WHY CHOOSE THE SUBJECT ‘FEMININITY’ FOR THE IDENTITY PROJECT?

I chose to take my final pictures inspired by Justine Kurland’s ‘Girl Pictures’ and femininity. The binary opposition of stereotypical feminine and masculine has become a topic that everyone has different views on. My intention was to show the stereotypical view of women; as delicate, soft and living in a world of utopia. However even that stereotypes are changing globally, their is still the dominant ideology of how women should behave and what values they should hold.

HOW DID I PLAN THIS PROJECT?

To be able to do the photoshoot in the style of Kurland I needed to plan a day in which the weather was going to be bright and cloudless. I took pictures of teenage girls to fit with the stereotypical view in how ‘teenage girls’ should ‘behave’. The main focus in this shoot is reinforce this idea that stereotypes need to be broken, and perhaps what is shown on exterior is not necessarily what the truth is interiorly.

PHOTOSHOOT AND EDITING:

I took these pictures at Howard Davis Park. This is due to the fact is having aesthetic scenery which shows similarity in Kurland’s work, furthermore the flowers are usually connotation of feminine, delicate, and joyfulness. My final images had a soft tone, but bright where you could see all the colours within the frame. Even though most of the colours were muted, there were occasionally a hint of vibrant colours coming through. During my editing process in Lightroom Classic I slightly turned down the exposure to create this sharp detailed image, however I increased the highlights and the colours in order to create a more colourful, and light image.

WHAT WENT WRONG IN THIS PROJECT?

During this identity project it was difficult to find people comfortable in the camera and able to take the photoshoot on the same day. However taking more images in different locations would give a variety of images to choose from, perhaps even different colour clothing. Furthermore a way to improve my project would be to take the same photoshoot but weaken the stereotype but presenting women in a masculine manner; wearing ‘masculine’ clothes, and doing actives that are not suitable for women but also seen as more ‘masculine’.

FINAL DIGITAL PIECES:

I am planning on creating this triptych using the images I took in the photography studio with Phoebe. These pictures are from the same shoot which links them together, however the different colours created variety, yet due to a similar colour palettes they are able to collaborate nicely.

The Landscape image will be printed A3 whereas the other one will be printed A5. I will mount them both on foam board and then mount them on white cardboard.

EVALUATION OF WHOLE LANDSCAPE PROJECT:

Reflecting on my Portraiture unit I believe there are some improvements made from my landscape project. My blog posts have remained consistent however they have improved by adding more context and adding theory when necessary. My blog posts have continued to include hyperlinks and images that are relevant to post. Planning my photoshoots has become easier however most have been taken in the Hautlieu photography studio, in which it is easily accessible. Taking images for Environmental Portraiture was the most challenging part in this project, as many people did not like having their face in front of a camera which created issues for my photoshoot and therefore not many images were taking. However for my identity feminine photoshoot I was easily able to plan and take my photoshoot. This project I was more organised then the Landscape project which created a more relaxed environment in which I felt comfortable working in. Nevertheless when sending my picture to be printed professionally I sent less then I thought which resulted in less analogue pieces. In my next project I will created more images and organise myself so I will finish with more images I will be able to print and create more analogue pieces.