I wanted to try my own version of Nigel Tomm’s work so I could understand more about the process and see the transformation for myself. I am also interested in developing the idea further and editing then in different styles, potentially going on to making work with a similar concept incorporating my own photos.
I started by looking through existing women’s fashion and beauty magazines for cosmetic adverts, celebrity and model endorsements and features. I chose a selection of full page or blown up images which showed women with airbrushed skin and perfectly placed features, the majority of the images I found showed re touched images of models with not one hair out of place. Most were advertising a product or a way of life which is unattainable by regular people showing a false perspective of the world.
After ripping out a variety of images, some black and white others in colour I started to crumple and fold the pages. I wanted this process to be partially random but to also focus the distortion around the models face disturbing the original aesthetic of the images. The idea of manipulating these photos in a disruptive way of bringing their looks down to a realistic level ultimately undoing the editing process the original photographers have made. I then scanned the crumpled images making sure they were not flattened too much, the scanner captures the depth in the folds and the textures of the edge of the page better than a camera would, it also lights the glossy paper evenly.
I then cropped the scanned images so that you could not see the white boarder and uneven sides.
