Photo-montage is a medium that can be traced back to the Dadaists in 1915, a Zurich artist movement, who used this technique to make political statements, which can be seen in their protest against the First World War. Dada artist Raoul Hausmann, John Heartfield and Hannah Hoch, used this medium in order to create propaganda for this opposing statement of the war. This propaganda often showcased what can be called the cut-n-paste technique, which consisted of section of cut out images layered over one another, creating a final piece. This Dadaist movement can be said to be a style of surrealism, in which conventional art is challenged with these distorted forms of reality, using the increasingly popular media of photography.

Mood Board

John Stezaker

John Stezaker, born in 1949, is an English artist best known for his conceptual photomontages, in which usually display either two portraits, or a portrait and a landscape layered over one another creating a collage like result. The images that Stezaker uses for these pieces are found photographs, ranging from film stills, postcards, magazines, books or commercial photographs. It has been said that this style of photomontage takes a similar form as the work of early pioneers such as Hannah Hoch and Man Ray, showcases the features of Dadaism and surrealism. John Stezaker’s series named ‘Marriage’ appears to focus on portraiture, displaying two juxtaposing images of film stars overlapping creating one fragmented form. However, within Stezaker’s series named ‘Mask XIII’ the photomontages consist of one celebrity portrait in black and white, with a juxtaposing colour landscape, usually taken from a postcard, concealing the face.

Analysis

This image created by John Stezaker showcases a photomontage of a black and white portrait, in which the upper half of the face is concealed by a colour landscape. The portrait used in this piece presents the subject directly in the centre of the frame, with only their head and shoulders visible, leaving only a small amount of empty space above and to the side of the subject. The landscape chosen by Stezaker showcases what appears to be a cave with two openings, which act as a sort of replacement for the eyes in this collage, with the connecting structure in between them resembling a nose. Furthermore, these outlines of the cave entrances also act as leading lines for this collage, as they not only resemble the facial features missing, but also correspond with the shape of the face, continuing the curve upwards. The overlay of this photograph juxtaposes the background image with its dark and earthy tones, creating a strong contrast with the lightness of the portrait.

From a technical point of view it can be said that chosen portrait was taken with studio soft lighting, due to the consistent light tone throughout the image and lack of harsh shadows behind the subject. In addition, it can also be seen that the lighting used to capture the landscape photograph must have been natural. It appears that the aperture used for both images was low, allowing for a large depth of field, as the focal range seems to be the same within the foreground and backgrounds. For the landscape the ISO would have been set high, as there is only a small amount of light entering the photograph, through the cave, meaning that the camera would need to capture as much light as possible. However, the portrait would only require a low ISO setting due to the studio lighting flooding the image.

This piece taken from John Stezaker’s mask series is said to be inspired by an essay written by Elias Canetti’s on masks and unmasking in his book Crowds and Power. Another form of inspiration was taken from teaching a course in the origins of art, with the mask being the point of origin, Stezaker has stated. This provoked Stezaker to create these collages, with the aim to exhibit the urge for ‘exile from life in the world of images’

My Photomontages

Magazine Cut Outs

For these portrait photomontages I cut out sections of images from a magazine of film stars aiming to resemble Fujiwara’s ‘Marriage’ series. I cut these sections out using a craft knife, allowing for a precise and neat line. I then experimented with placements of the cutouts.

Photoshop Edits

For these portrait and landscape photomontage edits, I aimed to replicate Fujiwara’s ‘Mask XIII’ series by using Photoshop to layer these images. Firstly I edited two of my own images by converting them into black and white for the background layer, then I layered over a landscape image of mine, concealing the upper half of the face. Next, I used two images taken from a magazine as a background layer, then again concealed the upper face with one of my own landscapes.

Final Image

I believe that this photomontage using magazine cut outs is my best image as it best shows resemblance to John Stezaker’s found image pieces. This is as like Stezaker’s, I used found images of film stars of opposite genders, in order to juxtapose each other, to create this final piece. In addition, these portraits used are of the head and shoulders, leaving a small amount of empty space around the subject. However, I also believe that I could produce a better result by taking more of my own images, and combining them with found images.

Satoshi Fujiwara

Satoshi Fujiwara is a Japanese photographer, based in Berlin, known for his jarringly different perspective on portraits, displaying extreme close ups, in which the entire face was confined within the frame, and digital manipulation. Fujiwara first developed his interest for photography through his career as a graphic designer and planner in an advertising company. This was due to a fascination with the way in which visual information was consumed and the impact it had on society. Furthermore, his exhibitions continued this commentary on society by presenting his work in a way which matched his innovative style of photography. This was done by printing his images onto PVC sheets and attaching them to the walls with various materials such as packaging tape and metal bars, causing the images to fold and slump around the gallery space, leaving the meaning of his presentation up to the interpretation of the viewers.

Analysis

This colour image taken by Satoshi Fujiwara displays an extreme close up head-shot of a woman, which reveals the varying texture of her skin which appears coarse and cracked in some places but smooth in others. Also, the image posses a warm tone due to the yellow and orange tones in her hair, skin and glasses, which take up the majority of the photograph. Here Fujiwara has framed the image in a way which the face is confined in the frame, leaving very little empty space which can be seen on the right of the photograph. Another way that this jarring perspective makes for a complex composition is the defined wrinkles that run through the subjects face, creating leading lines across the image that draw your from the bottom of the composition upwards.

From a technical point of view, it can be said that the lighting used to take this photograph is hard one-point lighting, due to the fact that the background of the image is completely black, and the wrinkles in the face are intensified by dark, contrasting shadows. In addition, here Fujiwara seems to be using a large aperture, as again the small amount of background that can be seen, is plain and shows no important features that would add to the composition. As this photograph was taken in what looks like a dark setting, the ISO used for this image must be high, allowing for the camera to take in as much light as possible, to make the portrait visible. Looking at the definition in this photograph, Fujiwara most likely used a fast shutter-speed, due to the fact the woman also seems to be in motion, making it a more difficult task to produce such a high quality photograph.

Photo-Shoot

Plan

Contact Sheets

Here I have highlighted the photographs I believe are of the best quality and link to Satoshi Fujiwara’s work, in green, which I will later edit in photoshop. In red, I have crossed out the images that I will not edit, due to the fact that they are either over exposed or unfocused.

Edited Images

In order to make my photographs resemble the work of Fujiwara, I firstly increased the contrast of each photograph and slightly decreased the exposure, allowing for a sharper image . After I increased the shadows replicating the dark backgrounds in Fujiwara’s images. I also used the dodge and burn tool to intensify these highlights and shadows.

Final Image

I believe that this edited image is my best as it best displays similarities to Satoshi Fujiwara’s unique style of extreme close up photography. This is due to the dark background that is just about visible around the edges of the image, and the warm tone of the portrait. I also aimed to capture a dissaproving facial expression within this photograph, which can also be seen in some of Fujiwara’s work that often exhibits images that appear to be taken of guard.

Double or multi exposure is a style of photography that superimposes two, or more, images to create one single image. This technique first emerged in the 1860s when it was used by photographers to earn more money, by making the subject of the photograph appear twice within one image. This originally was done by photographing over already used film, however nowadays we are able to create similar results using resources such as Photoshop.

Edited Images

For these double/multi exposure edits I took some of my previous studio portrait photography and edited them using Photoshop. To do this I dragged one portrait over another similar to it, and used the opacity tool to lighten the top layer, making it so both images are visible. I then adjusted the photographs and placed them making sure the faces were slightly apart from each other.