Laurence Demaison is a french photographer born in 1965. She spent most her early life training to be an architect and completed formal training in 1988. after this she became interested in photography and started making self portraits. she was self taught and enjoyed how photography could free her from using words, and made it possible for her to express herself. this is the reason for her using herself as a model because she didn’t need to direct anyone to show her vision. She would conceal, modify and destroy parts of the image using interesting techniques such as smoke, water and long exposures which often created a eary atmosphere. she manipulation of images is done when the photo is taken and not in post prediction.
I want to study this photographer for my final identity shoot because of the way she conceals and changes the identity of herself in the images. we can still tell there is a person in all of her images however they have been worpped in different ways. Although most of her images are self portraits I want adapt her idea and use her style but I will take photos of other people so I have more control over them. none of her images are edited after they are all appear as they were taken. I will try to take my photos in her original style however I will also develop it and try to create some using modern editing methods.
https://www.all-about-photo.com/photographers/photographer.php?name=laurence-demaison&id=65
Technical: the lighting is this photo is very focuses on the smoke which is closer to the lens, the background is shadowed and blurred however there is enough light for us to see the shape of a human figure. From this we are lead to think that the lighting is controlled and that this photo was taken in a studio set up. Although the detailed smoke is what our eyes first see the blurred figure pulls our focus through this and makes us inquisitive about the person. A fast shutter speed would have been used to capture the smoke in action. This is a black and white image however it has a high contrast between the black background and bright smoke.
Visual: The textures and pattern in the smoke are exaggerated by the blurred background and although it is very simple his image is very effective. The shape of the smoke perfectly covers the face and frames the mouth.
Conceptual: instead of using a model she preferred to use herself as the model so that her artistic image could be presented exactly how she wanted it. although she enjoyed this she struggled to confront the image of her own body. Rather than portraying her body as it was, she sought to conceal, modify, even destroy it and reconstruct it in a form more acceptable to her. The result is a series of self-portraits which expertly use the reflective and distortive qualities of her materials along with the shadowy effects of light and negative images to create “paper phantoms”, ghosts of herself that are there, yet disappear in an instant.
Her struggles with self acceptance links in with the theme of identity and is one reason why people may chose to conceal or change their true self.
