Overall throughout the project I feel I have tried to explore each different type of portrait well and to my best, such as studio, tableaux and environmental. I feel that trying out and experimenting will all the different ways and styles of taking these portrait has been able to lead me to the point of my final outcomes well and has produced a lot of ideas and my pictures have developed throughout. Overall I feel my final outcomes came out in a way that I wanted them to and can be linked back to my photographers such as Philip-Lorca diCorcia.
One thing that I struggled with over the project was working with my camera specifically in getting my photographs to be in focus. This is something which I eventually had to work into my final outcomes and try to play for the ones which became slightly out of focus. Although this was a struggle I feel some of my camera skills have developed throughout the project and this could be seen in certain photographs such as some of the studio portraits or the environmental portraits.
Over this portrait project I feel my development and my experimentation with the styles of pictures I have been taking have been better than the last in Abstract and I feel this has helped me move forward with my development.
For my overall final piece I feel it finished as something I was happy with however could have been made better in certain ways, the quality and clarity of the photographs could have been better and I feel lets the images down slightly, although I did try to work this in by having all of my photographs edited and finished in the same way so that they all still had some fluidity. During the process I came across issues when working with the pain pens and this then cause the words and the outlines on the photographs to not come out as well as I’d hoped, if I was to do this again I would possibly try experiment with doing the lines on photo-shop as to eliminate this issue that came about. Overall I am happy with the way that I displayed my photographs as I feel it is effective and works well to show the trio of photographs that I have produced.
For my ideas for the theme of Identity I am choosing to draw and write onto the physical pictures. I’m going to be doing this using white paint pens, writing and creating comments on the persons identity with the writing surrounding them.
I am going to be finding close information about the subject to write along the pictures, to make it a bit more intriguing and interesting I am going to be finding other ways to write the information such as significant places written using the longitude and latitude of places. This will make the information more interesting and mysterious as it will not be immediately clear what it means.
Above shows a piece done by conceptual artist Mel Bochner who has been active since the 1960s. A highly versatile artist, Bochner works with painting, installation art, and photography. His thesaurus paintings show overlapping synonyms executed in rainbow colors, while other pieces often take a single word, repeated for effect.
Although I am not working into a sculpture or the surroundings to then take the picture I feel I can relate what I am doing some how to Mel Bochner as I am going to be writing certain things for an effect just as Bochner does with the idea of repeating a word. This is a photograph an artist I can show where some of my inspiration has come from with how to go about the writing.
My Own Editing
Before going straight onto the actual images I started by printing on paper my layout to test how to work the paint pens and what I wanted going where so I could get a rough idea of what works and what doesn’t and also testing the thickness of the pens.
I have stuck to having only 5/6 ‘facts’ across the whole layout as I don’t want to over crowd the photographs, I have also chosen to draw into the actual photos not just with words as to make the photographs more intriguing.
Starting editing trials
Below shows how I finished off editing straight onto the prints, I stuck mostly in using codes as references towards significant places or things to do with the subjects identity. I have done this to try and make it more intriguing, knowing that the codes stand for something however they are not completely clear.
I have also added some outlines as highlights to certain parts of the page this is just to add something to the photograph and to make it more pleasing to the eye.
While editing onto the actual prints I did encounter some trouble with using the paint pens and this halted the process a little bit and made things a little more difficult however I feel that they still turned out in a way that I wanted them too.
For my final outcome I would like to create a series of photographs that go together across the theme of Identity, so this means I will be choosing multiple images that follow through and compliment each other to sit in a series together.
I have chosen to trial my images in the specific layouts that I would use so that I can see how they fit and how I would organise them.
First Trial
Below shows my first trial and experiment for the series of photos I want to produce. All of the photographs have been produced previously in the project under the influence of Philip-Lorca diCorcia, I feel the top and bottom image are working better together rather than the middle image as it has a lot of noise to the image and I feel it distracts from the quieter images above and below it. I feel the two images on top and bottom are more personal images and intimate in a way specifically the bottom image and I feel this is why those two work together.
Choices 1st trial
Second Trial
Below is my second trial of three images working with each other. The images I am trialing with jow have not been the most clear photographs throughout the project however I feel that in some ways they can work together as it does not stand out as one unclear images among clear images I feel this is helping them work together. This trial below is using two of the photographs from the previous trial however with a different third image that came from the same shoot as one of the others, I feel it is a more interesting and personal image compared to the previous one I used, however I still feel there could be better photograph compositions for identity.
Choices 2nd trail
Third Trial
This is an experiment layout with my newer images that I have specifically taken for the final outcomes. I like this layout and collection of photographs as I feel each image is interesting and intriguing and I feel the images work well with each other. I feel this is one of the better layouts that I have produced and one that I feel could work well.
Choices 3rd trial
Fourth Trial
This is a similar layout to the one I produced above however with a different larger image on the side, I feel it creates a bit of difference to have the subject sat down in the larger image compared to being stood up in the other two and I feel this works well as he is turned to face me however his body is still moving away and it means the subject is not stood the same in all of the photographs.
Choices 4th trial
Fifth Trial
This was an experiment layout with one of my other images to test how it would work with the other, I don’t feel it is my most successful layout however was a good experiment for testing and trailing how they work together and how the tones work together which I feel for this layout is letting it down as being a successful layout.
Choices 5th trial
Sixth Trail
This was another experiment trial layout with my more successful images however having them in a triptych layout, I feel that the photographs are working well together with the colours and the tones. For this layout of these specific photographs I have chosen to have the two images of the subject stood either side of the image sat down to test how to show different levels.
Choices 6th trial
Seventh Trial
This is a different variation of the same image layouts as above however I have placed the two images where the subject is looking out and slightly away from the camera on the edges as they are looking out of the frame and then the centre image has the subject directly looking forward with their body and their eyes.
Choices 7th trial
Final Choice to Print
Final Choice Layout and Images
This is my final choice of my images and of my layout that I will be using in my final outcome. I have chosen this layout as I feel it works well the best and all the images work well together and hold a good sequence. I feel I can relate them back to Lorca diCorcia’s work and show that this is where I have my inspiration from. I feel these images are the best for showing my inspiration and relation to him.
I have also chosen to print another of my outcomes by itself as an extra, the reason I chose to have this image by itself and not in the trio was partly because I want to have variation in the trio of images with how the subject was positioned but also because I feel this images is the one that will work best on its own and as a large image will be more impactful individually rather than the other option would be.
Philip-Lorca diCorcia’s work is very cinematic and this is something I would like to be able to try and recreate that filmic quality that he has with his work. His work has a very warm colour palette there is a running sort of theme throughout his images in that the eye is draw to the stand out warmer parts of the photographs. My aim will either be to capture this in the camera or to be able to edit this later in photo-shop.
Outcomes
Contact Sheet
Above shows a contact sheet of the outcomes of the photoshoot in response and inspiration to Philip-Lorca diCorcia. I went out from 5:15pm to 6:00pm as this was were the sun was setting and it was becoming dark, towards the later side of the shoot it soon became too dark to be taking the pictures however I feel I came out with some good outcomes. I tried to find an area that had access to warm toned lights and streets that were quiet enough for me to take the pictures but also had some interesting surroundings and where needed I will edit the photographs to enhance the warm lighting.
Possible Outcomes
For the more successful of the images I edited them to have a warmer tone to the photograph, I did this by adjusting the brightness as needed and then using a warming filter (LBA) on photoshop, some needed more editing than others however I was able to give all of the successful images a warm tone to the image.
Edit stage 1Edit stage 2
Below shows some of the outcomes after they have been edited, these were some of my more successful images that have come out of the shoot that I feel may be right for my final outcomes in a trio layout.
A psychological identity relates to self image (one's mental model of oneself), self-esteem, and individuality.
In psychology,identity is the qualities, beliefs, personality, looks and/or expressions that make a person (self identity) or group (particular social category or social group). Categorizing identity can be positive or destructive.
Gender identity is the personal sense of one’s own gender. Gender identity can correlate with assigned sex at birth, or can differ from it.
Social identity is the portion of an individual’s self-concept derived from perceived membership in a relevant social group.
Cultural identityis the identity or feeling of belonging to a group. For example religion, class, ethnicity etc.
loss of identity can sometimes be accompanied by a loss of self-worth. Not having a part of individuality.
Geographical identity is an individual or group’s sense of attachment to the country, region, city, or village in which they live.
Mood Board of Identity Portraits
Cultural identityis the identity or feeling of belonging to a group. It is part of a person’s self-conception and self-perception and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, locality or any kind of social group that has its own distinct culture.
Social Identity is the portion of an individual’s self-concept derived from perceived membership in a relevant social group. Social identity theory is described as a theory that predicts certain inter-group behaviors on the basis of perceived group status differences, the perceived legitimacy and stability of those status differences, and the perceived ability to move from one group to another.
These are the two identities I feel I would like to explore into a bit more depth into the mock exam and for my final prints. Photographers that I have enjoyed exploring and researching which I feel I would like to find my inspiration from have been Philip-LorcadiCorcia.
Philip-Lorca diCorica’s work has a cinematic feel to it which I enjoy and would like to bring through, it looks like they could be screenshots from films which I enjoy and is something I would like to try and create and would need the work of Tableaux.
My initial ideas are to have a series of photographs in a collective group around the theme of Identity and then work back into the photographs with writing or initially writing on the persons hands or a visible feature in the photograph relating to their identity.
Before responding to the Identity and Place stimulus I am experimenting with extra prints that I can generate with a successful Photomontage print. To do this I am scratching into and pinning the Photomontage print.
Scratching
Below shows me starting to scratch into the print. I started out by using the needle end of a compass to scratch in between the lines of the print for effect. I later moved onto using a Stanley knife to cut thinner lines in and generate different marks on the page.
Scratching into print
Experimenting with Pins
Below shows my experimenting with different arrangement of placing the pins around her head and also around her jewellery. I also generated experiments of pushing the pins in different lengths some in further and some sticking far out of the page.
For some other experiments with the idea of lines I decided to experiment with photoshop and generating lines in this way.
I used the line tool on photoshop to generate the lines and developed 3 different outcomes, one using a picture I generated in photomontage experiments with the string and threading while the other two I used images from the studio portraits I generated.
Screenshot Of Working
I also cropped the images more If I felt it could be helpful and I tried to try out 3 different ways of generating lines, for the photomontage experiment I crossed the lines over in the shapes that had been created by the lines, I redid the lines over and over one another as to generate a similar style to what the thread was producing. For the first studio portrait outcome I tried out using the lines to go around shapes in geometric styles, in this example I followed around the flower. For the second studio portrait outcome I used, I just experimented with working the lines around the faces and seeing wha sort of styles and shapes I could create in an interesting pattern
These are my outcomes and responses as well as edits to Annegret Soltau and Jakob Kolding.
Annegret Soltau
This shows the contact sheet of the photoshoot from my responses to Annegret Soltau. I started by wrapping the string around my head as well as another persons head and took pictures from various angles. Next I chose two images that I thought were best and printed them out to work into.
Contact Sheet of Photoshoot
Below shows two of my printed out responses with the string worked and sewn into them just as Annegret Soltau does.
My First Response with the String Worked intoMy Second Response with the String Worked into
Final Responses in Black and White
I have placed my final responses into black and white as this is how Annegret Soltau presents most of her work as well so I thought it would create a more accurate response to her.
Final ResponseFinal Response 2
Jakob Kolding
My Own Edit
This is a trial montage that I created with inspiration from Jakob Kolding, by drawing on and creating separate elements to create an image. This one which I have created I have done quite subtly compared to my other photo-montage in response to Annegret Soltau. For this photograph above I have taken small parts out of a woman’s magazine and stuck it in replacement of some of the things in the shop for example I changed the words on the crossword or the prices on the till, I also went back and drew on some of what he had in his shop himself on paper and placed this onto the photograph.
Annegret Soltau (Born 16 January 1946) is a German visual artist born in Luneburg, Germany. Her work marks a fundamental reference point in the art of the 1970’s and the 1980’s. Photo-montages of her own body and face sewn over or collaged with black thread are the most well known of the artist.
In ‘Selbst’ the artists ties up her face with tight threads of black silk, just like a cocoon, of which she makes a photographic record that is subsequently stitched by following a geometric pattern that resembles a sign. In her Video-Performances and Phototableaus she wanted to make an intimate processes like sexuality, pregnancy, birth, abortion, sickness and violence to become subjects of the arts. From 1977 to 1980 she dealt with her pregnancies of her two children. She asked herself the question: How can I combine creativity and motherhood without losing myself as my own person.
Performance art and photography became a liberation device for Soltau herself as well. After a series of self-portraits that show her in a cocoon made of black thread in various stages of pupation, she made her first sewn photo works in 1975. From that point onwards, her work was influenced by her understanding of human existence as a constant metamorphosis, and the threat to and expansion of the self throughout these changes. She finally became the center of her art: “I am using myself as a model because I can go the farthest with me.”
The tactile drawing with needle and thread, which has been her hallmark ever since, can be found in its probably most aesthetic version in the series of self portraits entitled Verspannungen from the Deutsche Bank Collection. “I liked the simplicity of those photo booth pictures, where you simply sit in the booth. It was important to me that the threads connect the various states like telephone wires.” The threads sewn across the photos follow the outlines of her face like cobwebs. Eyes, nose, and mouth become fixed points in an ornamental work of strapping and sewing that seems like an especially subtle for of self-mutilation. –Article Link
Annegret Soltau
Her imagery, which is both provocative and disturbing, often explores themes related to the self, metamorphosis and the female body. Alongside other artists such as Cindy Sherman and Suzy Lake, Soltau’s work is regarded as a key reference point for feminist art in the 70s and 80s.
In an interview about her work, Soltau says, “Above all I am interested in the image of women. What happens to women these days, how do they present themselves? Which compulsions (and liberties) exist for women today?”
Below is another photo-montage by Annegret Soltau. It is still a self portrait like in the above examples however this was produced a couple of years on and can be seen to have a different style. She has still sewn back into the photograph however this time it is to stitch other pictures onto the original, they have been ripped and placed to create an abstract looking portrait it has a different and almost more powerful effect for her to be stitching the parts together rather than having it seamless by gluing it. It also makes the picture more recognisable to her as it has become one of her signifying techniques.
Self Portrait | Annegret Soltau
Other Artist to look at during experimentation:
Jakob Kolding
‘In terms of subject, the work has gone from a relatively specific interest in modernist utopias and suburban space.’
The idea of landscape plays a big part in Berlin-Based Jakob Kolding’s gritty pieces. He likes the fact that every element used references something outside of the work, making for a multilayered and complex experience. He is acutely aware that context always matters and enjoys playing around with this in ‘simple yet meaningful ways’. Collage is always at the heart of his creative process and he admits that ‘even when the work doesn’t look like a collage, that is basically still how I think about it. I like how in the process you can build up your own vocabulary, something very personal by made only out of found images. Nothing comes from nothing.’ – Cuts & Paste (Caroline Roberts and Richard G. Brereton)
Jakob Kolding | Memories of the FututreJakod Kolding | Round up
