WHY WE DID THIS –
The aim of this photo shoot was to capture the abstract shapes and forms which can be found all around us.Even when going through school, in mundane things, beauty can be found. I captured images which suit best the theme of “abstract”, incorporating simple shapes and forms in order to do so.
I found the interpretation of Claude Cahun’s work by Clare Rae incredibly interesting. The way she has captured the style and look of the photos makes it seem almost as though they were taken by the same person. There were obviously some differences in the models used, even some of the same locations were used. Both photographers focus of the surreal contrast, and also similarity, to nature and man.
The picture below was one of my favorites. Not only does it have a nice contrast between the blacks and whites, but it shows the connection between man(or in this case woman) and nature. The way that her arm reaches around the rock almost makes it seem like the rock is alive and the two are connected.
Another piece of her work that caught my eye was this photograph(above). While it shows the clear disconnect between humans and nature, the color of the dress and physical connection to the rock represents how we are still connected with nature and that it is an important part of what makes us human. The reflection off of the rocks and the dress also seem to represent this idea.
I went to Claude Cahun and Clare Rae’s art exhibition to view their photography. Their photos were very similar and you could see that Clare Rae has been inspired by Claude Cahun’s work, they has almost identical set ups in some of the photos and you could see their meanings of the photos so boldly and clearly behind the photos. However there were dissimilarities in the photos such as Claude Cahun’s photos were self-portraits and they were showing her emotions and struggles with gender identity, where as Clare Rae used other women than herself to portray women and her emotional views. Overall the art exhibition was an experience, it showed me new ways to photograph things and how to use other objects in the photos, without making it look setup.
These are a selection of photos by both photographers; 
Clare Rae
Clare Rae 
Claude Cahun
This photo by Clare Rae shows how she was inspired by Claude Cahun’s work, as she has taken this photo in a remote are and is showing female domination in this image of hers. I chose this photo because the mood in this photo is showing a women’s emotion. Her head is hanging low which shows how the gender equality has effected her in a way of having no confidence or no sense or worth. The was Clare Rae decided to have her foot propped up onto the wall gives the photo an extra element to it, it makes it more interesting to look at and effective.
I chose this photo from Claude Cahun’s photographs because I like the way she has used the rope in the images, this adds something extra to the photo, instead of it just being a simple self portrait. This photo creates a sense of mystery, as you can’t see her face, but it makes it more intriguing as you wonder why she has decided to do this. I interpenetrate this photo as Claude Cahun going through a stage of unknowing and embarrassment as she has hidden her face almost as if she doesn’t want anyone to see her until she has figured out her gender
Clare Rae has mainly used females throughout her photos as did Claude Cahun but she also put herself in the photos. Clare Rae’s photos are showing that females are equal to men, by photographing them in an working environment, also in some of her photos she has covered women’s body parts, suggesting they are figuring out their identity and this is similar to Claude Cahun as she was trying to figure out her identity. Their photos helped get their emotions and opinions across to everyone through photography.
Claude Cahun and Clare Rae
Claude Cahun (1894-1954) : Claude Cahun was an avant-garde queer artist and writer associated with the Parisian surrealist movement in the 1920s, before she relocated with her female partner Marcel Moore to Jersey in the 1930s. Since her rediscovery in the 1980s, Cahun’s subversive self-portrait photographs and texts have become highly influential for artists dealing with questions of gender identity and representation of the female body. Claude was known for her self riveting photographic portraits that seem early ahead of her time, Claude has attracted and almost cult-like following,
Clare Rae is an artist based in Melbourne, Australia who explores ideas of performance and gesture to interrogate and subvert dominant modes of representation. Her work is informed by feminist theory, and presents an alternate and often awkward experience of subjectivity and the female body, usually the artists’ own. Recent projects have engaged with site specificity, involving works that are captured and displayed within the same environment. A central interest within her practice is the exploration of performance documentation, specifically how the camera can act as a collaborator, rather than mute witness, to the performer.
On the trip to Entre Nous we looked at a recent exhibition on Clare’s in which she tired to immitiate similar themes of moving into the spaces around her in the landscapes, which some, previously, were inhabited and imaged by Claude Cahun. The theme of black and white was maintained throughout as well as the images predominantly being captured on coastal lanscapes, usually featuring objects such as large rocks and cliffs.
In the picture above the higher middle picture shows the model lying down on a patch of sand. This can symbolise the model trying to blend in with the natural environment around them which in this case is the beach.
The middle picture in this image is another of Claude’s and shows a set of arms coming out of a pilar of rock. This follows Claude’s theme of blending into the natural environment as it is as if the photographer is trying to capture the model moulding their body and changing the way it is to fit in with the norm around it. Therefore some believe that Claude’s work has a deeper meaning that relates to Claude’s depicting herself in her environments in that day and age and how although she would try to blend into the natural surroundings, her sexuality preferences would stand her out from the crowd of ‘environment’ due to it being so uncommon at that time to be queer.
This is a photo of Clare Rae’s where she is trying to re-create the idea of the model moulding to and fitting in the the natural environment them. I think this replicates the first photo i described of Claude Cahun’s very well because this photo, like the first of Claude’s is located on a coastal location and more precisely, probably in a rock pool on a beach. Not only does this make it similar to Claude’s work, it also can be seen to be similar due to the model posing in an unusual way as if they are trying to become part of the surrounding environment. Which carries on the ideas and themes Claude created.
This is my favourite photo captured by Clare Rae due to its eerie and very weird nature that comes along with the carried on themes from Claude Cahun of moulding the body to fit in with the natural environment. As well as capturing the model moulding to the rock, this picture also captures the essence of how Clare could have perceived Claude’s experience of fitting into the norm back in her era and how hard she believed it could have ben for Claude to do this being queer. This is captured by the actual position the model is in and how uncomfortable this would be known to be by the interpreter.
Overall the trip taught me about the deeper meanings to a photographers work and how it can be related to their lifestyle, time era and personal thoughts and ideas. It also shows how themes of photography have remained consistent over time for example the Black and White feature and how modern photographers still enjoy capturing ideas that older generations had that still contain a strong message.
In class we were introduced to the concept of contact sheets. We complied all our images on a Photoshop document and then we could ether edit them by had or by using Photoshop. I decide to do them by hand because i like the look of the finished product the combination of pen and printed. Each different color of pen and design have a different meaning, for example the red circles over the images mean i want to use them in a final product and the ones with black dots are ones that can be discarded. This is very similar with the other contact sheet i made.
Both these images caught my eye when at the exhibition but both for different reasons. Clare’s work all had her in it as the focal point but the positions she took up didn’t overpower the photos they blended in with the surrounding well and even though some of the positions looked uncomfortable they created a delicate feel to the photo, like in the one below. Her clothes also add to this they where clearly thought out, in the photo above she wears a mid-length skirt which adds to the modesty of the photo and how she doesn’t want to be spotted she wants to blend in with her surrounding and not stand out. Whereas I feel the opposite with some of Claude’s work, as she dresses up very boldly to make a statement, but in the photo below I felt differently because her naked body seemed to fit perfectly with the surroundings. The low position meant she could become closer to her surroundings creating a more natural pose. The seaweed wrapped around her is a subtle but genius addition to the photo, it’s as if the water is trying to grab onto her and bring her closer. Even though being naked isn’t subtle, to me it feels delicate and it’s our natural state, so it matches the natural state of the rocks and the sand. Cahun is well known for exploring the world of gender within her work, I feel that Rae has also emphasized that in her work. The two photos above both exhibit a great deal of gender confusion as the people in the photos could be either male or female. Both positions show a lack of control over themselves and how they can’t move a certain way, they are who they are, and they can’t do anything about it, they are stuck that way. Also, the fact that neither of their faces are showing expresses how you can’t define gender by a certain look, facial features don’t have anything to do with your gender, you make your gender, your looks don’t define you.
Photo 1
Photo 2
Photo 3
Photo 4
This is my favorite image from the shoot with the paper.
Technical:
Lighting – The photo was taken with flash the try and highlight the contrast between the white paper and black card.
Aperture – The aperture was F3 so a medium amount of light was being let into the camera.
Shutter Speed – Was around 1/15 of a second which gave the top photo in particular a slight blur. An improvement would be to maybe use a faster speed of 1/250 or use manual focus.
ISO – The ISO was around 800.
White Balance – The temperature and warmth was turned up when editing to give the paper a worn effect as if it had been left for some time and been used. The white balance was also turned up to help the paper stand out.
Visual:
The texture of this image has been greatly heightened to over exaggerate the crumples in the paper. I used the warmth tool to increase the worn look on the paper to make it look like it had been used or is old.
Conceptual:
The idea behind this work and image was to capture a raw and simplistic picture that can still be powerful and emphasize how such common items such as a crumpled piece of paper can be captured in unique and diverse ways, showing how photography can create a virtual presence of something so plain.
Martin Creed (born 1968) is a British artist and musician. He won the Turner Prize in 2001 for exhibitions during the preceding year, with the jury praising his audacity for exhibiting a single installation, Work No. 227: The lights going on and off, in the Turner Prize show. Creed lives and works in London.
For this experimentation with Paper I focused on the artist Martin Creed. Creed is looking at a sense of possibility. He is experimenting with the shape of the ball and also into the creases that can be made onto the paper as shadows and lines.
My aim was to use Martin Creed as inspiration to produce my own set of photographs from and experimental photoshoot. This included experimenting with the different positions of the paper and where in frame it sat but also what effects I could create with the creases in the paper and also different paper textures such as plain white paper and also tracing paper.
I have done experiments with the angles I have taken of the paper and how I have positioned the different sheets to form one image to create different compositions. I have tried to experiment with the different traps of light between the creases of the paper to create different tones in the final photographs.
I often used the flash when creating my photographs, I did this to experiment with the amount of light I could hold and experiment with to see different outcomes of tone and exposure as I photographed the paper.
