Their visual poem ‘Upstream’ [which is also paired with their stills ‘That’s Not the Way the River Flows’] focuses on gender. They describe it as ‘transforming our perception of what it means to be male or female’ highlighting that we as a society are ‘no longer restricted by the binary’ that created such pressures & stereotypes that stuck for so many decades, caging people’s actions due to the patriarchy’s belief on gender roles. The visuals consist of Sharn themselves in various settings [i.e: church, their room, the bathroom etc], often dressed in a suit which is then contrasted by another visual of them wearing feminine accessories on top of the suit such as a veil, heels, bathing suit and fishnet tights, contrasting the stereotypical image of men & women whilst creating a third – unique – image. These visuals are enhanced by the text which focuses on a river and how Sharn tries to break free from the rivers patterns, a reference how rivers are one directional and often unchanging just like the idea of gender itself, but feels like they’re unable too. Eventually, they’re able to break free, pulling themselves out and walking their own path which I believe references how they were able to truly embrace themselves and explore their identity as a person rather than what society expected them to be.

Stills from ‘Upstream’ [2019]:

A visual poem surrounding the claustrophobia of the gendered experience while poking fun at archetypes of masculinity and femininity. Accompanied by stills form That’s Not The Way The River Flows this project explores the self.

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Comparing O’Donnell’s Work to Claude Cahun’s:

Both O’Donnell and Cahun’s work focus on the themes of gender through performative photography, using different outfits, hairstyles and poses to create well composed imagery that displays their ideas and opinions towards their gender identity whilst going against the archetypes of femininity and masculinity.

However, despite having similarities, their work also tends to differ quite significantly in terms of how they choose to portray their own identities. Cahun’s work tends to use more dramatic forms of self expression such as big, noticeable props and outfits to create images that show just how wide the spectrum of gender can be, portraying their own identity without a care for what others may think. O’Donnell’s work, however, tends to be more secluded, almost secretive, as they often use poetry to express their identity alongside the visuals that use items such as suits and veils to portrays what side of the spectrum the viewer is seeing – almost catering to the outsiders view on gender in order to insert their own.

• What you want to explore?
• Why it matters to you?
• How you wish to develop your project?
• When and where you intend to begin your study?

I want to explore the themes of Simple and Complex through more abstract, lighting focused images, similar to the work of my artist references.

I want to use these images to explore the themes of self representation and identity through more abstract less person based images. I feel like this would create a unique set of work while still being aesthetically pleasing.

I wish to develop my project by taking inspiration from my artist references for my photoshoots, and trying to take more creative risks with my images and being more experimental in the shooting stage.

I will begin my study by looking at the work of photographers Jiayue Yu and Rinko Kawauchi, while still keeping an eye out for any future references that could fit into the project as well. These two artists explore the ideas of identity through more abstract images, which I like a lot. They photograph a variety of subject matters, from flowers and insects to buildings and the sea.

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Mood Board

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Gabriele Basilico was an Italian photographer, who defined himself as a measurer of space. Born in Milan, after studying architecture Basilico began his profession as a photographer devoted to landscape photography and more particularly to architectural photography. His work was characterized by a rigorous composition, precise geometry, and a focus on the interaction between people and their environment. To give him international fame in 1982, it was a photographic report on the industrial areas of Milan.  In the mid-80s he was part of the group of photographers committed by the French Government to document the transformation of the Transalpine landscape. In 1991 with the celebrated Beirut 1991 he documented the war effects on the Lebanese capital. His last work was showed in December 2012, at the inauguration of new square Gae Aulenti in Milan: a series of photographs that portrayed the Porta Nuova Project from its inception. He worked mostly with a view camera and film in black and white.

One of Basilico’s most well-known projects is his documentation of the transformation of the city of Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. His photographs of the city’s abandoned buildings and empty streets capture the sense of uncertainty and change that characterized this period of German history.

I chose to look at Gabriele‘s work as I think they fit very well into the theme of simple & complex, plus my focus on architecture. I have already come up with some locations to capture similar images.

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Image Analysis 1

I chose to look at this image as it represents the theme of complex through a shot of the center of Naples, Italy. Taken from on top of a high-rise building, it has a cool birdseye view of the intricate buildings as well as the roads full of cars. There is a lot going on in this image, and it includes various different types of buildings with different architectural styles varying from old buildings to modern designs.

This is a good example of monochrome photography as it turns a more complex photo into one that is more simple to digest and interpret visually. This is something I will be including in my project as I believe that a mix of monochrome and polychrome pieces as it will add more depth and variety to the project – further contributing to the theme of complex.

While I wasn’t able to find much information with regard to the context of the image, I can assign it some context with that during 2004, Naples was enduring frequent turf wars between Mafias, causing dead bodies to be discovered frequently. I feel that. the angle of this photo gives a slightly unnerving feeling as when combined with the birdseye angle it could be the view of an eagle swooping in to catch its prey, as the cars and people in the street sit so vulnerable beneath.

This is a good contrast to my other analysis of photographer Matthieu Venot with regard to my assigned theme of simple and complex as obviously, the images are on opposing sides of that scale with Matthew’s work featuring simple shapes and block colours to generate ‘reaction’ or please the viewer, whereas Garbriele uses scenes and subjects such as cityscapes or war-torn buildings filtered through black and white in order to have the viewer think more about what they’re seeing and why the photographer has chosen to present it to them – in term adding complexity to a normal image.

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How can I reference Gabriele’s work in my project

I will be referencing Gabrielle’s work in some of my pieces not only through the use of similar shots, angles, and filters but also through the context of the scenes I’m shooting. For example he has some images of broken buildings from places where the war has ruined entire towns, and so by shooting the remains of a building, it adds complexity to the images as the viewer is either presented with the context/ backstory which makes the photo deeper than a photo or they are left to imagine what could be the story behind the picture.

This is an idea I can pick up on as there is now a few POI’s in Jersey where there is major architectural changes happening and while it may not be as dramatic as the subjects covered by Gabrielle, they will still be following the same idea of photographing a scene which holds a deeper meaning when given context therefor creating some form of complexity.

Photoshoot Locations

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Response 1 – Fort Regent + Gorey

For my first photoshoot I will be visiting Fort Regent to take advantage of its prime elevated viewpoints looking out over town.

I will be taking photos for both sides of the project as from these points I will have angles on the roof of Fort Regent, and La Collete flats as well as the intricate streets of St Helier.

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Conditions

In order to create images with the same looks as those of Vernot and Gabriele’s I will need to ensure the weather (more specifically the sun) is at the right point . This means for my simple shots of the sides of buildings I would ideally want clear skys with no clouds, and for the sun to be in a position directly above the subject building so it isn’t creating shadows however this is something I could potentially fix in editing (Photoshop / Lightroom).

For my complex series, the weather doesn’t matter as much as I will likely be making the images monochrome anyway. A clear sky would be ideal however I will also be looking for some clouds to add to the images.

Contact Sheet

Selections

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Photoshoot 1

My first photoshoot is going to be in the style of Richard Avedon. I will be photographing two of my friends who are a couple. This will be done outside using natural lighting. It will be on a cloudy day in order to get a soft lighting to get an even light on my models faces and prevent shadows. My models are my friend who is a car enthusiast and part of my car based friendship group along with his girlfriend. My models will be wearing casual clothing as that is what they wear when we go on drives. This ensures that the photos are natural as possible as well as sticking will the style of Richard Avedon who photoshoots his models in the environment where he finds them in exactly what they are already wearing. I will be taking another friend with me who will assist me in taking the photos by holding a portable backdrop so i can get a plain background to keep the main focus of the photograph on my models as Avedon does. Additionally, to stick to the style of Avedon i will be doing half body shots meaning i will only be photographing my models from the waist up. To keep with the theme of Richard Avedon the images will mainly be in black and white however i will shoot in colour and put the photos in black and white in photo editing software afterwards.

• Where – Noirmont point
• When – ???
• Who – Rhys Barrot + Holly Valois
• Weather – Overcast
• Style – Richard Avedon

Noirmont point

Richard Avedon photographs

Photoshoot 2

My second photoshoot is going to be in the style of Danny Lyons. I will be photographing some of my biker friends in front of their motorbikes. I will do the photoshoot on a cloudy day also as that will give me even lighting as well as no shadows. I will be photographing my models both in in their bike gear such as helmet, jacket and gloves while on rides as well as without their gear on. Some photos will be of them stood next to their bikes, riding their bikes past me, sat on the bikes as well as some without the bike. Most of the photographs will be in black and white to stick to the style of Lyons however i will shoot in colour and make in images black and white in editing software afterwards. These photos will be a mix of full body as well as half body shots. This will ensure that the portraits are environmental as well as showing the features of my model. The photos will not be taken at pre-planned times rather we will all go out on a ride as we do most weekends. While we ride around and go places such as garages and carparks to stop and work on and talk about bikes i will walk around with my camera to get natural photos as Avedon did while during his time photographing hells angles which is what i want to recreate.

• Where – ???
• When – ???
• Who – Bike People
• Weather – Overcast
• Style – Danny Lyons

Danny Lyons photographs

Photoshoot 3

My third photoshoot will be styled in a combination of Richard Avedon and Danny Lyons. I will be photographing my friend in front of their car which applies to Lyons’s style however i will be doing half body shots to show aspects of Avedon’s style. The photos will be in colour to provide some contrast from my other shoots. The model will be wearing their natural clothing however my model has an interesting fashion sense which will make the photos very interesting and show aspects of Avedon’s work as he photographs interesting people rather then people who have a regular look. Due to the half body shots most of the car will be cropped out which i believe will make a very interesting as different parts of the car can be used in each image to give the shoot some variety.

• Where – ???
• When – ???
• Who – Jadyn Dupre
• Weather – Overcast
• Style – Danny Lyons + Richard Avedon

Photoshoot 1 | Photoshoot 2 | Photoshoot 3 | Photoshoot 4 | Editing |

Photoshoot 1

For my first photoshoot I would like to take some images in the style of John Maclean. I’m going to go to town after school and photograph things like: buildings, benches, cars, people etc. from two different angles or a few hours apart, in order to achieve images similar to Maclean’s in ‘Two and Two’. This will allow me pay more attention to my surroundings and look at the world differently as I will have to explore different angles of the same thing. I will experiment with low and high angles because I’d like my images to look slightly abstract and show things that you only see if you look hard enough. My aim for this photoshoot is to take around 200-300 images.

• Where? Town
• When? after school or on the weekend
• Time? 4pm to 6pm ???
• Weather? Rainy
• Subjects? Buildings, cars, people etc.
• Style? John Maclean
• Angles? Low and high

Photoshoot 2

For my second photoshoot I would like to focus on photographing a specific item around town. In ‘Small Victories’ by John Maclean, a hose can been seen in almost every image, sometimes it’s easy to spot and sometimes it’s not. I could focus on benches, trash, couples etc.

• Where? Town
• When???
• Time???
• Weather???
• Subjects? something specific (to be decided)
• Style? John Maclean and Wing Ka Ho ???

Photoshoot 3

For my third photoshoot I would like to take images in the style of Robert Adam’s ‘Summer Nights, Walking’ because I really like the simplicity of the final images. I will take my camera and go on a walk around my neighbourhood, at night. I could also take the bus outside of town and photograph the rural areas. I could juxta position these images to ones I’ll take on my other shoots and show the difference between day and night. I will experiment with taking my images in black and white instead of colour first so that I don’t have to edit them later on. This is because I’m certain I want the final results to have no colour. My aim to spend around 2 hours and take a good set of photographs.

• Where? town and outskirts of town. Maybe Gorey or St Brelades ???
• When? during the week as it’s less busy
• Time? late afternoon/after sunset, 6pm onwards
• Weather???
• Subjects???
• Style? Robert Adams

Lyons is most famous for his book called “The Bikeriders”. In this book Danny did not just photograph American bikers, rather he became one. He joined the Chicago Outlaws motorcycle club where he would take his camera out on rides with the club and take many photographs for his study. Lyons said the photographs were “an attempt to record and glorify the life of the American bike rider.” The series was very popular in the late 60s and 70s. So popular that he was invited to join Magnum photos which was a prestigious photography club that originated in Paris and expanded to form offices in the New York, London and Tokyo. He never became a full member.

Matthieu Venot is a self-taught French photographer whose pictures capture the urban environment in a most graphic and transformative of ways. Focusing on the part rather than the whole, his photographs abstract his surroundings into colourful graphical vistas turning the quotidian into the iconic.

https://www.yatzer.com/matthieu-venot#:~:text=Matthieu%20Venot%20is%20a%20self,the%20quotidian%20into%20the%20iconic.

Focusing his lens on architectural details and adopting fairly constructivist angles, the artist succeeds in creating abstract geometric images. He only photographs when the weather is incredibly good and thus Matthieu uses the immaculate sky like the background in a studio. This, he maintains, is his way of not disturbing the composition of his pictures : simple and graphic. Lines cross over and overlap. shapes stand out from this blue background and have us forgetting what we are observing : a roof, a wall, a railing, a balcony.

The blue sky background also enhances the colours. Colour is, in fact, of the utmost importance in Matthieu Venot’s photography. Excluding the Breton greyness, the photographer transforms the town and has us thinking more of California or Florida. According to the artist, the choice of pastel colours is a way of transmitting, through his photos, his own personal optimism.

Venots images are all taken during a sunny, bright day without any clouds. I think he does this to keep the pattern of the lighter shade of colour to create contrast between that and the sky. By using such vibrant colours allows Venot to capture the finest details with defined lines and exquisite geometric shapes.

Image Analysis:

I have chosen to analyse this image due to the different approach of Matthias Venot by capturing this image in a slightly later time throughout the day, producing more colour. Instantly, you can notice the simplistic style Venot has attempted to follow. The image only contains around 5 different colours, all creating a great contrast between one another. This differs from Venots usual images as the sky is not completely blue, but rather displaying some colour from the sunset. The use of the colours from the sunset create an effective formation of the building due to the sky being a similar shade of colour. It seems as if Venot has positioned himself and his camera beneath the structure and heavily zoomed in. The full moon makes the image much more powerful due to it creating the sense of completion and transformation.

Rinko Kawauchi is a Japanese photographer with an incredibly unique photographic style, especially within her book Illuminance, which explores light, shape, and colour through a variety of mainly abstract images. The images are placed in the book without any kind of titles or explanation given to the reader, instead allowing them to interpret the compositions on their own.

Her images are often soft and dreamlike, sometimes overexposed, placing a focus on the way lighting is used throughout the project. By using a film camera, Kawauchi is able to create timeless images, capturing immense amounts of detail and creating a physical attachment to the images created instead of the cold, methodical creation of digital images.

In Masatake Shinohara’s essay for Aperature regarding Kawauchi’s work, she says, ‘Her act of photographing is less a way of referring to the appearance of everyday reality than it is a revealing of the luminous open space within which sensuous elements are free-floating. That is to say, in her practice, a sequence of photographs does not fix the appearance of everyday events, but rather evokes the realness of ambiguous ether that existed prior to the fixation of the predominant worldly setting.‘

This is one of my favourite images from the series, a simple shot showing sunlight reflecting off of the sea. I especially like the colours used, with the light yellow sun contrasting the shadows of the dark purple shadows created, making a harmonious and visually pleasing colour scheme. It is slightly blurred, once again tying into concepts of memories and dreams and parts of surrealist artwork. This image is from Kawauchi’s book Aila which was published in 2005. It explores the line between life and death through abstract photography, capturing everyday scenarios in breathtaking detail. In an article written by Christy Lange, Kawauchi’s intentions are analysed further, ‘by photographing them, Kawauchi makes the fleeting moments of life even more fragile – not less so – because she makes them static and visible for us. We can see them as we would in our mind’s eye – with the blurred and imperfect vision of memory.‘

Mood board of Paul Outerbridge’s work –

I think that these images represent the selection of Still Life work which Paul Outerbridge had created within his career, it ranges from simplicity to complex abstraction. I really like the simplicity of many of these images because many of them feature one or two objects as the main focus of the photograph, which I want to incorporate into my work as well. He also uses lighting well within his work because he is able to use it to create spotlights on certain objects, such as his egg work, or uses lighting to create bolder lines and shadows in his still life photos.

Research on Paul Outerbridge –

• Born in 1896, and served in the US Army in 1917.
• Started as an illustrator and designer before he got into photography.
• Enrolled in the Clarence H White school of photography at Colombia University in 1921.
• Worked with different publications such as Vanity Fair and Vogue.
• Moved to Paris in 1925, and befriended many different artits/designers such as Edward Steichen, where they went on to build one of the largest and well equipped photographic studios of all time.
• He returned back to New York by 1929, where he opened his own studio producing commercial and art photography, this was where he was also able to start experimenting with colour in his photography using the tri-colour process.
• By 1940, he published a book called, ‘Photographing in Colour’.
• Retired as a commercial photographer in 1943, where he moved to Hollywood and married, but later died in 1958.

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3 Key quotes –

To gather further information on Outerbridge’s still life photography, I used this website for reference as well as this website. This first website provided me with an extra insight into how and why Outerbridge may have created some of his images as the rise of still life photography grew, and the second website was an online article from the ‘New York Times’ written by Ken Johnson who offers a different view towards Outerbridge’s work which I will use in my image analysis.

1.

“A photograph, Outerbridge wrote, “should do something to its beholder; either give a more complete appreciation of beauty, or, if nothing else, even a good mental kick in the pants.””

This quote explains how Paul Outebridge explains what effect that a photo should have on the people who are viewing it, it could either be visually appealing or creating a distinct message throughout it depending on the context of the photograph. I have chosen to use it because this is the effect that I also want to create within my work, from taking inspiration from many of Outerbridge’s still life work as he experiments with black and white/colour abstraction well within his work.

2.

“Even when platinum and palladium emulsion materials became scarce in the years after World War I, Outerbridge insisted on using them to craft prints whose tonal depth and warmth trump the more meagre materiality of conventional processes.”

This quote explains the photographic process that Outerbridge used within his work to create coloured/black and white photographs, this is because colour was still quite a new concept in photography which many photographers were yet to experience well with. The use of this photographic process is highly evident within his work as you can see how he experiments with tonal depth within his photos and I have chosen to use this quote because I also want to experiment with the different black and white tones within my photograph in my photoshoots as I can use the black and white technique inputted on the camera and further edit it within Lightroom.

3.

“Throughout the 1930s, his riveting photographs of dining rooms, tabletop still lifes and displays of necessities like sandwiches and toilet paper—commissioned by clients that included House Beautiful, McCall’s and Scott Paper—attracted attention by offering up heightened visual experiences that bordered on the hyperreal.”

This quote explains the range of images, regarding the theme of still life, that Outerbridge created throughout his career and the impact which they have had on society. This is because the quote explains how many of his photos have provided people with a range of different experiences which are hyper realistic in how many of them appear, especially in his abstract still life work. I have chosen to use this quote because I think that it successfully discusses the impact of Outerbridge’s work towards others and how many of his works border along the lines of dreamlike still life photography.

Image analysis –

This photograph taken by Paul Outerbridge in 1927, as a part of his ‘American’ collection is an example of his still life images which he has created throughout his career. This image features a glass and bottle and experiments with different techniques such as the tonal depth which can be seen in the background of the photograph as it is shown to be quite dark which creates a heavy contrast against the bottles which are appearing to be light in how they appear as they are most likely clear. These bottles stand out further through the use of the shadows which fall beneath them in the photograph too, I really like this effect because the shadows create these unique patterns on the surface which they are on due to the unusual and unique formation of the bottle as well. Referencing Paul Outerbridge’s work for inspiration in my own work, where I will be focussing on how the light creates different reflections and shadows in glassware/different kitchenware, I will consider how the light falls on the bottles and the shadows which they will create through what objects I decide to use, I will also experiment within colour and black and white because I think that the use of coloured glasses could create patterns that are abstract in how they appear on the background which I will use. Other works by Paul Outerbridge such as ‘Images de Deauville’, produced in 1936 which hold an abstract view in commercial photography have been criticised and in an online article from the ‘New York Times’ written by Ken Johnson, which I referenced above, it discusses Outerbridge’s career and journey throughout time. The article begins by saying that Outerbridge was amongst some of the most successful commercial photographers in his time but as times changed there are many critiques towards Paul Outerbridge’s work. In 1973, the Museum of Modern Art director called John Szarkowski wrote a book called “Looking at Photographs”, and this is where he called Outerbridge’s work to be referenced towards “commercial illustrations” and Johnson says that many people argued that colour photography appear to be ‘tacky’ as it didn’t hold the uniformed and organised look that appeared to be seen in many black and white photography. By the 1970s, the popularity of colour rose up again and Outerbridge’s work began to come back into focus as and he was regarded as one of the 20th century’s most successful photographers for his work.