For my first photoshoot for the theme Femininity vs Masculinity, my aim is to take photographs of females and males, capturing the fine details of them. I will use different angles and have the main focus being close-up images.

My goal of the photographs is to be able to capture femininity and masculinity in a way that feels personal, hence the close up shots. I am also going to take photographs of objects that I feel could also represent femininity and masculinity alongside the portraits. When the photographs are all taken, I am going to experiment and see how much I like the object photographs and if I find they do fit in next to the close-ups as I imagine they would.

For this idea, I was slightly inspired by Nikita Pirogov’s work. Her work is based on comparing portraits with photographs of different scenery so to have an idea that links with my theme of masculinity and femininity, I am taking photos slightly different to what she has done but using the same sort of concept.

Who is Claude Cahun?

(Claude Cahun photographed her conceptions of what Masculinity and Femininity looked like).

Born as Lucy Schwob, Claude Cahun was a French photographer, writer and sculptor. Known for her exploration into questioning her Identity, she holds a strong title in being one of the early explorers of Gender Fluidity, decades before its modern prominence today. Changing her name to become more androgynous, she wanted to explore her identity of being non-gender specific.

Born on October 25th 1894 in Nantes France, she would later evacuate to Jersey in 1937, when the looming threat of Nazi Germany would soon erupt 2 years later in 1939 when they began their invasion European nations. When the war eventually met Jersey with the occupation of the channel Islands, Claude Cahun and many others had to endure hardship and struggle due to their heritage. Coming from Jewish decent, she was forced to hide her religion with her ability to speak German.

(German soldier overlooking Corbiere’s lighthouse).

Her creative choice with surrealism is also highly prominent to people as due to the suppression of abstract art under the Nazis, her photographs exploring gender and identity can be seen as a rare act of creative resistance to the Nazis ideology of a conformed race where everyone looks the same.

Cahun photographed herself in self portraits in numerous outfits to explore her variety of Identities. This was because she enjoyed capturing the surrealist nature of how Femininity, Masculinity and identity can be explored, altered and challenged. This can be seen with the example image below where Cahun, for a first time viewer is hard to distinguish from male to female.

“Under this mask, another mask; I will never finish removing all these faces.”

Who Is Cindy Sherman?

(Cindy Sherman photographed her ideas on female stereotypes , through a variety of characters similar to Cahun).

Born in 1954, in the United States, Cindy Sherman is a Photographer known for her feminine characters and their identities she created to examine the how identity is constructed. Playing every role in the photoshoot – photographer, model, make-up artist, hairdresser and stylist.

Spanning over 4 decades, she took multiple photoshoots of her exploration into how the feminine identity is represented. Her most famous one was her untitled film stills, taken in 1977-80 she created photographs of her exploring herself in various settings resembling that of mid 20th Century B movies. Some of these include the jaded seductress, the unhappy housewife, the jilted lover and others.

“I wish I could treat every day as Halloween, and get dressed up and go out into the world as some eccentric character”.

Claude Cahun was a French surrealist photographer, sculptor, and writer who inspired Cindy ShermanThough she made sculpture, embedded herself within activism and wrote extensively, Cahun is mostly synonymous for her contributions to surrealist photography, particularly her striking self-portraits, in which she questioned societal expectations of gender years ahead of her time and inspired the likes of Cindy Sherman, Gillian Wearing and Nan Goldin.Though she made sculpture, embedded herself within activism and wrote extensively, Cahun is mostly synonymous for her contributions to surrealist photography, particularly her striking self-portraits, in which she questioned societal expectations of gender years ahead of her time and inspired the likes of Cindy Sherman, Gillian Wearing and Nan Goldin.. Schwob adopted the pseudonym Claude Cahun in 1914. Cahun is best known as a writer and self-portraitist, who assumed a variety of performative personae.

Cahun used the pronouns both she/her/hers and they/them/theirs; she/her/hers because that is what was used for Cahun when they were alive and used themself; they/them/theirs because of their oft-discussed detachment from being a woman or a man.

Claude Cahun is a perfect example of someone who wanted to push the boundaries of gender roles in a stereotypical society.

Claude Cahun, born Lucy Schwob was a French photographer, sculptor and writer. Her most well known work is her surrealist self-portraits in which she represented a multitude of different personas. Moving to Jersey in 1937 with her stepsister and lover, Marcel Moore, she resisted the occupation taking place on our island. During their lives together in Jersey, the women decided to mount an underground resistance campaign following the Nazi’s occupation of the Island in June 1940. The two campaigned against them, provoking them in a risky manner for four years until 1944 when the Gestapo investigated them. Narrowly avoiding a death sentence, the two were freed from prison on the 9th of May 1945 following Jersey’s Liberation. Remaining on the island until 1953, Cahun suffered from ill health which unfortunately resulted her passing in hospital on the 8th of December. After this, Moore continued to live on in Jersey for many more years until sadly ending her own life.

Her life was a representation of resistance, defying the conventional ideas of beauty and femininity with her shaved head and male attire, challenging them. This was almost revolutionary in the 1930’s, being in a same-sex relationship and exploring her identity in a difficult time period of traditional values. Whilst Claude Cahun was alive, she produced many pieces of work which The Jersey Heritage Trust collection represents. Her work challenged the politics of gender and identity, alongside the work of many male Surrealists who depicted women as objects of male desire. She used domestic settings such as a cupboard at home and introduced something interesting and new to this environment, exploring gender fluidity.

Though she made sculpture, embedded herself within activism and wrote extensively, Cahun is mostly synonymous for her contributions to surrealist photography, particularly her striking self-portraits, in which she questioned societal expectations of gender years ahead of her time and inspired the likes of Cindy Sherman, Gillian Wearing and Nan Goldin.

PHOTO ANAYLSIS

With her signature androgynous look and surrealist-inspired use of reflection, this iconic self-portrait exhibits everything that made Cahun such an important artist. Whereas mirrors would traditionally be used in classical portraiture to emphasise feminine beauty or narcissism, here Cahun subverts the symbolism to reject such reductive depictions of gender. 

Deliberately turned away from her own reflection to face the viewer with an air of self-assurance, the image presents femininity as conflicting and contradictory, a nuanced combination of reality and artifice. Facing the camera, Cahun has her collar turned up to protect her neck from view, yet in her reflection the artist’s neck is revealed in a deliberate show of eroticism.

MOOD BOARD

“one of the most curious spirits of our time.”

Cindy Sherman

Sherman’s photography is a depiction of the different ways culture defines “woman.” Her art plays on the feminist idea that gender arises exclusively within culture and deconstructs dominant gender ideologies, representing the underside of popular culture’s definition of “woman.” Cindy Sherman is a female photographer who portrays female stereotypes of the 1950’s and 1960’s. When creating her images, she is not only the photographer but the subject as well. Sherman examines and distorts femininity as a social construct. “I like making images that from a distance seem kind of seductive, colourful, luscious and engaging, and then you realize what you’re looking at is something totally opposite,” she reflected.

For four decades, Cindy Sherman has probed the construction of identity, playing with the visual and cultural codes of art, celebrity, gender, and photography. Sherman was always interested in experimenting with different identities. As she has explained, “I wish I could treat every day as Halloween, and get dressed up and go out into the world as some eccentric character.”

Sherman has continued to transform herself, displaying the diversity of human types and stereotypes in her images.

From her history portraits (1981), exemplifies her use of theatrical effects to embody different roles and her lack of attempt to hide her efforts: often her wigs are slipping off, her prosthetics are peeling away, and her makeup is poorly blended. She highlights the artificiality of these fabrications, a metaphor for the artificiality of all identity construction. “I’m disgusted with how people get themselves to look beautiful; I’m much more fascinated with the other side,” she said in 1986.

PHOTO ANAYLYSIS

Within this image, Sherman has exaggerated features like her lips, eyelashes and hair to emphasize that femininity does not have to only fit the stereotype of beauty. Sherman stated “I’m disgusted with how people get themselves to look beautiful; I’m much more fascinated with the other side,” she said in 1986. Her poorly blended makeup is to deconstruct the femininity stereotype. Sherman also exaggerates the nose significantly which gives off the same effect. The background looks like a puzzle and this could signify the difficulty in trying to fit the beauty standards for a women.

Personally, I really like Cindy Sherman’s work as it decreases the pressure on women to be perfect and deconstructs the stereotype of beauty to be feminine. Sherman believes beauty comes from the inside and her images are a lovely and successful way to prove society that.

My Ideas for Photoshoots

Idea 1

My first idea is to try and find old photos of both my mum and grandma when they were around my age and recreate them with myself as the subject to capture the generations of females within my family. I would also capture photos of myself and what it’s like as a female in my own generation. This may be quite hard to find some photos as when my Gran was around my age she may have not had as many photos taken, however, I can always go through the photos she has to see. I think this will be effective towards the theme of femininity as it shows the generations of females within my family.

Idea 2

Similar to my first idea, I am going to look at old photos and try to imitate them but, instead, capture female stereotypes throughout the generations, rather than just one person. This work will be inspired by Cindy Sherman. I will do this by, firstly, gathering lots of research then preparing many outfits and looks to recreate. I think this would be a good photoshoot because Cindy Sherman is very popular in photography for her images that relate to femininity.

Idea 3

My third idea is to capture the relationship between mother and daughter. This photoshoot will be inspired by Hannah Altman’s Project, ‘Indoor Voices’. I am going to do this by coming up with a variety of locations around the house, preferably where light shines through the windows, and my Mother and I will get into position whilst I have the camera on a tripod with a timer. I think this will be a great photoshoot as it really relates to femininity through mother-daughter relationships which are a key part of growing up to be a woman. With attention to detail, I also think that I could produce a group of powerful images.

Idea 4

My fourth idea is to capture the similarities between me and my mother from when she was my age, although we don’t look much alike there will still be some resemblance. This photoshoot will be inspired by Ugne Henriko’s Project ‘Mother and Daughter’. I will do this by finding some old, printed photos of my mother and recreate them, almost like it’s a reflection. I think this will be effective because it will highlight the similarities and differences between us from when she was around my age.

Idea 5

My fifth idea is a bit different from the others. For this photoshoot I will ask for one of my male friends or my Dad to dress up in various (stereotypically) women’s outfits. This will be inspired by Rebecca Jurgen’s series ‘Boys will be Girls’. I think it will be effective as I can’t imagine many of my peers would do this and it also is something different to each of my other ideas.

Idea 6

My final idea is to ask for some of my friends to come with me to a field or the woods so that I can get some photographs of us having fun and exploring. This will be inspired by Justine Kurland and relates to femininity as it explores female youth.

Photoshoot Plan

I have decided to go for idea number 3, which is to do a photo shoot capturing the relationship between my mother and I. We are going to position ourselves in many locations around the house and use a tripod to hold the camera with a timer. This photoshoot is inspired by Hannah Altman’s project ‘Indoor Voices’. I think that this is a really good idea for a photoshoot because having a woman role model to look up to is a very important aspect of growing up as a female. This would also relate to femininity due to females stereotypically being a mother figure and this photoshoot would display the relationship between a mother and their daughter. I am also going to do Idea number 6 and link both my photoshoots to female youth. For this idea, I will go to a field with my friends and get a variety of photographs of them doing different things. We may also go to an area with trees nearby so I can capture photographs of them climbing trees. This photoshoot will be inspired by Justine Kurland’s Girl Pictures which almost appears to go against the female stereotype with the fact that they are exploring and getting dirty as it’s more what you would expect boys to do. Overall, I think that these photoshoots could work together to create a final outcome as it shows some of the most important female relationships for a girl, with their Mother and with their friends. Additionally, they also both display female adolescence, the stage when a girl is old enough to go out exploring with her friends whilst also having a close and more understanding relationship with her Mum.

Hannah Altman

Hannah Altman is an American photographer from New Jersey, known for her use of natural light and incorporating Jewish aspects into her work. She was born on the 1st of May 1995 and is Jewish. At the age of 19, whilst studying at Point Park University, Hannah Altman started her first project, ‘Indoor Voices’. Altman started this project in 2015, still adding to it now, and it is based around intergenerational womanhood, matrilineal responsibility and the symbol of quiet intimacy. By looking at the images in this series, you can see that they all consist of a mother and daughter and display their relationship through everyday life and struggles.

To plan out this photoshoot, I have taken photos of the places around the house that I have in mind for each image and drawn stickmen in the place of me and my Mum. This is to make it easier to visualize how the final outcomes will be and make it easier for myself to remember when taking the photos.

Justine Kurland

Justine Kurland, born in 1969 in New York, is a fine art photographer. In 1996, she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of Visual Arts then went on to study at Yale University for her Master of Fine Arts. Between 1997 and 2002, Justine Kurland travelled along the road in the American Wilderness and captured photographs of teenage girls. She stated “I staged the girls as a standing army of teenaged runaways in resistance to patriarchal ideals”. She portrayed the girls as fearless, fierce and free and made them appear to explore, swim and socialise, without paying attention to the camera. I personally really like this photoshoot as it looks like it would be fun to create and, when looking at the photos, makes me feel calm and free.

I am planning on doing this photoshoot in the field next to my Friend’s house and possibly even in a woodland or area of trees nearby. I am going to ask for my friends to do various things such as running in the field, sitting down talking, climbing trees and more. There is also a tyre in the field and a rope swing nearby so I may try and use them in my photoshoot.

Women through Time

1920’s:

1930’s:

1940’s:

1950’s:

1960’s:

1970’s:

1980’s:

1990’s:

2000’s:

Women have altered and changed as time has, so for one of my photo shoots I want to show how they have changed through time and show them changing. I want to do this by having a women model dress up in these different outfits, so I can show each decade. This fits into the theme of femininity, because it shows how ideas and stereotypes of femininity and how femininity should look also change through time. This suggests that femininity isn’t just one defined thing, and can be seen and presented in many different ways, as it changes constantly.

Stereotypes

Stereotypes is also going to be another photo shoot I am going to attempt for males and females, because I can use different emotions, colours and careers in this photo shoot. For example, women are too emotional and should be mothers, or men are aggressive and should be strong and tough. This fits into the theme of femininity and masculinity, because it suggests to people how men and females should be, or how they are. It also tells people what is feminine and masculine.

Nature

For my final photo shoot I am going to use different nature elements to portray femininity and masculinity. For example, flowers could be associated with females and femininity, so they could be a prop I could use to show femininity. Another way I can use nature to look into the themes of masculinity and femininity is by choosing a setting that matches masculine and feminine stereotypes.

I chose to take photos in response to Cole Ndelu’s project ‘a study on femininity’. To respond to this I will take my photos in a home environment using a white curtain for the background as Ndelu also uses plain simple backgrounds in her photos. I chose to take photos of my family members holding things such as flowers and leaves in a similar way to Ndelu.

Photoshoot 1:

In this first photoshoot I took 43 photos using a mix of fake a real flowers as a prop. I chose to use similar poses to the ones used in Ndelu’s collection of photos.

I went through my photos and flagged them with either a white flag, meaning the photo was good, or a black flag, meaning the photo wasn’t.

Best photos:

These are my best photos as they are clear and most similar the Ndelu’s work.

Editing photos:

 First edit:

Original photo before editing:

I found that the photo before editing was slightly too dull and I didn’t like the stray hairs as they showed up clearly against the white background and made the photo look less sharp. In this shoot artificial lighting was used.

To improve the photo I removed some of the stray hairs from the top of the head as well as the hand using the healing tool in adobe Lightroom. This made the photo look sharper and cleaner.

Final outcome:

For my final edit I decided to use the vignette tool in order to draw the views eyes towards the centre of the photo where the models eye is. I also cropped the photo to remove the extra space around the model and the flowers. The flowers add a feminine aspect to the photo as they are widely associated with women due to their beauty. The flowers also add in an aspect of nature to the photo which is also associated with women and the stereotypical idea that they are meant to have a nurturing personality. The photo has more of a warm tone in comparison to the original version of it.

Edit 2

Original photo before editing:

Finally, I cropped the photo to get rid of the extra unneeded space from both sides of the photo.

Final outcome:

In this photo the model is holding a glass jar of white flowers, whilst editing I chose to leave the models hands in the photo as I think it gives a nurturing look to the photo which is a stereotypical aspect of a woman. I created a soft look to the photo by reducing the texture, I did this to enhance the nurturing sense of the photo as it makes the model look gentle and kind, which are stereotypical traits of women, rather than adding a sharp texture which wouldn’t give the same look. The pink tone to the photo shows colour stereotypes, women are associated with the colour pink whereas men as associated with blue. The composition of this photo has the model and the flowers in the centre causing them to be the only focus of the photo, there is also little background space which makes sure the viewers attention isn’t taken away from the main focus.

Photoshoot 2

In this shoot I used a different model in a different environment, I also used different flowers. I experimented with different poses in a similar way to Cole Ndelu. In this shoot natural lighting was used.

I again labelled my best shoots using either a white (good) or a black (bad) flag so that editing and selecting my final photos would be easier.

Best photos

Editing:

Original photo before editing:

Due to taking photos against the light the photo has a dull look to it so using adobe Lightroom I will improve this.

I made the photo sharper so that the details would stand out more. I also moved the highlights point towards a more pink tone so that the flower would stand out. By adjusting the saturation and vibrancy the photo appeared brighter and less dull. I also cropped it so that the attention was on the model rather than the background of the photo.

Final outcome:

Comparing my work to the photographers work:

My photo is similar to Ndelu’s photo as they both have brightly coloured flowers in the model’s mouths. The models are posed in the same way in both mine and Ndelu’s photograph however in her photo the model is turned more towards the side, showing their side profile. Both photos support Ndelu’s aim of her photography which is to represent that both women and men can be as equally as beautiful.

Mirrors and glass

Make up

Lines

Flowers

Shoot 1: mirror/ make up – woods and/or studio

Shoot 2: flowers(faux flowers) – studio

Identity politics is politics based on a particular identity, such as race, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social background, caste, and social class.

Identity politics aims to reclaim greater self-determination and political freedom for marginalized people through understanding particular paradigms (a typical example or pattern of something) and lifestyle factors, and challenging externally-imposed characterisations and limitations.

Identity politics and the privilege lens has many good effects on society.  For example, it has made students more sensitive and attuned to each other, and attuned to structural discrimination and bias issues.  Students, teachers, and politicians who use the privilege lens are less likely to trade in generalisations and stereotypes of marginalised groups.  Because of these lenses, many do a better job creating atmospheres that are inclusive to individuals of a wide range of identity groups that have been marginalised or excluded from important conversations. 

However,  Identity politics and the privilege lens are often used as weapons to de-legitimise views based on identity and privilege instead of ideas.  Some of this is necessary to remind us that views develop in context but some of it is intended to rob people of a voice if you disagree with their perspective. For example, some people who are “straight, white, males” have voiced that their views are seen as less legitimate/ bigoted due to identity politics and the privilege lens, leaving to the majority of them remaining silent as to not be met with backlash.

Culture war is a conflict between groups, especially liberal and conservative groups, that have different cultural ideals, beliefs, or philosophies. There have been a number of conflicts about diversity in popular cultures occurring in the 2010s, such as the Gamergate controversy, Comicsgate and the Sad Puppies science fiction voting campaign.

Social media’s advancement in recent years has been a big factor in fomenting culture wars. Its highly advanced algorithm has demonstrated its ability to intensify people’s opinions. Researchers have been seeing a trend of increasing arguments over history, race, and gender because of this.

Researchers have differed about the scientific validity of the notion of culture war. Some claim it does not describe real behaviour, or that it describes only the behaviour of a small political elite. Others claim culture war is real and widespread, and even that it is fundamental to explaining Americans’ political behaviour and beliefs.

Immigration, race, alcohol, evolution, gender politics, and sexual morality all became major cultural battlefields during the 1920s. Wets battled drys, religious modernists battled religious fundamentalists, and urban ethnics battled the Ku Klux Klan.

Studies have shown that the rise of cultural groups is what leads to in-group bias, which is strongly correlated with polarisation. These cultural groups can form based on minor characteristics, but with time, populations develop associations between particular characteristics and particular behaviours, increasing covariation. Meaning that polarisation can bring people together but can also create prejudice between groups. Over the past couple of years, the public has seemed more inclined to feel prejudice towards those outside their social group and feel sympathy towards those who are in. 

This was a photoshoot named ‘untitled film stills’ where Cindy Sherman took up the persona of different characters. Shes both the model and photographer in these photoshoots making them self-portraits.

Her photographs were taken in the 70s where each character has taken inspiration from the ages. She’s challenging expectations, stereotypes and prejudices. Her characters are removed from her own personality, identity and ideals despite the assumptions of Cindy Sherman projecting the want to be a femme fetale, a common reoccurrence across characters.

Her characters were inspired by films from the 50s which she grew up with. These showed women as objects filmed by male directors leading to the character of the femme fetale, a character Cindy Sherman took inspiration from.

The femme fetale is a French phrase meaning dangerous woman. Its come from old cinema where women were objectified and in many films leading to the title of this collection: “Film Stills”. These images are stills from no film in particular and just a recollection of overlapping ideas. This was a character that Cindy Sherman portrayed in her untitled film stills as it is an easy character to identify. The presence of this character led people to claim that Cindy Sherman’s work was a projection of her fantasies as opposed to an unbiased creation of characters because even in the 70s misogyny was prevalent and a woman photographing herself must have been for attention.

This image is a self-portrait of Cindy Sherman where she is posed in a kitchen as a character. She is stood in front of a sink wearing an apron. This is a response to gender roles/stereotypes shown in the media which in this case is the expectation that women should be in the kitchen. However the character is wearing a mesh apron, not a functional apron showing that the action of standing at the sink is purely for show commenting on films treatment of female characters and how everything they do is for show to appeal to the male audience. Her character is looking away with a bored expression to show that she is simply stood where she would be expected to be despite having absolutely no interest in it.

Similarly to stereotypical art focusing on a woman, her body is in frame. Her head is slightly cut off showing its lack of importance. She is not looking at or acknowledging the camera since the camera is watching her without her knowledge and thus objectifying her. This type of framing is common place in media which shows people in parts instead of as a person which act as signifiers. Additionally the camera will capture moments of characters when they think are meant to be alone which is what this photograph shows.

This image uses the artificial kitchen light overhead which is reflecting on the wall. It has been taken in black and white with little pure white or black and is mostly mid-tone greys. One of the few exceptions to this being the white of her eyes. Her eyes being well lit makes them stand out as bright, large and shiny showing a hope for being out of frame or elsewhere which is where her eyes are looking. The dishes are a dull necessity as opposed to something that she cares about. The use of artificial lights shows that this is supposed to seem just like a normal household.

The use of props around her fully submerges her character into the environment. A sense of depth is created with the counter props which have varying distances from the camera. Some are better in focus than others with dirty dishes being out of focus and the cleaning supplies being in focus. By ensuring that the supplies are in focus this creates a tidier appearance as they are used for cleaning as opposed to being in need of cleaning. This signifies the need for beauty even when alone in the comfort of your own home.

There is a large empty space above the sink which draws the eye away and creates an unfinished environment such as a new house or filming set. It feels as though something is missing which could signify the disingenuous nature of actors reading a script in films or the fact that this lifestyle is unrewarding and empty.

Shannon O’Donnell

Cindy Sherman has been an inspiration to many photographers, one being Shannon O’Donnell. Shannon O’Donnell is a photographer who explores themes such as gender identity.

Shannon O’Donnell filmed herself while playing out characters. This requires many skills such as acting on top of the skills required of a photographer. She’s had to act, direct and shoot all at the same time which is really difficult. She achieved these imaged by shooting on film. This is because switching between a still photograph and acting was a time consuming and difficult process. Instead she filmed in typical 24 frames per second and using adobe premier, selected individual frames.

She photographed herself in character. This character was of a woman around the house. This character was dressed up as though she was going out which directly contradicts with her domestic tasks of tidying up, doing dishes and cooking. Her book is presented in a tea towel further showing this domesticity. I believe this character shows the many expectations placed on women.

This was shot in colour but selected, refined and presented. The images were changed into black and white like Cindy Sherman’s but I believe there’s also another meaning behind this change. I believe the effect of black and white shows how outdated gender expectations are compared to the rapid evolution of technology. Technology has advanced massively and the option of colour was there however these gender expectations still remain. Additionally the black and white seems more personal since there are no flashy colours. This shows how it effects everyone on a personal level.

This image shows Shannon O’Donnell in character in the kitchen. The choice to incorporate background ensures that the images aren’t strictly about the character because the character in her environment puts her into context. This kitchen is just as important as her.

She’s dressed up showing expectations of dress and appearance while the background shows expectations of housekeeping. Despite both expectations of women being well known, its an unusual occurrence for some to be cleaning the house in high heels. This was inspired by Cindy Sherman with much thought put into the composition. This is clear in the dress which is a vintage cut (waistline and shoulder pattern).

A lot of her photos are of her legs and shoes, this is reflective of films objectifying women by introducing them by their body first. A camera will start with the shoes which would typically be heels. These heels are associated with the femme fetale archetype. Heels are not a convenient shoe and lengthen legs which have been historically provocative. The camera would then pan up the legs which are an obvious signifier. This camera action has been shown in these images. This image also uses the reflection from the oven to reflect the shoes to direct additional focus.