After doing some research into the legends and the myths of fairies in Jersey I set out on my photoshoot to some of the dolmens in the north of the island for this photoshoot. I went on a clear sky day around mid afternoon to catch the natural lighting at the high point of the island. Using three models I created images based around the ideas of the fairies protecting the natural land, using props and angles to generate a desired effect. I also took out with me a disposable camera to take some of my photographs on to generate a different style and effect in my work which will mean I have physical first unedited prints of some of my photographs.
After going out on the shoot I uploaded all of my photographs into Lightroom to narrow down the images that I would be using and experimenting with to hopefully generate some final outcomes. I began experimenting with colours and vibrancy in these images. My aim was to create a different effect compared to my previous shoots, with these photographs I was to create something hyperreal and mysterious, to create this I over-saturated and edited the colouring of the photographs to create theses vivid blues and pinks. To create and effect I had my male model in regular, modern clothing and my female models in more traditional fairy clothing; flower headbands, flowing skirts and dresses as well as taking the step to cover their hands in makeup highlighter to create a sparking shimmer effect when unclose in the photographs. I made the decisions to do this in order to create and overall outcome in my photographs of something that was linking the modern island with these mythical fairies and stories.
I feel that my photoshoot has been successful overall as I have been able to produce some successful photographs I will be experimenting with more into the future towards the final Photobook production, I feel that they juxtapose the photographs I have previously taken and this is something that I wanted to do and capture in this photoshoot.
WHERE: Within my personal study, I will be focusing on 3 main areas of study , personal, external and internal. The persona aspect of my project I will be looking at my own personal journey and the ways in which my family has occupied Jersey, capturing images of my own home. The external aspect of my project will be focusing on the exterior aesthetic o low cost housing within Jersey. Lastly the interior aspect of my project will done within empty properties, arranging viewings with estate agents in order to do so.
WHEN: in order to capture the exterior photo shoots, I will be attempting to capture them during more gloomy and overcast days as I feel this will add to the themes associated with the topic at hand which is all about control and institutional discrimination.
WHO: My project will be focusing less on people but rather places, I will be using documentary style photography in order to carry out my shoots, focusing on the state of the housing market and the truth of affordable housing.
WHY: The topic at hand is personal to both me and a large population of Jersey. Immigrants, young people and the elderly, making it almost out of reach to buy or rent property which lives up to suitable standards.
HOW: I will be using a mixture of both film and digital photography in order to carry out my photo shoots. A theme which I also want to convey through my work photography as it will be linking to the impacts of trauma and childhood.
SHOOT 2:
WHERE: Going forward after my first photo shoot, I will be conducing these within the rental properties which are available in Jersey. Mostly focusing on property in St.Helier as this tends to be the area with the largest concentration of immigrants and affordable housing.
WHEN: In order to achieve quality imagery, I will attempt to capture the images during daytime, retaining natural lighting within the images.
WHO: Much like the first photo shoot, I will be focusing on places rather than people so therefore my imagery will be solely focused on the interior of properties. Looking at small details such as the kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms etc.
WHY: A topic which I am highly interested in and am willing to explore is the housing crisis which affects a large population of Jersey, not only the immigrants but young people and the elderly all face institutional discrimination which makes it extremely difficult to get on the property ladder or be able to find housing in Jersey. There is an extreme lack of affordable housing for low income families and young people alike, who start out on the bottom earning minimum wage at the start of their careers.
HOW: Taking into mind the logistical problems associated with capturing and developing film, for the remainder for my shoots I will be using a digital camera in order to capture my shoots. Although it may not be authentic, there are methods which can be used with editing techniques which can give the same aesthetic qualities as print film.
SHOOT 3:
Repeating the steps taken in shoot 2, I will be conducting further shoots taken within rental properties which will allow me to gain a variety of resources and use these in order to create a narrative and conclude what I have seen.
SHOOT 4:
Repeating the steps taken in shoot 2 and 3, I will be conducting further shoots taken within rental properties which will allow me to gain a variety of resources and use these in order to create a narrative and conclude what I have seen.
SHOOT 5:
In my final shoot I will be focusing on my own home, taking the same approach of documentary photography as in shoot 2,3 and 4. This shoot will allow me to create a cyclical narrative, using the internal, external and personal narratives within my personal study.
This image contrast between his parents wedding, which is meant to be the happiest day of they lives, and his mother alone on a beach, with no one but the memory of her husband, seems sentimental but also harsh. The layering of the images allow their lives to be to close but also so separate from each other which is how someone does feel during divorce. This image could be showing Fujii’s desire for his family to be whole again but as reviewer Alexander Strecker says it is merely “fragments of that which was” (Strecker, A). This book could be Fujii’s way of coping as the book is so personal and intimate. Strecker claims the book is a “reconstructed journal of this separation” (Strecker, A), however I believe rather than being a journalisms of the separation, I believe it is more like a journal of coping with the change. The book itself is broken, with a split in the centre, forever keeping his mum and dad separated, a tragic thought for those who know hat its like for parents to separate. The archive images used so frequently are almost a form of grounding. It is continually reminding a viewer of the past happiness making the separation and loss so much greater. The handmade fragile book really encompasses the fragility of life friendship and love.
After editing the selection of images from my final photo-shoot, I was able to produce the following pieces. For this photo-shoot I was looking to present a more subtle example of women and girls breaking gender stereotypes, and I did this by placing a female model into an environment that is not considered a stereotypically “feminine” environment. I placed a stereotypically feminine model (wearing makeup, female, wearing jewelry) in an environment that is dirty, with twigs, leaves, water and spiked bushes providing contrast to the gentle appearance of the model. The following images are my final selections:
In the above image, I focused on emphasising the colours in the image, and in turn I was able to emphasize the contrast between the model and the plant in front. I feel that this image portrays the sense that the subject is hiding themselves (and in turn their femininity) behind the plant in the foreground. I feel that the eye-catching colour of the eyes draws attention to the stern look of he subject, while at the same time presenting the human side of the subject.
In this image, I was trying to convey the complexity of emotion, and the more extreme emotions of anger and fear which are often not associated with femininity. In this image, I feel that the background presents a selection of extreme emotions, some of which are unsettling to see a young girl portray, and therefore presenting the stark reality that although it is often expected for women to be emotional, feeling emotions of extreme anger, determination and strength are often not associated with femininity. The image in the foreground is an example of the subjects strength, with the contrast between the small feminine hands holding the mess of ropes and wood providing a more obvious example of contrast between things considered stereotypically feminine and masculine,
For the above image, I was focusing on portraying a contrast between the subject and the shapes of the plants in the image. I used a soft, feminine face, looking meekly into the camera, and contrasted this with the harsh sharp shapes of the holly leaves in the foreground. I feel that the use of this sharp plant brings a sense of menace and threat to the image. I also feel that the back of body-shape (other than a head) present in the image, and the use of the dark background, helps to bring an element of unease to the image, as it is difficult to place the subject when their body appears to be absent. I feel like these elements all together help to create a contrast between the gentle and harsher elements of the image.
This image is another version of the image from above, but without the faces in the background. I feel like this image on its own presents an example of strength, and the black and white tones of the image create a contrast, and highlights the different textures and tones of the image.
I feel that this image focuses heavily on the texture of the water, and the high contrast of the black and white tones of the image helps to emphasize this texture. I like this image as it presents a distortion of the subjects hand under the water, and the movement of the water gives the image an overall sense of adventure and action (elements not typically associated with feminine features, such as the painted nails)
The above image is a presentation of the different emotions that can be inferred from eyes. The subject of the image is seen displaying different emotions through only the use of their eyes, thus focusing on the different and varied emotions that an individual can experience. The gender of the subject remains relatively ambiguous, and therefore the image can be used to represent human emotion, rather than the stereotypes of emotion (such as feminine emotions being fear and care, and masculine emotions being anger and ambition).
The above image makes use of the contrast between the roundness and detail of the subjects eyes, and the harsh thin shapes of the twigs in the foreground. This contrast in shape helps to emphasize the contrast between the 2 different characteristics of the image (more harsh, masculine aspects, and the femininity of the face), and yet at the same time, both characteristics compliment each other.
This final image was a close up of the subjects eye, detailing their makeup and the intricacies of their eye. I feel that this image accurately depicts the stereotype of femininity, with the heart and star sequins solidifying the feminine characteristics of the image. The subject is giving a somewhat fearful and alarmed glance to the left, and this contrasts the stereotypical characteristics of femininity in young girls (joy, happiness, excitement, kindness), and brings a level of depth to the image as the viewer is able to look past the physical appearance of the image, and question the reality of what is happening “behind the camera”.
Overall, I feel like this photo-shoot has allowed me to explore the intricacies of what is considered feminine and masculine, and I have been able to present these 2 different but complimentary characteristics in a subtle but impactful way. I feel like this photo-shoot has provided images that can be used in contrast to the move overt and obvious images in my study, and can be used to provide a more subtle, yet equally thought provoking example to the viewer of the ways that out expectations and predictions of gender can be broken and rearranged.
To what extent does Surrealism create an unconscious representation of ones inner conflicts of identity and belonging?
In 1917 surrealism was first seen in the form of art through the work of Giorgio de Chirico, who illustrated average streets but through a hallucination perspective. His paintings were moving away from realism, instead of just capturing physically what was there he also created subjective meanings within his art. Andre Baton was the original inventor of surrealist concepts in 1924 through his written surrealist manifesto, where the he describes the movement as ‘the pure psychic automatism expressed in the real functionality of a person.’ (History.com editors 2017:1). Breton was saying that a surrealist artist must bypass any thoughts of rationality in order to gain automatism which is an act or idea achieved through the unconscious mind. Sigmund Freud may have not been an artist but his development and exploration into how the mind works was a large influence. This Little Hans study into dream analysis and phobias opened doors into the world of unconscious thoughts and desires, he uncovered areas in psychology and philosophy that hadn’t ever been discovered before due to the idea that is wasn’t ‘scientific’ research. Similarly, in surrealist work can be seen as ‘unscientific’ because it doesn’t follow a strict structure like realism once did, rather it used the unconscious mind as the force behind the influence.
Dadaism was an early stage of surrealism that commenced during World War I, its purpose was to ridicule the meaningless of the modern world. The whole concept was formed to deconstruct the definition of art by experimenting with different techniques, materials and mediums. Photo montage became popular through Dadaists such as Raoul Hausmann and his piece ‘The Art Critic’. The montage was used as a means of expressing political dissent. Other techniques were invented such as collage which is widely known today as assembling different elements to create a whole, Max Ernst famously created ‘ The Hat Makes the Man’. Cubomania is a form of collage where an image is cut into squares and reassembled randomly. This technique was invented by Romanian Surrealist artist Gherasim Luca. Surrealism began to emerge into photography through artists such as Maurice Tabard and Man Ray who explored automatic writing using techniques such as combination printing and double exposure. In the early 1920s, technology was developing rapidly and became of great interest to avant-garde artists due to its association with technology. Photography was beginning to become a chance for artists paradigms of vision and representation. The evolution of the camera worked in harmony with the movement from realism to surrealism, as technology modernized so did ideologies.
I took some archival images from photo albums, during times where I was too young to understand the complex nature of having divorce. I painted my finger tips with black ink and transferred it onto white paper, then I roughly cut them out. I placed my fingerprints on top of the faces in each image and took a photo. I wanted to include old photos as well as keeping my theme of lack of identity. I used the fingerprints to not only cover up the face but a metaphor for family. This concept is similar to my earlier blood photoshoot and how our family share genetics. In our modern day you can make a name for yourself, but it hasn’t always been like that. You weren’t judged based on your own image, you were judged based on your family, whether they were rich or poor.
Pultz, J.(1995).Photography And The Body.London:Weidendelf and Nicolson
Quote Inside Text:
“Documentary photograph is a picture of the living world captured by a photographer whose intention is to describe reality and transfer some important message or tell a story.”
—————– critic says “She was concerned with the female body’s representation in the media and in art.” (Pultz 1995:128-130) ——————-Comment/opinion of quote written above.
