Diamond Cameo

In April 1865 Frazer Crawford, manager of the Adelaide Photographic Company, returned from Melbourne with ‘all the latest improvements and novelties in photography’ which included a camera to make Diamond Cameo photographs which, he said, was a new style that was ‘becoming so fashionable.

Making this Diamond cameo was fairly simple however the pictures are not the same size and kind of looks wonky also it doesn’t look as good maybe next time I could add like a filter or something to make it look aged.

double mulit-exposure

with this photo I got a photo of some stars and then a photo I took then I layered the photo of the stars over my photo and then turned down the opacity for the photo of the stars. and it turned out ok I think if I where to do it again and then I would turn down the opacity a bit more and take my own photo of some stars.

sequence grid photography

editing these photos all I did is shrink them down and placed them how you see them I think it turned out ok and depicts the model getting blinded by one of the studio lights. it was a mistake however it turnout to be a ok collection of photos however I would like to redo something like this to get a better effect and some more photo depicting what’s happening.

Double exposure

I like this image but it was fairly low-effort and I am still not the best at this technique so I hope to learn more and use it a bit more effectively in the future.

Diamond Cameo

First I took three images with the same colour background and different poses and cut out oval shapes using the Elliptical Marquee Tool. Having copied these selections I created a new photoshop canvas.

I arranged the three ovals in a triangle, copying the left one and flipping it horizontally so that it was inverted. This created the diamond shape that I wanted. I then used the drop shadow tool to add a shadow to one of the portraits.

Having done this, I selected that layer and chose ‘Copy layer style’, before selecting the other three layers and pressing ‘Paste layer style’, as shown below.

This meant that all four ovals now had equal shadows. I wanted to experiment with different background colours so, using the ‘add layer’ button shown below, then selecting black in the front square, I pressed the Paint bucket tool and clicked the background to change it to black.

Below are the results with black, white and sepia backgrounds.

Photoshoot:

Selection:

Editing:

Final outcomes:

Identity politics

First coined in 1974, by Black feminist Barbara Smith and the Combahee River Collective, the term identity politics refers to political positions that are based on the social groups that people see themselves as belonging to.

The idea of identity politics originated from the need for change. Emphasising the priority of the need for sameness, lead to the value of difference and individuality. Which is why it has been accepted, by some, as a strategic form of combat against discrimination and marginalisation.

During the feminist movements in the 1970s, the demand for change and gaining the right to vote was centred around change for white women, and not all women. The Combahee River Collective detailed how their experiences as Black women were different than those of white women, and this mattered because understanding the ways in which racial, economic, gender, and other oppressions were linked and shaped their lives helped to make sure that no one could be left behind.

It often relate to issues such as abortion, homosexuality, transgender rights, pornography, multiculturalism and racism. Identity conflicts also involve fundamental orientations such as religion and ideology, as well as political issues ranging from freedom of speech to the distribution of wealth and privilege. 

Here is a take from intelligence², which gives a little more insight “To some people, this is a dangerous trend. True, many minorities have suffered discrimination and exclusion and they deserve to enjoy the rights that the straight, white majority take for granted. But critics claim that the fight for equality has spilled over into hostility towards the majority, with identity group activists telling white people to check their privilege or labelling them white supremacists. Such sentiments have stoked anger among white people who feel very far from privileged or in control, fuelling the rise of populism and bringing alt-right figures such as Steve Bannon to the fore. The identity politics movement tells people that their experience as a member of a particular group is what ultimately defines them and gives their lives meaning. This message is destroying society’s broad sense of the common good, increasing antagonism and fragmentation in our society.”

Culture wars

Culture wars refers to conflict between groups that have different cultural ideals, beliefs, or philosophies. Typically, the opposing groups are liberals and conservatives.

Most recently, culture wars have been enacted due to the issues of abortion, racism, homosexuality, and transgender rights.

Overall, culture wars can be very harmful on society. Especially when the result is in control of people in power, who can easily impact one of these minorities and marginalized groups negatively. For example, in America with the overturn of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2022, abortion policies and reproductive rights are in the hands of each state. Half of U.S. states are expected to ban abortion in the days and weeks following the Court’s decision taking away the constitutional right to abortion. This movement has pejoratively affected women and has set back women’s rights immensely. It also means that women lose some control of their bodies and removes their choice.

My chosen photographers to study for this unit are:

Claude Cahun

Claude Cahun used photography as a means of self-expression, often using elaborate and outlandish costumes and props to create both intriguing and surreal imagery that was especially shocking for their time (WWII era). Cahun’s work often subverts what people saw and still see as gender norms, rejecting them completely to see what it really is that forms a person’s identity.

William Lakin

William Lakin’s work (in this instance) focuses on masculinity and how broad it really is as a term – how it is culturally reproduced into society – and what it means to people.

Clare Rae

Clare Rae’s work uses feminist theory to represent the female body in “an inherently fetishising medium”, developing a very distanced perspective toward gestures and positions the human form takes while in both public and private spaces.