John Riddy
Gallery of his artwork
Artist analysis
John Riddy is a British photographer who was born in 1959 who got attention after his solo exhibition at Campden Arts Centre in 2000. He does his work and lives in London but has done exhibitions internationally since 1998. At the age of 14, Riddy began taking and printing photographs and earned a BA and MA in Fine Art at Chelsea School of Art. (1980–84). From his very first solo exhibition in 1993, he has consistently worked with series. He has mainly focused on architecture and the peculiarity of places as well as the whole aspect of the urban environment. However many starting points for some of his series have been the relationship between photography and the history of art and architecture.
Many pieces by John Riddy differ greatly from being taken at high roofs to back alleys as well as even parks. Black and white is a common factor in many of his photographs as it creates gritty, less-loved scenery which a lot of people may call ugly but can actually be made to look quite beautiful in his photography. There is a sense of surrealism to his photography which links to identity as most photos are of small houses or council estates, and each building is home to a different person- a different identity. His work shows that meeting someone is not essential to know about them as a person and that you can assume somebody's whole identity from a picture into their window if you interpret it correctly. His work also focuses on light and by that I mean that most photographs are taken with a cloudy sky and some at night/evening as well. This shows that Riddy likes to take photos at hours where sunshine is not present which says a lot about his photography in general, because sunshine has connotations of happiness and comfort, his work is trying to do the exact opposite of that and attempting to create an eerie, mysterious atmosphere.
Personally, I love Riddy's work as it opens up a whole new view on architecture and says that all places have identity if you look at them in a certain way. The fact that most of his pieces are the same idea (e.g building, council estates etc..) also show that there is so much to explore in the world of architecture and that every single place can be made to look however the photographer taken the picture wants it to look.
Analysis of his artwork
I found this piece incredibly interesting due to the colour contrast inside and outside the window. This photograph shows the building 'the Tate Modern' taken from the outside on a dark evening and we can see the inside through the windows. This photograph strongly links to identity because it portrays a building looking rough and 'ugly' on the outside but being beautiful and magnificent within and this same mindset can be used whilst viewing a person also. The angle which Riddy has taken this photograph from is straight forward which is simple and makes focus draw to the inside rather than the photograph itself.
Photoshoot plans
Photoshoot plans annotation
For my photoshoot plan, I have decided to draw my John Riddy photoshoot on a cloudy day so the lighting is not too harsh which will help to create the shady scene which comes across in most of Riddy's shoots. As well as doing this on a dark day, I will be using a low exposure to make the setting seem as musky as possible but then I will edit the sky to look lighter on photoshop to create a contrast. I will use levels and curves to make some parts of the photos appear darker and also burn some places. I plan to take 2-3 hours on this photoshoot to ensure the best possible results and to try and make it seem most similar to Riddy's.
Contact sheets
Contact sheet annotation
For my contact sheets, I went around different parts of London looking for areas which I though best resembled John Riddy's work, as well as experimenting with movement when I photographed my friend walking in a straight line which I will edit on top of each other. My most successful photographs were taken in a parking lot in winter at the time 17:00 when it was getting dark and the sky was cloudy and my least successful were the ones taken in Carnaby street during daytime in winter. This is because the photographs which were taken when it was darker ended up looking more eery which is what I was trying to do. I aimed to find back alleys but I was not having much luck so I tried taking a different approach and focusing more on smaller streets and it turned out great
First developments
First developments annotation
For my first developments , I decided to make them black & white. By doing this I put all twenty images on photoshop and edited them more or less the same way. Firstly I lowered the saturation to the bottom to make the photo black and white and then I played around with the curves and levels to try and add depth and darkness in certain places to make the photos appear more like Riddy's. After that I took the burn tool and burned around the frame of each photo to make them seem more narrow and more like they were taken in shady alleyways. Personally, I love how they turned out but if I had to change one thing, I would have taken more photos in actual alleyways rather than small streets.
Highlighting success
Highlighting success annotation
I have chosen these photos as my highlighting successes because I think they are the most accurate photos in the style of John Riddy. I think that these two have the best depth in comparison to the others and also have the same mysterious and eerie sense to them. This is because they are taken with a dark sky which made them look more like Riddy's as well as the fact that there is one with a puddle in it and one with a trash bag in it and these objects are used by Riddy as well in many of his photographs. I also love the one with the girl walking as I think that it emphasizes the mysterious aspect of it further and links back to idenitity because we know nothing about her except that she is walking.
Second developments
Second developments annotations
For my second developments, I decided to layer my photos on top of each other to create the illusion that there were multiple different people in each photo when it was really just the same person. To achieve this, I put all the photos together on one on photoshop and then played around with opacity and the filters until I was happy with what it looked like. For some I had to use a layer mask as well as the photos were covering one another. Once I got my final results, I experimented with colour and designs such as inverting it or making it red and green and by doing this it made my photographs a bit more interesting.
Highlighting success
Highlighting success annotation
I have chosen these photos as my highlighting success as I believe that they are the most interesting photos. Firstly, I love how the filter on the first photo causes it to appear crisp and cold which makes the atmosphere feel more eerie and ghostlike, especially because the person in the photo is translucent. In the second photo, I love how the red makes the photo look dangerous and how the person is more visible as a silhouette rather than a face, this renders the atmosphere more mysterious which makes it interesting. In the last photo, It is my favourite due to it being most similar to John Riddy's style whilst also incorporating the mysterious style of the duplicated person.To improve this photoshoot, I would keep my camera stationary so the photos would be easier to overlay.
Third developments contact sheets
Contact sheet annotation
For my contact sheets, I chose the photos to edit which I thought would be most fitting in terms of what John Riddy does. By this, I looked for things like parking garages and small back alleys and asked my friends to walk in them. I decided to use two people for this photoshoot to further emphasize it when its edited to look duplicated. I think that this photoshoot turned out very successful because I also made sure to keep the camera completely still so all photos look like they are different clips of a video. To improve I would take these later at night so they look more eerie.
Third developments
Third developments annotation
For my third and final developments, I decided to incorporate John Riddy with a different style of photography and I think that it turned out very well. For this, I experimented with layer masks as well as different filters to convey different moods in each photo. I took each photo with my camera very still and then edited them over each other, creating the illusion that there are lots of people in each photo even though it is just the same people walking. I quite liked the black and white photos as I think they make the photographs relate more to John Riddy as well as making them mysterious and eerie, I also like the photos that are slightly tinted blue because I think it makes the photos appear more old, as if they were taken in the early 2000s. To improve, I could have added in more interesting outfits to make the photoshoot more intriguing but I think that it turned out okay because more focus is on the actual photographs rather than what is being worn.
Third developments- highlighting success
Highlighting success annotation
I have chosen these images as my highlighting success. I feel that these are the most successful as they resemble John Riddy heavily as well as having another unique touch. These images are all black and white as I think that it looks the best with these type of photos. These improved massively from my first developments as I figured out how to layer them more neatly. Overall, I am very happy with my results and I think that they look great.
AO4 experiments
AO4 annotation
For my A04, I decided to use the raw photos that I took for my first developments for my John Riddy and overlay my finished (highlighted success) 3rd developments onto them. I thought that this was one of the best ways in which I could present my John Riddy altogether due to adding in how the project started and how it ended, creating a contrast in the quality of work resulting in three creative edits. Overall I am very happy with how these turned out and if I could do one thing to improve, it would be to ensure the quality for each photo is extremely clear.
Highlighting success AO4
Highlighting success annotation
To edit these images, I chose a suitable background for the photos to merge together in a natural way, then I lowered the opacity on the overlay image and used the soft brush eraser tool to make the images blend into one another naturally. I have chosen this image as my highlighting success because I feel that the proportions are perfect and the images are not blended in a patchy way contrary to one of the other AO4 edits.