AI has recently boomed in popularity following the release of the OpenAI chat model ChatGPT. It’s opened a lot of conversation about the future of art and photography in the sense that it can be further manipulated and that images can be created without actually going outside, looking for an area, or even using a camera.

Some photographers are exploring this new method of creating imagery through concepts of nostalgia, such as local Jersey photographer Will Lakeman, who uses AI models such as Midjourney and the new generative fill addition to Photoshop to recreate things from his past – not as they were, but how he remembers them from his childhood.

Lakeman mainly focuses on Fort Regent, compiling hundreds of photographs of different areas of the Fort together and then manipulating them with AI to add in things that are no longer there, or to create entirely new objects. Either way, it makes for a striking composition that captures the concept of a distorted, distant memory; a fragment of the past.

I created a virtual gallery for my portraiture project, using a large percentage of my work from the shoots I’ve done over the last few months.

It can be viewed here –

https://www.artsteps.com/view/646de72595c2fd2d93b15239

For the mock exam, I wanted to create a piece that shows more of a shift in identity, from who I was to who I am now. I wanted to achieve this using my recent medical issues as the subject, as I’m unfit to drive for six months.

This was more of a mini-photoshoot just to get some extra photos, so I wasn’t looking for too many final images as I wouldn’t need them. I wanted to display masculinity within my identity through my love for motorcycles that I had developed over the year or so that I’d been riding, which I did by wearing the gear I typically used – my helmet and jacket. I also wanted to create the illusion that I was outside, as opposed to a more classic photography studio style, but I didn’t want too much in the background to distract the viewer, so I used a red LED lightbulb in the hopes that it would create a reflection on my visor similar to that of a traffic light or brake light.

When I edited these two photographs that I’d selected as the best of the shoot, I realised I could change the colour of the other key light that I’d had on to increase the overall quality of the image in Lightroom, and I think it looks rather similar to the lights on a police siren, which creates connotations to rebellion and crime, which is a typically masculine thing. Overall, whilst I like the way both of these images look, I think that the first photo would suit this project better and is in general more visually appealing.

For my self-portraiture project, I wanted to take images that captured me in my home environment. While practicing on my guitar in the evening, I thought the lighting was perfect for an impromptu photoshoot, so I set up my camera on a tripod and used the self-timer to take some images.

I shot some photos whilst I used my phone, practiced with my guitar, and listened to music. I tried moving around to see how the light reacted on my face and was left with some rather interesting compositions.

I was particularly interested in the way the light formed somewhat of a white outline around the back of my body when I faced the right-hand side of the frame, as it brought me more into the foreground of the images. I also used masking tools in Lightroom to lower the sharpness of the background.

These are all of my final images from this shoot.

I wanted to attempt to showcase one of my current personal struggles involving my health in this shoot and contrast it with how I was beforehand. To achieve this, I’d bought a costume from a party shop that looked similar to a hospital gown and borrowed a friend’s helmet.

I took these images of myself in the studio, using different camera settings to achieve different effects, such as the long exposures that I shot. The lighting was set up so that it would create harsher shadows on the left-hand side of the image, and I think it ended up looking better in the photographs where I was wearing the jacket and helmet, which was a shame as I was trying to recreate the harsh lighting that hospitals often have.

These are my final shots for this shoot. I plan to use maybe two or three for the mock exam, the images of me in the hospital gown in particular – as that was the purpose of this shoot. I might do a smaller reshoot in my own time to create a matching photograph when it comes to the angle and pose I’m stood in, so I can combine the two images either digitally or after printing to emphasise the effect that I want from this.

For my self-portraiture project, I plan to shoot in the school’s studio primarily so that I can get the best possible lighting, and so that I can achieve a cleaner, hospital-like setting for the images I want to take for one of my pieces that I’ve planned. Using the studio, I can also get shots of myself wearing my motorcycle gear for that same piece, which could save me time in finding the right space to do it outside of school.

In addition, I would like to get a large variety of different shots of myself in my bedroom, to provide insight on how I live, who I am and what I do outside of school. As my bedroom window faces to the west, I may try to get a shoot done during the golden hour to achieve softer, warmer tones across my images. I could also use my key light, or the different coloured lights in my room to create different effects and to emphasise some of these hues for a more visually appealing piece.

I will be using my own camera and telephoto lens for these shoots, and most likely a tripod to set them up. On my camera, the settings shouldn’t be too different from normal – on manual and adjusted to the environment I shoot in (should be a relatively bright environment) – and I don’t think I have anything in particular I want to experiment with for this.

Claude Cahun, born in 1894, was a French photographer and activist, known for her self-portraits and radical political activism, challenging norms of gender and sexuality.

Cahun, born Lucy Schwob, used photography as a means of self-expression, often using elaborate and outlandish costumes and props to create both intriguing and surreal imagery. Their step-sister – and partner – Suzanne Malherbe, frequently appeared in Cahun’s works, such as in the image above, where they’d shaved their heads and eyebrows to strip them of all remnants of their identities, leaving them mere husks. Malherbe and Cahun worked as part of the French Resistance during WWII, which deeply influenced her work as she developed as an artist. This as a whole creates connotations to the way the Jewish people were treated in the concentration camps during World War II, which would’ve been around the time this was taken – turning this piece into a political protest against the atrocities committed by the Nazi party during this time.

Inspired by the Greek Myth of Narcissus, Cahun’s work primarily revolved around a sense of self and the concept that art could only be created through self-exploration. This is why I think Cahun’s photography is a perfect reference for this project, and I plan to create at least one somewhat similar piece in the style of their work.

For this shoot, we experimented with the gel filters again, giving most of my images a green tint that didn’t end up being too flattering. The first set of photographs we took with the regular studio lighting ended up being a lot better for the diamond cameos, so I was more driven to use them.

We also played around with longer exposures to capture Wiktoria’s movements as we shot these photos, which turned out quite well for the most part.

For the diamond cameo, I had to select four images of Wiktoria looking in four different directions – up, down, left and right. I didn’t have one of her looking down that I could use so I decided to use a photo of her looking straight into the camera lens instead for when I created the diamond cameo in Photoshop.

These were my final results for the multiple exposures part of the shoot. They have this almost supernatural element to them, following Wiktoria’s movement as a blur through the background. I’m intrigued by this style and may attempt to use it in later projects if I have the chance.

The rest of the final products from this shoot are necessary to create my actual diamond cameo. I need to sort four of them into a Photoshop document – each one looking in a different direction (up, down, left, right).

I took four of these final images and organised them together in Photoshop, using the oval selection tool to remove the borders of the photographs.

After removing and cropping all the borders, I had what I needed. However, I wanted to recreate the vintage aesthetic of classic diamond cameos, so I placed an orange-yellow tint across the whole canvas, increased the sharpness and added some grain.

Finally, I was left with this. I’m quite proud of it and may also want to do something similar in future projects. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough images to use for the bottom part of the diamond cameo, so I used a different one from earlier in the shoot that actually wraps the piece up better than what I think the photo I actually needed would have done.

As I said in my statement of intent, I want to contrast the intense, rebellious attitude that’s typically associated with motorcyclists with the cold and dehumanising atmosphere of a hospital, and show how powerless being in medical care can make someone feel.

As I’ve just been on a trip to Norwich in England, I could easily use a lot of the images that I took across the city of different friends. I could plan how I could use some of the photographs I took outside, such as by the forum, inside the market’s McDonald’s, and inside the market.

For my self-portraits, I want to try and have a photoshoot at home, most likely in my bedroom as it’s a pretty good insight into who I am, which might work quite well for a few final pieces.

My intention with this project is to create a self-portraiture piece that displays my own recent personal experiences with the medical industry and the loss of self that comes with it. I plan to have two drastically contrasting images of myself; one in my old jacket and helmet that I wore when riding my motorcycle, and another in a hospital gown. I could use juxtaposition with colour palettes to help enhance this effect, maybe by using opposing monochromatic backgrounds.

I also plan to experiment further with techniques that I’ve learned this academic year and implement the concepts that I’ve explored in this unit so far into it, such as the diamond cameos and multiple exposures. Regardless, I want to use self-portraiture to reflect my own identity in the pieces I create, however, I also want to see if I can capture other people in the same way, as I obviously don’t know them as well as I know myself.