Cindy Sherman-
Cindy Sherman is most known for her amazing work about femininity and taking photos inspired by stereotypical aspects of women. For these photos she does it all by herself usually, she is the model makeup artist director photographer, etc..
These images are from her work called “untitled film stills” which she created and worked on from 1977-80.
For these she plays stereotypically female characters like a housewife, sex object, gardener, etc… however, she also does have some working characters within her work. The idea behind this was to show how society views women to also show who/what women are. Having both working characters and also housewife-type characters shows that women should have the option to choose whichever they want.
I’m a big fan of her work I think she expresses her thinking and her opinions about women and how much women can achieve and how they can do whatever they want if they want it bad enough, very well.
This image feels very calming because this character is doing something quite mundane nothing very out of the ordinary and because the photo is in black and white it has more of this nostalgic feel to the image but there’s almost this sad aspect about it as it can bring back memories or ideas of how (in less recent years) women were often forced to do this kind of job and couldn’t pick what they wanted to do.
The lack of colour in the image I think helps create this emotional aspect to the picture. The way the model is looking away from the camera gives off the impression that she is more scared and timid as when you make eye contact with the camera it has a very confident and almost scary feel to it which this one doesn’t which I think works if you think about how women were at the time.
If you use the rule of thirds she would be in the on column on the right and it kind of gives off the impression as if she is hiding in the image otherwise she would be more central which also helps create this idea of her being more sacred and timid. I think this photo is quite natural by the looks of it the lighting isn’t too harsh and it is kind of even all over so I doubt there was anything like a ring light used for this photo.
I think conceptually her whole idea was to show what life was like for women what jobs they could do and what was the most common for women especially this one as many women were forced into being housewives and didn’t get an option in what they did.
During the 1970s-80s there were many women’s movements and protests following the big push during the 60’s for more equal rights for men and women as there was a clear lack of equality that women faced. Which I think heavily affected and influenced her work/project of untitled film stills.
Duane Michal’s-
Duane Michal’s is a self-taught photographer who gained popularity for his project “Dr. Heisenberg’s Magic Mirror of Uncertainty” which was discovered when he was asked to be in French Vogue in 1999 for a science-based issue. He says he has always been both interested in physics and photography but especially abstract and what he describes as “un-photographable” work.
For these images he achieved these through having this distorted mirror so whenever the model would move the mirror slightly it would have this really interesting and unique water-like effect so the whole of the model’s face would change.
Visually this image has this almost abstract aspect to it from the mirror and yet the rest of the image appears to be this calm and normal setting it’s a good contrast from the abstract and chaotic feel of the mirror.
These photos can kind of appear sad and give off these negative feelings due to them being in black and white and you could interrupt the mirror as if to show him reflecting on his true emotions and how life is feeling for her and the outside is just how she presents herself and she wont show anyone how she is truly feeling.
When looking at this photo in a more technical sense one and as well in most of her other images he always has his model in the very centre of his photos if using the rule of thirds which can show how they are the most important thing as it’s in the very centre so your eye is automatically drawn to it.
I think the concept of this artwork is to show how nothing is certainty when converting life and in general so having the reflection be distorted and not show it is supposed to be kind of shows the uncertainty.
He named this project “Dr. Heisenberg’s Magic Mirror of Uncertainty” because at that time Dr.Heisenberg had recently said how “you cannot predict with any certainty the position or velocity of a particle” which clearly inspired her work as she shows that inconsistency.
Lauren Withrow–
Lauren Withrow is more of a recent photographer who has only recently been majorly discovered and she is growing big and more well-known quickly.
She describes her work as her expression of femalehood, feminity, queerness and vulnerability. She has made this amazing feel of femininity through these feminine shapes through clothing and poses everything feels more soft and rounded off which would be considered more feminine and it is clearly portrayed.
Robert Mapplethorpe-
This is Robert Mapplethorpe’s project called “Body Parts” which he would get up close shows of different sections of the human body usually a man’s body as he can photograph visual masculinity. He described his work as “the perfect way to make a sculpture.”
His work was heavily inspired by classic sculptures and paintings where it shows the classic ideal. How men are supposed to look and act. Which I think he executed really well i believe you can see very obvious similarities between his work and some classic sculptures.