Mickie Devries lives in West Michigan close to Lake Michigan shoreline. Devries focuses on documenting her own children, as she believes ‘to be a child is a magical thing’. She is inspired by children and how they grow and learn new things. She likes to photograph these moments as she wants to preserve and document them. However I am going to focus on a small project she done within her photography where she has created ghost-like images using various camera settings.

I am mainly going to take inspiration from Mickie Devries from the way that she achieves her ghostly looking photos within this small project of hers. I also like how the images look in black and white and I may also use that idea within my photography.

How to create ghostly photos:

1 – First you I will need to use a tripod, this is so that the photo is clear as I will be using a slow shutter speed of around 15 seconds, this is what Mickie Devries uses to create her images. She also states it is best to take these images in low ambient light.

2 – Next I will adjust my aperture to around f/8 as this is the same setting as Devries.

3 – Focus is then switched to manual with the subject in the frame, this is so that I am able to focus on the subject when I end up taking the photos.

4 – Next I will remove my subject from the frame and have my subject walk slowly into the position once I’ve pushed pushed the shutter button. Once the subject is in the position I will press the shutter button and have them freeze.

Intention

My intention with this photoshoot is to explore the female identity and my own identity through this photoshoot as well, just how Justine Kurland found her own identity through her work. I am going to explore the female identity and present all different female identities through my work. I want to present that the female identity isn’t just what is stereotyped, but it can be whatever you want it to be. In ‘Girl Pictures,’ Justine Kurland states that, ‘Cowboys, sailors, pirates, hitchhikers, hobos, train hoppers, explorers, catchers in the rye, lords of the flies- you name it…’ She is stating that the girls in her book were all these things. She has done this, so that she can present to the viewers that they too can be whatever identity they wish to be, no matter how different or not socially acceptable it may be. I also want to present this in my work, so that I can portray to my viewers that identity is just what you make it, instead of it being what makes you.

Through this work I also want to investigate into different stereotypes and present images that oppose these stereotypical ‘norms.’ Justine Kurland presented these girls ‘in the dominion of boys’ and ‘they were trying on a version of themselves that the world has thus far shown them was boy.’ She did this, so that she could combat against female stereotypes, so that she could present to the viewers that these stereotypical ‘norms’ aren’t just what we should be allowed to be and do, but instead girls should also be able to do anything a boy can do and act in a way that a boy would. I think this is a really important message and I want to display this message well in my work, by presenting the young girls in a more rambunctious, ‘boy like’ manor, combating these stereotypical ‘norms.’

However, I want to make a twist on Justine Kurland’s work, for my own work, and I intend on doing this, by showing a larger spectrum of stereotypes, and showing stereotypes, that are not being combated. For example, I want to display these young girls following these female stereotypical norms, just how Cindy Sherman presented these stereotypical norms, because I want to display to the viewers, and to all other young girls that may see these images, that your identity can be anything you make it, and you don’t have to feel like you have to oppose these stereotypical ‘norms’, if that is who you truly are and what your identity truly is.

I always want to explore youth through my work, just like Justine Kurland did in her ‘Girl Pictures.’ As I said I also wanted to explore my identity through this project, so to explore these two things I am going to be looking back into my youth, or my ‘Girlhood’ and replicating some of the activities I used to do in my teenage years. This will help me explore youth, especially my youth and it will help me explore my identity, to see what stereotypical ‘norms’ I followed, or didn’t when I was younger. This will also help me compare my identity back then, to it now. I think youth is also a really important aspect to explore, because Justine Kurland’s whole book was based off this idea of youth and ‘girlhood,’ so to also put a twist on her work, I am making my work more internal to me, by making it relative to my youth, ‘girlhood’ and my life. I also think that youth is a very important development stage, which helps to build your identity, so I also think it would be interesting to compare my youth, to the youth shown in Justine Kurland’s book, ‘Girl Pictures.’

Ideas

During my review and reflect of all my previous blog posts and topics, I discovered that I much preferred taking pictures of people rather than landscapes, whether that was portraits, tableaux images, or street photography. However, I think portraiture is my biggest strength and what I enjoy the most.

I also found the topic femininity and masculinity a really interesting topic that I found I could write a lot about. I find researching and creating different stereotypes in my photographs the most interesting part, and I really enjoyed making my images fight against these different gender stereotypes. I really enjoyed this topic, because as a women stereotypes is something I hear and see a lot of and I feel like I could do a lot for this topic and write a lot about it, because it is so internal to me and my identity. I also enjoyed how in this topic Claude Cahun for example explored her identity, by becoming a more masculine version of herself and I feel like if I were to do something related to this topic I would also be able to explore my identity.

Artist Research Thoughts

I enjoy how Justine Kurland’s images are of young girls, because I am myself a young girl, so this is something I really relate to and is internal to me, so I feel like it would be easier for me to gather my friends to create similar images. I also feel like I could produce better images, as the topic of ‘girlhood’ is so much more internal to me, as I am experiencing my girlhood right now. I also like how she also fights against stereotypes, b getting the girls to ‘try on boy,’ which I feel like I would be able to do and create up to standard images. I am also going to explore female stereotypes, as well as opposing female stereotypes, because this is how I am going to put a twist on my photos, compared to Justine Kurland’s.

I am also going to be using the same photographic technique as Justine Kurland and Jeff Wall, which is producing tableaux images, that look like candid images. I am going to create these tableaux images in scenic outdoor environments and capture normal social interactions, that I would do in my youth. I am also going to pull ideas from the activities and the settings used in Justine Kurland’s ‘Girl Pictures.’

For my photoshoot, I am going to use Justine Kurland for my main inspiration, but I am also going to pull ideas, concepts and compositions from Jeff Wall and other Historical paintings. I am doing this, because both Jeff Wall and Justine Kurland pulled compositions, ideas and concepts from famous paintings.

I am going to pull composition ideas, such as the fore ground, middle ground and background, as well as using the rule of thirds and other compositional ideas, because Jeff Wall and Justine Kurland have used these compositional ideas, and I think they have worked very well. I am also going to use similar visual elements, such as tone, shape, patterns etc. that they have both used.

Photoshoot Plan

Justine Kurland- Girl Pictures

Examples of my youth:

During my teenage years, I went out with my friends a lot. Some of the outdoor places we would go, would include:

• Harve Des Pas Beach
• FB Fields
• Fort Regent
• St Brelades Bay
• Frigate
• People’s Park
• St Ouens Beach
• La Marrais
• Town
• In my car
• Georgia’s shed
• Campfire

The reason I am only choosing places which are outdoors, is because during my youth, I had more fun and did more things, while I was outdoors, instead of inside. I also wanted to keep the setting of my images still quite similar to Justine Kurland, because I think the images will relate to ‘Girl Pictures’ more, and will come out of a better standard visually.

During my youth I did many different activities including:

• Jumping off the Lido at Harve Des Pas
• Swimming in the sea
• Wave surfing at St Ouens
• Playing hide and seek at La Marrais
• Camping at St Ouens
• Have BBQ at the beach, or in gardens
• Picnic
• Get a snack/ meal
• Tan/ chill with a book
• Make a campfire

Other place ideas:

I also wanted to include settings that were used in ‘Girl Pictures,’ because I think they are visually pleasing settings, and they really help display the combat against stereotypical norms, because a dirty woods is not usually associated with femininity. Some places I have decided to include are:

• Street
• Public Bathroom
• Field
• Woods
• Barn/ shed
• Lakes/ rivers/ pond
• Mountains/ cliffs
• Walkway path
• Sandunes
• Roadside
• Under a Bridge
• Reservoir
• Rocky coast

Similar Places in Jersey:

• Cycling path along the avenue
• Snow hill, St Ounes etc.
• Field- nans garden
• St Catherines woods
• Georgia’s shed
• Sandunes
• Underground bit at harbour
• Resoviour
• Cliff paths St Brelade
• Beach
• Fort Regent park
• St Brelades campfire

Stereotype Ideas:

Female Stereotypes-

• Use of makeup in my images
• Doing hair
• Emotional shots eg. crying
• Using colours such as pink

Male Stereotypes-

• Strong eg. use of weights
• colours such as blue
• Emotional shots eg. anger and violence
• Messing around

To fight against these stereotypes, I will have girls do these male stereotypes, so that I can present girls acting like boys, as well as girls presenting as more feminine, because these were some activities I did in my youth and they just happen to be more feminine.

Narrative of different Image Ideas:

• Playing on swings in a park
• Running down the street
• Getting ready/ washing in a public bathroom
• camping
• smoking
• eating ice cream/ other snacks
• Making fires
• Shooting glass bottles
• swimming
• playing catch
• Fighting/ boxing
• Hula hooping
• Playing an instrument eg. Guitar
• Blowing bubbles
• Catching sweets in mouth
• Reading books
• Walking a dog
• Climbing trees
• Washing feet in a river
• Picking flowers
• Fixing a car
• Roadtrip
• Sand castles/ lying at the beach
• Roasting marshemellows
• Climbing fences
• Sledging down the sandunes

Tools/ props needed:

• Make up
• Perfume
• Hair brush
• Soap
• Cigerettes
• Snacks
• BBQ
• Glass bottle
• Toy gun
• Balls
• Hula Hoop
• Instrument
• Bubbles
• Books
• Car
• Bucket and spade
• Marshmellows
• Sledges

Composition

Different compositions that Justine Kurland and Jeff Wall used included compositions from famous paintings, so I am also going to pull ideas from famous historical paintings to create some of my photos. I am also going to pull ideas, concepts and compositions from Justine Kurland’s work and Jeff Wall’s work.

Some example of historical paintings that I am going to pull ideas, concepts and compositions from are below:

I want to take inspiration from these paintings, not only because they have a good composition, but because they also tell a story, which I could tell through my photographs, but make it applicable to modern times, and to the subject of identity and youth, because that is what I’m exploring.

For this historical painting, I am going to take a picture of the same composition and actions. I am going to have one of my friends lying down being buried, like the women in this image, and have another friend burring her, but the concept behind my photograph is going to be different to the concept of the painting. In the painting the man is burring the women after she has died, but in my photograph I am going to make a modern version of this painting, and I am going to relate this photograph to my theme of youth. I am going to do this, by having the concept of my image being too young girls playing at the beach instead, because this is something I used to do when I was younger.

For this historical painting I am going to use the same composition and setting as this historical painting and I am going to position my model in the same way. However, I am going to try and find a daisy field, so that she could be picking daisies in my photograph, instead of the concept of the painting. In the painting, she is looking into the distance at a faraway farmstead and a cluster of structures, and she is portrays the artist’s neighbor, who was unable to walk due to polio, so she would drag herself around.

For another photograph, I am going to take inspiration from Edouard Manet’s painting above, as well as the photographs Jeff Wall and Justine Kurland have made by pulling concepts, ideas, and compositions from Edouard Manet. I am going to do this, by creating a similar setting and composition as they all have. I am going to do this, by going to a scenic outdoor area that is similar to the settings they have used, such as a woods, and I am going to use the same compositional method that they have all used, with a person in the foreground, middle ground and background.

To take inspiration from these images in the best and easiest way, I am going to print off these historical paintings and my chosen artists photos, so that I can visualise what I am trying to create while I am out on my photoshoot, and so I can see them side by side.

I am also going to be focusing on my composition quite a lot throughout all my photoshoots, as I am taking inspiration from Jeff Wall, Justine Kurland and famous historical paintings. Some examples of compositional tools I use are the foreground, middle ground, background, rule of thirds etc..

I am also going to be focusing on the visual elements that I can present in my photographs, and the visual elements that are being used in the historical painting, as well as Jeff Wall’s work and Justine Kurland’s work.

List of Visual Elements:

• Colour
• Tone (light & dark)
• Texture (surface)
• Shape (2D, flat)
• Form (3D)
• Pattern (repetition)
• Line
• Space (3D concept)

Agnieszka Osipa’s work portrays myths and folklore stories in a dreamlike visual, her work brings the stories of Baba Yaga and Rusalka to life, both Slavic folklores’. Osipa’s fascination with folklore began during her high school years, it began with an interest in folklore music, until one of her teachers advised to get into clothing design, then she combined the two. She first went to the Art High School in Jaroslaw and then she went to the Academy of Fine arts in Lods where she specialised in Costume design. She is inspired by dark and witchlike aspects of pagan beliefs and the east European culture, she’s mainly inspired by music. Osipa uses various materials such as leather and plastic, however she believes that the materials are not as important as the forms which they allow you to create.
 

I will take inspiration from this artist from the way she creates her costumes and the way the photos have been taken, for example the one where the woman is stood in the white dress in the woods. I will look for different materials to create costumes for my photoshoots, I will also look online for costumes.

Swindells started taking photographs while at university in Sheffield, inspired by a 1982 exhibition of Derek Ridgers’s nightclub portraits at the Photographers’ Gallery in London. After graduating, he moved to London and got a bar job in a club which he later got fired from for taking pictures. In 1985, he started taking club portraits. Since the early 80’s Dave Swindells has been documenting London’s most influential club, rave scenes and nightlife. As Time Out Clubs Editor from 1986 – 2009 he had exclusive access to nightlife and its shifts in youth culture, styles and attitudes. Dave Swindells captured on film what it meant to be raving during the late 80s and 90s. Starting off by taking sly photos on the dancefloor instead of working behind the bar, he quickly moved up in the world of nightlife press. Swindells remained Time Out’s Nightlife editor for over two decades, getting not only an insight into capital rave scenes over time but experiencing first-hand the birth of acid house.

In the case of acid house, overwhelming numbers of clubgoers defying the police to dance all night at huge, illegal parties eventually led after new laws failed to contain them to a gradual loosening of the draconian restrictions on both club opening hours and the sale and consumption of alcohol in the UK. These characteristics have also made the nightlife scene hard to record. There are technical issues for photographers in clubs, but also issues of trust. Swindells has been able to take candid pictures in clubs like Shoom because he made himself part of the culture by turning up night after night, year after year, bearing witness without ever being intrusive.

This is a mood board of my favourite Dave Swindells images. I have chosen these images because I like how there is a mixed variation of images, for example there are people who are posing and looking at the camera but there are also people that haven’t acknowledged it. These images show nightlife through the 80s and 90s and to me show a large difference is culture, fashion and styles from then compared to now, for example the hairstyles, outfits and behaviours. These are things you wouldn’t see in the youth culture now in clubs therefore I want to contrast this and show my own version of the youth culture nightlife in my photoshoot projects.

I have chosen to analyse this image of a man in a crowd of people who stands out from the other people. He is in the centre of the image making him the focus, also the bright pink jumper he is wearing makes him stand out compared to the crowd of everyone else wearing white and black. Another thing that stands out in this image is that everyone in this image is wearing denim jeans, this shows a large amount of the fashion at the time. To me this image represents the youth culture and fun during the 80s and 90s nightlife scene.

This image is of a group of people who are raving and partying in a nightclub. this image is different from the other one as the people have acknowledged the camera and are smiling at it. I liked this difference from some of the other images because it shows the reality of what would happen if people saw someone taking a picture of them, it shows that they are having fun and wanted to have their picture taken which is a realistic factor of going out with a camera and pointing it around when drunk people see it being positioned their way, they will probably smile.