As I don’t own a Tinder account, I thought it would be an interesting idea to manipulate truth by creating my own profile in order for me to delve into this world of Online Dating. Prior to this creation, I have done some research and have looked at both sides of the online dating world, from adaptations of TV Programmes to Documentaries all centralising the apps attractive and addictive features.
My Interpretations of ‘Creating’ a new and realistic Profile
For my own interpretations, I have drawn over a blank tinder frame and profile in order to ‘create‘ my own interpretation. I have written on top of images like the style of Ed Templeton, to allow the reader to understand a narrative in a more clear and flowing way.
This is what the Tinder blank background looks like. By drawing over this, I feel I am creating my own truth by making what seems realistic false but at the same time truthful because of what I am stating. This concept acts as a metaphor within itself as the reader is drawn into questioning what ‘real’ love is.In this frame, I have drawn over a fact in order to represent a photograph of someone. Around the image I have used quotes such as “Beauty is everything on here”. I feel this blank portrait could remise to how a person’s personality is not shown vividly throughout the Tinder algorithms as the first thing a person see’s is their profile image.On this frame I have written only text. I have included quotes like “Just because I’m smiling doesn’t mean I’m constantly happy” and “A vortex of perception” as I feel this contradicts the way Tinder users are forced into only including four images of themselves. This narrowing of choice dis-broadens the way in which people see that person, instantly labelling them as a ‘type’ to decide whether they approve of them in a quick and efficient way.In this frame I have included outlines of two people. Because many Tinder users include images of their friends, I thought it would be a good influence to show how using pictures with their friends present may subvert the viewers eye onto likening the person that isn’t yourself. This can change the way we see the app as truthful as in real life this mistake wouldn’t be made.
Case Study: Catfishing
Urban Dictionary definition –
“to lure (someone) into a relationship by means of a fictional online persona.”
MTV’s Catfish: the TV Show
Catfish is a 2010 American documentary film directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, involving a young man, Nev, being filmed by his brother and friend, co-directors Ariel and Henry, as he builds a romantic relationship with a young woman on the social networking website Facebook. The film was a critical and commercial success. It led to an MTV reality TV series, Catfish: The TV Show.
Examples of episodes:
The Mobile Love Industry
This this episode of Love Industries you look at the ways in which mobile apps have become an essential part of our search for the next hook-up, true love, and everything in between. Karlie Sciortino manipulates this industry by placing herself into it by creating her own Tinder profile. This allows her to try online dating herself as well as seeing if the truth behind people profiles are really what they say they are.
Jim Goldberg was born in 1953 and is an American artist, photographer, and writer whose work reflects a long-term and in-depth collaborations with neglected, ignored, or otherwise outside-the-mainstream populations. Goldberg is part of the social aims movement in photography, using a straightforward, cinéma vérité approach, based on a fundamentally narrative understanding of photography. His empathy and the uniqueness of the subjects emerge in his works as shows by his statement:
“forming a context within which the viewer may integrate the unthinkable into the concept of self. Thus diffused, this terrifying other is restored as a universal.”
Goldberg explores the theme and motif of truth by writing sets of narratives on top of images to dictate a story. This could be an example of false representation as what people can really mean in photographs is not always what the person means in text. This un-reliable narrator shows how this could be a ‘take-over‘ of an image in order to dictate public assumptions from their own interpretation. For instance, the reader is unsure whether or not to judge if the person in the image had written the text or if someone else had partaken on the act. This makes the image in effect un-truthful as especially in Goldberg’s most influential book ‘Raised by Wolves‘ it shows how love had become un-truthful by the way Goldberg writes text on top as another significant medium.
Cinéma Vérité
Cinéma Vérité which is translated to ‘truthful cinema‘ is a style of documentary filmmaking, invented by Jean Rouch, inspired by Dziga Vertov’s theory about Kino-Pravda and influenced by Robert Flaherty’s films. It combines improvisation with the use of the camera to unveil truth or highlight subjects hidden behind crude reality.
A collaboration between sociologist Edgar Morin and documentary filmmaker and anthropologist Jean Rouch, is considered a pioneering work of cinéma-vérité.
Cinéma Vérité in relationship to Direct Cinema and Observational Cinema, It is sometimes known as observational cinema, if understood as pure direct cinema: mainly centred without a narrator’s voice-over. There are subtle, yet important differences among terms expressing similar concepts: Direct Cinema is largely concerned with the recording of events in which the subject and audience become unaware of the camera’s presence: operating within what Bill Nichols, an American historian and theoretician of documentary film, calls the “observational mode“, a fly on the wall. Many therefore see a paradox in drawing attention away from the presence of the camera and simultaneously interfering in the reality it registers when attempting to discover a cinematic truth.
Raised byWolves
Predominantly considered Goldberg’s most seminally influential project, Raised by Wolves combines ten years of original photographs, text, and other illustrative elements and mediums which include: (home movie stills, snapshots, drawings, diary entries, and images of discarded belongings) to document the lives of runaway teenagers in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
USA. San Francisco, California. 1991. “Dieter.”
Review: Cororan Gallery of Art
A review of the exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art noted that Goldberg made reference to other artists and photographers; used photographs, videos, objects, and texts to convey meaning; and
“let his viewers feel, in some corner of their psyches, the lure of abject lowliness, the siren call of pain.”
Although the accompanying book received one mixed review shortly after publication, it was described as “a heartbreaking novel with pictures”, and in The Photobook: A History, Martin Parr and Gerry Badger praised it as
“complex and thoughtful.”
USA. Hollywood, California. 1989. “Oasis”
USA. Hollywood, California. 1991. Dave’s jacket.USA. San Francisco, California. 1986-98. “Hollywood and Highland.”
In this series, Goldberg has a knack for focussing in on the pleasures of different mediums and material, his attention to the use of mixed media such as polaroids, the use of archive and a variation of portraits and landscape imager allows the reader to get a rounded glance of the havoc presented in a stereotypical teenagers lives.
USA. San Francisco and New York. 1989. “Echo’s Map.”USA. New York. 1995. “Echo’s Home Movies.”
Here is a short story of Goldberg’s ‘Raised by Wolves‘:
San Fransisco Museum of Modern Art
Jim Goldberg discusses the larger stories told through his photography practice:
My next shoot I did was focussing on my friend, William, and his alternative lifestyle. I wanted to compose these images of William at his home, as he spends most of his time there. My main aim was for the reader to understand how William’s character can be asserted if these images were to be used on an Online Dating profile, such as Tinder. I have composed these images of William wearing his usual wear, smart wear as well as laid back wear, in order for the reader to elaborate upon his well-rounded and significant character.
A Casual Setting
I composed this image of William in his back yard. I felt this was a good location to capture ambiguity as I felt the palm tree really illustrates how William can be seen in a different place to that of reality. For instance, a palm tree is usually accosted with tropical or hotter climates. Being this element the first thing the eye sees, the reader can work their way down to William to show how the ambiguity is shifting, as the reader is unaware of who this character might be.
I then began to take a range of closer range shots, yet drew the ambiguity in a different way by covering the way in which setting isn’t very clear, as the sky doesn’t give an indication of where the location could be. I felt if the image below was used to document William on an online dating site such as Tinder, the reader would feel confused as to what he personality is like. Because the image is set in a mundane mise-en-scene, the connotations a reader can draw from this are simply sparse, dictating this as an ambiguous representation of his person. By capturing other images alike this one, I felt the significance of his personality would simply end up becoming more rounded, as the reader is able to relate to him more.
Smarter Wear
I captured this image in William’s bedroom because I really thought the dominating red colour could be used in order to signify how ‘red‘ is usually associated with ‘love‘. Red is the overshadowing element within this image and I thought I could contextualise with theoretical stereotypes in which people are able to characterise him through his appearance and the setting that’s around him.
I prefer the above shot to the one below as the reader gets more of an insight into what William is really like; his bedroom is quite messy so it could show the ironic juxtaposition between his smart appearance to his messy actions. If William was to upload a realistic image like this one, people might be turned off by the fact he shows his messy lifestyle, which is in fact, his real one. What I tried to pursue the most out of these shoots was definitely the masking of people’s profiles on social media and online dating websites.
William’s Laid Back Approach
I composed these next images to show more of a background into William’s teenage lifestyle. Using his car as an example shows his independent ways could be shown by his freedom to do whatever he desires. This aspect, however, could come across as misleading; The approachable attitude can show he is mature as well as a teenager. This whole concept I feel has helped to capture William in various lights in order for the reader to critique him as no necessarily a ‘type‘, but a well rounded and a multi-visual character.
As well as all the old photos I have found, I also found old frames and some other bits which I wanted to photograph and include, as these elements can’t be scanned and i wanted them to appear more 3 dimensional within the book. I then took the images and made them transparent, so they would fit cleanly in the book.
These were also some other extra bits I found, which were scannable that I wanted to include within my photo book. The book was in the box of slides I found, in it was written some of the dates and names of people within the slides, so I wanted to include this, the other bits were little details that I wanted to add into the book to add more detail/variation/texture.
Instead of using Lightroom to make my Photo books, I prefer to use Albelli, as there are more options and more possibilities.
I chose to use a wrap around Photo cover and Layflat Premium, as I have used this for all of my previous Photo Books and I want to keep this continuity throughout all of the books I produce, so they all have similar appearances. The Layflat is also a really good feature, as it allows you to make more out of the pages, as you can see properly the whole page, rather than the centre being less visible due to pages curving. I t also makes the pages much stronger, and makes the book feel a lot nice, in my experience, so even though it costs a lot more, it is well worth it.
Some of the images I scanned in had rounded corners or edges which I wanted to include in the photo book, as they vary the presentation of the images, and keeps the images as true to the originals as possible.
When scanning them in, the background wouldn’t always be completely white, and had lots of little bits of dust and dirt stuck to the back (I used the scanner in DT which probably has something to do with it), and in order to keep the photobook looking as smart and clean as possible not eh inside, I decided to go through and edit all the images with the white background, and make them transparent using photoshop. To then keep them as transparent files I saved them as PNG’s.
As well as the digitalised slides and digital images from my Mums computer, there were also a lot of physical images from albums, ones both my Nan and Mum had put together, as well as finding lots of loose images from my Aunts box of photos and a box my Mum has of randomly collected images. I scanned in around 250 images, and wrote in the dates they had been written as being in the albums i found them in, or the date written on he back, however there were quite a few of these images with no context and no date, so I had to go through with my Mum and work out which images were from which years, going by haircuts, ages of children, friends etc.
From the 480 slides I decided to filter through them and find all the best images containing my Mum, and even though I still was only able to narrow it down to 118, this still made it much easier to find the images that I need or want to use within my book. Although the slides are my favourite images, it has been much more difficult to find each slide and find the year written on the physical slide, and the slides are all mixed up as to when they were taken, so I mainly used the slides for years when I couldn’t find many physical images.
In order to get photos of more recent years, I went onto my mums computer and collected a few images from each year containing my Mum. Altogether I got 78 images, all between 2000 and 2016.
I really want this photobook to be as personal as possible, and so I have decided to create a kind of timeline throughout the book, which will contain 120 pages, just over two for every year of my Mums life, as she is turning 58 this year. Every double spread of pages will represent a year of my mums life, and will contain the best pictures of my Mum from that year.
All the photos within this book will have my Mum in, apart from images of cats, as cats are quite a big love within my Mums life, from Bingo to Charlie, to Monty and Bustopher Jones, to our current cats Panda and Willow, and I want to make sure the cats are properly shown as being a strong part of my mums life.
Looking into the comparisons between non-conventional love against that of traditional love made it easy for me when deciding that I really wanted to use my parents as the forefront to this concept. Because they have been together for nearly 24 years, I thought it was best for me to use their story through images and some text to show the love they have for each other, and to show that there are other means and ways of going about finding love.
I took this image to show how in a contemporary image there is a truthful relationship. This image is clever in my eyes as I feel it speaks for itself as a metaphor, dictating how there are possibilities like my parents of not having to rely on things which are un-reliable, like Online Dating websites and apps.
Researching with my own Family Archive
Much like my previous shoot featuring my grandparents, I dug into my own family archive to seek some contextual references and links I can make to juxtapose those with contemporary love stories. Continuing on with links to KesslesKrammer, I felt the repetition in these wedding images are still the stereotypical ‘wedding cake pictures‘ and ‘flowers‘ and ‘relatives‘. I felt this really fitted with the theme with how looking back images where truthful because they always seem to create a sort of social pattern, yet because of the recent developments of online dating it is hard for people to empathise with certain patterns fitted by relationships as people are now finding love in various ways.
Other uses of Archival Material
The alternate uses of archival material yet again represent similar works of Ed Templeton, as I feel the uses of writing and stamps present an overlaying narrative in a simplistic and metaphorical way. If I was to use this idea of following on from Templeton during the exam, I feel it would be a goof idea to overlap the images with text and to also include maybe some stamps over the top to suggest the concepts notion. This letter my Dad sent to my mum I felt was quite ambiguous, and the envelope making it more of an un-written mystery. I think it would be an interesting concept for people to interpret this work for themselves and ask themselves what could of been inside of it. I feel this envelope can represent the era that they were in too. It was more common during the 60s and 70s to write letters instead of sending text messages like people do in our modern society, yet with letters its more detailed as to what could be happening, however, also just as misleading.
The next shoot I made was of my Grandparents. I felt it was a good idea to make portraits of them to distinguish the relationship they’ve had for the last 60 years. Recently celebrating their Diamond Wedding Anniversary, I thought it would be a great opportunity to show to a viewer that with the new developments of social media, it is still possibly to withstand such a lasting and traditional relationship. This is also viable to the words of Steven Gill, in particularly “Hackney Kisses“, as my grandparents relationship occurred prior to the effects on World War ll.
I started to compose both images in their bedrooms. My Grandparents use separate bedrooms as my Grandma prefers to sleep without my Granddad, having no particular reason but the fact he snores in his sleep. The first portrait I made was of my Pops, in reflection of Gill, I wanted to use an important feature in their lives in a repetitive way yet somewhat differentiated. Composing either of them in their bedrooms suggested a connection yet also a difference.
My grandparents go against the normal stereotypes and traditional norms of the modern era – couples who are usually considered ‘sleeping in separate rooms‘ are usually considered a couple with differences, ones who are usually in conflict, and ones who are usually unhappy with their relationship. Capturing this feature made me to combine the importance of conflict in a traditional and contemporary mind set – in this case, it would probably be considered a normal thing for couples to opt out of sharing a room with their partners.
My Own Archival Research of Nanny & Pop’s Traditional Relationship
When interviewing my grandparents, I felt it was vital to still make contextual connections between the old and the new, yet still withstanding in the frame of how their relationship can be seen as ‘traditional‘. These black and white images where taken during my grandparents wedding in Jersey in 1955.
I thought this image above was particularly significant, as it sprung back earlier connections with KessleKrammer’s series “USEFUL PHOTOGRAPHY 010“. Using the possible idea of the form of typology in the exam, this could be a good way to surface the way relationships are ‘celebrated’ and the truth behind that in contemporary and in traditional relationships.
Bad Wurzach and War Imagery
I felt it would be a good idea to include other archival material such as data response media such as maps. My grandfather was held captive in Germany under the Bad Wurzach Concentration Camp. My Grandmother, was left in Jersey. During my grandfather’s return to Jersey in his late teens, this is when they met and became as they are now. I felt including materials like this it would also give me the opportunity to draw on these maps or annotate them like a sort of ‘sketch-book‘, analytical work piece, allowing the reader to interact with it more and therefore understanding the relevance to its personal foreshadowing. This could be in the style of Ed Templeton, who frequently uses writing as a source of narrative in a different form.
Invited by curator Aaron Betsky, artist Droog was asked to participate in the Architectural Biennale in Venice, September 2008. Teaming up with Dutch communication agency KesselsKramer, we developed SINGLETOWN. SINGLETOWN focused on the world of contemporary singles. Its relevance is broad, as all of us are likely to belong to this group at some stage in our lives — and likely more than once. In fact, some sources predict that a third of people in developed countries will be living alone by 2026. SINGLETOWN was an exhibition as well as a town, an abstract interpretation of a new kind of urban space.
Visitors could walk its streets and interact with the products in order to put themselves in a perspective of someone who is single. In some ways this could truthfully represent the perceptions of people who are alone, or isolated – a false presentation of what single people actually are. I find this exhibition very controversial and conceptualised as you really have to be the type of ‘single person‘ KesslesKrammer represents.
KesselsKramer is a company which aspires to do things differently in the field of communications. The publishings are an extension of this restless attitude. In images and words, it finds new ways of expressing creativity through printed matter. All KesselsKramer Publishing projects are initiated by the creative thinkers of KesselsKramer. Each book or magazine expresses their personal passions, whether that passion is a collection of found photographs, short stories or a celebration of unusual artworks.
Useful Photography is the generic name for the millions of diverse photos, which are used daily and with a purpose all of their own; practical photography, that has a clear function and where the makers remain anonymous. In Kessle Krammer’s This tenth edition of Useful Photography is all about celebration, this time the usefulness of an age-old and traditional ritual is explored: marriage. Collected & edited by Hans Aarsman, Claudie de Cleen, Julian Germain, Erik Kessels, Hans van der Meer, this tenth edition of Useful Photography is all about celebration and its means and ways of presenting it. As always, the collection overlooked underwhelming images created for practical purposes. This time, the usefulness of marriage is yet explored. Inside this book, it becomes evident that everyone documents their big day in the same way with a constant repetitive sense: same dresses, same locations, same post-wedding kiss. The cliche use of a ‘wedding day‘ could strip the significance of each of these divided features, or in turn elaborate upon how just important they are to the wedding ‘experience‘. This book is up to definite interpretation.
This idea that love falls in some sort of pattern that repeats itself is an interesting idea. Kramer’s use of typology allows the reader to seek these repetitions in a contrasting way. Each page shows images of more or less the same things yet with the juxtaposition of different settings and compositions, it allows the reader to get an all round appeal of the action thats happening inside the photograph.
Reviews on KesslesKrammer Wedding Photography
Positive
KesslesKramer has had some very affectionate reviews towards their style of conceptualism. This could show how some customers where happy with the idea of how someone has almost narrated their wedding for them, instead of the customer in this case, taking complete direction in lead in all photo’s composition.
Negative
However, on the other hand some reviews of KesslesKrammer have indefinitely been negative. This could touch upon how important a photograph can be on someones wedding day. This woman, for example was done-founded by the lack of effort the photographer had put in. With relation to conceptualism, this photographer could well have found that where everyone was photographed was a good place, yet considering this review this ideology was proved much awe. This review could well be the answer to KesslesKrammer’s reputation of having a “restless attitude“. The photographers expression of his or her own creativity through printed matter shows how in their own passion, the selflessness to capture the wedding through the photographers eye not the customers, comes across how love can be considered un-truthful or ambiguous.
Alike any of the other major religions, Islam seeks to standardize sexual relationships between members of their society or community through moral codes. As laid down in the Quran, any form of sexual behavior – that being: intercourse, oral sex or any action that encourages sexual activity – is strictly forbidden before or outside of marriage. Of course, that doesn’t prevent Muslims engaging in ‘unlawful meetings’, hence the title. In pursuit of romantic love or the sheer fulfilment of mutual desires. Hashim investigates the secret encounters that take place between young Muslim lovers in parks, hidden between trees, or under the cover of the night on beaches and in parking lots. Using night vision cameras, inconspicuous smartphones or digital cameras equipped with long-range telephoto lenses, she captured couples enjoying moments of the greatest intimacy in very public spaces in Sweden swell as in Denmark.
“Those who come from a Muslim background follow strict rules that subsume their individuality, so that the true self is rarely revealed. The public persona and the private life are two distinct zones, creating paradoxes in everyday life that lead to a form of cultural schizophrenia.’”
Hashin’s build in tension and suspense between the public and the private spheres, which runs more acutely through the lives of these young Muslims than of their non-Muslim peers, is reflected in “Unlawful Meetings”. It lies in the invisibility these lovers enjoy in public; for the most part, passersby turn a discretely blind eye to the privacy they create for themselves in shadows and parked cars at nights. This idea of truthfulness and abiding by the rules and guidelines set out for them bombarded the natural path set out for them by there deliberate ancestors. Hashim ensures the anonymity of her subjects, and thus the lawfulness of her recordings of their acts, by leaving out colors and by never showing more than 25% of their facial features. Yet what cannot be hidden is the passion, which, according to one of the youths she interviewed, is heightened exactly for being so “secretly and so rarely enjoyed”. For Hashim herself, who identifies as a believing, but not a practicing Muslim, the project has led her to revisit the tenets of her faith as laid down in texts written in times so fundamentally different from today. Convinced that the ban on sex before marriage was written to protect women and their offspring, she wants to put up for discussion the question if contemporary women and men can’t find other options – in terms of health, or legal and financial security for themselves and their children – to take care of themselves.
Hashim uses the form of a fan-fold laporello in order to tell the story from a dual perspective. On one side of the laporello, shows the images taken with a night-vision camera and the other revealing grey-scale images using a long range telephoto lens. I feel this idea is really interesting and if I was to recreate this in terms of my project I’d use the traditional rituals of love on one side and the non-traditional (online dating) in order for the reader to visually the changes which have occurred over time in means of relationship commodities.
Throughout Hashin’s enduring project, she adopts the professional distance of the social anthropologist conducting a field study, yet at the same time there is an inescapable sense of surveillance and ghoulishness parallel to the work of Kohei Yoshiyuki. In the photographic act again we find the two zones of distance and proximity intertwined in a way that many viewers will find disturbing in its ambiguity.
Alike Hashim, the reader can be reminded of Kohei Yoshiyuki’s infrared-lit photographs from the 1970s, which capture Japanese couples engaged in night-time sex, surrounded by spectators hidden in pitch-dark public parks. But Hashim believes Unlawful Meetings is quite different, because of the community it depicts.
“A lot of white Danish people live here,”
Hashim says.
“So whenever I see darker skinned people, I’m already guessing that they meet here secretly, because they know that their families won’t find them here.”
Hashim, however, does find them. Hiding in public toilets, behind trees and in cars, photographing the Muslim couples who meet in secret, engaging in forbidden sexual acts in bushes and cars. Hashim’s photos are often blurry, the subjects partially obscured by the leaves of a tree or car doors that cover the people’s faces, though this is intentional: Hashim wants them to remain anonymous.
“The way these people met, the way they felt and the way they touched is still visible in these photos. You don’t always need to capture a face to depict emotions.”
Lina Hashim’s photography has its roots in her own childhood, in which the grand themes of family, conflict, exile and migration read like a checklist of documentary topics.
“When the Iraqis came into Kuwait, my father, who had been imprisoned in Iraq for his communist activities, was on the list of people they wanted to take to jail. He was frightened, so he ran,”
Lina tells the British Journal of Photography.
“When I was a teenager, I wasn’t allowed to have boyfriends or intimacy with anyone before getting married, and it was the same thing with my sisters and my brothers and everyone in the community,”
says Hashim.
“But my friends told me about places where they could go to meet their boyfriends, and they said I could go there with them, just to join them, and then I could maybe meet somebody there. It was always in parking lots, or by the sea, or the forest, or the kind of places where you take a dog for a walk. That’s actually how the project started.”
First of all, before you can go about making the book design you need to select the images to be included.
Using light-room, I narrowed the 1000 or so images I had down. I approached this through different shoots at a time, as I believed that this made it easier to collect my main images from each shoot. The first step I took each time in doing so was to ‘reject’ all of the images which I definitely didn’t want to keep, which is done through holding down (Ctrl + X.) Any other images I considered keeping were ‘flagged’ (Ctrl + P).
After completing this first stage I then proceed to select from my narrowed down bunch of images. This is done through an initial number rating system. I had a key, ranging from 3-5; 3 being any image I thought was still acceptable on second review; 4 being any image I believe I strong enough to possibly serve a part in a photo-book; and 5 being an image which is very strong and one I am therefore completely sure about keeping. To rate, all you need to do is press down (Ctrl + 3/4/5). It is a good idea to experiment with the rating system and play around with any of the images if necessary.
The final stage of this process is to narrow down the best images, from those rated 4 and 5. Click on the filter on the Library setting One way of doing this is to select a colour, then click on one of these at the bottom right, next to the number rating. One important consideration at this point should be to see how different images might link together in terms of the type of story you are trying to tell. For example, as I am making a photo-book contrasting loosely the styles of Martin Parr with Henk Wildschut I was therefore wanted to include a balance of each of these to styles, as to have a suitable body of work for each. Other considerations need to be thought of, for example the amount of portraits, still-life’s, landscapes you want your book to include. This can possibly be done by colour coding different images based on what criteria is relevant.
Once you are happy with your final images, check the number based on the amount you want to have in your photo-book. It is better to include slightly more in the final selection then not enough because you will then have more images to play with in the actual designing process. For example, if you want to create a 40 page photo-book, then have approximately 70 images in the final, leaving enough to experiment with the designing process
It is better to complete this process in different stages over a slightly longer period of time, whether that means taking anywhere from an hour or a day of each time. Taking time over this process allows ideas to develop subconsciously. It ensures all the appropriate images are included, powerful enough and relevant to creating a well developed narrative.
Making the photo-book
The first step is to make sure you are in the collection of your final images. Then move away from the ‘Library’ seciton onto the ‘Book’ mode, which will take you to a plain book layout of the cover and a couple of inside pages.
Then select the type of book you want to use. The choices are
Five different book types of …… small square; stanndard landscape; standard portrait; large landscape; large square
Three different covers …. hard cover image wrap; hard cover dust jacket; soft cover
Four paper types …. Premium Luste; Premium Matte; ProLine Uncoated; ProLine Pearl Photo
To create the layout there are three different types of layout options that you can use;
Manual – this shows the entire book layout as you go along.
Single View – allows you to see one page at a time
Page View – seeing two pages at a time, as the viewer would expect to see it
All three options have their own advantages and drawbacks. A good idea is to keep alternating the modes you work in. For example when arranging a page it is a good idea to work in ‘Single View’, when linking a page together it is better to work in ‘Page View’ and when sequencing the overall narrative together/adding pages it is best to work in ‘Manual’.
There are many different ways of arranging images on the page. One way is to include all images on the right hand page, leaving the left blank. This is considered the classic method. The options however are limitless and you can play around with sequencing using different templates. Another option, which I have gone for, is to mix the sequencing up. Personally I think that this is a good idea to mix up the sequencing because it adds a degree of uncertainty to the narrative progression. Also at times it might be a good idea to have two images across the page to make a link, whilst at other times at might be better to leave a page black to create a mini-interlude to break the narrative up.
Another tip is to look for different links in images. Consider the theme of the narrative and decide how relevant to different images are and what they add. There should often be relevance to two images side-by-side, whether that is a similarity or contrast.
One of the main advantages of making the photo-book within light-room is the degree of flexibility which it provides. It offers various features to make the book making process as easy as possible such as, dragging the images to different pages, dragging the layout up, and editing images on the go. In contrast to the online blurb feature I used last year this is much better because it it is far easier and quicker. Furthermore, it allows a much greater degree of creativity; the opportunity to play around with different images and sequences.
Once the sequencing process is finished, you now have to order the photo-book. Lightroom is linked to the online photo-book maker, ‘blurb’. To order the book, it needs to be done online. The content of the book and layout will be fully compatible with the official blurb website, which is activated through pressing the ‘send to blurb’ button. There will be an easy step-by-step process through which to order the book.
Domestic violence is abuse between two adults who share the same household . Criminal domestic abuse may include physical assault such as slapping, hitting, pushing, shoving, etc, sexual assault/rape, stalking/harassment, or blackmail. Non-criminal domestic violence may include emotional abuse like intimidation, mind-games or financial abuse like controlling money. These latter forms eventually turn into criminal behaviors in 80% of cases. Domestic violence can in fact be perpetrated by and against people of any gender, age, income level, race, religion, or any other demographic area. Perpetrators of domestic violence often try to explain/justify it with circumstances outside of their control: drugs, alcohol, mental illness, troubled childhood, anger problems, hard day at work, etc, in some cases claiming that if only the victim didn’t provoke them, the abuse would not have occurred. The victim adopts this perspective by walks on eggshells, yet seems unable to prevent or even predict the next violent episode. Perhaps due to the fact that they aren’t the one responsible for it.
In accordance to my project, I have spoken to a good friend of mine who has unfortunately been through an abusive relationship and as far as her story goes, one of the most shocking in my opinion is where there was a phase within her relationship where her boyfriend would come home and he would start to beat her when she said or did something that angered him. However, this differentiates from other stories I’ve heard because of the fact that he would make her go and find objects that he would then beat her with. For example, she was telling me an incident where he came home, they had an argument and he told/instructed her to go and get a belt. When she refused, he hit, shoved and kicked her and asked her again. And this would be repeated until she did what he asked of her. So she would then get what he wanted, and he would beat her with whatever object he could get. In some cases she would be instructed to find a belt, and in one extreme case, she was told to bring a lit candle which he then poured boiling hot wax on her body.
Something that I found quite shocking and unfortunate to hear was when she said how easy it is to say ‘I am never going to be in an abusive relationship, i’ll just leave him…’ In my friends case, she wasn’t actually aware that she was in a relationship, and every time it happened, she thought and really believed that ‘he would never do it again.’ She also stated how this was her first relationship and her first real love, she says now how looking back, she wishes she would have done something and not just accepted the way he treated her. She was in this relationship for three years, and during the second year, she went away to university only to find out that his intentions were to follow her there. Fortunately for her, they split up a year later as he was moving to a different country.
One of the ways in which she was able to fully understand the severity of what she had been through was because she opened up to one of her friends at uni and explained everything that happened to her. Her friend insisted that she call the police but she refused and didn’t in the end. Even as crazy as it sounds, she said that through everything that happened to her, she still felt something (albeit small) for him.
My response to this will be staged, and will contain a woman holding the weapons that were mentioned in the story. Although some portraits will incorporate facial features and expressions, some will focus on specific elements/objects within the image. The two main objects that I wanted to focus on was the belt and the candle/wax element.
I quite like how disturbed this image is and I would like to produce a similar representation as it fits perfectly with what someone told me. It was valentines and her boyfriend bought her some flowers, later that evening they got into an argument about something petty (like usual) she says to me. His first reaction was to go to the flowers, rip them off the stem and rip them into pieces. He then headed to her as a target and started pulling her hair and shoving her down until she fell on the floor. As that wasn’t enough, he then got the pieces from the flowers and shoved them into her mouth. She told me how whenever he did thing like this, he would have this look in his eyes, like he was looking at her but he wasn’t. “His eyes would look wild” she says and that was probably one of the most scariest things because “you never know what’s going on in his mind”.
Lina Hashim is a Danish-Iraqi artist who lives and works in Copenhagen. Hashim was born in Kuwait, however later on moved to Denmark with her parents in 1992. Hashim’s primary artistic medium is photography, whereas her methods cross into such fields as anthropology and performance. Hashim as a former student of anthropology puts the methods of anthropology to use when she investigates, amongst other issues, the Islamic dogma of pre-marital sex. Her research draws thoroughly on her readings of the Quran, consulting imams, her family, and a number of chatrooms and online forums for Muslims. At the core of Lina Hashim’s artistic project lies an urge to investigate, rationalize and document the arbitrariness of the way the Quran is being interpreted today using what she describes as a method best understood as historical anthropology: Do the words and dogmas of the Quran make sense in a modern context? She firmly states that she is a Muslim as she believes in Islam, but she doesn’t practise.
NO WIND WITH HIJAB
Hashim began this series in 2012 photographing women’s hair, normally hidden from public view under a hijab, a scarf that covers her head concealing all her hair in the public domain. The hijab is seen as a way to protect these woman, keeping them as a treasure; for Lina to photograph them without this cover – a commandment of God – would be considered a sin in Islamic tradition. Lina’s inspiration came from the memories of how her mother and friends changed when they removed their hijab, filling her with curiosity to photograph women’s hair and chronicle the length of time they had covered it. In order to make the photographs she envisioned, allowing the women to reveal their hair and not break their Islamic beliefs, she consulted a number of Imam, or spiritual leaders, living in Copenhagen.
“I’m a member of a chatting space that is guided by a young Imam. He was very open, so I asked him: ‘If I go to a hairdresser and I find some hair on the floor that belonged to a Muslim girl; would it be a sin if a man sees the hair? And then he said ‘No it wouldn’t, because no-one can see who the woman is.’ Then I asked him if it would be OK to take a photo in which I don’t reveal any of the skin or any of the characteristics of the woman. And he said that it’s impossible to do that, but it would be OK. So I copy-pasted what he said in a document and showed it to all these girls I asked.”
As a viewer this suggests to how important religion is in Lina’s tradition, as the repercussions behind the truth of these women and revealing their identity to the world is a terrifying and consequential concept. Immediately framing the images to focus on the women as an a objectifying motif draws the reader in and is immediately asked to question the rate of rights that individual has. This factor can be seen most restricting, as as a women, the allowance and freedom to show off any hair in any sort of public domain is not tolerated, culturally and religiously. This percussion of Lina’s work is more so celebrated than mourned.
Inspiration
Lina’s focus on a single motif or symbol to represent an entirety of a subject has given me inspiration as to how I should focus on love. Like Stephen Gill’s “Hackney Kisses“, a single kiss represents a whole relationship, such as hair represents an entire culture and religion. In a way I could focus in on this, yet I could also focus on things such as holding of hands or something else to do with or is familiar to a stereotypical relationship.
To create my book I am going to use the website Blurb again as I did for my previous book. Blurb is a website which can be used to help photographers to create, self publish and share their photo book design. I found this website very useful because it allows me to have more control over the design and layout of my book through using light room I can continue to make amendments to my photographs whilst creating my book. I was also happy with my final book because it was printed in good quality. Once I have finished I can then upload my book to Blurb and order it.
Photo book inspiration
When making the book I didn’t have any main book inspiration which influenced the way which I created the layout, however I tried to make the book similar to my first book by including similar photographs and a similar structure. When creating the first my book my inspiration was ‘Where Mimosa Bloom by Rita Puig – Serra Costa’. l liked how for every portrait of her family members, on the other side there is an object although their is no explanation I assumed there is a connection between the item and the person in the portrait. Often the person in the portrait is wearing the same colour or the photograph included the same colour as the colour of their object this worked well and also made it appealing to the eye. Although it was not planned there is a recurring theme of stripes in my book. When creating my book I also tried to place photographs of similar colours together. In my book included objects that belong to my dad and close ups of what was happening in the main photograph on the other side of the page.
For my final photo shoot I want to include some photographs of my dad and my younger brother. The reason for this is because I feel my dad has a better relationship with my brother, I think that part of the reason for this may be cultural. I also included cultural aspects in my first photo book about my mother. After observing my dad whilst photographing him for my project I have noticed that within my family the males bond with each other and the females bond separately. I have also noticed this in public places too not just with my family but with people of a Portuguese background. To show this cultural difference which I think has partly lead to my brother being closer to my dad I am going to take photographs of my dad and brother interacting over mutual interests. Whilst taking these photographs I am going to try and keep my dad as the main focus point. I hope that these photographs will add more to the story that I am trying to tell and will help piece the story together.
For my final outcome of this Exam Project I am going to attempt to make a photo-book using ‘blurb.com.’
I have some experience making an online book, making one last year in my AS Exam Project. I want to expand on what I learnt in this first attempt, and hopefully make a slightly more extensive and developed body of work. In total I have about 600 possible images which I can work with to narrow a body of work down, to about 50-60 images.
My plan is to create a narrative structured into three different sections. The whole point of my project is to effectively explore the ‘truth’ behind the often ‘fantasized’ myth of how food is produced, an idea which is in many way manipulated by how food looks and is advertised on the shelf. To make my story more interesting however, I want to subvert this idea by jumping straight into the theme of food production.
I want the images within this photo-book to reflect not just what I learned this year concerning context and information about food production, but at the same time link this knowledge to the theme of the project ‘Truth, Fantasy or Fiction’. I want to show-off an extensive degree of images which cover the theme of local food production to a very high extent.
First Part
For the first part of the photo-book I am going to include images of my visit to the ‘Fresh Fish Company’ as a way of slowly introducing the general themes and overall feel of the story. The style of images of this shoot are very much on the border-line of the different aims of my project, which is effectively comparing finished food items with how they are produced. The images included will be mostly lively and upbeat, serving in favour of the argument that Jersey produce is deserving of the respect it is so often presented as being like.
The first few images will imply strongly that this project is specifically about local Jersey produce. In doing so I will be able to immediately contextualise the narrative and direct a specific focus for the viewer to follow along to.
Second Part
For the second part of my narrative I am going to tackle the theme of food production and hopefully break-down and develop an understanding behind the ‘truth’ of how food is produced.
As I have previously mentioned, I have attempted to copy the style and theme of Henk Wildschut to construct responses to this theme. I found in many ways however, that completely basing my work in this exact style in many ways contradicted a degree of energy and colour I wanted to evoke for the purpose of making my work visually, more interesting. Therefore to compensate for this, I took a more vague interpretation of Wildschut’s work, taking influences from his documentary style rather than copying it. Wildschut is very experienced in his calm and measured style and his vast quantity of images makes such an exploration possible to the extent of interesting images he can produce. On the other hand I have much less images to work with and so directly evoking this I believe in many ways, would not do my work any favours.
I have visited 3 different farms in total to get a broad series of images. In addition I have met with a supplier of local produce as well as visiting the central market in town, talking to and photographing a few of the shopkeepers who benefit from this daily supply of local produce. Over the course of this part of the photographing which I began just before Easter, I have gained an extensive body of work which I will be able to narrow down. In addition to this, I have 200 or so images from my own archive of images I took last year which link very well to the theme of my project.
My favourite shoot over the course of this side of photographing is the shoot where I visited water-cress grower, Colin Roache. I believe this particular body of images is very strong and there are a few which will fit very well into my narrative.
Third Part
The third part of my photo-book will look at how local produce appears really close-up, away from the protection of careful lighting or colourful, lively packaging. This part of the project will be very much based on following and evoking the style of Martin Parr, who is renowned for his trademark style of photographing extremely close-up in combination with the use of flash photography. The resulting images that Parr produces are extremely colourful to the extent that they are in many cases, over-saturated. Furthermore this close-up style does also mean that at times, Parr’s images can appear vulgar and grotesque.
It is this sense of rawness and willingness to create images which surprise and shock the viewer is what in my view, makes Parr’s work so unique, and in recognition of this I will experiment with a combination of images; firstly a controlled advertising style, followed by Parr’s vernacular twist to create edgy, and at times vulgar images – adding a slight twist at the final bit of the narrative.
This final part of the narrative,will challenge the first, and to a degree the second part, subverting the generally reflective nature of the narrative. It will be an unexpected ending, leaving the viewer to question which images were in fact truth within the story? if any?
I am going to visit water-cress grower Colin Roche, he is Jersey’s only commercial watercress grower, and supplies all local food wholesales as well as smaller farmhouse shops and nearly all of the suppliers of fresh fruit/vegetables in the Central market.
I am going to spend a morning with Colin on his farm in St Martin’s where he has agreed to show me around and answer any questions I might have. I am intrigued to find out about what Colin does and how he excels so well in an unusual form of local farming. Colin also seems an interesting character, being the first non-Jersey born farmer to e commercially successful in the island. What is also interesting about Colin is that he picks all of his crops by hand – with no help from anyone else.
WHEN?
I will visit on the morning/afternoon of the 16 April
WHY?
Like tomato farming, watercress is not a product which immediately comes to a person’s attention when they think of local Jersey produce.
Watercress is a fascinating crop, and is considered a ‘super food’ because it is highly packed with rich and important nutrients such as iron, calcium and folic acid, in addition to vitamins A and C, even in just small doses. I want to find out more about the watercress industry in Jersey (which Colin appears to have a monopoly on) and look into how this unusual form of farming in Jersey has not only commercially viable but exploring how it is revolutionary in the way many people view how farming within Jersey is viewed: how it has modernised so that it fits two different outlooks, protecting classic and renowned farming produce eg. milk and potatoes, whilst at the same time allowing scope and opportunities for products such as watercress to develop and grow on a commercial and cultural level.
This shoot, along with my previous shoot of Gordon Blake’s farm, will look at the new trends of local farming. The industries with challenge tradition and look towards how Jersey’s farming can be defined in new ways.
CONTEXT/FOCUS?
My main focus in this particular shoot will be to focus on the counter-culture of Jersey produce, looking at how an unusual form and source of farming by a farmer with an unusual origin and background, has broken into credibility and main-stream local farming.
I will be looking therefore at how my images can best serve to highlight this difference from the more mainstream areas of local produce which I am also investigating over the course of this process.
In this shoot I am attempting to move away from the theme and style of my project. I want this shoot to serve as a anolymy which breaks away from any set style, producing a body of images which is slightly more experimental and creative that other parts of this project. The context of what I am photographing therefore very much links to how will photograph, photographing in a slightly different way because what I will be photographing is in itself, different to the norm.
WHAT TYPES OF IMAGES WILL I TAKE?
For this shoot I want to try and get images which mainly reflect the style of Martin Parr. I want to use this style because I believe it will enable me to more easily reflect the quirky nature of Colin’s job, as the Island’s sole commercial watercress grower – done with very little/no assistance.
I want my images to be fun and lively, as this specific side to the shoot is slightly different than the other farms I will be visiting, because of the fact it is so different in what is done and how it is done. I believe therefore that this shoot will be a good opportunity to be more creative in the types of images a take – and thus a good opportunity to take more risks.
MY HOPES FOR THE SHOOT
After speaking to Colin over the phone to arrange this shoot it is clear that he is a very charismatic person. I am confident he will be happy to help me over this project and give me some good information regarding his specific trade as well as his contacts across the island.
I get the impression that because of his lively personality after speaking to him for a few minutes (and also what I have been told) along with the unusual nature of his job, that Colin is clearly an interesting and fascinating person who has an unique way of looking and farming, a perspective which largely emerges as a result of his non-Jersey background and upbringing. I believe I can get a lot of interesting images simply photographing Colin’s process and methods. I hope to therefore build up a sense of Colin’s character into the images. His lively presence and charismatic personality reflecting the slightly more positive and vibrant style which I am going for.
I will re-visit Tom Perchard’s farm – I visited last year for part of the AS Exam project looking at the relationship between people and food.
Now I have a better understanding of the farm have gotten to know the farmer, I will have more trust and freedom to explore the farm. I cooperated with Tom last year by letting have a copy of all of my images and certain control over what images were and were not kept, i.e. I would delete any images he did not want me to take.
This will give me a better position to photograph in more depth than last time. I will also compile a few general questions about cattle farming to Tom, and through the use of a voice recorder, ask if he would be happy to answer I few question I have – if he doesn’t want to I will ask another farmer I have arranged to visit, Colin Roche.
WHEN?
I will visit on the afternoon of the 14 April
WHY?
I enjoyed visiting the farm last year and felt that I got a good depth of images. It will be interesting to go back again and see how my images how my images have changed over this time period, based on the way my photography skills have developed
Tom was very helpful last year and is very happy to have me back to take a few more images. I therefore think the time a spend on this farm will be useful and productive as I will have accesss to take images of various aspects of the farm, both food production as well as the more administrative, business sides of the farm, i.e. the office and other sites of organisation.
Visiting a cattle farm is very important because diary is an integral aspect of Jersey produce and it would be impossible to not visit a least one cattle farm over the course of my project. Although it won’t necessary play a key part, a few images of Jersey milk and cows will give my project a more local context.
CONTEXT/FOCUS?
Tom Perchard’s farm specialises in the milking of cows and the rearing of calves. It is a large farm and employs various different workers. The farm also has a small area dedicated to pigs.
I will focus a lot on the milking process of the cows and the other factors connected to this such as; the machinery involved, the organisation/rounding up of the cows, and the general features/layout of the milking parlour. I want to focus on this because it is directly related to the context of producing milk. It will give me a direct insight to this process, actual photographic representation of the cows being milked and what is involved over the course of this process.
I also am going to concentrate on asking Tom a few questions about his per
Because Tom is responsible for rearing hundreds of cattle, the process of milking the cows very much constitutes a degree of balance between being remaining true to the princples of free-range farming, i.e. making sure the animals are safe, comfortable and happy, whilst at the same time keeping a structure and order which suits efficiency, not tied to the demands of the animals which may be the case on smaller cattle and livestock farms in general.
WHAT TYPES OF IMAGES WILL I TAKE?
Like my previous shoot, I intend to produce images similar to the style of Henk Wildschut. This will fit my theme in even more appropriately then last time because I am addressing issues more directly related to the theme of a) factory setting and b) working with livestock.
I will keep my images objective in style and my approach will be to investigate in a considered way what I will see. I will therefore intend to keep my style very formal, at least in the beginning until I begin to get a bit more daring and adventurous in the way I photograph. Nevertheless I will stick to the idea that simplicity is more powerful in delivering a direct message.
MY HOPES FOR THE SHOOT
I want to get 200-300 images which look specifically at cattle farming. This visit will also be a good opportunity to record to views of a farmer of food production, something I regret I did not do in my last shoot.
This shoot, because I am going into a cattle farm, a theme which I have explored repeatedly in my research will be a good shoot in which to formulate a comparison between advertising and production. I predict that because of specific context and cattle farming and its central basis within my project, that I will be able to get many of my key images from this shoot alone, serving as a key factor in the development of my eventual photo-book.
What: For my shoot i am going to take pictures of buildings and the sky to follow the works of Matt Crump and try and get the minimalist look the he gets in his photos, i will also try and integrate Uelsmann’s work and make them landscape and maybe change the normal landscapes into candy coloured photos to mix a bit of both photographers into my shoot.
Where: I am i going to go to the town center of jersey and take pictures, i feel like this will be a perfect location for the shoot because of all the buildings with different shapes and heights that i can experiment with. Also there are a lot of different coloured buildings which may help in the editing process.
Why: The reason i have chosen to do this shoot is because i think it will be a fun colourful project to do and will be very interesting to see how the pictures come out in the editing stages. Jersey is a very cloudy and rainy place sometimes and with this project its like creating a fantasy world where everything is colourful and its not dark and dull.
When: I am going to do this shoot over the weekend, the weather forecast is okay so hopefully it doesn’t rain, however it is meant to be overcast at some points so i’m going to have to make the best of the weather and try and alter the problems after in Photoshop.
Shoot 1: For my first shoot i am going to try and recreate some of Matt Crump’s photos by going through town and taking photos of the top of buildings, signs and other abstract objects that i could try and give the candy minimalistic look
Shoot 2: For my second shoot i am going to try and recreate some of Jerry Uelsmann’s photos by mixing landscape photos and maybe some portrait mixed with landscape, this means that i will have a broad range of photos to try and experiment with.
To use images screen-shotted from the Tinder app to use as a frame for separate portraits. In the style of Prince, this could empathise similar to how he manipulated his own Instagram feed. Using friends accounts, or even creating a fake one for myself, allows me to delve into the world of how people mask themselves for love and how I can manipulate myself to become apart of it.
Concept:
To establish the role of images in online dating and how images influence people to be attracted purely by their first sight. This will exaggerate how the comment of ‘truth‘ lies purely in the eye of the beholder.
Below are some examples of my friends Tinder profiles. As you can see, the information states the factors of your Name, Age, Location in comparison to yours, as well as offering you to display a range of images which feel represent your true self. The most eye-catching feature of this is predominately your profile picture as its the largest subject on the screen. This could suggest an un-reliable source of finding romance as the person is only viable to ‘match’ you unless you fill the box for looks when satisfied. In conjunction, the person they haven’t decided to give matches to could be someone they seem to get on well with, initially finding it more difficult for them to maybe find their perfect match.
As displayed above, you can see a range of interests of people inhabit, something I wish to portray during my creation of a photo-book or study. I think incorporating peoples interests / lives through a collection of images is something I wish to portray in a sequence or dichotomy of images.
Richard Prince is an appropriation artist, painter and photographer born 1949 in the Panama Canal Zone. Prince now lives and works in Upstate New York. Prince began copying other photographer’s work in 1975. His image, Untitled (Cowboy), a rephotographing of a photograph taken originally by Sam Abell and appropriated from a cigarette advertisement, was the first rephotograph to raise more than $1 million at auction when it was sold at Christie’s New York in 2005.
Untitled (Cowboy) / Cowboys
Abell’s iconic photo and Prince’s “artistic” crop of it.
Prince has created an alternative twist to Abell’s work, his painting incorporating a bountiful perspective and outlook originally presented – this ‘wildness‘. From a reader, the difference between the sculpture as shown above juxtaposed with the paintings questions the truth of the artwork, what one was the original interpretation?
Taken from Marlboro cigarette advertisements of the Marlboro Man, they represent an idealized figure of American masculinity. The Marlboro Man was the iconic equivalent of later brands like Ralph Lauren, which used the polo pony image to identify and associate its brand.
“Every week. I’d see one and be like, Oh that’s mine, Thank you,”
Prince stated in an interview.
Prince’s Cowboys displayed men in boots and ten-gallon hats, with horses, lassos, spurs and all the fixings that make up the stereotypical image of a cowboy. They were set in the Western U.S., in arid landscapes with stone outcrops flanked by cacti and tumbleweeds, with backdrops of sunsets. The advertisements were staged with the utmost attention to detail.
It has been suggested that Prince’s works raise the question of what is real, what is a ‘real’ cowboy? and what makes it so? Prince’s photographs of these advertisements attempt to prompt one to decide how real are media images. The subjects of Prince’srephotographs are the photos of others. He is photographing the works of other photographers, who in the case of the cowboys, had been hired by Marlboro to create images depicting cowboys. Prince described his process in a 2003 interview by Steve Lafreiniere in Artforum.
“I had limited technical skills regarding the camera. Actually I had no skills. I played the camera. I used a cheap commercial lab to blow up the pictures. I made editions of two. I never went into a darkroom.”
Starting in 1977, Prince photographed four photographs which previously appeared in the New York Times. This process of rephotographing continued into 1983, when his work Spiritual America featured Garry Gross’s photo of Brooke Shields at the age of ten, standing in a bathtub, as an allusion to precocious sexuality and to the Alfred Stieglitz photograph by the same name. His Jokes series (beginning 1986) concerns the sexual fantasies and sexual frustrations of middle-class America, using stand-up comedy and burlesque humor. This photo is now displayed in the new Renzo Piano-designed Whitney Museum of American Art.
Re-photography uses appropriation as its own focus: artists pull from the works of others and the worlds they depict to create their own work. Appropriation art became popular in the late 1970s. Other appropriation artists such as Sherrie Levine, Louise Lawler, Vikky Alexander, Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger and Mike Bidlo also became prominent in the East Village in the 1980s.
During the early period of his career, Prince worked in Time Magazine’s tear sheets department. At the end of each work day, he would be left with nothing but the torn out advertising images from the eight or so magazines owned by Time-Life. On the topic of found photographs, Prince said:
“Oceans without surfers, cowboys without Marlboros…Even though I’m aware of the classicism of the images. I seem to go after images that I don’t quite believe. And, I try to re-present them even more unbelievably.”
Prince had very little experience with photography, but he has said in interviews that all he needed was a subject, the medium would follow, whether it be paint and brush or camera and film. He compared his new method of searching out interesting advertisements to “beachcombing.” His first series during this time focused on models, living room furniture, watches, pens, and jewellery. Pop culture became the focus of his work. Prince described his experience of appropriation thus:
“At first it was pretty reckless. Plagiarising someone else’s photograph, making a new picture effortlessly. Making the exposure, looking through the lens and clicking, felt like an unwelling . . . a whole new history without the old one. It absolutely destroyed any associations I had experienced with putting things together. And of course the whole thing about the naturalness of the film’s ability to appropriate. I always thought it had a lot to do with having a chip on your shoulder.”
In 2014, Prince continued his appropriation theme with an exhibit of 38 portraits at the Gagosian gallery in New York City, entitled “New Portraits.” Each image was taken from his Instagram feed and included topless images of models, artists, and celebrities. Underneath the images, Prince provided comments like,
with the copyright and registered trademark symbols likely being references to his interests in authorship.
“Possible cogent responses to the show include naughty delight and sheer abhorrence”,
wrote art critic Peter Schjeldahl in The New Yorker.
“My own was something like a wish to be dead.”
As with previous appropriated Prince works, the Instagram prints draw attention to the intersection of art and copyright infringement; Prince has been challenged in courts but has so far won his cases. Some of the unwilling subjects of his art, notably members of SuicideGirls, have started selling their own derivative works based on Prince derivative works of their original works. This makes Prince’s work more conceptualised as people understand art is not there to be like but to prove a message that re-worked art can be categorised as art. In 2015, Prince would repeat his exhibit from Gagosian with a new exhibit for the Frieze Art Fair in NYC. However, Prince would end up making headlines due to selling the portraits for profit–at the fair, Prince sold enlargements of his Instagram feed and comments for $90,000.
How has Prince’s re-workings of his series ‘New Portraits‘ inspired me to use Tinder as a way of appropriating people into finding new ways of love?
In response to Prince, I think it would be an interesting idea to frame my own portraits within a tinder profile. During my development, I will ask my friends to screen-shot their Tinder profiles and display each image they use on their tinder profile. Capturing separate portraits could exempt the idea of how truthful they are behind their profile. I will also ask family and family friends who have been in longer relationships previous to social media and online-dating coming about, as well as their insight into how they met, how successful the relationship is and their opinion into social media being a tool of love making.
After working on different topics and looking at different things to do with the Archisle I have decided to change my specification and ideas to focus on how our society treats outcasts, anyone that is different. I have begun to look into transgender people and Jersey’s history with this topic. I find it really interesting and want to find out more and more about it and see how our society doesn’t really understand people going through their transitions. I am also looking into lunacy within the island and how people with mental illnesses are/were treated and dismissed because they are misunderstood. I have also begun looking into criminals and how they are photographed with their mug shots. I find this topic really interesting and want to look more into this as it is something different and something that I want to reflect on the truth of our society. I think that I want to focus in on lunacy within the island and create some kind of narrative with this project. I want to create a film-esk kind of staged series of images as I think that this will be the best method of recreating the stories that I have found out about. I want to focus my work on misfits, those that don’t fit in with the norms of society. I have been looking into how transgender people are still not generally accepted by our society, I have also looked into local cases which was really interesting to read up on. I then ventured into the history of the island and how witchcraft and witch hunting was so huge and at a large magnitude. Along with this I looked into lunacy within the island and historically how our society has treated those with mental illnesses. This includes pre World War 1 and how those in the late 1800s knew very little about mental health.
Where Mimosa Bloom is a photo book by Rita Puig-Serra Costa, who works in publishing in Barcelona. The book is based around her grief after her mother died.
“Dealing with the grief she suffered following the death of her mother, Where Mimosa Bloomtakes the form of an extended farewell letter; with photography skillfully used to present a visual eulogy or panegyric.” Source
When I saw the first pages of this photo book online, I was very intrigued by the cutouts, and how she had used that within the book. My teacher then brought into school this photo book to look at in person, as well as the other two photo books that I have already studied, where I saw that Chris Dorley-Brown also used this once within his photo book The Longest Way Around.
As soon as I saw the cutouts I was thinking about how interesting it was and how i could incorporate this into my phonebook to add more depth.
The above is the first way in which I could use this within my photo book, with hopefully five images down the edge of the page, and they gradually either appear or disappear as you turn the pages, if they were to disappear as you turn the pages, this would represent the way people change over time and tend to forget about the past in order to move on and change as a person,
If they were to appear as you turn the pages, as Puig-Serra Costa did within her photo book. this would represent the development over time not being able to predict the future, but being able to reflect on how much you’ve changed as a person, and I think this way of thinking represents my mum in a better light, as she doesn’t want to move away from the past as those experiences have brought her to where she is today.
There are also two different things I could do with this, the first idea I had thought of was to have photos from every five or so years of my mum down the side as a sort of timeline, but as I feel the images would become to small to properly view, I am going to have it sectioned in to 5 pages at a time, e.g. like how I had done above, where there are only five images down the side, but when it gets to the bottom page with either the last or all of the images on, it starts again with a different set of five images and so on.
I feel that this way I could section my mums life into periods of five years, meaning there will be around 60 pages within my book, and with this I can try to create some distinction of technology changing over time, as the images at the front will all be scanned in images, but when it comes to recent years, they will all be digital photos from modern day cameras.
This way not only am i creating depth with the pages, but also with the meaning behind all my creative decisions.
For the past couple of weeks I have been working alongside the Archisle and finding out more information about Jersey history. I have more specifically been shown how feminism exists within the islands history. At first I was just looking at this from personal interest as it is something that I have always felt passionate about and am always keen to find out more and broaden my knowledge on the ever growing topic of feminism. Something I never thought about was local feminism or even how local men and women were treated decades and centuries ago. I wanted to learn about the women of Jersey in the earlier periods of the 1920s and how they present themselves and how women were portrayed. The archive really helped with this as they have an vast amount of portraits taken by a local photographer of the elites of Jersey back in the earlier period of photography. I found this to be so interesting and really brought some inspiration to mind. The other week, when down at the Archive, I visited the library and was shown around by Anna. She was showing me around and introduced me to many different books and magazines from Jersey history and opened up the prospect of looking into the idea of how many women were tried as witches compared to the amount of men. Jersey was always a hugely superstitious island and there were many witch hunts that went on here. I think I want to find out more and possibly focus some work on this topic as it really does interest me. One book that Anna actually let me borrow was one entitled Colonel Barker’s Monstrous Regiment. This book is something I think I would be able to base some work off of the idea of truth. This book tells the story of a young woman who posed as a man for many years of her life and worked in a hotel for years and lived alongside men with a strong presence. She was never found out until she was arrested for owing money to a restaurant that was in debt. I find this story to be so extraordinary and am amazed that someone, who was possibly transgender, that interesting lived on this island. I am currently reading the book and am learning about so many different cases linked to the island of transgender people and what it meant and what it was like to be transgender in those days. I think that I could really get into this project and find out more about it, even though it will be quite difficult to get a handle on as I am an outsider looking in. This will be a challenge but I want to at least attempt it and see if it works out. I have other ideas to fall back on so it isn’t too much of a big deal if it doesn’t work out. I think that in recent years transgender has really become a topic of interest for a lot of people with more and more people, such as Caitlyn Jenner, feeling comfortable with coming out and showing who they truly are. I think that I will research more into this and see how it could work out.
At the start of this course I had planned out that I was going to do a project based on the environment and involve surrealism into this. I find this topic so interesting and would be really fun to carry out. However, I’ve now got other ideas in my head which I am leaning more towards as they seem to be interesting me more. I think that I am going to carry on with all three of my different ideas and once done some further experimentation I will narrow it down and finally choose my favourite topic to focus in on and work on that. Other ideas involve gender and the generic conventions of how we are expected to me. More specifically I have been looking into the transgender community and what it is like to actually be transgender. I am also looking more into witchcraft and how superstitious the people of Jersey were when witchcraft was a big thing. I really want to explore all of these ideas but feel that there isn’t much time to do so and I really need to finalise my key ideas and actually go out and do some experimentation with those ideas in mind.
Here are images of the experimentation that I have done so far for my project. I found these to be fun and interesting to do as they were more experimental and different to the kind of images that I usually create. I wanted to challenge myself and try to bring in new materials into my work. I have managed to create a few different kind of images and am happy with the outcomes. I have specific ideas in mind but do find myself changing and adapting new ideas when it comes to being on location. I want my images to stand out and make an impact, something I think I have with these images. I wanted to create something that would be fun for me as well as a bit of a challenge and something that will really get my spectators thinking. I want my work to stand out. In order to do this I got experimenting with layers and introducing different materials into my work so that it is not just a flat piece of work. Incorporating different techniques from different realms of creativity has really helped to bring my project to life.
After looking at my photographs I found that I really do not like them and they are boring. I want my images to be different and exciting for the spectators to look at. At present I find the images quite mundane and think that I can do much better. I will try and experiment with them to see if I can make them any better and more interesting. I think that I am going in a different direction with my project and no longer want to do this topic but I’m just going to experiment a bit more and try it out to see if it all works. I’m going to be doing other experiments and different topics just so I have more than one thing to fall back on if this particular project doesn’t work out. I prefer to have a few different ideas so that when it comes down to it I will have plenty of options to choose from.
experimentation
I had such high hopes for this photo and had a really great plan of how it would turn out but I don’t really like how it looks and know that it is not as good as I had hoped and imagined it to be. I think it looks alright and that there could be potential for it to look at lot better but I don’t want to mess around with it and for it not to work out. I also made some other images that look alright but I don’t think that I want to experiment with them any further. I have now changed my ideas and plans for this exam project and want to try out something different.
Above is the experimentation that I did a couple of weeks ago on an environment shoot. I went round the area where I live and made photographs of all of the litter that had been left and discarded on the ground. After making each image I did go and put the litter in the bins that were literally about 10 steps away from where they were left. It really makes me sad to see how people and how we as a society treat the natural world and don’t care about what the effects are. I do think that these images are quite boring but in a grid could be more effective. The only reason that I’m not going to be doing all of this is because I have changed my ideas and want to try out a different kind of project. I like the images as I feel that, as a series, they give a clear and strong message to my spectators. However, I know that I can do better experimentation and have venturing into a different idea for my final project. For each photograph I wanted to originally just get images that were more close up and abstract but when photographing I found that it looked a lot better when I had a little bit of the environment that it was in, in the photo too. I think that this looks a lot better and shows more context and allows the spectator to see what we are doing to our natural world.
For my third photo shoot I am going to build on from the research that I have done about Walker Evens and staged documentary photography by creating and experimenting with my own portraits. To do this i’m going to explore the difference between a ‘raw’ portrait that look more credible like those of Walker Evens and a portrait which is more beauty based and that is more glamours. This links in with the exam theme of truth and the idea of portraying people in the closest likeness that you can. I am going to incorporate this into my work by using my dad as one of the subjects for the more credible portraits. I then want to include these photographs as part of my final outcomes. I am also going to continue photographing my dad on a daily basis to build up an archive of photographs which represent the idea of the ‘ the truth behind closed doors’ and the idea of traditional role reversal as a continuation of my book Domestic.
In order to capture my family’s reactions to the images, today whilst they were all around at my house, I filmed them all looking through all the digital images, to see their reactions and hear any memories and stories the images brought back.
As my Poppa’s birthday is on the 13th, I will also be taking photos of them when they all look through the photo album which I will hopefully be able to include in my final photo album.
For my Poppa (grandad)’s birthday, me and my Mum decided that we should make him a photo book with the digitalised slides, so I got onto the app that I use for editing my books, and put together a book containing the best of the slides we got digitalised.
Although this is nothing like what i intend to create as my final book, its a starting point to see layouts and get an idea for which images do and dont print well and to see which images my family have the best reactions to.
When I mentioned the Archive project to my Nan which we were doing for our coursework, she started looking for old photo albums and trying to make sure she could dig them all out, we had tried to get her to do this on several occasions, but the mention of me needing them forced her into action, and after she had found all the old albums and I was half way through my last project, she dug up a box of slides, and asked if I’d be able to make use of them.
The box contained several boxes with hundreds of slides, 480 to be exact, and a book where my nan had tried to keep record of who was in each photo and what year the photo was taken in etc.
We then took the box of slides to be digitalised so I could work with the photos and show them to all my family, who haven’t seen these images in at least a few decades.
For this project I have decided that I want to create a photo book to bring all of my images together and to tell a story within the series of photographs that I am going to make. I have some ideas of different pages that I want to add into my photo book and think that they will be really effective when it comes to the final outcome. I already know what I want to do for the front and back page and also think that I want to change the first page attached to the cover to green to blend in with what I want to create as the front and back cover. I feel that I will be able to make this book in time and think that if I manage to do it right then I will be able to make a really great book that I am happy with. I am basing my project around nature and the environment that we as a society have re-moulded and manipulated to fit what suits us. My images are going to be very green and bright as I want them to be exciting and beautiful for my spectator to look at and to stand out to them more.
my previous work [added inspiration]
my previous work [added inspiration]
my previous work [added inspiration]
Front/back cover
For the front and back cover I want to spread one image across the entire thing. I will be using a hardcover as this is the best looking one. I don’t like this but it is the best wrap for the cover compared to ones that come off etc. I have decided that I want to make an images of a green woodland area that is really bright and captures any possible spectators attention. I want to make this image and then print it out. Then I will put both of my hands in red paint and print them onto both sides of the image. This represents what humans have done and continue to do to the natural world. As soon as I thought about this being a project I came up with this idea for the front and back cover as I think it could be really interesting and something unusual drawing in my spectator making them want to look at my photo book. The next pages in from the front cover will be the same/similar green to the green that’s on the front/back cover. The image below is the one that I have chosen to use for my cover and I haven’t edited it as I think this image looks much better natural as nature is beautiful on it’s own and doesn’t need any kind of filters. I am going to start experimenting with this and will see if it looks good with the hand print on top of it. I think that this will work out really well and I am excited to see what the outcome of this image is. After I have made this image I will start making my photo book to see how it looks and start bringing it all together from there.
my photo
Inside pages
Landscapes
For the inside pages I want to incorporate my Instagram and typical sunset images. I think that this could be a really interesting idea as usually Instagram photos are square adding a different style/layering to the images. I want to use two images of my favourite sunsets on one page with the page on the right being a couple of landscape images being ripped up and made into a new image. I think this could be really interesting. I want this ripped up image to represent the pollution in the air that is breaking up our atmosphere and changing it, polluting what we see and how we breathe. I really want to try this out as an experiment as I think it adds something more to my photo book giving the spectator more to look at and interpret. For this image I will be printing out different sunset images that I am going to make and just rip them up, I want to try and rip them in such a way where I can piece them back together, even though they will be different images. I really think that this could work out well and add something unique and different to my work.
Staged I love making staged images, it’s one of my favourite methods of photography. I find it really interesting and think that this will really work out in my photo book adding more to it than just landscapes. For this aspect of my project I think that I will re-use or re-shoot images that I made previously for performance photography as I really liked how these images turned out and think that they could work really well with this project. I want to keep with the theme of rubbing out people’s bare flesh and just having their clothing on show. I want to do this as what I’m basically trying to say is that it doesn’t matter who’s in the photograph, what matters is what they are doing and what they are wearing. I think that this could be a really interesting way of looking at things and could raise questions in my spectators minds. Another idea that sprung to mind was when I saw one of Claude Cahun’s images down on a beach in Jersey, she is lying on the sand. I want to use this and recreate it in my own kind of way.
Abstract
I also want to create more abstract images. I have in mind ones that will be extreme close up shots of rubbish left on the streets of Jersey. I think that this will be a really interesting shoot to produce and to learn more about the society we live in and how careful or careless we really are. I think that I will make this into a photo collage on one page as I think that this will be the most interesting way to lay it all out. I want to show the broad spectrum and the vast amount of litter that is left lying around the streets of Jersey. I really hate when I see litter on the floor when there is a bin five steps away from the rubbish. I can’t understand why people think it’s ok to just leave things in a huge mess as if it will have no affect on the environment around them. For example, it could be extremely hazardous for animals trapping them or even suffocating them. I want these images to make people feel slightly sick or even ashamed and realise how they are treating our natural world. I think that this shoot will be fun to do as an experiment and to see how well it actually all works out.
For my exam project I am going to explore local food produce in Jersey. I will consider the three main produce which Jersey is most associated with; potatoes (Jersey Royals), fish and diary.
RE-CAP
As this project began I started to look into the themes of Propaganda, focusing particularly on Soviet Union propaganda techniques, and exploring how the Communist regime used various propaganda techniques to entice and draw people into their ideological cause. I also looked at the artistic side of this, evaluating how art has changed and advanced rapidly during this period, linking such findings to how this affected advertising. The main Soviet Propaganda artists which I looked at from this period were
Dziga Vertov: filmmaker known for his film “Man with a Movie Camera”
Alexander Rodchenko: constructivism
Varvara Stepanova: constructivism/photo-montages
This change lead to new and emerging techniques such as photo-montages; a greater distribution through the formation of mass production of media outlets and the general emphasis on producing more visual and attractive art. I explored the context of all of these themes in good detail, producing a fairly well rounded summary of what propaganda is; the intent of it; and the effect it has on people.
DEVELOPING MY IDEA
After gaining some contextual understanding of the history and development of advertising/propaganda in photography, I began to look at how these past techniques, concepts and ideas have shaped and influenced the advertising and propaganda of today, as well as how contemporary photographers have addressed and responded to this idea. In doing so I noticed one theme which linked all forms of propaganda and advertising together – the concept of ‘consumerism’. All propaganda, whether it be of political or commercial influence is inherently linked by the idea of persuading someone to invest into a cause with the promise that it will in some way affect that persons life in a positive way. In this sense propaganda usually finds the balance between having an emotional affect on a consumer …… in a way which leaves a positive message that encourages them to further explore and be willing to invest. In other words it plays on good feelings and tries to get the consumer to feel confident and assured to invest in that product.
WHAT IS MY CONCEPT?
Using the influence of two photographers, Martin Parr and Henk Wildschut, I want to link two different aspects of food production together: production vs. selling.
I will go to both shops as well as areas that food is produced, producing images relating to both sides of this industry. I will try to remain objective in my photographic approach, photographing merely what I see, oppose to manipulating or staging any of the images.
This project will be an observational account of my findings, using a documentary style. Over the course of this project I want to be able to address the question: “is the way food is advertised really truthful?”. My suspicions would be that this is not entirely the case and I believe photography would be a very good way of finding strong and balanced evidence for this case.
STAGE ONE
What?
My images will be linked to two sides of advertising; the first side will look at the ‘fantasy’ of a product which is created through deliberately deceptive photographic techniques which are used in advertising. The images I will create will be similar to classic advertising, but have a sense of irony to them
Linking to my study of advertising, I will investigate how advertising is connected very much to the theme of ‘fantasy’, an idealistic view of a product which does not necessarily reflect reality. I will therefore produce a series of image which play on the visual language of advertising, using the distinctive style of Martin Parr as a point of reference.
How?
I will visit local food retailers and shopkeepers and ask to photograph the food produce displayed on their shelves, get portraits of the shopkeepers and photograph general food items. Over the course of this process I hope to gain a body of images relating how the retail/selling side of local produce; who is involved and what is displayed.
I am going to try the copy the photographic style of Martin Parr, based on his series of images, entitled ‘Common Sense’. In this series Parr evokes a satirical twist on the theme of advertising, producing images which are deliberately designed to be in some cases vulgar and grotesque, a complete contradiction of classic ‘promotional images’.
I will also make a few experimental images whereby I copy standard photographic techniques in advertising to make the images more visually pleasing and attractive. To do so I will set up a mini photo studio in my kitchen, and all of the images will be the same in the sense that they will be carefully composed in a controlled environment. Although similar to my Parr inspired images, they will nevertheless evoke a more typical style and importantly mood, associated with visual advertising.
Why?
I am doing this because I want to respond in a direct way to the way in which images are advertised, in the process placing my own twist on this concept. I will be acknowledging the methods of advertising in a way that isn’t necessarily that complimentary.
STAGE TWO
What?
In the second stage of my photographic study I will turn the attractive, colourful and enticing visual language of advertising on its head, creating images that look at food production, oppose to the advertising side.
How?
I will copy the style and theme of Henk Wildschut in his photo-series ‘food’. In this series Wildschut explores through his direct and simplistic documentary style, the everyday occurrence and happenings of a meat production factory. It provides a very realistic insight into the way meat is mass produced and processed. It provides a general overview of all of the occurrences, a narrative which explores themes in short, sharp bursts.
Oppose to stage one where I will look at and respond the methods/style of advertising, I will reserve idea by exploring the ‘truth’ of how these products are made, going into factories, farms and production areas where all three of these food products go from their most basic form to appearing on the shelves; ready to be advertised.
I will visit farmers on their farms, fisherman at work etc. … I will follow the journey from how a product is sourced to when it appears on the shelf
Why?
Throughout this process I hope to challenge to the extent of ‘truth’ behind how something is advertised by comparing how it appears after its completion to the processes and appearance of it beforehand.
This second stage I hope will add an extra dimension to my work, as it will give my visual story more depth, as well as a point of contrast.
Overall
I am hoping that this project will be exciting and interesting to complete, and that I will find a lot out about the way our local food is produced.
I plan to visit as many places as possible over the time I have to complete this project to gain a strong visual body of work as well as a greater personal understanding of what it is reality of how Jersey’s well renowned products are done.
Leading on from my last point, as the products I am investigating are fundamentally a part of Jersey’s heritage and historical culture, my work will subsequently be very much be an investigation in the key values of island life, accepting that although times have changed, there will always be a sense of pride for Jersey’s unique products such as diary, fish and potatoes. I hope to explore this sense of pride in my images, or at least explore whether such themes exist in a modern island dominated by business in large finance centres, a far cry from an island previously dominated by farming and agriculture for hundreds of years.
Over the Easter holidays, I plan on responding in depth about domestic violence. I feel that it is such a big issue and It’s quite a personal matter as i know many people (friends and family) how have unfortunately been involved in a domestic situation, whether it be physical or mentally: each issue is just as bad as the other.
lee friedlander reflection!!!!!!!!!- 1960’s self portrait – the museum of modern art – Friedlander
jh engström härbärge
Photo shoot Idea:
Shoot No.1 – Domestic abuse is an issue all over the world, and is definitely an issue that most people don’t realise happens even in the smallest of places . I think it would be interesting to contact the Jersey refuge for women to see if it would be possible to talk to and maybe photography some of the women organisation their and learn more about their stories (and then represent their stories within a series of staged images). I’m very aware that these are tough situations and some women may not want to talk about it or be photographed, and that’s ok. I just plan on getting stories of a few women and hopefully portray their situations. I would love for them to be included photographically (by taking portraits of them) and I will contact them on Friday to ask permission to go and talk to these women. If I am able to access the organisation and are welcome to go and talk to some of the women, I will prepare questions to ask them and I will record everything (if that’s okay with them).
Shoot No.2: This shoot will consist of me staging images that represent the stories that some of the women have been through. I think that the combination of their quotes alongside the fact that these situations i’m photographing actually happened, give this authentic feel and will hopefully be emotive and powerful. For now, I plan on using someone as a subject to represent the role of the victim, however I feel as if representing the role of the perpetrator could be just as powerful in representing this evil and hunting nature.
Shoot No.3 : This shoot is sort of a back up plan, and is an experimentation in which I plan on looking into the idea of reflections through self-portraiture. I was highly inspired when looking at the work of Lee Friedlander and plan on creating images of my own that look visually similar to his own body of work. I find it particularly interesting when he incorporated elements of himself within his images, whether it be just a shadow or half of his face and so on. This shoot will be conducted by taking just a few images at first, to see if they look good visually, and to see if it is something i would want to base a whole project around.
For this photography exam, we have been given the theme of ‘Truth, Fantasy and Fiction’, and for this theme I have thought of a number of possible ideas.
The first idea was to collect information on politicians in Jersey, that is possible to find online, and contrast the things they say to the people they portray in the media. I think this could be an interesting idea, as it would give an insight into what the people who run Jersey are actually like. I could develop on this idea by focusing on a particular political story that is in the news at the moment. Although this is an interesting idea, I think it would be difficult to create a storyline without it being too broad. Because of this I thought of a different idea.
My next idea, was that I could look at social revolutions in Jersey and photograph some of the political rallies that are happening, and feature archived material to use as more of a backstory. I could look into the development of the new finance centre, hospital etc. but thought it would be hard to do as I am not part of any of these groups, so to give a true representation would be difficult as I would not have full access to photograph everything that they do.
Because of this, I have been inspired to do a project using tweets that politicians and important people have made, and contrast these tweets with images I have taken of a subject. I am thinking if using the same person in each photograph to illustrate the theme of the project. I have taken inspiration from Barbara Kruger, and the way she uses words and slogans and overlays them on photographs that contrast what is said in the text.
Over the Easter half term I am going to start photographing my dad, with the goal of producing another photo book. My main idea is to explore the theme of truth, by making a ‘part 2’ of my book ‘Domestic’ which I completed for my Personal study. The book is about my mother being the breadwinner in my family, her culture and female stereotypes. I enjoyed doing documentary photography and I pleased with my outcomes. However, for the exam I plan to photograph my dad at home and photograph what he gets up to on a day to day basis. I also want to photograph, the bakery where my dad used to work. He worked at the same bakery for over 20 years before he became ill. The bakery then closed many of its branches. I want to take a traditional approach to documenting my dad to start with by not interfering, however later on I would also like to stage some portraits of my dad. To portray the difference between traditional family roles. My dad being unemployed due to health reasons has led to a role reversal within my family that has lead to my mum working more than my dad, which doesn’t conform to stereotypical roles. I think this will be a good follow up from my personal study because it links in well and I will be able to complete the story that I have started with my personal study.
John Baldessari is an American conceptual artist and has over the years created images distorting people’s faces making sure that the spectator does not see their faces. I really like Baldessari’s work as it is unusual and makes spectators think more about the image and what the subject is doing rather than the features on the subjects face. I like this style of distorting the face or making it less clear for the spectator to be able to see, it intrigues me more and makes me wonder about it. In my own work I want to distort people’s faces to almost make them anonymous and so the spectator won’t be able to recognize anyone and so they don’t focus on their facial features but instead on the meaning conveyed in the image itself.
John Baldessari photography
John Baldessari photography
John Baldessari photography
Christopher Mckenney is a horror surrealist photographer from Pennsylvania who makes strange images that don’t often show a person’s full body. They tend to be covered by something or parts of their body have been rubbed out. I really like Mckenney’s style of photography as it is so unique and interesting to look at. His work makes me think of nightmares and a lot of it reminds me of the devil, his work is dark and twisted. Something about that really intrigues me and makes me want to look at more of his work and find out the meanings behind his work too. I want to adopt his unique style of photography with rubbing out parts of people’s bodies and features to make for more interesting photographs.
Christopher Mckenney photography
Christopher Mckenney photography
Christopher Mckenney photography
Linda Blacker is a fine art photographer from Chelmsford, United Kingdom. Her work is very put together and staged down to the last point with extra attention to detail as well as her models almost always being completely painted head to toe. Blacker’s photographic work is very fantasy based and images are usually touched up in editing to make them more perfect. I don’t find Blacker’s work very interesting but I like the idea of using a more conceptual approach using paints etc. I also like the use of making the model not look like themselves, just another way of distorting the face and body.
Linda Blacker photography
Linda Blacker photography
Linda Blacker photography
David Hilliard is a documentary photographer. He works making panoramic style images. I love this style of work as it brings in more of the surrounding environment and gives the spectator just that little bit more to see and to look at. Hilliard’s work is so visually pleasing as his images are always so bright and clear. I like to just look through his images and see how colourful they are with the natural beauty of lakes, flowers and plants. His work is interesting to me as I feel that a lot of it is staged as he would need to get the subject to hold their position while he makes his panoramic images.
David Hilliard photography
David Hilliard photography
David Hilliard photography
Orvar Atli is a landscape photographer and has been a mountain adventurer since his teenage years. He usually photographs in Icelandic mountains and captures the raw beauty of the places that he visits. I love his style of work, I think it is very beautiful and really captures nature at its best moments. I want to experiment with this idea and possibly add some panoramic images into my own work too to add to the effect.
Orvar Atli photography
Orvar Atli photography
Orvar Atli photography
John Baldessari – distorting the face
Christopher Mckenney – rubbing out peoples features
Linda Blacker – staged + dressed up models
David Hilliard – panoramic style images
Orvar Atli – how images look [visuals]
Subject | Topic
After thinking about the exam project for a while I have decided to focus my photographs on the environment and make surrealist images of how our society treats the natural world and show in a more theatrical way how it really is effecting everyone not just humans. I did think about carrying on with something in the realm of feminism but I want to show that I have more to offer and that I believe in further developing different photographic skills as well as following a range of movements. I will be using myself in some image as I have previously done just because I find it fun to experiment and easier to mess around with when it’s just me doing it. I aim to incorporate some aspects of feminism and the ideal of female beauty which is so often pushed towards women. I want to maintain the focus however on the environment and to make my images as interesting as possible. I think that surrealism is a really great photographic method to follow as after researching many surrealist photographers I have found their styles to be so unique and interesting as well as all seeming to follow the theme of nature and how humans are changing this for the worst. I love how beautiful surrealist photographers make their images, making the spectator really feel like they are in some sort of dream.
Style of Images
For this exam subject of Truth, Fantasy or Fiction I have decided to really take all three elements in different ways. Ultimately, my images are a reflection of our society and how it really does treat the natural world, I want my images to be a reflection of the truth. Something I read about photography was that none of it is true, it is how the photographer sees the world and their own personal interpretation of it. This is what I see the world as and that is what I want to focus in on. Something that I spotted in the exam booklet was a quote from an art critic, Charles Baudelaire, who claimed that artists must be truly faithful to their own nature. I like this as it is so true that artists tend to make photographs from their own minds and will come up with concepts and ideas to express as part of their own self expression. The fantasy aspect of my work comes from the surrealist images that I am going to make, which I think merges well with the title of fiction too as my work is more fantasy based, it isn’t real or necessarily true. The work that I am going to create is a reflection of how as a society we neglect nature and take over it without a second thought. How we as a society tend to think nothing bad is going to happen if we cut down the only remaining trees in our neighborhood. For me it’s all about getting my message across and sharing that message with a wider audience, with my spectators. I want them to be able to understand nature and how badly we as humans are effecting this natural and beautiful world.
When/how are they going to be created?
I want to start making images this week and have been planning on how I would actually be taking them. PhotoShop is going to act as a key element in my photographs as I want to focus on distorting the face and not allowing the spectator to see the subjects face as well as manipulating some images to make them more surrealist. I want to create images similar to the ones that I have done in the past by rubbing out peoples bare flesh. It will make my images more interesting and conceptual. I will need to prepare a lot for making these images and create some sort of plan to get everything prepared before actually going out and doing the shoots. I know how I want most of my images to look exactly and need to plan my way around actually being able to make these images.
Here is a tracking sheet which I to track my progress until the end of the Easter Holidays – I will review this tracking sheet at the end of every week and tick off what I have done. I will make changes/adjustments to this tracking sheet when required.
TASK
DONE?
WEEKS 1-3
BRAINSTORMING IDEAS + COMING UP WITH A CLEAR CONCEPT
YES
POSTS ON PROPAGANNDA (LOOKING AT THE SOVIET PERIOD) (3-4 BLOG POSTS)
YES
HISTORY/CHANGING TRENDS OF ADVERTISING (3-4 BLOG POSTS)
YES
OUTLINE FOR MY PROJECT
NO
WEEK 4
LOCAL PRODUCE AND ADVERTISING (ONE SECTION FOR EACH OF THE THREE)
NO
CASE STUDY ON LOCAL ADVERTISING IMAGES – BREAKING DOWN IMAGES
NO
MOOD-BORADS ON ADVERTISING AND PRODUCT PLACEMENT
NO
OVERVIEW OF THE PHOTO-BOOK ‘COMMON SENSE’
NO
IMAGE ANALYSIS IN COMMON SENSE: 3-4 KEY IMAGES
NO
MOOD-BOARD OF IMAGES IN COMMON SENSE
NO
ARTIST REFERENCE – ‘THE WORLD OCCORDING TO MARTIN PARR’
NO
BLOG POST ON ANOTHER PHOTOGRAPHER WHO USING ADVERTISING LANGUAGE
NO
GET IN CONTACT WITH TOM PERCHARD + TRY TO ARRAGNE A VISIT
NO
TRY TO ARRANGE SOMETHING WITH JOHN LE FEUVRE
NO
GO TO A FEW SHOPS AND MAKE IMAGES
NO
WEEK 5
HENK WILDSCHUT – FOOD
NO
GATHER ALL IMAGES I HAVE ALREADY FOR BOTH TOPIC
NO
OVERVIEW OF THE PHOTO-BOOK ‘FOOD’
NO
MOOD BOARD OF IMAGES IN FOOD
NO
IMAGE ANALYSIS IN FOOD
NO
ARTISIT REFERENCE RESEARCH ON HENK WILDSCHUT
NO
BLOG POST COPARING THE WORK OF THE TWO
NO
BLOG POST ON MY RESPONSES TO THE TWO – HOW I WILL RESPOND PHOTOGRAPHICALLY
AO1 – Develop your ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.
To achieve an A or A*-grade you must demonstrate a fluent ability through sustained and focused investigations achieving 19-20 marks out of 20.
Get yourself familiar with the assessment grid here:
To develop your ideas further from initial research of mind-maps and mood-boards on the theme Truth, Fantasy or Fiction you need to be looking at the work of others (artists, photographers, filmmakers, writers, theoreticians, historians etc) and write a specification with 2-3 unique ideas that you want to explore furthe
Follow these steps to success!
Write a specification with 2-3 ideas about what you are planning to do.Produce at least 2-3 blog posts that illustrate your thinking and understanding. Use pictures and annotation.
Write a paragraph of each idea and provide as much information as possible on how your ideas interpret the theme of Truth, Fantasy or Fiction.
Illustrate each idea with images to provide visual context
Produce a detailed plan of 2-3 shoots for each idea that you are intending to do; how, who, when, where and why?
If appropriate, think about locations, lighting and choose a setting or landscape that suits your idea. Take recce shots or experiment with different camera skills/techniques before principal shooting. If appropriate, think about how to convey an emotion, expression or attitude and the colour palette, tone, mood and texture of your pictures. Consider mise-en-scène – deliberate use of clothing, posture, choice of subject objects, props, accessories, settings (people/ portraits etc.)
