‘Satoshi Fujiwara is a Kobe-born, Berlin-based artist and photographer. He initiates a pressing and critical action on the gazer, through the focal length set from portrayed subjects and the heterogeneous definition of his photographs, diverting from the standards of photo-journalism and an exclusively documentary dimension, thus producing a new emerging lexicon.’ – https://www.satoshi-fujiwara.com/about
Above are some images taken by Satoshi. As you can see, the tone is usually warm with high lighting and contrast. The way the are taken from up close allows a huge amount of detail in the face, which I assume was the goal. None of the subjects of Satoshi’s photos make direct eye contact to the camera, and are also taken at un-flattering angles making them seem as candid portraits.
To take these photographs, I used natural lighting- I tried to capture as much detail as I could, being wrinkles/hairs etc. However, Satoshi’s photos were still much more defined, with higher contrast and a warmer touch.
Using lightroom, I adjusted contrast and warmth to my liking. Compared to Satoshi’s work, mine a slightly more close-up. They also lack the smoothness and delicacy that you can see in her work. Overall, I like the detail in my outcome.
Man Ray was an American visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal. He produced major works in a variety of media but considered himself a painter above all. (Wikipedia) Above is a multi exposure piece by him which I will be basing my image on.
To get started I repeated the same steps as when I made my double exposure image on another blog, but I then turned the opacity right up, rather than leaving the layers at half opacity. I left the background as it was but then for the extra additions on the left and right, I doubled the cut-outs, turned the opacity down on the copy and placed it slightly off to create a sense of motion blur. Finally I turned the image black and whit and increased the contrast slightly.
This is how it turned out. However, to complete this image I cropped it similarly to Man Ray’s.
The photograph above is by an unknown photographer. The subject in the image is very central, and the background is symmetrical. However where you notice the double exposure, its a lot less symmetrical. It has high contrast and is in black and white.
Using photoshop and the same images used for my diamond cameo, I placed one image on top of the other- I then lowered the opacity giving my view of the image underneath and erased unwanted parts of the image.
To make my photograph more relatable to the multi exposure image I found, I increased contrast, as well as opacity slightly. I made he image black and white.
After going through my edited images, I decided that the two above were my most successful images. I wanted two images: One where the subject was facing the camera and one where she was facing the mirror. I think these two images would work well together placed vertically- and to achieve that I cropped both images and rotated them slightly to align the centre where the frame of the mirror divides both sides.
To explain the reasoning one last time, these photographs represent how everybody around you has a different perspective and different angle of how they see you in their mind to how you may see yourself, for example when you look into a mirror. However this is meaningless- you only look one way. Its all about perspective. In these images, the in the centre on this images is a frame (the mirror frame), which divides these two perspectives. One successful feature of these images is that the two sides completely contrast in tones. The background of one is very dark and the other is very light. As for the burns and parts of images coming through in Image 1 simply show a form of distortion. Part of the subjects face is cut out, but just replaced with the same image below just slightly moved. In image 2, it represents reality- the mirror image colliding with how others see you, this is because it can be true. People can see you the way you see yourself even if you don’t realise that. ‘There is dark in light and light in dark’. One thing I could have done is also printing and burning these photographs on photographic paper, this would have creating a melting effect, in addition some warmer colours around the burnt point.
When deciding how to display my images on paper, I though about some creative things, however this could distract the viewer and had no real meaning. I want my images to be clear and the focus point.
I took a photo of a plain picture frame and placed my images on using photoshop, however I didn’t like this outcome- there’s not enough contrast and depth bringing my images forward, they are also very close together making the viewer almost looking at these images as a whole rather than evaluating each them separately.
I liked this display a lot more than the previous one, It separates the images as well as making it clear that they are part of one idea. The small white border contrasts the black paper and makes my photographs pop, keeping the same black and white theme.
Here I wanted to explore a few ways of editing my images to further convey the message I was trying to give.
For the edits above, I used an app called procreate where I downloaded the same image a few times and used a smudge tool to create smudges in the reflection. I made sure to keep certain facial features to make it clear that this was a reflection of the subject in the mirror.
Above is a set of images which I printed on paper and attempted to burn in the style of Lucas Simoes. I places the lighter beneath the images and burnt them from a slight distance. The difference between mine and his techniques is that my images were not printed on photographic paper (which is what created the warm bright colours where his burns were).
Lucas Simoes ‘Burnt’
I then took my pictures of the prints. I tried a variety of placements: some I placed on plain white paper to create a bright centre of where the burn was but then I also decided to layer the images on top of each other to create distortions . As the photographs were burnt, it created a dark line around the edges of the holes in the paper. This created a sense of shadow and that the images below were on top- whereas they were actually placed beneath.
In these images, The creation of distortions and burns were purposefully placed in both the reflection and the person. This is because the idea, that the way you are seen by others is not the same in which you see yourself, works both ways.
Jesse Draxler: Misophomia
Above are my edits inspired by Jesse Draxler.
To create these photographs I used photoshop, and on there I used the lasso tool and by freehand cut out parts of all the portrait images for a variety of angles and placed them on one image in a way I though sat best. I turned the image black and white and increased the contrast for the image to stand out more like Draxler’s work.
Photographs through glass or other translucent objects.
Where
Both indoors and outdoors fornatural and indoor lighting.
Indoors with studio-like lighting.
When
On a weekend around midday foroptimal lighting.
Any day.
Who
A friend.
Myself.
Why
To create reflection- This will create’another image’ in the reflectionwhich will represent the way you are seen by others.
To create distortion- This willrepresent how a person viewsthemselves which is incorrect andexaggerated to the way you areviewed by others.
Shoot 1
Unfortunately there was a technical error, therefore I cannot post my raw images here. However I do have my slightly adjusted images:
Above is my first selection, the first thing I did was turn the images black and white. This was not only to create a visual link to Claude Cahun’s work, but it also makes the viewers focus on the subject of the photograph as well as its meaning. Bright colours can distract the viewer. Secondly, I cropped the images down to avoid unwanted objects and things in the background. And finally I adjusted the brightness and contrast to what I thought looked better.
Above is my final selection from shoot one. These images both a strong contrast between one side an the other with a clear and straight centre point. The images also shows two angles of the same person which is what I was aiming for. My general idea when taking these photographs was to show that the way you view yourself differs from the way others view you- the opposing light and dark tones alongside the two different viewpoints in person and in the reflection convey the message well. I will continue to try various things with these images in my next blog to further link them to my chosen photographers.
I also chose these photos to further edit in the style of Jesse Draxler. They are just simple portrait photos with different angles of the face.
Shoot 2
Shoot 2: Selection 1: Raw images
With these images, I had already set the camera filter to black and white for the same reason in my selection of shoot 1.
When editing, I only cropped the image and slightly adjusted contrast and exposure. The reason for these images I took of myself are to display unrealistic distortions, and how people may view themselves which is only in their mind and not the way they are seen by others.
‘Claude Cahun, born Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob, was a French lesbian photographer, sculptor and writer. Schwob adopted the pseudonym Claude Cahun in 1917 and is best known for self-portraits, in which Cahun assumed a variety of personae.’ As a gender neutral person, Claude created many artworks starting at 20 years old, up to her death in her 50’s. She used this artwork to express her identity- this being mostly gender identity. I would describe her work as fascinating and odd with a sense of deep meaning yet a bit of fun.
Much of the artist’s work was destroyed following an arrest and subsequent imprisonment for resistance against the Nazis. This also meant that many of her found pieces were not dated or named.
“Here, Cahun presents herself as bold, androgynous, and doubled by a mirrored-reflection. The image is lush with textures and tones: the checkerboard jacket, highlighted hair, and smooth sun-kissed skin all make the image vivid with the abundance of life. Traditionally, the inclusion of a mirror in art was used as a convenient way to expose two enticing views of a female subject or, alternatively, as a way to emphasize a woman’s vanity. In this case however, the ‘real’ Cahun looks away from the mirror and engages with and meets the viewer’s gaze. Cahun rejects being typecast as a passive woman who is visually consumed by admiring herself. There is no sin of vanity at work here, and instead qualities of thoughtfulness, exploration, and self-assurance confront the viewer.” – Art historian Shelley Rice
Claude Cahun was not the basic photographer of her time, she liked to explore different methods and tried many different things with her artworks, for example double exposure (as you can see above), photomontages and the use of masks and other props. In this image we see a dark backdrop- this makes Claude’s light skin pop, making her the only focus point. As it is only her head and shoulders in the photograph, it allows the viewers to focus on her facial expression and bold look. The way the two exposures have been also put together create a sense of symmetry in the image- even though there is not.
Lucas Simoes is an independent artist based in São Paulo, with a background in architecture and design. His experiences of training as an architect redefined his perceptions of art and opened new paths of discovery. He was born in 1980, whereas Cahun was born in 1894- this is almost a generation apart.
His works explore the limits and unpredictability of behaviour of materials and the final results always spans between an act of research and a genuine art piece. I will be focusing on his photographic project called ‘Burns’ where he would print out photographs of people and create burns in the paper.
“To burn pictures, a way of physically erase a memory by burning it, so with time, the image that is burnt will disappear from your memory. The pictures in that series are not mine, I took it from many different sources, and the coloured tag under it is my way of telling that the image is not original, but printed in a paper, it symbolises the “ink on paper”…
Every photograph we take represents a memory, one we can see clearer than our brains remember. In my project, this could represent how people are seen in memory/remembered- and how it varies and changes.
“Because personal and collective memories are so inextricably intertwined with photographs—the result of the medium’s progressive saturation of everyday life for the past century and a half—this revolutionary change in the production and dissemination of photographic images is altering society’s relationship to memory.” – https://www.eastman.org/matter-memory-photography-object-digital-age
He describes these photographs as memories which he is ‘burning away’. This work is different to Claude’s in the sense that hers shows confidence and almost self-discovery in some, whereas Lucas’s work represents the erasing of memories and pictures from someone’s mind. He also added strips of hot colour to his work which made the images pop- and Claude’s images consisted of high contrast which made her images pop in a different way to Lucas’s. Another difference between these two artists is that Claude would take self portraits- and Lucas took images of others that weren’t his.
Jesse Draxler is a mixed media and multidisciplinary artist, and his pieces combine painting, photography, collage, typography and digital painting. He also wrote a book in which he incorporated the first photograph below among many others. “Misophonia incorporates various mediums and styles from figurative painting and harsh typography to deliriously textural photography and collage. The book serves not only as a master collection of Draxler’s work throughout his career to date, but also as a living organism, in which each piece communicates with the others, the whole, and itself.”
The photographs above are the ones I will be focusing on. Draxler cut out sections of the same person at different angles and put them all together. With my project this could potentially represent the different angles and perspectives that people are seen by.
An aspect of the theme Identity that I would like to explore and express is that the way you see yourself, whether that’s physically or mentally, and how it differs from all the different ways that others may view you. Each and every person around you view you in a different way than you do yourself, they see other angles, have different memories of how you looked and acted. There are a variety of ways that this message can be conveyed through one or a few images. This can be linked to ‘body dysmorphia’ which is a mental disorder characterized by the obsessive idea that some aspect of one’s own body part or appearance is severely flawed and therefore warrants exceptional measures to hide or fix it (most of the time, only the person sees this flaw and others do not notice it to the extent that the person themselves does)
Approach idea 1: The use of mirrors, glass, plastic to create reflections and or distortions representing viewpoints and angles of how a person is seen or sees themselves.
Approach idea 2: Multi-exposure images to display multiple viewpoints similarly to my first idea.
Identity is who you are and how you became this way. Its how you portray yourself to others, and to yourself. This can be based on anything in your life: culture, upbringing, social identity in person and on the media, gender and sexuality, etc.
Social Identity on the media is commonly very different to your social identity in person. Many people use social media to portray how they would like to be viewed by others, rather than they actually are in person. Just like on social media, our identity can be portrayed through art- it can be difficult to describe yourself in words, so describing yourself through your own creations of colours and shapes can show more than some words can. This also links to any other form of identity.
The image above is a portrait of Alfred Krupp in Essen, Germany, 1963 taken by the photographer Arnold Newman.
The image above shows an older man (Krupp) with strong fluorescent lighting from both he left and right side (and behind), creating a strong shadow in the centre of his face. He has a sinister look on his face and has his head resting on his hands which are shut together- this represents a sense of power within him.
The background looks very industrial. There are 2 almost symmetrical pillars on each side: the on eon the left having a slightly warmer ton and the one on the right having a slightly colder tone. There is a field of depth to the image, yet the focus is still on Krupp’s face which also indicates power.
Who was Alfred Krupp?
Also knows as the Cannon King, Krupp was a German industrialist noted for his development and worldwide sale of cast-steel cannon and other armaments. Under his direction the Krupp Works began the manufacture of ordnance. It was with the advent of railways that the rise of the firm really began. At first, railway axles and springs of cast steel were the only products made in this field, but in 1852 Alfred Krupp manufactured the first seamless steel railway tire. Later he adopted three superimposed railway tires, the “three rings,” as the trademark of the firm. He was thought to be a war criminal but was later pardoned.
“In 1963 Newsweek magazine wanted to commission photographer Arnold Newman to take a picture of German industrialist Alfred Krupp. At first, Newman declined the offer. The Jewish American photographer saw the convicted (and later pardoned) war criminal as the devil and wanted to put a knife in his back. But Newman did proceed with the job. A sinister-looking man, Krupp was seated on a platform with his factory in the background. Newman asked him to lean forward. Krupp clasped his hands together under his chin. “My hair stood on end,” Newman would later say. It was considered one of the most important photos by the man who became known as the father of the environmental portrait.”
