Photography – Page 3 – Karyn Easton

Oct 27

MACBA Metamorphosis

Barcelona’s Hidden Artists – While visiting Barcelona, I became fascinated with the vast swathes of graffiti covered walls. It felt as if collectively everyone had given up on cleaning the walls. Indeed, it felt as if the walls themselves had become works of art. In stark contrast I also noted the pristine internal walls of the MACBA (One of Barcelona’s contemporary art museums). I was so ‘taken with’ the beautiful light inside of the MACBA that I decided to photograph it. I also photographed many graffiti laden walls across Barcelona. There really was a such a stark contrast between the pristine and the messy that I began to wonder what the MACBA would look like if it was plastered in graffiti? The internal walls of the MACBA were so beautifully clean that I felt an irresistible urge to ‘plaster’ them. The vibrant colours and designs found externally on the Streets of Barcelona seemed a logical choice. Unfortunately, my dream of taking spray paints to the MACBA walls was pretty much out of the question. However, I did have access to Photoshop, Ai and augmented reality. As a direct result of my thinking I managed to self publish 3 small art […]

Oct 11

by Karyn in 3d, Abstract Art, Ai, Experimentation, Food for Thought, Ideas, My Work, Photography, Risk Taking, Unit 2 Blogs 0 comments tags: 3d, Abstract Art, ai, Experimentation, Food for Thought, Ideas, my work, Photography, Risk Taking, Unit 2 Blogs

Grotto Print Ideas #2

Adding Value – I quite like the idea of ‘Killing Time’ and the oil on water re-imagined clocks. However, I do feel that there needs to be some level of interactivity with my Grotto print. I decided that since posting the video short included in the Grotto Print Ideas blog, more of the clocks needed to be shown. This is pure experimentation and the full video can be seen below. A couple of years ago I began to explore Paul’s book. I felt that the nature of the folds created within would lend themselves very well to warping the clock faces and dials even further. Killing Time – Calming Edit As well as the calming edit, I also produced a shorter more rousing video short, showing the clocks animated as they warp and destruct. This is more in keeping with the idea of ‘Killing Time’. I’m debating whether or not to include these either one or both of these digital edits as part of the print sale? At this point in time it is just a thought. I’ve a long long way to go before I make a firm decision. I’ve also had another idea regarding […]

Sep 24

A Mental Derive Part #2

Picking Up Where I Left off – Ever since my first mental derive, it was always my intention to recommence this particular project. now that the second draft of my research paper is nearing completion, I feel I am better able to return more fully to creative activities. Since part one of my mental derive, I didn’t totally abandon this project and I experimented with suspending some of the circles on a sheet of acetate between some thick heavy duty white elastic. Below is a gallery showing the results. This is a project I’d like to return to at some point, but I don’t currently have the correct materials. The acetate was far too thin and buckled under the strain of the elastic. Therefore thicker acrylic is possibly a better choice. The patterned discs/circles also had a habit of ‘pinging off’, so a better method of securing them is required. However, I do think that there is room to develop this project further. Moments in Time and Space Each black and white patterned circle/disc above, is a collage of many little moments in time. For this reason I wanted to trial another form of suspension. I am particularly […]

Aug 25

by Karyn in My Work, Photography, Unit 2 Blogs 0 comments tags: my work, Photography, Unit 2 Blogs

The Fairy Garden Project

Making Something Magical – Earlier this year, I was asked if I would photograph a ‘fairy themed’ garden. As well as my part-time lecturing role I often take on commissions. I don’t advertise as people tend to contact me via word of mouth. Below are a few images that I shot for the project. The client said that she was delighted and that the images exceeded expectation. For me it’s always lovely when I receive positive feedback and makes it all worthwhile. I often question whether I should stick to photography for my project work? It’s what I know and what I think I do best, but in a way that feels sad, because then I don’t feel like I am pushing myself to do better. I also feel that I am learning so much by trying to expand my horizons. Fairy Garden Video Short Project Image Gallery

Jun 29

Barcelona Graffiti #2

Hidden Away – During my recent trip to Barcelona, I was was mesmerised by the colour and variety of the street art both in and around the city. I briefly touched on this in part one of this post called ‘Barcelona Graffiti’. I still don’t know exactly why I was so drawn to the graffiti (street art), except to say that the colours were amazing! It seemed to relentlessly permeate throughout the whole fabric of the city, weaving a disjointed tapestry of colours. Indeed it could even be described in some places as a riot of colour on an otherwise typical traditional cityscape and its walls. All of this was in stark contrast to the walls of one of Barcelona’s most famous contemporary art museums, namely the MACBA. Here there was no graffiti. Everything inside was pristine with beautiful gleaming white walls. A Short Recap Below is short video recap from Barcelona Graffit part one. It helps to illustrate the scale of graffiti and street art that can be found in and around the city. In stark contrast to the brightly coloured graffiti in the video above, the following image gallery illustrates the crisp, clean, neutral […]

Jun 13

by Karyn in Artists, Culture, Experimentation, Food for Thought, My Work, Photography, Unit 2 Blogs, Videos 0 comments tags: Artists, Culture, Experimentation, Food for Thought, my work, Photography, Unit 2 Blogs, Videos

Barcelona Graffiti

Barcelona – Graffiti Capital of Europe? Is Barcelona the graffiti capital of Europe? Within only a short walking distance, the 1.15 minute clip below exposes the shear volume of street art around the city. In many cases residents have turned what is obviously a problem into something much more creative. They appear to have given up on trying to clear the graffiti. Instead, there is a sense that it is not just part of local society, it is in fact now embraced by it. Below is a video short highlighting the sheer scale of the street art. Calling it graffiti feels almost unkind because many of the colour schemes and designs seem carefully crafted as opposed to simply scrawled. Interestingly, the famous street artist Banksy has his museum in Barcelona. I wonder how much the colourful street art/graffiti clad surroundings influenced his decision? Barcelona – Graffiti Capital of Europe? One thing that particularly struck me while photographing all of the graffiti were the times that people seemed to have matching graffiti with clothes or other items. Below are some examples where people’s outfits or items matched the graffiti surrounding them. Maybe the graffiti was affecting their fashion choices […]

Jun 06

by Karyn in Culture, Little Wins, Mentions, My Work, Photography, Unit 2 Blogs, Videos 0 comments tags: Culture, Little Wins, Mentions, my work, Photography, Unit 2 Blogs, Videos

Torbay Airshow 2023

Cockpit Shots – The beginning of June in Torbay has now become synonymous with the fantastic Torbay Airshow! As usual this year did not disappoint! Roughly 3 years ago I treated myself to a Sigma 150mm-600mm telephoto lens. I had partly purchased it so that I could shoot wildlife, but I was also excited to try it out at the Airshow. Last year I was really lucky, I managed to get a number of really photographically sharp ‘cockpit’ shots. One of them even made the Fotospeed top 4 for the week, which I was really pleased about. The fist image (Jet Pitts Sabio image) listed directly below is the one that made the Fotospeed top 4 for the week. Images from 2023 Below is a gallery of some of my favourite images from this year. I’ve also added a ‘jazzy’ video which proved useful for social media. Short Snappy Video for Social Media Below is a short video that I compiled for social media.

May 30

by Karyn in 3d, Abstract Art, Experimentation, Food for Thought, Photography, Unit 2 Blogs, Zentangles, Zoom Meetings 0 comments tags: Abstract Art, Experimentation, Food for Thought, Photography, Unit 2 Blogs, Zentangles, Zoom Meetings

Zoom Session 28

Making Session with Sukie Sagoo-Reddy – Today we had another making session with Sukie Sagoo Reddy. This was a really welcome break from writing and I always enjoy Sukie’s workshops as they give a lot of food for thought. It was interesting that the workshop was very similar to the one we did a few weeks ago (Zoom Session 22), because this gave me the opportunity to see if I had improved at all? A link to the slides from this workshop and the original workshop are here. These always prove useful to refer back to. As with the first session we uploaded an image that covered the 5 senses. I couldn’t find one of my own in time so I used one from the internet. However for the second task I managed to find two images which had a connection. Little Bee and Floral Pattern I chose the images below because the little bee is one of my favourite images that I have shot and the floral pattern seemed to work with it. My thinking was flowers and bees. Moving on from there we looked once again at the theme of chasing shadows. I think that my […]

May 19

by Karyn in 3d, Abstract Art, Artists, Culture, Galleries, Photography, Unit 2 Blogs, Videos 0 comments tags: 3d, Abstract Art, Artists, Culture, Galleries, Photography, Unit 2 Blogs, Videos

MNAC

Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya – While I was visiting the Banksy Gallery one of the guides told me that I really needed to visit ‘Museu National d’Art de Catalunya.’ He explained that this was an amazing gallery and a ‘must see’. He was not wrong! The museum is set high above Barcelona and the views are breathtaking! Luckily I had my DSLR with me on this trip, so I decided to take lots of photos. My memory card was pretty full so I had to be a little careful about wasting frames but I managed to shoot everything I wanted. The building is very imposing! In fact everything about it was imposing, including the security and guards. After a relaxed and friendly visit to both the Banksy (they actually made me a coffee), and the MOCA and MACBA museums, I was left in no doubt that one false move and I’d be in serious trouble. One guard shouted at me for just holding a bottle of water – maybe he had heard about the ‘Just Stop Oil’ protests in the UK and thought I was about to throw it over a painting or something? I duly complied and the […]

May 18

by Karyn in Artists, Context, Galleries, Photography, Unit 2 Blogs, Videos 0 comments tags: Artists, Culture, Galleries, Photography, Unit 2 Blogs, Videos

Banksy Museum

From Start to Finish – Just Superb! – On my way back from visiting the MACBA I started to walk in the direction of the Picasso Museum. It had been my intention to visit this museum because as a young art student I had been to a London exhibition of Picasso’s sketchbooks. I have always admired Picasso’s technical drawing skills and creativity, so visiting the Picasso museum made sense to me. However as I stopped to look at Google Maps in order to orientate myself I just happened to glance at the building to my right. There was a relatively (could have easily missed) small sign for the Banksy Museum. I wandered in to see if this museum was taking part in the ‘International Museum Day’ that I had just taken advantage of at the MACBA. The staff at the reception desk said that as it was a private museum then admission wasn’t free. I asked if there was any student discount and duly pulled out my UAL student card. The lady behind the desk explained that yes they did give student discount but only to under 25s. I guess it wasn’t my lucky day. Feeling quite dejected at my […]