For my mock I was inspired by Francesca Woodman and also looked at a few other artists that I think will help me out in my future projects. I managed to do around 3 photoshoots which gave me a good selection of images and I was able to spend my time well by editing them and researching.
What to improve:
I need to plan out my ideas and think carefully about what I’m going to do because this time I just started the project without a plan and it was quite difficult at the beginning. Using more than one artist will help me as I will be able to experiment with more techniques and make my work more interesting. To improve, I’m also going to have to take more pictures in the studio because the lighting is better and I’ll be able to experiment more and I’ll also have to take pictures of more people so I can have more options.
final – I started by editing both of the above pictures in lightroom by increasing the contrast and highlights and just playing around with the settings until I got something that thought looked nice. Then I took both into photoshop and used the 1st image as my base layer, then the 2nd as my top layer. After the images were on top of each other, I took the 2nd one and looked at the double exposure setting that is on the right side of the screen over the layers. Then I tried different ones to see which one I liked more and stuck with the ‘darken’ one. This is one of my favourite edits because I really like how blurry image one is and how you can’t see my face and also because I think the way the tree is positioned in the middle of me looks quite interesting.
Experiment 2:
original image
final – I edited this image in lightroom by increasing the contrast and texture, then I took it into photoshoot and blurred my face out then scribbled on top of it with white. I used the “kyle’s paintbox – wet blender 50” brush tool on my face to blend it all together, then one of the dry media brushes to scribble on top. I like how it turned out because I feel like it would make the viewer question what is going on. To improve I think I would have to take images that are more in focus and detailed.
This is one of my images that was inspired by Francesca Woodman’s work. I think my work is similar to hers because I managed to take them in black and white, and used a slow shutter speed in order to get the blurry effect. Woodman’s work is dark and simple as she usually just stands or sits in frame and then just moves to the point where it’s hard to see her. I did the same thing by sitting, putting my head down then quickly moving it up when the camera started taking the picture to make it blurry and hard to see. To improve I would probably have to take full body pictures and have different poses because that’s what Woodman usually does.
after – I decreased the black because I wanted the background to be way darker and played around with the contrast and shadows. I also decreased the whites to make it more ghost like.
before
after – I increased contrast to make the image a bit darker, then turned the highlights all the way down ( it was too bright and I wanted my head to be more visible) and shadows all the way up because it was too dark.
before
after – Here I slightly cropped the image to have the matches more in focus. I also tilted it because it wasn’t straight. I then turned the image black and white and played around with the contrast and blacks to make it stand out more.
More Final Edits:
I like this image because it’s confusing me. I like how I can barely see my face and how my hair is so much shorter than it actually is and how I’m just blending into the background because of the slow shutter speed.
I really like this picture because I think the slow shutter speed made it look interesting. I just like how my face is hard to see because it’s so bright and how it looks ghost like.
This is one of my favourite images because it looks almost like my body is leaving my soul and I think that is interesting.
I decided to keep this picture with the other ones because it contrasts them. Unlike the other edits, this image is colourful and happy and for once you can actually see my face and my smile.
For my second photoshoot, I focused on taking pictures of myself in my own room. I used a tripod and a timer and had to manually press the button on the camera in order to take the pictures and because of that most of the images are out of focus. However, I like the way they look because I feel like it adds more personality. The only props I used were a match box, a glass bottle and a book. To improve I think I should take more pictures and try out different angles and the use of more props would also make the images look better.
I lit some matches, placed them on a piece of paper and took some pictures of them because I thought they looked interesting.
Here I tried taking close ups of my face, hands etc. To improve I would have to take more images than this because most of them turned out bad and my selection is limited.
ExtraContact Sheets – Outside
This is not a photoshoot and the pictures were not planned, they’re just random photos I’ve taken in the past 2 weeks or so. I think it’s a good idea adding them here because they are part of me and who I am as an individual.
Best Images:
I have picked these images as my best shots because I like the framing of some and how they are not in focus. I think they will all look good together later on.
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.
For this project, I will take pictures (black and white) linked to my own identity then make a book in order to make a little story about myself (or something like that). I’m going to use the studio because the lighting is better there and also use different backgrounds. I’m going to take my pictures using a slow shutter speed in order to make them blurry (like Francesca Woodman’s work). I’m also gonna try take close ups and maybe full body shots (like Angela Kelly). Most of my images are going to be taken in by room because I spend most of my time there and I’ll also take some pictures outside of my surroundings (probably at night).
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, naked or clothed, blurred, merging with their surroundings, or whose faces are obscured. Her work explored many themes that affected young people and herself, for example: relationships, sexuality, questions of self, body image, alienation, isolation and confusion or ambiguity about personal identity.
I have picked her because I like her gothic like style. It looks like she might be struggling mentally and I want to do something similar because it interests me. The blurry pictures that she takes could indicate that she feels like she doesn’t know who she is or is lost.
In this image Woodman is in an old house (possibly an abandoned one) and is sitting on the floor by the window however, it’s quite hard to see her figure because it’s all blurry.
Claude Cahun was a French surrealist photographer, sculptor and writer. They are best known for their androgynous self-portraits that focus on identity, gender and social norms. During the second world war they lived in Jersey Channel Islands with their partner Marcel Moore until 1954. Because they lived here during the occupation, they got imprisoned and sentenced to death due to their resistance activities; however, it never got carried out because Jersey was liberated . They would go to town with their partner dressed as old ladies and place German messages about the idiocy of war on car windows and inside cigarette packets.
“Masculine? Feminine? It depends on the situation. Neuter is the only gender that always suits me.”
Here Cahun is wearing “masculine” clothing and has shaved hair. This was no very common for “women” at the time.
Lorna Simpson is an American photographer that became well known in the 1980s for exploring themes and ideas relating to identity politics. Identity politics focuses on the lives and experience of those who are often marginalised in society such as people of colour, women and gay people. She combines her photographs with words and questions and challenges the narrow ideas surrounding women, culture and race.
I like her work as it focuses on gender norms and stereotypes. I think her use of sequences is quite powerful and it’s something I would like to incorporate into my own work.
This is a sequence of 4 different images of a model (possibly Simpson herself) sitting on a chair and smirking at the camera whilst wearing a suit (stereotypically masculine clothing). In 3 out of 4 images they have their legs spread out and their hands on their lap, which is something that looks more masculine than feminine. The word “female” is shown at the top of the images.
Angela Kelly is an Irish photographer that moved from Belfast to the US as a full- time Visiting Artist at the School of the Art Institute, Chicago. One of her early works is called “Woman’s Identity” and is from 1975-79. In this project she takes on the conscious idea of a self portrait as both problematic and self empowering, and issues of feminism, identity and place. The title refers to a singular woman’s gaze rather than assuming a universal status for all women.
I picked her because I like how all of her work is simple and how she doesn’t show her full face in any of the photographs, which could indicate that she doesn’t want to be known and is not important enough because she is a woman and at the time men had more power and importance.
I like this image because to me her looking out the window with the curtains shut shows that she trapped inside her own house and unseen. The light from the window also makes it look more magical which is really nice.
