Davidson went to a new exhibition of the body in Greek art called the ‘Naked ambition’ in this he noticed that the male nude sculptures and nudity have become normal to us over the past 2,500 years, and it is what we expect from ancient statues. Most statues are ignored when going around a museum for example and people do not tend to focus on them as art pieces, or look at the muscular figures of the Greek sculptures. ‘Ancient statues are looked at and not seen’. When noticing the Greek statues Davidson said there is something which all seem to have, he said that the statues reveal a ‘ superb imperial torso that would not disgrace the cover of Men’s Health magazine. I think that this shows how even since 300 BC when human sculptures were formed, there was still an idea of the ‘perfect male’ and how men had to have a perfect torso to make them attractive. The ‘Greek nude’ which Davidson addresses is to do with nudity in practice, Greek homosexuality, a passion for gymnasium and athletics. One concept which Davidson also relates to seems to be the idea of body building, ‘ Nudity was a kind of costume, an idea enhanced by the fact that much time seems to have been spent oiling oneself up and scraping oneself down.’ I think that this implies the idea of bodybuilding and how men choose to make them self look as muscly as possible by using other factors such as oil to make their personal aesthetics appear greater, i.e. to make the bodybuilders more muscly on stage in a competition.
Vanity fair … a marble relief from the north frieze of the Parthenon shows the procession of the Panathenaic festival, the commemoration of the birthday of the goddess Athena (438-432BC). Photographs courtesy of the Trustees of the British MuseumDiscus-thrower of Myron sculpture (460-BC450)
Marble metope from the Parthenon shows the battle between Centaurs and Lapiths at the marriage-feast of Peirithoos (438-432BC)
Throughout this review in the newspaper Davidson covers the Greek male statues and why we are not concerned by their nakedness, and says that we are so use to seeing these Greek statues with no clothes on that we have come accustomed to it, and it does not surprise us as it use to in 300 BC. These masculine figures are covered from head to toe in muscles, and have amazing torsos, and Davidson questions whether this is why nowadays males are so concerned with getting the ‘perfect’ male body, which includes these masculine aesthetics.
Marble statue of a naked Aphrodite crouching at her bath, also known as Lely’s Venus. Roman copy of a Greek original (AD2).Bronze statuette showing the suicide of Ajax. Greece, 720-700BC
Matt Hawthorne is a Dallas based photographer who takes fashion, portraiture, action sports and lifestyle images. Hawthorne is trained in fine art photography using large format cameras and film. Hawthorne uses studio lighting in and out of an actual studio to shoot his action images for advertising and fashion jobs. I was inspired by Hawthorne’s work by the studio images with the powder chalk, i think that this would be really interesting to try and recreate these for my personal study, as a sort of advertising campaign. I think that by using chalk in the images it gives a raw feel to the images, and makes them look more ‘sport-like’.
Michael Clark
Sadhana Woodman practicing yoga in White Sands National Monument near Alamagordo, New Mexico.
Bill Stengel and Joe Nodeland sitting around a campfire after a long day of sea kayaking on White Cliff Island in the Queen Charlotte Sound near Telegraph Cove, Canada.
Michael Clark is an outdoor photographer, whereby he takes images of adventure sports, travel and landscape photography. Clark takes images of sports people pushing themselves to the limit and has also risked his own life to get the most amazing raw images of the sport, for example of rock climbing sport. Clark uses unique angles, dramatic lighting strong graphics in his images which capture the intense moment of the sport itself. Clark’s work has been used for editorial reasons. Clark has been taking photographs since 1996 and in 2003 started to use digital photography. Clark’s images inspired me to try and take some editorial photographs for my personal study whereby i set up the shoots.
Joachim Ladefoged has been a professional photographer since 1991, Ladefoged works for editorial clients such as The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazines. February 2008 Ladefoged published a monograph called “Mirror” and in 2009 he directed a short film “Mirror” about bodybuilders. In this series of images he went to bodybuilding competitions and photographed the different competitors, for these images it looks like he used a photo-booth type area to take these images with studio lighting, this is so that the muscles on the bodybuilders are more prominent for the images. This is also why the bodybuilders have had a spray tan before their competition, usually these competitors would of had between 1-3 coats of fake tan so that their muscles are more on show. For my photographers i want to take some images inspired by these, for my images i will not be taking my images of bodybuilders but of younger male gym-goers with a main focus on my main subject but also photographing him and his own friends in their own world. Some of these images i want to recreate as i think that tit would look good to recreate the different set out of images placed together to create a montage sort of images.
Some of the artists that i have chosen are very media based photographs in comparison to Joachim Ladefoged’s images. I think that Ladefoged’s images are more the type of images that i would like to take for my photographs as they are stronger images. For these images i will need to use studio lighting which is not in the gym, so this is what i will have to change in comparison to these images.
For one of my photographs i would like to take an image like this as i think that abs have become and important part of the male physique and especially nowadays for the younger generations as this is what they believe the perfect male to look like, and this is what young boys aspire to look like as they grow up. When going around the gym there is a difference in who is there, nowadays there are younger men going to the gym 6-7 times a week and working to get what they think is the perfect body.
For one of my ideas i want to make a montage image similar to this image, however i do not think my image will include having my subject’s tops off because in the gym you cannot do a work out without your top on.
Ladefoged has a dream of becoming a soccer player, but he couldn’t because he was ‘almost crippled by rheumatism. Rheumatism is ‘any disease marked by inflamation and pain in the joints, muscles, or fibrous tissue’. This is when Ladefoged decided to start taking photographs.
Throughout this project of faith, family and community i have found it quite hard to produce images of my mum who i have being taking images of her for, i was taking these images of her mental health issues. I found this a hard thing to take images of as when my mum is upset it is quite difficult for me to try and interfere and take photographs of her, as i feel i am invading her privacy and she does not want me to take them of her. What i learned from this is that it is quite hard to photograph something which is so personal, to myself but also to my mum as it can become quite upsetting when questioning anxiety and panic attacks, as i think it is hard to capture something that someone is feeling on the inside. If i was to do this project again i think that i could improve my photos by taking images of things that my mum is afraid of, or gets anxious about, as i think this would be a good thing to look at, However i do think it is very difficult as it is a very personal matter.
I took these images at a wedding that i was at. I took these images as it was my Aunt that was getting married and this was a family and friends occasion which i thought tied into this project. I took some of these images of the bride and groom but also of the setting to show how beautiful the location was. I took some detailed images of the bridesmaids hair which i thought would work well in a picture story as a detailed shot.
Bride and groom with ring boy and bridesmaid
I took this image which is of the family. This is a traditional family shoot that i took, however i think that it is good to have at least one or two traditional wedding images. This image was taken at the reception which was at The Radison and i think that this is a beautiful family portrait.
For this photograph that i took of the bride, i took it from behind so that you can see the detail of the back of her dress, this is so it shows how beautiful it is. I think that the lighting in this image could be improved as the bride is in a shadow and there are streaks of light coming through the windows to the left of her. I think that this image shows the idea of family, as this is my Aunt on her wedding day interacting with all of her friends and family.
This is one of the images that i took in the night time of the wedding, i did not use the flash for this image as i liked how the lighting looked in this image. I think that the different blues, purples and pinks in the image make this image very ‘cool’ and unique. In this image the bride and groom and the bridesmaid who is their daughter having their first dance on the dance floor, i captured this family moment which i think this image is very warming.
Two questions that i would like to find answers too when visiting the exhibition after reading the text are:
Q1: Why did you choose these photographers to be exhibited?
Q2: Did all of the photographers which you choose explain why they choose the other photographer to be placed alongside their images?
A photograph of Elsie Wright (1901-1988), taken by Frances Griffiths (1907-1986), in August 1920.
GB. Jersey. St Helier. Liberation Day. 2013.
GB. Jersey. Liberation Day Supper at Trinity Parish Hall. 2013.
These are some of the images that were displayed at the Quintessence, i choose these images as i think that these were the best images that were displayed at this viewing. I think that these images, whether they were taken in Jersey, Channel Islands or in other places around the world, are interesting to see the different cultural changes in different locations. I think that at this exhibition it was interesting to look at what artist a photographer choose to place their work next to, and what photographer they choose made me think why did they choose that photographer? and was their any specific reason, for instance, did they choose that photographer for their work to be placed by because they inspired their work that they have done as a photographer, or was it because they enjoyed their piece of work that they had done, this is what i thought when i was at the exhibition. As these are the images that i liked at the Quintessence their were also images that i did not like, this was because i thought some of the images were a bit explicit and should not of been displayed at this exhibition, however as these images were taken by Tom Pope i think that, by his nature he was just trying to change the perception of what people think is acceptable to be displayed at an event like this, and for that i think that the images he choose were good images to be placed into the Quintessence.
Essay:
When thinking of an essay question, things that need to be included are what are the connections, influences and relationships between your chosen pairing of photographers? Common themes, subject matter, form, visual language, aesthetics, methodologies can be looked at to gain a further understanding as to why the photograph choose the other artist to sit by their work but also others that were displayed in the show.
These are the two images that Tom pope choose of his own images from when he was working with the Jersey Archisle, but also the two images of Peter Finnemore that he choose.
Q – How has Peter Finnemore influenced the style and genre of Tom Pope’s photography?
Through researching Peter Finnemore and looking at his style of work, i think that their is a link with Tom Popes, as both work seems to display an idea of fun and play within their pieces of work. I think that both of the artists, Pope and Finnemore seem to have a wild imagination, where they add an aspect of what could be called ‘child’s play’ into their images. I think that through this you can directly see links between both artists which draw connections and show that Tom Pope has been inspired by Peter Finnemore.
Peter Finnemore’s images seem to be colorful, as of the ones that Pope has chosen of his images to display, i think that Pope choose these two images because he himself found these images very imaginative and liked them himself, but also because i think that Peter Finnemore’s work is one of the artists that inspired Pope to start taking his images. Both of these artists seem to have a similar style, in a way that they bring their humor into the images that they take, whether this is to make their audience laugh, or just for their own amusement. I noticed something which i found quite interesting in both pieces of the artists work, i think that both of these artists seem to take their images in their everyday life, of these that they are doing at the time, not many of the images seem like that have been staged, however a few are staged so that both photographers get the right image that they want. The image called ‘garden shoes’ which Pope chose of Finnemore’s to be displayed is a simple image, this image silently has an idea of fun and playfulness behind the image, i think this because the shoes are colourful and have paint splattered on the images. Within Finnemore’s photographers i think as some of Popes images are, there seems to be an idea of chance within the images, as some of the images would not just occur, the photographer has to be ready, for at any time an interesting idea for a photographer could occur from a location, this is known as a theory called psycho-geography, this is where a location can give a photographer an idea of a photograph to take.
It can be argued that Pope does not seem to be inspired by Finnemore because some of Finnemore’s images seem to be set up, whereas most of Pope’s images are because of being in the right place at the right time, for this reason i think that there are not direct links between the two artists. Also one of the images that Pope choose to display of Finnemore’s is called ‘Koan Exercises. 2004’ i think that this image shows how both of the artists work is not as similar as it is made out to be, this is because most of these images in this series do not include people, a few of the images in the series do, however i think that this shows how Finnemore prefers to not have people in his images, he likes for a location or a setting to describe what is happening in an image on its own.
Overall i think that it is clear that there are some direct links between Finnemore and Popes work which shows that Pope has been influenced by Finnemore in that they have a similar genre and style of photographs that they both choose to take, however it is also shown that both of the artists to not share all the same connections, because i would say that their style differs in how they choose to take their images, to a certain extent Finnemore takes his images using the theory of psycho-geography, however i think that most of his images are staged in comparison to Pope’s photography which is all to do with the theory of change. Furthermore it is clear that both artists challenge the perceptions of what people think is ‘normal’ to photograph and they do this through their quirky images that they both take.
For my headlines i wrote ‘Living with Anxiety’ as my title for my picture story of my mum. I think that this was the best thing to name the picture story as it says what is going to be put across into the images. On the images in this picture story the text i put for it was –
Your wedding day can be one of the most special days of your life, by sharing it with the ones that you love it will make the day, all that more special for you and your loved one. By placing all of your friends and family in the same room all together it will bring back memories of ones that you once all shared. All of the decorations at a wedding usually represents the personalities of who is getting married, this can be shown through sentimental little things. On the day of the wedding the bride will be in her wedding gown with natural makeup on, which will make her natural beauty shine, the groom will be in his suit and will be looking the best he has ever looked, as this is the most special day of both of their lives.
For my mums picture story the images shows my mums everyday life and things that she does. The largest photo which is on the page is the establishing shot where it sets the scene for all of these images. In my text i looked up anxiety online and wrote about my thoughts on it.
Traditional picture story:
For one of my other headlines on my wedding shoot i choose ‘The Wedding’ as my title, then for my text i wrote about weddings in general and also added a tiny bit of information about this wedding and the style of weddings.
Your wedding day can be one of the most special days of your life, by sharing it with the ones that you love it will make the day, all that more special for you and your loved one. By placing all of your friends and family in the same room all together it will bring back memories of ones that you once all shared. All of the decorations at a wedding usually represents the personalities of who is getting married, this can be shown through sentimental little things. On the day of the wedding the bride will be in her wedding gown with natural makeup on, which will make her natural beauty shine, the groom will be in his suit and will be looking the best he has ever looked, as this is the most special day of both of their lives.
These are my two picture stories that are on my wedding shoot. In these two picture stories i wrote about a traditional wedding setting.
To create the document in Photoshop – New document, International paper, A3, RGB colour.
First off place the images in Photoshop and place them onto the page. You should make all of the images into a line and re-size them all to the same size for some of the images. Place another image in the is larger which will be the establishing shot and tilt the image so that it is slanted. Then to place a shape into the picture story – elliptical marquee tool will make circle shapes that you can place into the picture story, you can use the paint bucket to change the colours of the shape. Polygon lasso tool will give you a triangular shape and rectangular marquee tool with give a rectangle shape. Place another image into Photoshop that can be placed into the background of the image, use blending modes to blend the image into the background so that it sits behind all of the other images. By adding a layer mask you can choose black and white, black foreground, white black ground, then you can erase back and keep the the parts of the real images that you want to keep. In addition by changing the opacity of some of the layers it will make the images more clear that you want, once you have used the blending modes as some of the images may be covered.
The writing
The writing has to be journalistic, you have to write about the story which you have explored. This will be written from a third person perspective. What i will look up is what is anxiety, and why do people struggle from anxiety. The text will be a deign feature, columns will make the text look more interesting on the picture story. You can look up different fonts by looking on Adobe and looking at all the the different fonts which you can download to add to the picture story.
I made this picture story on what we learnt in class and by placing my image differently to create a unique looking picture story. I think that placing the right side of the picture story images into black and white it makes them stand out from the other image. On the images on the left i copied them using the duplicate tool to make this dragged out effect which i think looks really interesting because of the colours that are in this image. For this picture story i need to make a title.
Experiment 1:
I added a title to this picture story which i slanted on the side which i think fits in with these images that are in this story board.
Experiment 2:
This is my second edit from my wedding shoot that i took, i placed one of my images as the background and placed the image in black and white, i think that this image looks good because the images are in colour and the background is in black and white. In this text i wrote about how a wedding can be special to someone and how it is shared between two people.
Experiment 3:
For this experiment i selected over my image and (select, layer via copy) and changed the colour of the background, i did this by placing a colour overlay over my image, and then i changed the colour of it to purple to match the purple in one of my images. I used the blending modes to blend the colour overlay into the image and then changed the opacity to soften it. I also selected a strip down the right hand side to made it darker also, this makes some of the features in the image stand out as well and makes the image better.
When creating a picture story you need to choose a range of images and play around in Photoshop with where you want to place the images. First when starting you need to choose an establishing shot and this will be the biggest image, this is the one that should be in the left top hand corner as this is where a person would first look when they are reading a magazine or a newspaper.
When making this picture story you need to use rulers to make sure that the spacing of the images is the same which makes it look neater and cleaner. By using rulers it can ensure that there is the same amount of spacing that is between the images.
This is my final picture story, i need to write some text in the spaces that i have left. For the writing i need to write in the third person. To expand on these picture stories i will make different lay outs for the images and place writing in different spaces. For some of the images i am going to place one of the images as the background and then place other images on top of that one. I will experiment with black and white and images left in colour. In this picture story the main image is the one that i have placed the largest and to the left so that it is the first thing that is seen that is on the page.
Experiment 1:
This is the picture story that i made of my mum. Around the images i wrote text that describes in general how anxiety makes people feel and how it makes people feel isolated sometimes. I also in the corner added a quote which my mum says a lot, i added this quote as she usually always feels very drained from feeling stressed which means that she is tired often. I made sure that the spacing was the same between all of the images and the text to make it look neat, i think that by having some of my images in black and white and the other in colour makes it more interesting as it makes the one in colour stand out.
Experiment 2:
For this picture story which is the same as the last one, i changed the bottom image to colour so there was a range of black and white image and colour images, so that it was not just one image that stood out.
When making a picture story the first thing to do is chooose 3-5 strong images that show the different types of traditional picture story images, such as the establishing shot along with a detailed shot and an enviornmental portrait for example. To make the picture story you need to open up photoshop and open up a white A3 document (New, international paper, A3) and then rotate the image so it is sideways (image, image rotation) and then place the images that you want onto the page. Once you have placed the images onto the page then you can choose how much spacing you would like between the images, and how to place them on the A3 spread. It is made into an A3 spread as this is how it would be presented in a newspaper. When placing these images the establishing shot should usually be the biggest image, and then the other images should be placed smaller around them, also leaving space for a title and text which we will need to leave to leave space for our text that explains about our picture story. When making the title you can use different fonts and layer styles to make the title stand out and make it original. For the picture story i will need to choose a title which explains my picture story. Using rulers when making a picture story will ensure that the spacing inbetween the images will be the same and this will make the picture story more neat. When placing the title it can also be placed over the image however you will need to ensure that if the image is a dark image then the title is lighter so then it stands out. In addition when making a picture story you need to think about how people view and read them, for example when reading in a magazine or in a newspaper people read from left to right, so by usually placing the establishing shot in the left top hand corner it makes it the main focal point of the page, even though it should be because esentially it will be the largest image on the page.
Brainstorm on titles
As my story will be on my mum my title needs to be something that explains our family life at home, or something to do with her anxiety.
