For this photoshoot, I was mostly taking close ups of my face and hands as I wanted to focus on experimenting with the camera focus and get as many details as I could in each photo so I could get an idea of what I liked an wanted to do better in future photoshoots.
From here, I decided that I wanted to take some more photos of my face from different perspectives, angles and distances in my next photoshoot along with including some props in order to get a variety of images that all link back to me in some way.
Best ShotsFrom this Photoshoot
In all these photos, I like the framing and lighting along with where the camera is focused as it makes the images more interesting to look at and stop all the photos from looking identical to one another. Along with that, I think all these photos would work well together or with any photos I take in the future.
For my portrait project, I’ve decided that I want to take a series of self-portraits and link them to my own identity. In order to do this, I plan to take photos of me in a variety of ways including close ups, blurred photos [similar to Francesca Woodman’s work], facial portraits and with a variety of props. Hopefully, I’ll also be able to take photos of myself in different locations that I either grew up near or enjoy being, however, this may be difficult due to winter weather and how long it’ll take to get to each location as it could start raining once I get there or there could be bad lighting. I also plan on using some older photos from when I was younger and linking them into the project.
He’s a fine art photographer based in New York City but he is originally from the small island of Cyprus. His work is mysterious and often his figures and faces emerge from shadows allowing for objects to look as if they were painted by light.
His work often speaks about a search for his own identity. Andreas often sketches his photoshoots before to get a good idea of what he should expect from the final outcome and what lighting and props he should use.
Andreas work shows a simple but effective way of portraying identity all through the shadows and contours of the subjects face structure, it allows for a really emotive piece that could almost be seen as multiple peoples identity as the face coverings allows for a mysterious feel to the image he uses faces as canvases but leaves us with the question of who’s behind the mask.
This image creates sense of lost identity the shadows produced by the lighting allow for the image to be left open to peoples interpretations the way the fabric sits around the subjects neck pulls focus towards the darker background and the hand shows a sense of achieving freedom from ones self or their daily struggles with identity .
Identity is how you are perceived and what makes you who you are. A certain place you visit frequently can become a huge part of your identity, how you have grown up can play a big part on mental health which also creates your identity, sad looking/happy looking.
Claude Cahun was a Surrealist photographer whose work explored gender identity and the subconscious mind. The artist’s self-portrait from 1928 epitomizes her attitude and style, as she stares defiantly at the camera in an outfit that looks neither conventionally masculine nor feminine.
claude cahungender-defying Surrealist Claude Cahun
Sam Contis– photographer interrogating identity
Sam contis and Claude cahun both have similarities of photographing identity, Claude leans more towards female identity whereas Sam looks more at personal identity.
Sam Contis lives and works in California. she attended Yale University’s School of Art in 2008. Her work has been shown internationally with exhibitions in Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Antwerp, London, and San Francisco. She has had recent solo shows at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive and at Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery in New York and in 2018 her work was included in Being: New Photography at MoMA, New York. She is a recipient of the 2017 Nancy Graves Foundation Artist Grant and the 2016 Aaron Siskind Foundation Fellowship. Contis’s work is represented in collections including the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; KADIST, Paris and San Francisco; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven. Deep Springs, her first book, was published by MACK in 2017 and her most recent book, Day Sleeper, a reimagining of the work of Dorothea Lange, was published by MACK in 2020.
samantha contis
my ideas
in my photos, I will be photographing people standing in a row showing off their clothes (identity) and covering their eyes to show how they represent themselves through their daily lifestyle. I will also be morphing their faces into emotions. I will cover the eyes so identity will only be shown from their outer appearance and not the eyes, hidden identity.
i will also be distorting their looks and editing the photo contrasts to show their inner self and how they want themsleves to be seen by others.
