For this photoshoot I will be taking another of the print advertisements that I have found to recreate in some way similar. I will again be keeping in mind Cindy Sherman and the way she embodies ‘characters’ and try to have my subject try this and have their own take on the image.
Background:
The era of the 80’s evokes very visual aesthetics that can be found specifically in this era. The high brands found in the 80’s prove to still set trends for today’s fashions, most of which people are familiar with Chanel, Versace, Armani and Balenciaga. The 80’s saw a rise in women moving into professions that were previously dominated by men. This trend sometimes lead women in these professions to not be taken seriously as they were often seen as primarily objects of desire rather than independent with ambition. This social issue created a movement named “Dress for success” or “Power dressing” with encourage the wearing of mote angular clothing that generally made them appear larger through the use of shoulder pads or sizable lapels and collars.
For these reasons I am choosing for my third recreation to produce a photograph resembling one of the Balenciaga adverts produced in 1983. I feel at this point I can show some of the developments of how woman and adverts were produced, in this era heavily woman were going into business work and were creating a new name for themselves.
Plan:
I will again be doing the photoshoot in the studio as this is most likely where the original was taken as it seems to be quite a stage studio like photograph with studio lights. I will also ask my subject to dress in a way similar to that of the original photograph, for example with a shirt of a similar style with the added skirt and bag. As it being a recreation I would like to get the outfit as similar as possible however there may be slight alterations of colours as to what is available however I would like to keep the same concept in place.
Third Recreation:
Balenciaga Paris | 80’s
Above shows the advert I will be trying to produce. The photograph is a studio taken photograph that I will try to recreate. I dressed my model in a way that replicated what the original model was wearing as well as wearing a similar hair style to that of the original photograph.
Contact Sheet of Photoshoot
Above shows the contact sheet of my outcomes from the photoshoot. I feel the better photographs are the ones that are coming slighting closer to the model rather than the ones which are father away. Some of the photographs turned out slightly dark however I feel that the majority of the photographs worked well and how I wanted them to be produced.
Unedited Best Outcomes:
I feel that these three are my best outcomes from the photoshoot due to where my subject is positioned and how they are some of my more clear photographs. I am going to move forward and edit one of the following photographs too enhance it to be more like the original photograph.
Guerrilla Girls is an anonymous group of feminist, female artists devoted to fighting sexism and racism within the art world. The group formed in New York City in 1985 with the mission of bringing gender and racial inequality into focus within the greater arts community. The group employs culture jamming in the form of posters, books, billboards and public appearances to expose discrimination and corruption. To remain anonymous, member don gorilla masks and use pseudonyms that refer to deceased female artists. According to GG1 identities are concealed because issues matter more than individual identities.
Many feminist artists in the 1970’s dared to imagine that female artists could produce authentically and radically different art, undoing the prevailing visual paradigm. Shaped by the 1970’s women’s movement, the Guerrilla Girls resolved to devise new strategies. Most noticeably, they realized that 1970s-era tools such as pickets and marches proved ineffective.
Throughout their existence, the Guerrilla Girls have gained the most attention for their bold protest art. Their projects (mostly posters at first) express observations, concerns, and ideals regarding numerous social topics. Their art has always been fact-driven and informed by the group’s unique approach to data collection.
Guerrilla Girls Poster
The Guerrilla Girls are drawing attention to and trying to rid of sexism as well as racism, I can relate what the Guerrilla girls do and their message to my work by looking at the links that I am aiming to show the changes or the no changes in the way women are portrayed and put forward in some of the era’s where the male gaze was very prominent.
I can also relate the Guerrilla Girls to the ideas of Cindy Sherman as her photography aims to force the audience to reconsider common stereotypes and cultural assumptions, among the latter political sarire, caricature, the graphic novel, pulp fiction, stand-up comedy (some of her characters are indeed uncomfortably “funny”).
Both the Guerrilla Girls and Cindy Sherman show that they are against the objectification of women and the idea of the male gaze. I feel I can gain inspiration and ideas from them as I look to move the project forward and look more closely at the time periods I am recreating the adverts from to understand where women stood at that time to then reflect on how they are being presented in those ads.
One of the figures who Inaugurated modernism to the history of the art is the renowned French Painter Édouard Manet. As one of his most celebrated paintings Olympia shook the society and made a huge impact on the upcoming generations of artists. The highly controversial composition was painted in 1853 and exposed to the public 2 years later. It represents a nude woman in a leisure pose with a servant bringing flowers. The daring look of a shameless woman caused quite a stir and the public considered the painting indecent since it displayed a sex worker in her boudoir. In relation with that is the fact that the very name Olympia was associated with sex workers in 1860’s Paris.
Manet’s Olympia has been used during the 1970’s as an important reference in the context of the male gaze proposed by the feminist movement. Especially the Black feminists argued that Manet did not include the figure of the maid for the artistic convention, but to create an ideological binary between black and white, good and bad, clean and dirty.
Chris Porsz compares and contrasts old photos that he had previously taken of individuals and retakes the images years later of the same individuals. My plan of action is to find old photos of my family and friends that were taken in my childhood, and recreate those photos to then be able to contrast them as well. My concept is to display how the journey of life shapes each individuals pathways and how each individuals experiences shapes who they have currently become. Although it can be viewed as a dark subject, some of the individuals have passed away so therefore my work will show how their journey of life has come to an end and how the individuals have learnt to deal with the loss. Also how some of the individuals (such as dogs or old friends) have been replaced in their place and how their journey of life has just begun.
HERE ARE MY OLD PHOTOS THAT HAVE BEEN MANIPULATED:
This image is of my Mum and our old dog Millie.
This image is of my mum and her friend in Australia.
This image is of my younger sister Poppy.
This image features my family friend Georgie and my Grandma.
This image is of (from left to right) myself, my sister Poppy, my twin sisters Scarlett and Phoebe and our neighbor Satanter which was taken when we lived in Ireland.
In this image, both myself and my sister Poppy were getting ready for our first horse riding lesson in Ireland.
This image was taken in the hospital when myself and my sister Poppy went to the hospital to visit our mum and meet our twin sisters for the first time (Scarlett was the twin in the photo).
My Dad is the individual in this image, who was holding a koala in Australia.
This image is of myself, my Grandma and my sister Poppy, which at the time we had stolen my Grandma’s glasses.
My Mum in this image was travelling in Australia and was in an outback bar.
This image is of my cousin and Dad on one of their holidays.
This is another photo of my Mum which was taken in Australia.
This is a passport photo taken of my Dad.
Here is an image of myself and my younger sister Phoebe when we lived in Ireland.
For my first photo-shoot, I will be taking inspiration directly from photographer Bill Voila, and will be editing together a series of 3 photographs to present the journey an individual experiences from birth until after death, essentially condensing a whole life experience into 3 pivotal moments, including childhood, a main life event, and the changes that occur due to the death of an individual.
I will be using 3 different photo-shoots in 1 in order to produce the 3 different styles of images, that I will then merge together in order to form the layout for the final images.
The above image is a montage of image I found online (NOT my own images) in order to represent the layout that will be used in my own work. From left to right, the images will display a journey from childhood to adulthood, where a single event that represents the life work of the individual will be represented in the middle image. In contrast, the final image will be a representation of the death of the individual, with the way they are remembered/ have influenced the community presented as an example of how the journey through life doesn’t necessarily come to an abrupt end at death.
Examples of what I will use to represent the middle event of the subjects life include:
Securing a career/job
Achieving a life long goal
Illness or disease
Family crisis
Personal crisis
Loss (of family/job/house e.t.c)
Random event changes the direction of an individuals life
Examples of what I will use to represent the first event of the subjects life include:
Childhood/archival photos
Images of children playing
Life before the large event (showing contrast)
Examples of what I will use to represent the last event of the subjects life include:
What the world is like after the death of the subject
A representation of the reason behind the death of the subject
A scene showing the contrast between the beginning of life and what it looks like towards the end
Paul Virilio is a French photographer, who was born and raised on the Northern coast of France. The Second World War created a big impact of his city, and impacted his personal life. His city was bombed and held captive by the German Navy. In 1958, Virilio conducted a phenomenological (he science of phenomena as distinct from that of the nature of being.) where he looked at military space and bunkers built by the Nazi’s during the Second World War.
“Historian of warfare, technology and photography, a philosopher of architecture, military strategy and cinema, and a politically engaged provocative commentator on history, terrorism, mass media and human-machine relations.” – Quite describing Virilio by two Geographers.
In the image above, the subject of the image is the bunker which is located in the centre of the frame, which is the main focus point of the image as my eyes are instantly lead there. My eyes then move towards the background which is empty, clearly presenting the formal element of space. This presents an eerie tone towards the image and presents the idea that the Bunkers are desolate and have not been used for a while. The bunker itself presents to formal element of texture and shape which are used to present and emphasise the contextual features of bunkers. The image itself is presented in black and white, which allows the image to show high tonal contrast, which shows how the Bunkers are almost worn out, as its been a long period of time since they where used in the second world war. A small depth of field is presented as the Bunker seems to be the subject most in focus, the background and grass in the foreground is slightly out of focus, which allows the viewers to mainly concentrate on the bunker. Moreover, the Bunker seems to be slightly lighter than the background which also makes the subject visually seem the most important in the image. The dark background is almost pathetic fallacy as it represents the depressing times the war brought to Jersey and represents the depressing reasons of the Bunkers. The image seems to be in focus, suggesting a quick shutter speed, and there is no intended blur which implies that a low ISO and a normal aperture was used to capture the image above. Contextually, the Bunkers where built by the Germans to protect themselves from other army’s and to make and reload their weapons. These Bunkers are located near the sea, allowing the Nazi’s to attack those trying to enter Jersey, moreover the bunkers where well hidden and hard to find. Conceptually, I believe Virilio was trying to present the aftermath of the war, and the marks it has made in certain locations, reminding us about the horrible times of the second world war. In my opinion I like the way Virilio has presented the bunkers as isolated and makes them seem ‘horrible’ reinforcing the idea that the bunkers where used for horrible purposes, making the image successful.
Jonathon Andrew:
Mood Board Showcase Jonathon Andrew’s PhotograpgyJonathon Andrew – Bunker
Jonathon Andrew was born in Manchester and currently lives and works in Amsterdam. He has many years of experiences capturing multiple locations. He travels the world capturing different aspects of different places, with his work being displayed in magazines such as National Geographic. His current project is capturing ruins of WW2 defence, so far these images have been presented in the Daily Mail and multiple blogs. Due to his success he has won many awards for his photographs and has helped teach lectures to students on how to capture landscape photography.
To analyse the photograph above, the main focus point is the bunker which is located in the centre of the frame. This is presented not only by the positioning of the bunker in the frame, but also by having the Bunker lit up and the background being darker. The image is taken at night time which allows the technique of lighting up the bunker to stand out more. The bunker itself clearly presents the formal elements of space, texture, shape and line. This is presented by the bunker being ‘worn out’ and old helping to present the contextual factors of the image. Space is presented through the location of the bunker, the subject is the centre of the frame and the background and foreground is empty, which represents how the bunker has been isolated leaving nothing left. The subject of the image is in focus and the background of the image is slightly out of focus which shows a narrow depth of field, it also showcases a quick shutter speed as the image has a clear focus. This is further supported by the ISO being low as there is no intended blur, and the aperture is low. The lighting used seems to be natural, but the white light surrounding the bunker seems artificial. A back light could have been placed behind the bunker or could have been added using a photo manipulation software. Contextually, the image is presenting the same contextual factors as Virilio, which is: the Bunkers where built by the Germans to protect themselves from other army’s and to make and reload their weapons. These Bunkers are located near the sea, allowing the Nazi’s to attack those trying to enter Jersey, moreover the bunkers where well hidden and hard to find. Conceptually, the image is presenting the impact of the bunkers during the war and is showcasing how the bunkers have been isolated but kept to remind people of the horrors of the war. In my opinion this piece is eye opening as it reminds viewers of the horror of war, through the Beauty of the bunker in this image, which almost creates a Juxtaposition within the image, making the photograph strong providing my reasoning to why I find the image interesting and successful.
Action Plan:
As an action plan I want to produce a photoshoot where I capture Jersey’s bunkers in order to showcase another aspect of Jersey’s journey through the second world war. This will present the defence mechanisms that was put in place by the Nazi’s. I have been inspired to follow in a similar style to Virilio but edit my images more like Andrew’s work, creating a combination of both photographers work.
Although this photo shoot was supposed to be inspired by Easton Chang, I have decided to use it as more of a test to experiment what I enjoy/am best at taking photos of, that’s where the lack of theme throughout the photos comes from. I will use my next photo shoot to take the best photos I possibly can using the knowledge I’ve learned from this test.
I have decided to scrap most of the images from this photo shoot as they are either slightly blurry, or not to the standard I anticipated them to be. However, there are one or two photos which I liked from this shoot and have therefore used.
The Boyle Family is a group of collaborative artists who are now based in London. The main contributes to the Boyle family were Mark Boyle and Joan Hills. Mark Boyle was born in 1934 in Glasgow working along side Joan Hills who was born in 1931 in Edinburgh, both now live in London with their two children Sebastian and Georgia Boyle. Mark and Joan met in April 1957 in Harrogate, Yorkshire. At the point in Mark Boyle’s life he originally considered himself as a poet soon to be influenced by Joan Hills painting and began experimenting which proved to have triggered the love for visual art. Mark Boyle continued to praise Joan Hill as being the biggest influence to all his work saying she was “she was gentle, brave and immensely resourceful” in an interview.
Where Mark and Joan’s studio was at a specific point during their life was often where they lived, this created a natural feeling of family and friends when investing time into their studio. It became important to them to include family whenever their was a big show going on they always tried to incorporate family and friends help into the creation of the show. From early on, Mark and Joan both encouraged their children, Sebastian and Georgia to go around the studio doing bits here and there leading to getting much more deeply involved later on: going on working trips, expeditions, helping to finalize and hang exhibitions.
When first creating the image, most images went under Mark Boyle’s name, this was due to the them being much more focused on the work and being ore unconcerned with fighting the stereotypes that artists were solo and usually male- the print was labels never mattered to them. As the became wildly know and at the same time the artistic stereotype began to broaden, they became to present their work by ‘Mark Boyle and Joan Hills’. As they grew Sebastian and Georgia continued their work and entitled there work produced by the ‘Boyle Family’ this continued till 1985. In 2005 May time, Mark Boyle passed away and the Boyle Family continues to work and exhibit internationally, and to progress the execution of their best known work, the huge global World Series. When producing image, the Boyle Family’s idea is not have a focused subject but aims to make art that does not exclude anything as a potential subject. Over the time this has included things like: earth, air, fire and water, animals, vegetables, minerals, insects, water creatures etc.
Peter Blake’s work reflects his fascination with all popular culture, and the beauty to be found in everyday objects and surroundings. Many of his works feature found printed materials such as photographs, comic strips or advertising texts, combined with bold geometric patterns and the use of primary colours. The works perfectly capture the ethos of the sixties, but are also contemporary. There is also a strain of sentimentality and nostalgia running throughout his work, with particular focus towards childhood innocence and reminiscence. Blake is renowned for his connection with the music industry, having produced iconic album covers for the Beatles, Paul Weller, The Who, and Oasis.
Analysis
This self-portrait by the then 29-year-old Blake became an instant pop art classic. Having clinched the 1961 junior John Moores painting prize, it was featured in the Sunday Times’ first colour supplement and in Ken Russell’s documentary Pop Goes the Easel.
It’s an ironic riff on Thomas Gainsborough’s The Blue Boy, its blue silk outfit replaced by denim, a fabric rich in social history. Blake’s 501s were a coveted rarity at the time, though Elvis (as depicted on the magazine Blake carries) had by then abandoned work wear in favour of tasseled satin.
The titular badges are not limited to sew-on patches celebrating American culture. Everything here is a prop recalling the symbolic attributes of portraiture. But, as stand-ins for identity, it’s all as paper thin as the magazine he’s holding.
Balding and sad-eyed, Blake seems prematurely aged. His suburban plot is both a far cry from the great plains of the American dream and Gainsborough’s 18th-century landscapes. In fact, the other art-historical shadow here is Watteau’s superlatively lonely clown, Pierrot.
Daniel Antunes is a self taught photographer mostly known for his black and white street photography. He was born in Portugal and began his photography education at a young age but only really began to develop and present his work two years ago.
by Daniel Antunes
There is natural lighting from the outside as well as the lighting from the chandeliers. Light from the chandelier is also being reflected off the top of the piano and the floor. There’s a lot of contrast in the image as you can see with the really dark tones next to the light shades. There’s not a gradient because of the high contrast. The focal point is the reflective surface because it immediately draws the eye. There’s no colour in the image because it’s a black and white which Antunes’ is more known for. I would say the image has a smooth and shiny texture to it because of the shiny smooth floor and piano. I would say there’s quite a bit of depth to the image because you can see across the room and the trees outside. The image is composed so you can see the ceiling reflecting on the piano and so you can see the whole room including the ceiling upright and upside down. I think the leasing lines are the door ways and the outline of the piano.
Contextual info-
Daniel Antunes was born in Portugal . The place in the photo is the Queluz National Palace in Portugal built in the 18th century. People often compare it to Versailles.
Within these edits I wanted to recreate the double exposure technique that Gina Socrates used in her photo shoot of capturing Jersey Sea wall. Doing this technique will allow to showcase the before and after of the sea wall, presenting the Journey of the sea wall in Jersey, plus showing a part of Jersey’s journey through the second world war. I decided to create three double exposures, using different images, to create different effects and present different formal elements.
To prepare the images, before combining them, adjusted the levels and curves, in order to have the textures of the walls to stand out (presenting the clear formal element of texture and shape). I then adjusted the hue and saturation in order to make the images black and white, which made a clear contrast in tonal regions. At first I experimented with changing the hue, in order to present the modern image of the wall to have a different look to the ‘older’ image to create a clear contrast and meet the aim of this photoshoot. However, I did not believe that this suited the effect I was trying to present and decided to turn the images back to black and white. Once I had all my images ready I opened up a new document, and placed both images onto the document. Using the transformation tool (ctrl + t), I adjusted the size of both images ensuring they fit onto the page. Then the image on the top layer, I turned down the opacity of the layer in order to reveal the layer underneath it. I then flatten the two layers and adjusted the levels again to ensure that the photographs had similar tonal contrast. I repeated this step with all the images until I received the outcomes I wanted.
My first edit has been the most successful as I believe that it clearly meets my artistic aim of present old vs new of the Jersey wall, presenting its Journey from the second world war. Moreover, I believe the two images used work together and create an overall visually stimulating photograph. The image shows successful photography techniques; for example the formal elements of texture, space and shape, clear focal points and depth of field, it also uses lines to help guide the viewers eyes around the image. This image has been the most successful edit from this process.
In my next edit I used two contrasting images, a macro image and wide angle image in order to show the contrast of the walls during the war and after the war. The two images fit nicely together and makes a visually pleasing image. Moreover, the formal element of texture and space which makes the image interesting to look at. Due to the two images being levelled differently, leads to the overall image being high in contrast, making the whole photograph as a whole look ascetically pleasing. Although, I like the way this image came out I believe that it is too busy and therefore not as successful as the first edit.
I believe that this edit is my least successful image from this process, but still wanted to showcase it in order to show the development process and my critical picking of images. The two images used do not work together, and makes an overall awkward looking image. Both images look similar and the effect is not as good with these two images. The space near the back of the image, also makes the image awkward looking and less pleasing to look at. Moreover, one of the images is a bit blurry, which shows a lack on camera control, however I used this to try and convey an old camera taking an image, but the effect did not work in my favour.
Images Used
To Create
My Double
Exposure
Comparison :
My Image
Gina Socrates
To compare my image to Gina Socrates there are multiple similarities and differences, but both present the same idea and contextual factors. One of the similarities is that we have both captured the same subject but have both taken different approaches in order to do so. I looked at macro images and focused on different areas of the wall which would showcase different formal elements. However, Socrates looks at the build up of the wall from a wider angle. In contrast, my images are presented in black and white as I wanted the texture and lines (detail) of the wall to clearly be presented to my viewers, however Socrates presents her images in colour with a hint of yellow/orange which also presents the texture of her subject. Personally, I believe that the black and white looks much better as it presents a more visually pleasing image overall, however, Socrates work is still successful. Another similarity is that we both took our photographs with the same aim, but both came out with different outcomes. We both used a double exposure effect in order to present the journey of Jersey’s seawall during the second world war, however she managed to do hers by changing the camera settings whereas mine where created using photoshop. Her blend of images is a lot smoother and the images fit nicely together, mine also do this but only slightly have areas where the two images do not fit (these are very small and therefore hard to notice. Moreover, my images are much sharper, presenting the formal elements much stronger creating a more powerful overall image, where as Socrates work are much weaker but still showcase a powerful image. My image is quite busy and lacks space, however Socrates work has more space and emptiness allowing time for the viewers to take in the message of her work. Overall, I believe that mine and socrates work share many similarities but showcase our preferred artistic style within the image. I also think that we have both come out with similar outcomes and therefore showing the success of my photoshoot and final images from the section of the project.
