ACTION PLAN: 

I am particularly inspired by both Elaine Constantine's work, especially her concept of focusing on the youth culture's social interaction and Jim Goldberg's work. Therefore I am going to base my photo shoot on a teenagers social interactions among their friends. I want to especially focus on their careless and carefree attitudes and behavior. I don't want to completely stage my shoot as I want my images to look as natural as possible. Therefore, I am going to photograph my friends just hanging out and will casually be taking photos spontaneously, without them fully realizing and being able to pose themselves properly. I will be using a cheap Boots disposable camera because I feel that you take more spontaneous images with them, which have a more natural care-free look and feel to them. I will be using the natural lighting of the room however I will mainly be using the flash on the disposable camera to ensure that my images are clearer and easier to see. 

Once my images are edited and printed out on A4 paper, I will rework into my images by adding text and outlining some of the people/objects in the photographs. This idea came from Jim Goldberg's work. I will ask the subjects what they want to say about the image and add that text onto the image. I will also add the time the the images were taken onto the photographs. I will hand-draw and hand-write onto the images.

MOOD BOARD:

IDENTITY:
The definition of identity is: the fact of being who or what a person or thing is. 
However, there is a difference between being an identity and what it means to have an identity. What it means to have an identity is the strong characteristics, definitions and quirks that makes the person individual. To have a strong sense of identity is often thought as having a thorough understanding of oneself's thought patterns, strengths and weaknesses, traits and preferences. Every individual have different levels of self identity, whilst some have an incredible strong sense of individuality, some require time to discover themselves. Our identity is what makes us unique and not one person has the same identity.

ARTISTS I’M INSPIRED BY:

ELAINE CONSTANTINE:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/05/elaine-constantine-interview-northern-soul
https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2007/may/24/features11
Elaine Constantine is both a filmmaker and photographer who has a talent of capturing the British youth culture. What I love about Constantine's work is that I feel she really captures the carelessness and how reckless teenagers/young adults can be, and she especially captures their joy and excitement. 

Constantine tends to use flash when she captures her images which I believe adds an extra vibrancy to her photos, which also adds to the concept of the vibrancy and excitement her subjects have. Most of the pictures that Constantine takes are staged, as she directs the models. One of her most famous images of the girl feeding a seagull was directed as Constantine asked the model to hold out a chip to feed the seagull, however the model had to close her eyes as she flinched when her eyes were open when she fed the seagulls. Therefore, Constantine told the model to close her eyes when feeding the gulls and caught the image. 

Constantine's ability to capture the youth'joy and excitement also displays the variety of identities that are displayed in the images. The way they dress and present themselves can reveal how the young adults want the audience and others to view and interpret their identity. Also their facial expressions and body positions is another way of being able to identify and interpret their personalities, and identities. 

JIM GOLDBERG: 
Jim Goldberg is a photographer who combines mediums such as photographs and text. Goldberg's work reflects his deep and meaningful collaborations he has with the ignored and neglected out-of-mainstream subjects. He uses his text to tell the stories and points of view of the subjects in the images. The text is written in multiple languages, most of the time by his subjects. Goldberg also integrates his art by drawing and outlining some of his images in different colors. Goldberg typically applies a documentary style to capture his images, with his straightforward approach.  His ability to story tell through the use of photography aids in revealing his subjects identities and situations. Their added commentary assists in giving an insight into their minds and what is really going on in their lives. Goldberg's ability to expose multiple bodies of self is what I draw inspiration from.
Goldberg, Jim

https://www.artspace.com/artist/jim_goldberg

Tableaux- Mood board

Mind map:

What is Tableaux Vivants?

Tableaux is a french word for ‘living image’ and is a representation of scene, painting, sculpture, etc, by a person posed or grouped together in silence and motionless. When creating he Tableaux vivant it is key that the subject carefully positioned in place usually in costume with props to really help to set the scene. A tableaux vivant can be presented in a multiple of way including a ‘live performance’, sculpture, painting and photography. The most common movement of tableaux vivant is in the words of the Romantic, Aesthetic, Symbolic and Art-nouveau. In the 1970s and 1980s a man named Jean-Francois Chevrier was one of the first to introduce tableaux vivant into art photography when he wrote an essay entitled “The Adventures of the Picture Form in the History of Photography” in 1989.

The below image is a prime example of a photographer using a famous painting and recreating though people in poses, using costume and props.

Below shows a different tableaux photography by  Ryan Shude, his work is not so much recreated from paintings but is still set up and staged.

Action plan: 

For tableaux Vivant after looking at such different types of photographers it inspired me myself to be a bit more adventurous and really find a deeper image that i can portray in different lights. That when I started looking at fairy tales. my initial idea was Alice in Wonderland but after looking deeper its was clear to me that ”Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” provided more doors for me to go through. After finally deciding on what I wanted to base my Tableaux Vivant I needed to select a final scene. I did a brain storms of the key moments in the story and came to the conclusion that the scene where the wicked queen is disguised and giving snow white the apple would be the most effective in this case. i then found my models, simple costumes and props and went down to the studio. This was then followed by the hard decision of what lighting and background I needed to portray this vital scene.

My Response:

Visual:

For both images they have a set plain black background, which helps the characters stand out more. By using the black background I believe it help emphasizes the different personalities of snow-white whom is illuminating of the black background compared to the Witch who is somewhat merging into the darkness of the background. I believe this to help set the atmosphere, and how to feel about the characters. The image overall has a very dark feeling towards it with a white light mainly being focused on the representation of snow-white. To create this white image I used a ring light to help portray the correct textures as well as helping to set the mood. The view point is fairly straight on so the viewer is presented with almost a perfect side view of both characters, linking to the symmetry of the image. Although different heights the idea of symmetry is still presented in the scene of a side image of both model and both essentially reaching out the object. I think this helps divide the emotions towards the different characters with the witch model have a more mysterious, covert and dark feeling strongly contracting with the bight eyed character of snow-white who gives off a more bright and blissful feeling. overall providing us with a very balanced image due to the contrasts of the well know characters and their stereotypes.

Technical:

For this image I chose to use a white ring light that firstly gave off a whitey and blue light which I thought to deem appropriate to the scene. I placed the light at a slight light as I thought this would be important to help portray characters and help improve the over all understanding of the image. the ring light was positioned to the left of the image- closer to ”snow-white”. I did this because snow-white is the much brighter character and ore oblivious of the darkness. I think by positioning the light in the place it help illuminate snow-white character improving the overall representation of the image.  Due to the type of lighting the image has a much more colder representation to it rather than a warmer color and feel.

Conceptual:

Originally this image was from the cartoon film ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ produced in 1937 by Walt Disney. The story is about White’s beauty, the wicked queen orders the murder of her innocent stepdaughter, but later discovers that Snow White is still alive and hiding in a cottage with seven friendly little miners. Disguising herself as a hag, the queen brings a poisoned apple to Snow White, who falls into a death-like sleep that can be broken only by a kiss from the prince. This particular image was taken from the film when the wicked queen was giving Snow White the apple. presenting the innocence from snow white and the darkness and evilness presented from the wicked queen.

Contextual:

Although originally I took these image using the set prop of an apple, I also wanted to look at something different and add my own interpretation to provide a deeper meaning to viewers. After my using the prop of an image i turned to the idea of the wicked queen handing over a phone, conveniently an Apple iPhone. Once this idea came to place, the deeper became evident. With the original concept being handing over an apple that kills Snow White linking to the idea that technology is now starting to kill us off, so therefore by giving a phone to Snow White is give the idea that with social media taking over our lives and the new addiction to looking down at our phone, we are slowly wasting away and dying on the inside. The representation that technology is melting our brain has been a worry of people all over the world with now media starts taking over completely. The poison is now our technology.

Who is Francesca Stern Woodman?

Francesca Stern Woodman born on the 3rd of April 1958 was an American photographer and best known for her black and white images.

Francesca was born in Denver, Colorado. her Jewish mother names Betty Woodman and her father from a Protestant background, George Woodman who were also both artists. Woodman also had a brother who grew up to become a professor of electronic art. overall Woodman had a fairly creative and artistic family.  From the age of 13 is where Woodman really learnt her love for photography whilst attending a public school in Colorado, whilst she wasn’t in Italy with her family. Moving on to high school in 1972 where she attended Abbot Academy. This is when she concentrated on developing he skills and overall perspective on photography and graduated in 1975. After her excellent performance at her middle school she was then able to go on to attended Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode.  In 1977 she studied in Italy as part of a honors program. Graduating in 1978. In 1979 Woodman decided to more to New York to ”make a career in photography”. Woodman worked hard for a long period of time sending of portfolios to anyone that would have a look and consider them. however still in 1980, woodman had not yet been successful. This was Woodman’s lowest time as that same year she attempted suicide and after recovery moved to live with her family in Manhattan, where she could rebuild herself- well that what her parents thought. soon to be proved wrong when on January 1981 Woodman jumped out of a loft of a building and died at the age of twenty-two.

Visual:

Francesca Woodman’s images are always portrayed with such a strong once looking at them. In this image you see an empty room which some what looks dirty with the walls being marked. The room gives off a cold feeling and lonely feeling with the image of the woman, doing what looks like reaching down to the floor. However her whole figure is distorted and blurred so you are unable to see any feature of her body or face. Although her shoes are still in fair quality this will be down to the fact she hadn’t yet moved when the photo was being taken. By being able to see her shoes it implies a woman is being photographed due to the high heels that are worn. The woman is positioned to the left of the image and what feels fairly manipulated to be presented as far away from the camera right up near the wall.

Technical:

In this image there is a clear representation of shadows being produced this could have been effected by natural daylight shining in through the window. The main focus of the image is the woman who is located on the fair left and positioned far back at the wall from the camera. It’s clear that for this image to have the appearance it does the camera must have had an extremely low shutter speed in order to create the blurriness of the figures movement. To me this image is displaying a mixture of texture with the wall and floor almost feeling gritty and unsmooth compared to the figure who is over ‘’smooth’’ in the sense that there are no lines or clear outline to the woman creating a distorted feeling to the image.

Conceptual:

How does this image make you feel? The image present the feeling of loneliness this is represented through the feeling of the rustic empty and oversized room. With then only one distorted figure cramped in the order. Her movement almost like she’s trying to break out from that corner and start to spread out. The blurred figure gives the feeling of rushing that she was moving fast, possibly wanting to get away from something- the loneliness?

Contextual:

From research it is clear that Francesca Woodman ad a hard and what she felt dark. With loving photography so much and no one else appreciating it like she did. The idea of the loneliness in this image could be portrayed as Woodman emotions of her own work the idea that she was alone with no one else to look and view her work.