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Photography and the truth

For this small mini project I wanted to focus on the photos which I think had the strongest emotional impact on the viewer and the largest negative representation of mankind. This is a clear representative of an image you wish did not tell the truth. This is an image to which you do not want to show a reflection of man kind and belive in the cruelty that lies behind what the image contains. In the modern day many people ignore what is not around them or what they can be on screen. So capturing a harsh truth of humanity in order to represent  what their ignorance and carelessness has done and effected others around the world. Children are viewed by the large majority to be innocent. They are not responsible for their own decisions and yet have to face the consequence pf what adults tell them to say and do. The life of a child is held high than that of an adult. Because of this these images speak louder than anything anyone could ever say. It highlights such a horrendous political situation that people ignore, but faced with the reality they see such innocent people affected it should change their mind. these images are not sublime. There is no beauty in this image other than masses of pain and outrage. This image should not be seen as just shocking but should be seen as though provoking for change within the world.

The way to which the photographer with the body in such a lifeless condition is the most painful part of this image. There is a complete lifelessness and it removes all sense of hope. Children should be seen as playing and happy, the lack of eye contact and a boy lying face down. tHe headline for this article was a syrian boy who has drowned brings migrant focus into attention.

ISTANBUL — The smugglers had promised Abdullah Kurdi a motorboat for the trip from Turkey to Greece, a step on the way to a new life in Canada. Instead, they showed up with a 15-foot rubber raft that flipped in high waves, dumping Mr. Kurdi, his wife and their two small sons into the sea.Mr. Kurdi tried to keep the boys, Aylan and Ghalib, afloat, but one died as he pushed the other to his wife, Rehan, pleading, “Just keep his head above the water!”Only Mr. Kurdi, 40, survived.“Now I don’t want anything,” he said a day later, on Thursday, from Mugla, Turkey, after filling out forms at a morgue to claim the bodies of his family. “Even if you give me all the countries in the world, I don’t want them. What was precious is gone.”It is an image of his youngest son, a lifeless child in a red shirt and dark shorts face down on a Turkish beach, that appears to have galvanized public attention to a crisis that has been building for years. Once again, it is not the sheer size of the catastrophe — millions upon millions forced by war and desperation to leave their homes — but a single tragedy that has clarified the moment. It was 3-year-old Aylan, his round cheek pressed to the sand as if he were sleeping, except for the waves lapping his face. This went rocketing across the media and sparked, as a political bombshell across the Middle East and Europe, and even countries as far away as Canada, which has up to now not been a prominent player in the Syria crisis. Canadian officials were under intense pressure to explain why the Kurdi family was unable to get permission to immigrate legally, despite having relatives there who were willing to support and employ them. So far, the government has only cited incomplete documents, an explanation that has done little to quiet the outrage at home and abroad.

Consequently it is evident that a photographs can change the world and peoples perceptions around the concerning subject matter. For instances. Peoples classified the immigrant crises mostly for these people to be ideologised as villains and or also seen as people running from the law. Because of this i believe it become quite easy for people in the western world to ignore these people in their time of need and create a dismissal of their needs. However I think the story and image powerfully show how it is just families trying to escape war in order for a better life, And to ask the question why would you out your families life at risk with the intentions to just harm others. I believe this opened up so many conversations of what people should be doing to help and not prevent and trap these desperate people out of their borders when all they are looking for is survival and freedom. I believe the bare brutality of the image does not hide any aspect and this image cold not be made in a composition.

This image is telling the truth, it is not staged are told or produced in order to create a perception of false reality. This is a documentary journalist who was studying the immigrant crises and happened to be at this place.Although even to say that an image ,this could be fake, should this not still be taken seriously as these events are still catastrophically tragic and occurring. Just because something is real or fake does not mean that the message behind it should be any less insignificant. photographs are used to create awareness  whether this being good or bad and i think this particular problem of immigrants was one washed over by main media and portrayed many of the victims as villains. Because of this the conceptual impact on the audiences and viewers was of great significance and allowed those who minds were swayed by the hegemonic view to see a painful truth of  families just trying to escape for a better life.

There are so many aspects to this image which make it wholly disturbing. First of all the boy of the child is almost translucent, his bones clearly ripple throughout him and their is no substance of life and embodiment to his should. His small figure in such a composition that has connotations of defeat, His lack of eye contact and oblivion to his lack of life is reflected through his face down on the door, not having enough energy to even lift his head. Birds of prey live and eat off the weak and the dying, because of this it is evident that the starving child is so close to death. The bird is equally centered in the composition as it immortalised the figure of death behind the boy himself.

From these observations I have learnt that, somethings people expect or anticipate the truth to not be true, or perhaps in circumstances they wish it want. So many people spend their times purposely ignorant to others than themselves as then nothing is seemed to be their problem. However these actions of doing nothing still consequences in the deaths ad suffering of many.through photography telling the truth such as these then there would never be any cause for change within the world.I believe in society everyone carries an instinct within themselves to help others, perhaps this is seen through a maternal or paternal outlook on wanting to care for children. I believe that once again the effect of this image being a child will in turn create a much larger impact altogether rather than just that of a person. You cannot blame the child as it is an adults duty to care and to be responsible for the outlook and loving of a child, to raise and let them live in a life which they are happy and health. This sheer amount of malnourishment is consequently a factor that even in the worst states of poverty within the us or England would never happen. It shows how for a child to be in this help. this poor of a condition and people wanting to help, how little everyone around the child has, and no ones ability to help. This narrative documentary tells so much of as story and would hopefully speak some truth to people, It has not been a deception of an act as this is evident within the posture and lack of life within the young boy. It deems how we need to urge those with money to help, not just those close to them, but the ones who need it most. Because of this the large exploitation of the image itself, it allows so many to see a sit that only a few have seen in person. The though of poverty has finally been out into . appreciable consequence of their inhumanity. The change has sparked many and hundreds of campaigns, for starvation around places such as Africa, yet this will never reach everyone who needs it.Within the article itself speaks about the photographer and his intentions and what he saw. After spending many days in a village in south Africa he headed out to the bush. He heard ‘whimpering’ and come across an ’emaciated’ toddler. This little boy had collapsed whilst attempting to make a trip to the feeding center. the photographer was not allowed to touch the victims due to to disease. After 20 min of gaining back energy the little boy continued to the feeding center.

The irony within the image conceptually is how well fed the vulture is, this harsh juxtaposition posses the thought hat the vulture has been eating off the well nourished who has sadly died. It shows the harsh reality and inability for people being deprived of what they need for survival. The New York times ran this photo, there was much debate on what happened to the child and the irony of peoples concern when they themselves have done nothing to help this boy. However while telling this truth, many questioned the photographer for taking the picture and not helping to the aid of the child instead. This lead to many debates on a photographers duty to intervene. However sadly it comes out 14 years later around when the child was 16 he died of malialsial fever. Although winning awards and spreading awareness of crucial and dark situations such as this, he has never been able to forget that day and says ‘ i am haunted by the vivid memories of killing and corpses anger and pain’ Technically the image has a strong composition both focusing on the irony and well being of the bird towering over the fragility of the boy, this conceptual shows the weakness of mankind and how we have been reduced to animals when having nothing to eat and no longer thriving as a community. I believe there is such a core importance of showing images such as these otherwise nothing and no change would ever come of anything. Not because people don’t want to help, but they might be ignorant to the thought of something as terrible as this happening within the world.

There is such a strong sense of propaganda within these images. these images being used by the media as a weapon against governmental regimes. When an image is in a newspaper there is a certain reliability that is dependent on the paper for being truthful. this weapon too needs to have such a pivitol point to encourage patriotism and promote national interests. If this image wasn’t so upsetting, people would forget about it and move on with a new paper the next day.

Exploring The Sublime: Tim Walker

I was told to study Tim Waker as I decided I wanted my images to be incredibly interesting and always have an important view to each and every photo developed. Because of this I was told to study Tim Walker and the way his images are full of such strong imagination and could possibly say the sublime. Walkers photographs have entranced the reader of many vogue magazines rapidly month after month, for over a decade now. His images are viewed as extravagant and a typically seen being staged and through romantic motif and character how are deemed to be unrecognisable by style and hugely inflectional to fashion and the way in which photography is developed.  His concentration on photographic stills for 15 years enabled himself not to be moving on to making short films and movies. To be this is of great importance because it poses the ideas of how photography can also be viewed though a sense of cinematography, and the ways in which I could make a short movies showing the sense of the sublime through my own images. walker was born in England in 1970, and his interest in photography  began in the London library where he was able to work on the Cecil Beaton archive for a year before university. After a three-year BA Honors degree in Photography at Exeter College of Art, Walker was awarded third prize as The Independent Young Photographer Of The Year. This was a monumental moment fro him as it allowed himself t be power done by his own ambitions and form a relationship of what he is doing is successful.

Walker worked as his own freelance photographic assistant in London before moving to new York. When he arrived in New York he became the assistant to Richard Avedone. Walker use to have a strong concentration on his woe being more primarily filled of portraiture and documentary work for the British Newspaper. Although not long after he had his first shoot with vogue and with many editors and soon he was taking in conversational cues and stray bits of wisdom with a mind that whirs incessantly, much like the camera he carries wherever he goes.And that may be why, as he stood gazing seaward during a shoot last year on the northern coast of England, he was all ears when Kristen McMenamy, his model and muse, confided that she had long been enchanted by mermaids. She told Mr. Walker, as he recalled, “This is the one character I’ve never been able to play,”I believe his work is whole unique and extravagantly innovative. He has an ability to capture so many styles and narratives within a piece especially evident within his recent works, which can currently available in somerset house. Yet he has soon moved onto a new styles encapturing more fantasy aspects of fashion using his works to tell a story.Oddly, his tendency to obscure clothes in favour of elaborately staged, dreamy narratives has only endeared him to the art and fashion set. His works are in the permanent collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum and the National Portrait Gallery in London.

This piece is wholly magical and a substitution to that of the pain of what is expected to be only beautiful. The mermaid itself is a purely fantasised and fictional character, yet walker has bought her into this world  filled with that of reality and the inspiration from fantasy and na altered reality. He combines an interesting new attitude that . constitutes what sublime is and can be formed into something less expected. I think it is quite innovate that he uses a address with scales in order to evoke the mermaid and fish texture, as this allows his fashion forward ways to be used and effectively present within the composition. The mermaid is not overall sexualised and I belive this is important as otherwise This would not be possibly viewed as sublime but would be seen as too perfect and not allowing a sense of pain to come through the image. The way in which he body is held is also an interesting way to view this image as you can almost see a sense of pain within the image itself, the way the hands are surrounding the face connotes attitudes and relations to fear and escapism. Interestingly many of the colours are ether faded or pushed back, this has implementations  of a focus point in the image itself, however contrary to many sublime images it does not have the sensory of colour, however these grey undertones could possibly aspire a more solemn and possibly painful mood to the image but still conveys themes of sublime but presented in a more abstract an divided manner. I believe this image is perhaps too staged and slightly tablo for what i want to incorporate into my work at the moment, however I think the overall themes could be interesting to work with. 

To my mind this piece does capture a more fashion stylistic outlook on what purposes that of the sublime. I belive the contradiction fo the ballgown to that of the industrial and rustic looking stairwell posses that of the pain and reality of a set and yet still hold a composition to display such a beautiful dress. This composition and overall isolated surrounding is perhaps more sublime. There is such a strong contradiction of beauty and also pain and suspended alteration within the image thatI believe would work well and successful come into and under my themes of my work. The stance of the image could be seen as very high fashion in the way of the leaning over the railing and the long exaggeration of how tall she is. The concentration of light also illuminates specific angles to the image and brings shadows to those sections that are more dingy. This shoot has somewhat inspired me to do a photoshoot in an abandoned area, and perhaps also add in an aspect of beauty within the area itself, as this division of ideas would shows aspects of the sublime.

manifesto shoot and the sublime: shoot on bodily form/ surrealism inspired : Shoot 3 for sublime

For this more bodily focused shoot ,I was inspired by a set of images that had such power and wonderment by expressing an personal exploration of their bodies and they way in which they work is so abstract from that of anyone else. I belive there is a real strong sense of emotion within these photos and also the way in which I could also form colour and composition into this could  to connote many important ideologies to do with political, power and the effect this has on people emotionally. However to develop this shoot  further I have decided to divid it into two sections, one of which purley focusing on the textures, forms ,shapes and composition in which a body can make. And the next is capturing someone dancing and the way in which there practice of a dance such as ballet is a complete contradiction in the way in which a human body can and should be able to contort itself. Because of this i belive every dancer must have a strong passion for the sport and also have a strong emotional vulnerability to be able to dance in front of so many and practice for the long extended periods that they do so well. I belive the body of a person is such a sublime concept. So many things need to work in order for it to transpire and work each and every day and this is almost unacknowledged and ignored. Because of this i belive its pain and yet the beauty it goes through contains such a strong sense of power that really makes it sublime.

For the first shoot I had many ideas going round my head of the way in which I should capture this shoot and the effect it has in many different Formal composition and colour co ords. I think I have experimented so well ad throughly and this will help in the long run as good practice before I concentrate on what I would view as the more difficult shoot with the dancer. Due to my book not having a exact narrative but each of the images having the relation of a sublime power will really work well with these shoots and also with the effect of my previous nature shoot.

Plan for part of this shoot:As spoken about previously I wanted my shoot to show such an abstract positive and worldly experience throughout the composition of the room itself to become inviting and full of senses to be heightened to that of the bright colour can create a trance like effect for those who become part of the art itself. I want to create a whole exhibition to capture a purity of life and love within the whole shoot. Not only this but motion will still be occurrent throughout the shoot, in order to show aspects fo reality and have the person being immersed within the space but not in such a easy they become a solid attribute of the space itself.When creating the space I was very particular about the images I intended to use. I wanted to show imagery that would enhance the space and create a dream like state of informed surrealism. After I had chosen the images my next aim was to set up the room and compose it in such a ways it would look effective and pleasing to whoever would walk in and see it.

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hand and body edits and close ups

As said previously I wanted to focus on the bodily composition so edited and present my  images of hand under the effect of light, as the light itself can convey an emotion dependent on the colour itself. I believe the hands are successful and contain an interesting interest point. Overall I Think the editing of the colour photos are too over exposed but this had to be done in order to fit with my manifestos artist inspiration. However I think this will further develop my ideas as i know now i do not want to continue with these ideas of faces, but focus more on the structure of the body, and this might become more interesting within the mystery and not seeing an identity to the image itself.

Mandy Barker Photoshoot Plan

Concept: To create images similar to the ‘Beyond Drifting’ series by Mandy Barker using items that I have found. I will place the lens of my camera over the eyepiece of the microscope giving the same circle effect that Mandy Barker uses to present her images.

Lighting: The microscope has a built in light underneath the stage which will serve to illuminate the objects only.

Props: I will use a normal light microscope borrowed from the science department of my school. The microscope will not have a graticule so as to not distract the viewer from the details in the pollutes. The magnifications that come with the microscope are 4x, 10x and 40x.

 

Camera Settings: I will lower the exposure in-camera so the details of the objects are more visible

Artist Research: Mandy Barker

BEYOND DRIFTING: IMPERFECTLY KNOWN ANIMALS, Mandy Barker, 2017
In the Beyond Drifting series, Barker acknowledges the impact humans have on micro organisms, being that plankton mistake tiny plastic particles for food in which they ingest. This in turn impacts a greater population as they are at the bottom of the food chain. Barker presents objects of marine life debris as long-exposure  microscopic samples where she then gives them fictitious names inspired by the latin names of organisms. Within these names, Mandy cleverly disguises the word ‘plastic’.
 
Soup, Mandy Barker
 
Another of Mandy Barker’s series, Soup, presents plastic debris from a far out view. She captures these objects in an aesthetically pleasing space-like image to emotionally stimulate viewers of the contradiction between the beauty of the image and the ugly realisation. Each image in the series contains ingredients that narrate the pollutes featured, sometimes giving a location for where they were found.
 

Method: Barker shot on a black background using natural light, arranging the objects in groups and photographing them at varying distances so they appear to be different sizes. Each item was photographed twice to show both sides, and to help populate the final, densely packed collage. It took nearly three days to get everything just right, then another six hours to create the composite, carefully layering hundreds of images in Photoshop.

Image Analysis

“Pleurobrachia stileucae” is an image featured in Mandy Barker’s ‘Beyond Drifting’ project in which she looks at micro-plastic pollutes and their effects on plankton. The title of the image uses nomenclature, a method of devising new scientific names, to imitate early Latin origins where plastic items take the place of new organisms. The word ‘Plastic’ is hidden within the name –Pleurobrachia stileucae.

This image depicts the remnants of a partially burnt plastic flower, collected from Carrigaloe estuary, Cove of Cork, Ireland, the same location as naturalist John Vaughan Thompson’s plankton samples from 200 years ago. Thompson’s work on marine invertebrates lead him to a number of revolutionary new concepts in fundamental systematics, he developed a technique of collecting plankton with a fine mesh net held open by a hard frame, to which ropes for towing are attached. This equipment is still used today. His work was carried out at a time when plankton didn’t even have a name. While in Cork he published several works including “Zoological researches and illustrations” (1828) which is listed as having been taken by Charles Darwin on his famous Second voyage of HMS Beagle.

The item is captured using a slow shutter speed representing the movement of individual plankton in a water column. Captured in a circle on a black background, it resembles a planet like construct demonstrating the impacts we have on the earth. The use of ‘circles’ in the series is also a reference to the perspective you would have when looking through a microscope.

Artist Study – Sophie Calle

 Sophie Calle

Biography/Overview:

Born October 9th 1953, Sophie Calle is a french, writer, conceptual artist and photographer. She mixes image and text to provoke very intense responses typically stimulated by picture film or literature. Her most astounding works suggest human susceptibility, and examines intimacy and individuality as well as brushing on various types of stalking and surveillance.

In the process of secretly investigating, reconstructing or documenting strangers’ lives, Calle manipulates situations and individuals, and often takes disguise while doing so. Thus, in the act of pursuing a stranger to Venice, or taking the position of a hotel chamber maid to observe the guests, Calle conditions and recasts her own identity for that period of time. The documents or “evidence” that result from these conceptual projects are presented as photographs, photo-text installations and zines.

Career:

After completing her secondary education, Calle set off on a seven year expedition around the world, during which time she developed a strong sense of political justice, identifying herself as a Maoist, feminist and member of the proletarian Left. Upon her return to Paris, she found herself in an alien city, without a clear direction, without friends, without employment. As a result, she took to the streets, following strangers on the road like

a detective, recovering her hometown through the paths of others. The project eventually led her to follow one such stranger to Venice while surreptitiously taking photographs of his journey.

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  In 1979, Calle invited strangers and friends to spend a few hours each on a single bed so that it was occupied continuously for eight days straight. She took photographs and conducted short interviews with each individual, one of whom was the actor Fabrice Luchini, and noted the important details of these brief meetings in a notebook: the topics they discussed, the positions of the sleepers, their movements in bed, a description of their breakfasts. “The Sleepers” caught the attention
of art critic Bernard Lamarche-Vadel, husband of one of the
subjects, who invited Calle to exhibit at the Paris Biennale in 1980.
Her work seeks to create a bridge between art and life through installations, photographs, text and video and borrows the style of reportage and inventory.

‘Suite Venitienne’

Venetian Suite consists of black and white photographs, texts and maps that document a journey the artist made to Venice in order to follow a man, referred to only as Henri B. She had previously briefly met him in Paris. Suite Venitienne records Calle’s attempts to track her subject over the course of his thirteen-day stay in Venice. She investigates and stalks him, enlisting the help of friends and acquaintances she makes in the city. Eventually Henri B. recognises Calle, and they share a silent walk. Even after this encounter Calle continues her project, shadowing Henri B. from a distance until his arrival back in Paris.

The photographs that accompany the text are candid snapshots that document Henri B.’s movements and record the places he visits in the city. Henri B. was a keen amateur photographer himself, and while shadowing her subject, Calle also attempted to replicate the photographs he took. The installation also includes photographs Calle took using a ‘Squintar’ mirrored lens attachment, which allowed her to photograph subjects without aiming her camera directly at them.
Despite these artistic precursors, Calle has described how her project was originally conceived as a personal exercise. She has said: ‘When I made it, I did not consider myself to be an artist. I was just trying to play, to avoid boredom.’ The political aspects of her work include surveillance; are we being constantly monitored? and to what extent is it acceptable? Furthermore, her project exploring the morality behind photographing a subject that is unwitting. It also touches on the socially accepted norms to do with modern photography – whats acceptable and what isn’t. Her work has caused a lot of controversy; many people applaud her concepts and bravery while others believe what she’s doing may be obsessive, wrong and breaching human rights.

Essay on lewis bush, claude cahun and clare rae.

Photography comparison essay

Lewis bush,claude cahun and clare rae.

I have recently attended the exhibitions of three highly influential artist whose works are all based from a political side of jersey landscape. However each artist presented such abstract and diverse conceptual thoughts and ideas different from each other and I want to analysis ,why, what and they have all successful connoted their political ideas throughout their work. Lewis bush is a curator and educator of British photography. His attention forms invisible power that influences and helps to operate the world, he is said to be ‘arbitrary and transparent’ his belief that power if problematic is clearly highlighted through account of his ‘politics in jersey’ exhibition. To my mind this exhibition was not to demonstrate one political ideal and being right and the other wrong ,nor was it to shine a negative amount of attention upon the reality of jersey being so absorbed within its finance sector. But it was an ability of self expression for the viewer to demonstrate their own personal views upon the project. This challenging the misconception held by many that every in jersey holds the same idea about the finance sector. And yet this project highlights the enormous variety of attitudes and opinions. Lewis’ intentions within his work was to document and portray a sense of reality or even perhaps ‘documentary photography’ approach to how the finance sector is truly like within Jersey. However Within his work it is clear he has manipulated many of the images, this separates the dependancy and the reality to which his work can be taken. I think it would be a hard assumption to belive all his work is a direct reflection of the sector due to the amount of people consumed within the industry, and how can one photographer tell a true reality of so many. 

Personally I believe his most influential work was the incorporation of crafted individuals and who their identities and similarly constructed and orchestrated to broadcast the same characteristic of someone who works in finance. I believe this allowed people to question their own identity and if they are who they are due to their passions or because they surround themselves within an industry which demands a certain presentation of character and being.  This self reflection of people is then contrasted within the different part of the community demonstrating what they believe finance is saying things such as ‘awful’ ‘freud’ ‘bullshit’. lewis said he had ‘ a great interest when distributing the cards’. This to me demonstrates bushs’ curiosity rather than and ambition to create a project on politics to inflict his own personal views as being the only right and correct view.

Consequently the matter of opinion is a personal biases of who has been exposed to the exhibition which is the younger generation. The majority of negativity shows how money is viewed as a sense of governmental oppression to many, and not a necessity to keep jersey going as this is the main source of income,I think this is fascinating. The rest of his photography is a clear demonstration of natural landscape of some a simplicity of final infrastructure. His work to me connotes a clear message of accumulations of infrastructure designed to further power final go. This set of images is vibrant within its colour and has a considerable influence from an architectural point of view. These aspects of modernisation show the current necessity and pressure put upon jersey to keep finance its main factor of income. The images themselves denote aspects of abstraction , their form is structured but very segregated to only focus on a small areas. This cropping shows small scenes of jerseys necessities. He then focused on ‘the direction point of looking into another finance sector or where lot of money is said to be held’ these series of locations is to present a different approach and address people not in jersey and how they appeal and recognise finance form where they are. Lewis said this will form a connection of international finance.  To me this is a clear demonstration of the structure  that is the primary support for the finance sector, it deals with a clear denotation of physicality of the buildings that hold most fo the money movement within jersey, this being within the airport and such. 

In comparison to lewis bush’s more conceptual and modern view of political landscapes, claude cahun and clare rae demonstrate a currently innovative way at the time to expose gender normative and through body composition express the way a person’s emotional stability is. Cahun was a pivotal point of photography in 1954. She successfully presented a conversation between two performative practices some 70 years apart. Her avant garde style and surrealistic body movements  formed a subversive self portrait photographs, that dealt with the representation of the female body when considering the demonstration of gender. Claude was a subservient and surreal artist who was at the very core of the surliest movement. Cahun was not the typical jersey citizen and still would still be classed within this frame, She was gay, living with her half sister, jewish and a activist who spoke out against the german revolution. Her politically engaged and charged strength allowed herself the capability to make this iconic pieces of work challenging gender stereotypes, which would of been hugely monumental at the time. I belive personally her influence on photography is massive and has enabled many to take up photography such as Claire Rae. 

What I believe is highly influential and successful about her work is her physical engagement with the physical and cultural landscapes. She showed repercussions of love and her work to this day still has not aged from the relevancy and beauty it holds. I believe her strongest piece lies within the influence of this piece:It demonstrates the way in which a woman’s body is cognitively hung in order to express a position of vulnerability. Her stature compressed into the small gap reduces herself to being small and weak. Her stance is stiff in the way that is she were to move she would fall and crumble. Perhaps this is similar to my themes of emotion being mimicked and found within nature. This work is hugely partial to how gender within women is seen as the weaker of the sexes. Although in time this was not a deliberate manner I do believe that the black and white tonal shades highlight and timelessness to the images and a beauty,It highlights the fact that the women too is as beautiful as the nature and too as free spirited. The way to which he work was displayed constitutes to a clear divide of work (Chaun on one side and Rae on the opposite), this indicative composition to my mind forms a political bias and serge between the times to which the photos were taken, The political influence being emphasised as both artists are highlighting the fragility of the female identity however one with and one without rights.   I personally belive Rae’s use of the past archival images to from as inspiration resonates with the threads and ideas stuck within the concept of surreal art being the revolving of art means nothing is ever permanent. Raes work was developed on film, this made he work become more accurate due to the extra expensive the film cost herself, this methodology leading to the instillations is powerful as it demonstrates another influence dependent of time and the incorporation of methods ignored by many photographers today.

The photographs Rae produced in Jersey are intimate. there is a clear exploration within the idea of self and the immediate environment and were she produced many collaboration with her partner. Her performative gestures and repercussions of a women body was so hugely  ahead of her time. She questioned the fluidity of genre and asked why this concept was such a defining factor of who we are. Cahun’s and Rae’s work speaks to me a-lot more than lewis, I think this is due to the way she has incorporated emotion and a relationship within the landscape and an understanding of jersey, where bush shows an observations of various opinions scattered together. Cahun has said ‘ I enact a visual dialogue between the body and these environments, and test how their photographic histories impact upon contemporary engagements. Cahun used self-portraiture to subvert the dominance of the male gaze in photographic depictions of the female body in the landscape’ This is clearly seen within the venerability of the positioning of the female models to almost rein-act what it was deemed to be a female back in the early 19th century.

Both exhibitions contrast on many strong levels and social impacts. they both use their divisive sources to produce such unique and unrelated work.In conclusion to my mind Clare Rae had a clear narrative and artistic influence from Claud Chaun, Because of this I think her work is so much more successful as she new exactly whats she was trying to connote through her work. The political landscape is shown through a loving atmosphere to highlight femininity and injustice  further emphasised  through the positing of the models. How as Lewis bush has such a wide range of a topic much of his work did not have cohesion and not as many literally studies of jersey itself. Although I do believe Lewis did connote jersey finance as being a pivotal part of the history and future of this island which is true and highly relevant to the population today

Final political landscpaes theme: The sublime, reality and surrealism to evoke emotion.

The sublime, reality and surrealism to evoke emotion.

After reconsidering what would be most effective for my shoot I decided it  would be effective if I were to decided a more clear narrative and narrow all my ideas into one plausible theme which would successfully be made into the  final  presentation of a book. So after much deliberation I have recognised that the sublime will be my main point of interest. The sublime and how it links to deep emotions of fear and pleasure and how this in turn creates a conceptual narrative. This means When taking my photos I will do so with the intentions of creating conceptual art that does not have a linear narrative to the end, but purposes the same constant idea expressed throughout abstract and surrealism shoots in order to capture and represent the sublime. These conceptual images from a narrative of emotion, because of this i have decided It would be effective for me to do more bodily photoshoot of hands and forms capturing peoples emotions and even doing so capturing the emotions of the sea and such through the power they contain, I do not want to make this project about the emotions that i have as i do not feel this would be worthy of me doing so as I do not have any deep passions of pain. However I do think will still be able to capture a personal emotion through the people choose to take photos of.  The sublime also has a clear connection to that of politics and the overruling theme of political landscapes throughout the deep past and structure of it being formed on the basis of romanticism. romanticism is based of a power and love within a landscape and how people idealised the movement and love that they hold for a section of land.

My first shoots of experimenting with the sublime, will be spoken about more in my next piece but originally will focus on the water and the notion of being trapped and essence of beauty within the water but the threat of death due to the hanging of being submerged in water and not being able to breath.I believe the most important value to these images will be the incorporation of emotional value within them.  Due to my images not having the strongest lineal narrative motion there needs to be a strong contextual factor to each and every image chosen, due of this the emotional side is of great importance. I will capture this my the bodily form, colour and the concentration of what is their surrounding and how this also effects the image to being more sublime. I believe the distorted narrative of the conceptual of emotion allow myself to Pieces together the project and from the reflection of what i wish the audience to feel. As the emotion is not a personal reflection fo what I am feeling I can create  and piece together an expansion of a story throughout all of my work. I really think it is of great importance to start going deeper and taking more challenging and complex imagery and this will really incorporate the sublime itself. I believe a new large interest will be how emotion can and should be evoked through colour and how I can further contextualise my images through this.To do so in a more interesting manner i will take photos within and outside a studio. To further this ideal I believe the sublime does not always need a person within it in order to cause an effective, so more of my images from now on will be without the presence of a model, or just not in the picture itself. Artists I will further look into consist of mack and Torbjorn, hopefully their influence will allow myself to be more creative when coming to my following shoots.

Political landscape shoot ideas and intentions

I intent to do 8 shoots over the next 5 weeks.These ides are all still based along that of emotion based on political bias but still under the influence of reality and creative thinking aimed towards surrealism. All of my shoot will be on location and will need the help of a model and or objects to help influence in the images.

1.My first shoot will be my manifesto shoot, I have previously spoken about the shoot itself so will not go into much detail, however I would like to repeat that I am starting with a vibrant creative shoot to highlight the power of the surreal mind.

2. this second shoot will take place either within a pool or in the sea (wherever someone can be submerged in water). To my mind the sublime is purely the reality of fate being taken away with beauty and fear. To me water is a great example of this. I want to show the physicality and motion fo someone within the water and also the way in which the shapes are so abstract and show such effortless beauty. However I also wish to show underwater shots, although I do not know the possibility of this happening as my camera does not have the ability to take photos such as this.

I have chosen one of my first shoots to either take place in a river or a poll. I have chosen this as I have previously spoken about the sublime, And i do believe water and the effect of this has such a . huge effect of peoples emotions and  a sense of power and conflict within the life and death of a person.

3. My third shoot I believe I will try and experiment within the human anatomy and bodily from combined with the effects of colour. This will be done with taking still shots of arms bend out and faces in order to show an emotion and a sensual and sensitive side to themselves. This includes the body forming an overall defining shape in order to express how they are feeling or to express my theme of reality through the small lines, crevices and imperfections every has within their face. I would intend to make like look inhuman and also close up it does not have a defining human influence.

4. My fourth shoot will be concentrating of the discovery and the effect of how nature and the natural landscape can be sublime. I believe this will entail  and taking more beautiful and breathtaking captures and being creative with naturally what I am given. I also want to concentrate on nature and plant and the beauty yet power in which they hold and control over themselves and the environment around them. For this shoot I want to combine the art of using fire into the passion and such of my piece itself, to do so I will both take sublime images of the fire and then also combine them with the way how I will also be able to add elements of romanticism throughout all of these landscapes and natural beauty within landscape.

5. collage of abstract images, I was inspired to do this by Tim walker. I believe a collage contains memories that have much significance to us personally and you could even say some have a sublime effect to us. I believe that the concepts of reality seen within a collage is interesting as we do not know what the vent and scenario of the photos  themselves were. I believe that conceptual a collage is interesting and depending on the way in which you physically fro the images themselves they can successful convey even a surreal undertones to the composition as a whole. With the collages I could form a personal responses of myself and others yet also, discover and start an enquiry of the romanticism landscapes and how these are formed and how I could collages old romanticised images of art together.

6.Fashion shoot, tablo style, For this I was again inspired but he more surreal feel in how you’re physically able to create a sublime effect through a surreal sense of altered reality. As I am not focusing on a narrative but a relative feeling of emotions from each clip, this will still be able to convey emotion through the constructed composition, I think fashion is such a clear definition of who we are and want to be as people and is very different and meaningful to each and everyone of us. Additionally politically what we wear has an illusion of our social class and the political influences themselves.

7.Mystery, For this shoot I want to take images that have a quality which is not of the feeling and presence it give off itself, this could be seen within many things such  as a landscape and or a person found living within the landscape or scenario itself. I want to connote how the feelings and presence of people can be shows though their surroundings and belongings, however we will not know the person even due to the direct connections making the photos mysterious or wanting to know more.

8.For this final shoot I  want to further investigate one of the previous shoot perhaps changing aspects that I think will create a more successful images or even more so with the intentions to demonstrate a different emotion altogether. I belive with all fo these photoshoots plus additional experimentation and editing these shoot should combine my themes of the sublime, reality and surrealism very well throughout and hopefully will successfully combine to create the a narrative of conceptual emotions in a successful and inventive mannerism.

 

 

Rules Of Technicality – My Response

Artist Reference and Contact Sheets

Heavily inspired by the work of Henrik Malmström, I planned to take photographs out of my window of bypassers in a documentary way like a CCTV would. I used very high ISO settings (25600) on my camera to achieve a very grainy look much like Henrik Malmström. However, I found it hard to achieve the obscenely grainy effect since I was using a modern camera that had ‘noise and grain reduction’ as a built in filter, since, most photographers don’t want their photographs heavily grained as that is usually viewed as ‘unprofessional’. Upon further research I found out that Henrik Malmström managed to bypass this obstacle by using a low quality disposable camera to take his photographs. I was not able to do this for this shoot, but, it is a possibility and area that I could explore in future shoots. 

Photoshop Manipulation

The First Outcome

This is the first set of images I’ve produced, It’s also my first look at surveillance photography and working in this sub genre. The photo editing and manipulation really improved and added more depth to my images; I’ll be working closely with this in the future of this project. The sequence of bypassers doesn’t have much correlation at this stage, I want to explore how to change this and somehow correlate and intertwine the photographs to show a linear story in multiple shots. I’ve presented the photographs in a way typology tends to be presented; linear grid filled with photographs that are very similar to each other but with subtle differences.

There are many similarities between mine and Henrik Malmström’s work, although we’re both photographing unaware subjects from the comfort of our windows – Malmström tends to focus much more on the person rather than the surrounding, I wanted to include more than just the subject in my shots to give more context and show the progress of time (the building becomes darker further into the night). Furthermore, Malmström has a lot more knowledge about his subjects and what they’re doing, I don’t. I think in a sense that make’s it much more interesting since it gives much more freedom to my imagination, especially since I want to focus on creating a story of what my subjects could be up to. One of my initial ideas is to explore police documentation and compose my photos in a way that police evidence would be stored and displayed. This relates directly to the political aspect of what Malmström does, he photographs crime and calls it ‘a minor wrongdoing’.