For my essay I will focus my attention on the photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson.

In the introduction, I will discuss documentary photography and explain the artist references I have used and am inspired by for my project. I will also describe the intentions of my study, what I will be investigating and how I will do so.

I will then go on to talk about some historical context which links with my study, in this case, Henri Cartier-Bresson and the decisive moment.

Also, I’ll include a more detailed explanation of one or more of my chosen artists, interpreting their work and pointing out how my project is inspired by theirs.

Finally, I will conclude my essay, surmising my projects intentions, and drawing in similarities and differences between the artists’ work and my own.

I started my girlhood shoot at Le Hocq in jersey around the beach and in my fiat 500. I took images of many different things such as girls putting on lip gloss, laughing (caudinid) and walks a long the beach.

Here are my favourite images from this shoot. I like that the lighting for the shoot was natural daylight, which illuminated the scene and the atmosphere of the beach. The soft sunlight created a warm, golden glow. I used a focused aperture to highlight the moments of joy and expressions of the girls. With a low ISO sensitivity, the images maintained a clean quality, preserving the sharpness of the scenes even in the bright daylight. For the warm tones, I set the white balance to a slight “cast” setting, allowing for a soft, sun-kissed glow that added to the overall nostalgic and dreamy feel of the shoot and the sense of girlhood.

Selection and colouring:

For this photoshoot, I was inspired by Manny Robertson. I began recreating his work by taking photographs of a model in the studio. I placed one of the studio lights directly in front of her face to ensure my images would be clear and without shadows. I photographed her in front of a white background as this is the background colour typically seen in his images. I then got the model to experiment with different poses for example, looking to the side or tilting her head. I then imported my images into Lightroom and began narrowing down what images I wanted to use. I did this by first giving either a white flag if I liked the image or a black flag if I didn’t like it. I then gave all my images with a white flag a ranking out of 5. 5 being the best and 1 being the worst. I then used the filter tool to make it so I could only see my images with a 4 star rating. Then I edited the contrast and exposure of each image. These are the images which I will edit in photoshop.

I then exported my photos into a folder which I could then open in photoshop. I began by opening up an image where the model’s head was tilted to the side then used the object selection tool the make a cut out of her outline and dragged the cut out onto a white piece of paper. I then opened up a different image where her head was facing upwards and used the lasso tool to go around a section of her face. Next, I pressed layer via copy and dragged that cut out onto the face on the white piece of paper. After that, I pressed on the top layer and made it black and white as seen in Manny Robertson’s work. Next, I worked on the stitching effect seen between the two faces. I recreated this effect by using the pen tool on photoshop to make marks going from one face to another then made the thickness of it lower so it looked like stitching. Finally, I wanted to emphasise the idea a mask being pulled off her face so I decided to add a drop shadow to the mask layer which created depth and the idea of her being two different people.

These are the images by Manny Robertson that inspired my idea.

Final outcomes:

Overall, I like how this idea came out as I think I managed to successfully recreate the work of Manny Robertson and I feel like these images clearly relate to the theme of identity as it portrays the idea of people putting on masks in front of people and hiding their true identity due to fear of being cast out of society etc. However, one improvement I would make to this idea is actually stitching on the black lines instead of using the pen tool in photoshop as it would make my idea more creative in the sense of how its presented.

Photo shoot 1:

Selection and coloring:

Photo shoot 2:

Selection and coloring:

Reasoning

My intent and reasoning of these images was to represent the educational rights women gained during the 1960’s and 70’s which was focused on equality.  The second wave fought for the right for women to have access to an equal opportunity in the workforce, as well as the end of legal sex discrimination. Feminists worked for the Equal Rights Amendment, the Equal Pay Act, the addition of sex discrimination to the Civil Rights Act, and other laws that would guarantee equality. Therefore, my way of presenting this stereotype is through a female getting books from a shelf to suggest women’s educational rights. I was inspired by Cindy Sherman’s famous image whilst she was presenting the deconstruction of stereotypes during this time period.

An essential factor that stood out to me effectively was her clothing. Sherman’s clothing is still slightly dressed up however it is a half body shot stopping the sexualized stereotype, as this was reduced after the traditional house wife stereotype. Therefore, for my images I dressed my subject up in a fairly vintage aesthetic outfit but with less of a sexual element to it.

Editing

After these images, I decided to experiment with a change of props and using the mirror to show the reflection as I thought it made the image more significant and eye catching.

Overall–

Overall, I changed my angles to experiment and realised I preferred the image with the mirror within the frame. I made sure to keep my subject obtaining the female gaze as I personally believe it is a significant factor to add to my images. The type of clothing my subject is wearing is suppose to signify a slight sense of independence. This is because of the hat and white flowy dress as it portrays her personality rather than restrictions or impressing males. I experimented in black and white and colour, to learn to see what I preferred most which was black and white as I plan all my images to be in black and white apart from my 4th photoshoot including the 4th wave feminism. The reasoning of this being my plan, is that all three photoshoots are signifying the past which I believe black and white will emphasize this. The last photoshoot (4th wave) is to signify more of a present element to it as a young women, which I think is still relevant now. Fourth-wave feminism, is a feminist movement hat began around the early 2010s and is characterized by a focus on the empowerment of women, the use of internet tools, and intersectionality. The fourth wave seeks greater gender equality by focusing on gendered norms and the marginalization of women in society. Fourth-wave feminism focuses on sexual abuse, sexual harassment, sexual violence, the objectification of women, and sexism in the workplace. Therefore, within these images I lowered the exposure to create the right amount of exposure to make the door way darker to add a mysterious element. To emphasize this, I increased the blacks and shadows but to keep the subject the main focus I would increase the whites. The bookshelf is to represent the educational rights women fought for in the second wave feminist movement. The mirror is to portray an element of identity which women struggle to find in an oppressive society. However, this slightly contrasts to the clothing involved as the clothing is to signify a little more of independence as it has a growth than the ‘ traditional housewife’. The heavy makeup and and red lip is to represent a factor of women still feeling the pressure too do certain things for men in this patriarchal society. The red lip is to signify a bold and confident factor as from its early use by prostitutes in ancient Greece to a symbol of glamor in Hollywood, rouge lips has long been associated with beauty, power, and rebellion. Rouge lips have served as a symbol of power, rebellion, and femininity throughout history, from ancient civilizations to modern-day movements. This ensures the sexualised element to my first photoshoot is still obtained, which is definitely impactful and significant as women still faced this stereotype during the 60’s and 70’s. Lastly , I decided to decrease the texture as women were stereotypically to be seen as ‘ perfect’ which significantly links to my 4th photoshoot because of the rise of social media and pressures on women.

Where?

• The studio
• My room
• My house
• Places that mean something to me
• Places around jersey that I think have a relation to anxiety
• In school
• Photos that will demonstrate working hard

Who?

• My family
• My friends
• Me
• My teachers
• Landscapes

When?

• Weekends
• After school
• During school
• Whenever possible

What will I use?

• Celetape
• Mask
• Lights
• Projector
• Pen
• clock
• mirror
• paper
• desk
• hourglass

Why?

I will be honest, I struggles trying to find an idea for this topic, at first I was so excited because it would be fully my idea and I could be so creative and do what I wanted. Then I couldn’t think of idea, I got into a slump. I finally figured an idea on personality, as I realised I was always perceived differently by everyone, and no one really knew the true me, and thought that’s the same for everyone, case you can be whoever you want to be to anyone, and as long as your making them happy they probably wont questions it. I started to take photos of myself I wanted o use, spoke t some friends about my idea and they said it was great. then I spoke to my teachers, and I never felt like I was getting a great sense of love for my idea, always thought that’s a bit unfair, seeming’s as art is subjective, but I know they want to help, so I kept thinking, used them to help me but was still in a slump. Then I realised you know it can still be about identity but maybe only my anxiety, as I seem that’s pretty bad and its something that can go unseen from people but also something a lot of people can relate to. its also something that is darker and for some reason people love a darker deeper book. Took more photos. a lot of photos but just of things I found photogenic, maybe I could relate to my topic but not sure. then as I was upset because I wasn’t doing the best I could do in this topic I started thinking oh damn I know something personal about me relating to anxiety and all of this, and that’s me working so hard and sometimes it not being noticed or it getting hard and sometimes I need a hand or someone to notice its not because I’m lazy its because I’m struggling. so now after a million different thoughts on this topic I still have a million but I know to just take photos and try stuff and something will workout. so that Is how and why my photoshoot plans became a thing. I’m still trying buttt we will make it work because I believe I can.