My idea for this first shoot is to explore the concept of identity loss. In order to portray this theme effectively, my plan is to create a collage of my subject’s face using different materials such as old photographs, newspaper and magazine clippings, and paint. I think that this will be a successful way of showing identity loss as the end result will be an accumulation of many different factors, but it will also show how confusing identity can sometimes be, and that it is not just made up of one thing. Additionally, it will allow me to present various creative skills and ideas.
INSPIRATION
FIRST CONTACT SHEETS
For this shoot I took some normal headshots which I will use as the base / background for my collage. I took these using different colour plastic sheets over an L.E.D light so that I would have a variety of images to work with. I then photographed close up images of my subject’s face, which I will cut out and arrange in different shapes, patterns, and orders over the base to create the look that I am aiming for. I will edit some of the photographs on PhotoShop into a black and white effect so each collage has a unique look and feel.
EDITING PROCESS
COLLAGE MAKING
Firstly, I printed out some of the various close-up images I took of my subject’s face, and cut them up into squares and rectangles. I then printed out the pre-selected three black and white base photos. I experimented with placing and layering the close-up images on the bases, using a mixture of black and white, normal, and the two different colour options. I did this for about half an hour before I decided to try another idea, as I didn’t feel that it was going to plan. I looked through different newspapers to try and find different buzzwords which could relate to identity loss. The words that I found were; ‘nightmares, prisoners, shallow, change, madness, crisis, online, oddity, scrutiny, fraudster, images, judging‘. I then ripped out pages of the newspaper which were covered in text to use to mask my subject’s face. I experimented with the placement of the newspaper, originally deciding to cover their whole face, but after trying several different options, I decided to only cover the bottom half and a little bit on the right hand side, leaving their eyes completely exposed. After I had glued down the newspaper, I arranged the cut out words around my subject’s face and tested different angles and placements until I was happy with the final result. I then cut out a piece of plain black card which I used to back my piece.
I will test and try out different methods of editing my photographs, in order to see which best suits my ideas of identity and place, using Carolle Benitah as inspiration.
Photoshop Experimentation
In Photoshop I attempted to practice editing my photographs in the style of Carolle Benitah. I did this by using the magnetic lasso tool to cut out the shape of the subject in the image, and then layering a plain sepia toned piece of paper underneath it, to show a link to her themes of loss of identity. I then also converted the original image into black and white, also similar to Benitah’s work, allowing for a contrast between the image and the cut out section.
Next, I followed the same method of cutting out the subject with the magnetic lasso tool, in the style of Benitah, but instead of layering a plain background underneath I played around with my idea of identity and place and used sepia toned maps instead. These map images used link to the subject in the image, as it displays the place their families came from before Jersey.
Hand Experimentation
I also tried printing off my photographs in a black and white, then cutting out the subjects by hand using a craft knife, as this is similar to the method Benitah used to create her final pieces. I then printed of my map images that relate to the subjects identity, and layered them underneath the cut out sections.
I think for my final pieces I will use the Photoshop method of editing my images. This is as even though the hand cutting out method links more to Benitah, I will be able to produce a more precise and neater final product with Photoshop.
I decided to use Carolle Benitah’s work as inspiration to showcase the theme of geographical identity, with images taken around Jersey and people who’s families are not originally from here, like most people who live in Jersey, and have moved from various places. With this I aim to express how this one small island has brought together a wide range of identities that have been sculpted by different cultures, accents and beliefs into one place we all call home.
Photo-Shoot One
Plan
Contact Sheets
Here I have crossed out images in red that are not good enough to edit or use for my final pieces, as they are either too blurry, or under or over exposed. I have also highlighted images in green the photographs I believe will work well for my final pieces, due to the quality, variation in people and poses, and representation of the rural side of Jersey.
Photo-Shoot Two
Plan
Contact Sheets
Here I have crossed out images in red that are not good enough to edit or use for my final pieces, as they are either too blurry, or under or over exposed. I have also highlighted images in green the photographs I believe will work well for my final pieces, due to the quality and representation of the urban side of Jersey.
Initial Image Selection
For my photographs which will later be edited into my final pieces, I chose four images from each photo-shoot to give a balanced view of the island. I believe that these are my best images and will work well when edited in the style of Carolle Benitah, as they display backgrounds that clearly represent the identity of Jersey, as the subjects will represent their own.
Map Images
I took at least two map images for each of the subjects featured in my photographs which display the place where their families came from before moving to jersey. I am doing this as I believe that Jersey is built from people who originate from all over and have many different backgrounds, allowing for our island to be diverse in culture and history.
Claude Cahun, a French photographer, sculpture and writer born in 1894 to the name Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob, was best known for their self-portraits, which often showcased a range of personalities. Cahun first began producing self portrait photographs at the age of 18 in 1912, and later took on the sexually ambiguous pseudonym in 1917, as she continued to combat the ideals of gender norms in her photography. Later moving to Paris alongside her longterm partner Marcel Moore, who she often collaborated with, Cahun continued to work on her surrealist portfolio.
In 1937 Cahun and Moore migrated to Jersey, just before the start of World War Two and the island’s German occupation. During this time the two soon became activists, in the effort to spread reports of Nazi crimes by creating anti-German fliers, criticising their authority, and placing them around the island. However, due to this they were later arrested and sentenced to death for their actions in 1944, although this was never carried out fortunately. Ten years later Cahun sadly died due to bad health, caused by her treatment in prison.
This black and white photograph, taken by Claude Cahun in 1927, displays a self-portrait of the photographer in which she has taken on the persona of a strong man or body builder that you may find at a circus or fair, during that time period. Here the pale white clothing, that matches the colour of her skin, contrasts dramatically with the dark black background behind her. This contrast between light and dark is also creating from the use of the dark dumbbell prop. The framing of this image by Cahun can be said to appear confining, as Cahun has placed herself so that she takes up most of the frame leaving little empty space.
The lighting used for this self-portrait appears to be two-point lighting, this is as there are only a small amount of shadows in the image but still a strong contrast between light and dark. Furthermore, it could be said that Cahun used a low aperture for this photograph, due to the fact that the foreground and background seem to have the same amount of focus placed on them. The ISO used for this image appears to be on a medium setting, allowing for there not to be too much light flooding in from the harsh lighting, but enough for the dark contrasting background to be visible.
In addition, this persona of a strongman or body builder does not portray all the masculine stereotypes that are associated with this type of person, but however showcases a more effeminate one. This is displayed through the Oscar Wilde type parting in the hair, the crossed leg pose and the hearts painted on the cheeks. This only further shows how Cahun challenged gender normativity by showing that she was able to switch her apparent gender at will comfortably.
Carolle Benitah
Carolle Benitah, born in 1965, is a French photographer best known for using her old family photographs to tell the story of her identity. Benitah does this by embroidering and cutting out certain sections of the portrait images. Benitah sees this style of work as allowing herself to expose the failings of her life and identity, and reinterpret her history. This acts as a sort of therapy for Benitah as she claims “I make holes in paper until I am not hurting any more”.
This sepia and, black and piece created by Carolle Benitah displays an old family photo of Benitah’s containing the subject positioned in the centre of the image, which is similar to the way in which Cahun placed herself in her self-portrait. Leading lines in this photograph are created by the horizon line, the line dividing what appears to be a wall and the see, and also the split created by the contrast in tones on the subject. These allow for your eyes to be drawn horizontally across the image. Dissimilar to Cahun’s photograph, there is a large amount of empty space around the subject of the portrait, meaning more attention is allowed for the background, which is a landscape rather than a studio backdrop seen in Cahun’s image.
Whereas Cahun used what appeared to be two point studio lighting, here Benitah has chosen an image taken with natural lighting, which you can tell due to the outside location. In addition, it appears that this photograph was taken with a low aperture like Cahun’s, due to the fact that the foreground and background hold a similar amount of focus. The ISO used to capture this photograph can be said to be lower than the ISO used in Cahun’s portrait, this is due to the fact that the natural light would flood the lens, causing the image to be over exposed, if it were higher.
Conceptually this piece differs largely from Cahun’s on the theme of identity, as it seems to show a loss, lack or even rejection of identity. This is due to the cut out sections of the subjects in the image, which could be representing an attempt to erase that part of her history. On the other hand, Cahun appears to take a completely different approach by doing what seems to be an embrace of her ability of changing identities.
Identity can be defined as an individuals disposition or personality, or possessing a similarity or oneness with someone or something. A person’s identity can be influenced by a number of things, such as ‘place’, the environment that you live in, your upbringing or a sense of belonging. This means that the people or things you surround yourself with have large impacts on your life, and shape you into the person you presently are.
who- I took photos of my friend as I wanted a student or a young individual in my photos. when and where– in the studio using normal lighting as I’m going to edit my photos anyways so I’m not depending on the light. why- I want my friend to cover her face with her hands to make her identity and I can link it to my chosen photographer.
a link to my chosen photographers work
contact sheet;
I used one big main light when taking these photographs I didn’t need to use any flash heads or extremely artificial lighting as when I’m editing my images the lighting is going to change completely anyways. I photographed my friend from a direct point of view and in line with her view point. I took some images from a much lower angle to make it look like the viewer is looking up towards her and it helped when I got to editing as I had different angles. I got her to use her hands as a way to hide her face(identity) because Jack Davison-my chosen photographer , presents lack of identity through that way. My last photo shoot was very based on editing and hiding the identity digitally whereas for my second shoot I wanted to use hands and make it more natural.
editing my images-
my 3 favourite images turned into black and white and that I’ll be working with to edit further.
I changed my images into black and white as that’s the style I want throughout this theme and I made sure the brightness was decreased by a lot as well as the contrast to create a variety of different black and white tones which all contrast well together. I cropped all my images down completely to get rid of most of the background as it wasn’t needed. By doing this is made her the focus of all images as the composition of the image changed – making her face in the direct center which draws attention.
using liquify tool to disguise the identity-
I used the ‘liquify tool‘ once again to smudge the eyes in the first image and then smudged all of her face in the 2nd and 3rd photo. I really like using this tool as it gets rid of her facial features in a very abstract way as well as erasing her identity. It creates a mysterious atmosphere as you cant tell what she looks like and I wanted to make the viewer question what he’s looking at.
cut outs-
With the ‘quick selection tool’ I selected specific areas of her face that I wanted to cut out and drag out further across the image. I like how these edited images turned out because I think that by using the quick selection tool it completely gets rid of who she is whereas when I used the ‘liquify’ option you could still see something on her face but it was smudged around whereas on these images its just an empty face with nothing to look at. I left the cut out white as it stands out the most because the photo is in black and white. When you first look at the images the first thing you’re drawn to will be where I cut the face out as the white colour stands out so much in contrast. I wanted the edges to be slightly ragged and not perfect when selecting the shape of it because I wanted it to look as if the face was ripped out of the image rather than just perfectly circled out.
final images , analysis and personal response-
I selected 3 images once again for a final image. I wanted to pick 3 as I think it gives the viewer more to look at and analyse themselves. I also wanted to use 3 images because I knew that when I print them out they will look more clean and presentable rather than just one big image. Overall I think I achieved my ‘lack of identity’ idea very successfully and edited them in the way I wanted to. I changed them all into black and white which was inspired from my chosen photographer, Jack Davison, and I edited them in my own way with some inspiration from his work too. I wanted to use many different ways of editing my images so that I can select my favourite technique and make sure I have many different styles to pick out my favourite ones. I liked all the techniques I used but my least favourite were the cut out out ones which is why I didn’t use it for my final 3 , compared to my ones I liquified.
comparison-
At the top is two photographs taken from Jack Davsion’s work, who was my chosen photographer, and at the bottom is one of my final photos. We both took our photos in black and white to create this contrast between the different tones, however Jack’s photos are more black and white whereas my images have a lot more grey tones and mid tones. This is because Jack’s models are wearing black clothing with a white background and I took my images in front of a black background which doesn’t achieve the same effect and the two tones can’ contrast as sharply. I took inspiration from his work by making my model cover her face with her hands too but I think my editing is a lot more advanced than what he did to his image which was just slightly distorting the face but still making it very easy to make out what the man looks like and I completely distorted my friends face.
I decide to put some parts of my body on black and white because for me black and white represent my past, my ancestors…my heritage. The black and white parts makes it nostalgic. It was a fun way to see things differently, it looks like the future who meets the past what makes my identity.
Test2 B/W
Although I prefer my images on colours what I like about this experiences of putting it all in black and white is that this effect creates my pretty dramatic image. it also seems that my images come from the past which could defend my heritage in a way.
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.
Claude Cahun (1894 – 1954) was a French surrealist photographer, sculptor and writer. Born Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob, they adopted the pseudonym Cahun in 1917, and are best known for their self-portraits, in which they assumed a variety of different and eclectic personas. Cahun’s work challenged the traditional concepts of gender roles, and in their autobiography they state: ‘Masculine? Feminine? It depends on the situation. Neuter is the only gender that always suits me.‘ It is likely Cahun would have identified as non-binary today.
In 1937, they settled in Jersey with their partner Suzanne Malherbe (pseudonym Marcel Moore). Following the German occupation of the island in 1940, both Cahun and Moore became active as resistance workers and propagandists, working extensively to produce anti-German fliers, which they would place discreetly in soldiers’ pockets or in cigarette packages. Their resistance efforts were not only political, but also artistic; using their creative abilities to undermine and manipulate the authority they hated. In many ways, Cahun’s life was marked by a sense of role reversal, and like many early queer pioneers, their public identity became a commentary upon the public’s opinions of sexuality, gender, beauty, and logic. Their adoption of a gender neutral name and their androgynous self-portraits display a revolutionary way of thinking and creating, experimenting with the audience’s understanding of photography as a documentation of reality.
CINDY SHERMAN
Cindy Sherman (1954 – ) is an American artist whose work consists primarily of photographic self-portraits, depicting herself in many different contexts and as various imagined characters. In 1972, Sherman enrolled in the visual arts department at Buffalo State College, where she began painting. During this time, she began to explore the ideas which became a hallmark of her work: She dressed herself as different characters, cobbled together from thrift-store clothing. Sherman works in series, typically photographing herself in a range of costumes. To create her photographs, Sherman shoots alone in her studio, assuming multiple roles as author, director, make-up artist, hairstylist, wardrobe mistress, and model. She explained to The New York Times in 1990, “I feel I’m anonymous in my work. When I look at the pictures, I never see myself; they aren’t self-portraits. Sometimes I disappear.” She describes her process as intuitive, and that she responds to elements of a setting such as light, mood, location, and costume, and will continue to change external elements until she finds what she wants.
Sherman’s work is often linked to feminism, since her photos call attention to the objectification of women in the media. Sherman’s 1981 series Centerfolds contains pseudo-voyeuristic images of young women. Her 2008 series Society Pictures addresses the obsession with female youth and beauty in American society. Her most recent series, the 2016 Imitation of Life, explores the glamour that can be found within mature women. By using stylized, vintage costumes and heavy makeup, Sherman is rendered as a subject that looks almost artificial, aside from her conspicuously-placed, aged hands, which point to the reality behind the illusion. Sherman has identified an uncertainty toward the Untitled series’ relationship with the male gaze.
IMAGE COMPARISON
Despite the fact that these two photographs were taken almost 50 years apart, the message behind each of them is strikingly similar; that identity can be whatever you want it to be. Both photographers explore what it means to be perceived and judged by others, and, perhaps more harshly, by yourself. They have stripped themselves of all things, both physical and emotional, in order to transform themselves into re-invented and more developed versions of their previous selves, with both of them taking on the roles of various different personas and characters. For the brief moments during which they are in front of the camera, they are able to let go of what they and society thinks they ‘should’ be, and express themselves through their art form. Both images have been shot in plain black and white tones, with Sherman adding the effect in order to accurately portray her character’s time of relevance. They have also both been shot against a black backdrop, which means we can assume that they were captured in a studio of some kind. The black backdrop also allows the viewer to see Cahun and Sherman clearly, with nothing in the background of the images becoming a distraction to the eye. Additionally, it strips the photograph of any depth, making both images appear flat and two dimensional. Furthermore, the two subjects have very pale complexions, which contrasts heavily to the dark background. As these pictures were captured in a studio, it is highly likely that artificial lighting was used to illuminate the subjects, and we can see that by the way the light is spread evenly over Sherman, we can assume that 3 point lighting was used. Another similarity is that both Cahun and Sherman have used makeup to exaggerate their features as a way to emphasise their respective characters. For example, we can see that Cahun has drawn on her bottom eyelashes in order to make her eyes appear larger and more doe-like, and Sherman has applied a heavy amount of contour to her cheekbones. This can be linked to the theme of identity as makeup is often used by people to create an entirely new face, or alter the one they had before.
The term ‘identity’ is defined as the fact of being who or what a person or thing is, and a close similarity or affinity. An individual’s identity can be influenced by their environment and their upbringing, as well as social factors such as culture, political standing, friendships and relationships. Additionally, an individual’s identity may be defined by their loss or lack of it; if an individual is unsure about who they are or who they want to be, then this in itself is also their identity. An identity is something that everyone has, regardless of whether they know it or not.
MOODBOARDS
My first initial ideas for my two photoshoots were to explore the themes of identity loss and gender identity. I think that especially in recent years, society as a whole has learned to be a lot more open and accepting of people’s choices about how they wish to be seen, not only by themselves but by the rest of the world too. Additionally, social media and the internet has had a heavy influence on topics such as self-confidence and the idea of the ‘perfect’ life. This could be tied into the theme of identity loss as what is being posted online is not always the truth; these people have lost themselves in the world of perfection so much that they do not know who they are any more. With the LGBTQ+ community slowly but surely being widely accepted across the world, the strict, traditional gender roles which have been in place for generations are becoming less and less prevalent, allowing these lines of restriction to be blurred and crossed by all members of society. Freedom of expression is something which everyone is entitled to, and I think it would be interesting to document the different ways in which individuals achieve this.
