Link:

https://www.artsteps.com/view/646f148534f82661d6a1d2fc/?currentUser

Virtual Gallery outcome:

I have created a virtual gallery with some of my favourite images, covering all three topics of; femininity, studio lighting and environmental portraits. I have made this gallery by using art steps, in which I designed and created the gallery and then added my own images in and chose where to place them. By creating my own gallery made it a lot easier than trying to edit each photo to make it fit onto the wall in photoshop like I have done in previous projects.

How was this image taken technically?

This is an analogue self-portrait of Claude Cahun, dressed and styled in her characteristically androgynous manner. She faces away from the mirror and stares directly into the lens. Natural light appears to be the main light source, presumably coming into the image from an unseen window or door. She hides her neck from view of the camera, thereby exposing it in her reflection.

Why was the photo taken like this?

It is possible that the image was taken in this way, as was Cahun’s trademark, as a direct comment on traditional femininity, as the playful use of reflection and the suggestive nature of the image both suggest an allusion to artifice and contradiction. Perhaps Cahun is criticising the vanity and falsity of feminine culture, and perhaps, as is typical of her work, she is using her own appearance to amplify this more modern and open-minded outlook. Furthermore, in classical art, mirrors are often used as symbolism for feminine beauty or narcissism but here Cahun subverts this meaning to reject these traditional views on gender.

Realities disguised as symbols are, for me, new realities that are immeasurably preferable.

Claude Cahun

How successful were my final outcomes?

I’m happy with my mounted outcomes, I experimented with window mounts and foam board. On the contrasts, my final images for femininity are not exactly what I wanted as the images ended up being too complicated with the background. However I think the images do link to my artists. The long exposure photos were my least successful, however I do like the Clare Rae images. I might re-take some of the images with the long exposure to add to my collection. I feel like my images present what I wanted to show about femininity and how female identity is lost amidst the societal stereotypes these days.

What references did I make to artists references

As Clare Rae and Francesca Woodman being my two artist references, I think I managed to link to their work through combining their two styles together. Overall I think I captured their styles through a slightly different view, but still holding the main ideas of identity through feminism. My main idea that I really wanted to show was that through the permanent stereotypes people think about women, identity can be removed, especially considering the past dominance of ‘The Male Gaze’ through art and photography. I showed this through hiding the identity of my subject, but also connecting her to nature to present females as natural, separating them from the constant fake images they hold on social media.

Is there anything I would do differently?

The only thing about my feminism shoot that I would change would be where I shot the images. Even though I really like the outcomes and they linked well with my artist references, I think some of the images were overcompilated to look at due to the background. To change this I could have taken more photos in a more basic setting such as the sand dunes.

Evaluation on the whole project:

My favourite part was learning about studio lighting and more in depth camera settings. Experimenting with the Rembrandt, butterfly lighting and the colour gels was really interesting as each one created a drastically different effect of the subject. I also really enjoyed experimenting with long exposure in the studio and I think some of my best images were from those shoots.

I struggled more with the environmental portraiture and I feel like I could have pushed myself more and gone into public places to get my images. However I really liked the idea of capturing someone in their working spaces. I wasn’t too happy with my final images from those shoots because I only used people I knew.

I’ve also enjoyed the feminism project because it is a large issue in todays society that isn’t talked about as much as it should be. Presenting the issues through photography meant I could show a creative and more subtle side to the issue, and I think I managed to achieve what I wanted to.

Femininity vs masculinity

For my artist, I chose Shannon O’Donnell. Her work often consists of showing the way femininity is stereotyped and i tried to replicate this in my image.

Some similarities between both mine and Shannon’s photos are the links between stereotypical femininity. Shannon’s picture depicts a ‘traditional’ type of femininity by using house hold chores and dressing up in a typically feminine way, wearing dresses and heels. In my picture, I followed the stereotype of femininity by using flowers and nature which are often symbolic feminine stereotypes, since women are usually thought of as delectate or fragile like a flower. Another similarity between our images would be the colour scheme of our photos, both images are in black and white creating quite moody pieces. Also, both models in the image are wearing dresses, which is a typically feminine choice of attire throughout different centuries.

Some differences between our works include the location of where they were taken, mine image was taken in a flower field whereas Shannon’s was presumably taken inside her home, this results in different meanings behind the images. Secondly, the exposure on my image is lower making my image appear more dramatic where as Shannon’s is lighter, making her image seem almost comical. One final difference between the two photographs is the fact that Shannon uses props in her image which makes her message very clear to the viewer.

Overall, I like how my image is very different to Shannon’s, while still keeping hold of some of the key aspects of her image. If I were going to redo anything about the image i would of likes to use some props to help present the meaning to my image more clearly.

How successful was your final outcomes?

I am happy with the way my mounted outcomes turned out. I used a window mount and foamboard to mount my images. In my opinion, my images linking to the theme ‘femininity vs masculinity’ had a strong outcomes and they link back to my artist study, Justine Kurland. My environmental portraits came out better than I though they would as I wasn’t sure how the background I made, with all the surfboards would turn out. My least favourite images from the portrait project were the images I took in the studio because I found it hard to get the lighting correct at times. Overall, I would say that I have a strong range of final outcomes.

What references did you make to artists references?

comment on technical, visual, contextual, conceptual?

My artist reference was Justine Kurland and I was focusing on her ‘Girl Book’ images. I think that I managed to portray Kurland’s work in to mine and took inspiration from her images to build up an idea of my own. When comparing my images to Justine Kurland’s, I could see clear similarities such as taking the images in a rural area, getting the model to wear similar clothing to the ‘run away girls.’ I also wanted to capture the idea that girls can go out and explore instead of ding the stereotypical thing of staying at home. Overall, I think that my images linked back to Justine Kurland’s work but, the final outcomes would have been better if I had more than one model in the images.

– Is there anything you would do differently/ change etc?

For my Justine Kurland shoot I would have changed how many models I had as the images would of linked back more to her work. I also, would have left myself more time to get a second photoshoot done. I had a plan but didn’t have time to execute it.

Virtual Gallery

virtual gallery was one of the first things I did it turn out ok it was the first time I have done a actual virtual gallery I recon if I had more photos then the gallery wouldn’t look so empty. however the gallery has a sort of simplistic look and some may enjoy the simplistic theme. how made the victual gallery I went onto a website called artsteps and used one of the present galleries and downloaded my photos into it and set them up then I took screenshots and that’s it.

Final Images

I believe my final photo turned out alright I wish I put some more in the print folder however I didn’t really like any other photos these photo where not my best work I recon I could have done better on the editing and had more locations and gotten more people to model I also wish I got a a group photo with my friends and there bikers however maybe I can do that next time or later in the year.

Final Photo Analysis

with this photo me and my friends went on our bike down to to st ouen’s beach then he went into different poses and positions this photo I like because its simple but a the reason I took this photo is masculinity and motorbikes are predominantly men, when taking the photo I took later in the day to get a dramatic effect and to get a good gradient through the image I choose the beach because its out of the ordinary to see a sport bike on the beach, the textures in the image you have the sand with footprints in them the concrete slipway turning into cobbled stone and then you have the see in the distant background. I took the photo on a wide lens to get a big scene and I think the photo did what it suppose to do

this photo I took earlier in the year around the school the model in the photo is sitting on some lockers I told the model to put his hand in front of his face and look down I turned the expose down for light not to mess up the light. I think I turned out good when you look at the photo you would the person in it is sad or depressed or you feel nothing no matter what the photo I believe is good

photo was taken in the studio with this image I tried to make the model look stoic and masculine and it worked the model is in a masculine pose and since predominantly most moto bike riders are male that’s why he’s holding a helmet. The lighting for this photo was a bit of experimenting around with the lights, the lights get a perfect shadow around the models jawline which is considered masculine, I believe I took this photo on a portrait lens however I don’t know for sure. I also got a bit of the models tattoo in the photo that could be related to bravery another masculine trait which was the hole idea of this photo.

this photo is a self portrait taken in the studio my friend took the multiple photos this one out of all of them was my favourite when talking this photo the photoshoot was originally meant for my friend however we decided I should have go and that’s why I am wearing his jacket and my helmet and I think it turned out alright even though it wasn’t planned. I didn’t take this photo my friend did I told him to take a lot of photo and he told me too look all round the room then I picked from the best there not to man texture in this photo just my cloths and the shininess of the helmet.

with this photo me and my friends went on our bike down to to st ouen’s beach then he went into different poses and positions this photo I like because its my kneeling in front of his bike, there also at equal heights so there’s nice levelling in the photo. The photo has a almost like tunnel effect where the rider and bike are the walls and the beach drags the photo out the texture of this photo of footprint in the sand and the bike and the riders cloths. I took this photo later in the day to get a dramatic effect with the clouds and its works with the black and white editing

Artist Mood board

Rineke Dijkstra

Rineke Dijkstra was born June 2, 1959, in the Netherlands the photo above this is from her bull fighters photos this is a photo of one after a fight and its seen as very masculine sport the photo is very simple however it tells us a lot about the man in the photos character for instance he has blood on him and he’s got a slight smile on his face so you can tell the man enjoys the sport this photo is very good at showing who bullfighters are.
Jeff wall

Danny Lyons (bike riders)

Conclusion

In conclusion I believe my photos could have been better and I definitely could have done more but besides that they turned out good but not the best however the virtual gallery turned out ok as I have said before if I had more photo in there it wouldn’t look so empty but it still turned out ok, the artist montages turned out good and I tried to follow Danny Lyons sort of theme however the photos have a different feel to them considering they weren’t taken on black and white camera and the bike in the photo is modern and the ones in Danny Lyons are considered old to us. however the photo are good editing I could have done better however I have 2 photographer that I like Jeff Wall and Danny Lyons.

What I did

For all my images, I cut all the excess paper leaving only the image before sticking them on to some white foam board and giving every image a 0.5cm width boarder.

Femininity

Environmental

Lighting

Display

Photo 1

I believe that this is one of my best femininity images because it includes feminine aspects as well as overall looking appealing. I like the depth of field in this image too as well as the black and white drawing attention towards the model at the centre of the image. I also like how the contrast makes the image more eye catching.

Photo 2

This image is good due to the depth of field and low exposure. The contrast between the model and the background is also nice as it makes her stand out as a focus point for the image.

Photo 3

Once again, I like the depth of field in this image as well as the contrast between her dark hair and the bright flowers. I also like how saturated the image is as it makes the image seem more feminine due to the brighter colours.

Photo 4

With this picture, I like how the warmer tones in this image produce a more autumn feel to the image. This makes the picture have more of a creative aspect to it since autumn is often associated with creativity and harvesting. I also like how the warm tones on the bottom of the image contrast to the use of cooler ones on the top.

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. My aim was to show the stereotypical view of women… represented as soft, gentle and delicate. However, i also liked Justine’s idea which was to present her ‘Girl pictures’ as if girls were trying to run away or escape, being in a group, in rural areas and are shown helping each other throughout the pictures. You could view it in several different ways, the idea that women don’t need men to be independent and survive, the surroundings are very gentle for example lying in a filed with daisies, however, the girls are just apart of the scene they arent trying to be seen as gentle delicate ect. Some quotes from my other artist reference Clare Ray represents this idea: “the way children negotiate their surroundings and respond with an unharnessed spatial awareness, which I find really interesting when applied to the adult body.”, “… each living body is space and has space: it produces itself in space and it also produces that space.” The idea that the you aren’t just living in the space you create the space around you and how it can be perceived. Regarding the project, even though now stereotypes are changing and are less problematic, their is still the dominant ideology of how women should behave and what values they should hold.

HOW DID I PLAN THIS PROJECT:

Going by my photoshoot plan I went to a location that suits the theme of Justine Kurland’s pictures (rural, fields). Going with my friends and attempting to recreate what the girls in Justine’s images were wearing, we chose to do this photoshoot late afternoon to try and get the right lighting however it was still very bright.

PHOTOSHOOT AND EDITING:

Initially, I aimed to create more than one photoshoot, due to time and weather I only completed one photoshoot. Along the north coast is where I took my pictures, my favourites being the ones in a filed with daisies which are a connotation of feminine, gentle and delicate. Within that photoshoot I took around 100+ images so i had a large selection to choose/ edit with. At first, i wanted to leave my images how they were, I was happy with the lighting but still wanted to push myself and see what else would make them look more similar to Justine’s images. As Kurland’s photos almost look vintage, for a couple of my final images I used a vintage pre-set to enhance the more warm tones.

WHAT WENT WRONG IN THIS PROJECT:

I could’ve pushed myself more in this specific project and included different point of views to represent femininity and masculinity, however, as usual I don’t have enough time or transport to achieve what I intend on doing. Its also difficult to find people who are willing to spend a good amount of time participating and being in the photographs. Overall, I feel like I did have a thorough plan which I followed through with and was happy with what I managed to create.

Overall evaluation of whole landscape project:

Concluding the overall portraiture project the femininity and masculinity topic was my favourite as I was inspired and intrigued by Justine Kurland. I have been on top of my blog posts and have spent good amount of time on each of them to make them good quality, whilst also going back into them to improve my work. I’ve learnt a lot about different views of femininity and how it can be represented, and have enjoyed informing myself by reading through websites and theories. I was able to create several analogue pieces, and successfully mounted/presented my images thoroughly and could plan how I would present my work on the blog. Environmental portraiture I struggled in due to time, I did manage to get some pictures however I disliked them so didn’t want to develop them further. In my next project I will try expand my variety of photoshoots and manage my time better.

Why did I chose femininity for this project?

I chose to do this project based off of Justine Kurland’s ‘Girl Pictures’ as most of the photos within the book go against the stereotypes of femininity. And although in today society it is not uncommon to break stereotypes, back when these photos were taken (1997 – 2002) it was quite rare to see, and Kurland manages to capture this perfectly with the perfect balance of empowering women and also belittling men at the same time. However with my final photoshoot, I decided to feed into the typical stereotype of femininity.

How did I plan this shoot?

In order to get the best possible outcomes for this photoshoot, I planned to do this shoot on a day where the weather was good with a couple clouds, by having clouds in the sky i believe it adds more texture. When taking photos for this project I got the girls featured in the shoot to wear similar outfits (white top & blue jeans) as white symbols purity and i was wanting to feed into the ideology of teenage girls.

Photoshoot & Editing:

The photoshoot was taken in a field and a lake in St Saviours. I decided upon this field as it had long grass and no buildings in the background which could suggest it is in a secluded area like Kurland’s images. The lake was a perfect place to take some of these images as a number of Kurland’s photos were taken near water.

Evaluation of the whole project:

I believe I have done well in this project, and my skills and knowledge with cameras have improved a lot as I now how to navigate myself around the different camera settings. I am very happy with the outcomes of my images and think I have managed to keep roughly on theme for each shoot. However I do need to work on sticking to my artist references a bit more and need to improve my blog posts by adding more context and information to each one.

Doing studio lighting portraiture was interesting for me as there were many things to do and I enjoyed figuring out the different ways lighting can affect your face. I believe that this was quite a simple shoot to do as the studio within school is very accessible therefore i was able to go down most studios and try to improve my skills.

I really enjoyed doing environmental portraiture as it is very social and each image holds a photo. When doing this shoot, I walked into other peoples environments and every photo was able to show someone’s character, lifestyle and personality. However, not all of my outcomes for this project came out as well as I hoped and I believe this is due to me not experimenting with lighting outside of a studio.