This project here is from the photographer Erik Dudinsky. Erik Dudinsky is a student living in Bratislava, Slovakia where he documents what it is like living in dorms and the mayhem that students can get up to. He shoots with on one of two camera Pentax MX or Hasselblad 501 CM, with the same Yashica pro 50DX flash. I partially chose to look into his images as I live the simplicity of them and his use of stark contrast within the photos.
As I am also shooting my friends in a student house, I wanted to take some ideas from his work and ways in which he composes his shots. Something that I couldn’t do which I wanted to do was shoot on film, in particular colour film. However, looking at black and white film and I can also see how effective it was during this particular project. Looking at the composition of this project I love all of the different angles and styles that he has used. In particular the image of him shooting from a bird’s eye view really caught my eye. From the image you can see that he has used a flash gun in the shot as there is a burst of light down upon the subjects. By doing this it allows for a really nice use of contrast as flash highlights the focal point and the shadows are contoured and darkened.
Another shot that I really took an interest in was his portrait of the girl top left. I love the way that by using the flash he has made her skin sheet white and captured her in this eloquent shape accentuating the drama in the image. He has also composed the shot so that she is the focal point of the image and dead centre, while being nicely framed by the window behind her. These are some compositions that I would like to take in mind when it comes to the editing of my images as I want to capture some dramatic portraits.
Documentary Perspectives 