For my first photo-shoot, I will be focusing on the liberation of male gender stereotypes and roles. I have decided to dedicate a photo-shoot to this, as I think including both male and female stereotypes, and struggles related to the pressure of abiding to a strict “gender model”. In being able to showcase men breaking from the gender norms of being strong, unemotional, adventurous and competitive, I will be able to show a new perspective, where men are presented as being delicate and emotional human beings, and are not confined to the characteristics that society has laid out for them. For this photo-shoot, I will take a lot of inspiration from photographer Phoebe Jane Barrett, as in her work she portrays the delicate, emotional side of men, and draws attention to the unrealistic belief that all men must be emotionally detached and constantly strong in order to qualify as having masculinity. In taking inspiration from Barrett, I will be showing contrast between stereotypical femininity and masculinity in my work, and will be highlighting this contrast through overt and obvious visual examples, such as placing a masculine object/action/concept directly next to a feminine one, or merging the two together.

I have decided to take the approach of merging together both feminine and masculine traits in an obvious but thought provoking manner, and in order to do so, I will be using a male subject, and will be placing him in stereotypically feminine situations and scenarios, all the while keeping his identity hidden from view. In doing this, the viewer will be forced to only consider the contrast between the male model and feminine activity/scene, and will only be able to develop an opinion on the actions themselves, rather than the identity of the subject. Removing the identity of the subject also allows for the conclusions that the viewer develops, to be generalized to all individuals and scenarios in which there is a contrast between the stereotypical “gender” of a specific activity/scene/scenario, rather than focusing on the identity and individual scenario that the subject is in.

I have produced a mood-board in order to collect some of my ideas for my 1st photo-shoot: