Francesca Stern Woodman was an American photographer best known for her black and white pictures featuring either herself or female models. Many of her photographs show women, blurred, merging with their surroundings, or whose faces are obscured.
She often used slow exposure that blurs her images into ghostly figures. Her images have an unsettling yet timeless feel to them which makes them more eye catching.
She was influenced particularly the photographs of Man Ray and Claude Cahun. This can be seen in the themes and style of her work. She developed her ideas and skills as a student at Rhode Island School of Design.
This image conveys an underlying sense of human fragility. This fragility is exaggerated by the fact that the photograph is printed on a very small scale – making it seem more personal and intimate. The shadows of the door frame create the feeling of shelter as it covers her from the light that is coming in through the windows. However this could also be seen as an escape as the lighting on her legs contrast the darkness of the focal points of the image.
Claude Cahun was a French surrealist photographer and sculptor born in 1894 she was best known for her self portraits which play around with the theme of her gender identity. Her work is described as political and personal she worked in jersey during her life and produced many unsettling yet eye catching photos.
Image analysis
This self portrait of Claude’s reflection in the mirror highlights her gender fluidity as she avoids facing herself directly which gives an almost surreal view into her different identities the version of her in the mirror has an exposed neck which shows a vulnerable side to the opposing watcher who is hiding behind her collar. Could be viewed as an extension on her acts of defiance.
For this photoshoot me and my friend used the studio in order to get blurry pictures. We did this by taking images using a tripod and a slow shutter speed, which allowed more light in and created the blurry effect. Most of the images were taken from the shoulders up and in black and white however, I also took some in colour to contrast the black and white ones.
Contact Sheets:
I went through all of my pictures and used p (keep) and x (reject) to decide which pictures I would like to use. Then I colour coded them(red-no, yellow-maybe, green-yes) and stared them in order to get my final images.
Best Images:
These are my best images because I like how they have turned out using the slow shutter speed (I think the blurry effect looks interesting and it also makes it kind of hard to see me and my features, which I like). Because these images are similar, I think they will look good together later on.
