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Claude cahun comparrison

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The two images above form Claude Cahun and Carole Benitah both explore identity. This is because in the pictures Their appears to be a lack of identity due to the simplicity of both pictures. In Claude’s picture you can only see her head in some sort of object that appears to be made of either plastic or glass as there are reflections coming off this making it difficult to fully see Claude’s face. Moreover, you can only see her head in the picture as well which gives this a lack of identity as you can’t really see much of the person in the picture.

As for Carole’s picture, the faces in the picture are covered in what appears to be red stitching on every face with the strings coming off them tangled up. This shows a lack of identity just like Claude’s picture even though they aren’t to similar because due to the faces being covered up you don’t really have a see for what the emotions on the people’s faces are meaning you couldn’t really imagine what their expressing if they are. Either happy or miserable.

Looking at both of the images, the pictures look similar in the format of how they were taken. They both appear to have a fairly fast shutter speed of 1/125 as there isn’t much movement that is blurred in the images. Another comparison in hoe the pictures where taken, they both appear to of have an aperture of f16 in both pictures as the background and the main appeal of the pictures are both clear visually. As for the ISO, it appears to have a low sensitivity of 200 because you can see some sort of speckles in the pictures but I think this is due to the when the pictures where taken as cameras weren’t as good as they are now.

Independent, Reading, Task

Photo-Montage Intro

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Photo montaging is an artistic technique were two or more images are combined to make a new composition.

This technique gained attention in the early 20th century were artists would use it to make political statements around WWI and WWII. Below is one of Raoul Hausman’s pieces were he explores the political aura around WWII.

The Art of Visual Thinking: Collage
Raoul Hausman

Hannah Hoch

Hannah Hoch is one of the originators of Photomontage.

She was a part of the Dada art movement which was a part of the European avant-garde movement in the early 20th century.

Her work focused on evoking thought and bringing light to social issues in the early 20th century. Her work acted as an aid to feminism movements of the time.

Hannah Hoch

Her work is surreal and colourful. It includes an abundance of montaging in creative ways where certain human features will be used to form something else. The use of facial features being woven together is a way of challenging the identity and the dichotomy of female power.

Her pieces are given context and validity through her method of extracting segments from popular media to use in her montages.

Controlled Conditions, Independent, Reading, Task

Final Presentation

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The above are my final displays I decided on.

I grouped some similar images into diptychs and triptychs according to colour scheme, physical similarities. I also used similar bordering and presentation methods that J Grant Brittain uses.

The following is an image comparison between one of my pieces and one of J Grant Brittain’s pieces.

  • J Grant Brittain
  • Michael Kenealy

The above images both focus on the identity of the subject by portraying their personality through capturing their facial expressions. Both images are desaturated and have high contrast to accentuate shadows around the face and therefore accentuating the facial features of the subjects. Both images are collaged into sets of 9 coinciding images. Both images feature a mixture of compositions where the subject interacts with the lens and some where the subject ignores the camera.

Grants image is shot with fluorescent lighting in a professional environment whereas my composition is shot with natural lighting in a less professional environment. This also creates difference in the texture of the images, mine has a rougher texture whereas Grants image has a smoother texture to it.

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For the above composition I shot the skateboarder in front of an urban graffiti background in a skatepark, I focused on showcasing his culture and style like J Grant Brittain. The gaze and side angle shot creates a sense of confidence, control and passion the skateboarder portrays to his environment.

I shot the image in black and white and used high contrast and clarity to accentuate the features of the subject for example the area around his eye feature high contrast and clarity which captures that emotion in his eyes. The high clarity and contrast also gives the image a sharp and rough texture.

I used a wide aperture to obtain a sharp focus on the subjects face and separate him from the background and create a slight bokeh effect. I used the grid on my camera to frame my subjects head in the centre of the shot.

In conclusion I believe I captured the identity through his cultural passion for skateboarding well with stylistic, J Grant Brittain type images and presented them in an artistic way.

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Photo Shoot Plan

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What

Portraiture and action shots of a skateboarder relating to the work of J Grant Brittain

Why

This is to explore the idea of identity of individuals within a sub-culture.

How

Direct subject into different locations and capture him in his “natural habitat

Who

A local skateboarder

Where

Various skateparks and an urban multi-story carpark

When

During clear weather.

Controlled Conditions, Independent, Reading, Task

J Grant Brittain

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J Grant Brittain is a 65 year old photographer who has shot the skateboarding scene for over 3 decades.

J Grant Brittain

The reason I have chosen to reference his work when completing my project on identity is because he has grown with the culture of skateboarding and he understands how to capture its essence very well. I am also fond of the way he doesn’t limit his work to the conventional action-shot fashion. He broadens his work into a deeper sense to capture the identity of the skaters and their emotions towards the culture of skateboarding. For example the following image captures the identity of the person as it exhibits the subjects emotion and tells a story about the person.

J Grant Brittain

In the above image Grant uses high contrast to deepen the shadows around the subjects face to relay more emotion and definition. This is a way he included themes of identity in his work. The subjects identity is also explored by giving the image context and showcasing the subjects interests and culture he does this by composing the image with the subject holding a broken skateboard. Grant also does a good job of isolating the subject by photographing him with an contrasting background which gives the image a pleasing visual form.

Additionally, when Grant shoots the action shots he doesn’t just focus on showcasing the manoeuvre of the skateboarder but rather their style and environment which many skaters will tell you is far more admirable and important than the tricks you are doing. A skateboarders style and creativity is a what makes up their identity. This creative identity formation is a huge part of the culture of skateboarding and this is one thing that 3 decades of Grants work has made clear.

J Grant Brittain; Claude Cahun Comparison

  • Claude Cahun
  • J Grant Brittain

These two images by Claude Cahun and J Grant Brittain both suggest the exploration of Identity. Both images focus on a person and their facial expression and emotion. The compositions both tell a story that we can see behind the eyes of the subjects. The subjects are both photographed with their style being flaunted, the self portrait of Claude her upper body is positions in a confident, striking manner and her chic jewellery and clothing is also seen, the skater in the other composition has a chaotic yet focused style to him with his his creativity shown through his customised helmet which is a visual centre-piece of the composition.

The way the two artists question the theme of identity differs. Claude explores the idea of questioning her identity and her troubles with identity. This can be seen in the above composition with the placement of the mask in the top left corner suggesting notions of multiple identities and is masking her true identity. However on the contrary Grant explores a subject who has found his true identity through the passion of his creative field (skateboarding). Instead of challenging identity he is celebrating the concept through capturing the subject in the moment of passion and expression.

The images both share low saturation and high contrast. This highlights the subject facial features in the two images by accentuating difference in the highlights and darks in the face of the subject.

The images have different textures the self portrait of Claude has a quick shutter speed and appropriate ISO to create a smooth professional portrait texture. This is compared to Grants image which has a slower shutter speed, higher ISO and clarity to show more motion and noise in the image to create a rougher texture.

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CC – Evilsabeth Schmitz-Garcia

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She uses photography to represent Borderline Personality Disorder symptoms with photographs. She decided to use scannographies instead of photos because the pictures she took with her scanner gave her the look she wanted, like “someone trapped inside a dark place”, a dark place which could be a Borderline’s mind.

Her Life

Scanography is the art of recording a subject using a flatbed scanner. It is created in the same way that Xerox art is created using a photocopier, however scanners typically have the ability to create larger, higher quality digital files.

They capture movement in exciting ways, such as Evilsabeth Schmitz-Garcia’s ‘Borderline Personality Disorder’ portraits above, which have been distorted and stretched as the scanner arm moves across the screen. Scanners can also be used to take scans of objects place upon existing photographs, as per the example below.

She began her art studies in 2003, at “Escuela de Arte La Palma, Madrid”, where she had photography as an optional subject. She found out that she was fascinated with how photography worked so she used to spend hours taking pictures and developing them.

She began her own scannography experiments, in the end she chose this as her final project. She started scannographies as her teacher showed her example which inspired her.

How i would include her style?

I would like to include the merge aspect, where she merges multiple faces which I would accomplish using Photoshop, or long exposure to create a blur, therefore you see multiple faces.

I may use hands and edit them in, around the edge. To create a manipulative, and creative idea. It would make a uncomfortable, crawly image.

Finally, I may take the idea where she uses multiple faces to create a single image. I would use about 5 faces then make all of them blank, then show the process of editing facial features on which shows the development of identity.

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CC – Claude Cahun – Identity

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Claude Cahun - Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions

Who is Claude Cahun?

Claude Cahun was born Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob on 25th October 1894, was a French lesbian photographer, sculptor and writer. Who died on the 8th December 1954.

Schwob adopted the name Claude Cahun in 1917 and is best known for self-portraits, in which Cahun assumed a variety of characteristics.

Cahun’s work was both political and personal, she explained, “Masculine? Feminine? It depends on the situation. Neuter is the only gender that always suits me.”

My opinion

She has a unique style, which is extremely experimental, and shows gender identity. I like how it is unusual and different, making her photos question her self-identity and give an illusion of questionable choices.

Personally I like how she has merged images together and also objects before taking the photo. I would like to try and include this idea in my photography, where I merge faces together.

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Introduction to Identity

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Definition of Identity

“the distinguishing character or personality of an individual”.

How an individual views themselves.

How others view an individual.

Identity can affect people in many different ways and each persons identity can be resultant on their upbringing due to the Tabula Rasa theory which states that individuals are born as a “blank slate” and the people that raise you and the culture of the environment you grow up in mould your identity. People can relate their identity to many aspects of their life – gender identity /cultural identity /social identity /
geographical identity /political identity /lack of / loss of identity.