MARINKA MASSÉUS is a photographer who has investigated and photographed people with Downs Syndrome. Her project, Chosen [Not] To Be, captures how these people feel limited and separated from society. The images almost show how they can be strong and the centre of attention when most of the time are pushed aside.
To me this image is interesting, it doesn’t clearly link to those with Downs Syndrome, but if you think more closely, it does hide something, with the yellow spot. The way it relates to those with Downs Syndrome is how they are hidden away and not seen in the public eye as important. What is the significance of the spot? What is under the spot? There are many leading lines that draw the eye into the image, to the spot, increasing its importance.
In my project, during the experimenting/editing stage I am going to place elements that hide things. I am also going to experiment with drawing on print outs of the portraits I take, to add personal aspects to them, by using their limitations and freedoms to them. These print outs will then be rephotographed and placed in my book.
A Swedish photographer who has used her project, Rågsved, to recover and come to terms with her troubled past. ANGELICA ELLIOTT moved to Rågsved after her boyfriend ended his life. The photobook was an ongoing project and started as soon as she moved there, almost as a way to feel free and became a way of therapy for ELLIOTT. Although she has no formal education in photography, ELLIOTTs’ images are well thought out and capture something truly beautiful, just life. ELLIOTT did assist two photographers, JH Engström and Margot Wallard, in Paris and knew from then on photography was what she needed to be doing. At the age of 18/19 she started shooting analogue and shared a small dark room, where she developed her images. At this time photography was a hobby. As she started collecting her images she realised that a book could be created. Every image within the book is personal.
“I learned a lot about myself during this time. In a way, to be myself. I learned to respect my work and believe in myself as an artist. I also realised that, ‘F*ck it, I can still do this without a proper art school education, and that I will continue doing what I do in my own way’. That is freedom to me. Nothing and no one can take my photography away from me. It is something I will never lose. That makes me feel strong and independent.”
– ANGELICA ELLIOTT
This black and white image, has strong contrasts and a large tonal range. In this image there are lots of different shapes, which add texture and interest to the image. The windows have created interesting patterns in the image. There isn’t any real composition elements in the image, however the strong contrasts draw the viewers eye to the image. After researching the project by ANGELICA ELLIOTT, I think this is a picture of the city of Rågsved. Is this an image of where ANGELICA has recovered from her traumatic past? For this image to be placed in her book, it must be very important to her and hold some significance.
I am using this project to express myself and to discuss what limits me and makes me feel free. Similarly to ANGELICA ELLIOTT I feel this project could essentially be very healing and therapeutic to complete.
For my first photoshoot I decided just to go on a walk through a nearby valley and see what caught my eye and inspired me from my natural surroundings, collecting a large variation of images in whatever styles suits the particular subject best and then later on working out which to keep and use in my photobook. This resulted in several hundred images of different plants. trees, birds, flowers and general landscape scenes which I narrowed down in Adobe Lightroom.
Firstly, I went through with the colour labels and either chose red or yellow for whether I wanted to discard the image immediately or move on to the next selection process. This ended up with me having roughly 70 images to work with.
Then I went through and either flagged them as “keep” or “discard” depending on whether there were other similar images which worked better, or if they were duplicates form a slightly different angle, or if they just overall didn’t work as well with the other images as I had hoped. This left me with 37 images. I then edited the final group of images a little, just making any corrections to the exposure or when the colour balance was off slightly, before exporting them out of Lightroom.
Once they were in my files I was able to analyse them against each other, physically putting them next to other images and comparing them in a range of different combinations, before separating them into two folders: “yes” and “no”. I decided against deleting any of the images in the “no” folder, as I could change my mind or my vision of the project could change slightly and they would be necessary again. I was also aware of the fact that I could end up using even less of these images, depending on how the other photoshoots go, so this selection is in no way final, but with some I already have an idea of how to use them effectively in the book.
At the end of all this I ended up with 28 images that I chose to keep and move on with into the next stage of my photobook.
(POSSIBLE LAYOUT)
“winter”
“spring”
“summer”
For my future photoshoots I know I am going to focus more on landscapes and scenes rather than individual plants, flowers and trees, and I also am planning to produce a series of portraits to use alongside these other images, possibly posed in similar positions. For example, the images below almost look like two heads looking at each other and two people of different heights standing next to each other, so I am going to make images with a similar form using people to mirror them.
As I said before I know I’m not going to end up using all of these images, but I do quite like some of them and I’m trying to think of interesting ways I can incorporate them into my photobook to best represent my idea of spring as a period of transition.
in a sentence: the slow but gradual transformation from cold, harsh winter to soft, warm summer, adding in some comparisons to how people change/age over time.
This photobook will be a study on how the weather, environment and general mood changes as the weather warms up and the seasons change from winter to summer. The season of spring has always been represented as a period of transition, and often also as a period of rebirth- not only in a religious sense but also environmentally. I want to have the images seem natural and as if they are seen through your own eyes, and I’m planning to do this by not over-editing the images and carefully using angles to my advantage. I also want to do some portrait work as well and add that alongside, to represent how humans age over time and the transition of youth to adulthood and old age.
DESIGN-
portrait orientation
colour
some text throughout the book (quotes?)
most images in pairs, some as individuals
fairly simple editing to keep the natural theme
title along the side of the book as well as on the front
I don’t have plans for a name yet, but I want it to be short and something to do with the spring, or the changing of seasons.
Katrien de Blauwer is a Belgian artist who calls herself a “photographer without a camera”. Her chosen medium is found imagery: she collects and recycles images from old magazines and papers to re-purpose in her work. She has several published books showcasing these talents and her work evokes the style of photomontage. She often obscures the identities of the people in the images she uses, either by cutting it out of the image, using paint or marker pen, or else covering it up with another image entirely. This generates a sense of anonymity that allows any individual to “recognise oneself in the story,” as her website states. She has quite a distinctive use of form and shapes, using strong lines to contrast or match two images together.
DE BLAUWER’S IMAGES-
i don’t want to disappear silently into the night
scenes
rendez-vous
i don’t want to disappear silently into the night
i don’t want to disappear silently into the night
painted scenes
dark scenes
grey scenes
grey scenes
IMAGE ANALYSIS-
from the “rendez-vous” series
I particularly like this image because of the contrast between nature and humans. The way de Blauwer used the clear lines of the trees to lead down into the people’s legs in the bottom half of the image is interesting and also slightly humorous, as it creates an impression of a sort-of half-man half-tree being. It is also a fairly sweet image, as it can be assumed from how close the people are standing that they are a couple. The fact that she took these images from magazines and newspapers speaks to her skill and artistic eye, and shows her dedication to creating interesting and engaging photographs that showcase the best parts of their original pieces.
