portrait in a more fun, hallucinatory style, like those of erwin olaf or david lachapelle! To me, this kind of looks like a strange child's painting.
I have digitally coloured this picture in photoshop and added several tones and level layers to create depth and shadows. The background was in the actual picture itself (a graffiti wall), but I have chosen to enhance it with colours and textures.
My next college photo project is portraits, so there are many more to come! I will be trying out lots of new techniques, so very excited!

2009-01-07T06:07:00.000-08:00

"Masked Stranger"

This photo is a portrait of my friend wearing a mask and situated in a lift. The photograph was inspired by Diane Arbus and her legendary wheelchair shoot, on whom I am studying as part of a controversial imagery project in my college Photography A Level course.

The image was fairly simple to achieve, all natural light is used, no heavy manipulation. In processing, I simply tweaked light, saturation and contrast.

2008-09-04T06:03:00.000-07:00

"Send Your Mum's Out for Spray Cream"

I forget how much I take for granted.

This photo was inspired by this one by Rosie Hardy, watching Mary Poppins and the crapness of British summer.

www.flickr.com/photos/rosie_hardy/2610389721/

I've wanted to go out and take pretty sun lit pictures for ages, but unfortunately I forgot the sun doesn't live here anymore, so I'll have to make do with the shadows.
When I was taking this I phoned my mum to ask her if on the way back she could pick me up some whippy cream, and she got really excited thinking i'd made something lovely like a cake.
Sorry Mum! This picture is for you!

The picture was created using three different photos, one of myself on a chair in my room, one of wooden flooring and one of pretty victorian wallpaper. My room is really dull, so I fused the wallpaper/flooring into my image using photoshop tools, such as clone and the eraser at varied opacities. It took a long time, as I had to be really finnickity about bits like the semi-transparent table cloth and holes in the chair back. I also chose to add realistic shadows using the burn tool. I magnetically cropped myself and the table, and set the two as a new layer, adding a "vintage photo effect" and fiddling with colour and that. Then I selected the whole image and hung it in a pretty frame to the left. Yay!

2008-08-28T09:51:00.000-07:00

"The Heist"

This is one of my most favourite pieces of work so far! Yay!I decided to set out on a little walk as the light was pretty, and that is a rare thing in the crappness of english "summer" lol. I got some odd looks whilst taking this. The vicar and co were preparing for a wedding and I was darting around in my skimpy little dress clutching a tripod to my chest!

Yet again, another self p, I know, you're getting bored! Sorry! But don't worry, I have some graffiti work from London that will be up again soon. This is a mulit exposure shot, the layers of which were all fused together on Flickr. I neatend it all up using the cloning and eraser tools.

2008-08-28T09:41:00.000-07:00

"All Strung up"

A less innocent self portrait. lol. I kind of wanted to reach into my feelings. I am constantly striving to do my best and reach out desperately for my aspiration, but sometimes I am my own worst obstacle. I constantly question if I am good enough, if I will ever really make it. I guess we've all been there.Also, I'm sorry for the recent obsession with self p's guys, i'm just really trying to get better at them. I really feel i'm not a photogenic person, so thought i could have a go taming the beast.Anyway, yeah, another really fun shoot. I have the house to myself, (thank god) so I secretly nicked my dad's duck tape. He would actually string me up himself if he found out.

This photograph was made using 3 layers, and two block shapes for the border. I used photoshop elements to blend the layers together. I chose to magnetically crop around my body and add an old, water stained texture to my bedroom wallpaper to make picture look more gory. I also flipped the photo upside down to create a more surreal, interesting feel.

2008-08-18T03:33:00.000-07:00

Lady of the Lava Lamp

Yet another of my hectic shoots. i broke my lava lamp trying to get out my tripod :-( but the light base proved a handy prop! AND, my fluro pink eye shadow is refusing to come off, so my driving instructor is in for a bit of a shock.

The image was taken in my room, again, and the inspiration was a shoot in Vogue called 'College Girl'. I loved the clashing colours and the busyness of the photographs feautured and wanted to try and recreate this in a self portrait. Please exscuse the new obsession with self p's, I feel it's my weakest area, so trying to improve :-)

I used a lot of props, including the lava lamp base, a photo of the barcelona cathedral in the background, huge shiny glasses and countless pieces of jewellery.

In editing I decided to use a white border to create a polaroid type image, and also added an aging effect.

2008-08-18T03:27:00.000-07:00

Giant Man's Cast

Here is another snap from my holidays, this is from the Gaudi cathedral in Barcelona. I really loved the clash between modern building facilities such as scaffolding and the gorgeous gothic architecture. Everything was so strange and beautiful!

I love the lighting in this picture, I chose to overlay an over exposed image of a stained glass window to create the coloured light shafts (left centre).

I also love the busyness and cramped feel of the photograph. There is so much going on, and so many layers!

2008-08-18T03:13:00.000-07:00

Drapery

A self portrait of myself in my room. I did this using my canon Dig SLR, a tripod and two lighting units (nothing posh just lamps pointing in my direction).

In editing I chose to crop the images to focus on smaller details, and add a sepia finish. I also used a vignette effect, and decided to create the montage with the two pictures to make the image more interesting.

I am pretty pleased with the overall image, I like the vintage style. I really enjoyed the shoot process too! At this point I had a gammy leg after an operation, and picked the wobbliest stool possible. I kept falling off and my kitten kept jumping on me, so all in all, it was quite a laugh.

2008-07-06T03:04:00.000-07:00

"Walk the Line Messiah"

Here I have another of my photos from my journeys. This is from Prague city centre, down a little back alley. The sun was finally shining when I found this odd little sculpture hanging from a roof top. I couldn't resist!

In editing I tweaked the temperature and saturation to give this image a more dramtic finish. I also added a slight zoom effect to draw the viewer's eye to the hanging subject. I love the framing of this picture, the never ending houses and chimmeny top horizon really pull the viewer in, and make the image even more peculiar.

2008-07-04T11:12:00.000-07:00

"What we are Chasing is Fragile"

This picture means a lot to me, both visually and symbolically. I took it in Krakow, Poland, in the town square. A magician was entertaining young children with huge bubbles. It is a candid shot, which I cropped in order to focus the composition on the child. In editing, I also played with the exposure, temperature and added vignette and sepia effects to create the rich finished product.

I love the innocence of the child and the beautiful colours in the bubble itself. The title of this photograph came very naturally to me, as at the point of taking the picture, I was tempted by a relationship which simply couldn't work, and I felt the naivety of a child, and the perfect unstainability of the bubble summed this up.

2008-07-04T10:59:00.000-07:00

"Wonder Locks"

I chose to take this photograph of this amazing sculpture from a very low angle, to give an all powerful impression. I really think the angle adds to the picture, as it brings out all the beautiful nooks and crannies of the art work.

The gallery lighting, and use of a low ISO also created gorgeous shadows which fall over the different shapes in such a way to make the sculpture look magnificent and mighty.

From this angle, and with the dark lightings and golden tones, the sculpture reminds me of the back of a mysterious door in movies such as Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.

2008-07-03T03:19:00.000-07:00

"My Tin Can Wrestler"

This is another of my pictures from Berlin. The image shows a busy market scene oppositte Brandeburg Gate. I love the urban horizon, with the central crane and sky scraper. I chose to play with saturation, temperature and contrast to intensify the skyline and tones.

I also think the sea of silhouetted people really suggests how technology is overtaking humanisation.

2008-07-02T03:06:00.000-07:00

"Drip Drip Drop Little April Showers"

This is a photograph from a recent photography trip to Poland, where we visited Auschwitz. The atmosphere cannot be described through words. Haunting just doesn't seem to cut it.

I chose to use a small depth of field in order to focus on the rain drop on the barbed wire, and in editing decided to saturate the image. I have left a little colour around the drop, you can see slight hints of greens and blues. Even the barbed wire cries at Auschwitz.

2008-06-30T11:20:00.000-07:00

"Tying up Loose Laces"

This is a picture of my two friends, in a fashion shoot i set up in my photography class.

This is a photo from my first attempt at using a digital SLR (Canon EOS), and one of my all time favourites. I believe here I have really captured a special moment between the pair. I love thier serene, expectant faces. Unlike several of my photos, this photo doesn't look posed, and I really love the natural peace and truth of it all.

I added sepia toning to bring out the pictures' rich terracotta tones and also to make the photo seem more aged. I also chose to add a very slight vignette to finish the picture off with framing.

2008-06-30T11:14:00.000-07:00

"Waiting For my Curtain"

This photo was taken in Prague, in a wooden toy shop. The subject is a small play theatre, with puppets. I chose to use a small depth of field and focus, in contrast to that in the background, rather than the foreground. I wanted this to symbolise how the handles of the puppets blur reality, like my choice of focus, making the little wooden figures appear alive.

I edited this picture quite a lot, bleeding in sepia, adding a vignette effect, and also chosing to add a zoom effect from the devil character's face. This, I like to believe, adds a certain discomfort to the picture, and makes the viewer uneasy.

2008-06-30T11:09:00.000-07:00

"Come to me Liesel"

This photograph is part of my 'peel' collection for my exam work. The subject is simply leaves. I really loved the way they curled, and beckon to the viewer. I am also really pleased with the vibrant colours and the contrast of the plant's red stalks and lime leaves.

In editing, I decided to crop the photo down to focus on the smaller details, such as the tiny under hairs and the veins on each leaf. I also decided to set the picture to view cinema style, which I believe gives it a more aged, classic style.

2008-06-25T09:25:00.000-07:00

"Deliver Her"

For this photoshoot I created a present labelled 'Pandora's Box'. I chose to decorate it with flowers, ribbons and hearts in order to give the box an ironic harmless appearance.

This picture is a close up of my sister's hands unwrapping the present. I love the gesture of her fingers and the dark shadows that creep over them, casting shadows of mystery. I also chose to saturate the picture to give it a more aged, film noir appearance.

2008-06-25T09:20:00.000-07:00

"Easy Little Fawn"

This is a portrait of my sister, taken in woodland near ny house. This is one of my favourite pictures I have taken, I love her curious expression and the saturated tones and dark shadows. I also chose to add a slight vignette effect which also adds depth and darkness to the picture.

I am very lucky to have such a photogenic sister who enjoys modelling!

2008-06-25T09:11:00.000-07:00

"A Colourful Past Life"

Here I have a panoramic photomontage of a beautiful old house in the middle of a cavannah homes estate where I live. I think this house is a particularly haunting and mysterious as it is surrounded by so much modern architecture, and almost appears like a time warp. Over the past few months, Cavannah have been filing suits for it's demolition in order to create space for more flats!

The picture was taken using a tripod and timed capture. I layered each image (in total 27) together using photoshop to create this picture, which gives a close up, wide view of the whole house.

2008-06-19T07:01:00.000-07:00

Spin Me:

Here I have another photograph from

Berlin trip, taken in the back yard of a

student flat. My friend and I decided to

leave our hostel to explore and found this

amazing location, full of broken caravans,

statues, lights and brick a brack.

I really love this photo, it was very difficult

to take due to low lighting conditions, which

forced me to use flash. I later removed

this in editing, and chose to saturate the image

slightly and add a smudged effect, to make

the viewer feel uncomfotable and dizzy.

I think this image is really haunting, and

like to believe the head looks as if it is crying.

2008-06-19T06:55:00.000-07:00

Urban Monet:

This photo is one of my favourites from a recent trip to Berlin. The subject is a dead thistle near the Berlin Wall. I deliberately used a small depth of field in order to create the smudged 'wall of colours' in the background, which i believe makes the image look like an oil painting.

I also chose to edit the photograph on Flickr to bring out the rich colours and play with exposure.

I'm new!

2008-06-19T06:31:00.000-07:00

First post...testing!