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Analysis, Experimentation

peter ainsworth// comparison

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PETER AINSWORTH

https://www.celesteprize.com/artwork/ido:264313/

Peter Ainsworth was born in 1978. He is an artist based in London who works with sculpture, printmaking, video and photography. Ainsworth’s most recent projects are made from medical and industrial materials used in relation to photographs and videos. I came across Ainsworth after taking and editing the images of my distorted face shoot. Ainsworth also did a project using clingfilm to create different effects in his images. The project which I came across by Ainsworth is called LIFE MASK. He did the project in 2013 and it is a documentation of a performance: the creation of a self-portrait in cling film and soap. According to Ainsworth  the work is an ‘exploration of self on a domestic scale.’ The photos are a creation of a life mask in reference to the ‘obligatory Selfie that pervades online representations that at once purporting to be a ‘true’ image, an indexical imprint but also a surface, a façade designed to present oneself from a flattering viewpoint.’

The edit bellow of one of Ainsworths images is very similar in comparison to me edit from my distorted face shoot. Both images have a black, simple background so that the whole focus is on the figure rather than any distractions. I believe Ainsworth used a studio light for his images, like me, to create the reflections with the clingfilm. The bright reflections work really well in contrast to the dark background. Ainsworth uses the clingfilm as more of an overlay for his images, to create an overall look. However, I used the clingfilm to cover the face so that the reflections and shiny effect is only on the figure.

COMPARISON

The image below by Peter Ainsworth is very similar compared to my final edited image from the shoot. The image by Ainsworth is taken of himself with his face painted white. He has used clingfilm to cover the whole frame to create an unusual texture look. For the shoot you can see that Ainsworth used studio lights to create a reflection of the  clingfilm which in turn adds another dimension to the image. Ainsworth’s image is in black and white, like mine, because it reveals the different tones and textures much more when in black and white. Instead of covering the whole image with clingfilm, I used the clingfilm to wrap round the subjects face to dis-form it in some way. I did this because I wanted to create a similar effect to Jenny Saville’s images.

PETER AINSWORTH

MINE

Experimentation

shoot//distorted face

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The images below are the original images from the photo shoot I did based on distorted faces. I was inspired by some of Jenny Saville’s images of the faces squished against glass. I aimed to create images similar to the ones by Jenny Saville, but I wanted to use different materials to experiment with. I used a transparent cloth, clingfilm and a pane of glass. They all needed to be transparent because I needed to see the face through the material. I did the photo shoot in the darkroom at school using the studio lights. I wanted a clear simple background so I asked the figure to stand in front of a white screen. I really like the effect of the reflection on the materials because of the studio lights.

For the first set of images I used a transparent material, similar to a pair of tights. I asked the figure to cover his face with it.  I then tied the material tightly at the back of his head so that It would distort the features of the face in someway. I’m happy with how this worked because the transparent material allows us to see the distorted features really well. I also really like how the material allows the light from the studio light to reflect back at the lends. I wanted a colour version and a black and white version of this image to see the comparison, and to decide which edit would be the best.  I really like the colours and the yellow tinge because it creates this unusual  atmosphere to the image. I prefer the black and white edit though because I like the contrast and variation of tones with the shadows and lights.

I really like the image below because of the face expression of the figure. The viewer is left to interpret what is happening in the image. The figure could either be laughing or screaming in pain. I also really like how the material has distorted the figures face in this image.

For the second part of the shoot, I used clingfilm as the material to distort the face. These images with the clingfilm are mush more interesting and unusual compared to the images from the first part of the shoot. I really liked the images in black ad white because it helped to highlight the reflections in the material. The images originally had a white background with shadows, but I wanted the background to be more simpler and darker to contrast with the figure. The way the material has distorted the face works really well. The images are somewhat similar to some of Jenny Saville’s images with the squashed faces. I wanted a variation of angles within the set of images and I know that I’ve achieved that.

Analysis, Artists References

artisit research// jenny saville

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JENNY SAVILLE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Saville

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/jun/09/jenny-saville-painter-modern-bodies

Jenny Saville was born on 7th May 1970 in Cambridge, England. She is a contemporary British painter known for her large scale painted nudes of women. She works and lives in Oxford, England. She has dedicated her career to traditional figurative oil paintings. He painting style is very similar to Lucian Freud and Rubens. Her paintings are much larger than life size and they are usually very strongly pigmented. They give a highly sensual impression of the surface of the skin as well as the mass of the body. Her published sketches and documents include surgical photographs of liposuction, trauma victims, deformity correction, disease states and transgender patients.

The image above by Jenny Saville was done  by using a photocopier. She pressed her face against the glass and tried to distort it as much as possible. I will be using this concept as inspiration for my first shoot. I aim to distort a figure’s face as much as possible by using different materials such as clingfilm and cloth. This will be my first representation of body image. I chose to start simple, and just focus on the face rather then the whole body.

Analysis, Independent Study, Inspirations, Personal Study

Personal study // Body image

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BODY IMAGE

Body image is a person’s perception of the aesthetics or sexual attractiveness of their own body, according to Wikipedia. The phrase body image was first coined by the Austrian neurologist and psychoanalyst Paul Schilder in his book The Image and Appearance of the Human Body. Society over time has played a huge role in creating and developing the ‘perfect’ body image. The world has placed great value on these standards so much that a person’s perception of their own body is  based on society’s opinion on the  ‘perfect’ image.

Society’s view on the ‘ perfect’ body image has changed throughout history. On a website called Medical Daily, they show how this image has developed and progressed. They initially start in the 1800’s, with the ‘Rubenesque figures’. Peter Paul Rubens, a 17th century Flemish Baroque painter, was famous for his depictions of plump, sensual women. Up until the 20th century, curvy, voluptuous women were considered ideally beautiful in the U.S. and Europe. The image below is a painting by the artist Peter Paul Rubens.

The Bathers
Renoir’s paintings also depicted rubenesque figures, a type of body that was considered ideal in the 1800s.

In the website, they talk about how influential figures throughout history have inspired and changed the ideal body. For example, in the late 1800’s,  Lillian Russell, a famous actress and singer was chosen to represent a women of ultimate beauty. The image below shows her big-boned and heavyset posture that was a popular trait in the 1800’s. This popular body image is sufficiently different to the ‘ideal’ body image of modern day. You can see just how much society has changed over time.

Lillian Russell

Another famous actress that influenced the changing ideal body type was Alice Joyce , who was part of the flappers during the 1920’s. The flappers were trendy women with bob hair cuts and slender, lean builds.  They were confident women who smoked, drank, danced and voted. Women were becoming stronger and more powerful in their roles. The term “flapper” first appeared in Great Britain after World War I. It was used to describe young girls, still somewhat awkward in movement who had not yet entered womanhood. In the June 1922 edition of the Atlantic Monthly, G. Stanley Hall described looking in a dictionary to discover what the evasive term “flapper” meant:

The dictionary set me right by defining the word as a fledgling, yet in the nest, and vainly attempting to fly while its wings have only pinfeathers; and I recognized that the genius of ‘language’ had made the squab the symbol of budding girlhood.

The photo below is an image of Alice Joyce. Her slender, lean body was the ‘ideal’ body type during the period. Even though its only been 20 years since the end of the 1800’s, society’s opinion on the ‘perfect’ body type has already progressed and developed vastly since the rubenesque figures. The ideal body image was becoming more skinnier. Alice Joyce

During this time, men also had the pressure of body image. Women were behaving more and more like men, by taking up their roles. This was because by now, women could vote, drive cars, choose who they married, and even hold jobs that were previously allotted only to men. They began wanting attributes to define their masculinity. Mustaches were now the new trend fro me that would last for many decades. Here is an image of a sheet music cover design that symbolized that  women were gaining more freedom and success in society, while men needed to cling to some physical semblance of masculinity.

We Must Grow A MustacheDuring the 1940’s to the 1950’s, the ideal body type was the ‘Curvy Pin-up Girls‘. Marilyn Monroe was the pinnacle of attractiveness in the 1950s, proving that a fuller female body was considered more beautiful than thinness. Society was again changing their view on what the ‘perfect’ body image was. The ideal female body may have been heavier back then, but it was just as scrutinized, criticized, and retouched as it is now.Take pin-up girls, for example: glamorous models or actresses whose photos were mass-produced and meant to be “pinned up” on a wall. Pin-up girl photographs were also turned into illustrations that were highly retouched and stylized. Similar to using Photoshop.  During this same period, society was seen shaming skinnier girls in the same way mass media shames fat figures now. Men wouldn't look at me when I was skinnySkinny girls are not glamour girls

Both these images are advertisements from the 1940’s  and 50’s. There were many advertisments during this period that shamed women in many ways. It was always about body types, but also offending their character and traits. By society’s opinion, women were never good enough, and could always improve their appearance in someway. This is similar to modern society. During the 1960’s, famous women again adopted a a slender, almost emaciated look. Curves weren’t as important as being rail-thin and elegantly fashionable, like the tiny model Twiggy and the slender, doe-like Audrey Hepburn, both of whom were fashion and body image icons during this decade.

During the 1990’s, this was when the unhealthy obsession with thinness began. Kate Moss, a famous model began her career with a series of Calvin Klein photoshoots in the 90s that started the waif heroin-chic look and glamorized “thinspiration’. Kate Moss created the phrase “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” Men were also under pressure to have their bodies strong and muscular. Although society has continuously pressured women and men to change and develop the physique to suite the ‘perfect’ type, now a days there are many movements and organisations created that promote body positiveness. They plan on  overturning these outdated standards for women, and represent bodies of all shapes and sizes in the media.

Independent Study, Research and analysis

INITIAL IDEAS // BODY IMAGE

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For my personal study, I want to explore different ways we can represent the human body. Within the project I want to show how body image has changed throughout time. The ‘ideal’ body image has constantly been developed and manipulated to suite the views of society and the media. I aim to be creative with my shoots, while at the same time, showing through my images the development and manipulation of body image.  I want to do a wide range of shoots containing completely different perceptions of the human body. Although I don’t want to focus my whole project on the issues of Body Image, I am including some aspects of body dysmorphia within the context of my project. I mostly want to be creative with my ideas, but at the same time include meaning and context.

I will be researching many artists and photographers who will influence my work, such as Jenny Saville. I aim to Incorporate their ideas into my own shoots, but at the same time include my own concepts and contexts. I will explore in many ways how the human body can be represented and perceived. I want to include my love for art within this project by using and working with different materials, including paint, Clingfilm and other objects. At some point in the project I want to create some sort of suit or outfit that someone will wear during a shoot. The point of this is to express and symbolize how the ‘ideal’ body image has changed through time. It will also represent people dealing with dysmorphia, and how what they endure. The images bellow are ideas that I aim to incorporate within the outfit.

Another view I want to incorporate and research within my project is the use of the body to represent emotions. The body is an expressive tool and I aim to photograph it in a creative way symbolising certain emotions. I believe this will end up being the main aspect of my project based on body image.

Personal Investigation

Review// reflection

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Since the end of year 12 and the start of year 13, my confidence in photography has progressed. I have developed many new skills and learnt a lot about different aspects within photography. At the end of year 12, when we had a workshop with Jonny Briggs and Tanja Deman, I was able to use my skills in manually manipulating an image. We were asked to destory an image in some way, and I was very happy with my result. We were also able to develop our skills on Photoshop.

I used Tanja Deman as inspiration. I was also inpired by Idiris Khan at this point in time. I prefer manipulating an image using photoshop because there is so much more that we can do.

At the beginning of year 13, we learnt a lot about Documentary and Tableaux photography.  I was influenced by the Photographers, Sam Harris and Anna Gasky the most, and I used there ideas to inspire my work. I seemed to enjoy Tableaux photography much more than documentary photography because the creative process of setting up the shoots and coming up with the different concepts wad really good. I also really liked editing the images after the shoot to manipulate them to what I wanted them to look like. I learnt that editing images in certain ways can create a certain atmosphere that can change the interpretation of the image.

My favorite shoot and theme so far was my childhood memory shoot because I was able to be very creative with it by choosing the outfit, the surroundings and the different poses that the model did. I learnt with this shoot that I really like Tableaux photography, and would want to use this concept in my personal study.

Analysis, Research and analysis

Contrast between carolle benitah and Pete Pin

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PETE PIN 

http://www.petepin.com/#mi=1&pt=0&pi=2&p=-1&a=0&at=0

http://www.huckmagazine.com/art-and-culture/photography-2/pete-pin-origins-issue/

http://time.com/3785818/displaced-the-cambodian-diaspora/

Pete Pin was born in 1982 in a refugee camp which his family had fled to after fleeing  from the Cambodian genocide. Pin mother was 17 years old when he was born. The refugee camp was along the Thai-Cambodian border. Pin was born during the revolution. His family resettled in Stockton, CA, home to a large Cambodian American community.  Pin has said that he has “struggled for most of my life to understand the legacy of my people.”  He had little or no connection to his identity as a Cambodian American.

Peter Pin is a Documentary photographer and teaching artist.  He decided to use his photography to tell the stories of the Cambodian genocide. He is retracing his roots to bridge the gap between Cambodian Americans and their parents’ dramatic past through photography. In the fall of 2010, Pin set up a makeshift portrait studio in his grandmother’s garage in Stockton, California. With the assistance of his uncle, during one of the portrait sessions, Pin spoke to his Grandmother about his family’s experiences during the Killing Fields. Pete Pin found out that as well as the few possessions that was saved from the war, there was also a family portrait that had been saved during the revolution.  Pin describes the moment he first saw the family portrait. He says “I did not yet know that it was the start of a project that would take me across the country and back, into the homes of Cambodian Americans who would speak of their experiences during the Killing Fields and refugee camps, often for the first time in front of their children. Although I couldn’t imagine it then, the truth is that I became a photographer, in part, in order to tell this story.”

Pete Pin, Untitled, from the series Cambodian Diaspora: Memory, 2013, archival

These are Pete Pins images from the series called Cambodian Diaspora.

Portrait of Pete Pin’s grandmother, Stockton, CA. The Cambodian

 CAROLLE BENITAH

http://www.souslesetoilesgallery.net/artists/carolle-benitah

https://www.lensculture.com/articles/carolle-benitah-photos-souvenirs

Carolle Benitah is a French Moroccan photographer, born in Casablanca, Morocco. She had previously been a fashion designer before deciding to become a photographer in 2001. Throughout her photography, she loves to explore memory, family and the passage of time. She often chooses to pair family snapshots with handmade accents, such as embroidery, beading and ink drawings. Her main aim is to reinterpret her own history as a daughter, wife and mother.

In an interview, Benitah explains how she first became interested in family pictures, ‘I was leafing through a family album and found myself overwhelmed by an emotion’. The photos were taken 4o years earlier, and Benitah describes her annoyance because she couldn’t even remember the moment they were taken, or ‘what preceded’. In the interview, she talks about how the photos ‘reawakened an anguish of something both familiar and totally unknown’. She decided to explore the memories of her childhood to help her understand who she is, and to define her current identity.

She describes the images as ‘fragments of my past.’ The first step in her process is choosing what images she would experiment with. Once these choices of images were made, she would then add needlework, embroidery and beads. In the interview, this is how Benitah describes the process, ‘With each stitch I make a hole with a needle. Each hole is putting to death of my demons. It’s like an exorcism. I make holes in paper until I am not hurting any more.’ Benitah has done three photo series, they’re called PHOTO SOUVENIRS, WHAT CANNOT BE SAID and WHAT CANNOT BE SEEN. Here are three images, one from each of the series.

Carolle Bénitah, Photos-Souvenirs, Adolescence, l'amour est aveugle (love is blind), 2012, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery
love it blind, 2012, Archival Pigment Print with gold thread, Photo souvenirs series
Carolle Bénitah, What cannot be said (Ce qu’on ne peut pas dire), je veux m'extraire de ce corps coincé dans une tenaille géante (I want to extract my body trapped in a giant pincer), 2013, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery
I want to extract my body trapped in a giant pincer, 2013, Red Ink on Archival Pigment Print, WHAT CANNOT BE SAID series
Carolle Benitah, What cannot be seen, villosités intestinale (intestinal villi), 2012, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery
Intestinal villi, 2012, Red Ink on Archival Pigment Print

 

 

 

Analysis, Experimentation

Childhood memory shoot

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Here are the contact sheets of the Childhood memory shoot that I did on Friday.  My initial ideas for the shoot was to base it on the story book The Cat in the Hat. However, I decided to change my concept and choose to focus on a character from the book Alice in Wonderland. The character I choose to focus on was the Mad hatter because he was my favorite character. I didn’t want to simply copy the book and create something exactly the same as the fiction character.  I wanted to create my own version of the Mad Hatter with a feminine twist. I chose to stylize the character with feminine  features and clothing. I managed to achieve a wide variation of angles, positions and poses to create a series based on my ideas. I knew what I wanted to achieve in my head so I went to the hospice shop in St Ouen to buy props that I would use in the shoot.

The shoot took place in St Catherine’s woods because I wanted to keep to the theme of Alice in Wonderland. I wanted it to be set in a mysterious and sinister place. I also really liked the wild environment that woods created. It made the images more interesting because the greenery and natural scene added to the sinister and fairy tale theme I wanted to create.  For the shoot I choose what outfit the character would wear. I wanted to make the figure look similar the character the Mad hatter, but I also wanted to add my own ideas. I borrowed a top hat from school because that was the main prop that created the personality of the character.  The model also wore some old jeans, a black top and a big white coat. I wanted to the character to be feminized, so I bought some high heels from the hospice shop to add to the outfit.  To add to the dramatic personality that I want the character to have, I decided I wanted her makeup to stand out, so I used a red tone for the lips, and I did her eyes with bright colors. 

Here are my ten favorite edits from the shoot based on childhood memory. I edited each image by changing the brightness, contrast, vibrancy, saturation, exposure and colour hue. I wanted to the images to contain an autumn scheme, so I brought out the orange, yellow and pink tones.

The image above is an example of one of the close up shots I got when shooting the character. I’m happy with the positioning and framing of this image because the eyes are placed across the center of the scene. I also really like how half the frame is the characters face, an the other half is the greenery behind. The image has a mysterious atmosphere and feel to it because it looks like the character is lost, or trying to hide something as the eyes are looking away from the camera. I edited the image so that there was a slight shadow covering the eyes. I like how this creates a three-dimensional quality to the image. The highlight and reflection on the right side of the nose and right side of the forehead also brings that photo alive. I’m happy with the range of colours within the image, because there’s warm colour created by the orange tone of the hair, and the pink tint in the skin. I also like the contrast that’s created by the green from the background.

I like the image above because its a completely different angle and feel to the other images. In this image, the model was sitting on a fallen tree while i was below taking an image looking up at the figure. The trees are seen above in the background which I really like because it creates this sinister atmosphere, as well as just simply filling the frame. I like the tones and shading in the photo, because it ranges from the darkness created by the shadow of the tree on the left side, and the light coming through the trees at the top. I really like how the model is looking down, because it makes a powerful image.

The image above has a very strong, powerful feel to it because of the way the model is looking straight into the camera. I really like the pastel colour that the models hair has become during the editing. It creates this

I really love the image above and the image below because they have a fun, clever feel to them. I think this works really well with the personality of the mad hatter because it helps create this cheeky, playful atmosphere.

The image above is my favorite from the whole shoot. I love the framing and the colours within the shot. I like how the character is presented as the main point of the image, because shes placed in the middle, which is the main focal point of the scene. The path that starts in the middle, bottom of the image, slowly leads to the place where the character is standing which I really like. I’m happy with the way the model is posing because it creates this strong, stern, serious atmosphere. The colours in this image are my favorite part of it, because the yellow tones and the orange tinges work really well with the feel.

This image reminds me a lot of one of Anna Gaskey’s images taken from the series Wonder. The environment and scenery is very similar. The lighting is very similar as well because the lights coming through the trees, which is making the background a lot lighter then the foreground, similar to my image. The character is placed in the center of the path, which again is the same as my image. There is a lot more color is my photo, which I prefer because it adds to the details and makes the image more interesting.

Analysis, Preparation

Childhood memory/ tableaux shoot- plan

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For my Childhood memory shoot, I aim to recreate a scene from one of my favorite storybooks or films as a child. After researching different documentary and tableaux photographers, I want to mainly combine the ideas of Anna Gaskell and Alfonso Almendros to create my own interpretation of a tableaux image, based on a childhood memory.  Instead of trying to recreate an image or a memory, I preferred creating a scene from a book or a film because it gives me more space to experiment and try out different ideas. I want to be really creative with my ideas and characters that I plan to create within the images.

The book that I plan on focusing on is the Cat in the Hat. I remember reading this book a lot as a child, and I also remember watching the film that later came out. I really liked the storybook, and remembering all the rhymes there were in the book.  However, I also remember first watching the film by Bo Welch. I was around five or six when first watching the film. I remember finding the character of the cat terrifying. I wanted to somehow represent this memory in the photography shoot. I planned taking the images in St Catherines woods, or somewhere in the evening so that the light will gradually be getting darker. I wanted this, so that it would help create the mysterious atmosphere. I will be using my friends to play the characters from the book and the film. I also plan on using different props and dramatic makeup to express the emotion I want to depict within the images.

I hope to incorporate ideas from Anna Gaskell and Alfonso Almendros in the shoot. Here are some of the images that I was drawn to the most. I want to add some of the mysterious effect that they create within my final images.

Alfonso Almendros
Alfonso Almendros
Anna Gaskell
Anna Gaskell

Research and analysis

Alfonso Almendros/ Tableaux photographer

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Alfonso Almendros

http://www.alfonsoalmendros.com/

http://www.gupmagazine.com/articles/family-reflections-an-interview-with-alfonso-almendros

http://www.catalysti.fi/artists/alfonso-almendros

As well as comparing the photographers Anna Gaskell and Hannah Starkey,  I was interest in researching and analyzing the photographer  Alfonso Almendros. What intrigued me to his work the most was the unusual and mysterious images that he captures. I noticed that in his images he doesn’t usually include the face of the subject in the frame. He either crops out the head, or uses the lighting in a certain way so that the features are obscured. I really like the sinister feel that Almendros creates in his images, and I wanted to try and include this somehow in my tableaux shoot.

Almendros is a photographer from Spain who lives in Helsinski. The most recent series that Almendros has completed is called Family Reflections.  In this series his aim is to capture the differences between ‘now and then’. Each image within the series focuses on a particular concept, for example, the roots, obsession with death, glorification of maternity, or the sacred character of some objects. Almendros defines the series as ‘A series about family, struggle and intimacy that creates a parallel reality’. He explains how the idea of the series Family Reflections came at time when his life was full of indecision. After a period of living abroad, and being separated from his family, he felt a parallel between his mum, siblings and himself. He used this to provoke, and provide influence to the series. Here are some of the images from the series.

I really like the mysterious, sinister atmosphere Alfonso manages to create. Similarly to  Anna Gaskell, he has this hint of a fairy tale, story like theme that he provokes. Alfonso and Anna are the two main tableaux photographers that I want to use as inspiration for my childhood memory shoot. I aim to create this sinister, mysterious atmosphere within my images.