Overall, I find that my approach to occupation vs Liberation has gone very well. My project relates to that theme in the way the narrative of the book is women being subjected to unfeasible beauty expectations and liberating themselves. Furthermore, our society’s beauty expectations are an occupation. They damage people’s mental health and even leads to people’s death. In the beginning of the project, I wasn’t a hundred percent sure about what I wanted to do. At first I was going to focus on politics, Dadaism and collage but after looking at Bright’s work I decided I wanted to do something more personal and feminist. I found that the photographers I studied and the people I took inspiration from were a good choice. Between Simmons and Bright I had the inspiration to create a variety of images and narratives within them and I’m really happy about the way the images came out after editing them. I am glad that I also took inspiration from Instagram photographer Trophy Wife Barbie because it shows that not everyone complies to stereotypes and that not all social media is bad. I managed to take some sharp and disturbing portraits in the style of Bright before adding my own twist with my editing styles which I’m really happy about. I am also happy about the tableaux images I took in the combination style of Trophy Wife Barbie and Simmons, the result being even more unsettling than I had planned. What I wanted through this project was to convey the feeling of what it’s like to be completely bombarded with the feeling that your not pretty enough, your not skinny enough through my images. I also wanted to expose how unrealistic beauty expectations are. I believe I have achieved this really well be my images have impact and meaning.
The whole project on a whole has gone really well. I believe I choose two really interesting photographers who are very relevant. Women have unrealistic beauty standards that have really damaging effect. To me it’s gotten to a point where people are no longer being an individual. Everyone is trying to look trendy and post it on social media. Also, patriarchal creations such as the male gaze is still very relevant. We see it almost every time we turn on a TV but we don’t notice it because we are used to it.
Throughout my project I have been extremely experimental about my editing. I have used adjustments on Light room with tools in Photoshop to create images that have impact when you look at them. I have used a combination of tools like the clone stamp tool, the spot healing brush and the content-aware fill tool to remove doll’s faces. I have also liquidized Barbie’s make up with the liquid filter. i have also experimented with how I’ve set up my images, always pushing the envelope and trying to take it one step further by creating frighting tableaux narratives.
There are many similarities to my images and Bright’s image because her portraits of Barbie dolls inspired mine. They are both close ups where the focal points of the images are on the face. However, Bright has used more of a chiaroscuro effect on her image and has edited it so the doll’s eyes are actually human eyes . Furthermore, Bright has chosen and African American Barbie in order to show the lack of and inaccurate and unrealistic representation of African american women in dolls. I, on the other hand, chose that specific Barbie because the stereotype of beauty that Barbie represents to me was perfectly represented in that Barbie. To me Barbie has always been that blonde skinny doll in pink. I wanted to show a lack of true female identity by removing features of her face to be symbolic.
My work compared to Simmons
My image is similar to Simmons in the way that I took inspirations off of the domestic mise-en-scene. They both have a disturbing look to them but Simmons is more subtle than mine. They are both similar in the way that Simmons also incorporates shadows to create the sinister edge to her images. The messages behind both images are different. Simmon’s used the setting of a kitchen to get across her message about women’s roles in the society. However, I used it along with the gory scene with Ken to show how 21st century women brake these domestic role and beauty expectations.
I’ve printed two of the images I made but did include in my book. I didn’t include them because they didn’t fit in with the rest of the images I was using. This is because I edited them to make cultural art references to pop art and Andy Warhol which didn’t fit in with my narrative. I also printed a couple of images that gives a full head to two of Barbie. I plan on backing the two art reference ones simply because I don’t want to take away from the images but I want to frame them a tiny bit. I plan on mounting the barbie images one after the over in an order so it gives a full body barbie but with my edited images. I plan to back that simply too for the same reason.
On a basic level I believe my exploration into the terms of occupation and liberation went well. The terms were broad and allowed me to consider many different opportunities to explore, but I felt looking at the occupation my Grandparents lifestyle was a perfect fit. At first I was a little worried as I knew my portraits were not always my strong point within photography, but I knew it would allow me to refine and develop me skills within this area of photography. Using artists such as Walker Evans, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Laura Blight and many allowed me to explore different ways to present my Grandparents lifestyle through portraits and landscapes. Initially, I wanted to focus of both my Grandma and Grandad but as my project developed I made the decision to place the central focus on my Grandad due to his higher position within the family hierarchy and how he considers himself the backbone of the household. At first, I looked at just capturing portraits and understood that my narrative of my book would need a change of pace and so I decided to explore the interior and exterior of their house and the relationship between landscape and person. In terms of photographic styles my project follows a documentary style as I try and capture the reality of my Grandparents lifestyle. I often found it challenging to produce reliable imagery as I did not want to ‘intrude’ on my Grandparents, but I felt as the project went along the bond between me and my Grandparents became stronger allowing me to decode their lifestyle more.
Overall, the six photo shoots conducted I was able to produce high quality photographs which illustrate my competence of using a camera and its settings. Most of my photographs are in black and white as I felt it showcased detail, structure and space much clearer and I felt the context of the 1940’s, when my Grandparents was born, was much clearer. I tended not to deviate from a naturalistic edit as I felt that the authenticity of my photographs would be reduced, thus reducing the reliability of my outcomes. However, to show further exploration I decided to take a more contemporary route, and although I liked the way they looked I felt it did not follow my aesthetic and did not show my narrative and contextual and conceptual elements in the right way. The project itself has taught me a lot about my family and the way in which lifestyle affects the way in which my Grandparents live their life. It has allowed me to become much closer with my Grandparents and the final book is something that they will cherish, thus making it a worth while and rewarding project to do.
With regard to my final outcomes, I believe I have successfully managed to show my competence in display techniques. I have been able to artistically express my intended narrative within my imagery, whilst being able to uphold the authenticity of the photograph through the simplistic and basic looking framing techniques. I have successfully shown my creatively ability to combine photographs within a frame to illustrate a new element of their lifestyle which adds to the overall conceptual and contextual values of my work. Individually the photographs themselves, printed out, show the high quality of work, which reflects my ability to produce crisp images as well as edit the photographs for effect. Personally, I really like the way in which these outcomes have turned out as they outcast my best embodiment of work within the project, and how they reflect my narrative.
As my other final outcome, my photographic book clearly illustrates my intended narrative of representing my Grandparents lifestyle, and how the 1940’s has influenced this, with specific focus onto religion, family structure and hierarchy, relationship and interaction. The final sequencing of my photographs, clearly represent my intended effect, through the use of intimate portraits as well as landscape interior and exterior images which present a new light to my narrative. Within this period of making the book I have been able to show my ability to effectively sequence my photographs for intended effect, whilst still conveying my narrative. As well as, producing a captivating book which my Grandparents will cherish.
To conclude, I believe through the six photo shoots and different final outcomes, I have showcased my ability to experiment and explore the concept of Occupation and Liberation in a more contemporary route. In addition to this, I have shown my ability to develop an idea from artists work as well as the inspiration of my overall aesthetic which developed as the project went on. Personally, I am pleased with the way in which this project has went as I have held authenticity within my work, produced strong images, shown my ability to successfully edit images as well as sequence them to be placed in a book. In terms of my essay, I believe I have conducted a lot of research and reading to form a well structured and thought out essay, which has relevance to my project. On top of this, the essay allowed me to take this project into a deeper meaning, which is clearly shown within my work.
For my photo book, I have decided to focus on a simple, minimalistic layout aimed at truly emphasizing the images. I will be laying my images in a square format in the centre of the page, leaving a large area of blank page between the image and the edges of the sheet as shown in the image below
I am incorporating archival images alongside images I have recreated myself as well as original written text extracted from the back of my grandfathers photos. Originally, The archival images were yellowed due to age and I for one didn’t like this effect, and I also realised that it would be harder to replicate the yellowing on my reproduced images so I took the decision to convert all images to black and white for the project. With regards to the handwritten text, as the text was written on the rear of the images there were a lot of blemishes and marking on the paper due to the age of the images so I therefore had to go through a process to elinminate these markings and extract the whole text. I set the whites to positive 100 and the blacks to negative 100 after desaturating the image, this then made the blacks of the written text stand out from the image and gave the image a whole white background meaning that only the text was visible when incorporated into the photo book
The original image of the written textThe written text after the editing process, the blacks of the text stand out well and the background is fully white
I have decided to use a landscape shot of the RAF base my grandfather was stationed at as a front and back cover for my photo book as I find that using portrait images would straight away give away aspects of the book, as well as the fact that I feel using the landscape can act as a metaphor as in the images were taken within the landscape, so therefore the landscape image covers the book and it contains the images taken from within that landscape. I desaturated the image and adjusted the colour filters to create an aesthetically pleasing black and white image as the cover. I then used one of the original images of written text to add to the top right hand corner of the front cover to act as a title for the book, with the book being titled as ‘Myself’. I find this is quite a fitting title as using both images of me and my grandfather within the book helps create a sense of identity, as well as the fact that my grandfather was a huge role model to me, so in many ways, I see elements of him in myself and my personality.
In the initial stages of my photo book design I wanted to ensure I maintained simplicity while also representing a narrative of a dance journey which is to be presented clearly. I first started by experimenting with sequencing of imagery with also combining archival, costuming and still life images in order to represent a relation between the three, helping to show the series of dance elements included in performance. I decided to have two archival images together with the ballet shoes which were worn on the following page, this created a sequence adding to a sense of pace. Although I liked the way this looked I felt as if the sequencing was off as the intended narrative was not clear, therefore edging me to change the sequence. Carrying on from this, in this first section of the book, as well as throughout I will be using a lot of archival imagery allowing comparison between the beginning and the end of the book, showcasing lifestyle, change and development in both dance wear, accessories, costuming etc. I feel as if this is going to help my book have a sense of pace and clearly show that this is a documentation. However, I felt as if using two archival images at the beginning was too much and therefore decided to exclude one and move around the images to fit in with this edit.
First Design
Second Design
Taking from the first experimentation I took away the landscape archival image and instead added a costuming image which can be seen as the smallest of all the costumes photographed and the costume is there first one I ever wore for competition. As mentioned in my book specificiattion I wanted the book to start with an archival image as a sense of entering into my journey and creating the narrative. I then want a mixture of all three photoshoots in order to carry on the narrative in different ways which works in my initial design. I do want double page spreads displayed throughout the book to add a sense of contrast between all the images. These double page spreads will be still-life object images as I feel as If they are going to fit in better as a double however this is not included in the first section of my book as I feel as if it doesn’t fit in. Carrying on, with the next section of my book, I intend to carry on the narrative of my dance journey. This is where double page spreads and costumes images will be introduced as a development. These images are both sectioned together to reperesent a group of images around the same subject, ie archival, object and costume images are shown to again show development of the dance when it was first performed and now when the costume lays in my wardrobe. I believe this is a successful way of showing the development as it adds fluidity and showcases a new way of looking into the subject. Furthermore, the sequencing of the images is seen as being very simplistic, with plain white backgrounds as I intended to show cheese photographs and then on the following page a post relating to the subject. This adds to the aesthetic of the book and supports my book specification where I stated I wanted a simple book with no distractions away from images. In tis version, I have intended to layout my essay within the book and have a combination of text and images to show a visual aspect. I used a combination of block text, columns as well as break ups within text to adds to the aesthetic as it is visually easier to read. To evaluate, I believe this design has a good concept however could be manipulated on my final try to showcase my intended narrative more. I would each section to have more separation to allow for the different times in life to be seen more so, therefore I will be adding in blank pages.
Fine Tuning My Design
After creating my second design, I am happy with the overall narrative as well as some of the sequencing of the images which add tot her narrative. However, I will be changing some of the images and replacing them with others in order to add to the narrative. I am deciding to focus on fine tuning some of the spreads to make the images more effective in presenting my narrative as well as improving the aesthetic further. In order to show development I have displayed one of the edits below.
In the first fine tuning of my design I looked into the way I presented my double page spreads as I felt as if these could me manipulated slightly to allow for the narrative to run more smoothly. I first started my adding a white boarder so it did not touch the edges of the page. I feel as if this shows that nothing has been cut out, therefore making my images more truthful. I then went on to position this to the middle of the page instead of slightly to the left as I felt it added more of a impact. I decided to do this for most my other double page spreads as it meant they were all the same and added to the simplicity aesthetic, I did however leave the ones which looked good spread onto the full page as I didn’t want to ruin the image overall. Both the old and new designs are placed below.
Second Design
New Design
Evaluation
To evaluate, I believe that I have been able to successfully sequence my images in order to show my intended narrative. This has been done through much experimentation and I think that this has helped me to create successful images, allowing intended impact and allowing it to have fluidity to the book. Adding on to this, I think I have been able to show my thought process and decision making as to why I have done my actions. Overall this development process have been a long one which has taken a lot of thought process and experimentation, I do now feel that I have made successful changes to each individual section. I aim to make minor changes to images and book from now to the final product and will discuss final element in my last layout plan.
This is the final layout of my photo book. I have made small changes in order to accommodate the amount of text i have placed in, but other than that there have been no major changes since the last blog post.
This is the layout of my book once I have placed in my essay and all other text. I have chosen to dispurse my essay throughout my book, rather than putting the whole essay at the end.
I placed the essay question and the opening quote at the start of the bookThen I spread the essay over multiple pages, this will make it much easier to read, without a big clump of text at the end of the book.I have had to change the layout of one 2-page spread in order to accomodate the essay text. I have moved both images onto one page in a collage style, then put text on the now empty right page.
How do Diana Markosian and Rita Puig-Serra Costa express the notion of family history and relationships in their work?
“If manipulation is the first thing someone thinks of in connection to photography, what does that say about the value of the photograph as a reflection of reality?” (Bright and Van Erp 2019:17)
The notion of family is a subject that has been thoroughly explored by photographers such as Rita Puig-serra Costa and Diana Markosian. However, “when it comes to interpreting internal family dynamics, perspective is everything” (Hawarth,S. and Mclaney, S, 2016, 8). I believe each photographer portrays an either positive or negative view in regards to their personal relations, making it important to consider their individual point of view when deciding how much weight their narrative bears when showing the truth behind family dynamics. My personal study is focusing on my family’s history; more specifically the story of both my parents and important events in their life which lead to me being where I am today. I have chosen to analyse Markosian because her project “Inventing My Father” contrasts directly with Costa’s study “Where Mimosa Bloom” which I will also be referring to throughout this essay. I like the way Markosian explores the absence of her father in her life in such a personal and raw way, which eventually leads to a reunion which she captured through images. The photographs along with the context she provides into her life, makes this project very fascinating. Equally, I think the way Costa explores her family through the use of archival images and objects was effective as it really conveyed a sense of love and importance of family. I specifically loved how her entire project was an homage to her mother since carefully photographed objects paired with thoughtfully taken portraits further shows how fond she is of her family. These two photographers were particularly interesting to me as I felt I could personally relate to both bodies of work. Due to my Portuguese heritage, family is a of great importance to me and is valued highly in my family’s culture. However, my parents choosing to separate also led to the lack of a parental figure in my life which I will be exploring in the narrative. In this essay I will be discussing the notion of family and relationships, loss and hope in the works of both these artists, and evaluating my own response to their subjects.
Realism is the concept of capturing things in their natural element. This genre of photography is most useful when trying to capture something such as family history, as documentary photography allows us to be able to see someone’s real life situation through images. Photographers such as Dorothea Lange and Paul Strand focused on documenting the effects of urbanization and industrialization on working class Americans. This was something very prominent at the time of this movement, as the great depression in 1929 left a lot of people economically struggling. We now see this type of photography as realism. I feel as if this movement fits in well with my personal study as it recognizes the importance of capturing raw, documentary style images which I think is necessary when exploring something as personal as a family’s history, especially involving immigration and the struggle surrounding that journey. Images of this sort are characterized by having a wide depth of field and having sharp focus which contradicts the pictorialist style. The move away from creating a painterly aesthetic ultimately opened the door to a more forensic approach but also one that is open to distortion and manipulation in its pursuit of a good story of a good story. This will ultimately depend on the agenda of the artist, their integrity and skill in delivering a message, story or sequence of events.
In the words of Martin Parr, “most family albums are a form of propaganda, where the family looks perfect and everyone is smiling” (Hawarth, and Mclaney 2016, 7). Although to certain extent I believe this is true, Markosian goes against this idea as she uses a non-traditional method of exploring the family concept. Instead of portraying a sense of happiness and love, which is typically associated with family relationships, Markosian chooses a more raw and honest approach highlighting how she grew up without her father figure and turning that into the foundation that her project is built upon. In this context, I believe the words of John Tagg are appropriate as the view that “the camera is an instrument of evidence” (John Tagg:1988) perfectly demonstrates how Markosian’s work stands out amongst other artists exploring the same themes, since a certain truthfulness radiates from her images which goes against the dominating stereotype that every family is perfect, leading to a more contemporary output which appeals to modern day people.This view is put across quite skillfully and subtly through the use of black and white images which puts forward a sense of emptiness since the monochrome theme is often associated with despair. This means that the audience will be able to feel a certain coldness and the lack of emotion, while also simultaneously feeling a surge of emotion through the scenes and objects depicted in the images leading to an interesting contrast that is highly effective throughout her work. The use of archival imagery is complementary to Markosian’s photography since by itself it would usually portray a sense of happiness, however with the context, it is instead replaced with a slight sense of resentment, especially the archival image showing her dad cut out of an image.
I believe the image above to be one of Markosian’s best not just due to its impeccable technicality, but also because it is rich in context. This image shows a suitcase belonging to her father containing things such as undelivered letters, newspaper clippings, and a shirt he was saving for her brother’s wedding. This image is in black and white making it more emotionally detached yet since the objects are sentimental it creates an interesting juxtaposition, as it shows the photographer is conflicted over her feelings. I believe Diana Markosian represents a modern wave of photography where beauty can be found in imperfections, and appreciated.
“Where Mimosa Bloom” by Costa takes the completely opposite approach into the exploration of family culture. It becomes obvious that the entire project is very thoughtful and the audience can almost feel an overpowering sense of the love Costa has for her family. Although Costa focuses on the positiveness of relationships with family, I believe it is the underlying theme of her mother’s death which makes her work particularly stand out since it reinforces the view that “real families aren’t often idyllic” (Hawarth, and Mclaney, 2016, 7) , even though on the surface, her family circumstances appear favourable. While exploring important people, objects and places that play a significant role in her relationship with her mum, she alludes to her death in an ennobling way. This notion is put across carefully through many aspects throughout the book such as a light colour scheme which conveys a sense of delicacy through pastel shades and also the metaphorical link to mimosa, a tree that blooms bright, yellow flowers in Spring, in Barcelona, where Costa is from.
This image is one which perhaps evokes the most emotion. In this double page spread we see Costa clutching a premature bird in her hand. Costa said, “When she died, I felt like a bird whose mother had abandoned the nest. I had to learn how to fly on my own,”. The context in combination with the image depicts a real sense of vulnerability, conveyed through the bird, that Costa is feeling in relation to not having her mother anymore. I think that using the bird as a medium for her own feelings, further shows how much thought and care was taken into each image as this has deep metaphorical value. I think that Rita’s work is a more traditional way of portraying family as she utilises portraiture and archival objects in a positive way, while also showing feelings and emotions through metaphors. I believe Rita Puig-Serra’s work represents positive sentiments towards relationships giving an almost romantic representation of a typical family unit.This book exudes closeness and sentimentality, by showing a kind of poetic bond between her relatives. However, with the view that “photography is a system of visual editing” (John Szarkowski:1976), the possibility of work being refined and changed to reflect perfectionism could be high.
When capturing my own images, and throughout the editing process, I kept each photographer’s approach in mind. Below is a final outcomes of my personal study. You can see that by using Photoshop I was able to give the illusion that my mum was “cut out” of the image, and layered on top is an image showing medication used to manage her anxiety and depression. The aim of this picture is to show how my mother battled mental illness after my birth, while also representing the concept of family. This image contains elements from both Markosian and Costa’s work. The use of an archival image makes it very personal, expressing the sentiment of love, inspired by Costa’s work. However, the manipulation gives the image a certain degree truthfulness as it adds context about an emotionally difficult subject, and would otherwise may not have been obvious from the original image, similar to Markosian’s work.
To conclude, both Markosian and Costa have created very emotional pieces of work based on their own personal family stories and journeys. Although we do get a sense of love from Markosian’s work, I believe this sentiment is often fighting against a feeling of hatred and resentment towards her father, whereas we purely get the feeling of love and closeness from Costa’s photo book with hint of sadness due to the loss of her mother. Costa’s photo book contains a very unique color palette containing light, delicate, pastel colors which is expected as her images are delicately framed and excrete fondness towards her family. On the other hand, Markosian’s body of work contains a lot of black and white images which shows that there is a lot of distance between her and the subject, yet all the things she photographs are of rich sentimental meaning to her. Both photographers also make use of archival images and objects, Costa utilises this to show a deep connection to her mother whereas due to the nature of Markosian’s work, her archival objects are used to show her father as being someone she is detached from.
Bibliography:
Bright, S. and Van Erp, H.(2019). Photography Decoded. London: octopus Publishing House
Howarth, S. and McLaney, S. (2016). Family photography now. London: Thames & Hudson
Szarkowski, John (1976), William Eggleston’s Guide. New York & Cambridge, MA: The Museum of Modern Art & The MIT Press
Tagg, John (1988). The Burden of Representation. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan
