PETRA COLLINS

“My goal is just to create images that generate a conversation about things that aren’t spoken about. I want to change the ways young girls look at themselves and the way women at large are looked at…. So, when I was 15, and started working, it was a time when I was going through puberty, and beginning to discover my sexuality and photography and film were a means of working that out.”

– Petra Collins with vogue

Petra Collins has been working since she was 17, and over the last 13 years she has explored many creative forms from shooting everyone under the sun to art shows to clothing lines to directing. A photographer, artist and model, Petra became known for her dreamy female lens shooting intimate moments of the teenage years in her home city of Toronto, going on to define a new generation of photographers. There are two of her projects that I want to explore: “the teenage gaze” and “24hr psycho”.

THE TEENAGE GAZE

In “the teenage gaze” by Petra Collins, she explores shared experiences of adolescences from their perspective rather than the stereotypical views, aiming for a ‘fly on the wall’ style. The intimate portraits shot from 2010-2015 takes advantage of the lighting, location, and props within the shots in order to create beautiful imagery.

Collins’ wanted to explore the juxtaposition of the early developmental stages of a girls life and her teenage years. The shift from what is labelled as period of innocence and purity, pretty dolls are shoved into her hands and tiaras placed upon her head transforms into a strange reality of catcalls and the fear that no matter how a girl decides to dress or act, she simply cannot win. If she wears makeup then she is giving into societal beauty standards and if she doesn’t, she simply won’t be pretty enough. “Pretty” is a word that girls learn to strive for before they can understand that they do not have to please anyone other than themselves in order to be beautiful.

24HR PSYCHO

“The constant battle within oneself, having to balance oppositional ideals of virgin, whore, mother. I was depressed at a very young age – mental illness runs in my family, especially on the female side… When we are angry, sad, depressed, or manic, we are immediately seen as unfeminine, or ugly, or weak”

– Petra Collins

For this project, Petra Collins wanted for women to take control of their emotions and to show that emotions should not be ladled as “negative”. It shows young women’s emotions in states of sadness and emotional suffering, moments of vulnerability then become acts of empowerment. Fragility and emotionality are emotions stereotypically associated with the female gender; Petra Collins wants to emphasize these characteristics and wants to show the world what it means to be a girl who lives adolescence today, constantly in contact with social media. These images, deeply intimate and private, face the complex question of a generation that does not know the world and people, if not through a screen.

ANALYSE

PHOTOSHOOT ONE

• Tableaux style photoshoot consisting of my father and objects that symbolize my father’s relationship with the sea, such as his surfboard, wetsuit, or any personal items

• To present my fathers connection to the ocean throughout his lifetime, use of first and most recent surfboard

• By producing images in a location holding sentimental value to my father, use of close/mid shots, portraits

• Late afternoon when light is soft

• Along St Ouens Bay, favourite surf spot/other locations with meaning

Inspiration

PHOTOSHOOT TWO

• Documentary Style photoshoot consisting of my father/unknown surfers/the landscape/waves, experimenting with long exposure

• To present my fathers connection to the ocean throughout his lifetime/stills of the ocean and surf culture

• Producing series of landscape/long exposure images documenting surf/surfers in action

• Early morning – Colours

• Along St Ouens Bay

Inspiration

Justine Kurland’s take on the classic American tale of the runaway takes us on a wild ride of freedom, memorializing the fleeting moments of adolescence and its fearless protagonists.

Kurland was born in Warsaw, New York. Her mother sold costumes at Renaissance fairs, so Kurland and her sister lived a somewhat nomadic lifestyle. At 15, Kurland ran away to Manhattan, moved in with a sympathetic aunt, and concentrated on becoming an artist.

She earned her M.F.A. from Yale University in 1998. The following year, Kurland exhibited in the group show Another Girl, Another Planet, which critics considered a preview of a new generation of talented and innovative female photographers.

Both Kurland’s childhood adventures and her current experiences influence her working style and subject matter. She now spends much of her time on the road, scouting locations for photographs and recruiting models.

While her earlier photographs of schoolgirls were inspired by her own experience as a runaway, the birth of her son Casper in 2004 shifted her focus to pregnant women and mothers. Kurland also attributes her more recent photographs of trains and train stowaways to Casper’s love of those vehicles.

This kind of ironic playfulness repeats itself over and over again in this book. Even the title, Girl Pictures, embossed onto the powder pink cover feels vaguely tongue-in-cheek. It sounds dirty or patronizing. Just one letter shy of girly pictures, the title of this book is akin to categories like “chick lit” or “chick flicks.” I can almost hear someone critiquing these photographs as just a bunch of “girl pictures.” It makes me think of that image with the girl’s hands over the boy’s eyes again. What if rather than removing his perspective, you just take it directly from him? The title feels this way to me, like something stolen back.

“There’s something political about creating a world that you want to exist“

Image analysis

In this image the light is dull and reminds me of autumn time. This is because of the colours of the leaves and clothing the people are wearing. The focal point of the image would be the woman circled she is about to get into the water. The image shows a group of friends about to get into the water. The layout of the people in the image creates layers and as if the woman getting into the water is the main girl in the group as people are looking up to her.

By taking inspiration from Kurland and further developing my past images I will try to create a story which people can understand and relate to.

I plan on doing my first photoshoot of candid and staged photos.

I want the environment of this photoshoot to be mainly of in and around my friends cars. I will create different photos from in and around the car from different point of views. This photoshoot will represent girlhood in the way of going out adventuring and feeling free.

I will take exterior shots from outside the car to juxtapose the interior shots from inside of the car of my friends.

I plan to take these images around the times of sunset, so before and during, this is because I want the natural, dim, strong lighting to create dreamy silhouettes and backlighting. I’m hoping the dramatic skies cause rich and intense colours in my images.

Theo Gosselin is a French photographer. He is mostly famous for his bohemian pictures taken during different road-trips around the world.  Deliberately cinematic, his photography reveals friends in the act of escaping from their regular lives into newly enticing and perilous modes of existence, ever in search of the persistent though elusive idea of freedom.

Theo Gosselin pictures, like Justine Kurland, are a true homage to freedom, captured like a snapshot. His favourite themes are life, love, his generation, his adventures, and large spaces; in definition a youth thirsted for freedom and an alternative living, where human values and harmony with nature dominate.

Passionate about drawing, music, and cinema, he chose a path through the art school, and graduated in 2012 as a graphic designer in Amiens. He started photography around 2007 and chose to pursue and develop this. He loves to capture the simple life, love, good and bad moments, his friends and his adventures. Gosselin is an eternal traveller and shares his way of life with the people he loves; because the truth is in wide open spaces and in the heart of the characters he meets along the way.

His work is simple but heart-breaking, pictures which speak the language of feelings and true emotions. Without artifices or lies, the young photographer captures the intimacy with tenderness and accompanies to adulthood.

This image is a good example of photos I want to be taking. The focal point of this image is the two people, however the viewers eyes are drawn to their surroundings. It looks like they are in a service area restaurant and it makes you wonder what their story is, are they runaways? Are they on their own adventure? Are they lost? I want my images to create this kind of atmosphere.

Rut Blees Luxemburg

Rut Blees Luxemburg is a German photographer who mainly takes photographs during the night of urban areas in cities and urban areas, where she likes to use long exposed images because of the lighting she can get from the streets. She is influenced a lot by cities, without considering the noise and chaos, she sees it as flexible, where anything can happen and be photographed, where the pace of life slows down, and the city lights up, where there is as much space as you could possibly want. She grew up in the country side which she says, “Your future is mapped out for you from the very beginning”, which shows her influence for the mix of urban and street photography Rut uses. People believe that Rut Bless Luxemburg is separated from most photographers because of her ability to find beauty in the most depressing and unlikely places, where she creates an ominous mysterious look in her images.

Rut Blees images create a lot of mystery and during her night photography include no people, but rather the template for where people are, which is why you can see footprints in the water and mud, it shows the presence of people without directly showing them and even going into personalities. She looks at the bigger picture, of where people live and where, and how we live in a broader picture. The area she has chosen for her images (London) is perfect for what she is aiming for, because of how although it gets silent at night, there is still perfect lighting everywhere and things still happening or areas that have been left for the night to take over, which she chooses to image.

I personally like Rut’s work, especially her urban and street because of the aesthetic it gives off with an abandoned look and deterioration and isolation. I also like how she mentions about her photography in her urban night area aiming more towards showing the template for people in society and what we use to travel and be efficient in every day life which we might not pay attention to. Her images use a lot of contrast especially with her use of warm and cold colours which I like because the specific tints and vibrancy she uses work well.

Nostalgia

Possible Themes:

• Isolation – focusing on grandma living alone in Ireland.
• Childhood – anxiety – growing up and my approach to identity.
• Family – could focus on dad or brother.??
• Tradition – Baking?/food -mother connection through it, old written recipe book – Laura Letinski’s work
• homesickness + belonging

photomanipulation – interesting looking images that feel a bit more personal – stitching, paint, writing, – if based on family could add letters.

Carolle Benitha

Francesca Woodman

Laura Letinski- I really like the aesthetic values of her work calm and slightly clinical.

Who

My dad’s side of the family who live in Madeira, as well as my immediate family.

What

I want to take photographs of familiar landscapes from trips when I was younger, like family homes for example. I’ll also capture pictures of family, street photography, environmental portraits, etc in a documentary-type style.

Where

I’ll be staying at my grandparents’ house in Câmara de Lobos, Madeira as well as exploring other areas of Madeira.

When

Over the Christmas holidays.

How

I will be borrowing a camera from school, so that I can successfully capture some good-quality photographs during my trip.

Why

I want to gather a collection of meaningful photographs while in Madeira for my personal study. My focus is around my childhood and upbringing, while also acknowledging my heritage. I want to do this as I believe this will communicate a sense of self and allow me to explore and piece together aspects of my ancestry unfamiliar to me.

Deliberately cinematic, Gosselin’s photography reveals friends in the act of escaping from their regular lives into newly enticing and perilous modes of existence, ever in search of the persistent though elusive idea of freedom.

Born near Le Havre in Normandy in 1990, Théo Gosselin grew up with the sea, the wind, the forest, and the sound of electric guitars, echoing in the deserted streets of this grey city from the north of France. Passionate about drawing, music, and cinema, he chose a path through the art school, and graduated in 2012 as a graphic designer in Amiens. He started photography around 2007, and it Became his reason to live. He loves to capture the simple life, love, good and bad moments, his friends and his adventures. Eternal traveler, Europe and USA and share his way of life with the people He loves ; because the truth is in wide open spaces and in the heart of the characters that meet  along the way.

This image shows how groups of friends escape the reality of their regular lives.

The subjects in Théo Gosselin’s images are friends rather than models, and the situations are not mythic constructions but glimpses of an underground lifestyle in a post-9/11 and post-AIDS world in which social media has blurred the boundaries between public and private, and between being documented and simply being.