ESSAY INTRODUCTION

‘Skateboarding is powerful enough to change one’s vision of the world – concrete is no longer simply a building material, a bench is no longer just for sitting, and stairs and accompanying handrails are no longer simply devices to aid one in descending or ascending from one level to another. The urban world is a massive and intricate playground to be explored, full of potential.’ In this study I am going to investigate how the world of skateboarding can be portrayed through photography, capturing photographs from unusual angles that you do not usually see in skateboarding photography. I have been skateboarding from the age of 13 and have always been interested in the media side of skateboarding, whether that is filming or photographing skateboarding. I want to show in this study how the world can be portrayed through skateboarding and how differently the world is seen through a skateboarder’s eyes. 2 photographers pop up in mind when I think about my intentions with this study, Tristan Still and Fred Mortagne. These certain photographers portray the world of skateboarding in their own unique ways, with Fred Mortagne even being nicknamed ‘Frangle’ – the unusual angle only he sees. Both artists have been documenting skateboarding since the 1990s, when skateboarding first started gaining popularity, capturing genuine and gritty shots of early skateboarders. This study could be linked with my previous urban photography work, as skateboarding is all about finding new spots within urban areas to experiment different tricks with. In this study I have explored finding new unused angles within the urban area of jersey as well as the skatepark to capture unique photographs of skaters. My work has developed from just taking my camera out with me every time I go for a skate with my friends, taking photographs of them as we skate about to create this photobook. Different digital processes were used to create some of my final images, such as Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom editing.

One thought on “ESSAY INTRODUCTION”

  1. Josh, the premise of your persona study has potential, but what is your focus in relation to skateboarding, its sense of identity and community, or more about speed and movement?

    This is important in terms of your hypothesis

    A couple of examples:

    How has Tristan Still and Fred Mortagne represented identity and community in their work?

    In what has Tristan Still and Fred Mortagne explored speed and movement in their work?

    If identity and community you need to construct your essay youth identity and a sense of community.

    Pg 1: Historical / theoretical context: provide example of a comprehensive study on youth culture in LA, Raised by Wolves, by Jim Goldberg

    https://www.magnumphotos.com/arts-culture/art/jim-goldberg-raised-by-wolves/

    https://hautlieucreative.co.uk/photo21al/2021/01/12/theory-literary-sources/Tracing%20the%20Roots%20of%20Jim%20Goldberg’s%20Raised%20by%20Wolves

    https://vimeo.com/jimgoldberg/raisedbywolves

    If your focus is on speed and movement position study in origin of chronophotography by Etienne-Jules Marey and Eadweard Muybridge

    some youtube clips

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNU7sXkZmSw

    Making Modernism: Muybridge and Marey, Photoworks
    https://photoworks.org.uk/making-modernism-muybridge-marey/

    Landscape in Motion: Muybridge and the Origins of Chronophotography Author(s): Dimitrios Latsis
    Source: Film History , Vol. 27, No. 3 (2015), pp. 1-40
    Published by: Indiana University Press
    https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/filmhistory.27.3.1

    Marey and Chronophotography
    https://www.artforum.com/print/197607/marey-and-chronophotography-37960

    Pg 2: Your first artist reference exploring identity/ community or speed / movement

    Pg 3: Your second artist reference exploring identity/ community or speed / movement
    Conclusion: Draw on similarities and differences between both artists above and analyse/ evaluate your own photographic responses (provide examples)
    Illustrations: make sure you use illustrations of artists work + your own. Caption each illustration with artists, name, title, year
    Bibliography: list all sources using Harvard

    Here are few inspirations from previous students exploring skater culture

    Choose Life
    https://www.blurb.co.uk/bookstore/invited/8189188/5d20c701664049c28d23f2ebb5afe8788d036036

    See Oscar’s blog here for more research and work

    https://hautlieucreative.co.uk/photo19a2e/author/ovibert08/

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