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PHOTOSHOOT ONE PLAN

MOODBOARD:

WHAT?

In this photoshoot I will take inspiration from the Bernd typology work. By taking repeated images of the same subject I will be creating my own typology. During my time away in Poland I will aim to take a few portraits of my family members and places which hold significance with my family and time away. During this shoot I will be also be creating typologies through the stereotypical ‘documentary’ photography. However, with the return back to Jersey I will juxtapose and contrast my life in Poland vs Jersey, therefore I will also take images of my family here.

WHERE?

LOCATIONS FOR PHOTOSHOOT:

  • POLAND
  • HOUSE AND FAMILY IN POLAND
  • SIGNIFICANT PLACES (PARKS, CENTRES)

WHEN?

This images will be taken as I go away to Poland for the weekend for a family event. Hopefully I will be able to go back to take another shoot, however it’s uncertain.

HOW?

I will be using a camera from school so I am able to create higher quality images. I will be using the flash in order to create that ‘documentary’ style photography and create a slightly more authentic images, showing the events of the night and the function of the event.

WHY?

This photoshoot is designed to show my duel nationality, my life in Jersey and my life in Poland. By doing this photoshoot I am creating my own typology of my own personal nostalgia. By creating these images in my photobook I will be able to shows the difference within my life with my two families.

PHOTOSHOOT CONTACT SHEET:

ARTIST REFERENCE: HILLA, BERND BECHER

TYPOLOGIES:

A photographic typology is a study of “types”. That is, a photographic series that prioritizes “collecting” rather than stand-alone images. It’s a powerful method of photography that can be used to reshape the way we perceive the world around us. The noun TYPOLOGY means the study and interpretation of types. This became associated with photography through the work of Bernd and Hilla Becher, whose photographs taken over the course of 50 years of industrial structures; water towers, grain elevators, blast furnaces etc can be considered conceptual art.

New Typologies Mood board

LINKS USED:

https://www.photopedagogy.com/typologies.html

HILLA AND BERND BECHER:

The German artists Bernd and Hilla Becher, invented New typologies, they began working together in 1959 and married in 1961, are best known for their “typologies”—grids of black-and-white photographs of variant examples of a single type of industrial structure.

Hilla Becher was a German artist born in 1931 in Siegen, Germany. She was one half of a photography duo with her husband Bernd Becher. For forty years, they photographed disappearing industrial architecture around Europe and North America.

They won the Erasmus Prize in 2002 and Hasselblad Award in 2004 for their work and roles as photography professors at the art academy Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.

Stoic and detached, each photograph was taken from the same angle, at approximately the same distance from the buildings. Their aim was to capture a record of a landscape they saw changing and disappearing before their eyes.

THREE PEOPLE WHO INFLUENCED THE BECHERS:

  1. Karl Blossfeldt
  2. August Sander
  3. Albert Renger-Patzsch

CRITICS:

They are the lines on the face of the world. The photographs are portraits of our history. And when the structures have been demolished and grassed over, as though they were never there, the pictures remain.’
Michael Collins, The Long Look 

This quote from Michael Collins connects with my personal study, Nostalgia. ‘The photographs are portraits of our history’

LINKS USED:

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/bernd-becher-and-hilla-becher-718/who-are-bechers

IMAGE ANALYSIS:

Emotional Response:

The way these images are presented shows different buildings and how they could evolve. This is how I’m going to incorporate typologies into my personal study, by presenting different locations which bring me nostalgia. If I am able to get some portrait images of my family I will also try to use their portraits and display them in the style of typologies.

Visual – what we can see in the image

With the presentation of these images you are able to see a stationary and repeated sequence. The images seem to be taken at the same angle and height which creates this this organised aesthetic look. Each individual image presents a different building, which shows the evolution of building structures. Each infrastructure in the individual images in centred in the middle thirds, in the rule of thirds which creates this repetition. By using the form of the grid the Bernd’s were able to emphasise the repetition, which can suggests that the industrialisation was becoming repetitive. “we want to change nothing about the objects we photograph.. namely strip the individual object of context, in other words to position them such that they fit the frame” this quote by the Bernd’s show they photographed industrial buildings without context, just to view them as an overall form.

Contextual – who, when, where etc…the story, background, impact:

Hilla Becher was a German artist born in 1931 in Siegen, Germany. She was one half of a photography duo with her husband Bernd Becher. For forty years, they photographed disappearing industrial architecture around Europe and North America. The Becher’s themes to photograph were the overlooked beauty within the relationship between form and function. Both of the subjects addressed the effect of industry on economy and the environment.

The German artists Bernd and Hilla Becher, who began working together in 1959 and married in 1961, are best known for their “typologies”—grids of black-and-white photographs of variant examples of a single type of industrial structure.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/bernd-becher-and-hilla-becher-718/who-are-bechers#None

https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/95

SPRING PLANNER: PERSONAL STUDY

SPRING TERM – DEADLINES

PRACTICAL WORK: This term you have 5 weeks to complete all coursework, including essay and photobook or film. This include all relevant blog posts demonstrating your knowledge and understanding of: RESEARCH > ANALYSIS > PLANNING > RECORDING, EXPERIMENTATION > PRESENTATION > EVALUATION.

DEADLINE: MUST complete final photo-shoots/ moving image recordings by MON 5 February 2024

ESSAY: We will continue to spend at least 1 lesson a week on CONTEXTUAL STUDIES where you will be learning about critical theory, photo history and contemporary practice as well as developing academic study skills to help you writing your essay. However, it is essential that you are organising your time effectively and setting aside time outside of lessons to read, study and write.

DEADLINE: Essay MUST be handed in FRI 2 FEB 2024

PHOTOBOOK / FILM: Returning after Christmas we will be spending the whole month of January developing, designing and printing the photobook which will include your essay and somewhere between 40-60 images sequenced to tell a story. For those making a film you will spend January editing moving images and sound in Premiere.

MOCK EXAM: 5 – 9 Feb 2024. 3 days controlled test (15 hours)
Groups: 13A: MON 5 – WED 7 FEB
13B: WED 7 – FRI 9 FEB

DEADLINE: Completion of photobook or film
LAST DAY OF YOUR MOCK EXAM.

Week 15-16: 4 – 14 Jan
PHOTOBOOK: Editing photoshoots
FILM: Editing footage and sound
ESSAY: Hypothesis, essay plan and Introduction

PHOTO-SHOOTS: Lessons Thurs 4 – Fri 5 Jan
Upload new images from to M:drive and begin to edit in Lightroom.
Follow these instructions:

EDITING:

  • Save shoots in folder and import into Lightroom
  • Organisation: Create a new Collection from each new shoot inside Collection Set: PHOTOBOOK
  • Editing: select 8-12 images from each shoot.
  • Experimenting: Adjust images in Develop, both as Colour and B&W images appropriate to your intentions
  • Export images as JPGS (1000 pixels) and save in a folder: BLOG
  • Create a Blogpost with edited images and an evaluation; explaining what you focused on in each shoot and how you intend to develop your next photoshoot.
  • Make references to artists references, previous work, experiments, inspiration etc.
  • Prep for photobook design: Make a rough selection of your 40-50 best pictures from all shoots. Make sure you have adjusted and standardised all the pictures in terms of exposure, colour balance.

EVALUATING: Upon completion of photoshoot and experimentation, make sure you evaluate and reflect on your next step of development. Comment on the following:

  • How successful was your photoshoot and experimentation?
  • What references did you make to artists references? – comment on technical, visual, contextual, conceptual?
  • How are you going to develop your project from here? – comment on research, planning, recording, experimenting.
  • What are you going to do next? – what, why, how, when, where?

ESSAY: Lessons Mon 8 – Fri 12 Jan
Complete the following:

MON: Academic Sources

  • Research and identify 3-5 literary sources from a variety of media such as books, journal/magazines, internet, Youtube/video that relates to your personal study and artists references .
  • Begin to read essay, texts and interviews with your chosen artists as well as commentary from critics, historians and others.
  • It’s important that you show evidence of reading and draw upon different pints of view – not only your own.
  • Take notes when you’re reading…key words, concepts, passages
  • Write down page number, author, year, title, publisher, place of publication so you can list source in a bibliography

Bibliography

List all the sources that you have identified above as literary sources. Where there are two or more works by one author in the same year distinguish them as 1988a, 1988b etc. Arrange literature in alphabetical order by author, or where no author is named, by the name of the museum or other organisation which produced the text. Apart from listing literature you must also list all other sources in alphabetical order e.g. websites/online sources, Youtube/ DVD/TV.

Quotation and Referencing:

Why should you reference?

  • To add academic support for your work
  • To support or disprove your argument
  • To show evidence of reading
  • To help readers locate your sources
  • To show respect for other people’s work
  • To avoid plagiarism
  • To achieve higher marks

What should you reference?

  • Anything that is based on a piece of information or idea that is not entirely your own.
  • That includes, direct quotes, paraphrasing or summarising of an idea, theory or concept, definitions, images, tables, graphs, maps or anything else obtained from a source

How should you reference?

Use Harvard System of Referencing…see Powerpoint: harvard system of referencing for further details on how to use it.

https://vimeo.com/223710862

Here is an full guide on how to use Harvard System of Referencing including online sources, such as websites etc.

TUE: Essay Question

  • Think of a hypothesis and list possible essay questions
  • Below is a list of possible essay questions that may help you to formulate your own.

Some examples of Personal Study essays from previous students:

Links to a previous essays: 

Olivia Mooney-Griffiths: In what way are family photographs extensions of our memories as well as our identities?

Sophie Marett: In what way have Robert Darch and Josef Sudek used their photography as a form of therapy? 

Eleanor Jones: In what way have Mary Ellen Mark and Laia Abril portrayed women’s mental and physical health? 

Emma Price: In what way have Jim Goldberg and Ryan McGinley represented youth in their work?

Lawrence Bouchard: What Constitutes a ‘Real’ Image?

Thomas Le Maistre: How do Robert Mapplethorpe and Karlheinz Weinberger portray ‘Lad Culture’ through the medium of portraiture?

In what way does Nick Hedges portray a sense of state discrimination and hopelessness through his monochromatic imagery?

To what extent can we trust documentary photography to tell the truth about reality?

How does Jeff Wal’s Tableaux approach depict a seemingly photojournalistic approach?

Compare how Cindy Sherman and Phoebe Jane Barrett challenge gender stereotypes.

How can something that doesn’t physically exist be represented through photography?

To what extent does Surrealism create an unconscious representation of one’s inner conflicts of identity and belonging? 

How has children’s stories and literature influenced the work of Anna Gaskell and Julia Margaret Cameron?

How do Diana Markosian and Rita Puig-Serra Costa express the notion of family history and relationships in their work?

How does the work of Darren Harvey-Regan explore abstraction as an intention and process?

Tue: Essay Plan
Make a plan that lists what you are going to write about in each paragraph – essay structure

  • Essay question:
  • Opening quote
  • Introduction (250-500 words): What is your area study? Which artists will you be analysing and why? How will you be responding to their work and essay question?
  • Pg 1 (500 words): Historical/ theoretical context within art, photography and visual culture relevant to your area of study. Make links to art movements/ isms and some of the methods employed by critics and historian. 
  • Pg 2 (500 words): Analyse first artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
  • Pg 3 (500 words): Analyse second artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
  • Conclusion (250-500 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between artists/photographers and that of your own work that you have produced
  • Bibliography: List all relevant sources used

Wed-Fri: Essay Introduction
In this lesson you will write a 45 mins draft essay introduction following these steps:

  1. Open a new Word document > SAVE AS: Essay draft
  2. Copy essay question into Essay titleHypothesis > if you don’t have one yet, make one!
  3. Copy your Statement of Intent from previous blogpost.
  4. Identify 2 quotes from your literary sources using Harvard System of Referencing.
  5. Add sources to Bibliograpphy > if by now you don’t have any sources, use S. Sontag. On Photography Ch1
  6. Use one quote as an opening quote: Choose a quote from either one of your photographers or critics. It has to be something that relates to your investigation.
  7. Begin to write a paragraph (250-500 words) answering the following questions below.
  8. You got 45 mins to write and upload to the blog!
  • Think about an opening that will draw your reader in e.g. you can use an opening quote that sets the scene. Or think more philosophically about the nature of photography and its feeble relationship with reality.
  • You should include in your introduction an outline of your intention of your study, e.g.
  • What are you going to investigate?
  • How does this area/ work interest you?
  • What are you trying to prove/challenge, argument/ counter-argument?
  • Whose work (artists/photographers) are you analysing and why?
  • What historical or theoretical context is the work situated within?
  • What links are there with your previous studies?
  • What have you explored or experimented with so far in your photography project?
  • How will your work develop.
  • What camera skills, techniques or digital processes have you used, or going to experiment with?

ESSAY WRITING | 2024 Photography Blog (hautlieucreative.co.uk)

Week 17: 15- 22 Jan
PHOTOBOOK:
Deconstruct narrative, editing & design
FILM: Deconstruct narrative, editing & sound
ESSAY: Paragraph 1 (historical/ theoretical context)

PHOTOBOOK: Lessons Mon-Wed
Produce a number of blogposts that show evidence of the following:

1. Research a photo-book and describe the story it is communicating  with reference to subject-matter, genre and approach to image-making.

2. Who is the photographer? Why did he/she make it? (intentions/ reasons) Who is it for? (audience) How was it received? (any press, reviews, awards, legacy etc.)

3. Deconstruct the narrative, concept and design of the book and apply theory above when considering:

  • Book in hand: how does it feel? Smell, sniff the paper.
  • Paper and ink: use of different paper/ textures/ colour or B&W or both.
  • Format, size and orientation: portraiture/ landscape/ square/ A5, A4, A3 / number of pages.
  • Binding, soft/hard cover. image wrap/dust jacket. saddle stitch/swiss binding/ Japanese stab-binding/ leperello
  • Cover: linen/ card. graphic/ printed image. embossed/ debossed. letterpress/ silkscreen/hot-stamping.
  • Title: literal or poetic / relevant or intriguing.
  • Narrative: what is the story/ subject-matter. How is it told?
  • Structure and architecture: how design/ repeating motifs/ or specific features develops a concept or construct a narrative.
  • Design and layout: image size on pages/ single page, double-spread/ images/ grid, fold- outs/ inserts.
  • Editing and sequencing: selection of images/ juxtaposition of photographs/ editing process.
  • Images and text: are they linked? Introduction/ essay/ statement by artists or others.  Use of captions (if any.)

UNDERSTANDING PHOTOBOOKS:
NARRATIVE, EDITING, SEQUENCING
, DESIGN, FORM, FUNCTION 

Earlier in the academic year we looked at narrative in photography. Let’s refresh our memory and revisit some of the theories around visual storytelling.

Narrative and Photography

Narrative – summary

Narrative is essentially the way a story is told. For example you can tell different narratives of the same story. It is a very subjective process and there is no right or wrong. Whether or not your photographic story is any good is another matter. 

Narrative is constructed when you begin to create relationships between images (and/or text) and present more than two images together. Your selection of images (editing) and the order of how these images appear on the pages (sequencing) contributes significantly to the construction of the narrative. So too, does the structure and design of the photo-zine or photobook.

However, it is essential that you identity what your story is first before considering how you wish to tell it. Planning and research are also essential to understanding your subject and there are steps you can take in order to make it successful. Once you have considered the points made between the differences in narrative and story complete the following:

CASE-STUDIES: Let’s explore some examples of images used in photo-essays and photobooks and see if we can identify the story as well as examine how narrative is constructed through careful editing, sequencing and design.

PHOTO-ESSAY: The life of a country doctor in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains

W. Eugene Smith: Country Doctor

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“A photo is a small voice, at best, but sometimes – just sometimes – one photograph or a group of them can lure our senses into awareness. Much depends upon the viewer; in some, photographs can summon enough emotion to be a catalyst to thought”W. Eugne Smith

W. Eugene Smith compared his mode of working to that of a playwright; the powerful narrative structures of his photo essays set a new benchmark for the genre. His series, The Country Doctor, shot on assignment for Life Magazine in 1948, documents the everyday life of Dr Ernest Guy Ceriani, a GP tasked with providing 24-hour medical care to over 2,000 people in the small town of Kremmling, in the Rocky Mountains. The story was important at the time for drawing attention to the national shortage of country doctors and the impact of this on remote communities. Today the photoessay is widely regarded as representing a definitive moment in the history of photojournalism.

Here is a Powerpoint with more information about how to construct a Traditional Picture Story that includes individual images such as:

  • Person at Work
  • Relationship Shot
  • Establishing Shot
  • Detail shot
  • Environmental Portrait
  • Formal Portrait
  • Observed Portrait

Here is a link to an entry for Percival Dunham considered Jersey first photojournalist for a very brief period in 1913 and 1914, when he worked for Jersey Illustrated Weekly and then the Morning News, the main competitor for many years for the Evening Post (now the Jersey Evening Post and the island’s only daily newspaper for over half a century). Try and identity individual images as above from a selection of prints from the Societe Jersiaise Photographic Archive that holds over 1000 images by Percival Dunham in their collection.

  • Select somewhere between 12-15 images from the set and edit and sequence them to construct a specific narrative.
  • Record an image of your sequence and produce a blogpost where you describe the above process.

PHOTOBOOKS: In October of 1958, French publisher Robert Delpire released Les Américains in Paris. The following year Grove Press published The Americans in New York with an introduction by American writer, Jack Kerouac (the book was released in January 1960).

Robert Frank: The Americans

Like Frank’s earlier books, the sequence of 83 pictures in The Americans is non-narrative and nonlinear; instead it uses thematic, formal, conceptual and linguistic devices to link the photographs. The Americans displays a deliberate structure, an emphatic narrator, and what Frank called a ‘distinct and intense order’ that amplified and tempered the individual pictures.

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Although not immediately evident, The Americans is constructed in four sections. Each begins with a picture of an American flag and proceeds with a rhythm based on the interplay between motion and stasis, the presence and absence of people, observers and those being observed. The book as a whole explores the American people—black and white, military and civilian, urban and rural, poor and middle class—as they gather in drugstores and diners, meet on city streets, mourn at funerals, and congregate in and around cars. With piercing vision, poetic insight, and distinct photographic style, Frank reveals the politics, alienation, power, and injustice at play just beneath the surface of his adopted country.

Since its original publication, The Americans has appeared in numerous editions and has been translated into several languagesThe cropping of images has varied slightly over the years, but their order has remained intact, as have the titles and Kerouac’s introductory text. The book, fiercely debated in the first years following its release, has made an indelible mark on American culture and changed the course of 20th-century photography. Read article by Sean O’Hagan in The Guardian

MORE PHOTOBOOKS: A few photobooks dealing with memory, loss and love

Yury Toroptsov: Deleted Scene

I went back to Russia to visit the places containing scattered vestiges of my father’s memory.

On a mission to photograph the invisible, with Deleted Scene photographer Yury Toroptsov takes us to Eastern Siberia in a unique story of pursuit along intermingling lines that form a complex labyrinth. His introspective journey in search of a father gone too soon crosses that of Akira Kurosawa who, in 1974, came to visit and film that same place where lived the hunter Dersu Uzala.

Yury Toroptsov is not indifferent to the parallels between hunting and photography, which the common vocabulary makes clear. Archival documents, old photographs, views of the timeless taiga or of contemporary Siberia, fragments or deleted scenes are arranged here as elements of a narrative. They come as clues or pebbles dropped on the edge of an invisible path where the viewer is invited to lose himself and the hunter is encouraged to continue his relentless pursuit.

Rita Puig Serra Costa: Where Mimosa Bloom

https://vimeo.com/124694405

Dealing with the grief that the photographer suffered following the death of her mother, Where Mimosa Bloom by Rita Puig Serra Costatakes the form of an extended farewell letter; with photography skillfully used to present a visual eulogy or panegyric. This grief memoir about the loss of her mother is part meditative photo essay, part family biography and part personal message to her mother. These elements combine to form a fascinating and intriguing  discourse on love, loss and sorrow.

“Where Mimosa Bloom” is the result of over two years work spent collecting and curating materials and taking photographs of places, objects and people that played a significant role in her relationship to her mother. Rita Puig Serra Costa skillfully avoids the dangerous lure of grief’s self-pity, isolationism, world-scorn and vanity. The resonance of “Where Mimosa Bloom” comes from all it doesn’t say, as well as all that it does; from the depth of love we infer from the desert of grief. Despite E.M.Forster’s words – “One death may explain itself, but it throws no light upon another” – Rita Puig Serra Costa proves that some aspects of grief are universal, or can be made so through the honesty and precision with which they are articulated

Yoshikatsu Fujii: Red Strings

https://vimeo.com/102344549

I received a text message. “Today, our divorce was finalized.” The message from my mother was written simply, even though she usually sends me messages with many pictures and symbols. I remember that I didn’t feel any particular emotion, except that the time had come.  Because my parents continued to live apart in the same house for a long time, their relationship gently came to an end over the years. It was no wonder that a draft blowing between the two could completely break the family at any time.

In Japan, legend has it that a man and woman who are predestined to meet have been tied at the little finger by an invisible red string since the time they were born. Unfortunately, the red string tying my parents undone, broke, or perhaps was never even tied to begin with. But if the two had never met, I would never have been born into this world. If anything, you might say that there is an unbreakable red string of fate between parent and child.

Before long, I found myself thinking about the relationship between my parents and . How many days could I see my parents living far away? What if I couldn’t see them anymore? Since I couldn’t help feeling extremely anxious about it, I was driven to visit my parents’ house many times. Every day  I engage in awkward conversation with my parents, as if in a scene in their daily lives. I adapt myself to them, and they shift their attitude toward me. We do not give way entirely to the other side, but rather meet halfway. Indeed family problems remain unresolved, although sometimes we tell allegorical stories and share feelings. It means a lot to us that our perspectives have changed with communication.

My family will probably never be all together again. But I feel without a doubt that there is proof inside of each of us that we once lived together. To ensure that the red string that ties my family together does not come undone, I want to reel it in and tie it tight.

Laia Abril: The Epilogue’

‘The Epilogue’ is the book about the story of the Robinson family – and the aftermath suffered in losing their 26 year old daughter to bulimia. Working closely with the family Laia Abril reconstructs Cammy’s life telling her story through flashbacks – memories, testimonies, objects, letters, places and images. The Epilogue gives voice to the suffering of the family, the indirect victims of ‘eating disorders’, the unwilling eyewitnesses of a very painful degeneration. Laia Abril shows us the dilemmas and struggles confronted by many young girls; the problems families face in dealing with guilt and the grieving process; the frustration of close friends and the dark ghosts of this deadliest of illnesses; all blended together in the bittersweet act of remembering a loved one. Read more here on Laia Abril’s website

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Here are  a few lists of Best Photobooks 2022 and 2023

Lensculture

Photobook Journal

Photobookstore

TIME Magazine

The Guardian

Photographic Museum of Humanity

International Centre for Photography

Thurs-Fri: Essay Paragraph 1
In this lesson you will write a 45 mins draft essay paragraph 1 following these steps:

  • Use information gathered in previous blog posts, or use hyperlinks below, in relation to Art Movement and Isms relevant to your artists references and their work.
  • Select at least two quotes from your literary sources that you can incorporate into your paragraph.
  • Your paragraph must include visual examples of artists work within that art movement that is relevant to your Personal Study.
  • Consider content and instructions below
  • Complete Paragraph 1 and upload to the blog at the end of lesson

Paragraph 1 Structure (500 words) Use subheadingThis paragraph covers the first thing you said in your introduction that you would address. The first sentence introduces the main idea of the paragraphOther sentences develop the subject of the paragraph.

Content: you could look at the followingexemplify your hypothesis within a historical and theoretical context.  Write about how your area of study and own work is linked to a specific art movement/ ism. Research and read key text and articles from critics, historians and artists associated with the movement/ism. Use quotes from sources to make a point, back it up with evidence or an example (a photograph), explain how the image supports the point made or how your interpretation of the work may disapprove. How does the photograph compare or contrast with others made by the same photographer, or to other images made in the same period or of the same genre by other artists. How does the photograph relate to visual representation in general, and in particularly to the history and theory of photography, arts and culture.

Include relevant examples, illustrations, details, quotations, and references showing evidence of reading, knowledge and understanding of history, theory and context!

How Did Pictorialism Shape Photography and Photographers ?

Realism vs Pictorialism: A Civil War in Photography History

Movements: Straight Photography

Modernism and Postmodernism History

Modernism – TATE Gallery

Postmodernism – TATE Gallery

Postmodern Art

For more help and guidance with writing your essay go to blog post below.

ESSAY WRITING | 2024 Photography Blog (hautlieucreative.co.uk)

Week: 18 (Yr 12 Mock exam): 22 – 28 Jan
PHOTOBOOK:
Editing & designing Photobook
FILM: Editing Film
ESSAY: Complete paragraph 2 & 3 (artists case studies)

PHOTO-SHOOTS: Lessons Mon- Wed
Upload new images from to M:drive and begin to edit in Lightroom.
Follow these instructions:

EDITING:

  • Save shoots in folder and import into Lightroom
  • Organisation: Create a new Collection from each new shoot inside Collection Set: PHOTOBOOK
  • Editing: select 8-12 images from each shoot.
  • Experimenting: Adjust images in Develop, both as Colour and B&W images appropriate to your intentions
  • Export images as JPGS (1000 pixels) and save in a folder: BLOG
  • Create a Blogpost with edited images and an evaluation; explaining what you focused on in each shoot and how you intend to develop your next photoshoot.
  • Make references to artists references, previous work, experiments, inspiration etc.
  • Prep for photobook design: Make a rough selection of your 40-50 best pictures from all shoots. Make sure you have adjusted and standardised all the pictures in terms of exposure, colour balance.

    EXPERIMENTING:
  • Export same set of images from Lightroom as TIFF (4000 pixels)
  • Experimentation: demonstrate further creativity using Photoshop to make composite/ montage/ typology/ grids/ diptych/triptych, text/ typology etc appropriate to your intentions
  • Design: Begin to explore different layout options using InDesign and make some page spreads for our newspaper
    (format: 280.5 (h) x 420 mm (w)
  • Alternatively design a photo-zine. Set up new document as A5 page sizes. This is trying out ideas before you begin designing photobook.
  • Make sure you annotate process and techniques used and evaluate each experiment

EVALUATING: Upon completion of photoshoot and experimentation, make sure you evaluate and reflect on your next step of development. Comment on the following:

  • How successful was your photoshoot and experimentation?
  • What references did you make to artists references? – comment on technical, visual, contextual, conceptual?
  • How are you going to develop your project from here? – comment on research, planning, recording, experimenting.
  • What are you going to do next? – what, why, how, when, where?

FILM: Lessons Mon- Wed
Bring footage from video/ audio recordings to lessons:
Follow these instructions:

EDITING:
• Save media in folder on local V:Data Drive
• Organisation: Create a new project in Premiere
• Editing: begin editing video/ audio clips on the timeline
• Adjusting: recordings in Colour / B&W appropriate to your intentions.

EXPERIMENTING:
• Video: experimenting with sequencing using relevant transitions and effects
• Sound: consider how audio can add depth to your film, such as ambient sound, sound fx, voice-over, interview, musical score etc. • Title and credits: Consider typography/ graphics/ styles etc. For more creative possibilities make title page in Photoshop (format: 1280 x 720 pixels) and import as a Psd file into your project folder on the V-Data drive.

EVALUATING: Write an evaluation on the blog that reflects on your artistic intentions, film-editing process and collaboration. Include screen-prints from Premiere and a few ‘behind the scenes’ images of the shooting/ production for further annotation. Comment on the following:

  • How successful was your photoshoot and experimentation?
  • What references did you make to artists references? – comment on technical, visual, contextual, conceptual?
  • How are you going to develop your project from here? – comment on research, planning, recording, experimenting.
  • What are you going to do next? – what, why, how, when, where?

Thurs-Fri: Essay Paragraph 2 & 3
In each lesson you will write a 45 mins draft essay paragraph 2. First, go to your blog posts that you produced about your artists references and copy your research and analysis into your new paragraph. You may need to re-structure or re-write some of the sentences using linking words so that they flow better in a coherent manner. You may also need to do some more research and interpret their work in relation to your essay question. Follow these steps:

Paragraph 2 Structure (500 words) Use subheading. In the first sentence or opening sentences, link the paragraph to the previous paragraph, then introduce the main idea of the new paragraph. Other sentences develop the paragraphs subject (use relevant examples, quotations, visuals to illustrate your analysis, thoughts etc)

Content: you could look at the following...Introduce your first photographer. Select key images, ideas or concepts and analyse in-depth using specific model of analysis (describe, interpret and evaluate) – refer to your hypothesis. Contextualise…what was going on in the world at the time; artistically, politically, socially, culturally. Other influences…artists, teachers, mentors etc. Personal situations or circumstances…describe key events in the artist’s life that may have influenced the work. Include examples of your own photographs, experiments or early responses and analyse, relate and link to the above. Set the scene for next paragraph.

Include relevant examples, illustrations, details, quotations, and references showing evidence of reading, knowledge and understanding of history, theory and context!

Paragraph 3 Structure (500 words) Use subheading. In the first sentence or opening sentences, link the paragraph to the previous paragraph, then introduce the main idea of the new paragraph. Other sentences develop the paragraphs subject (use relevant examples, quotations, visuals to illustrate your analysis, thoughts etc)

Content: you could look at the following…Introduce key works, ideas or concepts from your second photographer and analyse in-depth – refer to your hypothesis…Use questions in Pg 2 or add…What information has been selected by the photographer and what do you find interesting in the photograph? What do we know about the photograph’s subject? Does the photograph have an emotional or physical impact? What did the photographer intend? How has the image been used? What are the links or connections to the other photographer in Pg 2? Include examples of your own photographs and experiments as your work develop in response to the above and analyse, compare, contrast etc. Set the scene for next paragraph.

Include relevant examples, illustrations, details, quotations, and references showing evidence of reading, knowledge and understanding of history, theory and context!

ESSAY WRITING | 2024 Photography Blog (hautlieucreative.co.uk)

Week: 19 – 20: 29 Jan – 9 Feb
ESSAY: complete Essay hand in draft Fri 2 Feb

PHOTOBOOK: complete layout, design and order book
FILM:
complete final edit and export film
MOCK EXAM: 3 days (15 hrs) Mon 5 – Fri 9 Feb

In the next two weeks focus on beginning to edit and collect all your images, archival material and texts, including finishing writing your essay needed to complete your photobook.

ESSAY: Mon-Wed
Complete conclusion, bibliography, proof read and hand in draft essay no later than Fri 2 Feb 2024.
Follow these steps:

Conclusion (500 words) : Write a conclusion of your essay that also includes an evaluation of your final photographic responses and experiments.

List the key points from your investigation and analysis of the photographer(s) work – refer to your hypothesis. Can you prove or Disprove your theory – include final quote(s). Has anything been left unanswered?  Do not make it a tribute! Do not introduce new material! Summarise what you have learned. How have you been influenced? Show how you have selected your final outcomes including an evaluation and how your work changed and developed alongside your investigation.

Bibliography: List all the sources that you used and only those that you have cited in your text. Where there are two or more works by one author in the same year distinguish them as 1988a, 1988b etc. Arrange literature in alphabetical order by author, or where no author is named, by the name of the museum or other organisation which produced the text. Apart from listing literature you must also list all other sources in alphabetical order e.g. websites, exhibitions, Youtube/TV/ Videos / DVD/ Music etc.

ESSAY WRITING | 2024 Photography Blog (hautlieucreative.co.uk)

PHOTOBOOK: Thurs-Fri
DRAFT PHOTOBOOK LAYOUT: FRI 2 FEB

You want to aim for a draft layout and hand in draft version of your essay before your Mock Exam day, then use that day to fine tune design and complete essay.

1. Write a book specification and describe in detail what your book will be about in terms of narrative, concept and design with reference to the same elements of bookmaking as above.

Narrative: What is your story?
Describe in:

  • 3 words
  • A sentence
  • A paragraph

Design: Consider the following

  • How you want your book to look and feel
  • Paper and ink
  • Format, size and orientation
  • Binding and cover
  • Title 
  • Structure and architecture
  • Design and layout
  • Editing and sequencing
  • Images and text

2. Produce a mood-board of design ideas for inspiration. Look at BLURB online book making website, photo books from photographers or see previous books produced by Hautlieu students on the table in class.

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3. Create a BLURB account using your school email address. With Blurb you have different options on how you design your book:

a) Using Lightroom to design your book which is integrated with BLURB. Only for use on school computers, unless you have LR at home on your own laptop.

b) Download Bookwright via Blurb onto your own laptop and work offline at home and you can work indecently of school. Here you have full control of layout/ design features. Once completed, you upload photo book design to Blurb

c) Choose online option if you want to work directly online. Very limited layout/design options (not recommended!)

For those who wish to make their own hand-made photobook using Indesign follow the same steps as below in terms of documenting and annotating your design process.  or if you want to customize your Blurb book see me for more details on how to do it.

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This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Screen-Shot-2016-01-31-at-14.42.14.png

4. Using Lightroom make a rough selection of your 40-50 best pictures from all shoots. Make sure you have adjusted and standardised all the pictures in terms of exposure, colour balance/ B&W, contrast/brightness etc. Produce blogpost from each shoot with selection of edited images following instructions below.

EDITING:

  • Save shoots in folder and import into Lightroom
  • Organisation: Create a new Collection from each new shoot inside Collection Set: PHOTOBOOK
  • Editing: select 8-12 images from each shoot.
  • Experimenting: Adjust images in Develop, both as Colour and B&W images appropriate to your intentions
  • Export images as JPGS (1000 pixels) and save in a folder: BLOG
  • Create a Blogpost with edited images and an evaluation; explaining what you focused on in each shoot and how you intend to develop your next photoshoot.
  • Make references to artists references, previous work, experiments, inspiration etc.

    EXPERIMENTING:
  • Export same set of images from Lightroom as TIFF (4000 pixels)
  • Experimentation: demonstrate further creativity using Photoshop to make composite/ montage/ typology/ grids/ diptych/triptych, text/ typology etc appropriate to your intentions
  • Make sure you annotate process and techniques used and evaluate each experiment

EVALUATING: Upon completion of photoshoot and experimentation, make sure you evaluate and reflect on your next step of development. Comment on the following:

  • How successful was your photoshoot and experimentation?
  • Did you realise your intentions?
  • What references did you make to artists references? 
    comment on technical, visual, contextual, conceptual?
  • How are you going to develop your project from here? – comment on new photoshoot, editing, experimenting.
  • What are you going to do next? – what, why, how, when, where?

5. Print a set of small work prints (4 to one A4 page) on the Laserjet, cut them up in guillotine and lay them out on the big white table for editing.

6. Decide on format (landscape, portrait) size and style of your photo-book. Begin to design your photo book, considering carefully, narrative, editing, sequencing, page spreads, juxtaposition, image size, text pages, empty pages, use of archival material etc.

7. Add your illustrated essay at the end of your photo book, including title, any captions (if needed), bibliography, illustrations of artists work (incl data) and images of your own responses. Think carefully about font type, size and weighting.

8. Produce screen prints of layout ideas as you progress and add to Blog for further annotation, commenting on page layout/ narrative/ sequencing/ juxtaposition of pictures.

9. Make sure all blog posts are finished including, research, analysis, experimentation, annotation and an evaluation of final outcomes.

9. FINAL PRINTS: Select a set of 5-6 photographs as final outcomes and evaluate – explaining in some detail how well you realised your intentions and reflect on what you have learned in LOVE & REBELLION project.

10. Save final prints in our shared PRINT folder (no later than 15:00 end of your Mock exam day) in a high-resolution (4000 pixels on the long edge.) Save each images in your name i.e. first name_surname_title_1, and 2, 3 and so on.

M:\Departments\Photography\Students\Image Transfer\PRINTING\A2 Coursework Prints Spring 2024

Artist Reference 2

W.Eugene Smith

Biography

Born and reared in Wichita, Kansas, W. Eugene Smith became interested in photography at the age of fourteen, and three years later had begun to photograph for local newspapers. He received a photography scholarship to the University of Notre Dame, but he left after a year for New York, where he joined the staff of Newsweek and freelanced for LIFE, Collier’s, Harper’s Bazaar, The New York Times, and other publications. Beginning in 1939, Smith began working sporadically as a staff photographer for LIFE, with which he had a tempestuous relationship throughout the rest of his career.

During World War II he was a war correspondent in the Pacific theater for the Ziff-Davis publishing company and LIFE, for whom he was working when he was severely wounded in Okinawa in 1945. After a two-year recuperation, he returned to the magazine and produced many of his best photo essays, including “Country Doctor,” “Spanish Village,” and “A Man of Mercy.” In 1955, he joined Magnum, the international cooperative photography agency founded by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, George Rodger and Chim (David Seymour), and began work on a large photographic study of Pittsburgh, for which he received Guggenheim Fellowships in 1956 and 1957. Smith continued to freelance for LIFE, Pageant, and Sports Illustrated, among other periodicals, for the rest of his career. From 1959 to 1977, he worked for Hitachi in Japan and taught at the New School for Social Research and the School of Visual Arts in New York and the University of Arizona in Tucson. His last photo essay, “Minamata,” completed in the 1970s, depicted victims of mercury poisoning in a Japanese fishing village.

Country Doctor

A project by W. Eugene Smith. One of his most iconic works. In this project, Smith documented the life and work of Dr. Ernest Ceriani, a dedicated general practitioner in Colorado. Smith spent 23 days with Dr. Ceriani, capturing the challenges, triumphs, and the emotional toll of being a rural doctor.

Through his photographs, Smith beautifully portrayed the intimate moments between Dr. Ceriani and his patients, showcasing the deep connection and trust that existed between them. The project highlighted the importance of accessible healthcare in rural communities and shed light on the sacrifices made by doctors like Dr. Ceriani.

Smith’s photographs from the “Country Doctor” project were published in Life magazine in 1948 and gained widespread recognition. The project remains a powerful example of the impact that photojournalism can have in telling meaningful stories and raising awareness about important issues.

The “Country Doctor” project by W. Eugene Smith can be used as a source of inspiration for producing my own photographic response with a focus on photojournalism. Smith’s work showed the power of capturing real-life moments and telling compelling stories through images. To create my own photographic response, I can start by finding a subject or a theme that resonates with me, this being my fathers connection the the ocean. I can spend time observing and immersing myself in the subject, just like Smith did with Dr. Ceriani. When producing my response I am going to focus on capturing authentic moments and emotions. Looking for the details that tell a story and convey the essence of my subject through my images.

artist reference 1

Red String (Trade Edition) by Yoshikatsu Fujii

Yoshikatsu Fujii, a third-generation atomic bomb survivor born and raised in Hiroshima. Yoshikatsu Fujii is a photo-based visual storyteller working on long-form projects about memory, family, contemporary events, and history. His main medium is a hand-made limited edition photobook.

Yoshikatsu Fujii’s book “red string” based about the divorce of his parents. There is a japanese theory that when someone’s born, there is a red thread that is tied to them, an invisible red thread that connects two people that are destined to meet and be connected in their lives regardless of place, time, or circumstances. This red string may stretch or tangle, but never break however for Yoshikatsu Fujii’s parents they weren’t connected by red thread or it came undone.

red string interview with Yoshikatsu Fujii:

Artist Reference 1

Wade Carroll

Based in Byron Bay and born in Sydney, Australia, Carroll is a surf photographer and filmmaker known for his work with world renowned surfers such as Mikey February and Mikey Wright, documenting the behind the scenes of the surf lifestyle.

Wade’s connection to surfing is definitely an important aspect of his photography. He has a deep love for the ocean and the surfing culture, which is beautifully reflected in his photographs. His photographs of surfers are not just about the sport itself, but also about capturing the essence of the surfing lifestyle. Wade’s photography goes beyond just capturing the physical act of surfing. His work also convey the emotions, togetherness, and the sense of being one with nature that surfers often experience.

Wade is not only an incredible photographer but also a talented filmmaker. He has collaborated with famed surfer Mikey Wright. Wade’s keen eye for composition and his ability to capture the power and grace of surfing translate seamlessly into his filmmaking.

Julia Margaret Cameron

Best known for her powerful portraits, Julia Margaret Cameron was one of the most important and innovative photographers of the 19th century.

Julia Margaret Cameron (1815 – 79) was an ambitious and devoted pioneer of photography. Best known for her powerful portraits, she also posed her sitters – friends, family and servants – as characters from biblical, historical or allegorical stories. Cameron helped prove that portrait photography was indeed a veritable fine art medium in a context where photography was not yet widely accepted as such.

When Julia Margaret Cameron began taking pictures in the 1860s, photography was largely defined by formal commercial studio portraits, elaborate high art narratives, or clinical scientific or documentary renderings. Cameron, on the other hand, forged her own path as a thoughtful and experimental portrait artist who happened to use a camera instead of paint.

Annie by Julia Margaret Cameron

Cameron didn’t take her first photograph until age 48. The camera gave Cameron something to do as all her children were grown and her husband was often away on business. From that moment on, Cameron dedicated herself to mastering the difficult tasks of processing negatives and focusing on subjects in order to capture beauty.

Cameron considered her 1864 portrait of Annie Philpot to be her first successful work of art.

She wasted no time in marketing, exhibiting, and publishing her artistic photographs, and it wasn’t long before she was successfully exhibiting and selling prints of her photographs in London and abroad.

She proved that portrait photography was a true art form, she described her unique goal as an artist in her unfinished memoir.

I have chose to study Julia Margaret Cameron as her work has the same theme as mine. She has the theme of girlhood in her portraits, representing womanhood and motherhood.

Cameron presents Girlhood in a slightly different way to my work as her work doesn’t particularly portray the feeling of being free, but more representing the meaning of female figures in her time.

Justine Kurland

Justine Kurland is a contemporary American photographer. Best known for her large-scale C-prints of rural landscapes inhabited by nude women, Kurland’s surreal images evoke pagan utopias or post-apocalyptic or pre-industrial worlds.

Examples of her work:

Girl Pictures

One of Justine Kurland’s most successful projects, maybe even the most successful and well-known is Girl Pictures. Presented as a photobook, this is my biggest inspiration for my personal study project.

‘Every teenager is a teenager pretending to be a teenager.’

I was fascinated by this project of hers because she has a variety of different themed images. They all have the overall theme of like girls having freedom, doing what they want; however, she has created different photoshoots.

For example, these are some examples of images of Kurland’s that are more rural, featuring settings like the countryside, fields, streams, swamps, nature and day-time settings:

Whereas, on the other hand, there’s also images of hers that are based in more urban settings. They have the same theme and story to them but the environment is the city, residential areas and night-time settings:

The variety in her images depicts the story of runaway teenagers, and how they can find freedom in deserted countryside’s but also being almost lost in a big city.

I aim to create this kind of variety in my own work, with different planned and candid photoshoots.

“The girls were rebelling. The girls were acting out. The girls had run away from home, that wad much clear.”

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. The girls in their baggy jeans and bare feet. The girls in their leather boots and used sweaters. There’s something about them that feels like so many teenage girls and I want my photographs to mirror this feeling of empathy for my viewers.

The story behind ‘Girl pictures’

Justine Kurland created this book based on her own childhood experiences, her images almost foreshadow herself. She channelled angry energy of girl bands into her photographs of teenagers ( This vibe of photographs represents girlhood in a different way).

The first girl Kurland photographed was the daughter (age 15) of the guy she was dating at the time. She preferred her company to his. After he left for work in the mornings, they concieved a plan to shoot film stills starring the girl as a teenage runaway. The only surviving picture from the time shows her in a cherry tree by the westside highway:

She hovers pinkly between the river and the highway, two modes of travel that share a single vanishing point.

Kurland pursued this idea of teenage runaways and continued to develop her project using college freshman’s and teenagers from various high schools. she said ‘looking back, it seemed miraculous that so many of them were prepared to get into a strangers car and be driven off to an out of the way location. But then, being a teenage girl is nothing without the willingness and ability to posture as the teenage girl.’

I intend for my images to create this kind of aura.

ESSAY WRITING

DEADLINE: Essay MUST be handed in FRI 2 FEB 2024

ESSAY: In the Spring term will be spending 1 lesson a week every Wednesday on writing and developing your essay. However, you will need to be working it independently outside of lesson time.

Objective: Criteria from the Syllabus

  • Be aware of some of the methods employed by critics and historians within the history of art and photography.
  • Demonstrate a sound understanding of your chosen area of study with appropriate use of critical vocabulary. – use for image analysis
  • Investigate a wide range of work and sources
  • Develop a personal and critical inquiry.
Marking Criteria

Academic Sources:

  • Research and identify 3-5 literary sources from a variety of media such as books, journal/magazines, internet, Youtube/video .
  • Begin to read essay, texts and interviews with your chosen artists as well as commentary from critics, historians and others.
  • It’s important that you show evidence of reading and draw upon different pints of view – not only your own.
  • Take notes when you’re reading…key words, concepts, passages
  • Write down page number, author, year, title, publisher, place of publication so you can list source in a bibliography

Bibliography

List all the sources that you have identified above as literary sources. Where there are two or more works by one author in the same year distinguish them as 1988a, 1988b etc. Arrange literature in alphabetical order by author, or where no author is named, by the name of the museum or other organisation which produced the text. Apart from listing literature you must also list all other sources in alphabetical order e.g. websites/online sources, Youtube/ DVD/TV.

Quotation and Referencing:

Why should you reference?

  • To add academic support for your work
  • To support or disprove your argument
  • To show evidence of reading
  • To help readers locate your sources
  • To show respect for other people’s work
  • To avoid plagiarism
  • To achieve higher marks

What should you reference?

  • Anything that is based on a piece of information or idea that is not entirely your own.
  • That includes, direct quotes, paraphrasing or summarising of an idea, theory or concept, definitions, images, tables, graphs, maps or anything else obtained from a source

How should you reference?

Use Harvard System of Referencing…see Powerpoint: harvard system of referencing for further details on how to use it.

https://vimeo.com/223710862

Here is an full guide on how to use Harvard System of Referencing including online sources, such as websites etc.

TUE: Essay Question

  • Think of a hypothesis and list possible essay questions
  • Below is a list of possible essay questions that may help you to formulate your own.

Some examples of Personal Study essays from previous students:

In what way are family photographs extensions of our memories as well as our identities?

In what way have Robert Darch and Josef Sudek used their photography as a form of therapy? 

In what way have Mary Ellen Mark and Laia Abril portrayed women’s mental and physical health? 

In what way have Jim Goldberg and Ryan McGinley represented youth in their work?

What Constitutes a ‘Real’ Image

How do Robert Mapplethorpe and Karlheinz Weinberger portray ‘Lad Culture’ through the medium of portraiture?

In what way does Nick Hedges portray a sense of state discrimination and hopelessness through his monochromatic imagery?

To what extent can we trust documentary photography to tell the truth about reality?

How does Jeff Wal’s Tableaux approach depict a seemingly photojournalistic approach?

Compare how Cindy Sherman and Phoebe Jane Barrett challenge gender stereotypes.

How can something that doesn’t physically exist be represented through photography?

How can photography bear witness to reality?

To what extent does Surrealism create an unconscious representation of one’s inner conflicts of identity and belonging? 

How does Carolle Benitah and Claudia Ruiz Gustafson explore their past as a method of understanding identity?

How has children’s stories and literature influenced the work of Anna Gaskell and Julia Margaret Cameron?

How do Diana Markosian and Rita Puig-Serra Costa express the notion of family history and relationships in their work?

How does the work of Darren Harvey-Regan explore abstraction as an intention and process?

How can elements of Surrealism be used to express and visualize the personal, inner emotions of people suffering from depression?

Essay Plan:

Make a plan that lists what you are going to write about in each paragraph – essay structure.

  • Essay question:
  • Opening quote
  • Introduction (250-500 words): What is your area study? Which artists will you be analysing and why? How will you be responding to their work and essay question?
  • Pg 1 (500 words): Historical/ theoretical context within art, photography, visual and popular culture relevant to your area of study. Make links to art movements/ isms and some of the methods employed by critics and historian. 
  • Pg 2 (500 words): Analyse first artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
  • Pg 3 (500 words): Analyse second artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
  • Conclusion (250-500 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between artists/photographers and that of your own work that you have produced
  • Bibliography: List all relevant sources used

Essay questionHypothesis

Think of a hypothesis and list possible essay questions

Here is a list of  possible questions to investigate that may help you.

Opening quote: Choose a quote from either one of your photographers or critics. It has to be something that relates to your investigation

ESSAY STRUCTURE

See below for a possible essay structure. Further help can be found here essay structure or see link here The Royal Literay Fund

Introduction (250-500 words). Think about an opening that will draw your reader in e.g. you can use an opening quote that sets the scene. You should include in your introduction an outline of your intention of your study e.g. what and who are you going to investigate. How does this area/ work interest you? What are you trying to prove/challenge, argument/ counter-argument? What historical or theoretical context is the work situated within. Include 1 or 2 quotes for or against. What links are there with your previous studies? What have you explored so far in your Coursework or what are you going to photograph? How did or will your work develop. What camera skills, techniques or digital processes in Photoshop have or are you going to experiment with?

Paragraph 1 Structure (500 words) Use subheadingThis paragraph covers the first thing you said in your introduction that you would address. The first sentence introduces the main idea of the paragraphOther sentences develop the subject of the paragraph.

Content: you could look at the followingexemplify your hypothesis within a historical and theoretical context.  Write about how your area of study and own work is linked to a specific art movement/ ism. Research and read key text and articles from critics, historians and artists associated with the movement/ism. Use quotes from sources to make a point, back it up with evidence or an example (a photograph), explain how the image supports the point made or how your interpretation of the work may disapprove. How does the photograph compare or contrast with others made by the same photographer, or to other images made in the same period or of the same genre by other artists. How does the photograph relate to visual representation in general, and in particularly to the history and theory of photography, arts and culture.

Include relevant examples, illustrations, details, quotations, and references showing evidence of reading, knowledge and understanding of history, theory and context!

See link to powerpoints: Pictorialism vs Realism and Modernism vs Postmodernism here

Paragraph 2 Structure (500 words) Use subheading. In the first sentence or opening sentences, link the paragraph to the previous paragraph, then introduce the main idea of the new paragraph. Other sentences develop the paragraphs subject (use relevant examples, quotations, visuals to illustrate your analysis, thoughts etc)

Content: you could look at the following...Introduce your first photographer. Select key images, ideas or concepts and analyse in-depth using specific model of analysis (describe, interpret and evaluate) – refer to your hypothesis. Contextualise…what was going on in the world at the time; artistically, politically, socially, culturally. Other influences…artists, teachers, mentors etc. Personal situations or circumstances…describe key events in the artist’s life that may have influenced the work. Include examples of your own photographs, experiments or early responses and analyse, relate and link to the above. Set the scene for next paragraph.

Include relevant examples, illustrations, details, quotations, and references showing evidence of reading, knowledge and understanding of history, theory and context!

Paragraph 3 Structure (500 words) Use subheading. In the first sentence or opening sentences, link the paragraph to the previous paragraph, then introduce the main idea of the new paragraph. Other sentences develop the paragraphs subject (use relevant examples, quotations, visuals to illustrate your analysis, thoughts etc)

Content: you could look at the following…Introduce key works, ideas or concepts from your second photographer and analyse in-depth – refer to your hypothesis…Use questions in Pg 2 or add…What information has been selected by the photographer and what do you find interesting in the photograph? What do we know about the photograph’s subject? Does the photograph have an emotional or physical impact? What did the photographer intend? How has the image been used? What are the links or connections to the other photographer in Pg 2? Include examples of your own photographs and experiments as your work develop in response to the above and analyse, compare, contrast etc. Set the scene for next paragraph.

Include relevant examples, illustrations, details, quotations, and references showing evidence of reading, knowledge and understanding of history, theory and context!

Conclusion (500 words) : Write a conclusion of your essay that also includes an evaluation of your final photographic responses and experiments.

List the key points from your investigation and analysis of the photographer(s) work – refer to your hypothesis. Can you prove or Disprove your theory – include final quote(s). Has anything been left unanswered?  Do not make it a tribute! Do not introduce new material! Summarise what you have learned. How have you been influenced? Show how you have selected your final outcomes including an evaluation and how your work changed and developed alongside your investigation.

Bibliography: List all the sources that you used and only those that you have cited in your text. Where there are two or more works by one author in the same year distinguish them as 1988a, 1988b etc. Arrange literature in alphabetical order by author, or where no author is named, by the name of the museum or other organisation which produced the text. Apart from listing literature you must also list all other sources in alphabetical order e.g. websites, exhibitions, Youtube/TV/ Videos / DVD/ Music etc.

ARTIST REFERENCE

Justine Kurland – ‘female utopia’

My main inspiration is from her book called ‘girl pictures’ its exactly what I wanted to base my photoshoot on and how id like to represent femininity. It shows girls coming together and the simplistic caring traits that are shown.

About Justine’s book/photography:

Kurland started this project in 1997 when she was a graduate student at Yale. In an essay at the back of the book, she crowns Alyssum as “the first girl” to be photographed. It started as a kind of make-believe. At fifteen Alyssum had been sent to live with her dad, whom Kurland was dating at the time. While he was at work, the two women bonded and began a collaboration, merging imaginations to plot out a narrative of a teenage runaway. Kurland went on to find more make-believe runaways, but one of the images from this time seems to hold a special importance; a portrait of Alyssum takes up a full spread towards the end of the book. Perched in a cherry tree between the Hudson river and a highway, Alyssum looks back over her shoulder. The river seems to flow away, while the headlights of cars on the road seem to be approaching. With her body in profile, Alyssum doesn’t seem to follow either direction.

Analysing some of Justine’s images:

Adventure stories were a source of inspiration for this project. The girls in Girl Pictures plagiarize these myths until they become their own, until the original myth is hardly relevant anymore. What’s left after all this repetition of runaway legends and costumes are the common themes: rebellion, self-sufficiency, confidence. A kind of inverse of the American Dream, but with the same carrot on a string: freedom. Perhaps this is why we love runaways so much.

We see worn out overalls holding onto a girl’s body by one strap. The girl at the centre of this image guides the others, looking past the camera as if it doesn’t even matter, as if the thing worth examining is actually behind us.

But of course with freedom comes the threat of danger. So many of the images in Girl Pictures were taken outside in locations that feel desolate or easy to overlook. They are often staged under bridges or beyond fences or on the sides of highways; places that feel synonymous with warnings.

The focal point of the image is the back of a young girl who is raising her shirt. Instead of her face, we see the eyes of all the girls surrounding her, watching the big reveal. There’s one boy in the group, but his eyes are covered. A girl has wrapped her arms around him from behind and places her fingers over each of his eyes. It’s funny to see such an obvious removal of the male gaze, especially as it’s still present – and yet the delicate hands of a teenage girl prove capable of obstructing it. As viewers we look from his covered eyes to her watchful ones.

Yet it feels beside the point to spend too much time considering a male perspective when looking at this project. The subjects move on, and do more interesting things. They collapse in the snow in ‘Snow Angels, 2000’, and roast marshmallows over a garbage fire in ‘Puppy Love, Fire, 1999’. It starts to feel as if they exist in their own reality, just removed enough. This is especially strong in the photographs that appear to capture two parallel worlds.

There are other things uniting all the girls in these photographs. The deeper you get into the book, the more difficult it becomes to see each girl as a distinct character. The camera stays just far enough away to keep the subjects slightly anonymous. Or perhaps it’s because they are mostly long haired, or wearing similar clothing, or belonging to that vague age range that captures adolescence. Whatever it is, they begin to blend together into one visually unified group of girls. 

Kurland’s focus is less on individual girls, and more on what happens when they band together.

I found this text on a website and i agree with how i perceive the book and the idea of how girls specifically teenage girls are represented:

‘I don’t know any of the girls in Justine Kurland’s Girl Pictures, but it really feels like I do. Or at least, I must have seen them. Maybe they were there on the side of the highway, or in some public restroom, or just standing on a sidewalk as I passed by. The girls in their baggy jeans and bare feet. The girls in their leather boots and used sweaters. There’s something about them that feels like so many teenage girls. The images in this book weigh me down with a sense of nostalgia, and it’s not just the late nineties fashion. It’s the fact that the girls seem to be disappearing. Like catching a wild animal in a trap, it feels like by the time you look at each image of these girls you’ve already missed them. They’ve run off to someplace better or just some place that isn’t here.’

Using this book as a reference I’ve found that it creates an emotional connection and deeper meaning.